Dear friends, in the name of the Athasian Survey Project, I bring you visions of another impossible location.

It seems I have discovered a benefit to my obsidian confinement. My clairvoyance abilities seem to be amplified, and through the use of this new level of power, locations that would have previously been impossible to visit are now within easy reach. And this luck proved very timely indeed, as it seemed the one carrying the Niraani Crystals sought by the Bodacheans was travelling to such a location.

The historians in the Nexus had managed to track down information on a relatively recent Balican expedition to the Mud Palace region that had never returned. The group was led by a powerful psion by the name of Stavros.

Focusing on Stavros, I found myself looking down on a pile of chewed bones. Near him squatted a small reptilian humanoid with massive webbed hands and feet, chewing on one of the bones of the psion. I seemed to have discovered a silt runner. As I considered my next course of action, the creature’s head snapped around, looking directly at my ghostly form. I was taken aback - while I knew silt runners had keen senses, I did not expect it to detect my presence.

I had to speak quickly to assuage its fear and surprise at the presence of a ghostly form. As I explained my situation, and our mission to understand the planet to help save it, I learned his name was J’anx, and that had seen the undead Bodachean visitor I was seeking. I also sensed that his disdain for foreign undead coming into his mire was greater than his distrust of me.

“I will help you, but you don’t come back. Our silt, our mud.”

Once I learned his name, I was able to switch to following him. No amount of encounters with silt runners could have prepared me for what it would be like to run as one. Even within the mostly landlocked basin around the Mud Palace, what an incredible thrill to move at such speed!

In this image, we were looking northeast at the Mud Palace across the mud flats it has created. Just on the edge to my left are end of the Mountains of the Teeth. If I were to fly upwards from this position, I would be able to see the ruins of Arkhold in the far distance.

I learned from my host that his tribe had told him stories about a sorcerer who had long ago lived in what is now called the Mud Palace and made a deal with an otherworldly water elemental being (perhaps a genie I wonder?). But something went wrong, and the place has supposedly been pouring out water from its upper windows ever since. It’s said that no one except the most powerful wielders of arcane or divine magic even tries to approach the Mud Palace, and warriors like J’anx were instructed to do everything they could to make the journey miserable for anyone dangerous and foolhardy enough to attempt such a visit. Since such direct confrontations were dangerous against powerful magical fors, the silt runners have become quite adept at using the terrain to their advantage, and knowing the lairs of the area’s largest residing monsters.

I found myself wondering: what business would anyone have with an artifact like Niraani Crystals and such a fixed magical source? I tried to recall the details Adicios had once shared…

———————————————–

“Adicios, you keep talking about these accursed crystals. What are these things?”

“These are hardly mere crystals, Eshmel. Niraani’s crystals were one of the most powerful arcane foci of the First Sorcerer himself. Legend has it these shards were pulled from the core of Athas, and these were empowered by Rajaat to serve as conduits into the planet itself. They may even have been used in some of the very first psionic enchantments!

”Can you even imagine holding that much power, Eshmel?”

I remember that was the first time I felt fear in Adicios’ presence. But I wasn’t sure whether to be afraid of Adicios, or for him.

———————————————–

I extended the reach of my senses, and found the expedition party from Bodach. It seemed they were searching around the castle. After some hours of observing them, I saw one run up to a traveller that looked like the leader. After some conversing, they all mounted their undead crodlu and rode hard southwards.

As I thanked my host and departed back for the Nexus, two concerns buzzed around my mind. The first was finding local trackers in time to catch the Bodacheans. The second was the knowledge that whoever currently had the Niraani Crystals had likely already taken what they wanted from the elemental power in the Mud Palace. Having the power of the foci was one thing, but collecting power from major conjunction points? Surely they were planning something big…

I will let you know when I have more information. Until then, may the moons guide you.

Sources:
* 3.5e Core rulebook
* https://darksun.fandom.com/wiki/Mud_Palace