The Light of Lunaria

TLoL Chapter 1 - Prison of Dreams

  • 3E498/02/14 - Near the end of winter, Ilya is arrested in the city of Dawress for preaching about his faith, and is sent to prison at Oly’s Keep.

  • 3E498/02/16 - Esfir Vasilieva is abandoned by her crew, the Black Skulls, and sent to Oly’s Keep prison. 

  • 3E498/02/17 - Esfir, now in Oly’s Keep, meets Ilya as well as the other prisoners there, Jimjar, Muna, and Ront. They also get to know the two guards stationed near them, the faithkeeper Ronnie in the day, and the elf cadet Gemben at night who just falls asleep at his job. 

  • 3E498/02/18 - In the Lunar city of St. Arbalsburg, Favian Giranenko and Dmitri Zolotov are summoned to the army encampment by Favian’s mother, Bolt Giranenko. Everyone seems to be on edge, and when Dmitri questions a soldier, the soldier reveals that their captain, Zakhar, was killed by a supernatural shadow. Once they get to Zakhar’s office, they find out that instead of the Bolt, it's Favian’s brother Demyan. They investigate Zakhar’s body and office, finding out that a necrotic bullet pierced his heart not leaving any signs of blood or struggle. They try to unlock his desk drawer for a while, finally succeeding after all three have a go at it. In it, they find a half-finished spy letter that Zakhar didn’t send. They come to the conclusion that Zakhar was a crimson spy who tried to stop spying, and was likely assassinated by an assassin. After questioning a guard, they realize that the assassin is disguised as a shadow to freak out the soldiers, and is likely escaping in the forest. Favian and Dmitri head into the forest alone against all advice, eventually catching up to the assassin after dusk, Zeene. After a hard fight, Dmitri ends up injuring Zeene’s leg and is about to capture her. As this happens, a small Crimson airship appears over them, making them fall asleep. Meanwhile in Oly’s Keep, Jimjar, after annoying them thoroughly, reveals to them that there is a demon held at the center of this prison. Ront gets scared, and yells at Jimjar for invoking her name. That night, Ilya shadow-teleports out of his cell to explore the prison at night. He ends up seeing the demon child, Alisa, in a cage held above the pit. She smiles and waves at him, and he goes back to his cell terrified. He explains what he saw to Esfir.

  • 3E498/02/19 - That night, the two suddenly hear singing, and see creepy dolls patrolling the prison, who go through the bars of their cells to attack them. The two end up cutting the dolls apart, who disappear, although Esfir manages to get a needle to lockpick with and Ilya gets one of the magic scissors that the doll used. They feel that the dolls were materialized into existence by the demon.

  • 3E498/02/20 - Favian and Dmitri wake up in a prison cart, being hauled up to Oly’s Keep by faithkeepers and Zeene. They get put into the cells opposite Ilya and Esfir, and are caught up to speed with all that has been going on at the prison. The warden, Rûthel, as well as Captain Koryn Karter show up to meet Favian and Dmitri. The warden reveals that the road is snowed in and is currently being cleared, and after a few days Favian and Dmitri will be sent ahead to Sombus. The guards are also rationing food due to the supply lines being interrupted. That night, Esfir unlocks their cell doors, intending to escape. However, they hear the demon’s singing again. They see a demonfae animatronic walking to them, and attacking. After they beat it, they fall asleep and wake up in a nightmare version of the prison. They talk to the demon, who feels lonely and wants to keep them there forever. They scout out the entire layout of the prison in the nightmare, and end up finding the dimensional shackles that the warden uses to keep the demon there. They then wake up in reality with none of the items they picked up in the nightmare. They realize that the demon, Alisa, is a demonfae as well.

  • 3E498/02/21 - They plan out their escape route, and convince Ront and Muna to escape with them. They tell Jimjar to follow behind them and not interrupt. They decide to head to Night’s End first, the close-by headquarters of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. That night, they escape their cells, defeat two of the guards, and get their gear back. They decide that they want to destroy the supplies, and run into Ronnie. Ronnie throws a bottle of alcohol and blows it up in the fight, but is killed soon. As they destroy the supplies, another faithkeeper and the warden run into them. After a tough fight, they end up killing the warden, which causes the demon, Alisa, to escape and teleport away. As they escape the prison, they duck and run through arrows and firebolts into the Kosmosi Mountains beyond. They run through the night, not taking a rest.

  • 3E498/02/22 - In the early morning, they catch up on their rest and discuss their next steps. They come to the conclusion that the demon will likely target the nearest settlement, the Lunar city of Dobuka. They still head towards Night’s End first, ideally getting Blackreyne help. Dmitri is concerned about Ilya’s blood magic and ‘cult’. Ront screams to Magrath for forgiveness, as the party consoles him, and Dmitri tells him to stop following false gods. Ilya invites Ront to his village. The party agrees to defeat the demon, feeling responsible for freeing it. They keep walking through the mountains towards the northwest. After sundown, near the Lunar border, four horses catch up to them. Captain Koryn, Zeene, a faithkeeper, and Gemben. Zeene almost kills Dmitri, but Dmitri ends up killing her in return by stabbing her other leg. Meanwhile, after missing many shots, Esfir, Ilya, and Favian take down Koryn as Muna and Ront defeat the faithkeeper. After the fight, they spare Gemben, who nods and runs off. They loot the bodies and take the three horses, traveling through the night once more, finally in Lunar territory.

  • 3E498/02/23 - In the early morning, the party finally reaches Night’s End. They convince the guards to let them in, telling them up front that they are escapees from Oly’s Keep and that a demon has escaped. They are let into the great hall where they meet Headhunter Can Vanadiyin. After a brief introduction, he recognizes the demon that they talk of. He takes them to the Blackreyne Library explaining that they fought her 30 or so years ago. There, Headscribe Otto Albiker explains that he was a part of the group that took her down, alongside Herbalist Fieldor and Slayer Naigha. He calls her a Nightmare Hag, a Koshmorha. When Naigha was about to kill her, the Crimsons imprisoned Alisa instead, hoping to learn from her and control her. They got paid, so they couldn’t argue much against the plan. The party decides to fix this and asks for their help. Otto tells them the entire plan- They’d need Tea of Insomnia, Potions of Truesight, and a spell called Private Sanctum. They can find the plant for the tea, Camellia Alphica, around here. He asks for them to go to the nearby town of Voghnov, where they can ask their herbalists if they have the plant. They should ideally also find Naigha in that direction, as she only left a week ago. Can has a private word with Ilya, explaining to him the dangers of blood hunting and what blood hunting even is. Can gives him a Sanguine Syringe to help him out. The party then eats up and rests for the next 15 or so hours.

  • 3E498/02/24 - The next day, Dmitri argues with the Blackreyne Barracks unsuccessfully to get plate armor. However, they do end up trading in some Faithkeeper armor for splint armor, get food and supplies, and set out for travel. Muna and Ront decide to rest at Night’s End for now. The party finally discusses their backgrounds with each other, camping at night. Dmitri especially has a bit of a crisis of faith about everything, even dreaming of a memory with Patriarch Kol-Han.

  • 3E498/02/25 - In the middle of the day, a strong earthquake hits the party, followed by an avalanche that they thankfully survive without much issue. That night at camp, Dmitri detects tremors in the ground, as they are attacked by a Bulette, who almost eats Esfir whole. They end up taking it down, going back to sleep.

  • 3E498/02/26 - Around sundown, they finally reach the town of Voghnov, where people seem to be repairing the damage the earthquake caused. They are immediately met by the mayor of the town, who wasn’t expecting someone as important as Favian. She lets them stay in the hotel, and the part visits Drigi’s Distillery. Drigi tells them that he’ll look for the flower, and that they should too. He also reveals that a wyvern has been terrorizing the town, and they hired Naigha to take it down although she hasn’t been seen for nearly a week. The mayor confirms this story as well, alongside the reward. Dmitri and Ilya distract Drigi with fake medical problems while Esfir steals some volatile fluids and Favian fails to steal some vodka.

  • 3E498/02/27 - The party heads out of Voghnov and eventually runs into Naigha. After informing her of Alisa’s escape, Esfir also determines that Naigha has failed to kill the wyvern by herself and is wounded. The party don’t get along with her at all, but she leads them to an abandoned battlefield- an ancient dwarven church to Rhos on a hilltop, where a minor god was killed in the first era during the Omniborn Crisis. It has become a Wound in Divinity, something Ilya and Dmitri certainly feel. Dmitri spots glimpses of a sun elf woman in the snowshine, while Ilya spots chains underwater while traversing across a frozen stream. Naigha serves as bait until the ice wyvern arrives, and the party manages to take it down. They haggle with Naigha about the rewards, eventually agreeing on her getting the base rewards and them keeping the Wyvern poison. Dmitri finds a golden dagger stuck in the ice, and takes it. As they head back to Voghnov, Naigha vows to help them take down Alisa once and for all. They get the tea of insomnia from Drigi, and they also convince some dwarf engineers to let them accompany their cargo train to Dobuka in the morning. Favian receives a letter from his father alongside the scroll of private sanctum.

  • 3E498/02/28 - At 6 am, the party and Naigha get into a cramped cargo car of the train heading to Dobuka. They spend the entire day in this small space, as Dmitri talks about his truth as a Ballista in response to Favian’s letter. Favian identifies the golden dagger as a soul sacrificial dagger that is cursed. Ilya and Dmitri are equally disgusted by it, but they all decide to keep it just in case.

  • 3E498/03/01 - Early in the morning, the train comes to a halt mid-tunnel. There’s a blockage, being many boulders seemingly placed by a giant. They follow the footsteps into an abandoned mine, where they see the stone giant Gaazon. They try to communicate with him using Esfir’s psychic powers, eventually getting enough words through to realize that he is deaf and was being hurt by the vibrations of the train. He was exiled by his clan when a Varki worshiper, Kazun, took over and disagreed with Gaazon. The party debates on whether or not they want to help him out, eventually convincing Gaazon to take him to his clan. Once they’re there though, Kazun senses Dmitri’s light mid-sermon, and attacks. They inspire Gaazon to rise up and fight back, convincing many of the spectator giants as well to stand against Kazun. Kazun even sacrifices some of his underlings to heal himself, but Dmitri manages to take him down. Gaazon thanks them, and gives Dmitri a Giantkin Amulet as he clears the blockage and lets the train pass. In the evening, they reach Dobuka. Esfir takes them to Greasebank, and then into the Rust Bucket. There, they meet Gordon who gives them rooms and some drinks. After some questioning back and forth, he informs Esfir that ‘Luka’, her old partner, hasn’t returned to Dobuka. When asked about missing children, he tells them that 3 orphans from the Toytrain Orphanage alongside one caretaker went missing some days ago. Meanwhile, Naigha spots another warforged seated nearby, who seems to be a Blackreyne Hunter. Favian tries to connect to him via message, but he just invites them to his table. Introducing himself as Viktor and his artist automaton friend as Brush, he learns of their mission and gives them the potions of truesight that they needed. After much convincing, he reveals his mission is to capture a child of the shadowfell, revealing a wanted poster drawn by Brush that Ilya recognises to be his brother. That night, Naigha informs Ilya that Viktor is a part of the Brighthunt, and that she doesn’t trust him.

  • 3E498/03/02 - In the early morning, Esfir meets back up with the party from her own gnome-sized house. They visit the black-market magic shop first, which is the Black Box owned by the Great Filoj. They trade in the wyvern poisons and make quite a few purchases of spell scrolls, armor, and even a barrier tattoo for Ilya. He reveals to Esfir that Luka owes him, and last time he bought a spell scroll of Plane Shift from him for 700 platinum. Heading up into Eldenhill, Dmitri hires a blacksmith named Ivan to make his greatbow. At the Orphanage, a caretaker named Yulia gives them all the information, pointing them towards the Churchforge Garden. There, Dmitri talks with some gold monks, and gives them a letter as well meant for home. They tell him that they sense a fiend in the sewers. The party explores the sewers below Eldenhill for some time, drinking the tea, potions, and even having Esfir attune to the cursed dagger just in case., They eventually find a pit that still has two children- Penny and Denys. They tell them that their friend and caretaker are already dead, when Alisa suddenly appears behind the party. They stall her for some time, until Favian casts Private Sanctum using the spell scroll. She gets angered, finally attacking them in her true form alongside some of her dolls. The fight is deadly, but Naigha gets some good hits in while Ilya saves Esfir. Dmitri finally ends it, killing Alisa for good. They rescue the children and return them to the orphanage. They head back over to the Rust Bucket for a bit of a celebration, realizing that they’ll be too tired to do anything except leave their rooms over the next week.

TLoL Chapter 2 - The Shadowlands

  • 3E498/03/03 - Esfir joins the party properly in staying at the Rust Bucket. Brush offers to draw a portrait of Favian, but they decline.

  • 3E498/03/04 - Early in the night around 3 AM, Ilya goes down to the bar for a glass of milk, and asks Gordon about what he’s heard of the tiefling the Blackreynes are chasing. Gordon suggests that the tiefling escape the city and hope that something big distracts the monster hunters. As Ilya heads back up to their rooms, he spots someone spying on one of their rooms. When he confronts the man, he speaks with his brother, Zhenya’s voice. They head into a nearby washroom to have a heart to heart, as Ilya tells him to lay low and escape, while Zhenya chastises Ilya for associating with a Ballista and to kill him now. Zhenya also reveals that he was working with Luka to steal an artifact that would help their cause, and that Luka had teleported to the Shadowfell and should contact him any time now. Ilya tells him to not trust Luka that much, considering he left Esfir behind. Unbeknownst to them, Viktor overhears a part of this conversation.

  • 3E498/03/08 - The party finally has a good night’s rest after the tea’s effect wear off, and wake up amazingly rested around 8 PM at night. They head down to the bar, where Viktor brings in a new person, another Blackreyne hunter named ‘Mash’. Mash talks to the party for just a moment, before they are distracted by Jimjar gambling at a nearby table. They ask him how he escaped, and he gives a fake story while Esfir steals some money from him. Jimjar does remind her that they have a bet going on who dies first. Around this time though, Lunar guards enter the bar much to the disruption of everything, led by a warforged commander, Koshkin. Viktor announces to the world that Brush has been murdered, and that Ilya is none other than the brother of the suspect and target of the hunt, Zhenya. Viktor asks Gemini to arrest Ilya, and Dmitri reluctantly agrees for the moment. They leave towards the military jail, while Esfir and Favian hide and jump out of the window. Mash follows them, and there is a brief altercation between Favian and Mash in the alley until Favian binds him to the wall using ice. They fail to be diplomatic though, until Gordon joins them in the alley and finds some common ground between the three. He instructs Favian to drop the act and be a noble, and head to the military jail as well. There, they meet Bolt Yarkiy Neonenko only for a brief moment as he leaves for a diplomatic meet. Instead, they meet Anwela ‘Anwa’ Neonenko, his heir and daughter. She mistakes Favian for Demyan at first, but then proceeds to take them to the military complex and has Koshkin fill them in on all the details of the case. Meanwhile, Dmitri and Viktor interrogate Ilya, who confesses to being a shadowchild and being Zhenya’s brother. Dmitri agrees to forgive him and let him be if he vows to be honest from now on, but Viktor says that his mysterious client has simply hired him to deliver the head of a shadowchild. He puts the gun on the table, offering Ilya to take Zhenya’s place. Ilya offers for him and the party to find the artifact for Viktor’s client, and this last part of the conversation is overheard by Favian and the others behind the glass wall. Viktor pulls the wall down, and with the entire group assembled, he agrees for the party to find the artifact. He assigns Mash to join them, being the only person he can trust. Upon Favian’s insistence, Koshkin tears up Esfir’s wanted poster.

  • 3E498/03/09 - The next morning, Viktor explains to the newly formed party about what exactly happened and how his client purchased the ‘Filial’ of the mythical ‘Scepter of Darkness’. En route to Lunaria, it was captured by Luka, and he wants the five to retrieve it from the shadowfell. He also explains that a nearby village, Neosk, has been complaining about lion-like monsters that ‘eat light’, and the forest darkening- which could be the sign of a shadowfell gate. The party, now including Mash, leave the city after sending some letters and getting their affairs in order. They discuss their goals and ambitions with this mythical artifact. They get a carriage and two horses that Mash leads down the road. That night while being on watch, Ilya collects his thoughts and realizes how important this scepter is for his people.

  • 3E498/03/10 - Around noon, they enter the Alphwoods splitting away from the main road towards Neosk. The sky darkens heavily as fog fills in, despite the hour of the day. Eventually, their horses refuse to go further, and run away along with the carriage. As the magical darkness surrounds them, they are attacked by two Dawndrinkers. Favian uses rope trick to get some height, as Mash uses the limited light created by his witch bolt spells to track and help kill the monsters. Dmitri is shaken by both his light spell and his divine smite being eaten entirely by these monsters, something that has never happened to him. After fending off the shadow beasts, they walk an hour ahead and reach the town of Neosk, where people seem rather terrified and are generally not leaving their homes. They head over to the town hall, where they are told at the locked door to go away until Esfir lockpicks it open. Mayor Gleb is apprehensive at first, but explains everything to them over a drink. He explains how a bad harvest turned the townspeople against the golden priest sent here, Father Borys, and how all the shadowy things started happening after he locked himself inside the church. He had sent letters to both the Blackreynes and the Golden Church, and assumed that they were the help promised. He gives Mash 500gp in advance, and sends them over to Borys’ house. The party discovers both his spellbook as well as a journal that showcased his slow decline into madness and grief. The party heads on over to the church, where they’re ambushed by Shadow Mastiffs and the color starts to drain from them- telltale signs of a Shadowfell Gate. Inside the church, they find Borys crying and corrupted. Dmitri tries to reason with him, but Favian’s advance causes him to snap and start attacking them with summon shadowspawn. Dmitri and Mash manage to take down Borys, realizing that the Shadowfell gate is somehow centered on him. Meanwhile the rest deal with the shadowspawn, one of them almost killing Ilya. After they deal with Borys, the party realizes that they’ve closed the gate by killing him, but have ended up on the Shadowfell side of the gate. They take a rest in the shadowy version of the chapel.

  • 3E498/03/11 - The party heads out, and Favian immediately senses something magical in one of the graves. As he goes to grab it, the grave reveals itself to be a Grave Mimic, eating Favian and attacking the party. Favian manages to free himself and the party kills the Mimic, finding lots of money as well as two magical artifacts inside: Elven Chain for Favian, and a magical rapier that Ilya picks up. The rapier immediately starts attacking him, revealing itself to be a Blade Mimic. Ilya keeps it bound for now. Further in the woods, the party ends up in the overgrown ruins of a town where there’s two figures around a bonfire. After they let them approach, they introduce themselves as Oshki and Zuria. They don’t know Luka, but they’re heading to a mage-town called Moonruin which seems to be the mirror of St. Arbalsburg. After a brief discussion, they decide to travel together. They’re given the option of going the direct route through the Banshee Moors, or going around the banshees through the Death Mountains or the Ash Plains. Dmitri remembers hearing of the ash plains being fields of undeath, and they pick the plains. They discuss the Dark Hunt, a fairytale for most but a reality for Dmitri and Ilya. The Dark Hunt is overdue for an invasion of Abmarah, which could be apocalyptic. While traveling through a canyon descending to the plains, the party is ambushed by a group of Shadar-Kai assassins. It’s a tough fight, but they manage to defeat them despite them not backing down at all. The party decides to camp out in a small bear-cave for the night once they enter the ash plains. Favian spends the night copying down spells from Borys’ spellbook, while Ilya has a dream recollecting a memory of him and Zhenya talking to Baba Imka about the Shadowfell.

  • 3E498/03/12 - As they travel through the Ash Plains, they hug the hills on their right. On the road, Mash spots a lone-thundering cloud- a telltale sign of an angry Cloud Giant. As they pass by it, the Cloud Giant demands they pay tribute before passing. Dmitri offers his necklace that got from the stone giants earlier, and Esfir offers a ruby ring along with some gold from everyone. The Cloud Giant is pleased with this, and lets them pass. That night as they camp, Dmitri encounters a creepy looking shadowfey-stag. However, it seems to understand that Dmitri is not a threat, and leaves. Ilya later only sees a bunny.

  • 3E498/03/13 - Reaching Moonruin, Esfir immediately spots one of her ex-teammates, Vadim, in the market. She disguises as Lady Anwela of Dobuka for some reason, as they see Vadim shake down a dwarf merchant for a crate of food. He calls in some zombie trolls for backup, one of which throws the merchant through his window. The party decides to intervene and capture Vadim, Favian casting hold person when his back is turned and the party quickly knocking him out and eliminating the zombie trolls. They take Vadim to the merchant’s basement, where they interrogate him and learn that Luka has deposed the old werewolf lord of Moonruin and become the new lord here in the central castle. The party lets him live for now, and asks around for more information while Oshki and Zuria take care of their own business elsewhere. The party asks some details about the town’s history from a werewolf merchant complaining about Luka, and are eventually pointed to an old temple of darkness. There, the priest Vizeil talks to them about darkness and the upcoming invasion of the Dark Hunt. The priest takes no sides in their quest against Luka, and wants to let fate take its course. He also reveals to Favian that Moonruin was created by one of Favian’s ‘Girani’ ancestors, who transported St. Arbalsburg to the Shadowfell to escape some calamity, and didn’t take all of it back to Abmarah. Eventually, they convince the priest to introduce them to Luka, but he vows that he would stay neutral no matter what. The team decides to meet Luka (with a semi-conscious Vadim) with Viziel with the excuse that they are members of the Dark Cult. They meet in the middle of the bridge to the castle, and Luka talks about Baba Oga and the power of the Shadowfell. Ilya asks Luka about his ambitions but he refuses to say anything. He sees through the deception and a Shadow Dragon appears on the bridge. After a lot of hostility (and negotiations), the team would be given access to the castle if they proved their loyalty to Luka by going on a treasure hunt, west of the castle. Vadim is killed by Mash (because he was spotted going to the castle when he was specifically told not to). The team spends a night in a dirty cell-like inn.

  • 3E498/03/14 - They enter the prison and get attacked by Shadow Hounds and Shadow Maulers, and during the fight Favian fireballs Mash. Then they see a magical bonfire that holds the legendary artifact that Luka wanted. Before that, they are attacked by 'the Torturer' who almost kills Ilya with its strength drain attack. After killing the torturer, Favian dispels the bonfire and they get the legendary amulet that prevents death. The party decides to not give over the amulet to Luka, and to make a fake and use Magic Aura spell to make it seem legit. The party asks around the town and finds a wizard. He ran a magic shop until Luka confiscated all his items and scrolls, and he wants them back. He teaches Favian the spell, and refuses to give them his name. The party rests at the Inn again afterwards.

  • 3E498/03/15 - Esfir replicates the amulet and Favian uses magic aura on it. They cross the bridge and arrive at Moonruin Castle, entering a makeshift throne room to meet with Luka and Zanasha. Luka takes the fake amulet and seemingly believes it, giving it to a zombie to take it to the treasure room. He still doesn't buy that Dmitri wants to join him though, and Viziel brings a skull goblet filled with dark liquid called the 'Blood of Morghos', ordering the team to renounce the light and accept Morghos. Ilya is the first to drink the liquid as he had already done so many years ago, hurting him but increasing his fortitude. Mash follows but Esfir and Favian only pretend to drink it. Dmitri successfully convinces them that he'd be a better spy, and is allowed to forgo drinking it. The team gets accepted into the cult and immediately starts locating the treasure room. They are spotted by Zanasha when they go underground, fighting through some skeleton guards and dispelling the magic barrier to the treasure room. They come across very valuable items which are uniquely relevant to each of them, as well as many scrolls and potions. As they leave, the enemies spot them and they are taken to the courtyard to fight Luka and his army. Dmitri uses Planar Ally to summon a Deva angel who saves everyone by engaging the Shadow-Dragon Mynvokun. During the fight, Esfir sneaks up behind Zanasha, and ends up killing her soon after. Favian summons his Shadowspawn, which helps Esfir kill Zanasha but ends up slowing down Mash in the thick of it. After a tough fight, Esfir gets the final hit on Luka, killing him. The Deva leaves with his pay, and Viziel commands Mynvokun to stop fighting. Ilya picks up the Dark Filial, and the party ends up having a big argument about who gets to take it and where. They all slowly realize that they can’t trust any of their own factions, and then Viziel suggests a dark spell that could bind them together for a temporary oath. They agree on the terms of the oath, and use Mynvokun’s soul as the binding sacrifice. Mynvokun himself yearns to see Abmarah’s skies again, and offers his dying lifeforce to the party. Vizeil starts the dark ritual, chanting deep speech and splitting Mynvokun’s soul into five halves that each enter the party’s heads. Esfir struggles with the psionic power for a moment, but makes it out fine. The oath makes sure that the party must make all decisions by voting from now on, and none can betray any of the others without Mynvokun’s soul devouring theirs. They decide to stick together until this apocalypse is prevented. Ilya then attunes to the Dark Filial, the sclera of his eyes turning black as his alignment changes to dark. They plan out their next moves, and rest in the castle.

TLoL Chapter 3 - Shipbound Revelations

  • 3E498/03/16 - Favian and Mash decide to contact Viera Blackreyne, the Archhuntress of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. The sending spell connects, warning her of the Dark Hunt’s invasion and of Viktor. Viera tells them to meet her at the Blackreyne Mansion in Taltigo, the capital of the Lunar Iles Protectorate. The party says their farewell to Vizeil, and asks him to extend the goodbyes to Oshki and Zuria. Ilya casts Plane Shift towards Taltigo, and the party is transported to the Lunar Sea, falling into the ocean water. Even though they had just woken up in the Shadowfell, it is sunset here. They get the attention of a nearby fishing boat, and pay the helmsman to take them to the nearby port of Taltigo on the sunset horizon. The party discusses where in Taltigo they ought to spend the night, and Mash tells them to stay over at the Blackreyne Villa. On their way to it, they are approached by a young boy named Yves selling spell components. Favian tries to be generous and give him 2 gold, but he gets scared and refuses after spotting Dmitri, explaining that his grandfather told him not to talk to Gold Monks. As he runs away, Dmitri explains that he was here 45 years ago and put down a religious uprising. They spend the night in an empty Blackreyne Villa.

  • 3E498/03/17 - The next morning, Viera Blackreyne, Archhuntress of the Blackreyne Brotherhood, teleports to the Villa. She is initially sceptical of the party but then they explain everything to her. She shows them Viktor's dossier and some mission files, proving a connection between him and the Shadowfell as well as the Golden Church, much to Dmitri's surprise. She tells Mash that he reports directly to her or Can now, and that they should keep the Filial on themselves for safekeeping. Additionally, if Viktor was to meet an accident and die, she wouldn't complain. She tells them to go to Pirate Lady Lyn's brothel on Taltigo and get information about the Dark Filial's smuggling from Xi-Di to Lunaria that Luka and Esfir intercepted. She does warn them not to trust Lyn at all, and do a job for her in a quid-pro-quo way instead of owing her a favor. Ilya wants to unattune to the Filial, and has Dmitri cut his throat so Viera can revive him. After Viera leaves, Dmitri explains that the Ballista are put into a magical stasis-sleep for decades, and even though he's 25 he's technically been around for a hundred years. The party shops for supplies and clothing as they walk towards the brothel, Favian polymorphs into an owl to steal a ring of spell storing from a magic store. At the Sea's Embrace, they meet Lady Lyn and explain their situation to her briefly. Esfir tells her what she can about the shipping manifests and dates. Lyn tries to charm Mash, but he resists her. She says that she can gather the information, but in return, the party should travel to the nearby Cinohan city of Torishu and kill a demon-water-lord pirate named Ozran, a wastrilith demon. Ozran might also have information about dark artifacts. The party agrees, and Lyn gives them a small but fast ship called the Disgraced Eel as well as sending her daughter, Myranda Anguillath, to accompany them. Myranda and Favian have disagreements on whether wizards or sorcerers are better, and Myranda gets to know the party a little as they board the ship and sail out into the sea. Dmitri explains that 60ish years ago, he was on a ship during the Lunar Ashfall Isles War. There, he was sunk by Admiral Rakash Zaaba IV, and has developed a dislike for sailing since then.

  • 3E498/03/18 - Favian copies down a spell into his spellbook late into the night, and falls asleep. He has a nightmare in which he's being chased by someone, a skeletal pirate. Waking up, he explains the situation to the others. Clovis, their navigator, tells them of an old ghost story about a ghost ship called the Lunarian's Revenge led by Captain Fabian Grimm, an old Crimson Privateer unjustly sunk by lunar nobles. The ghost ship then shows up, as Captain Fabian seemingly targets only Favian. In the ensuing fight, everyone protects Favian as much as they can in their own ways, and Dmitri vanquishes Captain Grimm and causes the ghost ship to disappear. The next morning, the party talks to Clovis about his conspiracy that 'Dragons secretly rule the world'. Following that, Myranda asks Favian if he's alright, and he senses that she might be interested in him. Reaching Torishu, the spring cherry blossoms are in bloom. Clovis stays with the ship as they head towards an inn, but on the way they are ambushed by a group of Shinobi working for Ozran. Favian, Myranda, and Mash almost die, but Esfir and Ilya manage to get by relatively unscathed. They run to the Tongzhou Onsen and rest up in the hot springs there. Later, Myranda asks if Favian wanted to share a room with her, which he refuses to do. She didn't seem offended by that, but when Favian got dogged by the rest of the guys, he tried to message her, having changed his mind. This does offend her.

  • 3E498/03/19 - Dmitri has one of his recurring nightmares of running away from the Golden Church in Sergorod. While running, he sees a sun elf in his way that he recognises to be the Ballista Gemini before him. She says to him 'Zeahaki Krazori', which was Omnikarn for 'Find Her'. Dmitri woke up yelling and ended up waking everyone else up as well. The party set out into the foggy early morning towards Ozran's cave hideout. Myranda had a plan to swim in through the ocean entrance and teleport up to his ship stealthily, which does end up working. They fight Ozran, and the fight was tough with Mash continuously getting bombed by the demolitionist and Esfir almost dying to one of the demonpirate brutes. Ilya managed to kill Ozran, and Mash rushed down the demolitionist and blew him up with his own bomb. Myranda announced to the pirates to stand down and that they worked for Lady Lyn now, and they surrendered. The party then cast speak with dead on Ozran's corpse, and had Esfir used disguise self into a random halfling to ask the questions from him. They asked about the dark scepter and learned that whoever ordered the Filial already had one piece of the scepter from Skion. They also learned that Ozran stole an incredibly evil book from Xaniv the Whisperer, that he then buried in an unmarked island nearby. They then headed to that island, and after having some trouble climbing up to where the chest was buried, Dmitri dug it up. They had to fight two undead arcane guardians that phased through the rocks, and then found that the chest contained the Book of Vile Darkness. Overwhelmed by the evil, they chose to bury it again but not before Favian and Mash learned two spells from it. Mash ended up getting weaker from the price he paid, and Favian got petrified into stone that Dmitri then undid using his prayer bead. The party then headed back towards Taltigo.

  • 3E498/03/20 - The party said their farewells to Myranda, and Favian apologised to her as well. They asked her not to reveal everything to Lyn. At the Sea’s Embrace in Taltigo, Esfir suggested that the party’s name should be the ‘Darklight Crusaders’. They were informed by Lyn that the shipment of the Filial was ordered towards Akhlezh by Ballista Libra, who was in Kalkipol at the moment. The party discussed what to do about this information and decided to go to Kalkipol to get more information from the Golden Church by having Dmitri sneak into it. They bought some supplies and left the city.

  • 3E498/03/21 - At night, they witnessed a meteor shower reflected by a calm sea. The beautiful sight made the party individually reflect on their emotions and journeys, and how they were feeling about the situation so far.

  • 3E498/03/22 - Favian’s amulet recharged, and the party made it to Kalkipol in the evening. They said farewell to Clovis and left the Disgraced Eel. While sneaking through the crowd towards the Golden Church of Kalkipol, the party was ambushed and immediately restrained by golden threads created by Ballista Virgo. She brought them into the Golden Church, where they met Ballista Libra aka the Equalizer. Despite being restrained, Esfir opened a psychic connection between the party. Libra chastised Dmitri for betraying them, and took the Dark Filial from Ilya and handed it to Virgo. Then, trying to teach Dmitri a lesson, he cut off Dmitri’s right hand. Virgo left at this point, releasing the party and dropping the Filial onto the ground. Favian immediately teleported Dmitri to safety and picked up the Filial, as the party managed to escape the Church’s monks and Libra by breaking a window and running out of the building, barely escaping Libra. They snuck their way through alleys and dark corners before breaking into an abandoned warehouse on the docks. Dmitri at this point was intent on fighting against the Church, as the party realized the world-ending plans of both the Light and the Dark. Ilya knew of a Sabatcieni hideout in a warehouse nearby. They see gold monks patrolling at night looking for them.

  • 3E498/03/23 - Early in the morning, Esfir took everyone deeper into the city’s industrial areas to visit a black market magic shop run by an artificer contact of hers named Krixie. The party bought various magical items from her like Dmitri’s new prosthetic hand, armors for both him and Mash, as well as some spell scrolls and such. She showcased her steam golem named ‘Vlad’, which suddenly went berserk and almost killed Dmitri and Favian. They manage to defeat Vlad, and take some free things from Krixie after almost plotting to kill her. In the evening, they visited the Sabatcieni warehouse. Ilya went in alone at first, and met his sister Anya. She revealed that Zhenya told them that Ilya was arrested by a gold monk, and had presumed him dead. She had been sent to Kalkipol to investigate Ballista Libra. Ilya let Anya read his dreams and memories, getting her to trust him. She then gave him a new bloodshed rapier commissioned for him by the Bloodaunt. He brought the other party members into the warehouse, and Favian immediately trusted Anya for some reason and felt like he had seen her before. He then realized that she looked exactly like Dmitri, between their builds, heights, and hair/eye colors. The party then speculated on Anya and Dmitri’s origins and lack of memories. Anya then connected her mind to Dmitri’s, as both then experienced each other’s memories. Sharing the mental load, they picked up on a shared history somewhere within the Feywild. Favian and Mash assumed that the Feywild’s time dilation could explain the age discrepancies between the two. With this revelation that Ilya’s sister Anya is likely Dmitri’s twin sister, the party aimed to question both Kol-Han and Babaoga. Ilya asked Anya if there is any safe space where they could dispose of the filial without anyone noticing. Anya was suspicious of the sudden interest the Ballistas have taken in the Sabatcieni, suspecting Zhenya or Ilya for their actions having led to it. The party needed a trusted connection to keep them safe as the gold monks are looking for them. Favian realised that he had a connection to House Koporeva, Heiress Miira Krovlevna Koporeva. While they weighed their chances of surviving this, Mash heard some commotion outside the warehouse. Anya tried to telepathically connect to the lookout goblin but failed, and realized they were spotted coming here. Mash was injured as radiant blasts exploded open the doors. The party and the Sabatcieni were surrounded by gold monks and inquisitors and a raging battle occured. The Inquisitor died in battle but the party realised how strong this inquisitor was and that they stood no chance against the church as a whole. Anya and Ilya parted ways after exchanging their goodbyes. The party disguised themselves using the masks and apparel of the gold monk corpses and took shelter in the abandoned warehouse, remaining undetected from the monks. After a brief discussion, Favian casted sending to Miira Koporeva, and asked her for a meeting with the Bolt to which she accepted.

  • 3E498/03/24 - Esfir had troubled dreams due to all the events of yesterday, and realized that she was beginning to care about putting innocents in danger. The party headed to the Kuprum Hangars where they were led in to meet Bolt Matros Koporeva. They told her about the church hunting them and needing help. Favian asked her not to contact his mother. Upon her asking for proof, they ended up trusting her and revealed everything to her including the filial. After much thought, they gave Matros the filial so she could safely hide it amidst the many artifacts stored by House Koporev. She hired them as official Kuprum Explorers, and then asked them to travel to Gematirsk and Skion Labs where they could get valuable information from Ballista Aquarius aka Dr. A. She told them to present the Soul Sacrificial Dagger as a guise, and gave them one of her personal airships - The Sokol - alongside one of her personal trusted men, Zurikov. Aboard the Sokol, Zurikov tested the party in a 'team-building exercise' in which he and the party fought against waves of all four elemental myrmidons. After that, there was a 6-day timeskip on the way to Skion.

  • 3E498/04/02 - In the evening, they sensed a magical blizzard heading their way which engulfed and deafened the airship. The party was losing their grip because of the turbulent snowstorm. Zurikov started glowing bright orange as he tried to navigate the ship, controlling all its functions. Favian realised that Zurikov might be a Merrenoloth, a neutral evil fiend. Due to Zurikov’s brilliant navigable skills, the ship did not get destroyed but it hit a mountain as it landed. Ilya, Mash and Dmitri failed to hold on to the ship and fell into an icy lake which broke and further made them fall into a 180 feet deep cavern. Mash cast feather fall to save them, while Esfir and Favian tied a bunch of ropes together to create a longer rope. They went down to the cave where the party was confronted by an angry yeti. After defeating it, the party climbed back up to the srurface and were immediately hit by the strong currents of the blizzard. Dmitri sensed that the blizzard itself is an elemental. Favian called out to the elemental in primordial and angered the blizzard, causing it to coalesce into a Thuellai. After a difficult battle, the party destroyed the Thuellai after Mash used earthbind to bring it to the ground. They decided to not make a big deal of Zurikov's fiendish nature, who revealed his true name as Zarathul.

  • 3E498/04/03 - They reached Gematirsk the next morning and were immediately greeted by Lunar soldiers who took them through the vault door towards the monorail of Skion Labs. Dr. Ritsin Xeras greeted the party and gave them their ID lanyards. They then went to the administrative sector first, where they met Dr. A. After a small interaction, Dr. Ritsin took them to Sector B3 where they gave up the soul sacrificial dagger. A goliath, probably a poor and deprived criminal, was used as a test subject to experiment with the soul sacrificial dagger, which completely obliterated him from existence. Ritsin then exchanged lanyards with the members to remove their access to B3 but Esfir and Favian managed to hold onto their former ones. They were then taken back to the government hotel. The party snuck into the administrative sector and got past all of the magical wards and glyphs that were guarding 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.

TLoL Chapter 4 - Returning Hope

  • 3E498/04/06 - 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 is responding. The three run into many Dark Hunters, and then the god Gammus says in their minds to leave. Viera refuses, and the three engage the Dark Hunt.

  • 3E498/04/09 - After five-six days, The Darklight Crusaders reach St. Arbalsburg and GIMA, as Favian enjoys being home but dreads what comes next. They go meet 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.

  • 3E498/04/10 - 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. 

  • 3E498/04/11 - 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.

  • 3E498/04/14 - 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. They decided to stay at the DoD for the night.

  • 3E498/04/15 - 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 has an angry reaction and is calmed down by his friends. Anya however transforms into her Nightmare Spirit, lashing out at everyone and reflecting magic as she does so. As they finally calm her down, she vows to kill Babaoga and anyone else who has wronged her. Bakos is also there at the dig as they camp, where Ingrid reveals some DoD news of Viera and Zahn disappearing in Goldheim. Gideon and Ingrid decide to go look into that, while Mash realizes that with Viera gone Viktor will likely be up to some bad things at Night's End. They head back to the Sokol, flying out towards the fortress.

  • 3E498/04/17 - 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.

  • 3E498/04/18 - 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.

TLoL Chapter 5 - End of an Era

  • 3E500/12/11 - 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 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. Using his Liikran Orb, he casted a spell on Markal that seemed to neutralize him and lightclaw. 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. They decided to go to the Sabbath tomorrow, and face Zhenya once and for all.

  • 3E500/12/12 - 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 until 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. 

  • 3E500/12/13 - 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.

  • 3E500/12/14 - 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.

  • 3E500/12/18 - 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, Mash became the new Headhunter after Can’s retirement and reconciled with his family, and Esfir became a balance between all of them.