Hermes Clayton

Forward: I have always loved tales of great wizards. The tales of Vehumet, Asmadi, Levalli, the day I was able to count myself among their ranks was my proudest moment. Despite my great pride, I knew it would take a small miracle to be remembered as one of the greats. I was never that talented when it came to enchantments or evocations. My lack of creativity leaving me lacking when It came to crafting new spells. I knew my destiny would not be built, but discovered.
I have traveled to many far off places. Vast and mysterious lands. Some wonderous and some terrifying. There are places that no one should ever visit and I've seen them all. From the frigid wastes of Stygia, to the howling caves of Pandemonium, nothing was beyond my reach. Nothing, except for the Far Realms. In theory it is said that an ancient race of elves first made contact with the Far Realms ten thousand years ago. We have read ancient texts describing great planar gates linking to other worlds, but we've never found any physical ruins. We have theorized that these gates at one point linked to the far realms, leading to the destruction of their entire civilization, and the erasure of most of their works.
Not too long ago, during my previous visit to the city of brass, I found an old decrepit journal in a Efreeti's bookstore. The foolish book-keeper had no idea what he had his hands on! I bought it from him for a mere 100 gold! If he knew the value of what lay within those pages how much might he have charged me? Within this journal was the tale of an adventurer who went on an expedition to the undermountain of Stormfall Peak, and they had discovered an ancient gate, with similar etchings to what we've seen in the few ancient texts. This must be one of the Vast Gates of legend! If this journal is to be believed, The Gate will open once every 27 years for around 30 days, and that window is fast approaching! I'll chart an expedition tomorrow. This may be the final chapter in my atlas!





Day 0: Finding the location of Stormfall Peak was not as difficult as I had anticipated. The members of my expedition are mostly grizzled veterans who fortunately hold no interest in research. I also acquired the services of a Cleric and a Druid. Keeping everyone healthy should improve efficiency. On our way to Stormfall Peak, we passed through the ruins of what once must have been a village. In the surrounding settlements people could tell us only little, as the area was abandoned long time ago. After several attempts people seemingly gave up and let nature take over. Nobody felt comfortable under the shadow of the mountain. We passed the rotten wooden frames of a great number of gallows, as well as a large graveyard. Life in this settlement must have been difficult.
As we travelled further, our Druid became increasingly uncomfortable, and even my familiar started stirring. After a while I understood the reason for this behavior: the landscape closer to the mountain had changed. If you know what to look for, it becomes more evident: warped trees, an absence of natural wildlife. For now, I will consider this a consequence of this place being so close to the Vast Gate.
It also appears that numerous creatures at some point lived close to the research complex. Dangerously close I might add. Some of the skeletons we found were severely mutated: deformed skeletal structure, more limbs than normal. Our Druid went pale looking at it. Judging from the remains, most of them were Duergar. In their greed they must have followed an ore vein up to the surface, and for some reason they decided to stay.
As I am writing this, we have just made up our camp just outside the complex, and we will move in as soon as the gates open. Let’s hope my calculations were correct…
Day 1: The gates have opened! We have entered the complex and, after several hours, located the Vast Gate. It is every bit as magnificent as I had hoped. It will take some time to activate it, though. The ancient Elves must have made advances in the field of magic we will not see in our world for a long time.
Inside the research complex we found more Duergar skeletons, and even several belonging to Trolls. The remains belonging to the latter, however, were considerably more mutated that the former. Perhaps it has something to do with the Trolls’ natural regeneration? Interesting, I will have to ask the veterans to bring some corpses for more careful study.
Day 3: Success! Using several crystal foci, I was able to unlock the Vast Gate. Peering through it, I saw before my eyes a world unlike anything I had expected. There is no sky to speak of, at least not in the traditional sense, only a mass of colorful light that changes continuously. In fact, not even the force of gravity seems constant! Things I can barely make out in the distance float and fall in different directions. The Far Realm seemingly consists of an uncountable number of layers. Often multiple of these layers can be discerned at once. Some layers seem to be several miles across, while other appear only inches thick. To make matters worse, the number of layers is not static. It changes all the time! The best way to describe this is to say that sometimes one of the layers would, for lack of a better word, ‘shrivel up’ and make place for others. On other occasions, layers would spawn other layers, not unlike an Ooze dividing itself into two. However, the new layer would sometimes be even larger that the parent layer. Nothing makes sense! All that
On a side note, the rest of my expedition does not share my fascination for these new discoveries. The Druid calls it unnatural, the Cleric calls it blasphemy and the rest of the veterans are getting bored. Luckily I have paid them only half in advance. They shall have to deal with it somehow.
Day 4: Now that the portal to the Far Realm has been opened, it seems the energies from that world are seeping through. Nobody slept well last night. Our dreams were filled with slime, corruption and madness. It hasn’t had any effect on us, yet, but if we are not careful I fear the worst for my companions. Their minds may not be as well tempered as mine to handle the corruption of such foreign energies.
Day 7: The longer I watch the Far Realm, the more I wonder. I have seen strange shapes move around, disappearing and reappearing at seemingly random intervals. There is no scenery to speak of, at least nothing that I recognize. Every now and then I manage to catch a glimpse of something, however. Whatever it might be, it looks like a vine, wrapped around something I cannot quite see.
Day 9: Another breakthrough! Or at least, it would seem that way. One of the veterans went out hunting today, and returned with something he referred to as “mystery meat”. He wouldn’t say where he got it. To the disgust of the other members of our party, and to my own disbelief, he proceeded to create a sandwich out of it! But as he was building his monstrosity, I had a sudden idea: I know how this will sound, but please be patient: the sandwich consisted of several layers, that is cheese, ‘meat’, bread, and so on. Each one of these layers can be seen and interacted with individually, but together they form a snack of, well, questionable quality that can be experienced in a different way.
Perhaps this is a suitable analogy for the structure of the Far Realm. While looking at only one or a few of the many layers, it could be impossible to comprehend the structure of the whole. Perhaps there is a way to exist and move in several layers at the same time. A fascinating idea, no doubt, but one that requires more study before any action is taken.
Day 11: It seems that our prolonged exposure to the energies of the Far Realm is finally starting to affect some of the veterans. A few of them have started to hear voices, which is still innocent enough, but one of them had to be restrained after he had started to build an effigy out of rations. To whom or what I do not know. Perhaps we should retreat to the outer complex during the night to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
Day 12: Today was an interesting day. As we moved our camp to the outer complex, we caught a glimpse of the outside. We almost didn’t recognize it. It would seem that the opening of the Vast Gate has triggered a staggering transformation of the surrounding area. The sky now looked reminiscent of the Far Realm with its shifting colors, and a constant rain of a curious, viscous fluid made it hard to see. This effect persisted in a radius around the mountain, but even outside of it the area looked warped. Perhaps the Druid put it best when he said it felt “awful”. We have retreated back inside. Theoretically, the effects should subside when the Gate closes again in about two weeks’ time.
Day 13: Something most curious happened today! As I was exposing several objects to the environment of the Far Realm, something jumped through the portal. After calming the members of my expedition, I was able to take a closer look at the entity. It was about the size of a fully-grown dog, but it looked nothing like it. If I had to describe it, I would say it looked like a caterpillar with Elvish features mixed in. On the side of its head were the characteristic pointy ears, and patches of silky hair hung from the sides. Its face showed a sharp nose and sharp cheekbones. To top it all off, it seemed as if plants were growing out of its body. Its skin, if you could call it that, seemed stretched, as if the entity had grown too large for it. I was both terrified and amazed. I tried to communicate with this entity, but to no avail. They seemingly do not comprehend our languages, and even magical communication seems to have no effect. As a last resort, I tried to read the entity’s mind. This was a mistake. The entity reeled, and a powerful psychic feedback almost knocked me off my feet, and burned my hand. The entity disappeared back through the portal soon after that. Whatever thoughts it had were incomprehensible to the point of being volatile.
As the Cleric was tending to my wound, another strange thing happened. The healing magic seemed to trigger some sort of reaction from the portal, and its energies lashed out to me and warped my flesh. Changed me. As I looked at my hand, a mouth had appeared. The lips move as if it’s talking, but it’s too soft to hear. The Cleric was deeply disturbed, but I have decided to keep the mouth were it is. Perhaps I could learn something from it. On another note I can say that exposing objects, such as rocks, twigs, and some of the “mystery meat” to the energies of the Far Realm appears to have no immediate effects. Prolonged exposure, however, seems to warp matter in a variety of strange and unpredictable ways.
Day 15: We have passed the halfway mark. It is sad that will we have to leave so soon already. If only I could spend more time in here… Over the past few days I have noticed several strange entities travelling through the portal. They all looked different, yet also similar. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but all these strange creatures seem … related. Somehow. Strange. I am being affected by this place as well? I must admit that I have considerably less headaches at the end of the day, and sometimes I think I can hear the mouth on my hand whisper to me, muttering about great secrets and forbidden lore…
Day 16: I can confirm now that all the entities from the Far Realm that have appeared so far look like some kind of combination of two different creatures, whether it be humanoids or animals, and combine these traits with another, more unsettling characteristic. I have seen entities covered with eyes and mouths, entities with strangely disproportionate body parts, and even some that were melting away as they went.
A theory: I believe that the Far Realm may be the place where all, or at least several species of Aberrations originally hail from. It is not that much of a stretch to look at, say, a Beholder and wonder how they came to be. It would also explain where the alleged madness afflicting these creatures comes from. But are they really mad? Or have they understood something we have yet to learn? This also begs further research.
Day 18: The mouth is speaking clearly now. It has revealed many things to me. Things, rings… Rings. Yes, it rings. It all rings a bell, somehow. Must do further research on the portal. The others look upon me with their eyes. Jealous? No, worried. Worried that I might understand more than they will ever be able to comprehend with their tiny minds! I reread my journal for clues. Am I losing my mind? Or regaining it? Am I slowly going insane or is my mind opening itself to new knowledge? Adapting itself? Learning? Or remembering?
Day 19: The members of my expedition are gone. The fools! Fearing for their lives they chose to abandon the work of a lifetime! They braved the strange storms outside, fleeing from this place. But not me. I have stayed. The ones that come through the portal visit more often now. They no longer fear me. I understand. They were home once, but they always are.
Day 20: No more expedition. No more ignorance. Not alone. I have friends now. New friends. Many friends. I learn so much from them, although they keep their distance. I still cannot understand them. Vexing! Must find a solution for that as well. Time goes on. Doesn’t wait. Need more time! The potential is far too great! My potential? Their potential?
Day 21: There are still so many mysteries left, more questions that anyone or anything could ever answer in the span of a mere 30 days. I need more time! One of the stranger phenomena I have witnessed through the portal is something that is similar to the viscous rain outside the complex. At times, however, the colors in the ‘sky’ shift more violently than usual. As the colors seemingly melt down, a thick fluid rains down as well. As soon as this fluid comes into contact with anything, it either forms into a pool, or reforms into strange, amorphous entities. Is this the way Far Realm entities are born?
Another thing is the exciting prospect of meeting like-minded individuals! Understanding at last! New friends! I have seen shadows of structures in the distance. What are they? Could these be cities of whatever form of native life dwells here? Another possibility would be the remains of expeditions by the ancient Elves. So excited. So very much many much excited.
Finally, there are some things written in the diary I have not yet been able to confirm. Supposedly there once was a mad Wizard who had managed to gain some form of control over the energies of the Far Realm. The diary hints at the existence of spells that this person created. If this is true, I cannot help but wonder: was this Wizard truly mad? The mouth said he can’t have been, but can it be trusted?
Day 23: Despite all that I have learned from the mouth on my hand, the motivations of those that come through the portal remain a mystery. Maybe they are curious? Are they agents for another power in the Far Realm? Are they only here to scout ahead? I don’t know. It’s strange. So very much very strange. So close but I cannot grasp it. The veteran thought he had. Maybe he did. Built an effigy. An altar. Why? Was he mad? Am I mad? I don’t know. But I have seen. In the distance. A shape? A creature? Angel or demon? I do not know. Yet. It is large and it is coming this way. I know. I have seen it. It has seen me. I stare into the Far Realm and the Far Realm stares into me. Observing. Learning. It is curious so very much many curious. Must continue the experiments. Must prepare for the future. We are all guests.
Day 24: The Far Realm is so much very much far away, but sometimes close. Normal magic cannot reach it, cannot see it. Is the gate needed? For travel. For research. But! Maybe the ancient Elves did something else? Maybe they built other Gates? Is there another way? No time to search for them. Too little time. So much to do. Preparations far from ready. The time has come and gone, but is quickly running out.
Day 25: What are we. Are we one? Are we singular? Everything is connected, yet separated. broken apart and built together. When have we reached our potential? Is it mine to truly reach?
Day 27: The gate will close soon. I can feel it. But it is too soon. Not enough time. More research to be done. So much very much more. Cannot wait 27 years. Too long. Much too long. I must go. Through. The portal awaits. The large thing is patient. Must not let it wait. Familiar. Good familiar. Nice familiar. Be brave now. Go without me, go to where people are. Bring them my book. Let them know. There is so much more to know. I have taken out the map. Nobody must disturb. So happy. Peaceful. Mouth and I will go ahead. Come back soon. It's not too far.

The previous archmage and headmaster of the mages college. A highly respected master of conjuration magic, widely known for his discovery and usage of the mirror realm. He is back from the far realm, and it seems that he has complete control over those masked individuals. Ranting about an end to division, a return to unity, what does he have planned?

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