This week, we are exceptionally thrilled to reveal four releases from an artist we absolutely love collaborating with! Drawing inspiration from the swords & sorcery of Glen Cook’s The Black Company to real monuments of ancient ruin, Skeleton Mage creates immersive fantasy synth that provides a soundtrack to countless adventures.

Here can be found the journal of the first expedition of Surveyor E. Loyce, transmitted back to the Continents via teleaural communication. An abbreviated transcription follows:

Days 1 to 5
The expedition commenced four days ago, in the morning of the 17th of March. The first stage of the journey - mostly following the route to the mountains laid out by my predecessor - has led us through frozen woods, the howling wind as our only companion. The beasts are still frisky and vigorous, for our rations are plentiful and the land is flat and easy to tread. The traps have proven fruitful and we have more vivers now than we did when we left camp. The local fauna seems to consist mostly of elusive white hares and the occasional fox. We have heard no howling at night and the dogs have slept soundly, but I am well prepared in case of trouble. I expect us to reach the mountains tomorrow.

Days 6 to 7
The mountains towered over me, so tall that I could not see the sky beyond them. We spent our fifth night in a grotto with walls of blue crystal, and it seemed to bore deeper into the mountain. We followed its ascending course for almost two full days until we came upon an opening on the opposite side of the range. The dogs are unnerved by the time spent underground, but we shall pass one more night here to wait out the blizzard raging outside. Visibility is null beyond our refuge. We have seen no traces of large fauna since entering these tunnels.

Days 8 to 23
Entry I, day 9
The weather relented on the morning of the eighth day, and the view was breathtaking. We are indeed much higher than I had calculated, and I could see a great deal of completely uncharted territory before me. This face of the mountain is steep but traversable using a sort of natural ledges. The expedition has thus become simultaneously more arduous for me and lighter on the dogs, as I dare not ride the sleigh on these narrow paths. Nevertheless, our pace is good, and we shall climb higher yet in hopes of finding a suitable location for a future advanced post.

Entry II, day 23
Three days into our exploration of the mountain upon which we were birthed by the crystal tunnels, we finally found a good location for a post at Lat. 83°46′30" North, Long. 27°51'26" West, Elev. 2,130 m. The ground there is flat and solid and the natural paths leading to it from the grotto are easy to follow. After surveying that location on the eleventh day of expedition, we initiated our descent, which proved to be our most difficult task yet due to the deep snow and the scabrous terrain. Thanks chiefly to the dogs' natural skill to find easier paths, we were able to safely reach the foot of the mountains at noon on the twenty-third day. Tomorrow, we shall begin our exploration of the surrounding region.

Day 24
We rose early in the morning with renewed strength after a long night's sleep. The terrain on this side of the mountain range is craggier and slightly warmer, although the predominant colour in the landscape is still white. The trees are larger and sparser, and some are of species of which I have no previous knowledge. The fauna is abundant and consists mostly of reindeer, white hares, foxes, and a variety of birds with thick plumage. I have found prints of what appears to be a bear, although they were too faded to be conclusive. After marching for a few hours, now at a faster pace as I am able to ride the sleigh once again, we saw an unnatural looking spire in the distance. My suspicions were confirmed as we drew closer, for I saw that it was perfectly round and made of large blocks of white stone, its top crowned by a crenellated lookout.
We reached it in the afternoon and we found its robust doors closed but unlocked, which allowed us to venture into the building. Its interior consists of a series of single-room stories, connected by a circular staircase that follows the outer wall of the tower. All the rooms are completely empty and whoever inhabited them in the past shall remain, for now, a mystery, although it could be safely assumed that the building was erected by the same people responsible for all the other structures that have been found throughout this northern wasteland in the past. The architecture is, indeed, similar to theirs. For now, we shall use this tower (situated at Lat. 84°12′15″ North, Long. 28°04′42″ West) as our base of operations while we await further instructions. It is good to be among solid walls once again.

𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒕 $333 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑:
eleumloyce.bandcamp.com/album/first-expedition