Conjurations!
The fourth field report on Queen Maldaria.
Sir,
Duke Ramazall has ordered me to leave and never return, "or you will get to know the Phoenix much better than you would ever wish". I am complying since I don't want to give him or the other Phoenix Elves any reason to distrust us. But soon after leaving my Fire Archer friend caught up with me and apologized. He regrets the isolation and wounded pride of his leaders, and as a parting gift he explained Ramazall's enigmatic threat. This is unique and valuable information.
Queen Maldaria has devised a new way to augment her forces with her Summoning Stone. She can quickly summon fiery birds to join her, up to two at a time.
However, "summon" is the wrong word. If I understand things correctly, she is not re-locating existing creatures like the Firelings, but instead creating them. Therefore the word they use is "conjure", not "summon", and they call the creatures "Conjurations".
The creatures themselves are called Phoenixes. My friend tells me they are beautiful though weak when alone, but much stronger when they attack in flocks.
These Phoenixes puzzle me in several ways. First, I always thought a Phoenix was a large and powerful creature, if it truly existed and wasn't just a mythological symbol. But my friend would not answer any questions about this, saying only that the Phoenix is near-sacred to his tribe of Elves. My personal theory is that they named this Conjuration after their tribe's symbol rather than the other way around, but I could certainly be wrong.
I am also puzzled about how the act of "conjuring" works, and how it is different from normal summoning. But this is a matter for the Summoners and other mages to contemplate. I do fear that other Summoners may devise their own version of conjuring, so I urge you to share this news with our own mages, so we can be prepared for future developments.
