Alter Aeon 15th Anniversary

Alter Aeon is 15 years old!

The birthday celebration was planned by Dentin, but the expected proceedings were interrupted by an old enemy, Kenai. Over the course of a harrowing three days, a plot to take over the world was uncovered, and many great deeds were performed.

This was a very large scale event that involved a lot of planning and cooperation, and despite its complexity went very well. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Two days before the celebration, a large stone monolith fell from the heavens into the ground before the Temple of Dentin. The monolith was covered in strange indecipherable runes.

Smaller shards of stone fell from the sky all over the world that day, and it was discovered that they were fragments of the larger monolith. The players that retrieved the various shards were:

Boa retrieved the shard from the Dwarven Kingdom
Fix retrieved the shard from Tirgoth Forest
Dex retrieved the shard from Gad's Mountain
Master retrieved the shard from Kookien's Jungle

It was soon discovered that by bringing the shards into contact with the monolith, the runes gradually became more clear and readable, until the following disturbing statement was read:

The world shall be recast in my image
Your flickering lives my playthings
No hand of man, king or warrior
Shall end my reign.

For I am the Outcast, the Destroyer
Gods and Earth shall crumble before me
As it should have been.

X E N A E . . . K E N A I

The day before the celebration, the priests in the Temple of Dentin had planned to throw a small celebration with free food, socializing, and possibly a visit from Dentin, but in the middle of the party an unexpected guest arrived. In the middle of the Cathedral appeared a face formed from an ethereal wall fire which spoke:

Long have I been hiding
Watching from afar
Beyond the veil of time
The farthest falling star

The captor in a forgotten age
Finds himself now bound
I hold him there to watch and weep
Where never he'll be found

Soon the fall of Winter comes
I shall return again
Every creature in my grasp
From sky to sea to den

Go forth now you wretches
Spread my word to all
There will be nowhere for you to hide
When the heavens start to fall

After reciting the above, a black shard appeared and fell to the ground in the Cathedral. The face had one final message:

Lest you feel any measure of hope whatsoever, take this shard to the monolith. It will expose the final message from my master, and show you the folly of your ways.

With that final utterance, the face disappeared.

The player Smash picked up the shard and brought it to the monolith, but the final message was not all all what was expected. Upon absorbing the final shard, the monolith shot a gout of red flame into the sky and shattered the heavens like a giant mirror:

Smash places a small shard of black crystal against a huge stone monolith, and it is slowly absorbed into the monolith!

The runes on a huge stone monolith shift and change, then return to their original pattern.

A surge of red flame shoots up from the monolith into the sky!
The flame spreads out in lines, forming gigantic cracks in the heavens!
The sky is shattered, and the flame goes out!

Smash became known as Smash Skybreaker, though he did so unwittingly. Through all of this, Dentin was not to be found and would not respond to calls from his priests.

The various guilds and scholars in Ralnoth worked constantly to try to understand what was going on and how best to deal with it. ZagDahl, the head priest from the Temple of Dentin, became the spokesman:

I have consulted with the various guilds in town, and have been collecting information about this threat we all face. The clerics guild and priests of the the other gods have been instrumental in collecting the necessary information. Our information is that the ancient god Kenai has somehow imprisoned Dentin, and wishes to make a return to this realm.

Together, we have formed what we think is a viable plan of attack though there are many, many unknowns. In short, we must assault the realm of Kenai directly and attempt to free Dentin.

First and foremost, no effort can succeed in a direct conflict against Kenai, and escaping his eye while in his realm is of utmost importance. We believe we have found a solution to this, which I shall detail in a moment.

Secondly, we must get into his realm undetected. Entry from the same portal used by his armies seems foolhardy and a poor use of our best warriors.

Last, we must have the tools to free Dentin. Imprisonment is difficult to break even at mortals levels, and breaking an immortal prison may simply not be possible for us. Even if it can be done, it may effectively be suicide for the rescue team. Nevertheless, we must try.

To avoid Kenai's gaze, we shall use an artifact called a Demon Eye. These artifacts are generally in the form of a large transparent crystal, heavily enchanted with misdirection and obscuring spells. While they are known to be extremely effective against mortals, it is unknown if the effect will be strong enough on a god.

The consensus of the Mage and Cleric guilds is that they can construct one that 'should be' sufficient to avoid Kenai. However, in order to construct one that is sufficiently powerful, exotic materials must be used.

The guilds ask for the following items, which must be retrieved as quickly as possible for this task. Teams are already en route, but the tasks are difficult and they are not all expected to succeed or even survive. Any help you could lend would be appreciated.

First, we wish to base the eye on a type of unusual blue crystal found only in the outer planar ice realm. This should be near or beyond Kenai's scope of influence.

Second, we need a piece or shard of glass from the strange realm found by Redferne where magic is completely ineffective. This too should be beyond the scope of Kenai's influence, and the glass will hopefully have been forged by non-magical powers.

Third, the legendary Sphere of Silence, which is believed to have been in existence before the time of Kenai.

Lastly, if a Token of Aris still exists in the world, it would be tremendously helpful. Aris and Dentin are linked in some way that is not yet fully understood, and this channel may allow him to help misdirect Kenai.

If you are able to obtain any of these artifacts, please return here and give them to me. I will ensure they are handled properly. The guilds are already working on other tasks but do not yet know enough to bring in others.

Go quickly now, we must not delay!

With stunning speed, private stores, shops, archives and collections were raided, and the requested items were presented to ZagDahl.

Horo retrieved the Sphere of Silence
Grass presented a Token of Aris
Terror donated a blue crystal from the Ice Plane
Slow liberated a glass lasing tube from the No-Magic Realm

Later that day, ZagDahl again held a meeting regarding the return of Kenai and imprisonment of Dentin:

We have determined how to free Dentin. We think.

It was discovered long ago that the Lost Spear of the Ancients, a powerful type of weapon from a forgotten age, was actually constructed prior to the existence of many of the newer gods. Further, it has been known among the private circles of the high mages that these weapons had been personally enchanted by Kenai himself as gifts to his followers.

It is believed that with some modification, this enchantment by Kenai can be used in reverse to break a binding also performed by Kenai.

Unfortunately, these weapons are exceedingly rare, valuable, and well guarded. We will need such a spear, and a wielder willing to use it. We will also need other items to modify and rebind Kenai's original god-level enchantment.

The easiest of these is a piece of the unusual material Scrith. You must find some that has yet been unforged.

More difficult is an unusual item called a bloodfruit. You must find a ripe one, in which the poison is heavy and fully mature.

Finally, you must take these items to one of the only blacksmiths capable of forging the materials: the feared blacksmith in Chaos. We have contacted him and amazingly enough he has replied that he will do this to restore the proper balance of Chaos in the realm. In uncharacteristic fashion, the messenger was not even killed.

Take the items to him, and he will reforge and rebind the spear such that it can be used against Kenai's binding. Remember that the spear will not be the same as it was!

We hope to have the Eye and a portal into Kenai's Realm completed soon. We will talk again in a few hours. Thank you all for your help in this time of crisis.

It was at this time that the hero of our story was found. The player Boa stepped forward, sacrificing a family heirloom, one of the few surviving Lost Spears, for the greater good.

A few short hours later, the Chaos blacksmith in concert with the guilds from Ralnoth had reforged the weapon and renamed it GodShatter.

Throughout the day, unusual clouds had been forming among the peaks of the Northern Continent mountain range. The meaning of this became clear when a pulse of magical energy crossed the landscape in the late afternoon: this was the site of the portal between the realms, and every mage on the mainland was instantly aware of the threat it represented.

Scouts, seers, and scryers were immediately dispatched. The portal was verified and there were several skirmishes with similar scouts from Kenai's forces. The main body of the invasion force had massed behind the portal, but had not yet come through the gate.

Many brave adventurers risked and gave their lives for this information.

A very tired and weary ZagDahl held a final meeting with this new information in the Temple of Dentin:

We have managed to construct the Demon's Eye, as well as a portal that can be used to access Kenai's realm. We have done all we could with the eye, and we hope that between the blessings of various high priests and the exotic enchantments, it will be sufficient.

The portal can only be used in close proximity to the main gate, and it will only open if placed in a low mana area that happens to exist on both planes simultaneously. We hope that such a location exists, for if it does not this method of entry will not work.

You must search the area near the main gate, even though it crawls with forward scouts and enemies, to find a suitable location. When you think you have found the right location, place these rods upright on the ground in a circular pattern. If the location is suitable, the change will be very obvious.

To use it, simply enter the circle and fall through the portal. When you are in Kenai's realm, find Dentin's prison, and free him using GodShatter, if you can.

Now, regarding the portal - you must be extremely careful. It is very near detonation given the amount of magic embedded in it and the short time given for binding. Be careful not to cast too close to it!

Also, the short binding time and energy required does not allow you much time. Even closed, the portal bleeds mana at a stunning rate and will not maintain its abilities more than a few hours. Once opened, you will only have a few minutes to use it. Remember that the gate is one way only!

Go now, and may all the Pantheon bless you!

The leader in charge of freeing Dentin was chosen to be Sandman. The portal and eye were both given to him for safekeeping, and the party set forth. After several battles including an almost disastrous encounter with a frost giant, a suitable location in the Northern Continent Mountains was found and the portal was opened.

Once in Kenai's realm, Sandman's party quickly discovered that their entrance had not gone unnoticed by Kenai:

It is true that while you hold the demon eye I can lay neither claw nor tooth upon you

But I need not dirty my hands with such pitiful mortals

Run, flee, and plead, you shall find no quarter from my minions

Shielded from being found by the Demon's Eye, the party sneaked and fought their to what seemed to be Dentin's prison at the top of a tall stone tower:

The top of this tower is a huge square surface a hundred feet on a side. Giant black, shifting thorns jut from the surface seemingly at random, each curved toward the center of the platform as though preventing something in the middle from leaving. Near the very center, seven equally-sized huge thorns make a perfect circle.

Looking out from here, you can see what seems like forever - a giant fortress to the northwest, and the massing armies in the distance to the southeast. You have a clear view of the portal through the thorns, as though they had been parted specifically for that purpose.

Suspecting that this was the place, Boa approached the center circle of thorns and struck GodShatter through the largest of them. With a tremendous flash of light and magic, the circle exploded. Unexpectedly, the party was entirely unharmed, though the top of the tower did not fare nearly as well.

Dentin slowly coalesed from the ball of light near the center of the tower, smiled, and uttered only a few short words:

It is good that you came. I would have been sad, but I would have let the world die had no-one cared. Return home now and let the priests know what you have done. I will take care of this realm myself.

With that, the party found itself victorious back in the Temple of Dentin in Ralnoth.

Congratulations go to the leaders and primaries of the invasion team:

Boa - hero
Sandman - group leader
Deazly - group tank
Cria - first officer
Locane - scout

As well as all of the supporting members:

The priests at the Temple of Dentin handed out cake, cookies, and one-time event t-shirts to everyone who participated, and Dentin gave all of the final party members a hundred credits.

As thanks for freeing Dentin, the gods did something that hasn't been done in a very long time - a clan PK contest with clan bonuses as the prize for the winners! Members from all clans entered the Starry Sky arena to fight it out, and the clans with the most kills would be declared the winners.

There were two rounds so as to determine the top six clans. Every member of the winning clans would receive a bonus that would last for several days. The kill rankings of the first round are:

Place Player Name Kills Clan ------------------------------------------------------ 1 Cu Chulainn 20 kindred 2 Fix 17 dragon 3 Scryer 14 oblivion 4 Horo 11 shadow alliance 5 Cargo 10 oblivion 6 Mathayas 9 havoc 7 Smash 8 dragon 8 Cria 7 shadow alliance 9 Fireblade 6 dragon 10 Fehlan 5 shadow alliance 11 Grass 5 shadow alliance 12 Deazly 5 shadow alliance 13 Boa 3 shadow alliance 14 Aeia 3 shadow alliance 15 Westie 1 phoenix The winners of round 1 were:

39 kills - Shadow Alliance
31 kills - Dragon
24 kills - Oblivion

The kill rankings of the second round are:

Place Player Name Kills Clan ------------------------------------------------------ 1 Cu Chulainn 20 kindred 2 Tyro 13 resistance 3 Mathayas 9 havoc 4 Ray 5 phoenix 5 Etri 2 none 6 Natalie 2 phoenix 7 Princess 1 phoenix 8 Chainer 1 new york yankees 9 Westie 1 phoenix The winners of round 2 were:

20 kills - Kindred
13 kills - Resistance
9 kills - Havoc
9 kills - Phoenix

Special mention should be made for Cu Chulainn, who as the single representative of Kindred placed first in both rounds, and won Kindred a respectable fourth place position.

The Alter Aeon 15th Anniversary - Jan 15, 2010

T-Minus Two Days

T-Minus One Day

Anniversary Day - Quest for The Eye

Anniversary Day - Quest for the SpellBreaker

Anniversary Day - The Opening

Anniversary Day - The Backdoor

Anniversary Day - Jailbreak

Anniversary Day - Freedom

Anniversary Day - Clan Contests

Help

News

Players

Other Links