The Dream/Full Spoilers

NPC Dialogue

Welcome

Greetings, sir. Welcome to the Land of Dreams. No doubt you have some questions.
Follow the path down into the village, where, if you are lucky, you may receive some answers.

Village Center

The choice is upon you. All mankind must choose, and live - or die - with the consequences.
If you choose to seek the Undead, seek them among the dead.
If you choose to seek the Monsters, seek them amongst their prey.
If you choose to seek the Daimons, seek them where they are closest to their portals.
If you need aid, you may find it amongst men, but it will cost you precious time.

Woodsman

Hm, yes I can tell you about the monsters. Bring me a few logs from the clearing in the forest on the other side of the village, and I will reveal where their cave is. Bring me my tools from the shed somewhere around here in the forest and I will tell you how to safely enter it.

Fine logs, aren't they? Know that the monster cave is hidden under water in a lake. From here, travel towards the village, then on, following the path. When you see the farms, head left into the forest. There you shall find the lake.

Thank you, kind sir. Take this ring, it allows you to breathe under water, so you can swim the long passage safely until you reach the cave.

Windmill Lady

So, you came to the mill to ask about the undead? Funny thinking you have there. Be a sweety and bring me some eggs from the hen house and I will tell you where to find them. Bring me a bone from the traveller who died by the lonely tree on the side of the mountain and I will tell how you survive it.

See, that wasn't so difficult, was it? The undead are, of course, at the graveyard. See the big mountain? Walk past it on its right, and you will find the graveyard on its backside.

Very well. Now if you do not want to share the fate of this one, take this pouch of bone powder. It will protect you from the curse.

Drunkard

Wooohaa. Heya there. You l-l-look crazy enough to t-t-try those Daimons on. Bring me some a-a-le from my hidden stash in the barn and I'll tell ya things. Or bring me seeds from the village and protection it is.

Only d-d-drunk can you face these horrors, I tell ya! They have their lair on the other side of the mountain, where fire comes out of the earth.

Good seeds. Y-y-yeah. Will grow strong barley. Here, take this amulet, it'll calm that fire.

Daimons

• The Daimon Book can be found in the magma cave on the far side of the mountain, where a plume of smoke rises.

Fire is the purest of all things. It cleanses the land. It burns away the corruption of rot. It destroys the poisonous infestations. Nothing can withstand the purifying blaze of the fire. Where it has passed, only truth and purity remains.

For many long years we were content to allow the humans to languish in their complacency. There was no reason to send our warriors to the lands of men. No reason to unleash the purifying flames. Until the escaped slaves returned to the lands of man. The twin plagues of the monsters and the undead. They had once, long ago, escaped their subjugation, and turned on their masters. We thought they had since been destroyed. But the infection was rooted too deep. Pockets of their corruption must have survived, to emerge once again into the light of day.

Once they re-emerged, they spread like a virulent disease across the lands. They ravage the host in their passing, converting its body to supplement their own strength. In the end they will consume all, leaving nothing but their own kind. This cannot be allowed to happen.

Thus it was that our warriors were sent forth with their flames. They emerged from the heart of fire among the lands of men. They sought out the infections, to cauterize the wounds. But the humans, in their folly, refused to see the truth. They could not comprehend the purity of the flames. The humans resisted the purification. Some, in a tragic fit of self-destructiveness, even allied with the disease. This cannot be permitted.

Thus did we send our avatars to the lands of men. Thus did we spur on our forces to engage the disease in glorious battle. For only through the test of battle is the victor strengthened. Only through the purification of the flames is the corruption burned away. And the flames feed on that which they consume.

Monsters

• The Monster Book can be found in the underwater cave below the surface of the lake, hidden by some trees near the graveyard.

Epic sat down on his throne, just after he decided that he would take his armies to the human island once again.

Epic thought back to his origins, why was he chosen? He was but third in his lineage. He had no outstanding achievements, no praiseworthy conduct, and surely no significantly better leadership than his brothers First and Second. He had but one advantage, his ambition. An endless desire to conquer and excel where the others cannot.

He will achieve something that none of his kind was able to achieve before. The name Epic of Gilgamesh will remain in history. That much he knew. It was a matter of how long his name would last. His thirst for such recognition was unending and this raw ambition drives him to achieve ever more.

Epic cannot stand the sight of the undead. They are less than humans, so he finds no reason to even be in the presence of such. Worst of all, he can not eat them, nor feed them to the young.

The others, the Daimons of old, many stories have been told about this race, being the only one to retain an almost constant presence on the island now filled with humans. Epic respected their conduct, their actions, and their abilities. He knew of their strict laws and forceful tendencies.

However much he admired the Daimons, the ones today are but a shadow of what used to be. He was sure of it. They will be crushed as a tribute to his fame, a stepping stone to greatness.

Epic felt the hunger rise again. Blood and flesh to feed himself, to feed the young, the future warriors. Much food is to be had in the lands of the humans, food that makes the warriors mature quickly. Epic needs more warriors for his ambitions.

Undead

• The Undead Book can be found in the graveyard near the far side of the mountain, close to the magma cave.

Long ago, Man faced extinction in the face of a great enemy. Men fought, and for a time, held their walls. But the evil was a tireless thing, and men are not innumerable. Shrouded in flame and with claws that cut stone it swept across the world, laying waste to all in its path, leaving only queer uninhabitable landscapes. It was from these desolate wastelands that the First of the Many rose and struck out against men as a second plague. The battle-weary men fell to become the Many and set out to increase their number, raising every man they slew and body discovered into their ranks.

And so it was that destruction had two faces for men: the evil which wasted their land and the dead risen. For a time, men despaired, seeing no hope in the face of this darkness, until the wisest noticed that in the lands through which the dead travelled, plants were found once more to grow, and the twisted landscapes slowly reshaped themselves. Whatever foul magic left by the great evil was drained by the passage of the dead.

With time, a great conqueror rode to meet the Many. A warrior of prowess never before or again seen, forgotten by all but the dead themselves in the tides of time. Before the arrival of the great evil it was beneath his banner that the entirety of man stood, and he signed with the Many a pact for all time. No longer would the dead destroy as the evil had, laying waste to their own source. Instead, they were to become defenders, and to them all the bodies of the dead would belong.

And so it was that side by side, Man and the Dead stood against the evil that plagued the land, chasing it back to the dark corners from which it emerged with endless numbers. The great evil, however, did not retreat without a fight: that which animated the dead was sealed for all time, forever preventing the innumerable dead from growing in number...

But time destroys all bindings, all bars, all prisons. So it was that in Qual the first crack appeared and the mind that is the Many awoke once more, immediately setting to finding the power that had been sealed away. The dead toiled while men watched in fear, and having forgotten the Ancient Pact marched on the Many, destroying the ones that had risen. But once they appear, cracks will grow with little effort, and as the seal weakened the first swell rose up to consume those that had marched on them.

The seal remains. With every passing day it weakens while the dead look out across the endless tides of war, waiting for the day of the second surge... for the day the bindings break and they march once more.

Maps

(since someone asked... erm, please excuse the quality?)

Updated Overlay Map

Very nice drawing above. :-)

Here's the "official" map (orthographic camera shooting straight down), but without marked locations (most are visible, though). You can use it to mark interesting places, if you want. But please upload a seperate file if you modify the map.