InsaneJournal

Hey everyone. After some conversations with the powers that be outside of the DOA and with the rest of Vallo, I wanted to touch base with our community at large just to compile information. I want us to all be on the same page, but know that there are others out there who have been sleuthing on their own time or just perhaps saw something and didn't make mention. Either way, I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page, but also to have an open forum to discuss any ideas going forward, any theories people might have, additional information that might be floating out there, and answer any questions that people might have. (Please know that I might not have any more answers to said questions than anyone else, but they're still really welcome.)

So anyway, to recap, what we know of how the beast came to be:
- Some rogue coven members have been playing with magic they didn't understand, which brought it around. (As an update, we've been told that the covens are still in the midst of an outside investigation regarding all of this.)
- Because they didn't really know what they were doing, we don't really know what the beast is doing, why it's doing it, or how to stop it. (If you are magical and aren't already helping in research efforts and would like to, give a shout and we'll get you in touch with the right people.)

What we know of the beast itself so far:
- It's about the size of a couch.
- It can fly.
- It seems to flicker in and out of view a lot, often becoming invisible.
- It has been seen creating portals while it appears scared or distressed.
- It has yet to attack anyone and instead runs away when people get close.
- It has been difficult to track by both magical and traditional means.

Sightings of the beast have risen in the last several weeks and reports of seeing it have come from both Outlanders and native Vallo residents alike. It's been seen pretty much all areas of the island, but specific and frequent places have been:
- Ásynja Meadery
- Downtown Vallo City
- Various places in the forest. This is harder to give coordinates or specifics on because of how the forest moves around, but it's frequently sighted there.

Regarding portals, as we all know, some of them seem to be larger or more stable than others and allow passage through. So far we have been able to do this twice, resulting in visiting:
- A darker, upside-down version of Vallo
- The V.A.L.L.O. spaceship

But there have also been a large number of smaller portals that seem to allow some sort of temporary crossover between the worlds. All of these portals dissipated with time, none lasting more than 24 hours. A list of those we've noticed thus far have been:
- The sewers, which ended up being part of the darker Vallo we first visited.
- The communications area of V.A.L.L.O., which appeared in our Vallo before visiting.
- The violent plants in the Quarry.
- The change to desert in the forest village.
- The candy scented tentacle thing (words I never thought I'd string together) at Starcourt Mall.
- The area going color-less around Morningside and the DOA.
- The waterfall spilling onto and flooding downtown Vallo.
- The change to snowy landscape at Galdin Quay.
- The large ants and anthill that Marlena alerted us to.
- The block of Vallo City that turned into sweets.

And that's what I have for now. Like I said, please speak up if you have anything you'd like to add to any of these lists or if you have ideas on how to move forward.