There is nothing simple to see here. You may think that you can explain it away as a mystery unsolvable. You may even declare it so unusual that you should have nothing to do with it. You might not even be given a choice between the two.
There are strange events occurring across The Concord. Far too many to allow the rumour-mill to turn accurately. But there are a scant few that cut through the chaff. Just enough to pique interest, or invite disdain.
Tell me, oh Hero, which is it for you?
To Dig Too Deep is to Lose the Air From Your Lungs
The pickaxe is heavy in your calloused hands. Each strike against the rock sends sparks, its song ringing through the tunnels to form the beat of your own. Your friends are nearby, working on other parts of the forgesteel vein. Your work is hard, but the chants you share make it a little easier. The fruits of your labour will soon travel east, to Passage and the waiting hands of the Abbot.
Your pick bites into the rock wall before you, punching through into something beyond. Another tunnel? Unlikely, your maps and plans are well drafted enough that the tunnels go where you want them. You can hear the faintest sounds of air moving, so it must be something that leads back to the surface in any case. Curious, you pull your pick down, opening up a hole into this new space. You see the briefest arc of blue, brighter than the midday sun, before your world becomes dust and noise.
You struggle to your feet, barely able to hear the screams above the rushing winds. The cave-in alarm starts to peal further up the mineshaft, other crews already evacuating before whatever instability has befallen you spreads through the earth. You reach out to Giacomo, helping him to his feet as you mutter a prayer to the Star Sailor for a path out. There is an arcing flash of blue, and the weight pulling against your arm is gone. Giacomo is gone. The rushing winds get louder.
Veins of blue chase you through the ground as you start to run towards the surface, your muttered prayer becoming a desperate chant. You pass a body, trapped beneath fallen rocks. She is not moving, not speaking, and then - as the lights catch up - not there. The rushing winds get louder.
Your legs burn, and your lungs burn with them. The winds whip dust into your eyes and clog your nose and mouth. The pressure all around you bursts your ear drums and almost seems to pull the air from inside you to join its cacophony. But you are so close to the surface, so close to safety. So you grit your teeth and suck the air down, forcing it back out in pleas to every Herald you can remember.
Others run alongside you, making the same offerings to the Spheres as they do. Somehow, you settle into unison, singing songs of prayer like this is just another day of work. You drive each other forwards, striving to make it out and to do so together. Bella trips to your left, but her voice does not falter. The lines of light seem to almost shy away as she is helped along by Carlo and they continue to run. To your right, Jean collapses against the tunnel wall, his body betraying him. He gags, his breakfast threatening to surface, then he is gone. The rushing winds get louder.
After what feels like years, you crest the lip of the mine and breach the surface of the earth. The miners who come to help you are blown off their feet by the torrent of twisted air that bursts from the shaft behind you. Others rush in, to help you and them, and drag you back into the sunny meadow that means safety. The force of the wind seems to have dissipated, but still you hear it swirling in the tunnels below. The arcing blue light has stopped just beyond the mouth.
In the sky above you, dark clouds begin to form.
~=~=~=~
Things of value so often hide beneath the earth, waiting to be uncovered by fateful hands. From the relics of Grand Andash to the cursed remnants of the Harvest Kings, the treasures cultures leave behind make their graves beside the bones of their owners.
Amidst forgesteel and sun’s iron, something lies buried beneath the ground in Mivara. Reports coming from the mine workers who witnessed the event tell stories that increase in drama with every iteration. Some speak of a sun burning in the mines, others of a lightning storm raging in a cavern. One particularly loud worker insists that they came across a colony of slangs, and the missing workers have become their lunch.
The miners of Mivara are hardy people who know the land and the tunnels below like the backs of their hands. Despite fanciful exaggeration and dramatisation when the opportunity strikes, they are more grounded than many of the people in Legend City. In the care of the Abbot, and in the light of the Spheres, they toil and pray.
But this land was not always Mivara, and its people were not always Spheric.
Game Information
An unknown danger has been uncovered within the Mines of Mivara and has resulted in the disappearance of several of the Mine’s workers, and the injury of many more. The Abbot of Mivara will receive no income this season.
A lightning storm has appeared over the town of Mivara causing strong winds, heavy rain, and the occasional fire as lightning strikes ignite trees and homes alike. While the storm is centred over Mivara, it has been slowly growing southwest towards Mancante Terra.
Investments in The Riverlands will produce slightly less as the storms impact the ability to harvest and transport goods through the area.
The Abbot of Mivara will be responsible for a conflux to investigate the strange happenings surrounding the Mines of Mivara. This conflux will be highly dangerous, high intensity, and moderately accessible. There will be additional decisions for the Abbot of Mivara.
There will be additional information regarding an opportunity to resolve this situation for the Archmage.
Nature Abhors A Vacuum
Snap, crack, chew chew
Once trapped it comes for you.
Snap, crack, chew chew
Special gifts for a special few.
Crunch, bite, scream and cry
It was never meant to die.
Crunch, bite, scream and cry
What yet lives, cannot let lie.
Lash, maul, quell and fear
Brika’s children come nearer near.
Lash, maul, quell and fear
Long lost Queens on her bier.
Blood, bone, marrow and rot
Your peace is gone but worry not.
Blood, bone, marrow and rot
For the power beneath cannot be bought.
-=-=-=-
Oh little Flitter Flutter,
Through trees you fly, through roots you play,
Amongst pretty flowers it is a brighter day,
Fear the great and powerful, the large and strong,
Hide away little one, that your life you may prolong.
Oh little Flitter Flutter,
Grow sharp your wit, grow keen your mind,
Without them you are a feast fated to be dined,
It is dark beneath the canopy, so hide away,
Find sanctuary, a safe place, where you can stay.
Oh Flitter Flutter,
Larger now, but in size you cannot rely,
See the threats, watch them with cautious eye,
Trust not in your claw, or speed of wings,
For in this forest there will always be greater kings.
Oh Flitter Flutter,
I have warned you of danger with my rhyme,
To see you protected, not lost with passing time,
So go now, frolic and play in your gardens,
And I will pray that your heart never hardens.
Goodbye, Oh Flitter Flutter
-=-=-=-
Light of the Spheres exposes your shame.
Sit by the Hearth as you hide from the cold.
Welcome the Stranger and light the safe flame.
Blood that flows silver you spill and defame,
Fail to reign in what can’t be controlled.
Light of the Spheres exposes your shame.
See yourself bared here and share your true name.
Hassle the insect and burn away mould,
Welcome the Stranger and light the safe flame.
Flock to the Priests, just a pawn in their game.
Blights and your failings are always sixfold.
Light of the Spheres exposes your shame.
Two-faced deceivers will treat you the same,
Lies in your Sanctum beyond the threshold.
Welcome the Stranger and light the safe flame.
Dark boughs of forests you swear to reclaim,
Here in the homes of the Wealders of old.
Light of the Spheres exposes your shame.
Welcome the Stranger and light the safe flame.
-=-=-=-
In a haven that time forsook,
Lived little Linza Eyes-In-Book.
As far as anyone could gauge,
Her head was always in her page.
She’s wander near and wander far,
Until she found something bizarre.
By her mistake, she’d stepped in web;
Each thread was thicker than her head!
But foolish Linza did not care,
Her head was full of nought but air.
So as she read her tales of woe,
Watched eerie eyes from lone willow.
On silent limbs, it did descend
Towards the girl and her grim end.
Only as the shadow drew near,
Did Linza look, and shake with fear.
“Oh pardon me!” She tried to cry,
But from her lips, a silent sigh.
A single bite was all it took,
To snuff out Linza Eyes-In-Book.
It caused her mother so much pain;
Linza was never seen again.
So heed the tale of Eyes-In-Book;
Before you step, make sure you look.
-=-=-=-
The natterjack calls wooup-wooup-khaarklug
It feasts on the spiders, the beetles and the slugs
With a belly of flame and warts that weep venom
The natterjack calls wooup-wooup-khaarklug
The natterjack shrieks wooup-wooup-kaareaal
If there’s no food to be found, it’ll summon a meal
The haven will hurry to bring it cured meats and honey
The natterjack shrieks wooup-wooup-kaareaal
The natterjack laughs wooup-wooup-kaaculp
A warning to children who are greedy and too often sulk
They’ll be fed to the natterjack who will swallow you whole
The natterjack laughs wooup-wooup-kaaculp
Game Information:
The Sage Superior will now be elected at 7pm on the First Night of Summit, rather than at Game In. This election will be held in the Druid Grove west of Greenweald Camp. There will be a member of the Civil Service present to run the election. Should the Sage Superior title be vacated for any reason, it will be re-elected during the next available evening.
Rhymes, poems and songs are heard all across Resinderholz. Some are clearly designed to warn young children of the dangers of The Weald, but others seem more purposefully driven towards an unknown goal. Some see these as unnatural occurrences spurred by something dark. Others believe them to simply be what they are; Rhymes, poems and songs.
What is Good, What is Bad, and What Simply is
Hmmmm.
There? No. Slightly to the left? Yes. It is clearer now.
Hmmmm.
A lake? No. A desert? No. A plain? Ah. Yes.
Hmmmm.
A village? Bigger. A town? Bigger. A city? Yes.
Hmmmm.
A little world. A little continent. A little nation. Yes.
Hmmmm.
I see now. I know now. I understand now. Yes.
Hmmmm.
……
Hmmmm.
Game Information
To all Concordians, regardless of knowledge or circumstance, the Tower in the Wilds referenced in previous Winds continues to not exist. It has never existed, as per the Game Information of the entry ‘The Warder of the Brain’.
Only those individuals who attended the Conflux in the Tower on Day 2 of Autumn 226 are immune to the above. They will also receive information in their character packs regarding the future of The Tower, and an opportunity to address it on the First Day of the coming Summit.
In addition, each individual will find that their Investments have procured a piece of mysterious Private Research, as per the Library Enterprise.