This stela is badly damaged. It is cloven by some terrible force, and deep scores run the length of the stone, as if it had been rent by vicious claws. Cursory divination suggests that the damage is ancient. Despite the defacement, the preservative enchantment remains in effect. What force could have been strong enough to inflict this damage?

This is the upper portion of the stela. Aside from the claw-marks and a curious starburst-pattern in one spot, the inscription is impressively intact.Passages marked with ### are unintelligible, but may yield to further research. Passages marked with […] are unrecoverable.

Valess brought this fragment to the company’s attention. She brought it shrouded in a scrap of leaded anti-magic fabric. She wants to discover what it says, and feels compelled to research it further.

This stela is the fourth of seven, the ### of Shaih Hammarkis Anroulis Shining-Echo, holder of the keys of the Inward Gates, and former instructor of ### ### in the White Gardens.

The lords of men were slow to act against us, even with their gods […] almost no contacts among the kingdoms of men. Merchants from the Horse Kingdoms and the ### lands were infrequent, but far more common than traders from the Rememberer’s Well, the Whispering Circle, the Seven Springs or the White ###. We did not host […] We were turned away from our former people, and no longer walked in their world. The peoples of the Middle […] brought wares to and from the Sea of Ancient Blood.

The city of Glass Sands first brought trouble to our shores, claiming ### land near Sea Palisades. They enslaved our allies, and razed their towns. Soon the Whispering Circle and the Rememberer’s Well laid claims of their own, even going so far as to declare the Sea Palisades to be their ### ###. Then ### ### slipped his best pupils into the Glass Sands enclave near ### ###, and slew the ### and his seven generals. The ### of war fell in quick succession. The Thousand ### became talons bent on our destruction.

They came to our shores with mighty ships of war, and lashed out at us with spell and ###. They savaged […] struggled to mount a response that would not compromise our ###. We raised dreadful ###, and forged potent ballistae to hurl ### bolts. We crafted ### ### to entangle the ### around our coast, making a maze of the open sea. We even erected a great ### for all ###, that only those with due permission could enter or leave our lands via […], unlocking the secret stair at the heart of the soul, and ascending the steps toward the gates of the heavens. The only way to stop the ### and their mad war, we reasoned, was to […]

The back of the stela has been marked with text in a white alchemical grease-paint. Old Draconic text reads:

The persistence of light is not a myth. More remain; discovery awaits.