Loose threads: An entity identifying itself as The Vitruvian came to tempt Unque Greer with offers of unlimited potential. The gnome did not take the deal, and The Vitruvian did not take it well. Bodies of dragons whose bodies seem to have been preserved for aeons lie below the ocean; it is unclear if these dragons exist in the physical realm (see below). Brother Crow, a venerable yet physically imposing gnoll friar living in First Landing Port, is building an abbey to Andoletta.

Participants: Unque Greer, Konnie, Vandra,Zoltlik, Baldric

Locations: Cave near First Landing Port, then ?????

Short summary:

Unque enlisted the help of adventurers to follow a lead to his own half-remembered murder. Divinity encountered. Chaos ensues.

Full Report:

Local adventurers discover ancient, god-like evil and live to tell the tale

If you or your loved ones receive offers of unlimited potential, you might be being targeted by unknowable ancient beings of the New World. Stay alert and report any such activity to First Landing's Adventurers Guild

Tipped by anonymous, cryptic, potentially otherworldly sources delivered to head editor in chief of The New World's Inquirer (yours truly), a party of adventurers was assembled to investigate the root cause of a string of murders that defied logical explanation; one that this publication has been following closely for the better part of 2 decades.

The investigation took place initially in First Landing Port, at the Main Office of First Landing Port Notice, which the investigation team found abandoned save for a haunted printing press. Minor injuries sustained which were promptly addressed by resident devout follower of Ashava - Cleric Konnie. The haunt was also expertly disabled by the knowledgeable cleric's timely prayers. The investigation team advises First Landing Port residents about the time-space distortion that was experienced at and around the building, and advises against approaching the building until investigations are complete.

Following our sources and after gathering information from local residents of the port, the investigation team's attention was directed towards a nearby sea cave.

" I checked it for admirable rocks once, and left because I got a bad feeling and gave up violence some time ago.”

"[the sea cave] might be a likely place for smugglers, but that it gave me the creeps"

"The First Landing Guild has decried the sea cave and it's complex of underwater aquifers as "too dangerous for the public" and "liable to get someone killed". Located to the south, hugging the west coast"

The investigation team's camp found our sources' reports to be accurate. We found ourselves ambushed by creatures, natural and otherwise, both in the vicinity of and inside the cave. The local wildlife is aggressive and territorial. Caution is advised when interacting with surrounding rocks or potential dead bodies near the cave as they might be hostile creatures in disguise.

On our second day of investigation, the team delved into the cave's interior. Inside we found a pool of water. Deep and seemingly moving with the tides, we surmise this basin is connected to the ocean. Near this basin we also found a runic circle showing complex pictograms of faces and simple tools. Artist's rendition below. The team was unable to detect any sort of magical aura emanating from the pictograms, but our team noticed they changed their shape when they weren't being observed. Our methods of investigation did not result in any positive outcomes. We only managed to anger the local wildlife (which is, as previously stated, aggressive and highly territorial; in this case also very hungry). The investigation team advises to future investigators to avoid drenching the runic circle with acidic brine.

Pictograms encountered within the sea cave, near the cave's water basin

The investigation took a turn to the bizarre from this point onward. Despite our preparations, diving through the sea basin proved to be a formidable challenge, only made more difficult by unseen, malevolent forces attacking and seemingly attempting to drown the team. The team managed to go back to the surface intact, but somehow ended in a tropical forest. Impossibly beautiful and with weather suggesting a location not within the proximity of First Landing. Our resident survivalist and expert however claims that this location must be within the Millennium Forest, indicating our exploration of this forest is not yet complete.

Ancient structures were unearthed, most notable of which is what appears to be a portal resembling First Landing's Elemental Portal Shrines.

An unknown being/person watched the investigation team during our approach. Occult experts noted that communicating with this entity would be more akin to a seance, and should not be attempted at home. The team also observed first-hand the location's strange weather, for lack of a better word. Time seemed to flow too rapidly, and celestial bodies visible behaved in unpredictable and bizarre ways. At some point we were able to see the sun rise and set simultaneously.

The team also observed what appears to be the dead body of a colossal creature; perhaps a deity of old, no different than the land mass we were on outside of its bony complexion. From its rib cavity, where the heart would have been found, is a set of stairs descending in impossible angles, winding ever deeper, presumably towards the ocean floor.

Last but not least we observed a magnificent yet incredibly tragic scene: the bodies of dozens of dragons, seemingly diseased and yet impossibly well preserved. Either their deaths were recent, or powerful magic is at play, our experts surmise.

A doppelganger of The New World's Inquirer head editor in chief (yours truly) appeared before us. It attempted to dissuade the investigation team from proceeding with offers of power. Let it be known that this organization's integrity and commitment to the goal of presenting the truth is not for sale. It is this publication's prestigious honor to expose The Vitruvian and its servants and their intention to offer power to inhabitants of the New World with the intention of forcibly imposing their will and agenda upon our community.

The altercation following this investigation team's rejection of The Vitruvian follower's offer resulted in the demise of the aforementioned doppelganger.

The investigation team was forced to retreat shortly thereafter using Adventurer Guild's recallers before they fell prey to a winged, feathered, snake-like creature. The team is recuperating from the ordeal, but no casualties or major injuries were sustained in the process of this investigation.

The New World's Inquirer will continue reporting in this case as more information is unveiled.

Editor's Notes

This investigation was a highly personal endeavor that started before me arriving to First Landing. The original leads are half-remembered memories of a past life, and the violent death I suffered. As time has gone on I have remember this ocurring many, many, many times. I am caught in a cycle, it seems. A vicious cycle of never ending violence. My doppelganger revealed themselves to, somehow, have been my killer. I must admit I don't fully grasp how this is possible. Alternate realities colliding? What power exists, here or in the Old World, that can bring about such things?

Regardless, they were careless enough to reveal to me that my murder had not been a coincidence, but rather a deliberate assassination plot brought about by influential elite, inconvenienced by my stubborn pursuit of the truth (it seems this is true of my alternate selves as well! Who would have thought! Harharharhar). To my partner, who set things in motion that resulted in my loss of my previous life: I forgive you, whoever and wherever you are. I will continue delving deeper if it kills me, but I shall remember I put you at risk. Those around me and their lives matter, and I can't decide to throw it all away if it involves hurting others.

I feel that I should note that my ever-present visions of shifting writing are now gone. Perhaps the mystery was, in a sense, resolved. Yet, I still hear voices everywhere. They feel a lot more real, too. It seems to me like my doppelganger's abilities might now be with me somehow. I will have to spend time studying this phenomenon and testing some hypothesis.

As a last note, I wanted to share with you, dear reader, I dream I had while camping outside the cave. I would have dismissed it were it not for the experience my team and I just had:

I see a spring become a stream, become a river. I see a corpse dumped into it, and the blood polluting it. I see a deer bend to drink, then the deer becomes a man, the man becomes a woman, and the woman becomes a god. The stream is cleared. Pure clean water flows over a land, bringing prosperity.

I then see a fish swimming in the pure clean water that has become an ocean. He sees it change into a larger fish, then something like a mermaid, then that being splits and for a moment, like a school of fish breaking apart, I witnesses the birth of a hundred sentient ancestries that split and grow and swim their own ways. 

I see a dragon paying a scared cutpurse. He sees the dragon flying across the pure clean ocean with a hundred of its kin. Then he sees a lonely small creature, working tirelessly to inform people, and the scared cutpurse buries a knife in the small creature and it’s blood pollutes the stream from before.

I see a throne, rising up from the pure clean ocean, at the top of an endless staircase of impossible angles, leading down into the heart of the defiled polluted ocean. The bodies of dragons lay scattered in the waves, ripped apart, but not yet devoured by rot, chunks of meat and viscera causing a stench that revolts my senses. 

Sitting atop the throne, on a floating island of stairways, surrounded by rotting dragons that are not consumed, a half living, half dead being smiles at Unque, and the invitation is clear. 

“Find me…”

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an ancient evil deity to pick a beef with.