Ember Wind: Corrupted

Winter Wars

January 1, 2043

It's been a week since I last wrote but at the end of my previous journal entry, I discovered that I had reached some unexpected barrier but I don't know what that barrier is. When I tried to put in a new page, I got an error message which it only said "error" and nothing else. I also noticed that there were some rather bizarre discrepancies in the writing that appeared, some events had been changed and even stranger was an obvious presence of a foreign influence. Someone else has been tampering with my stories. Knowing this, I had to go digging around town for a new book to scribble in. hopefully, this "influence" won't find this book-

I aLreAdy dId...

In the past week, other than digging around Uskor for a new journal, I've been to the new zone. When Ichabod fell, a portal opened up in a side room. The Council of Protectors was reassembled early due to Night's Vampirism and along with that discussion went the portal. After sending a few people through, they returned with news of a new zone, an ever colder zone with deeper snow drifts and blizzard-like weather conditions. According to the scouts, this portal opens up near the next city which is apparently made of stone as well.

A cIteE of tHe daMneD...

I decided to go through the portal ahead of Dailin and the others. They wanted to wait in Uskor until a secure path was found to the next city. I wanted to find a cure as quickly as possible. I had to go forward unto dawn.

The other side of the portal was cold, much colder than the northern reaches of Uskor. This new land was several feet deep in lake-effect snow, thick and fluffy. Tangurple popped out of the portal and immediately sunk in the snow up to his chest. He couldn't trudge through snow this deep. Especially not in this gear. His plate armor weighing way too much to be supported by anything other than dirt and rock. He opened up his inventory and reluctantly unequipped it. Fortunately, he had back up clothes that, despite being thin, provided more cover than going nude.

Tangurple weighed only a fraction as much without the combat gear on but was significantly more vulnerable to attacks from mobs. Considering the deep snow all around him, he had his doubts about the presence of such mobs. He climbed out of the small ditch he was standing in. He sank only partially in the snow which made travel that much easier on him.

Ahead was a pine forest. Tall dark trees with needle-like leaves. The branches were angled sharply and to his eye, the trees seemed alive. He entered this pine forest and kept his eyes to the trees. Everything felt wrong about this forest. Even within the forest itself, the trees looked ominous as if they were hiding something. Due to the close proximity of one tree to the next, their size and branch extensions, the sun was rather blotted out; the layers of snow on top of them didn't help either.

Tangurple grew paranoid and every couple of minutes, pause. His eyes were messing with him. Something small, fast and almost animal-like would keep running between the trees just ahead of him. Tangurple pushed on despite the hallucinations. To ease his conscious though, he equipped the scythe and strapped it to his back.

Tangurple wandered aimlessly through the pine woods for hours on end. The snow only mildly affected him. He reached its other edge which opened to a small field. Mountains lined the distant horizon. The field was not empty like the one in Uskor. In the middle of this snow-covered field was a half-buried ruin.

From the standing remnants, it appeared to have been some sort of castle piece. Maybe even an ancient church judging by the arches. Cautiously, Tangurple approached it. He tripped over pieces of rubble that were buried underneath. Unlike the forest, this ruin felt a bit more reassuring. Tangurple walked up to the half-destroyed pylons and felt the cold stone. The cracks on them gave a sense of history to the place, more so than did the buried rubble.