Greetings everyone!
My clerks and I have compiled all of the words from the yellow gemstones into a written format for you to look through at your leisure. I believe there is much yet to be discovered about these logs. Why are they all yellow? What is Project Prism? How did it fail? If you discover the answers to any of these questions please reach out to me and my team as well as your fellow adventurers.
Yours in discovery,
Professor Mia
**OOC: https://youtu.be/2U0Lz0JLhio to hear all of the log audio! enjoy!**
Voice Log Transcriptions
Log 1
DAEDALUS:
History of the Draconians, Chapter 2. Log date, First Onureth 683
The Great Purge changed everything. For thousands of years, Heartstones were our connection to the land and to each other, but in a single night, every known Heartstone was viciously shattered, completely severing our connections to the land. Flames below, it was horrible! I can still feel that terrible ripping in my soul. That was when we knew. The Dragon Lords had complete control over their victims, for no Dragon with their soul intact could have aided such a horrible deed.
Armies were gathered, strategies were planned, but I made the choice to run. Some may deem me a coward; I will not dispute that claim, however I could not let Dragonkind be eradicated by Humans. I gathered those that could not or would not fight, we told no one where we were going. Sigwyn and I decided to go to the last place people would look for Dragons; Underground.
Many years have passed us by, but the wounds of the war still ache. My heart breaks for the Hatchlings that will never know the joy of attuning to a Heartstone, the peace of being connected to your clan. I can hardly bear it, being so empty inside. Many of us brought the lifeless pieces of our Heartstones into the caves with us, but looking at them is so painful, I feel my soul shattering all over again.
I don’t know how the war ended, or if it ended at all. For all I know, the entirety of Dragonkind could be under the control of those Humans. If any of my kin still live, I hope they can forgive me for abandoning them to their fate. I know I will die down here, but it brings this old Dragon solace that there will be a next generation of Dragons.
Log 2
SIGWYN:
Daedalus, can you take a look at this? I’m running sapphire into an adamantine plate. It should be projecting a stasis field, but nothing is happening.
DAEDALUS:
Ugh. Why are you still tinkering with sapphires? They cannot do anything of use.
SIGWYN:
How can you say that? If not for these gems, the Black City would still be little more than a couple of dimly lit caves. It’s thanks to your work with sapphire that we can excavate and reinforce new cave systems and tunnels so quickly.
DAEDALUS:
That was never the purpose of those experiments. You were the one who saw the potential for city building. That labyrinth of tunnels out there is as much your fault as it is mine.
SIGWYN:
You saw the potential in these gems before anyone. Just because you couldn’t make a Heartstone with sapphire doesn’t mean you should just give up on using them entirely.
DAEDALUS:
My first priority must be the heartstones! The humans delivered us a wound that cannot be healed until-
SIGWYN:
Daedalus, you are the most brilliant dragon… ever, but you can be so foolish sometimes. Think about the applications of this technology! Reconfigurable walls of force, food preservation, maybe even bodily reinforcement for our warriors and miners! Sure. They’re not artificial heartstones, but pull your head out from under your wing and look around. There’s so much more you can give to your people besides a new heartstone.
…
And who knows, maybe one of these technologies will reveal a way towards forging our own heartstones. You can’t rule it out.
DAEDALUS:
Fine. What’s the scale pattern of the plate?
SIGWYN:
It’s a Cycloid lattice.
DAEDALUS:
Hmmm. That’s tricky, perhaps if we try inverting the crystalline sub-harmonics, we can generate a response in the adamantine…
Log 3
DAEDALUS: (Monotone)
This log serves as a description of the first operational Ruby-pattern crystalline homunculus. The core is a keeled adamantium skeleton, reinforced by- Sigwyn, do I really need to record this? Can’t one of the lab assistants do it?
SIGWYN:
What? This is our accomplishment. This log will be played in museums for ages to come! You should be in it! We made a construct that moves and acts on its own. (Careful, little one, that’s hot) We both knew there was enormous potential in ruby, but to harness it in this way is huge. This is going to revolutionize our society.
DAEDALUS:
I don’t know about that. Look at it, bumbling about. Yes, the ruby gems allow it to autonomously take actions. But there is much to do before it can serve any practical purpose. It’s so fragile, and so… (screech) brainless. That’s the third time it has discovered that the burner is hot.
SIGWYN:
It is a little simplistic right now, but it’s just the start. It will grow and adapt. Our gemtech, this little guy, will be our legacy… (quietly) our child…
DAEDALUS:
The artificial heartstone will be my legacy. Nothing could possibly surpass that. Ruby has shown great potential. The fact that this facsimile of a man can act on its own implies that I can generate a surrogate soul for the heartstone fragments. After the catastrophe that was the last test, I will need to-
SIGWYN:
Dae! Promise me you will never grow a ruby to that size again.
DAEDALUS:
Oh, I only lost a few scales, you’re-
SIGWYN:
You’re lucky to have your tail after that explosion! Half the south wing collapsed!
DAEDALUS:
In retrospect, that was the predictable result of concentrating that much potenital, I- I will endeavor to be more careful in my experiments.
SIGWYN:
That’s all I can ask. I don’t know if I- if the science staff could bear to lose you.
DAEDALUS:
I… (Screech) Dammit! Get that thing away from the burner!
Log 4
DAEDALUS:
Seventh Ordah 695
SIGWYN:
Tenth Ordah
DAEDALUS:
Tenth Ordah? I asked you to wake me after 6 hours, it’s been three days!?
SIGWYN:
Dae, you had been trying to turn lead into gold for two weeks now. You were practically delirious from exhaustion!
DAEDALUS:
But I was so close! If I could have worked just a little longer I would have solved the resonance problem by now!
SIGWYN:
Hush! If you had worked any longer without sleep you would have killed yourself. Now, talk me through the problem.
DAEDALUS:
(grumble/growling noise) Fine… well, it was a simple matter to change water to ice using only one infused emerald, but transforming one material to another seems to require more power than it should. By my calculations I would need around 5 grade C emeralds to complete the transformation, and the adamantium wire would melt under that much strain.
SIGWYN:
Why not use a larger emerald? Then you could use fewer and lower the strain.
DAEDALUS:
… We are out.
SIGWYN:
We’re out?! How can we be out?
DAEDALUS:
We have used up all of the Grade B and larger stones, it will take nearly a decade to infuse stones of that size again. The flow of the Ley Line through the adamantium is comparable to a trickle.
SIGWYN:
I didn’t realize it took so long… Well I suppose we will have to put these emeralds aside for now and find a way to infuse gemstones faster.
DAEDALUS:
Sig, unlocking the potential of Emeralds is far too important to “put aside”. I am unsure if it is even possible to infuse gemstones another way.
SIGWYN:
The sooner we invent a new infusion process, the sooner you can get back to your Emeralds. Now lets go over the infusion process in detail and see what we can bypass.
DAEDALUS:
… Very well. You know, you are the most stubborn Dragon I have ever known.
SIGWYN:
Oh? Has the great Daedalus finally met his match? Now stop stalling and talk!
DAEDALUS:
Sigh… By placing one end of the adamantine wire in the Ley Line, the stream of magic can be redirected…..
Log 5
SIGWYN:
Sigwyn. Log date, Eighteenth Tonash 700
I believe there may be a way to revive the dead Heartstones! We already know we can infuse regular gemstones with magic from a Ley line, well what if we did that to the dead Heartstone pieces?
DAEDALUS:
We tried that, Sigwyn, remember? The Heartstone pieces are largely resistant to external magic sources. The humans sundered it such that even the soul of the stone is dead. We cannot replace that.
SIGWYN:
But what if we could give the Heartstone a new soul!
DAEDALUS:
Scoffs… impossible!
SIGWYN:
Now hear me out! Look at this schematic I’ve drawn up. If we can route the Ley line through this lattice of Adamantium, it will scatter throughout the stones. The buildup of magic should create a consciousness just like in the legend!
DAEDALUS:
Bah! The First Dragon myth is just that! A fairy tale for children!
SIGWYN:
You don’t know that! And it’s worth a try at least! What if… what if it works Dae? What if we can restore Heartstones? The hatchlings could finally know what it feels like to be attuned. Maybe it could even mend the wounds our souls suffered from the Purge.
DAEDALUS: I… suppose… Let me see that schematic again?
SIGWYN:
I haven’t figured out all the details, but the idea is viable. If anyone could make this a reality, it would be the great inventor Daedalus!
DAEDALUS:
If we could even build this, it could very well take our entire lives to complete, I don’t want you to get your hopes up.
SIGWYN:
If I must spend my whole life on a project, i can think of worse lab partners to spend it with.
Log 6
PHINA: This is Phina, log date, Eighth Ordah 955
I…. failed. Quig is gone, Palamos is… beyond saving. The Black City has fallen, and I’ve lost contact with the last of the other remote labs. I may be the last Draconian left.
Project Prism was supposed to restore what we had lost and bring joy to our people. It was the great dream of Daedalus and Sigwyn finally realized! But now it is out of control and I can’t stop it. I managed to seal it in the depths of the Black City, but I don’t know for how long it will be contained.
I’m recording this in the hopes that someone can continue my work, unfortunately I am too far gone, I’m not sure I have any bones that aren’t crystalized at this point. To whoever might be listening, I’ve left all of my notes in the library, along with a few old logs from Mom and Dad. I don’t think we can be saved, but please! If you find this, know that the fallout from Project Prism cannot be allowed to spread! If we Draconians are lost to time, then it is what we deserve for our hubris. Heartstones were never meant to be manufactured. Only the First Dragon can return to us what was lost in the War.
Perhaps it was too much to hope that we could reclaim our heritage and our bonds to the earth, but Isn’t the destruction of everything my parents and I worked for enough? ... (takes a deep breath). I cannot let the whole world die for our mistake. Please! If anyone is listening... please. Go to the Black City, find a way to destroy Project Prism before the shield breaks. If the contamination spreads... Our civilization has already overpaid for this mistake, and if you are listening to this, I do not want yours to pay for our mistakes as well.