Epic Arc Overview

[Zyraen]

For those interested, and for (easier...) reference.

[Zyraen]

PROLOGUE - The Orb Bearer's Quest

3.2 Shadowed Demesne
The Heroes defeated an aspect of a Shadow Dragon protecting a portal to the Shadowfell, and obtained an Orb that was used to open the portal. The Shadow Dragon was called Urishtar, apparently some powerful Dragon overlord in the Shadowfell.

3.3 True Colors
A Green Hag in the guise of the Elven Commander, Lady Aribeth, tries to trick the Heroes into handing the Orb over her. By sheer fortune she is dispatched before being able to escape, revealing her true nature.

This Orb was later revealed to be an artifact called Kradgar's Orb. In visions that the Healer (Sylvannas, Merlvyn's Cleric) received after claiming the Orb, Kradgar appeared to be a powerful Wizard who was performing a ritual in the Shadowfell atop a spire, and this involved a captive Shadow Dragon restrained at the base of the spire, in a ritual circle with four (4) Orbs around it. The ritual seemed aimed at bringing light into the darkness of the Shadowfell, but was disrupted when another Shadow Dragon attacked him while he was performing the ritual and shattered the spire platform. This caused Kradgar to plummet down, body smashed in a pulp and within the reach of his captive, that tore him to pieces, but his consciousness escaped into the Orbs.
The Orb seems to want to be united with other Three Orbs of the same origin.

4.0 Just Rewards
The real Lady Aribeth, captain of the elven defenders, asks to safeguard the Orb but the party refuses to hand it over.

5.2 Soulful Audience
In the aftermath of claiming the Purple Soul Gem and before giving it to the Violet Eye (and eventually Dalanar), one of the Heroes had a conversation with Enethrin Kistarra, the Lady in the Gem. Among other things, the following part of the conversation was conducted, where E stands for Enethrin, S stands for Sylvannas
E: Tsk, you are but a tool to your God and to those around you. A helpful healing tool but they will abandon you when you are useless.
E: I care for myself, my power and my kingdom. I will rule forever or until he returns. That is all.
E: You think yourself precious to your Master? Probably just a pretty, scantily clad body to satisfy him, if only in his mind.
S: Who would he be, oh great Mistress?
E: If and when he return he might kill me. I must grow in strength so even if I cannot defeat him, he will at least find my power useful.
S: Who is he milady, perhaps if we cannot help you significantly because we are beneath your power, we may aid you in every little way we can.
E: Maybe, if you can enter my world. Maybe... Or his.. *soft laughter, more wild than usual*
S: Who is he milady?
E: I see you have a way to him. Use it and kill him.
E: Find the Sorcerer King Kradgar and kill him.
E: Ah but of course. IF you find him likely you will all perish. Only I alone can prepare for his return. One can only trust one's own power.
S: What did Kradgar do to you milady?
E: He taught me about true power, and true control. He bequeathed me his kingdom while he went away, into the Shadowfell. But I'm not naive. If I am not strong enough when he returns, he will dispose of me.

7.3 A Hot and Sticky Situation
The Heroes break into the tower of two Eladrin Arcanist brothers, Dakanar and Dalanar. To save his brother, Dalanar the Eladrin (later revealed to be a Vampire) surrendered the Orb that he had to the party, and asked them to leave by the window.

This Orb became combined with the original Orb, increasing the potency of the Artifact and the clarity of the Vision of Kradgar's demise.

13.1 Cheating Death
The Heroes rush in to try to save Ardon Shianis from attacks by Wraiths. The second brother of the emperor, Celdon Shianis, also fights fiercely and sacrifices himself to take hits to protect the oldest son of the Emperor.
From visions bestowed by the Orb when first entering Shian City, the Healer who holds the Orb recognises Celdon Shianis as the owner of a third Orb.

15.0 New Reign and New Challenges (including Aftermath)
Celdon Shianis commissioned a temple to be built in honor of his God, a deity called Kadrigar that is ostensibly the God of Hope, Life and the Sun. He is also said to be the original God who created humans.

Celdon Shianis also awarded his Orb to the Healer as promised, for apprehending Dalanar, the person behind the murder of Duke Galion Merenthis, and likely responsible for the Wraith Knight that resulted in the death of the Emperor. He mentions he came to know his deity Kadrigar through the Orb, and hoped Kadrigar would guide Sylvannas' way forward into the light.

Arc 15.0 to 15.4 : Sylvannas' Visions and her Mentor
This occurred while the Heroes were busy dealing with the Dark Elf threat.

Later on, Sylvannas the Healer combines the 3rd Orb with the rest, increasing the item's potency further, and gained a deeper understanding of his background before he became a Sorcerer King. The vision received of Kradgar's fall is startling and detailed, and with clarity the Shadow Dragon that had attacked Kradgar seems to vaguely resemble Urishtar, and even after Kradgar was killed, the captive Shadow Dragon still perished as its body melted away to bone. After both Kradgar and the captive Shadow Dragon had died, the dead Shadow Dragon shortly rose as a Dracolich, and flew off. Kradgar's consciousness was not split into 4 parts, into the 4 orbs, but rather into 5 parts, and where the last part of his consciousness went to is unclear.

Amor`Eneth, an elven archmage and master of the healer, helps her to make sense of the vision while the Heroes left on their urgent task against the Drow. He explains that the Shadowfell is divided into realms, called the Domains of Dread, each ruled by their own Darklord, that would become trapped within that realm, and even when killed would come back to life.

He concludes that the ritual Kradgar was performing was not aimed to bring light into the darkness of the Shadowfell, but to bring the entire Domain of Dread into the Feywild, to have it exist in both the Feywild and Shadowfell at the same time. The Dracolich transformation was likely completed before the actual ritual, such that it only triggered under specific conditions, which were met, and to act so quickly on such a huge Shadow Dragon meant the ritual must have been extremely potent. Amor`Eneth questions why someone who knows a Dracolich ritual is not himself undead, a lich, or otherwise some sort of immortal.

He guesses from the nature of Urishtar's attack on Kradgar that the Shadow Dragon fears him, preferring to use a fly-by breath attack rather than to rend with claws, yet the arrangement of the events also seemed to occur such that Urishtar would become the new Darklord of the Domain of Dread.

Amor`Eneth ends off by concluding that the Orb - now almost complete - is not a Divine artifact, but an Arcane one, and that has its own sentience. He wonders what they are that the enemies of Kradgar would not simply destroy it, and why his allies would not simply put them together in the Shadowfell. He ends by warning the Orb might be something dangerous, and offers to caretake it, but his offer is turned down by Sylvannas.

[Zyraen]

EARLY EPIC ARC

Shadowfell: 16.0 to 16.2

The Heroes emerged into the Shadowfell, and one of them (Hadarai, Rubern's Warlord) had his soul saved from being drawn into the Soul Vortex at the Nightwyrm Fortress by an entity he knows as Kradgar. They head to the black stoned city of Nightshadow, where they meet Kradgar, the Mage that made Nightshadow what it is today, whose will runs many things in the city, and whose body and ghost can be found in that place.

The ghost of Kradgar informs the Heroes if they intend to leave this Domain of Dread - called Elshezan - they would have to defeat the Darklord Urishtar, who makes her abode in Nightwyrm Fortress. Urishtar has a vortex of souls that diverts the spirits of the dead to strengthen her power, and that she holds the last of Kradgar's Orbs, that the party's healer was seeking. He also asked them that once they could leave, to travel to Letherna to aid the Raven Queen who was being threatened.

They are given 3 routes to Nightwyrm Fortress, and they choose to take the route of a portal that was guarded by a Nightwalker in the ruins of Kalidnay within Elshezan. They fought Bodaks in the ruins and came to an inverted Ziggurat in the ground, where they delved into and met with an image of High Templar Thakok-An, a servant of the Nightwalker, who in life was known as the Sorcerer-King Kalid-Ma. She offered them passage through to Nightwyrm Fortress in return for recovering the true body of Kalid-Ma that was incarcerated in the Tyr region upon the world of Athas, and bring it back using an Orb she gave them. They found out that the "true body" of Kalid-Ma is actually a massive dragon called the Night Dragon, and chose to accept the assignment and take her portal to Athas.

The Dark Sun: 17.0 to 17.2

The Heroes regained consciousness in undead wight bodies in the ruins of Kalidnay that remained upon the world of Athas, and realized that the portal did not send them to Athas - for they could not leave Elshezan - but separated their souls and placed them into new forms while their unconscious bodies remained behind in the "care" of Thakok-An. They subdued a caravan of traders and sneaked into the city-state of Tyr. According to hearsay, the High Templar Kistarra was away in Draj, that had been conquered by Tyr, while the Sorcerer-King Kradgar resided in Tyr itself.

They learned that what is today called the Tyr region was once ruled by the evil Sorcerer-King Kalid-Ma from the flourishing city of Kalidnay, and he undertook a ritual to transform himself into a Dragon. During his ritual he was slain by a party of adventurers called the Wrathbringers, led by Kradgar, but the ritual completed and destroyed the city, turning most of its inhabitants into undead and hurling most of it into the Shadowfell, along with Kalid-Ma's soul. The completion of the ritual transformed Kalid-Ma's soulless body into the Night Dragon, an undead beast that rampaged Athas until the the Dragon and a few Sorcerer-Kings came together to defeat it, but it started reforming in the ruins of Kalidnay until Kradgar and his comrades subdued it and it was never heard of again.

By dealing with Tyrian Templars, the Heroes managed to speak to the High Templar Kistarra, who told them where the Night Dragon was incarcerated while giving them two items - an Onyx Gem to be destroyed ensuring it gets drawn back into the Shadowfell while in Kalidnay, and a Circlet through which she could form a psychic link to the bearer that would survive the passage back to the Shadowfell, where she would try and weaken it so they could finish it off. They also promised to give her information on Kradgar's location once they are safely back in their own bodies, and the Circlet was worn by the Defender (Argon, AlexKong's Battlemind/Paladin)

They travel to the location and fought their way on board a ship, a submarine of sorts, where they battle Tyrian Agents and piece together the clearly evil Night Dragon, freeing it even as it destroyed the submarine. It seemed set on rampaging in the area where the submarine, until they used the Orb that Thakok-An had provided to them, whereupon it flew them back towards the ruins of Kalidnay, and they could see it was using a rift in the area and a ritual initiated by the Nightwalker to return him back to Athas. They destroy the Onyx Gem and the Night Dragon and themselves get drawn back into the Shadowfell.

Nightwyrm Fortress : 18.0 to 18.2

They regain their bodies to find Thakok-An overseeing the process of the Night Dragon joining back with the Nightwalker, and she directs them to a portal to depart for Nightwyrm. They activate Kistarra's psychic link, but they sense she only informs Kalid-Ma about Kradgar's presence in Nightshadow, then informs the Heroes that she tried but was sadly unable to weaken him, and they should flee. Through the Orb-bearer, they alert Kradgar, who advises them to deal with Urishtar first and then return with the means to defeat the restored Kalid-Ma before Nightshadow is completely destroyed. The Heroes depart, although the party's Archer (Varius, Jeth's Ranger) fires a parting shot that all but declares their Alliance is thoroughly done with.

The Heroes arrive at the lower reaches of Nightwyrm Fortress, where their old enemy, Dalanar the vampire lord, now a vampire-lich of some sort, helps them gain entrance past the initial wave of Fortress defenders. They battle their way through the lower levels of the Ice Archons, where the grueling resistance makes them consider other options. With some guidance of Zaldrex, the leader of the Ice Archons, and negotiating with Rakshasa researchers, they gain access to Urishtar at the Spire of the Fortress, where they parley with her using her desire to leave Elshezan in search of her missing mate Nyxramas. They decide to have Urishtar's Rakshasa enact a ritual that would temporarily kill Urishtar while Kalid-Ma was near the Nightwyrm Fortress, making Kalid-Ma the Darklord, then they would kill him and escape Elshezan together. The party also incredibly got Urishtar to hand over the final Orb of Kradgar, which they felt was necessary to have any chance against Kalid-Ma.

Battle for Nightshadow 19.0 to 19.1

The Heroes arrive via Linked Portal to Nightshadow, and Kalid-Ma's forces had already breached the city walls, with his warbands of Bodaks and Psurlon Mindworms wearing away at the Nightshadow Guards and Astral Warwing defenders. Kalid-Ma himself was nowhere on the field though he had raised his inverted Ziggurat into an actual Ziggurat from the ground, and then launched it as a flying base to which captured humanoids were flown back in cages held by undead wyverns. The Heroes engaged on the warfront and rescued a fair number of Astral Warwings and stemmed the supply of humanoids back to the flying Ziggurat.

They then flew with a party-wide Invisibility to the flying Ziggurat, defeating Thakok-An to seize the the level that served as the Ziggurat's bridge, and noting a Teleportation Circle that could be used by Magic Users to retreat to the Ziggurat. As they considered how to get Kalid-Ma to Nightwyrm Fortress, Dalanar suggested leaving him to guide the Ziggurat to Nightwyrm, while the Heroes went to locate Kalid-Ma, and make him retreat back to his Ziggurat, to which they assented.

The Heroes found Kalid-Ma, in the form of an old man, within the mausoleum where they had first met the ghost of Kradgar. They arrived just in time to see him destroy the body of Kradgar in black flames while anxiously expecting some sort of reprisal from his old enemy, only to be somewhat bewildered that there was none. The Heroes quickly attacked him, and he polymorphed into a gargantuan undead Blue Dragon that radiated intense necrotic energies and acted with extreme alacrity. Fortunately, they had prepared counters for his necrotic energies, and the Healer used the completed Orb of Kradgar to weaken Kalid-Ma while the rest used their most potent abilities, and managed to drive him to a retreat via a Portal.

The Heroes paused a while to heal and regroup, but not resting lest Kalid-Ma recover, before teleporting to the Ziggurat, where sure enough Kalid-Ma was recovering, and it seemed that Urishtar's preparations had completed and turned him into the Darklord. The element of surprise was on the Heroes' side, and their foe was still weakened, and thus they vanquished the Sorcerer-King.

[Zyraen]

LATE EPIC ARC

For the Raven Queen : 20.0 to 20.6

Prior to leaving Elshezan, they found Urishtar had been left for dead by her treacherous Rakshasa servants, and chose to Resurrect her, only to have the grateful Shadow Dragon join them. Nightshadow was in ruins and suffered from the lack of power from Kradgar's body, but the Heroes pooled together resources to form a surrogate Orb of Kradgar and repower the city and its Astral Warwing defenders, earning the eternal gratitude of the city. They then departed on their new base, the flying Ziggurat, for the Shadowfell realm of Letherna, the home of the goddess of Death, the Raven Queen.

Arriving in Letherna, they were visited by a robed figure accompanied by two Sorrowsworn, sent as emissaries of the Raven Queen. When a Hero asked the figure's name, the man identified himself as Kradgar, offhandedly. He then summoned an image of the Raven Queen who reluctantly asked for the Heroes' help in dealing with a demonic invasion masterminded by the demonlord Orcus, in return for reward in form of a favour when their time came to be judged. They asked for an advance deposit prior to accepting, which she authorized Kradgar to give in the form of the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull. A canny hero trained in Arcana managed to detect that Kradgar was covered in an illusion, and was in reality a skeletal dragonborn, while another noticed that while ostensibly protected by the Sorrowsworn, he was also watched by the two of them, and seemed disallowed from joining them back in the Raven Citadel.

They were then brought to the Raven Citadel, where the walls were under attack by waves of demons. The Shadar-Kai defenders had been wearied by the waves, and the Heroes held the fort against various demons like Nabassu Deathwing, Glabrezu, and Mariliths. They were then sent to dispatch a Balor that directed the demons entering from the plane towards the Citadel, thus causing the chaotic demons to head in random rampages across the Letherna.

The Raven Queen then requested them to travel to Death's Reach, a demiplane where the souls in existence passed into the great beyond, the Law of Gods disallowed Deities from entering, except that the caretaker - the reigning God of Death - would be summoned there if its final guardian were to be defeated. It seemed the servants of Orcus had entered Death's Reach and she sought to root them out, while ensuring her Guardian was in no danger and seeking an artifact called the Book of Life and Death, from which she intended to use Orcus' true name against him, and hopefully destroy him once and for all.

The Heroes arrived in a place among the clouds, and despite them noticing what must be a colossal Red Dragon circling very far on high, the Guardian informed them it was in no danger for now. It told them to leave the Dragon be and focus on rooting out intruders, directing them to one of many derelict structures littered across the landscape.

They entered a mausoleum that had murals depicting an ancient God of Life and an ancient God of Death, which seemed to date from before the Dawn War. There they encountered Mindflayers and their thralls, and delving deeper, passed through some ghostly trials before reaching a long corridor, that stretched to both sides. At one end was a chamber of Life, inhabited by none other than the former Rakshasa servitors that Urishtar recognized, at another was a chamber of Death, inhabited by Mindflayers and their thralls. Both chambers held half of a tome, the Book of Life and Death, encased in a book of force, and they were seeking but to read the contents to find the location of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, but could not release their respective halves. The Heroes realized they were seeking the location of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, the diametric opposite of the Death's Reach, where souls and life force came into existence, to provide to some would-be ally of Orcus.
The Heroes decided not to parley with them and kill them both, which they did, and seized both halves of the book for themselves with two ferocious battles. In doing so, they also found a third chamber, revealed in the middle of the corridor, with a raised sarcophagus and murals depicting the God of Life and Death as one and the same, with humans walking from the Life side to the death. They sensed that there was once a very potent presence that resided in this chamber for the longest time, but it was no longer here.

With their task completed, the Heroes made to leave Death's Reach and noticed that the circling Red Dragon was no more to be seen. With her vengeance visited upon the Rakshasa, Urishtar chose to stay behind in Death's Reach to assist the unknown Guardian if further intruders were to come. As the Heroes in their flying Ziggurat came out of the skies back over Letherna, they were attacked by a huge horde of winged demons, as well as the colossal Red Dragon, that was apparently angered they meddled in its affairs, and they realized this might have been the would-be ally of Orcus mentioned earlier. By focusing their efforts defending the level on which the Ziggurat's control orb was, the Heroes managed to hold out against the demons while the Red Dragon was busy melting down the top floors of the Ziggurat. After the Party's Warlock (Quinn, Yi-jeng's Warlock) managed to destroy close to 20 Demons in a single turn, they engaged the Red Dragon, stopping it from melting the control level, but the formidable Dragon, which was at least part demon, killed the Ranger and burned him into irrecoverable ashes, before deciding that having destroyed a significant part of the Heroes' base and slain one of them, the insult had been repaid, and flew away. Fortunately, the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull allowed them to return the fallen Hero to life.

As the Ziggurat limped out of the skies towards the Raven Citadel, they saw its walls had fallen and there was fighting between attacking demons against the defending Raven Guard and Sorrowsworn. Kradgar and a large force of Sorrowsworn informed them that Orcus himself had attacked after mustering a huge force of demons, and breached the citadel. In his wake he had laid 4 demonic obelisks that warded the entrance to subterranean chamber where he was confronting the Raven Queen, and with Orcus easily able to control undead, Kradgar had no choice but to stay out of the conflict.

The Heroes bore with the attacks by the Demons guarding the Obelisks, focusing on undoing the wards before dispatching them, then carried on without rest where they found Orcus with two guardian wraiths, and the Raven Queen who had encased herself in a block of ice, and a whirring, glowing red shard embedded in the ice which was steadily driving itself deeper to pierce her chest. Yet the Heroes were prepared for the confrontation, and as they had with Kalid-Ma, they used their strongest powers and incredibly, defeated Orcus, causing him to crumble to ashes with only his wings remaining, wrapped protectively around his implement.

The Raven Queen then freed herself from the block of ice, thanking the Heroes, and used the Book of Life and Death to destroy Orcus once and for all, even as she summoned her servant Kradgar to her and bestowed Life on him in return for Orcus' Death. As Orcus was utterly destroyed, a spark of divinity emerged from within him, even as the red shard that was on the ground was drawn towards it, and released another spark from within. As they came together, there was a dark shadow that swept over the place, and revealed the gaunt lich-like figure of Vecna, God of Secrets and Undead.

The intense necrotic energies that accompanied him sent the already weakened Raven Queen into a swoon, but Kradgar quickly encased her in another block of ice, and attempted to use the Book of Life and Death on Vecna. Though his initial attempts failed, the Heroes bought him enough time to weaken Vecna sufficiently for them to stand a fighting chance amidst Vecna's multiple attacking Simulacrums, weakening rays, darkfire webs, among other magics in store for them. The battle was fierce and Vecna even killed the Healer with Finger of Death, but the Healer managed to revive and helped the rest recover. Vecna attempted a last ditch effort to render most of them unconscious, but with that failure he chose to discorporate to flee the field.

In the aftermath, Kradgar thanked them on the Raven's Queen behalf, even as the ice block melted away to reveal it was empty, explaining he had taken precautions to summon her to Death's Reach in case such a dire measure was required. The Heroes surmised that might have been the real reason why Urishtar stayed behind earlier.

Interlude

Kradgar gave them their rewards and left with the surviving Sorrowsworn to fly to Death's Reach and protect the injured Raven Queen while she recovered, leaving the Heroes a Portal Scroll to return them to Nightshadow. There, they found that the once dark city was now mostly light, with white walls where black stone had been. It was now called Daylight, for it had been transported into the Feywild, as promised by the then-living Kradgar a few hundred years ago. Dalanar revealed himself as the newest member among Nightshadow's City Council, only he was now restored to a living, breathing exalted Eladrin, and since his brother (whom the Heroes slew irrecoverably in 7.4) would soon be restored as well, he explained that he owed them no enmity, and invited them to stay and bask in the adoration of the people. In place of where the mausoleum of Kradgar had been, where the Heroes had first fought Kalid-Ma, there were now statues raised in their honor, with the Healer in the centre holding the Orb that powered the city.

After some time, the Heroes were visited by a pair of radiant angels, that left them a letter with the Mark of Pelor. It requests their aid where a primal, demonic force of great power had invaded, killing most of the guardians except the last one, leaving Pelor unable to personally attend to the matter while it bleeds away the life entering the world. The second part is a ritual, that when read would impose a Geas on the Heroes to irrevocably forget to the location of the place after arrival where they are most needed - the Bastion of Unborn Souls.

[Zyraen]

CLOSING

Finale : 21.0

The Heroes arrived at the Bastion, a plane overflowing with so much positive energy that their healing channeled the positive energy (in form of THPs) rather than their body actually healing (regaining HP). There they were faced with none other than the colossal Red Dragon that they had met earlier, siphoning souls from the Bastion to strengthen itself. There they fought a titanic battle that saw up to half of them unconscious at a time, and as they seemed to be winning, the Dragon exploded into flames as a Balor stood where it was. Fortunately, they had been forewarned by the Healer that the Dragon would recover rejuvenated if the Balor was not quickly destroyed, and quickly managed to destroy the beast and the Ranger finished off with the critically injured Dragon after that, repaying his earlier demise.

As the Dragon was destroyed, it unleashed a trap that sealed the Heroes into the demiplane while simultaneously destroying the last Guardian of the Bastion. A radiant pillar from on high descended to the middle of the demiplane, as most of the surface of the bastion crumbled away, and ghostly angels formed about them. Even as the positive energy that had stood them in good stead earlier now ignited and seared their forms, two of the angels moved with unstoppable speed, and slashed with radiant blades at those they could reach, while even more positive energy accumulated on them.
Fortunately, the party's Wizard (Jit Babo, Andy's Arcanist) had the presence of mind to set up a Fire Wall so the Heroes could burn away the excess energies on them, and after some futile fighting, the Heroes realized the pillar of light was Pelor himself, but he had been discorporated - presumably after being caught in some dire straits - and hence had to rely on angelic summons to carry out his will. The Heroes had to choose between sitting out his attacks as the fiery seal on the demiplane started to slowly fade out, or attempt to battle the stubbornly tight lipped God, and elected to subdue him to find out what was going on. Finally they suceeded, leaving a large unconscious ethereal being at their feet where the pillar of light had been, while the ghostly angels vanished and the positive energy ceased accumulating.

At this point, Sylvannas the Healer, bearer of the Orb of Kradgar, suddenly summoned up an incandescent field of radiance, killing Pelor and consuming his form even as the Orb activated, drawing upon the power of the Bastion to encase her in an incandescent armor. As the fiery seal gave way, she summoned up a portal for the Heroes to leave, preferring not to fight them, and the Heroes found that the artifact that could restore them back to life - the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull - also crumbled away. However, they stubbornly chose to remain to try and stop her bid for apotheosis. The remaining party healer (Hadarai), who had been saved by Kradgar previously, chose to stay and fight despite being told to leave, and for his loyalty was instantly killed. The party defender (Argon) was also likewise immediately dominated via the psychic link earlier established by the Circlet. Yet by destroying his artifact, Hadarai managed to return to semblance of life, while Argon's spirit mentor sacrificed her autonomy - and his ability to fight on after what would normally render him unconscious - to return him control of his body.

In the ensuing confrontation against the empowered Sylvannas who could heal herself, almost ignore melee attacks and effortlessly direct her foes easily into the grossly damaging field of radiance while blinding them at critical moments, while the Heroes had but one bloodied healer to keep them going, the Heroes were driven to the brink of despair. However, with the support from their remaining healer to boost the attacks from the Ranger and Warlock to pierce the formidable defenses of Sylvannas, they finally managed to defeat her, causing her form and the Orb to shatter into motes as the remnants of the Bastion seemed to crumble around them, and they fled through the Portal back to the Ziggurat.

Epilogue

In the aftermath, they found the Raven Queen had fallen and her portfolio had been claimed by the Shadow Dragon God openly known as Nyx. The name was probably short for Nyxramas, the former mate of Urishtar that had been turned into a Dracolich, and whose body was probably inhabited by Kradgar up until his return to life.

Pelor's portfolio was assumed by a secretive goddess whose name was not known, although she took up residence in Hestavar where Pelor once had, and seemed well received by Ioun and Erathis, the two other goddesses that had their abode in Hestavar. Her secrecy was such that at one point there were even rumors if she was the Raven Queen herself, reborn to take a different portfolio. She had almost no worshippers initially, but over time as her worship became more widespread, became known simply as the Lady.

Kradgar/Kadrigar the Lightbringer remains a relatively new and minor deity, worshipped in a few places, mainly in the Shian Empire and Daylight, though his worship is gradually spreading.

As for the Heroes, their names have gained renown throughout the multiverse. It is known that they were responsible for the death of Orcus and the defeat of Vecna, no mean feats in their own right, and that they were manipulated into causing Pelor's downfall. Regardless, their actions so far have altered the face of the multiverse, and legends of their exploits will be told, probably studied, by both Gods and mortals, for millennia to come.