If there was one thing you could count on about Darius Strikestone, it was that he was always ready for a tale or two.

This is exactly why he strides into the library with his head held high, his best performer aura present as he approaches the cat Agnes had suggested the guildmembers talk to. A canary bird sits on his shoulders.

“Hello, good to meet you. My name is Darius Strikestone, I’m an adventurer of the Wayseeker’s Guild,” he introduces himself and nods towards the bandana tied to his tail. “I take it that you were looking for tales of grand adventure, yes?”

Darius places his paws in and leans in close to Will. “Well, do I have the tale for you!”

“See, it all started when we went to the Forest of Stones. Notorious place, isn’t it? Well, my team and I, we bravely ventured through the place even if the forest itself tried to resist us. You’ve undoubtedly heard how the forest seems to be… alive, in a way. It doesn’t want travelers there, and it shows. Luckily, I was there to make sure my team doesn’t fall into despair!”

Although that isn’t necessarily… true… Darius says it with the utmost certainty.

“And there was this meadow, you’ll like this one. The plants were infused with magic, and no matter where a cat stepped, they either dropped into deep sleep, got snatched up by thorny vines – or teleported across the meadow, if you’ll believe it! My team was in dire straits! Luckily, the meadow must have sensed I’m a friend of all things magical – I’m a magician, after all – and I walked through the meadow without a scratch! There was a rosebush in the center of all things, a ferocious thing, really. While I and another of our team bravely battled the thorny monster – see, it ripped my coat, dreadful thing! – another teammate of mine snatched the Laurelstone that was, apparently, powering the rosebush and the whole meadow. And then, my friend. Then…”

He pauses dramatically before gesturing with great urgency, “A Boundless appeared! Luckily, thanks to our bravery and quick wit, we were all safe and sound.”

Without elaborating, Darius moves on. “Oh, and that night, we saw strange specters! Ghosts of catfolk from times gone by! I got the sense we were somehow special from that encounter…”

Darius falls quiet for a moment, contemplative. Then, he grins. “We also saw a magical squirrel. And a hawk stole my teammate’s sword, so I’d be wary of any animal that hails from the Forest. And then, then there’s the many, many Boundless…”

His gleeful tale slowed down then and halted entirely. He seemed to think for a moment on what to say. As he thought more about how the expedition ended, he grew pale. The cavern haunted him still, the Boundless, the shining Laurelstone and… and… He didn’t want to talk about it after all.

Finally, he grins. “Well! We fought bravely and came back home. That, uh, that’s about it! I, uh, do have to caution you: don’t go wandering in the Forest. We’re experienced adventurers, and we barely got out of there alive.”

He chuckles awkwardly there, then he pats the table happily. “And there it is! Our grand tale of heroics! Have a good day, my friend, and do be careful! You can count on the Wayseekers to guard your path!”

He accepts any reward with a gleam in his eyes and he leaves with the same flourish as he came in with. There is a thoughtful, almost troubled expression on his face, though. The canary that has been sitting on his shoulder snuggles closer to him in a gesture of comfort.

2023-02-14 11:08:33

Mathias leaves a new journal, inside containing a fresh copy of his notes from the expedition, a wax cylinder for a phonograph inside a container labeled "the events shortly before and of the boundless swarm", and a letter.

"To whomever reads and listens to these,

Hello! My name is Dr. Mathias Cirlbunting V, and in addition to being a wayseeker, I'm one of the archeologists employed at the New Star City Museum. My personal area of study is the history of magic and its interactions with catfolk. I could go on for ages about this of course, but I should get to the point. I only mention the above to give proper context for my observations in the stone forest during Joone year 500.

I was assigned to group five of thirteen, along with fellow wayseekers Roan, Arcturus, Tiberius, Ubeu, Mercury, and Creature. We were given knowledge of two known paths, a path into the forest that resisted cats going in, and a path that was rumored to capture cats and keep them trapped within the forest. Not wanting to risk capture of course, we went with the path of most resistance. After trekking for what was several hours, through forest thicker than I've ever experienced before, forest that seemingly did its best to slow us down as much as possible. Not to be deterred, we stumbled upon a meadow full of many very strange plants, in the center a large, thorny red rosebush. The way behind us closed as we entered, meaning the only way we had to go, was through.

Beginning our journey through the meadow, we were quickly made aware that each of the different kinds of plants had different magical properties. There were yellow flowers whos pollen could make one sleep immediately, green ferns that offered respite and a path of least resistance, letting you move further through the meadow without resistance, purple mushroom circles that teleported cats to a different purple mushroom circle, patches of thorny vines that kept you from moving, orange dandelions that prevented the harmful effects of the other plants, and some strange red moss we weren't able to figure out its properties. I collected what samples I could of course. What was odd, is every time some effect of the plants occurred, the rosebush would pulse with magic. Several of us decided to make our way directly to the rosebush, as we had to pass by it on our way out. Inside the rosebush was a small laurelstone! We didn't have much time to examine it though, as soon after we noticed the laurelstone, a strange fox like boundless appeared at the edge of the meadow. Myself and Mercury made a grab for the laurelstone, Mercury grabbed it after my own unfortunate fumble. The boundless vanished soon after we acquired the stone, seemingly upset that another had grabbed its prize first. And the strangest thing! Once the laurelstone was removed, the plants changed back to harmless versions of their former magical forms. Unfortunately we couldn't examine the laurelstone in its entirety afterwards, because it split into small shards after being handled.

The rest of our hike that day was uneventful until that night. We had found a lovely clearing, set up camp, and had a nice dinner. We were all talking and getting ready to go to bed, when the strangest thing happened! Shadowy figures of several dozen catfolk appeared, translucent and unaware of us. They all seemed distressed, and were making comments about needing to go to Dragon's Rest (which will be our next port of call). Ghosts dear reader may seem odd, and I wouldn't have believed it myself had I not seen, but given my current abilities, I can only conclude that they are ghosts, but why they were called beyond the veil I have no idea. Apologies, I get ahead of myself.

The ghosts wandered through our clearing without much care for us, and some even passed through us! I cannot say what my fellow teammates experienced, but as it passed through me I felt a deep connection with the rocks about me, and how they had stories lost to time within them, long forgotten hopes and dreams, loves and losses, hidden within the stone, waiting only for someone with the patience to listen. Then as soon as the ghost left me, the sensation vanished, leaving behind only a memory. The ghosts finished their journey across our campsite before vanishing. And the rest of the night proved to be uneventful.

The next day we broke camp early and continued our investigations deeper in. We passed through a narrow canyon before it opened up into a large ravine full of a lush pine forest. Making our way down the escarpment we were about to enter the forest when we heard a noise. The noise turned out to be an adorable wild boar piglet! I'll admit I was a little too enamored with the baby boar, for no sooner was I crooning to it the way I did my siblings children when they were kits, than I was being flung bodily through the air by its angry mother when the baby got its hoof stuck in a crack in the stone floor! Seasoned hikers will cringe at the thought I am sure. So here we were, stuck between an angry mother and its trapped child, the mother too blinded by rage to help its own baby, when suddenly the boar did something incredible, it summoned ice from thin air! Of course this awe inspiring display was hampered slightly by the fact that she wanted to harm us, but still! Animals that look nonmagical suddenly wielding elemental magic! Through a series of careful word choice (she seemed to understand us!), and a beautiful performance from Mercury, we were able to free her trapped piglet and gain her trust. She even used some of her ice on the place she'd hit me as an apology! Truly magic is a fascinating thing, and again, to see it in animals that otherwise look ordinary! Struck by a silly notion, I asked her for directions deeper into the stone forest, and to my amazement, she understood my meaning once again! Summoning a path made of ice, she lead us through the forest of trees deep into the heart of the stone forest, departing from us when we discovered a bunch of strange statues. I'll admit I was sad to see her and her many babies go (she had more than just the one who was hurt!), but perhaps, in the end, it was good that she left then.

Anyway, the statues. Despite no prior evidence of catfolk settlement inside the forest itself, we were suddenly confronted by a number of incredibly lifelike and unique statues of cats! Time had worn away any specific details, but they each looked carefully hand carved by a handful of different artists. I wonder how they ended up there, for as we surmised, the rock did not seem to come from the area, and hauling such stones so deep into this labyrinth would be an incredibly intentional feat on behalf of whoever did it. There's plenty of sketches in the attached journal, though they are copies of the original and may not be as accurate I'm afraid. We spent some time examining them before heading deeper into the forest.

From here my journal notes and and my notes on the wax cylinder I provided begin (also a copy, I do hope you have a phonograph in the library here.), as we ended up deep in a subterranean tunnel with very little light. We felt those strange pulses again like we had the previous day with the rosebush. We traveled further, and eventually ended up in a large underground cavern. Lining the walls were more of those statues, again each unique in their design. At their feet were old artifacts and gadgets that had long since rusted over any possible identification, and in the center, the largest laurelstone I'd ever seen. As big as the cavern was tall, and wide enough that several catfolk would need to hold paws to reach all the way around it. Speaking of catfolk, we saw the other groups enter the cavern at the same time as us! But unfortunately, any exploration of the cavern was cut horrendously short, as a proverbial tidal wave of boundless poured into the cavern, attacking the huge laurelstone as well as myself and my guildmates. I will not go into detail here, if you want the full experience, listen to the cylinder, though I will say, it is not for the faint of heart.

In the end the laurelstone exploded, I suspect killing all the boundless in the cavern in the process, among other things. The lot of us woke up in the hospital after, thankfully alive and mostly unhurt.

I would go back to the stone forest again, though this time with more preparation. I was lucky to be able to retrieve one of the artifacts before the laurelstone exploded, but I want more time to examine those statues. Perhaps we will find more on our adventures.

All the best-

Dr. Mathias Cirlbunting V"

2023-02-14 10:58:45

Nico's contribution was written on what appeared to be a scrap piece of parchment, with parts scribbled out and reworded to show his mind actively trying to piece his experiences into words.

Nico Oakenhill of Team 1.

Whenever I think of our time in that forest my head spins. The first day we encountered ghosts... then the second my team were almost killed by boundless. And then we did di there was a huge stone- Desembra called it a Laurelstone? The boundless started to eat it? do something to it. I don't know. I don't really remember anything else other than feeling like my sense of touch had been stripped from me, and then a bright, blinding light.

After this you can make out a heavily scribbled out line of two short words of an unfinished thought. It is difficult of distinguish, but if you spend time trying to see through his rushed attempt to cover it up, you can make out the words, I'm scare-.

2023-02-14 00:17:00 (Edited 2023-02-14 00:17:25)

Cúan leaves a small letter at the main desk of the library, the shepherd slips away before anyone can comment. The letter is a small l bit tattered, pages worn. it seems to be ripped from a journal judging by the frayed and jagged edge on one side and the lines for writing have been drawn by hand. Make-shift as it was, the writing was some what ledge able, clearly slowly and painfully wrote to make it as clear as possible by a steady hand but there was a small tells in it. The letter was short.

"The forest is alive and it knows those who go beneath its rocks and plants. With you in that place are animals and creatures of wonder and intelligence but also bad bad things. They can do things, we couldn't do , we thought cats couldn't do, magic. treat them well and they will treat you but the way is long winding and full of danger. Do not go there. No shepherd will find a stray ewe in that forest, unless it is the creatures will. you must always be prepared, treat the world well and it will treat you back the same."

Something unreadable charcoal scribbled on it thickly that if you shook the letter it would fall.

"The world is full of just delightful things, i have seen mastery there that cat folk struggle to create today, and for what the earth has in store for us, I'm worried and excited "

2023-02-12 06:48:00

North’s muzzle twitched with a barely-concealed grimace as she reviewed her letter one last time. She wasn’t an academic and it showed. Her penmanship was scratchy and inconsistent, and the paper was battle-scarred from where she’d clearly erased and re-written certain words several times. The whole thing was wrinkled as if it’d been stored in a pocket before finding its way to the library. It wasn’t elegant. It wasn’t… professional.

But the letter had obviously been fussed over, and the brevity of North’s recount wasn’t from a lack of care. When Silas spoke about the importance of helping the researchers, it’d struck a tender chord with the dark molly. She’d known a little researcher once– one who’d fill pages and pages with notes in exactly the kind of detail and cadence these librarians would’ve loved. And his curiosity would’ve burned bright at the chance to hear stories of the Stone Forest. He would’ve asked North all about it. And she would’ve told him. But he wasn’t here to ask. So North would tell…. these people. And she’d tell herself it was better than nothing.

She wrote very little. It was hard to decide what was worth committing to paper, and when North tried to limit herself to only the parts of the expedition she understood, she was left with almost nothing. It was impossible to describe any of the events without sounding mad, and some moments, like the Laurelstone’s shattering, were impossible to describe at all.

I’m only going to write about the forest. Somebody else probably already told you about the monsters.

It was dangerous. Don’t go unarmed. Don’t go.

Nature was weird in there. Most of it looked normal, but we couldn’t trust it. There was a lake that made us dizzy when we looked at it. The trees sounded like they were breathing.

The stones were just as bad. They moved when you stopped watching them. They trapped us once. In a small clearing. The stones looked like they’d been there for years, but our path was there five minutes ago.

Some of it was beautiful. Lots of flowers. Green grass. The season still felt right. Mostly.

We found a dead bush. I helped some of my teammates water it, and it flowered and grew berries right in front of us. I asked them not to eat any. I think one of them did anyway. He’s still alive.

It wasn’t all forest and rock walls. There was a cave, too.

Whatever North attempted to describe here, it’s been crossed out beyond recognition.

Somebody else probably already told you about that.

2023-02-11 23:42:54 (Edited 2023-02-11 23:44:41)