Posted August 7th: (More are coming later, but I must go do other things at the moment.)

Subj: Eternal Night: Darkness, Part II.

Then came midnight.

A chilling, bestial roar echoed through the city of Ashtan. Soon after, a massive bull-like demon thundered through the city streets, laying waste indiscriminately to those who came across its path. When this creature, dubbed the nychtaur, was brought down by Blujixapug, his corpse was consumed by green flames and vanished…

Upon the stroke of the next midnight, the nychtaur manifested in the city of Cyrene and rampaged through that alpine city. Slain again, once more his corpse was consumed by green flames, to appear again and again, every midnight, in a different city. Though some, especially the dragon Landon Stormcrow[player], enjoyed the thrill of hunting down the fierce nychtaur nightly, most learned to dread the chilling roar that presaged the beast’s presence.

On the first dawn following the beginning of the eclipse, Druids and Sylvans saw that their groves, blocked off from the sun by the triune planets, were unable to regenerate any energy. Further, the spirits of the forest were missing from their usual places, and none could find them. All the spirits, that is, except for Urania and Propasia[NPCs] in the Darkenwood.

The druidess Kaiya Winterwind made her way north to the Darkenwood to speak with Urania, the Spirit of the Darkenwood. She was soon joined by Rahum Windsong, Brewster, Seilyn Moonflair, Terra Sa’Rithven-a’Bertal, Montago Vas’amaen-Ze’Dekiah, Ixin Rousseau, and Thenidiel Shiva-Ar’thela[Players], amongst others, who questioned Urania on the whereabouts of her sister spirits.

Unperturbed by news of her sisters’ disappearance, Urania calmly assured them, “My sister spirits are well. They have only gone to do their duty.”

“What duty?” asked Terra.

“To protect their forests, of course,” Urania said, smiling softly. She paused, closing her eyes to commune with her sisters for a moment, then began to explain: “Within each of my sisters’ forests, there lives a sacred tree.”

“These trees are sacred because they are the most ancient of the forest,” Urania continued, “and they store a tremendous amount of energy that can be tapped. However,” Urania paused again, this time with a frown, “this sudden eclipse has had a jarring effect on the trees, and they have grown ill.”

Urania sighed and said, “My sisters have retreated into the sacred trees to try to preserve their life from within. But I’m afraid that they will not succeed in this endeavour.”

“Can we help them?” Kaiya asked. “In any manner?”

Urania smiled then, and she reminded those gathered of the existence of the Essences of each forest, condensed into seeds, which were many years before gifted to the Lady of the Wildwoods, since become Melantha, Goddess of the Seasons. If, she hinted, they could procure those seeds and bring them to her, perhaps she could help.

At the Temple of the Seasons, deep within the Aerinewild, was found Kalleah[NPC], the Spirit of the Hazel. Not a spirit of any specific forest, Kalleah was a nature spirit in the service of the Goddess of the Seasons and had been in service to her in her previous incarnation as the Lady of the Wildwoods as well.

The group who had come from the Darkenwood explained to Kalleah what Urania had said, and Kalleah revealed that the seeds had been entrusted to her care. Though she did not wish to give up the seeds to Urania, Kalleah wandered the Aerinewild forest with the group seeking out the eldest tree there. They found it finally, an ancient oak tree, withered and brittle.

Hoping for the best, Thenidiel took the Essence of the Aerinewild from Kalleah and placed it upon the sacred oak. The Essence was quickly absorbed by the tree, and a relieved sigh seemed to emanate from within it. An image of Eupheme[NPC], spirit of the Aerinewild, formed within the tree as she smiled and stretched her arms.

The tree trunk and branches took on the vague shape of the spirit herself, a woman with her arms held aloft, the withered tree now beautifully flourishing. The forest of Aerinewild glowed with renewed health, deriving energy in the absence of sunlight from the spirit and the sacred tree, their strength revitalised by the essence of the forest.

Greatly encouraged by this, outriders spread out across the forests, seeking out the sacred trees in each. Sklaer Danial[player] suggested a location known as the forest’s heart in the Aureliana, and indeed, the Aureliana’s eldest tree was found there. Aelyn Le’Yuet[player] found the sacred tree of the Western Ithmia, an ancient cedar; Anke Nighthawk-Ka’Tal the sacred oak of the Eastern Ithmia; Vinceres Ebonheart, the sacred birch of the Western Ithmia; Hlessiroo, the venerable redwood of the Aalen forest; Aethele Moonflair-Distara, the sacred black walnut tree of the Black Forest; Xel Darkfeather, the ancient maple of the forests of Ulangi; and finally Kaiya, the sacred oak of the Northreach forest.[players]
When these, the eldest forests of Achaea, had each been revitalised, a green aura softly illuminated the heavens above each forest. Slowly the radiant auras spread, diminishing in intensity as they covered the continent. Tendrils of the green light spread outward, touching one another and blending into a single dwindling glow.

The rustling of leaves echoed upon the wind from ocean to ocean, and the green light settled into the treetops over every forest and jungle, leaving the world in darkness once more. The eldest forests and their protectress spirits now extended their vital energy through all forests and jungles of Sapience, even those without manifested spirits of their own.

But this triumph had a bitter aftertaste, for it could only be a temporary measure in the absence of sunlight. “Be wary, children of the forests,” Kalleah said, warning them that even with the energy from the essences of the forests, the spirits could not sustain the forests limitlessly.