Azazel

Journal Entry #5

Progress continues to be frustratingly slow. It seems the deeper we go the denser the Ice becomes, but after several weeks of persistent excavating, we are finally closing in on another large mass. It is impossible to tell at this point whether this cluster of artifacts includes a dragon or not but something is glowing from within it.

We have only just finished cataloging the artifacts found in the most recent cluster but I feel I must make a few notes while the information is fresh. A Shroud of shadow was what prevented us from being able to discern the objects within. A wildclaw was it's cause, I can only speculate that she had attempted to defend herself immediately prior to being locked in the ice. She was found cloaked in some form of ceremonial Arcane garb and clutching a dragon egg, which was most certainly the source of the glow I noted earlier. I'll know more once the wildclaw regains consciousness and I am able to do a proper interview.

Aura

The wildclaw's name is Aura. She's from an older generation than Cetus and has been frozen for far longer. It took some time to calm her down once she woke up but, after a lengthy explanation and many demands for proof, we were finally able to convince her that she had been frozen out of time. Once she had settled somewhat she was more than willing to give us an account of her life and what had happened just before she had become trapped.

Aura was a diplomat between the shadow clan Tenebris Altum and her own arcane clan Lumen Valde. Both of these clans were major moving forces in their day and had once warred fiercely. But, after much loss, both sides decided that a truce would be more beneficial. In an attempt to maintain this truce the clans developed an annual ceremony. Each year, during the Starfall Celebration, both clans would send out an emissary bearing the gift of an unhatched egg from their respective clans. In the winter these emissaries would make the journey to the host clans and then begin the journey home again at the start of the Trickmurk Circus. Aura herself hatched from one of the gifted eggs and was a third generation emissary. This was her first attempt at making the journey but she he never completed it. According to her, Aura was ambushed before she made it out of her own Lumen Valde territory by a smaller rival Arcane clan. How she wound up in the Fortress of Ends remains a mystery as her memory after the ambush is foggy at best. At Aura's request I made several inquiries into both Tenebris Altum and Lumen Valde and sadly both clans crumbled after a fierce battle that lasted several years. Aura seemed saddened but not surprised by the news. The only consolation I could offer her was that the clan that had ambushed her had been caught in the crossfire and laid to waste. Aura has since moved to the observatory at the top of the mountain. She spends most of her days staring quietly at the night sky and caring for the egg she had been charged with protecting. Callisto, the clan's healer, has promised to keep an eye on her while she grieves.