Chesapeake (PaxLair Times) – October 20, 2012 – by Ashlynn – Being an orb of light hovering a few feet above the ground, these whimsical enchanting creatures move gracefully between trees and buildings. Of their motives and desires, little is known as their language has yet to be decyphered by even the learned scholars of the Lyceum.
Though mostly benign, one should be careful not to antagonize the creatures as they appear to possess some mastery of the arcane arts (some have speculated they are arcane energy incarnate) and will mercilessly punish those foolish enough to attack.
It is unknown what links they possess to their more sinister-looking kin, the Shadow Wisp, a seemingly more subservient creature that can be summoned by those learned in certain schools of magic or encountered within the Twisted Weald.
On Wisps – From the Journal of Ashlynn
Of all the wonders that inhabit the lands of Sosaria I find the wisps most enchanting. Their origins are a mystery to me and my attempts to communicate with them still prove as difficult today as they did so many seasons ago.
Long ago when the lands were new to me and the forests were an unknown and wild place, my curious nature took me exploring as it often did to the deepest groves and the farthest flung parts of the realm. Of course I have always been terrible at time keeping and before I knew it, the sun was sinking beneath the horizon shrouding the land in a gloomy autumn darkness.
With no bedroll in my pack (for I did not expect to be spending the night with crickets and fireflies) I was forced to make do with my cloak, a cloak I should add that seemed to possess the mystical property of staving off sleep. More than I expected when I made the purchase that much is certain. But it was as I lay there, more alert and awake than I had ever been during the day, that I saw a flicker of white light through the trees in the distance.
At first I thought it a trick of my mind or yet another of my cursed cloak’s effects but then I saw it again, the light appearing to move between the trees. As sleep was no longer an option, I gathered up my belongings and carefully made my way through the woods towards it.
I heard the strange creature before I saw it, like the chiming of a hundred tiny silver bells. It was made of light, a shining orb that hovered slowly above the ground. It didn’t seem to notice me and so I followed it some distance to where it joined others of it’s kind between a circle of tall white ivy covered pillars.
It is at this point that I should mention that not all decisions I made in my younger days were informed by great wisdom and experience for I decided for some reason to monitor the effects that a spell of mine might have if cast upon one of the beings. Where once it had ignored my presence, now it moved towards me with great speed hurling arcane energies at me as it did so. I attempted to run but barely managed to make it a few yards before everything went black.
When I awoke it was morning and I glanced up at a figure clad in a long brown robe. He chastised me for straying from the path of virtue but then wished me well. Of the creatures of light there was no sign and not wishing another similar encounter, at least not for a few days or so, I decided to rush back to the warm comforts of home.