October Event 2025 Recap pt. 1
Greetings, sailors, sinners, and saboteurs!
I, ATLAS THE BARD, have just witnessed the group of young Coalition adventurers called the PC party walk into yet another glowing mysterious portal. Because it went so well the first time. We have been trapped in a strange and magical place full of monsters and elves called the Vault of Karna for quite some time, and it has NOT been fun. Much has occurred in the past few days culminating in the party walking through the aforementioned strange portal in hopes that they find their way out, and I feel it is my sacred Bardly duty to report on it! (But just in case the portal leads to certain death, monsters, a cliff, or my mother, I’m writing these reports before I walk through…) How did we get here?? Well, dear readers, it starts (like most good tales do) with our heroes running for their lives.
Last we last saw the party, they were together. However, through the enigmatic and shifting magic of the Vault, somehow the party got split into three separate groups and tossed into new locations. Of which they were immediately besieged by vindictive haunted elves out for the blood of children. Much bravery (screaming and running) ensued. The elves chased the party until they encountered a familiar face: Sanari Simoon, someone they had previously met at the Ebony Masquerade, and the crazy lady that got us all trapped in here to begin with. Everyone was so happy to see her again that they almost ran her through with their swords! Sanari deftly avoided being stabbed to death and told the party that the other attendees of the Ebony Masquerade were scattered around the Vault, and could they please go and find out what evil machinations they’ve been up to? (Also, while she was speaking, a crazy guy ran past muttering stuff about hearts and birthright. What was that about?)
The next “day,” (because who knows how time flows in there?) the party set out to find the people Sanari had spoken about the previous night. These were all leaders of a secret society named the Lodge who worked to control the region of Arancis from the shadows and now found themselves stuck between a rock and an elven place here in the Vault. Two of these members were Sanari Simoon and Valens Corvis, who you will find are VERY important to the tale to come. I also hate them and think they are stinky. Sanari and Valens seemed to be in pursuit of something in the Vaut, something that would give them great power… but what? Also within the Vault were hidden secrets of the elven city of Gazan (that the Vault used to be) and bizarre crystals that required great feats of the mind to claim (so, obviously the party did not claim the majority of these crystals).
After running around the Vault for hours looking for secrets, Sanari and Valens hightailed it deeper into the Vault to look for the HEART OF KARNA, the fossilized heart of the dead God whose destruction brought upon the creation of the Vault. The party followed them, determined to stop those two from seizing the power and bringing possible destruction to Arancis. The Vault, though, with its twisty terrain, wouldn’t make it easy for them. The party stumbled into some kind of obstacle course where they had to fight off monsters while dodging spears that rose from the sides of the Vault and collecting discs and placing them in the correct gathering spots. Strange and confounding!! Could nothing be easy in the Vault?? At the end of these winding challenges sat an unassuming hunk of stone. Upon closer inspection, there were words engraved. Those in the party who could actually read could make out a warning from the elves long deceased heralding any adventurers here to PLEASE STOP and GO BACK.
The deepest parts of the Vault were saturated with potent magical energy that twisted and corrupted those that spent too long in its presence. If the party didn’t find their way home soon, they’d likely come down with some nasty magical disease. GULP. Careful of the warning (or perhaps not, you know these people), the party resolved to go deeper into the Vault in order to foil whatever Valens and Sanari had planned, and then they’d find their way home as soon as possible. It’s not like they really wanted to be there anyway.
Dear readers, here is where I shall stop this report; I must keep them brief, lest our enemies find them and have all the information on the Coalition’s movement! I shall toss this report into the portal the party went through and hope it goes to where it needs to go. If not, well… I guess I’ll keep writing and hope something makes it somewhere. Gods, at least this will make for an excellent song! Until then: fight together, or die alone.
Signed,
Atlas the Bard
