Demonic Invasion IV Discords Awakening

Demonic Invasion IV: Discords Awakening
After the recent event that have transpired upon the Forest of Kelvar, the devastating loss of the Coia Orn (Life Tree).  RuBarb of Natures’ Kin was successful in creating a dome of sanctuary dousing out the fires under it.  The heroes of the Realms made haste to the Forest of Kelvar hearing its impearl doom.
As the heroes arrived RuBarb asked their assistance in first cleansing the corrupted elements from under the dome so that a small piece of the forest can start to heal.  The Realms quickly discovered they can purify the elements with the moonwell and discovered the source of their corruption.  A large venus fly trap feeling on the flesh of it’s victims.  Mythious thinking in advance brought some water from the moonwell with him and they made short work of its corruption.
With a short break the Realms declared their leaders to follow into the battle field, and each group was sent off to do their missions.  RuBarb quickly gathered their war strategist and entered into the war room, to discover an ancient temple under the Forest of Kelvar.  They were informed there are many of these types of temples within the forest but most have been destroyed, this is one that remains intact.  But the heroes had to be quick for the Legion would soon discover their presence there and surely send its army against them.
As the heroes made their way toward the Temple entrance Tempest stepped forward screaming ‘we don’t belong here, we’re not supposed to be here.’  Something seemed to have taken possession over her as she clawed at her our flesh cutting into her veins.  Heroes heard whispering voices telling them to ‘leave, do not interfere with my work here.  The longer you interfere the more she shall suffer; you will be the cause of her pain.’ Tempest screamed in pain as she ran from the Temple disappearing into the forest.  Throughout the night the voice continued to plague the mind of Pilpus and James Swift, even hearing Tempest voice.   What the Realms discovered within the Temple was a series of challenges left by a forgotten people, to challenge those that enter if they were worth enough to awaken the Elder Guardians.  The Legion always ever present at the back side they fought the challenges within the Temple as well as the Legion.  Statues speaking of prophecy that good and evil must be in balance for the cycle to start a new.  That without the cycle all life will come to an end.  Nine were chosen before, nine will be chosen again. Having fought hard throughout the night the Realms certainly had their work cut out for them.  With great magics they were able to unlock the final room, but at great cost to Tempest soul.  The room open revealing a great tomb and the last statue spoke ‘And now the Elder Guardians have awoken.’  The air grew still as silence was heard.  The great tomb had been desecrated.  9 tomb laid here, 8 of them broken with a body long lost to the decay of time.  As the adventures found Natures’ Kin favor upon them the body turned to ash and blew away into the air with a blue shimmering light.  The final tomb undisturbed the realms decided to disturb by lifting the great stone.  Doing so the booming voice of what was in their minds screamed ‘LEAVE!’ the tomb was empty.  Pilpus, Kyara, and James Swift attempted to cleanse the spirits, restore the temple to its glory in a way.  The spirits didn’t seem to answer only more questions.  With this knowledge they sought only one question answered, ‘What has happened to Tempest’, the answer was ‘You’ll discover that when you return’.  As the adventures made their way back to the dome, Tempest laid dead with Mormegic the blade of discord that consumed her just a year ago, laying upon her body.  Kyara ran to her aid touching the sword it spoke ‘Feed me’.  Tempest quickly killed her after being revived so that the sword would not have her as its new master.  Throwing Mormegic away she scrambled to get to her feet.  Sir Bones knowing this sword well decided he would take its burdens.  Fighting its desire to feed he was able to hold it at bay but only for a short time.  Calling out Molgor to fight, the sword aguish to feed was too impatient to wait it forced it’s will upon Bones has he physically tried to hold it at bay, but that too only lasted for a time.  The sword tasted ones blood before and craved it once more, at long struggle it found what it was seeking, James Swift.  It was done James Swift consumed by Mormegic, and bond to Sir Bones.  Tempest screamed calling him a monster having forgotten all that happened over the last year, she throw her squire ship to the ground, and Mormegic’s voice fell silent after saying ‘Now we are as one’.  Tempest crying out to return James Swift casting True Resurrection, see was successful but a piece of his soul was lost along with a piece of hers.  The heroes of the Realms looked grim as this is a great foe it seemed their hopes were broken.  As the hour grew late, they started to regain their courage and their laughs began to fill the tavern halls.
The new morning came and each of the generals stood upon the field of battle as they each fought against the opposing Legion factions.  The Beasts seemed to have lost their will to fight as only a few of them were on the field.  Little did the Realms know there were only so few of them because they were coming in force when the night fell once more.
The Void shards that created portals to the Void would be the next mission for the Realms to fight.  As night came the Realms gathered their forces once more to leave the dome and fight the Legion.  Iyara the succubus, a long forgotten foe with much history with the Forest of Kelvar, controlled this army of beasts.  Out of the void came the beasts flooding the forest with a great army of the Legion.  Slowly the realms advanced forward destroy shard after shard.  As they did so a piece of the Void Artifact was left behind, later gathered underneath the dome for protection.  The voices of Mormegic plagued the mind of Sir Bones, and Batu the last Elder Guardian called for his child Tempest to come home.  The battle was fought hard, but the Bones, Tempest and Mythious fought inner their demons.  Trying to keep Tempest from going into the Void and fighting against Mormegic desire to feed, they attempted to have Soul Reaver take Tempest soul so that she could not go into the Void.  What they found is that her soul was not in her phylactery.  Batu taunted Bones telling him ‘leave or I will take her soul, you will be the cause of her pain and suffering, leave now and I will let her go’.  Bones plagued by the thoughts in his head, and having lost all hope, merely stood there as the Legion picked off his armor.  He was broken, Batu had nearly won, Bones decided there was no reason for him to stay and he was ready to leave.  Then Tempest touched the Void crying out to Batu ‘I’m home Batu, take me home, why won’t you take me home?’  Bones knew something worked, and gain a little sense of hope back.  With Mythious’s help they pulled her away from the Void Shard. Batu spoke to him again ‘You sword may have prevented me from taking her home, but your magics will only hold onto the enviable for so long.’  This was a small victory that didn’t last so long as they would have like, as the fifth Void Shard was destroyed – Tempest found a way to the Void.  Having grabbed Soul Reaver from Bones’s corpse she once again walked into the Void, returning home to Batu.  Enraged Bones cried out to Arioch but no one answered.  Thoril said he can bring her back with True Resurrection, in disbelief Bones listened still crying out to Arioch, he could sense Arioch trying to make his way through but something resisted his power.  Batu spoke ‘You gods have no power here, worship me follow me and I will end all your suffering, all your pain.’  Bones sensed Arioch crashing upon the barrier that kept his power from doing what Bones asked, and it gave way just a little and Tempest was returned to the living, without Soul Reaver.  Another piece of her soul stripped from herself, she knows Bones is the cause of her pain. ‘I allowed Arioch to help you, I allowed his power to come here.  My generosity won’t be so forgiving the next time.  Worship me and I will end all suffering, all pain, I will bring an end to the cycle.’  With little time left after all this they rushed to find the last Void Shard.  A great beast Bullette infused with the energy’s of the void stood in their way.  The last Void Shard would not be destroyed so easily, each time the Realms thought it was destroyed it would reappear.  And with time running against them the Realms failed to figure out how to defeat the beast and destroy the last Void Shard.  The heroes can only stand so long within the Foest of Kelvar when it is set ablaze before being lost to it, and so they had to return to the dome in order to be protected.
The Realms demoralized having failed in their mission knew there was still much to be done.  Having made their way back to the dome, they had little rest before heading out again.  RuBarb quickly gathered them within the war room once more.  Sadly having failed one of their missions a year ago ‘The Forge’ had rebuilt his furnaces and fortified his stronghold.  The Realms would once again battle the foe they failed to defeat.  Mythious having seen this before knew exactly what to do, he was able to quickly gather the troops with Jordan and make their way out to the battlefield.  A well fought battle the Realms heroes again were able to forge the TNT needed to destroy the furnaces but were once again dumb founded on how to defeat The Forge once and for all.  Kyara gathering the will to cast Divine Aid discovered that the anvil use to forge the casings had a heart beat.  With haste they forged another TNT and with little time to spare they skipped sealing the TNT to get the deed done.  Molgor rallied the troops to protect him as he lit the final TNT.  Fighting against time and the undying horde of Constructs the fuse was lit, and the heart destroyed.  Without delay Morgol stuck down The Forge once more and grabbed the Hammer of Discord and a voice spoke to him.  Unlike the other blades of discord this one didn’t appear to be corrupt as the others, it wanted metal and ore to forge blades, and armor.  He defeated one of the remaining constructs and bond the hammer to him. ‘We’re going to build great things’, it said.  And as the fires of the forest began to die down, the Realms celebrated in their victory.
A well fought adventure, but the morning again came and there was still work to be done.  Having succeeded in 2 of their missions, the Realms had to gather what strength remained in order to push back the Legion as much as they could to increase the dome’s protection over the forest.  They won battles, they lost battles, but in the end they pushed back the Legion and recovered a good portion of the forest back under the dome.  A treasure chest was found through their battles on the field, containing gold, and several items (In-House Items) that the Realms would later draw a random lottery for.  A Nightmare, Porch of Remedies, and a Demonicorn.  With that the battles ended and awards were handed out.  Ash having received MVP for the Fiends (Legion) also received the ‘Seed of the Coia Orn’.  A magical item that grants the wearer Seed of Life, and upon death automatically casts Seed of Life upon him.  This Seed of Coia Orn must be kept safe, if the Legion is defeated the forest with this seed can regrow a new Coia Orn, and maybe can restore the balance it once stood for.
OOC: Thank you everyone that came to Demonic Invasion this year, especially those that stuck it out to the very end.  A huge thank you to all my staff that helped put this all together, without you I would have been lost.  Thank you to Michelle, Jen C, Ian, and Shane for the prop building.  Thank you to Hannah, Keith, Kevin, Brad, Craig, Kendall, Greg for staffing the event with setup and NPCing and Marshaling the tournaments.  Thank you Hal my bestest of friends that puts up with my craziness and is a huge supporter in having my story be told.  Thank you to my co-holder James, for all the support with props and keeping me focus when I am not.  I apologize if I missed anyone know I still thank you a great deal.  I also know that not all the details of the event were written here, I may have missed quite a bit actually but this is already long enough.  Please feel free to fill in the gaps, and tell your story.  I hope everyone that came enjoyed the event – we aim to make it better each year, so look out for next Demonic Invasion V: (don’t have a sub-title yet).  Thank you!