Editing Game-Summaries:4/27/2019 Recollections (section)

==Recollections by Iago==
Before I begin my tale of our (mis)adventure, let me introduce you to some of my new friends and retainers. Meet the latest addition to our family, the Troupe of Bearded Devils. It is a full unit that came here to become thespians and I welcome their addition. They will thrive under my tutelage. Additionally they have also offered to join us in battle and they will be formidable indeed.

Word of Vanavichi has spread!

And now, sit down and listen carefully, for a story like this has never been told.

Our friend, [[Dereth]], deems it useful to ask his god as to the possibilities of our mission, to bring [[Chandra]] back and I do not have to tell you how this goes.

<blockquote>
''A female voice echoes through Shanjiu Castle...''

''To be heard is the task of power divine,''

''Supremest wisdom, and primeval love,''

''Abandon all hope, ye who enter here''
</blockquote>

You may divine what you wish from that, what I hear is that Hell is where we shall go. It is a good thing that I know something of being in Hell! Ah, home, here we come.

We all travel to the Temple of Viviene and [[Color_Guard#First_Weaver|Wisakedjak]] tells us that he can aid is by in this venture. If we decide to go the route of entering the Labyrinth with our Souls, instead of our bodies, he will Raise us 2-weeks hence. And thus begins the ritual of entering the realm of the dead - I kill everyone and perform what may be my final song, a Song of Death. I weave the words of [[Kaylorr]]'s prophecy and the words of Vivian into the song in hopes that eases our memory and passing into this realm.

All that is left is me and I commit, without hesitation, my final act and stab myself. Many times. I too succumb and enter the Labyrinth.

We "awake" to find each other, though our memories seems to fade. Quickly we all fade into the black shades and it is difficult to recognize each other. There is another being here!

The other being is Chandra! Time to leave, yes? No. That would've been far too easy. Chandra will not leave until she has proven herself and this is something that we collectively do not fully comprehend. She also seems completely dejected by this place, however after much discussion, I manage to convince her to join the adventure and attempt to prove herself. Chandra mentions that the only way out is to prove your mettle and we proceed to navigate the tunnels. There were a few lost souls, Shades, that we dispatched quickly and sent to their final rest.

Finally we discover something interesting! A secret area and we unearth a skull with eyes of emerald and teeth of emerald. I named him Emeralds and we move on with it in hand. It talks to us and might be useful. It can also see through the illusions that we cannot and is able to see our true selves, rather than the Shade appearance.

[[Avant]] and [[Dereth]] decide that they want to use Emeralds to eat a wall and then he attempts to do so, but it creates an effect that drains life from the two of them and yours truly! Oh the pain! Emeralds at this point is able to hover and move itself. Quite talkative too.

Navigating a few more tunnels we find someone who I address as Keeper of the Dead. We tell him that we're here to prove ourselves and he willingly accepts the challenge! Looks like we're going to find our way out finally, yes?

The fight proceeds and is largely boring, though the Keeper does manage to control our minds a bit. The interesting piece is where Emeralds kicks up a storm of dust, blinding half of us and then just "breathing" in the dust for quite a period of time. After what seemed like our down, Emerald Howls an ear-piercing howl and our foes are completely vanquished. Utterly gone. I felt the howl, deep into my bones and I fear that this could've been the True Death for us all, but we manage to survive. We also discover that this was by no means our trial as nothing happens, so we continue to explore and we find an opaque shimmering Veil. Beyond it we find the Grand Arena of the Labyrinth!

Within we witness an old human (yes, we can now see our true selves again, as the day we were born) fighting and single-handedly killing a Balrog! Incredible. He even survived the massive explosion that followed after the Balrog's death.

Leaving us no option, we decided to test our mettle and enter the arena after an hour's time. Of course, I decide to chat him up first, which turns out to be the right thing to have done. It was [[Danavus]] that we were addressing. After a quick round of introductions, we join forces to face a horde of red skeletons, who are utterly immune to fire, negating many of our abilities and sans weapons, this is a difficult fight. Danavus proves why he is who he is and destroys most of them quickly.

Now the real battle stars and we face a group of The Eternals. They are formidable and immune to most effects, thankfully fire affects them. I attempt to rally our side and sing a Song of Eternity
<blockquote>
''We are of the order eternal''

''We are of the Magistry''

''We are the defenders of the realm''

''From the ashes of lies the truth shall rise''
</blockquote>
The fire in Danavus' eyes goes out after hearing my song, and seeing the battle for a few moments decides that it is time. He gives the Spark of the Phoenix from himself and into Chandra. Danavus is no more.

Chandra, in fury, seemingly explodes and kills everything, including most of us (again). As the final Eternal falls, we hear the voice of the Raven Queen:

<blockquote>''These are the Eternal armies, they herald the Apocalypse. Leave now and defeat them.''</blockquote>

Instantly and jarringly we awaken to find ourselves returned to the world of the living, having proven ourselves in the eyes of the Raven Queen. Emeralds also came with us, though it (I'm not really sure he, she, it. All we know is that Emeralds is a Demilich) still looks like a skull with emerald eyes. He does tell us that he's going to go seek out his body, which lies some 3,000 miles to the East on an island where we can find him. Though we will need to introduce ourselves and remind him of this adventure so that he recalls who we are, as he is prone to killing all intruders.

And thus ends the tale that took us to the Raven Queen's Labyrinth and back.