Her clouds were just outside. They were her only friends now. Their weeping was endless as their tears drenched the forest floor. The clouds cried, “my dear, I am sorry!”


She felt a degree of solace knowing that at least the clouds would suffer alongside her. “My friend, I’m grateful but I do not long for your pity,” Lilly replied in a serious tone.


The nimbus clouds were awash in the girl’s anguish. They grew ever darker and their sobbing was relentless. Eventually they screamed with a thunderous voice, “please try to sleep, please try to forget this terrible day.”


She did as her friend asked and passed out from exhaustion.







Cinders cracked and smoke billowed. Trees bent in the cold of night, intersecting and weaving among each other in a chorus of vegetation. The leaves of criss-crossing branches whistled in the cool breeze.

The fire was warm. Lilthis and the rest of her caravan huddled as close to its mystical blue flame as they could. Master Seshat had lit the giant cobalt pyre, it enveloped his group with warmth and was as simple to ignite as a snap of his fingers. One of the acolytes of the group showed Lilly how you could place your hand directly into the flame and you would not be burned. She meticulously documented the exact details of this fire’s effect in her journal, committing the sounds and sights of it to memory.

Several yards away stood R’khasa. The site had been a burial ground for many high elves throughout millennia. It’s sandy-stoned face and twisted curvature made the building unique enough. Inside however was a massive caged globe made of mythril - enchanted to resist all magic. The globe had large circles spread evenly across its surface and ancient magical carvings that Lilthis had diligently copied onto parchment and translated for Seshat.

He shared that the globe needed to be brought into the sunlight so that the group could see how it behaved. The runic marks indicated that the globe would react to the sun’s rays. Unfortunately, as it was immune to magic the group could think of no way to pry it out. Lilly racked her brain for nearly an hour before finally shouting, “steam engine,” which was met with confused stares.



Explaining to the group that she could build a steam engine and trolley system to pull the globe out of its submerged tomb she got a pleasing nod from Seshat before explaining exactly what materials she needed to go to work.

Lilly spent three sleepless days by candlelight assembling the engine. Stopping to eat only when insisted by Seshat. On numerous occasions she would overhear her comrades complain about how long it was taking, how long should they let the dark elf try to be helpful, and their various theories of why it wouldn’t work. It was a funny thing, magic came so easily to them that they were incapable of recognizing hard work. They had saved Lilly’s life several times and used magic to solve what she thought were impossible problems. But to strip it away. To remove their magic? Those that journeyed with her were worse off than infants without their spellcraft. Lilthis was certain that technology would never fail her.

Boiling water causes steam to rise, the steam is pushed through at high pressure to force a piston upwards and then the steam is recycled back into the boiler. This system can be used to generate a great deal of force, propelling the network of locomotives found throughout Alerar. Lilly didn’t have the resources available to build a rail track so instead she had the mages obtain as many durable steel chain-links as they could find. The chains would be fed through a pulley system by the steam engine and the other end of the chains were wrapped through the various circular openings all over the globe. When everyone was ready she pulled a lever down to switch on the engine, uttering under her breath, “this better work.”

Amidst the snickering of her peers, the whistling of steam, and the grinding of chains Lilthis’ machine chugged on. Loudly a screeching of metal on stone was heard as the object was forcibly dragged through the tomb and towards the members of The Vestige. There was a gray stone path cut into the ground that sloped downwards towards the structure and the plan was for the machine to pull the arcanic sphere up the pathway through the hundred feet tall gates that contained it. Four mages were at the bottom of the hill with two on each side holding the double doored gates open. The gates were incredibly heavy steel and as such required the strength of at least two of their members to hold open. Seshat had made it very clear that he was incredibly anxious to see how the orb would react to the light of day and as the orb approached the opening the members of The Vestige were almost as excited as they were surprised that the drow had proven her mettle.

Lilly had a quill in her left hand, parchment on her lap as she sat in the grass. Eagerly she waited for the orb to reach the climax of the hill but she wanted to denote the exact reaction that occurred as soon as the sphere hit sunlight. It also remedied her self-esteem to behold the utter shock of her success on the faces of her colleagues. What was more shocking though was the brilliance of the object as it crossed the threshold of the gates.

Glowing, glorious. All the sigils and markings that dotted the spheroid were illuminated. The various holes throughout its body extended into white columns and the center of the object began to hum an ever-growing music that concluded with a static ominous noise. Lilthis jotted down every detail as the scene played on and the metal of the orb generated sparks against the stone. Seshat muttered, “interesting, it must be a sort of channeling device.”

What happened next would destroy the new life that Lilly had come to know.

The engine groaned and the pulley system shook violently. Lilthis had not calculated that the emanations coming from the globe would create an additional strain on the system she had built. To make matters worse the spheroid jolted backwards, almost to indicate it was not interested in the glow of day.

With the speed of a hawk the chains stalled, the pulley system broke and ripped the engine from out of the ground it was stationed on. Violently the sphere rolled back down the pathway and amidst screams the mages at the base of the path were in grave danger. A loud smash cut through the group’s baited breath as terror overtook them. The mausoleum collapsed onto the sphere. None of the four at the bottom could be seen in the rubble.

Lilly and the rest of the group tried to do what they could, tried to dig them out. Hopeful and praying… but it was for nothing. They were all dead. The council of The Vestige met as the damage was assessed.