History NightmareFuel / TheAdventureZone

* ''NightmareFuel/TheAdventureZoneBalance''

* Take away the comedy and the premise is actually pretty terrifying, redolent of the SCP Foundation. Seven artifacts that are so powerful and addictive that a world war was fought over them and the only way to stop it was to wipe everyone’s memory of them and it including any loved ones lost in this war. Now a shadowy organization is tasked with hunting down and destroying them but even they are incapable of doing so and must depend on three morally questionable mercenaries to find them. And that's just the stuff we know about...
** Perfectly exemplified in the final chapter of ''The Crystal Kingdom'', where Lucretia shows the party a montage of the destruction the Grand Relics have caused:
-->'''Lucretia''': ''[Showing a Candyland-like landscape]'' This used to be the settlement of Armos where a 7-year old girl found the Philosopher's Stone and turned the city into peppermint candy. 714 people were killed. ''[Shows a village]'' This is the village of Greenhold where a warlord used the Oculus to manifest a small black hole which annihilated the entire town killing 1,152 people. ''[Shows an ocean]'' This used to be the archipelago of Moonshae which drowned in three minutes under the weight of a storm summoned by the Gaia Sash. 2,512 people. ''[Shows a series of black glass circles]'' Certainly this seems familiar. Certainly you recognize Phandalin and the other ''seven'' cities that have been destroyed by the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Eight cities destroyed, total. 8,000 dead.
* The ''Heart Attack'' game in Wonderland seems like a goofy, innocent diversion from the rest of the troubling arc, then Taako tries to cheat by casting Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the mystery date, who proceeds to literally laugh her head off while the audience full of life-like mannequins breaks down in hysterics, and the whole show gets very spooky very fast.
* Griffin's description [[spoiler: of the BigBad of the campaign is ''profoundly'' unsettling due in no small part to the fact that it is an ''entire plane of existence!'' The description of this incomprehensibly massive inky black void descending upon the entire planar system and growing millions upon millions of eyes before opening up a wide and vicious smile would be enough to give H.R. Giger nightmares.]]
** [[spoiler: The Hunger's]] {{Leitmotif}} only adds to the terror. The whole thing is a frantic, chilling synth tune that induces a feeling of fear and terror. Not helped at all by the words that close out Episode 59.
--->'''Griffin''': [[spoiler: [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt It's the end of the world...]] [[HistoryRepeats Again.]]]]
** On top of that is [[spoiler: The Hunger's]] motivation. [[spoiler: [[ShapedLikeItself Hunger.]] It's a malevolent living plane that ''eats entire planar systems to grow bigger and more powerful'' and for whatever reason It's been chasing the Red Robes across ''[[SuperPersistentPredator multiple realities]]''.]]
** And then comes [[spoiler: "[[MouthOfSauron John]]" to explain the ''real'' motivation of The Hunger. [[OmnicidalManiac The complete and utter]] [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum destruction of all life across all dimensions]] [[DespairEventHorizon because every single fiber of the planar system it used to be collectively gave up on life as meaningless]].]]
* The description of what happens when [[spoiler: the Relics are released into the world]] is pretty terrifying.
* Griffin describing how all the Red Robes lost their memories is heart-rending and abso-''fucking''-lutely horrifying; [[spoiler: it basically hits them like Alzheimer's sped up to a ludicrous degree. Merle and Davenport lose theirs while chatting over a game of cards, forgetting each other's faces as Davenport loses every trace of his identity save for his name; Taako and Barry lose their memories of Lup ''as they're discussing how to find her'', with Barry begging Taako to kill him so he won't lose the memory of the love of his life; and Magnus sees Lucretia feeding the silver book to Fisher, only realizing too late what's happened as his life fades away from him.]] CruelToBeKind doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.
* As Magnus and Merle are descending the elevator to the Voidfish chambers in the first episode of The Finale, [[spoiler: the lights flicker on and off, and when they steady Merle is gone because he's been forcibly Parlayed by John. Only now, instead of a pleasant office building they seem to be within the Hunger itself, and John's form is cracked and burned in with the black opalescence of the Hunger's form.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''John''': Hey Merle. Got a minute?]]
** [[spoiler: It gets worse. John, who is at least capable of reason, even if he has gone pretty far off the existential deep end, is no longer in control of the Hunger. It's been killing him slowly as punishment for not finding the Light for the past decade.]]

** Perfectly exemplified in the final chapter of ''The Crystal Kingdom'', where the Director shows the party a montage of the destruction the Grand Relics have caused:
-->'''Director''': ''[Showing a Candyland-like landscape]'' This used to be the settlement of Armos where a 7-year old girl found the Philosopher's Stone and turned the city into peppermint candy. 714 people were killed. ''[Shows a village]'' This is the village of Greenhold where a warlord used the Oculus to manifest a small black hole which annihilated the entire town killing 1,152 people. ''[Shows an ocean]'' This used to be the archipelago of Moonshae which drowned in three minutes under the weight of a storm summoned by the Gaia Sash. 2,512 people. ''[Shows a series of black glass circles]'' Certainly this seems familiar. Certainly you recognize Phandalin and the other ''seven'' cities that have been destroyed by the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Eight cities destroyed, total. 8,000 dead.

** [[Spoiler: It gets worse. John, who is at least capable of reason, even if he has gone pretty far off the existential deep end, is no longer in control of the Hunger. It's been killing him slowly as punishment for not finding the Light for the past decade.]]

--> [[spoiler: '''John''': Hey Merle. Got a minute?]]

** Perfectly exemplified in the final chapter of The Crystal Kingdom, where the Director shows the party a montage of the destruction the Grand Relics have caused:
-->'''Director''': ''[Showing a Candyland-like landscape]'' This used to be the settlement of Armos where a 7-year old girl found the Philosopher's Stone and turned the city into peppermint candy. 714 people were killed. ''[Shows a village]'' This is the village of Greenhold where a warlord used the Oculus to manifest a small black hole which annihilated the entire town killing 1,152 people. ''[Shows an ocean]'' This used to be the archipelago of Moonshay which drowned in three minutes under the weight of a storm summoned by the Gaia Sash. 2,512 people. ''[Shows a series of black glass circles]'' Certainly this seems familiar. Certainly you recognize Phandalin and the other ''seven'' cities that have been destroyed by the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Eight cities destroyed, total. 8,000 dead.

* Griffin describing how all the Red Robes lost their memories is heart-rending and abso-''fucking''-lutely horrifying; [[spoiler: it basically hits them like Alzheimer's sped up to a ludicrous degree. Merle and Davenport lose theirs while chatting over a game of cards, forgetting each other's faces as Davenport loses every trace of his identity save for his name; Taako and Barry lose their memories of Lup ''as they're discussing how to find her'', with Barry begging Taako to kill him so he won't lose the memory of the love of his life; and Magnus sees Lucretia feeding the silver book to Fisher, only realizing too late what's happened as his life fades away from him.]] CruelToBeKind doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.

* Griffin describing how all the Red Robes lost their memories is heart-rending and abso-''fucking''-lutely horrifying; [[spoiler: it basically hits them like Alzheimer's sped up to a ludicrous degree. Merle and Davenport lose theirs while chatting over a game of cards, forgetting each other's faces as Davenport loses every trace of his identity save for his name; Taako and Barry lose their memories of Lup ''as they're discussing how to find her'', with Barry begging Taako to kill him so he won't lose the memory of the love of his life; and Magnus sees Lucretia feeding the silver book to Fisher, only realizing too late what's happened as his life fades away from him.]] CruelMercy doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.

---->'''Director''': ''[Showing a Candyland-like landscape]'' This used to be the settlement of Armos where a 7-year old girl found the Philosopher's Stone and turned the city into peppermint candy. 714 people were killed. ''[Shows a village]'' This is the village of Greenhold where a warlord used the Oculus to manifest a small black hole which annihilated the entire town killing 1,152 people. ''[Shows an ocean]'' This used to be the archipelago of Moonshay which drowned in three minutes under the weight of a storm summoned by the Gaia Sash. 2,512 people. ''[Shows a series of black glass circles]'' Certainly this seems familiar. Certainly you recognize Phandalin and the other ''seven'' cities that have been destroyed by the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Eight cities destroyed, total. 8,000 dead.

* Griffin describing how all the Red Robes lost their memories is heart-rending and abso-''fucking''-lutely horrifying; [[spoiler: it basically hits them like Alzheimer's sped up to a ludicrous degree. Merle and Davenport lose theirs while chatting over a game of cards, forgetting each other's faces as Davenport loses every trace of his identity save for his memory; Taako and Barry lose their memories of Lup ''as they're discussing how to find her'', with Barry begging Taako to kill him so he won't lose the memory of the love of his life; and Magnus sees Lucretia feeding the silver book to Fisher, only realizing too late what's happened as his life fades away from him.]] CruelMercy doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.

** Take away the comedy and the premise is actually pretty terrifying, redolent of the SCP Foundation. Seven artifacts that are so powerful and addictive that a world war was fought over them and the only way to stop it was to wipe everyone’s memory of them and it including any loved ones lost in this war. Now a shadowy organization is tasked with hunting down and destroying them but even they are incapable of doing so and must depend on three morally questionable mercenaries to find them. And that's just the stuff we know about...
*** Perfectly exemplified in the final chapter of The Crystal Kingdom, where the Director shows the party a montage of the destruction the Grand Relics have caused:

** The ''Heart Attack'' game in Wonderland seems like a goofy, innocent diversion from the rest of the troubling arc, then Taako tries to cheat by casting Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the mystery date, who proceeds to literally laugh her head off while the audience full of life-like mannequins breaks down in hysterics, and the whole show gets very spooky very fast.
** Griffin's description [[spoiler: of the BigBad of the campaign is ''profoundly'' unsettling due in no small part to the fact that it is an ''entire plane of existence!'' The description of this incomprehensibly massive inky black void descending upon the entire planar system and growing millions upon millions of eyes before opening up a wide and vicious smile would be enough to give H.R. Giger nightmares.]]
*** [[spoiler: The Hunger's]] {{Leitmotif}} only adds to the terror. The whole thing is a frantic, chilling synth tune that induces a feeling of fear and terror. Not helped at all by the words that close out Episode 59.

*** On top of that is [[spoiler: The Hunger's]] motivation. [[spoiler: [[ShapedLikeItself Hunger.]] It's a malevolent living plane that ''eats entire planar systems to grow bigger and more powerful'' and for whatever reason It's been chasing the Red Robes across ''[[SuperPersistentPredator multiple realities]]''.]]
*** And then comes [[spoiler: "[[MouthOfSauron John]]" to explain the ''real'' motivation of The Hunger. [[OmnicidalManiac The complete and utter]] [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum destruction of all life across all dimensions]] [[DespairEventHorizon because every single fiber of the planar system it used to be collectively gave up on life as meaningless]].]]