Mist Raven

Sparrow made a clatter
around seeds a-scattered
and invited all the rest
tiny Robin-Red
ate worms instead
but joined on in the fest

Heron had trout
Duck had sprouts
sir Owl dined on voles
but when the fog came through
and nobody flew
the mist-bird ate their souls

-Ordian nursery rhyme

Earthmason Hive

A mile beneath the surface, nothing but natural caves for days and suddenly THIS. A city?! It looks to have been abandoned for years, but its fully furnished. It'll make a damn fine base camp for further exploration. If not for all the bugs it would be perfect.
-Communication from surveyor Dunia to Archmage Berggren

Mirage

Xav disappeared nearly three days before. We'd just about given up until a figure was spotted atop a nearby dune. I hurried ahead, desperate that he might still be alive. Our guide, a bloody sand mage, told me to wait, but I didn't listen. I swear it was him, the shoulders, the hair, same walk even. There was no mistaking the man I'd followed halfway across Telus. But, when I finally reached him, he. . .crumbled. Blew away like he was just part of the sands. 
-excerpt from the diary of Risoth Herald, explorer and Elysian historian

Molten Revenant

. . . stone abominations that wandered aimlessly through the cursed land. They seemed a chilling mockery of creatures that once lived there, but it wasn't until we managed to get close to one resembling a great stone bear that we discovered the true terror of the revenants. As soon as we neared it attacked, magma flowing from its empty eyes like fiery blood. Soon it was dripping from the jaw, seeping from joints and cracks as it hounded us.

-Explorer Elris Deepvein, Horrors of the Witch's Scar

Ember Swarm

As soon as Finn put out that fire the little things went mad. Finn says they burning him and we laugh cuz it was just some bits of cinder flew off the fire. That's what we thought. Then I saw the blisters already popping up. Was like someone had thrown a bucket of hot coals over him. Smoke started rising from his back. Then...I smelled it. They was cooking him, burning him alive. Another moment and he's gone up like the May fire. Finn screams and runs for the creek. Then we see the rest coming out of the hills. Millions of burning specks. Headed straight for town.

-Della Malgrove, lone survivor of the Cedardowns village fire

Torrent

They said Rollen died because he was careless? Ha, I suppose that's true. But it wasn't no flash flood or mudslide like people are sayin'. The Lheem is no flooder. That lazy river is constant as the sunrise. No. It wasn't the river, it's what lives in the river. Ol' Rollen managed to set them off. Said he was gonna tame 'em, ride one all cross Eastfall, prove he wasn't crazy. But my gram told me the only ones to ever ride them chargers was the ol' river druids, and they're long gone. Rollen never stood a chance.
-Dorren Lunst, Tiberus Village, Eastfall

Gloom Serpent

At first I thought them to be currents of magicked water flowing about the archmage, but as she came closer it seemed to be some sort of living elemental. The grey-blue serpents drifted about the mage, less like pets and more like aqueous appendages, twisting in and out of her garments and hovering about her limbs. The water that made up their forms shimmered and rippled constantly. It wasn't until I examined them closely that I realized it was not random rippling, but countless faces forming and dissolving in their ebb and flow.
-Observations of Archmage Torrens by Daithus Scrib

Phooka

Some said it was a dog, others a goat, many a horse, and even a few said it was a giant eagle. All agreed, however, that is was black as the Abyss with eyes like the sun. The children loved the damn thing, chasing it here and there. None managed to catch it though. In fact, not one of them seemed to even put a hand to it. I hear it came on a gust of wind from the hills, offering tidbits of advice where it went. Most was common knowledge, some was downright false, but Jalk insists the damn thing saved his harvest. 
-Elder Zekum

Basilisk

In the midst of the wilds, surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of swamp and rolling forests, lay a statue. A statue that happened to exactly fit the description of the boy we'd been searching for. The detail was unparalleled. His horror-stricken face seemed like it might start screaming at any moment. The arms were broken away, but within the remaining stumps there were details of muscle and sinew chiseled into the stone. Then the underbrush on the far side of the clearing parted. A lizard the size of horse slid towards us. Fangs as long as shortswords dripping with a yellow-grey venom.
-Seeker Herolm