Day 1 (Part 3) Canopy Date - S62,918/D43
The portal, which had opened in the office of Mr. Durizar, led to what appears to be a pocket-realm of Durizar’s own making. Specifically, the realm seems to be made entirely of chocolate, from the rocks and dirt which make up the topography through the denizens of this realm that we encountered. I personally investigated the rocks which had the distinct scent and flavour of Cocoa, yet the hardness of any pebble is equivalent to their natural geological counterparts. I imagine that a geologist could run tests on these rocks and make some interesting findings as to their source. A sample of this rock has been retained for further investigation by the Canopy, and shall be submitted with this report for further analysis. But I digress.
The aforementioned portal deposited us onto a bluff overlooking a forked cavern where we could make out the unmistakable presence of several oozes similar to those we had encountered in the factory only moments earlier. There appeared to be two factions locked in an altercation with one another. Faint footsteps which appeared to belong to Durizar seemed to lead in the direction of the scuffle. Given our recent encounters and fatigue levels, my associates and I deemed it prudent to wait out the battle, regain our strength, and approach the victors in peace, in hopes they are intelligent and able to lead us to their putative creator: Durizar.
Upon contacting the ooze creatures in a peaceful manner, we glean that the victors of the battle we had witnessed were (a) sentient (b) relatively peaceful (c) religious and (d) enthralled to, or at least reverent towards, Durizar. As these ooze people gave apparent authority to their religious leader, I approached said religious authority in an attempt to garner further information. Given their heightened levels of superstition, and apparent total reliance on Durizar, I presented myself as a “prophet” of similar status to Durizar. This explanation was accepted and we were given a place of honor, safe passage, and the information necessary to follow Durizar.
At the insistence of my comrades, we accepted the hospitality of the oozes and attended a feast in our honor. As expected, the food of these people does not prove to be compatible with our metabolisms. However, through the attempted (and inexplicable) sexual advances of M towards their priest, Schlorp, I was able to determine that this race of oozes is aesexual, yet able to replicate by way of binary fission. Despite wanting to study these entities further, my companions reminded me of the goal of our presence in this plane; we proceeded towards the cliff shown to us by Schlorp, in an attempt to find Durizar.
Beyond his ability to create what appears to be sentient life, Durizar also has a knack for illusion magic, as the ladder leading to his cabin atop the cliff was hidden by an illusory cliff face. M, however, was not fooled by the spell and led the team in the correct direction. We had no trouble finding Durizar once we reached the top of the cliff. We did, however, have some difficulty engaging in meaningful dialogue with Durizar. His reactions implied that his back was up against a wall with no further options. He attempted to bribe, cajole, and beg his way out of this conferentation, going so far as to assault us. I will expound further on the events of that assault in my next missive.
-- End of Day 1, volume 2--
1 Hereinafter, any reference to the first-person plural pronouns “we” or “us” or “our” shall refer to myself, E, and M.
2 Schlorp, as he introduced himself sometime later.
3 The implication appears to be that Durizar, if he is indeed the creator of this pocket realm, appears to be able to create self-replicating artificial life. Almost a self-sustaining magical effect that requires no input from the castor to move, change, and promulgate. This is certainly worth further investigation.