Nursery Rhymes

If anyone has any information on the Nursery Rhymes that have been manifesting and plaguing Travance for the past several months, please send it to me with as much haste as you can. Any encounter with one of these apparitions, no matter how many times you think if may have been reported, should be recorded. Any detail, no matter how trivial it may seem, could be the vital clue to unlocking this mystery.

I am particularly interested in the most recent battle with Ulzag the Hunter.

This is a matter that concerns the safety of us all. Do not delay in the sending of these recountings.

In service to the Guard, Baroness, and Weave,
Tobar Moroz Rasia

Over the past two moons, the bards and myself have been trying to workout some sort of rhyme or reason to their actions.

This is what we know:


Research on the Nursery Rhyme Phantasms:


These specific nursery rhyme phantasms have only been spotted around the town of Travance Proper. They have not been seen any further away than perhaps a mile or so from the town.

Research indicates that we are probably dealing with an illusionist of some kind. However, since these phantasms are also becoming more and more real the longer they exist, Green Sorcery might also be involved. No one has actually taken the tact of following one of these phantasms after it has finished an attack or done whatever it was supposed to do. They've simply dispelled it or destroyed it. Perhaps if someone were to follow a phantasm (without being detected), it would lead that person to whomever is controlling them.

( If I remember correctly, Orion attempted this in the past after one dispelled. I would like to ask him if he would be willing to help again. Also, any others willing would be most appreciated. )

Tying back to the previous research, this casting would most certainly involve illusion and, if ritualistic in nature, probably would involve Green Sorcery.

Theoretically, an infinite number of these phantasms could be created with enough time and energy, however, there are eight of them seen so far: Smiling Jack, Weeping Mary, Ulzag the Hunter, The Broken King, The Lord/Lady of Dreams, Little Polly Pox, Mixy and Moxy, and the Tipsy Gypsy & the Charred Bard. Recently, they have been heard saying things like "He will soon arrive." This would indicate that whatever is happening is reaching its end. There also happen to be eight spheres of magic....

The ability to recite the rhymes and banish the phantasms most likely has something to do with the ritual or casting itself. It could be that being presented (in song form) with the source of their existence either unmakes them or tries to make them more real, but they are (or were) too fragile to handle it, so they dissolved. However, as they continue to exist for longer and longer, reciting the nursery rhymes has become less and less effective, so either they are too strong to be dispelled or reciting the nursery rhymes actually strengthens them and each recital has strengthened their bonds to reality, enforcing their existence here in Travance.

From what we have of the rhymes and phantasms, and the fact that we have seen eight of them, it might be possible to match each with a corresponding sphere of magic...

Maybe, not all of them

Tipsy Gypsy and the Charred Bard – Fire?
Weeping Mary – Water?
Smiling Jack – Air? Maybe?
Broken King – Earth?
Mixy and Moxy -
Little Polly Pox -
Lord/Lady of Dreams -
Ulzag the Hunter -

Soon after the release of the issue of the Chronicle with their rhymes posted, they began resisting banishment.

As for authorship or popularity, they’re all popular Kormyrian nursery rhymes.

Ulzag the Hunter was REAL. His story is based on an ancient ogre warlord.
King Gregory was a King of Kormyre in the past.
Some of the stories are real, some are probably not real.

Bards, technically, are not the only ones possible to learn the rhymes. They’re just the ones paying that much more attention to catch the similarities between the phantasms and the stories. Anyone can sit down and memorize the rhymes if they so choose.

From what we know, the “He” that is being referred to is probably a ninth nursery rhyme, as the person who is making them is already present.
“He is coming soon” does not make sense for a creator.

As for a goal or motivation amongst them, they are all motivated by some…internal motivation:

Broken King – His arm.
Smiling Jack – To eat you.
Lord/Lady of dreams – For you to be sleeping.

Only recently have they been referring to “He”.

If it is an external motivation, it is very new, very recent.

Methods to track or trace a phantasm:
Follow them.

Included is the order in which they appeared:

Smiling Jack
Weeping Mary
Ulzag the Hunter
Lord of Dreams
Broken King
Little Polly Pox
Mixy and Moxy
Tipsy Gypsy and the Charred Bard

While researching a way to hold a phantasm, one thing became very clear to me:

For all intents and purposes, they are no longer phantasms.
Banishment is ineffective.
I do not know if the rhymes still work, but other means do not.

If we were to find a Green Sorcerer - If we knew how they were created (which we don't) - we could, in theory, look up positive nursery rhymes to contrast them.

This is what I have.

Whatever is happening is coming to a close very soon.
Personally, I think our best course of action would be to follow them. Find their creator. Work from there.
We don't have much time to do much else.

Croi, I am more than happy to volunteer to follow the next phantasm that shows up. I will however ask that someone well versed in the spheres of magic accompany me. Perhaps you could come with me to the mages guild this moon and discuss possible was to track their creator down?

Croi,

My offer stands, but I will not do it in or near the mages guild.

Caldor

Biron, Caldor,

I shall send each of you missives.

Thank you. Both of you.

Wotcher,

As chance would have it, I recently experienced one of these so-called "Phantasm" events whilst collecting samples in the vicinity of the Alissandrian statehouse. If your research effort is still ongoing (rather than latent, as I had assumed it had become,) then perhaps you might derive some benefit from my observations.

Copied here are the relevant highlights from that day's field log, along with my conclusions, which I hope will be of benefit to you.

- Weather report: Hot and sunny. Partial cloud cover throughout the day. Humidity at 7 parts out of 10, dropping to 5 at noon and rising to 9 in the evening. Ambient pressure relatively constant at a few thousandths over nominal.

12 bells: Encounter with a local humanoid creature. Severe hallucinations result from encounter, which can likely be attributed to the demanding effort of dealing with the encounter in such harsh ambient conditions.

1 bell: (no log)

2 bells: (no log)

3 bells: Regain mental clarity at crossroads outside of Guard Barracks. Notably, both legs appear to have lost functionality, despite retaining all sensation.

4 bells: Curious humanoid sighted on roof of local tavern. Climb onto roof in order to perform detailed observations; however am hit by a strong gust of wind and sent toppling to the ground. Resulting injuries do not appear to have any immediate effect on perception.

4 bells: Brief expedition to local point of interest: subterranean building referred to as "Inverted Tower." Conditions within structure are cooler, although humidity and ambient pressure are consistent with earlier readings. Traces of airborne Sulphur present within structure; possibility of additional undetected gases being present is non-negligible.

5-6 bells: Meal with locals, consisting of seasoned vegetables and some form of high-starch cereal grain.

7 bells: Peculiar humanoid sighted during routine component sourcing run. Appears to be wearing straw hat and predominantly orange clothes. Remains entirely stationary; closer inspection reveals the figure to appear differently when viewed from different angles. Am reminded of mother's parlour trick involving cups and balls, which appears to be nothing short of a miracle when viewed from the front, but is clearly the product of deft sleight-of-hand motions when viewed from any other angle. Curiously, the figment appears to flee when my companions start reciting poetry at it, as if exhibiting some form of sentience.

The later entries are of little interest. However, what should be obvious is that a number of possible catalysts are identified - prevailing weather conditions, recent hallucinations, concussive injuries, curious meals, and leaking subterranean gases. Should these apparitions become a nuisance, we have also found two possible ways to deal with them: view them from a number of angles (so as to decisively convince oneself that they are nothing more than a figment of one's imagination) or else recite poetry poorly (it appeared that the figments found bad performances abhorrent to the point of being unbearable, and fled from such.)

I hope that the above is of assistance to whomsoever is currently involved in studying these odd occurrences - please don't hesitate to contact me should any additional studies be required.

Well hello.

I can only say that I have seen three of the nursery rhymes: (in order) Smiling Jack, the Broken King, and Little Polly Pox. So far out of those three only Polly talked to me. She kept talking about her sheep and crying. You already have Broken King's and Smiling Jack's purpose for being around. Polly seemed to just want help finding her sheep. This is all I have on her. Maybe that can be her purpose for going around... Like drawing people away to help her? No clue.

Hope this helped.

Aselra Coalbeard

Everything helps.
Thank you.

Aselra,

As far as we know, neither Smiling Jack nor the Broken King are capable of speech. They seem to be unique in this, as I've heard the other phantasms talk. However, this is, I think, merely an aspect of their character. For example, the Broken King cannot speak because he has been turned to stone.

Croinamara,

Weeping Mary's motivation is to punish or hurt men.
Ulzag's purpose is to hunt humans to eat (according to legend, his preferred meal was human children)

~Tobar