Roots of Darker Time by Khandis

Travel to the Village Waystation. Rendezvous with another group of adventures lead by Kudos (who were in the area finding a path across the spine) and provide any assistance needed with the void in the area.

As is often the case with these missions much happened and rather than provide a strict chronology I have split things into categories.

Very shortly after our arrival a Wizard from the Concillium arrived in a panic because the node of Ice within their land was under attack. We immediately teleported to the area and found a number of creatures led by an evil priest performing a ritual of some sort of the node. Unfortunately, we were unable to stop the ritual and the node became void corrupted. The group of creatures teleported out of the area once their ritual was done and we were left with a corrupted master of Lore who we unfortunately had to destroy.

This leaves the current state of nodes in a serious problem. Both white nodes have been destroyed and one of the two red nodes as well. I am sure that most will have noticed that white magic is no longer working on the plane. The concillium have our full support in defending the final node of red magic and during this mission we have slain a significant number of those who performed the ritual of corruption so our hope is that the red node is safe for a while.

Everyone who has examined the nodes (including the Black Pharaoh) believes that they cannot be fixed. We are already taking steps to try and find a way to return white magic either by creating new nodes or finding an alternate way to focus magic. There are some promising leads coming from the new information turned up about the Conflux plane.

We now have much more information regarding the Mescona. The following information came from The Grey Man (the nation leader of the House of the Weaver) and from an Avatar of LLoth. We were able to summon the Avatar from the node of LLoth and after defeating her spider children (a very tough fight) she told us the history of the Mescona and the nature of the Shadowmancy magic that they and others perform.

The Mescona were originally LLoth’s closest council before she Ascended to become an aspect of the evil sphere. Once she ascended they started to bicker among themselves. The head of the Mescona was corrupted by Velash who is an aspect of Shadow. She turned them to her will and taught them Shadowmancy. Shadowmancy itself is a combination of both Black and White magic that is then tainted by the void. Over time users of Shadowmancy fall to the void and it is an important note that once someone has been tainted by the void even slightly their fall is inevitable.

Once their treachery was discovered the Mescona were punished. 3 of the were destroyed instantly and the other 8 were imprisoned within Annach Morananil. Over the centuries information was lost and the importance of their prison was forgotten. Unfortunately, when the Drow left to return to Murandir the gem which the Mescona were imprisoned in was left behind. The intention of the ruling Drow was to return and retrieve it but in the turmoil of the Cataclysm and the closing of the ways they were unable to. When the towers fell the gem was broken and the Mescona were released.

It was the Mescona who performed the ritual at the Ice node. It was the Mescona who were encountered in the halls of the Dammed and it was the Mescona who have recently been assassination figures of prominence in other nations. During our mission we met many of them and destroyed a number. Of the eight we know the following

The remaining three living Mescaona are a threat to the plane. They are working to bring Velash and the void to the plane and should be destroyed by any groups that encounter them.

We learnt through the Grey Man that there were three weapons forged on another plane to fight the void. They each embodied a force that is strong against the void; a weapon of fire, a weapon of ice and a weapon of life. Of these, High Priest Andrew of Halmadons Heights is in possession of the sword of ice and the other two were destroyed. We were provided with shards of the weapons of life and fire and given the details of what we would need to do to re-forge the weapons.

Flint forged the weapons, assisted by Sister Mary for the weapon of life and Spark for the weapon of fire. Each weapon required a sacrifice to complete the forging. The weapon of fire drew Lord Larvus a powerful fire elemental who did what was required to bring the Sword of Fire into existence. The weapon of life was brought to life by the last of the Atomi, one of the two remaining members of the original bloodlines of Orin Rakatha. Both laid down their lives to give us a way to fight against the void in time to come.

These weapons have been battle tested and can destroy void creatures including the Mescona, who are otherwise close to invulnerable. Each has power of its own and when brought together they have other powers too. It should be a priority to locate the weapon of ice and if possible bring the three together to stand against the void.

It is not just the void around the Icathian triangle that is a problem. The land in general is failing and being corrupted. We were given a way to perform a ritual that would summon Cormac an Avatar of the Tree of Life. He was trapped within the land and if not released by this ritual would start to be corrupted by the void. The ritual involved collecting a number of ritual mats that had been placed around the plane to be guarded. We travelled to a number of woods and collected maps from

- Forest creatures within the Lost Gate Wood. We believe that we were close to or within Halls of Suhtek lands at the time.

With these were performed the ritual of four seasons and, after one of the most all over the place ritual I have ever taken part in, we were successful. Cormac talked at great length (repetitively and slowly) about the nature of what was wrong with the land. There was a ritual being performed that he could not see the details of but sent us to stop.

It was being performed by at least one of the Mescona and after navigating a dryad we stopped the ritual and Cormac later confirmed that the land was now able to start the process of healing itself. This will take time and because of the nature of the ritual we performed we are now in command of and responsible for Cormac and the state of the land. This role was previously held by the Elves of Laire Tinwe and as a nation we need to realise the responsibilities this adds to our already difficult list.

Arbour had left to try and find Cormac and had become stuck in a similar state, traded within the land. With Cormacs aid he has now been released and hopefully will return safely to the Valley.

With the sacrifice of the last of the Atomi there is now a single individual left of the original bloodlines who were chosen by the mystics and whose power keeps the void contained. This is part of why the land is failing and it should be the highest priority going forward to track down any members of the original Bloodlines and return with them to Orin Rakatha. Those bloodlines that no longer exists should be replaced in some way. The leads we have are as follows

The River People – Last seen a year ago at the last time of Reckoning. They may have fled by a ritual of the own to a safe place.

The Atomi – There are more of the bloodline in the Moki Mountains on another plane. Any information individuals have regarding this name should be made common knowledge as soon as possible.

Halmadons Heights – It is believed that more of Sir Dannus’s line exist off plane. Enquiries have been made with the Heights.

We have also had offers of support from the Shadowsfall Keepers who have a library of knowledge that the Shadoswfall used to fulfil their role as Voice of the Mystics. We have asked for information about the bloodlines and this library is a powerful resource to have going forwards.

The largest achievement of the mission was that we destroyed Burblegut Fantasia the voidweaver. This simple sentence sums up days, months and years worth of work by both our nation and the other nations that stood with us.

- Clearing three void nodes within the Icathian triangle to enable the Labyrinth to secure them. The LoX then performed a ritual that expelled all void creatures from the triangle.

- Placing and activating a number of focal points to allow the Wizards Concillium to perform a ritual to prevent Burblegut leaving both physically and by any magic means.

- Arnor Sparkfist performed a ritual to prevent Burblegut leaving by means of the Mist. As part of this both Arnor and Agramore Bonescrapper were killed.

- We then fought Burblegut and void creatures forcing him to use the void powers until they began to consume him and then overloading him with power and magic in a way similar to the Avatar of Darkness.

- A significant number of other nations aided us in destroying the void creatures that were expelled from the triangle

o The Conclave of Saldor. Aided in the battle and have asked in return for help with one of their former Pradots. A valley group is being raised to do this.

Very rarely is such an Alliance formed and always in the face of great adversity. The Valley are increasingly being recognised as the true voice of the mystics and our actions in this matter will go a long way to demonstrating this to all nations. It is imperative that we continue this good will with other nations and do whatever we can to combat the void and stabilise the plane.

For those keeping score, during our acquisition of the ritual mat we killed half a dozen members of the Khalid (wolves and other non-humans not included). However even I (who enjoy fighting the Khalid with no guilt whatsoever) tried to talk to them first. The void is an enemy that must come before any other grievances.

There were a number of groups of towerless who called themselves the chosen of the void. These groups are void corrupted, delusional and should be destroyed wherever possible.

Slag – Stone troll of the Rangers. On hearing of the loss of two of the remaining Mistweavers, Slag has taken the long walk. He has journey to the mountains at the edge of the world with the aim of becoming a Mistweaver and helping the Mystics heal the world. His act is a noble one and I have no doubt he will succeed and return to us as a Mistweaver.