[This is an old event post, refer to Updates #7 for why these are out of
order]

It had been a few years since the Gorlognal Academy ventured beyond the
Gaaglin Swamp, but in mid Roarkian of the year 681 after the Coming of
Estarra they not only visited the Basin of Life, they were there to make
quite a startling announcement - they were recruiting research
assistants.

Research Assistant Phuslik Meshglog was in the middle of posting
recruitment notices around the Aetherplex when she decided that the best
location for the Academy's posters was precisely where the Fellowship of
the Roots had already hung up theirs. When the Fellowship's notices were
removed and replaced, Pachidrui Etloo raised the alarm.

What followed was an extended confrontation that escalated swiftly
through the ranks of the Gorlognal Academy - starting from Research
Assistant Phuslik, who sent for Assistant Professor Quamgenyra Slaur,
who then sent for Professor Feenol Leihm, who in turn sent for
Chancellor Phelbin Gorlogg himself, each arrival more senior and more
irritable than the last.

The Fellowship was not to be outdone and quickly swelled in numbers with
the arrival of Naesan Sweetfur, the fierce Thes 'Bonegrinder' Erurozea,
Tikki, Valinea, Huskii Myeras, Esei Shee-Slaugh, Qoivhae Vivalde,
Anorak, and even the leader - Nimuire Duskbloom herself. The peaceful
nature of the Aetherplex, as Esei drily noted, at least prevented the
encounter from becoming violent - much to Thes's evident disappointment.

The Academy's position, delivered with the full condescension of an
institution that considered itself the foremost centre of learning in
the world, was that the Fellowship had a history of recklessness with
the consequences of their work. The Fellowship likewise had much to say
about the Academy's own methodology. They argued about the events in the
village of Paavik, the work in the Namiraa Trench, the research in
Muhanlesh Caverns, and even the Silverfur twins.

It was not until Chancellor Gorlogg spoke up that the argument over
posters wound down enough for reasonable discourse to resume. The
Academy had data that the Fellowship did not. Their field research,
conducted in and around the Gaaglin Swamp, had yielded a conclusion that
contradicted what the Fellowship believed about the events surrounding
the Eater of Flesh and Earth. During the great conflict over the Gaaglin
Swamp - during the empowerment of the Eater and the battle that followed
- something else had been at work.

The Eater had not been empowered in the way everyone had believed. It
had been drained. And the Academy suspected whatever had done the
draining was no force any of them had yet named. Phelbin did not offer
to work together with the Fellowship - not until, in his words, the
Fellowship could demonstrate its innocence in the matter.

"Something is very wrong in the Basin of Life and we will get to the
bottom of it", he was heard saying before he stormed off back to the
Academy.

After the mugwumps departed, their recruitment posters were finally read
in full: the Gorlognal Academy's Field Laboratory, now established in
the Gaaglin Swamp but outside the Academy itself, was open to
researchers who wished to contribute to their work, provided they were
not active members of the Fellowship of the Roots.

The Fellowship discussed these revelations long after the Academy had
gone. Esei in particular was openly suspicious of their timing,
questioning why they had waited so long to share this information if
they had it. Tikki, too, urged caution as the Academy was not
trustworthy simply because they arrived with alarming intelligence. Even
so, Valinea proposed that a secret third party might be at the heart of
things and that it was possible that neither the Fellowship nor the
Academy was seeing the full picture. Whichever way the wind would end up
blowing, Naesan was sure that the dreams did not lie, and that something
was indeed very wrong and that his exhaustion was only deepening.

Beyond the Scorpion's Tail, deep in the Gaaglin Swamp, the first to
cross the vibrational field protecting the field laboratory and begin
research was Qoivhae Vivalde of New Celest. Who else will join the
research efforts of the mysterious Academy and what are they working on
exactly?

Penned by My hand on the 7th of Juliary, in the year 747 CE.

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