// net.work

[Sabriel's at the local healer's, in bed propped up with a bunch of pillows, looking worn and unhealthily pale. It's been several days since their adventure in the Silver Caverns, and she's come out of the drugged sleep she was put in as the healers worked to deal with her stomach wound, and Sabriel... has been listening to their orders to not move. But her bedside his piled high with books and parchment- she's clearly been keeping herself busy.]

So it seems that the stories of the Silver Caverns were not exaggerating- soon after entering, we were set upon by three basilisks- luckily, it seems healing magic can halt their petrification.

[And why is it that only clerics have such a useful spell? But Sabriel presses on, her voice businesslike as she details]

We wounded them, and set off down the tunnel they came through. But as we went further in, we found a portal. We were unable to enter, but could hear the sound of more basilisks on the other side. And we found more passages, leading to more portals, which seem to produce a variety of monsters- vampire bats, clay golems, and twig blights are the ones we know of for sure, but we heard buzzing behind another, and saw signs of a gigantic serpent in another chamber.

At the end- the fight went badly. There were golems, and these plant monsters- Clarke, Dimitri, Rodimus, Jyn, Cassian- thank you, all of you, for getting me out of there. I owe you my life, and a great debt.

[But the moment of heartfelt thanks aside... Sabriel made this post public to share information. So gritting her teeth, she presses on.]

Did any members of the Songbird Brigade mention the portals when they spoke of the Silver Caverns? Or are these a more recent phenomenon? None of the stories of the caverns mention them, just that they're full of monsters.

If you choose to enter, bring a cleric- or several clerics. And a bestiary. I'm attaching a map- it's crude, but it shows the path we took, and what we found in each chamber, along with my best estimate of the distance and direction of each passage. There's a central chamber, with ten passages beside the entrance leading away from it. Each leads to a portal we can't enter, that spits out a monster, or monsters. Each portal chamber is connected to the two next to it, except for one where the path leads back to the main chamber, and another that leads out to a forest entrance. I've looked up all the creatures we fought in the bestiary, and attached notes on them as well.

And now for my speculation. It's likely that the portals are the result of the orb, although whether the result of a bargain, the price of a bargain, or simply the result of its chaotic and corrupting nature, I cannot guess. We found no sign of the orb, or any human activity within the caverns- but it's possible the orb is concealing itself, possibly within one of those portals. My sense of magic is somewhat dulled in this form. But the simpler, more likely explanation is that it's not there.

[Although while the orb has certainly corrupted and twisted its surroundings without a bargain... Sabriel would expect it to turn the local wildlife more monstrous, rather than opening portals to summon more.]