Re: The Lost Journals
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 4:39 pm
(Excerpts from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Viktal, Tepest, June 30, 741 BC)
Research into my "condition" has stalled as I've exhausted all known records from the Core and even a few domains lost in the Mists. What scant few references I could find to beings who had any sort of effect on reality as I and Maxine do turned out to be tall tales, ascended beings of pure heart, or even hags in at least two cases. Granted there are collections of knowledge even I can't access for various reasons. But not even the storehouses the Fraternity of Shadows uses to hoard information and artifacts have been any real help. Reportedly there is one place that might have more. The only problem is it's inaccessible to everyone: the Shadow Rift. If the tales of Arak are true, there's an entire fey kingdom hidden under the roiling black fog. Certainly the existence of the so-called shadow fey does support this notion. Only I've no clue how they escape into the surface world if true. What few times I did encounter a shadow fey they weren't in the mood to answer my questions; two "redcaps" I had to "destroy" as much as anyone can destroy a fey creature, while the "carrot-tops" I met were simply too engrossed in maintaining a small grove since I didn't have any unique plant samples to give them.
I did come to an interesting conclusion while testing the stories of the Tepestani who tried scaling the walls of the Rift. In each they reported themselves and others becoming "less real" the further they descended; my own attempts using my armor to fly down showed no adverse effects on me. I surmise this is because the Rift is in reality a domain like Barovia or Mordent and there is a darklord at its heart that has "closed" its borders. If true, this means I can enter freely thanks to my reality disruption. Further testing this very day further confirmed my suspicions as I was able to fly over a mile downward and not once experience any side effects. Other than the realization the Rift is far, far deeper than anyone suspects. I suspect even with the ring on my left hand I could fall for hours and still not come close to the bottom. The black fog that blankets the surface is thick enough that even sunlight is completely blocked a couple hundred feet down. Whatever is at the bottom is completely cut off from the rest of the Core.
I'm not crazy enough to just jump in and hope for the best, so I've also spent some time gathering what Arakan legends I could to try and find out more. The only thing of note are tales of the "temporal dilation" that miners encountered the deeper they went. That's actually a good sign because identical features are found in faerie realms throughout the multiverse. It supports the idea that the shadow fey really do have an entire kingdom at the bottom. I know it's a long shot that they have any information I'm looking for, but I'm growing desperate to find answers. What is happening to me and what might happen terrifies me on a level no creature or individual could. Especially when I've had objects slip through my flesh in four different instances in the past month. Each time it happened, I seemed to have lost corporeality momentarily. Just like when I begin seeing beyond the Near Ethereal, I had to "flex" something to bring myself back to reality. Not-so-strangely, objects I've anointed with my blood to protect them from my reality disruption I could still touch and handle even while I was immaterial. Perhaps these things are related?
Again, so many questions, no real answers.
(Excerpts from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Malachite Palace, Shadow Rift, ??, ??)
It's been a crazy few weeks (?) since I last wrote. When I exhausted all possible sources of information, I finally made the decision to take the leap--so to speak--and enter the Shadow Rift. Which was literally me flying out far from the walls and letting myself fall inside. According to my enchanted watch I fell for a little over eight hours before the ground appeared in the distance. Immediately I noticed what looked like a perfectly straight divide between grassy green land and barren stony terrain. Literally you could step over an invisible line separating the two, the divide was that abrupt. As soon as I touched the ground I took stock of the rest of my surroundings, spotting what looked like a tomb cut into the rock wall of the Rift. I didn't have much time to take things in before I was accosted by the undead, mainly zombies but a few I recognized as the worm-infested spawn of Kyuss. It didn't even take me a few seconds to slaughter them all and then be attacked by massive nightcrawler, something that required more strategic thinking but still wasn't too difficult for me to face alone.
Within moments of slaying the creature, I was approached by a being with the body of a man and the head of a donkey. He introduced himself as Alrax and asked what I was doing there. When I said I'd come from the surface he seemed surprised and said I clearly wasn't a lee-due, or mortal, but I clearly wasn't Arak, either. Given my "history" with a nymph when I first began adventuring, fey creatures have ever since seen me as fey as well. But the way he said Arak ("shadow fey") made it clear that I was something different in his experience. My prior experiences in fey etiquette proved useful here as I immediately knew how not to respond and simply asked where I could find the nearest library. He agreed to aid me if I beat him in a drinking contest or a wrestling match. Given my allergy to alcohol, I had to wrestle him. This creature was far stronger than he looked but was still outmatched and was as good as his word when he directed me to the Malachite Palace. To that I just nodded and left, knowing better than to say "thank you."
In truth the Palace was several miles away and I had to fly there. Immediately upon arrival I was swarmed by fey who were equal parts curious and cautious. The fact I was literally glowing with light made a few uncomfortable, though Alrax hadn't seemed put off by it. As I was answering questions from what I took to be guards, a tall woman with silvery hair and wearing white silk clothes came out from the Palace. The rest immediately stopped everything and bowed courteously, something I quickly did as well. When she came up to me and began talking, I realized this must be their ruler. She introduced herself as Maeve and asked me who I was and what I was doing there. My answers seemed to intrigue her because she asked me to come with her inside the Malachite Palace so we could talk in more comfortable surroundings. I just obeyed and what followed was several hours of conversation, mainly her asking me all about who and what I was even as she explained to me what she and her people were. What I learned in that time was equal parts enlightening and terrifying because I'd heard parts of it before.
Before coming to this world, even before my durance in the Abyss, there were rumors of a horrifically powerful fiend in the Plane of Shadows who'd kidnapped a race of fey beings to use as slaves to build an army before its sudden disappearance. By all accounts this creature was equal to a god in power and had already begun attracting a powerful coalition of entities determined to stop it when it did disappear. This caused all sorts of questions and concerns before an expedition to the Plane of Shadows found evidence of an abandoned settlement and traces of a magical rift that was completely sealed. Beyond that, no one could find out more and soon enough the matter was forgotten about. It was always assumed the creature had taken its slaves to some unknown world and was either destroyed or had accomplished what it set out to do.
Now I know what really happened. The Twilight, as the Arak call it, had indeed opened a portal to another world but its slaves fled into it while one, Arak the Erlking, fought it to a standstill in the dimensional corridor. When Maeve herself sealed the rift, the creature was trapped inside and became imprisoned in this plane thanks to its own power. She seemed genuinely surprised I knew anything about it and was intrigued enough to invite me to stay with her at the Malachite Palace. Knowing how mercurial the fey are, I know I'll be dismissed as soon as I stop being "entertaining" to her. But this is the perfect opportunity for me to find out what the Arak have collected about this world and the creatures within. And I can be quite entertaining when I put my mind to it, as Maeve found out when she invited me to her bedchambers. Given how clingy she's been since that first night, I guess I made quite an impression.
In the time since I've been poring over the Palace's library, transcribing a great deal of information I'd never known before, when I'm not being trotted out like a prize steed or entertaining Maeve in private. Two things still elude me: the calendar the Arak use and the original information I came here to find. I've not even scratched the surface of this collection so I'm not losing hope yet for the latter. Given the lack of seasons in the Rift by Maeve's own admission and the temporal dilation, learning how the Arak measure the date and time isn't a huge priority. The only thing that I'm all that concerned about is when Maeve's "Seelie Court" leaves for her winter palace and her brother Loht's "Unseelie Court" takes power. I've yet to meet him but what I have heard about him indicates our personalities would clash violently. Confusing and aggravating matters further is the unanswered question of whether or not I'm subject to the Law of Arak. To the Arak I fall into a gray area since I'm neither mortal nor shadow fey. Since I've never even harmed a shadow fey during my time in the Rift, and the few times I did on the surface were always in self-defense, there's arguments I should be subject to it out of simple courtesy and to protect other shadow fey.
I knew my coming here would have consequences and not just for me. But I seem to have grossly underestimated what they would be.
(End transcript)
Research into my "condition" has stalled as I've exhausted all known records from the Core and even a few domains lost in the Mists. What scant few references I could find to beings who had any sort of effect on reality as I and Maxine do turned out to be tall tales, ascended beings of pure heart, or even hags in at least two cases. Granted there are collections of knowledge even I can't access for various reasons. But not even the storehouses the Fraternity of Shadows uses to hoard information and artifacts have been any real help. Reportedly there is one place that might have more. The only problem is it's inaccessible to everyone: the Shadow Rift. If the tales of Arak are true, there's an entire fey kingdom hidden under the roiling black fog. Certainly the existence of the so-called shadow fey does support this notion. Only I've no clue how they escape into the surface world if true. What few times I did encounter a shadow fey they weren't in the mood to answer my questions; two "redcaps" I had to "destroy" as much as anyone can destroy a fey creature, while the "carrot-tops" I met were simply too engrossed in maintaining a small grove since I didn't have any unique plant samples to give them.
I did come to an interesting conclusion while testing the stories of the Tepestani who tried scaling the walls of the Rift. In each they reported themselves and others becoming "less real" the further they descended; my own attempts using my armor to fly down showed no adverse effects on me. I surmise this is because the Rift is in reality a domain like Barovia or Mordent and there is a darklord at its heart that has "closed" its borders. If true, this means I can enter freely thanks to my reality disruption. Further testing this very day further confirmed my suspicions as I was able to fly over a mile downward and not once experience any side effects. Other than the realization the Rift is far, far deeper than anyone suspects. I suspect even with the ring on my left hand I could fall for hours and still not come close to the bottom. The black fog that blankets the surface is thick enough that even sunlight is completely blocked a couple hundred feet down. Whatever is at the bottom is completely cut off from the rest of the Core.
I'm not crazy enough to just jump in and hope for the best, so I've also spent some time gathering what Arakan legends I could to try and find out more. The only thing of note are tales of the "temporal dilation" that miners encountered the deeper they went. That's actually a good sign because identical features are found in faerie realms throughout the multiverse. It supports the idea that the shadow fey really do have an entire kingdom at the bottom. I know it's a long shot that they have any information I'm looking for, but I'm growing desperate to find answers. What is happening to me and what might happen terrifies me on a level no creature or individual could. Especially when I've had objects slip through my flesh in four different instances in the past month. Each time it happened, I seemed to have lost corporeality momentarily. Just like when I begin seeing beyond the Near Ethereal, I had to "flex" something to bring myself back to reality. Not-so-strangely, objects I've anointed with my blood to protect them from my reality disruption I could still touch and handle even while I was immaterial. Perhaps these things are related?
Again, so many questions, no real answers.
(Excerpts from the journals of Alexander Dreamfire, Malachite Palace, Shadow Rift, ??, ??)
It's been a crazy few weeks (?) since I last wrote. When I exhausted all possible sources of information, I finally made the decision to take the leap--so to speak--and enter the Shadow Rift. Which was literally me flying out far from the walls and letting myself fall inside. According to my enchanted watch I fell for a little over eight hours before the ground appeared in the distance. Immediately I noticed what looked like a perfectly straight divide between grassy green land and barren stony terrain. Literally you could step over an invisible line separating the two, the divide was that abrupt. As soon as I touched the ground I took stock of the rest of my surroundings, spotting what looked like a tomb cut into the rock wall of the Rift. I didn't have much time to take things in before I was accosted by the undead, mainly zombies but a few I recognized as the worm-infested spawn of Kyuss. It didn't even take me a few seconds to slaughter them all and then be attacked by massive nightcrawler, something that required more strategic thinking but still wasn't too difficult for me to face alone.
Within moments of slaying the creature, I was approached by a being with the body of a man and the head of a donkey. He introduced himself as Alrax and asked what I was doing there. When I said I'd come from the surface he seemed surprised and said I clearly wasn't a lee-due, or mortal, but I clearly wasn't Arak, either. Given my "history" with a nymph when I first began adventuring, fey creatures have ever since seen me as fey as well. But the way he said Arak ("shadow fey") made it clear that I was something different in his experience. My prior experiences in fey etiquette proved useful here as I immediately knew how not to respond and simply asked where I could find the nearest library. He agreed to aid me if I beat him in a drinking contest or a wrestling match. Given my allergy to alcohol, I had to wrestle him. This creature was far stronger than he looked but was still outmatched and was as good as his word when he directed me to the Malachite Palace. To that I just nodded and left, knowing better than to say "thank you."
In truth the Palace was several miles away and I had to fly there. Immediately upon arrival I was swarmed by fey who were equal parts curious and cautious. The fact I was literally glowing with light made a few uncomfortable, though Alrax hadn't seemed put off by it. As I was answering questions from what I took to be guards, a tall woman with silvery hair and wearing white silk clothes came out from the Palace. The rest immediately stopped everything and bowed courteously, something I quickly did as well. When she came up to me and began talking, I realized this must be their ruler. She introduced herself as Maeve and asked me who I was and what I was doing there. My answers seemed to intrigue her because she asked me to come with her inside the Malachite Palace so we could talk in more comfortable surroundings. I just obeyed and what followed was several hours of conversation, mainly her asking me all about who and what I was even as she explained to me what she and her people were. What I learned in that time was equal parts enlightening and terrifying because I'd heard parts of it before.
Before coming to this world, even before my durance in the Abyss, there were rumors of a horrifically powerful fiend in the Plane of Shadows who'd kidnapped a race of fey beings to use as slaves to build an army before its sudden disappearance. By all accounts this creature was equal to a god in power and had already begun attracting a powerful coalition of entities determined to stop it when it did disappear. This caused all sorts of questions and concerns before an expedition to the Plane of Shadows found evidence of an abandoned settlement and traces of a magical rift that was completely sealed. Beyond that, no one could find out more and soon enough the matter was forgotten about. It was always assumed the creature had taken its slaves to some unknown world and was either destroyed or had accomplished what it set out to do.
Now I know what really happened. The Twilight, as the Arak call it, had indeed opened a portal to another world but its slaves fled into it while one, Arak the Erlking, fought it to a standstill in the dimensional corridor. When Maeve herself sealed the rift, the creature was trapped inside and became imprisoned in this plane thanks to its own power. She seemed genuinely surprised I knew anything about it and was intrigued enough to invite me to stay with her at the Malachite Palace. Knowing how mercurial the fey are, I know I'll be dismissed as soon as I stop being "entertaining" to her. But this is the perfect opportunity for me to find out what the Arak have collected about this world and the creatures within. And I can be quite entertaining when I put my mind to it, as Maeve found out when she invited me to her bedchambers. Given how clingy she's been since that first night, I guess I made quite an impression.
In the time since I've been poring over the Palace's library, transcribing a great deal of information I'd never known before, when I'm not being trotted out like a prize steed or entertaining Maeve in private. Two things still elude me: the calendar the Arak use and the original information I came here to find. I've not even scratched the surface of this collection so I'm not losing hope yet for the latter. Given the lack of seasons in the Rift by Maeve's own admission and the temporal dilation, learning how the Arak measure the date and time isn't a huge priority. The only thing that I'm all that concerned about is when Maeve's "Seelie Court" leaves for her winter palace and her brother Loht's "Unseelie Court" takes power. I've yet to meet him but what I have heard about him indicates our personalities would clash violently. Confusing and aggravating matters further is the unanswered question of whether or not I'm subject to the Law of Arak. To the Arak I fall into a gray area since I'm neither mortal nor shadow fey. Since I've never even harmed a shadow fey during my time in the Rift, and the few times I did on the surface were always in self-defense, there's arguments I should be subject to it out of simple courtesy and to protect other shadow fey.
I knew my coming here would have consequences and not just for me. But I seem to have grossly underestimated what they would be.
(End transcript)