Crimson Fields

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THE CRIMSON FIELDS

THRESHOLD OF DEATH


Difficulty 5/5 Dark, cold, and with wild grass tall enough to hide entities as tall as humans - the Fields are treacherous and deadly.
Entity Count 5/5 Here monsters roam freely - those of mortal descent are open season prey for the hunt. Humans do not belong in this realm.
Chaos Gradient 1/5 The Limspace is stable - but largely unexplored. Its connection to Baseline litters it with out of place abandoned earthly relics.
Basset-Fraizier Index 3.6/5 The Crimson Fields are actively hostile to humans and are not to be travelled casually. Death is likely.

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Dark, wild and full of terrors. The Fields are no place to wander idly.

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Relics from Baseline find themselves lost here, left to crumble and rust.

> The Nightmare Trial

The Crimson Field - where all strays come from - is a dark and repressive field of tall grass with brambles and tangles of weeds. There is a slightly cold coating of dew across the entirety of the level which makes passage harrowing, chilly, and damp. Most often wanderers can see their breath in this Threshold. Most often, something will hear your breath too.

The height of the grass is usually over five feet tall which provides ample cover for humans and entities alike. This, paired with the constant cover of night and the common hanging fog makes visibility unnervingly low across the level. While some patches of its muddy soil are barren and free of the wild tangled grass - the majority of the field is overgrown. Do not expect to be able to parse landmarks or familiar geography, as often all you will see is the crimson stalks of pasture towering above you.

The Crimson Fields are the terrible realm where the Crimson System intersects Baseline reality. Strays who end up here do so by freak accident. Only the lucky who end up here ever make it out alive.

Sometimes entire cars… buildings… neighborhoods are swallowed up by the Threshold - forsaking what passes over to the darkness, and surely creating an unsolvable disappearance on Earth. The origins of the lost Baseline persons and objects span across nations - they seem to trickle in from all across the globe. How or why the Fields so carelessly swallow up Baseline citizens and relics is unknown - yet - the thick swirling, reaching mist itself may be the Fields tendrils of influence pulling things into the Limspace.

Despite not knowing how or why, we understand the reality that once a part of the Fields… you are part of the hunt.

Beasts, natural entities of the Crimson System, red eyed shadows and savage, terrible tribes of humanoids all stalk these dark moorlands in a twisted violent ecosystem. There is no society here. Only survival - and the strong feed on the weak. The only safety is to reach the fringes of the Forest where the Lanterns reside. Such is the trial that every stray of the Commonwealth must complete - a hellish baptism of shadow before your rebirth in the light of the Lanterns.


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Glooms. They pulse slowly on and off - and may appear enticing yet are certain death.

> Glooms - Phantom Howling

Recently, since the acquisition of short wave radios by citizens of the Commonwealth, expeditions into the Fields report strange chatter and broadcasts across the Limspace. This interference is assumed to originate from the throbbing red glows across the Level.

These massive ominous glows - untold hundreds of which are dotted across the entirety of the field - slowly oscillate between an on-off state every ten seconds; fading in and out and painting the mist in pulsing crimson. These beacons may be Baseline radio towers but all attempts to reach them have resulted in failure and casualities1. They have become known as "Glooms" and are to be actively avoided.

1. See Addendum Report: SL9.1G regarding the Gloom, below.

Radios have been reported to pick up the following strange interference:

Deep, growling chatter - distorted elevator music - women screaming in agony - high pitched droning hums - strings of numbers - scared pleading and terror - as well as static, reversed talking and ambient howls of creatures.

These unnerving sounds make shortwave radio communication on this level difficult. It is advised to find alternate methods of communication, and, if your radios are picking up this interference to turn them off for safety. Apart from being generally unsettling it is believed listening to this chatter can cause ill effects to the listener's psyche through subconscious hypnosis.

> Relic Scavenging

Despite the terrifying nature of the Fields, there are brave and foolhardy people who choose to explore it.

The treasures of Baseline can be rare and valuable finds for citizens of the Commonwealth and the Fields have attracted a unique culture of treasure hunters to its spoils. The modern world has created wonderous tools and technologies that society simply lacks in the Crimson System, and something as common as an old radio can be a priceless tool for life within the Forest. Teams who scavenge for Baseline relics can be extremely well paid and famously renowned… rewards that some consider worth the danger. Expeditions into the Fields are a gamble, yet lucky endeavors can spell an early retirement and a great boon to humanity if the Baseline relics are particularly exquisite.

Those who fail, simply do not return.

The relic scavengers do offer three rules to anyone insane enough to brave the Field: Do not travel with lights, do not travel alone, and do not travel loudly. The rest is often up to luck… and pure grit.


> Addendum:

Detailing a planned mission into a Gloom.

This was the first and only known expedition attempting to document what lies at the center of the pulsing red beacons.

> Report: SL9.1G - Expedition Log "Into the Gloom"


> Entrances and Exits

If stranded in the Fields, your only hope is to reach the fringes of the Forest. Look for glowing white mist on the horizon, and follow the holy light of the Lanterns. They will lead you to Eden.

If you have become stranded here from Baseline - may luck have mercy upon you.


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