Before we knew it, we already reached the Ordeal of the Midnight.
[The Ordeal of the Midnight will be approaching in 1 minute_]
[This ssage will appear invisible to every instances of entities in this world, if you received this sequence of notification, please notify any of the Arbiters to prevent further complications in your imrsive playing experience]
Both Verina and I imdiately positioned ourselves within the 2 ters deep trenches, taking precautions to any sudden attack that would imdiately be sent into our bastion the mont the clock hit midnight.
[Quī mē ex v!ersicu!līs īs put?āstis, quod!? su?nt molliculī, par!?um pudīc?um!!]
And yup, that eerie ssage appeared once again like the last ti, signaling the ti of midnight.
[A special type Calamity Object have been manifesting within the vicinity of your bastion_]
[Attempting to analyze its property and identity_]
Ah, it looked like it won't be spawning any Qliphoth Object for today's Ordeal of the Midnight.
—
[The Veil of Night]
[Description: A dense, unnatural fog that rolls in without warning, blanketing the bastion in a thick, impenetrable darkness. Within the Veil of Night, ti and space seem to distort, and strange, shadowy figures can be seen moving just out of sight. The air grows cold and damp, and all light sources are dimd, barely able to penetrate the gloom]
[Hint: The Veil of Night offers an opportunity to harvest rare, ethereal materials that only appear within the fog. However, venturing into the Veil is perilous, as the shadowy figures within are hostile and nearly invisible. The fog also warps reality, causing individuals to beco disoriented and lost, potentially forever]
—
Nevermind, this Calamity Object sounded equal if not worse than a Qliphoth Object.
Unless it does what I think it will.
"Ah, this veil again…" Verina muttered.
Just as the Midnight arrives, the Veil of Night descends like a living entity, unfurling across the whole land and sky outside of the bastion's periters with an eerie silence.
The once-familiar moonlighted landscape was swallowed by an impenetrable, unnatural fog that rolled in with a malevolent ease.
Those darkness writhed and stretched as if animated by so unseen force, their forms flickering just beyond the edge of perception.
The air thickened with dampness, and any attempt to light a torch or lantern only reveals faint, waning glows that barely cut through the oppressive gloom.
"What is your experience with this Calamity Object, Verina?"
"Not so fun," Verina replied with a bitter voice. "I've lost a couple comrades to this wretched fog. However, the two of us will be safe as long as we stay inside our bastion, and never play around the skirt where the curtain of darkness awaits."
"And your comrades didn't know this information when you encountered it for the first ti."
"None of us knew… And thus, we paid the price for our recklessness and obliviousness."
Ti seed to fragnt within the Veil, the usual flow of monts bending and twisting as reality itself warps and wavers.
The very essence of the fog definitely distorts space as the information screen suggested, making familiar paths and landmarks vanish into an abyss of obscurity.
That must be why Verina lost her comrades.
Not because they couldn't fight the entities within it.
"On the good side, I rembered that no other Calamity Object ever manifested itself when this phenonon occurred." Verina scooted around before landing herself comfortably resting on the wooden chair in front of the table where we did our Dungeon and Devil session. "Of course, outside of the non-hostile one, since they could still manifest inside the territory of our bastion."
"Welp, this will be quite the long night then," I said as I reached out the Dungeon and Devil set that I deliberately craft, hoping to soothe the mood now that we had free 12 hours of unnatural darkness outside. "Want to continue the session."
"... Very gladly."
We dove back into our ga with a sense of both relief and anticipation. However, Verina requested to just start with a new session and story.
The session started with Verina's new character, a necromancer who decided to step outside its lair because she was bored.
Like always, I relied on Sir Aethernet to fill in with unique encounters and overarching events that were happening within the session. At one point, Verina overthrew an underworld's mafia organization and beca their new leader, before deciding to pick a stray barbarian to be in charge as she continued treading toward a new land.
'Managing an organization sounds like a pain in the ass' were the very words that Verina uttered after she made that decision.
As we proceeded, we delved into a subplot where Verina's character discovered an ancient artifact with ties to forgotten deities, setting the stage for a deeper narrative involving celestial conflicts and forbidden magic.
Her character ended up becoming a part of the eldritch mind-hive that exists beyond human's perceived reality, which ended the campaign, and prompted a new one.
The hours stretched on, the sessions blending into a series of gripping adventures and dark mysteries, providing a welco distraction from the unnerving darkness outside.
Each roll of the dice and every stupid, outright moronish, strategic decision helped to montarily push away the shadows of reality, binding us together in a sense of weird camaraderie.
At one point, Verina wanted to try becoming a Dungeon Master.
It was a ss, the story was outright incoherent, albeit sowhat fun.
"The dawn is here," Verina said as the comforting orange dye began painting the clearing sky, banishing the Veil of Night away into the faraway darkness where nothing ever reached.
"That was a fun one."
In the end, we absolutely forgot that the Withering Sentinel existed.
Regardless, my second night in this world was an utter success. Not only that we were lucky to have such a lax Ordeal, but I also found a new player to play Dungeon and Devil with.
I used to be a Dungeon Master a lot when I was still in my college's theater club, and my session with Verina reminded a lot of that ti.
"Mmm…"
Maybe my ti back on Earth wasn't all that bad.
Reviews
All reviews (0)