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

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

The page, written in Common, reads as follows:

Today is Niiman, day 17 of the month Imaerasta in the year 5120.

This is the fourth day of our efforts, and we are digging once more.

We have been provided smaller implements to work with, so that we can be more delicate in our work. Master Ciermont of Nydds is joining us in our expedition today. I am walking the area Sunwise again to properly look it over. We have more freedom to move about under this magical dome. The area is like a protected square at the base, and we can freely wander from site to site. The weather is hot and dry. There is vegetation in some places, with spiders and lizards here and there with some sort of carrion birds in the distance. The ground seems to be primarily pale sand and stone. It makes me wonder what more can be found here. It seems less and less barren the more I observe it.

The group has begun the dig to the northwest, and spirits are high. A keg has been brought out, and there are requests for song. It is with a jovial spirit that people put their backs to work.

The rock formations to the north yielded nothing. While I might have wanted to keep at the soil there, digging with trowel where the large stone used to be, we were attacked by lizards. One of our own fell, which highlights just how deadly these encounters are. As that got sorted, others kept at the backbreaking toil in the heat. Once again, to the east of the portal, it seems nothing was found in a large outcropping of rocks. This is truly what it is to be a treasure seeker - Patience is required.

After another lovely interlude with worms, lizards and other non-music lovers (apparently, some of us sing off key), we went to dig to the northwest... oh.

I noticed spiders with green markings being eaten by blue lizards. The lizard seemed to be poisoned in the doing. It made me begin to wonder if we were not intruding a bit on the homes of some of these creatures. A few of them truly did not seem to be hostile to us. The ones that were, however, were very hostile indeed!

PROGRESS!

We have found a glaes armband with a crack in it. I can only wonder if WE cracked it, though. My heart breaks a bit at the thought. There is no song coming forth from the armband yet. It is almost a breath-catching moment. Xanthium sees giantmen marching together. Undead run at them, and she says she braces her feet and swings an axe. The vision broke.

The band is handed to Faerinn, and he coaxes more from the artifact. He ends up covering his ears, and he says that as he severs the head from one of the undead with an axe, a horrible sound sends him to his knees. Xorus murmurs a single word in the crowd, but I cannot hear what he says over the exclaiming. However, there is more to be told. Faerinn looks up as he sings, and brings his hand to his throat. He says that his sight fades in as a member of the undead horde tears his throat out. The imparted vision fades, allowing him to see himself fall over. The next thing he tells us is that he feels the sun on his face as blood pours from a gash in his throat. It all fades, and there is nothing more to be told.

There was some argument about which clan the armband represented. Some names are tossed about, but no firm decisions are made. When the band's value is brought up, Darcena says a clan armband's price is beyond worth. Voltung echoes the sentiment.

We went to see how the other dig went. Just as we arrived at the site southwest of the portal, they unearthed a small clear glimaerstone. Xanthium sings to the stone and looks up - she sees a quickly fading scene of a group of elves in robes. I think she next means that she sees herself gripping a sword, standing with others around the elves. A dustcloud reveals undead and human mercenaries charging her. She begins swinging her arms as if she is fighting someone off, and says she is protecting the elves as they shoot fire from their hands in arcs over her head to slam into her foes. The last vision imparted is her kneeling before the robed elves with a sword through her chest, and the stone tumbling to the ground.

These visions truly tell tale of a battle -- oh. Oh! A spider!

Pardon all of these ichor smears - we were rather brutally attacked. No one died, but it was a heavy wave.

I'd noticed a little lizard just before all of that. It was small, and violet in hue, and jumped up on my shoulder, hissing softly at me. It seemed cheerful, and not aggressive. The barrier scared it, and made it fall off and scamper away. It makes me think, once more, that we might be disturbing things here. I wish that we didn't have to have the barrier, but then I remember that huge spider going for my innards, and I realize that I want the barrier very much. Conflicting thoughts. A cute purple lizard is not worth having my face torn off.

I didn't try any of the keg that Huske brought in, I should have taken some to my inn room. This is exhausting work. We are permitted to linger at the site for a bit, but I am too tired to do so. Maybe next time. I believe that will be two days from now. I nod to the guard posted on the opposite side of the portal on my way out.

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

Actual artifact short descriptions

a cracked glaes armband

a small clear glimaerstone