New Era: A Mysterious Dream (The Keep)
ou sleep deeply. The rushing of the soft wind, the quiet sounds of keep mice rustling through the walls, or the intermittent squawks and calls of the flying creatures outside the windows do nothing to disturb you. The dream you see continues.You are walking through the keep, your vision blurry, and you know it is a dream-earlier today you were traveling, and had hoped for a peaceful rest tonight. The last thing you remember was snuggling down in your bed. There's no fear in the dream, however, despite faceless magi who walk past you. You continue on, and the ground slopes beneath your feet.
Soon the slope is steep, and there is a sensation of falling even though your feet don't leave the floor. You arrive at a rough stone wall, like any other wall of the Keep, and the feeling of falling intensifies.
With it comes another familiar feeling-the sense of magic, the same one that guided you to study at the Keep. But this magic is different. More focused.
As you walk, the natural lights grow dim, and are replaced with the light from balls of fire that appear in mid-air. They're joined by orbs of pure light, like the sun.
You blink. Something important is happening, you're sure of it. The ground beneath your feet rumbles, and vines begin to grow. A gust of wind brings an impossible spatter of rain, wetting your skin. Finally, a hole appears in the stone wall in front of you. You lean forward. Something is beyond it, something...
You open your eyes to the sight of your room at the Keep. Only a dream.
But something about it, maybe the same curiosity that drove you to study magic in the first place, rouses you from your comfortable bed. You open the door to the hallway, blinking in the dim light. Part of you expects to see the strange lights you saw in your dream, or feel the same magical sensations of the earth and vines beneath your feet, the wind and water in your hair. But there's nothing, just the familiar hallway and magically lit sconces.
Maybe you're being foolish. It was just a dream, after all. You're about to close the door and head back to bed when a creaking sound makes you turn. Someone else has poked their head out of their room-another student, a boy you recognize who had only recently arrived at the Keep.
The boy catches your eyes. "Did you...did you have a weird dream about magic?" He asks.
You nod, your stomach flipping in a combination of nervousness and excitement. "You too?"
"Do you think it was a dreamspeaker?" The boy asks. "Or a dreamcatcher amphitphere, or..."
You shake your head. "Those are rare," you say. "And this didn't feel like an influence from a creature. More like..."
Footsteps come from down the hall, and another girl stops when she sees you both. "You both had the dream with the magic orbs and vines and things?" she asks.
Something is definitely going on. Thoughts of sleep gone, you close the door to your room, motioning to the boy and the girl. "I think we must be sensing energy from the Keep," you say. "Maybe...do you remember what the place in the dream looked like?"
"It was a place in the keep, I'm pretty sure," the boy says.
The girl nods. "It reminded me of the tunnels that lead out to the stables, the ones people use when it snows. But...it definitely went further down."
You push down any nervousness. "Let's go see," you say. "And maybe along the way, can you go and tell Belmos?" The boy nods when you point to him.
You and the other two students head down the hall, the magic lights brightening then dimming as you pass, marking your journey. Soon, the hallways begin to brighten completely, and the boy never bothers to go and tell Belmos. It's not just the three of you that had the dream.
Other students, and teachers, have left their rooms too. Everyone in the keep seems to have had the same dream, the crowd growing as you walk. Everyone heads toward the tunnel toward the stables, quiet murmurs and whispers of confusion growing into a steady stream of noise.
You manage to make it to the front of the throng, and soon some of the surroundings begin to feel familiar in a skin-tingling way. There is a sense of magic all around you, but it fades further on. You turn, facing the stone wall of the keep, where in your dream magical lights and natural phenomena had begun.
Nothing happens. But you still sense something further on.
"It must be past the wall," someone says.
You nod in agreement, and before you can say something more the noise of the people around you grows quiet. Someone is heading toward you, the other students and even teachers moving out of the person's way.
Archmage Thane. An Earth Serendin winds around his shoulders.
You move back, and the Archmage gives you a small smile before addressing the crowd.
"I have dreamed the same dream you all have," he says. "And our dreams have led us here. The Keep was built ages ago, long before any of us-even I-were born. I think what we have dreamed may have something do with magics set in place millennia ago by the magi and dragons who built it. As to what purpose...We will discover together. But it is likely behind this portion of stone."
"What if it's dangerous?" someone shouts.
"That's why I'm here," Archmage Thane said. "But if it were dangerous, I don't think we would have all been drawn here."
Archmage Thane places a hand on the stone, and the earth serendin on his shoulders watches curiously. You wonder what insight the creature may have given him, but don't have long to think it over-the stone walls crumbles with the Archmage's magic, and dust rains to the floor.
Immediately a purple glow fills the tunnels.
"Crystals," the Archmage says. "And..."
With the light from the crystals, it's easy to see the spidery script that lines the tunnel that has just been uncovered. It matches some of the writing you've seen around the keep, ancient writing that sometimes mars the walls. Some of it has been translated by dedicated scholars, but you have no idea what this writing says. And most of it is blocked by the crystals that just from the walls and ceiling of the uncovered tunnel. They glow in a variety of colors, a kaleidoscope of light.
"We will need crystalwings to help with this," Thane says to himself, audible only to a few people near him. "To dissolve the crystals, or move them, and uncover whatever is inside. It will take some time, but..." Thane pitches his voice loudly. "If you have trained a crystalwing, or several, please come forward!"
You nod. There has been a recent rise in crystalwing populations in the stream. You want to get to the bottom of this mystery as much as anyone.
Do you assign your crystalwings to help with the excavation?
You don't have any Crystalwings you could assign to help.
You assign your Crystalwings to help.
New Era: Waking Up (The Keep)
Everyone has been waiting anxiously while the crystalwings work. You've had the same dream the last few nights, and each night it seems to be more lucid, as though whatever magic is beyond the wall grows stronger.You stand with many other students at the entrance to the newly uncovered tunnel. The keep librarian, an older woman, peers at the writing on the walls, the phoenix on her shoulder illuminating the strange carvings. An atramentum cat sits on her other shoulder, and she looks stooped beneath the combined weight.
Thane stands at the head of the group. "Let's go," he says. The librarian follows, mumbling under her breath as she walks and reads. The words don't make sense, but the atramentum cat busily takes notes.
The tunnel seems to flicker in the phoenix's fires, and you glance at the writing on the walls, but it still refuses to yield its secrets. A few remaining crystalwings chitter in contentment as your group passes by, and one darts across the floor.
No, wait. You look harder, and another student points. It's not a crystalwing at all, but...
"Foxes," the librarian mutters, the atramentum's tail scratching against the parchment. "The writing is all about foxes."
As she speaks, you turn the corner and are greeted with the sight of a large cavern, one about the size of a classroom in the keep. The walls are smoothed stone, and loops of writing in seven lines curve around the circular shape. At the center of the room is a depression, almost like someone has taken a spoon and carved away a small shape. The fox you saw, the darkness of its fur marking it as a void fox, sits curled up in the center, happy as can be.
"Well," Thane says. "There's no question this room is ancient."
"Judging from the style of the script, I would date it to the Keep's founding," the librarian says, awe in her voice. "And the writing is all about the elemental foxes. About their powers."
"That makes sense," someone from the group-maybe a teacher-pipes up. "The dream..."
Now the dream begins to make sense. Light and fire. Earth, life, air, water, void. It's all led you, and others in the keep, here.
"So, little fox," Thane says, addressing the void fox who looks to be resting in the center of the room. "Why did you bring us here?"
The fox sits up, stretches and yawns, its bushy tail waving. For a moment, magic flashes, the power of void magic, a recognizable pulse of power. The writing in the room flickers, one line of the seven on the wall illuminated for an instant.
Then it scratches an ear with a hind foot.
"In the dream, there were all seven elements," you say. "Maybe...maybe we need all of them?"
"Not just all of them," the librarian says. "The writing..." she peers at the paper her cat had written, putting together the writing on the walls leading up to the room with what is on the walls now. "Amass the power of at least seven sevens..." her brow furrows. "I'm not sure of this number. But it's big. A large number of the vulpine creatures. Then choose."
"Choose what?" Thane asks.
"I imagine what the writing on the wall says. It just describes aspects of magic. Similar to the powers of the foxes."
"Well then," Thane says. "I imagine the next step will be to bring the foxes here. Assuming its safe, of course, for them and for us."
The fox in the center of the room yawns again, then pads closer to you. It winds around your feet, its tail waving happily.
"This fox seems to think so," you say, reaching down to pat its head. It leans against your hand.
"Then let us begin," Thane said. "Let everyone in the keep know. We're going to collect foxes, and unlock a secret of the ancient keep."
"More than the keep," the librarian says, still studying the walls. "Possibly of magic itself."
You don't have any Prism Foxes you could assign to help.
You assign you Prism Foxes to help.
New Era: At the Source (The Keep)
There's a tingle on your skin, a sense of something deep beneath your feet, that's been building ever since the fox collection began. Every student who has contributed has brought their foxes by the strange room, the foxes themselves seemingly unfazed by whatever magics are present. But their presence is clearly having an effect.The writing on the wall of the room is constantly illuminated now, each line that describes elemental magic a different color. The lights cast rainbow illumination into the depression in the floor, which seems to swirl like liquid, even though it is simply the glow of magic. The magic laps nearly to the rim of the depression, like a bowl of soup.
You wait there now, studying it along with other magi. Everyone has been wondering what will happen when it's full, and with just a few more foxes, you're sure it will be.
As you wait, footsteps come down the hall, mingled with the sound of padded fox feet. A lot of padded fox feet.
You expect Thane, but instead Master Belmos rounds the corner into the room. And behind him are a veritable parade of foxes.
"I heard from several students that we need foxes for the discovery down here," he says with a grin. "So I decided to cut out the middle-man and see how much help I can give directly."
The foxes behind him-and there must be hundreds-dash past the bowl of magic, moving in a single file line before heading back down the hall. Belmos clearly trains his creatures well, and you wonder how he finds to time to train so many.
But you're grateful, especially as the magic in the depression finally fills to the top. There's a moment of tension, a student near you leaning forward in anticipation as the fox nearest to the bowl flicks its ears.
Then the ground rumbles. Your heart leaps in fear. What if this was a mistake? What if the magic is too strong, or the spell was some terrible spell of destruction, and the keep will fall down around you?
Belmos steps forward, peering into the depression, where the magic now sloshes, more like water than ever. The magic seems to coalescence, thickening into a shimmering, rainbow ooze that emanates light and color, reflecting off the walls of the room.
More footsteps come down the hall, the foxes moving out of the way. Thane arrives, eyes wide.
Then the shaking stops, and light fills the room. Beams of magic, shaping the room.
Orbs of fire and light appear. The ground forms into a spiral, a familiar rune, as though someone had carved it beneath your feet. Vines grow along the walls, and mist fills the room, making it pleasantly cool. Air carries the droplets in swirls. And finally, darkness appears above your head, like the void of space.
It's just like the dream.
"This is raw magic," Thane says in wonder.
At the center of the room, the depression is still filled with the rainbowy magic, which now spins slightly. It gives off an unmistakable aura of power.
You move forward, but Thane holds out a hand.
"There's no telling what may happen," he says. "I'm sure it won't be harmful, but..."
"Actually," the librarian says as she enters the room. "I think I do know what may happen." Her phoenix soars through the air, and the fire orbs that hover seem to react to its presence. "It is quite simple, really, after the text was translated."
The fox by the bowl trots over to her, and she reaches down to pat its head while she speaks. "You were right that this room is designed to draw out raw magic. But it goes further than that." She points to the wall. "The magic can take specific forms, similar to what the foxes represent. This knowledge will revolutionize our understanding of magic itself, and how it can affect our magical creature companions. New books will be written-new encyclopedias made..."
"Please," Thane says with a small smile. "What about the raw magic?"
"Right," she says. "Well, that part is simple. Creatures are imbued with magic that takes a specific elemental form. Humans-magi-aren't. But we can be."
Belmos raises his eyebrows. "How?"
"We can choose it," the librarian says. "Simply bring one of each of the elemental foxes to this room, and touch the raw magic in the depression there. Feel the magic flow. Then choose which element calls to you."
You stare at the magic on the ground, the swirling mass of rainbowy light. "What happens after that?" you ask.
"We'll discover more as we do it," the librarian says. "But you will be able to manipulate the magic of the chosen element more easily. Creatures of that element will be drawn to you, and may grow more efficiently, be easier to train." Her eyes sparkle. "This will be a time of new discovery for everyone!"
"If people choose it, of course," Thane says.
"What do you think?" Belmos asks you kindly. "Do you want to try and attune to an element?"
It is a difficult choice. The foxes around you pad closer, one sitting by your feet. With their help, the keep has changed, giving magi more options and helping magi and creatures grow closer.