A letter is delivered to the front desk of the fourth legions garrison, addressed to soldier Enmur.
"An account of Hufaidh.
In this report I, Finneas Alessandro il Drogue, will detail my experiences and what I know of the raid on the isle of Hufaidh, the great firebird beast that made its home within the volcano, and the djinn sealed there years ago by the combined efforts of the tower and the rose, the details of which I am unclear.
In order to understand why this mission was important, first you must understand that Hufaidh was home to a powerful Firebird. It had, some years prior, made a nest deep in the volcano. The true nature of this creature is largely unknown to me, however it was powerful enough to raze the corruption from the island with its powerful flames. I understand in the previous encounter this being was either sealed with the djinn or was part of the sealing itself. It was learned that the true threat of this djinn was that it was corrupting this great flame creatures eggs, preparing them as great and powerful monstrosities that would raze the disc. The potential of these eggs was evident when we saw the raw power of their parent.
My account will start from us arriving on Hufaidh, Tesrin Hray 7th, 7789, as the journey there from the well is of little impact. When we arrived on the island it was clear that something was amiss with the island. Great roiling plumes of smoke rose from the island in an unnatural way, and the air itself was heavy. as we ascended to the top, the smoke and ash grew thicker, and even before the mages began their ritual to open the path, we were beset upon by an army of djinn intent on destroying us. with the combined forces of the Rose, the Kulamet, the Fourth Legion, the Tower of Q'Tolip, and the volunteer forces of Ephia's Well. At this time I also came to understand what Phaedra's death ritual was about; she had become some kind of shambling, death thistle creature. Valeria, in all this, was in fact there to kill djinn, and largely stuck to that. While the warriors fought back the army of Djinn, the sisters performed some manner of ritual to open the way for us, which was through the rim of a crucible.
as noted by several people, this army seemed to be made of flesh and shadow, and to our surprise employed a great amount of powerful flame magic, not acid as we were expecting. We were assailed and defeated a number of giant, powerful, djinn in all this. We were also assailed by powerful clones of Aurelio and Asherias, of which on their own laid low several of our people. At this point, we prepared our best and entered the crucible.
Upon first glance we knew we had made it in. The walls and floor were like stone and flesh at the same time and it was also clear there was no exit. Only a short way in we were met with two individuals known to be dead, one Nadiri Lojir Trajaros and one Balladeer student Pirouette Manners, confirmed by the few with us that had once known them. By default, we assumed these were tricks, fleshy visages made to weaken our forces resolve, something I still stand by even as they were struck down, begging for the lives they were known to have lost years prior. For the sake of a full report, these visages tried very hard to convince us they were the people they looked like, even having memories of the deceased. They were accompanied by a being they referred to ask the bookkeeper, which was supported by the shelves of books it remained near for the entire, long, long, time we seemed to be there. We spoke with these beings, being careful with our words to not accidentally suggest any form of contract, and ultimately decided that these are most likely vestiges of the djinn's power, if not at least tricks meant to break our minds and spirits.
From this we learned a few things. First of which is time seemed to flow differently. The visage of Lojir said he had only been here for days, weeks at most, when some present knew factually it had been years. We attempted to ascertain the location of the djinn's "heart" from them, presumably its core of being, but the visages either could not or would not tell us this. the visage Lojir also confirmed that within this realm was a different magical crucible created by Nadiri Lojir, and sealed and empowered by a combination of Sibylline Sister and Q'Tolip Astrologian. At first, we bypassed this crucible, seeking the so called heart of the djinn, and fighting a great many more of the flame wielding flesh monstrosities, finally encountering and bantering with what we now know as "The nameless one," which may itself be a proper name, or simply a moniker. This being did not deign to face us directly in battle, instead leaving it to lesser minions to whittle and break us slowly, luring any it could into making pact in order to escape its dread realm of flesh.
This all seemed to be for naught, however, as we merely found ourselves going around in circles, for what felt like months on end. It became clear that time was passing, but not as it should. Though we grew hungry, we did not age, and we did not sleep. It was made known to us over and over the only way out was by pacting, and we would otherwise be trapped forever. During this period, however, we encountered another Djinn, one of pure light. It presented itself as a paladin with an incredible, massive halo. This being provided us a name, which I will not repeat here, and claimed it was the one that had sent the oracles of the rose visions of how we would need to escape that wretched place. Twice, it was decided, this creature was felled. once with great effort, both times even though it begged us to let it help us, offering us passage out for nothing in return, though this would still be pact, something none present could either oblige nor consider, as all of us had heard the tales of the trickery of the djinn of light and water, appearing as good but still taking ones soul. Twice we were offered this, and twice this being was struck down, presumably breaking free of this place before it was truly slain by the compass sword; it seemed to shoot out as a bright burst of light into the sky, though it claimed if we laid it low it would not be able to raise again for another three score years. The truth of this is yet to be seen. This being advised us that the Nameless One had already escaped, leaving us trapped within, and that this was all to the Nameless One's plan. It was noted that no evil could be felt from this being, despite knowledge of it being djinn, and despite striking it down anyways.
I cannot say honestly how we ultimately escaped. As noted earlier, the experience was one of months for us, consistent with temptation to pact and escape. It can be noted that before all of us, or at least most of us, escaped at least one was released early, and when the rest of us were released we were notably missing Sister Amelie. Presumably she did something to free us, perhaps sacrificing herself, but I cannot say for fact what truly happened, only that she did not return with us and unlike the others who did not return, none witnessed her perish. Once we were freed, however, we quickly had to evacuate the island to not be caught in the great flaming fury of the firebird. We had little to no time to assess what had happened before Hufaidh was cleansed of its corruption, or at least presumably cleansed. I suspect the full extent of what happened there will be surveyed once the island is cleared from ash, soot, and smolder.
Though this may have been an ill informed trip, after what I experienced and saw I still believe it was necessary. Had we not interfered we would be facing greater beasts and greater death than had we not. Though this djinn is ultimately free, and though it is likely not the last we will see of it, it was deprived of the last two years of effort to exert influence on the disc and will need to find new hosts for its foul plans."
*Recieved*