The Floodplain

[Hope]

Look around you. What can you see? Very little, it's safe to bet--for your surroundings are shrouded with violet mist, seeping up like some noxious gas from the fissures and chasms that riddle the flat dry ground. The parched earth's thirst is only quenched by the Obsidian River, which flows in a multitude of streams and tributaries all across this darkling plain, this vast moor, and its black water sparkles with the light of a moon you cannot see. Do not drink this water. It is not poison, but it is something close. The main artery of the river flows down from the mountains far in the distance. You may see lights in that distance, among those mountains, and you may feel the urge to follow them, to climb the distant slopes, to find whatever creatures live among the peaks; but no matter how many steps you take toward the Obsidian Delta, no matter how far you follow the black river to its source, the mountains will grow no closer. If, however, you turn on your heel and head away from those sharp, jagged peaks, they will never recede into the violet mists. They will always be there, at your back, looming, the lights in the distance shining gold like eyes. Maybe they are eyes. Maybe you ought to run now...or maybe not. Adventurers, welcome. This dark vastness is not as empty as it seems.