Another Doomed Expedition

The pay for information about the Artifact was almost too much to be fair. No one could turn down that much money. The only problem was that sponsors - governments, merchants looking for an edge, wealthy mages of all stripes - learned quickly that paying before results was ineffective.

No, in order to get paid, the expedition would need to be successful. Many tried, but none returned with anything worth more than a token of appreciation, and those individuals more often than not were still red with their compatriot's blood.

How does one do a thing that so many have tried? How can such a thing, at the center of so much pain and terror, be understood? Fifty years after the First Expedition, people looked back and reflected on the success they found. During the First Expedition, that admiration was not an expected result.