Hello friends of the Realms, Chrysanta Morris writing first.
I want to start this off by saying that while I have not been myself since leaving Stonewood, I am glad to have been able to fight at my friends’ side and happy to share what was missed. It will also, hopefully, explain to those who have been to my shop lately and noticed some… visible changes. So, shall we begin?
After the hard work we did in Stonewood last week, we started our day with a ritual. Between collecting idols and being given guidelines, a good handful of us gathered together to assemble The Rite of Dissolution. The preparation was done during the week leading up to the day to make sure we did all of our research properly as it was told to us that accuracy was far more important than expedience. To further elaborate, this ancient rite had to be done in order to cut off our adversary, the angel known as Urzael, from the angel network to hopefully make him far more easy to combat against.
According to our guidelines, there were three parts to said ritual:
The Challenge of Shape, The Challenge of Voice, and The Challenge of Exchange.
The Challenge of Shape had us wondering the type of shape to create for the ritual itself, we collectively decided on the shape known as Theta. Though, instead of the traditional one line, we had two lines. We then aligned the idols we obtained last weekend and correlated them with eighteen angels under the Goddess Solarus’ rule in said circle and two parallel lines.
Which led us to the Challenge of Voice, naming said angels and then setting down their corresponding idols. Luckily for this part, King Hygar had a pronunciation guide for each participant in the ritual so they could properly call out the name of the corresponding angel in the ritual. We then, as one, set our idols down.
That’s where I came in for the final challenge: The Challenge of Exchange. A sacrifice had to be made which would return once Goddess Luna had finished another cycle in the coming month. It seemed only fitting that to symbolically cut off the Angel Urzael from the angelic network, I sever my own connection to the Fae Wylds for one month and a day. I have never been shy about my pride in being a Fae and thus it made sense to give that connection up for the ritual. Which, to my own delight and many of our friends, worked swimmingly. Though, I have to admit, I had a sense of deep loneliness when I saw my dear familiar Cinnamon suddenly fade into nothing. I knew he would leave but I did not expect it to leave such a hole in my heart…
Though, I regret nothing. We were able to move forward and focus on our next task.
After the ritual we all were on guard. Moments later we saw a figure approaching in the distance. We all readied ourselves as we braced for a fight we had been preparing for. As we started fighting Urzael we noticed no matter what we had done he was not staying down and continued to attack us. During that confrontation some of us found the opening of what appeared to be a tomb, we discovered upon entering something in the tomb stopped our healing which we would later discover was a Demi-lich deep within (or so I was told). Unfortunately, due to multiple of our companions needing to be healed, I was carrying them back to the opening and with the help of Liselle casting a healing circle right outside the tomb raising them. That didn’t last long as Urzael started to follow us into the tomb. Once he saw the angel blade I carried demanded to speak with his sister and gave chase to me, but thankfully I’m a nimble little otter and kept escaping him…until he started materializing through walls! The adventurers were momentarily pinned between the Lich and the angel. Urzael continued to follow me until I was reunited with Merrix whom I promptly hid behind and continued my escape from the tomb.
As the day wore on and our battle of attrition with Urzael continued, the adventurers assembled had no choice but to split, some of us remaining to draw the rogue angel’s ire and others beginning the search for the Soul Crucible that was preventing his demise. I spent much of this time in the thick of battle with the reapers called to Urzael’s side, aiding those who were more suited to fighting as best I could. Every so often, the rest of our party would emerge from the woods, having proved victorious against the Death Maidens that stood in their way.
After a long stint of battle, I turned my attention to locating the Soul Crucible. I ventured into the forest to meet up with the small group that was already searching, following familiar paths and forging new ones, fighting off the hordes of reapers that blocked the way. The air was different here, and comrades that fell could not stay down long, lest their corpses vanish (it was discovered that they had been returned to the edge of the forest, out of our immediate reach). We pushed onward, battling Urzael’s forces that attempted to surround us from all sides, until we reached a small clearing. There at the center floated a massive orb thrumming with power, so dark it felt as though it was pulling me in. Around it flowed an ever shifting mist and a spectral figure that seemed to maintain its power. One glance was all we needed. This was the Soul Crucible.
As we stared, reapers began to close in once again, cutting off our only exit to the clearing. We beat them back, and a vision from Mistral presented exactly what we needed to do to destroy the Crucible, as well as a new problem: those who held the Horadric Stones had to render the Crucible, but most of them were far away from us keeping Urzael occupied. Nothing is so simple as an exchange, however - earlier, each of the Horadric Stones had bonded with its holder, and could not be passed to those already at the Soul Crucible. I conversed briefly with those present, and when an opportunity presented itself, sprinted out of the woods. The reaper I had slipped by gave chase, attempting to strike me down. By some miracle, I made it to those fighting in the field, informing Hygar of the situation. The call was made for all to return to the Soul Crucible, and we made our way back into the woods.
We again faced opposition from Urzael’s forces, but managed to make our way back, those bonded to the stones readying themselves. As they began to render the Crucible, the spectral figure emerged again, attempting to restore it. It disappeared when hit with magic, and the Crucible was quickly destroyed, pushing us one step closer to our foe’s defeat.
Throughout the day, while people were killing death maidens and destroying soul crucibles, another group kept Urzael distracted on the field in order to allow our friends to do their work unimpeded. It was during this time that we truly were forced to contend with his strength, as we could not kill him just keep him busy.
During one of these encounters, Urzael managed to rip open Zula’s chest and remove the tear of Aurora that keeps him alive and functional. The Church of Vandor were able to come together in order to get him back up and running with a Shard of Remembrance, which unleashed a very vengeful Zula upon Urzael. This was equal parts inspiring and aggravating, as Zula continued to charge against the enemy over and over again, his spirit unwavering, even when he was needed elsewhere.
Urzael also kidnapped Tulkhan, leading to cries of “not again!”, as my lycanthropy is the direct result of a previous attempt of Urzael to kidnap Tulkhan. Hygar managed to get Tulkhan back, but was stapled by the Sword of Kings in the process.
And thus things went back and forth. People distracted Urzael. He rendered them. We saved our friends and went at it again.
In spite of the challenges faced, the heroes persevered. Both Urzael and the reapers who were brought to the field were faced with courage and honor by those who took up arms in the defense of humanity. And they were distracted long enough for us to finish the final phase of the fight.
Soon, we had yet another ritual on our hands as night began to settle in. For anyone unaware, being in Stonewood at night is usually not a good thing.
So, we made haste.
While it was close to dusk when we arrived, a ring of blazing fire made it as bright as the morning. With Friend Merrix, Friend Mogar, Friend Tsura, Friend Margaret, Friend Odd and myself, we started a ritual to make it so the fire would not burn and harm us. It meant we had to concentrate mana alongside the ring of fire.
I cannot speak for everyone else but as the sun finally set in the sky, my brow covered in sweat and my head spinning with nightmares, my god offered me a boon. My skin began to glitter with stars and a powerful figure of celestial bodies manifested next to me, assisting me and my friends in completing the task as the wall of flames sizzled out. Soon, I was enthralled with the fight with the Rogue angel Urzael. I felt every nightmare I collected over the course of the day and used them to empower my friends and weaken our enemy. I could not wait to see that pathetic little fire bird fall as we descended on him with our final rending blows. When he was nothing but goo, King Hygar made sure his soul was placed in a secure space so we may offer it to the Goddess Solarus for judgement.
With Honor to the Realms,
Puddle Jumper Vaya, Lightbringer Margaret, Moon Shepherd Odd, and Dream Mender Chrysanta
The Voranian Scholars of Water, Fire, Earth, and Air
