Bone Harvester

"But the lazy son fell asleep when he was to be tending the hearth fire. While the embers grew dark the house grew cold. Soon after, from just outside, came the rattle of bones."
-excerpt from Eiranian cautionary fairy tale "The Bone Picker"

Impassion Fruit

"We trekked across the ashlands for the better part of the day, but we left with only about a dozen of the brilliant crimson fruits. Each painstakingly selected by the local herbalists, who insisted I keep my distance.  Before we made the return journey, the flesh of the fruit was carved out and prepared for the trip, a process given even more care than their selection. As we turned back to the black desert that surrounded Mount Nuri, I inquired with one of the herbalists, a bit perplexed why they would make such a trip only to return with a small fraction of what was there. The old man only chuckled at my question, insisting I'd have my answer soon enough. 

Only perhaps a few minutes later an explosion rang across the ash valley. It was quickly followed by another, and another. I turned about--half expecting Nuri to be erupting--to see a thousand crimson fruits bursting across the mountainside."

-from the travel log of Alchemist Jorridin

Watcher-in-the-Waves

The wave has hung there for days. Just off the horizon. Still water or storm. Never breaking, never shrinking. Some of our crew claim it is a blessing of Raun. Others fear it is a [demonic entity] hunting the ship. I am not sure, though it would be a strange blessing indeed.
-excerpt from journal of an ancient Elysian sailor

Wiindigoo

Camp quiet, no signs of life. Remains of all but one soldier accounted for. Signs of struggle/severe injuries. Bones picked-clean. Unknown teeth marks noted. Food provisions ransacked. Possible new large predator in area. No notable tracks/markings. Will search for missing soldier and return by morning. Advise mage support for future outposts.
-Final communication from scouting party of Lt Rectfeld

Williwaw

"Treat a stranger as you would a williwaw: be kind but never turn your back."
-Northern Ordinian proverb

Preserver

"What causes these regions of petrification is unknown but the process seems to be absolute. Anything left within long enough will invariably, and irrevocably, be turned to stone. Be it trees, grasses, birds, insects, humans. Even the soil has solidified, making it impossible to take samples without a hammer and chisel."
-Notes on the Stone Steppes by Keeper Bato

Snow Oracle

I'll tell ya, in all our battles it just never occurred to me to fear death. It would be there at the end one way or another. Just one more journey to take, I suppose.

Then I heard the old crone sing to the snow. The words were in a language like nothing we'd ever heard, if they even were real words. But we knew it all the same. Felt it. And it chilled us in a way the icy wind never could. It wasn't a threat or warning. More a story. A story about death. But . . . not death the way we know it. As the living see it. It wasn't about suffering or dying, or loss. No. This was the song of someone who had died. And returned. Of someone that's seen what's on the other side.

I tell ya, I never feared death. But I do now.

-Testimony of Klin Bersk, Mercenary and Adventurer

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

Cait Sidhe

E'r since Mira's kittens grew up, we han't seen a rat for miles. Now, I know having a litter of cats about will keep any inn clear of vermin, but, well, I'm not just saying we ain't see them in the pantry or kitchen anymore. I mean the're gone: pantry, cellar, stables.  I han't even heard 'em scratching in the walls for weeks.  And I know what did it. It's that little dark'n, the one looks like night mists in the candlelight. He gets in there. He gets everywhere. I swear I seen that damn cat walk through a crack in the wall like is a damn window. He just...flow right through. S'fine with me, long as the rats stay gone.  But the misses, she says he's got a devil in 'im, and, well...have you looked 'n its eyes?

-Innkeeper Erim, Earthwander Inn

Rage Elemental

The bloody Rager came at us like something out of the Abyss, screaming and tearing up the forest as it went.  It was like some kind of Ignis but with dark purple flames that gave no light, like...if a fire had a shadow.  We took standard defensive maneuvers like we'd use with any enraged creature but...it was just too damn big.  It crushed Erickson and Kilorn into the ground like it was hammering stakes.  We never did find Rikkard after he was tossed out over the trees.  By the time the bastard was finally put down, myself and Ensign Wente were the only ones still breathing, though it seemed Wente was having some trouble.  He was swearing and hissing through his teeth so I went to assist.  I could feel the heat coming off of him as I got close, and then I saw the fire in his eyes.  I knew I had to put it out before it caught again.

-Testimony of Centurion Haxim 

The Shattered

The air had grown cold in spite of the cresting sun, and the forest around the camp had grown sharply silent. The sprawled remains of the Tribal scouts seemed untouched even though they had been missing for days, preserved perhaps by the unnatural chill. As we neared, however, the bodies began to rise. Their blue-grey flesh crackled beneath a layer of frost that shimmered in the sunlight. Our party stood in horrific awe until our first warrior was struck down.

Wisp

Bards have become rare over the years, often accused of sowing discontent or enticing rebellion, but they have yet to stop Eldrin's songs.  Some claim he could sing the very hymn of creation, the language of the elements.  I thought the stories just exaggerations until I finally saw him myself, and I swear I saw the elements come to life before my eyes.  Little spirits of fire and water, fluttering about on nearly invisible wings.  At first I thought it some Mage's trick, until one of the little creatures lighted on my shoulder, dancing about like a child of wind and fire.