At Long Last: News About the Explosion in Elmerton!

In the middle of Boneharvest this past autumn, an explosion was heard through all of the South Farthings, Fiddlehead Hills, and even beyond. This scribe can verify that it was audible from at least as far away as Riverton. Witness accounts had placed the epicenter of the explosion very close to the Town of Elmerton. I journeyed there and found the accounts to be accurate. Apparently, Abraham Blackgate, otherwise known as Boom Blackgate and the patriarch of the Blackgate family, had placed a very large bomb, for a reason unknown to me, a mere mile to the east of Elmerton Lake. When it exploded, it blew away a wide section of swamplands, leaving a large crater that, strangely, has yet to fill with water as one would reasonably expect in such a wet environment. Luckily, the saturated ground had absorbed much of the blast that otherwise might have done much more damage. Unluckily, however, the blast had other consequences.

It is no secret that the lands around Elmerton have strange qualities. It was only a decade ago that 39 square miles of the area were covered by the mysterious Evernight Forest, a place supernaturally starved of both light and sound. Some claim that the Evernight never actually went away. Perhaps that is the case, for the recent explosion seemed to release a dark energy that continuously lashed about the area, dampening any magic and hurting any living beings it touched. The epicenter of the blast was completely obscured by this energy, though out of that center, strange humanoid spider creatures began to appear. They were hostile and began spinning webs across the walls of the crater. Members of Elmerton’s Town Watch and even some citizens were there to meet them and engage them in combat.

Soon, Irvanshirian soldiers arrived to join the fight, and some of the kingdom’s noble houses even sent their own militias to help as well. That battle has raged until only recently. Due to the nature of the wild magic that could not be controlled, the noble houses involved petitioned the aid of the mage guild known as Concori Ayre. The mages who first arrived on the scene proved unable to control the magic; they were forced to call in three ayres from the guild to help. All three ayres are very capable magic users, and in the last day or two they have managed to bring the area under control and even close the portal that had been opened to wherever the spider creatures were coming from.

Coincidentally, since last year, this scribe has had several sources report that humanoid spider creatures were inhabiting the abandoned settlement of Marshall’s Landing, and it was thought that many of them had relocated to Elmerton, likely at the same time as the supposed “Invisible Citadel” was teleported there. The spiders’ leader, one called the Web Queen, has not been seen in Marshall’s Landing since then and also was not known to have shown her face at the explosion site turned battlefield. Instead, she is believed to be within a small patch of forest to the north of Elmerton. The area is surrounded by spider webs, and several of the spider creatures that escaped the battle made their way there, entered, and have not been seen since. The small area must have extra-dimensional properties if it is able to support as many spiders as have been reported to have gone there.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, my initial report to the Magestic Messenger about the explosion was delayed due to my being sent to several places along Irvanshire’s border with Tohmshire to investigate news of portals opening in random places and expelling all manner of strange creatures. The bulk of these portal sightings happened in a cone-shaped pattern heading, from the area of Marshall’s Landing, southwest, the exact opposite direction of Elmerton, so I can only assume the portals were somehow related to the explosion. However, I soon learned that the Portal Authority was hard at work shutting down these portals whenever they appeared and covering up any evidence that they had existed. I did not manage to find any real information about the portals or the strange creatures that may have come through them.

Since the three ayres have subdued the magic at the explosion site, I have not heard any more reports of wild portals; however, it has only been a day or two…

I suppose we will soon see,

Jessup Collingwood

Traveling Scribe

Portal Authority Declares 92% Portal Anchors Repaired!

Near the start of the Age of Fortune, the Portal Authority- an organization dedicated to the study, control, and use of both inter-dimensional and intra-dimensional travel on Magesta- wanted to make it easy for people (mainly of wealth and importance) to travel to and fro across the face of Magesta, and so they built portal anchors: weakened portal points reinforced through astral magic. These portal anchors, set up primarily in large and influential towns and cities, were widely used for over a hundred years with only a very few mishaps to speak of in that time. Oh, every now and again an anchor would be vandalized or overused, causing it to send someone to an unknown and unintended dimension or to simply explode, but those instances were generally few and far between and well cleaned-up.

portalHowever, just over a year ago, almost the entire Portal Anchor system throughout Magesta was systemically infiltrated and ultimately disabled. At first, Portal Authority agents thought it was the result of a combined effort of a loosely coordinated group of portal jackers  known as the Ledgerdemain to shut down the ability of the Portal Authority to move quickly throughout Magesta, however, the damage was so intensive and comprehensive that they ruled that out quickly. Now the going theory is that the damage to the system was done by a dangerous rogue Portal Jacker known only as “Fury.” Though not much could be found about this rogue jacker, suffice it to say that he knew the ins and outs of not only the Portal Authority (causing them no end of grief and trouble), but the Portal Anchor system itself.

His tampering could have destroyed over 100 years of continual building and construction of this important system, and though experts are still trying to figure out why he did not complete his work, they acknowledge that “there is enough damage to be getting along with as is without trying to figure out why he didn’t do more.” Repairs have been ongoing throughout the year and though an estimated 92% of Magesta’s Portal Anchors have been reestablished and working within an acceptable dependability range (89%), there is still plenty of intensive and extensive work to be done.

Strange Happenings All Over Magesta!

For reasons that haven’t been easily explained, people have, at random, been disappearing and reappearing out of thin air! Folks from far-off, strange lands have been popping up all over Magesta, confused as to how they have gotten to those locations. Strange animals and violent creatures that are not native to the areas they have been sighted have been appearing as well. Additionally, there have been reports of people disappearing from their homes, shops, and right off of public roads all over Magesta. The Portal Authority has had little to say thus far, releasing only one statement:
“The Portal Authority is investigating this very aggressively. Although we are not convinced that portals have anything to do with this activity, we are best equipped to handle it and will do all we can. Anyone with any information or have had sightings to the effect of these descriptions should report them to the Portal Authority at the soonest time possible.”
Rossevelt Surehand
Publicly Roving Scribe