Id: 4343bfe2-8a2d-4df0-bd08-5d6342c1a669
SessionDate: 2025-03-09
GameDate:
{
	Day: 19
	Month: Istenarum
	Year: 3322
}
Author: Logan
Title: "From the Notes of Cassian: The Fall of Darseem"
Text: "*An entry of a personal journal written by a Sapien man named Cassian, it’s leather cover bound together by a thin but strong variety of vine. The paper within, a yellowish color from age, contain various stories from his Druidic Pilgrimage, on many of them there are drawings of plants and small star patterns in both the margins of the pages and full pages. In this entry, he describes an event few survived, the Fall of Darseem, possibly one of the only eye witness accounts written of the day (and the days leading up to it in prior entries).*

18/01/3322

I write this as I sit within Oxeia's (Sand Dwarf) ship, I can see the Ember Sands stretch across the horizon, the smell of sweaty sand sailors is nearly inescapable. Luckily, Saxon's Menagerie manages to subdue it with their own musk. 

Today was the day, Bo'Krylla must have gone and done what she planned, or at least she must have made an attempt. I made breakfast for us while we waited, she wasn't sure what would happen... if she knew... The magically-abled of us felt it, the hairs on our necks stood up, the Weave's volatility could almost be tasted, but then there was a scream outside. We made our way towards it, the Sha'rea in the streets were looking confused but nothing concerning. When we got to the scream we saw a Sand Dwarf (Oxeia), surrounded by three undead Sha'rea, desiccated like those we saw in the tomb a few days prior. 

We did what we could, Dheir, Saxon, and Kit did their best to prevent them from attacking the Oxeia, while Xedran and I gave our best to support them, but the Weave nearly refused all of our spellcraft. While the occasion spell got through, many of mine backfired on me... ~~but I wonder if that was all the Weave being twisted and not my own inability..~~  . We managed to defeat the undead, going with Oxeia to the gates, and then we saw it when we hit the main street... they were all gone.. ever single Sha'rea as far as we could see in that one section of the city... undead, shambling around, completely dehydrated. The fear of death gripped me... probably gripped all of us... We ran as fast as we could to the gate house where they stored our weapons,  killing the undead guard manning the counter. I got scared, Dheir was trying to discuss how to get our weapons and I just panicked, used Thorn Whip to pull them from behind the counter. ~~It was rash... I need to be calmer~~ 

As we all got our weapons and forced our way out of the gates, Dheir wanted to look for a way to block exit, but nothing around on the outside of the city would have gotten us that... ~~Maybe if I were stronger... or been better prepared..~~ We followed Oxeia down the to the sands, she blew a horn and her ship showed up. I used Wall of Fire to buy us time and we did it, we got on the boat and escaped.. but I have to ask myself why did this happen? Were we not thorough enough in the tomb? Did Bo'krylla get it wrong, or perhaps she failed and this is the result? Is this something Gestia would stop with their plot to strip of us of the Weave? Or is this just the fate of any person separated from it for so long and then suddenly have their connection restored? Or is this something entirely different? Did the clerics that controlled the city know this would happen if someone tried to remove the block that existed, but did not give the information freely enough to stop those that wished to know from making a fatal mistake?

It makes my head hurt to think of these theories of what may have happened, and the implications of these events... Did the Stars know this would happen? Millions of those tiny lights above us, watching every step we take on this journey, and today's steps all took place under the light of Three Full Moons. They've seen every choice I made and I have to ask myself if this was what they wanted? Will the death of a species be part of a path to a better tomorrow? ~~Is this a crisis of faith?~~ Too many questions and not enough answers, and what did Tutor Brenay always tell you Cassian, \"The Stars can only light the path, you must walk it. If you have questions, they'll point you in the direction, but you must find the answer.\" I will return here one day, I will discover what happened, I will not let these people disappear and be forgotten beneath the sands...

For now I must rest, though the memories, the various Sha'rea shambling through the city streets, a horde of them flash every time I close my eyes... And I'll never get the image of them flooding out the city gates to the surrounding land out of my head...~~Did we cause this? Is it our fault?~~ 

*The entry ends there, with the next mentioning reaching the edge of the sands on the 19th of Istenarum, getting no pointers to the origin of an amulet he found days ago, and then kicked off the boat after Dheir asked Oxeia about the map found on a Deathling.*"