The entire realm, at least on the surface, is a barren wasteland. It is always raining down fire and rocks. Surprisingly, the rocks do not pile up, as the fire is hot enough to melt it and cause rivers and lakes of magma. The safe place to be is underground, in the massive cave systems, where the people live. The caves go deep underground, make massive caverns that are settles by the people, and even reach past where the people have ever gone, going under virtually the entire realm.

The shadows are like Humans only in shape and basic appearance. They are actually hard to look directly at, and make no sound. When looked straight at, a persons eyes will attempt to look away, as though the shadows are not there at all. They are diverse in their specific looks, but are all darkly colored. They are able to see in much darker spaces then others, both because of their relation to darkness, and their time in the caves.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:18, Wed 19 Aug 2009.

The surface, barren of life, unable to sustain anything. From the shadows at the mouth of a large cave, out stepped the silent form of a man. He was tall, thin, but strongly built. He would look out of place, but for a touch of darkness, that made some almost reconsider approaching him. His eyes look out at the hostile wasteland with a hint of recognition, familiarity, and strangely, comfort. His hair was short, and it was difficult to tell if it was blond or darker. He looked as tough he should be covered by scars, but held none. His skin was fair, and he wore simple clothing. He craned his neck and looked up at the sky, and smiled in an almost bone-chilling way. "Good to see not much has change here..." He says quietly to himself.
He looks down at his hands, and squeezes them into fists, and looks at his clothing. "My armor, my weapons... even my power. This is... different. It must be fixed."
He turns to look at the cave, and breathes slowly. "I wonder if perhaps they too have changed?"
He walks boldly into the cave, turning where needed to head further underground.

He soon comes across a settlement of silent Shadows. They make no sound, but greet him nonetheless. They are happy for his return. There are talks of a festival.

They have not changed.

Crailek greets them as well, looking around at the people. There sure were a lot less of them. But that was to be expected. He looks around to see if they have any structures built, or if anything major is different.

There don't seem to be any structures - only holes leading downwards. The Realm is a wasteland.

Crailek heads into one of the downwards leading holes, then.

As Crailek reaches downward, the temperatures become less extreme and he spots more and more of his people - the Shadows. They live here, apparently, in their shacks and huts, hiding from the wastes.

Crailek continues heading down if there is a way.

The path goes ever downward, and Crailek passes many Shadow settlements. Finally, he comes across a door. The door is made of steel, it would seem, and it was reinforced; chains and a dozen locks were upon it. It was a majestic thing, four times as high as a Shadow, and on the center of the door were the words:

And here, the spider sleeps.

Crailek gives a low whistle. "Well that's certainly new..."
He heads back up to his people to ask about the door.

The Shadows tell him of a time when he was gone. They mention a desperate creature, cackling, entering the realm and digging the lower tunnel systems. He had the image of a human bred with a spider, and built the doors many years ago. They had heard nothing else from him, but he wasn't violent.

Crailek nods to them in thanks, then heads back to the door.
Once there, he attempts to move into the darkness of the tunnel on the other side of the door.

Crailek finds the move easily enough. Soon, he is just a stain of darkness on the other side of the door, and -

He is trapped.

Somehow, he is trapped.

Glass everywhere. Elaborate curves. Panic. A thousand, hundred, fifteen eyes watching him. Cackling. Flowing glass.. trapped within glass. Perfect circles.

He is trapped.

Crailek sighs, and calls out. "Yeah, hi. Crailek here... Might I inquire as to what the hell is going on?"

He hears his voice, reflected, echoing a thousand times.. still feels as if he is trapped within a glass cage..

There is cackling.

Crailek sighs. "Well, look. If you aren't gonna talk, then just eat me or whatever your plan is. This is just a little annoying."

There is only silence.

Crailek attempts to move through the shadows back where he had come from.

No luck. He seemed to curve, a little bit, feel rounder.. and he was back where he started.

Crailek attempts to move, and to walk forward and wave his arms around, to see what happens then.

He can move, but he still feels curved somehow - somehow circular. He is trapped, he knows.

He sees the image of the mad thing. It laughs at him. The spider laughs. Crailek sees it's shadow flicker against his prison walls.

Crailek attempts to leave the realm, to see what happens.

((cause it went so well last time..)

A curve - he was still trapped.

"You won't be able to escape," said the voice, booming, echoing. "Not with this!"

All Crailek could see of the individual was his shadow dancing on the glass.