The man in black goaded Skywalker to kill Londo and Zola, using the strange metal object he offered. He promised the short, hooded figure that it would give him the power he needed to save everyone. The party, especially Ed, talked Skywalker down, convincing him you cannot always save every single person. Realizing the error of his thoughts, Skywalker waved away the clouds in his mind as well as the metal object the “Harbinger” offered.
Growing impatient and angry, the Harbinger sent Skywalker away through a portal of shadow and stretched the chamber out, covering Londo, Zola, Vis, and Zin in shadow. Stating he had had enough of their interruptions despite the enjoyment it brought him at first, the Harbinger called forth two pale, horned creatures. Though they did not seem to fully materialize, they still posed a threat. One had much larger horns and a crown atop his head. The crowned creature wielded a strange metal gauntlet, magic scepter, and sword. The smaller creature with no crown wielded simply a staff. Battle ensued.
The rookie heroes dispatched the smaller creature quite quickly and moved their attention to the crowned one. Every so often, the crowned one would attempt to charge his strange gauntlet and scepter, so the party surmised they must pull the gauntlet from his hand while he readied this spell. Finding success in this plan, the party was able to best the crowned one. Azalea dealt the killing blow, using his own gauntlet and scepter to fire a lethal beam through his heart. When the shadowy dust settled, the party found the crowned one’s broken blade, the metal cylinder (which they now noticed was giving off a purple aura), and a piece of paper with a strange drawing. With the foes defeated, the shadows and lightning began to dissipate. The group found themselves yet again wading through shadowy mist, but found it growing thinner. The one and only sun began to shine through the darkness.
Ba, the party, came forth through the dissipating shadows, finding that the dome and its storm were beginning to fade. They found themselves in front of the palace gates, their friends helping one another up just inside the palace courtyard. A crowd of people that were helping clear and rebuild the city began to form around those that saved the city. Whispers started to form; “Did they get rid of the dome?” “They’re the ones that got rid of the Darkpetal Knights!”. Londo and Zola approached, thanking them for their rescue. The band then noticed a brown-cloaked Dwarf at their side, getting to his feet. A Dwarf with no orange-yellow glowing eyes met their gaze. He thanked them for freeing him from the Harbinger’s grasp, and that he would soon return to the mountain where he belonged. He had had enough of the sky and stars. He ventured off toward the Observatory.
Londo brandished his sword and hailed the party in front of the crowd as the “Saviors of Luxen”. Cheers erupted from the still-growing crowd. People began to approach, shake hands, and give a few words of thanks to the saviors. Londo whispered to them during the procession that he believes the time was now for the vote. It would take place tomorrow, for not only did these people see what they did, but councilors as well. They saw them rush headlong into the dome. Londo, Zola, Vis, Zin, Creft, Talla, Cavo, and Vint all ventured to the palace to recuperate.
The newly christened “Saviors of Luxen” spent the day exploring the city, resupplying and examining the wreckage from the dome. Once their business was done, they returned to their room in the King’s Tower, the moon just recently entering the sky. In the lounge area, they found Cavo and Vint fast asleep already, Vint with a blanket much too small for his stature. On a table, the party found a box that held what Londo had found at Blackrose Mansion. A similar piece of paper with a drawing was found inside.
As the party began to approach the stairwell to their beds, a strange rumble centered itself under the stairs. When they approached, the rumble grew into a red glow, and a loose shape of a humanoid formed with a red misty aura. A gravely, coarse voice told them to visit the Sunbeam Tombs behind the palace, shed three drops of blood with the Fratricide Dagger onto King Korrin’s tomb, and to come alone. Without much argument, the party ventured forth from the palace to the royal tombs in the rear courtyard.
Since they were denied entry at such a late hour by the two guards, the group decided to go with a stealthy approach. Sarin Kor doused the torches with his dark magic, the party hid, and Amy sedated the two guards with her sleeping poison. Ed swiped the key from the guard and opened the way into the Sunbeam Tombs.
In the main chamber of the tomb, the party found the perimeter of the room filled with the simple tombs of Governors, from a time before councilors. In the center of the expansive chamber, they saw a handful of royal tombs, intended as only a beginning for Korrin’s line (though nearing its apparent end). A statue bearing the likeness of Korrin, rugged features, short, windswept brown hair, and his legendary blade in his hand. They almost thought they saw the statue give off the golden glow of his eyes despite being stone gray. At the base of this statue were two stone tombs, “Korrin” and “Sarah” etched in them, respectively. Off to the side of these tombs was a solitary one. Atop it sat a ceremonious display topped with a dagger. Etched on the tomb was the name “Thalend”. In front of her parents’ tombs sat a smaller statue of Aura’s likeness. She wore a flowing robe and held her hands outstretched. Her tomb similarly had her name etched.
Knowing that during the time of The Bloodied Heroes, Korrin had to kill his own brother due to madness, the party took the dagger from its display and three of them offered up their own blood quite willingly. At the third drop, a red mist began to rise from the tomb on which they were spilled. A red glow began to fill the party’s vision. When they came to, they were in a different place entirely.
The potential Rectifiers were now at the top floor of a high tower. They were in an expansive, finely furnished residence and research area. The walls were finely crafted dark stone; the floor was sleek marble. An extravagant bed sat empty with fine silk canopies. Around the room were several desks with glowing pages, holding runes akin to those in Sarin Kor’s book. Bookshelves held tomes of a similar nature as well. Magical rings glowed dimly at the chamber’s perimeter. They held bowls nearby, some filled with a red liquid. These magical circles were also drawn or cast with the same lettering. Racks held various staves and magical rods of unfamiliar design, some even crafted from metal. Lighting the room were levitating crystals, giving off a warm glow.
Though the door behind them was shut, across the way, the party spied an open balcony dotted with luxurious pillars of expert craftsmanship. Drawn open were more thin silks. The view was an unknown one. A sprawling city stretched out beneath the tower. Countless other towers dotted the city, a count not even boasted by Luxen itself. All the buildings held sharp edges, fine stonework, tall spires, tall windows, and slated roofs. From the slight view of the streets from their vantage point, the party saw small canals snaking through the city, shapes slowly moving down them. Dotting the alleys and streets were flashes of brilliant light, giving an almost beautiful firework type show throughout the city. The city was lit with similar crystals as the chamber they were in, but with greater strength. Flying through the cool winds were slow-moving ships, seemingly powered by similar crystals. Near the ocean that touched the horizon was a colossus of a tower, looming over even the tallest towers of the city. On one face, this tower held a clock with pointing hands and digits. The moon hung in the sky. A cool breeze blew through the silks.
Leaning on the railing on the balcony was a woman. She wore pinned up black hair and had pale skin. Her robes were a flowy black and red design, revealing a fair bit of skin and having two tabards flowing in front of and behind her. At the shoulders was a thick black fur, accented with black feathers on her right shoulder. Her garb had no sleeves. She wore dark leggings. On her right arm, the party spied a tattoo of a dragon winding around it, gold accents dotting the wings. When she turned and entered the chamber, they saw golden eyes, high cheekbones, and fine features. The woman was human, at least as far as they could tell.
She introduced herself with an elegant yet strange accent. Her name was Morrithana Aladoro, though her legal name was Morrithana Agianile. She materialized chairs from thin air with magic and offered the party to sit. Morrithana did the same. The conversation that followed was a series of revelations and information she summoned them to hear. She claimed she was the sister of Korrin and that he was not originally from Matar. Morrithana explained that the rookie heroes found themselves far from Matar, in a land known as The Solstice Magerony. This land was ruled by powerful mages known as Magerons or Mageronesses, of which she was one. She and Korrin, his real name being Tristair Aladoro, were the children of the Aladoro who traced their roots to one of the original Founders of the Magerony.
The story of how Korrin got to Matar was recounted. As her parents were being slaughtered in their estate to denounce what their ancestors had done, two of the Aladoro slaves escaped with Morrithana and Korrin. Morrithana was taken to a family close with the Aladoros, to be raised as their own. The slave that took Korrin gave his own life to cast a powerful spell to send him far away, eventually landing in Matar, where he was found by Thalend’s family.
Morrithana explained these seven Founders helped create this unified land where the sun never rose, but they dabbled in magic beyond what they should have. They wished to try their hand at creating life itself, sacrificing countless lives and immeasurable blood to create something called a “Drop of Creation”. Morrithana explained that she was unsure what this actually was, or if it was even a liquid at all. This “Drop” allowed them to create two creatures from the various bones and remains that had arranged. What sprouted forth were two vast monsters, known to Matarans as dragons. One dragon was a wise and thoughtful beast, akin to those that roosted in The Ancient Skies once upon a time. The second was a beast of chaos, spreading ruin and lies across the world. Morrithana said that some old fables claim one Founder that was ashamed at what he had done, locked both original dragons away with powerful magic.
Though the Magerony was able to kill or banish the creatures, Matar found itself not quite so lucky, though they eventually won the day. Morrithana stated that this breach of natural order unleashed a vile and corrupt force on the world. A force the Matarans call “The Doom”. With a pause, she stated that from her own research and extrapolation, The Doom will not truly cease until all dragons are banished from the world. She added that she also found traces of legend that said the death of all seven Founders would also purify The Doom, but that was simply untrue, as the Founders lived thousands of years ago.
As sort of proof to back up her claims, she stated that it was no mere coincidence Korrin’s children were so extraordinary, given that they had both the blood of a Founder and the blood of a dragon flowing in their veins. Additionally, why it seemed that the key figures of Matar always seemed to grow obsessed with the idea of stopping death itself. When pressed on why she wanted to share this information or help them, Morrithana restated that the Aladoro’s ancestor was one of the original seven Founders, so she found herself somewhat responsible for the evil her family has brought on the world. Sarin Kor asked about his own book that had her language’s lettering. She explained that the book was written by a Mataran that ventured into the Magerony during The Second Doom and recorded what he could. When asked if she could teach him the language, she laughed, explaining that it would take years upon years to teach them her language, as it was much more complex than the Mataran tongue.
Morrithana continued her tales with bringing up the terms Candidate, Anchors, and Doomlords. She explained these were all terms created by Matarans, as her people had very little interest in The Doom. When asked why, she answered that their magic was quite strong enough to repel it. At this point, the party brought up Vint, asking Morrithana if she knew him. She laughed, stating she could not possibly know all slaves of the Magerony, but that his magic does sound similar to theirs, though at the level of a child. With their questions satisfied for now, Morrithana explained that Anchors are special objects that allow a Candidate to stay rooted in reality while The Doom corrupts them into a Doomlord, a paragon of some destructive force. Since the Doomlords had all been vanquished in the last Doom, whoever was the driving force of this one had to rebuild from the ground up. The party asked Morrithana if she could figure out how many Anchors there were. She answered that she could, but the spell would come at a great cost, one the party decided they were not willing to have on their conscious.
Morrithana stated what Selina had already told them, that the Anchors had to be re-attuned or destroyed to purify them, though re-attunement was much more dangerous. She added that there are stories of a secret temple somewhere in the world bearing braziers of fire. These extinguished fires are said to be similar to those in the throne room of Luxen, magically tied to a life-force. Morrithana added that if an Anchor were to be placed in these Embers of the Founders, it would be destroyed. The problem was finding the temple in the first place.
With this wave of knowledge bestowed upon them, Morrithana said, time grew short. She said her finale would be two gifts, one from her, one on behalf of her brother. She warned that her magic could do extraordinary things, though they may seem unnatural to the party. After all, a Mageroness’s magic came from humanity, not nature. She said she could change races, re-align physical bodies, or even bring someone forth from the dead, though she said she would only bestow this gift once. As they discussed options and weighed them with Morrithana, the party found that many races they knew were simply more blood experiments from the Magerony, sirens being one such.
One of the gifts was used to change Azalea from siren to elf, as she found the inherent nature of seduction sirens had distasteful. Once the transformation was complete, the party began to weigh options on a possible resurrection. Amy’s lost neophyte Knight that died at The Ancient Skies mission was considered for a time, but she waved away the thought due to its lack of potential gain on the grand scale. The topic moved to The Bloodied Heroes. The party decided it would be quite beneficial to bring back one of the Heroes that died, gaining an ally that has experience fighting The Doom. Gale offered The Gunslinger of Smoke as an option, someone whose stories she had heard as a child. The would-be Rectifiers decided to give this idea a shot and asked Morrithana. When asked for some sort of connection to help bolster the spell, Gale offered her own gun. Morrithana placed the gun at the center of one of her magic circles, spilled her own blood, and cast the spell. Red mist and smoke began to billow in the circle. After a few moments, the smoke settled, and a figure now stood in the center. He kneeled to pick up his gun. When he moved his fingers to feel them stretch and move once more, smoke began to trail from his movements.
The man had finely combed brown hair. He wore fine vambraces and leather armor. He had the build and stature of a man who had seen much battle. Though he was still confused at what had happened, Morrithana interrupted, stating they were out of time. She plucked two black feathers from her shoulder piece, gifting them to the party. She said they would allow one return trip here each, so the party should use them sparingly. With one last reminder that what she had found were her own deductions, she waved her hands and red mist filled their vision, bringing with them a hero of old…