Dear Friends. In the name of the Athasian Survey Project, tonight I’m going to attempt to see through the eyes of the dead.

Those few who have even heard of the ruined city of Bodach know of it only as a cautionary tale. Decimated by Rajaat’s enforcer during the Cleansing Wars (at the cost of his own life), the city has long been rumored to be a city of “free undead”. That is to say, undead who seem to serve no master. It is also known as one of the few undead havens on Athas that has never launched a raid on surrounding villages or passing caravans, but this may be perhaps more because of its inaccessible geography than the disposition of its residents.

Like many sections of Athas which have been completely overrun by the undead, Bodach is nearly impossible to travel to without heavy armaments and countermeasures. However, with the assistance of the Consortium’s scholars of ancient lore - a few of whom have come to the Nexus at my request - I believe we have uncovered a way of remotely reaching out into not only Bodach, but into places which have been similarly inaccessible to living beings. Based upon the knowledge of specific artifacts known to be in these “lost zones”, I should be able to tap into and survey places not seen by living eyes in centuries. Blindly scrying on an ancient artifact runs the risk of exposing myself to attack or even capture, but I am otherwise at a loss as to how I can see into Bodach without commissioning a small army of seasoned adventurers.

My target in Bodach was an ancient crown, known to the scholars as last having been worn by Zamlis, a magister and son of a noble of Bodach. Knowing my target, I reached out with my will across the world, searching out for Zamlis and his crown. It seems the ancient crown is still being worn by Zamlis, and that he is a sentient undead, so I settled in to see where he would take me.

Looking around, I found myself among walls under an open sky, walking down the street of a dead city at night, surrounded by the unliving.

The site you see is outside of the door of the residence where my subject seems to have been dwelling. It is hard to tell what this quarter of the city used to be without deeper historical research, but from what I could see, it seems to carry a kind of echo of a busy, living city. While some of the undead do occasionally stop in place, seemingly idling as if lost in thought, many of them seem to follow a kind of daily pattern which might be a pantomime of what they had done in life. It is a strange site to watch, and, mad as it may sound, I almost feel as if I’m intruding on their privacy by witnessing something few living beings will ever see.

I can tell from the mind of this body that he is technically a “free undead”, but he serves another more powerful undead that runs the city, possibly the Lawmaker. It seems that part of its daily routine is to report to this being, so I let it walk onwards towards what looked like a palace.

My magister walked inside the palace and over to join a group of other undead surrounding a pair of standing figures.

One of these figures is Fendis Tralath, the Last Lawmaker of Bodach. Judging from the eyes and incorporeal form, I would guess he is a wraith. He looks to wield quite a lot of power for a wraith, judging by how the other undead defer to him. Considering how long Bodach attempted to remain neutral during the Cleansing Wars, I can only imagine what Tralath and his city went through.

Fendis is talking to a being I do not recognise, an inhumanly tall and thin figure with a beard which seems to be made of…crystals? His ancient ragged cloak and threadbare robes only just cover his shiny black skin. I can tell at a glance that he is not from this city, and that he is far more old and powerful than any undead I have ever seen. I’ve heard of terrible stories of ancient undead made of obsidian and found far beyond the Endless Sand Dunes to the south, but I have never seen one.

I do not know what alarms me more – the power of Fendis’ undead presence, or the fact he seems genuinely afraid of the tall stranger.

The pair seemed to be having a conversation in a language I had never heard before. It took some time to relax my countermeasures and reach into my magistrate’s mind and locate the ancient language (a dialect called Ulyanese, a variant of Remaan spoken far to the south).

“…You have lost the Crystals. This failure is upon you. I presume you have a solution?”

“Eminent One, I am preparing an expedition now to the Mud Palace, the last known sighting. We are uniquely equipped to deal with the dangers there in ways the mortals could never…”

“Fine, fine. You have three days. Do not disappoint me again.”

As I was listening, it struck me – this was the voice I had been hearing in my visions. I was looking at Niraan!

I dropped the connection immediately, snapping back into my obsidian orb. I can only hope I was not discovered.

I do not know what anyone could have been doing with the Niraani Crystals at the Mud Palace, let alone mortals. It was very clear someone among the living was meddling in powers which even the most ancient undead coveted. And, seemingly by accident, my beloved Chala and Adicios had both crossed paths with these powers and a terrible prophecy (at the expense of the latter’s life).

All I know is that I needed to find answers, even if it does truly kill me.

Until next time, may the moons guide you.

Sources:
* The Tribe of One series
* Mike Fleming’s writing on Bodach for Spiral Lands
* City State of Bodach book notes
* Faces of the Dead Lands