Lore/Story The Guardian Of Darkness

AmbassadorDazz · May 2, 2021

It is unknown how or why these papers from Grookwarts got smuggled to my cell, but one thing is known for certain - whoever it was depicted on these papers, they certainly do not want to be known. Speculations about its existence and my personal comments as to the reason why it refuses to be examined can be found at the end of the papers as a post script.

A primer

It is unknown whether or not the stories about the mythical Realm of Light are true, as the evidence we currently have regarding its existence is very much lacking, in addition to bleached corpses of our expedition team being returned to us following an encounter with "the Realm's Guardian". It is, however, known that there was a similar entity in Wynn prior to the event we would like to call "Event Horizon", due to its effects on the mysterious darkness that shrouds our vision. Like the "Guardian of Light" we encountered in Gavel, whoever this entity was, it was guarding a realm of absolute darkness and unspeakable horrors just south of the Wynn province. Very few evidence exists of this creature, so it will henceforth be referred to as "The Obscure", given its affiliation with the darkness.

Origins of the Obscure

We don't know if "The Obscure" is still alive today, but the mysterious markings on the eastern flank of the Nemract Colosseum seem to match the symbols retrieved from a hidden cache in the Abandoned Mines in 941 AP. This suggests that the creature was a part of a society as either a deity or an idol that we currently do not know about, possibly a part of the culture back before the arrival of mankind to the Wynn Province.

When we first began researching this creature in 965 AP, there were reports of this creature seemingly appearing out of nowhere in Ternaves, far from its supposed home in Nemract, stalking the miners en route to the most recent excavation attempt in Dernal Jungle.

That is where we encountered the first of many dead ends. Multiple supposed encounters with this creature all ended up being an otherwise harmless (or harmful) critter that bore no resemblance to The Obscure. All leads that we found instead dragged us deep into a bog of uncertainties and red herrings. The doubts surrounding the nature of this mythical beast remain strong.

First Appearance?
(this article was dated 1000 AP, just days after a soldier from Wynn Province breached the Silent Expanse)

It appears that the creature we call "The Obscure" does, in fact, exist. It was no creature as we thought it were, but an ethereal entity that invaded the minds of anyone that dared enter the Silent Expanse we once tried to survey. We have no direct means of communicating with it, as the only few people who witnessed it recalled no memories of their encounter. The only reason we're aware that it even exists was because of a recently opened gateway in Ancient Nemract, leading to a strange underground complex going deeper than what the "Lost Tower of Ancient Nemract" would allow.

We believe that this may be a solid lead for us to investigate the whereabouts and identity of "The Obscure", as we may be able to find concrete evidence regarding not just its existence, but also its reasoning with the continuous psychological harassment of the miners in Dernal, who were suddenly out of their jobs following a recent incident with WynnExcavation.

THE DARKNESS, IT BURNS
(First half of the entry were filled with naught but expletives. These expletives have been redacted per request of the Gavelian Government.)

CURSE THE DARKNESS THAT BURNS!

...It's no use. Members of our order were led to a disaster yet again, like the Silent Expanse expedition before it. This time, however, it cost us multiple members of the Order and our alumni. Whoever this mysterious "The Obscure" is, it certainly does not want us to follow its footsteps. We were unable to even get close to the only (known) person who has had contact with it, as one of the people who were a part of their entourage was the same "Light Guardian" that laid waste to our expedition team in Gavel. They do not want us to interfere, it seems.

The Obscure, we know you're out there. We will find you. We will hunt you down. And when we do, we will- [EXPLETIVE REDACTED]
Click to expand...

The papers devolved into more expletives near the end, and were not included. Speculation is rife regarding whether or not this creature they talk about is actually that powerful. As the now defunct WynnExcavation, our goal was to harness the power of the cosmic crystals that were scattered around the Wynn Province. Foiled as we may have been, the existence of these papers imply that there was another entity who actually succeeded in this endeavor, and became the dreaded "Obscure" that has been implied to lay waste to the expedition team. These crystals have since been destroyed by orders from the King of Ragni, who did not buy into our schemes as easily as the King of Troms did.

While not mentioned on these papers, several of my subordinates in WynnExcavation (now inmates) mentioned that during the excavation work in various sites, they were being tormented with nightmares so vivid that they couldn't even swing a hammer for days. Closer we got to the crystals, more vivid these nightmares became. We were forced to write them off as "incompetent" due to their continued whining about these nightmares, but soon, they devolved into actual conjurations. Smoky wisps of darkness that threatened to consume us. Only when we brought in independent contractors from Gavel who knew how to deal with this sort of stuff, were we able to claim the Green Crystal.

This leads to the implication of the person who outwitted us to the other three were somehow not affected by the presence of this creature. It is unknown why, but the papers do mention the creature being seen with the human, so it is not out of the question that the human who led to our downfall was no mere human after all.

I will request more papers from the magic institutions around the world, as well as historians in Gavel, to further investigate this phenomenon. Whatever this creature is, it is guarding a secret that it does not want us to know.

Signed,
Uci, ex-WynnExcavation Admin, serving prison time for high treason charges

Corvusio · May 2, 2021

Some knowledge should never be exposed to those who only seek their own destruction.

Yet I wish I could find out more about it.
Great work.

Log in or Sign up

Lore/Story The Guardian Of Darkness

AmbassadorDazz Discord Killjoy Staff Member Moderator

Corvusio Dernic civilisation has a deep history ! CHAMPION