NIGHTMARES STALK THE LAND; CHAOS INCREASES - JULY 2012
Nightmares Become Real
In the city of Lamerigh, ordinary nightmares have taken on a dreadful reality. The so-called Nightmare Plague, which until recently had infected the entire city, was causing dreams to become real. People reported being transformed into noxious insects, seeing ghostly images from their pasts, waking up in strange locations, and more. Thankfully, a band of heroes was able to discover the source of the plague and stop it from spreading. They defeated the Darkside Dreamers and restored the dragon Amunok to the Light, bringing peace to the city. But unfortunately, the disturbances in the Dream Realm appear to have spread much further than Lamerigh. The dreaded nightmare mage Thrakaf the Nightwalker, a Lord of Shadonia before it fell, has reappeared in Orania. According to our sources, he was accidentally brought back to life by a group of adventurers. Supposedly, they were looking into a nightmare amulet that would show them various Lords of Shadonia when they thought of different numbers. They did not realize that the dreams of the Shadonians they saw, though confined to the Dream Realm, had all the powers of the original lords. Thus the dream version of Thrakaf was able to become real by using his nightmare powers to step from the dream into reality. No one knows what his goals are now, but they cannot be good!
Eastern Solaris Invaded
Last week, nightmares turned real invaded the eastern part of Solaris, the capital of the Kingdom of Dawn. One source reported, “It looked like the nightmares were being summoned by a sable elf. He stood behind a portal, kind of, and sent them through.” Rumor has it that this sable elf may have been working for Lord Degamesian. His motives for attacking the city, however, are unclear. The Sable Dominion gained no visible power from the attack. Though battered, the Kingdom of Dawn was able to repulse the nightmares eventually, so the attack led to no territory gained by any party. Nor was King Pelinor forced to concede in any negotiations as a result of the attack. He told the paper, “It was a senseless, barbaric violation of the normal codes of conduct. Rest assured, we shall not let it happen again without retribution.” Surprisingly, the other leaders at the peace talks agreed. Lady Ellinore from the Summerlands was interested merely in maintaining amicable relations with the Kingdom of Dawn, a tricky task after the recent invasion. But at the peace conference, she and King Pelinor appeared to get along fine. Empress Lin Chu Hao seemed more interested in seeing Lord Degamesian embarrassed. Relationships between the Empire and the Penumbra have been rocky since he took power. And from the Clans, Khan Belin Belin-Tul professed little interest in the nightmares. He explained that he was at the peace talks mainly to inform the southerners of the state of the Clans, which are dealing with yet more strange magic and monsters than ever. Talking Stone from the White Wolf Nations did not put in an appearance, though sources say that Lady Ellinore has been very successful in her attempt to ally with the ancient turtle-person.
Mirror Realm Destroyed
The mirror realm used to be a strange place, closely tied to Orania but with startling differences. Most reliable reports describe it as “full of strange creatures, oddly similar to the ones we know, but twisted.” But others have very different descriptions. Sera Windwing from the College of All Magic took time away from the rebuilding efforts to answer a few questions. She explained, “Everyone sees it differently. It’s a reflection, literally, of those who enter it. When you look into a mirror and see something that looks odd, you’re probably looking into the mirror realm. Frankly, I’m glad it’s gone. You never really knew what was real when you were in there, it was worse than the dream realm. I’ve heard of people who went realm-hopping, ended up there, and spend years believing that it was really Orania, that they were really home. Some went crazy in there.” No one could explain how the entire realm was destroyed, unfortunately. All we can say is that all the mirrors in Orania cracked at one single moment in time, somehow echoing the shattering of the realm.
Moon Exploded
Through a series of strange events, one of Orania’s moons has been destroyed completely. Apparently, Professor Romeo, a former Lord of Shadonia, was trying to force the moon to hit Tsaidam, the capital city of the Empire of the Seven Stars. His motives for doing so are unclear. When a band of adventurers found out about his deadly plot, they traveled to the moon to stop him. They used Captain Solaria’s shield to block a Blow of the Apocalypse, which was deflected into the moon itself. The unstoppable blow caused the moon to shatter. Although Tsaidam was safe from the full force of the moon, pieces of rock did rain down on it. One even fell on Empress Lin Chu Hao’s palace, decimating it. A gigantic tidal wave also hit the city as a result of the moon’s destruction. The dragon Tsunami acted valiantly to contain the damage, but was unable to entirely stop the wave. Tsaidam is now rather battered and full of rubble, though our sources report that the chaos is being efficiently cleared away. In fact, the Empire has responded much more smoothly to the destruction of its capital city than the Kingdom of Dawn has to the invasion of Solaria. Witnesses in Tsaidam report that the Imperial forces are marshaling everyone into crews to rebuild the damaged buildings, whereas in Solaria it appears as though the citizens are being left to deal with the mess on their own.
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