[[1493-04-13 - Hour 8 - 10|<< Hour 8 - 10]] | [[1493-04-14 - Note on the Gods|Note on the Gods >>]] ## Letter to Those Who Come Next #### TO THE SORRY SOUL(S) STUCK IN THIS HELLSCAPE: You can ignore this letter if the city is no longer surrounded by the mists – we took care of it, or someone else did. If this is the case: you're welcome, maybe. Otherwise, I write this as if we failed. I'm hoping that we might give someone else a fighting chance by laying out what we know (or at least what we think we know). And that someone else is you, unfortunately – so read carefully. ##### THE HISTORY: Elysium was once a "paradise" ruled by thirteen gods. At some point, something fucked up and terrible arrived. To save the city and everyone in it, the gods attempted a great spell to imprison the great evil. But the immense power of the spell required all of the gods to sacrifice themselves. One of the gods didn't do his part. ##### THE DOMAIN: If you know what a domain of dread is, then you should know that the god called the Spider is (or was) the dark lord of the domain. If you don't know what a domain of dread is, I'm sorry to introduce the concept to you. I won't go into great detail; if you manage to make it out of this and want to know more for some fucking reason, read a book about it. Rudolph van Richten's works are a place to start. What you need to know is this: in my experience, the domains run on cycles – Elysium is no different. What *does* make Elysium different is that each cycle is on a time limit, and each cycle brings the city closer to destruction. ##### THE CLOCK: There's a clock in the middle of the lake in the middle of Elysium. You might have heard it by now; I'm hoping you haven't. The hour advances when you wake up from sleep. It also seems to advance randomly at times. When the clock strikes thirteen, the evil will break free, and Elysium will be destroyed in its entirety. To delay this destruction and to reset the cycle and the clock back to 0, the Spider has been convincing unlucky souls to sacrifice themselves. He tried to do the same to me. I won't bother dwelling on the possibility that the Spider was lying to us about a willing sacrifice being enough to reset the clock and cycle, and neither should you – if he was lying, then Elysium and this letter would no longer exist. ##### THE SPIDER: We were told that the Spider was once the god of darkness and life – probably still is, given the state of this place, and given that he was the god who refused to die. As I am writing, our plan is to convince or force the spider to complete the spell that he never completed. By the time you read this (assuming Elysium is still in the mists), one of two things has happened: * The Spider refused, probably killed some or all of us, and the destruction was delayed with a willing sacrifice * The Spider agreed, but it wasn't enough to complete the spell nor stop the cycles nor free the domain If the Spider is alive, he will try to talk to you. He might've already. I'm not sure if he would use the same aliases – but just in case, we knew the Spider as: * Damháin, a wizard from Greyhawk * The Duchess, a local living in the "crooked house" * Gregor, a local merchant **Do not communicate telepathically if you have any reason to believe that the Spider is still alive.** He will be able to hear anything you say. The Spider wants you in the dark. He doesn't want you to know that the state of Elysium is his fault. If you encounter him, be careful about what you claim to know – we weren't. ##### THE NEXUS: The result of the gods' sacrifice is the nexus. It's located at the very bottom of the lake in a ruined temple; it's probably where the next sacrifice has to take place. The nexus and the spell are failing. We estimated that it has a few cycles left. ##### THE CHOICE: Your best course of action – if you choose to act – depends on how we failed. If the Spider is still alive, you can try to convince him of what we couldn't. If the Spider is dead, you might still have a shot – with the Spider's sacrifice, I think it might be possible to complete the spell another way. Whatever you choose, there are some people and places you may want to find in Elysium. ##### SEEK OUT: * Cicero We're pretty sure he used to be an angel of Elysium. He's grumpy, but he probably doesn't want you to die, at least. If you bring him basil, he can mix you a drink that does a pretty good job of knocking some sense into you. There's also the hot bowl – it doesn't taste good, but it feels good to drink. Avoid the cold brew. * Foulsham Runs a ferry service across the lake. If you don't have a way to breathe underwater, you might want to get on his good side; he can cast a ritual for it. * 8 Angel Mews There should be a piano in Cicero's bar (warning: she's sentient). Under the lid is a deed to a house on Angels Mews; if the wards are still there, then it's a safe place to camp out. * Deannach The head priest at the mausoleum. If someone dies and you don't want them to be reanimated as a skorrespondent (skeleton correspondent), then bring the corpse to Deannach. * Fiddle and Blind They run the auction house, which offers a new item up every hour. During our time, all the items were magical; many of them were scavenged from the lake and served the purpose of traversing underwater. They might be worth a visit, especially because wearing magic items seemed to help us withstand the water pressure of the lake. ##### IN CLOSING: I'd pray that the gods be with you, but that'd probably be a little inappropriate. Good luck. I wish I could help more – just know that we did what we could. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[City of Eyes]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 04/14/1493