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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 5084711" data-attributes="member: 198">Once she is far away from the area of the ziggurat, Luna hurriedly descends to the ground and casts a master earth, transporting herself away across the Shadow Marches in search of the first person she can think of to contact.A quarter of an hour later, she is seated across from Saala Torrn, watching horror and surprise writ large across the Gatekeeper leader’s face. “I … I do not know what … what we can do,” the latter says when Luna finishes her narrative, clearly struggling to formulate a response. “There is no way that we can send a strong enough group to the location, considering that you are the most powerful adventurers on Khorvaire. Plus the Gatekeepers and our allies are spread out all over the place, trying to help deal with this situation.” Saala looks at Luna, her expression still somewhat shocked. “Though obviously we discussed the danger, I honestly did not think that we would lose your friends. Your group has survived things unheard of. This is a calamity!” The Gatekeeper struggles to compose herself and then continues, asking almost plaintively, “Do you have any suggestions for what we should do?”Luna shrugs. “I really don’t know for sure, but we have some options. I’m going to talk to Mordain and also to Jaela. He might have clones or something, and she might be able to use some cleric magic to bring them back. Hopefully.”Saala’s expression clears slightly. “Do you plan to visit Mordain or contact him via a sending? “You will need a powerful cleric to cast the spell, if you do, and we have none available here. But obviously you could find many in Flamekeep.”“Yes,” Luna replies. “I’m going to go to Thrane first and talk to Jaela, contact Mordain, and then visit him.” Despite the situation, she chuckles. “He doesn’t like visitors.”Saala smiles weakly in response, and Luna continues, “But I’ll have to do that tomorrow since I’m out of transportation spells. I mostly focused on spells to fight aberrations with.”“Of course,” says Saala. “We will find you a place to rest when you need to. But now, I have some more questions about this daelkyr. And this creature it unleashed.” She shudders faintly.“Yeah,” says Luna, with a grimace. “It was big. Really big! And…”* * * * *The next morning, as planned, Luna arrives at the Cathedral of the Silver Flame, where she is quickly taken to meet Jaela. The Keeper of the Flame takes the news with more equanimity than Saala. “I did not expect this news,” Jaela says, with gravity which would be unexpected for an eleven-year old – if that young girl were not the spiritual and political leader of a nation and the voice of the Silver Flame. “But I knew something was wrong. Earlier today I received a vision from the Flame of something being released into Khorvaire which has never been here earlier. I learned no other details, except that it was terrifyingly powerful and will shift the balance of power in this war.” She sighs, causing Skaravojen to rise and whine questioningly from the spot at her feet where he lies.Jaela rubs the strange guard-beast’s head absentmindedly and says to Luna, “Excuse me for a while. I need to go and see what I can do about this situation. I will have food and drink sent to you.”“Thanks,” says Luna. “Can you leave him too?”“Skaravojen?” Jaela asks, surprised. “Err … certainly.” She rises and heads towards the door, commanding the beast, “Stay, Skaravojen.”The guard-beast rises as Jaela does but then stops at her command. It emits a low whine, shifting back and forth on its multiple legs, but stays in place. Then, as the door closes behind Jaela, it turns its dark eyes to Luna with what looks like concern.The druid simply grins broadly in reply. “Gotcha!” And then she leaps.. . .Jaela returns an hour later, her face even more worried than it was when she left. Ignoring Luna’s disheveled appearance and the way that Skaravojen leaps on her in relief, the Keeper takes her seat. “We have … a problem. I attempted a true resurrection, which would allow me to bring back the soul of anyone who has been dead for the last 180 years, however they may have died. As long as they were powerful enough to come back from the other side – which your friends clearly are – and willing to return – which I assume they are. And nothing happened.”“Oh! What does that mean?”“I wanted to know too, so I then communed with the Flame, asking many questions of it. It seems that the souls of the Angels – well, not yours, of course – have been utterly consumed by the creature you saw. They cannot be brought back via normal methods.”“Wait? What – like they’re, um, dead dead? Forever?” Jaela sighs. “I certainly hope not. The Flame indicated that there are signs of their passing and their imprint on this world, though I’m not sure what that means, and that there might be a way to bring them back. I think it might have something to do with their – your – unique nature. I do think talking to Mordain is a good idea, since he had a major role in changing all of you to your present forms. Perhaps that is a factor here too. If you want, I can contact him for you.” Luna asks Jaela to send the following message: “Angels dead. Except me. Died fighting in Shadow Marches. Unable to resurrect, maybe since you changed us. Request your help. Am coming to you. Luna.”Seconds later, Jaela receives the response in Mordain's distinctively uninflected tones: “Not possible. Modifications do not preclude resurrection. Also, deaths should activate clones I possess. Give me a day. Come here tomorrow morning at sunrise. Alone.”Once that is done, Luna also contacts Essirise, the Chamber dragon in Argonnessen, with another sending: “Guardian Angels dead. Except me – Luna. Died fighting in Shadow Marches. Unable to resurrect them. Need any help that is available. Circumstances very dire!”The reply from Essirise is: “Condolences and sympathies. Shall investigate options for bringing back your companions. Need you all for Conclave. Am awaiting word from them. Will contact you soon.”After having relayed the responses, Jaela then asks Luna, “What will you do now? Is there anyone else you think you should contact or who can help?”Luna scratches her chin thoughtfully and then sets off on a monologue, as much to herself as to Jaela: “Hmmmm .... I don’t know if I can think of anyone else who might be useful ... or of sufficient power to do anything. I know kings and mayors and stuff ... but they all seem pretty impotent. Heh! Important/impotent – get it? Anyway, I mean ... when trouble came... they called us!” Luna frowns thoughtfully. “What about those nice vampire people? Or maybe even the Children of Winter?” Then her frown deepens. “Where are the great dragon-marked snobs now, I wonder. Probably preventing some perfectly nice person from flying an airship while Eberron is being destroyed!  Humph!”Jaela opens her mouth to interject something, but Luna keeps going, shifting topics rapidly. “I was going to use master earth to travel to Mordain ...  since it’s so fast. Unless something precludes that. And I have to wait till tomorrow. I suppose I could start measuring the closets in the other rooms at the house ... just to see where my stuff would fit best. And what stuff should be donated to the poor. If Sharn should survive all this. I am going to definitely have the room Nameless occupied fumigated! And Gareth’s  taste is so stuffy! It might help distract me from my amazing grief. Re-decorating always does relax me so. And there are the baby’s rooms to consider. Babies’, actually. Also ... I may have to be a dire wolf and sit on the roof and howl long and hard tonight in memory of my fallen comrades. It would only be appropriate.” Luna looks sad for a moment and then perks up. “Hmmm ... I wonder if anyone has any cool magic stuff I haven’t played with before stowed back at the house? Maybe a cool crystal ball or something pretty!”As Luna beams at the thought, Jaela finally gets to interrupt, saying carefully, as if unsure if she has accurately gleaned what the druid was saying, “So you’ll be heading back to Sharn to … mourn your companions?”“Yup!”Luna does leave shortly afterwards, travelling back to Sharn via another master earth, appearing in the depths of the city and then winging her way back up to the Gray House as a gigantic bat. She finds things much the same as when they last left the city, though more repairs have been made and people seem marginally less traumatized by the attacks than they had been. The appearance of a huge bat nearby, however, quickly provides a number of unfortunate citizens with the fear and confusion they had recently recovered from.When Luna arrives at the Gray House, she is met by Fett, who asks what happened and is just as horrified as everyone has been thus far with the answer. Once Luna has explained what occurred in graphic detail, the changeling major-domo excuses himself to go and arrange for dinner. He also informs Trillia, who is still at the house, of Luna’s return. Once they speak, Nameless’ former mentor is clearly quite upset about the news Luna brings and hurriedly departs to the room she has been given in the house, not reappearing throughout Luna’s short stay. So Luna is free to spend the rest of the evening wandering around and checking everyone’s rooms, just as she had planned. This process involves checking the closets, bouncing on the beds (while changing forms to work out how strong they are, which doesn’t work out that well for all of them), examining everything in the room which has the least pretension to being shiny, and beginning to redecorate a bit. Which is followed by moving a number of her things into the room used by Gareth, who had the largest one in the house.Luna eventually takes a break and settles down to a very hearty dinner. And then finally heads to the roof, where she spends some time tending the garden, chatting with the two small treants who live there, and changing shape into a giant wolf and howling sadly at the moons to her heart’s content. There is the faint sound of windows and doors slamming nearby, but none of the neighbors are foolish enough to show up and complain. Finally, after a good hour of howling, Luna decides she has done her duty in mourning her absent friends and heads down to Gareth’s room, where she sprawls on the double bed and falls asleep.* * * * *Next morning, as asked by Mordain, Luna travels to the Fleshweaver’s home, waiting outside the protective barrier that surrounds it with unusual patience by her standards. Once he emerges and brings her inside, Mordain seems much more animated and actually upset than she has seen him to be on their previous meetings. Which, admittedly, translates to him being slightly other than completely unemotional. “Relate what occurred at the ziggurat,” Mordain says, sinking into a sitting position and floating before Luna. “Do not omit any details.” Luna proceeds to do so and continues for nearly an hour, her long and rambling narrative prolonged by the probing questions that the Fleshweaver constantly inserts, as well as his critical commentary about actions on the Angels’ part which he considers flawed. Once she is finally done, Mordain says, a faint frown in his voice which belies the unmoving mask that is his face, “Your information is valuable. I have already studied the situation and you are correct – your companions cannot be brought back by conventional magical means. And their clones that I have are not activating. I do not have knowledge of this Mual-Tar creature and I cannot rule out the possibility that it permanently consumed their souls. There is also a possibility that their souls are being held somewhere or constrained in some way, denying access to them for purposes of resurrection.”Luna frowns, much more deeply than the Fleshweaver, and chews her fingernails thoughtfully. “That would all be bad! Though their souls not being permanently gone would be better.”“Correct,” says Mordain. “I hope that they have not been destroyed – since I have invested significant effort and value in their modification, and they were intended to prevent Xoriat from interfering with my research.” His tone turns very faintly petulant. “This is an unnecessary aggravation. I had hoped that they would do better.” Then he pauses for an instant, before saying firmly, “I shall spend some time researching both Mual-Tar and this situation, as well as the presence of a daelkyr in Khorvaire. I shall inform you when I find a solution.” There is not the faintest uncertainty in his tone. “Do you have any questions?”Luna can’t think of anything else to bring up, so she says, “No. Umm, thanks.” * * * * *Later that day, after she has returned to Sharn, Luna receives an urgent sending from Saala Torrn: “Aberrations about to attack Zarash’ak, the capital. Army only minutes from city. Includes the Mual-Tar creature. Gatekeepers and others preparing defense. Need aid – NOW!” Luna simply responds, “I’m on my way!” and hurriedly leaves, sinking into the ground and emerging moments later in the Shadow Marches on the outskirts of Zarash’ak, to find herself between two armies. Much closer to her is a force of about two thousand, consisting almost exclusively of orcs, half-orcs and humans.. Since the ‘city of stilts’ offers almost nothing in the way of defensive fortifications, the defenders have drawn themselves up at the edge of Zarash’ak. The majority of them are Marchers, drawn from the clans and tribes of the area, as evidenced by the tribal insignia that many bear and the war banners above them. At the center of the army, waving above a somewhat better armed and armored contingent, is the manticore banner of House Tharask. A number of animals are also present, some of them presumably druids.On the other side, swarming slowly but inexorably across the swampy river delta around Zarash’ak is the aberration horde. It is significantly larger than the one Luna and the other angels had destroyed, outnumbering the defenders nearly three to one. As always, thousands of dolgrims make up the bulk of the army, commanded by scores of dolgaunts. Other, more powerful aberrations – such as mind flayers – move among the ranks, commanding the dolgaunts in turn. Hundreds of flying forms swarm the air above, most of them cloakers, though the ovoid shapes of a few beholders are also present. But none of these are the most troubling issue. At the rear of the army, its head towering two hundred feet in the air, slithers Mual-Tar, the Chaos Serpent. Even the other aberrations give it a wide space, those nearest to it hurrying as fast as they can, perhaps to keep away from the Serpent as much as in eagerness to begin the battle.Luna swiftly transforms into an eagle and wings her way towards the Marcher lines, where a couple of minutes of searching leads her to Saala Torrn. The leader of the Gatekeepers is surrounded by a number of warriors and other druids, apparently planning the defense. When Luna flies down and returns to her natural form, Saala looks very relieved. “I’m very pleased you’re here,” she says quickly, before waving a hand at the approaching army, “Since we have that to deal with. We collected as many Gatekeepers as we could at short notice, especially since there were more of us here than usual, due to the refugees. With the magic at our disposal, I wouldn’t be that concerned about the army – except for the giant snake.”One of the orcs standing nearby, a tattooed and scarred warrior who would rival Korm in size, grunts, “Make us an opening to the snake with your magic, and we shall deal with it.” He raises his greataxe above his head and waves it at the aberration forces, bellowing loudly as he does so. Other voices join in, causing a ripple of defiant war-cries to spread through the defending force. Saala seems less convinced, but she smiles slightly. Luna looks at the burly orc who spoke, noticing the blue tattoos of snakes that cover his forearms, and a distant memory strikes her. “Hey, you’re one of those River Snakes! Your people tried to kill us some, er, four months ago!” Her brow furrows. “Don’t you guys worship the Dragon Below or something?”The large orc frowns too, and then mutters, sounding slightly embarrassed, “I heard about that event. It was an error. And we fight the aberrations now, so …”He stops and turns to glare at another orc, who snickered loudly, and Saala quickly steps in. “We need to focus on the attack. Now,” she says, speaking both to Luna and the others present, “Here is what we are planning. It’s fairly simple and, hopefully, effective. When they attack…”A few minutes later, she stands with Luna in the front lines, awaiting the assault that is only moments away. In front of them, the aberration army moves in with little sign of strategy, spreading into a huge crescent shape. As they near the Marcher lines, their speed increases, the faster aberrations beginning to leave the others behind. The cloakers and other flying creatures also swoop forward, outpacing the fastest of those on the ground.Saala studies the horde, waiting patiently. And then, at her command, the defenders strike.The attackers begin with a few volleys of arrows and crossbow bolts, and though the damage inflicted is slight, it has the effect of causing many of the dolgrims to pause to fire back, further fragmenting the enemy formation. And then Luna casts. In the midst of the aberration force, a hundred and sixty foot wide circle of swamp convulses as she creates an earthquake, causing hundreds of aberrations to fall. Giant fissures open up, which many tumble into, screaming uselessly, before the cracks grind shut and still their cries. The damage as well as the effect on the aberration force is tremendous, causing the entire center of the assault to slow and break up, further fragmenting the assault. The effect is only exacerbated when Luna follows with a fire storm, which envelops and incinerates most of those within a three hundred foot swathe of the army. And now the other Gatekeepers follow her lead, flame strikes and ice storms battering the aberration force, while Saala adds a fire storm of her own. And then the Marcher forces charge the wavering horde. The aberrations respond with a huge barrage of crossbow, slaying scores of the attackers. A few mind flayers unleash cones of mental force into the charging Marchers, stunning many, while cloakers further disrupt the attack with cries that strike panic into their enemies. Gauths fly overhead, eyebeams shooting back and forth, while one or two beholders do so with even more devastating effect.Despite the losses, the Marchers smash into their opposing force. The slaughter on both sides is tremendous, but for the moment the mighty barbarian warriors force back the aberration line. Dozens of druids now soar overhead in the forms of birds, using their spells to further hamper the aberrations on the ground while also attempting to sweep the flying enemies from the air. Dozens of cloakers go down in flame, while the corpses of gauths bob gently above the battlefield.For a few minutes, the aberration line threatens to buckle, their edge in numbers being more than compensated for by the fury of the Marcher barbarians and, specially, the magic and area effects of the druids. And then, slowly but inexorably, the balance of power shifts – as Mual-Tar joins the battle.The gigantic serpent, making its leisurely way across the landscape, has been momentarily left behind, but now it reaches the fringe of the conflict. Mual-Tar does not speed up or slow down, but simply slithers onto the battlefield, using its giant bulk and strength to crush whatever – aberration or enemy – is in its path. While doing so, it pauses only to strike with surprising speed at a particularly powerful, or presumably appetizing-looking, foe, sometimes seizing a dozen individuals at once. Some of the Marchers fire arrows at it and a few foolhardy ones even attack, but their weapons glance harmlessly from its scales as if they were solid stone. Only the mightiest of blows seem to even scratch it, and nobody has a chance to do that twice. Some of the druids switch their focus to it, but their spells too glance harmlessly off its form.And that is not the worst of its effects. As Mual-Tar joins the fray, the magic of the druids begins to falter and fail. First it is those within a hundred feet of it that feel the effects, and then two hundred feet away, and then three hundred. In less than a minute, all those using spells within five hundred feet of the serpent find their magic going awry. At first they simply weaken, sometimes affecting less targets, scorching where they would have incinerated, or just fizzling on impact. Then a druid casts her last ice storm on a group of aberrations and screams as the magical hailstorm appears around her instead. Another tries to hurl a bolt created by a produce flame, only to find the fire first sticking to his arm and then beginning to consume it. And, finally, their spells simply stop working, having no effect at all. Those affecting themselves still seem to function, most of the time, but they cannot affect others. It is as if the area around the Chaos Serpent is completely anathematic to magic. Without access to offensive magic, the defenders find themselves severely disadvantaged, not just by the numbers but because the supernatural abilities of the aberrations still seem to work. They are apparently somewhat affected by Mual-Tar’s aura, sometimes fizzling out as well, but they work sometimes, unlike the druids’ spells. Slowly, the aberrations gain control of the field, swarming over the Marchers facing them. And through it all slithers Mual-Tar, crushing and devouring whatever it encounters.Saala Torrn, like the remaining druids, desperately changes shape into a form in which she can function without spells. Becoming a dire bear, she charges in, attempting to bolster the crumbling defense. For a few moments, the Gatekeeper leader still dares hope, as she claws and bites her way through multiple foes, other Marchers joining her. And then she feels a strange ripple of energy and her ursine form melts away, just as a giant shadow falls on her.Luna, by far the largest combatant in sight besides Mual-Tar, is single-handedly holding back dozens of aberrations, when she hears her name screamed. She turns to see Saala across the battlefield, shouting frantically, “Luna! Flee! Warn everyone about ….” And then Mual-Tar strikes, its giant maw enveloping the Gatekeeper.For a moment, Luna thinks of fighting on, but then she sighs and casts another master earth. The last thing she sees as she disappears is the aberration forces overwhelming the few remaining Marchers, and the flames rising along the edges of Zarash’ak.  * * * * *Once back in Sharn, Luna quickly informs the gnomes of House Sivis about the existence of Mual-Tar and the fall of Zarash’ak, so that they can spread the word. And soon news begins to come in of new aberration armies erupting all over Khorvaire, some emerging from the depths of Khyber and others coming through the portals from Xoriat. Many of them seem to emerge from the Mournland as well, raiding areas around its borders before retreating back within. And news comes, first from the Shadow Marches and then from its borders, that Mual-Tar is moving. The Chaos Serpent leads an ever-growing army north and east, ravaging the Marches and destroying whatever stands before it as it proceeds towards the heart of Khorvaire.The next few days are intensely frustrating for Luna, who travels back and forth among her various allies, attempting to learn and lend aid wherever she can, but there are too many places to be and too much to do. Especially since her magic is apparently useless against Mual-Tar, though she makes up for it by wreaking havoc on any other aberration forces that she can find. Nearly a week after the first appearance of the Chaos Serpent, Luna receives a message from the dragon Essirise. The latter says that the Conclave has agreed to hear the Chamber speak on the subject of aiding Khorvaire, and asks Luna to meet her in Io’lokar as soon as possible. Luna promptly travels to Argonnessen, where Essirise meets her. The silver dragon then transports her back to the valley Vorel’arux, where the Angels first met and spoke to other representatives of the Chamber. There, half a dozen dragons await Luna, including Jancarlyrix. The gargantuan bronze wyrm, representative of the Chamber to the Conclave, explains to the druid that they have found a way which will hopefully allow them to persuade the Conclave to help in Khorvaire. However, in order to do so they require Luna’s presence, since Jancarlyrix hopes to prove that she – and the other Angels – are agents of the Draconic Prophecy. Considering the degree to which the dragons of Argonnessen both study and revere the Prophecy, this sort of appeal has the best chance – or so the bronze wyrm opines – of working. There is, as usual, a small hitch. No non-dragon has ever appeared before the Conclave. “You,” he explains, “Will have to submit to a version of the temporal stasis spell, which will place you in suspended animation and allow the Conclave to study you at their leisure.”Luna frowns. “How long will that take? And what about the fact that the others are dead – and I can’t bring them back!”The dragon’s tone is sympathetic but firm as he replies. “It will take as long as it does. As for the other Angels, if we can persuade the Conclave to help, it is likely that they will be able to bring back your friends too. As you know, we have resources here that exist nowhere else in the world.”Luna’s first instinct is to make a biting comment about how it would be nice if the dragons actually used these resources rather than sitting on their giant reptilian asses, but for once she restrains herself. “All right. I agree.”* * * * *  Later...Jaela looks up at Cedric. “So we are certain then. The creature is leading its army directly to Flamekeep.”The paladin scratches his stubble and nods. “Yes. Absolutely certain – or as much as I can be.” He chuckles grimly. “We will do what we can, but I could really use the Angels. No news of them, I guess”The Keeper shakes her head.“How long has it been? Since you saw Luna last?”Jaela sighs. “It will be two months tomorrow.”</blockquote>

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