The oppressive heat and humidity in the caves had been worse, in recent weeks. Like a gathering storm, the pressure had begun to squeeze against the ears, to blanket sound, a crushing weight of pressure that broke now and again in violent squalls of thunder and drenching rain, even hail.

While the plants had flourished beneath the lifeblood of water offered them, the Lessers had gone to ground: sleeping, or resting in the cover of the forest beneath a downpour, or trudging along beneath the weight of fog and storms that clung humid dewdrops to every surface.

Any who had frequented Polaris would have seen a gradual change in the Spire, over the last few days, as well: as though in response to the storms, or perhaps as a cause of them, its crackling magic had grown ever more violent and abrupt. The occasional lash of magic seared the stone below before fading, and even a rumble like thunder echoed from its gleaming surface now and again.

Whatever had brought it about did not matter; it built, and built, and finally broke: the overwhelming surge of magic igniting and flaring along Polaris's walls, spreading rapidly like a static charge before dispersing with a single crack throughout the caves.

The rain and thunder through the caves held an ethereal quality, now: the droplets seeming to glow in the dark, the thunder charged with more than simple electricity. Fur stood on end, and suddenly the Lessers were alert, bright-eyed and active. It felt as though energy were flowing through the caves, rejuvenating them... yet, like a storm, it was unpredictable. A cave floor might sting the foot abruptly, like a static charge; and there were other, stranger effects of wild magic as the storm raged and faded.

A surge of magicka has invigorated the caves. For the month of August, all magicka earned from posting will be doubled. Upon completing threads and claiming in Magicka Market, the GMs will roll for an additional wild magic bonus for each participant. This bonus may grant the characters additional magicka or even a random spell (or technique or tactic depending on path)!

Your characters are welcome to react in this thread, though there will be no further IC posts for this event.