The Maw of Oblivion

Thank you both. Your efforts in investigating The Maw will be invaluable when the time comes for us to confront it; I have confidence that your work shall bear fruit. It has been a long while since I've thought of that battle--with good reason--but I realize that I have additional information that may help in defeating this beast:


-The balancing forces of light and dark seem to have a devastating effect on The Maw, and I don't mean attacking at random; there's a rhythm to it. Like two smiths working at an anvil, alternating strike, light and dark working together in pairs increased our power tenfold. But should light or dark fight alone, we were able to do almost nothing. I firmly believe that we can use the powers of light and dark to defeat this creature... but the question is how? This is challenge number one.

-While between the veils, it was almost as though our heroic souls were... weakened. If I wanted to deflect a blow, I could do so once. If Aiki wanted cast his dragon's breath upon our foes, he could do so once. If somebody wanted to assassinate an enemy, they could do so once. Pure marshal skill, clever tactics, and the fast reaction of our healers were the only reasons we managed to survive. If we want to stand a chance, we might want to find a way to prevent our souls from weakening. This is challenge number two.

-I need to reiterate Aiki's point: All throughout this fight, The Maw never stopped trying to draw us in. If we were to stumble too close or fall to the ground for more than 10 seconds, the cost would have been absolute obliteration of the soul. And we had a lot of people come close--a few seconds more and they would have been gone forever. We need to figure out a more efficient way to prevent ourselves from getting sucked in, this way we can focus on the fight at hand and reduce our risk of obliteration--if only by a fraction. This is challenge number three.

-The last thing I have to add is the matter of The Maw's manifestations. During this fight, The Maw's many tendrils manifested themselves into... I'm not really sure what to call them; they were some kind of entity that lacked identifiable features, all of which were extremely powerful and fought with neverending brutality. But hurting them using the dark/light method I mentioned earlier seemed to directly hurt The Maw. With every manifestation that we defeated, another chain broke off of Cinder. I'm unsure if this is something we could use to our advantage, but I sure hope some of our brilliant researchers will turn over some stones and find a solution. This is challenge number four.

That's all I can remember for now. If anything else crosses my addled memory, I'll be sure to follow up. I pray this information will be of use to us all. For this world's sake, I truly hope so.

-Sir Odette D. Lucatiel

Lois,
I will let Thalia respond to your questions as I was not present for the battle.


Thank you for further information Odette. It is by belief that the Archons using their powers to weaken the Maw will assist in most of the challenges of battling it that you brought forth. I do not believe that challenge number two would be an issue as the Maw will be coming here, we will not be going between the veils. Unless of course, if the Maw was what caused that weakening, in which case, what the Archons are doing should help.

This is just an idea of how it could help. More research is needed on the impact that the Archons will have; I will be looking into this more this coming feast.

Thalia, Selby, thank you both for your tireless effort on this. Any help I can render to you, you have it.

I agree wholeheartedly, Lois, that more research is needed - I think we have a starting point in your first question by asking what happened to the Twilight Stars. If indeed Gamaliel destroyed or consumed them on his path to become the Maw, we should try to understand how, and what was left over of them.

Nadia,
Thank you. It will be good to see you again.


Lois,
Regarding your questions:
1) I am unsure, but I have plans to speak with someone next moon who is intimately familiar with Soul Harvesters and may have the answer. I will let you know more when I gather the information.

2) They broke, but did not come back with us. They were attached to these two stone columns and remained attached when Cinder was freed. They were left behind when we escaped.

3) I will have to think on this further, I have it in one of my journals. I simply need time to find which one. I will get back to you.

4) It does make sense. The tendrils themselves were free-moving, but the maw itself, or rather its mouth, continued to attempt to pull us into it. None of us were able to keep our footing for very long in one spot because the air around us kept being sucked towards its gaping mouth. That being said, it does not necessarily need to use its tendrils to get you to come towards it, but attacking its tendrils - as Odette mentioned - did cause pain to the whole. That being said the Tendrils did attempt to pull us in more than once.

-We were able to harm the tendrils. As Odette rightly stated earlier, attacking them seemed to directly effect the Maw itself and it is how we were able to free Cinder. Some were fighting them, I had to attempt to avoid them as my abilities seemed... dampened on the other Plane. So a bit of both. There is also the fact that we were in its domain, where it was clearly much stronger. But we also did not have the knowledge of the Archons at that time.


Talahiel,
The more help we have with research regarding what was revealed last moon, the better. I believe I speak for myself and Selby when I say that we would welcome all assistance.

Thalia, Selby, Sir Odette, and everyone involved-

I will be glad to assist in researching the Maw and in whatever other ways I can be of service.

A quick thought and topic for Research-

As more of us have been able to tap into wielding light and dark power, would more people than just Paladins be able to assist in weakening it with those powers? Exemplars and soul binders can wield the same powers naturally, and many people now have runes that allow them to.