<em>From the Journal of Mohinder Suresha, Chief Engineer of Chiaroscuro Glass Foundary.<br/><br/>This is the fifth day we have spent in the bowels of this city.  My Mistress insists upon remaining here because of the potential of the city.  Personally I would prefer to renew our campaign to free my kin, but she has done much to help us and we owe her greatly.  If only our repayment was not spent among the tight throngs of this city and in the dark places that her ancestors have placed their points of power.  The myriad of essence flows is staggering, overwhelming and dangerous beyond measure.  Such a feat as the creation of this city’s infrastructure was handled by many of her kind over many centuries, yet she hopes to quickly make restoration.  I feel even with my people’s help this process might be beyond even my esteemed Mistress.<br/><br/>Today we are investigating the outages of the Old City and the connection these outages might be to strange events of our people.  Recently we have had several members of our team become frightfully ill.  While they are recovering, their symptoms are exotic and strange to a startling degree.  Pale flesh overcomes them along with delusions of relatives long since deceased.  Such sights have caused a panic among my people that even the Mistress cannot quell with certainty.  The djala are not easily frightened, but something has made even our warriors shiver with weapons in hand.  Here the air seems to draw the life from the lungs and breathing becomes more difficult with each passing minute.  My assistants have all expressed their humbling concerns, but still we pressed forward.  Valor and wisdom are not often traits seen together with my Mistress proving so.  Though part of me believes her valor is foolhardy curiosity more than wise investigation.<br/><br/>The designers of the city essence grid had much to be proud of with the original implementation.  Structured in delicate patterns, the wiring and fluctuation tubes each form symbolic prayers when taken as a whole.  Such couplings of technology and spiritual essence form powerful boosts to the ambient and flowing energy.  Breakdowns in the couplings have caused catastrophic power failures all along the city resulting in the loss of much essence in the city.  Essence does not merely dissipate into the air as any child of the djala can attest, but instead moves into the surroundings.  Pockets of this energy have created dangerous mutations in the people and life beneath the city core.  Our thought is to correct the couplings and such odd instances as our kin falling ill will be moments of memory.  My Mistress is correct but also incorrect, because this essence we are dealing with now is not the kind her ancestors meant to flow here.  <br/><br/>Early descriptions are that the essence appears darker than standard encounters.  The origin of this form of energy cannot be easily discerned or linked to a particular source.  Couplings that are intact still seem to radiate this particular form of disturbance at set nodes.  I have presented my findings that these nodes seem linked to a particular area and pattern.  My Mistress has confirmed my suspicions and we are pursuing my findings to confirm.  Early in the expedition more than one of my kin had to be dismissed for feeling ill and beginning to have visions of the past.  That did not, of course, deter my Mistress but has given my mind pause that this pursuit is a worthy goal.  So far she has heeded little of such talk.<br/><br/>….Late entry….<br/><br/>The essence had made itself known.  Terrors came forth to stop our progress.  The horror that I have seen, the death and decay has chilled my core.  I do not remember what the day has become or the night has left, but I know only that I awoke in clean sheets this morning.  Of my Mistress I cannot attest, but know that my last vision of her was with her weapon in hand calling for our retreat.  Something insidious rests in the bowels of this city.  Something that would have us all in its maw.<br/></em><br/><br/>The writings of this entry are set before the reclaiming of the City Chiaroscuro for the new Solar Kingdom.  Early investigation believes this to be a reference to the Abyssal entrenchment occurring at the city core during this time.  Collaborating eye witness accounts are difficult to find, but have been pieced together to give further evidence to support this theory.<br/>