Post by DM Corruption Overwhelming on Apr 20, 2016 19:56:59 GMT
The cold embrace of my mistress was not exactly what I thought it to be.
My body ached and caused an involuntary groan to escape as I rose from my seated position. My eyes adjusted the surroundings that otherwise would have been ordinary had I not been peering over the ledge of a steep cliffside into the wide expanses of the daylit sky. In normal circumstances I might have been alarmed, but the odd dreams I had been experiencing prior to this only seemed to calm me.
“Hello?” My voice echoed to the landscape, the small island beneath my feet seeming to keep itself afloat by some unseen mechanism. Off the cliff, numerous other small islands that seemed to congregate around at least two other larger ones, vasts forests dominating their ledges which blocked my view. This one was practically the size of a small inn, while those could house multiple cities comfortably by my guess. It seemed as though this miniature island was drifting, moving towards the larger by that unseen force, bidding me towards a path I am not nearly drunk enough for. Vain efforts to beseech my mistress were left hollow, the dull ache of sadness gripping at my heart as I reached out to touch her presence. Brief feelings of amusement and glee seemed just out of reach, which leads me to believe something’s actions and not mere happenstance is responsible for my predicament.
As the two islands met, the stone beneath the dirt and grasses at my feet seemed to melt together with the main structure, causing me to stumble upon the grassy surface as I was thrown forward. In the distance, birds fighting over a meal and the sound of deer calling to their family seemed to set a rather calm environment for what amounted to a chunk of rock hurtling through open air, no ground below me in visible sight. With cautious step I proceeded into the forests ahead, prepared for just about anything.
What I was not prepared for was being stuck here for the rest of my days.
My body ached and caused an involuntary groan to escape as I rose from my seated position. My eyes adjusted the surroundings that otherwise would have been ordinary had I not been peering over the ledge of a steep cliffside into the wide expanses of the daylit sky. In normal circumstances I might have been alarmed, but the odd dreams I had been experiencing prior to this only seemed to calm me.
“Hello?” My voice echoed to the landscape, the small island beneath my feet seeming to keep itself afloat by some unseen mechanism. Off the cliff, numerous other small islands that seemed to congregate around at least two other larger ones, vasts forests dominating their ledges which blocked my view. This one was practically the size of a small inn, while those could house multiple cities comfortably by my guess. It seemed as though this miniature island was drifting, moving towards the larger by that unseen force, bidding me towards a path I am not nearly drunk enough for. Vain efforts to beseech my mistress were left hollow, the dull ache of sadness gripping at my heart as I reached out to touch her presence. Brief feelings of amusement and glee seemed just out of reach, which leads me to believe something’s actions and not mere happenstance is responsible for my predicament.
As the two islands met, the stone beneath the dirt and grasses at my feet seemed to melt together with the main structure, causing me to stumble upon the grassy surface as I was thrown forward. In the distance, birds fighting over a meal and the sound of deer calling to their family seemed to set a rather calm environment for what amounted to a chunk of rock hurtling through open air, no ground below me in visible sight. With cautious step I proceeded into the forests ahead, prepared for just about anything.
What I was not prepared for was being stuck here for the rest of my days.
Isles of Purgatory is a planar world that draws strongly from the Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms campaign settings, mixing the two together to create it’s own stylized homebrew setting for the players to interact with. Whether arriving by divine intervention (either by your character’s diety or one of their foes), planar mishap, or perhaps being drawn in by the plane itself, the characters find themselves stuck here now; planar transport magics, wishes, and miracles seem not to function anymore!
As a living world, the Isles will continue to move forward in time and events whether or not the players participate in them - with the server’s main story, as well as the various subplots slowly marching on, giving the players a sense of both urgency (the need to act) and agency (having their actions matter) in the setting. Here is a world where your character can truly go from rags to riches...or fall to pieces as the realization that they may never see home again settles in. Perhaps you will be the one to reach greatness in these new, mysterious, and frightening lands? Perhaps you will find the way out and be the one to finally escape this trap? Or perhaps you will die like countless others…
It didn’t take long for me to find that my connection to my mistress Shar was not broken but hindered by some unseen force. Whatever being that created these isles felt ever present but at the same time unknown, as if I could reach out and scant touch at its flesh. The divine power granted to bend the world to my wishes as a divine priest of Her faith was met with silence. The simpler blessings and shields she grants me come as easily as they always have, however. It would seem whatever being brought me here held even more power than my mistress. It would not take much to assume I am not alone in this discovery.
Being alone in this prison-like island would have been a fate worse than death, but it seems I have found myself in luck. Evidence of civilization such as roads, signage, and the occasional refuse hints at something larger built nearby. I can only pray that the people are at least somewhat organized and are worth the effort to infiltrate. If I cannot continue my work back home, I may as well make use of my time here and spread Her influence.
Great arcane magics stolen away under lock and key make this feel more like home than I am comfortable with. From a great distance to the city’s walls I could see them: great stone spires piercing the air from some unfathomable depths, curling inwards towards themselves. Powerful, twisted magic conjured from a clearly unique twisting of the Weave offered sight towards another location of similar construction: either eyes to communicate with some other entity or two doorways bonded together - my investigation was never completed. Upon my approach of the city, the local guard made their presence known and directed me inward; great care was taken to protect this structure that seemed more recent than the walls of this grand capital.
It would seem this powerful magic was prevalent in these lands, as I was informed of two others just like it in this city alone that allowed traversal of great distances - that is, allowed prior to their being secured by the kingsmen. Even a jest about rushing to the portal was met with threats of hanging in the city’s center, one that I found not hollow as I was paraded past at least a dozen occupied nooses within the central square. The reason for such tyrannical control over these leylines was clouded in intrigue far greater than I could have anticipated, having been met with utter silence when questioning my guide towards the dungeons.
Quarantine - something reserved for plague victims was being enforced on all newcomers and potential threats to this city. An unknown traveller bearing no markers of faith or fealty aroused much suspicion and even more information was kept from me. I heard talk from the other cells of this land’s king, of whom is a figure worthy of being feared. One bold man spoke of the madness that seemed to grip their sovereign, only to be drug away in a rather brutal demonstration of might by the guards. It would seem that shadows only surround this man and what drives his actions that seem more recent than distant memory. I must tread carefully if I am to pry into the affairs of this lord lest I become another hanging decoration for the children to prod.
Something is out there beyond those walls that I failed to notice. Just hearing the guards on duty speak of the terrible, foul creatures that lurk the forests and crags around this very bastion of civilization makes me wonder if the world I found myself in is more twisted and convoluted than I could have ever imagined. In a cruel sense of irony I find that the secrets being kept here are far darker than any I held for my Mistress in the dead of night. The deals I beared witness to pale in comparison to the dangers, the mystique, and the corruption that seems to soak into your very bones just being here.
This is no mere distant land I have been whisked away to. A king whose rule is seized by madness, a kingdom whose residents have no common background binding them but the city they live in, a land whose very nature seems perverse to the laws of the natural world and the veil of shadows that seems to lie between my connection to my Mistress and I tell a darker tale that I have yet to uncover. I can only pray that I will survive to see my way back home.
If escape is even possible.
Quarantine - something reserved for plague victims was being enforced on all newcomers and potential threats to this city. An unknown traveller bearing no markers of faith or fealty aroused much suspicion and even more information was kept from me. I heard talk from the other cells of this land’s king, of whom is a figure worthy of being feared. One bold man spoke of the madness that seemed to grip their sovereign, only to be drug away in a rather brutal demonstration of might by the guards. It would seem that shadows only surround this man and what drives his actions that seem more recent than distant memory. I must tread carefully if I am to pry into the affairs of this lord lest I become another hanging decoration for the children to prod.
Something is out there beyond those walls that I failed to notice. Just hearing the guards on duty speak of the terrible, foul creatures that lurk the forests and crags around this very bastion of civilization makes me wonder if the world I found myself in is more twisted and convoluted than I could have ever imagined. In a cruel sense of irony I find that the secrets being kept here are far darker than any I held for my Mistress in the dead of night. The deals I beared witness to pale in comparison to the dangers, the mystique, and the corruption that seems to soak into your very bones just being here.
This is no mere distant land I have been whisked away to. A king whose rule is seized by madness, a kingdom whose residents have no common background binding them but the city they live in, a land whose very nature seems perverse to the laws of the natural world and the veil of shadows that seems to lie between my connection to my Mistress and I tell a darker tale that I have yet to uncover. I can only pray that I will survive to see my way back home.
If escape is even possible.