Late in the autumn of the year of the eclipse, months after the
nightmares had returned to the Dreamrealm, a single nightmare was found
wandering the Sangre plains alone, besieged by numerous giant white
bats. Those who observed the cloud of bats over the Sangre rushed to
investigate the phenomenon, and many were slain by the savage beasts
before the object of their pursuit was discovered. Another startling
discovery: this nightmare was heavy with foal.

Unsure yet curious of the pregnant nightmare's significance, various
factions worked, sometimes together, sometimes not, to rid the bats
attacking her. Success could only be momentary, however, as the bats
returned time and time again. The many bat-slayers held the vicious
creatures off long enough, however, for one Xellan Shu'in to take the
net that had once captured the nychtaur and cast it over the nightmare.

The net metamorphosed into a silvery bridle, settling gently over the
pregnant nightmare's head. Xellan then led the nightmare to a place of
relative safety -- the inner Temple of the Moon. Many gathered there to
help tend to the nightmare and fight off the bats that had tracked her
there. They found that the only sustenance she would accept was a
particular kind of night-blooming orchid that had begun growing in the
Sangre Plains since the advent of perpetual darkness.

The enchanted bridle that tamed the nightmare melted away after a time,
its strength spent, though a flash of celestial light returned it,
recharged, to the place where the net had been created. Unbridled, the
ethereal mare vanished then, only to turn up once more in the Sangre
plains. Though those seeking to protect her from the giant bats, or to
study her more closely, re-bridled her time and time again, she
persistently escaped and returned to the Sangre. Saltaern, Rikeshar,
Skye, Elizabeth, Jaizsur, Dalavan, Tatina, Delphinus, Blujixapug,
Thenidiel, Tamuril, Ashira, and Prue were among those most persistent in
befriending and tending to the mare over the next several months, as her
pregnancy progressed.

Finally one day in the spring of the following year, the nightmare's
self-appointed caretakers received a waking dream. It began as other
waking dreams caused by proximity to the nightmare had, though the
dreamers were farflung across the continent at the time. This vision was
of a strange creature with the face of a beautiful woman with silver
eyes, hair falling around her face in tangled locks of blood red. Below
the neck, her body was that of a lean black feline, and raven wings
jutted from her sleek back.

When the waking dream was described over the telepathic channel of the
city of Cyrene, it was a young Druidess named Deevina who quickly
recognised the creature in the dream as a lamassu. Passing through the
Northern Ithmia earlier, she had noticed nine lamassus gathered in a
single spot, and they had sung to her strangely when she had greeted
them, she explained.

Others recognised the creature in the dreams also, and before long, a
sizeable crowd had gathered in the Northern Ithmia. As Deevina had
noticed earlier, the lamassus were singing strangely. When Prue brought
the bridled nightmare to the lamassus, they greeted the mare with
reverence, calling her the 'blessed mother'. They led the group then to
a cave nearby, and pushing on a slab of stone across the ground,
revealed a hidden underground passage.

Though the lamassus warned bluntly of danger below, many of the intrepid
adventurers dashed eagerly into the passage, keen to find where it led.
This turned out to be a mistake: where it led was straight into a tunnel
teeming with ravenous undead! Kinds of ghouls, zombies, phantoms, and
revenants unseen since a raid by Slith's forces on the city of Shallam
long ago swarmed the length of the passageway. It was only with much
courage and sheer, organised numbers that the undead were overcome, and
the underground tunnel cleared.

At the end of the tunnel was a panel in the ceiling that when pushed
aside, opened into the reception hall of the planetarium built by
Tavarius, long inaccessible. After much time and investigation, in the
library of the planetarium was found yet another secret panel. The panel
led into a vast underground cave. The lamassus' cryptic song, if
deciphered, would have revealed the entrance to the cave much sooner,
but alas, it was never truly solved. Instead, Kuntar serendipitously
stumbled into the cave after others had unknowingly triggered the
correct hidden mechanisms elsewhere.

Within the cave was a surprising find -- the young Oracle of the
Mannaseh, Apollonia, who had been missing since even before the eclipse.
Tragically, she was unconscious, beaten and bloodied and bound. Even
worse, it appeared that whoever had kidnapped her wanted to make certain
she would be silenced: Apollonia's tongue had been removed.

Though many attempted to revive Apollonia, she was deep in a coma until
the nightmare was led into the cave. The mare was able to revive the
girl, at the cost of a portion of her own ephemeral strength.
Immediately after, the nightmare collapsed heavily onto her side,
gasping, her abdomen contracting and expanding rapidly. The lamassus
loped swiftly to surround her on all sides, the nine strange midwives
concealing her from view as the birthing began.

When finally the lamassus moved aside, a small black foal was nestled at
the mother's side. The mother nightmare nuzzled her foal lovingly with
the last of her strength. Then, all strength spent, her head fell with a
terrible thud to the ground, the light behind her eyes snuffed out. Her
body began to blur, becoming a hazy and undefined black mist. Then even
that faded, and she was gone, leaving only the nightmare foal curled
alone upon the ground.


Penned by my hand on the 11th of Lupar, in the year 427 AF.