by Adam "Elric" Blaisdell
A year ago, a group of criminals invaded Rathkeale and overtook some of the islands. Many answered the call to arms sent out by Invictus, and helped reclaim our lands, however, many of the criminals were able to escape. Recently, Shandar sent word that we would be pressing the offensive on them, in their posts throughout the Lost Kingdoms. I was eager to assist and even kill a few of them myself, so I rallied what Rathkeale members I could. Lord Hayden, a few of his underlings, and Sven Svenson III answered the call. I also convinced Evie and Fenrys’ sister, Alessia, to join us.
When we arrived at base camp on Friday night, we were met by a few familiar faces, and a lot of newer ones. Shandar informed us that the enemy had taken many castles over the course of the year, including one which was close to Invictus and one near Voraniss. During the night we were to stop supply carts from reaching the castles, as to ensure they didn't have extra supplies. Throughout the night, we managed to stop all three without much trouble, but much like last year, we found wanted posters of some of our friend’s faces, and more of their strange writing. It seemed that they wanted to capture the females of our group, for which reason we were unsure. We had also learned that the enemy could learn how to conduct our magics just by watching us. Now I have no problems with them learning Necromancy, but I'm sure that many adventurers with me did not want that to happen.
The next morning the real attack began. We learned that at dusk, the enemy would be conducting rituals at each of the castles they had captured, however we were unsure what their goal was. While Invictus attacked the castle closest to their border, our questing party would strike at the castle closest the Voraniss and hopefully disrupt their ritual. The day consisted of constant castle siege, through the many outer walls of the keep. We found strange pieces of a tablet, different knick knacks and trinkets, and a large chest filled with food (which a bear seemed to want to help out with later in the night). We fought our way over lava, around barricades, and on floating platforms in water.
Finally we reached the main door to the keep which, when all of the pieces of the tablet were put together correctly on it, spelt out a message about stars dying and beginning the cycle again. The door took a long time to open, and when it finally did, it seemed to be night time. We fought our way through the darkened castle, solving a strange star puzzle and killing a lot of enemies, and finally made it to the ritual.
The ritual consisted of 4 pillars which created a barrier we could not pass. In the center of the pillars was a woman, who manipulated trinkets on her ritual table and called out to any that would listen. A being much like the one I and many others spoke with last year (which I later found out was one soul inhabiting multiple physical forms) was also present, trying to draw information out of the adventurers in our party. Four other masked beings guarded the pillars like statues. Each of the beings "came alive" one at a time, and we dispersed each one with different strategies. Once each of the beings fell, the pillars could be deactivated by willing heroes grabbing ahold of them. First came brave Elizah, who screamed in pain and fell to the ground, with Mathies using his scolding dad voice telling her she shouldn't have done that. Second Fancy grabbed one, and while he did not scream, a look of pain surely washed over his face. I grabbed the third, but quickly let go as I felt the full intensity of a star trying to force its way into me, to remove my magic. Before I even had time to recover, a man by the name Scalar quickly took my place. Lastly, from the fourth pillar I heard a yell of pain I did not expect to hear. It was Mathies who grabbed the last pillar, and allowed us to finally disrupt the ritual.
After this, I retired to my place of rest, but through the trees I overheard something about a bunch of souls, a gem, some shanking, a second chance, and someone trapped inside the gem. I won’t lie, I really didn’t want to involve myself in that chaos.
The next morning, we set out to rescue Red, the lumberjack that Tao had employed last year, but sadly I had other matters to attend to, so I did not see it the rescue mission through.
OOC: The event was great, the immersion was good, the effects were awesome, and the fighting was tiring but satisfying. Another great Invictus Questing, and I very much look forward to the next installment.
