1 |
T here are five grounds where evil has taken hold and put down its dark roots into the deepest reaches of the abyss. These are the challenges one has to overcome in order to discover ultimate malevolence... To even contemplate taking them on is reckless, however, and to actually attempt to beat them is suicide. |
2 |
This demonic inferno, filled with peris***ng energy and many-limbed creatures, will trap any unsuspecting soul trying to reach the end by rus***ng straight through. You may survive the first instance and, unlikely as it might be, even escape the second one by the skin of their teeth, but abandon all hope should you think of prevailing a third time, only to confront the lord of this domain. |
3 |
A festering wasteland, sanctified by infernal forces. Its treacherous paths branch out in all directions, leading careless souls to despair and d****ation. Arboreal nightmares roam this land, moving extensions of the rotten surroundings. Only one who can navigate this bizarre landscape and find all the shrines can dare to venture on and meet the true horror in its lair. |
4 |
Ebb and flow rule this stead, a bitterly cold and pestilent realm. It is the home of maritime nightmares who do not have to care about the unstoppable tides. However, you better be wary of your surroundings, lest you be trapped at the bottom of the sea floor, condemned to a watery grave. You will need to slay seven hazardous phantoms before you can cross the blue divide to reach your last foe. |
5 |
Three circles of abject terror make up this h****hole, increasing the dread evermore as you descend and draw closer to your annihilation. Blessed by unspeakable evil, the blood of the creatures inhabiting this place is harmful to the touch and should be avoided, while their energy is needed to eventually face certain doom. |
6 |
The most twisted of places. What a cruel joke it is to have to fight in your own home, warped beyond reason but not recognition, all the while staring into familiar faces, having to fight friends and companions to the death. A chilly wind howls through the ruined streets and what should be sacred ground has taken on cursed form. By the time you reach the final fiend you no longer care whether you live or die. However prepared you might think you are, whatever skills you may possess, it is not enough. This is the end of the road. You cannot win. |
7 |
... and now for months I have been trying to piece together what actually transpired in this cult. Finding witnesses and getting first-hand accounts is obviously impossible, so I need to settle for any writings that I can find. |
8 |
Countless hours I spent pouring over books, hoping to somehow get a comprehensive picture of the situation at the time. Only then I feel might I be able to trace this organisation back to their roots and better understand how he came to power. To be quite honest, this endeavour has taken its toll on me. I have been feeling weak and sickly for a while now, but I cannot rest, not yet, not now! If my a***umptions are correct, there is no time to be wasted as... ... finally found what I have been looking for. It was not easy to acquire, as to be expected. The tome shed light on their doings in great detail and even presented a seemingly fairly factual history of events – even in levelheaded words, it became crystal clear however what magnitude the enmity between these two groups must have reached. |
9 |
Of course, I cannot verify its claims with certainty for I lack a second source to compare it to, but at this point I take what I can get. The question of authors***p could not be resolved in even the least bit satisfying manner, which struck me as odd. Nevertheless, the... ... convinced that it is his doing. Correction: That it is related to his doing. He may not be the root cause for all this, or rather, not the impetus which set it all in motion, but the events transpiring are without the shadow of a doubt linked to his person, his being. And frankly, I have a hard time believing that he has no willful part in this. They buried him and he is certainly no longer alive in the sense that my fellow man is alive, but it would be unwise to a***ume that he who commands the dead would not be a force to be reckoned with in the great beyond. For my next... ... have proof now. How I acquired it is wholly unimportant. In fact, whoever is behind it is of no consequence. These events cannot be stopped any longer by finding the mastermind behind this operation but only by venturing into Zarganash and put an end to this most evil design. |
10 |
Somebody has to do it. It will not be me, for I freely admit that even the prospect of such an undertaking is too much for my mind to bear. The prospect which awaits is too grisly and grim to comprehend. Whoever musters the courage, nay, the sheer will, to enter this darkest of places, this unhallow cathedral of absolute doom, should make peace with one simple fact: |
11 |
I t seems the werecurse is truly spreading. I would not have believed it just weeks ago, and yet, with what I have discovered so far, I must face reality. It was not my curiosity which sent me on this quest but rather hard coin in my purse as I was given the precarious task of a***essing how far a sh**** this affliction has reached. Edron and Grimvale were only the beginning. My reports tell the whole story; read them if you will, but keep them safe upon my return. – M. |
12 |
Report WS-II.1 I received word that strange going-ons have occured in and around the town of Daras***a. Unnatural sightings, bone-chilling howls in the night, people disappearing without a trace... it appears I am on the right track in following this lead. My contact has given me the name "Domizian", a local who might have insight into this. I am wary of making friends too quickly in this place, however. I don't know who I can trust, what their motives are. A friendly gesture might turn into a stab in the back in the blink of an eye. |
13 |
Report WS-II.2 My contact has gone silent. He was supposed to give word upon my arrival in Darama. I was right not to trust anyone. My gut feeling tells me to get out of this place as soon as possible. I couldn't meet up with Domizian, he is apparently out of town, but I cannot wait, I have to keep moving. I overheard some chatter in the town's bathhouse and the useful bits and pieces I have gathered from it have been consistent with my research into the werehyaenas. There must be some caves and an underground network of tunnels nearby, connected to these creatures. I shall make my way there soon and investigate closely, but carefully. This could all go wrong very quickly it feels. |
14 |
Report WS-III.1 After having penned my previous report, I thought this was the end of it. However, one of the retrieved doc***ents I let analyse points me in yet another direction. It appears that the situation is more complicated than I had previously a***umed. There seems not only to be a congregation of werehyaenas but werelions as well – something which I just recently would have deemed a folly, yet today, I am no longer sure... I shall proceed with my investigation and get to the bottom of this. I already know where to go next, yet I do not know what awaits me there. If these werelions are anything like the werehyaenas however, I foresee no problems since these vile beasts were easy to outsmart in their brutish state of mind. |
15 |
L ately I have been thinking a lot about our future, and thus, about our past. I am one of the few who were not born into the Order, but later initiated into it. To find out as much as possible about what makes a knight of the Lion, how they came to be, and finally, how to become one of them, that was always my aspiration. To serve the high ideals that Kesar Etzel once set down, marking the birth of the Order. Before I found my way to Bounac, I had been wandering, searching, for meaning, a purpose in life, a cause I could dedicate myself to. To be frank, it was great luck that my voyage brought me here, for I could have easily ended up in the hands of nefarious forces. But fortune smiled upon me as I set foot on this land and came to know this stead as the goal of my travels, my search. |
16 |
The arduous path through history which our forebears trod is remarkably well-doc***ented, though less in writing and more in song. The hards***ps they had to endure on their long journey to find a place to call home would have broken lesser men. And now we live in this very place, a peaceful corner of Tibia, where we can dedicate our lives to living by the rules of our ancestors, thus honouring their names. You could not ask for more. |
17 |
Indeed, our lives could – nay, should! be filled with blitheness, being thankful for the lot that has been cast for us. And yet, I hear rumblings when I walk between the stony walls of this hallowed ground, murmurs of discontempt, whispers of strife. It is true that the divide had been there for a long time. It is true that most of us chose to ignore it, wanting to live in harmony. I hesitate to put blame in this matter on anyone, but cannot help to fault myself for my reticence. I follow the teachings of Kesar and need to speak out on behalf of them. I so very much hope that Drume and Fugue can be reasoned with, that they see the folly of their ways. That Kesar the Younger will be fair in his judgment – in fact, I am certain of that – and that we can find an amicable solution which pleases all sides, now and forever. I am convinced that we can emerge from this period of discontent stronger than before, affirmed in our beliefs, united as one. I shall only return to this diary once this conflict has been resolved, to read about this time of unrest and rejoice, for the rain clouds have finally given way to sheer sunlight. – Oswin, Knight of the Order of the Lion |