Upon arrival within the Moonshadow Fragment, one thing is made readily apparent: natural life is unsustainable here, as the plane is shrouded entirely within darkness. Oppressive and stifling, the darkness is deep, and any cast light is strangled. Overhead hangs a moon not unlike Hyrule’s own, though it is largely hidden by dark clouds, slivers of silver only occasionally peeking out. More frighteningly is the visage at one’s knees. There, undulating like water, lays a mirrored surface like a sea of pure mercury. Noiseless, it’s as if you are surrounded by one, great mirror. It is cold to your flesh, but not deadly so. Still, one can feel the warmth slowly seeping into those strange waters. But amidst that vast darkness, perhaps your own reflection is the only comfort you can take, the only company for miles on end. There is ground beneath that water, you can feel it beneath your feet. It varies between hard as stone, to a mud-like consistency. Perhaps, once upon a time, there had been life here. This is only affirmed by the occasional ruined structure you may pass, but those seem long abandoned. They appear to be made of stone, like great platforms made for waiting, though for what, you can only guess. You may come across the occasional body, left fully intact; there is no apparent fauna, or even bacteria, to feed on the corpulent flesh. Upon further inspection, you see that they were once a member of the Hylian Royal Guard. What their death was, you cannot say for sure, as it left no visible marks, save from a complete lack of color, both on their body and apparel. From the dust, they have been there for quite some time: they entered the fragment only days before you, yet it seems they have been there, lying restfully, for weeks. As you keep walking, it seems that more light seems to peak through the clouds as the days go by, though not yet enough to see the entirety of the landscape surrounding you. Finally, the full moon rises in the sky, its radiance casting a pale light. The night is cloudless, now, as if to make way. Finally, for one glorious night, you can breathe again, the darkness banished. Astoundingly, the bleak waters at your feet have become translucent, like true water. You see below on the ground that, indeed, there once was life, by the cobbled roads, or the desiccated remains of long dead plants. Running parallel to those stone platforms are steel roads, like great lines bisecting the world. Most wondrous of all, though, is the newborn night sky that hangs overhead. Surrounding that moon, reflecting its radiance, is a sky of silver: the same sheen that once covered the water. Like a map in the sky, the world is made clear to you. If you look carefully enough, you can see a tiny dot in that sky directly above, and you think to yourself “Oh. That must be me.” There, in the distance, a great metal centipede inches across the landscape, casting water to the side like so much nothing. It travels along the metal paths faithfully, stopping at each station, then departing. Its destination is not in sight, but you have the feeling that it may just take you where you need to be. You exit that monstrous metal beast, having traveled in restored darkness whence the full moon did depart. Your location is secret, even to you, the carriage having groaned unerringly towards its destination, despite the absence of light. But you look up and realize you must now be beneath the earth, the ground upon which you once traveled now clear as glass. Your gaze goes up and up, through pristine water, to once again see a silvered sky, though the moon is no longer full. It seems now that you are below, that everything appears made of light, as if the core of this place were devouring it. Pillars of crystal and glass hold up the ground-ceiling above, while walls and structures of the same material stretch out before you. You push forward through the next trial, the infinitely refracting light confusing your senses as you try to find your way. You eventually stumble your way to the very center of the plane, to find a titanic metal heart, beating with sapped color and light. But you are not alone. Panopticon, Mercurial Master He—it?—emerges from the liquid, a perverse humanoid crawling out to take shape. He stands at seven feet tall, but his proportions are horribly misconfigured, undulating between too much and too little. Wordlessly he attacks, using his morphing body to strike out unexpectedly. Occasionally, spines may shoot out from the surface of his body to pierce you. Most of your strikes against him are ineffective, weapons passing harmlessly through. On occasion, though, your strikes hit something solid—this must be his core. It never remains in the same place, though, constantly shifting through its body, and undetectable from the outside. Finally, after a hard battle, his body melts away. The core rests there, a gem of blue and violet. You approach to deliver the final blow, but before you can, the metal on the ground shoots out, gilding the floor with silver. You look down in horror as your reflection is drained of color, pulled up towards that beating heart. In perverse mockery, a shadow of yourself emerges from below, no detail missing. The core is gone now, and any attempts to locate it will merely indicate the evil that stands before you. The shadow may appear to be you in all ways—indeed, it knows your magic, your techniques, and appears to have all your tools and weapons as well—but it moves faster, its blows are stronger. Can you overcome your own darkness? Dowsing Rod The Dowsing Rod is a beautifully carved wand of wood, cherry in hue, and hewn from a fallen branch from the Great Deku Tree. Though quite mundane appearing, powerful magic lies within it. Upon concentrating deeply, and holding within you a great desire for some object, location, or person, the tip of the wand will be unerringly drawn towards the direction in which your heart’s desire lies. It will continue to do so, even if the intended target moves. Note that this must be some specific physical entity, and cannot be an abstract idea, such as “Where is the way out?”, or “Take me to the nearest treasure.” Neither will the Rod guide you to your target; obstacles may stand between you and it. -------------------------------- The presented scenario is only one of many possibilities for this dungeon. Ultimately, its structure is up to you, and how you ultimately face the master of this place rests on your shoulders, and yours alone. Several themes are fitting for this dungeon: shadows, reflections, and color. Moreover, this fragment is inspired by the world contained within Spirit Tracks and The Wind Waker. Additionally, a new enemy for this dungeon is presented below: Monochrome Chu-Chu Unlike its colored cousins, this Chu-Chu seems to be completely devoid of color entirely. It is not simply a black Chu-Chu: inspecting it deeply reveals that it seems to be absorbing the very light and color surrounding it, with an appearance not that unlike a black hole. Though it maintains the basic movement and physiology of its cousins, one should be wary of its color-stealing attacks. Once the color is drained from a limb, it will become useless until the Chu-Chu is destroyed, and your color has been reclaimed. ----------------- This Dungeon will be graded similarly to a Quest, though the rewards include both 50 rupees as well as the unique dungeon item that will be obtainable only through this dungeon. However, it should be noted that the dungeon item is awarded to the character at the onset of the dungeon, and should generally be involved in completion of the dungeon. As previous dungeons, those who complete this dungeon are eligible to have their triumph become an official part of Hyrule Castle Lore. However, unlike before, there is no "time limit": the first to complete this dungeon will have their run become an official part of the lore, assuming it meets quality standards. As a side note, completion of this dungeon is in no way connected to what characters are eligible for becoming a Sage: completion of all three fragments serves as a triggering event for the awakening, and nothing more. Also, like previous dungeons, the Moonshadow Fragment will become available to be run as a Classic Dungeon, once the first thread is completed, albeit with reduced rewards. All Moonshadow threads begun before the end of the first thread will receive rewards as normal. When creating a Bureau thread for the Moonshadow Fragment, treat it as any normal Quest Bureau thread. When creating your Quest Bureau thread, please include the tag [Moonshadow] in its title. Code: [b]Name:[/b] [b]Description:[/b] [b]Players/Characters:[/b] [b]Reward:[/b]
