Portal Realms: Dungeons

Prologue

Valdenmere was not always so full of holes. Once, the Arcane Weavers stitched the fabric of the world with careful hands — opening pocket dimensions to hide their experiments, their enemies, their most dangerous work. When their empire fell, the stitching held. The portals remained, unsealed and hungry, scattered across forests and mountain passes and coastal ruins like wounds that never closed. Centuries have passed. The things sealed inside those dungeons have been festering — growing stranger, stronger, and stranger still. Bosses have absorbed the power of their realms until they are almost indistinguishable from the dungeons themselves. And yet adventurers keep stepping through, drawn by cursed treasure, by reputation, by something harder to name. Most come back changed. Some do not come back at all. The towns of Valdenmere hum with rumor and preparation. New portals have been sighted. Old ones have grown more volatile. Whatever sealed those realms shut is weakening — or something inside them is pushing back. Somewhere out in the wilds, a portal arch glows against the dark. The moss around it pulses faintly, and from somewhere deep within, a sound carries through — not quite a growl, not quite a whisper. Something is waiting. It has been waiting for a very long time.