Creative Writing Logs from my DND Game

[MothballMilkshake]

Hi all,

So I have started chronicling my DND characters adventures, he's a half elf historian and I figured keeping a journal/letters to home would be a fun way to develop his character. I'm gunna post what I have so far - please forgive any small grammatical errors, I am still working on it

[MothballMilkshake]

Property of Iberis Illinorin

Details of my historical journey to Avillon

Entry 1

Upon arrival in the small port city of New Ilyan, I made my way to the town hall to apply for a scavengers license in order to legally acquire relics from the ruins. I accompanied two ladies, one of the noble elven house Greendew, the other a half drow who had been branded with the symbol of heresy by the name of Maya. I did not find out what crime caused her to be branded such, but as it was not relevant to my research, I did not press. The noble Lady Greendew is clearly a holy warrior of some kind, and I wish her well on her quest.
Upon arrival at the town hall, I was speechless to find that the funds my father had supplied for my undertaking had been spent largely on the trip over the seas and I had not enough to fund my own license. Never matter! In the face of adversity one finds true adventure!
Accompanying the two ladies still, we made our way to the Mapmakers guild in the merchants quarter, who were seeking escorts for their workers still mapping out the island. Their chosen cartographer was one of the strange ‘Warforged’, abundant in Zephys and famous in the city of New Ilyan for their numbers - and their apparent self awareness. The one we were to accompany designated itself as ‘T37’, though I have nicknamed it Tiny - a play on its rather impressive stature. I am incredibly excited to learn more about it, if it will allow me.
Our task seemed simple enough - merely protect this being while it mapped out a heretofore unexplored swampy area, and we would each receive our own licenses. A trifling matter for such a sought after prize. I admit, I may have been somewhat overconfident in my rough combat abilities. Though I trained with my brothers and fought off a large rat or two, I realise now I am no true warrior like the Lady Greendew. And I regret not taking my casting lessons more seriously, seeing how Miss Maya managed her magic.
But I have neglected to write of how I witnessed these heroic feats, and how my own poor combat experience was revealed. As we mapped the swamp land, we were set upon by three large frogs - now I am not talking about the kind of frogs you see in your pond or flattened under cart wheels at home - these frogs were the size of a medium dog, at least. And their tongues were covered in barbs. One almost had me before Lady Greendew saved my life.
I shall stick to archery until my combat skills improve.
We continued on our mapmaking quest and found a tall, unmarked stone building in a small clearing. It seemed somebody had been there before us, for he lay crushed at the foot of the stairs. The stairs were flanked by two immobile statues - evidently they would be enchanted guardians, used by powerful mages of the old times to guard important places.
Somebody struck one of the statues - I believe it was Maya - which awakened its wrath. However with the physical prowess of both Lady Greendew and Tiny, they dispatched the foe with ease. The other statue did not awaken. It’s possible the magic animating it had worn away after all these years.
Once inside, we discovered a large, empty foyer, lit in a similar fashion to other buildings discovered from those times.
The foyer had two rooms to either side, right and left.
Inside the left room was what was clearly a rest chamber - though the bedding had long since rotted away, there was a stone bed in the middle of the room. With careful scrutiny, we located a golden medallion with an inscription upon it, along the lines of ‘to my cherished one’. We located also the remains of the journal, though nothing was salvageable but scraps of the leather cover. It had the name ‘Nathro’ on it. A shame, as any writings from before the calamity are incredibly rare.
To the right room we ventured, discovering a large light crystal on a pedestal in the centre of the room. A smaller crystal sat in the corner, and after some experimentation we replaced the large crystal with the smaller one, which seemed to hold more power and lit the rooms much more strongly. Whilst in the midst of changing the crystals, we noticed a small crack of light coming from the wall at the back of the building. It was clear there was a hidden room there, as the outside of the building had a round chamber to the back which we had so far seen no sign of.
I examined closely the medallion we had located earlier and was struck with brilliance. ‘Cherished one’, I recited in the old tongue, and lo, the medallion lit up!
An image, slightly transparent, of a very powerful male mage showed itself above the amulet. He spoke to us! He said the words;
“Mishra I fear the end is coming for us, our greed has gone too far. Aetheros is dying and with it the world. I will do what I can to warn the people of Aphion but I might be too late. When I leave I will lock the workshop and the star chamber, if by some miracle you make it back the password is Aetheros, it seemed fitting at this point. And remember that I love you.”
An extremely strange message, and activating the amulet again merely showed the same. Could this then have been a record of what he wished to say at the time, even as I am writing down my experiences in this journal? Another art that is lost to us, then.
Nowhere in my research have I heard the terms Aphion or Aetheros, but it seems as though he was trying to warn people of the calamity that destroyed so much. If we find more of his works on this island, it will be an absolute breakthrough in historical documentation!
Now, the Star Chamber he mentioned in the message - this could only be the room behind the hidden door, and he had kindly given us the code word - Aetheros. Speaking the word opened the door smoothly into a circular room with a pillar extending from floor to ceiling. As the pioneer that I am, I bravely extended my hand to touch the pillar, not considering that it could be trapped or dangerous in any way - a rash decision, but one that paid off.
The room was filled with images of the night sky, but with no constellations or planets in any position any of us - except perhaps the Warforged - recognised. The images moved across the sky at ever greater speeds, until something collided with what seemed to be a representation of our Earth. After the collision, the room returned to normal, however touching the pillar once more replayed the message. Was this a prediction by this Nathro? Was this what he was attempting to warn people of? I have drawn the constellations and collision as best I can.
We sealed the chamber as we left, this discovery will remain with us for now. We have our licenses and I for one intend to find more that this island has to offer. What untold historical riches await? Only time shall tell!

[MothballMilkshake]

A letter sent from Iberis Illinorin to his eldest brother, Antirrhinum

Greetings, brother. I hope you are well. I have arrived safely on the island of Avillon, accompanied by Lady Faliel Greendew of the House Greendew, and another young woman named Maya’lofn. I believe she came from the family Rubywind, who have not been within our circles for some time. Though I know she was exiled for heresy, she has been a great help in this uncharted land, and saved my life on our first mission together.
Please do not alarm mother or father with this information, I know they would only worry.
Speaking with Lady Greendew (who I’m sure you will agree is a very respectable travelling companion), I have been made aware that there are some among our noble associates who may not be treating their servants, serfs and other workers fairly. Overtaxing them for no reason other than to fill their own coffers, with no benefit of greater protection or more land for those being taxed.
As you are going to be the head of our family, I wanted to make you aware of this activity. I am sure father would never condone such actions on his own land, though I know he is hesitant to speak out against the other heads of houses at the best of times.
As always, I wish you and the rest of the family the best of health, this is merely a short missive to let you know I arrived safely. I have gained employment with the mapmakers guild, so should you wish to write back please direct any mail there, I will find it.

Your loving brother, Iberis

[MothballMilkshake]

Entry 2

Having obtained our licenses, and agreeing to accompany one another for the time being, we made our way to speak to the researcher Vieren Zylhorn, who has taken up residence in Avillon and has funded a number of expeditions. He’s a noted collector of crystals, depleted ones included, so by seeing him we had hoped to obtain some gold for our further journeys. When I asked him about the terms Aphion and Aetheros, he was hesitant to speak - he expressed concern and surprise that anybody outside of The Zephys Dominion had heard the term Aphion. I won his trust by sharing the medallion we had found - though I withheld the information about the star chamber, for now. In his historical research he’s found the names of three different floating cities - Aphion, Celes and Zephys. This is big news indeed! No wonder the Zephys Dominion didn’t want the information public, for if the other cities were located - as it seems Avillon may be a part of Aphion - the technological wonders that could be found could challenge their hold on ancient artefacts.
Vieren purchased our large crystal for a tidy sum and tasked us with finding a way into the last unexplored sea tower. So far, nobody has been able to find an entrance. We rented a dinghy and rowed ourselves out there, and bravely did we make our way to the top of the tower, finding no doors to speak of above sea level. Our trip from boat to tower was not without its difficulties - it seems elves, whether pure, half or part drow are not a sea faring people - but make the leap we eventually did.
Upon the top of the tower was a cradle like that we found the crystal in inside the abandoned forest building, and wisely did we keep the small, fully charged crystal to ourselves. Having a charged crystal could be the difference between finding historical breakthroughs and not, after all. And we were right! Upon entering the crystal within the cradle we found ourselves on a platform descending into the tower itself. The journey was long, and we could see nothing, even with our improved vision in the dark. It was a darkness not of natural means, and so heavy one could not even penetrate it physically.
After what seemed an eternity (how far underwater were we?) we reached the bottom of the tower. Now, the tower was divided into four floors, I will start with the bottom and work upwards.
The bottom floor was a small circular chamber with four doors, in each of the cardinal directions. Going left, we found a bedroom - remarkably well preserved, but otherwise of little interest. There were three beds within with meagre chests at the ends - rather like a barracks, one would think. Very utilitarian. Within one chest we did find a white metal rod that tapered to a point, humming with some kind of arcane energy. We will investigate it further when we return to the city.
In the room to the north we found a dining area. Again, dusty but well preserved after all these years. Their cutlery was made of fine steel, much more delicate than anything we could make now, and an extravagant use of steel when silverware would suffice. Though, after all this time it remained untarnished, so perhaps there is something to the design there.
To the right we found an old storeroom, empty of any useable food long ago. We located some strange rope which was again made of metal, this time a flexible metal woven together to form a thick strand. I have never seen the like.
The door to the south was a foyer, with a disturbingly open view of the sea floor and the ocean against it. Though there was no wall, the ocean pressed against what may once have been a grand entrance for their floating transport within their floating world.
Removing and replacing the crystal took the platform up to a different floor entirely. This room was filled with an unnatural sunlight and filled with unusual plants, still living. How they survived I’ve no idea.
In addition to the plants, we located two cadavers of humanoid beings dressed in a fashion similar to the man in the medallion, Nathro. Though most of the robes were rotted, there was enough left to identify that much.
Maya disturbed one of the corpses using her magicians talents, only to have the largest tree in the room eject yellow spores into the air. Though I could feel it trying to get inside my mind, I fought it off. Faliel wasn’t so lucky, and like a sleepwalker began trying to step towards the tree. As if this were not tragic enough, the bodies became animated, shuffling to us like something out of a nightmare!
Though the battle was fierce and I was sorely inured, we put down both bodies and the strange, sentient tree. With Faliel’s help I was able to continue, and finding nothing else of interest within the room, aside from magical script on the walls which was likely the enchantment for the strange light, we pressed on.
Again the lift moved us up, and though we were on the alert for attack, we found only a room wherein the walls were made entirely of glass, looking out into the ocean. Straining our vision, the other towers we could see seemed to have a similar room in the middle of the tower.
The furniture within the room was shattered, as though a great earthquake had tossed the room about. Scratched onto the glass were writings in the old tongue, mysterious and ominous warnings and lamentations such as “Doomed, trapped, no help coming”, “Aphion is gone” and “The starts are falling”. Did the bodies we found belong to people who somehow survived the initial crash, and died slowly within this tower, starving to death?
Maya drew our attention to some incredible sights beyond the glass windows - huge, serpentine shapes swimming in the far beyond, like something out of a myth.
What little notes we found appeared to be sketches of the night sky, ancient star charts. These people studied the stars, it seems. I have reproduced them to the best of my abilities here.
In the room we next entered, a similar layout was present, though instead of every wall being made of glass there was only 1 window on each cardinal direction. I would say wall, though as the building remains circular that phrasing is not exact.
At each window sat a desk with an extremely advanced telescope bolted onto it. Absolutely nothing like what we are able to make now. Tiny managed to safely remove them and we have brought them with us for further study.
Another corpse in this room, barely more than a skeleton, answered our earlier question. It held a bottle in one hand and a scroll case in the other. One scroll within was a magical scroll we will have to examine further, the other was a letter from the person themselves.
The author lamented the end coming for them, and regretted their greed and hubris. It’s unclear whether they were speaking in the singular, though it’s likely they were talking about their society as a whole, as the medallion man was. In the letter they mentioned that the other ‘way towers’ had stopped responding and he could contact nobody else. They sealed the tower as it was too dangerous to venture outside. He lost track of Aphion 3 days ago, and had not heard from them for days prior. The letter ends with him stating he will drink himself to death.
The bottle still contained liquid, which after all this time was unusual. Perhaps the bottle itself is the key? We will take it with us.
Looking through the telescopes we again saw the giant serpents, also what appeared to be an immense turtle in the far distance. I have sketched these creatures on the next page.
Travelling further up took us to the top of the tower once more, and we started making our way back to land. As I write this we are due to arrive shortly, so I will update further on our discoveries soon.

[MothballMilkshake]

Entry 3

Shock and horror! Should my family find out what I achieved this day, they would be shamed.
Once we returned to Vieren he shared his theory that Avillon is made up of many different places, and he is searching for proof that when it crashed it pulled these placed with it. It would explain the bizarre terrain we’ve encountered, solid ground one moment, swamp the next. To prove his theory however he asked us to undertake a most dangerous and blasphemous task - to steal the Augury of Variya from the island temple!
The Augury was described to us, a large and intricate armillary sphere which the priests use to request knowledge of the future.
Well, never am I one to shy away from danger, despite the spiritual trouble it could land me in. With the help of Tiny, we designed a replacement Augury to hide the disappearance of the real one for as long as possible.
Maya caused an admirable distraction, and Faliel helped lower me down from the very ceiling to replace the real sphere with the decoy. Our plan worked perfectly, and despite our initial fears, Maya did not even face arrest.
The orb allows one to commune with Variya only once per week, and is limited to three questions. Upon returning to Vieren, he changed the formation on the orb to match the constellations as seen in the ancient star charts.
Upon the room dimming, a shade of a hooded woman appeared, resembling the night sky itself. She spoke directly to us - an unusual phenomenon, even with the Augury.
“Dead and forgotten Skies should remain so,” she warned.
“You will have your answers but in the end you will only find loss and sorrow in such things.”
How chilling, to be warned so by a representation of the goddess herself!
“Is Aphion the Nexus of this island?” Vieren asked, to which Variya replied with “Yes.”
I had my turn to ask a question, to help my theory.
“Were the peoples of the old world truly equal?”
She was unable to give a simple yes or no answer, and informed me thus -
“Many were but power can always be abused.”
Not so different from our own society, then.
Tiny had the honour of the last question.
“Was it intended for the warforged to gain our sentience?”
The answer was again in the affirmative.
Before she faded she left us with a final warning.
“The sky was broken once before, do not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Oh, to know what mistakes were made! If only this Augury could provide more than cryptic answers - though we hold out hope we will find knowledge deeper into the centre of the island.
Vieren will keep the orb one week, to ask further questions, before we return it before the next Holy day. On the morrow we will speak to the Redwings, hoping they have information they will let slide about the areas they have explored.

[MothballMilkshake]

Entry 4

Success! After convincing a member of the Redwings, a Tiefling named Bedlam, to discuss with me about recent places they have discovered, we were informed about an ancient fortress within a huge crevice far to the South of what’s been termed the badlands.
Stocking up and hiring a driver, we made it there within a couple of days. Though the entrance was trapped with a pitfall, I was able to disable it to allow our party entry. We fought skeletons, discovered some ancient enchanted arrows and a strange barrel that T37 managed to mend. The room was hot and moist, like a boiling pot of water had been left too long. There were a series of pipes connected to the barrel - who knew where it went. More signs of ancient technology we simply do not understand.
We came across a sleeping adventurer who had gotten there before us - two of her party had been kidnapped by goblins and she was set to keep watch for the rest, who were evidently in the south of the fortress. She told us that they had found a large glass tube filled with some kind of liquid, and within was a man sized snake. Assuming it to be dead, they broke the glass, only to realise the snake was very much alive. How? The dust evidenced they were the first to discover it in decades. Surely it could not have been there since before the cataclysm?
The snake spoke inside their minds, but only in very simple sentences - almost childlike in its communication. The goblins took the snake along with her two friends.
The fortress had many strange things in it - during our travels, we found many strange fountains with a serpent statue above them. One had inscribed ‘Let there be fire’, and when spoken aloud in the old tongue the serpent poured forth a potion of fire breathing. Another filled the room with poisonous gas.
We did find a door we were unable to open with the inscription ‘Rebuke the Dead, Open the way’. More on that later.
Naturally, during our travels we found and defeated multiple goblins, including a shaman and a hobgoblin, and a bugbear, but as they hold no historical significance so I will not be including those here. The only thing of note is that the hobgoblin was wearing a signet ring from the Talgen family. A minor house, but a large one. How he obtained it is currently a mystery.
We did rescue a a gnome chained within a room, a self proclaimed scholar and acolyte. They kept him for the purpose of translating documents for the man who hired them - documents and relics about plant life, magic, death and life. Notes about trying to defeat death.
As a cleric, we hoped he could open the door that asked one to rebuke the dead - he did so, and within were four large tubes, with misshapen humanoid forms within. Unfortunately, upon taking some items from the altar at the end of the room, they did awaken and break free, though we put them down without too much difficulty. The altar had a candle of light, a whistle that had the ability to cast the spell animate dead, and a flask of fire resistance potion.
Further on, we found a room with an assortment of seemingly random items from around the fortress, though upon sorting through them we discovered where the talking snake had gone! It did not appreciate Tiny and myself going through its treasures, but with some quick talking and thinking from Maya, our lives were spared.
The snake recognised the term Aphion, but had no deeper understanding, unfortunately. It remembered a master, a woman taking samples from it. One of the original mages? It had little else to share and we left it in peace.
Following the goblin trail, we found a room with a large circular pit in the middle, covered in vines. By going carefully, we made our way down into an underground garden, filled with unnatural light and sickly looking plants in oddly humanoid shapes. The plants followed our movements as animated skeletons tended to them - as they were not hostile to us, we left them.
Though we found several fire elemental nests with sapphires, the real treasure in my eyes was an ancient ‘book’ - metal plates bound on a hinge, with an unrecognisable date printed on the front alongside the words ‘voting record’.
The second ‘page’ had written ‘Sylph Ward Development Proposal’, followed by a list of names and what seem like titles, followed by yay or nay
Biologis Atrix, Oracle Mishra, Thaumaturge Ophuni, Magus Illaneas, Sanctus Etekora, Shadow Volune, Arbiter Thistrea, Architect Nathro, Chronos Xowyn, Mortifer Rheras, Elementum Kellaes, Questor Migreth. Only Mortifer Rheras voted nay on the proposal
Next page: Prisoner Exchange Treaty with Zephys - The affirmatives took this vote too but by a narrower margin
Last page: Commencement of Aether Project , only nays Oracle Mishra and Architect Nathro - the same Nathro and Mishra from the message in the temple?!
Astounding, to find another mention of these people. I stowed the book carefully.
In this mysterious underground series of chambers, we did find where the mysterious master was staying. He had a stack of papers on magical formula and on plant life.
Finally, we found the master himself. He was within a chamber containing a sick looking tree- he had turned the halflings friends into zombified worshippers of the tree, claiming they would live forever. What life is it, when you are in thrall to a magical tree the entire time?
Maya again turned the tide of this battle, destroying the tree itself. Upon its destruction, the mans creations turned on him before asking for death.
Within another chamber, we discovered an artefact never before seen - a box that keeps whatever is within it cold. Extremely useful on long journeys.
Returning to the surface rooms, we finally found an undisturbed room - though it was trapped with an orb that emitted a haunting melody, driving Tiny and Faliel to try to leave and jump from the balcony at the front of the fortress. Luckily, as the place crashed into the ground there was not very far to fall.
Further on, there was writing scrawled on the wall - ‘Failure’, over and over. It led to what must have been this experimenters last project - a huge green serpent, encased within stone, misshapen and hideous like the humanoids we found earlier. This must have been the failure the person had written of.
One final battle for us rewarded us with a diamond, and many notes from the person who created these abominations. I have kept these notes for later perusal, though I do not know if they should see the light of day, considering the crazed druid we met earlier. We shall see.

[MothballMilkshake]

A letter sent from Iberis Illinorin to his eldest brother, Antirrhinum

Brother, I hope my last communication did not distress. I would very much appreciate hearing back from you with an update on how our family affairs are going. You can now reach me by addressing your letters to the house of the Goldmere’s - Domir has very generously offered to house me during my stays in town. Lady Greendew continues to stay at the inn, whilst Maya and the warforged have taken into their employ a series of goblins they captured on our last trip. Whilst the company of Domir leaves much to be desired, it is still an improvement on staying in a dockside warehouse full of goblins.
We’ve a new lead on a possible artefact - writings call it the Forge of Sanctus Etekora. It may have helped to create warforged! We have obtained a diagram from before the cataclysm which T37 has found great interest in.
The only possible snag in our plans to unearth this forge is that the mountains surrounding the volcanic activity are currently being excavated by the Anwellin’s. Now, whilst nobody necessarily has ‘claim’ to an area, I don’t believe they will take kindly to us cave diving ourselves.
I found a signet ring during our last journey belonging to the house of Talgen. I did not know that anybody from the Talgen family had ventured this far, but if you know of somebody who has I regret to inform you they met a very unhappy fate.
I wish you and our brothers all the best, please give my love to mother. If father is around, please let him know that I am keeping him in my thoughts also. Please say hello to Ashwin for me, assure him I’m not yet perished on this wild journey. I believe that means he may owe you some gold pieces, if I remember correctly.

Your loving brother, Iberis

[MothballMilkshake]

Entry 5

Our journey into the mountainous regions began! We made contact with the camp set up by the Anwellins, to advise them we would be seeking riches in the mountain, but would be avoiding their personal dig site. The guard was in fact most helpful – a minor noble working with the Anwellins, he recognised the names of either Faliel or myself. He advised us to take care, as couriers who were supposed to be returning with the latest objects from the dig site had missed their scheduled return date by a large margin, and the scout he had sent to find them had also vanished. Yet another mystery was afoot – boldly did we go into danger once more. 
And what strange danger it was! Halfway up the slope we found a metal statue of a stag or hart, carved entirely from bronze with magnificent golden antlers. Well, being familiar with the guardians of the old world, our suspicions were raised. As we approached it, it sprang to life, following out movement carefully. It remained passive unless we approached too closely, but it was blocking our way up the path. Though the craftsmanship and magic used to create it was extraordinary, sadly we had little choice but to attack. The thing bled molten metal! Attempting to wound it in close combat would only result in personal injury. Luckily, with Maya’s casting and my bow with T’s crossbow, we brought it down before it could do too much damage. Although T and Maya wanted to take it with us immediately due to the value of the metal, it was far too heavy to carry. We stowed it under some brush and hoped it would be there when we returned. During the fight it had summoned some similar constructs, birds of bronze, though they did not bleed this metal and despite being quite agile, were taken down without a great deal of trouble.

Our path took us to a cane entrance, not marked by the exploration equipment of the Anwellins’, and we hoped we had found another way into the mountain heart.
Well – we found another entrance alright! However the room was filled with molten magma, with a rocky walkway barely big enough for one person a piece. The real trouble was the fact that this area was inhabited by a gigantic red serpent. It looked like the living cousin of the huge undead snake we fought back at the fortress. It spoke telepathically, like the small serpent we encountered, and a lot more intelligently than its’ small relative.
Embarrassingly, I was tongue tied around the great beast, though Maya began fawning expertly before it, flattering it and promising that we would send unwary travellers into its lair if it would not devour us. After much deliberation, it let us pass. The magma was filled with the remains of more of those metal creatures – the serpent informed us that they came from within the mountain, and were a good source of shiny for its nest. We resolved to be on our guard.
Beyond the serpent room was a corridor, with the hammer symbol found on the discs of the twelve symbols above it. It’s becoming clearer that these symbols represent the domain of the ancient one who worked there, a house symbol, perhaps? Even more interesting that Faliel’s house crest resembles one of these. I cannot recall whether I wrote of this earlier as I scrawl these writings – the cause for her journey was to find the meaning of her house symbol, a local historian having uncovered a disc with a similar sign along with others on a round disc. We have come across several of these symbols in our travels, one in the fortress we visited earlier - intertwined serpents. A disc was found in a dwelling with all 12 signs on it, snakes, a hammer, Faliel’s sigil, a star, an eye, crossed swords, a roaring lion, a set of scales, an hourglass, a skull, a crescent moon, an eagle. I will sketch this disc in the following pages. 

Beyond the corridor we confronted two more metal beasts – weasels or sables or something of the kind – but they were dispatched with ease, our expertise at dealing with these constructs serving us well.
Exploring these ruins was fascinating – one area contained little but mouldy old food barrels, though one was strangely filled with chips of rare gems, and a box containing a faded, written record with a list of names we’d never seen before, and the old word for the phrase ‘outstanding’. A ledger of people who had not paid for their victuals, perhaps?
The rooms continued, we located what appeared to be a barracks with a series of basic footlockers at the ends of the beds. One contained a necklace of a similar make to the one we found in the star tower, though it seemed of a simpler design. Knowing the previous way to activate them, we read through the list of names we had previously located, one of which activated a simple image of a small family. Unlike the one made by Nathro, it did not speak or move – a memento only.
Further into the ruins, we located what would once have been a grant hall, rent into two parts with a flimsy rope bridge strung across it. Clearly others has been here before us. We spied two more of the sable metal constructs across the way, and initiated ranged combat before they could surprise us. 

Without crossing the bridge, we entered a chamber that was shaped like a huge cylinder – houses folded on either side of it as though a giant had picked up a toy town and rolled it up. More results of the fatal crash, I imagine. The ropes and pulleys of the Anwellins’ came from above and continued on – clearly this is where their explorations had been focused.
Taking our courage in our hands, we braved the rope bridge to the opposite side of the chasm and located the remainder of the hallway we’d been following. We also found the very fresh remains of a human being – probably one of the scouts or one of those who was supposed to be bringing back the newest cache of artefacts to the camp. Unfortunately, Maya thought this a wonderful time to try out the necromancy whistle we’d found in the fortress, ripping the fellow’s skeleton from his body and animating it in a macabre imitation of life. Absolutely horrifying – no wonder she was branded a heretic, really.
After rescuing the travelling companion of the man being held hostage by another metal stag, we located what seemed to be an office with a tiny charge crystal, about the size of a strawberry – but unusually, fully charged!

We also located some ancient documents, another rare find, though they seemed mostly to be about mining resources – obviously this place extracted various minerals (a strangely varied amount for one area, too), and a lockbox containing ancient currency. This currency has been discovered before and is not a unique breakthrough, but will help fund our future expeditions once traded in back at town.
At last we came upon something I’d never seen before – an ancient mine! Veins of copper, tin, silver and gold all in the one place, a geographical event so unlikely as to be unheard of. The floor was littered with metal spheres, though unlike the animal constructs they did not awaken when we neared. They contained a tiny hole just the right size for the crystal we found earlier, so naturally I placed it inside one of the spheres.
The ball opened, revealing spider like metal limbs, each one with a different tool attached. It still did not attack, and when spoken to in the old language followed basic commands like ‘stay, follow me’, and so on. An assistant, then.
I have nicknamed her ‘Dahlia’.
Dahlia managed to open a door we previously had no success with, upon being requested to open the door she filled a minecart with rubble and ore, presented it to the door, and the door granted us entry. The room beyond was a forge filled with inactive metal animals and a space to channel magical energy, but nothing T could cast was strong enough to awaken the creatures. At least we found their source.

Exploring yet further Dahlia opened further passageways for us, one of which was guarded by a gargantuan golden goat. This fellow was quite the challenge, but once more we got the drop on it. We have become quite the suspicious lot travelling around this isle – soon no statue will be safe!
The goat guarded the private quarters of a desiccated skeleton, still slumped at the desk. This skeleton was in turn guarded by a humanoid construct, standing immobile, but sadly it was not functional. Likely the crash or the cause destroyed the spell keeping it active.
Contained within this room was the first of the mysteries T was seeking. A metal sphere, honeycombed with gaps with a red gem contained within the centre. Magical, clearly, but no indication that any of our magic users knew what for.
That is, until further investigation uncovered ancient diagrams, practically falling apart, showing the construction of a Warforged. The exact thing T had been hoping to uncover – this was Sanctus Etekora’s forge after all!
The diagrams showed a wooden frame with metal plates interspersed for the body, and a diagram of an open warforged head. Within the head, an image of the exact sphere we were holding.
This is a historical breakthrough! Nothing this detailed has ever been uncovered. I carefully preserved the original pages as T made copies.

Further into this heavily guarded area, we found workbenches, and in the very centre of the room a metal ring with a half finished warforged hanging off it. T got to work straight away – the benches contained moulds for the metal parts of the construction that were missing, he bustled off to the other area to collect some ore and create the missing pieces while we continued our exploration. 
Yet another chamber connected to this amazing find led to an underground room filled entirely with daylight, similar to the underwater tower we found. The whole place was filled with trees with a vaguely humanoid shape – they bore an eerie resemblance to the tree that cursed druid from the fortress was nurturing. They had grown in the shape of the warforged frame, but looked like they had been growing far too long and become somewhat twisted and strange. Far past their normal harvesting time, the poor things.
Yet another chamber was completely in metal wire extruding from the ceiling and walls, all ending in spikes and pointed towards a hovering blue sphere in the centre of the room. Below the sphere a stone pillar sat, covered in magical script. The little we could translate had to do with energy transference, and a small groove within the pillar was the right size for the earlier orb we’d found on the desk. 

Taking some creative liberties and hoping that we were interpreting things correctly, we placed the orb inside the groove on the pillar with the blue orb above it. A terrible groaning, shrieking noise filled the room and staggers Faliel and T, though I felt nothing and Maya said she felt something strange but shook it off. The red crystal inside the sphere glowed momentarily before dimming again. Was this it? Was I about to witness the birth of a new warforged, the first in centuries?
Unfortunately not. Upon putting the orb inside the head of the unfinished warforged and closing the case, nothing occurred. Obviously, the pillar was not working as intended – unsurprising, as the goddess did advise that the forge was broken.
We reached out instead to our little helper sphere, Dahlia. Upon asking for an assessment we were informed “Insufficient Aether”.
Well, this was helping! I’d no idea we could ask the sphere for information. What follows below is the answers to questions we thought to ask. We asked many more, but most resulted in the answer “Insufficient data”.
Aether, definition: Motive force, anima
Aetheros, definition: Infinite Aether
The dynamic engine draws Aether from Aetheros
Location of dynamic engine: Current location
Aphion was registered 200 miles northwest of this location 1235 years ago
(As this is the middle of the ocean, it’s clear the city fell a long way)
Zephys was last registered 874 miles north east of here 1235 years ago
When prompted for records of prior events of insufficient Aether, we were informed;
Mining sphere-61A assigned to mine copper and tin for simulacrum forge. Critical failure caused by loss of power. Power restored, new task ‘Follow me”.
That was my task! The first task I assigned it! It was inactive for over 1235 years and still functional. Amazing.
Therefore the blue sphere is the dynamic engine. One would assume these were located in more places, once, particularly if they were required to charge the crystals we keep finding. Portable sources of this Aether, wonderful.
Not wanting to lose this magnificent artefact to the Anwellin’s, we resolved to take it with us. It seemed able to be removed and replaced with no issue.
T queried how to construct a dynamic engine – we were informed only counsel members could obtain this information.
Working on a hunch, Faliel presented her family insignia to the little mining sphere. One of its little arms drew a drop of blood from her and after a moment exclaimed – “Welcome Thaumaturg Ophuni, member of the high counsel of Aphion, head of divine powers and beings and their applications for the citizens of Aphion. I will inform the Sanctus of your arrival.”
What is this revelation? Faliel, a direct descendent of one of the high counsel members? And her with no record of human blood in her family! When questioned, the orb could not give a definition of elves, so clearly we truly were unknown at the time. This could open a whole new avenue for us – if we can obtain the hall of records, Faliel will be the key to uncovering information nobody else could even dream of accessing!
We took as many artefacts as we could safely transport back to town and Vieren’s scrutiny, he too is fascinated by what we have uncovered, and rightly so. 
Out of curiosity, I did ask the ball to clarify the other roles of the high council members;
Shadow Volune: Member of the high council of Aphion. Administrator of espionage and intelligence.