Blackwood Gazette #18: Strange Ruins Discovered in Swamps of Lelina; Newland Academics Stumped

5/6-Disturbing news from the colonies today, as reports of strange ruins discovered in the swamplands around the colonial boom town of Lelina made its way to Imperial shores this morning.

The ruins were discovered last month by Daniel Tomlinson, aged 20, and his youngest son Jack, aged 6, while they were trawling the swamps for bottom dwelling fish and crustaceans.

“It was five stones, like fingers, sticking up out the water,” said Daniel. “Darndest thing I ever did see. I know these swamps like the back of my hand. Been doing this my whole life, right here in this swamp, and believe me, I ain’t never seen nothing like it before, no sir.”

Jack told his teachers the next week about the strange stones, and news traveled throughout the town. One of the teachers, Alexander Packard, went out to look for the stones, and never returned.

“I think he got ate by a gator,” said Jack.

Before disappearing, Packard sent a letter to his colleagues at the University of New Toring. When the University learned of Packard’s disappearance, they sent a team to investigate.

“It is a remarkable discovery,” said Donald Croshaw, Head of Newland Archaeology. “The ruins are similar to other sites found throughout the Newlands, except for two crucial details: these are made of some as yet unidentified element, and the surface is marked with a complex series of markings, much too small and precise to be done with a chisel, or any technology currently available to us.”

Other members of the team reported strange occurrences around the site and the camp they set up nearby.

“It was difficult to be around for too long,” said Marisol Calaveras, an intern from the university of Monteddor. “I swear, it felt as though the fillings in my teeth were rattling.”

Others reported feelings of unease and nausea throughout the first night, feelings that abated throughout the day, but did not return the next night.

“Probably just adjusting to the moist environment,” Croshaw said.

No sign of Packard was found. Croshaw stated that young Jack Tomlinson’s theory might actually be a working theory.

“Alligators are a proper threat out here, especially for a middle aged, overweight grade school teacher on his own in an unfamiliar environment,” Croshaw said. Packard had only moved to Lelina the year before.

Croshaw and his team continue to investigate the site. More on this story as it develops.

Blackwood Gazette #18: Strange Ruins Discovered in Swamps of Lelina; Newland Academics Stumped

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s