There was something slightly eerie about the ruins hidden below the Ice. A part of me wanted to go there, to personally investigate the Ice covering the city, as there had to be something magical about it. Nothing else made any real sense, not with the massive hunk of ice just sitting there, in the August sun and being partially in ocean water without any signs of melting. Channelling my senses through my constructs gave me some slight feedback but what I got was far from enough to let me understand what was going on, to say nothing of investigating the cause or source if it was an ongoing effect. Just that something was there, but that had already been obvious from the circumstances.

So, when nothing else was readily visible, I soon decided to have one of my ravens fly low across the water, curious if that would make something happen. The strange, green monsters might react in some way, or I might be able to see if anything was interesting about them, beyond their strange skin colour and semi-aquatic lifestyle.

The first indication I received that something was strange wasn't a visual one. Instead, I noticed an incredibly faint noise, a mix between croaking and buzzing hanging in the air above the water. As my scrying construct flew across the water, I realised that the noise didn't change at all, as if it was coming from all around me, or maybe as if the water itself was acting like a massive speaker. I wasn't sure how that might work. Regardless, it was pretty evident that this noise wasn't normal, though I couldn't discern its effect just yet. Maybe some sort of mental effect, and I was disconnected from it due to the way information was transmitted to me, or maybe it only worked on certain creatures.

There were numerous reasons for its inability to affect me, and I wasn't all that interested in finding out more, at least not until I could ascertain that I wouldn't be harmed in the experiments. So, for now, I simply let my scrying construct circle the area, looking around and trying to figure out what might be going on here.

One fairly important clue, at least in my mind, was the lack of visible wildlife in the area. There were no hares near the water, no seals or other semi-aquatic animals, nothing that indicated anything was living here, beyond the strange, green-skinned humanoids that swam around in the bay.

At one point, when my scrying construct dipped just a little too low and came too close to the water, one of the green skins launched itself out of the water with surprising and deadly force, moving fast enough to snag the scrying construct out of the air, destroying it in the process.

With my other constructs, I could observe the destruction, allowing me to see that these creatures appeared to try to swarm anything that entered the water, or, as I now had seen, launch themselves out of the water, in order to drag their victims down and into the swarm. The noise I had noticed might be some sort of effect to facilitate either behaviour, possibly by obscuring the danger in the water, or maybe by actively drawing their targets into it. I wasn't sure, but whatever the case may be, this was a dangerous area, one I wasn't about to investigate without some serious precautions. Or maybe I could freeze the bay, creating an icy barrier between me and the monsters in the water below. That way, I should have some warning and protection against these things.

Out of curiosity, I used my scrying constructs to track down a deer, one of a number of them, and enticed it with a bit of Mind Magic to move towards the bay. I was quite curious what would happen as it got closer, especially once it entered the range of the strange noise I had noticed.

The noise had, regrettably, no obvious effect. Sure, it might have prevented the deer from noticing any trouble ahead, or it might make it even less wary, though that might have been due to the Mind Magic I had used to send it in this direction. So, who knew what was truly going on in that ungulate's head? I certainly didn't, but I was quite curious what would happen when it reached the shore.

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I didn't have to wait long and, maybe more importantly, I received yet another clue to what the strange noise was. The deer, with only a hint of compulsion from my Mind Magic, the effect far from enough to have it walk to its death, was doing just that. Blindly, unthinkingly walking towards the shore and the greenish water lapping on the gravel, eager to drink from the salty water. Not the behaviour I expected from any animal that was hoping to propagate its bloodline, but this one did just that.

To make matters worse, or rather, to make them stranger, the deer completely ignored the two greenskins hiding right below the water surface, easily visible despite the bit of camouflage their green skin gave them in the water. It wasn't like these were crocodiles, able to conceal their bodies in the brackish water of a swamp; I could see them easily from above.

The result was, as one would expect, quite brutal and bloody. The moment the deer was close enough to the water and lowered its head to drink the salty liquid, giving yet another clue that its mind was being messed with, the pair of greenskins leapt from the water, tackling the deer and taking it to the sandy ground.

Moments later, more greenskins came from the water, piling on the struggling deer, pulling on its legs and breaking a few bones in the process of dragging the tortured animal into the water. Once there, the whole struggle became even more difficult for the deer, and it didn't take long for it to stop trashing, the water around it frothing and turning red with its blood. It was, quite frankly, a little disturbing, and I made a note to keep away from the shores and always have an eye open for these things. Or maybe an ear for their strange song, if it were as pervasive and dangerous as I thought it to be, I wouldn't want to get caught by it.

"Do you think they are only in the ocean, or could those things also live in rivers?" Lia asked, after I told my daughters what I had observed and why they should be exceedingly cautious around the ocean. Or maybe around bodies of water, as my older daughter pointed out now.

"I've only seen them in the ocean, but given that I've only really seen them in that one location? I'm not willing to bet that they are purely oceanic, so keep an eye out," I warned them, before relaying the experiences I had with similar creatures, back on Mundus.

"Avoidance, it is," Luna nodded, "I'm more worried about the effect you described. I doubt it would work on us, not unless these things are somehow able to pool their power, but we should be cautious. An effect like that, making you disregard all your instincts and experiences, sounds rather scary," she shivered just a little, making me reach out and grasp her shoulder in support.

"Certainly, the most important tool to keep you safe is your mind," I pulled her in for a hug, "If that's messed with, you would never know that you are walking into danger, making all other active tools to keep you safe useless, leaving only whatever passive protections you may have."

"As I said, scary," Luna shivered, cuddling into my side.

"And incredibly effective," Lia added, fully aware that both of us were active users of such tricks and their devastating effect, especially when combined with any sort of concealment or stealth. Like these creatures did, driving the point of their dangerous nature home once again.

"I'll keep an eye out with my constructs. I doubt that these things can channel an effect through a construct and into me, especially if I add another degree of separation and have the primary control over the constructs sit with the bound spirit," I told them, already considering additional ways to keep my small family safe.

And the giants, too. They, too, should be safe, especially as I did not doubt that these dumb and dull creatures would be easy prey for a predator like these. The only real chance the giants would have was to hope their skin was tough enough to keep them safe as the greenskins ripped into them, and that their strength was high enough to escape the pile-on, once their strange, befuddling magic faded.

Regardless, one thing was quite certain. The ocean in the area here was exceedingly dangerous. Or maybe all water.

Or possibly everything, there had to be some land predators around, maybe some sort of magical polar bear. And wasn't that a wonderful idea to ponder?

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