Lore/Story Corruption Journal

The province of Wynn ~1000 years ago


Journal entry 1


It was a hard day in the mines. Not very much ore and my supervisor was yelling at me. He told me I’d better write down the day’s work and my feelings in a journal of sorts, wasting my time in the process. It’s meant to be a stress reliever but it isn’t doing anything for me. One of these days I’ll mine so much ore, I’ll become the richest man alive. Then we’ll see who is working for who. But for now, I just need to make ends meet so I can provide for my wife and my 12 year old daughter. Her skin is very fair for being outside so much. She can defend herself and she is extremely intelligent.


Journal entry 2


I found a small pocket of ore and stashed away a small amount of it in my bag’s secret compartment. I was walking out of the mine with my bag when the supervisor walked towards me angrily. I was thinking that he had somehow figured out that I was smuggling some extra ore. He was mad about the fact that I still had sometime left in my shift, I still had an hour of work needed to be done. I finished my shift and walked away. Do I feel bad about what I did? Not really, a man needs to do what a man needs to do to get by in this expanding land.


Journal entry 3


The ore I had stashed away is worth much more than my supervisor had told us. The ore that us miners are obtaining have a value 3x what the supervisor says is the standard. I almost have enough money to make my own mining corporation.


Journal entry 4


After successfully stashing away enough money to, creating the business was simple. Finding miners who weren’t already affiliated with another corporation is the real challenge. I’ll be back when I find something of value.


Journal entry 5


I spent the day at [ancient] Nemract, in particular the bar. I found some people in need of work and they don’t seem shady at all. Even more interestingly, I heard a rumor that sounds like I should check it out. This guy was very drunk when he was talking but he was talking about a cave of reddish stone with enough ore to create cities made of the material. He needed a job and I hired him so he wouldn’t talk about it anymore to anyone. We are set to see if this cave actually exists tomorrow.


Journal entry 6


The cave truly exists, and all the riches were there. Every time we took some ore, there was more ore revealed in the empty space. We have too much ore to carry so we need to sell it at the nearest city.


Journal entry 7


I should have guessed that selling that amount of ore would cause some suspicion and chaos. On the other hand we got more job applicants, and the lord bovine knows we need as many people as possible. They all agreed to give me 10% of the ore that they mine. Now we have about 7x the original people. I guess that they all want to make some quick money.


Journal entry 8


A few days have passed since I have updated this journal. The small group I had is now the largest mining company in the entire province. My old supervisor is probably angry with me for doing so well. The hole is increasing in size by the day, with no sign of running out of that treasured stone.


Journal entry 9


The day started out as normal, but I sent all the miners home early when a new discovery was made. One of my miners dug a little too far down and came across a small portal. The material of the portal was slightly purple but mostly black. I entered the portal to make sure it was safe, and I was welcomed to a land of reddish stone and large amounts of green ore. I’ll send my men in with me so we can get even more money.


Journal entry 10


In a single day, we have mined out enough ore to either right then and there. We have created a small settlement so we don’t need to go back for the surface as much. It’s small but it works as a place of food and shelter. But we keep mining and we get more. I frequently wonder how much longer this paradise can last because I get the feeling something bad is going to happen soon.


Journal entry 11


Disaster falls; one of our miners tripped on nothing at all and fell into the hole we created. We all rushed down but he was dead before we reached him. When we reached him, strangely enough, there was a small grey cloud rising from his body and then a similarly shaped black cloud shot from the ground into the grey one. The color slowly faded going from grey to a dark grey, ending finally at the original color of the black cloud. Then the cloud slowly sank into the ground. The entire group was left speechless as we wondered what actually happened.



Journal entry 12


It was relatively easy day today. There were a few more injuries than normal but that can be because the terrain gets more strange the farther we go down. Still I have this feeling down in my gut we should leave. I talked around and others feel the same way. We will mine one more day and we’ll leave.


Journal entry 13


We started the day with going through our small town we set up in the strange land beyond the portal. We packed up the non essentials and we sent those who did not want to mine today or those unable to go were sent back to Wynn with the packed up stuff. The remainder of the mining party went down into the hole we created. I took a small moment to admire the amount of time it took to make this hole that defies logic. At the bottom, we all mined to our hearts content. As everyone was leaving I was striking at my last spot of green ore. I was gripping the last of the ore but the ore stayed in place and I thought I heard a grunt. I rip the last bit of ore free of the stone and I am greeted to a hole in the wall where I can see a vast array of monsters. Tall, small, wide and thin the only common thread was the smell and the dark aura surrounding them. They were mostly quiet so I started to back away slowly and I tripped drooping the ore on the ground causing a sharp cracking noise. Nothing could prepare me for the shrill shriek that originated from the monsters on the other side of the wall. The sound echoed while the all the people ran back to the town for safety. They clawed through the remainder of the wall in a matter of seconds. During that time I got to my feet, stashed away the ore, armed myself with my pick axe, and ran into the town.


Journal entry 14


I made it safely to the town just in time for the swarm of monsters to pass by, mostly. Almost all of the monsters ran past us to the portal, but the remaining ones combed through the town killing all they found. One of them found me hiding in a shack. He charged at me while creating that horrific noise from before and I had no time to react. Too terrified to defend, he bit me in the arm and I flung him away from me. While he was getting up, I swung the pick axe in a murderous arc straight into its skull. When it fell silent I studied the figure intently. It looked humanoid but if standing, my head would be at its shoulder level. It was muscular to an extent, but I had all those years of mining to increase my muscle mass. The skin color was not black like I had originally thought, as it is a dark shade of grey and not black. It was only after examining the body that I became aware of the the throbbing pain in my arm. The bite mark was enveloped in that same dark aura that I had seen earlier, though the moment that I had become aware of it it, it had sunk into my arm. I hope I’m going to be ok.


Journal entry 15


I painted the walls of my shack with the smell of the monster using its blood to hide my own scent. I’ve been hearing voices inside of my head. It’s small thing but they’ve been saying that I need to “give up” and when I think of my fellow hiding miners, the voice says that “they’re not worth it”. I started to get hungry but those thoughts can wait. Contrary to the voices in my head, the biggest threat is staying alive. I’ll work out a little to pass the time and to keep my muscles in tune.


Journal entry 16


I’m starving now because of working out, however, my muscle mass has increased by about a third in only a day. Never before have I seen this result from those basic exercises. This extreme growth must be from the bite, since that’s the only difference from a few days ago. The area around my wounded arm has started to darken. I frequently wonder if my arm is going to decay but the voices say that this is “normal” and that I shouldn’t worry. I think I’ll start listening to the voices.


Journal entry 17


My strength is unparalleled throughout the land. My entire arm has become the color of the monster but what does it matter. The voices say nothing is wrong so there must be no problem. My coordination is also increasing while my appetite decreases. However I ran to another shack where one of my miners was killed. In the house, I see the mutilated corpse of the miner. It was as if the corpse had been eaten after death to satisfy the monster’s unsatisfiable hunger. In the past this sight would have brought me to my knees, spilling chunks all over the room as I did so. Now however, after the voices’ reassurances, I don’t feel any sympathy or empathy. Only a desire, one that I have not identified yet, but I think it’s important.


Journal entry 18


I awoke today on top of one of my miners, eating his flesh. I sleep walked and started eating while I was unconscious. This is pretty bad, the voices are screaming at me now until I listen to them and my body has started to darken. My hunger can only be satisfied by the flesh of human and I can go right next to a monster and it won’t react. I fear I’m losing my humanity.


Journal entry 19


The voices have gotten louder, my skin is almost the shade of the monster, and my feelings have all but completely disappeared. I have started to wonder what has happened to my wife and daughter. I believe they should be fine since they live so far from the portal. I hope the horse I bought will come to use in their escape from the monsters. Awhile before the hole, I had asked my daughter to name her first son after me if she had one. Hopefully my name will live on through a grandson named Robert. This will be the last time that I write in this journal, I just hope that someone can defeat the monster that I have become.


Journal entry 20 (epilogue)


The peasant turned business tycoon Robert succumbed to his injury which would later be called the corruption. The corruption turned the already mentally and physically fit human into a godlike monster with almost unparalleled strength. Other humans would succumb to the corruption and become monsters as he did, however, their monstrous forms would be far weaker than his for two reasons. The others were weaker than him before death and he was corrupted in the portal, while they were killed in the overworld. The land within the portal, also called the nether, allows for exponentially stronger corruptions. After becoming the monster, he came through the portal back to his homeland, destroying everything and killing anyone who stood in his way mercilessly. Whenever and wherever monsters were with him, those monsters would become stronger. It’s almost like he is their leader, increasing there resolve and morale. Anyone he didn’t immediately kill would become a monster in less time and be much faster and stronger than the average, which led to his nickname, Corrupter of Worlds.

 

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