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Arnaya's Newsfeed:

Lore, history and other content by the citizens of Underlight preserved for posterity.
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Arnaya
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New Caretakers and Picco's kids:

Post by Arnaya »

New Caretakers:
So, in addition to Bosley as I reported last time. Another new elder type has shown up, bearing a rank crest for the valley stronghold (at least when he appeared in Chimeric two Tuesdays ago, on Sept.10/2018). Leonard Scruff is his name, though he didn't remain long and I wasn't able to really speak with him to get to know him at all. At this point, it is believed that he is a 2nd caretaker, working with Bosley to maintain the strongholds and guilds.

Maren Children:
Azwraths ritual in Thresh Caves has finally borne fruit... and Picco has returned. Upon her revival, she immediately proceeded to hatch one of her eggs that had been on the facade of the Bastion of the Covenant. The mare that emerged, was a conjoined emphant by the name of Annibuul (My source on this reported that they believe one of the conjoined is named Anni, and the other is named Buul. So, together.. they are Annibuul). Members of House Calenture attempted to stop more mares from being birthed when Picco proceeded up to the Alliance of the Eclipse, and hostilities ensued. Despite the combat, no further mares were birthed that evening... and two of the eggs that had been on AoE's facade were removed by Picco, then taken to the Bastion... where one of them was hatched a couple of days later. The new mare (I don't have its name just yet), promptly ate the 2nd egg according to reports i received. The third egg that had been on the Alliance's facade, was destroyed... though conflicting reports exist as to which egg it was. Whether it was an undamaged one, or the one that was previously damaged and had a shard of stone embedded in it. Both reports I have received come from individuals who were absolutely Certain of their facts in regards to which egg it was. So, if you have further information on this, please let me know).
So, at this point... Picco has three confirmed children. Azwrath, Annibuul, and the new one who's name I will add when I have confirmed it. The two new ones are both emphants, and allegedly are non-hostile.

Laying the Fallen to Rest:
The egg that was broken on AoE's facade, as reported above, left behind a pile of broken egg shells... and the decapitated head of a baby emphant. Nmoto and Arnaya, the following evening, went up to AoE and gave the slain emphant last rites to send it to its rest. Nmoto conducted a prayer to bring peace to the baby mare's soul, and had Arnaya cremate the remains upon the conclusion of the prayer. The only thing left after the body was cremated, was a single small maren fang, which was given to Nmoto. Both the body and eggs shells were completely immolated otherwise.

Chimeric Update:
A 2nd chimeric meeting has been held this last week, and plans are that they will continue (every tuesday at 8pm, Dream time). Ra'as was selected chairman for these meetings, due to his issuing of the call for them. Though opposition to the idea of a proposal of all houses merging into a single house remains strong, the houses have agreed to see if cooperative efforts are even a practical possibility any longer. The council has agreed to pursue the idea of locating the "Heart of the City" in follow up to Caretaker Bosley's comments about it being drained. Ra'as wrote the following about the meeting:

"The Chimeric Assembly met for the second time this month, to discuss the affairs of the city and houses of Underlight.

The Caretakers have disclosed that the Heart of the city itself is unwell, and the city is losing power.

The Chimeric Assembly unanimously agreed to seek out the location of the Heart, and to dedicate resources toward its repair, if such a thing is possible.

More broadly, the Chimeric Assembly has acknowledged the state of the great houses has become weak and unsustainable, and discussed measures which might be agreeable toward consolidation of forces, though no formal agreements have been made at this time.

Note: The Alliance of the Eclipse was not present for these discussions, and input from their representatives would be much appreciated."

(Of note, Erasmus... Guide of the Alliance... has noted that though he cannot be present at the meeting times, if he is forwarded a copy of the agenda... he will try to ensure that the Alliance's stance on various matters is presented).

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Sept.28/2018 Update

Post by Arnaya »

Picco's Children Update:
I promised an update on Emphant Children of the Horron Darkmare, Picco. So, here it is. There are now 3 Emphant children of this mare, all born from eggs that were safe guarded on house facades it seems.
  • Annibuul: is a two headed Emphant. One of the heads is female, and is Anni. Generally benevolent and well meaning according to reports. The other head is Buul, a "Bad" male. Apparently, these two maren minds generally share control over the body... but there have been reported incidents where one of the heads has full sole control as well. So it appears that that control can switch, and be surrendered/taken by one head or the other.
  • Skwrrji: is reported a friendly Emphant mare, if a little on the clumsy side. It has reportedly been seen running into walls before, but is generally quite playful and enjoys the taste of flowers.
  • Feircco: is another friendly, red, Emphant mare with the unique ability to truly fly... much like the statue that Wishbringer put up on Mount Illapse allows us to do, but apparently as an inherent ability. This mare has been reported to be able to grant others the same ability by licking and drooling on them.

As a further note, to aid in some manner of communication with Picco... Nmoto was kind enough to share a couple of observations about Picco's verbal communications with me. Though not a translation guide really, Nmoto had noted that Picco seems to be able to make softer sounds without issue, but gets jumbled up when pronouncing harder alphabet sounds. On a more practical level, she seems to be the Vowels in the right place and with near the right pronunciation, but gets consonants jumbled. So if she said Nmoto's name... one time it might be "Jyono". While the next time she might say "Hgozo". When observed trying to say Annibuul's name, she instead said "ajbivuun". So, it will have the same number of syllables and the vowels will be right... but the rest is mixed up and inconsistent.

I would like to thank Nmoto for sharing his insights on this, and I hope it will aid in various other dreamers of the city being able to communicate with Picco and her offspring.

Tuesday, Sept.25/2018 Chimeric Meeting:
While the normal Chairman (Ra'as) for this bout of meetings was unavailable, Purple Lace (Kabal Guild); Nathan (Pheonix Ascendancy Guild); Jade; Dina (Both of The Chosen Guild. All ranking members of the Bastion of the Covenant); and Arnaya (of House Calenture) did meet anyway. The topics discussed were how to treat with the maren children (Annibuul, Skwrrji, & Feircco, as detailed above). The general consensus was that if they were not hostile and not misbehaving, they would not be attacked... though Arnaya did advise that the mares should not come up to House Calenture proper as most Calenturians have a long established history of conflicts with mares in general, and a Very strong distrust of them. "A mare dreaming is a mare floating" is not an uncommonly heard sentiment among Calentures warriors. Further discussion was had, but with no change to the current practices of either house.
The only other piece of business discussed, was the status of efforts towards investigating Caretaker Bosley's claim about the Heart of the City being drained. Arnaya explained that Em'et had agreed to use his apparatus within his lab on Lost Caves to assist in the search, and was gathering tools required to safely use the apparatus. She also mentioned that she was working on her own efforts, but that they were still rough and uncertain.. so did not wish to present them as a formal course of action suggestion at that time.

After the meeting was adjourned, Starling and Raven XR of the Order of the Sable Moon were located in Chimeric, and Arnaya updated them as to the proceedings of the Chimeric meeting. Though sharing Calenture's distrust of the mares, Starling (Ruler rank) advised that they would treat the mares as they themselves were treated by the mares. If the mares were peaceful, they would be met and spoken with. If hostile, the Order would defend itself.

Bastion Bustles:
Over the last few dreams, small private gatherings of the Bastion have been noted (One of note at the Anvil in the Rings of Passage on Edgeward Barrows, and other at the Bastion facade itself). While Calenture has been made distinctly aware that they are unwelcome at one of these events in particular, and a returning dreamer was evicted from the house plane on Thursday, Sept.27/2018 when she asked if she could watch while waiting for her teacher to finish up. The actual happenings at these events are unknown to the writer. If anyone has any information they would like to share, I will gladly update this note.

Calenture On Evernight:
As has been reported in the Muses newspaper in past editions, House Calenture has been working on a dual natured project. The Path of Legacy as its leader, Uthanatos, calls it. This work has involved placing statues of past rulers of House Calenture at various places along Evernight Plateau, to both honor those past rulers for their contributions to the house and city, and strengthen the plane against Chaos energies.

Azwrath Ritual Cleanup:
Last weekend, during a bout of relative boredom, Arnaya; Uthanatos; Arlyana Jax; and Magnum-425 of House Calenture, alongside Nathan of the Bastion of the Covenant (Pheonix Ascendancy Guild) went down to the remains of the ritual site which the Darkmare Azwrath had used to revive his mother, Picco. The site was at the Altar in the Ceremonial Hall of Threshold Caves. The group made a couple of attempts to immediately clean up the very stubborn mess left by the ritual (which included many dreamer and maren essences, laid out in an eight point alternating circle on the Altar itself. With Four maren essences and Four Dreamer essences laid out in an arrow and pathway format.. wide end towards the portal.. before each of the two portals from the room).
After the first bout of efforts failed, the group settled on a cleansing type ritual, anchored around a crystal that was fueled by the residual energies of the ritual site itself to resonate and maintain the cleansing aura over a period of several dreams. It has been subsequently investigated and found that the Ritual site has been cleaned up due to those efforts, and the crystal itself broken down.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed for Oct.10/2018

Post by Arnaya »

There's been a few things going on lately that I wanted to let people know about. With increased presence from various mares, dopplegangers of known dreamers, and various dreamers projects getting rolling... things have been fairly busy these last two weeks.

Chimeric Meeting: Oct.02/2018
This meeting was sparcly attended, with only Arnaya and Uthanatos of House Calenture... and Fangx & Apothos of the Monastery of the Shadow. Nathan of the Bastion of the Covenant (Pheonix Ascendancy Branch) stopped in briefly. The only matters of import discussed were a trade agreement for supplies between HC and the Monastery, and the efforts at locating the Heart of the City. Apothos suggested that Lambent or Illapse be the first places to begin the search for the Heart of the City.

The Sword in the Stone and the Sealed Dungeon:
A couple of weeks ago, the dungeon on Illapse was noted to have been sealed off... both wings. Nothing else was known at that time. A few dreams later, it was noted that there was a sword stuck in the stone on Illapse, just outside of the small dungeon. The blade appeared as follows:

This unique master piece so delicately carved, with stones piercing in all directions. The blade is sharp, and rigged. The maker of it is unknown to dreamer, but you can see a small etching near the tip that has a small letter inscribed. This blade holds certain powers not yet known.

The blade still remains where it was stuck. A few dreams ago from the time of this writing, Nmoto informed me that he, Magnum-425, and Off-Kilter had sensed something locked beyond the dungeon portals, and breached the left wing to find a red skinned darkmare (The mares name is currently unknown). Picco had arrived during the effort, and displayed evident fear at the new darkmare. An intercepted missive from an individual calling themselves M. Valencia (unknown to any I have spoken to so far), claims that the lock on the portals of the small dungeon (Particularly the right wing side) are being caused by the blade. The full note can be found at this index.

Of note, M.Valencia in particular has expressed their intention to create a small portal to drain excess chaos energy from the city before it causes any ruptures to the walls. They anticipate several darkmares entering the city during this rite.

Annibuul's Evolution:
One of Picco's children, the two headed darkmaren emphant known as Annibuul, has undertaken its first form evolution... just inside the entrance of Caudal rift from Cenotaph of Dread. The mare is now a bogrom. While the Anni head seems to want to learn more about what's around, and doesn't seem to have any clear goals.. the Buul head has demonstrated an intense desire and drive for "Pow Pow"... as Picco's children do not seem to speak maren, it is believed that Buul was trying to say "Power" instead of "Shoot" as the word would mean in maren.

Calenture's Path of Legacy Expanded:
Uthanatos (Shield ruler of Calenture), with the support of Arnaya; Aphrael; Aileron; and the Monastery Guardian, Gorgunsun, completed Aileron's statue for the path of Legacy. The statue was placed at the Cross Roads on Evernight Plateau. Please see Uthanatos's notes about the Path of Legacy for further details on this project.

Rut'roh, Maxtra, and Eldryck:
A little bit ago, the darkmare Rut'roh showed itself in Harrow Glades. Attacking Uthanatos, Arnaya, Magnum-425, Nathan, and Ra'as. Rut'roh displayed a fairly significant understanding of the Razorwind art. Despite Rut'roh collapsing both Magnum and Ra'as, it was defeated twice before trying to move the fight on Evernight plateau. The group was reluctant to pursue due to Rut'roh's demonstrated skill at laying Razorwind traps, though did venture out after a long enough delay to let any planted blades collapse. The darkmare Maxtra Ztatha showed up at this point as well, stating that he was hunting Rut'roh. Maxtra is known to be of the Kotoken faction, and it appears that Rut'roh is of the Hota Clan. Maxtra pursued Rut'roh into the Dark Awakening... where Eldryck Venym joined them. Apparently, Eldryck met both of the mares and took advantage of their mutual conflict to defeat both of them.

Bastion Bustles:
I would like to Thank Jade of the Bastion of the Covenant (of The Chosen) for providing the information about their recent activities. For anyone who wishes to review it, her note can be found at this Index.

Dopplegangers:
The last couple of dreams, it's been noted that several imposters of known dreamers have been around the city. Their mannerisms and behavior very closely matches the real dreamer... and it is unknown how much knowledge they have of any signs/countersigns, or the dreamers history. The main way to tell, seems to be to cause them some damage to their avatar. Even a minor hit seems to cause their avatars to collapse immediately, regardless of how strong or tough they appear to be. Upon collapse, the dopplegangers soulsphere rapidly vanishes. The Dopplegangers seem to be interested in various happenings around the city. Some key noted questions of interest to them so far have been: "Who are the best fighters around" and "Any luck finding the heart of the city?". One of the dopplegangers (the one belonging to Nmoto) dropped a small piece of vine, very similar to those found on Illapse, when it was collapsed. I would ask that any other questions of particular interest to these dopplegangers (when identified), be forwarded to myself either via pigeon, or passed along to one of the house rulers for reference to the Chimeric Council. Further information will be provided as it becomes available. A special thanks to Nmoto for his initial information on these dopplegangers.

Chimeric Meeting: Oct.09/2018
This was probably the most productive of the recent chimeric meetings. Ra'as; Purple Lace; and Jade of the Bastion, as well as Arnaya; Uthanatos; and Arlyana of House Calenture, were present. Topics under discussion included the Dopplegangers (One of Arlyana Jax was present when Arnaya first arrived, and had been for some time). It was discovered at this point that Dopplegangers do not sense as members of a house to the House Members art), and a Sign/Countersign approach was agreed upon for use among the ranking members of the houses (Thank you to Ra'as and Uthanatos for coming up with this) along with some contingencies should doubt still remain or arise after the initial challenge and reply.

Most other topics noted here were also at least briefly discussed, and after consideration in regards to the M.Valencia portal plan... The Bastion and Calenture agreed to propose an alternate plan in lieu of a darkmare spouting portal. The cleansing primes intended for the house planes during the most recent Chaos Eclipse could provide an alternative answer. One of those primes was given into Jade's keeping, for her to bring to the portal attempt... and Arnaya stated her intention to also be there and bring a second of the cleansing primes.

House Calenture announced that it would be initiating a new project, intended to grant increased benefits to house members while on their house planes, and would be speaking to various people around the city about this. A brief update about the intended creation of a new art called "Distress Call" was also provided.

The Bastion of the Covenant updated about the Revenant and Palisades project, advising that they would be pushing ahead sometime within the next week on this project to prevent Picco from damaging the egg containment devices and potentially hatching more darkmares. Jade also re-affirmed her intention to build shrines meant to reinforce the palisades, but would not act in regards to any one house plane without the consent of what ever house held jurisdiction over the plane.

Arnaya had spoken to Erasmus of the Alliance of the Eclipse late last week, and relayed the stances that he had confirmed with her. The Alliance of the Eclipse follows suite with the other houses in refuses to merge into a single stronghold, and opposes any one house claiming control over the palisades. The Alliance also refuses to allow a shrine to be placed without due consultation and input. Erasmus has offered whatever aid and support they can towards locating and repairing the heart of the city.

Efforts to locate the heart of the city in order to conduct repairs were also discussed. Arnaya will make an attempt at a Mist scrying after Bardic on Wednesday, Oct.10/2018, and Jade is planning on investigating the location of the portal that led to the hearts location in Idoaclesia.

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Thank you for reading, and if anyone has anything they encounter around the city, additional information on any of the articles published, or just something they would like to see included or modified... please let me know either in the city, or via pigeon.
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Oct.12/2018 Update

Post by Arnaya »

Chosen Guild Hall Relocated:
An update I accidentally left out of the Last update (serves me right for rushing that one). During the last Chimeric meeting, the Chosen revealed that they had relocated their guild hall to Fayd's Fortress (Originally turned into a guild hall by Xun'rok before being bought by the City Guard, then Erasmus on behalf of the Lowborn, and now passing into the control of The Chosen). This once more opens up all of Gloom peaks, allowing open access to Shamblix hunting grounds in the Wounded Falls without having to slip through the Lucidity Portals in the Incholate Realm to bypass the Chosen's Guild Locks. On behalf of the city, I would like to thank the Chosen for taking this step, and reopening those popular hunting grounds to all.
There's been a bit of speculation about what will happen now that the Chosen have a fully separate and self-contained facility to themselves. So I guess ultimately, the question now is... what will the Chosen do with their new stronghold?

M. Valencia's Portal:
On the evening of Wednesday, as promised in the intercepted note within the Athenaeum, a portal was opened into our city. Initially, this resulted in the Darkmare Rut'roh appearing in the rifts while the Darkmare youth, Annibuul, was attempting to evolve its form once more. Rut'roh was defeated several times in the rift itself by Magnum-425, Arnaya (both of House Calenture), and Nathan (of the Bastion of the Covenant), while Nmoto monitored events on Mount Illapse at the small dungeon. While I have not been able to speak with him yet to get the full details of that occurance, those assembled (Purple Lace and Dina who were monitoring Annibuul (who had curled into a winged cocoon and burrowed into the ground at the center of the essence circle in the Caudal Rift entrance from Harrow/Cenotaph of Dread), and the others previously named while they were combating Rut'roh) in Caudal Rift saw pair of odd visions manifest. Both seemed to be of events occuring within the Small Dungeon upon Mount Illapse.

The first vision was of a small hole with an intricate design forming inside the small dungeon. A dim light materializing through, as the design cast a shadow upon the wall.

The second, was of the hole becoming slightly larger as an unknown object fell it's way through it. Dust and particles falling to the floor.


After that, when Rut'roh was defeated again... he went down to Mount Illapse and was joined by two other darkmares (Picco and a new one named Azulayf). Azulayf was collapsed repeatedly within the small dungeon by Arnaya and Magnum-425, before the mares moved out of it and scattered a bit. Eldryck Venym joined the fight as well, and the main engagement resumed within the Mount Illapse keep proper, where all three mares were collapsed by assembled forces (Nathan, Arnaya, Magnum-425, Nmoto, and Eldryck Venym on the field, with Purple Lace and Dina supporting from inside Sanctuary). All three mares finally woke, and Eldryck took the opportunity to once more try and recruit people to swear fealty to him.

Most of those assembled expressed concerns about swearing complete fealty to one individual, and Eldryck Venym made a very public display and speech about no one else being able to protect the city like he could. A doppleganger of Eldryck appeared at that point, and was swiftly collapsed by the real Venym, then dreamstruck. There has been some speculation about the validity of the Doppleganger, as all other dopples encountered have collapsed after a single hit (this one took 3 hits to collapse), and the Soul Sphere remained for long enough that Eldryck could pull up and target Dreamstrike (all the others have vanished almost immediately upon collapse of the Dopple's avatar). What will the self-proclaimed Ruler of the City do next? How far will he go to draw peoples allegiance? And what will happen next with M. Valencia and the darkmares?

Scrying the Heart:
With the questions raised about the vulnerability of the Heart of the City, there has been talk about what to do and several idea's have been brought forth for seeking it out. On Thursday, Oct.11/2018, Arnaya; Uthanatos; Arlyana Jax (All 3 of House Calenture); Purple Lace; Jade; Nathan (All 3 of the Bastion of the Covenant); and Nmoto (Free Spirit) assembled in the Lambent Flats Sanctuary to conduct a preliminary effort at finding the heart of the city. The premise was to use a scrying technique that Arnaya refers to as a Mist Viewing or Mist Scrying. By raising a thick bank of mist, and energizing it with lucidity or other highly reactive energies, the bank of mist is made into a viewing port to display the results of an Insight probe. In this case, Jade and Nmoto grounded metal rods into the floor, which Purple Lace and Arlyana Jax directed their respective probes into. Nathan unfortunately stormed at this point, so Uthanatos took up drawing in the returning insight probes information, and casting into a mist bank that Arnaya raised and maintained (using Power Tokens in the place of raw lucidity). The following is what was revealed within the mists:

A faint image rippled into view in the mist, devoid of color. Jagged rocks could be seen enclosing a small area briefly before the image flickered, quickly showing two more similarly vague locations.

The group intensified their efforts, and were rewarded with the following:

The misty scene blured as it changed. A splash of pastel colors filled in the empty spaces, making it more comprehensible. The image reflected the people gathered in the room (Jade, Uthanatos, Arnaya, Purple Lace, Nmoto, & Arlyana Jax), gazing directly back at them. The mirrored vision of the dreamers all appeared to be reaching for something indiscernible, but it continued to move just out of their reach. One by one, they began to fall - getting trampled by the person behind them. A distant thump of a heart's beat reverberated around the room, but didn't seem to come from any particular direction. The mirrored dreamers disappeared from sight and the image faded away.

The group discussed the possible meanings and ramifications of the viewing for some time, and it was decided to continue to search for the "Heart of the City" until more concrete information could be gathered. Allegedly, the Heart of the City is a crystal like object (According to Caretaker Bosley) that forms the core of the city... energizing and powering the entire overall structure.

Questions continue to be raised about the wisdom of this pursuit, and its potential implications to the city. Further, several have questioned what motives the various power entities and groups within the city, could have for seeking the heart. Are all truly interested only in protecting the city? Or do some... perhaps powerful individuals watching from the shadows... have their own agenda's and purposes for overseeing this search?

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You'll notice a slight change to the presentation of articles in this write up. I have made sure that only the facts are presented, but the questions raised at the end have been suggested by some of the regular readers of this newsfeed. Please let me know your feedback on this.
Sincerely,
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Arnaya's Newsfeed: Oct.25/2018

Post by Arnaya »

This isn't a large update, but a few things of substance have occurred these last two weeks.

Maren Invasion:
The maren presence within Caudal Rift has expanded rather notably. With Picco adding sets of "Alarm Eyes" to the entrance area's, numerous sets of spikes and some vine curtains. The most notable addition is a large Essence Circle at the Upper Labyrinth room. Several dreamers have attempted to intervene in Picco's efforts, with Magnum-425 of House Calenture engaging and defeating Picco on Thursday, Oct. 18/2018... and Arnaya doing the same on Friday, Oct.19/2018. The evening of Saturday, Oct.20/2018, saw the arrival of a new mare through the essence circle (the same evening it was erected). Magnum-425, alongside Nathan and Purple Lace (Of the Bastion of the Covenant) engaged Picco and other mares. The fighting at that point was reportedly very intense, with both Magnum and Nathan having to retreat for a time to resupply. They were joined by Arnaya (Of House Calenture), and later Uthanatos (also of House Calenture). With the group present, the dreamers were able to defeat and drive off the maren forces. These forces included Picco, Rut'roh, Azulayf (New mare from a couple of weeks ago), and the newest mare who's name hasn't been confirmed yet. Initial reports have the name as similar to Arassas.

Picco remained along afterwards for a time that evening, eventually leaving the rift and going to Mount Illapse... where the group again defeated her. From there, she went to the Alliance of the Eclipse. She was searching for something up there, continuing even after a battle which ended up with her collapsed. Eventually she woke, seemingly without finding whatever it was she was looking for. Alliance member Fang X was advised of the incident.

During the battle, one of the Mares reportedly told Nathan that Caudal Rift was theirs now.

So far this week (up to the date of writing), the maren presence in the city has been pretty light. With only Rut'roh showing up last evening (Oct.24/2018). Eldryck Venym joined in the defense, collapsing Rut'roh twice. Arnaya would like to particularly thank Cyborg512; Gorgunsun; and Aphrael.

What do the mares have planned for Caudal Rift? And how does this occupation tie in with the Sword in the Rock and the Sealed Dungeon on Mount Illapse?

Dopplegangers Continue:
The number of reported Doppleganger sightings has decreased notably, yet some at least have continued. As both Purple Lace and Arlyana Jax reported in their own scrolls, small scrolls with riddles on them have been dropped by several of these dopplegangers, suggesting a strong link between them and the Sword/Sealed Dungeon on Mount Illapse. Fangx also reported that he received a scroll from one of the dopplegangers, from M. Valencia, stating that the sword had to be removed soon and that the longer it remained, the more the heart of the city would weaken. The question remains about what these Dopplegangers want here, and indeed... what they actually are. What tie do these beings have to the other events in the city.... and what do they have to do with the Heart of the City?

The Sword, The Dungeon, and the Artifacts:
As suggested by the various riddles around, there are set of artifacts that will be required to remove the Sword from the stone at the Camp of Kings on Mount Illapse, and unseal the Right Wing Dungeon. There have been hints that something is imprisoned within that dungeon, though what it may be and what its intentions are likely to be, remain strongly in question. The individual known as M. Valencia (McGee Valencia according to Eldryck Venym, who reports M. Valencia as a meddler from another city, trying to gain access to ours) has also been linked to the Dopplegangers as noted in the above article. Suspicion about this individuals intentions have led to questions about whether the Right Wing dungeon should be unsealed or not. Where do you stand on this? Is the potential risk worth the potential pay off of stabilizing the heart of the city, or is this all just a smoke screen for something else?

Distress Call, The Art:
Arnaya has finally started full out work on a long proposed new art, with the working name of "Distress Call". The intention of this art is to allow the Evoker to send a distress call to either everyone sharing the same house crest, or to a single other individual named at the time of evoke. The art is meant to consume a single charge of either a Power Token or Elemental Mass, and allow those receiving the call to translocate to the evokers near proximity for a short time afterwards.

Arnaya and House Calenture have asked that everyone lend a with this. You can become involved by simply doing a small rite at odd times when you are about... either on your own on in small groups. Use a Power Token or Elemental Mass to amplify a call to either your house mates, or another dreamer. Make the rite as quick as you can, as this art has to be a fast evoke for it to be of any effective use. Do you have what it takes to rise to the call and bring a new art for all, into the city?

Chimeric Meetings:
The last two Chimeric Meetings have been sparcly attended, with the main topics of discussion being the articles above. No real agreements have been reached on any of the points, though all ruling members present at them, share the concerns about M. Valencia, the Heart of the City, and the Mares.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Arnaya
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Arnaya's Newsfeed: Oct.27/2018

Post by Arnaya »

Bosley Steps In:
Last night (Oct.27/2018, at after midnight), Members of House Calenture responded to the sounds of a disruption. When they entered, they found Caretaker Bosley doing something with the Orb of Calenture. Aileron wisked the Orb away to safety, while Arnaya interviewed Bosley. He was somewhat jumbled in his presentation and manner, saying that Arnaya had done what follows, despite her lack of knowledge about what he was doing... though Bosley did allow that it may have been Future Arnaya who had been guarding a pile of rubble and rocks, and repeatedly tried to stab Bosley (which, after spending 45 minutes talking to him and trying to get some information from him, Arnaya had to admit was a tempting notion).
What Bosley revealed (this is summarized, not a verbatum recounting. This writer values what remains of her readers sanity too much to subject them to the full recounting) is that, with the Heart of the City being weakened as badly as it is, he severed the houses energy connections to the rest of the city and fixed it so that the Houses would instead resume draining from the House Primes. The following are the key points:
  • House Prime's Consumption Information:
[*]There is a specific amount of energy that will be drained every cycle.
[*]The amount of energy to be drained will be reduced by a certain amount for each crested member.
[*]The Amount of energy to be reduced with each crest, will vary depending on the type of crest each member has (IE: Ruler crests will reduce the energy drain by a different amount than an Initiate crest would)
[*]Dual Crested members do NOT contribute to the reduction of the base cost. They functionally do not count as members of any houses that they bear a crest to, in regards to reducing the amount of drain on the primes.
[*] It is uncertain at this point how often the draining will occur.
[*]The Amount of energy to be drained as a base amount is unknown.
[*]Essence Manipulation type of the prime, or even if it is aligned at all, will most likely have no affect on the amount of energy drained.
[*]The Drain will be starting sometime within the next week, so before the 2nd of this coming month.
[*]Any Prime that is drained to zero strength by this, will collapse. Demoting all members and closing the stronghold.

At this point, it is strongly suggested by Arnaya, that All crested members of all of the houses, ensure to gather at least 100 strength a week for their respective strongholds... at least until the houses can determine roughly the level of drain that will occur.

With this going on, which houses will survive? Do you have what it takes to change your houses fate? Will you be the hero that steps in to save it?

Bosley's Bubble People:
Bosley also revealed that there is a "Bubble" of people trapped within a cave within the city. Bosley could see and interact with these individuals. Apparently, M. Valencia was supposed to ensure the protection of something, and release these individuals... but something has apparently happened to M. Valencia and the trapped individuals have not heard from him in some time.

Bosley has strongly suggested that these individuals be freed, and informed us that the trapped people believe that we (the dreamers of Underlight) are responsible for their being trapped. A note from M. Valencia, as reported previously, also links the trapping effect to the drain on the Heart of the city. A vision in the courtyard of Awakening has also revealed one of the trapped individuals, who asks all that enter the city through the courtyard... Why we have imprisoned them.

Are these people truly innocents who were caught in some sort of energy or trap laid by outsiders? Or are they in fact hostile invaders trying to gain entrance to our city? Who has the pieces of the artifacts required to even give us the choice... or has Anyone found them yet?

Alliances New old Ruler?
This last Friday, a childs giggling and galloping hooves were heard at various places around the city. Several dreamers were also pelted with hard candies of... unusual..effect. One was a scary hard taffy, another a blinding candy heart of true love. Later on that evening, a commotion was heard coming from the Alliance stronghold. Several dreamers responded (Najerv Torek of the Bastion, Arnaya of House Calenture, Hael Frost, and Liolira, both Free Spirits) and found the Darkmare Annibuul (now a horron) chewing on something and ripping it apart between the mares two heads. The Buul head started to choke on a piece of what was being chewed on, and spat out a glass dolls eye into Arnaya's hand. Liolira fired on the mare, who retaliated. This led to a full out fight between the three dreamers and the mare, and resulted Annibuul being collapsed. At that point, a dolls arm was recovered from the mares remains as well. Annibuul was less than impressed by this sequence of events, and woke with a drawn out curse of "Pojo".

A time later, a girls crying was heard, coming from the Alliance stronghold. Most of the dreaming dreamers, responded and found the former Alliance Ruler, Zsa Zsa, had returned to the city. As this writer was informed, Zsa Zsa told those assembled that she had been torn from her home by the mare, and now walked once more among the dreamers ranks. She has apparently requested a "tea party" with all current house rulers, though day and time of this meeting has not yet been relayed.

Will this past ruler's return be enough to save the Alliance in light of Bosley's efforts to prolong the time the city has left? Or is this a doppleganger trick as some have suggested?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Arnaya's Newsfeed: Nov.03/2018

Post by Arnaya »

It's been a fairly eventful few evenings since the last update, so I'll try to cover it all here... though there's a few things that I know are missing. If you see something that I missed, please send me a pigeon or catch me up in the city. Thank you.

Chimeric Meeting: Oct.30/2018:
This meeting was more confrontational than the last couple have been, with representatives of the Monastery of the Shadow (Ruler Fangx); The Order of the Sable Moon (Ruler: LadySilver); The Bastion of the Covenant (Rulers: Jade, Purple Lace & Nathan. Guardian Frey); and House Calenture (Rulers Uthanatos and Arnaya) being present. With Eldryck Venym's note to M. Valencia (Index Reference can be found Here.

Despite the confrontational beginning of the meeting, Uthanatos organized and led an attempt to contact those imprisoned upon Mount Illapse within the bubble (as hinted at with the trapped woman's vision in the Courtyard). The following is what was observed during this effort:

The image of a cave flickered, showing brief flashes of three figures huddled inside a circle of essences shrouded with an energy field. Their faces were indistinct to our vision as they turned to face the assembled dreamers. The Chimeric Council attempted to strengthen the viewing, and the three figures became more distinct, but were unrecognizable. As the group watched, another figure, smaller than the rest, took form outside of the image of the small dungeon. The figure's small arms forming an evocation cone (At that point, the assembled Chimeric group began to suffer some drain from maintaining the image. Their avatars starting to break down from the strain, though they persevered). A second ghostly figure appeared outside of the dungeon, rapidly approaching the other lone figure, who was swiftly Expelled... screaming. The now lone figure raised a blade to the heavens, carried with a metal glove, then he plunged the sword into the ground. Immediately, A bubble of energy encapsulated the other three figures as the movement of energy around them froze.

After that, the image faded... though a manifestation of 5 stones, and a gauntlet with five spaces on its knuckles... about the same size as the stones... began drifting around the table, seemingly showing the assembly of the Gauntlet. Fangx confirmed that the Monastery held the Gauntlet and 4 of the stones, while Purple Lace held the 5th stone. More debate ensued, but it was decided in the end to release those imprisoned within the bubble, both for moral reasons... and for Bosley's statement that the bubble was causing the Heart of the City to be rapidly drained. To avoid conflicts between the assembled houses, a Neutral and trusted "3rd party" was nominated to wield the gauntlet. This was agreed to by all of the assembled, with all parties agreeing to provide the pieces they held to this individual.

As a safeguard against treachery or if the imprisoned beings proved hostile, Jade agreed to try make get the Palisades ready to imprison them and Nathan will be trying to complete the Solarsong Blade so we have a weapon available if needed. Purple Lace will be making efforts to contact M. Valencia directly to collect further information. Meanwhile, Eldryck Venym has been implicated as the Possible imprisoner of these individuals... but no confirmation of that has been garnered.

Is this the wisest course of action available to us? Will the houses even uphold their promises and be able to hold off from further hostilities in the face of events around the city? What are the three trapped dreamers ultimate agenda's, and who exactly was it that trapped them? Finally... who was the lone individual that was struck down and expelled, and what role did he/she have to play in all of this?

More Dances with Picco:
Perhaps to the surprise of none, Picco again wanted to dance within Caudal Rift. Her partners this time around? Dina, Em'et, and Arnaya. Despite having generally good relations with Picco, when Em'et and Arnaya arrived... Picco was engaged in attacking Dina. The two new arrivals swiftly joined the fight, and were able to collapse Picco without issue. A brief respite was granted, and Picco calmed down towards Dina... hugging her.. before running to engage Em'et and Arnaya again. They subsequently collapsed her five or six times (with Dina getting one of the floats by accident, when she suffered a chakram mis-fire). Picco seemed extremely agitated by this, and apparently refused Dina's apology.

Will Dina be able to repair her relationship with the Mother of Mares, Picco? Or... will Picco dine well on Dina's essences for a time to come? Perhaps more importantly, will Picco's children follow their mothers lead in regards to this guardian of the Bastion?

Passing Spirit of the Dead demands Tribute in Thresh:
On the evening of Oct.31/2018, a group of dreamers (Wishbringer, Cyborg512, Nathan, Uthanatos, Hael Frost, Dimitri Raith, Magnum-425, and Arnaya) were assembled in Threshold, just talking and teaching (Wishbringer revealing that the dreaded Shaymare of lore, was in fact real right at the Great Loss in the lyran times, but later Became known as.... Shamblix)... when they heard...

A hollow sounding laugher echoing dully off the walls of Threshold, but the sound did not originate from within the City, but rather from outside its walls as something drew near. Several minutes later.... the sound of hooves began to accompany the laughter, the sound still hollow but ringing in the groups ears as a sense of impending dread descended on Threshold.

After a couple more minutes, a new dreamer by the name of Sauin.. who appeared as: A strange looking man, his head is not attached to his neck... rather it is held at his side. The eye sockets empty, except for a green fire burning within... entered the room from the courtyard. From what he said, he had been coming from a festival where people know how to give appropriate tribute in order for everyone to go on living. The then proceeded to demand tribute from the assembled dreamers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the group didn't take this with perhaps the seriousness that it demonstrably warranted. Sauin decided that the offerings proposed (Uthanatos had jokingly offered Wishbringer, which was ironically the only offering that was actually taken seriously) and stripped the avatars from everyone present (excepting Uthanatos, who had gone to House Calenture to try and use the Orb to banish Sauin, and Magnum-425 who had been protected by Soul Shield) before departing the city and resuming his journey. Magnum, Uthanatos, Stormy Edwards, and a couple of other dreamers, conducted a couple of attempts to restore the Avatars of those afflicted. Eventually, the group was successful in restoring those who had lost their avatars. This was thanks to Stormy Edwards, who offered her own essences in an Avatar for an Avatar type of ritual.

Will Sauin ever show up again, or was this a one time visit? What sort of tribute would you have offered? Where Does Wishbringer hide his sack of wishes?

Dopplegangers Gain Strength:
On Wednesday evening (Oct.31/2018), after the above incident, a Doppleganger of Starling... Guardian of the Order of the Sable Moon.. showed up in the citadel while the Real Starling was speaking with the assembled dreamers. Uthanatos (Shield Ruler of House Calenture) immediately advised Nathan (Pheonix Ruler of the Bastion) to get Antidote ready... and then dropped a Poison Cloud. Unlike in the past... the Doppleganger remained standing. This doppleganger however, like many others, expressed interest in the Heart of the City... and tried to find out if it had been found. Arnaya (Lance Ruler of House Calenture) tried to trick some information out of the Doppleganger by telling it that, Yes. The Heart of the City had been found, and that "Starling" had been present for it. The Doppleganger replied that it didn't remember. The last it knew, was that "We" had found a way in... and it asked if any further progress had been made.

LadySilver at that point, instructed the real Starling to shoot Dopple-Starling until it stopped acting like Starling. Which Starling proceeded to do very efficiently. It did however take several hits from the real Starling to drop Dopple-Starling. At that point, Arnaya attempted to use the Dopple's SoulSphere (which remained, another new development for Dopplegangers) to delve into the Dopple-ganger's mind. This attempt was unsuccessful, though the Doppleganger did say: "I was sure this was the right place... boy will they be mad I wasted the energy to interact more... wholly with this place... I will need to go check those notes I found!" before floating away and drifting out of phase with city.

During the conversation, Dina revealed that she too had a doppleganger that had revealed itself to her in Gloom Peaks a few nights previously. This effectively counters an idea that had been proposed during on the Chimeric meetings, that only Lyran and Koian dreamers had dopplegangers (Dina herself is Idoaclesian by origin).

Are the Dopplegangers gaining strength as the Heart of the City weakens, or is something else happening to let them become stronger? What Notes was the Doppleganger referencing? And who is this "They" that the Doppleganger spoke of?

Zzifd Speaks:
On Thursday evening (Nov.01/2018), the Darkmare Zzifd of the Hota clan, attended the Illapse Stronghold (Formerly Order of the Light) and spoke with LadySilver, Ruler of the Order of the Sable Moon, and Cyborg512 (Free Spirit). LadySilver reported the event to an assemblage of dreamers in Chasm of Souls later that evening, and advised them that Zzifd had asked her to try and track down the Yazashin (A group of Sirens that used to command the Hota Clan. Yazashinari, Yazashinare, and Yazashinara are the known Sirens). When the Sirens had been located, LadySilver was to break a fragile appearing rock in order to summon Zzifd so that he could destroy the sirens (Zzifd's description), who he called Slavers. Of Note, LadySilver reported that Zzifd has badly damaged ears and communicates much better when he is written to rather than being spoken to. In the past, the Yaza's controlled the Hota by means of a mystical song.

After LadySilver had appraised the group of this event, she turned the stone meant to summon Zzifd, over to Arnaya of House Calenture. The stone itself was extremely fragile in appearance, and was not primed. Arnaya ensured that the stone was protected from accidental breakage, before stowing it.

Some backstory on this, as it has been some months since anyone has really heard anything from the Hota. The Hota Clan were the Darkmaren group that plagued the city of Idoaclesia, and were reportedly at least part of the reason for its destruction. Originally, the Hota Clan were led by the Yaza Sirens... but at the same time, kept the Yaza Sirens in chains and bondage as well. Sort of a two way servitude from what this writer has been told and seen of Idoaclesian lore. Several months ago, the dreamers of this city were informed that the Yaza Siren's had lost control of the Hota mares.. and the Hota were now under the command of an unknown "Boss". This also led to the full out conflict between the Hota Clan Darkmares, and the Kotoken Royal Darkmares that the Lyran city Dreamers knew so well... a war in which the Kotoke are allegedly faring poorly in.

Of further note, this writer was recently informed that Eldryck Venym. Self-proclaimed Ruler of the City. Has apparently been in the process of trying to tame a group of mares. Given his power, stealth, and command of Illusions, it has been suggested that perhaps Eldryck Venym is the hidden "Boss" of the Hota Clan. The truth of this matter is unknown at this time.

Will someone take up Zzifd's charge to get involved in what amounts to a civil war, and rid the dream of the Sirens? Or will someone grant the Siren's sanctuary to maintain a status quo and perhaps save the Kotoken Darkmares? Is Eldryck Venym.. the Self-appointed Ruler of the City... also secretly the Master of a Clan of Darkmares?

House Projects:
Several of the houses seem to be active with different projects lately. From the "Path of Legacy" being created by House Calenture, to efforts within the Palisades by the Bastion of the Covenant, and a revival of the Arts Clinic and various classes by the Order of the Sable Moon. Even some discussion/debate sessions being planned by Purple Lace of the Bastion, and an attempt to modify the art of "Know" as well as Imbue aura's into several rooms of Caudal Rift, by Arlyana Jax of House Calenture. Is your house doing something that I havn't referenced here? Let me know or put up your own article about your efforts.

Just what will the houses do next? And will they be able to maintain the peace in the face of the different threats that the city faces? Only time will tell....

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed Update: Nov.03/2018 - Addendum

Post by Arnaya »

My apologies, I nearly missed this piece.

Houses Draining Begun:
A couple of days ago, the houses suffered their first Prime drain due to Bosley's severing of the house planes from the rest of the cities energy flow. Though I won't reveal the numbers that the houses gave me in regards to how much each lost (I don't have permission from the houses to publish the information, and it is regarded as "Sensitive" to a couple of the houses), the initial reports seem to indicate that the base drain rate for the houses is 50'000... yes, Fifty-Thousand strength per drain cycle.

This is modified DOWN by, as best can be figured at this point:
- 1000 Strength for each Initiate.
- 2000 Strength for each Guardian.
- 3000 Strength for each Ruler.

At this point, no other factors seem to be in play, though further information will be published as it becomes available. Advisors seem to count as their base crest rank would indicate (so, a guardian advisor would reduce the drain by 2000 strength, while a ruler advisor would reduce the drain by 3000 strength for example). My thanks to Uthanatos (Shield Ruler of House Calenture) for the calculations and maths required to work these numbers out.

It is unknown just how long this Drain Cycle will be, but every two weeks to once a month is current projection.

Can the houses survive this sharp impact to their strength? Especially given that Bosley has advised us that any house who's prime is drained completely... will basically close as their prime Implodes. What lies in store for the future of the houses of underlight?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Nov.15/2018 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

Sorry this update took so long to get out. I'm still doing these solo, and it takes a while to get everything written and information gathered and all that. So, I am seeking others to write articles for this feed. With the muses withdrawing from city doings again, this is once again the only central source of news for city events. If your interested in being a part of this, even with only the occasional article, please speak to me in the city. Full credit for all articles will be given to the authors.

Maren Rampage:
Last Saturday (Nov.10/2018) started off with a bang when a group of mares entered the Alliance of the Eclipse through a previously unknown Chaos Portal. This group was hostile, and according to reports from initial responders, on quite a streak. Magnum-425 of House Calenture, and Nathan of the Bastion of the Covenant were the main combatants against the mares, with Blana of the Alliance lending some aid without fighting as the Alliance's Pacifistic beliefs allowed. From there, the mares drove one of Eldryck Venym's essences into the floor with a metal spike, and left through the Chaos Portal again.

Others began to arrive, and with the addition of more fighters, pursued the mares up to Caudal Rift where they found another... larger... Chaos Portal in the center of a large maren ritual circle of dreamer heads. Three of the mares (Picco, Azulayf, and Rut'roh) were present and seemed to be conducting a ritual. The assembled dreamer force (Magnum-425, Nathan, and Arnaya) launched their counter attack, and were able to swiftly... and repeatedly... collapse all three mares. Azulayf leaving the fray and retreating in short order, and Picco eventually. Rut'roh remained till the last. During the battle, Rut'roh displayed the ability to call on the Chaos Portal to release powerful waves of energy that literally tore apart the avatar's of everyone present, mare and dreamer alike. On top of the Razorwind blade mine fields that Rut'roh kept leaving, this resulted in heavy losses for all of the dreamers before the mares finally retreated.

After the maren retreat, Arnaya attempted to draw on the power of House Calenture to reinforce her own strength and banish the Chaos Portal in the Upper Labyrinth of Caudal Rift, but was forced to stop when a loud tearing sound echoed through the city and the quakes her felt roiling through the rift. She concluded that the mares had tied the Chaos Portal into the fabric of the rift itself as a power source. Rut'roh then returned, and another small bout of fighting erupted. Hael Frost, Dimitri Raith, Brother Timothy, Starling, and RavenXR joined the group, while Nathan had to wake. Magnum-425 also returned.

During a pause in the fighting, Arnaya pestered Rut'roh with some questions, which he gladly answered. Arnaya was attempting to persuade the mares about the dangers of moving into the rifts, and asked Rut'roh if they were Trying to destroy the city. To which, Rut'roh quite proudly answered... "Besa" (yes, in maren). When asked why, Rut'roh had a very simple answer: "Chao! Isis Hhref!" ("Chaos! Is Ruler!", direct translation). And more fighting ended up ensuing. With Rut'roh again being collapsed and again having his Soul Essence flare with those nearly insta-collapsing waves of energy (all 3 of the fighters were drawing heavily on flat 35 dreamsoul elems, and still collapsed within seconds, unable to even get clear of the room). When Rut'roh retreated to Caudal Rift, Eldryck Venym was sensed as well... and within moments, a fierce roar that faded to a whimper was heard. When Eldryck came down and was asked if he got the mare, he only replied: "What do you think?".

What does this portend for the city? Is the weakening of the cities heart, allowing the mares this opportunity? How will the dreamers of the city respond to this incursion and new attempt by the dreamers old nemesis to destroy the City of Dreams?

Heart of the City:
In the news about the Heart of the City weakening, this week, things have reached a critical level. With portals across the city shutting down as power is lost, and shudders/quaking sweeping across planes. Many dreamers have also reported the distant sound of a beating heart, often weak and fluttery. Eldryck Venym has often been located in a place called "The Center".. which he's termed as "The center of everything" due to many dreamers perspective as the city being the center of existence. He has revealed that the Center is where the "Physical" heart of the city rests, but will not reveal where it is. Insisting that he is working on it on his own.

Thursday evening, the city began quaking and the sound of the heart beating became weak. Flames erupting from various places around the city as parts of it began to break down and portal ground to a stop. Najerv Torek sacrificed some of his own soul essence and "Aura" as he termed it, due to a previous connection with the Idoaclesian Heart... sacrificing that fragment to strengthen This cities heart. This effort weakened Najerv noticeably, but the sound of two hearts beating was heard echoing over the city and most of the fires died off. The portals stopped shutting down, though ones already shut down didn't restart.

Cyborg512, Uthanatos, and Arnaya, collected several thousand strength worth of power tokens from the Orb of Calenture and took them down to the primary generator beneath the Library of Souls, channeling their power directly into the generator to provide at least a temporary boost of power.

Steps from here are varied and under investigation by many in the city, though several are focused on locating "The Center". Of note, Eldryck Venym has stated that the heart "Isn't For everyone", while Silk Nuvas has reportedly implied that Eldryck Venym is the one responsible for moving the Heart to its location within "The Center". For more information on the "Bubble People" trapped in the small dungeon of Mount Illapse, please see the next article.

Is Eldryck truly working on repairing the heart, or is this another move in his game to take rulership of the city? Is the Heart even truly weakening, or is someone deliberately draining it? What will it take to repair the heart, or stop its being drained? And perhaps just as importantly... where does it truly lie?

Ladies of the Bubble:
Related to the previous article, in that (according to reports from Bosley and a note from M. Valencia) the imprisoning bubble on Mount Illapse is drawing substantial amounts of energy away from the Heart of the City... weakening it rapidly.

To summarize what has happened with this: A group of beings (their nature is currently unknown) were traveling via a bubble like construct similar to what Bladeslayer created with the staff of Dynroth to transport a strike group from our city, to another city in order to provide relief for a siege. A dreamer here, was in the process of guiding them back into phase with the city and got ambushed by Eldryck Venym. Eldryck then embedded a blade into the rock at "Camp of Kings" on Mount Illapse, which solidified the travelers bubble, locking them in place and half out of phase with the city. This has prevented the travelers from moving into or out of the city, and seemly created a sort of "Phase Distortion" that's causing energy to bleed rapidly from it. Perhaps even going to maintain the imprisoning bubble, according to some theories this writer has been told. The means to remove the sword, are via a Gauntlet and five Elemental gems that Eldryck Venym separated, scattering them around the city. Eldryck has maintained that he locked the travelers bubble in order to protect the city, though has refused to elaborate on the travelers nature or why he believes them to be a threat that required unilateral action of this nature.

M. Valencia (this individual is still an unknown), apparently located and left clues with each of the gauntlet components. The gauntlet itself and four of the elemental gems (along with their clues) were apparently located by Fangx, Ruler of the Monastery of the Shadow. While the fifth Gem was located by Purple Lace of the Kabal division of the Bastion of the Covenant. Due to longstanding issues between the holders of the components, it was decided during a previously reported Chimeric meeting, that that the components would be provided to a neutral 3rd party... the Free Spirit, Cyborg512.

In response to the various questions and uncertainty about the nature of the imprisoned Travelers, several efforts have been made to ascertain their nature and what exactly happened. Those efforts have been previously reported in other articles. Most recently, to try and find some answers about the questions and to determine if freeing the travelers is the appropriate course of action, Arnaya and Cyborg called an urgent gathering of dreamers to go directly to the source. Trying to speak directly to the imprisoned travelers from the Small Dungeon, Left Wing.

Last evening, Friday... Nov.16/2018, LadySilver (OoSM), Blana (AoE), Brother Timothy (FrS), Hael Frost (FrS), Arlyana Jax (HC), Purple Lace (BoC), Cyborg512 (FrS), & Arnaya (HC) gathered in the small dungeon. A basic briefing on the overall events to date was provided, and the group moved into the Left Wing of the dungeon. Arnaya provided a raw Harmonics shell that Purple Lace and LadySilver tuned in order to bring the group into at least a complimentary phase with the imprisoned travelers. Hael Frost used a newly discovered insight technique, similar to a "Third Eye", to create an insight bridge order link the Harmonic Field, and the Traveller's bubble. Blana provided an anchor to prevent the Harmonic field from bleeding through or dislodging the group from the city, and Arlyana Jax and Brother Timothy worked to clear the communication (Incoming and outgoing communications, respectively) of any disruptions.

Once the field was established, the group heard a soft and low, but sporadic and distinct sound of thumping coming from nearby. After further adjustments, the thumping seemed to get louder as it began to turn into rapid clanking. Faint, subdued murmuring was barely audible through between the banging. The group made some further adjustments and finally heard several female voices begin chattering louder. The words: "please..... us...." could be heard. Cyborg made several attempts to ask questions of the voices, but was unable to get any coherent reply until Hael Frost forced more into the bridging channel. At that point, a glimpse of light sparked in and out from beneath the portal as the pounding became louder and more distinct. The voices calling: "help.....in... here. please..........help.....pieces". The voices went in and out, words somewhat sporadically making their way through the portal: "get ....here........find...clues".

In an attempt to clear the connection further, Hael Frost stepped forward and slammed a large hammer shaped Dreamblade against the portal as hard as she could. The light from under the portal flickered in and out from the thumping of the portal, and the walls in the dungeon began to weaken. Rumbling and shaking swept the room, knocking the assembled group and stumbling them around the room, even through the stability of their Free Actions. As soon as people could regain their footing, Hael Frost reinforced the bridging while Blana intensified her anchoring. Arnaya drew additional power into the field to strengthen it from a set of Power Tokens, while Purple Lace and LadySilver further tuned the field. A glimpse of face peeked through a small crack in the portal formed from Hael's hammer blow, and looked briefly at Arlyana Jax, saying: "gather the clues, dreamers have them, please help us!"

The crack closed abruptly and the voices grew faint, though the light continued to glow from under the portal. Afterwards, the Darkmare Picco arrived and ended up forcing her way into the room and bubble as the Harmonics field was being collapsed, and exited some minutes later before placing four dreamer essences on the ground at the foot of the portal. Despite Picco's inability to effectively communicate at this point, it was theorized by several present that Picco was attempting to assist the imprisoned Travelers out of the bubble by using the essences to provide them with a grounding on the City side of the bubble.

Picco then left the dungeon, followed by most of the group, and became extremely insistent about the blade that maintains the prison. Repeatedly shooting it and pointing it out to the assembled dreamers, before retreating to Caudal Rift. Arlyana Jax, Nathan, Magnum-425, Arnaya, and Cyborg followed. A fight breaking out in the Upper Labyrinth area of that plane, where the Chaos Portal and large Maren Circle was previously erected. Picco put up a good fight, but was swiftly overcome by assembled group and retreated to the Dark Awakening before waking from the city.

The assembled group of dreamers declared jointly their intention of freeing the imprisoned travelers.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed: Dec.05/18 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

News Feed for Dec.05/2018
Sorry for the delay in getting this edition out. I was hoping to get a bit more information on some of this before I released anything, but it's already been a while. So here's what I know.

Alliance in Flames:
During a recent attempt to repair the Generator at the Alliance of the Eclipse, a malfunction occured, causing flames to erupt. Erasmus, Blana, Nathan, Mzchievs, and others were able to get a handle on the flames initially, and eventually push the flames back and extinguish them. Unfortunately, the efforts left a substantial haze of smoke covering most of Lambent Flats for several days.

The Gauntlet, The Bubble, and The Clubber: ~ Special Thanks to Cyborg512 for the notes on this
On Saturday, Dec.01/2018, Fangx (Ruler of the Monastery), and Purple Lace (Kabal Ruler of the Bastion) came together on Mount Illapse to entrust the care and duty of gauntlet.. along with its component gems..to Cyborg512. A number of other dreamers were present and aiding the effort with elemental energies to assist with re-bonding the stones to the Gauntlet. Snow Angel x (MoS); Blana (AoE); Nathan (BoC); Purple Lace (BoC); Nmoto (FrS); Dakkoth (FrS); Kailee (FrS); Kelos (HC); MzChievs (AoE); Erasmus (AoE); Oracle of Asmyr (FrS); and Brother Timothy (FrS). A couple of weeks ago, Cyborg agreed to act as the cities champion and wield the gauntlet to remove the sword in the stone at the Camp of Kings on Mount Illapse.

As previously reported, the sword was planted in the stone by Eldryck Venym to entrap a small group that was traveling to the city. Eldryck Venym has maintained that the travelers were a threat to the city, but has steadfastly refused to provide any further information on their nature or identities, and popular rumor has it that Eldryck himself did not actually know who he had trapped and was acting on an instinct or for another agenda. Once he had used the Gauntlet and blade to imprison the "Bubble People", he had broken the gauntlet apart and scattered its fragments around. The Unknown dreamer, M. Valencia apparently placed clues with each of the pieces that would lead to each of the other pieces.

The Saturday removal of the blade started off with Cyborg receiving the set of artifacts from Fang X (who had held the main piece of the gauntlet, and four of the five gems) and Purple Lace (who had held the Insight Gem), then seating each of the gems in turn into the gauntlet. Once all of the gems were seated, a beam of white light erupted from the palm of the gauntlet with a boom!

The gauntlet then fully transformed into the "Divine Embrace". An amulet shaped device that appeared as follows when examined: "This variety of glove has been constructed of hardened leather in the interior. Shining metal plates offer layers of protection on the exterior. Thin links of chainmail cross over the knuckles, allowing dexterity. The wide extended cuff is long enough to shield a forearm. Below each finger, five settings cradle oval gemstones that radiate the brilliance of the five elements."

Once the Gauntlet was re-assembled, Fangx reminded the group of a riddle that he had been passed along with one of the pieces: "Now you've found the final piece, know not this is the full story. Return me to my former glory. To unlock the zone, a word must be set in stone, open the gates, your journey awaits.". The group went to the Camp of Kings, where they noted that the vines that had grown around the blade had vanished. Cyborg removed the embedded sword with a flourish, and a beam of light shot from the Small Dungeon towards the stone.

The blade itself appeared as: This unique masterpiece so delicately carved, wtih stones piercing in all directions. The blade is sharp, and rigged. The marker of it is unknown, but you can see a small etching near the tip that has a small letter inscribed. This blade holds certain powers not yet known. and was without standard function... so its powers are presumed to be something other than as a traditional weapon.

In keeping with the Riddle, Fangx provided the word made up of the letters from each of the clues... "ENTROPY". While Cyborg painstaking carved the letters to the word into the stone, some noted that Eldryck Venym had begun dreaming... though was not present at that location.

A slow built up below the groups feet as the carved word flashed brilliantly. After only a brief period of build up, the rumble shook the room hard enough to stagger the assembled group around the room. Once it had subsided and everyone regained their footing, the group went into the small Dungeon and found the portal to the Right Wing had been opened. Upon entry, the group found three individuals.. who's names and appearances are recorded below:

Jinky Weebles:
She wears a dark green overall jump suite, the pants drag the floor with the hem coming loose. Her navy blue hair sits ontop of her head in a messy bun. She has a golden pin stuck to one strap that reads "EC"

Gertrude:
A small woman with her gray hair pulled back into a messy bun that sits atop her head. Her wrinkled face always has a layer of dust on it. She is dressed in a plain collared shirt, khaki colored pants, and some hiking boots. She carries with her a small leather bag filled with varying instruments used for delicately prodding at her worksites such as picks, brushes, and gloves.

Kaleido:
A head full of colorful dreadlocks are pulled up into two massive pigtails. Machinist goggles with prism lenses rest on top of her head. She wears a short overall romper, buttoned down with gears and a patterned ascot tied around her neck. Elbow length gloves match her tall stockings, topped with knee-high boots. A utility belt is strapped around her waist, with various gadgets and tools poking out. She's covered in soot and dust from head to toe.

It was also noted that though there were three women present, during a previous evening.. Picco had entered their bubble and, upon exiting, dropped 3 female and 1 male dreamer essences outside of the portal where they still remain at the time of this writing.

The three individuals expressed their gratitude to the dreamers for being rescued, and were hastily moved to the nearby Mount Illapse Sanctuary in the Keep, being blinded en-mass by an unknown force, and losing Gertrude somewhere in the transition...before having to run past Eldryck Venym to get to the sanctuary.

Once in the sanctuary, the remaining two rescuee's (Jinky and Kaleido) answered some of the questions posed to them. This included their names, and their membership in a group known as the Entropy Coalition (a very early group from the Lyran city that was recorded as being responsible for weakening the walls and allowing the Nightmares to enter the city, thus sparking what is known as the Nightmare Wars. I will try to put together, or commission, a full review and write up on the Entropy Coalition for a future article). They claimed that after accidentally causing the damage to the walls, this group had set out to seek answers from other cities in an attempt to undo the damage they had done. After some time of wandering, they claim to have found an ancient city of Dream Collectors (Historians that documented and recorded events from as many cities as possible) that had documents containing the answers they had sought... and they had returned to help because they sensed that the city was failing due to the Heart of the City being broken. Kaleido claimed that they had discovered locations that would lead the dreamers of this city to the heart in order to repair it. They also claimed that Eldryck had imprisoned them, to try and prevent the Heart from being repaired. It should be noted, that Eldryck has insisted he acted to protect the city FROM the Entropy Coalition dreamers. At this point, neither side has presented verifiable evidence of their claims.

While this was going on, Stalros (FrS.. affiliated with AoE) entered and let the group know that Eldryck Venym was waiting just outside of the sanctuary... and several expressed concern that he had gotten ahold of Gertrude, since had vanished from the city and was not locatable as dreaming. Jinky's expressed fear that Eldryck had done something with Gertrude, and felt that Eldryck would listen to her "this time". Kaleido and several other dreamers tried convincing Jinky's not to go, but Jinky's mind was set on trying to save Gertrude.. or discover her fate at least.

After a brief exchange, where Jinky's confronted Eldryck about doing something to Gertrude.. and Eldryck replying that he would now do something with her.. Eldryck stomped his foot firmly on the ground, causing a wave of paralyzing energy to erupt outwards... completely bypassing the groups Free Actions, and affecting even those still within the Sanctuary. He then proceeded to collapse Jinky's a couple of times, with dreamers rapidly restoring her after each collapse, before finally landing a Dreamstrike on Jinky's before she could restore again (reliable accounts give the time between collapse and dreamstriking as less than 15 seconds). After which, Eldryck's only words were: "One down".. and then he left the area, teleporting to Cenotaph of Dread.

In the ensuing conversation back inside the Sanctuary, several dreamers attempted to comfort Kaleido... with Brother Timothy and Fangx in specific offering aid to restore Jinky's.. while others were less sympathetic, citing Jinky's lack of quick movement back into the available, unwarded, sanctuary... and lack of forethought in applying arts such as recall, as the cause of her striking.

Kaleido quickly became despondent, though put a brave face on things, and left to grieve for her friend in private, though left the group with the following: "It must be found. It is in pieces...it needs to be put back together. Dreamers, we left in search of answers to correct our mistakes...What we found could save you all from destruction, from the end. We came here to help you all find the Heart's pieces. It must be reassembled and returned to whence it came. I am too weary to go into full detail. I just lost a friend tonight. I assure you all I will return to show you the way. I must go now, I need to find Gertrude. But to start with, you must begin in Gloom Peaks. That is the beginning.".

A group left to search Gloom Peaks shortly afterwards, and ran into a set of wards placed by Eldryck Venym. Cyborg512 shattered the wards so the group could proceed, searching the rooms as they went, until Kailee found Eldryck Venym at the Ruby Cliffs. According to reports, there had been an energy field present there, that Eldryck destroyed in front of the group. One witness (Uthanatos, House Calenture ruler), noted that he believed the field indicated that the heart fragment lay up beyond gloom, within the Ruined Realm.

Are these Entropy Coalition dreamers truly who they claim to be? Is Eldryck Venym truly a hero trying to protect the city, or a villain out to use its vulnerability for his own bid for power? Is Gloom Peaks truly the first step in the path, or does that step lie beyond the peaks? When will some real answers and evidence come forth, and who will discover them?

Butterfly's Flight Through the Rift:
This last week, Arlyana Jax (Butterfly as she is known to some), continued her work on altering the art of Know... and imbueing some of the rooms in Caudal Rift with aura's detectable by that art. Last week's work was in "The Black ID".... next to come, the "Horron's Lair"!
What changes will this long time Calenturian's efforts bring to the city? and will the efforts of the Kotoken Darkmares warp what she hopes to achieve... or will those same efforts fall apart beneath her drive?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

PS: I am always on the look out for people to write up articles about various events happening around the city for Inclusion in this Newsfeed. If your witness to an event, please seek me out or send me a pigeon
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed: Dec.09/18 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

It's been an eventful week since the last update, so here's what happened:

The Gaunlet, the Stone and the Sword: - Welcome to Nathan, and please join me in thanking him for his first article in the newsfeed with an another perspective and view point of the Entropy Coalitions return.


On Saturday, the 1st, the proxy for the focal Gauntlet lead members of Alliance, Bastion and the Shadow and an assembly of free spirits in an effort to bring together the five focal Gems. Each gem had been placed into the gauntlet and reinforced with the respective elemental energy (DreamSoul, Resilience, Willpower, Lucidity and Insight). Following the assembly, the dreamers journeyed towards the Camp of Kings to address the “Sword Situation”. After assuming the gauntlet, he deftly pulled the blade from the stone. The area trembled violently and a radiant light set forth undoing the imprisonment by Eldryck’s hand. The assembled dreamers then moved to see what laid inside. Three women claiming to be from the Entropy Coalition: Jinky Weebles, Gertude, and Kalideo. They introduced themselves and told those present of their intentions, they sought to aid in recovery of the heart. Following this turn of events, Eldryck showed up and made his intentions clear that they were not welcome into ‘his’ city. Everyone made a run for the Illapse Sanctuary in his arrival. Gertude, unfortunately was lost along the way and awoken. It was presumed that she was dreamstruck in that timeframe. Kalideo and Jinky revealed at that point that they were apart of the original Entropy Coalition. Though, this can not be confirmed but they made overtures about protecting the heart. Eldryck, the self-proclaimed hero of this quibble commenced to striking Gertude, then after a short winded confrontation with Jinky, who fell to the same fate. All present were helpless to do anything as Paralysis Penetrated all defensive effects.
Lightless Hollow and the Center
Eldryck Venym has been sensed in Lightless Hollow countless times this week. Generally, shortly after his time in Lightless Hollow (the City between ours), he is sensed in the Center by himself. Could Lightless be a gateway to the center of the city? How will we attain entry into the presumed dead city? Also, what on EARTH could he be doing down there?

~ Nathan

Oracles Foresight and Sacrifice:
On the evening of Friday, December 7th, a small group of dreamers assembled in Gloom Peaks to follow up on what Kalideo had said about the First Steps being through Gloom. Mzchievs (AoE); Nathan (BoC); Arnaya (HC); Kailee (HC Seeker); and Cyborg512 (FrS) were the initial group, and had just assembled when smoke began seeping up from the direction of Harrow Glades. The group noticed that the Conclave was on sense, and proceeded down to investigate.

Upon arrival, Dakkoth (Frs); Zsa Zsa (HC Seeker); Starling (OoSM); and Arlyana Jax (HC) found Oracle of Asmyr standing in the ritual chamber. She greeted the group, and then explained that she'd finally understood her purpose in the dream. On saturday, When Eldryck Venym had shattered the chains that she bore (an incident that had occurred after the Entropy Coalition members had been freed from the bubble), Oracle claimed to have had a vision about the location of the first piece of the heart...lying far below the pit at the heart of the Conclave Ritual Chamber. She also advised, that the only way to retrieve it, was if someone "Gave themselves to the flame", and that it was her reason for being. "It is my ultimate desire to be free. I want to do this, for you all." was one of her statements in regards to this.

Several people tried to persuade her that there must be another way, and one tried to take her place (being almost immediately grabbed and restrained by several others present). To which Oracle replied: "There is not. I witnessed the future and it does not end will, unless the Heart is repaired. This is why I am here. The City is so weak. I must give back what I learned, for those to come".

From there, Oracle began carving runes into her limbs..the flesh peeling from her body and falling to the floor as rune codices containing all of the quests that she had done since she began dreaming. Dripping her blood into the flames with each one. Collapsing and restoring spontaneously in the process.

Once all the runes had been carved from her, she spoke of the Heart and its pieces. Saying: "This is the first and the most difficult of all. The rest will require team effort. Be good to one another...". Then her soul sphere began to glow, the core flickering in an array of colors that danced upon the walls before she plunged down into the well and vanished. A moment or two later, The fire inside the pit wildly flared up with a roar! Slowly an object rose from the flames and dropped down in the spot Oracle had just standing. The first of the Heart fragments.

A diamond shaped item was swiftly retrieved by Zsa Zsa, who gave it to Arnaya. The Heart Fragment is a fractured segment of a pure jade stone. The jagged edges indicate missing elements on each end. A faint Dreamsoul aura crackles around the entirety of it. With the heart being weakened as it is... it's functionality seems limited (254 charges, flat +1 Dreamsoul). The heart fragment rests within Calenture's keeping at the time of this writing, and Calenture has offered to allow its examination by those who wish. Given the importance of the heart, security precautions will be taken (Rallied into a sealed area of the house, and abjured, to ensure it doesn't walk off. House Calenture has advised that these precautions will be taken with All that wish to examine the heart, without bias or prejudice).

Zsa Zsa has established a memorial to Oracle, in order to commemorate her dreams and sacrifice. It's been placed in "Aethimir's Vault" of the Forgers hall in the Conclave for a few days, before a more permanent memorial can be placed in in the appropriate location. Several others have stated their intention to also provide write ups to memorialize the sacrifice of Oracle of Asmyr. Rest in Peace, Oracle.

What further sacrifices will the search for the heart demand of the cities dreamers? Who will answer the call when the time comes to make those sacrifices?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

Cyborg's Light:
Cyborg512, out of memory of what the Light used to be, has placed a small memorial in the strongholds Essence room in preparation for further work on restoring the Illapse Threshold Sanctuary. Those with fond memories of their time and past within that stronghold are encouraged to stop up and see what he's put together... and perhaps add their own contributions. Cyborg would ask that people be respectful of the memorial.

Darkmaren Destruction Drive:
Last evening, as has occurred several times over the last couple of weeks, A large scale assault force of Darkmares attacked the city. This time, in the Lost Caves. Zirobolus (Horron); Picco (Horron); Annibuul (Horron); and Rut'roh (Horron) all entered the city (Rut'roh arrived sometime after the other 3), and were met by a large force of the cities defenders. Nathan (BoC); Aileron (HC); Dakkoth (FrS); Arnaya (HC); Uthanatos (HC); Zsa Zsa (HC Seeker); Kailee (HC Seeker); Belgereth (HC Seeker); and Arlyana Jax (HC) rose to the challenge... meeting the mares in fierce battle across the Umbrics side of the Lost Caves, with several phases of the engagement taking place in the narrow confines of the North Cave.

The mares were driven back several times, and made use of Chaos Purge several times on fallen warriors, before accumulating enough essences to construct an essence circle in the Umbric Entrance. This tactical move allowed the mares to maintain a steady pressure for several minutes until Nathan and Zsa Zsa were able to dismantle the circle (according to after action reports this writer has received). Both Annibuul and Rut'roh made VERY liberal use of Razorwind, and displayed a love of laying down Razorblade fields.

For reference, Razorwind (7th sphere, Fatesender Major art) now delivers both a strong initial blast (some basic testing has revealed one of four ranges for each person hit: 12/12+(plateau+1)/12+(plateaux2+2)/and an unknown forth range. If anyone has confirmation of these ranges, or the damage of the blades, please contact me in the city and I will update this information), as well as dropping a "Blade" that deals variable amounts of damage (starting at 1 to 4 dreamsoul, and increasing with plateaus until it hits about 1 to 8) to everything within a few steps of the blade, every second. These blades can be stacked into piles that all fire at the same time, resulting in what is functionally an "Insta-collapse mine". Walking over one of these mines can instantly cause even shielded 9th sphere's to collapse within a single step.

After nearly 3 hours of attack, the mares were driven off by assembled forces. Preliminary reports indicate the following "Kill Leaders": Nathan (between 8 and 10); Kailee (between 6 and 8); Arnaya (7); Dakkoth (between 5 and 7); Belgereth (between 2 and 4); Uthanatos (2 or 3); Zsa Zsa (1 or 2); and Aileron (1 or 2). These numbers are as best this writer can work out from personal observation, and comments made during between action conversation, and include all collapses of hostile targets over the duration of the battle. Please note that FULL credit for collapses of hostile mares is also given to those supporting the direct combatants. Those individuals in this case are: Arlyana Jax (Restoring field combatants, providing defensive arts, and logistics support); Uthanatos (Restoring Field combatants); Aileron (Restoring and in room support); and Zsa Zsa (Collecting dropped items and essences, remote arts support). Of note as well... even those with lower kill counts should NOT be considered to be in any way less important or effective in the battle, as their contributions often enabled the other combatants to take down the targets.

As a particular note, the general level of team work and cooperation between the dreamer forces was generally considered outstanding. With fighters staying the field even when badly wounded and under heavy assault to provide openings for others to take shots, switching to arts support when unable to get clear lines of fire on a hostile target, and drawing fire from Arter Primary fighters to allow them to evoke. Despite the many stray shots inherent in combat within the confined spaces of the caves, all involved displayed a high level of integrity and respect for the other combatants. Well done, Warriors of Underlight.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed: Dec.10/2018 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to get all of the articles written up in time for the last release. So that release got pushed, aaaand.... here's what I didn't get a chance to write up last time.

Correction to Previous Newsfeed:
I would like to apologize and provide a correction to two of the articles in the last edition.

- The Gauntlet, The Stone, and The Sword: My apologies for the formatting error and oversight that resulted in the author's title not being printed initially As a title. I have edited the previous release to correct that oversight.

- (Editorial segment: I've been a good girl in my writings overall, so please forgive this little indulgence) Darkmaren Destruction Drive: In the segment about the "Kill Leaders" One important contributor was overlooked. Though only with a small number of Darkmare kills, this fighters contributions were still appreciated and made more impressive by the fact that the individual herself was under heavy fire while firing these shots. So, my apologies to Picco... with a kill Count of 2 or 3. Well done, the city greatly appreciates your efforts in its defense and we hope that these efforts do not cause any stress within your family.

[Below the writing is a small sketch of a young woman, winking. A mischievous and playful grin on her lips]


ImageRut'roh's Regret:

During the last battle between the main maren assault force and the Warriors of the city, a single Darkmare (Rut'roh) was found by one of HC's warriors who was returning from a Chaos Purge, to be lingering in the outskirts of the of the plane.. presumably to provide remote support to its engaged companions. The Calenture fighter engaged the mare on her own to keep it distracted, and kept it occupied until the main force had been routed and reinforcements were able to arrive. Rut'roh was swiftly collapsed, despite it's love of creating Razorblade fields, and most of the warriors retreated to sanctuary to resupply and rest after the heavy fighting.

The Calenturian Battle Scout kept an eye on things, and re-engaged the mare when it returned, but was forced to retreat briefly to renew protective arts following an abjure barrage from the mare. The few remaining fighters were too low on supplies to continue with the engagement at that point, or had woken for the evening (It was right around midnight, and the fighting had been heavy for over 2 hours. So this should in NO way be construed as ANY form of dishonor, snub, insult, or jab at those dreamers. Their efforts that evening had already been, if this writer may be so bold to say, heroic. And should be recognized as such) so she returned to keep tabs on the mare. Following it through Umbric, back into Lost Caves, up to Caudal Rift, then to the Monastery of the Shadow where Rut'roh had taken up temporary residence in the Gathering Hall.

The Battle Scout and Zsa Zsa (out of battle supplies, but with some resilience elemens available to aid in remote restoring) engaged Rut'roh until Calenturian Reinforcements could restock and arrive. Together, the force (Arnaya, Uthanatos, Aileron, Kailee, and Zsa Zsa) was able to defeat Rut'roh again. Once collapsed, brief conversation occured before Rut'roh's soulsphere began to glow. His natural damage aura becoming heavily amplified and spreading throughout the entire room. Two of the Calenturians were unable to get clear in time, and were collapsed within seconds of the aura's expanding.

When scouted once more, Rut'roh had regained his coherence and was again engaged, then overcome by the Calenturian forces. Another round of Rut'roh's soulsphere beginning to glow was noted, but the group was able to get clear before its aura expanded enough to cause damage. Apparently, Rut'roh was unable to sustain the aura for any length of time, or regain its coherence that time. Respects were paid to the mare for its tenacity and power, though conversation was pretty limited. Uthanatos retrieved the Orb of Calenture from the house, and evoked expel upon Rut'roh to no effect. The mare simply saying: "Nos Goragon" ("No goodbye") in response to the Calenturian's farewells before the evoke landed. Rut'roh became a little more talkative at that point, asking to be restored, and apparently claiming that it was dying as the heart weakened.

Eldryck Venym appeared at that point, and with an apparent flash of knowledge, demanded to know where "It" was (presumably referring to a fragment of the heart that Rut'roh had somehow come into contact with and drawn power from. The reason for his ability to expand his aura to the levels he could, and spontaneously regain coherence). Rut'roh initially claimed that it didn't know, and fled onto the facade. Two of the Calenturian's acted pre-emptively at that point to draw on reserved energies and create emulated wards on the first rooms down the plane, since the mare was not simply vanishing and teleporting back to the Unknown.

After further interrogation, under threat of Eldryck Venym's Dreamstrike, while the mare attempted to flee down umbric... only to run into the wards set out, Rut'roh finally said: "Neki tzin hafa nos momo" ("I not have no more"). Rut'roh continued to attempt to flee, pulsing an NMF aura once, and another enhanced damage aura to buy itself time to soul evoke a shatter... but was caught up to by the group before it should shatter the next ward down. The group continued to interrogate Rut'roh, finally losing patience, before the mare said: "Nos, neki tzin hafa, itaka pantz neki" ("No, me not have, item hurt me"). Finally, under direct threat of Dreamstrike from Eldryck Venym, Rut'roh said: "Colaka hafa." (Unknown exact translation, but believed to be: "Coalition have"), and claim that he had seen the item. Rut'roh however would not elaborate, or provide any indications about where the item was... nor even where it had been seen, despite the promise that if he told, he would be released unharmed despite his previous declarations of intent to destroy the city. At that point, Rut'roh was Dreamstruck by Eldryck in fulfillment of threat.

Eldryck Venym turned the Soul Essence over to the Calenturian's present, and expressed his concern over the fact that Rut'roh didn't seem to really care if it was struck... refusing to return to the Dark Awakening... and delaying his flight attempts repeatedly to speak with the dreamers and delivering... suspect...information without elaborating or providing details. He also promised that he would strike no more Coalition members until information had been "wrung from them" before he vanished.

Is the specific item that was discussed, actually a fragment of the Heart of the City? was Rut'roh even being truthful, or merely trying to cause strife and bring about the destruction of the city as he had previously stated that he wished? Or was he being truthful, but withholding enough information to ensure his demise due to whatever was done to him by contact with the "item"?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageUnknown Soulsphere:

Very early on Sunday morning (Dec.09/2018), while Uthanatos, Arnaya, and Zsa Zsa were relaxing and resupplying up at House Calenture after the nights events, a lingering Bolt of Lightning split the sky over head, and Cenotaph of Dread sudden came onto sense, though no one that the three could think to locate was present there. Uthanatos scouted the Cenotaph, while Arnaya and Zsa Zsa followed. Inside the sanctuary, they found a Soulsphere of an unknown individual or being (The Soulsphere's name was sensed as ". .". Or twelve empty thoughts, bracketed by a single end of sentence intent on each end).

The soulsphere spoke, and I noted the conversation as follows:
S: "Come find me. Why."
Uthanatos: "We sensed you"
Arnaya: "You seem to be in some distress..."
S: "What is distress."
A: "pain... or hurt.... damage.... or perhaps injury..."
Zsa Zsa: "is that a soulsphere from the center? What Terelius said is the Soul of the City?"
S: "Time. Is it that time."
A: "who are you?"
S: "Everything. Nothing. Has the time come."
U: "I don't think it has"
S: "Then its not time. Should not be here. Seek when time is here."

and with that, the Soul sphere vanished and Zsa Zsa went into a trancelike state, repeating the same rhyme repeatedly:
"the heart is broken...the soul is loose, the mind loses focus, the brain follows suit."

Who or what is this Soul Sphere? What "Time" was it referring to? Is it going to be a regular visitor to the city? And what does the rhyme that Zsa Zsa had implanted into her mind mean?

(Author's Note: If anyone has any further information on this entity, please pass it along or seek me out in the city and I will gladly write that person up a quest to prepare an article with the details of their knowledge.)

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress


Image Oracles Gift:

In honor of Oracle of Asmyr's sacrifice, which Akkadian believes has strengthened the Heart of the City, and linked it to the remaining undiscovered pieces, Akkadian, Head of the Teaching Council and Council of Elders, has decided to open up questing somewhat as follows:

Any art learnable or plattable at Orbit 20 (and all lower orbits), can be granted without a quest with the following provisions:
- The quest codex should have written in the body or title: "Oracles Gift"
- The teacher should try to still teach something to the student, about the city... it's history... or current events. This should not simply be used as a: "Okay, here's a free art".
- This rule is applicable to New dreamers AND old (voted on by the assembled dreamers and agreed to by general acclimation). But the art has to have been learnable/plattable AT or BEFORE Orbit 20.
- For a full List of acceptable arts, please view the Library, where a collection of banners or scrolls will be placed soon.

A full and proper announcement will be placed soon, and teachers are encouraged to verify the details if they wish before putting this decree into practice. Special thanks to Mzchievs recounting the events leading up to Oracle of Asmyr's sacrifice. Especially given that it was spur of the moment, excellent job Mzchievs.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed: Dec.31/2018 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

It has been a borderline insane couple of weeks here, and I'm not even going to pretend that I'm catching everything with this update. So I'm just going to aim for the highlights and some key occurrences. This feed update is just to catch up on some of the past events, the most recent occurences will be presented in a still to come edition. Keep your eyes open.

PS: As always, I am still seeking others to assist in writing articles for this feed to aid in keeping all of us informed and up to date on the happenings of the city. If interested, please seek Arnaya out within the city.

ImageDopple DramaImage
On Sunday, the 9th, Dopple Lace (Purple Lace’s doppleganger, located as Purpie Lace) made an appearance in the Lost Caves. Seeing this as a prime opportunity to divulge some, if any sort of information, Nathan took to interrogation of said dopple. He asked what her purpose was in the city, she took to laughing maniacally and responding to him calling him a “doofus”. In response to the verbal onslaught, Nathan began to make physical threats, demanding information by threat of collapse. She continued to poke fun at and mock him…so he proceeded to collapse her. She attempted to flee, and in her last breaths before being collapsed revealed an imperative detail regarding the “ring”. The “ring” (the entryway in which the Entropy Coalition visitors came into the city) was a major vulnerability and anyone could get through it from outside of the city. Upon collapse she immediately vanished from the city. Lesson learned here: Pain yields excellent results.
Should we take Dopple Lace’s word at face value? Should we go and seal off the Ring? What consequences could this have?
~ Nathan, Soulmaster

ImageThe Assault Force of Ironies IIsImage

This evening, a total of 5 Ironies IIs were detected in the Lost Caves. Kailee, Magnum-425, Dakkoth and Zsa Zsa were the first to encounter these dreamers. According to Kailee, Zsa Zsa took to defending herself after being poisoned by one of the Ironies II clones and combat ensued. Shortly after the fighting began, Nathan and Uthanatos showed up to assist shortly afterwards. After a great deal of collapses, and once all five Ironies were taken down, the dreamers present made efforts at acquiring more information.
~ Nathan, Soulmaster

As an update to this situation, the Ironies Dopplegangers incident was further compounded by a small pack of darkmares backed up by a recent arrival to our city, Luther Doth, who was reported to have been restoring and otherwise providing backup support to the mares. The dreamers present were eventually able to bring down the mares and drive them off once again.

When will we find out who or what these dopplegangers are? What do they want? and why are they so interested in the heart of the city?
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageOracles Memorial Service:Image

The Memorial Service to Oracle of Asmyr was somewhat disrupted by the theft of her ashes a couple of dreams prior. The service itself was simple, and held in the Teaching Hall by Zsa Zsa (HC), with words spoken in her memory by many that had come to know her within the city. Luthor Doth arrived during the ceremony and expressed some fair interest in whether the assemblage had enjoyed the cake he had made for the gathering. Afterwards, the group moved on to the Shadowlight for a final moment of silence, when it was revealed that Luther Doth had been the one to take Oracles Ashes and had been.... creative... in his use of them with the creation of the Cake that he had donated to the memorial.

He claimed that Oracle of Asmyr had been a "Dreamerling"... a rare, order inspired spontaneous creation of the chaos that took dreamer form and was the source of a great deal of power. Sort of the dreamer equivalent to a lesser mare. Though Luther apparently could not understand the attachment that many had formed to such a being, he expressed how impressed he was that one such as her had made such an impact on the city of dreams and the dreamers that dwelt within.

This was, needless to say, somewhat of a disruption to the conclusion of the memorial and has caused many to have significant concerns about the nature and character of Luther Doth... while re-affirming many dreamers regard and warm thoughts for the woman we all knew as Oracle of Asmyr.

A carefully done sketch of a young woman. A thick robe, wound around her petite form. The rich ivory material contrasting nicely against her smooth ebony skin. Chalk runes are tattooed up her arms and down her legs. A long hooded cloak trails behind her. Snowy-white eyes almost appear to glow beneath her hood.


Was Oracle of Asmyr a natural spawn of the Dreamscape instead of a dreamer? Would that change who she was, or what she did? Or how valued she was to many? Farewell, Oracle. The gratitude of all those who knew you, and the memories of your time among us, remain strong.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageLuther Doth:Image

The dreamer known as Luther Doth is an unknown quality to many in the city, with little to nothing known of him besides his distant support of the darkmaren force as detailed above, the theft and... use... or Oracle of Asmyr's ashes, and the claiming of the Soul Essences of Rubedo and Lilith Morvant from their thrones in the Lightless Hollow (1, Rubedo Morvant's, was given to Arnaya of House Calenture as her "share" due to her initial finding of the Soul Essences. It was subsequently handed to Apothos of the Monastery of the Shadow at his request for personal reasons). This writer had a chance to speak with him for some brief time, and he revealed that he is a traveler of the various cities scattered across the Dreamscape. Moving from one to another, exploring.

He has expressed a strong draw towards items of power, including Dreamerling remains (Which are reputed to contain a great deal of energy in even the smallest amounts), and Soul Essences (which have been known to be used by various powerful beings for a variety of effects), and was repeatedly seen with a Jade glow emanating from beneath his robes. Recently, the glow was revealed as a perfectly round and smooth glowing green orb attached to a silver chain necklace. The exposed skin around the necklace was blackened with necrosis. At this point, it is believed that the orb itself is a Soul Essence... perhaps that of Lilith Morvant... one of the former Highborn lords of the Lightless Realm. The Entropy Coalition has revealed as well, that he is Not one of their number.

Most recently, he aided in an effort to recover more fragments of the Heart of the City. Please see that article for details.

Who is this man? What does he want? Who does he serve, and what is his purpose?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageNajerv Steps Up:Image

A couple of weeks ago, Najerv Torek (Guardian of OoSM), led an effort to attempt to locate the next fragment of the Shattered Heart of the city. Representatives of all of the other open houses at the time, as well as many free spirits, attended to provide assistance. Though no fragments were recovered, a single scroll was found in Gloom Peaks, following up on the results of the search.

The scroll found on that occasion, was dirty and tattered. Most of it being illegible. The only words that could be made out were:
"...way back during the first nightmare war, the dreamers were not happy about the coming of Dreamstri.....".

What will it take to find the fragments of the heart? And will the city put aside it's differences to repair what's been damaged... or will personal vandetta's and political agenda's get in the way? Who will rise up to take the lead in preventing the further degradation of the city?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageInvasion of Newly Awakened: Aka - Great Awakening, the LesserImage

A couple of weeks ago, Eldryck Venym and members of house Calenture, destroyed the darkmare Rut'roh. In the Aftermath of that, Eldryck discorporated his form and vanished from the city. Afterwards, when he returned to his form... a flood of newly awakened began to the enter city. Many of them surprised and confused... uncertain about this realm we call home. Some have remained, others have not... but all have brought a new life to the dreams of many. Old and New alike.

Eldryck Venym has stated that he was able to get a look at some of the Entropy Coalitions research on the walls that led to the Lesser Nightmares entering the city, and modified their efforts to instead draw in more latent dreamers. The chaos of this lesser "Great Awakening" has wreaked havok on locations such as the Library, Museum, and Welcome Center, as new dreamers with no understanding of the cities social standards, have carried away pretty much anything that wasn't nailed down.

Despite that chaos, several very promising new dreamers have been found within the city, being drawn to a wide variety of Guilds, Houses, and ethical stances. We eagerly await seeing what these new dreamers... and the flood of old dreamers that have again found their way to the city... will bring to our shared dreams.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Arnaya
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Newsfeed: Jan.17/2019

Post by Arnaya »

There's been a fair bit of activity since the last update, so... here's the highlights:

ImagePortals Crumbling:Image

With the Heart of the City shattered and fragmented, scattered across the city, the structures that rely on the heart to maintain their power, have begun to fail. Specifically a number of portals... though in at least one case, an entire room has fallen in as well. If you are roaming the city, please be cautious and watch out for sealed portals along the main pathways (both West Valley of Totality, and Umbric Plains, have sealed portals along the main path), or blocking off Sanctuaries (Chasm of Souls has one sealed sanctuary portal) or Vaults (Cenotaph of Dream). The collapsed room, is Blood Halls in Gloom Peaks.

According to one witness, the portals leading from Horron's Lair in Caudal Rift, were seen bulging and flexing with pressure. Seeming to begin failing.

Hopefully, once the heart of the city has been restored, these portals will return to normal functionality. Until such a time, we have been warned by several peoplt to expect more portals to fail, along with vaults and sanctuaries.

Are these portal failures truly a result of the Heart's shattering, or is something else behind all of this? Is the situation truly as straight forward as its being presented as... or this part of some convoluted greater plot? Where will the other fragments turn up, and who will discover them?
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageHeart Hunting:Image

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been several attempts to locate fragments of the Heart of the City. The first, over two weeks ago, using the existing fragment of the Heart that was recovered from Oracle of Asmyr's sacrifice, and led by members of House Calenture, resulted in the finding of a set of 4 scrolls.
3 Historical references, and 1 map that an advance scouting party (Kelos, Off Kilter, Aileron, Liolira, & Luther Doth) used to dig up a buried Portal Torch (at Opal Cliffs in Gloom Peaks), though the group was unable to utilize the Torch.

The Scrolls read as follows:
- Scroll 1: "The powers held inside of this unique stone is so great, and powerful, that it helped this dreamer create an entire city. And not only that, powerful arts that would follow."
- Scroll 2: "The Jade stone is the Heart of Underlight. This city was formed around a rare and unique stone that was found by the first dreamer, this dreamer created Underlight. One one dreamers journey, he journeyed from city to city, and upon his travels, he ended up in a desolute place."
- Scroll 3: "as the legend is told, way back, during the very first nightmare were in the city. it is said that the dreamwrights were not happy about the coming of dreamstrike."
- Map: "A detailed image drawn with charcoal and pastel colors of a stone cliff face, pockmarked with tiny opal gemstones. A red X crosses over the top right corner."

The next attempt, occurred about a week later, again with HC members gathering a group (most of the Order of the Sable Moon, and Trisha Pawm (FrS) attended to assist) to conduct a search through Cairn of Sorrow in an effort to eliminate at least one plane from the list of potential Heart Fragment locations. The group broke up into several smaller squads to conduct the search, using various forms of Lightning to follow up on a potential tip from Eldryck Venym, though no fragments or scrolls were turned up.

The day following that, Picco was found up in Caudal Rift. Arnaya (HC); Bortami (DoL); and Trisha Pawm (FrS) attended initially, making contact with the mare. Bortami and Arnaya spoke to the mare briefly, giving it a chance to withdraw from the city before coming under attack, and Trisha Pawm spoke to Picco... managing to decipher that Picco knew something about a fragment of the Heart. After Picco leading the growing group around the dream a bit, eventually up to Alliance of the Eclipse, then back onto Lambent. As best could be determined, as per Trisha Pawm, during the last attempt AoE made to repair the generator.. a fragment of the Heart had become embedded in the Generator, and was shattered further. The pieces washing out through the waterways. Liolira (OoSM) advised that the shards could have become hung up in the Aquaducts and that it may be possible to access them in order to conduct a proper search.

The following evening, it was revealed by a source that wishes to remain anonymous, that a scroll was discovered later. Though no Fragments of the Heart had at that point been discovered. The Scroll read:
"This place was unlike any other city that he had ever visited, it was unique. He explored and spent many years there. While there, he found a unique stone,"

The last of the significant events in regards to the heart, occurred that weekend (Jan.12/2019). While some details of that event are still sketchy, what is know at this time by this writer, is that Trisha Pawm (FrS) and several others chased around for a time in response to an unknown instigation, and found themselves at the unearthed Portal Torch at the Opal Cliffs in Gloom Peaks. They were able to activate the Torch, and found themselves in the sealed Blood Halls room, which had collapsed in behind its sealed portal. A single chest was found dangling from a chain, with a couple of symbols that indicated both a Fatesender and a Darkmare would be needed. The group was then attacked by a couple of darkmares, including Picco, that were subsequently vanquished. The assembled group used the essences of Trisha, and one of the Darkmares, to unlock the chest.

What emerged from the chest was described by witnesses as a Jade stone. The stone immediately vanished, presumably being grabbed by an unknown individual among the group... no one would admit who had taken it, though Krodoc was blamed initially and attacked to verify that he did not have it on him. Though a couple of other dreamers were reported to have left the room immediately after the stone was found. It is still unverified who has the stone fragment, or if it was in fact a piece of the heart... or something else altogether.

Who was it that took the artifact from the chest? Will they reveal themselves, and act altruistically... or try to hold the city ransom for their own gain?
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageBastion being Broken, gives Birth to Thieves Guild:Image

A couple of weeks ago, the dreamer known as Lu Chaos once again emerged to walk the city. Thought Dreamstruck by his own slave, Redeemer, he claims instead to have been stuck inside the Palisades and recently released/broke free. Immediately, he was initiated and ascended to ruler of the Bastion's just then founded "City Guard" branch. A series of dictates and laws were put into effect, with people being hunted for violations before such laws were publicly available (though the laws were released the day after the initial attacks were carried out). After a couple weeks of this, allegedly the dreamer Harkyn decided to take action on it. Reports have indicated that Harkyn was able to procure a number of essences of the Bastion's Rulership, and ascend himself to ruler by covertly gathered supports. Then use the gathered essences to create house ID's... and demote all of the other rulers, down to guardian or initiate. As the Mystic Pen's writing indicates, a battle did take place, though reports indicate that it was Nathan who put up the biggest fight for Harkyn. Who later congratulated Nathan in Threshold, and expressed his appreciation of Nathan's combat skills.

Over the next two days, information filtered down that Harkyn had formed the Bastion into an outright Thieves Guild, and nearly all of the members of the former Bastion of the Covenant had self demoted themselves all the way out (excepting Lu Chaos, who was allegedly forcibly demoted all the way down). Harkyn has apparently called Dreiko (9th sphere DS/SM); Flower of Cienn (6th Sphere FS); and Krodoc (5th or 6th sphere GK) to fill out the membership. Initial reports indicated that Dina (7th sphere SM) had also joined the Thieves Guild, though she has been since sensed as un-iniated, then afterwards seen with a renewed Alliance of the Eclipse crest.

Responses to these moves have ranged from resigned "Of course they did..." responses to "Great. another goon squad that no one in the city can beat." to several less complimentary words and phrases that I won't repeat here. The most positive response this reporter has been given went: "At least it's an original concept for a house...", while another expressed curiosity if the Thieves Guild took commissions.

Are the initial reports accurate? How is this Guild House to be structured, and what can the city expect to see from them?
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageNewly Thefts:Image

With the storm of Newly Awakened that continue to descend on the city, a great number of them have revealed themselves to be quite light fingered... either through deliberate malice, or unknowingly just grabbing everything that they see that isn't nailed down. This has resulted in the Museum being completely stripped bare, along with much of the Library, and nearly every accessible vault in the city. In light of this, Liolira... working at the behest of one of the senior wordsmiths, has been leading an effort to re-populate the museum and glue down the displays to prevent them from walking off in the future.

So far, a working glue has been created that has stuck a single statue down in the Hall of Curios. Please keep an eye out for further works on this. As an additional note, the newly specific area's such as the Welcome Center, remain badly in need of basic supplies. So it is encouraged that everyone capable of forging newly items, spend a few minutes every couple of dreams, creating some basic items for these spaces.

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Newsfeed: Feb.04/2019 Edition

Post by Arnaya »

Image

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. My apologies for this update taking so long, as tracking down some of the information took more time than I'd have liked... and some of it still hasn't been available, but I've got enough now to be able to at least give a general overview of some of the events. Hopefully this helps everyone understand Some of what's been going on in the city lately.


ImageHeart Hunt: Image

There have been a few things in regards to the cities Heart lately, though little in the way of progress finding any of the fragments. The Kotoken Darkmare, Picco, provided a few hints however. Apparently, the hearts shattering left several pieces in the cities waterways. This has resulted in the waters of the becoming infused with the energy of the heart, and spilling out into the chaos, causing a disruption in the local area around the city. So Picco is rather keen on the dreamers of the city finding the heart fragments, for her own purposes. A shared interests type of thing. The most recently clue to the next piece of the heart, is that one fragment rests at a circle of broken stone, near or in a waterway.

At least one scroll with further hints about the cities history was also found during a disturbance a week or so ago. Reports vary as to how many scrolls were found, with some sources saying 1, while others say that they saw 3. The contents of those scrolls is also unknown at this point. Trisha Pawm is currently reported to be the best source for information about this recent batch of scrolls.

In regards to the jade crystal fragment that was taken from Gloom Peaks a couple of weeks ago, Bortami has revealed during a dramatic speech in the Library that he was the one to have taken it. Given the conflicts that erupted in the wake of that incident, Trisha Pawm has issued a formal public apology to Krodoc in regards to his being accused of stealing the heart fragment.

In an attempt to clarify some of the recent developments and remove some of the ambiguity of a few of the reports, one of the most keen observers of the events surrounding the Heart was approached, Breena. She had this to say when asked if she could help clarify the recent developments:

"It seems that when the Alliance did some work on their generator recently, that there was a water break and the plane flooded out. So now we believe that the heart was destroyed by something or someone around a bit of water and so now the pieces are floating in the water ways in the city. I believe most of the pieces , (are scattered thus) unless some washed up on shore. This dreamer [Editorial note: Bortami had just made a public declaration about his intent to use the heart fragment to force the other houses primes into Imprisoning Primes. It remains to be seen if he is serious about this claim or not] cannot do anything with the piece of heart. We need all pieces to repair the heart. And I hope that it does not get into the darkmares hands. The heart is so powerful that it will allow them to learn the art of strike, but It can also allow dreamers to learn an art similar, that will strike darkmares. Chaos Oblivion. I fear the city will continue to crumble if we do not find it soon. The pieces of the history that dreamers have been finding are very important. We need those as well. We need every dreamer to come together with their history and piece it together so that we can determine the location of where the Heart was originally stationed at."

Thank you for that update and your insights, Breena.

To remind everyone, the following are the scrolls that have been discovered and their contents made publically available.

Historical Scrolls Regarding the Heart of the City:
  • "...way back during the first nightmare war, the dreamers were not happy about the coming of Dreamstri....."
  • "This place was unlike any other city that he had ever visited, it was unique. He explored and spent many years there. While there, he found a unique stone,"
  • "The powers held inside of this unique stone is so great, and powerful, that it helped this dreamer create an entire city. And not only that, powerful arts that would follow."
  • "The Jade stone is the Heart of Underlight. This city was formed around a rare and unique stone that was found by the first dreamer, this dreamer created Underlight. One one dreamers journey, he journeyed from city to city, and upon his travels, he ended up in a desolute place."
  • "as the legend is told, way back, during the very first nightmare were in the city. it is said that the dreamwrights were not happy about the coming of dreamstrike."
These scrolls are obviously out of order in terms of their story, but hopefully more will be revealed soon.

Who was this first dreamer in the city? What secrets will be revealed next, and who will find the next piece of the heart?

~Arnaya, Soulmistress


ImageElemental Shrines Image

A few months ago, it was hinted that several shrines to the various elements were unsealing, and that through them... access to the chaos could be found. Two of the shrines have been located:
- The Lucidity Shrine: down a set of hidden stairs into the waters from The Deep Cavern. Portal is along the left side of the wall.
- The Resilience Shrine: over the water fall at The Blood Falls

Kanto has revealed that there are four other shrines.
- Insight: Possibly not accessible to the cities dreamers currently
- Will: Buried deep underground
- Dreamsoul: Somewhere in the unknown
- Chaos: Can only be unlocked and opened after the other shrines are fully activated with a rite.

The Elder and Dreamwright, Kanto, has advised several dreamers (Thanks to Liolira, as the primary source for this information) that he will be recruiting help from the cities dreamers in the near future to assist with unlocking the Chaos Shrine.

Are some peoples fears about this Chaos shrine founded? Or is it a positive? Or is it something else completely?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress


ImageRubedo Reborn: Image

Following a recent history lesson about the Lightless, and the origins of This city, several dreamers have been spending time in the Lightless Hollow. Familiarizing themselves with it, and trying to get to know the history and feel for those that once dwelled there. Sadara and Mengyao being two of the notables. They had noted a couple of times lately, that there seemed to be ghosts.

On the evening of Saturday, Feb.02/2019, The ghost made itself known by Marking Sadara when she had sat in his throne in the Coffin Hall. Rubedo Morvant, Highborn of the Lightless Survivors, marked Sadara with a handprint on her arm and told her that if his Soul Essence was not found and returned immediately... he would suck her energy away to fuel his rebirth. Somehow, during this, Ra'as apparently became cursed as well.

Sadara and Mengyao sought help from a group of dreamers in the library. Aileron, Advisor to House Calenture, attempted (With Sadara's blessing) to sever the connection between Rubedo and Sadara... but Sadara was pulled back to the Lightless Hollow, bound to Rubedo's throne, and had her avatar stripped from her. The group followed, and Aileron attempted to offer himself in Sadara's place, but was confined to the throne alongside her, also sans avatar. The throne itself began siphoning dreamsoul from everyone who came near, making retrieval of the bound Sadara and Aileron, problematic for the group.

Arnaya, Lance Ruler of House Calenture, retrieved Rubedo's Soul Essence. Poppygirl (ruler of Order of the Sable Moon) and Jevik Bane (Free Spirit, GK Teacher) readied their Gatesmashers... and when Arnaya returned with the essence, smashing it against the ground, they struck to try and destroy the Soul Essence. The Soul Essence however, vanished the moment it hit the ground and their blades hit the stone floor. Almost immediately, Rubedo's ghostly form began to solidify as the Soul Essence appeared on his throne. At the same time, Sadara and Aileron were released, their coherence returning. Many of the assembled dreamers barraged the Ghostly form, the throne, and the Soul Essence with their flames, attempting to destroy pretty much any of the 3 in order to prevent Rubedo's rebirth.. without success. The flames simply danced along the stone of the throne, limning it in fire.

As a last resort, Arnaya attempted to impale Rubedo before he fully solidified. Driving her spear through his chest towards his soul essence and releasing a built up harmonic burst, also to no effect. Attempts to carve the Soul Essence from his avatar while it was still freshly rejuvenated were also futile, with the strikes literally causing no damage or marks on Rubedo. Aileron eventually pulled Arnaya off of Rubedo, and Rubedo extended his hand... just sitting there... for some time, with only minimal interactions.

During that time, Coraal revealed that the Lowborn had been closer bound to the Highborn, and weaker in their own, than most had previously thought. With Zar'tenya's dreamstriking of the Highborn, causing the destruction of their linked Lowborn as well. Rubedo was able to summon one surviving Lowborn... the female lowborn, Nohbudee.

Rubedo made several comments about how the others (other Highborn) should have listened to him and let him wipe out the city overhead to rebirth their own, and how the dreamers had sent Zar'tenya (using less than complimentary terms to describe her) to finish them off and how the cities dreamers had failed or should have been more thorough.

Luther Doth arrived for a brief time, and after a couple of minutes, turned over Lilith Morvants Soul Essence to Sadara to do with as she chose... stating that it was nearly completely drained anyway. Aileron, Jevik Bane, Poppygirl, and Arnaya took up guard positions around Sadara, while Rubedo openly declared that he had no interest in her soul Essence during this time. Cuero however, invis'd and attacked Sadara. Sadara gave the soul essence to Arnaya, who removed it to the safe keeping of House Calenture. Cuero collapsed Sadara shortly afterwards, but did not continue hostilities. He later said that he was pushed to attack Sadara by telepathic whispers.

Luther left right after handing over the Soul Essence, and Coraal swore his service to the Lightless realm. Meanwhile, the Shadow Consortium has stated that they will be respecting the Lightless as a sovereign realm.

Will Rubedo follow through on his intentions to drain the city? How will Coraal's service impact and influence the politics surrounding the Lightless and Rubedo? Does Nohbudee also basically rebel against the Highborn's rule, or is she a loyal follower of Rubedo's?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageUnion Returns: Image

The former Bastion of the Covenant, as a follow up on initial reports, have now become... by their own words... a cross between the old Union of the Covenant and the Wardens from Idoaclesia. Please see their manifesto in the house section of the Archives for details. Since their start up under this incarnation, they have had conflicts with both the Dreamers of Light, and the Chosen.

What comes next for this house?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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Re: Arnaya's Newsfeed:

Post by Arnaya »

Image

A bit of an update about recent events in the city, with special thanks to Nathan for his article contributions. Much tends to happen around the city, and I am unable to keep track of it all a lot of the time, so Nathan and other contributors (Several of whom contribute to nearly every article, with information, advice, and other support.. which often goes unacknowledged) efforts to help make sure that relatively up-to-date information is available to the dreamers of the city, is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to Everyone who contributes to these pages,

ImageThe Chosen:Image

The Chosen has officially open its doors as a house. Lead by the devout followers Ra’as and Sirus Nesto. They assembled the required dreamers and necessary strength swiftly. The Stronghold of choice was the Basin (Formerly known as Gathering of the Entranced and the Emergence Academy). The Chosen are a religious group dedicated to worship, practice and evangelization of the Chaos Diety, Bashir. Will this group be successful in reviving said deity? What does this perceived “contentious” group have in store? Only time will tell.

-Nater


ImageLuther Doth:Image

Luther Doth has once again seen countless times continuing with his capricious escapades. He had confirmed himself to being a member of the Entropy Coalition. It was unveiled some time ago that he was the architect behind the mysterious chaos drills in the Celebration Halls. These Chaos Drills have the ability to grant the Nightmares of the City, 9th plateau versions of each house’s respective art (Poison Cloud, Break Covenant, and likely Dazzle) Dreamers took to coordinate assaults and defensive measures to thwart further attempts to no avail. Dreamers of Light on the other hand were successful at removal of the drill, though at the expense of their entire Celebration Hall which now lays in shambles.

Dreamers be advised, exercise extreme caution in engagements with this dreamer. He has an uncanny ability to turn you into an emphant(NightMare form) alongside a wide variety of 9th plateau Fatesender arts as well as Blast. He is also often in the company of Horron level Darkmares, providing support and random chakfire. What are this man’s intentions? More importantly, are the members of the Entropy Coalition truly what they say they are…..helpful? What could potentially happen if the Heart of the City falls into their hands?

-Nater

ImageThe Drain:Image

In the last couple of months, the houses have been suffering monthly drains of their prime artifacts as strength is drawn from them to power the house planes. This was set up by Caretaker Bosley as a means to reduce some of the strain on the cities diminishing energy reserves and focal point, with the breaking of the cities Heart. Voidwolf has passed along the information that the Heart that exists in this city, was the Heart of Idoaclesia originally... though some of the scrolls discovered remain somewhat ambiguous on that point, which has raised some doubt among a few about the Validity of what Voidwolf was told.

In any case, the Draining amounts that each house has been suffering, has been pegged down by Mzchievs (ruler of the Alliance of the Eclipse) as the following:
50'000 Strength base loss amount
- 3000 per Initiate
- 2000 per Guardian
- 1000 per Ruler
- 500 per Advisor
- unspecified penalty for Dual Crested Members.

These numbers have been confirmed with the most recent 2 drains for the Alliance of the Eclipse, and House Calenture.

Thank you Mzchievs, very nice work.

Also, it has been hinted that the drain may be increasing in the near future.

How or when will the drain change? What will happen with the drain once the heart is restored?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress

ImageLowborn Reborn:Image

A common question that has arisen lately, is "Who are these "Lowborn" I keep hearing about?". While the people to definitively speak with on the topic are Coraal; Elmer; Mengyao; and Tamarisk, here is a brief primer on the basics of the Lowborn.

Several years ago, a small city rested in the exact location that ours does now. One dream, something (event specifics are still unknown to this writer) happened, and several fragments of two other cities crashed into the smaller one, bonding to it and drawing an immediate surge of power from it to sustain themselves. What triggered this Clash is currently unknown, but what is known.. is that the initial draw of energy didn't just affect gens, sanctuaries, portals, and the like... but the actual dreamers of the city themselves. Leeching the vital essence of their minds, presumably restoring the connections to those cities, to the dreamers who once dwelt in them.

This caused nearly the entire population to essentially be dreamstruck on the spot. Those few that survived, were headed by a group of 4 powerful dreamers of the city that came to be known as the "Highborn". Ascheron, Athenodora, Lilith Morvant, Rubedo Morvant. Each of those 4 bonded certain weaker citizens of the city... essentially pulling them back from the edge of Oblivion. These weaker dreamers subsist largely on vital energy granted to them by the Highborn... those who served more generous Highborn patrons, were generally clearer of thought and speech... which those that served more restrictive Highborn, often (like Merp) displayed a great deal of difficulty comprehending advanced or complicated topics, and expressing themselves in more than the most fundamental ways.

The entire remant of their city, was sealed beneath layers of the merging, Larger cities. Trapping those of the Lightless (What they came to call the remains of the Highborn/Low Born city) within the dead realm until they were able to finally dig their way out and discover what it was that had trapped them.

The Highborn, in particular, Lilith and Rubedo Morvant, blamed the Clash that destroyed their city, on the dreamers that they found populating the world above their own. Viewing it as a deliberate act on the part of those dreamers, destroying the Highborns city and population in order to save their own. And so, were immediately hostile towards the dreamers of the city. Taking energy from weakened strongholds, etc. Ascheron, took a more mercenary and mannered approach. Seeming to reason that, since these new dreamers were here... they might as well work with them to try and get what the Lightless needed. While Athenodora took a cautiously hopeful approach. Openly speaking with various dreamers and sharing their story, trying to move past the grief and loss to build a better future for what remained of their people.

In response to various Highborn (Mostly Rubedo and Lilith Morvant's) actions, the assassin known as Zar'tenya took it upon herself to remove this threat to the city of Underlight, and assassinated the highborn. Without the Highborn to sustain those bonded to them... most of the lowborn too, vanished as they exhausted their energies and were claimed by oblivion.

With the rebirth of Rubedo Morvant, some of those lowborn at least that were once bonded to him, have been revived. Most notably: Merp and NoBuhdee (though Nobuhdee seems to have managed to survive the loss of her bonded Highborn patron, theories as to how she was able to accomplish this are still forthcoming). Rubedo Morvant at least, still remains convinced that the Clash of cities was deliberate act by the dreamers of the city above. Though the circumstances and precise outcomes do point to the possibility of a deliberate guiding hand, who's hand exactly and for what reasons... remain unknown to anyone I have spoke to about this topic.

What new information will come out about the Lightless and its residents? And perhaps more importantly... how will the dynamics of their interaction with the city change without the moderating influences of Athenodora and Ascheron?

~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
The most important lesson I've learned over this past year, is not to let anyone make you cruel. No matter how badly you want to give the world a taste of it's own bitter medicine, it is never worth losing yourself.
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