Dear Herald:
People near coasts all over Ansalon watched on with amazement as, starting at 4PM, the seas sparkled with a range of colorful hues. I’ve heard stories from Palanthas, Schallsea, and even Terenth, a small town with only a well, that corroborate each other: Any body of water sparkled with dancing lights for over eight hours yesterday evening. Strangely, water inside a cup or other manufactured or non-natural receptacles was not affected from what I can tell.
I just went over near where the sea elves live today to find out if they knew more about what was going on. Here’s what I discovered…
Around noon, as the sea elves reckon, the bottom of the sea floor started shimmering and emitting a wave of prismatic colors. The colors hovered around the bottom of the sea for a couple of hours, and it was possible to stir them up a bit. None of their scholars could determine what this was, though most agree that it was a magical effect of some kind.
Around 2PM, the layer of colors suddenly started foaming, then they mixed with the water more evenly. The colors continued to shimmer, but in a somewhat frothy way. Those on the bottom of the sea had a hard time finding their way around. At about 3PM, the froth was taller than a sea elf, and it exploded silently into the sparkling spectacle that surface-dwellers experienced.
No one was harmed by this…well, let me amend that. Only a few kender were harmed, as they got too close to the water and fell in. Some were rather waterlogged, and one almost drowned due to the amount of stuff she was carrying. (She was rescued by a Knight of Solamnia’s husband.) Several gnomes were reported as having collected the water to see if they could incorporate it into an experiment dealing with ever-bubbling root brew and hair dyes. (One such gnome ended up mixing the stuff into an experimental dye and making his hair into an interesting shade of bright pink that glows purple in the dark.) However, the shimmer would quickly fade once captured in a manufactured receptacle.
Here’s the best report, though: My silver dragon mount, Melianthe, was able to take me up for an aerial view of the water. It was most spectacular! From above, the seas held pictures! They shimmered in movement. I saw several colorful flying creatures, such as pixies and brilliantly white pegasi. I saw flowers that danced about joyfully. I saw some other fey folk moving about in rhythmic patterns. It all conjured forth the greatest joy I’ve ever felt in my life! Surely, this was some large enchantment, but for what purpose? Only those who could fly could see it!
Most interesting of all, though, was the strange light that was emitted from this colorful display at around midnight. All of the sparkling suddenly pulsated brightly and formed a beam of sorts that seemed to point somewhere near Nightlund. I need to visit that sad area to see what, if anything, was affected. I only wish I had been up in the air with Melianthe at that point.
I leave you with this mystery even as I try to find more clues myself. Right now, it’s near impossible to get anything coherent out of people of Terenth, though, as they are celebrating some obscure holiday that I’ve never heard of–Dance of the Doves’ Joy or something. I’ll have to look into that, too. This small town Terenth has some charm, but I’m not sure what’s going on here. All of them are the SAME AGE, from what I can tell! More on that later…maybe.
Yours in Lore,
Farana Silvertreth
Formerly of Palanthas
