Darkness and the Summer Snow

Our top story is the disappearance of the stars. Across the universe, millions of planet's suns have simply... gone out, growing cold and turning into smoldering pockets of lifeless gas. While the origin of this situation is unknown, recent research suggests that this intergalactic phenomenon is somehow linked to recent events that have occurred on our own planet of Hellifyno.

For the past few weeks leading up to the disappearance of the stars, Hellifyno had been experiencing colder than usual weather. The situation was so severe that even the hemisphere which was supposed to be coming into the height of its hottest summer months was instead beset by a constant bout of blizzards and freezing cold winds.

This predicament reached its climax on Thursday afternoon, when temperatures across the planet suddenly took a drastic drop, in some places reaching as little as 30 degrees below zero. Freezing temperatures were combined with severe snowstorms, with powder piling up dozens of feet--burying buildings, stranding people, devastating wild life, and coating the planet in a thick white cocoon.

Near the Blue Moon Tavern, a popular bar known for its powerful and affluent clientele, Overlords of the Fae armies such as Puck and Maleficent were seen dancing about in these severe conditions. Some patrons report having heard taunting whispers or strange musical episodes occurring spontaneously in empty air.

At the height of the storm, the Fae’s Winter Queen appeared. Larger than life and howling with madness she raised her hand up to the sun. Then, with the twirling winds of the blizzard whipping around her skirts, she was seen to actually pull the fire out of the great star, extinguishing it, and plunging the planet into eternal night.

Shortly after, stars across the universe began to wink out of existence. While the connection between this and the event on Hellifyno is uncertain, it is known that ours was the first to die. We are also the only planet to report actually seeing the Fae perpetrate the act that caused the sun to go out. This is leading some magical scholars to infer an inherent connection between our own solar system and the energies in the rest of the universe.

Coping With the Long Cold Night

Without the warmth of the sun, the planet Hellifyno has been plunged into never-ending darkness. Temperatures are now hovering at 50 degrees below zero. Thousands have died of hypothermia and exposure to the elements. The initial storm also took a devastating toll on the environment, destroying whole ecosystems in a matter of hours.

However, measures have been taken to combat these severe conditions. Lord Executive Havoc issued a proclamation almost immediately calling for the creation and distribution of millions of ever-burning torches. He also provided for the construction of large, heated domes in all of the major cities, to act as centers of refuge from the freezing temperatures.

The Hellifyno Emergency Response System, headed by Chief Medicus Laryka Dior, has also been doing their part to help out. Healers have been working around the clock to help the sick and elderly get to heated dome havens, as well as handing out vital medical attention to citizens across the planet.

Citizens such as Daloki Harbindale have also begun selling personal heating units, a fusion of magic and technology that allows an individual to survive in even the harshest weather conditions. Entrepreneur Daniel Plainview has also capitalized on the situation, ordering the delivery of vast quantities of food and other vital supplies to be portaled down to the planets surface.

The environment also has its own champion. The Lady Echo, patron of Hellifyno, has made every effort to protect the wildlife and vegetation of the planet. Using her considerable power, she has developed safe havens around the world, where plants and animals can be preserved until a more permanent resolution can be found.

Puck’s Army

In other news, Fae armies continue to press attacks against cities and villages across Hellifyno. The newest threat is the legendary Puck, a universally renowned and feared Fae. He is known for his long history of off-balanced madness and incorrigible mischief. A vehemnent opponent of reality, he has vowed to destroy the tender matrix that holds the material plane together.

To this end he appeared in the popular Blue Moon Tavern last week. After taunting the patrons with an over the top display of insanity and power, he summoned a disjointed army of random creatures and proceeded to attack several nearby villages.

Luckily, thanks to the heroic efforts of the Tavern patrons, as well as the Hellifyno army led by Lord Executive Havoc, Puck’s Army was beaten back and forced into retreat. However, Puck himself is still at large and remains a threat, whose influence has been heavily seen in recent tragic events.

The Rod of Orin

For thousands of years, the Fae had been trapped in the Hells, unable to reach the Hedge or make it into the world of Physical Reality. This all changed recently when they came into possession of an object known as the Rod of Orin. This artifact allowed them to break free of their prison of oblivion and make their way into the physical reality of the real world.

This powerful magical object has given the Fae an important advantage in their attempt to destroy the physical laws of reality. However, that advantage has now been nullified, thanks to the efforts of Ezra Bin Nod.

Leading a team of heroic individuals, including several members of the New Dawn, Ezra infiltrated a Fae transport ship and recovered the rod. During the daring escape, the ship itself was crashed into a planet, and an important member of the Fae elite was captured for future questioning.

The Towers of Insanity

The death of the sun is not the only celestial event to occur in recent days. Last week the skies over Hellifyno were lit up by a spectacle of rainbow colored meteors, which came crashing violently to the ground in 13 separate locations. This show of light and noise lasted for several hours, with hundreds of the strange objects whooshing through the air, and slamming into the earth, always in one of those same 13 locations.

With each crash, the objects from the sky added an unidentified material to the planet. Over the course of several hours, this material piled up higher and higher, until an architecturally mad tower shape was formed in each of these 13 locations.

These towers do not seem to fit any of the rules of mundane reality. They are disjointed, wild, crazy structures. Walls of fire and ice, brick and glass, rise up in convoluted patterns, crashing into one another, forming new configurations every few minutes as if the materials themselves are alive. Strange beings can be seen, hovering just beyond view, creatures with dozens of heads, with spikes, with fangs, creatures of air and earth, random and disjointed beings of every imaginable configuration.

Beyond the towers are barriers of random magical effect. For 100 meters in each direction, the structure is surrounded by a field that is constantly changing. Sometimes it is a wall of solid mud, others a barrier of ice. Sometimes it's acid, other times it's orange juice. It’s impossible to predict the nature of the barrier that will poof into existence at any given moment, making travel to and from the towers extremely hazardous. Extreme caution is advised when passing anywhere near one of these structures!

Into the Heart of Madness

So far, only one expedition has managed to make their way into these maddening structures, and make it back out alive. A team of adventurers commissioned by the Hellifyno Government and led by Raelin Wolvarian Aero were able to penetrate the towers defenses, using holographic bracelets which allowed them to take on the appearance of disjointed Fae creatures.

Once inside, they were met with a psychedelic array of dizzying images. Impossible creatures walked the halls of the ever changing structures, performing seemingly random tasks, unaware of the intruders in their presence.

At the height of the adventure, the team was met by an army of snow based monsters, who seemed to be filling the air with icy blasts of wintery cold using a variety of long tubes. They managed to defeat the snow creatures, but were then almost killed in the ensuing indoor blizzard. Their escape was secured by smashing through a glass wall and falling through a space of impossibility, spit back into the world on a hillock just beyond the Towers.

Government Appointments

In order to help with the administration of the planet, Lord Executive Havoc has appointed several people to positions of authority. This is both to provide for the care and well being of the citizens of the planet, and also to help combat the emergency situations which have recently arisen, including the increased violence of Fae attacks, and the destruction of the sun by the Winter Queen.

The following positions have been officially instituted by the government, and appropriate people have been selected to fill them.

Proconsul: Tye Sampson

Head Marshall of the Civil Defense Department: Demaar Nobu

Head Medicus of the Hellifyno Emergency Response Department: Laryka Dior

Chief Executive of Taxation: CandyMan

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Kent Wolfe

Lord Ambassador to the Planet of Hellifyno: Greyling

Knight Defender of the Realm: Jayden

That’s it for this week’s edition of the Chronicle Report! Stay safe, stay warm, and try not to forget the sun.