ITEM 04 - The Mad Man's Lock

Item 03 is a locket, made of a gold-iron material, with a gem inside of it, colored mainly a deep red color with a few other colors within it, in random spots and splodges. The Locket can be found within most harmful levels, lying on the ground around trash and other materials. The gem will always be seen, however.

A voice can be heard in those levels, beginning in an unknown language, but slowly shifts to the language the wanderer is fluent in. For instance, if a wanderer is fluent in English, it will speak in English. If the wanderer is Spanish, it will speak in Spanish. If the wanderer speaks in an unknown language, the voice will also speak that same unknown language. If you follow, and listen to it, you will find this item. It beckons you to put it on, telling you of great fortune and power, of safety and easy traversing, **but do not listen to it's cries, it's lies. All it's wanting to do is to feed off of a wanderer, and gain power. Do not give in, as your life will forever be changed if you do.**

If you, against better judgement, *put the locket on*, your sanity will drop almost instantly, and you will eventually see a figure within your peripheral vision, resembling a shadow entity, but does not attack and disappears when directly viewed.

There are multiple stages, listed below:

Stage 1: immediately after the locket has been put on, the slow modification of the wanderer, putting a tight grasp on their head to not let the wanderer take it off. If a wanderer tries, a sharp, stabbing pain is felt. The wanderer's sanity will be dropped *immensely* extremely quickly. A shadow entity can be seen randomly, but rarely.

Stage 2: After only 5 minutes, It will attach to the wanderer further, and give information about escaping the level, along with, if the exit takes a wanderer to a random level, correctly tell where they will end up. You will see the shadow much more frequently. If you reach a base, they can help to rid you of the locket. **This is the last stage that someone will be able to get rid of the locket safely and easily**.

Stage 3: after two hours from putting on the locket, The locket and it's chains will infuse with the wanderer's skin, and causing skin around the body to become flaky, and eventually falling off, revealing a dark, writhing mass underneath the flesh. The locket will assure the wanderer "all is well. Only touch-ups". The black, oily and writhing strands are following blood vessels, infecting said blood and using said blood for it's own use and power. We assume that is the crystal. The shadow is almost always seen, and somewhat able to be looked at.

Stage 4: After 5 hours from putting on the locket, the locket will have a hold on most blood vessels, and reaching the brain ,turning the wanderer unfortunate enough to reach this stage into a mindless drone, wandering around to find outposts and bases to lure members. Speech is impaired, and movement is slow and methodical. Most movement have been replaced by the locket.

Stage 5: after 10 hours from putting on the locket, your body will begin to flake away further, decomposing and quickly changing into a more shadow form. The locket, which was fused to the skin, will unfuse, and fall through the wanderer-turned-entity, W-T-E, leaving the entity to be nothing but a shadow, of basic thought and movement, and a single task. To move the locket to a better spot, then get away from the locket, and kill anyone who opposes it.

Stage 6: After 10 hours and 30 minutes from putting on the locket, the W-T-E will begin to burn when in light of any kind, much like true shadow entities. It is believed the transformation is complete, but one more stage resides.

Stage 6: After 10 hours, 31 minutes from putting on the locket, the W-T-E will become a full shadow, entering and exiting existing shadows, and unable to be in light of any kind for more than 10 seconds.

We believe this is where anything left over from the humanoid is gone. Nothing exists about them anymore but their form. They have lost everything else.

## USEFUL NOTES

Wanderers who successfully rid themselves of the locket's attachment have had their sanity almost instantly rise, and a few members have even noticed that once it is taken off. The locket will begin furiously beckoning them to put it back on, as it's doing a good deed, etc, yet all it is producing is lies. Most have crushed the gem, and noted that no voice persists after that, so it is suspected the gem is the supernatural item.