Originally for Aeria by Markka. ___________________________________________________________
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"It was a typical, warm and cloudy day on the road going to Brackwall, we were bringing them salt, spices, some cloth and plenty of coin to do trade with. Me, Marcio, my buddies Lewie and Djungard had been into this craft for years and we had seen our share of danger in the form of bandits, marauding gnolls and goblins, wolves and even a ghost or two. I wasn't much of a fighter, but our resident drunkard, dwarf Djungard could pick a fight with ten armed thugs while wearing only a towel, and still come out on top. Lewie was a bit more quiet, but a good company when you get to know to him. He's the best book-keeper I know and somehow manages to find the best deals, anywhere. I do the talking and woo the lovely ladies.
As I said, we were on our way to Brackenwall to trade goods and we had high spirits. Plenty of success we had in the last couple weeks, made plenty of coin, but as soon as we passed one unmarked crossroads, I started to feel a bit odd. Found myself thinking of my childhood home, but it wasn't really the same I remembered it was. Djungard got frustrated and started ranting over how awful travelling is, and Lewie hissed at his books, constantly mumbling that something was missing from it, but couldn't figure out what. I started to get pretty angry at their rambling. Even Bella, my horse started to get nervous, so much in fact that I thought she was gonna run off almost a dozen times in in the next five minutes. There was a reason for it, too. And, gods bless us, what a damned reason it was.
We all snapped out of whatever we had been focusing into when the first drum beats and blows of horns sounded through the air. A hellscape opened in front and around us: the blood red skies were filled with smoke darker than the night itself. The trees and ground were charred and trampled, and what was the most shocking, we saw hundreds, if not a thousand ghosts fighting with each other. Two armies were clashing into one another. We stood there, mesmerized for Ao knows how long, the battle seemed to go on forever. Bella finally freaked out when some of the things noticed us and started to surround us, taking us the way we seemingly came from. Even though we lost a bit of our supplies in that ride, she got us all out of it, and didn't stop until we were back at Illenville where we started." -- Marcio Dvenwelli's journal.
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Fields of Strife, as these anomalies have come to be known, are usually located where large battles or wars were fought. These battles ended inconclusively for some reason, both sides suffering a mutual destruction and defeat. The emotions of these dying men and women were somehow captured by the residual energy of the battlefield, which caused a small zone encased in an invisible "bubble" to be created. The anomalies are seemingly fueled by the chaos energy raining from the constellations, but thankfully only the smaller ones can be usually maintained by this energy. Larger Fields of Strifes only seem to appear whenever the chaos energy of the constellations peak. Scholars advice against entering these anomalies, as even the smallest ones are deadly. This lurking danger has increased the demand for witchers and paladins, as a few anomalies lay in important locations, such as trade routes. Some just wish to enter these anomalies in hopes of finding valuable relics.
While several "small" Fields of Strife exist throughout Aeria, they are still very extraordinary and uncommon. These smaller bubbles tend to house up to a few hundred of the spectral soldiers. There has been an occasional report of a chaos-infused item being found in one of these anomalies, but nothing conclusive has come up. Even if these unconfirmed rumours are true, officials advice against entering these anomalies in hopes of finding such relics. At this time, scholars cannot answer what properties these items may possess, as obtaining any research material is considerably difficult. Larger Fields of Strifes have been confirmed to exist, but they only appear every so often whenever the chaos energy raining from the constellations peaks. There are only a handful of known locations for these greater versions of the anomaly, but they're exponentially more dangerous than their smaller counterparts, capable of housing up to a few thousand spectral warriors. Very few who enter these violent anomalies, return. Scholars speculate that these anomalies return to their own plane of existance whenever there is not enough chaos energy in the mortal plane for them to manifest, and there is no known way to reach these during "silent" times.
Detecting the Fields of Strife can be very difficult for anyone, even magic-sensitive people and beings. Generally when approaching an anomaly, the subject will experience negative feelings, such as sorrow, anger, longing and grief that are not their own. While a very keen observer with their guard up may notice this odd shift, it is usually hard to notice. Mages may notice odd ripples of energy emanating from the direction of the anomaly. The second and most obvious way of detecting it is to walk deep enough inside of the "bubble" where the anomaly reveals it's true nature. If one reaches that point, is is generally advisable to turn around immediately and leave the way they came before the spectral soldiers take notice of their presence. -- Official report on Fields of Strife
