The service train - a geared steam multiple unit painted in lavender with chrysolite stripes - came to a halt at the end of a branch line that reached a tiny forest village. In a minute, the doors opened, and a Geister officer stepped off. His medium-length red hair ruffled in the gentle breeze, with his defensive trenchcoat unbuttoned at the top. After him, three engineers have stepped off the train as well - a beast-folk, an Arboreous, and another human, carrying geodesic equipment and trekking supplies. The beast-folk engineer, clad in an outfit with so many pockets that the Geister would be hard-pressed to count them all, flexed her muscular shoulders and twiddled her ears, her wheat-yellow fur catching the play of dappled light that went through the tree canopies. Meanwhile, the Arboreous swung his head slightly from side to side, his wildstyle wood antlers - worthy of any wood elf - and a Kings of the Back Seats patch on his hi-vis vest betraying an anti-establishment streak; he then turned to the Geister.

"Okay, Anton, are you sure this will be easy?" he asked.

"Easy? No. Straightforward? Yes," the Geister replied. "The shift-prone area begins some two kilometres out from here, but even if the geography changed, the magical spring should still be where the catalogue says it is. Many people and spirits walk that path, ergo the locational thread should have good strength. We might still need to... go around things that weren't there last time, though."

"Let's get going then," the other human of the group - a pale-skinned Northlander woman in a knit cap, aviator shades, hi-vis vest, and trekking clothes under it - told the group with a smile and a nod.

The group gathered their equipment: a theodolite on a tripod, photo cameras, maps, flashlights with ghost-repellent light filters, and lunch boxes. They expected to walk for several hours, as this area of the woods was wild and rarely visited, and was prone to shift in ways big and small when it was left to its own devices. Their goal was simple; verifying and surveying a magical spring in the deep woods, so that its present-day condition could be added to a catalogue of the region's Naturally-Occurring Beneficial Occult Phenomena. And so they went, going through the streets of the village and onwards into the woodland thicket.

As the group went down the winding path, pushing an occasional tree branch out of the way, they observed and documented things they found noteworthy... or aesthetically appealing. The fresh scents of the deep forest breezed past the group, with the sound of wind in the branches and the chirping of birds following it. The human surveyor photographed the path, the photos set to be added to the report alongside the map of the path. The wood elf also held a photo camera, making pictures of the majestic trees, the underbrush bushes and grasses, the moss on the rocks, the insects flying through the air and the animals scurrying in the dimly-lit forest beyond the group's reach. His goal was to evaluate the lifeforms around the wellspring. The beast-folk engineer was, meanwhile, just marveling at the natural beauty, watching the birds in the trees and listening to the rustle of leaves. Her main task was to safely and carefully carry the group's most precious gear, though she did also carry the map and compass - making sure the group was on-track enough despite the possible geographic shifts since the last time the spring was surveyed. Besides - for the shifts that did occur, the team had the Geister on side.

Entering the deeper woods, the group continued with their tasks of navigating and documenting as they followed the path. Anton was feeling a bit on edge, checking his watch every now and then; he knew the place could have held nasty surprises, though his vacuum-tube spirit detector was mostly quiet, only picking up an occasional blip of activity. He turned to the beast-folk engineer, and asked her:

"Hey, have we passed the Blueberry Creek waypoint cairn?"

"Fifteen minutes ago," the engineer replied. "I guess you zoned out?"

"Ugh, sorry about that," Anton told her. As much as ADHD was beneficial to his Geister career, some days he could not stand it. He fidgeted for half a minute with his equipment, and pulled out two dowsing pointers. "There," he said. "I really should be helping to find the route; these are attuned to magic, not just any water source."

"I'm not sure it's required, but sure, you can use these," the wood elf replied. "Some extra certainty won't hurt."

The dowsing rods swung around as Anton held them up, and pointed down the path. The beast-folk and wood elf nodded in unison, and the group continued. The path wound through the forest, with the damp smell of a water-rich area becoming prevalent as they descended into a woody hollow, the birds singing melodically as they neared the spring area. It took them a little under an hour of walking to finally reach their destination. Emerging into a glade, they saw a wellspring surrounded by carved stones, lit from above by the sunlight reaching through a gap in the foliage.

"Looks like this is it!" Anton said. "What do we have so far?"

"Only minor geographic shifts, most of the path seems to be identical to the previous observation," the Northlander surveyor replied.

"Great," Anton said, then turned to the beast-folk engineer. "Ulrike, let's unpack the gear and measure the entire site. I'm going to take samples of water - and by the way, this is a Type L2.6. It's artesian, so safe-ish to drink - emphasis on "ish" - and you're going to get five to seven days of good luck out of it, according to latest Geister studies. Mind you, I'd still boil it in a silvered kettle for safety and a couple more lucky days."

"Good to know," Ulrike replied as she unpacked the surveying equipment. "Now let's go and make this as good of a catalogue entry as we can! I suggest we start with geodesy..."

The rest of the group didn't have to be told twice. They grabbed all the necessary instruments, and began taking photos, measuring distances, taking samples of grass, soil, moss from the rocks, and water from the spring itself. The catalogue of Naturally Occurring Beneficial Occult Phenomena was going to have the best, most complete data they could possibly get for it - no ifs, ands, or buts.