Chapter of Madness

From the fractured journals of Eamon Stonehand, post-transformation, comes the Chapter of Madness. This isn't a coherent narrative, but a jumbled collection of sketches, half-formed equations, and disturbing pronouncements scrawled across vellum. Unlike the orderly entries in Elder Borin's Chronicles, this chapter defies logic and reason. Passages detailing experiments on Gloomfungus and descriptions of new Runes of Lumina are interspersed with rantings about the Great Unmaking and unsettling visions of the Null Fields. The Truthseekers may want to find this.

Certain phrases recur: 'The Geometry of Emptiness', 'The Veil of Descent Fractures', and 'The Herald of Emptiness Beckons'. The journals hint at a journey beyond the Warped Gates, a descent into a realm where the laws of physics are mere suggestions, potentially to a location now dubbed the Abyss of Umbra. Diagrams depict impossible structures and non-Euclidean geometries, hinting at the true nature of the Umbral Divide. There are disturbing sketches of Skyclaw Griffons contorted into unnatural shapes, as well as disturbing connections to Valia, the Empty.

This chapter should be kept far away from the Sunstone of Aethelgard. There is even a new language mentioned, the Language of Madness.

The Silent Monks of Durin's Peak would likely wish to burn this chapter, claiming it to be a gateway to madness. Even the Crimson Cartographers might be hesitant to map the pathways depicted. The Cobalt Corsairs would probably dismiss this as the ramblings of a lunatic, while the Forgotten Smith would understand the ramblings more than anyone. The Chitinous Swarm and The Gaze of the Deep are even mentioned here. Perhaps a new threat has arisen, The Cacophony, an entity made of madness. It may hold a clue to defeating the Chitinous Swarm.