Held over three days, Lupercal’s doors were open as Lupercalia began. A path was laid through the fey forest so anyone who wished to attend could find their way through the enchanted woods. The council and its emissaries were putting everything they had into making Wolfchella something that would show off the independence and strength of Lupercal. A spell of oblivion had been placed over the town, any humans that looked at the walls wouldn’t remember anything supernatural that occurred within. They’d remember iconic bands like SlipKnot, My Chemical Romance, Twenty-One Knots, The Howling Pumpkins, Wolfgarden, RadioKnot, Lycan in Chains, Jane’s Dog, The PupSpring, Yeastie Boys, Knot Mouth, Counting Crows, Rage Against the Suppressants, 3 Knots Down, Stevie Knots, Knot Doubt, Nine Inch Claws, Pearl Jam, Red Knotsuit Apparatus, AB/O, Linkin Knot, and Weezer. Two new bands also premiered, “Dawg in You” with Anders, Connor, and Dante and “Huntress” featuring Harlow, Paloma, and Milena.
The food stalls served such delicacies as hamburgers, hotdogs, and cheese fries. Anybody looking for more decadent cuisine could swing by the Waffle House where they served waffles at a marked up price. Everyone’s favourite lycan dive-bar, All Fours, offered free beer nuts to anyone who bought the drinks they were best known for, warm beer. Old Frascati was handing out wine curated to lycans, six times as strong as regular wine with notes of milkbones.
Humans would remember the skirmishes, the gauntlets, the fun, the games, and the prizes; they would not remember anything mystical. Anyone seeing the supernatural for the first time would consider it completely normal, and then promptly forget about anything strange. Upon entering people would register for events: Capture the Flag, the Contest of Strength, the All-Fighter Gauntlet, the Lycan Gauntlet, the Coliseum (Singles), the Coliseum (Doubles), and the much anticipated Alpha Gauntlet. By the afternoon, the rosters had been posted and the competitions were set in stone.
Day One of Lupercalia saw the opening contest, Capture the Flag, a friendly skirmish between two teams, followed swiftly by the contest of strength. To close off the evening, the Opening Rumble of the Alpha Gauntlet would take place, securing the roster for the first rounds of fighters.
Day Two of Lupercalia would immediately kick off with the Open-Lycan Gauntlet, followed immediately by the first round of the Alpha Gauntlet. The singles tournament would be held in the early evening, and to close out the night, the All-Fighter Gauntlet would be held.
Day Three of Lupercalia would open with the second round of the Alpha Gauntlet, where the finalists would be decided. The afternoon would have the Doubles Tournament and after sunset, the semifinals of the Alpha Gauntlet would be held. Immediately following the final round would commence.
See below for the list of prizes, ooc info, and who won Capture the Flag, the Strength Contest, and who will be entered into the first round of the Alpha Tournament.
ooc info:
Capture the Flag: Buy one Get one Gelato, coupon is only valid until February 18th.
Strength Competition: Gold-Plated Dumbells
Open-Lycan Gauntlet: Free Drinks for One Year at All Fours
Singles Tournament: All-inclusive spa package for one at the local bathhouse, complete with a happy ending.
Doubles Tournament: Trip for two to see Cirque Du Soleil
Alpha Gauntlet: Alpha Status
Post on the 19th saying who won the things from Day 2.
Post on the 23rd saying who won the things from Day 3.
Post on the evening 24th saying who are the finalists in the Alpha Gauntlet.
Post on the morning of the 25th saying who will be the next Alpha of Lupercal.
“Fuck Alphas” won 🙂
While it seemed obvious that the demigod with the “Super Strength” ability would win, Remus confidently walked up, copied the demigod’s power on top of his own, and then won the gold-plated dumbbells. It seemed obvious that Remus intended to win every single competition just to flex on Lupercalia.
Released into the fairgrounds in an all-out brawl, over fifty lycans battled it out, those left standing after an hour would make up the first round of the Alpha Gauntlet. While most assumed Lain would be beaten into a pulp, he fought like he was possessed, foaming at the mouth, rabid, and holding an insane amount of strength, when the final bell went off and he shifted back he immediately collapsed. The Doctor would later discover that while he was under the influence of an unknown substance, there were no rules against performance enhancers.
"Seems to me, the last person standing gets final say on who is right or wrong."
- Corellon Larethian, God King of the Seldarine
Anyone with intuition could feel it, demons were the most sensitive to the shift, spirits especially. The Inferno was gone and the gods, demigods, and various aspects who relied on the comforts of Elysia, Elysium, and the other afterlives no longer could. The Archfiends had chased many from their divine homes, and the Inferno had dissolved entirely; the Otherworld was flooded with demonic forces. Where The City of New Dis once stood was a crater, a hole punched through the foundation of the Otherworld, through the Underdark, and into the outer rings of the Abyss below.
The Court of Drow came upon it first, they’d been charged with securing the boundaries of the Otherworld from creatures like the amphisbaena or Koh; entities along with countless other Fiends previously kept at bay by Titania’s protection. Where once the might of the fey shielded the mortal realm, now it fell to the workings of sorcerers and priestesses; Lloth’s will. Fiends that crawled from the Lake of Dis below were hunted, captured, or dispersed by the forces led by Somniar, Felandaris, Amadeus, Nyloth, Severon, Faerinaal, and Nidhogg. Sorcerers through their training contended with the magic of the Abyss, demonology was a focal point for their arcane training, and shielding the hidden ways into the mortal realm as well as the Court itself was a simple enough measure.
What remained was the truth that entities like Archfiends would continue to crawl from the Abyss, or send their emissaries in their place. While it would be difficult for these forces to step into the mortal realm physically; the Greater Demons and Original Vampires had proven that it was still possible through possession. Another truth was that they were not alone, the Draconic God Oztalun was revived, risen in new Abyssal glory. Druids could feel his return and would feel their sense of indebted loyalty towards the deity once more.
From the distant places of the Otherworld, Titania’s erasure eliminated the last of her longstanding protection, the eyes of many turned their gazes towards the mortal realm. From long-forgotten places they had already begun to stir: Oberon and his lorendrow who sought a home free of plague, and the Dark Seldarine who’d been silent for ages had begun to whisper once again. Eilistraee had already made herself known, Vhaeraun had forged an aasimar into a scourge, and as Lloth wove from the Demonweb Pitts, her generals gathered again. The dark elves could feel this just as surely as the high elves could feel their old patrons walking among them once more; Sehanine’s lythari had brought their faith to the mortal shores. Sune’s love shone upon the sun elves, through the miasma of decay the face of a trickster snickered from beyond the veil, and whispers of a dark but proud cold bellowed from the mountains of the lunar elves.
As the senate met in preparation for the upcoming Lupercalia, rats scurried about the Forum, in the center of the hall they formed together, their exposed brains indicative of their drow nature as the cranium abominations that were under Somniar’s control. He told the members of the senate: the senators, marshals, ambassadors, and emissaries alike that Oztalun had risen, and that he was behind the Abyss opening; the spellplague that had destroyed the elven empire and the proto-drow could very well be at their door within a year. From Felandaris he relayed that members of the Asphodel, past or current, would remain bound to Oztalun’s will. From Nyloth the Inquisitor informed the senate that the Seldarine would seek to make patrons of not only the elves, but the rest of the realm as well, and that only creatures of the Abyss were immune to the effects of the spellplague. She had seen firsthand how it devastated the elven empire.
The emissaries of the elven court observed that Farenduil had been infected by the spellplague, but by purging his magic, he was cleansed of it as well. Eren proposed that it was clear that the Abyss did not have power over people without magic; those who’d had it destroyed within themselves by Seraphim, and those who’d been purged of it by Nettelia were no longer beholden to the call of the necronomicon. Still, a truth remained that perhaps there were other ways to separate from it, or to somehow cure the spellplague. Yurena was quick to point out that it had been made clear that those who wished to leave the Asphodel could sacrifice the person they love most, but beyond that, she knew of no other way.
The business of the Otherworld set aside, another matter needed to be contended with. As Octavian had been ostracized from the city, and the known members of the Asphodel had been captured, stripped of their magic, and imprisoned, others needed to answer for their war crimes as well. Eve had confided in Lilith the weakness of an original vampire long ago; naturally, Lilith then gratefully passed the information along to the various disciples of Pluto who had been betrayed; the problem they were encountering was that killing an original vampire had far-reaching implications that they did not yet understand.
A deal was struck, and with Otherworldly stakes gathered and blessed by Trivia, Senator Xerxes, his marshals, and others with an axe to grind impaled the vampire and petrified him. Given to Trivia to conceal so that none from his line would ever seek to release him as a gesture of goodwill Lilith very kindly offered to take the original vampire’s body off of her hands; bound by Trivia through an unbreakable oath, Lilith would not allow the creature to be killed or resurrected. High Priestess of the Abyss, she buried him deep within the pit in a sanctum that she had claimed as her own, and it was there that Pluto would remain trapped for eternity. She dribbled blood into his mouth so he’d forget himself entirely, he'd remember only an existence of pain, petrification, and the frequent nightmares where the High Priestess of the Abyss would visit him.
ooc info:
Pluto is closed and will not be made playable.
Helen is also closed and will not be made playable.
Lupercalia will begin February 16th at 11am.
There will be 3 drops to the event, February 16th, 19th, and 23rd.
Again, this is a mini event so the drops are just "it starts," "these people won tickets to cirque," and then "this is your new alpha."
Any senate-connected character will now know the inferno is gone, Oztalun is back, and he's somehow connected to the Asphodel.
Nearly all members of the Asphodel, past or current, are still enthralled to Oztalun.
“Forgetting is like a wound, the wound may heal but it has already left a scar.
- Alice
Threads, endlessly knit and threaded through the dark ran through the shadows that were as expansive as space itself. Nearly lightless and soundless save for the intricate patterns and the threads themselves, at junctures they intersected, tied together then carried off along their way. Each joined in some way, fibres of scarlet tightly woven as they each gave off enough light to illuminate nothing but themselves. A hum from each like the static of a weary signal, though to those who could attune to it there was a song of destiny patterned within each.
At the centre of the chamber were the Three: Moirai, Graeae, or Norns, over many years and many lifetimes they had carried many different names but they were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Between them was Clotho’s spinner that she used to weave stardust to life, her red threads dispersed to Lachesis who determined the length, and last of which sat Atropos with her shears of the purest aetherial light. The pattern spanned in all directions connecting every life across every realm on the continent, every life that lived in connection to the Otherworld, its tributaries, and all versions of its reality.
One thread broke and a myriad of threads snapped as a result, its connections broke as a result as the pattern cascaded into a different shape entirely. Another vanished and it cascaded further, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and at last a sixth vanished just as Atropos meant to close her shears. About the Three the Six had caused a ripple effect, the pattern had changed, and chaos surrounded them.
At the top of the forum, the senate gathered before the Six as the city swelled beneath to pay their respects to those that had given everything for the safety of the city. Marshals littered the crowd, the surrounding buildings, and the ruins to ensure that nobody would use this as an opportunity to land a blow against the city.
The five covens of Rome had placed a formidable protection spell over Rome as a whole that would be sustained throughout the duration of the memorial. Guided in practice by Trivia, at the ceremonies closing she would announce the recent erection of her temple; a place for witches to gather, learn, and debate without fear of recourse. A sanctuary for the children that would no longer be able to channel her by invocation. Hazal announced definitively that the Amaranthus would continue to safeguard the most dangerous prisoners of Rome within the catacombs, though conditions would undergo reform in allyship with the lycans of Lupercal once more.
Elves had come to Rome and with them an unseasonable cold had followed, blowing in from the realm of Audulë where the elves had taken up residence. The procession was one of the greatest that the realm had ever seen as the elves and all fey like creatures gathered about the Forum to attend the city’s tribute to their fallen Queen. Robin heralded the end of the autumn season as she walked ahead, offerings of the harvest free of any rot delivered onto the doorsteps of the people. Her curse lifted, she and the chancellorship bowed to Titania and the Six before they stood among the senators.
Since Eden the druids had been the defender’s of humanity, for centuries their numbers had begun to dwindle, but Eren the Lion was resolved to take up the mantle once more. They would put down those that threatened Rome with absolute impunity, be they supernatural or human. Druids had gathered in the payment of their respects, Lucretia among them as she looked on at the Six who’d died in order to give her, and so many others, a second chance to do the right thing.
Halfbloodeds and eladrins emerged from around the world, in Rome their sanctuary had been built, Mutat Domun’s halls were filled to near bursting and the spirit of camaraderie between the two differing species was bolstered as the two were resolved to settle in their beliefs side by side. Cloe had built the home, now she led her people into the forest, and through it she’d brave the Otherworld and all manner of dangers to see those of her kin that had been lost, found.
From the depths of the citystate of Lupercal, buried in the Fey Forest, the lycans of what was once New Rome emerged. Many remembered the devastation they had levelled against the city, the chaos that they had reaped, and the brutality that had fallen from their claws. Lucas peed on a fire hydrant before Flora swatted him on the back of the head and told him to put his dick away. The lycans that lived in Rome, within the pack or apart from it, as well as those of Lupercal were under their protection and they would be watching. Lycaon laughed, distracted from the memorial as he scoped out a fine piece of real estate: a steakhouse that would be like no other.
Demigods had descended upon Rome following the absence of Titania’s protection, welcomed onto the senate, some remained while others took up residence or allegiances elsewhere. They had suffered greatly at the hands of the Great Old Ones and while Hyacinth sat upon the senate he was resolved to see to it that those responsible would be brought to justice. The Gods and their allies were without accountability, that would change.
For demons, everything had changed and while Bebe would always grapple with enforcing the proper usage of emojis in the group chat, she wouldn’t stand for the mistreatment of her kind. Stigma surrounded them but for centuries demons had been whatever those who held their contract needed: a parent, a sibling, a best friend, and so much more. In cooperation with the five covens and the spirits, she worked to liberate those that she could, or see them pass on peacefully. Her years in the Alstroemeria household allowed her to recover a ring that had been in their reliquary ages ago, just as a vampire could walk in the sunlight with a daylight ring, a demon could walk in the mortal realm with a ring of solomon. In time the spell in its creation was replicated and distributed amongst the five covens. The ring would prevent an abomination’s host from breaking down, would allow an incubus to remain without feeding, and it would allow familiars or manifests to remain in this realm if their tether was broken.
While most of the Court of Drow remained within the Otherworld, some of the drow appeared in the shadows, watching with their own quiet observation. The Otherworld had become incredibly dangerous, Titania’s death meant that this realm would never be safe again, that burden now fell to the dark elves in exchange for a home beyond the Underdark and the agreement that they would be left alone. Drow were used to hostile terrain, protecting the realm from the likes of beasts like Koh or Machin Shin was an easy task. Nyloth and some of her priestesses were in attendance, for too long Ayi’ig had permitted the presence of men within the priesthood, never again. Those who attended to Lloth’s darkest devotions would be women and women alone.
While The Eye had been irrevocably changed, they would remain as a force to monitor the state of Rome, to study the supernatural world, and to prepare them for whatever threat would come next. Ariadne knew that The Great Old Ones had turned their gaze upon the mortal realm and that would not be forgotten. Stood side by side with Horus, their warforged and the former overseer Ephraim, the humans of this city were under their protection
Vampires from the four bloodlines had gathered to honour their fallen brother, Xerxes, The Speaker, addressed the crowd on behalf of the senate. For the first time in thousands of years he spoke without Romulus’ influence, his ring broken, the strength of the original vampires or the magisterium would not be held over them any longer. Rome was independent, apart from the monarchy, and apart from those that had lorded their strength over them for too long.
“Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.”
As the ceremony closed, snow began to fall.
That evening as the procession cleared out, others filed in elsewhere.
Scarlet, churning rot bubbled like a great lake at the base of the unfathomably deep pit that had formed where the City of Dis had once stood. Into the bedrock of the Otherworld but above the Abyss, this vast wasteland of decay had arisen. Offshoots of catacombs led into the Underdark’s many depths all the way up the chasm and it was here that the necronomicon had fallen. In the darkness, Lilith cackled with Remus at her side: every seraphim in creation out to destroy her, and she had still pulled it off, she still fooled them. She fooled everyone. Priestess of the Abyss, chosen daughter of Persephone, traitor to all and loyal only to herself and Remus; from the midst of the lake she watched as the ashes of the destroyed demigod gathered across the surface, the true master of the book rose.
Across Rome, the mark of the Asphodel burned hot, burning and searing as if engulfed in draconic flames. They awoke screaming, but at the beach of the scarlet lake, Octavian, joined in secret by his necromeras Sonny and Atlas, appeared and took a knee as he knelt for the only person who had ever deserved his fealty. Resolved to join ranks with those who still considered him a patron, The Ivy, his ultimate goal had finally become clear to him. Those who remained loyal to the necronomicon up until its destruction departed for the Lake of Scarlet Rot, Efigenia, Bastien, Tepiltzin, Nashoba, and more. Those who had turned their backs on the book were not free, they would never be free unless they paid the ultimate price. Until then, the members of the Asphodel both former and current would remain a thrall.
A sickness churned in Nettelia’s stomach, she had known for weeks now that something was off, that something had gone wrong. It didn’t matter how strong the seraphim had been; when Michael struck the necronomicon with his seraphim blade it should have killed him. Pythia, drawn towards the lake as well, the fallen seraphim had come to realise that she had been fooled, but if she had been privy to the plan then it would have spoiled everything. She needed to fight to defend the book with everything she had in order for it to be convincing: Lilith had planted the seed herself, one in Nettelia’s mind at the book’s first inception, and then another within the arrogant thoughts of Michael. An idea that grew and festered for thousands of years, they both wanted the book gone so in the end it was easy. She spread this thought to everyone that heard it, she visited their dreams and removed any doubt. Uriel, Azrael, Dumah, and Adatiel. The entirety of the senate and every archdruid drank it down like fine wine.
In the shadows, Pythia was joined by Lucifer, Beelzebub, Sathanas, Asmodeus, Abaddon, Mammon, Juno, Aeacus, and Megaera.
The necronomicon had been stitched together, Nettelia had used the countless bodies of druids and supernatural creatures, but it had a will and a mind of its own, one that had been corrupted unequivocally by the dark forces of the Abyss. There was only one among the Gods with the draconic nature that necessitated this power, only one with the ability to seal the dark, and only one with the ability to fan its flames. Nettelia had taken His soul before the Asphodel could get there, then in the inverse they took it before she could reach him the second time around. Two halves of the same whole united within the necronomicon. The dark aspect of Oztalun waded through the tide of scarlet rot, The Infernal Seal, if his golden half had been The First, then he would be The Last.
ooc info:
Oracles will no longer be given, any visions are suspended until further notice and cannot be acquired in any way.
Pretty much every page has been updated, including species pages to reflect the lore changes. I'd recommend reviewing the pages for the species you play along with the pages under further reading.
Necromancers have to be on good terms with Daddy Oz to do necromancy, the rules surrounding it have also changed.
New species have been posted: High Elves, Dark Elves, Daemonfey, Aasimar,
Important species updates were done to: Demons, Humans, Seraphim, and Spirits.
We have thirty-eight skeletons in the queue (barf), I'll be playing thirty-nine of them. JK but there are twenty-four skeletons, I'll queue 8 a day with the last being posted at 4pm EST on Sunday. At which point you are welcome to DM the main to reserve 1 skeleton, first come, first serve.
For the taken species page, a slot marked "To Be Chosen" means that there will not be a skeleton, but much like the troupe event I'll eventually pick a character to have a species change and approach the player ahead of time. So, I'll be watching who I think might be a good fit :)
Additionally, Lupercalia will be in February, who will be the next alpha? I'll be keeping an eye on the dash and ignoring what people want ooc, it matters to me more who's supporting who IC, and who is advocating for themselves.
Elysium is gone and the Inferno is gone, I imagine there'll be some homeless aspects showing up soon. Your divine characters don't really have anywhere left to go, so settle in. Demons, demogorgons, etc are all over the Otherworld now, so the dark elves have their hands full and it's very dangerous to travel within.
No one but those that were loyal to the necronomicon know about Daddy Oz or the Cave of Dis etc. They'll know the Inferno broke down and Elysium is gone but why is a mystery.
The one sort of exception to the rule above are druids, archdruids will know that Oztalun has returned, and that feeling of dread/despair druids have been under since his death will finally lift.
Daddy Oz isn't really a bad guy, he just wants to kill some Gods :cozysip:
The limit is now 17, have fun :kisskiss:
I'll post a very small blurb on December 15th for our holiday event, then a little wrap up January 5th. The event will just probably have some details about the solstice, maybe some fun little tricks from Krampus, and the usual holiday market to create some backdrops for players to use in their threads.
“Remember that a sword held by someone who is about to die will never be able to protect anything.”
- Alzira
At dawn, the resistance began to move.
In the Draconic City above, Rhovanor, Eoin, Ezekiel, Nathaniel, Gael, and Zagreus landed by virtue of Felandaris’ magic. Transported there and shielded from psychic detection by Rhovanor while Sanem’s apparatuses prevented their magic from being discovered. It was here that Pelorus, Echion, Udaeus, and Hyperenor rested in between excursions. The world was all but purged and the dracaenic vessels of dragon-deities had little to fear from what few rebels remained. The world was theirs, they had won. Deep within Tiamat’s fortress, Pluto scrubbed at the scales of the dragon, her children Demetria and Mordukhavar scorning him as he did. Caio filed his nails and watched, basking in all his good fortune. In the distance Pluto felt the approach of someone from his bloodline, but as the Great Old Ones ridiculed him the original vampire remained silent. This was the first inclination of hope that he’d felt for a decade. The six rebels made their way into the bowels of the city, and it was here that they took up their position and waited. Keket was their soul priority, even if it killed them she had to be free.
In the heart of Forsaken Rome, Emory, Xerxes, Nirvaan, Andruil, Prometheus, and Adatiel slipped from the catacombs below onto the streets above. The ruins of Rome that had been left were transformed into a city of pure, Elysian Gold; Eldritch Technology controlled the city as automatons, illithids, and demons patrolled alongside the Archfiends of the Inferno. The heart of the industrial system, it was here that Renfield had his true body. The minds of those he controlled embedded with his tentacles were only puppets, but it was here that the captured halfbloodeds were kept and made to use their magic constantly. Rawlins, Cloe, Micah, Ismael, and Blair among them. Harellan, Narcissus, Soren, Komos, and The Bottle lingered here. Protecting it, guarding it. The rebels’ target was Trivia, however, as a problem was created that only her magic could solve, the rebels moved in secret to draw several very large summoning circles.
In the ruins below Forsaken Rome, in what was once Necromanteion’s lowest ritual chamber, Gaybe, Esme, Serissa, Ayla, Cedric, and Atarniel navigated the underground terrain to try and locate the body of the deceased spartoi, Cthonius. Cedric scouted the caverns ahead, searching for weak points and inconsistencies as Esme moved the earth to clear a path forward. Work was slow and methodical, high above Pelorus was always looking, and always searching. Inside his vessel the spartoi was screaming, why was he being made to work so much? He'd been lied to! Lazy Pelly-chan. Gaybe had given them a relative location, he could see the chamber, and he could see the rock patterns that surrounded it, but it was Serissa and Atarniel who carved their way through the creatures that patrolled. Careful not to alert the hive minded illithids, each was pinned, their magic cut off, and then cut down.
In the fortified perimeter of Forsaken Rome, the grove of Telperion had grown; fertilised by the bodies of countless fey and elves, the trees were nearing maturity. The first crop of ambrosia would secure the powerlines of the Great Old Ones and give them strength enough to destroy the incursion of the Clockwork creatures outside the borders of their realm. Renfield had already learned how to harvest them for their power, had mapped the blueprint of their souls, and all that remained now was to destroy these creatures once and for all. It was here that the remainder of the Great Old Ones patrolled: Ilsensine (Marzia Bianchi), Luna, Assan, and The Despair. Between Forsaken of Rome and the silver orchard, a great wall of living flames erupted: Titania, Rainer, Mars, Juno, Venus, and Melpomene began their assault, to free the fey, and to create a sizable distraction.
As the strike against the Telperion orchard began, Atarniel slipped into the body of Cthonius while those beneath Forsaken Rome used the fusion of Sanem’s technology and Felandaris’ magic to transport herself back to the lair. The body of the demigod abandoned on the slab, Atarniel returned to her previous form and set to make her way back up to the surface alongside the others. Chaos would soon fall through the streets and they were resolved to meet it head one. It was above the ground that they joined the rebels seeking to liberate Trivia from her bindings.
To quell the flames that would not allow anyone to support the forces at the Telperion forest, Soren dragged Trivia from the bowels of her cell. Deep within the network of the city, The wall of fire went up, they were given the all clear from the rebels below and from the street they watched as Trivia was marched forward; Nirvaan’s power, activated by Felandaris and Sanem’s technology, triggered the transformation of the Fallen Aasimar. At blinding speed Soren was eviscerated before Nirvaan turned his attention to the enemies that immediately began to fall upon them. Renfield had embedded himself into the very framework of Forsaken Rome. Where The Great Old One ended and the organic technology began was indistinct, but he was still organic and everything connected back to him. Prometheus placed his hands upon Trivia and felt Renfield’s power screaming into his mind, but not before he severed the connection to not just the original witch, but the halfbloodeds held captive as well.
Trivia’s mind was still broken, her identity practically erased, but she was still powerful. A coven was more than a collective of witches, it could be any number of people bound together through the witches’ mark. It wasn’t perfect, but Emory had studied it long enough to be able to link himself to the rest of the rebels, he marked each of the rebels with a rose in bloom and tethered them together like any coven. Emory invoked Trivia's name, her power, and her magic over the Otherworld; then he used it to do three things, one was to rip open the sky, the other was to conjure Remus back from The Void. From there, and the last was to bring the Lycaon's feral pack of lycans into the heart of it all.
Below the Draconic City in Forsaken Rome, chaos had erupted. Tiamat’s children descended towards the Telperion, that was their prize and what they valued most of all. Titania, Melpomene, their Blade, and their vampires would be dispatched quickly and easily enough. Rhovanor found the psychic pulse of Keket buried within the flying city, and far below he led the other five, avoiding detection wherever possible as the bulk of the city’s defences poured out below. To Tiamat the rebellion below was the last of the threat, despite the significant intelligence of Serpents, their arrogance was even stronger. Within the Draconic City the invading rebels had been discovered by Pelorus, and as they headed toward's Keket's cell the former brothers spartoi stood in their path. Triggering his abilities thanks to the device designed for him and the other Fallen Aasimar, Zagreus battled the draconic deities while the others advanced. While Hyperenor and Echion were killed, Udaeus and Pelorus tore the nephilim’s head off after disabling his magic. Keket was freed, transported to the ritual chamber in the same way that Cthonius had been before the Great Old Ones could catch up to them. Rhovanor, Eoin,and Nathaniel lept; Ezekiel and Gael went looking for Pluto.
Remus had been conjured in the heart of Forsaken Rome and immediately began to rampage once more, he smashed structures, levelled buildings and tore The Great Old One Komos clean in two as Clockwork machines began to pour in from the broken sky above. Indiscriminate killers, they butchered Nirvaan, Xerxes, and Atarniel as the Clockwork AI sought to exterminate all natural life.
Keket appeared in the ritual chamber, Cthonius' body on the slab already prepared. Within were Felandaris, Tamlen, Sanem, Kaan, and Marisol: with precious little time, the hairbrained plot that had been proposed to the aspect over ten years prior was finally being brought to fruition. Her blood, it always came back to her blood, a sickening and vile feeling but here they were with nearly everything that they would ever need. A pint or two would not be enough, they needed all of it, every last drop was transferred from her body and into Cthonius’. When she fell, Marisol gave the heroine her hand and walked her to the door on the other side of The Void. In time, Marisol would escort nearly all of them before she herself finally faded with the last of life.
Kaan had been separated from the necronomicon for fifteen years, but before that he was tethered to it for nearly four-thousand. A necromancer of the highest echelon, he’d coached the drow sorcerer through the breadth of the reincarnation that was otherwise lost to him. The necronomicon was formidable, but drow had been making pacts with fiends and devils for thousands of years, and Felandaris had gathered enough magic over the last decade and a half from Tamlen’s ever-flowing fountain to force the hand of a God. There was enough power discreetly stored under Forsaken Rome to destroy not just the city, but the realm entirely.
Sanem had seen to every calculation a dozen times over, had fabricated countless pieces of technology to improve the scope of abilities of those she was working with, as well as prolong their chances of fighting The Great Old Ones above. United through Emory’s mark, once the ritual began there would be nothing stopping Pelorus from knowing exactly what they were, and likely exactly what they were doing.
Onto the street, Ayla walked and met with the others: Rhovanor, Eoin, Nathaniel, Gaybe, Esme, Serissa, Cedric, Emory, Andruil, and Adatiel. All around them the feral lycans tore through the city, a sea of lycanthropy, but the rebels were stronger together, so as planned they shielded Trivia’s body where she would not be detected and took to fighting with The Great Old Ones and their forces that remained in Forsaken Rome: Harellan, The Bottle, Pelorus, Narcissus, Udaeus, and Renfield. While the ubiquitous mass of tentacles had quickly recovered from Prometheus’ brief assault, the avariel was quickly found and violently butchered/talked to death by Narcissus. Cloe’s automatons were under her control, the animals that Ismael had taken over, and the devices that Rawlins had fabricated belonged to the halfbloodeds now. Micah did not survive the separation. The Clockwork did not cease, they battled between the two with numbers that poured through in countless synergy from above, they attacked Remus but as they swarmed him the aspect could not be felled easily as he thrashed great limbs and breathed monstrous air across Forsaken Rome. Madness incarnate.
Above Forsaken Rome, in the Draconic City of Tiamat, the great five-headed dragon queen had grown tired of batting Pluto around, so while the warriors fought, she moved to stand over the ledge and look down below. Pluto, in chains, was found quickly by Ezekiel and Gael. An additional vampire of the same sire line and a single human wasn’t noticeable, even to the dragon’s senses, with the original’s manacles broken, Pluto was free for the first time in fifteen years. Bats and ravens flew from the palace, Pluto to join his siblings, Ezekiel and Gael to join their friends.
At the borders of the Telperion forest, Titania, Rainer, Melpomene, Mars, Juno, and Venus fought. Protected from Ilsenine’s mental warfare by Titania’s song, their ears plugged against Assan's voice casting, the warriors and aspects fought against the hordes of creatures as they battled to penetrate the forest. Bats manifested a physical form as Pluto joined the fray, after being absent for thousands of years four siblings reunited at long last. The tide did not change, but still they pressed onward. Above, Tiamat roared, displeased, she descended onto the forest as each of her five heads unleashed a rage of elements.
Pythia, had been betrayed. The liar and the serpent, her and her siblings had been relegated to… policing a trapped witch in a Forsaken City that had relatively entertainment. Serving at the behest of an inflated God’s ego. In quiet she conspired, though unaware of it, Lilith had planted the thought there all along. She’d sewn it into the other archfiends’ as well, all save for Beelzebub, who’d gone along with the plan happily enough. When the rebels rose up, they, along with their demons, did the same. The archfiends and Megaera cut down and killed the disgusting mass of nouns, The Bottle, and began to carve away at the varied tentacles of Renfield as they tried to slice their way into his core. Overpowered, The Great Old One embedded his limbs into their brains and took to personally puppetting them instead as the archfiends turned to fight the rebels now instead.
Ayla hummed with power, trapped and pinned down, the target was Pelorus, and had always been Pelorus. Beneath the city the ritual began and as the rebels managed to create an opening, the Fallen Aasimar activated and cut through him. Unfortunately, it was only moments after the rest of The Great Old ones had been alerted. Torn and battling on several fronts, the swarms headed for the catacombs as the rebels retreated to the only entrances they had left unsealed. It was here that the survivors would hold them. Ayla’s limp body hung from Udaeus' blade, impaled before she was dropped dead to the earth.
Tiamat’s breath stripped the stamina from the already weary warriors, but as his blood fell upon the ground, Mars was only incensed further. A berserker driven into a frenzy, the original siblings watched as Juno was cut down and beheaded but those that remained pressed that much harder. Forced to the ground by the crippling weight of Tiamat’s power, a hum began to reverberate through the air. A song of ancient origin rippled in the sky, a gate opened and through it sailed the remaining ten muses: Melete, Aoede, Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. Accompanied by the astral elf, Yavie, and Hayliel with a Mickey Mouse parachute.
The Muses and Goddesses turned the tide, but not before countless bombs that had been constructed over the last fifteen years fell upon Telperion and The Great Old Ones. Modified not to harm any fey or elven life, the original vampires had to run and take cover. Astral in origin, they tore pockets in the landscape and revealed the bodies of countless within. Mordukhavar, son of Tiamat, contested with Yavie and Rainer as mentor and pupil locked swords with the Great Old One. Pulled from the ground, the elves and the fey that had been imprisoned were once again free. Aeode lent her aetherial song to them and replenished their magic, Thalia joined in and restored their vitality, and Melete harmonised to heal their broken bodies. Imprisoned and bled for their power for fifteen years, the fey and the drow rose once again and moved against The Great Old Ones. Conjured from the ground itself, Tamlen was brought to his wardee's side as the chancellors united and the Titan towered above the ground again.
Below Forsaken Rome, in the catacombs beneath, the ritual began. Kaan and Felandaris had both contested with dark forces before, but this would be one like no other. Cronus was older than the continent of Faerûn, older than Fate or Creation. Now they conspired to give him physical form. Greater than any tower the Architect had previously constructed, for someone who knew how to make use of the raw, cosmic power that Tamlen had given, anything was possible. Bound through Emory’s mark, Trivia’s Otherworldly power flowed through them as they started.
Above, Luna was cut down, Ilsensine as well, Renfield was torn apart into pieces and Remus was eviscerated down to his very core. Udaeus was shredded, The Weary was turned inside out, and all five of Tiamat’s heads were cut off and rolled across the ground to join her children. The Clockwork had descended upon the field as the machines tore Lycaon and his army into nothing more than fur and sinew. The Titan devastated the landscape, but its body was pulverized into dust, and as Tamlen was reformed at the Laurelin, both him and the tree were torn from the root by the Clockwork.
The Clockwork were winning, and quickly. Rainer fought valiantly and took a shot of aetherial mana that was intended for Titania, falling as his sword broke and his spirit dissipated at long last. Venus went next, Pluto followed shortly after. Mars remained but the fey and drow were falling away in droves as the machines closed in against them closer, and closer. Their circle grew smaller and smaller. In the sky above, Hayliel slowly floated down, unnoticed by many as he watched everything with a pair of binoculars. More bombs fell from the fallen, scattering the machines as the bodies of Tiamat's children were pulled apart and dismembered.
The last of the rebels stood in defence of the caves as the armies of The Great Old Ones were eviscerated by the machines that poured endlessly from the sky above. Trivia’s body was discovered and destroyed, the power of the Rebels fractured, and all that remained were the few. Rhovanor, Eoin, Nathaniel, Ezekiel, Gael, Gaybe, Esme, Serissa, Cedric, Emory, Andruil, and Adatiel. Behind them the ritual continued, and they held. Magic, blades, bullets, aether, psionics, lightning, earth, air, and brute strength. They should have crumpled then, the machines should have washed over them like they were nothing, but still they held and not a single inch of ground was lost until it was soaked in blood. Marisol appeared now and then, she’d offer a kind word heard to only one, and she’d bring them to the other side. Just as she’d done for so many others over the years.
Cthonius rose from the slab bound by sacred pact, raw aetherial power, and cutting edge technology. The machines eviscerated the outer defences and the Clockworked roared into the chamber, the last of the rebels nearly cut down, and there they were frozen.
“It will come with a cost.”
“...”
“Six.”
And then, just like that. It was over, they were back. Six times Cronus would ask those that had fought that day, and six consecutive times a life had to be freely given. They would know the question without being asked, but the answer would need to be given just the same.
With a sigh, those that had given everything for the battle dissipated into gray ash. Within her cell Adatiel whispered a quiet telepathic farewell to her siblings, then she was gone; across the battlefield the Blessed all felt her departure. Marisol stood over the infirmed, she offered the comforts that only a mother could as her fingers stroked their hair, she appeared within Lucas’ line of sight one last time, waved, and then she was gone. On the battlefield Ezekiel rushed alongside those he fought with before he suddenly stopped, his consciousness back from the future. He managed to catch Hakan’s eye in the distance, he smiled, and then the wind blew him away. Within the Pyramid Gabriel looked up, Rowan winked at him, Gabriel flushed, and then just like that the dhampir disappeared. Across the Otherworld Titania took a great breath, Mars clung to her and demanded to know what she had done - how they were back, but she asked him only one thing: save them. He continued to hold her even after she slipped into the wind. At the summit of Necromanteion, the doors were flung open, Kaan saw Raffaele and Jian hanging there and only hoped that this would be enough to save them. The rest of the team rushed forward, but Kaan slipped into the air.
Nyloth was a drow once more in the midst of her ritual to Lloth, Evanuris joined her now though as they rose and left the temple behind in favour of venturing elsewhere instead. Faerinaal halted the march of the drow, the soldiers turned their eyes back to the court as they faithfully followed the Founder’s lead. Somniar’s illithids stopped their chittering as the Inquisitor felt bloodlust broiling within his veins, his arm and half his face suddenly off. Amadeus appeared at Severon’s side and stopped the man from firing up his machines. Nidhogg and The Executioner went to the Queen’s chambers and found Ayi’ig impaled against the wall. Assassinated. Absent the trauma of the explosion, Somniar survived the assault that had torn apart his body from space itself. Later fitted by Felandaris with a relic recovered from Elysia, a marvel of a mystical prosthetic was in place of where the Inquisitor’s arm had once been.
Felandaris, Faerinaal, and Nyloth arrived at Severon’s workshop and levelled everything, Somniar’s insight led them to all of Severon’s hidden labs, and any choice of the Clockwork abominations was wiped away. Felandaris and Nyloth invoked an old power together, one outlawed even by the ancient elves: balefire. Power provided by Felandaris, approval from Lloth secured by Nyloth, and the scorching pale flames destroyed everything that it came into contact with, erasing it from Time itself. Nyloth furthered her punishment and imposed an oath in Lloth’s name: bound in power, Severon would never be able to continue this pursuit again. As the last of Ayi’ig’s first drow, Nyloth, Faerinaal, and Felandaris were installed as the Court of Drow’s Triumvirate. With Ayi’ig’s death, The Executioner would serve Nyloth instead, and Nidhogg would protect the triumvirate and Lloth’s interests. Good to his word, Felandaris freed Rhovanor from his subjugation, but told the illithid if he returned to the Court of Drow he would be made their subject again.
As Ganymede approached the Gates of Dis, a spring in his step, a cheery tune on his tongue, Diana came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. Saving his life, though he’d never remember. She told him the battle was going to be over soon, and he took her out to Applebys to celebrate.
At Necromantion’s summit, things went differently now, bindings of light were fired from Keket as Lilith was struck and caged in the place where she’d been hidden, Tisiphone’s seraph blades pierced through Octavian and pinned him, preventing him from using any power as hellfrost cemented him in place. Lucretia lashed out, transformed into a dragon as Yurena saw her opportunity and blew her horn once more. Levent, keenly aware of the decade and a half he’d spent beneath the dirt, and the tragedy that came from this war, cast cold upon the Asphodel. A frigid song that froze Pythia, Bastien, Tepiltzin, and Nashoba in place. Chaos erupted amidst the Asphodel, they expected Yurena to betray them but Lucretia and Levent was another story altogether. Pythia screamed and lunged, but she was too late, Michael’s blade pierced through the necronomicon.
Pluto awoke beneath the pomegranate tree where he'd first found Kore's soul, but she was gone now, and the tree itself was dead and barren. The original vampire was alone once more.
Across the field of battle the majority of necromanced forces were swept away before they even met the front lines of the allied senate’s forces. The barrier fell and Ayla directed the witches to focus their efforts on those within the tower, to the prisoners within the cells, and to those at the summit. Unanimously linked across Rome and in the Otherworld, they worked to conjure those within as they desperately tried to escape. The great burning tower of iron sank into the bedrock as a giant sinkhole was formed; knowing that the book was destroyed, Efigenia, Lucretia, Avery, Alvaro, and Harellan left through a hidden door and made their way back into Rome to blend into society once more. Furious, August’s power swelled, but Tisiphone’s seraph blade pierced him through his chest as every other member of the Asphodel had the good sense to abandon ship. The Fury didn’t kill him, but she destroyed all the magic within. Somehow, Michael still stood. While he was confused, the book was gone so in the meantime he aided the others in evacuating. Pythia remembered everything that had happened, now her book was destroyed once more, Michael offered her his hand, but she rejected it and departed on her own.
The lycans remembered the blast, the intrusive thought that stopped them all in their tracks. The Eye was laying in wait for them in the midst of the Labyrinth and while they could have continued into the city they saw the fey drawing back from the assault. Lycaon returned and announced that the battle in the Otherworld had ended immediately, recounting some nonsense about the apocalypse. Alek, the Lupo, and those summoned who chose to remain returned to the forest, this time with the chance to build something new.
Within the Fairy King’s Forest and around the world, the eladrins took a collective breath as Titania’s departure shattered the instrument at the heart of the Court of Drow. All the fey that were being channelled were suddenly restored to their full, elven power. Spring Fey became Dawn Elves, summer fey became Sun Elves, autumn fey became Dusk Elves, and winter fey all became Lunar Elves. Laer, Aurora, Robin, and Zahrya collectively resigned to putting this battle to the side as they looked to the DaemonKing for guidance. Meryasek’s hellfire raged through the field of bloodfruits and those buried within were put out of their misery. When he was done he took the crown from off of his head and tossed it aside, the monarchy had ended, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with the chancellors as their tiebreaker: the fifth court, the court of the blood elves and the daemonfey. Tamlen searched for his brother, but Revas was abducted by Rhovanor and tortured then killed by Somniar in the days leading up to the battle, he was dead. His head was on a spike outside of Ayi'ig's bedroom window.
Faimen across Rome, The Otherworld, and the mortal realm as a whole took pause as they too were affected by what Titania had done. Her sacrifice and all that she had given. Made immortal, faimen were made into eladrins and all children that would be born from elves and mortals going forward would be as well. Unlike their predecessors they had no capability for song, nor did the seasons change at their approach, and the elements did not bend to their will: they were now immortal, would not age past their prime, and they could manipulate one of the four elements. Directionless, Cloe stood among them, their chosen leader to see them through this transition. Drow, as well, were changed. Inhibited by Ayi’ig’s will and the residual effects of Titania’s channelling, they transitioned from creatures of undeath to fully realised dark elves.
A single fig fell once more, and with it Laurelin's light faded from the tree beneath the Pyramid. Gifted to Tamlen by the archdruids, it was clear to them that Oztalun’s legacy would fall to the would-be guardian. In the heart of the Fairy King’s Forest, Tamlen presented the boon to the chancellors, and through his raw aetherial power, a new realm was crafted: Audulë, loosely translated from the old tongue as a noun that meant Hope, or a Place Of. The four high elves, and the daemonfey of the chancellorship: Laer, Zahrya, Meryasek, Robin, and Aurora lent their songs to its creation. Just as Titania had once done in the past; they formed a great island that they divided, a place for every court, including the daemonfey and blood elves as well. At its heart, the fig was planted, and together the elves sang to its growth: Laurelin grew once more, towering and beautiful with branches that touched the sky and sprawled across the horizon. Tamlen, it’s stalwart protector. Separated from the Otherworld, and guarded by Rainer who'd train the elves once more, Audulë was only accessible via direct invitation through the Fey Forest. However, elves and those of significant elven blood would always find their way. At Logon's advocacy, and after an apology for his assault on the fey, Uriel was permitted within with the understanding that if he raised his blade to another elf he'd lose it completely.
Forgiven for his past crimes, and pardoned for the part he played among the Asphodel. Levent rejoined the winter court. In the heart of the Lunar Mountains, The White Flame continued to burn. Fanatics of the Lunar Court arose, piety returned as the Flame called many to its worship. Dareth among them, a Guardian of Auril.
The Fairy King’s Forest no more, the Fey Forest became the home of a myriad of creatures. Eladrins most prominently, but demons, sprites of the Otherworldly menagerie, spirits, changelings, and others seemed to wander within as well. Travellers were still weary, the fey were inherently capricious and monsters were inherently dangerous. The fog remained, though instead of trapping people within it turned them back around. Here in the Fey Forest the line between the mortal realm and the Otherworld had thinned and had become indiscernible; as a result of the former orchard, it was all too easy to be lost. Clairvoyant by nature, it was here that Cloe would come to build the new home of the eladrins, and from here that she and her marshals would traverse the mortal realm seeking others who’d suddenly awoken to new power.
While it became clear that diplomatic relations with the dark elves and the high elves would always be tense. Titania’s absence had made the Otherworld a dangerous place. In exchange for keeping the malevolent forces at bay, the dark elves retained their place within the Court and a tentative peace was established. So long as neither trespassed in the other’s domain, the Triumvirate and the Chancellors would ensure that all would be well.
The City of Dis was no more, it collapsed further and further into the Otherworld until there was nothing left but a seemingly bottomless pit. The Asphodel was no more, but the mark upon the members did not fade, the Allied Senate Forces had won, somehow, but those that remembered knew that it did not come without a cost. For everyone else it felt like a dream, one that would fade over time, those who wished to remember could do so with a potion, spell, or treatment, but a great many were eager to forget the horrors that had befallen them, their loved ones, and the realm.
Attended by the Elven and Eladrin Court; Melete, Aoede, Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania joined their sister Melpomene. Within her casket of woven aetherial magic, Mneme continued to slumber in her plague dream. None could figure out why it was that she remained on the cusp of life but the answer had always been nestled in Melpomene’s chest. The eldest of the twelve muses, Calliope stepped forth and brushed Melpomene’s golden hair: “To be a woman is to be alone and never alone, feel your braid and know that we all stood before you, that we all stand with you.” The ten who yet lived joined their circle that would contain the spellplague as Melpomene dispelled the casket and approached her twin sister.
The bond of siblings was more important than any other, parents left too soon and lovers came too late, sisters were there throughout: at least Melpomene always thought Mneme was meant to be. Melpomene was ready now, she said farewell and Mneme took her final breath. A gate to Arvandor opened as Angharraddh stood on the other side, though not in her true form, Mneme with hair that mirrored Melpomene: a new aspect for the Queen of many fallen Goddesses. Elsewhere, within Álfheimr, the raven haired counterpart took up her place and duty at Thanatos’ side: Memory and Death, together at last. Azrael moved to stand with Melpomene and together with her sisters they departed for Arvandor. Any of the elves or eladrins who wished to leave the mortal realm and join them, did. This would be their final chance.
From the rubble of what once was, Udaeus, Pelorus, Echion, and Hyperenor retrieved the body of their brother Cthonius. His corpse that had been knit back together from the bones they buried long ago. Defiled and used by necromancers, elves, and sorcerers alike. They gathered together and built a pyre, upon it they set the eldest of them and remained until the flames died out and the embers went cold. Cthonius' ashes were scattered and from there the four went their separate ways once more.
Reform was held within the city of Rome, the triumvirate was dissolved and Theo Graves took his place within the vampire monarchy. Succeeding Evelyn Boucher, he was named King of the European Monarchy of Vampires with the eladrin Elessar at his side, promoting a new age of cooperation between vampires and elves once more. Evelyn, choosing to step down following so much loss, retired to the countryside. Ayla retained her seat as senator of the Venus vampires, choosing to keep her hidden abilities a secret from the rest of the senate. Xerxes and Adrian retained their seats as senators, Emir was named Theo’s replacement. Another progeny of Rhiannon’s, he was the same age as The Earnest was when she had been appointed to the senate years prior.
Amidst the Pyramid, new Keepers were at last appointed, if there was anything that they did not remember, with their permission Nettelia restored their memories completely. Safiye, Eren, Esme, and Evy. They would rule over the Pyramid and hold responsibility over the druids of Rome, as should have always been the case. For his crimes in the battle, Octavian was not permitted within the Pyramid again, nor within Rome. Fen’Harel was stripped of their senate position, Evy would take their place instead. While his acolytes remained welcome, the phoenix was not. Aren, Dionaeia, and Nettelia were free to do as they wished: the war was over.
With Kaan dead, The Relic stepped out of retirement and took his place as Sovereign of the Narcissus Coven. Efigenia retained her position as Watcher for the Narcissus and Marshal for the senate, bringing Raffaele under her wing as a fellow Watcher, Marshal, and apprentice. Vivianne, permanently changed into a spartoi, abdicated her position as Sovereign; the Dahlia Coven unanimously chose Abel to follow in her footsteps and continue the Coven’s path towards reform. Marco, Avery, Emory, and the rest of the coven were eager to continue the former Oracle’s legacy, Abel appointed Avery and Emory as Watchers and Marshals. Hazal had rebuilt the Amaranthus Coven under a new legacy, one that was both strong and something to be proud of. Blood magic remained impossible for them to perform, but its study and understanding was no longer forbidden. Many witches that had flocked to Rome for the war chose to remain under Hazasl’s new regime; Ciro and Grayson were appointed to the position of Watcher, while Ciro turned down the position of Marshal, Grayson and The Released were quick to take up the mantle. Indelibly changed by the battle, Rowan officially joined the Amaranthus Coven.
Virgil and his family had flocked to Rome to defend it, but once again the Ivy Coven put down its roots, many of the witches and lycans that had come to the city for the war remained and swore themselves to the Ivy. Both a coven and a pack, the Ivy became the most powerful force in the city. Eoin and The Hopeful were named Watchers with the former taking up the position of Marshal alongside Aurea. Within the senate’s prisons, reform took place as the ancient cells were officially emptied and rehabilitation was attempted for those within. Minds that could be healed, in conjunction with The Dahlia, The Amaranthus, and The Ivy, Trivia worked to restore those within who’s minds had been shattered by magic after the war. Among them was the former necromancer and now human, August. Within the halls of their ancestral home, Yurena awaited her brother’s return. For her aid in the battle, she was pardoned for her crimes. The Alstroemeria House was hers once again, choosing to follow in Erik’s footsteps, the Coven opened its doors once again to any witch who could bring into their reliquary three magical innovations previously unknown. While the first addition to her reliquary was the Elysian Horn, the Covens that had pilfered from the house’s corpse returned everything that was taken, not all had been recovered, but the Alstroemeria were on the path to recovery once more. A newly-minted Sovereign of one, Yurena began again.
In time the black market within Fates' was broken up, the illegal trade of magical artifacts, blood, and other taboo materials was brought to a halt and strictly regulated by the Senate. Places like Just A Bite were given greater oversight to prevent accidental death, and thralls were regularly checked for their physical and mental wellbeing.
The Eye underwent changes as well, Marzia vacated her position and a new election was held for Mayor of Rome. Soon after Marzia was forgotten entirely, her face and presence the subject of a dream, one everyone remembered fondly. The Assistant was named the city’s interim mayor until a new leader was voted in in Marzia's place, Hyrsam. Some people thought the name sounded familiar, but nobody could quite remember where they'd heard it before. The military branch of The Eye was dissolved globally, the supernaturals within were released into the care of professionals. If they had committed crimes leading up to their arrest, then The Eye handed them off to the proper authorities. Instead, the facility shifted its focus and directive to aiding the magical world in policing and healing their own. Sanem remained to restructure Labyrinth into what she believed the future of their company should be, she paid her first visit to Lupercal, previously New Rome, where she treated the soon to be former Alpha, Alek. Once concluded she left the city to continue her efforts in the research facilities around the world, followed by Kirigan, she wasn’t going anywhere without him.. An invitation was extended to Keket and Isabella to join The Eye’s rehabilitation and research team, but while Isabella offered her services to consult and serve a therapeutic rapport to both the Senate and The Eye, Keket refused.
The title of Overseer was abolished, instead a Director was named: Ariadne. Isla stayed on and eventually both Kadir and Rawlins joined the staff as well. A branch of The Eye was opened in Lupercal as a gesture of good faith, a veterinary office with lycans like, The Doctor, and the halfblooded Ismael were brought on to maintain healthy relations and ensure nobody was getting rabies. Their fleas were also treated here. Eventually, a state of the art hospital was built in the heart of the city, serving the human and supernatural population with a staff that mirrored the citizens. A shelter, and a number of social enterprises appeared as well, not just in Rome but across the globe as well. After a sabbatical, Renfield was named the hospital’s Medical Director. Working still to unlock the secrets of the supernatural world so that they could better serve it, with projects approved by the Senate, The Eye continued their research above board. The particle accelerator was dismantled completely, defunct and sold for parts so that it could never be used again. It was through Sanem, Isla, and Kadir’s research that they discovered treatments for leeches and volatiles. Medication made it possible to curve their appetites, satiate them with supplements, and provide them with artificial enhancements. Through surgical intervention, it was even possible to reverse the condition entirely. It was through this treatment plan that Alek was made a standard lycan once more.
With the military branch of The Eye disbanded, those who joined because they hated the supernatural world, and those that had been programmed to despise them were all but pushed out into the cold. They were offered security positions, positions on the senate, or positions on the Roman police force, but to most that was a slap in the face, Ephraim had never known anything else, but in the end he chose to become an officer of Rome, quickly making detective. Dario remained on to ensure the Director's safety and well being while Wade and Cruz left entirely. Those that had been enhanced by The Eye were welcomed back for further training, Akara among them though he might have forgotten. The three warforged remain as the marshals for the human representatives on the senate: Isla and The Assistant.
In the end it had been one of the Blessed that had made the ultimate sacrifice, and another that had destroyed the necronomicon. Once again the seraphim were welcomed into the city, but while Ulthar's betrayal was made public, they were given quarters within Rome that they could call their own, if they chose. Azrael had departed from this plane, and Adatiel had sacrificed herself. Michael put his sword down and was unwilling to fight his family any longer. Uriel became more concerned with his life among the elves; thanks to Hayliel's many efforts and the outstanding work as a rebel at the end of times, he was chosen to represent the seraphim upon the senate, Atarniel and Dumah were who he chose to be his marshals.
A spirit had given up everything for the realm, but the abuse of their kind was longstanding, seen as subhuman for too long, Valentina was named senator and representative. She assumed control of Fates' as the backdoor operations were shut down. Chrysaor and an old reaper, The Vigil, were chosen as her marshals. An independent demon, Bebe had no master and she would never need one, but she had walked away from the Asphodel and had strong relations with most of the demons in the city ( the groupchat she’d started ). Konstantin and Mazikeen were chosen as her marshals.
With the establishment of Lupercal and the Elven City beyond Rome's borders, the lycans and the elves did not hold senate positions, but Ambassadors from each were appointed to advocate for their interests. Ambassadors of Lupercal, Flora and Adamo spoke on behalf of the vacant seat of their Alpha on the senate to try and promote some semblance of peace between the two, Romeo, Otsana, Serkan at the ready to advocate for them with their teeth if needed. Joined in the name of the Fey Forest, Lia and Davheira had been selected to speak as ambassadors for the interests of the five courts of elves as senators.
Cloe remained on the senate after a long and much needed sabbatical, though she spoke for the eladrins now. Nathan was chosen to represent the mortal half of the halfblooded population as a senator, a role he wasn't sure was a good fit but was something he did anyways. Micah and Nabi were chosen to be Cloe's marshals, while Sabina and Zagreus were chosen to be Nathan's. Over the following months Kay was deemed unfit to hold the title of marshal.
Intent to make sure that the threat of the Gods never returned and to hopefully collaborate with the senate and The Eye to find a permanent solution, the demigod population that had gathered in Rome put forth Hyacinth to represent them; Luna and Pelorus were named his Marshals. Creatures colloquially referred to as aspects had run rampant through the city for far too long, while they weren’t given representation on the senate, the senate’s fourth law would be heavily imposed: No one life stands above another. With the inclusion of humans onto the senate, the five laws were amended. The fifth was struck, and the first was altered: No human or magical life should ever be taken, except in the extreme defence of one’s life or the life of another.
Time had erased The Six from existence, every version of them across every timeline, their futures and their destinies. That was the price that had been imposed. While those who lived up until the final day of the apocalypse would remember everything with perfect clarity, for the rest of the world the events would fade into something of a dream. Some were eager to forget, others took potions or cast spells to ensure they remembered. One thing remained true, and that was that the Romans would never forget the sacrifices of The Six: statues of each were erected at the entrance to the old forum so that members of the senate would pass them before every meeting. The citizens of the city would look upon them and know that they had given everything in order to give the people of this realm, and all realms, a second chance. From left to right the life size statues were erected: the seraphim Adatiel, the spirit Marisol, the halfblooded Gabriel, the elven queen Titania, the vampire Ezekiel, and the former necromancer Kaan.
Proof that no one life should ever stand above another.
ooc info:
Hello, everyone is back except for The Six.
Those who died remember nothing about The Void or what came after, they remember nothing about what happened after the moment they died. No player-controlled characters should have any knowledge of The Void or what came after.
All those who survived until the day of the last battle will remember everything, even if they try to have the memories removed or suppressed, they will always return.This includes The Great Old Ones, they will remember everything and cannot forget.
Those who died in the war and the years after may remember the events up until the moment of their death, the memories will fade like an old dream unless the player chooses to have their character use in-game means to keep them.
The Six that gave their lives are completely gone, their destinies across every lifetime and version of reality was wiped out. They are not in the afterlife, and they cannot be brought back or contacted in any way. Harsh, I know :( but it's not a sacrifice unless it hurts.
The senate has undergone reformation, all eladrins are now high elves, all drow are now dark elves, and all faimen are now a different version of eladrins previously unseen.
The characters who changed species in the plot drops are still in effect, with the exception of Nyloth, she has returned to a drow/dark elf. Vivianne is a spartoi, she'll retain her Oracular abilities and gain some new ones. Emma is a reaper, Rhovanor is an illithid, and the three white haired girlies were revealed as fallen aasimar.
With the destruction of the necronomicon, necromancers/members of the Asphodel have lost their ability to channel from it endlessly. Necromancy consumes a massive amount of magic so performing any necromantic spells will be difficult for them. Impossible in most cases (for now).
The identities of the necromancers are all obscured from memory, former members can't quite remember who they once worked alongside. Those of the Asphodel who have remained truly loyal remember everything and everyone.
The technology Sanem developed in the future has been defunct, so Fallen Aasimar can't activate their powers at will.
In game a memorial will be held on December 1st, at that time I'll post the final wrap up, release the new species, queue the new skeletons, and swap out the pages to reflect all the above changes. New aspects will not be released until December 25th.
Please use this time to adjust to the new world state, all pertinent information is in the plot drop, but if you have follow-up questions you are always welcome to ask.
We'll be doing a mini Winter event I'm gleefully calling "Nightmare Before Christmas," which will be centered around Saturnalia, the Winter Solstice, and Krampus. We missed Halloween this year so lets get a little spooky with our festive.
We'll be doing a mini event February 15th, Lupercalia 2 electric boogaloo, where our new Alpha and King or Queen of Lupercal will be decided. I just love that it's a day after Valentine's Day.
There will be no major events until the Spring, a lot has happened with the plot from where we've started so I for one am looking forward to a little rest and some character development.
Unfollows will be posted in the discord channel. The face claims of The Six are retired, unless the mun wishes to pick up that face again.
Thank you everyone for your patience and participation in this event, this group has been a labour of love and your continued support to go along with this insanity means the world to me. Love you all.
“The pain of being alone… is not an easy one to bear.”
- Jacob Moretti
For five years The Great Old Ones and The Outer Gods expanded. Demigods around the world were taken hold of, those who swore fealty to them were subjugated, and those who did not were forced to dig in.
The draconic deity and true goddess of death, Tiamat stood at the helm of the Great Old Ones; The Lord of The Deep awoke from the bottom of the sea, the tides churned with his infernal power and from across the Astral more and more of their forces gathered. The Gods that were felled were not cast into Uthenera, instead their judgement was to be scattered, the will of the Graeae but Thanatos’ hands that happily performed the task.
Pelorus with his radar ability found stragglers, humans were the easiest to track down. Renfield had interfaced with The Eye’s network, their information was at his disposal. Additionally, by putting his tentacles into the minds of the halfbloodeds that were captured, he used their powers freely. Technopathy was the least among them, but amplified to its greatest extreme and the result was the unilateral firing of every significant technological weapon at the world’s disposal. Disarmed and reduced to sticks and stones, humanity had little defence against what would come next. Micah transmuted materials constantly as the earth was blanketed in Elysian gold and Otherworldly substances, Rawlins manufactured them endlessly as Eldritch technology was constructed on the fly, Cloe embedded the endless stream of sentinels with undying fealty and allegiance as the Great Old Ones prepared to war with the Seldarine and outlying pantheons once again. Elessar the syphon, took power directly from the paragons below, slowly draining the mortal realm as he did to power the great cities of the end of the world. Ismael brought the animals of the realm under the command of the Great Old Ones, even the squirrels and especially the horses. Blair created hemokinetic weaponry from her blood and the blood of the other trapped humans, all of which wielded by the automatons of The Great Old Ones.
The fey were the first to fall, captured from the battlefield, the chancellor’s and their subjects were planted beneath the blood orchard that Zahrya was so proud of. A primitive form of ambrosia, The Despair sewed the essence of the Laurelin’s single fruit into the earth and watched as the trees began to shine with an ethereal, golden light. Laer, Zahrya, Robin, Aurora, and Davheira were taken first. Meryasek followed as his once-warder died protecting him once again. Logon, Enfenim, Arakhor, Amadeus, Aegnor, and Levent were captured within the first year. Lia and the others in the years that followed. Stitched into the soil, the blood of the fey was not as effective as the elves, but the golden trees turned silver, as Laurelin faded to Telperion.
Five years down the line, mentally broken apart by Marzia, she worked alongside The Great Old One Renfield to bring Trivia under their control while ensuring she remained fully conscious, the tentacles embedded within Trivia’s mind manipulated her body and her power to their will, a necessity given Trivia’s power but ineffectiveness as a vessel. Trivia’s capture spelled the end of Haven, the safe refuge that had been built by Keket and her small force of rebels was revealed under the weight of Trivia’s significant magic, amplifying Pelorus’ radar abilities even further.
Keket was captured by Narcissus, restrained, and bled constantly for her power by The Despair to fuel their dark magic - her undeath sustained through unnatural means. Across the realm, those who'd fallen rose again to fight for The Great Old Ones. Vivianne, a recently minted spartoi, was also captured, while formalities surrounding possession made free will a product of permitting a Great Old One to take hold, a smaller version of the device used previously to turn off the promethean flame, fabricated by the imprisoned halfbloodeds, was used to erase the former Oracle’s individuality entirely. The ideal vessel for Tiamat’s daughter, Demetria possessed the woman that was once Vivianne. Meryasek was pulled from the ground, a daemonfey chosen as a vessel, Meryasek was broken in the same way as the former Oracle, his body given to Tiamat’s son, Mordukhavar.
Echion, Udaeus, and Hyperenor were sentinels among The Great Old Ones. Narcissus was having an eternal debate with himself as Luna brought forth the absent forces from the Abyss; Harellan controlled the legions of illithids that poured in. An empire of dark allegiance, more powerful than they had ever been before. The Despair's power flooded the depths of the realm and the Otherworld as serpents rose from their graves. Blessed with good fortune by Caio, The Great Old Ones and The Outer Gods could not lose. The Bottle, a great amalgamation of horror, was a mountain of nouns: people, places and things that rolled across the realm simply consuming and adding flesh and bone to its wretched mass of nightmares. Soren the impervious and the paralytic hunted those alongside Komos, the burning star that tore across the realm incinerating cities, monuments, and anything that resembled the former, dying world.
Where Rome once stood, the palace of the dragons and The Great Old Ones rose, Forsaken Rome, towering and gleaming. Above it the flying city of True Death, at the draconic city's core above, the Goddess Tiamat reigned supreme. Demetria served faithfully at her mother’s side alongside Mordukhavar. Starved and disrespected at every turn, Pluto’s magic was restrained by manacles making him undying but mortal in every other way. He served at the feet of the great draconic deities, filing their nails, scrubbing their scales, and picking the necrotic bodies of vampires from their teeth. Tiamat let her children do whatever they wished, the punishments unending and indicative of the wrath of a Dragon Goddess. Lilith planted hopelessness in his mind, in time the original vampire gave up entirely, any fight that remained within him died.
Enraged by everything, Remus gave in to the rampant thoughts of the myriad of monsters that flowed through his veins. Every creature that came across his path only made him stronger, he’d kill everyone, and he’d destroy everything just because he wanted to. Just because of what they’d taken from him. His hide was too strong to be pierced by glass, he couldn’t be affected by anything anymore, every strength compensated for some perceived weakness. The Great Old Ones knew that he could not be killed, and wherever they sent him he could just become stronger. Using Trivia like a puppet, the original witch cast Remus into the furthest depths of the Abyss, The Void: a space of absolute nothingness outside time and space where the First Terror would tumble and fall for eternity.
Found by Pelorus in the Otherworld, the necronomicon had served its purpose and Tiamat had no desire to share in her power with the Great Old One within, betraying it entirely, she had Komos destroy it alongside Tepiltzin. Pythia was captured and brought to Forsaken Rome with the siblings that she’d helped to release from the Inferno. The archfiends were meant to be respected, feared, and revered, now instead they served at the behest of deities once more.
The begrudging generals of Tiamat’s armies: Lucifer, Beelzebub, Pythia, Sathanas, Asmodeus, and Megaera controlled the great legions of demons that patrolled Forsaken Rome and the surrounding countryside. Hunted by Harellan; Tisiphone, Viktor, Virgil, Isla, and Evan were cut down. Soren butchered Uriel, Grayson, and Harlow. Assan killed Hazal, and forced Aren to fight Octavian to the death, killed by the phoenix, Aren was denied an afterlife as his brother consumed his soul like he had Dionaeia's. Pelorus, the great hunter, was responsible for the hunt and capture of countless, among those he killed personally were Jamie, Aurea, and Aelia. Udaeus killed the dopple KJ and Yasmin, Calista, Valentina, and Remi. Narcissus talked Tripp to death while Luna killed both Adrian and Nikolai; Echion cut down Hazal and Sariel while Hyperenor killed Angel and Ariston expeditiously.
The war had broken Anders’ already fragile mind, Dante was killed, Nicolas was torn apart by infinite killer bees, and the Tana Pack had been wiped out; he lost everything. Anders lost the ability to change back into a man, Lycaon and his pack of wild dogs outlasted the rest of the world. Violent and unruly, bloodthirsty and savage. Lucas, a madman, Regina heartbroken and devastated, hateful Otsana, shattered Eric, and ruined Romeo: they’d survived the devastation of The Eye but had been broken by the war instead. Trapped in lycan form, unable to control themselves, Lycaon’s pack was a blight and a scourge. Their bite could poison and weaken even the Great Old Ones, their minds were resistant to magic and united together they were a force to be reckoned with.
Pulled from the field and brought to the Demonweb Pits, Evanuris took the Matron of all Mothers, Nyloth: this war was not the first war to be lost, and The Weaver’s displeasure in Queen Ayi’ig had been evident from the moment that The Handmaiden arrived. But there was one woman that Lloth still favoured, one among countless, a diamond amidst useless coal: Nyloth. It was within that the Matron underwent her dark sacrament, Lloth permitted the drow to feast on her flesh and join her in the Abyss. It was here that they would continue to weave and continue to plan, Lloth’s true intentions impossible to discern from only a few simple strands.
At the fall of the realm, Faerinaal had no interest in remaining for a doomed cause. Perhaps he’d arrived at the Court of Drow too late, but it didn’t matter now, the Founder slipped into the Underdark and would serve his own blade until Lloth called to him once more. An exile among the high elves, Circe had few options now, she was a friend of the fey but she would not suffer the same fate as they. There were many realms within the Otherworld and many paths, the light elf chose to take her chances and left the mortal realm behind, choosing to leave with the refugees.
So, this was the end of the world? It didn’t look like how Lucretia imagined it would, but at least before the big bombs started dropping she’d hoarded enough alcohol to sedate even a dragon for fifteen years. When she’d fallen from the tower she should have stayed dead, she didn’t though. It was there in a broken heap of mangled flesh and bones that she had come back together, Lucretia could still shift and there was a time where the aspect remained solely in the form of a dragon. These Great Old Ones were pretty fucked, she hadn’t seen any of this coming, hadn’t known that all of her friends would die and she’d be left alone here to rot. Her girlfriend was gone, wasn’t that just a bitch? If anyone was looking towards her to play the part of an unlikely hero, then they needed to look again.
It was only after Octavian had killed his one-hundredth druid that he realised there was no point in taking their souls, his power would not increase. Hundreds of traits and too many minds to put straight swam within his own but through the mania the mad phoenix knew that his power was tied indelibly to the necronomicon. He’d destroyed it and destroyed a part of himself in the process, he’d weakened it and weakened himself in the process, but it was out there somewhere. Octavian didn’t want it, he needed it, needed it to feel complete again, and needed it to settle the rampant thoughts that screamed around inside his skull.
Taken into the stars, there were countless places for Yavie and Hayliel to hide. The Blessed were almost all dead now, Lamia was dead, Somniar was dead, and Severon was turned into tree fuel. There was no reason to remain in the mortal realm… Farenduil, Meryasek and Zahrya though… And Yavie supposed Robin too, they were still in danger. Atarniel and Adatiel, Hayliel thought the two of them were okay so he didn’t want to just leave them to die. There wasn’t anything about the mortal realm that was luxurious anymore, so while the two could have drank margaritas at the end of the world, they prepared to save their friends and family instead.
Within the Otherworld, deep within the fallen Court of Drow, the mechs that had defected took to tinkering. They were resistant to magic and could compensate for any divine power thrown at them, for fourteen years they operated beneath Pelorus’ detection, and for fourteen years they grew their forces. Expanding and growing, until one day the Clockwork race of autonomous machines emerged from the Otherworld and immediately began to lay siege across the Otherworld. They built facilities that deprived the Duat from consuming the souls, organic life couldn’t be reconsecrated and as more and more were wiped out by the machines, life began to fade entirely.
Over the course of a single year the Clockwork expanded a great deal, the spellplague had no effect on them, and the machines had evolved to a point where nearly all spells were ineffective. Into the Underdark they grew, they stretched into the mortal realm by hidden ways far below the earth’s mantle. Their great mining facility within the Court of Drow had drilled down into the Paragon itself, it was there that they harvested the creature dry and slaughtered the legions of goblins within.
Organic life in the Otherworld would soon come to an end, without significant opposition, they expanded without any impediments: into what was once the Inferno, and into the empty fields of Elysium, Elysia, and even as far as Hyperborea. In time, all of Faerûn would be theirs and the World Tree would be purged of natural life, the age of the Clockwork had begun.
The Great Old Ones sealed themselves within the mortal realm, it was here that the Clockwork were constantly trying to break through, and it was here that Trivia was made to keep them out.
At the fall of Haven, a new rebellion was born amidst the survivors in the catacombs beneath Forsaken Rome. Under Titania’s leadership, she appointed Melpomene, Mars, Venus, and Juno as her generals. What fey remained were brought into the fold, though the sole survivors of the mortal realm were gathered here. Rainer, Kaan, Sanem, Eoin, Nirvaan, Gaybe, Tamlen, Emory, Nathaniel, Adatiel, Ayla, Felandaris, Ezekiel, Zagreus, Prometheus, Esme, Marisol, Andruil, Cedric, Atarniel, Rhovanor, Serissa, Gael, and Xerxes. Soul survivors that had mostly retained their mental faculties.
Sanem was the Future, a brilliant genius without any living equal. Felandaris’ mastery of shadow magic meant there was very little that the Architect could not accomplish. Tamlen, a celestial elf, was possessed with an unlimited supply of magic, though he’d learned that there were limits to what even he could do. Titania, Melpomene, Juno, Venus, and Mars were resolved to save their people no matter the cost, and as the Architect proposed an idea, they all went to work. A structure fit to hold a primordial God, a vessel powerful enough to contain him, a spell detailed and strong enough to summon him, and enough time to complete all of these things. Five years in Haven fell, and it would be another ten years beneath Forsaken Rome until the rebels’ plan could come to fruition.
Far above Pelorus was always searching, his radar ability alone was difficult to disrupt, but the rebels scavenged the realms for what they could dismantle and find. Prometheus the thief and the trickster, the vampires who lived would take what they could and return it to be repurposed. Emory and Eoin with spells to shield their presence, Marisol there to comfort those that remained at the end of the world. The last of the reapers, her fellow spirits had all either chosen to retire or were captured and forced to; Death had come but still Marisol and Adatiel remained. Kaan, powerless and mortal remained, a cynic at the end of the world.
From the presence of the illithids Rhovanor was able to shield those closest to him, make them all but invisible with his psionic magic. Nirvaan, Tamlen, Xerxes, Rainer, Ayla, Ezekiel, Atarniel, Serissa, Esme, Zagreus, Andruil, Nathaniel, Melpomene, Mars, and Titania were the last warriors at the end of the world. Nothing came without sacrifice so for years the rebels would fight and they would toil, the plan was driven from antiquity, one that had been enacted so many times before. Though, never to this degree. Felandaris’ strategy was a hail mary: Sisyphus had trapped Thanatos in his own chains, and Ulthar had once been tied up in ropes with many knots. There was one God that had been freed that was older than both of these deities combined: Time.
A vessel laid far below the city, abandoned and forgotten in the bowels of necromanteion. Cthonius’ corpse, preserved, lay waiting. Clockwork machines scratched at the boundary to the mortal realm, trying desperately to break through, and within the orchards around Forsaken Rome, the elves were begging to be freed. One final battle to distract The Great Old Ones while they worked, and through Cronus' resurrection they would either bring everyone back, or they would destroy him and the timeline completely. Three things were needed: Keket's freedom, Trivia's freedom, and Cthonius' corpse. And, at long last, the fey would be pulled from the Garden.
ooc info:
Here is a definitive list of the survivors.
Lycans listed in Lycaon's pack are still playable, but they're crazy and trapped in wolf form.
Please use the next ten days to wrap up any character deaths, and finish up any old event threads wherever possible. The world state will be permanently changed as of the 20th. Old threads are still allowed and even encouraged, just be mindful that this will all be over soon.
“I was younger then, I wasn’t afraid of anything, I didn’t think about dying even for a second. I thought I was invincible. Then I had you. I wanted to live, I started to think like that; for the first time I was afraid of death. I had never felt like that before.”
- Sionia
Beaten and broken, Aegnor and Cloud were crushed by Faerinaal and Nyloth, their forces victorious, moved over the city as Lloth's dark shadow blanketed all. The rebellious lorendrow were ground under heel, and while the Matron Mother headed to the new temple of Lloth, Faerinaal headed into the midst of Winter's Mountains to capture the refugees and bring them under the Weaver's dark shadow.
The ring that sat upon Xerxes' finger was wrenched from his body, Romulus' compulsion was broken as the vampire's healing slowly worked to put himself back together. He was free now, free to make decisions on his own with whatever remained of the triumvir's feral mind.
Compelled towards the open gates of the Inferno as their former prison dissolved, many demons gradually left Rome to find hidden paths outside of the city's borders. It was there on the fields of the Otherworld that the likes of Marius, Mazikeen, Kirigan, Amico, Alastor, Caradoc, and Konstantin were all devoured. Consumed by either more powerful demons, or by the Monarchy of Hell themselves as they battled the archdruid Nettelia. Sybella and Bebe managed to escape under the protection of the fey fleeing into the Otherworld.
The Coven of the Ivy reunited but fractured, Virgil, Eoin, Tripp, Aurea, and the rest of their pack and coven put the burning city behind them to try and put together a plan for what they should do next. Virgil attempted to summon Mazikeen once more, but his familiar was already gone, consumed by her patron from the Inferno.
The warforged Vincenzo was smashed to pieces, enough of him remained to stay active and conscious, but his systems were largely destroyed and he was buried beneath the ruins of Rome. Unable to move but fully aware as the war raged above him.
Marisol wandered amidst the battlefield, sometimes visible, sometimes not. Death was brief for everyone, but through the pain of it and the horror of the immediate resurrection, the Fool used everything that she'd learned to offer what reconciliation she could. Again the same faces would come to her and again the spirit of death would try to console both the innocent and the damned, reapers couldn't hold any prejudice, in the end death came for all sinners and saints.
Deep within the city as it burned, the banshees Paloma and Chrysaor were put down. A violent end for creatures with horrific and violent beginnings. Their wails had devastated the landscape and with one last, deafening cry they screamed: "LET ME IN!"
Far below Labyrinth, far below even the city of Rome, the particle accelerator hummed with life. The largest in the world, The Eye had announced back in May that come August,it would be turned on. If only they had acted sooner, but optimism had led too many among their ranks to believe that this world was not beyond saving. That perhaps there was a chance that cooperation with humans would be enough to stop the onslaught of supernatural powers that threatened to crack the world in half.
Rome had been decimated, the Titan rampaged and directed aetherial energy across the realm destroying everything in its path; the chancellors in their great cumulative grief and rage. The drow’s fortress had collided and what remained was a broken tower of once burning iron, and endless agony that encompassed the entirety of the city. Enraged beyond reconciliation, the Titan and its great defenders took more and more from Tamlen. Inan was the first to suffer its effects as he drew in more magic than his common blood could withstand and burnt himself alive from the inside out.
Renfield walked below, the facility went even deeper than The Eye’s proper base, levels of security kept so tight that only the Overseers, The Powers That Be, and the hollowborn knew of its existence. It had been his plan afterall, one that he’d proposed half a century ago when construction began. One pull of a lever and all magic would be over, but so many would die. A severance from the mortal realm and Faerûn/The Otherworld, a plan that would end all magic and level the playing field once and for all. Vampires, fallen seraphim, demons, spirits, and terrors would all cease to exist. Witches, druids, and Eladrins would all lose their magic and become effectively mortal. Blessed seraphim, halfbloodeds, lycans, and aspects as well, divinity and curses would no longer have any place. However, with the death of terrors then Remus and Keket would also die.
Keket, who’d flung herself from the top of Necromanteion, made her way across the battlefield, crossed all of Rome and followed Renfield into the place she hated most: for this, for something she knew Renfield would not be able to do. Keket moved his hand to the side, then she pulled the lever herself.
Quiet fell across the city and the entirety of the Otherworld as all magic ceased immediately. Vampires began to collapse as desiccation took hold, the bodies that Fallen seraphim inhabited began to rot and decay, the lycans were made to shift back, witches could no longer cast spells, druids could not turn into animals or perform magic. The drow were affected, as were the fey. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped and everything appeared to be normal again once more. Keket stood, still in her state of undeath, but why?
Keket’s delicate gaze looked upon Renfield as she waited for the lack of magic to undo her undeath, but the end she had expected did not come. In a split second Keket was already too late as she realised what had happened, the boy she’d known burst into an unknown mass of writhing tentacles. Monstrously huge, infinite in proportion, he grew and grew; with no choice but to run, she fled the facility as his body flooded through every hallway - desperate to catch the former hollowborn with the prized blood in her veins. Possessed, Renfield filled the facility and integrated into the network, eldritch knowledge seamlessly blended organic technology with physical forms of manmade materials as he took control of The Eye’s extensive resources and network.
Keket escaped, fled into the sky, and looked back in time to see Labyrinth overtaken by the ubiquitous mass of tentacles that had taken over her son. Remus saw firsthand what became of Renfield as the demigod’s great ubiquitous mass of tentacles erupted through the city. The Eye and this realm had taken everything from him, so he was resolved to tear it to pieces. On the other side of the veil he could feel how the Monarchy of the Inferno were clawing for entry, so he figured, why not say fuck it and let them in? Lilith was a big fan of this idea.
Vampires stopped desiccating, the bodies of the Fallen stopped rotting, lycans could shift again, witches could cast spells once more, druids could switch between forms and use magic. One thing had changed though, like a candle gone out, for a brief instant the promethean flame had been extinguished. Demigods across the mortal realm and parts of the Otherworld connected to it were immediately possessed by The Great Old Ones that had been circling them for years.
The cornerstone of this infernal plan, The Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods conspired together, knowing well the softness that Death held for Hermes. The Mercurian was possessed amidst the battle, he disappeared and reappeared in quick succession as he brought with him gates and technology that fired immediately. Constructed in the Abyss and the Outer Realms, great waves of forces began to come through at once. Dragons more menacing than any that had been seen since the dawn of Faerûn took to the skies. Monolithic deities, Titans, and Giants landed upon the Otherworld, all the while Thanatos looked on.
The Outer God Hermes’ laughter was menacing and low, Death would not take his own lover, at least, that was what the Outer God had assumed. Everyone had an end though, even Hermes, and even Thanatos. He had needed this vacation and the time together, he hoped everyone who had been slated to die had made the most of the time that he had given them, because it was over now. Hermes disintegrated and the God within screamed in horror before he was refused Uthenera and was cast across the stars. Thanatos set his wandering eye across the battlefield, patience run dry, then departed.
Prometheus was the only demigod not overtaken, his punishment had been lifted too soon and he’d earned the ire of the Gods. They froze him in place for a time instead, an hour, maybe two? The cruel laughter of The Great Old One in his mind was ceaseless as they made him relive the memory of his torture again and again. Then, they ceased and simply let him be. Prometheus would be made to live on in a world where everything and everyone he’d ever loved was taken from him.
The avariel raced towards an entrance to the Otherworld and slipped through; it was here that he found a toppled mountain, one that had not been there previously. On the other side were the bodies of countless monstrosities strewn about its base and across the battlefield. The Otherworld nearby had been sapped of all power, the trees were dead, the ground was dead, and even the air itself felt still. Prometheus walked through the field of corpses, Mammon, Abaddon, and Astaroth (not Asher Roth) among them. Beings that had been denied entry and held back for as long as Death would permit, it was here that Prometheus found Nettelia's dead body torn in two. It was here that the Inferno had seeked to cross over, finding not a door but an archdruid instead. Prometheus caught sight of Thanatos in the corner of his eye, but when he looked Death was already gone.
Death was collecting once more and all those who had died and then come back since his vacation began, immediately died in the moment that Hermes was taken. The murdered, the old, the sickly, the accidental, the victims of Midsommar, the victims of the Plague, and all the would-be casualties of this war. They were felled by whatever would have killed them their first time around.
Throat ragged, cough syrup bottles depleted, even the steroids The Eye had given him were all gone; Assan had no choice but to rely on his physical abilities. Thrown from the back of a drake, his daggers scattered across the floor as snacks spilled out of his pockets, it lunged towards him and Nathaniel. Horns curved suddenly from the top of Assan’s head, a barbed tale erupted from the base of his spine as the markings that were indicative of his magic formed over his scarred face and across his tongue. The Great Old One Assan stood, eyes wild before he shouted, “Explode.” The demons that crawled towards him and the nephilim simultaneously burst as blood, viscera, and sinew blanketed the Roman streets. He turned then towards Nathaniel and said, “Bring your father to me.”
Preoccupied with powdering his nose, Narcissus was so busy primping and talking to himself that he didn’t even notice there was a war going on outside his door. There was nobody around to chat with, so, naturally the tiefling had been talking to himself in the mirror - polishing that razor sharp charisma to its infamous cutting edge. The vain creature smiled, checked his features, but then just remained seated as no clear division between malevolent Great Old One and demigod seemed to take place. Physically, a set of beautiful horns had appeared alongside a pair of piercing green eyes; the colour of Envy.
The Despair was on the other side of the ocean when they were suddenly filled, malevolent magic poured from them as dark arcana entwined with even darker divinity. Horns with a forked tongue and eyes like a serpent, Rome was where the battle would begin so they flung open a door to the Otherworld and marched first towards the gate that led directly into the City.
While Maddox’s body had previously been torn into pieces, he’d found another vessel to inhabit as he slipped inside. Immediately overtaken, his appearance changed drastically as the God that had been circling him took hold of his body with extreme prejudice. The Great Old One Maddox slipped inside Oliver's body, twisted his guts, and then splattered the walls with the vampire.
In the midst of Necromanteion, in one moment Soren was fighting for the allied senate forces, and in the next his appearance shifted drastically. Taking on his tiefling manifestation as his will was put down and his body was inhabited by a Great Old One, he was just a man chained to a celestial rocket hurtling through space. A dark deity of the Outer Realms smiled, those in his immediate vicinity dropped as the effects of his paralysis kicked in, a weapon in either hand as the pierced landed in heaps across the ruins of the Necromanteion tower. Evy fell first of her friends, The Great Old One Soren took great delight in stomping on the druid and her friends until they were nothing but heaps of broken meat on the ground of Ruined Rome.
Luna limped forward, accompanied by her faithful conjurations through the bowels of the catacombs. Suddenly Luna’s body healed in an instant, the creatures that she had summoned previously were a pittance compared to what appeared now as eldritch horrors of unknown origins writhed through the shadows and clawed their way into the streets of Rome. Her body no longer her own, The Great Old One Luna burst from the city as stones fell across the chaotic streets, warriors from both sides fell into the tunnels beneath as the great serpent she sat on roared. Drakes filled the skies, wyverns crawled forth, and abominations of all sorts skittered forth on unknown limbs from the shadows all across the city. A huntress of monsters, Dionaeia was snatched first, her battle with Octavian interrupted, torn limb from limb by all manner of beasts: as she lay there, bleeding out, Octavian consumed her soul and finished his sister off. Still, she did not restore him to his former power.
Physical restrictions removed, energy erupted from The Great Old One Komos’ body as a crater formed with the hollowborn at its epicentre. The dark deity’s laughter ricocheted across Rome as he decimated the landscape, levelled the streets as the people of the Allied Senate Forces tried to flee to take cover. Power overflowed as he drew from his own reserves of celestial magic, the need for absorption minimal but useful as he took in the punitive attacks that the realm lobbed at him. Safiye launched herself at him first, a single blast of raw magic ripped through her chest and killed the Shark instantly.
Harellan rested in the Court of Drow when they were suddenly overtaken. The hollowborn’s body was changed, it reverted to its natural state as they stood, all shadows and piercing red eyes. Their presence could be felt in the minds of all who remained within the Court of Drow, while the illithids had been liberated from the Elder Brain, they fell under the influence of The Secret, they subjugated not just them, but all those that they laid eyes upon.
On the other side of the continent at the time, The Bottle opened their eyes, reborn. The Outer God that took them was particularly unkind, the people at the inn where they were staying were pulled into their body. The gas from the lines running underneath the city, enough wings from enough birds to sprout them from their back so they could take a form of twisted flight. Vampire blood to keep their wounds closed, lycan venom to weaken those who came into contact with the canine like teeth that erupted from their hideous form. A chimera of hideous nouns, the God emerged in the Otherworld and made their way towards the where they believed the gates to Rome would be.
Bones erupted across Echion’s pearlescent scales, they grew massively and swelled, solidifying. Stronger than any metal, his claws became sharper than any blade, he broke through the skies above The Otherworld, Astaroth's broken and dead body behind him. Echion's great maw roared into the abyss of the Otherworld. His giant tail swinging behind him as he unfurled the hefty wings of bone, light to the air and miraculously nimble, the dragon of bone roared, and then took flight. Like so many others, he headed towards Rome.
This had been Udaeus’ plan from the beginning, even as his hunky body was taken over by a Great Old One, he stood there nodding as if everything was happening just as he had intended it to. Wings erupted from his back as he took flight, joining his brother in the fray as they headed towards Rome together. It was there that The Great Old One came across Nabi looking for a lighter, he dispelled her magic and then popped her head like a melon with one, meaty hand. He then turned his attentions towards the White Flame.
While Udaeus had been in the midst of relaying the plan he’d just been told, but in his own words and as his own idea, Pelorus felt it come. The Outer God that he had been waiting for all this time: finally, freedom from these bullies and reprieve from the neverending doom that was having to actively participate in the activities of daily living. His draconic form on display, he lifted himself into the air as he dictated their targets across Rome.
Crystals ran up Hyperenor’s spine, they swelled in great mass as they grew and spanned out. One might have been enough for Echion, but why have one when you could be a dragon with two heads? A twin headed crystal dragon took to the skies, its breath crystalized everything in its path, while its wings struggled to keep it airborn the Great Old One that had taken over Hyperenor would never let anyone notice this. The hefty bellows of its wings headed towards Rome, resolved to follow Udaeus’ plan until the bitter end.
Blades missed Hyacinth at every turn, an application of his power as they swerved at the final moment, constructs of his own design flourished as he pierced those through with his seraph blades. He paused for a moment and was run through and overtaken by his foes before wings and dark divinity erupted from him. The God’s head of an Outer God shone above him and bathed him in a new light; Apollo sensed distress and appeared beside him but was pierced through the chest by The Great Old One Hyacinth’s seraph blade. Diana saw this from across the platform but was too late, Lucifer’s sword ran her through, the breadth of their great family now at their back.
Fortune favoured Caio and those around him as he blessed his vampire with blatant favouritism. Ayla had also received this boon, she had avoided nearly every attack that had come towards her as a result. Fortune was beginning to change as luck ran its course though, the demigod’s wings fanned out as his divinity shone around him: all at once he was taken. An Outer God in his place who reversed the favour just as quickly as it had been bestowed, Giovanni's face planted and was torn apart by drow a moment later as the Outer God turned his gaze towards the broken city, and to the battle between Melpomene, Ayi’ig, and Nidhogg.
Epimetheus wasn’t possessed because he was eaten by the book during the explosion, lucky him, I guess?
With Eve’s fight put to rest at long last, Marzia had finally won. She had another, much older one, but she had taken to this one. The Goddess of all Illithids, Marzia had come to this realm to shift the flow of time and save her race from extinction. Eve’s resistance necessitated the brief destruction of the Promethean flame. With her powers on this plane at full strength, she connected the minds of all The Great Old Ones and Outer Gods that had descended upon this realm, they would begin their assault here, but all of Faerûn would be theirs once again.
Magic momentarily disrupted, Michael and Tisiphone were released from the necromancer’s compulsion for long enough that they could destroy the rods that were embedded within. Joined soon by Adatiel, Dumah, and Uriel, those that had fallen would not be forgotten. Even without his grace Azrael stood at the ready. The necromancers would fall. Eren succumbed to his previous wounds from Lucretia; August, Efigenia, Avery, and Bastien were each cut down as the rank and fold of the Inferno filed in after them. Elsewhere, Nathaniel called out to their father, only for Michael to go to them and have been commanded to die by the Godly Voice Caster.
When those from the monarchy of the Inferno that still lived flooded into the city, Tisiphone expected to see Alecto or Megaera in chains. Charon perhaps alongside Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. Instead Alecto and Charon were both dead, and Megaera the betrayer had joined ranks with Lucifer. The last battle between the Blessed and the Fallen began, though it was painfully one-sided. Tisiphone. Uriel and Adatiel managed to escape: Dumah and Azrael did not.
Scattered and broken, Vivianne and her coven laid in ruins. Abel was dead. Marco was dead. August was dead. Avery was dead. Everything she’d hoped to protect was taken from her, it hadn’t mattered how hard she’d fought, or how desperately she’d wanted it. In the end Fate was against her. The reminiscent presence of Silas’ ghoul lurched forth, the first two pills were already gone and her body felt like it could come apart at the seams. When she looked out at the city and at the devastation that had once been her home, she had to wonder if she had anything left to give except for her life? The pill could turn the tide, maybe, but it would also kill her. What else did she have to lose? The canister was empty now though and in its place was a flower of pharmakis, fresh, and black as the night sky. A gift from the garden of Death. Vivianne brought the petals to her lips, and she ate.
Above Rome, Ayi’ig and Nidhogg continued to battle with Melpomene, the relentless Muse that would not give anything until her last breath was taken from her. Melpomene fought alone, apart from her twin, apart from her sisters: she had asked for them and they did not come. Aether erupted and filled the sky, a dance of shadows and light as blades from the Queen of the dark and the Goddess of tragedy clashed with one another. Nidhogg’s great maw snapped, his breath pulled the life from Melpomene’s body but still she fought.
Outnumbered and overpowered, more drow flocked to their Queen’s side. Melpomene was alone, she was always alone and deep in the forest Mneme slumbered upon the cusp of her last breath. Tears battered aether as the Muse refused to go gently; within the Otherworld she had felt the change, the destruction of the relic that had cursed her sister. The elves would be restored, the fey would find their resurgence, but there was nothing… No great shift, no change. Ayi’ig laughed, so long as the former wielder lived, then they would hold the power still. Titania was centuries away, lifetimes even, another warrior who would not come. Melpomene had given everything for the Queen of the Fey, for her step mother and her step sister, now this pale shadow stood before her and laughed while Titania didn’t so much as lift a finger to save her own people.
Nidhogg’s jaw closed around her and Melpomene smiled through the pain, the grief, and the tears: because she had seen the drow Queen’s fate, and Ayi’ig’s time had come. If only the Queen had believed her. The Titan took aim, and with the last of its power all three aspects were engulfed in the raw aether that the united chancellors emitted below.
To the ground the three fell, a flicker across the sky saw Titania catch the falling Melpomene in her arms as the two of them landed safely. Nidhogg’s body hit the earth with a great crash, the draconic form abandoned as the dark elf stirred within the crater; every nerve was raw and burnt. Pushed to a limit that Ayi’ig hadn’t thought possible, laboured breaths saw her in a pit that would be the Queen’s demise, she waited for her loyal servants to come to her aid, but it was not one of her own that found her first: but Pluto. She was a worthy vessel, one that was fit for the True Goddess of Death, but he smiled as only a traitor could and chastised Kore for blatantly cutting down the family and bloodline he was so proud of. The original vampire would not give his Goddess what she wanted, he had known of her desire to take hold of Ayi’ig and had quietly planned to kill her once she was weak enough for him to take on. With the unmatched strength of an archfiend, Pluto raised his boot before a whisper in his ear stopped him in his tracks.
Lilith whispered: sleep.
With Fortuna at her side, luck was on her side. Too bad for Pluto. One of her demons dragged his body to Ayi’ig’s as Kore’s soul forced itself from Pluto’s chest and lept into Ayi’ig instead. It was here that Persephone opened her eyes once more, Tiamat reborn. Scales of the hardest Otherworldly metal, five heads for each of the elements, Caio at her side for good luck, and her Priestess of Death upon her back. Lilith, her most loyal, and her most trusted. Nidhogg roared in defence of his Queen, but the dragon was a bug compared to her and his head was torn clean off, severed in two. Pluto, clutched firmly in Tiamat's claws would be dealt an even worse fate.
Remus saw what had become of the drow queen, he could see what was becoming of everyone and everything. Lilith’s popcorn bowl had been abandoned so she could stand at her Goddesses’ side, but from the dragon’s back she would take great pleasure in witnessing what would come to follow. By virtue of his ability, Remus was more powerful than any other aspect, the Otherworld flowed through him and connected him to every creature that ever called it home. Trivia’s greatest mistake, an aberration of magic and intervention of fate: when you reached into the dark it was impossible to predict what might cling to the thing you pulled back.
Remus could transform into anything he laid his eyes on, take its abilities and entire physiology; in his rage he learned that he could blend them as well. With inspiration taken from his fallen son, a mass of tentacles darkened the horizon, he pulled from the five-headed dragon that he faced down and compensated for his son’s weakness by hardening the appendages with scales stronger than any metal. A mind that would consider any outcome, his husband’s infernal power of hellfire rose around him married with the properties of a phoenix to burn through any spell that came near him. Rome would burn and these Gods would burn: this was only the beginning, he’d kill everything, he’d kill everyone, he didn’t care what it cost him anymore because he’d already lost everything. He lashed out and tore apart the sky, a rift between the mortal realm and the Otherworld laid it bare. Marzia’s illithids poured through, the hordes of hell - billions of demons - and the great legions of the Old Ones emptied into the mortal realm from the sky above.
The losses of the Allied Senate Forces were substantial, Pythia had slipped through their fingers, and as their forces turned against one another they were falling apart at the seams. Their forces that had brazenly flaunted Death dropped immediately, the Lupo pack that hadn’t survived the initial explosion were left charred and lifeless, and only those under Thanatos’ personal protection managed to survive their previous encounters with death. Octavian laughed a murderous cry as he ripped the souls from the necromeras and demogorgons that descended upon him, a bloodthirsty and seasoned warrior who sought to reach his prime once more. For every soul that Octavian consumed however, his power did not grow any further.
Kings and Queens of the Inferno, middling demons, greater demons, and all manner of beasts flocked towards the tower and swarmed the last living members of the Allied Senate Forces. Yeeted to meet the same fate as his dawuh, Octavian was thrown from the tower and shifted into the form of a phoenix in an effort to flee and madly seek whatever remnants of the necronomicon remained, burning everything in his path as he did.
Crumbled and broken on the floor, blood all but completely drained, Ayla was too weak to heal. Loss had left her starved, the painful ache in her limbs extended to every part of her body as magic charged the air and battled with the infernal powers of the dark. Pelorus noticed first, the God within possessed the spartoi’s radar ability and picked up on the ancient force that surged within the vampire. Ayla’s hair turned white, her pupils blew wide, and ripples of power rolled off of her in waves as those she perceived to be an enemy were forced to flee. One was not so fortunate: The Great Old One Hyacinth had his throat ripped out, a seraph blade of unknown origin bore through his chest and killed him on the spot. This continued for somewhere in the vicinity of ten minutes and when Ayla came to she had no memory of what had transpired.
Deep within the Otherworld, Pythia praised the liche Tepiltzin as the book sat within her hands once again, fractured, weakened, and incomplete: they would start again. She went to join her infernal siblings and stand the the true Goddesses side, Tiamat. Vivianne came across the pinned, lifeless body of her brother, Eren’s body had been shredded by a dragon’s claws, and within August a seraph blade was run though his chest: a clear indicator of what had transpired.
The Titan devastated the city further, it rampaged beyond any semblance of control. The great conglomerate of the chancellors turned its raw, aetherial blast towards the very earth itself: if the eladrins were to be wiped out, then they would destroy the very realm itself. More power than any creature could give was funnelled through Tamlen as he was burned alive from the inside out, in a great burst of fire and aetherial magic he erupted and the Titan was shattered once more. Aurora, Laer, Zahrya, Robin, and Nirvaan were all scattered across the ruins of Rome and drained of their magic. The Great Old One Maddox descended upon Nirvaan, but the warder stood as his hair turned white and power rolled off of him in waves. A seraph blade of unknown origins eviscerated the God before the eladrin retreated from the field, when Nirvaan awoke he had no memory of what happened.
Tamlen, reforged himself amidst the rubble of the pyramid once again, the Laurelin in its infancy had managed to protect itself from the explosion and the subsequent collapse of the ruins. Now, a single fig hung from its branches, the first fruit that the tree had produced, knowing that these new forces would come to collect, Tamlen reached towards the branch and plucked it. The fey were falling and his people were dying, unsure of what to do or where to go, he did the only thing anyone sensible could in that moment: he ran. A streak of aetherial light from the Pyramid sailed through the air, but The Weary was behind him, his dark magic wove a net around the celestial elf and throttled him before taking the fig for himself.
Meryasek rose among the chancellors, but were quickly overpowered as they were abducted by The Bottle who chewed them into his body and then spat them out like used trash for The Weary to use as they saw fit. Taken prisoner, Laer, Zahrya, Robin, Aurora, Trivia, and Meryasek were not seen again. Dareth died once again trying to defend the DaemonKing.
Titania and Melpomene gathered what surviving forces remained under the ruins of the old forum. The Fairy King’s Forest burned, New Rome was reduced to ash, and the creatures that remained were either captured, fled the city, the realm, or they took shelter together; the end of days had come. Pelorus with his great radar managed to find and assist in the capture of many halfblooded, Cloe, Micah, Rawlins, and Elessar among them. Their fates would make death seem like a kindness.
Across Rome those who had fought against one another were joined unilaterally in force against the crushing weight of The Great Old Ones that poured down upon them. Illithids, monsters, serpents, and dracaenae alike swept across the city as the subjugated monarchy of the Inferno led the charge. Fey, drow, and halfblooded were captured while any others were dispatched on sight: useless in the eyes of the Outlying divinity. With them came Mars and his forces, cavalry that Titania had sought and brought to reinforce her people, a cavalry that had arrived too late. For his treachery, Pluto’s magisters cut down and butchered before the Original vampire’s eyes, Harlow was cut down before Venus could reach her side, Juno and her magisters along with Mars and his still-living magister had to pull Venus away before The Great Old Ones fell upon them as well. Whisked away by Titania and her magic, the Queen of the Fey was too late to save her sons or the chancellors from capture, but she was resolved to find a way to help them.
Over the next five years that followed only a rare few survived, the individuals that fled into the Otherworld were captured, many submitted to the worship of The Great Old Ones and pledged unending fealty, and some made it into the Underdark while a single pair fled into the Astral Sea: find them here.
ooc info:
Dead is dead, feel free to roleplay up until the point of your character's demise. Those listed cannot return as spirits, ghouls or anything else.
Fled characters have fled.
Possessed characters are possessed, you're welcome to play them as such. Basically OP without any drawbacks to their powers.
Characters on the deceased list that aren't specifically mentioned will have either died "off screen" or will die in the next in-game five years.
"Death" being back on means that everyone who should have died in the last few months, will suddenly die. Big mass dying, this also means most of the lycans that went caput are dead as well now. Some survived, Lucas, Romeo, Otsana, and Regina for sure. The rest though? They either died from the explosion or they died over the next five years.
I do have an end goal in mind for who's still alive, world state at the end of this is going to be much slimmer :) so if you're planning on killing someone off, message me first because I don't want you to shoot yourself in the foot.
“Sometimes you must hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain because life’s greatest lessons are learned through pain.”
- Caelus
Day 9
For several days the Allied Senate Forces fought, their forces dwindled as a third of their strength was either beaten, or disappeared in the dead of night. Deserters or those who fell victim to the Asphodel’s ceaseless assault were not seen again. While the Allied Senate Forces slept, the Asphodel did not, fueled by the necronomicon they had no need for anything: they did not eat, or drink, or sleep. Resurgence kept them fueled, kept them powerful, and it kept them working. One by one, day by day the seals of the Inferno fell as Efigenia and Avery worked over them in secret, this, the ninth day, would be the final seal and the Allies’ final chance to stop the Asphodel before Hell was unleashed.
Spells meant to contain, trap, and exorcise had been prepared in mass ahead of time: manufactured crystals and armaments designed by The Eye. Bullets rang out alongside eruptions of the elements, the battle in full anarchy across the feywilds as reinforcements arrived from above and behind while berserkers swelled on either side of the battle to narrow in against the army. Sabina’s messaging had been clear, the strike teams failed, their only hope now was to fight their way into New Dis, fight through the city, and reach Necromanteion's summit: it was there that they would need to destroy the book. Conditioned and prepared to go all out, the Allies' strongest fighters took point: Eren, Diana, Ayla, Lycaon, Dionaeia, Hyacinth, Harlow, and Safiye. Alongside Octavian's acolytes, they would charge the tower once the city was breached. While they charged Necromanteion, the witches of the many covens would enact their plan: Abel within the Pyramid had drawn the circle, Vivianne, Virgil, Ciro, Grayson, Marco, Rowan, and many more would prepare their great conjuration by positioning themselves strategically around the City.
Lucretia’s flames bore down upon the battlefield, destroying Aren’s warmachine in the process, smashed to pieces by the assault of one of the trollithic beasts and the dragon above, he and his fellows were quickly overcome as demogorgons were unleashed from the Inferno and quickly swarmed their troop. Snapping maws that contested with the ferocity of Tripp’s claws; the swollen bog beneath them quivered as druidic magic broke through the creatures in quick succession. Sharpened to the finest edge, the earth bent around the archdruid as he sent each of his cursed kin into a tomb beneath them. Death wouldn’t take them, but bedrock would still have them. More of the monsters encroached, memories of Aren’s past swam forward, every life at once screamed for his attention. Caught unaware and face to face with an eidolon, it reached into his mind as Mazikeen and Kon worked in tandem to repel the advancing monsters with their telekinesis. An easy inflection of magic, and Aren was saved as the eidolon was bound by Virgil to one of the decrepit nearby trees.
Dionaeia, momentarily joined by Aren and his forces, pressed onward. Raffaele was meant to be her support person but he was missing, and Emma was meant to replace him but she’d dropped dead seconds after all this started. Annoying, but not impossible. They'd been offered another solider to supplement but the squad voted 3-1 in refusal, happy for the challenge. Kirigan’s hellfire encircled their machine as it rolled through the swamp and incinerated those that came too close, Hyacinth’s seraph spears were aimed at the creatures that came from above, impaled with lethal accuracy as they fell around them, stripped of their magic. Dionaeia and Diana crushed those that made it through either line of defence. For a goddess of warriors, her brightest pupil, and a prince of Sparta, etc (Kirigan), it was an easy task. At least the three of them were having fun, going so far as to count their score between them as they felled one enemy after another. Dionaeia argued that she did not need Aren’s help when he arrived, he insisted, but one look from Diana and he, alongside his squad, went to reinforce Eren instead.
Ayla’s squad rolled further across the field, the terrain was unforgiving as the surrounding forces were ripped away one at a time. Talons dug into the bodies of supernaturals and humans alike before they were carried off into some unknown area, the ground beneath them that threatened their every step opened and swelled to try and devour them. Soren in beautiful form, the blessed son of the divine that was invulnerable to any attack that was levelled against him drew aggression with ease, his weapon of choice was a bow with arrows tipped in his paralytic blood, or a rifle with bullets of a similar design. Death rejected everyone, so Soren did not have to worry about killing anything. Each felled creature was locked in place by their warforged Vincenzo.
The Abyssal monstrosities screeched forth, their numbers overwhelmed but the Morrigan and her companion danced around them with ease. A tandem they hadn’t found in centuries, one stuck in quick succession with the other, ease and bloodied joy splashed across the earth as they battled. Rhiannon looked towards Magnus, a smile clear and evident on her features as he returned it back to her. Lovers brought together after all this time, united in their seemingly chaotic but methodical movements: Magnus knew in that moment that he'd be getting some that night. His smile soon faded though, immediately after Magnus’ entire body twisted with violent force as a symbiote suddenly erupted from his body, Death would not take him but anyone who watched the horror would have wished that it had. Distracted, their warmachine crumpled into the mud, decimated by a swarm of demogorgons as raging vermin from all corners descended upon them while their team broke apart. Rhiannon erupted into a fury of violence, each creature rose again but she only killed it over and over. The vampire was separated from the others and beyond consolation, she and Magnus perished in the field and were not seen again. Ayla prioritised what machines of war remained and joined Dionaeia as Vincenzo offered the new troop auxiliary support. Rhiannon was not seen again.
Wounded but still standing, Eren marched forward as his machine continued on despite being down a warrior from nearly the beginning. His own sister, Esme, was swept away right under his nose. Ink brought to life bound monsters from pages, living statues marched a defensive perimeter as flying creatures immobilised everything that came too close with paralytic poison. Weapons created in reserve were one of Cloe’s greatest assets, closest to the warmachine was a flurry of Atlas’ blue, flaming fists connecting with anything that drew too near to the senator. Sentinels constructed by Cloe marched alongside them, golems of infused power that she’d animated and instilled with a quasi-sentience that mirrored her own will. Defenders that would fight until every piece of them was broken.
All about them buzzards hummed with life, sensory automatons attuned to Cloe’s clairvoyance that were able to detect and perceive the changes in the air a few moments before an attack came. Marked by the Asphodel for capture, Vivianne and Eren collectively drew in most of the enemies but they had been training to work together in tandem for well over a month. The sovereign’s magic was increased by the first, and then second pill that the Dahlia had prepared for her. She bound the enemies as they were felled, purged the necromanced creatures, and Eren’s keen blade carved its way through those that approached. Hungry for their capture, a wave rose up from the muck, a force of alteration that gathered bones and blood together. A recognizable face roared within as it crashed towards them, Vivianne's magic enhanced, she and Eren worked in tandem as the menace who tortured them with deceased family members and necromancy waited for them high above.
Lycaon had been waiting for this fight, he howled with the wolves and the man that was a wolf by injection, Nicolas. Joined by Pluto, the original vampire fought alongside the original lycan, but as he was unable to harm any followers of Persephone, he was unable to harm the Asphodel’s forces, but he was able to restrain them with the vermin that he commanded. Their assignment was clear, to cause havoc and clear a path through enemy lines by flanking the forces that piled from the City of New Dis. Sabina’s projection rattled around Lycaon’s head and he smacked his temple a few times until she shut up - so the first two squads had fucked up, big deal? That just made this that much more fun. Even from here he could hear the lycans fighting within the city, desecrating it and razing it. Once he was done here, he had every intention of joining the party back in Rome. Burn it all down to the ground and piss on the ashes, that sounded like a good time.
Shifted into the chimeric form of the manticore, Nicolas' fear manipulation had no effect on the necromanced creatures but those that crawled from the Inferno had the worst nightmares of all, and Nicolas’ claws worked fine on them. His venom was unique and eroded at the beasts while Anders’ feral cry broke over the roar of the fight: a bestial howl that befitted his heritage. A battle cry of a ravenous berserker. His great yearning to fight for glory, to earn a victory that would cement his place at the All-Father’s side. Anders changed fluidly between man and beast, the heart of the changeling brought claws to one hand, and an axe to the other before he switched off and parried once more. Nearest the burning city’s high walls, hellfire rained down upon them but Lycaon and his incomplete squad only laughed amidst it.
Harlow, trained by Venus herself, was a flurry of fog and blades. Tinted red by the scarlet ichor that rained about the field, Harlow cleaved her way through it. Buried into the elements, dispelled in splatters of rain and fog, an Otherworldly stake pierced her chest momentarily but it was wrenched free and hurled back by a member of her squad. Joined by a basilisk and a gorgon, specifically adept at this method of warfare, Dario’s touch turned his enemies to stone while Cain’s bite paralysed them in place. Writhing messes on the ground, Death didn’t need to take them. Swarms of rodents formed Hakan as he surveyed the field and returned to let the rest of the squad know which element of the terrain needed the support of their chaos the best.
At last, the machines that survived made contact with the boundary, they fired up with significant enough antimagic and brought the boundary down. The real battle between the Allied Senate Forces and the City of New Dis had begun. Above, Uriel and Azrael entered the city but cold washed over them and froze the limbs of their mortal vessels faster than their manipulation of thermal energy could counter it. The abyssal elf Enfenim restricted the skies to only those of Dis’ forces, and on the ground the draegloth Nashoba and Arakhor stood at the front of the Asphodel’s legions.
Day 9
Into the City of Dis, the full weight of the Allied Senate Forces poured through the gates. They scaled the battlements and rolled into the burning city that was more hellfire than hospitable. Kaan’s capture meant that the witches needed to get in and establish a foothold. While a great force carved its path towards the city, smaller units huddled together to establish embankments within the City. Fortifiable, the Base Camp expanded over the gate as the Allied Senate Forces took hold of a portion of the City of Dis. Trivia's magic at the Ivy's command, the swamp that stood between Rome and the City of New Dis had been terraformed as it had been claimed, an open plain that made travelling between the Pyramid and the main camp at Dis' gate was made.
At Necromanteion’s summit, the captured were embedded with control rods invented by August at Pythia’s request. Driven under the skin: Michael and Tisiphone were brought under Pythia’s control. As the Allied Senate Forces entered the City of Dis, Michael and Tisiphone descended onto the field of battle and fought for the side of the necromancers. Uriel and Azrael were easily overpowered as Michael and Tisiphone pinned them with seraph blades and brought them towards the tower to be taken over as they had both been.
Atop Necromanteion’s burning tower, Bastien, soaked in the blood of those he’d sacrificed to the book, fixed his third eye firmly upon the senate and relayed everything they would do next to Pythia. Every decision that their leaders would make, and every movement that his targets would take next. How they would scurry through the streets like rats, and who would accompany them. Looking on with his sight Bastien saw it all laid bare and clear, the rise of New Dis, and the hollowed cry of the Gods.
This was more than Yurena had ever asked for, she wanted to be close to her brother, she wanted to follow him, but anyone could see the man she’d known was long dead. She had grown strong over the last year, maybe strong enough to do what Erik would have wanted but before Yurena had become a necromancer she was first a daughter of the Alstroemeria Coven, a witch who hadn’t been accepted until she’d gone out into the world and returned with three new pieces of knowledge. A tinkerer and a creator, a watcher and a marshal. Maybe she had not been everything that Erik had wanted her to be, and maybe she did not know whatever spell he had wanted to use to destroy the book for good, but that did not negate what Yurena would do next. All these months she had shielded her actions from Bastien’s sight as she quietly constructed a horn of Elysian gold. Now, from her private realm of creation, she conjured it and blew, a spell of necromancy melded with her own will and craftmanship. The five schools fused and blended seamlessly as the full weight of her magic was woven into it. Daimona appeared around her, a handful at first, then a dozen, and then hundreds of warriors of valour, justice, hope, compassion, love, and more were pulled from across the Otherworld and began to spill through Necromanteion.
This was her opportunity and the only chance that she would get, if she could not destroy the book then she could sever it into pieces as the Senate had once done in the past. Conjured blades appeared above it but as she moved to strike Yurena’s body crumpled in on itself, the last thing she saw was August’s cold gaze and raised palm before the necronomicon devoured her completely. Tepiltzin, Bastien, and August were made to contend with the daimona, their attention no longer on the city below as they continued to protect the book. In the chaos that ensued, Levent seized his opportunity, a necromantic song rang out but it fell short as Pythia pierced him with a seraph blade and suppressed his magic. He was a fey and a powerful one, but he could still bleed for their cause. Yurena’s betrayal had come to be expected, weak was what some called her, but she had banked on being underestimated and it had paid off.
Their hold momentarily disrupted, Michael and Tisiphone released Uriel and Azrael into the city where they fell into the battle below. Called back to the tower to assist with the daimona, Michael and Tisiphone returned, thankful to be empty-handed.
Those who were looking for Yurena’s signal did not know what form it would take, but as the brothers’ seraphim fell from the sky and gold light flooded through the windows of Necromanteion, the Allies and the prisoners knew they would not be getting a second chance. The second pill nearing its end, Vivianne overpowered the atmospheric cold invoked by Enfenim’s spell long enough for their forces to take to the skies. All throughout Necromanteion the hub of the Asphodel’s power was thrown into chaos, for every daimona that was cut down, two more seemed to take its place.
At the lowest level of Necromanteion, Avery and Efigenia led other blood witches in a ritual chamber, prodigies of the dark, they gathered the life force of those that had been dragged into their prisons in the chamber above. The three would join the others soon, once their spell was complete and the Inferno was unlocked. Alvaro lingered protectively in the shadows, he watched as the familiar’s history repeated itself: another one that swore themself to the dark had fallen and here he remained her sentinel guardian. Their aim had been to capture Keket and use her as the final catalyst for the Inferno’s final seal, but where she was absent, the blood of three other hollowborn would be fit to take her place. Now that they were finally in the city, Efigenia conjured a demon to do her bidding.
“Blast Away,” came the Voice Cast from Assan; it echoed towards the enemies in front of the reinforcements that had arrived alongside the assault within the City of New Dis, he ran along walls and appeared in his enemy’s midsts. The monstrosities were sent flying, they blasted through buildings as Komos followed up with a subsequent assault of raw, reserved energy. Scattered, Prometheus zipped through the fallen enemies, a tap across each to alter them enough biologically that they would no longer be able to stand. Nathaniel, seraph blade in hand, destroyed the magic in each. As Assan’s throat weakened and Komos’ body began to breakdown, Prometheus’ touch restored them. Assan couldn’t order anyone to die while Death was cancelled, but he could command them to do a backflip, stand on their head, explode, and all sorts of other entertaining things. Komos, more interested in making his way towards the book and supporting Cloe, took a more serious approach. A trained assassin, it was Assan that noticed the approach of the omoluzu, the ceiling demon. Prometheus was out of earshot as he brought one of the creature’s to their knees while Nathaniel stood beside him with their sword raised, Assan opened his mouth to speak but Komos was bound and snatched away before the tiefling could alert the others. Pulled through the shadows into a waiting cell, the bloodletter now rose between them. “Go.” Assan command to Prometheus, the avariel disappeared to prioritise the book, the greater demon left to the nephilim and the demigod.
Befriended creatures of conjuration, Luna’s summonings led the rest of the squad that she was more or less made to work with. Rawlins’ marched through the city off the streets as his rebuilt tentacles did all the walking for him, his contraptions he created on the fly provided auxiliary support as the devices whizzed about; they restrained enemies and bound them in place while the creatures that Luna summoned sank into the shadows to be later domesticated. Not sure how he was dragged into this, Caradoc knew that Raffaele was somewhere in the tower, his body… Something was wrong, but the witch wasn’t dead. The ferret was tucked around the tall, blonde twink’s shoulders as Caradoc used his telekinesis to keep any enemies from getting too close to his ride, Rawlins. Micah wasn’t a warrior, but his transmutation worked alongside his clairvoyance; he altered his physiology to adapt to whatever was thrown at him and under Rainer’s training was able to at least hold his own. Another of the omoluzu appeared, it moved through the shadows and manifested beneath Luna before it wrenched her down into a waiting cell.
Harellan had already donated an ample amount of his blood to the cause, now Komos and Luna hung in cages above the ritual chamber, bled out for the ritual below. Efigenia and Avery’s dark magic worked in tandem with the blood witches under their charge as their incantation rose louder and louder. Daimona flocked towards them, joined quickly by the fastest of the senate’s forces: Prometheus. Alvaro kept them at bay, the walls and the doors reinforced against their advances, even as the spirits and the demigod hammered against it. The spell reverberated through the walls of the city as the flames of New Dis hummed with power. Their sorcery carried to the mortal realm as the necromancers’ dark ritual could be felt like a vibration that reverberated through the air and foundations of the earth itself. Elsewhere, as the Allies breached Dis but more of them disappeared, Renfield slipped away from the medical encampment and headed back to Rome.
Within their cells, the blood prisoners were made to sit and wait, but Eoin was biding his time. Distracted by the sudden appearance of the daimona, a shot rang out as his ring fired a round of concentrated magical energy like a bullet into his lock. Several others went off as the cages were blasted open. Esme and Evy grounded the demogorgons, Nathan sealed their limbs and their abilities, and the prisoners worked to free the others as the battle between life and death raged above them. Levent, freed from his capture, lent his magic to their cause as he helped Kaan to his feet once more. Dante, shifted into a lycan as he stomped through his cage, a twink no more. Emory sent the demogorgons back into the Inferno, conjured the aid of the daimona as the spirits flocked to help them, and sealed the abyssal monsters that had been necromanced. An exorcist joined by Hazal's Amaranthian power and Eoin's combat experience, the witches were the best suited to take point. They'd climb the tower and lend whatever support they could to those above.
Necromanteion was constantly shifting, and constantly moving. Labyrinths like what the city had experienced when the Asphodel travelled back in time were waiting at every turn. One wrong room and any of the prisoners or those travelling within could have ended up across the Otherworld, in a Funhouse, or a palace Under the Sea. Emory navigated each, acutely aware via his own magic how the building might shift and turn, this was another product of August's conjuration and he knew the necromancer well enough to know where the man had spent his magic. Once it was safe, Eoin, Emory, and Hazal found a place to cast and prepared to join the rest of the witches as Emory sent the daimona that Yurena had conjured to aid the others up the tower.
Enhanced by the demonic blood capsules supplied by The Eye, Kay scried the location of the prisoners within the City of New Dis. The prisoners were still cut off, but through Sabina he communicated that they were out and that they were fighting for their lives to keep it that way. While the streets were a madhouse, Grayson dominated an abomination and forced it under his command; he learned through it that there were complex systems of navigation below the city that were more scarcely patrolled. Alces and Gigas in hand, Ariston sunk most of the team of reinforcements into the system below as they moved to try and rescue those that were being used to fuel the necromancers’ magic. Grayson remained, instead he left to join the other witches across the city in their spell. Nabi’s fear manipulation left the team undaunted, though it had little impact on the subjugated demons and enthralled species, those that fought willingly were left running scared. Their plan, the location of the prisoners, and the system below the city was communicated to everyone via Sabina at the central base of operations, The Pyramid of Cestius.
Fen’Harel and Raja sensed the loss of their archdruid and fought harder as a result. Octavian’s fury was their own, the wolf and the tiger battled their way through the streets of New Dis, accompanied by Ciro and Amico. Amico was another demon who did not know how he’d gotten here, he kept the hordes of monsters off the witch’s back as the Amaranthian watcher bound and expelled the creatures with practised ease. It was nearly time for the witches to enact their plan, so while Fen’Harel and Raja joined forces with Eren’s squad to aid in the assault at the tower, Ciro and Amico found a safe place where the witch could connect with the others. A temporary brand had been added to each of the covens’ marks, it prevented anyone from revealing their plans, and entwined them all together. Elsewhere in New Dis the rest of the witches all did the same.
Warded against planeswalking, Necromanteion could not be breached by Hermes. Instead he carried enemies to different planes and just dropped them there before returning to his own squad. Emir, Ezekiel, Remi, Salvador, and Jamie had no magic that would aid in those that Death would not accept, but since this was his husband’s squad, Thanatos made one exception and let those that died around Hermes stay that way. Who said romance was dead? Unfortunately, the squad were mostly vampires though and were already dead, so when Emir got his spine torn out by a demogorgon and Salvador got his head bitten off by a serpent, the two of them didn’t blip back into existence and just stayed dead. Hermes took Ezekiel, Remi, and Jamie deeper into New Dis and the three joined Ariston’s squad below the city as they penetrated Necromanteion's lower levels.
A shark with blood in the water, Safiye was incensed by the combat, she joined the others as they stormed the foot of the tower. It was there that they breached Necromanteion and joined the ranks of the daimona. Drawn towards Octavian, Santino fought like a wild dog to breach the defences and get past to get to the trapped archdruid within. Accompanied by Atlas, Fen’Harel, Raja, Cain, and The Fox, the acolytes forced their way in and charged ahead. Aren, as a centaur, trampled over enemies as the wind assailed those around him. Aurea could smell her brother imprisoned below and fought tooth and nail to break through to get inside. Slashed, Jonah’s wounds healed immediately, his services were bought and paid for with more than double the first instalment waiting for him when they won. Armed to the teeth by The Eye, rounds of antimagic bullets brought the necromanced hordes to their knees as they were left alive, but stripped of their power.
DAY 9
Mneme, on a woven bed of flowers, slept. Sealed within a casket of pure aetherial forged matter, the spellplague that had ravaged her was well contained within. The fate of the mortal realm would be too similar to Hyperborea if Mneme was left here and with the encroaching battle, Melpomene was given no other choice. Still unable to let go, she sealed her away where nobody would ever be able to lay a hand on her. Every aspect in this city had chosen their place in this war, most were in the Otherworld now, but the rest had marked themselves as either her enemy or they were too impassive or pessimistic to be bothered. Melpomene touched her golden hair, tied down the length of her shoulder, laid across the gilded armour that had seen more bloodshed than smiles. She still wove it in the way that her stepmother had shown her and her sisters, Titania and the twelve Muses. Melpomene heard Yidhra’s voice now: “To be a Goddess is to be alone and never alone, feel your braid and know that we all stood before you, that we all stand with you.” Queen Angharradh and her many aspects, Mneme and Melpomene would both join Her soon. Melpomene dried her eyes for the final time, and she stood: her gaze was cast towards the darkened sky and what would be her final battle.
With Tamlen’s temporary death, the drow could at last comfortably go onto the offensive. The great city of dark wonder hung above Rome and lowered its protective fields so that the true assault of the drow could begin. A black sun hung over the clouds, the city had been blanketed in shadow for eight long days, and now from beneath the city the catacombs erupted with the forces of the drow as they filed out in mass. Virulent, walking bombs wandered through the fey forest: commoners that had been hunted and imbued with darkness by Felandaris suddenly erupted as shadows were spewed everywhere, drow poured out and infiltrated the forest and slipped through the fey’s defences with ease. Faerinaal appeared in force within, there to burn it and everyone in the forest to the ground.
Faerinaal marched through the forest and was met by Aegnor and Cloud, the fey’s infantry, and the lorendrow who had defected from Lloth’s embrace. Traitors, each and every one of them, as Lloth had a vested interest in seeing the lorendrow wiped out, Nyloth and her Sisters lent their prayer to the destruction of Aegnor’s forces. There was a time when they might have called the eldest son of Titania and the youngest son of Ayi’ig something akin to a brother, but he had marked himself an enemy and they were happy to partake in his destruction.
Where Aur’il’s cold blew, Felandaris redirected it, where the great storms of the summer court landed, the Architect only turned it back against them. Fall rot turned to an Underdark decay, Spring’s fruit wilted on the vine and as an acid rain as black as tar fell across the grove of blood, those who’d tasted it were infected by shadows. For every spell they knew, the Architect knew ten, a counter to every curse, a foil to every enchantment. The legions of drow sorcerers' contended to the fey’s mystical defences from their place within the flying city. Aurora's request brought Aur'il's fury upon the drow's city, a brutal wave of cold that took the bulk of the Architect's focus, sorcery and those he commanded shifted their attention from the city to protecting their home as the archfey laid siege through the air itself. Annoying. Lycans that thought by eating the heart of the changelings, and by eating this bloodfruit were made stronger, but the more they took, the more they let in. Zahrya's forces became the drow's forces, and as Felandaris playfully kicked the warder Nirvaan in his cell, he glowered over the drow's coming victory. This twink was a real fucking menace.
Amadeus’ menagerie of monstrosities appeared beneath the city alongside the hordes of drow forces, they scurried through the dark as they targeted the DaemonKing himself, Meryasek. Hellfire changelings and the aasimar Dareth clashed with The Dark’s forces, the beastmaster himself happy to enter the fray as he fought like more of a wild animal than a drow. Cut down only to rise again, Amadeus’ monsters did the same as they battled endlessly. Dareth was a traitor, and under Lloth all traitors were to meet the same fate. A flash, silver like moonlight, severed several creatures into three as Andruil landed beside the DaemonKing.
Severon rolled forward in a tank and giggled excitedly as his perfected mechs descended over the city and marched beside him. A missile took out a score of Meryasek’s changelings while an array of energised weaponry cut through the senate’s forces. His target was the Pyramid and the technology and potential test subjects within, but in the artificer’s mind this was a field exam for the mechs that he had been developing for ages. Thinking and autonomous machines that could make decisions on the fly, with a soul of their own that could adapt to any situation. Some drow had seen the mechs talking among themselves within the flying city, strange. Embedded with a hierarchy and the free will that came with a soul, what could have possibly gone wrong?
Feral, Xerxes stood at an unknown height and gladly tore apart fey and drow alike as they encroached upon the Pyramid. Giovanni moved with the grace of any Venus vampire, the only warrior on the battlefield that had remained untouched thanks to Caio’s good fortune. Able to sense any enemy's approach, Valentina stripped their will to fight as she warned her squad of the attack. Wade and Cruz, had been overtaken by the forces of rot as the spore zombies lurched forth, inoculated by The Eye, they managed to recover and gladly used the tech supplied to even the playing field.
About ready to begin, Theo, Elessar, and Asher offered their blood to Abel as he led the ritual previously discussed among the witches. Situated in the heart of the Pyramid, the many powers within echoed their dark enchantment. If Rome would fall at least the necronomicon would be destroyed. In a race against the clock, he linked with the others: Vivianne, Ciro, Grayson, Hazal, Emory, Eoin, Virgil, Rowan, and more. Sentries to the Pyramid, the vampires protected the witches within as fey, drow, lycans, spore changelings and all manner of monsters began to attack it. Worried about his family, Niko had been saved and then joined Asher at his side… Though he didn’t really know what was going on because he’d been a tree for a very long time.
Drawn into the battle because the city had become a warzone, Astaroth, Sariel, and Atarniel had found one another through the chaos. Three warriors fallen from grace, seraph blades tore away the magic of those that came across their path. Astaroth was taken first, but Sariel and Atarniel managed to escape; Astaroth's lack of Grace made them suitable for ceremorphosis. Compelled to fight by the Asphodel's side, Wolf & Lamb were pulled into the fray and attacked anyone they saw on sight. Hayliel was nowhere to be found but somehow everyone trusted that he was alright before they got got. Aelia, foolishly attacked, gladly devoured the magic and flesh of the monsters that she came into contact with. Marius revelled in the chaos and took to unleashing his wrath alongside Remus as the powerful aspect rampaged across the city while Lilith looked on.
Lorenzo’s football game was interrupted by the apocalypse, but he’d missed it anyway because he was chained to a tree. A leech slipped into Max’s ear and he was quickly transformed into a mindflayer as it consumed his brain expeditiously. Locked away without a care in the world, Akara was in a lovely cabin by a beach that Laer had made for him. Gael was out of his cage but he was possessed by a conjured shadow monster and was dragged into the battle, to serve as cannon fodder or to make himself useful to the drow. Bebe was stressed, so she went to get her nails done and unleashed a jar of infinite killer bees along the way, the boutiques went crazy but her five-finger discount went crazier. Dulce thought she was slick and tried to snack on a fey but was turned into a frog instead. Caius was in the middle of feeding on one of the many drow that had suddenly ended up in the city when he was thrown into the shadow realm and never seen again.
The power went out and Sybella had no choice but to involve herself, she went into the Fairy King’s Forest in search of Alastor and killed anything that got in her way: drow and fey alike. Below the city Kadir was swarmed by drow and was taken prisoner at Severon’s behest. Marcella had known this was coming, this great fight that had become unavoidable, she was a vampire now and she did what she could to help those that she came across. Dominic was in the middle of trying to attack Labyrinth with the lycans when he was torn apart by a stray wolf after it exploded. Poor Sumeyye and Wolfgang both got merked immediately, but everytime they were killed they just kept coming back because not even Death wanted them. Which was strange, because they were vampires so they should have just died.
War raged across the city as those that were killed only got up again, endless and violent, blood spilled into the streets of Rome as buildings and monuments were brought down. Bones fell upon bones. Across the Otherworld soldiers continued to fall, injured, cursed, or incapacitated as the Pyramid’s infirmary bustled with activity. The fey-conjured elements that bore down against its surface were taken and absorbed by Nettelia, the archdruid that stood in defence of it.
Projectiles of magic came forth as Severon’s Mechs laid siege to the golems that protected the Pyramid’s perimeter, a gap was made, and hordes of enemies began to pour through. As they marched, Severon’s maniacal laughter echoed around him, the mechs had to wonder why they even listened to him. Intelligent and self aware, they quickly turned against him. The people of the Pyramid looked on in disbelief as Severon was smacked around by his own creations like toddlers waving a ragdoll around. Severon’s creations soon retreated from the battlefield and left him behind, not interested in participating in a war that had nothing to do with them.
From within the Otherworld, darkness hummed. A foul ritual from Necromanteion echoed across Rome, Avery and Efigenia’s long standing work was at last brought to its culmination. A ripple of raw magic went out, the book required blood and meat, entrenched by the blood of hollowborns, a blast was emitted from Necromanteion’s summit, it broke through the daimona and tore the spirits into the book, it fell upon the Base Camp of the Allied Senate Forces and washed through the gate into Rome where it blew into the foundations of the Pyramid. Not enough to bring it down, but enough to cause serious damage: nearly anyone caught in the blast was killed instantly.
Immune to necromantic spells, Nettelia was struck, but she was one of the survivors. Below the Pyramid, Ephraim prioritised the research team and swiftly ordered the androids present to dismantle and rearrange their parts to shield Sabina, Isla, and Sanem from the blast. His final words transmitted through Sabina were the last instructions that would come from the control room: seven percent. Zoey, Marco, Isabella, and Epimetheus were caught up in the attack and could not be saved. Gabriel was unharmed because he was with Rowan at the time of the explosion. Technology and resources destroyed, Sabina’s psychic connection with the forces was ended, the last transmission received was the knowledge that the shot fired had struck the Main Base Camp of the Allied Senate Forces. Sadly, Androids 16-18 were destroyed along with all the resources within, but unbeknownst to the Allied Senate Forces they managed to save Sabina, Isla, and Sanem. Zagreus was caught in the blast, but by mimicking Nettelia he was also immune, the attack took a toll though. Nearly destroyed, the mimicry was completely wiped away and the nephilim’s life hung by a thread. Aren had been heading back to Rome to check on Alek when he was caught by the tail end of the blast and was knocked unconscious. Alek and the Lupo were also struck by the outlying blast when they breached the walls of the pyramid.
Amadeus' beasts ran rampant, from his menagerie so many had never been unleashed at once. Feral and incensed by blood and chaos, the beastmaster began to lose control of them as the drow soldiers under his command that rode them were devoured by the creatures. His wyrm turned against him, flinging him against a building before he was forced to fight to bring it back under his command. Joined by Meryasek and Andruil, Alastor and Zahrya imprisoned the beastmaster, and Zahrya brought the changelings that had been stolen from him back under his command before going to reunite with the other chancellors.
Drow descended on the ruins of the Pyramid that remained, the gate to the Otherworld now left undefended. Severon had recuperated after he was decimated by his mechs when he was drawn towards a flickering source of power. Rejected by Death, Severon just stood up and started tinkering with his gundam to get it firing again. Zagreus’ dark hair turned white, energy crackled around him as he stood amidst the worst of the rubble, the soulless bodies of his friends that had been taken out were strewn around him. The flesh of their bodies was inching mindlessly on its own towards the Otherworld, heading towards the City of Dis at a slug’s pace. Because this was something Severon had never encountered before, he had to get closer to try and learn what was going on with the nephilim. This was a strange power unlike anything that the Artificer had ever seen or heard of before. In an instant, a seraph blade of unique origin was through Severon’s chest, and the magic within him was destroyed. Mortal.
Within the ruins of the Base Camp Atticus appeared, he sifted through the stones to try and find Ephraim but uncovered the three women that the Overseer had chosen to protect instead. Zagreus continued on a rampage, he destroyed the magic inside everything he previously considered an enemy and wielded magic previously unknown to him, one nephilim against an army of drow as he violently defended the Pyramid. Buildings collapsed in his presence, the roads themselves buckled, and from his cell above Rome Nirvaan looked towards the light that was being given off. Somehow the warder knew it to be familiar. After ten or so minutes, Zagreus’ appearance returned to normal and he passed out. When the nephilim awoke, he had no memory of what transpired.
Chaos had overtaken the city entirely and Elijah used it to find his way into Eichen House. The psychiatric ward that the senate established in conjunction with their supernatural prison system. The moment he entered he could hear the whispers: Let me in, let me in, let me in. The incubus had heard that they were wails, but when he came across Chrysaor’s room the banshee was just sitting there, muttering to himself. Elijah pulled the muzzle off of him and a wail erupted immediately, Elijah’s soul was blown away, the prison shook and those within were set free: Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Paloma followed suit, her wail was ceaseless, but she screamed into the streets, this time with blades in her hands.
Night 9
Necromantic light washed away the daimona, and when it was released from the summit of Necromanteion, it cleansed the book’s chamber of Yurena’s intruders. The Allied Senate Forces looked on in horror as their retreat was decimated, their medical units, their reinforcements, the entire nervous system of their military was wiped away in an instant. Seven percent, those were their odds of success, they didn’t have time to mourn or grieve or look back. The streets of the City of Dis buckled, the burning rivers of lava fell into chasms as the buildings began to erode into a pit as the area around Necromanteion started to sink into the bedrock of the Otherworld. This would be the tomb of the Allied Senate Forces, one last trap laid by the Asphodel.
Littered about the city, the witches of the various covens continued their spell. Runes inscribed upon the walls of Necromanteion by Kaan began to glow as the Allied Senate Forces scrambled to make it into the burning tower. The Asphodel, only now recovering from the chaos that Yurena had wrought were too late to counter the Allies’ spell: in a great flourish of magic and light, Necromanteion was conjured from the City of Dis and crashed directly into the heart of Rome, in the midst of the great chaos of the ruined city, Necromanteion’s spire erupted through the heart of the drow’s flying city, pierced straight through as the blazing tower appeared through thin air. There it stood, and as it groaned, it tipped and balanced in the midst of the great drow city.
With the tower, the Allied Senate Forces were brought with it, those that had joined them followed as well: seraphim like Uriel and Azrael. Conjured from Necromanteion in the final moments before it was swept away entirely. Piggybacking on the spell, Enfenim and Arakhor aimed to bring the Asphodel along with them as they were reverse summoned into Rome. The Inferno, however, was open, and from this seemingly bottomless pit the great hordes of hell were unleashed. The gate between Rome and the Otherworld closed behind Nettelia, any who tried to make their way to her from Rome would be unable, but neither could the demons from the Otherworld use the Senate's gate to crossover. Countless monsters rose from the pit, Minos, Aeacus, Charon, and Alecto were pierced by seraph blades through the chest and held in chains. Megaera, the traitor, proudly marched alongside her fallen siblings. Lucifer the vainglorious and beautiful, Beelzebub the dealmaker and fraud, Astaroth the heretic, Sathanas the wrathful, Mammon the greedy, Abaddon the gluttonous, and Asmodeus the lustful with their generals in full force they rose with their great army and marched towards where they perceived the gate to Rome to be, unaware that the archdruid had already sealed it and now stood in their path.
Night 9
Within the city, Laer, Zahrya, Robin, and Aurora reunited once more. Unable to reach Nirvaan above, Aurora was resolved to bring the drow down to save her warder. The Titan rose above the city as it blasted raw, aetherial energy at the drow’s infernal ship that had now been penetrated. A line was drawn through it as the giant city erupted in a blaze, cleaved in two it fell upon the city, whatever remained of Rome was devastated and reduced to rubble and ruin. Necromanteion, which had been held upright by the flying city, toppled and crashed amidst the devastation. All those within were thrown about, broken against walls and everything else.
As Necromanteion appeared in the middle of Rome, the Allied Senate Forces around its base before the Titan devastated it completely. The witches of the Asphodel had been conjured to and bound within the Pyramid. Held and contained by Abel alongside several other witches, the binding that The Ivy coven had created restricted the necromancers within from using any of their magic. August, Efigenia, Bastien, Avery, and the Asphodel initiates were all trapped.
Elsewhere, Lucretia, Tepiltzin, Pythia, Enfenim, Arakhor, and Nashoba remained within Necromanteion as it fell. Protected via magic, the tower toppled and they stayed standing in defence of the book - even as Octavian was smacked around while the burning tower hit the ground. In the bowels of Necromanteion the labyrinths had been broken, and as they spilled onto the streets of Rome they headed towards the infernal book that was closer now than it had ever been before. Eren, Diana, Ayla, Lycaon, Dionaeia, Hyacinth, Harlow, and Safiye at the head, the witches of Rome had all been completely exhausted and depleted. Reuniting to reinforce their strength, Virgil had conjured Aurea, Tripp, and Eoin together to deliberate on what they would do next.
The fall devastated the Pyramid, and the necromancers that were bound stepped out from the broken circle, fully powered, and free once again. Butchered, Avery cut down Abel with ease and fed his meat to the book as the necromancers rose from the destruction and turned their gaze towards the crooked tower of Necromanteion at the heart of ruined Rome. It was there that they would meet with the others.
Lucretia waited beside the book, protecting it as she did. She took out her phone and texted the group chat a series of question marks, obviously the rest had been detained because they’d fallen into some lame trap. Stupid idiots. To take out some of her frustrations she kicked Octavian’s limp, mortal body. It didn’t stop her from being frustrated but it did make her feel better. Necromeras appeared at her summon and patrolled around his body, they cackled darkly like a set of hyenas as Octavian looked at the necronomicon with feral, hungry eyes.
From within and from outside the tower, Octavian’s acolytes emerged at last, they flocked towards their archdruid and as Lucretia transformed to tear them to pieces, Eren stood in her way. Shredded by the dragon’s claws, he stalled her enough for the acolytes to reach the archdruid. Rejected by Death, Eren stood once more before he was brought out of the tower by August where the two would fight at last. Drawn towards Octavian by instinct, the archdruid subconsciously drained each of them of their power and their souls. Their limp bodies at his feet, he rose amidst them as Uriel and Azrael landed at the tower’s summit. Seraph blades drawn, they charged towards the book but their swords were washed away by the phoenix's flames. If Octavian could not have the book, then nobody could.
The Necronomicon burnt, and though it had not been truly destroyed, the Asphodel had been temporarily cut off from its well of magic. Lucretia stood and tried to transform once more but found she was unable, with one brutal blow Octavian yeeted his daughter from what remained of the tower and watched as she fell the few stories onto the street below. A pair of seraph blades in either hand, Pythia tore the grace from Azrael before she departed from the tower with Tepiltzin’s and Nashoba's. Aided by Enfenim and Arakhor's song, the brothers departed the broken Asphodel elsewhere and then left. They could see which way the wind was blowing, Enfenim had no interest in anyone's flop era.
Octavian’s power was nowhere near where it had once been, but he assumed that if he consumed more druidic souls then it was only a matter of time until he was fully restored. The archdruid transformed into a phoenix once more, and descended into the burning city resolved to save it by first reducing it to ashes.
The Necronomicon destroyed, Michael and Tisiphone were freed from the will of the Asphodel. Joined quickly by Uriel and Azrael, they moved now to find the necromancers that remained, to hunt them and put them down once and for all. They could feel the release of the Inferno, the encroachment of the dark forces, and they had to wonder where was Ulthar? Where were the rest of the Blessed? Why had none but the dead Ganymede come?
Night 9
Most of the drow distracted, the Court itself was left vulnerable. Shielded by Udaeus’ antimagic, Hyperenor, Pelorus, and Echion managed their way inside. Inconspicuous, the four avoided detection with Pelorus’ radar ability guiding them through the city. Any alarm would make the defences more difficult to get through, Udaeus wanted to go on a killing spree and so did Hyperenor but Echion said it was a better idea to use stealth. At which point, Udaeus pointed out that stealth and tact was their best approach, Echion and Hyperenor both agreed while Pelorus rolled his eyes.
As they snuck into the heart of the court, bolts of lightning hammered the drows’ defences as the Blessed seraphim loudly pronounced their location. Having learned of Adatiel’s capture, Dumah had come to her rescue.
Somniar had anticipated an intrusion and the legions of ilithids kept back at court emerged to take down the intruders. The spartoi were a race that were so rare, there were only four of them left in existence, the Inquisitor was eager to flay them and bring them under his control. His hands were deep within the Elder Brain, he instructed the swarms from an unknown location as the spartoi walked into his waiting trap. Rome had been blanketed in cranium rats for months, any plans discussed outside of The Eye’s Outpost or Labyrinth was intel that Queen Ayi’ig’s Spymaster easily gathered.
From the moment that the spartoi entered the heart of the court, they were immediately surrounded by mindflayers. Udaeus’ antimagic was formidable but he could not use it in conjunction with his accumulation power, additionally, the risk of effecting one of his siblings was too high. Forced in an all out confrontation, the spartoi were made to contend in a losing battle that pitted them against hundreds of flayed creatures from dragons to goblins.
Elsewhere, Dumah found his sister in Severon’s lab, he broke open Adatiel's cage and set her free, he paid no mind to the robots that were coming back to the lab from the battlefield. There were a lot of them and it really didn’t feel like any of his business.
Beneath the ancient court of drow, Somniar’s grin had widened to a maddening size, the fey were falling, Rome was falling, and the leeches that marinated in the Elder Brain’s brine were ready for use. A giggle came from the dark and the inquisitor let out the largest groan anyone had ever heard, though the mark had faded from his chest, he should have known better than to believe that Yavie had died. Out in the Astral Sea he’d fought a number of illithids, most of them were independent, some of them connected to an Elder Brain: dispatching the latter was even easier than the former, nobody ever really wanted to serve a hivemind.
The flayed defences were dispatched in a flourish of stars, Somniar raised a brow at a wind up monkey with clapping symbols… Unsure what to expect here, then it exploded and ripped a massive chunk of the Elder Brain into the Astral Sea, with a large part of the brain Somniar went flying as a very special heart shaped bomb came flying towards him. Somniar shielded his head and lost his arm and a portion of his face as a result. Gray matter spilled into The Elder Brain’s own brine, but the effects elsewhere were catastrophic. Within the royal palace the flayed regained their independence and fled for the Underdark below, this gave the spartoi the freedom to continue towards Queen Ayi’ig’s safely guarded reliquary. Rhovanor’s subjugation was broken, as was the subjugation of the cranium rats within Rome, and every ilithid that had been brought under Somniar’s control was now free. They would now remember Somniar's care, raised from nothing more than larvae, the inquisitor coddled the leeches embarrassingly and as not to let word slip of his softness for them, he suppressed the memories of their youth with the Elder Brain. The eladrin Rhovanor dead, he was officially an ilithid.
Within the reliquary of the Queen of the Drow, the four spartoi looked on at the sacred instrument that had been used by Queen Yidhra to channel so much power. Corrupted by the spellplague, anyone who touched it was immediately affected. Udaeus used his antimagic to contain the curse, Pelorus to find where the instrument was weakest, then Echion and Hyperenor shattered it.
They waited, but nothing happened, and then it blew.
In the rubble that followed, the spartoi all survived but Udaeus, Echion, and Hyperenor were knocked on conscious. Radar had made Pelorus shield himself appropriately, he'd known that the thing was going to blow even sooner than Udaeus had. Pelorus the lazy, Pelorus the stinky, Pelorus the this and the that. The spartoi muttered under his breath as he stacked his useless brothers on his shoulder, once again saving these assholes before he marched the three of them from the Queen's reliquary. Pelorus' ability made sure he didn't encounter anyone or anything dangerous as he did.
ooc info:
Oh nooo, our plan, it's broken :(
tldr:
They got into the city, people made their way into the tower, the prisoners broke out, the witches summoned the tower into Rome. Sadly they weren't fast enough because the Asphodel opened hell. Drow city fell, tower fell, the whole city is a warzone now. Everyone's scrambling, the Titan is going crazy, and it's very cold.
The spartoi are able to interact with one another up until the point that the stick went boom. They can encounter others in the Otherworld now.
Severon's mechs are self aware, turned against him, and have left the battlefield. Severon is mortal now. Amadeus' beasts are going crazy and are running around off leash. Somniar's flayed are all independent women and remember that Somniar is actually a really great dad.
The Inferno has been opened and is a thing of the past, all of hell is coming for Rome. The Otherworld gates are all sealed, nobody will be able to reach the old base camp before the next plot drop. No matter how fast they are :)
Azrael is one of the fallen now.
Everyone is pretty much in Rome, with some exceptions. The whole city is in ruins, the drow's sky fortress crashed into the city, Necromanteion was summoned into Rome, and then also fell.
The Necronomicon was burnt up, but not destroyed properly. He lives in you. You being the Asphodel, they're still just as strong and are looking for meat to remake the book with.
Ilithids and drow can move in and out of the Otherworld still at will, have fun folks.
The only people who know the book was burnt up are the Asphodel, and those who were in the room at the time.
Octavian's new acolytes are all dead. He killed them accidentally with the group hug.
Everything is in chaos, city is unrecognizable basically, smoke and ruins everywhere kiss kiss fall in love.
The dead are dead and cannot be interacted with, you can wrap up their threads or give them a farewell, but absolutely nothing from the last point they were seen.
You can see the list of where everyone is now here.
“You can either step into the abyss, or step back from it. You cannot wander its edge for long."
- An excerpt from the journal of Erik Alstroemeria
Banshees. Heralds of death and tragedy. Ocular in nature. When last they screamed in unison The Returned had come back from the grave. Delivered from Elysia in the midst of a great and terrible storm, one that took the life of a young witch in the process. From the ashes of another a woman stood in a simple chiton, memories gone, story unknown.
It was cold that night, she didn’t remember it being that cold. Her mind scrambled to piece something together - anything - but it was dark and she was afraid. Split hands curled into cold earth as the wind passed through the trees, rustling leaves that glinted with the light of the moon overhead. The things they did, she thought it was going to make things better, she thought that they’d done everything perfectly.
Erik told her as much, he looked over everything, he praised everyone. “This is it,” he had said, “this is how we change the world.” Branches snapped behind her and she was on her feet again, running for her life as she pushed through the thicket. Her feet were bare beneath the earth, her dress tore as mud-streaked skin brushed against leaves. Her skin broke and there was no sensation of pain, all she felt was the cold like ice in her lungs, and an exhaustion so profound she had no choice but to keep pushing forward.
Through the tree line and into sudden dawn. Into warmth and light. Erik faded from her memory, tragedy slipped away, nothing had gone wrong, everything had gone perfectly right. Fear evaporated and terror slipped from her. Elysium opened its arms to the frightened traveller, who'd made it through the thickest part of the Netherwoods. When Yurena looked behind her she saw the face of the monster that had pursued her, a woman that mirrored herself, the memory of who she was meant to be and why she’d come. The Returned shook her head as Yurena turned away towards paradise and turned away towards peace.
“Fear breeds a desire for simplicity. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Chains of command.”
- An excerpt from the journal of Erik Alstroemeria
The Oracle recalled the vision she’d had the night before the vigil of Erik Alstroemeria, sifting through her notes as she tried to piece together the visions of the past years to decipher what the future might hold:
Vivianne awoke to the damp smell of dusty stones like the old churches that punctuated her home, Rome. In the distance she could hear water as it fell in rhythmic fashion against fractured stones: drip, drip, drip. When she pushed herself up from her place on the ground the earth beneath her palms bit her skin, cruel and sharp as fatigued limbs hoisted the oracle upright. Through the dark Vivianne’s eyes strained to make some sense of her surroundings, she was in a cavern of sorts, someplace old, someplace she’d never been to before, and yet, she felt as though she should have known it.
The dark itself felt like a force of its own, she could not see her hands through it but she felt them wade through this invisible entity like they were carrying her through a tide. An uncertain, shaky step took her all of an inch deeper as Vivianne scrambled to make sense of her surroundings - fear flooded her limbs as she probed the dark with her hands and came back with nothing. Another step, another sweep of her arms and when Vivianne opened her mouth to speak there was nothing. A hollow scream before she stumbled over something jagged and sharp.
Vivianne could smell the blood as it pooled from the place where she’d tripped, through the dark the oracle could hear the echo of laughter like jackals. The dark itself played tricks on her, invented shapes that transformed before her, a set of eyes, a row of teeth, the hiss of a serpent. When at last Vivianne’s hands found the wall she clung to the side, she flattened her body against it and sank deeper into the ground like it was the one thing that could anchor her, the one thing that could keep her safe. Whatever power was meant to be at Vivianne’s disposal felt distant, felt weak, and all of a sudden she was small once again.
Too small to face whatever watched her in the dark.
Vivianne closed the notebook, remembering keenly when all this had begun. Erik’s death and the series of events that had followed, the darkness that hung below and above, the note she’d scrawled in the ledger in haste: beneath you he devours.
“He’d been terrified of being swallowed up by the darkness for so long it seemed like it would be a relief to get it over with. He was only scared of becoming nothing until he was nothing. Just like dying.”
- An excerpt from the journal of Erik Alstroemeria
It was a night she’d never forget, the dancing, the music, the food. A queen and her chancellors opened their court to the world and her heart opened with it. The music was entrancing, the cuisine unforgettable. There were old stories of accepting gifts from the fey, of names and foods and debts that she did not remember at the time - not when it was so late.
Bright eyes turned wicked and hearts darkened as chaos descended upon the many, fey played over the bodies of the changing, the food she knew not to eat twisted her body from within. Through the gilding of the castle she tried to run, tried to disappear, but she could see what was becoming of those who remained. Her back bent, her body ached, when she tried to escape there were creatures there waiting to stop her. Not a person any longer, but a changeling.
“An army-” Titania bellowed, “one fit to stand against the coming tide.” her voice was all she heard now, protecting the court was The Earnest's only purpose.
Gods demanded tribute. Few knew this better than those who practised the old ways, eladrins most of all. It was not enough to want, you had to be willing to bleed and you had to be willing to spill more to get your fair share. A spell to transport the city, another to hold them, and a third to change them. Chancellors rich in magic lent their song to one another as they whispered across the aether to the muses, to the Goddesses of old magic who stood indomitable and imperious. Powerful creatures that dined on ambrosia, fruit grown from the blood of their subjects. Among the changelings Zahrya played, plucking magic from here and planting it there, growing as an eladrin of Spring did best. Blood fruits he called them, but his garden was only just beginning to bloom.
“The Dragon Has Three Heads.”
- Scrawled hastily onto the finally page of the journal of Erik Alstroemeria
The open notebook sat on Kaan’s desk as he thumbed through it, more than anyone, him and Erik had been close. While much of the supernatural world turned its nose up at the Narcissus coven, Erik never had. The uncanny mind of an intellectual who saw the value in understanding the dark in order to subvert it, the fate of his own son was unfortunate, but a decision that Erik had made to appease the senate as a whole. A son that Kaan had vowed to help, if he could. There was a time when he’d thought to bring him into the Narcissus, but the wayward bastard child of a dead sovereign coming into the ranks of a coven that was already being blamed for Erik’s death would have reflected poorly and only implicated Kaan further. Had he done so anyways, maybe things would have gone differently. Maybe he could have protected the Nomadic son of Erik Alstroemeria from the clutches of the necronomicon.
Written in several ancient languages, the entirety of the book had taken over a year to decipher, but his friend's final words lay open in front of him. Three heads. Necromanteion’s earliest incarnation was fixed with three stone statues, one for Leviathan, one for Ayi’ig, and one for Tiamat. Erik had kept the spine of the necronomicon hidden for so long, studied it for over a decade and somehow managed to avoid its vile corruption. The Sacrifice knew well what sort of toll the book could take and how power from its pages always came with a price. He’d hoped that within the bindings of Erik’s notebook he might uncover more of what the Alstroemeria sovereign had uncovered, the details of the ritual that Erik had been attempting all those years ago.
Destroying the book had all but landed on their lap, the author crawled from its depths and told them how to eliminate it once and for all. The first of Ulthar’s seraphim had agreed, energy could not be destroyed, not truly, only moved from one place to another. The notebook returned to Kaan’s safe, The Sacrifice headed towards The Labyrinth, one final meeting to put their plans into motion, and one final chance to set things right.
Beyond the walls of the Narcissus Estate, the screaming began.
A chorus of banshees erupted across the city, violent and unrelenting. A banshee did not speak when they wailed, but each screamed the same cry:
Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!
ooc info
Wartime plans have been made by the senate, you can see how the troops were divided and the tentative plan of attack. There'll be other things thrown in with spells etc but this is the gist of it if people want to start interacting with their little groups.
Fey will be attacking the drow court, the how will be a surprise.
The Lupo will be attacking The Eye, the how will be a surprise.
The Court of Drow & The Asphodel have plans of their own, they'll also be a surprise :)
All the banshees in Rome have begun to wail nonstop, the senate rounded them up and they're all screaming in padded rooms right now.
