By Hillary "Lissa" Fontino
This was not my first time venturing into the lands of Stonewood or near to the place known as Pandemonium, though I certainly do not have the level of experience with this place and these angels and demons as others do. As such as I can only do my best to detail everything that we encountered along the way.
First and foremost, upon arrival, we conducted a ritual to the gods of Stonewood to ensure that they were feeling benevolent towards us. We had two people standing for each of the Novem, one to speak and one to make the offering. For my own part, I certainly hope that Lord Zargon appreciated the liquor and the grave dirt. With our rituals completed, we had scant little time before the first threat was on us. Never let it be said that cows aren’t a danger which must be respected. These cows, in fact, wielded polearms and grew in strength the more and more of them that we killed. For a while, it seemed like that could go on forever until the Cow King arrived. I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure what happened for the next bit since I made the mistake of focusing too much on the weapon in my hand and not enough on the magic in my veins. Which is to say that I got disintegrated. Claudia is never going to let me hear the end of this.
When I returned to the fight, the cows were gone. I’ve been told that there was a demon repeating its own name over and over that was holding our souls hostage and we returned alive and well after that was done. I got a moment to reorient myself and grab some water, briefing the Baroness that we were still alive and well. Well, not- You know what I mean.
We had been warned that the next thing we would need to do was face a creature called a Riftwalker in order to get into Pandemonium. I want you to picture portal with legs and claws coming at you. That was what it felt like. We managed to beat it and used that portal to enter Pandemonium. From the moment we entered, it was trying to rip at our souls. I know that for those of a more alive persuasion, it was actively taking pieces. I was entirely focused on keeping the arcane conduit of my soul functioning while Claudia focused on keeping us in the fight. Because there was a fight in Pandemonium, of course. We fought our way through cultists who had the things we would need in order to conduct a ritual for our safety and the safety of those who would follow.
The first step was collecting keys and coins. The keys needed to all be used together in the correct locks based on the amount of magic someone has. It took a lot of coordination to make sure we had all the right keys, locks, and people in all the right places, and keep them safe long enough to turn those keys but we managed it. From there, Margaret took over to lead all of us through a ritual while Aelias guarded.
One by one, each of us had to repeat the words and actions that Margaret talked us through until the space was made safe and the drain on everyone’s souls finally stopped. Of course, that was by no means the end of the danger. It never is, is it? A servant of Maltheal arrived to try to destroy the ritual in order to stop us and we had to fight. This fallen angel of Solarus, assuming the information I was given is correct, could channel lightning which would shoot into the crowd of us trying to keep a solid line and we would have to just do our best to survive it or else ground the lightning out.
In the end, it wasn’t a matter of killing this angel but instead redeeming them. Solarus has one of hers back at her side and Maltheal has one less to send against us. With hope, we can do the same again.
We returned to Stonewood from there and the Knights of the Crown conducted a field court where they knighted Dame Margaret. From what I saw on the field, she certainly earned that accolade.
Lissa Petrovna of Val’dara
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OOC:
Okay, let me say this again for those in the back: Stonewood throws a fantastic event. It isn’t anything like anything else you’ll see. If you want to face a real, honest challenge that makes you have to pull out all the stops with a decades long story that’s still easy to jump into, this is the event series for you. It also very genuinely reminds me of some of the events I played when I was new. The puzzles require everyone to work together, not just a small cluster of people. The fighting is a challenge and you’ll need the resources you have. I also particularly enjoy those moments where players who have been around for decades are working closely with the new players in the plot and trying to figure it out together but the story has been going for that long.
The NPCs are great, the story is complex and interesting, the puzzles are fun, and the new site they’re using is really great, especially for being a backyard. Zack and the rest of Stonewood have been doing a great job in expanding the site for more use. I also really really liked the chain lightning effect and loved the logic of being able to ground the lightning out with a weapon touching the ground. That sort of thing is a lot of fun to figure out.
I really do think that more people should come try out a Stonewood event. There’s a particular feeling that these events provide of being the powerful heroes that we all want to be, of being able to face down unbeatable enemies and do huge world shaping magics. Everyone should try it at least once.
Hillary
