The Word Around Orm on the Twilight Shores

 The people of Orm do not know much about the fey realm called The Twilight Shores. If they are to be asked they would say it is "distant" and home to "elves" or "spirits" or some other unusual beings. As distant it maybe be from Orm or how peculiar its residents perhaps are, the people of Orm know that some tenuous agreement exists between them and those that dwell along those far off shores. They know that  long ago, in the final epochs of the Empire-That-Was, there was once war between the two realms. Eventually, though, a peace was brokered and both peoples still honor those ancient treaties to this day.

The adventurers of Orm know a little more than this. Thrice, now, they have travel through an untouched copse of trees to journey to the Court of the ruler of the Twilight Shores: Lady Blackmarsh. First, some adventurers from the Drinking Crow traveled that path to sell a strange red liquid taken from 'The Complex' in a goblin market. Then, the kobold PakPak venture to that land on the edge of slumber to discuss responsibilities his newlywed hob wife (since deceased hob wife) had to Blackmarsh's Court. Finally, just last week, a party fresh from the Sourwood Marsh walked that path through the copse and into the mound where Blackmarsh's fort lay. They had rescued a borderland vassal of the Court named Quinus.

PakPak aims to return to that unknown of the Twilight Shores to find a leather worker of legend said 200 years ago to have been lured to that fey realm to ply their skill for the Lady Blackmarsh herself. Seeking to thread deeper into that realm than he has yet dared, the kobold approached the elfin member of the 111th Company Lirazil for the inside scoop or maybe even her company to that glooming realm. The hireling stiffly refused. She did offer a little advise. That, combined with what adventurers have been able to piece together from previous visits, paints the following picture of the land known as the Twilight Shores...

Traveling Along the Twilight Shores

Adventurers on all of the previous visits to the Twilight Shores have first visited copse of trees to the west of the Monument of the Old Gods. Throughout most of the year, the townsfolk of Orm stay away from this little wood. They have next to nothing to say about the wood other than to say if one is to come near the wood, it is best to be careful and better to just stay away. The only interaction they seem to have with the wood is leaving offerings at its edge a few times a year including during the Festival of the Vernal Equinox.

It is traveling through the eternally dim woodland that bold adventurers have found the gate that leads to Lady Blackmarsh's fort and entry into the Twilight Shores beyond. Each time, this journey has been made through invitation from or in the company of a fey being and conducted at the moments between day and night. Lirazil reinforces this notion that only through some invitation of a member of the Twilight Court will one find themselves free to travel past the gate to the realm of perpetual twilight. If one has established enough of a standing with the Court, such rigid formalities would not be ended but Lizazil believes that situation to be much worse for one of mortal kind.

Once one has arrive at the fort of Lady Blackmarsh, they may venture out to other points along the Twilight Shores. The only spots previously known to have been visited from Orm is a Goblin Market that runs a ravine that goes towards the waters south of the fort. They other is a hob drinking hole called the Knob. If one traveled far enough west from the fort, they would find themselves in the Borderlands of the Twilight Shores called the Friscalating Fens.

Navigating Along the Twilight Shores

 

Perhaps trickier than finding ones way along the Twilight Shores is making sure one does not run afoul of the code that governs them. The elfin laws of the Twilight Shore are fickle, deceptive, complex, and severe. It is best to comport one's self with care as one visits.

How Does One Become Subject to Elfin Law?

There are four known ways mortals can find themselves subject to the laws of the Twilight Shores:

1. Pledge oneself to the Elfin Regent (Currently Lady Blackmarsh).
2. Enter into an agreement with an resident of the Shores.
3. Profess ones love to a resident of the Twilight Shores.
4. Within a fort night, to have eaten the food or drunk the libations of the Twilight Shores.

What are the Greatest Laws of Note Along the Twilight Shores?

As previously mentioned, the laws of the elfin realm are fickle and complex. At said, those that use the following rules as guides generally find themselves able to navigate a visit to the Twilight Shores:

1. Do not vex the Elfin Regent.
2. Do not kill one of elfin blood or a subject of the Elfin Regent.
3. Do not break a sealed contract.
4. Do not pray within elfin spaces.
5. Do not wear the colors orange nor purple nor pink for these colors belong to Twilight.

What Happens if Elfin Law is Broken?

The justice in the Twilight Shores generally follows along three tracks:

1. Minor offenses are usually dealt with by means of magic. Maybe acting like an ass gets your head polymorphed into that of a donkey. Maybe one that makes an offense of extreme arrogance suffers a curse of bad luck to instill some humility. Regardless of the imposed effect, it is imposed to teach a lesson which, upon being learn, can be lifted.
2. More severe offenses like theft or injury result in trial by combat. Often duels of the blade or of the brain, these contests are to terms like first fall, first riddle unanswered, etc. They are never to the death. If found guilty, usually some sort of compensation is required such as working to replace taken property or taking on the obligations of a being they have killed.
3.  The most severe offenses are punished with exile. Never again can the offender walk along the Twilight Shores.

The Twilight Shores and the Transcendental Congress of Aureate Precepts

Unlike the rest of mortal kind, long standing agreements between the collection of magic-users known as the Transcendental Congress of the Aureate Precepts and the Court of the Twilight Shores leave Congress members exempt from elfin law. This does not free members to act as their whims take them. Those that cause injury to a resident of the Twilight Shore are held for ransom until the Congress retrieves them and executes appropriate justice as deemed by the Congress' code. Most importantly, any Congress member caught casting a spell while along the Twilight Shores is exiled barring a pardon from the elfin regent themselves.