PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 7: Azmoth Chasm

(A/N: Azmoth Chasm is our first piece of Tynerum content since the release of Crimsonheart Castle way back in 2013. Unlike most storylines, Azmoth Chasm is entirely unique in the sense that it actually has no story at all. Although there’s a small prequest at the start of it, it’s really only there to set the scene before delving into the content. The main format of Azmoth Chasm is more like an RPG dungeon, in which you have to explore the area, gather items, trade with NPCs, interact with different text options, and fight monsters and bosses. However, all the actual lore about the region comes directly from flavor text, such as NPC dialogue, item descriptions, etc.

I actually very much love the subtlety that comes from this kind of lore hunting, which is much more involved and rewarding than an endless series of cutscenes, as it requires you to piece together information like you’re really an adventurer in-game, and it opens the door for a lot more theory-crafting and speculation. During the Milestone event, an animated short was released to give some context behind Azmoth Chasm, which - in combination with the lore found in the content - is enough to paint a very interesting picture of Tynerum and its history. Since there’s no actual storyline past the prequest, I’ll just summarize the main points of interest in the dungeon in the latter half of this section. As far as timeline placing, this piece of content is level 260+, which puts it nicely in the few months between Cernium at level 260 and Hotel Arcus at level 265.)

Some time after the battle of Cernium, the Adversary received an urgent message from Athena Pierce, who had sent a widespread announcement to all adventurers of Maple World. She explained that a dangerous situation had arisen during an investigation of an anomaly in southern Leafre. Though she was unsure of how to describe it, Athena noted that there was something sinister and evil deep beneath Leafre. She then asked anyone who received the message to come immediately, hoping that at least one person would respond to her request.

In order to assist with the situation, the Adversary traveled to the Alliance camp in southern Leafre, where they discovered an enormous chasm, with ruins of a city built deep underground within. Near the base camp, demonic creatures were emerging from dimensional cracks and attacking the Alliance soldiers. Athena greeted the Adversary and noted that amidst the chaotic situation, there were only a few details that she could share with them. She pointed to the chasm and explained that the ruins in the chasm had been discovered a few days ago by a Halflinger expedition, which had been investigating a large noise in the area.

She noted that the Forest Priests had fortunately been nearby when the demonic creatures had begun pouring out of the dimensional cracks. She explained that while Harmonia, Gritto, Legor, and Samuel had held the monsters off, Hellin had informed her about the situation. After the Alliance had set up camp, three Explorers – Ryndon, Luvar, and Dahlia – had been dispatched as an investigation team, though they had barely escaped with their lives. Athena told the Adversary that the Explorers were unable to talk about what they had seen inside the chasm, though she noted that between the cracks and the monsters, it was certain that the ruins were far more dangerous than they realized.

(A/N: Ryndon, Luvar, and Dahlia are highly obscure NPCs who served as 2nd job instructors for thieves, magicians, and bowmen, respectively. They existed in the game until their removal in the Legends update in 2011, although the story team has been trying to incorporate more obscure or less-known NPCs into the main story in an effort to add more diversity besides the usual Alliance leaders.)

At Athena's request, the Adversary agreed to speak with the investigation team in order to learn more about what dangers lurked in the ruins, as the only information that they had been able to get out of the team was that the ruins were called Azmoth Chasm. The Adversary first spoke with Ryndon, who began screaming fearfully and told them not to come any closer, insisting that he didn't know anything.

The Adversary decided to give him some space and instead listened from afar, overhearing how Ryndon described Azmoth Chasm as hell itself, with a dreadful sound emanating through the fortress, filling him with terror at the screams and whispers echoing in his head. He noted that he had been attempting to escape the creatures in the fortress when he had seen a man standing like a butcher in the fortress’s arena. He added that he had only managed to survive by falling through a dimensional crack and that the monsters inside the chasm were attempting to invade Maple World through those cracks, hoping to cover the world in the horrible sounds of the chasm.

As Ryndon began wailing about hell itself coming to them, the Adversary decided to speak next with Luvar, who told them that though he couldn't stop shaking, he was fine enough to speak now. He explained that inside the chasm, he had found himself in a fortress that appeared to be a sacred place to the monsters within, adding that it seemed to be like a chapel. However, he added that he was confused about what he had seen towards the end of it, as he couldn't make out whether it was a puppy or a horrible monster, as it had seemed quite cute before turning vicious. While fleeing from it, he explained that he had discovered a magical defense tower which had automatically targeted the monsters in his way, allowing him to escape safely after he had taken the magical ball in the tower, which he had left with Athena Pierce, hoping that it would prove useful.

Finally, the Adversary spoke with Dahlia, who apologized and explained that she couldn't stop shaking. She explained that inside the fortress, she had seen an old-fashioned laboratory, though everything in there had been horrible and gruesome. She noted that, in particular, there was a golem inside that appeared as though it had been artificially created maliciously. She then added that besides the golem, there had been a white ghost, a woman with a large sword, and even a winged cat. However, she revealed that those three had appeared friendly to them, as they, too, had been running away from the monsters inside.

Having finished interviewing the Explorers, the Adversary reported back to Athena Pierce, who was surprised to hear about the perils that they had experienced within the chasm. She then promised the Adversary that the Explorers would find peace as they recovered, adding that they would find the strength to rise again soon. After going over their reports, Athena noted that there seemed to be several points of interest, such as the unknown force that mentally assailed those who entered. Additionally, she noted that the three areas in the ruins – the alchemy lab, the chapel, and the arena – appeared to have enemies such as butchers and golems inside, as well as the strange puppy creature which Luvar had mentioned.

Athena also told the Adversary that she had the magic ball that Luvar had brought back, though she noted that it didn't seem to work at all, speculating that perhaps it only reacted to something inside the ruins. However, she added that one thing that they knew for certain was that the dimensional cracks were coming from the inside, and that the demonic monsters surging through the cracks were coming from the ruins. Resolving to stop them, Athena told the Adversary that a party had already entered Azmoth Chasm, composed of Elluel's Elder of War Danika, the Forest Priest Hellin, Grendel's feline apprentice Fanzy, and 10 Boogies of the Cygnus Knights.

Based on Dahlia's report, Athena noted that there were others in the chasm, and that they may be either enemies or allies to the Alliance. She then asked the Adversary to join the Alliance's expedition into Azmoth Chasm while she continued investigating its appearance in Maple World. After exploring the ruins, the Adversary returned to the base camp and reported their findings to Athena Pierce. Athena noted that from the Alliance's investigation, it was clear that Azmoth Chasm was part of Tynerum and that it was a site where the demons had conducted twisted and sadistic experiments to create something.

However, she added that it was strange that there were no clues about who had conducted the experiments or who had owned the fortress, making her suspect that the creatures inside the fortress were victims of an accident that even they hadn't foreseen. She then told the Adversary that she had discovered that Azmoth Chasm had been in Leafre for a long time, and that, rather than it being built underground, it had been embedded into the strata themselves. However, she added that she still had no idea why the dimensional cracks had only just begun to appear, noting that she had never imagined that Tynerum would be revealed to Maple World in such a way. As there were still many clues to uncover about the experiments and the fortress' master, Athena told the Adversary that they would continue sending many expeditions into the ruins in order to piece together whatever clues they could find to make sense of what had transpired there.

From the explorations of Azmoth Chasm, the investigation team learned several important details. They discovered that the fortress belonged to a pure-blooded demon named Drak, who sought to attain the power of the Transcendents in order to rule Tynerum as its king. For this reason, Drak built his fortress in Azmoth Chasm, which was a region rich with precious minerals and resources, where he intended to conduct brutal experiments to attain divine power. From the relics left behind in the fortress, they discovered that Drak used the immense wealth that he amassed from Azmoth Chasm to hire a demon mercenary company, with two members - Aidan and Azrael - becoming his subordinates. The mercenary company gathered weak pure-blood and half-blood demons from across Tynerum, bringing them to Azmoth Chasm as slaves.

In the fortress arena, the slaves were forced to participate in battles to the death, causing massive amounts of bloodshed for Drak's blood alchemy experiments. This carnage allowed for the the creation of powerful relics that granted strength by using demon blood as the source of their magic, such as the defense tower that Luvar had found. In addition, many demons underwent experimentation in the fortress chapel and alchemy laboratory, resulting in the creation of many twisted beasts.

One such creature was the puppy whom they had seen, which was called Infernus, though the investigation team discovered that Drak had not intended to create it. Nevertheless, they learned that the demons of Azmoth Chasm had bred Infernus, documenting their findings in a breeding book. From investigating further, the team discovered that Drak's blood magic experiments resulted in the creation of several failed attempts at replicating the power of a Transcendent, such as the Sword of Destruction once wielded by Damien.

In the end, however, Drak's final experiment resulted in the birth of Morghulas. Though there was no information available about who or what Morghulas was, it was certain that Morghulas was responsible for a terrible curse upon Azmoth Chasm, with Drak and his demon forces being destroyed by their own creation. As a result, the curse of Morghulas was set upon the land, corrupting Aidan and Azrael into the arena butcher and laboratory golem. With Drak having met his end at the hands of his own ambition and greed, the curse of Morghulas spread across Azmoth Chasm, driving all those who entered into madness.

(A/N: It’s speculated by some players that Morghulas is an artificially-created Transcendent, and that it may perhaps even be the main villain of Tynerum. Thematically speaking, we’ve had a corrupted Transcendent of Light and Transcendent of Life as the villains of the Maple World and Grandis arcs, respectively, and so it would make sense for there to be a corrupted Transcendent of Time as our final villain for Tynerum.

If it’s true that Morghulas is an artificially created Transcendent, it’s unknown whether Morghulas would embody one of the three laws of light, life, or time, or if they would be a Transcendent of a new domain. However, given that Drak’s experiments involved shedding a lot of blood - similar to how Darmoor started a war to break the balance of life on Grandis to awaken as a Transcendent of Life, as well as the fact that the Sword of Destruction is able to control living things and absorb their vitality, I think it’s very likely that Morghulas may have been an artificially created Transcendent of Life.)

Since that time, the fortress had been visited by many others. Two such visitors were demon hunter sisters from the demon mercenary company, who had come to claim the treasures of Drak within. Another was a wandering ghost, who appeared to be the ghost of a demon girl who had been killed in the fortress and rendered unable to speak. Additionally, there had been an entity known simply as Azmoth’s Cat, who appeared to be a demon cat similar to Mastema with a key to a safe around its neck. Finally, there was an unnamed demon scholar who had fought through the monsters inside the fortress in order to research Drak and his experiments, going so far as to find a ceremonial blade that Drak had used to create Morghulas.