Posted on August 10th:

Subj: Eternal Night: Darkness, Part IV.

As has been told, a net woven by the three Visages of the Lady of the Moon proved instrumental in capturing the mighty nychtaur, dispelling the enchantment upon him and returning him to his stallion form. The God of Death then appeared to ceremoniously relinquish his claim upon the stallion to the Goddess of Dreams, in fulfillment of an ancient promise. [as described earlier]

Along with the stallion, the ethereal nightmares that had of late roamed Sapience returned to the Dreamrealm, and it was later revealed that they were the shades of the unicorns that had perished during the
War of Humanity.

The next month, in the early summer of 426 A.F., five ritualists gathered on Mount Nicator: Goldberry Winterhart, Silas Maynard, Zenui Ruthras, Najara Sa’Rithven, and Aneevah Acacia[players]. They vowed to penetrate the ward of power around Tavarius and end the eclipse. The Mitran priestess Aerilius[NPC] took part also, shielding the onlookers for their safety. What follows is a faithful transcript of the ritual as it occurred:[Following is a sometimes quoted, sometimes paraphrased selection of game output during the ritual]
Zenui prays for a Rite of Cleansing, and is granted it.

Zenui lays a morningstar upon the ground within the bounds of the rite of cleansing. An inky white aura begins to slink up the morningstar’s handle. The writhing aura works its way up the chain of the weapon and to the ending ball where it is quickly absorbed.

Zenui takes up the now glowing morningstar and begins to swing it above his head. Strands of intense white light fly from the glowing ball to meld into the atmosphere around the ledge. Panting lightly, Zenui stops swinging the now normal weapon.

Goldberry gestures to the earth deftly, causing a ruddy glow to suffuse the ground around her feet.

Goldberry motions into the air, causing a strong breeze to whip her hair about.

Goldberry opens her hand, cradling a small white flame in the palm. The flame writhes haphazardly, changing back and forth from white to blue to orange, before stabilizing somewhere between all three.

Goldberry trails her hand in the air lazily. The air begins to thicken, taking on a misty form before it collapses onto the ground in a splash of water.

The water drains down into a circular crevice, forming a makeshift scrying pool. As the image in the puddle sharpens, you see a glowing figure behind a wall of light. The water darkens and then becomes a crystal blue.

Najara links hands with Aerilius, gazing up into the sky as the circlet upon her brow begins to glow with primeval fire.

Najara touches the tip of her spear against her circlet and otherwordly fire slips around it, bathing it in an angry glow.

Aneevah links hands with Aerilius, gazing up into the sky as the circlet upon her brow begins to glow with primeval fire.

Aneevah taps her spiritual mace against her circlet and the pulsating glow of the mace changes to a deadly red.

Aerilius, Priestess of the Solstar raises her eyes to the darkened sky, two tears forming in the corners and trickling down her face.

As the tears continue down her cheeks, they eventually drop off to touch the ground. A luminous outline begins where the teardrops met the ground and soon encircles her.

Aerilius, Priestess of the Solstar raises her hands and places them directly in front of her, above the dual beginnings of the outline.

She begins to croon a hauntingly beautiful song, weaving melodies and power together above the shimmering circle.

As the song ends, Aerilius, Priestess of the Solstar’s eyes glow like the sunrise, and she begins to whisper prayers of protection to Lady Sol. The shimmering circle, infused with power from the hymn, expands to surround the ritualists and the ward, sealing those present outside of the barrier.

Aneevah calls out for the aid of her guardian angel. A flower of white light blooms in the air beside Aneevah, and a shimmering figure emerges from within.

Aneevah nods gravely at her Guardian Angel as she hands her a fiery mace, beseeching her to wield it against her foes.

Silas crinkles his brow in concentration as he reaches deeper into his Devotion[a player skill]. His eyes close and his lips move silently as he empowers the arisen angel. The guardian begins to glow more brightly, no longer visible behind the brilliant sheen of light.

Silas’s eyes flash open as he gestures grandly at the ward, creating a path of light from the angel to the ward. He maintains his focus, and begins to recite the holy verses, chasing away potentially disruptive magics that could affect the angel.

As the angel rushes the ward, the elements imbued within the area begin to swirl around her. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air coalesce in a myriad of colours and lights upon the angel, invigorating her.

Najara cocks her arm back and with a forceful cry, flings her spear like a javelin at the ward, its coruscating essence lashing out fiercely.

As the respective powers come into contact with the ward, a ripple forms in the roiling ward energy. The places where the elementally infused angel hit seem to compress slightly.

The crystal-blue scrying pool turns completely black. Upon the black surface, a reflection of the ward appears, an image of the man Tavarius within it. The reflection of his face distorts and mutates within the scrying pool, his eyes replaced by orbs of flaming crimson - the eyes of the undead prince Slith!

An instant later, the real ward swells hugely outwards, warping the elemental essence directed towards it in an explosion of light.

The attacking angel’s essence scatters on the breeze as her ties to the plane are sundered, the spear shatters, and the ritualists are killed instantly!

Goldberry has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.
Zenui has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.
Silas has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.
Aneevah has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.
Najara has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.

Aerilius, Priestess of the Solstar is thrown violently backwards to the floor, and the barrier wavers. Within moments, her last breath escapes her body and the barrier fades entirely, leaving behind only silence.

Aerilius, Priestess of the Solstar, has been slain in the backlash of a failed ritual.

Though the ritual backfired dramatically, it did have the unexpected side effect of revealing the true face behind Tavarius: the ancient and crafty Slith, Prince of the Undead Legions, he who had opposed the Elder Gods along with the Triumvirate in the War of Humanity!

Late in the autumn of 426 A.F., a nightmare returned to the material world, alone and heavy with foal [as mentioned previously] Having been conceived in the material world, the foal she carried was half-real and half-ethereal and thus unable to remain in the Dreamrealm. The nightmare had been driven back to the material world to give birth. She wandered the Sangre plains, consuming only the night-growing orchids that bloomed there, constantly besieged by giant white bats that attacked her everywhere she roamed.

At last, in the spring of the second year of perpetual darkness, the nightmare gave birth in a hidden cavern, where the missing prophetess Apollonia was also discovered, unconscious and wounded terribly. The enigmatic lamassus of the northern Ithmia appointed themselves as caretakers of the newborn foal and Apollonia both, advising adventurers to return for the foal in early autumn-time…