In the aftermath of the gnomish aethership crash of the Freetrader
Snapfuse, wreckage was left strewn across Avechna's Peak, some of which
was still soiled by the slivven infestation. Taking no chances of
further slivven outbreaks, the Facility Gnomes contracted out salvage
and cleanup operations to scour the mountain of all detritus. In a
surprisingly short period of time, the mountain was quietly and
efficiently returned to its pristine condition.

Several days later, an eerie green glow was seen emanating from the
Inner Sea and the Sea of Despair. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered
that mutations were transforming the indigenous life into horrific
malformations - great bloated squid, dragon turtles with far too many
eyes and a penchant for blood, mammoth coffin fish intent on sucking up
any they came across and crooked, violent goblin sharks were among those
that succumbed first to the strange disease. Many sought out what seemed
the likely sources - some strange abomination committed upon the newly
discovered Cay of Cloadahi, some suspected. Others feared Muud was
poisoning the Seas from deep beneath the Basin of Life. Still more were
concerned something more sinister had occurred, quickly pointing fingers
at first Magnagora and then the newly found cities of Gaudiguch and
Hallifax, then finally Glomdoring. Yet all of the Basin of Life soon
found themselves united against the horrors crawling out of the salty
depths of the seas, for, crawl they did.

Though the citizens of Stewartsville and Delport and the kelpies beneath
the waves all saw strange children and 'great armoured knights' dumping
barrels into the water, none could puzzle whence they came. Matters
became worse, however, over time. Strange, fleshy amalgams of flesh
began to appear within the Inner Sea and the Sea of Despair, pooling at
its depths. Taking sword and staff, many adventurers sought to destroy
it quickly - only finding that as they destroyed one side of it, it only
split into two sides and parted. Soon, mortals found themselves faced
against a great monstrosity of horrific and terrible proportions,
filling much of the depths of both seas. Things only devolved when
strange automatons began appearing, mechanical voices clanking out that
they would eradicate the infection before attacking those who had come
to develop an affliction known as 'toxic shock', resulting from exposure
to both the toxins and the poisoned blood of the creatures that had
become mutated.

Suspecting the automatons were of gnomish design, many began to approach
the crew of the Aethership Starhopper for assistance. Professor Gargle
von Fixit, the greatest of gnomish scientific minds and one of those
responsible for bringing an end to the Toy Wars, set to work. Concocting
a serum from the blood of the mutants, the good Professor was able to
create syringes that - when used on the blobs - would dissolve a portion
of it, preventing its expansion. Though some fought vainly to destroy
the blob the old-fashioned way, in time those with syringes succeeded in
eliminating both of the creatures entirely. With the blobs dealt with,
many turned their minds to two things - first, a cure to the toxic shock
and second, vengeance on whomever had caused this. Luckily for the
afflicted, Gargle had found a strange collection of compounds on many of
the automatons.

Revealing the concerns of the Facility, Captain Girda Starhopper spoke
quietly, though everyone heard each word clearly - they suspected it was
the Aetherspace Gnafia, a secret syndicate of highly-ranked and
well-associated gnome families who dealt in black market trade and other
unsavory business practices. Indeed, it was suspected that the Snapfuse
family may have been part of the Gnafia. It was further speculated that
the company that outbid for the recent clean-up contract, and used
unstable reagents to cheaply dissolve the aethercraft wreckage, which
was stored in drums and dumped into the seas. Unfortunately, it was
suspected that the company was a carefully crafted front for the Gnafia
and the Facility found it impossible to track down the actual corporate
officers. Whoever was responsible for this reagent must have a method to
prevent or cure the sickness so it was paramount to find the base of
their operations.

Again putting his great mind to work, Professor Gargle von Fixit set
about creating a collection of tools that would allow people to take
samples from the various aetherbubbles - particularly the inhabitants
thereof that might have had run-ins with the automatons. Vacuums in
hand, many mortals set across Aetherspace in their eclectic collections
of Aetherships, shuttling themselves and their fellows from bubble to
bubble, citizens of the forests and cities assisted Gargle in completing
his data - even disturbing the frumious Licorice Queen and the easily
agitated allisaur, some even braving the Great Bog Mother of the Finks
to retrieve their samples. Xenthos, Nydekion, Sidd, Krellan, Shuyin,
Talan, Viynain, Ardmore, Inagin and Doman were the first to complete the
task, and with Doman's collection, Gargle had enough samples to make a
fair guess. All of the samples had a single place in common: Cankermore.

Slipstream in their sails, the mortals raced off - and it was not long
until they had discovered the grungy camp where a few gnomes were
working, storing the dubious commodities for shipment. Putting shoulder
to steel, the angry - if diseased - citizens of the Basin of Life even
managed to break into the laboratory of one Doctor Xaviar Snapfuse, who
had no qualm admitting his guilt - and no empathy for their sickness. At
first refusing the cure to the sick, Xaviar saw an opportunity for one
of his favourite activities - extortion. In response to offers of either
Xenthos' head, who had executed the doctor's nephew Captain Lotin
Snapfuse, or a million gold, Snapfuse was violently murdered by Talan
Ysav'rai, despite his attempts to steal her away from the fight. And
with his death she recovered a key to the machine - and a cure for their
disease.

The pollution at an end, those sick would make the trek to Cankermore
and seek out Snapfuse's machine, curing and inoculating themselves
against further contamination. The Facility, in hopes of righting the
wrongs of the now maligned Snapfuse family, began to extract the toxins
from both seas - the poisons slowly fading from the waters, and the last
of the mutants put out of their misery. Though many wondered - what, or
where, was this Gnafia? Would they come for revenge? Or had they learned
the Basin of Life was not their toxic dumping ground?


Penned by My hand on the 4th of Dvarsh, in the year 263 CE.