Spectra

It is well known that ghosts haunt the ruins of the Hewn City, but that doesn't stop treasure hunters or stubborn explorers. Sometimes though...sometimes it should.

One such group packed up two ornamental fae-shaped jewels in their haul. They should have left them behind. They looked harmless enough, enchanted to idle movements.





Jewelry box fae are already rumored to be jewelry potentially formed and willed into an enchanted, animated existence by the spirits of their former fae owners. One could argue in that sense that they're all haunted.

Regardless, only very specific metals and gems ever create a true jewelry box fae, and this one almost passes for the onyx variety. Almost.

Perhaps at one point, this animated fae-shaped set of jewels even was onyx, but now the colour is...off for lack of a better word.

Though it appears just as lifeless as the rest of this subspecies - no expressive crest movements, idle enchanted animations only - the sensitive around these jewels nonetheless feel a presence watching them. Some even claim the temperature drops when they're nearby and cite other spooky, poltergeist-like activity in their presence, particularly during the midnight hour. There are additional stories of people desperately attempting to be rid of the little eldritch fae-shaped jewels, only to awaken with the seemingly lifeless fae perched near their nest once more come morning.

Such occurrences never seem to come directly from these little fae-shaped jewels, but is it so hard to believe? Gems and some precious metals are widely known to hold magic and enchantments, even amplify them. The powerful magic in a jewelry box fae might just attract wandering spirits like moths to a flame.

Whatever the real story, I'm sure it doesn't help that the first two of these eldritch jewels on record were recovered from a treasure room in The Ghostlight Ruins. That very expedition is now surrounded by rumors of a curse with only one survivor. As such, some also claim the gems and metals of this unofficial variant are imbued with powerful curses, rather than haunting spirits, discoloured by that eldritch incantation.

That lone survivor eventually traded both of the little trinkets to a spiral named Astaroth in return for powerful protections from everything his expedition had stirred up in those ruins.

Astaroth, meanwhile, treasures them regardless and even delights in the midnight shenanigans. They consider it the best deal they've ever made and have even given them names: Spectra and Eidolon. Of course, that's assuming you believe the stories they tell - with a trickster's reputation, they aren't known for being the most trustworthy of dragons.

Paternal gen1 ancestor: Torren #13115
Maternal gen1 ancestor: Phirst #63341 Pinglist: @Salazia, @Serpns