Time Snarls

Often appearing as interlocking silver bands, these peculiarities in the Realms are known to send people to different points in time.

## Information Accumulation

The following is a gathering of information written by Ypnn.

### Time Snarls

> *What are they,*
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> *What do we know about them,*
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> *And what to do when one encounters them*
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When one travels along a quest, they do not expect to also travel in time. These time snarls have been found throughout quests, feasts, and tournaments for years, and have been very present throughout my own adventuring experience. As I have found myself and those around me affected by these time snarls many a time, I have taken it upon myself to learn more on their existence, and now share my findings with others who ask the same questions.

I intend to cover three primary topics here: What are time snarls, what has occurred when people have encountered them, and what should one do when they find a time snarl. But most don’t have time for a full report, so to cover the basics quickly:

* A Time Snarl is a product of something or someone Not-Chronos mucking about with the timeline of our Realms.
* Encounters have included reliving life experiences, reliving historical experiences, and dealing with those affecting the timeline.
* When you find a time snarl, interact with it!

And now, without further ado, the information as I have collected thus far.

### What are Time Snarls?

> *A Time Snarl is a product of something or someone Not-Chronos mucking about with the timeline of our Realms.*
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This definition, as provided by a close follower of Chronus that I know best as Rita Thunderwalker, is a simple but accurate explanation of what these things are. Time Snarls, often appearing as anything from interlocking silver bands to peculiarities in the area, have been found increasingly scattered among the Realms, with known instances being found around adventurers, or adventuring parties. While direct reports will be covered more in depth later, interactions with these time snarls tend to result in what the name would suggest - Reliving one’s life (in its entirety, or only one experience), traveling back to a key point in time, or (often following the former) finding oneself in a position to deal with whoever messed with the time to create this instance.

Knowing this information, who would choose to alter the timeline in such a way? Well, that we do have an answer for. A being most commonly known as a self-proclaimed god, Quar, and his followers looking for what I assume to be power, glory, or a similar benefit. Quar is in direct conflict with Chronus, attempting to change the timeline, and based on an encounter I had with a follower known as Havoc, is currently looking for the Dagger of Ages.

The Dagger of Ages was forged by a group of adventurers to change an otherwise inevitable fate. The names of these adventurers were carved into the dagger, casting a target on their head as beings that have had the ability to change the course of time. Many of these adventurers have since passed, but one still known to remain would be King Cecil of Chimeron. In the encounter with Havoc, however, I learned that new names have been added to the dagger, though I am still seeking information on whose names these are.

### What Has Happened In the Past?

> *Encounters have included reliving life experiences, reliving historical experiences, and dealing with those affecting the timeline.*
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These time snarls have existed for many a year, some of the earliest accounts I have gathered going back to 1014. As one who has only been in the Realms for hardly two years at this time, these accounts are not my own, but I have had multiple encounters that I will document here. Alongside this, I have gotten accounts of interactions with unique results, and other various accounts of encounters. I will be recounting these encounters below, starting with my own, ones of friends that have frequented the time snarls with myself, ones of those who have interacted with time snarls enough to have a lot of information to share, and then other scattered accounts of the time snarls.

#### My Own Encounters (Ypnn)

My first encounter with a time snarl was not one I had actually interacted with, but one of a friend, Bogen. His experiences are documented below, but I include this as a note of the first time this was brought to my attention. This occurred within the Fortress of Doors, in the second quest of multiple I have documented in the past as Thursday Night Quests. I assumed during this that these time snarls were due to the portal-like magic in the area, but learned otherwise later.

My second encounter with the time snarl occurred during the dark times, where I spent my days with fellow militia members in our commune. One evening, as I returned from my work, I found the time snarl within my grove. I attempted to drop a pencil into it alone, but ended up a little too close and found myself cast into the past. A festival was ongoing in this time, and I was told it was due to this city, Daybreak, celebrating their first day as a community recognized under their king. I found myself alongside my friend Garen, and an individual who identified themselves as Jamie. As the festival proceeded, one member of the performing band attempted to uncomfortably interact with us, and as we attempted to dismiss him and head out, his flare of anger removed us, himself, and a towns' person I had met selling bracelets.

The man identified himself to be Havoc, a member “in the Court of Quar”, and informed us of Daybreak’s ill fate, where only days later the village would be massacred by the Bedlam Bois, wiped clean from the map and since forgotten. During this monologue, he also announced his goal of searching for the Dagger of Ages, as “there are new names on it.” The towns’ person, who had changed from an elderly vendor to a younger woman, identified themselves as Rita Thunderwalker, a follower of Chronus. She gave us silver daggers as we escaped, warning us that we would need them in the seasons to come.

My third encounter began similarly to the second. In the time, I found myself side by side with friends of mine, Bogen, Cressida, and Janus, and were accompanied by Rita again. We found ourselves in a fishing village - I took quick drawing reference during this time, and later completed the depiction (see picture; provided by EH).

We found ourselves at a river bank, where magically receding water showed us riddles. Solving these riddles allowed us access to the village, where I found a magical-appearing mermaid toy with another riddle. Bogen approached the river and answered the riddle, and while it had no immediate effect, Cressida and Rita suddenly became entranced by the river, which we found to be inhabited by sirens that meant harm to our friends. Upon dealing with the siren problem, we found ourselves returned to where we were prior, and as work in the commune picked up, I found myself with no more encounters until recently.

My fourth and most recent encounter, was less with a time snarl directly, and more with related hindrances with time as indicated by the clock on Bogen’s hand (elaborated upon below) in Chimeron proper. After Bogen mistakenly gave fae food to myself in, a non-fae, I rested in a garden for what I felt to be a long time, but he claims to have been mere moments. Upon waking up, I found myself no longer my usual height, but rather the height of a common tree, at about two pikes tall (and no, while I may be a plant, my kind are born as adult figures, and are never meant to grow beyond a humanoid size and shape).

Attempting to return to the two merchants’ stand and ask what happened found that these two were no longer there, as though long since gone, and instead replaced with a vendor who we deduced to be the child of these merchants. How this occurred, we still are not sure, but we (now accompanied by Ryu) attempted to ask the nearby fortune-teller for advice. As this person let us in, and we mentioned our encounters with time snarls, this person revealed themselves to be Rita, although they did not appear to recognize us. As we asked Rita questions on time snarls, I slowly returned to my normal size, although now with autumn foliage that I can only occasionally shake from my head. I proceeded to ask Rita a number of questions I had on time snarls, many of which I will document the answers of below.

And this concludes my own personal experiences with the time snarls, although I have been within the same questing group for many of Bogen’s experiences. All further information I primarily have due to another’s recount, and not my own.

#### Bogen, Encounters and the Clock

Time snarls are created when Quar, a dark elf who considers himself to be a god of time, mucks around with the timeline. When he mucks around with the timeline, time snarls are created, which gives the opportunity for people who touch them to go back to try to fix the moment in time.

When you touch a time snarl, the most likely thing that will happen is that you will be brought back to the point in time that got messed with, so you can deal with that, but sometimes things have happened like having to see your entire life flash before your eyes.

I have a clock on my hand that ticks up every time a fixed points in time is changed by time travel. This is a bad thing because fixed points in time are fixed for a reason. It is currently at 8 out of 24 (accurate as of 12/23/x021), it is possible for it to go back down, but it is very hard because we do not necessarily know what the points in time that were changed because as time is changed, our memories can change too. Also, these points could be in the future relative to us, any of it could be in the future, because of time shenanigans.

When a time snarl appears, I recommend multiple people who are comfortable working together touch it at the same time. That will hopefully mean you all get brought back to the same point in time to work together. However, this could mean multiple people are sent to multiple points in time. If you are not comfortable working with these things on your own, I recommend finding a more experienced person to either handle it, go into it with, or handle getting a group together to handle it themselves.

#### Rosetta, and Stories of the Past

> *Rosetta was more than happy to share some information with me, and I will recount all of the information in case any was not made clear prior.*
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So, Time Snarls are made by a sword belonging to Quar, though he has been known to let his little sister Hysteria, aka Ush'dui (now deceased-ish) carry it. They generally represent a change made to the past, and the resulting snarl of causality. The first time most beings touch one, ever in their lives, they usually see their whole lives so far flash past them, which can be pretty disorienting.

Generally, upon touching one, you will find an opportunity to unsnarl it. The most common form is by grounding in reality with your knowledge of the world around you. Generally, answering enough questions makes the time snarl go away. I believe one like this was seen at You, You, Fight to the Death.

Things small enough can also be sent to wherever the time snarl is attached to. I have seen familiars vanish and weapons go back and change things. I have also shrunk myself and entered a time snarl, and I have expanded one to make it big enough to pass through. These make it more likely to actually travel in time and have the opportunity to fix something that was broken.

In recounting a tale: Right, so some militia adventurers were dealing with a time snarl one day, not at a major gathering. They felt stuck and so figured out a summoning spell to bring me. I showed up, in more or less the form you know me now. We entered and traveled through the time snarl, where we found the time at the end of the First Age when my former life, the human-looking one, was running up a collapsing tower. I remember having done that. However, someone (Quar + Quar's minions) had knocked down the staircase ahead of me. So, we did some magic to fix the staircase such that it went the way my memories said it did. I chatted with my former life who was also present at that time for a bit, and then we were all tossed back out, and I believe the time snarl unwound itself and disappeared.

#### Scattered Stories of the Realms

While prior recounts were individuals recounting in depth the experiences they had, these stories were ones shared briefly with me as time allowed.

* *Hey, there was a time snarl at Feast of Blackwood (the most recent one). It was on a Merchant table... What was her name...er… Was that Jade? Brown hat, and all sorts of baubles and trinkets and little kid art for sale. Ooh, corsets at a great price too...but her 1-time stock was mostly depleted. Anywho, I didn't touch the magical abomination, but there was a younger guy who did- couldn't have more than 5 years of experience adventuring, or he would have known better. It sent him stumbling backwards, a bit confused for a moment, before he started admonishing the merchant for leaving hazardous baubles laying about where anyone could bump into them while reaching for other merchandise. I snickered and thought, 'Dude, it is blue and the size of a cantaloupe. Try being more careful.'* - Tarnisha

* Katsuie recalled attending a class during a Feast of Highbridge that involves a teacher affected by a time snarl. This teacher recounted facts of the past as though it were the present, even suggesting taking part in a tournament that resulted in making Lysis emperor of Teng Hua.
* Arryn recounted to me the story of forcing a time snarl close once. In forcing it close, everyone including herself got knocked out, and the time snarl revealed a memory to her. Before coming to the realms, she had been cursed by a sea witch, and forced to take on a body that was not her own. Not knowing of the curse, and not being recognized when she returned home, she ventured to the Realms and began adventuring here. When she came to, this memory came with having broken the curse, returning her to her former self.
* Rani recounted to me the story of when they first touched a time snarl. Having been in the Realms longer than memory can hold true, the time snarl revealed memories of the past: Of the child’s first laugh that caused Rani to exist, of having lost wings in trying to save a fairy who fell into water, and of having became a warrior at a village since lost to bedlam. In spite of this, they still actively touch all time snarls the moment one is found.

### What To Do When You Find One?

> *When you find a time snarl, interact with it!*
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