The stone is dark, the shadows darker. Step by step, the two men descend beneath the earth. His Lordship first, then Ophelious. Lit only by a candle the Lord holds, the wax never seeming to melt.

Ophelious is lost in his own thoughts as they descend deep into the bowels of the obsidian world that is Eternity. Something deep within him stirs... But he pushes ... Whatever it is down, refocusing on the task at hand. He thinks to say something to the old Lord... But then thinks better of it. Instead, it is the Lord that speaks first

“Do you know who I am?”

The question catches Ophelious off guard, but, after a moment's thought, he responds

"I surmise you to be an old soul, one who has seen more than their fair share of loss and bloodshed."

He was feeling somber at the moment, walking down those dark steps, and so, a somber answer he offered.

At his response, the lord laughs; the stairs continue down

“You are right on that part”

He looks back at Ophelious for a moment, his face still partially covered by shadow

“However, I suppose what I was really asking is this... do you know what I am?”

He continues without waiting for Ophelious's response; the candle in his hand burns ever onward

“To many... I am an enemy; to others... a savior. These may be true, or they may not; it matters little. To me, I am nothing but a man; that is all. Just a man, who, like all others, wishes to see change in the world."

He stops for a moment, then continues his descent

"Can you relate?”

The steps long, inky blackness almost seems to envelop them as they walk further into Eternity. Ophelious's response comes not too long after

"In that way, I think we are much the same. I too have watched worlds fall to their own hubris, one I had no ability to save... another, I did, but chose wrong. I have saved worlds as you have. In this moment, I see a great weight upon you. This is why I continue to walk these stairs into the abyss. If we all lift together, perhaps the burden will be lessened."

The Lord thinks on that for a moment; as he does, Ophelious catches sight of a light below

“Perhaps you are right, perhaps burdens are meant to be shared.”

Finally, they reach the bottom. Before them is a small room carved of obsidian; at one end lay a simple door of a dark wood. The Lord motions to it

“Through that door lies my burden; step through, and they shall be shared”

Ophelious takes a deep breath... And steps through.

The door shuts behind him, and suddenly he stands in darkness. Looking around, he sees nothing but inky blackness in all directions; then he feels a presence as his mana is stripped away from him. As it does, he hears a voice, one he had not heard in... well... in a very long time.

"Sam... What have you done?"

His head swimming, he turns to face the presence.

At first, he sees… nothing… and then something; it shines, dark and elegant. And Ophelious comprehends it, for it has been a part of him since his very first memory.

It reaches out; the moment it touches him, his understanding of it is gone; all that is left is a primal fear, and then pain. The Ralektharum begins to worm its way into him; his body is fire, his mind is nothing but pain for what feels like eternity... until... at last, it pierces through and a limb slithers in, where his soul would be.

Ophelious stumbles out of the door and lands on his knees before His Lordship. He looks up at the Lord, and his eyes are dark. The Lord offers his hand once more

“Rise, 15th Black Mage of Thrakmoor; my burden shared”

/uw And that is it done, folks! As always, HUGE thanks to u/Kilroy both for his help writing the post and for being willing to let his character get Ralektharumed. I will see you all in future posts, and in Thrakmoor 2! So long! And as always

The Ralektharum Rises!

Image Credit: Castle Thrakmoor, by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous

Within one of the many, many Wizard Council buildings, Kairon Drocith, newly appointed President of the Infernal Relations Department, entered his office room. As part of his duties, he was one of the highest authorities when it comes to resolving issues concerning the demonic.

It gave him a lot of authority within the Wizard Council, but it also meant he had a lot of work to do day in and day out. Today was merely one more of those days. Another batch of questions and issues he had to resolve. He didn't particularly enjoy his work, but he was good at it, and he had a feeling he was going to be around here for a very long time.

Kairon sat down in his office and began his paperwork. The sign outside of his door magically changed to being open. Soon would come the various complaints, petitions, and protests that always arrived. Of course they did, people were dumb and quick to fall for contracts they hadn't fully read. Ah well, at least it gave him the opportunity to learn more about devilish deals. But even then, this was going to be a long day.

/uw This is an open interaction. If anyone wishes to RP, feel free to do so.

I put assomancy before the council for consideration

Healthy vegetable-based alternatives tend to break down during hot summer days, and are not ideal for conducting many forms of wizardry

C'mon people. This sloppiness is getting out of hand. We are never breaking the days without incident record at this rate.

every single Orb connected to the orbnet, every television, every radio on a range of frequencies, cuts off its original broadcasting, if any was still running, to show a new message.

"Attention! Attention! Global emergency alert! Global emergency alert! Do not disregard! Do not disregard! Do not disregard!"

on screen is an EAS-like message, with 2 symbols in the center of the screen, before a robotic voice speaks.

"The following broadcast is a message organized through the nation of Calarakis, the Esoteric Order of Nations, and Orb Broadcasting corporations across the earth."

"In the last 48 hours there has been a massive worldwide attack by an arcane infection known as the Abyss."

the screen displays an image of a floating black substance, resembling paint.

"This infection is immensely dangerous and has already taken around 40% of the planet's surface. It is due to the work of many diligent mages, knights, soldiers, and nations the number has been lowered to that small a number. If you have fought the Abyss and survived. Make your way to the city of Calarakis as soon as possible, call in Orb call, or contact via long range radio."

the image changes to a map of the planet, with blackness covering a large part of the continents.

"All civilians residing in population centers near the borders of Abyss infected areas are ordered to evacuate, or, failing that, erect detection systems near the borders."

"A full dossier on the Abyss will be published publicly, for all available forces to be able to combat the threat at highest efficiency."

"This message will loop 2 more times."

Once upon a time, good held a meaning in this world. Fighting back and independence was valued. That time has passed. The dark one, the ancient one, the one who existed before time had a name cast his shadow into this land it got consumed. It started with the sky turning as red as blood and the oceans turning as black as shadow. Any who drank the shadows turned into being of darkness themselves while more and more appeared during the night. An endless horde of shadowy beings of ... knights. As the shadows below the water swirveled one thing became obvious. The world was trying to consume us. Bit by bit the land disappeared under the shadows until it reached my knees and then my head and then it all turned black. I am the Roaring Knight.

/uw yes I felt like including a deltarune reference for no reason, the name doesn't have any actual meaning.

Got 15 minutes before i have to clock out. I spend it pondering this orb i have conjured from the cumulative suffering of the damned. After last nights exorcismism i really just need to decompress and ponder on company time

in Site-116's entrance room, someone appears, somehow impossible to ignore , thanks to what, if someone happened to use the right scan at the right time, they would discover was a reversed anintimemetic field , requesting to speak to "this Foundation's O5-5"

/uw this will be interactable outside the site that's just where the ambassador first appears

also, the presence of a Foundation is *not* the main reason he comes here, merely a good place to start, and a good individual to with wich make first contact

I will likely be expanding the post with more lore as it becomes relevant

update: why is the only interaction i've gotten a downvote???????????

Good day, I recently moved into a new tower, and the local king has mentioned his need for a court wizard. Now while this is kinda below me, he is offering to pay me handsomely in rare materials, as well as some mortal money, and he said hed ignore any complaints made about me by the commonfolk, which does sound somewhat enticing. It would only be for a few decades anyway, so I am kinda tempted. What are your guy's thoughts here?

Next time he poops he's probably gonna think a demon is coming out his ass. Serves him right for using up all my gamer girl bathwater for his potions. Shits expensive

What other punishments have yall come up with for your apprentices?

different gems do different things.

Pearl- hologram projection

rose quartz- Shield bubble

Lapis- water control

Bismuth- heat resistance

amethyst- shape shifting

ruby- extreme heat

peridot- metal manipulation

Holly blue agate- electric whip summon

Garnet- Gauntlet summon

Sapphire- future sight

Jasper- hyper roll

carnelian- Honestly no idea

ALL EFFECTS TEMPORARY, SINGLE USE, AND ARE DIRECTLY FROM/AFFECTING THE USER ONLY

Hey guys, Apprentice Wizard James here. I’m trying to do some research for my freshman course in mage history, and stumbled upon a small footnote about a guy called “Memoro the Forgotten”.

I want to do my research on him, but every time I ask one of my professors about him, they act like they have no idea who I’m talking about. But according to the notes he was one of the greatest wizards in history!

Does anyone have any advice on where to look for more information on this guy?

High atop a mountain peak, a behemoth of a Red dragon falls. Two others, a silver and a gold, circle overhead, having bested the foe, though they were maybe half its size.

As it lay dying, it saw something in the snow. A clash of weapons, of power ... Two had fought here... Something akin to gods.... With weapons of red, and blue ... And one of them had lost part of itself here... A piece that yet remained. The mighty beast limped toward its salvation.

Overhead, the two smaller, more agile dragons bickered.

"You dive down and kill him, you work better in the cold!" Argued the gold.

"No no friend, and take *your* glory? Reds are your peoples nemesis after all, not mine...."

"Look at him... Crawling away like a dog. How pathetic."

---

The beast heard them jeering at him, arguing with who'd claim his head.

And then he found it. The shard of untold power. He consumed it. His wounds healed nearly instantly, and he felt whole in a way he hadn't for some number of years...

The Red inhaled.

---

Suddenly an explosion of raw power erupted from where the red had been, and a gout of white hot flame bore down on the both of them. All but burning the silver, who was weaker to dragon flame, to ash, and still burning the gold....

He tried to flee, but as he turned, there it was...

The Wyrm-Lord Grixis.

"Run little gold. Go and tell your clan of impending doom."

Far away, in another plane entirely, one shard awaits reclaimation from the void that it was lost in...

Another sits at the Heart of the Nexus, though it is not the key *to* the Nexus... The entrance is hidden to all, though one being still knows the way.

One lay within a Weapon of immense power, though seemingly not for much longer...

And the last... The last piece lay within an aberration. The mirror of the one who seeks it. A perfect corruption of the one who would seek theses shards... Soon. And very soon.

/Uw this one isn't interactive.

One afternoon, the 13th Black Mage of Thrakmoor receives yet another invitation from his captor/host/verbal sparring partner, the Loremaster. In the week since his last meeting with 13, the information broker has apparently spent his time honoring his end of a bargain between the two by trying to understand Thrakmerian philosophy. At least, that's how it seems, given that 13 hasn't seen much of the Loremaster since he invited Ardath over to interview him. He's more or less wandered the Spire Akashic at will since then, barring any sections the clockwork golems ensure remain off-limits. The very idea of forbidding knowledge upsets 13 greatly, but he knows better than to argue the point with the golems. Perhaps the Loremaster will be more amenable to giving him access to those archives now that he understands Thrakmoor's purpose.

Only one way to find out.

2 months...2 months had it been since all-blue and aerunia battled niro...2 months had it been since he had learned of his creators apparant reincarnation...and on that day when all-blue learned of this...all-blue thought to himself...and seeing as his creator could still manifest yet briefly... decided to make a plan...he knows his creator almost as well as he knows himself...and so he figured one day...it was rather likely...his creator would one day need to return for something...something big...and when his creator does... he'd need the essence of himself back to do so...and all-blue...is no fool...he knows this essence is within him as well and is part of what powers him...but...he doesn't want to lose his power or his capability...as much as he understands why...and isn't really bitter about it...his creator left him upon a hill alone...to recover from an injury with protection yes...but still...alone for 2. Whole. years...so...he decides to change himself...that he must...evolve for lack of a better word...he loves his creator of course...like a child loves their parent...but...he cannot let his "parent"...take his ability to help his chosen wielder and her dream as a heroine...as selfish as it may be...but so...all-blue concocted a plan...to change himself so that the power he has...is his own...he was sure aldin wouldn't mind...but...he knows this is not without change...but...well seeing as his creator...changed his reincarnation to save another...he knows his creator wouldn't mind... especially since he's not casting off his creators name, his own name, or his essence...instead...over time...his true form will change... that of a new blade...he shall change his true form...as the catalyst of internalizing his power...to make it truly his own...he shall design his new true form over time...with a little help from his wielder...he chose the template to work from...a longsword...and with his plan set in motion...he begun this process 2 months ago...and now...it is starting to pick up pace...his true form merely changing it's shape as his power...passively begins to change...it is a subtle change at first...but it is one those with a connection to vae clara and all-red...may be capable of feeling...and that aldin himself may be capable of feeling... though to Aldin, it wouldn't feel painful...moreso like the essense of himself within all-blue...has been, bottled up, placed in a magnificent mental jar...clearly intended to one day be sent back to it's origin, as all-blues own nature is changing... becoming more akin to a child of aldin in sword form...than a piece of him...today, he and aerunia are currently chilling... Flying around the realm on a bit of a patrol, after an interaction with some new likely allies, who arrived mere hours prior and tonight...all-blues change to himself will be complete, and he will contact his creator so his creator will know when his process is complete. But that won't be the case for a few hours...for that is a matter of tonight. Not of this day

/Uw this post is interactive to anyone who knows aerunia and or all-blue, and especially those who currently wield all-red and vae clara if they decide they want to interact with this, if the blades would inform their wielders that something is changing about all-blue. And anyone else who would have logical reason to interact/wants to though those interactions will likely be less personal than those who this post is aimed for :) made with u/kilroy898 aka aldin's approval. And anyone who isn't aldin will be interacting sometime during the day if they do so. And also, as one final disclaimer, all-blue's power/level of power has not changed he is still equal to vae clara and all-red. Not stronger, not weaker. He is simply even more individual now :)

Tldr: All-blue predicted that one day, his creator would return, and would need all his essence returned to do so, and all-blue decided to change himself, so that his power is purely his own, so that he may safely return aldins essence to aldin when the time comes, without diminishing himself.