Chapter 3: No grave but the sea
Her name might have been forgotten to Faeo but she has not forgotten what happened to her and her crewmates. Long ago, as its tradition in this world, civilization was facing a similar cataclysm. At that time she still had hope, joined a crew tasked with uncovering the secret, a secret that has since been forgotten alongside her name.
She was the sole survivor of the whole ordeal, her life forever altered. When her crew slipped into bulky metal diving suits and disappeared into the depths, she left at her captain’s side to assist them from the deck. It wasn’t long until all oxygen lines snapped and metal diving suits became tombs, forever sealing warriors trapped within. A bright flash of stars abruptly revealed a constellation that resembled a charging horse. The ship's captain took it as a sign and charged down the sea, cutlass in one hand and harpoon in the other - never to be seen again.
Even she herself does not remember how she managed to survive this encounter and it’s hard to blame her, it happened hundreds of years ago after all.
There is one lasting side effect to that trip. Time has lost all meaning to her, aging was no longer a concern as she not only watched all of the people she ever knew die but even memory of them being gone from the face of Faeo. At first, she tried telling the truth about her age and story but to little effect. Even here, with eternal mighty dragons, undead roaming the lands and ghosts being everywhere apparently eternal life is where citizens draw the line. She refers to herself as Truth-Bearer whenever she is forced into social interaction, in hopes to be avoided by acting uncanny. As soon as the news hit the mainland she was hit with a feeling of dread, too familiar and too strong to just ignore it and so she went to check the footprints around the outposts herself. This confirmed her worst fears, she knew those boots all too well - nobody nowadays recognizes them as technology has advanced significantly but she was there, she saw the tragedy with her own eyes and thus the footprint is burnt inside her mind forever. Those could only be centuries old diving boots. Her old crew is still out there, stuck in the limbo between life and death, roaming the depths of the ocean. It took them almost a thousand years to walk their way to the shore…
Truth-Bearer tried to get a crew of her own to launch an investigation into the forbidden area, to no avail. Perhaps telling the truth when the world already refuses to believe you was not the best strategy but she was hoping that Lirren’s discovery of her own hand made map would change the outcome. Alas, she set sail alone, her mind swarmed with thoughts of how madness-inducing it must have been to be stuck on the bottom of the ocean for ages, unable to breathe, unable to eat, unable to die… Shivers went down her spine with the final thought before she managed to block them off, at least temporarily - what do they want? Most entities in such stories are looking for revenge on whoever they deem to be mixed in their misery but she is the only one left that has any memory of those events. There has to be something more at stake, some sinister plot hidden in the depths.
Things on the shore were not looking bright either. Magmars and Humans jump at each other’s throats with insane ferocity, each side accusing the other of recent disappearances. All attempts at cooperation are quickly shut down by locals fighting off the opposing race at first sight which results in each side having only half the information. To make matters worse, there have been reports of a gloomy figure covered in barnacles, luring Magmars and Humans alike to the water. Many believe him to be Lirren, having found information not made for mortal minds to have lost his own, forced to obey the voices. All of Lirren’s sightings, every single disappearance, each missing man has one thing in common - a bright flash of a charging horse constellation. Due to the way Ogriy and Khair are located, it is impossible to see the same constellation from the same angle on both continents at once, which should be a cause for concern and a turning point in investigation - if only both sides could cooperate.
Using shortcuts known only to her, the Truth-Bearer sailed to the edge of reality fracture in mere days but it was nothing like she remembered it. There was a huge whirlpool that seemed to be both sucking in water and spewing out mud simultaneously, creating a huge tower in the middle. Indeed, this whirlpool could not have been natural, the mud wasn’t in a disorganized pile, there were doors, windows, decorative sculptures - it looked like a work of some crazy hermit rather than a natural event. Having anchored her vessel, Truth-Bearer stepped foot on the muddy island and met face to face with its guardians - her old crewmates, locked in diving suits. Rusty suits made a loud cranking noise with each move and the glass providing vision to the diver was completely shattered and yet there was no face to be seen. Pitch black darkness completely filled the inside and even though there was no way to differentiate any shapes, Truth-Bearer could have sworn it was moving. A lone tear came to her eye as she recognized one of the suits by a moldy herb belonging to her once captain - a charging horse.
She wasn’t barred entry, quite the contrary - the door opened by itself and divers stood aside, granting her passage. She whispered a soft plea of it not being her fault, expressing gratitude to see them all again but it fell on deaf ears. Carefully, she stepped inside and made her way up the tower, clearly not ready for what was hidden inside. At the end of the seemingly endless staircase was a room with three books inside - captain’s log, sailor’s diary and a dark, dusty tome. Hesitant, she opened the log and found nothing of use inside, the last entry was done the day before the tragedy. Sailor’s diary seemingly continued long after, with entries being done once a year. It was a glimpse into a troubled mind, desperate to stop his suffering - to no avail. The last entry mentioned a dark book, most likely the third one found in the room - and so, she opened it. The pages weren’t made of paper, it was blood in a superstate of both liquid and solid, letters made of flames. How that creation survived years of underwater life can only be explained by dark magic and the contrast between bright blood and bright flame made it difficult to read. The text was so vile it made her gag and lean over a wall - accidentally switching a lever.
The floor below opened and Truth-Bearer slid down the mud slide alongside stairs down to the basement, where she found herself on a concrete floor. There were markings made of blood on the floor, hooks with remnants of flesh hanging from the ceiling and seemingly no way out. The only hope could be hidden within the bloody tome itself, if she could muster enough strength to get through it, although it seemed she had no choice. She only hoped there is a way to get out of here without summoning the Old, Hungry Charger to this world…
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Task and Schedule
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Your task:
Solve the riddles and figure out the word hidden within the crossword.
Schedule:
16.08.2026 20:00 - 23.08.2026 20:00
Rules:
This event follows the GENERAL FORUM EVENT RULES.
Depending on the extent, rule violations can lead to the exclusion of individual tasks or even disqualification from the entire event.
Asking for answers and copying other players' answers is clearly against the event rules and will not be scored!
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Read the story in the Library.
I have laid for forty years in the grave I made myself...
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