Thorns of Stone

Expedition Record: Day 3

9:23 PM

While the excitement of yesterday hasn’t abated, today brought no new revelations or insights; I dispatched Flawless Star to send his submarine over the field, using radar to build a picture of how large it is, as well as attempting to get a sample of a thorn. Alas, all his efforts yield the same result as my initial dive to the site: these thorns are too durable and resistant to yield even a tablespoon of their composition to our drone.

Although progress is steady, I have no conclusions to report at this time regarding the field’s size, nor are there additional clues as to how it was made, or why. I remain convinced that the thorns are not a natural phenomena, and my colleagues on the yacht agree with me. Archives are being pursued and studied back on the mainland, but we have no record of any civilization or society living out in this area of the [REDACTED]. While it is possible that we will find an answer in some long-buried scroll in a library somewhere, I prefer to believe that we have come across the first signs of a civilization that was lost to time long ago!

On an unrelated note, Thunder Twirl and I have finally gotten our sea legs, which means we can now eat food and manage to keep it down. Captain Storm didn’t say anything as we enjoyed dinner, but I think I saw the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of her lips. I only imagine how many seasick landlubbers like ourselves she’s seen over the years.

It’s getting late; I will report back tomorrow when we have more news to share.

Expedition Record: Day 4:

8:12 AM

Flawless has just launched his submarine to complete the last sweep of the field, after which we will finally know its full size. Once that is complete, we’ll focus our efforts on obtaining a sample of a thorn so we may determine how old these thorns are. But the sweep comes first; with any luck, we will have our answers by sundown.

3:35 PM

Incredible! Absolutely incredible! Flawless Star completed his scan and surfaced shortly around noon, and I have spent the past three hours with our technicians compiling the radar scans, and now we finally know the true size of the field of thorns. According to the data, the field is at least a hundred square miles! I had expected the field to be large, but not this enormous! Furthermore, we have discovered that, while the placement of the thorns has no clear pattern, all of them are roughly the height of a three story building and approximately six feet in diameter. Once again, more evidence that these thorns are not a natural phenomena.

What excites me, though, is an irregularity in the center of the site. It is difficult to discern, but there appears to be a higher concentration of thorns there, suggesting there might be something beneath this section that warrants further study. Thankfully, Flawless Star is willing to do another dive today to investigate the section. How he can endure doing so many dives in such a tight, confined space, I cannot guess, but I will make full use of his endurance, and we will be departing shortly. However, I will not be taking this journal with me: Thunder Twirl pointed out to me that if something had happened to the submarine during my previous dive, the journal would have been lost, and she is quite right: my excitement overrode common sense, and I shall not make such a mistake again.

11:45 PM

Sweet Celestia! The dive was more successful than I could have hoped! We didn’t spend long above the irregularity, but our more detailed radar scans confirmed that there is indeed something below the thicker batch of thorns! Exactly what it is, we were not able to tell, and a warning light forced us to retreat to the surface before we could investigate further. Flawless Star is going over the sub with his staff to ensure it’s integrity, and if all goes well, we'll head right back down to the irregularity tomorrow. I have no idea what we’ll find down there, but whatever it is, it will no doubt be of monumental importance!