Editing Game-Summaries:5/31/2018 Recollections

==Recollections by Callie Tealeaf==

It was late afternoon on 6/6/346, an eerie silence descended upon the magistery, I felt a tingle on the back of my neck. I glanced around and saw a few magisters' rings have begun flashing red. Overcome by an unprecedented sense of urgency, they all begin to move towards the Red's wing of the tower. The other disciples and adepts seem concerned, and almost immediately a cacophony of inquisition takes hold. No explanation is forthcoming and nobody seems to know what is going on. I'm arguing with the meaning of this with another apprentice in my class for a painstaking 30 minutes of no further enlightenment, and then suddenly nearly everyone's rings begin to flash red. Everyone's that is except for my class's rings.

I recognized Felicia, one of the blues who...wait, didn't she go on that mission to the underdark? How is she back here? Where are is rest of the [[The Eternal Order|EO]]? [[Zanna]], [[Tallulah]], [[Dereth]], [[Ford]], [[Rezik]], and [[Kaylorr]] aren't here...but the rest of their party is. What is going on? I grab Felicia's sleeve and demand an explanation. Felicia almost unconcernedly gestures for me to run with her down the stairs and says she'll explain on the way. Okay...A panic of magisters run down the several stairwells in the library, my sense of urgency is rising.

"The double flash means [[The Red|Headmaster Danavus]] has called for an emergency dispensation. We have to get to the Codex" Felicia explains between panting breaths as we race down the stairs. "The first call was probably for a vanguard, likely led by [[Highest|Highest Liandrin]]. The last time the Red's Dispensation was given was the [[The Great Awakening|rise of the kraken]]. Whatever this is, it can't be good." Felicia points at my ring, "Apprentices are not required to answer the call, and Initiates aren't allowed, unless they sneak in...Once you enter the Codex, you won't have time to change your mind before we go."  Well I guess that explains that...Well, no turning back now. We funneled in with the rest of the magistery, I've never actually seen this many magisters in one place before. There's hundreds of people funneling into...the training dungeon?

Felicia sees the question on my face before I even realize I'm going to ask it. "You've been here for a while now, you must know [[The Artifact|the training dungeon]] is more than it seems. Every house calls it something different, we call it the Codex. We don't have time to explain, but I'm glad you decided to join us." A look of fear flashes across Felicia's eyes. "If we make it through this…I'll happily tell you all about the Codex." Ugh, I always knew there was something fishy about this thing. The training...Codex... is abuzz with the energy of a thousand magisters and…are those siege weapons? Headmaster Danavus is levitating above the central artifact, and [[The Green|Headmaster Kord]] stands stoic in the center of the room with his hand grasping the orb that has sent me into so many simulations. Were they even simulations at all? Nearly ten minutes since the second flashing of the rings, Headmaster Danavus waves his hand over the crowd, and a muting silence descends onto the room.

Headmaster Danavus booms over the crowd	"Moments ago in a disgusting perversion of [[Mystryl]]'s gift was detected from the northeast. Highest Liandrin led a scouting party, and discovered an abyssal breach inside of [[Toldoth]]," Spitting the words out, Danavus takes a breath and continues. "Liandrin is leading the vanguard into the city and I have just received her first report." Danavus' eyes ignite with an unbridled fury. "I will find these desecrators, and I will kill them. Your job is to kill as many demons as you can and prevent them from escaping the city. There are hundreds, if not thousands of demons already in the city. Our strength lies with our ability to think and attack strategically. [[Captain General|Captain General Warden]] is already on the other side coordinating the battle. Remember, stay together!" Demons...did he say demons? Without warning, Headmaster Kord twists the central orb of the artifact and there's this bright flash of light and immense heat washes over me. I reopen my eyes to see that I'm on a cliff overlooking the city of Toldoth. 

From this far away, the battlefield looks like it's moving in slow motion. I can hear the distant shrieking of hordes of demons, flooding the city like a thick ichor. Greater demons towering as tall as buildings charge down the streets crushing friend and foe alike. There! In the very center of the city is Highest Liandrin and her vanguard host of reds. Gods they look heroic, standing in a phalanx ready to weather the storm of demons heading in their direction. Headmaster Kord blows a horn carved from bone and the sky is alight with words scripting in clouds, battlefield commands no doubt. The greens seem to know what they mean, and they immediately go to work pushing magical energy into these eldritch rune covered cannons. Massive swirling beams of green and purple energy fire into the flood of demons vaporizing them by the hundreds. The sheer destruction of it all. 

There's a flash of light to the west, lightning crackles and rends the air opening a hellish maw in the sky, and devils immediately fly through the opening and fly towards the red vanguard alone in the city center. Devils?

I overhear Cassio "The blood war? On my plane?" What is he talking about? I see Jeroy scoping out a path towards the center, but before he can take off, gates appear all over the battlefield. Yeah, I guess that makes sense, why run when you can teleport? Well, someone needs to record this for history...I guess that will be my job. Magisters are springing into motion everywhere, running through the gates and rematerializing in the center reinforcing the vanguard, it looks like they're encircling a group of casters in the middle...mostly greens from the looks of it. A company of browns is heading towards the new portal towards the west, I see [[Sakura]]'s famous cherry blossoms, he must be with headmaster [[The Brown|Odinson]]. Who is that bald wizard over there? I've never seen him before, he looks old. And...mad? no, determined. I know that hand motion, he's sending messages to people.

A number of greens have taken authority as battlefield commanders, the moment I look like I'm not busy, a Green is shouting an order at me, and then moving on before I can even acknowledge. Between the siege weapons needing constant attention, and the soldiers entering the fray, there is no shortage of things to do. Looking west, the portal to Avernus has now opened wide and Devils are swarming into the city, it would appear that at least for now they are on your side. [[Cassio]], [[Jeroy]], [[Avant]], and [[Sarya]] fly off into the heat of battle, they run through the gate to the middle and then almost immediately leave the protective cover of the reds, wading into battle swinging weapons wildly. This would make for a great painting....if I knew how to paint. The brown contingent heading towards the portal is led by Headmaster Odinson, and I see [[Sakura]] making an example out of any demon that presses team. The discipline of the hellspawn is startling, they break the demon ranks with exacting efficiency, and Odinson has made contact with a bald wizard floating near the portal to Avernus, making the somatic hallmarks of sending telepathic messages….and what is that thudding sound?

A silhouette of a hulking beast 30 feet tall with massive horns blots out the portal from Avernus. A red creature with sharp teeth dripping with blood steps into the daylight and lashes out a many tailed whip to stretch his muscles. I've read of this creature, this is the archdevil [[Moloch]].

With inhuman speed Moloch starts running towards the city center, and before he reaches the red phalanx he simply winks out of existence. The confusion only lasts a few seconds as he reappears in the middle of the demon ranks. The archdevil goes to work, slaying demons by the dozen. His whip crackling with energy and demons swarming over his body, he tosses demons like rag dolls. He screams in a voice that cuts through the air something in infernal, you're not sure what he said, but it seemed to taunt the demons. [[Ci]] and [[Loco]] do this weird spinning thing and take turns firing pot shots at distant demon generals. They a few of the bigger demon lords before they can even become a threat. Good tactics, I think. 

I see [[Pearl]] and [[Ember]] in the center of the red phalanx, with a bunch of other druids. They're doing some kind of mass casting, but I don't know what it is. Battle plans are set into motion and temporary alliances forged as the archdevil Moloch relishes his new lease on life and with each swing demons go flying in all directions. The druid regiment is casting a synchronized storm of vengeance, and explosions of earth and fire create massive cavities in the flood of demons. The fight continues for hours, the stench of bile and blood fills my nostrils. Ash motes cloud the air making it hard to see. The portals finally begin to dim slightly, maybe we're nearing the end of this...whatever this was. And where is Headmaster Danavus? Liandrin is still holding the center of the city, which looking back on things was a huge tactical advantage in this fight, but I haven't seen Headmaster Danavus since we all arrived and he became a phoenix...which by the way, is becoming a phoenix a normal thing? With the cries of battle waning down, I find myself saying "Where is Headmaster Danavus?"

One of the reds, I think her name is Ferris, rotating out from holding the central phalanx points a despondent finger towards the portal to the Abyss. "He went in...side..." she looks like she's about to collapse. I probably shouldn't say something like going into the Abyss is probably a one way trip... It appears that the demons have been repelled and at least for now, and the threat is managed. Sometime in the last hour, Moloch winked  out of existence, maybe his job was fulfilled...Devils do love to keep the letter of their contracts. As the Abyssal portal finally slams shut the devil army makes quick work of the remaining demons before retreating themselves, and the Magistery begins tending to the wounded and making what repairs they can. It looks like this day is won, if this could be called winning. The dead litter the city like a scene from the apocalypse. Maybe it's time to go home. The Headmasters begin opening gates to their own personal teleportation circles within the Magistery tower. I think I'll go now. That strange wizard left through the portal to Avernus after sharing some words with Headmaster Odinson...I should probably convince one of my more outspoken classmates to poke and prod at that information and be in a good place to overhear whatever happens next.

As a historian I guess I get to name this recollection. I will call it the [[Battle of Toldoth]]. That's not taken, right?