The Tree Untouched

Be warned, traveler – there is a great tree, but do not seek shelter beneath it – others who came before sought to do so, and their bodies lie spread across its roots. I did not bury the ones I saw, for a corpse in Aeternum is an unusual thing if it does not rise, and there was still hope the corpses would vanish in the light of the sun – but it seemed as if they had been there for some time, which was as unsettling as the tree itself. The tree seems a lesson in that Aeternum takes its own, and leaves others to rot in the sun. On the crest of one's shield, I recognized the mark of the “First and Finest Company” – Merchand's band of opportunists – yet the shield had been cleaved in two with a sword sharper than the crest that defended its owner. Around the Company, I saw tracks, not unlike those I'd seen at the ruins where Grenville's curiosity had led him (how many fools does this land inspire?). The Ancient Keepers had come for Merchand's band, one and all. The tree is a thing born of Azoth, born of the blue light in the lanterns. And where the dead walk with azoth burning in the orbs in their chest, I fear these men now walk with them. - Maddie