Part IV: Lost to Sand

1. The Valley City
2. Varya's Manor
3. Coral Sands
4. Return of the Accursed Serpent
5. Prince Vashda
6. The Husk
7. Polluted Sands
8. Gemeri
9. Intention to Befriend
10. Red
11. Arturus & Deimaer
12. DRAGONKING
13. Dragonking Aftermath
14. The Truth
15. Holtzmann After Death
16. Aophewell Province
17. To Ves
18. The Reality

The Valley City

11 of Ionhus, 1221
Expeditionists: Arineis, Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
After the annihilation of Shose's Glass Wall, the Redshift Expeditionary Commission was able to move in to the city as their next base of operations. With the Vessian mountain range acting as an effective barrier to the north and the south, the Shose valley made the best available pathway into the northeastern ranges of the Redshift Zone - Vessoth.
The months following the battle at Shose saw as much activity as possible in the small gaps between Redshifts, which continued as normal even after the unsettling Triple First Wave. It started to seem like the R.E.C. had successfully conquered the full western reaches of the Redshift Zone: from Fort Merakkus in the south, Fort Van in the north, all the way to the newly-protected Shose settlement, maps had been charted, roads had been plotted and stamped, and Expeditionists across the region had progressed from tents & campfires to cabins & fireplaces.
To make matters better, there had been no signs of any of the Dragonkings' children or their minions any time since the defeat of Nasharahla and Zorimose. Nonetheless these territorial villains surely still coveted the land the R.E.C. had taken, and preparations had to be made more readily than ever to defend the people working in this organization from attack and sabotage.
An inner section of Shose's city streets was claimed and fortified with walls and other barriers, and work began to hoist ballistae onto vantage points to defend against attackers. The space also needed to be defended from the encorachment of the eastern desert, so the plantlike children who had been raised by the dryad named Grandmother over the past two years were invited to help the plant life around the area flourish: which they did beyond initial expectations. Kapua and Makau became vital members of the R.E.C. to be protected.
The next most important piece to allow the R.E.C. to move forward would be fresh water. Rivers were few and far between in the arid region of the Zone, but Shose was built with a series of acqueducts. Investigation of these old structures proved there was still at least one prime source of fresh water up in the mountains, requiring only a little work to divert.
While investigating this spring, the Expeditionists discovered signs of man-made materials in the caves. They decided to make their first real trek into the foothills around the desert where they found a large house nestled in the hills; below it, on a plateau, lurked a huge beast which guzzled electricity from shifted cables. With Expeditionist Arineis striking the decisive blow, the party was able to defend themselves against the strange predator and report back home.

Varya's Manor

27 of Ionhus, 1221
Expeditionists: Arineis, Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
After killing the huge salamander and reporting back to Shose, the party decided it was best to return to the house they had spotted in the hills now that the road was safe. No one knew what such a house might hold inside, so caution was prudent.
A few Expeditionists weren't able to acknowledge the house's existence, for reasons they could not quite discern. The rest of the party was positive there was a house there, though, so the ones who couldn't recall it followed along.
Upon approaching the house it soon became clear that it was empty. Not only that, it had been cleaned out long ago. There were only a few things remaining: a large, dirty telescope; some eroded furniture; a trio of tiny golems lacking the power to move; and an unlocked box containing a well-preserved journal by Varya, the original owner of this place - a Vessian.
Her journal described her trepidation as she watched the first Redshift approach her home, a thousand years ago. To her good fortune, she was able to escape by arcane means and had left the journal behind to speak to any future archaeologists. She described that her home was powered by sunspark energy and that it was also enchanted with obfuscation, which explained why a few Expeditionists could not remember it.
With all this considered, and the discovery of an intact teleportation circle in the house, it seemed that all was well and this might in fact make an outstanding outpost for the R.E.C.
The party prepared to return home to deliver the good news, but before they did, they stopped at the old collector's telescope. The obvious point of interest was the impossibly tall Star Tower at Ves, the center of the Redshift Zone. The sight across the horizon was, perhaps, not surprising: the Tower was shifted, eclipsing all terrain nearby with great impossible twisting spires. It would be a sight of what to come in the future, but not more than that for now.

Coral Sands

09 of Broccus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
Scouts into the desert North and East of Fort Shose had discovered a strange "forest" in the morning mist several miles deep into the desert. The Expeditionists were dispatched to investigate it.
On their arrival, it turned out to not be a forest at all, but a huge swarm of coral branches growing out of the desert sand; and living upon those branches were starfish of enormous size. Hardly a drop of water was in sight aside from a few brackish-looking pools amidst the rocks, but the "sea" creatures seemed happy and healthy. Expeditionist Naia was even able to speak to them, in a certain way, using magic, and it seemed all was ordinary here, if extraordinary as usual.
Scattered around the pink coral forest were huge chunks of shiny metal - steel from some structures possibly left long ago. The Expeditionists theorized that this might in fact have been a lake, and these came from metal buildings or boats of the past, preserved in the heat and sand to this day.
It seemed fortunate then to return home no worse for wear and with a few strange souveniers to investigate.
When the party returned to Shose, they also discovered that Nami had finished their plans for a raft that could skate over sand with the power of wind. With a mix of magic and skill, they were able to get it working and prove the concept: faster travel was on the horizon.

Return of the Accursed Serpent

14 of Broccus, 1221
Expeditionists: Arineis, Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
With speed and ability to transport resources at the ready, the party began making plans to travel toward their next destination: the city of Alsaines, the next on their map of ancient Vessoth.
However, during the Redshift, as the storm closed around their Obelisk's protective dome, a monster approached from the sea.
The three-headed serpent of ice, seen weeks ago churning the waters in the Vessian bay, had dragged itself to land and somehow, for some reason, come all the way to Shose.
Expeditionists rang the alarm and the R.E.C. sprang to action to defend themselves. The beast flung ice and dragged their minds to the depths and brought forth elemental water to drown and bludgeon, but with help from Captain Vantherxexiath they were able to cleave the heads from the beast… allowing them to crawl freely on their own.
Nonetheless, the fight continued and after a great struggle, one by one the heads of the beast fell, decomposing rapidly. The final one was struck by Captain Van, turned to stone, but was still inside the Redshift perimeter when it did: and underwent immediate and violent shifting.
Somehow, it transformed into a tiny cotton doll - a stuffed animal, shaped like a three-headed abomination. And in that doll's forehead was a vile artifact, possibly even the source of its power, and the final piece needed of the dark spike that the R.E.C. had collected over months and months.
The battle was won and the Expeditionists were able to rest safely. Captain Rodyle alerted everyone through the Obelisk network that the choppy waters in the bay had gone calm - but he had apparently arrived back home too late himself, as the beast responsible was already slain.
Finally, the spike was completed, something Expeditionist Alvisstavver and Decus had been hoping to accomplish for some time. The gnome's familiar Keen took to the completed artifact and absorbed it - or was absorbed by it, as intended. It burst with white-hot heat, a perfect vessel for the familiar to be given a new form.

Prince Vashda

26 of Broccus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
With no more distractions in the way, it was finally time to make the next leap to the city of Alsaines, which had been spotted by a team through the telescope at Varya's Manor. The landmark the party sought was a great shriveled tree which once must have been the centerpiece of a glittering city, before Vessoth became a desert.
Using Nami's sandskiff, the party was able to make haste through the desert and use magic to survive the elements with ease. It only took them a few days to cross miles of sand, where it might take others days of treacherous dryness. And correlating the ancient map of Vessoth gained from Orvis to the predictions made by the team who spotted the city ruins, the party was able to quickly locate that once-mighty tree and the droughted lake that once sat beneath it.
The city was eroded, empty, but also bore signs of some battle - crushed flagstones and broken walls among the wind-worn stone. Cautiously, the party entered the city, only to be accosted by a man who flew from a high tower: it was the half-dragon, Prince Vashda, self-claimed ruler of this territory. Expeditionist Mont'larin tried to parley with the man, but after volleying their banter, the dragon demanded to see what they were made of first.
Though he was alone, he fought enough for five. Magic sprung from his fingertips and he floated above the ground with ease, exulting in battle. When Expeditionist Gro:ntasstle surprised him and broke his spell concentration, the city around them all at once turned to its past self, the way it was a thousand years ago. Their pitched battle sputtered out as shocked and curious onlookers gawked at the appearance of these strange folk, but the party managed to dissuade their fears by claiming they had merely undergone a slight teleportation spell mishap, and landed a ways away from their intended location. Even the Dragon Prince paused in apparent shock and sheathed his blade.
The party knew what to expect: they went looking for those adventurers of old led by Adrian Holtzmann. Prince Vashda elected to join them.
They found what they were looking for shortly: Holtzmann and his allies confronting another wizard who was seemingly mid-heist upon a museum belonging to the city. In his hand the man held a white-blue crystal cube cradled in red gold, and he used this object to exhume ribbons of something deadly from his gullet, while proclaiming that Holtzmann's "theory was correct". The citizens of Alsaines fled in a panic as the street erupted into a crossfire of magic and a trio of spectres who emit terrible psychic screams.
Fortunately, with the help of the Aces - and with Prince Vashda performing assistance - they were able to dispatch this villainous Marcato and retrieve the cube from him, then deliver it back to Holtzmann, who seemed to know what to do with it.
It was not long before the city military arrived in the aftermath. And it so happened that the King of Vessoth Erditus was in the city at this time, as well. Not wanting to cause a disruption, the party agreed to meet with the higher-ups and found themselves introduced to the King, who greeted them as friends and heroes for putting down a terrorist. The conversation quickly turned two-party between him and Holtzmann, as the King asked what the villain had been after in the first place and why he wanted it.
The man had no choice but to explain his theory; he described an artifact that would allow one to access Planes very close metaphysically to one's own, opening up avenues of communication and even to borrow a preferred reality from any of one's choice. Expeditionist Mont'larin interrupted partway through the conversation, once the explanation was complete, to tell Holtzmann and the ancient King the truth about where they had come from - the future or something like it, to his knowledge. They tried to discern how all this could be possible, how it might have come to be that these people were appearing to the living folk of the distant future, but there was no time for thorough conversation. After only a few short minutes the city of Alsaines returned to dust, and the denizens of the past went with it unknowingly. Only Nikta, Holtzmann's ally, who must have, in her original time, perished in the battle with Marcato, retained her awareness for a few moments afterward. She delivered a warning to the party, and thanked them. Then she too disappeared.

The Husk

11 of Caddus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
On returning to Shose, the R.E.C. reviewed their findings, making plans for what came next. Prince Vashda had not chosen to harry the Ace Expeditionists any further after Adrian Holtzmann and Vessoth King Erditus disappeared. They were able to make it home unbothered and report their status.
The Dragon Prince's behavior was unusual, but promising: it may be possible to form a truce with him. Brigadier DeMirrah agreed that if possible, a dialogue should be opened with the man. Aside from this, the R.E.C. would need to gain access to the city of Alsaines, or a nearby location if possible, to continue their journey toward the Star Tower at Ves where the Redshift originates. As long as Dragon Prince Vashda remained a wildcard, it would be too dangerous to travel freely in his territory, which the group assumed henceforth to be more or less the entire desert.
The party decided to return to Alsaines and see if they could find the Prince. If not him, then perhaps something else useful could be done, including finding Grandmother's naiad friend, Eska.
A few days after the Redshift broke, the party had made their way via skiff to the city ruins once more. The place under the shriveled tree was quiet, and no sign of Prince Vashda was seen; perhaps he was patrolling elsewhere, or had been too lazy to travel to Alsaines this week.
Since they were free to move about for the time being, the party decided to investigate the giant tree and the remains of the ancient lake beneath it around which the city of Alsaines had once flourished. The vast lake had turned into little more than a pitiful, dusty pond.
Suddenly, a crack was heard, a cloud of sand in the shape of a woman burst from underfoot. She breathed; then screamed. The sands of Alsaines began to whirl, and the Expeditionists were flung into a blinding twister.
One by one, separated in unrecognizable parts of the city, each Expeditionist was battered by stinging sand and assaulted by an onslaught of shifted amalgams of Alsaines' ancient dead brought to life by dust. No matter how many they cut down, the vile clouds spat out corpse after corpse, animated with malefic intent.
With nowhere else to turn, the Expeditionists began braving the violent storm directly. And, somehow, they were able to find each other. Even as they reunited their strength was worn away, and they realized they were doomed if they could not escape the storm or find its source again. They tried once more to walk against the sands, and abruptly found themselves before Eska's husk. She wept.
For a moment, they were able to speak to her. She spoke of being sealed in a grain of sand by a vile magician, and wailed that she could not die so long as her lake lived, but still any water burned her like acid in her shifted state. Her wits frail and her ability to keep herself together fraying, she begged - demanded - the people who invaded, entered, sought out her city to leave. Her rage was too great, and she did not know them, even if they spoke of Grandmother, her old friend.
Alsaines became lost in a storm of sand, as the Expeditionists fled for their lives. But they had attained a hope that the naiad could be cured, somehow. If they could return, and fix the curse afflicted upon her and her city by the Redshift, then maybe she could be saved.

Polluted Sands

24 of Caddus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
The most important path to return to Alsaines would be to support the R.E.C. in the region. Despite the strange weather and abundant rainfall characteristic to the temperate Vessoth area, the desert still lacked available water, and traversing the rolling sands made travel slow.
The team of Ace Expeditionists set out toward the Alsaines area to seek something that could support an encampment. They had seen rocky hills on the horizon before reaching the city on their last journey, so they elected to search there. After leaving the sandskiff behind, three days away from Fort Shose, the party discovered the reddish plateaus stretching east and south across the foremost edge of the desert. They traversed for another day, searching the rugged stone for signs of ruin or other shelter.
With luck, they did find something - a crevice. Shaded from the sun, the crack led to a cavern, one crawling with territorial monsters. Some had been shifted, grafted with scrap iron limbs; the party defended themselves and slew the beasts, finding the cavern was spacious and, most importantly, showed signs of precipitation. Within the maze of rock lurked another territorial creature made of stone, but when it spoke during their fight the Expeditionists were able to calm it and work out a parley instead. They discovered the creature had been afflicted by some curse, "infecting" it with metal like the other creatures in the cave; supposedly, this curse came from the caverns below which were infested by some "frog men". The party agreed to deal with the problem - if they wanted this place as shelter, they would need to anyway.
As they followed the tunnels deeper into the earth the air grew danker, until they reached a level point where the sound of running water could be heard - an actual underground river beneath the sands. Through the mud patrolled what could, indeed, only be described as frog men, humanoid amphibians who each had been grafted or shifted with scrap iron for limbs or spines or even eyes. The party encountered these croaking, humming monsters in the deep who attacked them on sight, and after their first battle discovered the largest, most-metal of the amphibians presiding over some ritual in which it tossed one of its own down into the river, where a great gnashing sound roared.
The creature ignored them only as long as it took to finish this sacrifice, before turning to face them in combat. It cast magic, but Expeditionist Lodevein banished it to a demiplane - revealing the object of its worship behind it, a gargantuan eel built of whirling scrap metal. The immense golem rampaged through the cramped tunnels, crumbling rock around it, even barrelling entirely out of the water and onto the mud. But, the Expeditionists were able to remain out of its path of destruction long enough to bombard it with magic and eventually force it to crash, burying itself in rubble. It was only after this was done that the huge amphibian returned, and was brought low by the residual magic storms.
The humming and roaring had finally stopped, and the cavern was finally silent. The party discovered the area had long become desecrated with some kind of curse or rot, but with their arcane aptitude were able to dispel and begin healing the land. By the time they returned outside, the sun was lowering in the sky, and it would seem they had been successful: their new friend, the boulder named Tumbling Avalanche, was amicable to their plans to bring fellow Expeditionists this way east, and with a river that could hopefully be cleaned of its pollution and curse completely, it might be possible to establish a healthy outpost all the way out in the desert.

Gemeri

7 of Lyus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Amebrgrene, Decus, Iris, Kale, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus, Norrin
It was decided the next task for the R.E.C. be twofold: one to escort Decus and his squad of scouts carrying the newest Obelisk to the cavern the Ace Expeditionists had secured the previous week. Two for the Aces to attempt to travel further east in an attempt to locate a place called Gemeri: a town where one of Vessoth's Proxies had lived, according to Witch-Guardian Arisa's memory. Her own tower had been home to one - now subsumed by her own ego. The town Pallidae, near Shose, had been home to one, but Expeditionist Mortier's team were attacked by it in madness or confusion and, in the chaos, the Proxy there was unfortunately destroyed. It was Arisa's hope that maybe some Proxy somewhere in Vessoth could still be alive and sane, and amicable to the R.E.C.'s quest.
So, after a long trek from Shose and a peaceful arrival at the sandy cavern with a watery underbelly, the Aces departed Decus to complete his work on a new Obelisk and ventured further east than anyone had been in Vessoth Kingdom in a thousand years. They traveled another day, stretching their luck under the breaking of the latest Redshift storm, and hurried toward a distant sight that might be the thing they sought: a mirage of squat gray buildings nestled between cracked-dry hills.
They were able to reach the place by nightfall, and during the time the party set up a safe camp to await the morning, Expeditionist Quillix took it upon herself to shape into an owl and get a closer look at this ruin or settlement. She saw things that were unsurprising: the structures had been eroded by time, though many still stood. Worst off was the once-sturdy wall, now crumbled to nearly nothing. Some buildings had been shifted like so many others around the Redshift Zone, taking unusual and impossible shapes. She further saw something new: one building stood above the rest, a spire cradled by a cable glowing in the night with rainbow energy. This reminded her of something Expeditionist Kuromizawa had told her about the Proxy at Pallidae: it had held the same sort of unusual cables at its core.
She flew back to the party to plan their entrance. Expeditionist Mont'larin suggested the team play as foreign visitors: they intended to make friendly relations with the Proxy if this was indeed her location, and if they had to use deception to make that happen should her mental faculties be haywire, then they would use it if it worked. So, the following morning, three of the team approached the gate - one part of the wall still standing - while the other two watched on from a hiding place. They found that the gate was guarded by two identical ghostly figures, fuzzy with blue static, taking the appearance of a sexless female elf - but all above her neck shattered. The two identical specters greeted the trio warily, with identical voices. When the party offered that they had come to deliver a message from Arisa to the local Proxy about a problem, it seemed they had cinched the attention of these creatures - one of them departed before allowing them inside.
While they waited, they saw more specters - more identical women - marching a trail inside the town. They heard an identical voice boom out over the town using some magical apparatus, announcing a good morning to all and indeed promising a rehearsal the coming week to prepare for a parade to take place in Ves, the kingdom's ancient capital. When the identical guard returned, she and a third offered to escort the party to meet with the Proxy. The plan had succeeded so far.
The Proxy lived inside the glowing spire; her true self an enormous crystalline core. She deigned to speak privately with the group, using a voice identical to all the others who walked, worked, and lived invisible lives about this dead town. In the party's tall tale, based a bit in truth, they claimed that Witch-Guardian Loamfield's Proxy communication network had failed, and indeed, the Gemeri Proxy claimed to have noticed the broken network as soon as this information was given to her, because she hadn't checked it in some time. She thanked the party profusely for acting as the Witch-Guardian's messengers for this unprecedented problem, and promised to send some of her own subordinates to Ves' Star Tower in order to speak to the Secretary the old-fashioned way and find a solution. But, through their conversation, it became clear that the Proxy - and all the identical specters throughout the town, running a simulacrum of daily life - were very much under the impression that the date was sometime in 199CER… shortly before the Redshift Phenomenon began.
They did not attempt to break her delusion.
As they made their excuses to depart, they hoped Arisa might have some idea of how to bring this Proxy back.

Intention to Befriend

21 of Lyus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
While the R.E.C. spent their next few days dithering about just what to do next: how to help the Proxy, how to help the naiad Eska, how to fortify their supply routes into the desert, how to deal with Prince Vashda?, a familiar and unexpected face showed herself at the Shose fort: the shifted pixie, Nyatha, who had befriended the Ace Expeditionists in a chance meeting some time ago, and who had lived her entire life peacefully under the Redshift storm, with only bountiful fractal wings and a pair of excellent extra eyes to show for her transformations.
Nyatha waylaid Brigadier DeMirrah and had her find the Ace Expeditionist team currently camping at Keep Terrae - she believed she had found something while exploring out in the desert worth investigating, and asked for help. At the barest indication of agreement and once given a heading, she happily flew from Shose toward Terrae, piercing the Redshift veil worrilessly. And only a few days later, just in time for the Redshift to break, she arrived at the other location, informing the party that she had found a strange, giant, speaking skull out in the wastes.
The team decided to go check it out - it would not do to have some monster appear and roaming the desert. Plus, ever-optimistic, if it could speak, perhaps it could be befriended.
Nyatha led the Aces to where she found the strange artifact. She had been able to explore the desert freely ever since the R.E.C. had annihilated Shose's Great Glass Wall, and had taken advantage of this delight to find new things out in the Zone. When they arrived at the object of interest, a giant-sized skull groaning toward the sky and sat in a pool of shimmering, steaming rainwater, surrounded by some sort of wriggling vines, it indeed bellowed at them: it told them to begone, or suffer a curse.
Expedtionist Mont'larin, genially, asked whoever was inside the skull to come out, since it was hard to hear them from within. So, in response, a pixie bearing a head of thorns and a scorpion's tail popped out of the skull's sockets, befuddled that her prank had been foiled by poor acoustics. Much to the shock of Nyatha, her friend M'zia being responsible for this trick was unexpected. The two greeted - M'zia explaining that she found the place a while ago and wanted to claim it, before Nyatha complimented her on the spooky effect of the animated plants in the pond. M'zia only then noticed the existence of these plants, shocked - as they came to life, lurching in hulking blobs out of the water and sandy mud.
The fey women shrieked, fleeing the battlefield while the R.E.C. bore initiative. The vine masses hurled themselves at any living thing they could reach, but magic and blade and whip and claw shredded their meat and stripped them to their core. When it was done, and Expeditionist Gro:ntasstle held the captured scrap of sentient plant that had driven the beasts in their core, they greeted the pixies again, this time as a pair of friends, and invited the two to return with them to their outpost and enjoy some company and stories. The pixie M'zia, cowed into admitting that her life had just been very much saved, agreed that she would join, and see if she could return a worthy favor somehow.
With Nyatha's friend the Aces returned to their latest home, safe from the Redshift shortly looming. By the time it enveloped the gloomy caverns of Keep Terrae a few days later, they had informed both Nyatha and M'zia of the R.E.C.'s quest, and several of the problems they now faced: most notably the torment being endured by Eska, Alsaines' ancient guardian. It was certainly settled before the pixies had realized it themselves; the two spoke through the nights they camped with their new friends, and it was determined they couldn't possibly sit by and do nothing while this land they lived in suffered so under the Redshift storm. Even though they had grown up in harmony with it, they had witnessed many of their kin fall victim at young ages, completely at random. Indeed it was sheer luck the two had turned out so well - so powerful, comparatively. They had never even realized a world outside of the Redshift existed.
Now that they had crossed paths with these people aiming to put a stop to this apocalypse and help all those souls who had been hurt by it, they would help too. They were just two pixies, but surely they could be useful: they could fly quickly and quietly, seek out safe havens for the R.E.C., scout distances and heights previously difficult to reach, and best of all, the Redshift did not shift them the way it did all humanoids. They had, after all, grown up here. They could be the R.E.C.'s ultimate scouts, connecting the islands of sanity in the red miasma, and it would be easy for them.
The Aces agreed. Even if they hadn't, the two would surely have forced the R.E.C. to accept their help anyhow. So it was decided, and eagerly Nyatha and M'zia made ready to depart for Shose immediately - if they were quick, they could reach it or further before the Redshift even broke. And thus Nyatha first, and M'zia only a breath behind her, once more worrilessly pierced the Redshift veil. And she was shifted. A crystalline, frozen ruby pixie hung in the air. Her beloved companion stopped short, only barely, before her life and her promise could be ended as well.

Red

03 of Ahearnus - 01 of Ewus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
Terror flooded Keep Terrae, and it was all the Expeditionists could do to keep M'zia out of the miasma herself as they collected the crystal Nyatha. The pixies had been near-immune to the effects of the Redshift. They had been shifted after they swore to put an end to this apocalypse. The reason was obvious; these soldiers - heroes - had seen enough to know. The Redshift knew. They had grown complacent in their mastery of the Zone.
In the next several days, while waiting for the Redshift to wane, Expeditionist Mont'larin meditated. He attempted to reject this. He knew how and why they had failed, but he sat before the miasma anyway and cursed its existence. He gained a dream. A sensation of being pulled upon. Countless hands. An object, rapidly approaching. If he stepped into the miasma, he knew what would happen…
He resisted.
The Ace Expeditionists promised to help, and at the next waning, immediately traveled far to the west, carrying Nyatha and M'zia with them, to Grandmother's Grove. She could heal them, if it was possible. Brigadier DeMirrah knew better than to argue with them, even if she disliked asking Grandmother to take on shifting into her own body.
But, when the party arrived at the Grove, Grandmother admitted she could not heal Nyatha. It seemed that her soul had already left her remains. M'zia's glittery green skin turned the color of dead leaves, and she abandoned her companions in mourning. She would remain here.
Amidst this misery, happiness bloomed as well. It was just the time of year that the seed had originally been planted, and now 3 years later, not one but two children had been born from the rapidly-growing blossom next to Grandmother's own tree. Decus had named this species "mara", and the two children introduced themselves as Kusuma and Nitzan. Somehow, they had been born knowing sign language, and were able to communicate easily. And even without anybody telling them, they asked to be brought to meet their siblings Kapua and Makau at Shose as soon as possible.
The Aces agreed to escort them, and finally Grandmother bestowed a few boons on them to help her old friend Eska: a wand, shielding acorns, and a jar of sleeping poison. When the two newborn mara arrived at Shose, they "reunited" with their siblings, and it took only days for them to happily integrate into the business of flooding the city with wholesome plant life.
◇
Enough time had passed; it was time to return to Alsaines and save Eska.
The Aces loaded their supplies onto the sand-skiff and set off east. With magic and skill, they made quick time to the city, where the husk of the naiad's sandstorm yet raged. Without stood a dozen corpses of the citizens of Alsaines resurrected in sand; but they did not attack. In fact, they parted when the Expeditionists requested entry. A tunnel through the storm revealed itself, and before they knew it… they were before Eska again.
She tasted the scent of her dear friend's love upon them. It brought her a moment of clarity; she spoke the name Irabel, and begged the invaders; explorers; friends if they could help her. She wanted to be helped.
They promised they could fix shifting. Even though it had only been done once before. Expeditionist Mont'larin swore by it; he could not be swayed. He volunteered the great dying tree that stood above the lakebed as a recipient. Eska told him that the tree had been a gift from someone she loved millennia ago… but, if it meant Vessoth could return, she deemed it a worthy sacrifice.
While Expeditionist Quillix used magic to fortify the tree against the incursion it was about to experience, Mont'larin and Gro:ntassle worked hand-in-hand to convey Eska's curse through Irabel's wand and into the roots of the tree.
She wept clean water; the cursed sand ricocheted through Mont'larin, through Gro:ntassle - blasting open one of Irabel's guardian acorns - and back into the once-mighty tree. It twisted with red welts into the shape of a cruel hook. But… it worked. The naiad of Alsaines was cured of her pain, because they had demanded it be so.
Exhausted, it was not long before she fell to slumber - returning to her lake for the first time in centuries. Likewise, the two Expeditionists had suffered great exhaustion, and near collapsed in the dirt. The party would need to return to home base soon enough and report their success, and their plans for an Obelisk to protect her, but one problem remained.
Expeditionist Quillix volunteered to scout out the abode of Dragon Prince Vashda while the others recuperated. And she did find his home: and him, atop it, basking in the return of the sun. She whisked back to her companions to warn them, but they decided to camp where they sat - perhaps they could find the man in the next day and speak to him.
And indeed he found them first after all. That evening, while the party watched the city, the half-dragon/half-efreeti descended from the sky with a tool in hand, and magic sprouted from his fingertip. He produced a seat out of dirt and uncorked the bottle he had carried, drinking deep before nonchalantly congratulating the Aces on their success.
Through his off-putting saccharine demeanor, the Prince sparred with Expeditionists Mont'larin and Lodevein; he revealed he had been following them these past several weeks, seeing what they've done in the Zone. He revealed he had grown rather bored of simply collecting treasure when there were apparently so many more interesting things to see. He accidentally let slip that his brother, Prince Deimaer, was preparing the Dragonking's minions for an all-out attack on the R.E.C.'s headquarters at Shose, launching from their volcanic lair in the old city Vhreybast. He admitted it had been quite some time since he'd visited his mother, so perhaps he'd take a vacation.
And then he turned tail and left.
The Aces were left with a quandary. Was his information trustworthy? Had he betrayed his family on purpose? Were they to prepare for a war against the Dragonking, immediately? Amidst all this - how could they protect the newly-healed Eska - a task so urgent, lest she be shifted again? They would need to hurry.

Arturus & Deimaer

13 of Ewus - 02 of Kadus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, M'zia, Naia, Nimbus
After Prince Vashda's gambit, the Ace Expeditionists hurried to action. They decided to retreat to Keep Terrae before the Redshift began, and left Vashda's teleport circle in his apartment, intact. Hurriedly, they contacted Decus, and implored that he bring the latest Obelisk - one being prepared for the foggy hillside manor north of Shose - to Alsaines instead. Eska needed protection urgently.
They were in luck. Decus would be able to transport a small team to Alsaines using Vashda's teleport circle - and it could then be destroyed, ensuring that none of the Dragon Princes could use it. Once Decus set up the new Obelisk, the Ace Expeditionists would use a circle of their own to return to Varya's Manor and hurry down to Shose.
At Shose, it was decided to wait for the supposedly incoming attack. And so, fortifications were shored up and any non-combatants were evacuated to Orvis and beyond for the time being. The next Redshift passed, and then a few more days… and the following Redshift began without incident.
The R.E.C. had a decision to make. If they trusted Prince Vashda, they had to remain on high alert for an incoming siege. But they could not sit around and wait forever. As the subsequent Redshift began to decay, it was decided to send a team - plus Captain Vantherxexiath - to intercept whatever might be coming. Failing that, the R.E.C. might gain valuable information about the Princes' lair.
With a beholder's help, traversing the northern mountain range was relatively easy. The party was able to move quickly north, aiming toward the western flank. While Expeditionist Quillix flew high to scout as the party moved, she spotted unnatural light in the western grasslands. Upon closer examination, she and the pixie M'zia, who had accompanied the party, found a numerous group of kobolds transporting wagons southward.
This had to be the incoming army - the Aces moved to intercept them immediately, and at the next dawn, they waylaid the Dragon Prince Arturus and his kobold minions. When the half-human prince recognized them he unfurled his wings and flew at them with spear, ordering his minions to attack Van with killing intent.
But, they had been caught unprepared. Though the prince was strong, he couldn't defeat the party alone, and the kobolds he commanded hurried to uncover their cauldrons full of boiling acid too late. A few blasts were loosed from the cauldrons, splashing acid where they landed, but they were blasted by magic and fell.
The Prince was forced to flee for his life, flying east as fast as he could. There were still seven kobolds living, as well as a few of the drakes they were using as beasts of burden; the Aces captured them and took one of the cauldrons with them, destroying the rest where they sat.
On the way home to Shose, the party spoke with their captives and found they were slaves of the Dragonking; they were clever enough to surrender but they expected great retribution from their masters, and cruelty from their captors - which the Expeditionists were happy to disprove. They brought them peacefully back to Shose where they could be given food and shelter.
The very same day, barely given any time to rest, an alarm went up from the eastern side of the city. A great force had suddenly arrived from over the dunes and just as the Expedtionists rushed to meet it, fireballs began to bombard the city. Brigadier DeMirrah rushed to help everyone take shelter, and Captain Vantherxexiath stayed behind to protect the Obelisk with his eye. Fortunately the mara children had already been evacuated to Varya's Manor by Expeditionists Lufael and Kakanedna.
The others - Mont'larin's team and Mortier's team - raced eastward out of the central city, past the outer city, and into the desert where they met Prince Arturus again, standing next to his brother, the half-dragon heart elf Prince Deimaer who stood atop an army of obsidian gilded skeletons. Despite the left being defeated on its march, the right-side of the pincer attack on Shose had arrived.
Some one hundred skeletal warriors attacked on foot while a dozen used spell circles to produce fireballs which bombarded the city and the heroes alike. A hoard of bones driven by a monstrous, dragon-like skull followed them, attempting to subsume anyone it reached. Prince Arturus flung himself toward Expeditionist Lodevein, who had embarassed him in their first battle. And Prince Deimaer cast powerful spells; even invoking obedience from some power based in the Redshift's chaos.
The battle was more than arduous, the living constructs swarming while the Expeditionists evaded the Princes' deadly attacks. Arturus nearly struck Lodevein and Kuromizawa both deadly blows, but was halted just in time by the musician's spells, foiling his strength. They were able to draw the attacks of the fireball bombard toward themselves, dodging and defending against them to ensure the safety of the city. Deimaer was eventually forced to join the battle proper, but suddenly the gargantuan swarm of bones had been felled, the skeletal soldiers shattered, and Arturus paralyzed by magic; the tide of battle had turned against the Dragon Princes. The mighty wizard Deimaer was forced to flee, uttering a word as he flew toward his brother and causing them both to vanish from view.
Finally, the siege Prince Vashda had promised had been defeated, and the R.E.C. had suffered no casualties.

DRAGONKING

21 of Kadus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Guza, Kimik, Mont'larin, M'zia, Naia, Nimbus
The Dragon Princes had been fended off, but the threat very much remained: their lair was somewhere in the Redshift Zone and they wanted the R.E.C. gone, for the reason that this was their turf and nobody else's. But, the R.E.C. had a major advantage now: they had taken captives.
Seven kobold warriors who served Prince Arturus had watched the Ace Expeditionists defeat both their master and his brother on the battlefield in the span of five days. Plus, they had been given delicious food, and cozy shelter, and fresh clothes to wear - so it was no surprise when they proved cooperative to interrogation.
Two of the kobolds, one named Kimik and another named Guza, proved to hold the most valuable information. Kimik, who it seemed the others looked up to, helped to explain where their King's lair was located - far to the north, nestled inside a volcano. Guza, talented at the arcane, willingly gave up the formula for their lair's teleportation circle, which was his responsibility to keep for his master.
It was possible to stage a raid on the lair, but it had to be perfect, for all the Princes would be at their home, and their King father would presumably be there as well. Despite the danger, if the Aces could destroy the device the King used to protect his lair from the Redshift Phenomenon, he would be dealt a mighty blow, and it might be possible to end these battles once and for all.
Kimik begged the party to spare his kin, the non-combatant kobolds who lived alongside many elemental creatures in the lair, subservient to the draconic heirs. In fact, he would come with them if they did this raid, and convince his kin to evacuate the lair. A plot was eventually hatched: to sow a fear of certain doom among the King's slaves, by convincing them that their "enemies" had arrived and destroyed the King's protection. They would be forced to flee lest they suffer the incoming Redshift, and this confusion would give the Aces the opportunity to actually follow through.
The alternative was to wait for the King to make the next move… so the plan was set. All evacuees would hurry to Alsaines, and the Aces would use the glyphs provided by Guza to teleport in, and hopefully teleport back out to Varya's Manor when done.
As a well-laid plan, it started smoothly; Kimik and Guza were able to break from the party once they teleported into the lair and bring their warnings to their kin and the elemental cohorts, who believed them readily. And when the Aces broke out of their disguises to travel to the lair's basement, they met for the first time Prince Ieth, the half-dragon dark elf and resident arcana-smith, who surrendered immediately. Ieth realized who they were, and believed them when they said they were here to destroy the King's protection. And, not being a fighter, he chose to take the opportunity to accept an evacuation with his own servants.
The rest did not go as smoothly, however. Prince Morioh - whose body had been snatched up by one of his siblings unknown to the R.E.C., then resurrected - drank and ate in the grand dining hall, ranting to his servants due to being grounded. When Expeditionist Gro:ntassle made the first attack, sparks flew, and the battle began. Morioh revealed he had gained some new power, and his legs transformed into a whirling tornado of dust, which he flung toward his foes. Moments later, the earth rumbled, and the wall boiled - a frenzied, ferocious serpent flung from a magmatic spring toward the Aces. It was Princess Nasharahla… stretched, flayed, spine twisting and flailing, too-many arms pulling her along through the magma. She had been shifted. So had her brother.
Princes Arturus and Deimaer arrived shortly after the sounds of struggle broke out, Arturus wearing the same golden-chained artifice around his bare chest that his two siblings wore. Deimaer spoke a word, and did the unspeakable: he shifted his brother, just like the other two. Arturus' body bulged and his mind rotted, transforming into a hulking beast of rage, who joined the fray. Deimaer fled quickly up the mountain, followed by Expeditionists Gro:ntassle and the pixie M'zia.
The gnomish rogue encountered the wizard prince once upon the bridges outside the mountain, but let him slip away further up the stairs. Meanwhile, the rest of the party faced off against the trio of shifted Princes, doomed to be used as last-ditch tools by their eldest brother. Reason had flown away; all had lost their wits but Morioh, who himself exulted in the joy of power. Nasharahla melted the ground around their feet and Arturus flung them back and forth, and things seemed dire. The tide turned when Gro:ntassle returned with M'zia, flying fast on pixie wings to put down the abominable half-human. Nashrahla's screams faded. Morioh collapsed into dead gravel.
From far above, an enraged roar rang out.
The party moved to their ultimate goal - the caldera where the King's protection device was said to be held. But on their way up, the Dragonking and Prince Deimaer found them. As luck would have it, Prince Zorimose - himself wearing a golden architecture around his chest - found them at the same time.
Hardly noticing the Aces, Zorimose argued with his brother, for Ieth had told him of the warning, and he couldn't believe what he had heard - Deimaer had shifted their siblings. His elder brother denied it, but the Aces convinced him to see for himself, that it was true. Zorimose flung the golden chains from his body, striking his brother, and ran to find his sister. The King decried his whelps' uselessness and finally made his decree: he would do what he should have done three years ago and burn the R.E.C. to the ground. He blasted the party with fiery breath, then flew southeast.
But, they could not give chase yet - they hadn't completed their mission.
Deimaer, recovering from Zorimose's throw, chased them up to the caldera, but he was no match for the party in close quarters, unprepared, alone. When he fell, he gave them one warning: they would never make it to the Tower without wings. Having won the final word, he then lost his head.
The Aces made it to the caldera, over which strung by chains was the great device the kobolds had called the King's protection. It exuded an aura not dissimilar at all from Professor Decus' invention - but it was mightier than any of the R.E.C.'s Obelisks, and covered an area miles-wide. And though it had protected this location for centuries, it was time for it to be destroyed.
Clambering over piles of gold and treasure, the Aces worked to dislodge the enormous chains that held the central device up over the caldera's lava pool. Eventually, the thing came loose, and plunged into the volcano, where it sputtered for a moment before splitting clean in half with a great crack. The King's lair was now doomed to the Redshift.
Grabbing a few useful supplies and trinkets from the Dragonking's collection of ancient Vessoth's wealth on their way, the party fled back down the mountain to meet with Prince Ieth, Prince Zorimose, and their servants. Zorimose was dejected over the betrayal of his eldest brother; he never expected him to actually harm their siblings. Giving Nasharahla a burial in lava, he agreed that he had been defeated and would join the Aces on their way to Alsaines.
But… the King had already gone that way. The party needed to move quicker than marching. Thinking quickly, they teleported back to Varya's Manor, leaving the Princes and kobolds behind to eventually catch up. From there, they used magical steeds to gallop across the dusty plains of the Alsaines region to the city where Eska slept, making record time to arrive by dusk - just as the dragon poked at Eska and Decus both with his fire breath while they tried to protect themselves.
The party arrived at Decus' side, but were barely able to get briefed before the King landed upon the great twisted tree which contained all of Eska's shifting. There he gloated, not noticing the creeping bough, hungry, before it plunged into his skull, killing him and awakening at once.
The Dragonking of the Redshift Zone was dead in a flash, and Eska's ancient tree instead began to uproot, a 500-foot monstrosity awakened in rage. Great, horrifying eyes bulged out of its bark, blasting beams of necrosis wherever they gazed. Lashing boughs swung wildly around its top. Radiant power bursted out of the King's corpse.
It was obvious this thing would rampage without cease if it wasn't stopped, and it had begun to march out of Eska's lake and toward the west. Decus could protect the Obelisk, but Eska had to help the Aces do something - they had to stop it, and it was too big to fight on foot. So, asking for their trust, she embraced each one of them… then flung them into the sky on jet streams, lifting them high above her lake, into the mess of violent, twisted branches that slew a dragon.
The Aces flew, riding on Eska's power against what had what been all her hate and rage come to life, skating between blackened branches and striking true at the fleshy cores beneath the bark. One after another, they struck at the myriad abberant eyeballs that made up the thing's trunk, shredding them and making it scream. When they finally arrived at where the King had been crucified, they swung around his hanging body to strike true at the bigger threat. With bolts of ice and radiance, sword and spear, one bloody socket after another screeched in decay until finally, the beast could no longer see, and fell upon Alsaines, inert.
Eska carried the Ace Expeditionists gently into her lake, cradling them so they could swim back to shore. Exhausted, they greeted Decus. It was over. The Dragonking, and most of his progeny, were dead. Their forces were in shambles, their lair was ruined.
A few short days later, the Princes and their servants arrived as planned. Close to a hundred kobolds and enslaved elementals filled the streets, and the R.E.C. was prepared to give them homes for a short while until they worked out what to do and where to go. Zorimose quavered in reply to his world being rocked - his father was dead along with most of his siblings. His enemies had beaten him. They weren't bad, but why had they done it? He had liked living in the Redshift Zone, fighting monsters and hunting treasure. All this battling to the death was terrible, and not fun at all. His brother Ieth contemplated for a while in his own way, wondering aloud what he would do with his life, and why the R.E.C. would even help him after they had fought for so long.
But, there was no need for more fighting. Eventually it was decided that Ieth and Zorimose would leave together. Neither wanted to remain under their father's shadow anymore, so they set to depart their homeland. On the other hand, Kimik, who had suddenly grown into the de facto leader of his clan and their allies, did not want to leave - this place was all they had ever known. He and his people were willing to stay and help, for they knew not what else they would do with themselves.
So, Alsaines, and the rest of the R.E.C.'s forts, were finally at peace. The Commission breathed in relief. Almost three years ago, they had met Prince Morioh for the first time. Ever since, the Dragonking had breathed down their necks one way or another.
But it was finally done, and it was time now to focus fully on the Redshift Expeditionary Commission's true mission: getting to Ves.

Dragonking Aftermath

20 of Malachus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Decus, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
Alsaines was suddenly a bustling city, almost. More members of the R.E.C. arrived after the no-longer-Princes Ieth and Zorimose departed the Redshift Zone; Decus and Alvisstavver gave them letters to, hopefully, find a place to stay in or near Cradia while they worked out what to do with their newfound freedom. Brigadier DeMirrah and Captain Van arrived with more Expeditionists, laden with supplies to fortify this latest secure settlement. Overnight nearly a hundred people made temporary home at Eska's ancient city.
It was soon decided that the elementals, unbound from their mortal master Deimaer, unanimously wished to return to their home plane. Professor Decus fortunately knew a ritual that could banish extraplanar beings, and left it to the Ace Expeditionists to collect some tears from Vantherxexiath to finish up the ritual circles. After diving into the beholder's sordid backstory, the Dragonking's elemental slaves vanished to their homeworld in a puff of smoke.
Meanwhile, the kobolds agreed to stay in Alsaines for a while, but the party thought it would be even better to return their old home to them as their own, independent, friendly settlement - it would take ensuring the volcano lair was clear, and replacing the destroyed protection device with an R.E.C. obelisk. While fortifications to Alsaines were underway, the team decided to get started on this task; plus, they could scour the half-dragon wizard's laboratory for whatever he had learned about the Redshift Phenomenon in the past centuries.
Decus tagged along, and the party made way quickly via teleport circle - they'd have to worry about whether they were still usable by any lingering foes, or even Vashda or Zorimose if either decided they didn't feel like playing nice anymore someday. But first, they entered Deimaer's lab, where it seemed sheets of his notes and tomes had come to life with a madness and affinity for magic. Unfazed, the party destroyed what they had to and took stock of what remained: cases of books, biology, physics, metaplanar studies, various aracana; shelves of rare spell reagents; the wizard's enormous spellbook, abandoned in his demise; and the great mirror he used for scrying.
Expeditionist Naia decided to utilize the mirror herself - her curiosity struck her, she wished to get a close look at the Vessian Star Tower, the impossibly tall center of the Redshift. When she gazed into the mirror's surface, she found herself standing in the canopy of a woods near what was once the city Ves, now a crater. Still, the Tower and its shifted shape loomed above her. Before she knew it, she had lost sight of herself and was wholly witnessing the Tower stretch across the horizon in a way she had never seen before. It forced her to stretch her neck back to watch, and drew her forth like magnetism. Expeditionist Lodevein was, fortunately, there to catch her - just as she pitched forward and slammed her nose into the mirror, he pulled her back to reality.
Rattled slightly, the party decided to finish up their investigation soon. The Prince's notes on the Redshift seemed to coincide with the R.E.C.'s prevailing belief: that the Redshift had some intent. He seemed to have believed that intent was to kill. Whether that is true remains to be seen…
On their way out, having collected what they needed and ensuring the volcano was safe from shifted beasts, the party debated whether to destroy the nearby teleportation circles. For now, they elected to leave the one near the kobolds' chambers intact; it may pose a risk later, but without an Obelisk nearby, anybody who teleported there would be risking their lives.
They returned to Alsaines successful - the R.E.C. would handle the rest, so it was the Aces' turn to return to their prime directive.

The Truth

04 of Lugaus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, M'zia, Naia, Nimbus
With a direction in mind, the Ace Expeditionists made ready to set for the north east, toward Ves. More specifically, they had thought to ask Alsaines' naiad if there existed any locations along the ancient highways of the kingdom where people like the King and Queen might have stayed on their travels; Eska recalled hearing of a small fort kept by a knight named Keta, which was fairly closeby Ves. The party made quick time, heading to the edge of the dustbowl for the first time in a millennium.
When they arrived at a river, it was like two landmasses spliced together; rolling green hills stretched eastward, unafflicted by the sands that had been shifted over the years. But, nonetheless, still very much shifted: when the scouts set foot on the far side of the river, the ground rumbled like an ocean wave and from beneath its surface sprung great kaleidoscopic arachnoid golems, rising through the grass without breaking earth. Their dozen eyes and sleek heads locked on to the invaders, and they made charge with spindly legs and snapping claws. Only to stop just short of Mont'larin, in a striking distance of inches.
The creatures terrorized everybody else, only holding back when the intercessors fled back westward over the river. Mont'larin realized: when they had raided the Dragonking Omnithivus' hoard, he recovered a suit of Vessian armor. A knight's armor, bearing the talon insignia on its helmet. The golems refused to attack Vessians.
The guess proved true when the party brought forth other items bearing the insignia they had collected in their time in the Zone - coins, a handkerchief. The grid of eyeballs upon the beasts flickered in some inscrutable algorithm as they looked upon these trinkets, before deciding that the bearers were indeed meant to be here, and simply leaving them be. The creatures meandered aimlessly, allowing the party to proceed mostly unhindered; every few minutes, new guardians appeared from the earth, scrutinized the travelers, and then melted back into nothing. Expeditionist Lodevein elected to play the fragmented Ode he had discovered in Alsaines, written in the ancient kingdom - and it seemed the tune of the march played well with the guardians, who gave an even wider berth.
It was not long, then, until the party arrived at the promised location: a squat little fort on a hill, still in decent condition today. Arriving in the late afternoon, a drawbridge materialized before them, and behind it materialized the dragonborn Gakari from a millennium before, who roared at the party - survivors - to hurry inside.
The blue and scaly brute didn't recognize them, as usual, but she invited them to join her in protecting this spot. She and Adrian Holtzmann had guided several people here from the city of Ves and the nearby village Culbrook, which burned to the south, for a great cloud of red miasma was spreading from Ves' Star Tower, and it transfigured the people underneath it in horrifying ways. While Gakari kept watch, Holtzmann toiled at something in the fort's basement; it was late in the day, the miasma showed no signs of stopping, and the people they had rescued would not easily be able to keep traveling with little in the way of supplies.
The party brushed past the civilians - people from the ancient past, long gone in the modern day - to speak to Holtzmann as soon as they could. They found him hunched upon the tiles of the musty basement, disheveled and unkempt, carving runes into the stone with a knife and muttering arcane formulae to himself. The Aces wasted no time: they introduced themselves as explorers from the future. Shock in the man's eyes turned to recognition, and he approached them; grabbing Gro:ntassle's face, he pinched it, exclaiming that he had seen their faces in his dreams, since he had been a boy. He never knew what they meant or when they would meet, but as a diviner he had come to trust those portents.
While those upstairs rested, he was trying to forge a gate to get the people secluded here out of the path of the oncoming storm before it was too late. But he was willing to talk while he worked, and the Aces hastily interviewed him, trying to find out everything they could about what happened, on this day that the Redshift Phenomenon began. He told them he had been at work for months under the request of King Erditus and Queen Ars'ela - working to find a cure for their terminally ill Princess Cirres using the artifact he had recovered from Alsaines, a crystalline cube he called the Asterith Locus. He told them he had used the Locus to peer into realities very nearby his own, which would normally be impossible to do reliably. He sought Princess Cirres in those other realities: ones where she was healthy. Working with Vessoth's Secretary, whom he called Aelita, he claimed that they had been able to silently and harmlessly borrow "truths" from those other worlds, and using a great machine they built together with the Locus at its core, performed a surgery to graft those truths upon the body and soul of the Princess Cirres of this world.
And … it had worked. All signs pointed to success. The brave young Princess took well to the treatment, and if theory and experiment held true, would recover easily in a matter of days of bedrest. Holtzmann and Aelita shut down their machine, and he retired to the apartment he was staying at, a city block away from the Tower. His regret manifested the next morning, when he and Gakari awoke to quakes and screams. In the street, they witnessed people enveloped in a cloud of red miasma slowly expanding from the Tower - and those who fled dragged back within by their countrymen who had been transfigured into horrific monsters. He described watching the royal guard captain, Amauz, heroically leap to the defense of others, only for his skin to unfurl and his head to shine like the sun, and- Holtzmann ran away before he could witness any more.
They had brought together the few who managed to join them on the mad dash out of the city and across the countryside in the past day to this little fort, owned by the retired knight who doted on the evacuees upstairs. His voice quavered as he spoke his tale, though his hands continued steadily carving his arcana. It had been a mistake; something he did, surely, something he knew he shouldn't have meddled with. He was a man, playing with the essences of other worlds, and deep inside he expressed he always had known it was a terrible, doomed idea, even as the excitement of success and encouragement of his patrons rocketed him forward toward invention. But it did not make any sense, why this had occurred. He had not interfered with other worlds; he had not stolen anything, he had not made enemies, he had damaged neither his home nor the places he visited. Yet, it would seem, something unspeakable did happen, somewhere in that Tower, while he slept - or perhaps even before, set in motion a day before or even earlier. He may never know - and realized he would never know, learning from the heroes from the future that the Redshift persisted an eon later. Still, he worked, refusing to abandon his task at hand, his only relief from the impending annihilation of millions of lives the knowledge that the Redshift's influence stopped at Vessoth's western border.
A howl went up from the yard. Gakari had spotted something worthy of alarm. The party hurried up to the wall - and they saw a swarm of beasts. Once-people. At their center, an undulating scyphozoan horror whose head shined with light that eclipsed sight. Holtzmann's portal was not done. They had to defend the keep, or perish. The creature leading these monstrosities lashed its tendrils out, tearing the drawbridge straight from its hinges, allowing the rest to pour in. Gakari leapt to battle, and the Aces moved to protect her with sword and magic. Things that had been people, now fused-together, sprouting too many limbs, melted and screaming curses that made one's lizard-brain quail, hounds whose spines had grown through their flesh and maws opened in flowers of teeth, assailed the walls.
When one was killed, the shining creature lashed out at it, devouring it entirely. It grew in size, and its light shone brighter more. There were dozens of beasts - the thing could grow endlessly. The hounds scaled the walls. The shambling curtains of agony spit terror through the cracks and slits of the forts into the minds of those who hid behind its walls. The Redshift wanted these evacuees dead or assimilated.
Desperate, Expeditionist Lodevein brought forth his power to exile the shining horror. It disappeared from this half-true world, for a time. With the opportunity, the Aces were able to catch their second wind and bite back - they cut down the swarm of doomed Vessians until none remained. Hurrying back to Holtzmann's place before the beast could return at the conclusion of the flutist's spell, they found he had successfully opened his gate. The still-intact people were ushered through to somewhere near Orvis, by the wizard's attestation. Gakari wondered aloud if the gate could be closed to stop other monsters from getting through, and Holtzmann told her he was unsure, since he had just invented this spell now. So, she snorted, picked him up, and tossed him through - then scratched out one of the runes with her foot.
They had a moment with Gakari before the world of the past returned to the present. She apologized for stranding them here with her, but assumed they'd have their own means to get back to the future. On the other hand, she readied to face her end. Whether by shifting or the oncoming swarms of more beasts, she decided to face it upon the walls of the keep. With her, they spied the Star Tower in the distance: and they watched it suddenly grow, higher and higher, carrying the nucleus of the Redshift storm with it, until that red sphere halted somewhere in the middle of this impossible tower. It would keep growing till it reached the country's edge. Gakari, and the window to the past, was gone.
In the basement, the glyphs were still present today - one scratched out. They managed to reforge that last one, and with a little mana, the gate reopened… just as Holtzmann originally set it to do. A portal to somewhere near Orvis appeared in the wall of the fort; a cave upon a mountain, populated by one individual, whose great eye glittered green in the light of the Aces' torches. It - he - the Worker - the twisted, shifted creature who had spent a millennium attempting to open this gate from the incorrect side - stepped through, exulting. He seemed to recognize some of the Expeditionists; "we finally did it!", he exclaimed, over and over. The truth was clear. The Aces asked him if his name was, if he had any memory of being, Adrian Holtzmann. The Worker paused. Clarity came to his clouded eye all at once, stopping his enthusiasm short. Realization and remembrance staggered him. It was all he could do to gasp out his words, and stumble forth to grasp the face of the party's rogue, as he had done a thousand years before in a past that never happened. He did remember Holtzmann, he did remember these people he'd seen in his dreams. He apologized over and over. They told him it was not his fault; it was nobody's fault; but he continued. He wailed through ragged and ancient vocal cords, nearly incoherent, babbling a mixture of memories, regrets, fears, and prophecies; a warning of something; with certainty: IF SHE SEES IT, IT WILL BE REAL. As though the words had held his body together, he shuddered all at once, his heart giving out, and collapsed. What little was left of Adrian Holtzmann died.
The Redshift screamed twice that evening, again. The heartbeat, the waxing of the storm, had started once more. It was time to go. They bundled up the body and prepared to make haste back home. Leaving the portal open, but blockaded, for now - lest they risk being unable to open it again - the Aces departed.

Holtzmann After Death

20 of Lugaus, 1221
They brought Holtzmann's body back to Alsaines. The man was too important to leave him or give him a burial already. The R.E.C. was a collection of heroic individuals, and some knew magic which could allow them to speak with the long-dead; maybe even to resurrect him.
But it'd require moving his shifting from his body to another living thing; he was no longer truly human. If such manipulation was even possible, now that he was dead. Arguments sparked. Was he worth the risk? What if it failed? The dryad Grandmother had spent centuries absorbing motes of shifting, and she paid the price with her lifespan and health. The naiad Eska had been saved from her shifting at no small cost to Expeditionist Gro:ntassle, who suffered the side effects.
It was decided to at least use magic to delve into the knowledge left in his corpse. Without needing to resurrect him, his memories could be probed. They asked for information about Ves and his role there in the months before the Redshift began. And they asked about the device he built which used the Asterith Locus; apparently, the relic was to remain inside the machine and be handled by the Secretary afterward.
There might be more use to extract another day, but these pieces of information might help later. Until it was decided what to finally do with his body, it was to be kept preserved in a locked room at Alsaines where it would be safe from further shifting.

Aophewell Province

03 of Tadhus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
In the meantime, the Ace Expeditionists decided it would be worth traveling to the south, where Prince Ieth had informed them a little bit of the endless snow and his brother Arturus' efforts there. Apparently the Prince had a lair near or in the ruins of the ancient Vessian city Aophewell, and it seemed wise to investigate another large swathe of the Redshift Zone. While the Aces did this, Expeditionist Mortier's team would scout the northeastern edges of the desert, and the dragon Ruby and pixie M'zia would travel east to Gemeri to spy on the Proxy (or Proxies) there to see if they could glean anything new about her behavior.
The party traveled through the desert, which had been formed over the millennium by Eska's corruption. And, before long, they had crossed over into a winterland - snow buried miles of what must have once been hills and fields, and trees and bushes were iced over solid though they did not appear otherwise unhealthy. This long travel found them following the western mountain range, nearby which Aophewell supposedly sat. These snow lands were not totally desolate; creatures native to or born from the ice meandered here and there, though they paid the party little mind. A pack of drakes who seemed not native to the area stalked turf that the party tried to hike through. Weird elementals born from cold rolled about.
When the party found their destination, it was an unusually-shaped castle built up on a mountainside, supported by tall stone pillars. At the bottom, the thick layers of snow were carved through by trenches or tunnels - work done by the kobolds enslaved by Arturus, most likely. Those same kobolds were also responsible for building the mechanical lift which served as a replacement for ordinary access to the structure, which had seemingly collapsed or been destroyed long ago.
Though elemental power drifted around this place, the halls were relatively desolate, seemingly abandoned carelessly, or with intent to soon return. Tools for digging into the mountain were scattered about nearby kobold-sized tunnels and crates full of what might have been destined to become iron or steel later on. Prince Arturus' room was as spartan as his quarters in his father's true lair, but nearby, the party discovered a trio of Vessian statues which had been enchanted at some point by Prince Vashda. He spoke to them from some point in the past - a recording of his voice. It would seem he expected them to come to this place if they defeated his family, and as some form of thanks, his magic restored their stamina from the long journey.
This served them well when they descended to the castle's lower level. Within a large barred chamber locked with chains dwelled some other elemental of much greater power; a booming, bellowing force calling himself The Jet Who Streams Around the Mountain Peaks. He spoke to them once he realized they were there, and when it came out that they were responsible for the death of Prince Arturus - his rival - his bombasic demeanor flung the door, chains and all, across the room, and he manifested as a storm, ready to claim championship over his new rivals.
The party were caught off guard when the storm elemental started battering the supporting pillars of the entire castle, and they had no choice but to fight him. They blasted him and his offshoots with all their strength but were not able to quell him quickly enough - in just a few moments of chaos and wind, The Jet Who Streams Around the Mountain Peaks had ruined the integrity of the castle and it began to collapse completely; rending from the mountainside and shaking centuries of snow from the rock, most of the party were stuck inside when it began to slide down the foothills and into the eastern fields.
Only when the castle finally slid to a stop, after this torrent of chaotic stone and snow, did the great storm elemental finally start to sputter out; just as the heroes were doing the same. Mont'larin pleaded with the elemental for a draw, lacing his words with enchantment from an artifact recovered from Omnithivus' hoard. The threads stuck; at the suggestion of another, greater foe, a volcano along the coastline, the elemental's interest was piqued at the same time he was convinced to admit exhaustion. He turned to breath in their ears, promising they'd battle again after they both had the chance to rest.
Everyone happily survived, though the Aophewell castle didn't. Strangely, it seemed there was no sign of any other structures anywhere around. Any sign of Vessian civilization in the region had either been destroyed, or simply buried in the endless tracks of snow. Further expedition would have to wait; the party was exhausted and the Redshift had just begun. They would need to hurry back to Alsaines to meet their companions.
A few days later, when they returned, they reconvened with their allies to enjoy a well-earned feast and share reports. Mortier's team had a run-in with some of the Vessian Guardians to the northeast, but made it out safe. The two tiny fey had a more worrying tale: Ruby had thought to try speaking to one of the Proxies, until she captured him in a glass jar; a jar that didn't exist physically. He was trapped until M'zia stunned the two long enough for them to escape. If the Proxies at Gemeri could create such a trap, who knows what else they might be capable of.

To Ves

14 of Tadhus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
Over the next several days the R.E.C. got back to work planning on where to go next. It seemed unlikely that it would be possible to visit Gemeri again so soon; Witch-Guardian Arisa still had not developed a means for her to safely speak to the Proxies there without a present Obelisk, though her work on the technology continued. In the meantime, there were several places that could make worthy Obelisk sites - the prime among them as the small keep near Ves where Holtzmann created his gate.
The Aces readied to accompany Professor Decus and a kobold tamer Ran to the site - in the meantime, Vidar, Captain of Keep Silex to the west, would bring the materials for another Obelisk up to the top of the mountain where Holtzmann had lived as the Worker. By placing an Obelisk on each side of the gate, it could potentially be used.
The journey was quite easy - now that the R.E.C. knew how to outsmart the Vessian Guardians, they paid the travelers no mind. With two drakes pulling the wagon overland, it was a reasonably quick trip to the foot of the keep on the hill where the Obelisk would be raised. While Decus began work on that task, the party quickly traveled to the basement where they had left the gate to check up on their colleagues from the western side of the Redshift Zone.
It was lucky they did, for a Guardian had appeared and meandered through the portal at some point very recently. While the Expeditionists on the other side were dressed in tabards bearing the Vessian talon for precisely this sort of contingency, two people were not: the Saint Avereis Cicetha and his beleaguered Chevalier, who had failed to convince her charge to follow the instructions and guidance of the R.E.C. when it came to tourism around the Redshift Zone. The overeager Ordained Blood had broken out of the safety rails and traveled all the way up the mountain to see what all the excitement was about; the Aces sprung to protect their guest from the Guardian, whose myriad eyes locked on to the two intruders. When Professor Decus arrived a few moments later, he was able to imprison the thing and the party was able to return it through the gate, convincing it to depart.
Traveling through the gate behind them, now properly-dressed the Saint and his Chevalier Kait brushed past the Aces to take in the sights of the Vessian Star Tower from up close. Fortunately it did not take very much work to convince them of the Redshift Zone's dangers; once the talk of monster blood and guts and hard marches through stinking corrupted bogs began, the nobleman made his graceful retreat back to more-civilized parts of the Zone. But not before promising to be the first direct patron of the Commission's efforts.

The Reality

30 of Tadhus, 1221
Expeditionists: Alvisstavver, Ambergrene, Mont'larin, Naia, Nimbus
It was time to approach the Star Tower in person. The Obelisk at Keta's Keep was fully built, and had proven its resilience through its first Redshift. Likewise, the mountaintop Obelisk on the other side of the gate held true, and both together prevented the Redshift storm from "leaking" through the now-open gate - as long as both Obelisks were maintained, the gate could be used as a permanent route for small-scale transport of goods and people at high speed.
Leaving Professor Decus to defend home base, the Aces set forth to recon the Tower and see what they could see about the city of Ves which supposedly was built below it long ago. The journey was short - only a day from the keep - and when they arrived they saw much what they expected from their initial glimpse from Varya's telescope near Shose. The Tower was surrounded by a massive pit and it had grown some sort of roots or tendrils around its base.
And, at the bottom of the pit was Ves. Wholly intact, as though it had simply slid into the earth.
Not willing to leave their report at just that, the Aces decided they could make the trip down. Between them, they now knew a variety of magic that could easily get them down and back up again, so as long as they were careful, there was no risk of getting stuck. It was worth exploring to see if there were any signs of life, shifted life, or information they didn't have.
Upon descent, they landed on the outskirts of the city - at the very edge of the pit. The Tower was at the center of the city and the pit, so they made for the center on foot. As they entered the city proper, they found it unlike most ruins they had found so far; it was not ruined at all. There wasn't a soul around, but the streets were clean, the flower pots looked well-kept, and the windows gleamed in what sunlight filtered between those huge "roots" high above. When Expeditionist Gro:ntassle slipped into a nearby building - a bakery - to investigate closer, he suddenly heard the sounds of life as he stepped over the threshold. But only the sounds of it. Like hearing an echo, the sounds of everyday life spread throughout the city, and as though they had stepped through a veil, all the explorers became able to hear it. Investigating further, they found their way into homes, where there were the sounds of people living their life; they never reacted to the Aces' presence. While the physical things about the city were well-kept, things like books only read nonsense, random strings of letters put together or none at all.
Further northeast in the city was a clocktower; the party thought it might make a good landmark and possible site to check for better information. But they could not get closer than a street from it before something at the Star Tower's base awoke. The tendrils surrounding the central spire spread apart in a whirling array, revealing something like a sun, whose cries echoed in the mind and sight immolated the world around it. The whole city quaked; whatever it was, the party's approach had woken it from some slumber and it tore the city streets into rings, if for any purpose then to gain ideal line-of-sight to the party, those intruders. Forced to hide behind buildings, they had little choice but to push forward under cover while the thing at the Star Tower annihilated its city around them.
Homes and businesses and the clock tower they had hoped to investigate exploded into rubble around them, but the party was able to keep well-hidden enough to proceed down further into the city. Things like the arachnoid Guardians met on the surface appeared, melting out of the earth, but less-coherent, and in no way mollified by the Vessian emblems the party wore. They gave chase, but as the party grew ever-closer to the city's center, they discovered their luck: an entrance to an underground cistern which led further into the city. Once they ducked inside, the rain of destruction above their heads came to cease.
So they continued onward, finding an exit from the waterway very near the Star Tower itself - indeed, in the gardens surrounding its plaza. Poking their heads into the blazing heat of this burning star, they found it did not attempt to destroy them from here. Was it possible it had become reluctant to destroy the city so close to the Tower? Whatever the case, the party took advantage of their fortune and approached to try to speak to it. Surprisingly, despite its telepathic screams throughout the raid, it spoke somewhat civilly. It spoke of warnings and of a heavenly order to defend, though what it sought to defend was unclear. It spoke of how there were more important things than the people of Ves to defend. It spoke, then, suddenly, while opening its maw, and revealing within the shape of a headless elf, that its defense of the Tower was absolute, and that those who were seeking to invade - or restore - Vessoth would not again see it in this vulnerable state. As though it had acknowledged their deeds and arguments, it remained open while the Aces took their opportunity - and struck. The body perished, and the sun exploded, blasting everyone and everything with radiant heat. The dozen tendrils surrounding it dissolved into glittering dust. The Tower, which had floated on a point above the sun, plunged directly downward all at once, spearing the earth.
Whatever it was that had defended the Tower from entry - the remains of that elf from ancient times who had been shifted into a gluttonous light - was gone. There was no visible means to enter the Tower still, but Ves was quiet again. While there was still time and no new danger had arisen, it was time to make a retreat; with a change made, it would remain that way when they next returned.