AQW1984.

This journal was found clutched in a hand which appears to have been disconnected from the body it belonged to. Like most Lorian journals, it has the ability to record any and all thoughts of its owner when opened. It is also indestructable, very unusual indeed.

Day 1.
I sense an immense disturbance in the air even though it has been months since the mandatory burlesque law was repealed. Crystal is not quite herself still, but with the threat of Drakath's forces plaguing the land, she has dropped the mantle of a saloon girl.

Lately though, there's a huge black shadow in armor walking about, and Shadow Storm has been barking incessantly at it. It's most probably just a Shadowscythe minion.

Had to deal with the problems in Gilead with miss Lion and miss Huntingdom. Found Gilead wrap, Ledgermayne challenged miss Lion and wants to cut Lore's lifeline off. This is not good.

Day 2.
Bad dreams about that Shadowscythe minion fighting me while everyone lies dead around the fighting ring.

Day 3.
Shadow turned up his nose at venison soup miss Meg tried to make. Doesn't he love venison cooked in any form? He'd only eat soup if there's venison in it. Is he sick?

Day 3. (Evening.)
Shadow howled loudly for no particular reason, then started growling at me. He looks afraid and has started sniffing everywhere. It's not mice.

Day 4.
Dreamt I was in the Shadowscythe minion's personal lair in the big red mouse's castle. A group of boys around my age were around the minion, cheering raucously. I was invisible in the dream, so I walked right up to the huddle. Guess what I saw? A necromancy tome? Some plans to get the castle flying again?

You're mistaken. It was a plan by the minion to pick up the mandatory burlesque law once again. I must stop him! Turns out his name is Dage, and he's sick of the designs that came out after the compulsory burlesque law was repealed.

I saw his design plain as day. A mere two-piece suit of armor. Suit? Bah! It's just a tiny skirt and shirt made of metal. And he was fool enough to claim it ornate. He should get a dictionary. And he plans not to listen to any female that confronts him about it. Since none of the boys were booing him, that job must have been left to me.

Woke up before I could boo him though. Heard that Donkey was one of the new master tailors hired last summer. About the time Kimberly had a concert and it turned out she was the one behind the mess in Mythsong.

Day 5.
The women of Battleon are furious! Dunce went to the middle of the town and said that he will never listen to any woman who tells him to make his designs decent. And then he had the gall to say that women love exposing themselves. Does he even know what miss Lion was like before Miltonius forced Lore to follow the sleazy cabaret mold? Shadow has lost his voice barking at Dage.

He doesn't! No one does! Not even miss Lion herself! But I do! She was serious, stoic, everything that Dullard thought a woman was not. He thinks-

An older woman told me that the Donkey has gone completely mad with power. She tried to reason with him and failed.

What happened to Artix at a time like this? He's one of the most powerful teeny weenies I've witnessed.

Day 6.
Most of the women of Battleon, including miss Lion, have organized a protest against the mandatory burlesque law, which will be reinstated once the "ornate" plate is revealed.

But there is discord, some of the women support the law, and most of the boys too.

Me? I went solo. Walked right up to the Donkey and called him a dictator for ignoring any opinion that differs from him. He responded by saying that he's giving the women what they want.

What they want? I'm sure being forced to expose themselves while the menfolk run around in full armor is not what they want. "Equality," hah!
"Slavery," more like. Told him so and he got very angry indeed. Guess what, I'm furious too. Trying to make Lore into something it's not will just make it wither and die.

Oh no! He's just realized I'm recording all this, even though I've hid you under my robe. How did he manage it? I'll have to duel with him now! Creating shield...

Many blasts...

...

Still with me? Oof!

...

Sky's dark, everyone in the town's dead. Except us two.

Shadow, I'll do my best...

It's all over, it's all over. My shield has shattered. I'm dead...The old ways are gone, Lore's honor too. He's preparing to remove me from the face of this world...I'll never forget you, Lore... (Traces of liquid have been found on these pages.)

I have awakened...

Dage has succeeded, I see...

Lion was executed for not obeying Dictator's orders...She...No...They can't have...Her purity is ruined by him...They've thrown her body close to my container...Shadow! Not him too!

What can I do? I am...Just a ghost...Can't even save my friends...

Locked away in a container...To be forgotten...

This winter is harsh indeed...From what I can see from this container...

Corpses, corpses everywhere...All female...Wearing only stickers now...They're coated in frost, like me...

Even the female rebels are given this last indignity...And some have it worse...

Almost as bad as miss Lion...Did I just see miss Meg dead? Artemis? It can't be! Now they're killing giants!

Artix appears, but he approves this madness....No! He shouldn't have, now everyone accepts the tyrannical law!

Powerless, still dead...Death has been exiled...

Too late...All who disagree with Dage are killed, which means a lot of people...He has disposed of the gods who watched over this land...

I have failed...Only fools remain...

Everyone's gone...Vanished...

Even Dictator...

And I'm still dead...The last sentient thing in this wasteland. Only cold air and the stiff bodies accompany me...Perhaps for eternity.

Why did I rebel...?

Worthless...pointless...useless...I'm all alone now...Except for you...