An orc child came tearing through the streets of Antioch today. When
apprehended and executed, it was revealed that the young orc had been
bearing a strange piece of stone. Out of the shadows stepped An'Aidni,
an archaeologist of Ssylsin breeding. He revealed that this artifact
belonged, in fact, to him. Under interrogation by those gathered, he
revealed that he had been studying near the crystal-ogre infested ruins
in Seven Lake Basin, only to discover this strange bit of stone that did
not seem to fit in with the rest of the area. He claimed to have sent
out a team of explorers and fellow archaeologists to search for what he
believed to be an ancient ruins built by a long-forgotten cult. His team
was worse than unsuccessful, in fact, they never returned. This led
An'Aidni to seek the help of the desert city in finding his team and
with it, the ruins they had been seeking. Two teams left the gates of
Antioch, one headed up by Aislygn ,the other by Dias. In the end,
neither of the leaders discovered the entrance to the ruins -- Ozreas
was the first to find the way. After some digging and clawing at the
rubble and earth, a hole leading into the ground was uncovered. The
groups descended as one, and were met with puzzles and traps from the
very beginning, as well as a large number of undead priests. In time
they discovered most of An'Aidni's team -- some dead, others wounded --
and eventually, though not without much disagreement and conflict
between the two groups, reached the end of the strange underground
ruins, where they confronted the High Priest Shufik and his guards. In a
trusting move, the groups decided to let An'Aidni deal with the curse
due to his experience, and any who were there will tell you, "The curse
has been lifted. But feel free to take a look around." One wonders why
they say it with such a smile on their lips?

Penned by my hand on the 11th of Vita, in the year 599 AD.