The Maw of Oblivion

Thank you everyone for all of your input and questions. Stay vigilant, it could be any day now that the Maw manages to cross over into this plane. Feel free to ask more questions if you have them too.

So easily forgotten are we?
Zelretch, the one who guided us all to the weakest point between the planes with his astral know-how and parted the veils for us, so that we might reach the gate and was first in line holding onto Magnus so he wasn't sucked into the Maw when Cinder was freed? Those of us do not serve the Light yet we put ourselves at risk just the same, for the "Greater Good" and all that? Our lives were on the line and likely will be again. Do not do us the disrespect of omitting us.


That being said, thank-you for all of your time and research.

Swyft,

I do apologize. I would never purposely leave out the actions of others. I was not at the original fight and therefore, the notes on that are only what I have heard secondhand. If you would like to reach out with more details, I would be more than happy to alter the original notes to include them so that everyone has a clear understanding of what has happened.

This is not a matter of pride nor valor. We have a horror that must die. No one cares what has been done till the beast is dead. Then claim revelries. Until then prepare. Nothing else. Prepare.

Moostrav, please.

Listen, we acknowledge what Zelretch has done. It's simply not of the matter right now. If anything we would ask him to show others how he parted the veils. Understand we hold nothing sacred here, this beast will die. As we have said, prepare. Though we should say we see much, and although words fall to the ground, it does not mean they do not support a foundation. Every action is seen and has a consequence, we never said revelries would not come. This simply is not the place... yet.

Cease your tiresome lecture. I have been in Travance near seven years. I understand how these things work. I said my piece.

Swyft,
War is as much about picking your battles as it is about fighting them. Peace, please, my old friend.

I don't know how much help I can be in this fight. You need me, I'm there if possible, just say the word. I have too many friends, both light and dark in this fight to abandon it completely.

I can currently offer some thoughts in tactical planning. Back when I was briefly a Shaman, I remember they had a spell that reduced the weight of a person. could we couple this spell with the hands mages can conjure, or psionics to keep the drawing in effect down, or possibly negate it?

Father Donald MacFhionnlaigh

Forgive me my ignorance, but can someone define what counts as 'light' and 'dark' magic? I'm unfamiliar with the terms in this context, and I'd like to know whether I should brush up on my magical abilities or focus on my abilities as a physician.

Ignorance is avoiding the truth rather than seeking it out, but consider yourself forgiven nonetheless. They are speaking in terms of yore before the Light and Dark pantheons of Eodra united together. Back then our power source, where we were granted the ability to conjure the miracles of our chosen deity, differed depending on whom we chose to worship.

~Nalick DeMarche

Nalick I may be confused by you're wording... Though the Gods of the Light and Dark (and Neutral) variety are all unified in purpose these days, it is still the case that those who draw on those greater beings draw from light and dark power sources.

But hey, context and clarity are always good things for moving a discussion forward:

The power sources of Light and Dark, may seem like confusing names for their associations and how often they are invoked as metaphor, are in reality literally exactly that: those who draw on light draw on an energy of warmth, brightness, literally light. Those who draw on dark power draw on shadow, coldness, literally dark. Neither one has a specific morality or ideal attached to it. They are two of four power sources (the other being chaos which is energy from other planes of reality, and the energy of the natural order of things, the energy that makes the plants grow or our bodies heal. It's often shortened to "order" but that can be confusing.)

There are greater powers who draw on these power sources, and grant said power to their followers, and often these beings do have an agenda or morality that they ask their followers adhere to said ideals in exchange for using these powers.

This includes Fiona, who is the embodiment of the concept of good and altruism and offers her power to her champions, the Paladins of Light. There is also Miranda, the embodiment of the concept of evil and self advancement who offers power to her champions, the Dark Paladins. There are also dragons who can provide the power of light and dark, and of course, relevant to this situation, the Light Gods and the Dark Gods.

Each god has an aspect that they are the embodiment of, those who worship a chosen god value this aspect, those who wield divine power are intended to do so in the name of advancing and championing their gods specific aspect. The Light Gods aspects are things like love and justice, life, and purity. The Dark Gods aspects are things like suffering, corruption, death, and instinct. (These ideals may seem unpleasant but they are part of this crazy thing we call existing and ignoring them can be kind of unhealthy.)

I believe the stuff Nalick is referring to, and the stuff that Swyft is concerned about is that historically there have been times when things were not so unified. A time when dark powers were forbidden, and worshippers were hunted, regardless of whether or not they deserved it. (It turns out like in the case of all mortals, some did, some didn't. Many were forced to practice in secret.) And those who served the Light were held up as exemplars of selflessness and good (again a reputation that some deserved and some didn't). We have since learned the truth about how both sides of this coin are necessary.

I know this was really long and kind of rambling, but again since the Maw seems to be a thing deeply tied into both the dark and the light, and both sides need to be unified to defeat it anyone who comes into this discussion wondering how this stuff works and what is going on should probably get all of the context.

Ah, that explains why I've no knowledge of it. I don't much hold by the gods, and posses no such divine power. I shall however contact Sylviel, as she is now a Cleric, and therefore may be of some assistance.

Jackdaw, your rambling is indeed handy in times such as these. Perhaps I could learn that brevity is not always the solution. Yet I meant the miracles we could conjure once differed. The spells an Andorran would cast could be compassionate in nature while an Agauran's would deal more in suffering and what, if any, learning came from it. After all that's happened, we clergy are able to perform the same regardless of our theological leanings.

~Nalick DeMarche

Well said, Jackdaw.
For this fight we will need both the Light and the Dark, together.

Annora is quite correct. We will need both to face what is coming for us.
For those who do not know me. I am Tirsen Crestingstar, former First Knight of Kaladonia as Knighted by Lord Birnum Pyre and Paladin of the White Fox.

Long have I been away in solitude and in my meditations I have touched the mind of what you call the maw, it knows only hunger and know no distinction between Light and dark.
In my minds eyes I have seen that soon it will be upon us, far sooner than many suspect. My visions have told me that by Yule Tide it will be forced from the Ascendant Realm and into our own. The time for debates and arguments are over, all must come together or we will not succeed.

The following is a copy of a letter sent to the Archons by Professor Algrave regarding the coming fight.

Good morning students. This letter is from Professor Algrave and I am writing to you to tell you that I do not believe that we will see each other again before the Maw enters our world. Already I can feel it shifting the planes and no matter where we are at the time of its full arrival, we must be ready. Thalia appears to have some awareness of this beast and I believe that she will sense its presence as soon as it fully crosses over.

I do not believe that all of you are destined to play the same role in this battle and some of you may contribute better to the fight in a more traditional sense. Only you will be able to listen to your own soul and determine the part you will play. For those who are destined to forgo their physical weapons and engage this battle from an alternative perspective, I will share with you the way in which I believe this perspective would play out.

This creature is currently too powerful to be defeated from without. I believe the only way to change that for those who will be fighting it is to do so from within. The creature has consumed countless souls and these souls have been subjugated and tethered to it to make it larger and stronger. Those who fought it before described black tendrils of power lashing out; I believe these tendrils are actually dark souls and I believe that they must be separated from the maw in order to be defeated.

I believe that you will need to find a way to separate these souls making them vulnerable to those fighting it. How you will exactly do this is difficult to say, however I do believe that you will need to be closer to those souls in order to do this, and the only way to be close enough in my belief is to become one of them. I think that you will need to become part of the monster in order to infect it with your power and exert your special form of influence over it. The window of your self control will likely be very small after you become a part of it. You will likely have less than an hour before you loose all sense of yourself and simply becomes its tool. But if you can make a difference before that happens, I believe that this is your greatest chance.

What I am suggesting may seem hard to process but this is our one chance and we won’t have the luxury of experimenting safer options... Your guess at how you become one with it is as good as mine, but if it were me I would find its mouth as quickly as possible and hurl myself into it. I stand ready here to receive your questions and give you further advice. Please think about your role in this upcoming battle and let me know where your soul is leading you.

- Professor Algrave

Here is additional information from our contact, Rojier:

Greetings, You may share this information with the rest of town. I suspect that other groups have information as well and if you could all coordinate this information it would be for the best.

The price of failure will mean the end of the forces of good and evil, which will result additionally in the death of the gods. This beast seems to feed off of consuming good and evil, so it is possible that with our destruction it might move onto another world, possibly leaving this one with minimal physical destruction.

Both physical and metaphysical objects are pulled towards the mouth. Stasis magic such as imprisonments would have little effect. Metaphysical walls sometimes pause the pull in for a few seconds, and sometimes does not impede the pull at all.

The tendrils are not likely to be able to get physically tangled. They can however be drawn a good distance away from the mouth, though it is unlikely that it would break line of sight from it.

The Master Souls need only cast its spell once to end the fight by pulling everyone into the mouth. Reports of the length of uninterrupted time needed to cast the spell are different but range between fifteen seconds and thirty seconds. The hardest thing about interrupting this spell is that the Master Soul teleports occasionally and there is no way to predetermine the location it will teleport to, it is however always on the visible battlefield.

~Dame Amalthea Laurent-Belmont

Jenn Cutter (Jenn) wrote: The following is a copy of a letter sent to the Archons by Professor Algrave regarding the coming fight.

Good morning students. This letter is from Professor Algrave and I am writing to you to tell you that I do not believe that we will see each other again before the Maw enters our world. Already I can feel it shifting the planes and no matter where we are at the time of its full arrival, we must be ready. Thalia appears to have some awareness of this beast and I believe that she will sense its presence as soon as it fully crosses over.

I do not believe that all of you are destined to play the same role in this battle and some of you may contribute better to the fight in a more traditional sense. Only you will be able to listen to your own soul and determine the part you will play. For those who are destined to forgo their physical weapons and engage this battle from an alternative perspective, I will share with you the way in which I believe this perspective would play out.

This creature is currently too powerful to be defeated from without. I believe the only way to change that for those who will be fighting it is to do so from within. The creature has consumed countless souls and these souls have been subjugated and tethered to it to make it larger and stronger. Those who fought it before described black tendrils of power lashing out; I believe these tendrils are actually dark souls and I believe that they must be separated from the maw in order to be defeated.

I believe that you will need to find a way to separate these souls making them vulnerable to those fighting it. How you will exactly do this is difficult to say, however I do believe that you will need to be closer to those souls in order to do this, and the only way to be close enough in my belief is to become one of them. I think that you will need to become part of the monster in order to infect it with your power and exert your special form of influence over it. The window of your self control will likely be very small after you become a part of it. You will likely have less than an hour before you loose all sense of yourself and simply becomes its tool. But if you can make a difference before that happens, I believe that this is your greatest chance.

What I am suggesting may seem hard to process but this is our one chance and we won’t have the luxury of experimenting safer options... Your guess at how you become one with it is as good as mine, but if it were me I would find its mouth as quickly as possible and hurl myself into it. I stand ready here to receive your questions and give you further advice. Please think about your role in this upcoming battle and let me know where your soul is leading you.

- Professor Algrave

If need be I will offer myself if it means a chance to defeat this creature. I only hope my draconic spirit will aide in this endeavor. Though I know not its name perhaps now will be a good time as ever for its presence to be made known.

Here is additional information from our contact, Rojier:

Greetings, You may share this information with the rest of town. I suspect that other groups have information as well and if you could all coordinate this information it would be for the best.

The price of failure will mean the end of the forces of good and evil, which will result additionally in the death of the gods. This beast seems to feed off of consuming good and evil, so it is possible that with our destruction it might move onto another world, possibly leaving this one with minimal physical destruction.

Both physical and metaphysical objects are pulled towards the mouth. Stasis magic such as imprisonments would have little effect. Metaphysical walls sometimes pause the pull in for a few seconds, and sometimes does not impede the pull at all.

The tendrils are not likely to be able to get physically tangled. They can however be drawn a good distance away from the mouth, though it is unlikely that it would break line of sight from it.

The Master Souls need only cast its spell once to end the fight by pulling everyone into the mouth. Reports of the length of uninterrupted time needed to cast the spell are different but range between fifteen seconds and thirty seconds. The hardest thing about interrupting this spell is that the Master Soul teleports occasionally and there is no way to predetermine the location it will teleport to, it is however always on the visible battlefield.

Dare I say find our local trap master and have them create traps on the field that are only activated on command or via or best marksman?

Aiki,

As the letter I shared was originally sent just to the Archons, I am unsure if anyone else would be able to impact the battle from inside the Maw. I would recommend sending a missive to Professor Algrave if you were considering trying to join us. I would hate for you to jump in, only to be unable to assist.

Jenn Cutter (Jenn) wrote: Aiki,

As the letter I shared was originally sent just to the Archons, I am unsure if anyone else would be able to impact the battle from inside the Maw. I would recommend sending a missive to Professor Algrave if you were considering trying to join us. I would hate for you to jump in, only to be unable to assist.

Selby,

If this is the Archons mission then I will not interfere.

It might be prudent for me to oversee the field.

Starling (starling) wrote: Aiki, I think your suggestion of traps is a grand one. I would recommend supplementing those traps with someone or many someones with mastery of Telemancy, who could have a chance to stop the Master Soul from teleporting. I don't know if it will work, but it is worth trying.

For myself, I will be following Professor Algrave's suggestion, so I wish you the best of the battle.

.....

Of course the plan was going to end up with you leaping into the mouth that consumes all good and evil and going into the mouth destroys your soul forever and that is where you need to go. Of course it had to be a soul devouring destroying monster.

Alright, I'll be there to fight all of the bad, and wait for when the Archons get out. (And if they don't come out I will find out where ever they are, and find a way to bring them back.)