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Dungeon Max's Lair

The Oracles of the Soothsayer of Zolakan

The First Oracle

You are all prodigy of the same progenitors All bearing the corruption of their tryst The Sayer seeks only Sooth And you’ve wandered far from Aiuva Hear our wisdom and be enlightened Behold that there is No glory in excess Nor virtue in lack GIve us not your devotion Nor call unto us to venerate For what of interest could you offer To the Ancients that yet live Instead travel in well-tread trails Follow the footsteps of your fathers And match the movements of your mothers Each should find a model for themself In the generations that have come before

The Second Oracle

Glory fades like memories lost Platinum shall give way to gold Gold to silver Silver to brass Brass to lead And lead shall be the sign Of the last days of Zolakan

The Third Oracle

In the last days of Zolakan The Sooth will overcome the Lie The enchanted will be disillusioned And the Betrayers will be betrayed A GREAT JUDGEMENT! Accusers will stand accused Innocent will be avenged And what is masked will be unveiled In the last days of Zolakan

The Apocalpyse of Dzul'Tenh

This tome is heavily damaged and the few pages of legible text found among the many arcane and occult diagrams are mostly incoherent rambling by an obviously depraved mind. A sample follows.

Thesis Statement

While many have sought to explore the exact nature of the realm beyond, no one has contributed to these studies to the extent of Dzul'Tenh(1). His three major contributions in this field can be summarized by the identification of the Calypso(2), his experiments in the creation of rifts(3), and the breakthrough, often attributed to his students, in forming the shackles(4) by which we harness the Lie. The culmination of these studies, now referred to as the Apocalypse of Dzul'Tenh(5), served to permanently shift the Sooth closer in alignment to Transcalypso including zones of permanent conjunction, lowering the bar for future students of the Arts of Mirage(6), whether illusory or conjuration sciences.
In this paper, the authors will ...

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Identification of the Calypso

Dzul'Tenh postulated a firmament(34) or veil which he called the "Calypso", existing between the Realm of Sooth(35) and the beyond, or the so called "Realm of Lies"(36). This formulation as a theoretical construct enabled experimental interaction with what was theretofore unrecognized in studies of the Lie(37), that is, the existence of not merely a demarcation but the substantiation of the forces of resistance that isolate primordial chaos from the stable material(38). The establishment of this construction and assignment of terminology is significant several ways:

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Creation of Rifts

As the initial probing(87) of Dzul'Tenh's primary tests gave way to ever more forceful interactions(88) plying at intersecting the Arts of Mirage with the Calypso, with the addition of empowering material components(89), a process for perforation(90) of the divide was first stumbled on, and then through iteration, growing competence was achieved(91). This tearing of the veil has certainly been observed throughout prior ages to the present(92), but without terminology or theoretical framework for understanding of the energies at work, the appearance of Lies had mostly been understood through the lens of superstition(93), thus laying the cause with "fey" or "fiendish" influences. In our more enlightened age ...

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The Invention of Shackles and Harnessing the Lie

While there is some debate(141) as to whether the mechanism(142) of the shackles is an original discovery of Dzul'Tenh himself, or whether it comprises an innovation of his students(143) that was co-opted in the establishment of the mythos(144) surrounding their teacher, his influence can be clearly observed in current true iterations(145), all bearing the rune(146) of his name, while imitations(147) lacking it fail to function to the same capacity(148). It is the strict control(149) of the secrets of production(150) of Dzul'Tenh Shackles(151) that has served to propel his school(152) to its current place of prominence even as harnessed Lies laid a foundation for the revolution of industry(153) and the conveniences(154) of modern society. It is the farms tended by the bound risen dead(155), the mechanisms powered by chained elementals(156), and other multivarious services(157) supplied by the full assortment of indentured Lies(158) that have helped humanoid-kind(159) rise far above the beasts. That these shadows can appear physically alike(160) to the prodigy(161) and seem capable of equivalent intelligence(162) should not dissuade even the softest of activists(163) since ...

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