[Text post] The dark mysteries of Rhyhan
So, every night, goblins and orcs appear when darkness falls here in Rhyhan. Apparently, an epoch or two ago, some phantasmal manifestation of sadness, jealousy, rage, fear, envy, and guilt created an infernal citadel a couple of kilometers beneath where the city now stands. Some unknowable entity known only as *the King of Pain* apparently spreads its dark influence outwardly by exacerbating negative energy produced from karmic actions and heightening negative qualities in all people. According to the city loremasters, this legendary figure is still around and is the source of the goblins and orcs.
I mean, never mind the goblin tribes and cities, nor the orc encampments and shires, because apparently some 300,000-year-old apparition is a mile below the city snickering and fabricating them wholesale.
Back at the Golden Eagle Mages Guild, I wanted to ask a mage of the city who had been here longer than me what they thought about this. I went to my supervisor Fabius the Red. “I consulted the dream weave,” he started, “and nightmares often plague the people of this once great city. These nightmares are the echoes of the bloodstained past, both illusory and factual, haunting the innocent. People are oft filled with terror; thus a resonance is created in which these beings appear in earnest.”
“You’re saying the people’s fear is making feral goblins and orcs appear at night?” Fabius agreed. “Why?”
“They’re bigoted, you see,” was an answer I wasn’t prepared to hear. “Long ago, the dwarves of the humming crystal city beneath the stones fought against goblins and orcs alike. They used their runic magery and enchanted weapons to do battle against their ancient enemies. It is such, I believe, that the fears and anger once possessed by the now-extinct dwarf locals now manifests among the city dwellers of today.”
“The *ghosts* are *racist* and their insecurities are somehow manifesting phantasmal versions of what they believed orcs and goblins to be?” Fabius then pointed to my insight gauge in the upper lefthand corner, and I saw that it ticked up 1 point. This meant I had learned something that was also contributing to my growing insanity. I mean, who wouldn’t feel a little more insane knowing the ghosts that haunt the dreams of your neighbors are so bigoted that their aggression is causing bloodthirsty, caricaturized phantoms to stalk the streets at night and attack people?
-
So, I went to speak to the recordkeepers of the Suns Warriors. I wanted verification on the lost dwarven stronghold beneath the city. Knowing about it was common knowledge, but I wanted details. One of the paladins there, Lucien Lacross, told me I wasn’t permitted access to their records because I’m not a paladin, myself. I asked what was being done about the night goblins, but he told me, “Everything is under control, citizen! Head back to your little tower and let the ones chosen by the sun cast a light on these debaucherous ne’er-do-wells!”
I told him, “I *work here*. I put the runes on your armor. I outfit all of you bozos.”
“And yet, I heard you couldn’t keep a couple of little wind-up toys from sieging your once mighty stronghold. You’re a pitiful excuse for a wizard.” Really boiled my blood with that misrepresentation of the events and my character. “Perhaps you should go back to the Glittering Eagle or whatever it’s called and take some time to *read*. Maybe you will find a solution for your own inadequacies there!” Lacross bumped past me to meet with his squires, who all scoffed at me.
I was more interested in the whole ‘terror’s of the night’ situation than I was in getting myself thrown in space-time jail for [throngling the vertices]( https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fimages%2F944fa17fe80469ce919d6d72667ff0d5%2Ftenor.gif%3Fitemid%3D16578764&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c715712dcd622d54890033539e989f7ddbf8fd9c000222920e4e444cee63de61) of that belligerent, self-righteous dong.
I went to the waterfront and watched the night grow as the sun set in the west. I thumbed through a notebook where I brainstormed spell ideas alongside drawings of *tiiiny* chickens. A profound worry overcame me about the future. I worried I would never find respect in this city overlooking the beautiful lake, and that all my knowledge of the arcane existed solely for the benefit of others, not myself. I always liked helping people – *loved* helping people – but since [1] my [psyche got fractured]( https://old.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1u3ojxp/this_curse_is_too_powerful/) and left me inconsolable and [2] these dark happenings have wracked the city for some weeks now, I’m not sure. I found myself no longer pondering my orb and now pondering ***myself***.
Then a shadow goblin party tried to kill and rob me, and I decided after removing the charge of their electrons that I needed more private me time.
-
I went for a drink at the Dancing Dragon Inn to cheer myself up. The Cinnamon Spirit Brandy always puts a fire in my belly, and the flavor was like liquid snickerdoodle. I wish it wasn’t 2000 calories per mug, as spells to trim the waistline actually don’t work on me (in either direction. I was born immune to shrinking and growing spells.) Then, I saw something I didn’t think I’d see: the vampire lady from before. Seeing her armor having been rent off, her weapon shattered down to the hilt, her body bruised and tired, I inquired about the journey she took.
The mage with her, named Aeim, apparently met another wizard, got something called a **chrono trigger** and left her. The brute called Harald on her team went berserk in the caverns below the city and has become a mindless berserker locked in an eternal hunt against imaginary foes. According to her, the rogue, Roth, accidentally awakened a dark, powerful, godlike being down in the underground, and was obliterated with great force. I then asked her if she liked jokes, liked romance, or enjoyed the company of animals. “Why?” she asked with a scathing voice.
I thought to myself, ‘Because the edgelords who go down below always get turned into smears on the floor.’ I said to her, “You just strike me as a friendly person.”
She answered that yes, she was a romantic at heart, and she enjoyed the company of animals such as horses and dogs. Figuring that she had enough positivity surrounding her, I offered to introduce her to some of the warriors from the Ironfury Fighters Guild and see if they would help her get back on her feet. “I know a guy named Ain Blackrock who’s crazy with a sword,” I told her.
“I shouldn’t linger here. I need to go back and see Wellgrief.” She stood up and left the inn.
Where have I heard that name before? Wellgrief?
---
[Chapter 1 - Introduction to Rhyhan](https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tpwwrb/text_post_just_another_day_in_rhyhan/?utm_name=wizardposting)
[Chapter 2 - My new job + the Great Conflagration](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tqu9fi/text_post_so_i_got_the_job/)
[Chapter 3 - Gettin' cursed](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1trry4q/text_post_you_can_just_get_cursed_anywhere_now/)
[Chapter 4 - Me and Mulrock](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tsombm/text_post_me_and_mulrock_the_magnificent/)
[Event - Have you seen Mulrock the Magnificent?](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1ttk9w9/is_this_your_kingdom_have_you_seen_my_paladin/)
[Chapter 5 - The Search for Mulrock](https://old.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tv4jiy/text_post_i_have_learned_a_dark_sinister_truth/)
[Chapter 6 - Uncalled-for behavior](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tw8fgw/text_post_fought_another_wizard_today_what_was/)
[Chapter 7 - Adventurers and Automatons](https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tx5ut2/text_post_new_developments/)
[Chapter 8 - What are scrolls coming to?]( https://reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1ty787w/test_post_returning_to_my_old_academy/)
[Event - Automaton Anarchy!]( https://old.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1typtzb/automatons_took_over_my_spire_they_keep_mocking/)
[Chapter 9 - Automaton Aftermath](https://old.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1tzycrx/text_post_aftermath_of_the_automatons/)
[Chapter 10 - The Fleshcrafters](https://old.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/1u4kbyt/text_post_mysteries_of_the_fleshcrafters/)