Eldritch Incursion

On Halloween

More instances of An Eldritch Fissure appeared on October 31, 2016 (on Halloween). The proliferation was heralded in an Announcement: "Something horrible is going on in the Kingdom. Strange Eldritch Fissures are opening everywhere. Help!".

There are currently two set of locations, which alternate having Eldritch Fissures. If the first set is visible, the second is not available and vice versa.

Set 1:

• The Big Mountains
• Forest Village
• The Wrong Side of the Tracks
• Market Square

Set 2:

• Spookyraven Manor
• The Nearby Plains
• Mt. McLargeHuge
• Seaside Town

Clicking on An Eldritch Fissure costs an adventure every time and gives the Eldritch Tentacle encounter.

Additional fissures have been appearing during the course of the event; for example, a second fissure appeared in Seaside Town after rollover on October 31-November 1.

The fissures in Seaside Town are special in that they include an option "Explore the Fissure Again" so location jumping is not needed.

Prior To Halloween

The first hint toward the Eldritch Fissures event came on October 12, 2016 with the week-long appearance of The Bookmobile in Market Square. It sold a skillbook which taught Eldritch Intellect, a skill that revealed messages foreshadowing the coming invasion and would later have utility during the event.

Instances of An Eldritch Fissure appeared on October 28, 2016 in Forest Village, The Nearby Plains, and The Wrong Side of the Tracks for even-numbered player IDs, and in Seaside Town, The Big Mountains, and Spookyraven Manor for odd-numbered players. Clicking on An Eldritch Fissure resulted in a number of different messages being shown, but did not consume an adventure.

On October 29, clicking fissures could launch a fight with an Eldritch Tentacle, which drop one to three eldritch effluvia. There were a maximum of two encounters per day on the October 29 and three encounters on October 30; however, the Eldritch Tentacle is a copyable monster, so more could be fought that way. These events were announced in a trivial update: "CheeseCookie in /hardcore has reported fighting an Eldritch Tentacle somewhere in the Kingdom. Strange.".

Messages

When clicking on the fissure, if an encounter does not occur, a random message is shown (note that the sub-messages to the "party line" message could occur more than once in a message):

• A fragment of thought slithers in to your mind, "devour those of the light, feast on their souls, sate my..." You decide that backing away from the fissure is the better part of valor.
• A voice slips from the fissure, "... my minions. Break through the barrier! Set me free!" You're not sure what that's all about, but maybe you'll investigate another time.
• An overwhelming sense of dread overwhelms you as you approach the fissure. You back away, overwhelmed with ovewhelmment and overwhelming terror.
• As you come near to the fissure a slimy tentacle, or a giant prehensile tongue, slides out and caresses your face. You don't make any further observations as you back away in terror.
• As you examine the fissure, in the back of your mind you hear a whisper, "Come closer human. I wish to devour your soul." You decide not to go any closer.
• The fissure is a slash of raw darkness that makes your eyes ache to look at, like a black scar across your field of view that still hums with the pain of the cut.
• The fissure simmers with whispers, snatches of old faded songs, voices you half-remember from childhood nightmares, warnings you might understand if you hadn't forced yourself to forget how to hear them...
• There you are, minding your own business, when some sort of creepy eldritch fissure appears. Examining it, you're left with impressions of fear, loathing, and struggle.
• When you examine the fissure, visions of tentacles dance in your head. A whisper fills your mind, <1 random sub-message>.
  • "You will not fear us. You do not have a word for the emotion we will evoke in you.".
  • "We are the memory you have forced yourself to forget.".
  • "We will tear away the mask you wear."
• You approach the shadowy fissure and hear, no feel, a whisper in the back of your mind, "The light, it's so close. We will break through soon."
• You can't see anything in the fissure. You can't see anything out of the fissure. You can't see anything.
• You catch a glimpse of a wiggling tentacle dangling out of the shadowy fissure. When you look closer, it sinks back into the shadows.
• You get close to the fissure and it feels like your mind is caught in some sort of horrific telepathic party line! <3 (always?) random sub-messages> You back away before your mind is overwhelmed.
  • "The shadows can not hold us for much longer."
  • "Those that wait in the shadows are longing for the light."
  • "We are the memory you have forced yourself to forget."
  • "We will reclaim what was stolen from us."
  • "We will teach you how to unsee."
  • "We will tear away the mask you wear."
  • "Which of you killed <random-name, e.g. Ssssssssssshhhhhbrghbrgh>?"
  • "You cannot escape. There is nowhere you can run."
  • "You will not fear us. You do not have a word for the emotion we will evoke in you."
• You stare deep in to the fissure. You quickly back away when you sense a shadowy figure starting back.

Council messages

• On October 30, 2016, the following message appeared when visiting The Council of Loathing:

By the by, Adventurer, have you noticed those creepy fissures? We've asked the Councils of neighboring Kingdoms if they have any information but we haven't heard back. Try not to fall in.

• In the middle of the day on October 31, the Council message was updated.

This Incursion of Eldritch Horror into our world must be stopped! Nobody in the Kingdom has any ideas, so we must summon outside assistance!

Grab some of those flareguns that the pirates are always firing off and fire them off in battle against the Eldritch Tentacles, hopefully someone will notice and come to help.

Help Us <player name>, You're (One of) Our Only Hope(s)!

• The following message was added if the player had used at least one flaregun against an Eldritch Tentacle:

X flares so far? Keep up the good work!

• A leaderboard of "Top Aides to the Council" was appended to the message, listing the top 100 players by number of flares fired against tentacles.
• On November 1, the message was:

Is it just us or are there even more fissures today? The barrier between worlds must be failing! The eldritch world draws closer to ours and people have discovered recipes to further refine those weird eldritch concotions... ew. Hopefully all those flares work soon... keep trying! Here's a list of true heroes, we'll memorialize them in the museum when this is all over:

Notes

• You can adventure here while falling-down drunk.
• No adventures message:
  • You don't have time for a fight, so you just examine the fissure.
• A random message is sometimes shown in light grey if you have the Eldritch Intellect passive skill. See the skill description for possible messages.