Before making an impulsive decision with the Heart, The Rectifiers decided to use another one of the raven feathers to visit Morrithana for guidance. When they arrived in her tower, she was wearing a formal black dress and a silver half-mask on her face. She said her time was short as she needed to be present at a gala, and being late would draw even more unwanted attention.
She explained a few things about Mageron magic. She explained that the main magic the group has seen are pulled from seven human vices: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. She added that she was familiar with Lillian, but that she had been away from the Magerony for some time. Through these revelations, The Rectifiers also learned that sirens were a synthetic race of sorts created by the Magerony. In fact, Morrithana added that long, long ago, the Magerony itself had occupied Matar, explaining the eerily similar architecture they found in Syreni. As the explaining came to a close, Morrithana seemed worried at what the Loyalists were planning in Matar, for she was unaware they had such an active focus on the country. On her way out the door, she told The Rectifiers to use Doom Magic on the Heart to reveal its essence in order to dispel it. For their penultimate visit, the sister of the Once-King warned The Rectifiers that they should be careful, for many things were seeming to converge all at once. With that, she sent them back to their own land in a burst of red magic.
Once they were back in the coastal manor, Gale followed Morrithana’s advice and fired a Doom-laiden bullet at the heart. The golden-green membrane began to slice until it opened to reveal a glowing light within. From within came three wisps of light that materialized into three Greed Demons. One stood equipped with several bags of coins wrapped around its body. The second wore seemingly custom-crafted armor to fit around its demonic, fat body. The third and final demon had countless weapons protruding, stabbing, and attached to its body. The middle demon spoke, and told The Rectifiers one of them would have to step forward should they wish to dispel their presence. He also warned them to choose wisely with an evil, deep laugh. Audrea took the risk and stepped forward to the demon with the weaponry. Once in place, she was told to present all weaponry she owned. She placed her various weapons in the maw of the demon that swallowed them whole. Once the transaction was complete, the demons began to dematerialize back into wisps. Before the last one vanished, he told them they would likely meet again. Once returned to the heart’s essence, the heart itself disintegrated, destroying all the membrane and roots that were poisoning the city.
Breaking free from the membrane came a man dressed in pirate’s garb. He had slicked back blond hair and nearly an entire coat of dirt over him. He introduced himself as Carter, Knight Captain of Navis. He seemed to not be aware of what year it was, for the last thing he truly remembered was Zin gathering a host to storm the Ancient Skies. As The Rectifiers conducted a small catch-up, Carter said he was beginning to recall times of piracy and working for Turner, but he added that these memories did not feel like his own. While speaking to him, the party learned that Turner had once been a troublemaker in the city that Carter frequently had dealings with. It seemed that the Heart of Greed had corrupted most everyone in the town, but Carter chose to believe that, in the end, Turner had helped them cleanse the coast of it. With the corruptive fog beginning to clear away from Carter and Navis as a whole, the group lit the lanterns to signal Beckett and his men to enter the city. In the distance, The Rectifiers and Carter could see the gates to the docks opening, a sign that Carter’s men were his once more.
The sun had begun to rise as The Rectifiers regrouped with their allies in the city proper. The townspeople and knights were beginning to wake up and shed their pirate corruption (and clothes). It was decided that Beckett would take interim command of the city to begin its return to normalcy. As Beckett and his men began to clean up the city and assist the townspeople, The Rectifiers ventured off with Revelrae to do some much needed resupplying.
As their resupplying neared its completion, Revelrae was interrupted mid-sentence by a burst of sharp pain coming from her jewel. Sparks of purple electricity burst from it. Wincing through the pain, she said that something powerful was on its way here, honing in on her jewel. The famed singer added that they were endangering the city having the target right in the middle of the town. The group helped Revelrae up the hill back toward the abandoned manor, hopefully to keep their hunter away from the city.
Once safely inside, Revelrae said that perhaps they should destroy some of the Anchors while they had a moment in the event that they could weaken Saren or his minions. The Rectifiers agreed but had no Anchors handy to destroy. Revelrae paused, then asked them not to be angry with her. After her request, she pulled forth from her satchel Resolutia’s book and Blackrose’s rose. The Rectifiers were a bit shocked that their would-be Candidate ally had stolen from Zola, but they decided the circumstances were too dire to push the issue. The group retrieved the magical spikes they had received from The Red Inquisitor and drove them into the Anchors. Once pierced, multi-chromatic sparks of electricity rampaged from the Anchor, eventually causing a small explosion. Once the light had dimmed, all that remained of both the Spikes and the Anchors were dust. Ideally, this would give them an upper hand against whatever was on its way.
Without much longer to prep, a strong wind blew open the doors of the manor. Outside, the sun was being hidden by ominous cloud cover. Bolts of lightning jumped from cloud to cloud. At first, the bolts were yellow or white in color, but eventually warped to the dreaded shade of purple. Suddenly, the dark clouds broke apart and the corrupted, scaleless dragon with its purple spikes burst forth. With its rider issuing commands, the beast began to spew purple flames onto the city, destroying buildings, walls, and people alike. Revelrae cried in dismay, saying the rider knows they await in the manor, but was ravaging the city nonetheless. She begged The Rectifiers to use what they had retrieved from Turner to turn the tides.
Not knowing he would literally alter the tides, Duma Van began to commune with Undine’s Trident. He could feel the water within and without beginning to answer his call. Once focused, he aimed the trident out toward the flying enemy. Far below in the sea, a disturbance was growing. The trident began to shed its metal coat to reveal the true power within. Rising from the sea came a gargantuan, watery apparition of Duma Van, similar to the Turner adjacent they had battled just recently. The apparition stood several hundred feet tall, drew its own trident of water, and drove it into the dragon itself at Duma Van’s command. The dragon cried in agony, its flames growing weaker and weaker until it could spit them no longer. With this grand spell cast successfully, Undine’s Trident shattered and Duma Van’s watery self receded into the ocean.
Despite the ushering from its rider, the dragon could no longer breathe flames upon the vulnerable Navis. Knowing their plan had been thrown askew, the rider turned his beast toward the manor. Their enemy approached at alarming speed, and Revelrae told The Rectifiers to brace themselves. Once the dragon neared, the rider summoned several purple runes of Doom Magic and sent them flying toward The Rectifiers. The runes trapped them and sent them spiraling into another realm of Doom.
In this fresh hell, The Rectifiers found themselves in a dark wasteland, the ground cracked and barren as far as the eye could see. The sky was near black, a dim orange and black sun giving them scant light. In front of them stood a tower that spiraled into the sky until it could be seen no longer. Forboding, spiked facades littered the side of the round tower, and each section seemed to have its own growths protruding from the stone. One section had vegetation covering and growing out from the stone, the next held Doom crystals dripping with sand, and the section growing into the clouds had stalagmites cracking through the tower. The group bravely took the stairwell leading to the dim entryway.
Inside, they were in a chamber adorned with a dark marble floor. Around the room black flames gave the room an evil glow. On the opposite side of the tower were 7 doors each with a label: Mythos, Winding Brook, Chained Beach, Apex, Ritual Site, Lonesome Tower, and The Beyond. The Rectifiers chose “The Beyond” first given its mysterious name. Behind the door was a portal, through which they stepped.
The Rectifiers were transported to a strange jungly wood. The temperature was warmer than anywhere in Matar should be, even in late winter. Unrecognizable sounds from bugs and animals blanketed the dark wood. Ahead of them in a clearing was a misfit group of adventurers gathered around a fire. There was a Dwarf with two shields nearby, a gangly elven man with countless daggers at his belt, a wizened old mage with a glowing staff, an older woman with vials and long nails, an oddly slender orc with a bow nearby, and a rugged man with salt-and-pepper hair and beard. The Rectifiers tried to be cautious but were found out rather quickly by the group.
Neither group recognized the other, at least at first. After piecing history and statues together, Gale came to the realization that they stood in front of the Bloodied Heroes themselves. The Heroes of old explained that they once were compelled to take a ship to leave the shores of Matar, but that was long ago. When asked if they were lost, Borlin, the Dwarf with two shields, stated that years ago they were lost; he knew not how to classify them now. Both sides settled down as allies as The Rectifiers caught the old Heroes up on the current happenings of Matar.
The Dwarf questioned why Gale held the taint of Doom upon her and learned, from her reply, about Anchors and Candidates. After a pause, Borlin offered to purify both the gun he recognized and Gale herself. Gale agreed. The salt-and-pepper haired man known as John stepped forward with a wrapped bundle. From it, Borlin drew a blade: the blade that slew the Doomking itself. It was majestic in appearance, crafted from a crystalline metal with one half white, one half dark. The Rectifiers dreamed of what it could have looked like with all its magic still intact and wielded by the mighty King Korrin himself. With the sliver of magic left, Borlin drove the blade into Gale’s corrupt pistol. His last words to Gale were, “Number four is yours”. A blinding golden light showered the wood. Once it settled, the spectating group heard the thud of the sword hit the dirt, its magic completely expended. The pistol, now made of gleaming, sparkling golden metal and flawless woodwork, floated gracefully to Gale’s hand. Gale herself had even changed appearance yet again. Her corrupt purple hair and eyes were replaced with the same, gleaming golden hue. Sparkles of light littered within her eyes and hair, akin to the gun. All corruption of the Doom had been purged from her and the pistol.
Before they parted ways, John stepped forward with the spent blade and offered it to Gale. He said that Borlin would have wanted The Rectifiers to have this blade. With the boons and blessings of the last set of heroes obtained, the ground between the groups began to expand. The Rectifiers were pulled forth from whatever land to which they had been transported. They stood again in the dark tower antechamber. The door leading to “The Beyond” was now gone.
The next stop for The Rectifiers was the “Lonesome Tower”. They were teleported to a sheer cliff, seemingly floating above an endless abyss. In front of them stood a lonely tower with a dragon wrapped around the spire. The dragon’s spikes, eyes, and claws had an identical shade of color as Azalea’s eyes (and once, her siren features). The dragon also bore a red scarf of sorts around one of its claws. Despite living in a land where no dragons roamed, The Rectifiers entered battle with yet another dragon, unsure if it was real or some trick. Once it was defeated, it warped into a similarly colored blue wisp and fled to the top floor of the tower. The Rectifiers followed…