Today's WYM comes with two perspectives, at this event where the truth was at risk of being devoured.
"What You Missed at Sanctuary Questing 1"
by Kelly "Fern" Perfetto
I will try to keep this brief. A long time ago, beings known as Starlords created Devourers and Guardians to keep elements of creation and reality in check. The Guardians, hunted by their counterparts, created a refuge, Sanctuary. The Devourers still threaten the Guardians, Sanctuary, and reality. People from across the Realms have been working together within Sanctuary to plan against these threats. One Devourer in particular was hindering our efforts to learn more; the Devourer of Truth.
From here on I will refer to these beings as ‘Anti-’, because speaking their proper name can call their attention. On Sunday March 17, many people of the Realms embarked on a quest into the lands of the Fae Wilds to go after our chosen target, Anti-Truth.
We gathered in Sanctuary and set out into the Fae Wilds led by Odd. We came across some of the usual unusual denizens of the plane and some faces that would only be familiar to those of who had been active for more than ten years. After we fought back angry trolls and goblins, we came across aggressive flowers and even more aggressive Moth Riders, who had not been seen since before the worst of Bedlam. There was also a leprechaun. I have no idea what he was doing, but apparently do not mess with leprechauns. As I moved away from the people dancing at the Mayflowers and ducked and dodged assaults from the Moth Riders, we found the way had been cleared of boulders by some very determined party members.
Next we came across an area a little more clearly related to our quest. Strange mirrored doors blocked our only way forward. Golems or some similar constructs began attacking us, and party members who appeared corrupted turned their blades on the majority. Here we discovered we must lie to the mirrors to move through them, and beyond that, connect spell meanings in this soon-shattered mirror. We also found that some of our supposed friends had been constructs since we started in Sanctuary, including Odd. These false friends had been attacking and regenerating despite our best efforts to keep them down. Upon hitting them enough that most peoples’ souls would just give up, the bodies poofed into non-existence. I will note that we checked on all who were replicated as soon as possible, and each person is doing as well as they can be, given our line of work.
Anti-Truth seemed to be catching on to our encroachment in its domain, and sent strange mashed amalgamations in the images of our friends. We pushed them back… and found ourselves at a cocktail party. The food was safe to consume, as were the drinks, which I will say was a little disappointing. There was no alcohol to be found, and the other guests were dull. I still have no idea if this was an illusion or trick, or just a gathering we crashed. They did serve Fae Wild cave grapes though, which I found a liking for over the winter, and which were quite good.
Now, quite deep in Anti-Truth’s domain, it sent more adept fighters after us. These were meant to deceive us, claiming to be and enchanted to look like the former Servant of Anti-Truth who we were looking to free. They also kept insisting that they did not want to hurt us. I felt bad in the moment, but it turns out they had just been illusory constructs. Luckily we had gained a Circle of Truth that had been taken out of Sanctuary by the former Servant, Barton. We found this servant - the real one, we checked thoroughly - and broke his bonds to his former master. Twelve people, myself included, activated runes of the Guardians around Barton, and called the Guardians’ power in. While others stood guard, more people joined the twelve of us to channel strength and hope to this young man. We concluded with Tony and Saegan, two people aligned to Truth, speaking to Barton and lending him their strength and conviction of the Truth. With that, we felt the Guardians’ power and our own combine to sever the bonds Anti-Truth had placed on Barton.
Triumphant, we moved along… into some strange arena or colosseum, hosting a sports game none of us had ever seen before. Loud music from nowhere played around us, the opposition wore brightly colored matching shirts, and people with whistles kept yelling that we were playing the game wrong. Somehow with our weapons and three paths to the front, we got a ball way over there enough times that they let us go.
Next, an area of Truths and Dares. Mirrored beings would ask those who approached whether they would like to tell a truth or complete a dare. Those who chose truth were asked to reveal their greatest regrets, the most evil things they’ve done, and other deep truths. Those who chose dare had more of a mixed bag. Some people gave piggy-back rides, acted like animals hunting, or did some pushups. Others were given impossible dares, at which point the mirror constructs would call for consequences and statues around the room would attack all of us. The first time, it was so sudden that most of us were taken down within the minute and Hedda saved us all with a Cry of Life and Armor. It was unclear whether we were feeding Anti-Truth power with these truths, but most of us figured it would soon not matter. And indeed it did not. When we came across Anti-Truth, it lived up to my expectations set by a previous encounter. It was a sad, lonely thing which had constructed a world around itself. It was too proud to ask for help, too powerless to offer anything of substance to any of us, and yet still too dangerous to leave alive.
After taunts from both sides, and Vesper apparently stealing Anti-Truth’s crown and cape, Saegan called upon the power of Truth and its Guardian and defeated Anti-Truth in honorable combat. As the domain collapsed, we made our escape.
I will say I am impressed by what the questers of the Realms accomplished that day. It was not only the defeat of this reality warping being. Many new people showed up to help, and many more helped to guide them in turn. I hope to see these new faces again soon.
There are many more Anti-Guardians to face, but we now know it is possible to take them down.
"What You Missed: Sanctuary Questing"
by Alex "Adoros" Taylor
Sanctuary Questing 1 was the first official event, hopefully, in a long line of events told by this team. I first fell in love with the world this team developed after taking my trials as Adoros. I had hoped to support a friend who was just starting out and quickly learned that the depth of this plot was further reaching than I had expected. Over the last year Adoros has become deeply connected with Sanctuary and so chances to explore this plot at events is always a big moment.
Sanctuary Questing 1 started with a large force of heroes of the Realms meeting in Sanctuary to discuss the plan with the Elder of Truth - Annaleigh Lilac the Elder of Truth and chosen voice of the Guardian of Truth. She outlined that we would need to journey into Fae to follow the footsteps of the young Servant of the Devourer of Truth with hopes of finding him before it was too late. Our goals were two parts: first we needed to find Barton and free him from his bond to the Devourer. Lastly, we needed to find a means to either trap the Devourer or to destroy it. If we failed at either of these two goals, Trow, the Guardian of Truth, would sacrifice himself to see his enemy destroyed for all time.
As the path forward opened and we fought our way toward the Devourers fortress, we first found ourselves harrassed by various fae beings which were not keen on our trespass into their lands. Goblins and Trolls first, followed by mothriders and mayflowers blocked our way and slowed our pace.
As we progressed deeper into the fae wilds we finally made our way to the Enemy's fortress and it was there that disaster first struck. Under command of death wish many of our friends turned on us, and it was here that we had learned quickly that several had been replaced by truth constructs. We slowly begun to lose control over what we could trust. We entered into a chamber with mirror doors with guards. I started the day injured and so as one of my perks took 6th Soul regional which made me incorporeal as long as I kept spell active. While I could not affect things I was able to move around freely scouting and learning what must be done. I managed to sneak beyond these guards with a few others and together we quickly were able to determine the puzzle before us. One one side of the room was Spell names written backwards and on the other was spell descriptions written backwards. With the use of string we had to connect the correct spells with it description. Gordon took the lead on this an upon connecting the last pieces the door opened.
In the chambers that followed we encountered "Heroes of the Realms" and a short party where we had to make small talk to earn exit tokens otherwise risk being trapped forever. Once we finally realized that we could use these tokens to fill wine glasses at the door we were able to move along.
The next room was one of the most intense -- One I have labelled in my notes as "Oops all Bartons". Here we found ourselves facing more than a dozen Bartons all claiming to be him, but really only one was the real one. So, with the use of Trow's circle of truth rope we were able to dispell the illusions to finally reveal the correct Barton. However, once we were able to find Barton he still was agressive and we were unable to break the Devourers grasp over him through mundane means. So, Laika called upon Aurora to grant her his blessing and laid his hands upon Barton. While this action did not have its normal effect within the lair of the Devourer it allowed Laika to learn that in order to save Barton we would need a full circle of twelve guardian runes activated in a ritual.
The following were added into the ritual:
Runes:
Light - Gryffin
Soul - N and Jasper
Love - Irri
Magic - Mistral
Nature - Gordon
Time - Kasca
Truth - Saegan
Creation - Tarnisha
Mind - 404
Protection - Fern
Hope - Kalashai
Space - Styx
Furthermore, Tony added the following - three Truth rune activations and a small wish 'Barton is Free'.
Once the ritual was completed Barton was indeed free and our first goal was completed!
We carefully moved on expecting the Devourer to be angry with the loss of its servant, but found ourselves entering into what felt like a childrens school gymnasium playing a game we do not know against a team that knew the rules. As time passed we quickly learned the rules and ended up winning the game against the enemy team. This scene felt like it could have been pulled out of a game show like Game Changer and I really enjoyed it.
Upon winning the game we moved on to a room with a series of truth or dare constructs. As we completed things nothing happened, but as we failed to properly complete dares we were attacked. The first round of this nearly wiped us and that would have been the end of our journey if it wasnt for some quick thinking from a few feigning healers. After a while we ended getting stuck on a few dares, one being "Lick your elbow". Everyone knows this is impossible without dislocating your shoulder, and so Laika suggested that someone write "your elbow" on a piece of paper and lick it. The next time this came up I offered just that to the contestant and it worked!
Finally we found ourselves in a kings court with a lavoushly dressed Devourer/wannabe king. After a bit of parlay the Devourer lost his cool and got bored with us. Combat ensured and various plans were attempted. The Devourer couldn't just be killed and would regenerate if taken down. So, I worked to assist Tony to pull together another large ritual, but before we would get that done Saegan had other plans. Using a small wish Saegan called his shot, predicting that his kill on the Devourer would work. He then challenged the Enemy to single combat and won. The kill stuck and the Devourer did not return.
As the Enemy's power collapsed around us we fled out of the stronghold and our of fae being chased by various fae creatures who still were no pleased by our trespass.
We did it. The final goal was completed and Trow was saved from his martydom.