People of the realms, it is my sad duty to announce several disturbing pieces of news. Asmodeus has captured Dalindanna while Laurante, Khol, Avendar and Gideon are currently trapped in Gael as a result of their attempt to rescue her. With this news out of the way, I shall fill in how these events occurred.
Gregory Kast, a priest of Kronos, sent out a letter to meet in Stonybrook, a village where a girl named Diana was located. He sent the letter because recently several members of the village were slaughtered when the village elders refused to hand her over to some creature. As we arrived at the village, we spoke to the locals and found several rumors surrounded this girl. She could speak with ghosts. She was cursed. She was hunted by demon ghosts. All of these came from the villagers who worked themselves up into a frenzy and marched upon her house to kill her before she could bring any further bad luck upon the village.
We rushed ahead and prevented the villagers from getting to Diana. We actually had some trouble finding her, as she hid well from her former friends. As we searched for her, we found that beside us and other villagers, there were undead that were out and about hunting her down. Diana was found, and she confirmed she could see and speak with ghosts. Beyond that, she could overhear the gods talking. She told us of this and a ritual she had researched which would protect her from the threat that approached.
As we set out to gather the components of the ritual, a demon named Drex arrived and claimed to be the Knight Commander of the Knights of Garm, claiming that Gideon and others were no longer Knights. He then demanded of us either of two things: the Sword of the Crossroads, or Diana. After brief deliberation, we refused and eventually slew him and the undead with him. We placed Drex in a Circle of Protection, and spoke with him again. He gave us one last chance to turn over Diana, and we refused. He walked off (yes, right out of the circle...he wasn’t trapped) and said he would be back with assistance, and warned that we would regret our decision.
Knowing Drex would be back soon, we started gathering components, which were essences held by different ghosts. We believe each ghost was associated with a different god, but we are not certain of all of the gods. First, there was a ghost named Jack, who was tied to this earth by his desire to play fun and games. He, we are not sure who he was tied to, but it may have been Dio, or another god. After playing “Duck, Duck, Goose” with him, we earned the first piece of essence. After this, we encountered a ghostly of a follower of Rowanam. He wanted to be defeated in an honorable battle. From here we found a ghost of a Judge, who I believe was matching Justari. He needed help sentencing someone, and we provided the reason for it to be true. The fourth ghost was a woman who lost her son. We believe this was the Grey Man as we had to provide her hope that she would see her son after she passed. Finally, we encountered a ghost who was fighting in the name of Aurora keeping a village safe from demons as the town evacuated. We had to fight at his side, and provide him friendship to gain his essence.
With the five essences obtained, we performed the ritual, and a piece of ore we had as the focus started to glow. Thinking Diana was now safe, we started to leave, but Drex stopped our departure with Nemesis Wraiths at his side. Four of our party managed to sneak Diana away undetected by Drex and his forces, and she provided key information to Khol along with the glowing ore, then sacrificed herself to save all of us. Drex, upon getting Diana, sent her to judgement by the balance, control of which has been taken over by Asmodeus. Khol informed us that Diana was in fact Dalindanna, and she had given him a ritual to get to Hell, so we could bring the ore to Hephaestus.
We started the new ritual. One at a time, each of us fought our inner darkness, and while many succeeded, more failed. Regardless of the outcome of the fights, we sanctified ourselves enough for the ritual to bring us to the Auroran temple in Hell without corrupting it. We went from there, to a tavern, and from the tavern to Hephaestus’ Forge. There we learned a lot. The ore we had was not a protective ward as we were led to believe. Instead, it was a new metal made out of parts blessed by 5 gods. This was given to Hephaestus in exchange for unforging Luna from a blade, so she no longer had a breakable mortal form. After doing this, he warned us of the plan Asmodeus had, not to destroy other gods, but to change them from what they currently are into forces more to his liking. He also provided the start of instructions for dealing with the Asmodeus issue. Next, we learned we were not the only visitors that night. Asmodeus was there earlier, and attempted to have Dalindanna forged into a blade again so he could snap the blade and leave it in Gael. Hephaestus refused, but he did unforge the sword Vindication for Asmodeus. What happened to the being within is anybody’s guess. Khol took Aurora’s boon from his pocket, and asked for Dalindanna to be kept safe. We were informed she was in Gael, and would be kept alive until we had a chance to go to Gael to rescue her.
We left the forge shortly thereafter, and fought through Hell to an entrance of Gael. Demons guarded the gate, and we couldn’t fight our way through. Only a few people managed to fight their way inside, namely Gideon, Laurante, Khol and Avendar, in three separate groups. The rest of us ended up trapped within the safety of Circle of Protections until we were ejected from Hell by an unknown power. Those still in Gael, stayed. Perhaps a chance to rescue them will appear soon, but they are on their own for now.