Tribulations of Wrath, part VI: Ecological Collapse
As Kshetraghan struck out against Kornar, ‘714’ did its own scouting within the Heartwood.
Utilising subterfuge magic, the mysterious creature ventured throughout the council for several weeks, observing its foes and planning a method of attack. Though it remained undetected for a large degree of its surveillance, it eventually found itself tracked down by Lin the Knife, who had caught it observing her after an exchange of shouted insults. Attempting to corner it alongside Aisling, the two Duirani ultimately failed to lay their hands on the Sholayu, whose form betrayed misty, ethereal magics that rendered it immaterial, much like an Infiltrator’s own stealthy techniques. Citing a need for more appropriate tools, the Asura departed in a rapid scramble, promising to return in the coming weeks.
Two weeks later, ‘714’ revealed itself once more. Raising its voice to the realm entire, it enacted several of its ‘bondlinks’, working Vorostran magic upon Sapient soil. Through the combined efforts of ‘the Green Sorceress’ and ‘the Lord of Hours’, the Sholayu Asura established a spawning pool for its kind, consigning a swathe of the Oaken Grove to Duiran’s enemies. Built as a stable environment to grow life through elemental forces much the same way an Ascendril’s fulcrum contained a closed loop of planar energies, the pool began to rapidly generate more of the Asura’s kind. Infused with spells from a third sorcerer known as ‘the Bringer of Foxfire’, the newly born Sholayu gathered into a crowd that began to siege the nearby Heartwood; short-lived, each slain Sholayu became a magical detonation of acid and fire, killing the council’s standing guard and adventurer defenders in droves. Under the cover of murderous chaos, ‘714’ infiltrated its enemy’s territory and fled underground into the council’s aquifer with the aid of foreign geomancy, disappearing into Duiran’s bedrock as they fought back the Asura’s loyal comrades. Working out a battle strategy, the council’s protectors held the Sholayu swarm off long enough to awaken their durdalis defenders from their slumber in the hollow. Soon, the lumbering warriors of Dendara took the place of the councillors, breaking the Sholayu siege in short order, allowing for Duiran to assess the damage and plan their next move.
After inspecting the spawning pool, Duiran’s councillors were disquieted by its eerie resemblance to their own life magics and rituals. Further inspection proved that the spawning pool was elementally stable and self-sustaining, and that though its hastening magics had depleted, a new clutch of thirteen Sholayu grew in the heart of the nutrient-rich waters. Braving the waters, Watcher Lin descended into its depths and killed one of the thirteen nascent Sholayu, and then promptly utilised its remains to divine Duiran’s future in the battles to come. Though foreign spirits joined her communion, the Watcher found viable signs and symbols in the entrails. The council began to discuss amongst themselves what to do with the remaining twelve Sholayu, concerned as they were that new foes were incubating in their midst. Resolving to use the pool as a scrying focus to attack one of ‘714’s sorcerous benefactors, or at least cut it off from her assumed control, the council continued their observations in the coming weeks.
Later that season, ‘714’ once more announced its plans to the world; it evoked new sorcerers and wizards in the second stage of its plan, creating another temporary spawning pool within Duiran’s very foundation. From warrens and holes in the Ithmia crawled new, glowing copies of itself, and they staggered about as if drunk, imbued with magics that attracted hordes of overgrown planthoppers desperate to feed unto bursting. Deployed to instrument an ecological collapse and further split Duiran’s attention, the Sholayu continued to emerge for multiple weeks, forcing the council to beseech the Swarm, a communal guardian spirit that patronises colony insects. Using this new union with insect clouds, the council waged war upon the Sholayu agents and their planthopper foes, ensuring that their pillaging did not tear down the Ithmia.
During these assaults, the Watcher of the Old World resolved to beseech higher powers and thus prayed to dark forces to secure safety for her home. Entreating Chakrasul Herself, Lin bargained for a mere drop of Immortal Corruption’s power, and utilised that gift to destroy the pool before any further harm could manifest from its reaches. The moment that droplet of Divine murk touched the pool, it ignited by jade fire and swirled into a sickening, corrupted slop, slaying the Sholayu clutch therein – an act that sparked outcry through the council throughout the next few weeks. During the ensuing unrest, Ritualist Lhoden discovered tracks that indicated a survivor of the spawning pool’s clutch, prompting the Sentinel Pride to begin a realmwide search for the newly spawned clone. Throughout the council’s debate, Dhar’s Fatalists insisted that beseeching Corruption was a dangerous mistake that posed a dire threat to the wood, and many of the Pride soon joined their protestations.
The discussions swiftly turned towards how best to reverse what many perceived as ‘damage’ to the grove that had housed the spawning pool, a perception that the Goddess of Corruption took exception to and sent Her servants to correct without delay. When the Pride consulted the ancestors in a bid for answers, a spirit of the Black Ravens admitted that gods of fire were beseeched in their time for Their cleansing power – something the Sentinels immediately began to cite as proof that Duiran should entreat Celezor, Lord of Light and Accordant Fire, for His aid. Willing to respect the wishes of the ancestors, the council built a fire in an abandoned cabin and prayed to the Morninglord, Who manifested before them in a towering pyre. Though He agreed to drive corruption from the spawning pool, Celezor made clear that He held no sense of charity towards the Duirani and thus named a price: they would have to declare Him a member of their advisory in the same way they had Arvelis in times past, granting Him equal treatment to His opposing force. The moment this topic joined common discussion, however, Chakrasul expressed Her displeasure: She bid Her power to creep forth from the grove and twist the surrounding forest, corrupting it in truth so as to teach the council a lesson in respect and gratitude – an act that only inflamed the ensuing debates, arguments, and furious scribings.
Eventually, Voice Gyrinno declared that enough had been said and done. She lifted her voice to the heavens and invited the pantheon entire to join in the converging catastrophe within the council’s political landscape, thus ushering in a new era faithful to the council’s modern faith: Dia’ruis the Green Mother as a regal hawk undeniable in Her predatory flight, and all the Gods as mere sparrows welcome to share Her sky. True to His word after accepting His place in the Heartwood, Accordant Righteousness gifted a sliver of His power to Bhalwyn, a recent addition to His following. Swiftly, that power took the unmistakable shape of His greatsword, Daybreak, and it quivered with the promised cleansing to come. Wielding that fleeting gift with heliacal authority, the Astral Sylvan thrust the burning blade into the corrupted spawning pool, setting the grove ablaze amidst the fiery tides of Celezor’s power. Alabaster flame burrowed into the earth and drove out Chakrasul’s corruption, though not without price: much of the grove suffered the rigours of a brief wildfire, leaving heaps of ash and soot all throughout the wood as proof of its recovery – a labour meant to instill wisdom in those Duirani who would come to help the grove regrow all its lush greenery.
Though unrest continued to simmer in the wake of these revelations, the council turned its attentions toward tracking down ‘714’ for an inevitable confrontation. The Sentaari employed methods of scrying and psychic projection to better seek the Sholayu Asura out, to little avail – until Dhani the Inured sought the guidance of the Dauntless. Though it took much to convince Slyphe of Dhani’s intentions, the Goddess eventually deigned to answer the Monk’s prayer, gifting the council with a scrying dish filled with the sea’s shifting powers. Warning Dhani that it would take much focus and effort to utilise properly, the Goddess dispersed into tidal mist, leaving the mortal woman to guide her fellows through the tidesieve’s unique rituals and uses. The clues they divined in the ensuing weeks proved instrumental as they began seeking places around the realm that came to them in scrying visions, though at first they proved fruitless. Eventually, the visions narrowed, and they glimpsed the Sholayu’s hideout: the wet bedrock beneath the council itself. Narrowing their search, they questioned local residents and nearby inhabitants until they discovered that priests in a nearby temple had heard sloshing water and other wet sounds, leading Voice Gyrinno to beseech Gonhon, a durdalis earth spirit, to help dig a way into the aquifer itself. Mustering four of his fellow durdalis, Gonhon promised they would aid the Duirani in their quest, though he suggested they help his comrades as best they could.
Several weeks later, the digging durdalis crews breached the aquifer at several points, allowing the council to stream through in a unified assault. Blessed by the Swarm Itself, Duiran’s warriors searched the aquifers top to bottom and found no sign of their Asura foe – only a dreaded planthopper queen surrounded by clouds of her spawn. Exultant in violent pack tactics, the council eventually quelled the magically mutated queen, allowing ‘714’ to escape by way of one of its mysterious bondlinks. The moment it reached the Ithmian outskirts, however, a lance of cold light pinned it to the earth, holding it still long enough for an enigmatic figure to engage it in battle. After a brief scuffle, ‘714’ managed to break free and flee – at the cost of the Eye of Primordial Lust, held now in the clutches of their assailant. It swiftly employed its magics once more and fled to the Vorostran flagship, where it announced the end of the Heartwood’s tribulation – and then mentioned an appreciation for mail correspondence.
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Summary: Sholayu 714 established magical spawning pools within the Heartwood to siege the council with waves of explosive clone-soldiers, while driving the Ithmia’s planthoppers into a destructive frenzy. After weeks of battle and fierce internal debate over a bargain struck with Chakrasul, Duiran traced 714 into the aquifers beneath the Heartwood and slew a monstrous planthopper queen in its stead. The Asura escaped, though not before losing the Eye of Primordial Lust to a mysterious assailant, and declared the Heartwood’s tribulation concluded.
Penned by my hand on Tisday, the 21st of Omeian, in the year 17 AC.