DUSKRUIN: GM Ethereal’s tale of a compass, Tad, and an adventurer began with a charming scene. But if you want to know what Once Upon a Time is going to sell, read all about the Leystone Compass – which does not point north, so much as it points “couldn’ve gone better.” Four tiers of temporal hijinks await you. Details:
Text of Discord Post follows:
GM Ethereal
[Duskruin] Once Upon a Time
on 13 Aug 2026 at 6:57AM
from the Official GemStoneIV Discord
on #/forum/paid-events/ channel
Dunvold had never been early to anything in his life. He was consistently, unfashionably, spectacularly on time — which is to say, exactly one moment behind wherever he was supposed to be.
So when the merchant handed him the compass — brass, dented, its needle spinning backward for reasons nobody could explain — and said, “This’ll fix that,” Dunvold should have asked more questions.
He did not ask more questions.
The first jump happened mid-sentence. One moment he was saying “Tad, I really don’t think we should—” and the next he was standing in a hallway he wouldn’t visit for another thirty minutes, watching himself argue with a wall sconce about directions. Past-Dunvold looked deeply unwell. Future-Dunvold — the one doing the watching — related.
croak, said a frog somewhere behind him. Tad, apparently, had come along for the ride. Small mercies.
His morning confidence charm was the first to notice something was wrong. It simply refused to end on schedule — still humming along faithfully well past when it had any business doing so, as if time itself had gotten distracted and forgotten to collect it. Dunvold found himself unreasonably assured of his own competence for what he was fairly sure was the entire afternoon.
Combat practice was where it truly got out of hand. Dunvold struck the training dummy and felt something behind his ribs align, click, snap into focus like a key finding its lock — and every ability he owned went off at once. The dummy did not survive the alignment. Neither, structurally, did the bench behind it.
“Mr. Dunvold.” Professor Burnwood’s voice arrived the way a dropped anvil arrives — suddenly, and with consequences. He surveyed the wreckage: the splintered bench, the dummy’s stuffing drifting down like grim snow, a scorch mark shaped vaguely like betrayal. “That bench was older than your grandmother.”
EtherealRole icon, GameMaster
OP
— 3:57 AM
“In my defense—”
“I don’t require a defense. I require a bench.” Burnwood pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is the third one this term.”
Dunvold winced. He thought, rather fervently, of a version of this afternoon where the bench had survived, where Burnwood’s expression was something other than the particular disappointment reserved for promising students who kept setting furniture on fire.
The compass answered before he’d finished the thought. It grew warm in his pocket, then hot, then insistent, its needle spinning like it, too, wanted very badly to be somewhere else. Dunvold barely had time to close his hand around it.
The needle spun once and settled. A door he hadn’t noticed swung open — not onto a different time, exactly, but a different thread of the same afternoon, one where he hadn’t tripped over the umbrella stand on his way in, one where the bench, presumably, still stood. He stepped through, leaving Burnwood mid-sentence and the ruined bench behind for a version of himself who’d have to answer for it eventually.
On the other side, Past-Dunvold — the umbrella-tripping one — stared at Future-Dunvold with an expression of profound betrayal.
“Don’t look at me like that,” said present-Dunvold. “You’ll get here eventually.”
By the time the compass finally settled, needle pointing forward again, obediently, like nothing had happened, Dunvold came to the realization he didn’t understand the mechanism at all. He would never understand the mechanism. But he understood the rhythm of it, and that, it turned out, was enough.
Tad, back on his rightful shoulder in his rightful timeline, blinked at him.
“I know,” said Dunvold. “I’m on time for once. Feels wrong.”
croak, Tad agreed.
Coming soon to Once Upon a Time
Some players read faster. Some players choose better. This year, we’re asking a different question: what if you just had more time?
Enter the Leystone Compass: a dented, unassuming little instrument that doesn’t point north so much as it points “could’ve gone better.” Four tiers of temporal hijinks await:
Tier 1 — Stretch Time (STRETCH)
Extends the duration of your beneficial spells by 30 minutes per tier. Usable once every 2.5 hours. Your buffs were always good. Now they’re just… reluctant to leave.
Tier 2 — Temporal Alignment (TAP)
Your next attack causes all flares* to activate at once. 3-minute cooldown. Everything, all at once, exactly when you need it — and maybe a little of what you don’t.
Tier 3 — Hastened Movements
A standard flare chance to reduce RT/Cast RT by 1 on attack. Targets are subjected to an SMR attack — fail it, and they’re inflicted with a 3 second Slow effect. RUB guarantees flares for 30 seconds. Usable once every 3 minutes. Being one step ahead has never been this literal.
Tier 4 — Temporal Anchor (BESEECH)
Recall a different timeline into an adjacent room**. Once per login day. For when “I wish this had gone differently” needs to be more than a feeling.
Pricing is still being finalized, and the shop opening will be delayed.
Once Upon a Time: where every purchase comes with a story.
Not all flares will apply (lore flares, for example). It should generally catch all things “with a standard flare chance” such as flare slot flares, ensorcell, etc.
** – This ability searches in a random direction up to five rooms away and will put you in the room with a) the least amount of creatures or b) the furthest away (if tied).
[Reserved for more!]
From the Q&A:
All spells you know plus things like Invoker would give you. It respects caps (4 hours for most, 60 seconds for Haste, etc.)
Pin worn functional
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