Maelshyve Expedition Field Notes (short story)/Field Notes - Part Two

You carefully open your plum velvet notebook, revealing the smooth pages of parchment within.

The page, written in Common, reads as follows:

Today is Day of the Huntress, day 11 of the month Imaerasta in the year 5120.

We head to Rhoska-Tor for the first time in our expedition.

The Curator, Zenlynn, has said that she has spoken with artificers to craft nine modified feystone crystals to anchor the dome and focus our magic. We will go through this glowing ivory portal to craft our protective barrier around the nine areas of the dig site.

Four of the crystals will be attuned to Spiritual energies; they will be located at the cardinal points - North, South, East, and West. The other four will be Elementally attuned; They will be placed to the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest.

The ninth crystal will be the anchor. It will be located near the portal and infused with the power of the maelstrom to activate the barrier. Zenlynn has stated that, should we deviate, we may still be able to create the power needed. It is so exciting to see all our planning come together!

The spiritualists will form up on Daevian. The Elementalists on Archious. In the excitement, I cannot see who those versed in Maelstrom form on (nor do I quite understand what 'Maelstrom' is supposed to mean) but aside from that, a fourth group was to form on Huske. After frenzied preparations and group shuffling, we venture into the portal.

We're here!

Zenlynn had mentioned that the area is unstable from earthquakes, wild magic, and from the creatures left behind from that magic. This place feels... drained and feels so desolately sad. The only way that I can describe it is 'empty', though there are things here.

And there are definitely things here. There are soft hisses in the air. Heat and sand blasts you in the face. What is strange to me, is that there are small bits of plant life drifting on the wind. If this place is so dead, there would be none at all. There must be some nearby.

We get to work.

The site is laid out like the spoke of a wheel, with the portal at its center. We place the crystals, one by one at the nexus of each area. Beginning to the West, and work our way around Sunward until we complete our circuit.

All of the casters hurl our spells at the violet crystals marbled with vaalin. Some reflect off, some seem not to sink in properly. The spiritual casters seem to have more difficulty, which makes me wonder about feystone distortions, but the crystals all begin to glow.

I make that seem as if this is a simple task.

We are assaulted by the denizens of the area. There is speculation on what draws the lizards - perhaps the mana, perhaps our flesh, maybe the glow of the lights in the evening. Whatever it is, the stalwart members of the crew beat them back so that we can continue our task. The bards attempt to sing peace, but that leads to fluctuation in the mana, almost causing the crystals to seem to explode.

The lizards seem as if they are either starved or hopelessly hostile. Their scales seem to vary in hue, we saw ebon, dull red. We also saw a wasteworm!

There may be details missing on these pages of the entire experience, I admit. I was rather focused on the intricacy of the casting, and the crystals themselves. It was a bit difficult to do properly. All the casters hurled magic at the final crystal near the portal then Maelstrom magic was cast to put up the barrier. We saw dark figures moving away from us and the barrier.

It was all so fascinating! The entire area is so interesting. I even saw three spires in the distance. There were like that on an item in the museum in Illistim.

That place. THIS place. I have to know more. I'll detail it all here as I can.

We will return in two days to see if our efforts at a stable barrier were fruitful.

You gently close your plum velvet notebook, taking care not to bend any of the pages.