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SHIFT TAILS

Threat Analysis, Information and Legend Status

Sun and Moon

So to sum up this report. We sent two groups out on two unrelated missions and basically now we know we're all going to die. Okay. Mission report complete. I might as well wrap it up there and go get lunch. Not as if anyone even reads these things. Between me and the other scribes we must file a thousand of these a year and I don't think a single one ever gets pulled back up after they go into the archive. At the very least no one has ever made any comment to me about my tone or personal comments if they have pulled any of my reports.

But I suppose I should try to maintain some form of professionalism... If only because they may not read these but they'll certainly notice if my report doesn't even fill up a single page. It's a pain but guess I'll work. It's a living at least. Well... The pay sucks but at least it includes free rent.

So right... The purpose of this report is to examine any possible relationship between two recent missions. In recent registry we had Mission Designation 003 with SHIFT Heroes Cobalt, Frinkel and Kickaha and Mission Designation 004 with SHIFT Heroes Sinopa, Erakir and Tex. Both missions started as routine but have reports of similar strange incidents occurring.

Mission Designation 003 was investigating incidents of people disappearing in a forest after witnessing strange lights. The lights turned out to belong to a type of faerie known as the will-o-wisp that was leading people into a trap. It led victims into the domain of an exceptionally powerful spell. Anyone who entered this domain found themselves transformed into characters from a different fairy tale stories. This included our Heroes that we dispatched. It seemed that spending extensive time in the domain would result in the victims acting like the characters they had physically transformed into. Luckily for us, our Heroes managed to find the source of the spell and break it before that could happen to them. The source of the magic was a book with an orange gem in the shape of the sun on it. Once the gem was shattered the spell was broken. Everyone returned to their right state of minds at this point but their physical transformations persisted.

Though that may not be entirely bad. I got a look at our new Big Bad Wolf when he returned to headquarters and well. Woof. I'll never be able to read the story of Little Red Riding Hood or the Three Pigs again.

Now that brings us to Mission Designation 004. This mission had the honor of being one of the few missions in existence where we actually had an idea of what was going on before sending our heroes in. Or at least we thought we did. The fact this report on the two missions is even required pretty much says we were wrong. But hey that just seems to be how SHIFT HQ operates. If you don't know what the problem is... Just throw Heroes at it and hope they can somehow figure it out. And I guess... Maybe mission accomplished? Except for the part where we're all doomed.

Our Heroes were sent out to put a stop to an illegal monster smuggling operation and to shut down a coliseum they were forcing monsters to fight in. But then it turned out there wasn't actually any smuggling going on. Instead the coliseum owner was kidnapping people and transforming them into monsters. He did this through the power of a magic gemstone in the shape of a crescent moon around a snowflake that sat atop his cane. Apparently, whoever provided him with that cane would also occasionally claim some of the monsters. He used that as motivation to get the monsters to fight. The only way to avoid being claimed was apparently to make a lasting impression on the audience. Naturally... Two of the Heroes we sent were transformed into monsters and forced to fight while the third apparently got trapped inside a bottle. Come to think of it not sure if anyone even let her out. Somehow, they managed to turn things around and they smashed the moon shaped gemstone. Upon the gem being shattered they had reports of the entire coliseum being covered in fog. Supposedly they then heard the voice of a young girl, followed by the coliseum's owner screaming. The fog cleared as soon as it had appeared, and the coliseum owner was gone. No trace of him remained. The place was closed down. Mission accomplished.

And yet despite two missions being technically completed no one is feeling optimistic about the current situation. Gee, I wonder why?

So let's go over the similarities between these two incidents.

First off the easiest similarity to spot is of course the two gemstones. In the forest they found a sun gem and in the arena a moon gem. In both cases these gems were the cause of all the problems. Destroying the gems immediately put a stop to the ongoing problems.

The second was what the gems did. Both of then possessed incredible transformative magic. This in itself isn't anything new. I can count the number of Heroes who left this place and came back the same species on one paw. Heck I just work down in the archives and I don't even look like me anymore! Ah well, at least the coat of fur helps keep me warm since it gets cold down here. These robes that pass for a uniform aren't exactly thick. But anyway... What made the magic of these gems powerful is just how seamless the transformations were. As common place as it has become changing one living thing into another isn't an easy task. It requires quite a bit of technical mastery and when done by an amateur well... When transmutation magic goes wrong it goes very wrong. The point is... This type of magic is often slow. The body takes a few minutes to change forms. Exceptionally powerful spellcasters can speed this up a bit. If you're powerful enough you can get a sort of 'poof' transformation. You have a dog, then see a cloud of smoke or a flash of light and bam! You now have a cat!

That kind of act requires exceptionally powerful magic though. And the thing that's frightening here is the fact that as far as we know what just happened should be physically impossible. At least by mortal standards. We're talking deific levels of power for this kind of magic. I mentioned we have the whole 'poof' effect for spellcasters who can do instant transformations. The poof of smoke or flash of light isn't a stylistic choice. It's a necessity. That level of magic isn't subtle. When you cast a spell that powerful it's supposed to be big and loud. There's no way to hide it. And yet... In this case someone did.

All six heroes that were dispatched on these missions experienced transformations. And all six report the same thing. (Well four. Two don't really talk right now.) One instant they were themselves, the next instant they were something else. There was no flash. There was no poof. There was no slow change or in between step. It was as if in an instant reality had simply been overwritten. That's not supposed to be possible.

So we can conclude one of two things from this.

1. Whatever was responsible for both of these incidents is so exceptionally powerful it can exceed our understanding of the laws of magic.

2. Alternatively we're dealing with something that has found a way to ignore or bypass our understanding of the laws of magic and cast spells in a way we cannot predict.

Neither one of these is a good thing. And to be frank... Right now we don't know what happened or how. A lot of the higher ups are nervous. And well... Here's the thing. We once had a dragon the size of a country land on top of HQ and threaten to fry us all where we stood. The higher ups didn't even blink. But two tiny gems in the shape of the sun and the moon. Now people are terrified. And now we're doomed.

And so now we're trying to draw some understanding of what happened. That brings us to the third common variable between the two missions. Both missions had a third party that was not directly involved with the magic of the gems but was somehow tied to it. In the forest we had the Will-O-Wisp. So a faerie. In the arena we have the girl in the fog. No idea what she looks like or even what she is... But she was able to appear instantly and drag off the coliseum owner.

So a faerie and a strange girl. Who knows maybe the girl is another faerie. Or maybe she's a demon. Seems doubtful. This isn't really demon style. So what is she? A god? An eldritch horror? A lawyer? There's a million other things she could be and I'm really not supposed to make guesses here. Not that I think anyone would know if I did. But the point is we have no idea who or what she is or who or what set these incidents up. We need to find out who and why.

Right now we don't even know if the someone is a person or a thing or something beyond our comprehension. We don't even know if it's one person or two, or a group or multiple groups. Our only clues are the sun and the moon. Were they symbols representing the person behind this? If so does that mean the person has some power over stars and other celestial bodies? Or are they symbols of two different groups? Why are there two different groups involved? Some kind of contest? Either way, sun and moon what would they represent them? Day and night? Light and darkness? Summer and winter? Warmth and cold? We need more information.

Luckily the need for more information seems to be the one thing everyone agrees on right now. I've heard about some of the upcoming missions they'll be sending people on. Honestly they sound kind of boring... But I'm sure we'll find a way to screw it up and make it explode. Still I imagine it nothing too bad should happen. After all... How hard could it be to visit a library?

And that's basically the end of the report. Basically in conclusion. We don't know anything. I have my own theories mind you. But of course no one cares what I think. Still, I'm sure the world probably won't end overnight. Even still... If you got a bucket list... Maybe it's time to start checking a few things off.

Sybil Delphi

SHIFT Scribe and Archivist