The Light of Lunaria

"Slava Lunarii, Comrade."

Our fifth campaign set on Abmarah, The Light of Lunaria follows a party called the Darklight Crusaders through the political harsh climate of the Lunar Collective while dealing with forces of both Light and Dark. The campaign started in June 2024 and ended in July 2025.

The party met in a Crimson prison, but eventually banded together to defeat a demon hag. They then got sent on a quest to recover the pieces of the mythical Dark Sceptre, something that took them through the Shadowfell, the Lunar Îles Protectorate, Skion Labs, and even the Heavens.

They also worked with various different factions including the Lunar Houses, the Lunar Pirate Federation, the Blackreyne Brotherhood, the Great Hunt, and even the Department of Dungeons. They fought against both the Light and the Dark, including the Golden Church's Ballistas as well as the Sabatcieni and the Dark Hunt. They also defeated Viktor Blackreyne of the Brighthunt.

The campaign concluded with the Dark Hunt's final invasion of Abmarah on 3E500/12/18, which marked an end of the Third Era of Abmarah into the new Fourth Era of balance.

Player Characters

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The Darklight Crusaders have five members. It started with four, with Mash joining the party in Chapter 2.

Synopsis

Chapter 1 - Prison of Dreams

It is the year 3E 498, at the turn of the century. The Lunar Collective is once again on the brink of war with the neighboring Crimson Empire, and there is a fragile peace. Lunaria, the grandest nation of our Father Abmarah, needs your help, and congratulations, it is now time to serve your country.

Our lives are built upon the steam engine and our blackpowder, yet magic seeps into our lands unwanted. The Golden Light of the Church guides us against the encroaching darkness of fae invaders. The twelve houses of the Collective are about to be trapped between the light and the dark, in a battle that was started before the creation of our cosmos.

The campaign began with the imprisonment of Ilya and Esfir in Oly’s Keep, a notorious prison run by the Crimson Empire to hold lunar prisoners. They quickly met other prisoners such as Ront, Jimjar, and Muna, as well as guards like Ronnie and Gemben. Ilya and Esfir discovered the presence of a demon named Alisa, who materialized terrifying dolls and animatronics to torment the prisoners. Meanwhile, in the lunar city of St. Arbalsburg, Favian Giranenko and Dmitri Zolotov investigated the mysterious death of Captain Zakhar, leading them to a dangerous encounter with an assassin named Zeene in the woods, who was ultimately subdued before the two got captured and taken to Oly's Keep as well.

With the arrival of Favian and Dmitri, the group planned an escape, eventually clashing with the prison’s warden and releasing the daemonfae Alisa in the process. Fleeing into the snowy wilderness, they made their way to Night's End, the headquarters of the Blackreyne Brotherhood, seeking help to defeat the demon they unwittingly freed. There, they met Headhunter Can Vanadiyin as well as Headscribe Otto Albiker, and learned more about Alisa’s past and reality as a Koshmorha, setting them on a quest to gather resources and allies to end her threat once and for all. Dmitri started to slowly accept new perspectives that differed from his lightwatcher teachings.

The party’s journey led them to the town of Voghnov, where they met the mayor and the local alchemist Drigi. They found the skilled but abrasive blackreyne slayer named Naigha, who leds them to an ancient battleground that was considered to be a 'Wound in Divinity'. They eventually defeated the wyvern that she was hired to hunt down, and also found a cursed golden dagger there. With the necessary ingredients and allies in hand, they moved on to Dobuka via cargo train, but ended up running into a blockage in the tunnel created by a stone giant named Gaazon. They helped Gaazon defeat Kazun, another stone giant who had taken over his clan as a cultist of Varki.

Finally in Dobuka, they headed to Greasetown where Esfir lived. In the Rust Bucket, they met another blackreyne hunter, the warforged Viktor, who sought a 'child of the Shadowfell' that Ilya recognised as his brother. Despite the mounting dangers, the group prepared for their final confrontation with Alisa in the sewers beneath Dobuka where a few children from the local orphanage had disappeared to. The party faced Alisa in her true form after taking the tea of insomnia and casting private sanctum. With the help of Naigha and Dmitri's divine smite, the party finally overcame the daemonfae, rescuing two surviving children from her grasp and securing a hard-won victory.

Chapter 2 - The Shadowlands

After their week of recovery in the Rust Bucket, the group found itself plunged into political and personal turmoil. Ilya’s midnight meeting with his brother Zhenya revealed that he worked with Luka to steal a piece of the 'Dark Scepter'. The next night, Blackreyne hunter Mash arrived alongside Viktor, who accused Ilya and his brother for the murder of Brush, the only witness to Luka's theft. Dmitri took Ilya to Neogathol Prison, where they had a discussion with Viktor. Favian and Esfir were forced by Gordon to work with Mash, and ended up relying on Lady Anwela Neonenko for help. Eventually, Viktor revealed the truth about the Dark Sceptre to the party, and how his secret client had bought the Dark Filial that Luka stole during its journey. He instructed the party to recover it from the Shadowfell, sending Mash alongside them.

As the group ventures toward the Shadowfell, they journeyed to Neosk and the darkening Alphwoods fighting Dawndrinkers and Shadow Mastiffs along the way. The mayor of Neosk told the party of the corrupted Father Borys and how the Shadowfell gate opened within the town. The battle with Borys ended with them saving the town, but ending up on the other side of the gate within the Shadowfell. The shadowy realm tested their resolve and abilities, as they faced shadows, mimic creatures, cloud giants, and dangerous Shadar-Kai assassins while traveling to the city of Moonruin with two companions named Oshki and Zuria.

The party's arrival at Moonruin introduced Luka, who had become the lord of the city. He and Esfir's former teammates had taken over the city using the Dark Filial, having killed the previous werewolf lord. The party ended up capturing the orc Vadim, gaining some information from him before talking to the town's dark priest, Viziel. The priest revealed the origin of Moonruin, telling Favian about his dark-worshiping ancestor who had once teleported St. Arbalsburg to the Shadowfell to escape a siege. He was neutral in their fight against Luka, introducing them to Luka where the party pretended to turn to his side, especially after noticing the shadow dragon Mynvokun under his command.

He tested them first by sending them on a treasure hunt in an abandoned prison nearby, where they found a strong artifact that would prevent death. Favian decided to create a replica and present Luka with a fake version of the artifact, which somehow worked and they seemingly gained his trust. He tried to test Dmitri further by having him and the party drink a sacred dark liquid, but Dmitri managed to talk his way out of it. Luka and Viziel revealed that the Dark Hunt's invasion is going to happen within the next two years. The party then stole strong artifacts from Luka's treasury, using said artifacts to finally fight him and kill him for good. Esfir ended up killing both Zanasha and Luka in the fight, and Ilya claimed the Dark Filial from Luka.

After an argument on what to do and where to take it, the party decided to make a dark pact to prevent betrayal among themselves. With Viziel's help, they bound their souls with that of Mynvokun, the Shadow-Dragon. The Dark Oath made sure that any decisions the party makes had to be voted on, and no one could betray the rest of the party without having Mynvokun consume their souls. They decided to make this pact until the apocalypse of the Dark Hunt is prevented. Ilya attuned to the Dark Filial.

Chapter 3 - Shipbound Revelations

They decided to contact Viera Blackreyne, the Archhuntress of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. They warned her of the impending Dark Hunt invasion as well as Viktor's involvement, and she told them to meet her at her mansion in Taltigo. They plane shifted to the Lunar Sea. Meeting Viera in her mansion there, she revealed to them Viktor's history and how she distrusted him. She wouldn't mind if he were to die, even. She told them to ask Lady Lyn for help in locating whoever ordered the Filial to be shipped to them, but warned them not to owe her a favor.

Lady Lyn agreed to help the party, and in return they had to travel to Torishu and kill Pirate Waterlord Ozran for her. She sent her daughter Myranda with them on the small ship called The Disgraced Eel. Favian had a dream about a pirate hunting him, and awoke one night to the ghost ship The Lunarian's Revenge chasing him down led by Captain Fabian Grimm. Grimm hated lunar nobles, and wanted Favian dead. Everyone worked to save Favian from dying and vanquished the ghosts.

As the party reached Torishu, they fought off a Shinobi ambush and hid at an onsen. Favian was approached romantically by Myranda, but he refused her advances and then proceeded to mess up things between them. Dmitri had a dream in which he saw the previous Ballista Gemini told him "Find Her". The party then defeated the Waterlord Ozran in combat, and asked his corpse all the information he had about dark artifacts. They learned that whoever had ordered the Filial's shipment already owned one piece of the scepter that they had gotten from Skion. They also learned of a buried treasure Ozran hid away that he had stolen from Xaniv the Whisperer. They uncovered Xaniv's Book of Vile Darkness, and then decided to bury it again after only learning a few spells from the evil book. They said their goodbyes to Myranda at Taltigo, and Esfir named the party 'the Darklight Crusaders'.

Lyn revealed to them that the shipment was meant to be delivered to Akhlezh and was ordered by Ballista Libra of the Golden Church, who was in Kalkipol at the moment. The party discussed their options and decided to have Dmitri sneak into the church to gather intel. Upon making it to Kalkipol however, they were immediately caught and apprehended by Ballista Virgo, who took the Dark Filial from Ilya momentarily. Libra chastized Gemini, and then cut off Dmitri's right hand. Virgo then left, releasing the party from their bounds and dropping the Filial. The party then quickly escaped the Church by breaking a window and disappearing into the dark alleys, having picked the Filial back up. They took shelter in an abandoned warehouse, where they reflected on the true apocalyptic plans of both the light and the dark. After buying some stuff from black-market artificer Krixie and helping her defeat her steam golem Vlad, the party went to the Sabatcieni warehouse in the city where Ilya met his sister Anya. She read his memories and gave him a new bloodshed rapier commissioned by the Bloodaunt. When the party met Anya, Favian immediately recognized her as looking extremely similar to Dmitri. After a lot of speculation into their lack of memories, the party came to the conclusion that Anya is likely Dmitri's twin sister, separated through time via the Feywild's time dilation.

They were then ambushed by Gold Monks as well as a Gold Inquisitor, leading them to seek out an alliance with House Koporev. They ended up meeting Bolt Matros Koporeva, and revealed everything to her including the Dark Filial. She hired them as official Kuprum Explorers, and promised to hide the Filial somewhere safe. She then sent them to Skion Labs in Gematirsk to steal information from Ballista Aquarius aka Dr. A under the guise of delivering the Soul-Sacrificial Dagger. She gave them one of her personal airships - the Sokol - as well as one of her personal trusted men, Zurikov. After a team building exercise and many days traveling north, the party encountered an arcane blizzard and had to make an emergency landing. They discovered that Zurikov was a Merrenoloth under Matros' service, and then fought a yeti as well as a blizzard elemental called a Thuellai.

As they reached Gematirsk and were welcomed into Skion Labs by Dr. Ritsin, they met Dr. A who seemed absolutely insane but gave them access to the administrative sector. They were taken to Sector B3 where they gave up the soul sacrificial dagger and then viewed an experiment where two test subjects were subjected to the effects of the dagger. Ritsin then revoked their permissions to enter B3 by exchanging lanyards, and took them back to their government hotel. From there, the party snuck into the administrative sector and beyond all the wards and glyphs securing Dr. A's office.  In the office, they discovered a letter from Dr. A to Patriarch Kol-Han detailing the Dark Crystal in Sergorod as well as their plan to usher in the apocalypse. Additionally, they learned a lot about other people of interest that Lunaria had been keeping a track of, including an angel named Markal Zuriel in the Crimson Empire who had an important light-artifact called Liikal, as well as Baron Gideon Huxley in Terros who is known to control both the light and the dark. They then discovered a secret room behind his office that housed an arcane reactor. There, they encountered Dr. A himself as well as Vortex Viktoria Vier. During the fight, Dr. A revealed that he had many clones within the facility and that they couldn't kill him for good. Additionally, Favian realized that they weren't fighting the real Viktoria either, and that this was a simulacrum of her. Realizing that the fight was useless, they quickly 'killed' the two of them and then destroyed the arcane reactor causing a blackout. They used the blackout to escape to the surface, talking their way out of the facility and then quickly meeting up with Zurikov. As they took back to the skies in the Sokol, they decided that the next location would be Favian's home, St. Arbalsburg.

Chapter 4 - Returning Hope

Across the world in the Goldheim Rainforest, Viera Blackreyne, Zahn Zwei, and Dravin Bahubaahu trudged through the forest to get to the temple of the Great Hunt. There was a distress sending to Viera by one of the priests, and now no one including Vasirr was responding. The three ran into many Dark Hunters, and then the god Gammus commanded in their minds to leave. Viera refused, and the three engaged the Dark Hunt, disappearing.

After five-six days, The Darklight Crusaders reached St. Arbalsburg and GIMA, and Favian enjoyed being home but dreaded what came next. They met his father, Illvisar Isilion first. They ended up telling the complete unabridged truth to him, and he suggested that they should lie to Favian's mother and say that they're working for the Golden Church. He also suggested for them to confess about working for Bolt Matros and engage in a smaller argument. In Bolt Ithila Giranenko's office, the party met her as well as Favian's brother Demyan. After a long argument in which Bolt Ithila demanded to know everything that Favian was up to and how he was hurting the family politically, they ended up telling her that they are working for the Church and that they're trying to locate the three halves of the Dark Sceptre with Bolt Matros. Dmitri convinced Ithila that Favian, if he saves the world, would only elevate House Giranenko. Demyan caused some issues in the argument but was quickly shut down. Ithila was very suspicious and critical of Ilya, especially after they revealed that he was a dark-worshiper who turned against the dark. In the end, she let them stay in GIMA. In their new common room, Favian revealed to Ilya and the others about his backstory in which his mother 'disappeared' a childhood servant friend of his who wanted to learn magic. The party then discussed what to do, and ended up deciding to head to Terros through Dobuka to look for Baron Gideon Huxley, stopping over at the Sabatcieni near Dobuka first. Favian contacted his cousin Dame Ingrid Rennwald, who told them all to come over and discuss.

Before leaving, Favian hugged his father and promised to keep updating him. The party departed with Zurikov and arrived at Boetsk for a short respite. As the party entered the plaza, they noticed corpses of people hanged for treason, including a gnome man that Esfir recognised. Ilya was approached by a woman begging on the streets and gave her some gold. The woman hugged Ilya and before anyone could comprehend what happened, Ilya got clawed to near death, making him lose his senses and a lot of blood. She revealed herself to be his mentor, Baba Nadira, and placed a dark sanguine curse on him. She threatened to kill Anya if he didn't deliver the Dark Filial. While Mash and Dmitri tried to heal Ilya and take him to the ship, Esfir tried to spot the woman who disappeared before intentionally giving her a maniacal smile. At the ship, Mash told everyone that this ‘woman’ was a blood hag, one of the monsters hunted by the Blackreynes. The curse on Ilya couldn't be lifted by Favian or Dmitri so the team decided to directly meet Gideon Huxley, who could help them out. On their way to Dobuka, Ilya sensed an impending danger up above. A crimson red lightning echoed throughout the sky and three Dark Hunt Bleed Killers jumped onto the deck of the airship, targeting Ilya. After a fierce fight, the killers were defeated. 

The party met Gordon and Anya in the Rust Bucket in Dobuka, and then convinced Anya to travel with them for a while for her safety. Over the next few days, they headed towards the terrosi city of Yawrôn to find Gideon after learning from Ingrid that Gideon was in his hometown. The Sokol finally reached Yawrôn in the evening. Since Mash had been the only one who had visited the city before, he led the party towards the Department of Dungeons guildhouse in the city. The party got stared at by the residents, and at DoD they finally met Dame Ingrid Rennwald as well as Guildmaster Odug. Ingrid caught up with Favian and explained that Gideon is at the outskirts of the city conducting an archaeological dig at the Mountainfey Ruins. As the Darklight Crusaders explained the situation to her and Odug, they agreed to help them out in any way that they can. The next morning, Ingrid led them towards the Mountainfey Ruins, where they finally met Baron Gideon Huxley.

After he was briefed on the entire situation, he realized that Anya and Dmitri are linked to the fey in some way. He tried to unlock their memories, returning to them snippets of memories including their idyllic life in a kalashtar village within the feywild, the arrival of Dark Hunters, and their parents running towards a portal to the material plane. Their mother and Dmitri ended up going first, ending up in Lunaria and heading to the Golden Church. There, Kol-Han killed their mother and brainwashed Dmitri. Their father never made it to the portal, and Anya ended up nearly a hundred years removed from Dmitri. The hunters caught her and delivered her to Babaoga, who then took her under her wing. After this revelation, Dmitri had an angry reaction and was calmed down by his friends. Anya however transformed into her Nightmare Spirit, lashing out at everyone and reflecting magic as she did so. As they finally calmed her down, she vowed to kill Babaoga and anyone else who has wronged her. Bakos was also there at the dig as they camp, where Ingrid revealed some DoD news of Viera and Zahn disappearing in Goldheim. Gideon and Ingrid decided to go look into that, while Mash realized that with Viera gone Viktor will likely be up to some bad things at Night's End.

The Sokol reached Night’s End, landing very visibly on a flat hillside overlooking the fortress. Zurikov stayed behind, but Anya headed with them into Night's End where everything was chaotic and fights had already broken out. Mont and Runa took the party to the library where they met Can, a wounded Otto, Naigha as well as Silas Darkgraves. Can explained the situation and how Victor and his followers are trying to make Victor the next and final archhunter. The party and the hunters on their side headed back to the main hall, where they fought through all the hunters on Viktor's side. Naigha fought Zurekai, and Silas fought Voriak. The party fought and defeated Zhalimov, but as he regenerated, Can and Anya stayed behind to deal with him as the party made it into the Archhunter's Hall where Viktor was. Viktor gave a long speech on how he deserved to be the fifteenth and final Archhunter and that he's going to take the name of Viktor Blackreyne due to his connection to Archhunter Daerron Blackreyne. Mash then saw the ghost of Daerron tell him to defeat Viktor. Viktor talked about all the Archhunters as well as his brother, and he resented Viera for disbanding the Brighthunt and forcing his hand like this. The fight broke out, and it was extremely difficult as Viktor's overdrive mode made him nearly impossible to hit. However, Dmitri was eventually able to blind Viktor, which allowed Mash to get a final hit in causing him to shatter into many pieces. Can commanded the fighting to stop, and forced the ex-Brighthunt members into surrendering and breaking their Brighthunt amulets. He promised that Night's End is going to be a friendly base of operations for the Darklight Crusaders.

Esfir had a nightmare of a potential future in which the Shadowfell and the Dark Hunt had taken over and destroyed Lunaria, and she walked across corpses of all the party members and allies including herself. A shadowy figure approached her from behind, but talked like a protective and caring figure. They offered Esfir a way to prevent this future, and she accepted the entity's help without even looking at it. She was then given a burnt book, serving as her pact of the tome. She woke up and shot an eldritch blast at a potted plant, and the party had a discussion with her about what this means. After that, the Darklight Crusaders had a meeting with Can, Otto, Zhalimov, Zurikov, as well as a new diplomat- Raziel of Alsiorion, the Keeper of Secrets. As they told them mostly everything, Raziel asked the party about their plans and their convictions, before revealing that the oracles of Alsorion have determined that the Dark Hunt would attack two years from now, on the Varkosi Arcanos of 3E500. He then revealed to them the location of Markal Zuriel as well as his history, and told them that he awaits them in the heavenly plane of Qaydar. They would need to spend the next few months making their way up the trials of the first two heavens, Asphodel and Saturia, before they would be able to meet him. They agreed, and said their goodbyes to Anya and Favian's father through sending. Raziel then teleported the party to the holy city of Alsorion, where they passed through an old portal to the first heaven, Asphodel.

The party spent months upon months within the layers of the heavens looking for Markal, not realizing the time that was passing. In Asphodel, they fought gatekeepers and a brazen bull made out of Celestial Gold. They fought three heroes of Blackreyne past; Daerron, Ethera, and Sirakos. Daerron congratulated Mash for killing Viktor but then sneakily attacked him as his divine duty. In Saturia, the party gambled their celestial gold with a Peacock spirit in a game of Lunarian's Gambit that Esfir won by bluffing. They then fought and ran from Planewatchers through the plane. Dmitri encountered what he thought was the spirit of his mother. Esfir unlocked an old metal chest and released a djinni who gave them one wish: to make them stronger. He also showed them a vision of Jakuna and Vertum discussing the party. They then made it to an old Temple of Deltus, where they fought the spirit of Aetheros, the first Empress of the Eteru Dynasty. They drank divine nectar from Deltus' fountain and gained his blessing. Finally, in Qaydar they gave up all their celestial gold to drink from the fountain of mind, increasing their mental powers. They found Markal in a colosseum and convinced him to help them out, proving their resolve by fighting him in the pit. In the middle of their fight, a portal opened and Ballista Aries attacked them. The party, with Markal's help, managed to kill Aries for good by preventing her from teleporting away. They then stepped back through her portal and appeared in Sergorod, realizing that 2 years had passed and that they only had one week until Varkosi Arcanos.

Chapter 5 - End of an Era

The crusaders spotted the Sokol in the sky above Sergorod, and had Zurikov pick them up. Bolt Matros explained that a Lunar Council meeting was happening at the Table, and this would be the best time for them to make their case to the bolts that show up as well as Serebryanitsa Strela. The party accompanied her to the Lunar Council meeting, where Favian reunited with his brother Demyan, who was Na-Bolt now. Dmitri also met Ballista Leo again. During the meeting, Bolt Matros ceded her time to Favian to let the Crusaders make their case to Strela. As they were beginning, Kol-Han appeared and joined the meeting late. The party revealed almost everything to the Bolts from the Church's plan to let the world end, Dr. A's letter, as well as what they did to Dmitri. Ballista Leo fought against them but was opposed by Bolt Strakh Merkuriyev. Bolt Nozh Zhalizoskyy also supported the party against the Church. Kol-Han almost convinced the room to be against the party, but Favian's pleas to Na-Bolt Anwela Neonenko worked and she ended up supporting them. Kol-Han attacked each of their characters, but in the end Serebryanitsa Strela ruled to be neutral in this affair. She told the military to be ready for a possible invasion of the Dark Hunt next month, and told the party and the Church to sort this feud out amongst themselves.

After the successful meeting, the party discussed their next actions and also contacted Anya, who told them that Libra and the Church were attacking the Sabatcieni at Rtutiv. They thought that Bolt Strakh could also be a useful ally, so Rtutiv seemed like the place to go. Favian teleported the party to the city, but by the time they reached the entrance to the Sabbath's caves much of the fighting had already taken place. The entrance to the cave was guarded by monks, inquisitors, as well as Ballista Capricorn. However, the party alongside Markal easily killed them and ended Capricorn. The party went deeper into the caves for hours into the night, as the combined exhaustion of the long day and two years without sleep caught up with them. They encountered Ballista Libra immediately after his fight with Anya. He held Anya by the throat, having beaten her despite a good fight from her. He then killed Anya, challenging Dmitri to defeat him in under a minute and cast revivify on her. The fight was incredibly difficult, but eventually Dmitri ended up killing Libra with Ilya and Favian's help. They revived Anya, and then rested up in a small mossy cave. Anya explained what they had missed, including the fact that the three Babas had locked themselves away for months conducting a ritual. Zhenya was now much stronger and essentially leading the Sabatcieni into war.

The party sorted out their plan on whether or not Ilya should kill Zhenya as they arrived at the Sabatcieni ‘city’ in the Underdark. There, people bowed to Ilya and Anya as they returned but many still supported Zhenya. Ilya and the party finally met Zhenya on a rickety bridge, where Zhenya yelled at Ilya for joining the ‘light’. When Dmitri and Mash revealed to the Sabbath their proof of dead Ballistas, Zhenya attacked Ilya and Anya for betraying the Babas. Ilya managed to convince most of the Sabbath that the Dark Hunt would be bad for everyone and that Zhenya is lost. Zhenya offered to let Morghos decide who is right or wrong, and challenged them to a fight. After a decisive fight on the bridge that the party was locked in, Ilya managed to break Zhenya’s hexed strength and bring him down. There, in front of the entire Sabbath, he then executed his brother whose body fell into the ravine de-powered. Finally, Ilya was essentially the leader of the Sabbath at least while the Babas were locked away.

As the party recovered in Ilya’s old hut and discussed their options, Esfir felt a pain in her chest before the entire party had a shared vision of the apocalyptic future. Esfir’s patron entity then asked each of them if they were willing to give up their lives to make things better, and sacrifice their futures beyond just killing the Babas and Kol-Han. Favian figured out that Esfir’s patron is the Elder God Gigarion. In the end, the party all vowed to do what they must: Ilya vowed to attune to the Dark Sceptre but not be consumed by it, and lead the darkness into a better future. Dmitri vowed to take over the Ballista and reform it, becoming a herald of the light. Favian vowed to keep working on making Lunaria a better and more equal country. Mash vowed to become Headhunter after Can, and become a diplomat between the three nations. Finally, Gigarion revealed to Esfir that her destiny had led her here, and even her psionic origins in the underdark were due to the Baba’s interference. They asked her to become Gigarion’s champion of balance and void, and keep all in check who would threaten that balance. She accepted, as the party snapped out of their shared vision. Now that their bonds of trust were unbreakable, Mynvokun’s soul ended their soul-pact prematurely, now that it was no longer needed. 

Ilya had a dream of his first memory in which he was named by Baba Ogafya. The party had a fruitful discussion with Bolt Strakh in Rtutiv, but on their way out of the Merkuriyev Fortress, a magical trap tried to pull in Favian. Mash realized this in time and the party was able to follow Favian to the GIMA Bolt’s office, where Ithila and Demyan held Favian paralysed. Ithila refused to listen to reason, and even tried to kill Favian with Power Word Kill which was prevented by Dmitri. She let out their Giranium Golem on the rest of the party, and Favian and Dmitri together managed to convince Demyan to help them instead. The party neutralized Ithila to the best of their ability and took both her and the golem down. Favian made her listen to him, and she reluctantly named him Na-Bolt. Favian had a touching moment with Demyan as the two brothers finally acknowledged each other’s growth.

Outside of time within Gammus’ demiplane called the Hunting Grounds, an older Kai-Li as well as Vasirr ended up surrounded by their frozen faction members. They then ran into Viera, Zahn, and Dravin, and helped them take down the Dark Hunt that ambushed them. Gammus taunted them that years are passing outside of the demiplane and that they would be trapped while he lived. Kai-Li had found a small ore full of pale-blue metal, that Zahn recognised as Azbaan- the metal cursed to kill gods. He then forged them into a few azbaan bullets as the others rested and caught up. Eventually, this makeshift party went deeper and deeper into the demiplane’s core until they encountered Gammus above a black hole. The fight was incredibly difficult, as Gammus kept taunting them about his invincibility as a god. However, in an incredible finish, Zahn landed his second azbaan bullet through shaky aim after the first one missed. The sudden graze on his cheek shattered Gammus’ mask and made him feel real pain after a long time. Gammus lashed out at them, nearly killing Dravin who held on through sheer will and smashed Gammus down to his last stand, which then Viera followed up on destroying the god. Kai-Li grabbed his scythe before the demiplane collapsed and they all appeared back in Abmarah outside the temple of the Great Hunt in Goldheim. They all celebrated, and Aklim congratulated Vasirr on finally defeating Gammus. She warned him to prepare for the incoming invasion of the Dark Hunt, however.

At midnight when Varkosi Arcanos began, the Dark Hunt invaded Abmarah. The barrier around Babaoga’s hut disappeared, and the party ventured into her demiplane where they finally faced off against Baba Ogafya, Baba Nadira, and Baba Imka. The fight was incredibly difficult as they tried to prevent Babaoga from completing her ritual in which she used the Dark Staff as a ladle. Despite killing the witches, their coven’s magic kept reviving them. Favian managed to disintegrate Baba Nadira before she could pull off Mash’s face, and then they managed to kill Baba Ogafya and Baba Imka together. Ilya had a touching farewell with Imka before she disappeared. The party immediately boarded the Sokol above in the Kosmosi Mountains, and rested while Zurikov piloted them to Sergorod.

In Dmitri’s dream, he talked to the previous Gemini as well as Ballista Vae who invaded his dream to warn him about Ballista Leo. The crusaders reached Sergorod by sunrise, and rushed up towards the Golden Church as the Dark Hunt waged war against Lunaria and the world as a whole above them. Ballista Leo stopped them, but Markal immediately engaged the fight with the other angel. The party managed to get past Leo’s chronomancy and kill him, before rushing up to meet Kol-Han before his pipe organ. He took them high up into the sky above the city, to a cloudy altar. Chastising Gemini and vowing to destroy them, Kol-Han casted a meteor swarm and almost ended the party at the beginning of the fight. Favian’s simulacrum joined this final fight as well. The fight against the Patriarch was incredibly dire and the party almost did not make it as Kol-Han called the Lightclaw to him. Markal kept the lightclaw from reaching Kol-Han, when Dmitri finally ended him. Kol-Han died unable to reach Lightclaw, gasping for it until his final moment.

Dmitri then attuned to the Lightclaw while Ilya attuned to the now-complete Dark Sceptre. Together, the two resisted the calls to do evil and become gods. Ilya banished the Dark Hunt forever to the Shadowfell, and Dmitri let chaos into the world to end this era of order. However, outside their trance Favian, Mash, and Esfir realized that this was killing the two. They decided to let the two artifacts destroy each other, and using all their magic they forced the artifacts to touch and implode. Dmitri and Ilya were freed, as ripples in the fabric of reality brought the cosmos to a perfect balance. The party went on to all become leaders, as Favian got more responsibilities as Na-Bolt, Dmitri forced the rest of the Ballista and the Golden Church to reform as their new leader, Ilya settled the Sabbath onto a new surface town called Sutinkivka, Mash became the new Headhunter after Can’s retirement and reconciled with his family, and Esfir became a balance between all of them.