Obelisk
Obelisks are large pillars of basalt similar to the hexagonal stones of Blackstone Isle. When interacting with an obelisk, the following text is displayed.
"The stone hums quietly, sending ripples through the air around it. Faint shapes dance upon its surface, vanishing before your eyes can focus on them
The player is given the option to "Place your hand on the stone.", which normally results in the response "The cold stone does not respond to your touch." When interacting with the obelisks whilst having high Panic, crimson runes glow upon their front face. Then the Fisherman experiences a vision, each obelisk yielding unique dialogue. Each vision is cryptic, and details past events or potential futures, revealing things about the nature of the world.
Locations
I8, Greater Marrow
The town of Greater Marrow burns. The lighthouse lies collapsed, its light extinguished. A red glow fills the sky behind a cyclone that drains the world.
K7, Blackstone Isle
Dark rocks erupt from the earth, piercing through buildings and trees. Through sand and crashing waves. Through the basalt pillars of this island.
The newborn structures crackle with an unknown energy, crimson lightning arcing between them.
The earth shifts once more and the stones lie still.
M10, Behind the Steel Point islands
A ship, tossed by waves in the night. Fog unfolds like a blanket from the deck, spilling across the ocean and crashing against the land. A distant lighthouse flickers a signal.
N15, Devil's Spine
A Leviathan raises its vast grey head, stretching up, up until it sits level with a bright flame cradled at the top of the ancient lighthouse.
It watches the fire for a while, tilting its head and calling softly to it with a guttural song.
Appearing satisfied, the beast slinks down into the water, gliding back to the depths.
P14, Devil's Spine
Blackness.
A crimson rift opens in the void.
Dreadful silhouettes drift through in a procession of teeth and tentacles.
After the last grotesque figure emerges, a membrane spreads over the fissure.
A distant groan emanates from the space beyond.
F12, Twisted Strand
A parasite burrows into a large snakelike carcass. It feeds, growing fat and multiplying. Tendrils sprout from the head of the body and sense the water around it. The host corpse shudders reluctantly. With a cry that resounds through the forest, it rises once again.
E14, Twisted Strand (Behind the camp)
A man flees through the trees, bloodshot eyes wide with terror. He runs into a dead end; cornered by the murky waters and his pursuer, he turns. A wooden spear flies and finds its mark.
E5, Stellar Basin (inside edge)
A spore floats in the water, adrift in the current. Fish feast in a frenzy above, devouring its kin. The spore lands in the thick silt of the sea floor. Its roots stretch down into the seabed, growing - extending towards what lies beneath.
F2, Stellar Basin (Abandoned Resort)
The green glimmer of an aurora blooms in the night sky above the resort. A distant boom shakes the thatched rooves and rouses dreamers from their sleep.
The waters withdraw, exposing the coral to the warm air. Confused creatures chitter and seek out their hiding places.
Moments later the waters return; crashing, seething, sweeping souls out to sea.
P2, Gale Cliffs
A blustery wind screams through the cliffs, diving and turning. It passes over a large wooden ship at anchor, all flags filling suddenly. A skinless face appears on the fluttering fabric. A wail of terror rises from the crew.
M3, Gale Cliffs
A heart of stone wrapped in a twisting tail. A serpentine body uncoils, teeth rasping at its earthen shell. Larger now. Bursting through the cliffs, sending rocks tumbling into the water. An eye opens to this new world.
K-3, Pale Reach
Darkness. The Deep. Then, sparks of light as tooth and spine meet horn and nail. Two primeval forces clashing at the bottom of the world. After an age, a victor triumphs, sundering the other into impossibly large remnants that ascend to the surface, slowly, to be claimed by the sky. But the broken body holds power still. Threads of crimson essence reach out through the water, stretching to unite the creature once more. As the remains break the surface, ice begins to form.
F-7, Pale Reach
Intruders. They invade on tiny wooden vessels, shouting and smashing. They cut and slice with angled metal, raking across a skin of ice. Their meagre hearts beat with avarice and pride, desires trivially twisted into new shapes. Shapes that might mend and restore. Shapes to replace what was lost, down in the dark.
Tips
- There is a Mimic Crab behind Stellar Basin that disguises itself as an Obelisk.
- With the introduction of the Aurous Anchor in the The Pale Reach DLC, it became much easier to activate an obelisk. The player can drop anchor next to any obelisk, teleport twice, and be back where they were almost instantly, but now with full Panic.