I made a peculiar discovery today. \n\nWhile exploring the lands to the north, I stumbled across a cave. Or rather… some force led me to a cave. I was caught on the heath by a sudden storm. As the wind howled and the cold air whirled about me, I felt suddenly certain I could find shelter among the cliffs. It was as if an unknown force had whispered to me on the wind. Sure enough, I found a yawning hole in the mountainside. \n\nA wise traveler would have stayed near the entrance to ride out the storm, but the same phantom that had summoned me here tugged at my traveling cloak, bidding me plumb deeper into the gloomy depths. What I found within left me awestruck. \n\nGreat machines, long inert, but still gripping tightly to the spirits of a bygone age. In my mind’s eye, I could see them, roaring with life, connected not only to this world, but across the cosmos, and to the very fabric of reality itself. Apparitions of their would-be caretakers bustled all about me, filled with purpose and conviction. \n\nThen there was the smell. Like burnt coals with a hint of brimstone, but with something ethereal beneath it. It drew me to the center, where a great foundry remained. Somewhere within, I heard the same voice calling, clearer this time. Its speech was alien to me– like sparks crackling and popping from the char of furnace – and yet somehow, I could feel its meaning. \n\nThere are secrets within this place. Deep ones. Old ones. And they will be mine.

A secret lies hidden among the cliffs

The Voice on the Air

I returned to my tower today. Long nights, entombed among the darkened artifacts of Aeternum’s ancient past had taken their toll. The echoes days long gone rang in my ears, and all around me spun visions of rock and relic and the twisting shadows of phantoms from beyond the veil. The light stung my eyes and I yearned for respite. \n\nMorgaine was waiting for me. She could see the fear in my eyes, mirroring the horror in her own. She begged me to pursue this grim task no longer. To consider the terrible price I might pay in pursuit of some strange revelation. \n\nThere is always a cost. Hephaestus the forger split wide his father’s skull to birth the fruit of wisdom into the world. Lord Atum spilt the blood of his own loins to bring speech and writing forth unto his desert supplicants. The Nords claim their Allfather lay transfixed upon his spear for just a glimpse of that which lies beyond this sphere. They made these sacrifices willingly. Because knowledge <i>is</i> power! \n\nThe Ancients possessed these great and powerful secrets, and, yet, they too have passed from living memory. If we do not master this island and its mysteries, it will master us. It is only a matter of time. And in a place where lives encompass eons, time is not on our side.

My sister does not understand...

Consider the Price

The flames spoke to me. Not with the smothered, crackling voice of a dying ember, but as a roaring inferno. \n\nMy experiments had reached a fever pitch. By now I was attuned to the energies of this place, and I reached out to open the primal currents coursing through the foundry. When I did so, I knew at once that Morgaine had been prescient – I had meddled with powers beyond my comprehension. Something ancient and primordial stirs at the heart of the forge. A creature of pure fire made flesh, slithering its way across the veil, and yearning to break free! \n\nBeneath the cackle of the conflagration, I could feel all its longing; all its appetites; all its rage at being confined! I moved immediately to staunch the flow of azoth to the Kiln, but I fear I may be too late. Whatever lurks within has tasted life once more, and will not be easily returned to torpor. I can only hope that whatever wards the Ancients forged to restrain such a creature remain, or there is no telling what torment I have unleashed upon Aeternum and her people.

The Empyrean Forge Chapter - NWGuide Database of Lore

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