Letter to Travis

Moonday, 2 Sehanine 1222

Dearest Travis,

I received your missive. I hope my response finds you well. While I am excited to hear of your adventures, I am concerned about your well-being. Please appropriately safeguard yourself.

Regarding the astrophysical anomalies you’ve been observing. We are aware of the situation – but haven’t been able to discover its cause. Astronomers at the Mediton first noticed the phenomena a little over a month ago on Starday the 25^th of Pelor. The day was not particularly astronomically noteworthy in any way other than being the day prior to the double full moon that marks the autumnal equinox. The Pansophical has engaged Archivist Iben Mastifen of the Cobalt Reserve to explore any known pre-calamity texts to determine if something like this has happened before in recorded history.

Queen Dranser and the rest of the council have been briefed and are deeply concerned about what this event may be heralding. Krom claims it is a sign from the gods that war is coming (typical for him), but he has the queen’s ear more than usual – and, even I must admit, the massing hordes of the red hand to the north fit his narrative. Many rumors and tall tales are propagating like wildfire among the public. Rainen has doubled the guards in the city to maintain the peace.

I am very concerned to hear your report about the mine. This is extremely troubling. I know nothing of this “Dagon” entity you mentioned other than the boogeyman stories old women tell the children to keep them in line. I’ll see what information I can gather. The description of the alter and the sahaguin imagery is very troubling. I am not an expert on these creatures, but I know imagery associated with them has been found by archeologists in ruins of several cultures around Arklan. Most of these ruins tend to be very old – some scholars believe large sahaguin societies existed prior to the divergence when the gods walked the world, the barriers between the planes were thin, and there was no divine gate. Some scholars believe the Sahuguin were servents of demon princes that served the betrayer gods. Others have suggested they served aberrant forces from far realms – a kind of primordial soup that existed before the prime deities gave form to the world and the planes.

I would be extremely careful with the staff. Such an item could have very unforeseen effects that simple magics wouldn’t reveal. Your description of the staff is hard for me to process – you say it is filled with a spherical object? Do you mean at the top or is there a core that runs through it? If it is like your chest, the material is called Diapson crystal. I am well aware of its uniqueness and rarity. Finding you with a piece in your chest was one of the many things I found interesting about you. Diapson and its refined form, a material known as presidium, have very unique magical properties that make them excellent conduits for spellcraft magnification. They are also used as energy batteries to power archomechanical devices. Two factional gnomish guilds in the city have made pretty extensive use of diapson crystals in their designs and inventions. I’m told the Lofty Ambitions guild is working on some form of air vessel powered by Diapson, but haven’t found success in harnessing its properties at scale.  

In any case, the material is highly sought after due to its rarity. The tri-point mine is one of two locations where some veins of the material is known to exist. The valerian mining company has a store here in the grey market. Most of their supply goes to the gnome guilds, but the Pansophical has purchased small quantities of the material from them in the past. Finding the staff in the mine is odd. I wonder if they are connected. I will task some guides to investigate this matter of Dagon, the alter imagery, and the staff further.

Stay safe Travis, I’ll be in touch once I learn more. Be very careful if you go to the ruins where you were found. I know not what they hold.

Arcanist Allura Vysoren

P.S. Given your more active adventuring of late, I am enclosing a small glass marble with this message. Shatter it on the ground at your feet if you find yourself in insurmountable danger.