Threefold Path

The Threefold Path is a two-way Mistway with excellent reliability, and combines traits of Conditional and Ritual Mistways. Unless the correct conditions are met, the Threefold Path does not reveal its existence and it can not be interacted with.

Its existence was first revealed to people of the Core by an old grimoire found somewhere in Kalidnay.

Route

The Threefold Path creates a passage (currently one of only two known) between the Core and the Wartorn Cluster. Its one terminus lies at the southmost point of Sithicus where it borders on the Mists; the other lies at the westmost point of Lilliend, in the mountainous region of L'Haut.

Unlocking conditions

The unlocking conditions for the Wartorn terminus are currently unknown.

The Core terminus can only be unlocked at the southmost edge of Sithicus, and that only on Midwinter Night, with the exact hour determined by a series of both "astrological and astronomical convergences". At the appointed hour, the traveller(s) must make a blood sacrifice, spilling the blood into the Mists. (The amount of blood is determined by the HD of creatures slaughtered, which must equal the HD of the traveller(s) who wish to traverse the Threefold Path. The type of creature 'donating' the blood does not seem to matter.)

Once the sacrifice has been completed, the Threefold Path opens.

Price of passage

Although the Threefold Path is very reliable in that it experiences very little chance of drift, it poses several dangers.

Those who travel must go through three conditions before they reach their destination; time seems to dilate until these stages have been completed, and the journey will not end until they do.

First is Madness, as the journey seems to last endlessly and fear of being forever lost in the Mists, as well as fear that there is no Mistway, only the dulling infinity of the Mists, gnaws at the traveller(s')'s sanity. Those who fail to overcome are likely to leave the path and truly become lost.

If Madness is survived, there follows Despair, as the horror and existential dread of possibly being lost in the Mists mingles with a lingering feeling that the traveller(s) has/have gone mad ... or always were insane ... and are lost in both body and mind.

If Despair is survived, and the traveller(s) has/have managed to refrain from running blindly into the Mists, there follows Void. Now bereft of all emotion and nearly mindless, the traveller(s) must find the willpower to keep moving and follow the Mistway to the end. Those who succeed will be (mostly) restored in mind when they arrive at the other terminus, but must deal with their memories of the harrowing journey.

A far more direct danger of the Threefold Path is that, once unlocked, it allows for Mist-led monsters to enter the path and interact with the traveller(s). Such encounters are likely to be violent.

Finally, a mention must be made of possible temporal drift, as opposed to spatial drift. The scholar Ciska unlocked the Threefold Path at the Core terminus on midwinter night, only to arrive in the Wartorn Cluster somewhere in late summer. Unless the cycle of seasons is naturally different between the Core and Cluster, this means she was shifted either forward or back in time by traversing the Threefold Path - and either could have terrible repercussions, depending on the traveller(s).