Midnight's Report: Of Bees and Bones

OOC Note: This report has been submitted to Peanut and will be redacted based on his and/or other officers. Do not take anything on here as crew knowledge until given confirmation.
 
"Where to begin...
 
I suppose we can start with my mission to Yolk. It was a simple enough mission. They sent me to Sonnerie to slay a creature that had devoured a sealed box. Apparently the aura it gave off was corrupting and dangerous and only a specialist with shadow magic could safely come close without preparation. With me being more immediately available, I was sent solo. They clearly wanted it retrieved quickly. Seemed a simple enough mission. Set a trap, deal a swift killing blow, carve the beast up and be done. When I retrieved the object... well...
 
The object was a bone. A blackened humerus with swirling shadows and cursed whispers promising power. Not only that, but something I sensed gave me an incredibly bad feeling. A feeling that if anyone else had this object, there would be danger. Something indescribable. A sense that I could not bring it to Yolk. That I had to bring it home. A part of me I admit was concerned that this might be a trick, but at the same time, I have not known my instincts on such things to be wrong. Before you get too agitated about me acting on such loose information, I believe confirmation of this feeling may have come when I entered Yolk's forest. The bone began to fight against me, pulling towards Yolk. It ravenously devoured my magic when I tried to use it to aid me and shadowy beings were approaching and surrounding me. It wanted to go to Yolk.
 
This is the part where I suspect people will be most upset with me, but to put it simply? I'm not sure I had any other option. The bone was pulling at my magic, I was slowed down making brute force not an option if I wanted to escape what was chasing me. It was surrender the bone or do something dangerous. Something drastic. I... remembered the contact I used my magic to devour. It was a risky choice that ultimately did not play out like I hoped. I didn't get nearly as much on Gibbet to protect the crew as I hoped, and instead all it has led to is people getting addicted to magic, including myself. If things had been a little different, maybe it would have paid off, but ultimately, I did nothing but harm that I'm not sure I'll be able to undo but I hope to some day make amends. Despite all that, despite all my concerns? I did it again. The bone is a part of me. An extension of myself and Sonnerie now calls to me. What chased us disappeared. And I have to admit, while I feel something a little off, overall, I feel good. Damn good. Better than I could have imagined. I was afraid, especially in my weakened state, that I would be overwhelmed. I know I'm powerful but I'm not invincible. Death lies at every corner, and someday it will catch up with me. This could have been that choice that did it. Risking everything to protect the crew, Yolk, and perhaps even more. But now that it's done? I don't have a handle on it yet, but I feel like a bottomless well of shadows. I only need to learn how to tap into it.
 
We're going to need to figure out what it all means. I volunteer myself for any studies the Mysticians may need to perform to ascertain that I will remain myself and what exactly has happened to me. Now as for my mission with the others in Amhran...
 
Things weren't exactly great. The place was swarming with angry bees and wasps. The people? Well, some of Dyad came this way and they took them in. I respect the people of Amhran quite a bit for doing this, but something went wrong. Everyone was working rather mindlessly? Perhaps the wrong word. Their sense of self was numbed and there was only duty and war. Only Willaby and two others were ok. We discovered they were making a new sort of honey. Deep red like dried blood, and could form into deadly, hemoraging weapons. Blue honey seems to destabilize it, so it seems to be a powerful way to counter such things. Particularly with how agitated Eight got with Clem.
 
About Eight... she was Eight of Thirteen and seemed to thrive off of pain. She gained power from the pain and death of those around her, converting it into power. Eight of Thirteen of the Scythes of Waspmodeus. These beings and Waspmodeus themselves will likely be the deadliest of beings we have ever faced. Even King Charlie struggled as I'm sure you all saw and Waspmodeus is supposed to be weak against lightning. I think we're going to need to talk about bringing back a version of the buoys we developed against the Book Wyrm to buy us some time. I'm not sure what modifications will need to be done to make them work in this new world, but shock kind of electricity based trap to restrain them may be our best hope, and the heaviest, most devastating magic and weapons we can muster. We can't fight these things directly. Not yet. Only weaken them, drive them off, and hope to minimize the damage until we can deal a finishing blow. As another note, Relieve seems to mitigate their ability to absorb additional pain. I had hoped it would cut them off from their affinity entirely, and perhaps that is still a possibility, but placement and focus may be a factor.
 
I only hope with Eight driven from Amhran, we can restore relations. Calm them down. Find balance as Seth put it so well. It seems Amhran's priest might be in part to blame given he inspired desires for war, particularly among the new residents, but given Eight's involvement, I doubt they entirely knew what was going to happen. Oh, and thank Willaby for me. I owed him a drink before but after saving both Clem and Quet? That guy... we need him on the crew. He has proven himself beyond compare and I know though we don't know each other well, if he calls for help, I will always answer.
 
Oh... turns out one of the side effects of me eating the bone may have occurred. When I say Eight, I immediately went into some new version of my shadow demon form. It projected one nasty fear aura that only Clem and Eight were able to resist. I won't lie, it's a useful ability to have. Incredibly so. I just hope Seth, Quet and Willaby aren't too emotionally scarred by it."