The members of the expedition who they could find seemed to have had their eyes turn black and their glows dimmed.  Morgana and Muramasa had exposed wounds, while some members of the expedition were entirely missing - the only good news was that whatever had befallen them, Morgana seemed to have had her child, who seemed relatively safe - other than her strange black eyes.  Although the guards and Silvius had initially intended to rescue them, Silvius made the choice not to after witnessing a violent altercation between the couple and two of the expedition’s members.  Something was deeply wrong, and he was unwilling to risk the group’s safety.  (This decision is regarded as one of his worst by some of his critics, while others consider it a wise choice with hindsight).

Although he was often characterized by gossips as a lazy Royal, Silvius oversaw further surveillance of the former expedition over the coming years.  To his concern, he found on some occasions that their numbers had grown, though he did not know how.  On another occasion, they uncovered the dead bodies of dextroluma who had not been part of the expedition.

Although it had been many years since he had actively worked as a scientist, Silvius returned to the labs of Medic Bay with those bodies, operating under strict quarantine procedures that had not seen use since centuries before he had even been born.  They were autopsied and studied - and alarming discoveries awaited.

He called this disease necrosis, and began to seek a cure for it.

Unfortunately, it was not an easy disease to develop a cure for - in part because it was not a bacteria or a virus.  Fungal infections were a known problem to other species, but for the dextroluma, who had lived in harmonious symbiosis with the mushrooms of Aerius for as long as they could recall, it was almost unthinkable that a mushroom could cause harm to their kind.  At least… it was unthinkable until one of Silvius’ surveillance team returned to Medic Bay with a vial full of spores and eyes that were beginning to turn black.

Although he had tried to keep the news quiet, that team member had not escaped notice, and rumors began to spread.  Dextroluma began discussing that it was strange how long it had been with no news of the expedition, how strange it was how frequently flights and ships were taken to that area manned only by Royal Guards…  How concerning that Silvius had quarantined himself (or been quarantined?) in Medic Bay…  And what of those strange black eyes some medical students reported seeing on a Royal Guard who had headed to Silvius’ labs…

Queen Iola tried to make sense of the situation for herself and others when she finally addressed the concerns.  Some found her words sensible - of course her fiancé and his sisters would want privacy in this difficult situation, of course she would want to avoid panic over an unknown disease; others considered them excuses, that it should have been shared sooner.  If there were risks they were not informed of, how could they protect themselves?

Of course, there are those who thrive on danger, mystery, or simple curiosity about the unknown.  As dextroluma were lost to the disease - or disappeared into the slowly growing town around what seemed to be ruins of a castle.