Act 1: Choices
Act 2: Consequences
Phase 1: Effects
Phase 2.1: Ramifications
Phase 2.2: Cold
Phase 3: Clashings
Phase 4: Crossings
-Phase 4: Dust in the Wind
Phase 5: Thrones
-Phase 5.1: Enemy Lines
-Phase 5.2: Game of Thrones
Phase 6: Strikers
-RS Arc 7: Holiday Wars
Phase 7: Corruption
-Phase 7.1: Leylines
-Phase 7.2: Dark Magik
- Session 432: Wizards and Warriors
- Session 433: Wizards and Wizards
- Session 434: Masons
- Session 435: NAG
- Session 436: Dark Magik
- Session 437: End of Magik
-Phase 7.3: Angels
-Phase 7.4: Gods
Phase 8: Peace
Phase 9: Collapse
Mini Series: Heart of Terra
Session 432: Wizards and Warriors
With the battle raging around Gemet, Ama and her people move out to join the battle, finding Masons being overwhelmed. The recruitment stand in ruins and the clinic falling to pieces. Aso Erevis having moved out to march on the Campus, the others cut and burn their way through males channelling powerful and advanced magik. They eventually battle their way to Aso Erevis who has stopped her progress to chop down rapist mages and slaughter them. As they enter the Mason tower in Gemet, they find the remaining mages slowly being overwhelmed, outnumbered and unwilling to kill, they are no match for the merciless men. They attack the mages and bring them down, saving some of the remaining Masons.
Climbing the tower they come across rooms, facing fiery phoenixes and terrible male mages, and even a summoned Cthulhu. They face them all down, taking them out, Zuzu and Aso Erevis taking injuries in the battle, saving 20 on the floor with Cthulhu and 30 more above. However, when they reach the 30 it becomes apparent that the Masoners will not give up on trying to save the males, and due to this, many of them die in the ensuing battle when the heroes decide to help them save as many as they can. The captured mages are sent off to other towers where they can be handled, but the school and the clinic in Gemet are in ruins, the Masons greatly deminished, as they are everywhere it seems. Ama decides to keep Hoko in Gemet due to the current crisis.
In the Empire, Jean learns of the attacks when the NAG HQ in the capital is struck, however, unlike the Masons, the NAG is far more capable in resisting the attacks as they have no mercy. They expect very few casualties, and the guild there at least, seems saved.
3.12.2863
Riding through Malevolence Forest, Jubei's group is beset with attacking Malevoy who attempt to take out the caravan as it moves. With some narrow misses, the group manages to overcome the ambushers and flee, heading onwards towards what turns out to be the airship with Kaelan's group in it. Here, Selene is able to receieve the call to arms from the NAG about the attacks, this leads the group to split up again, a portion using the airship to head back to the surface and help out. Lia heading with them, first leaves Anima T in the care of it's original owner, Kaelan.
Jubei, Lin, Kaelan, Asha, Cersei, Mimi, Sal, Rica, James, Libel, Con, Tae, Melissa, and Genvere remain behind and take the caravan out.
The rest fly up and out, after gathering intelligence, and Lia finding that the channels of communication for the Masons seem completely dead, they decide to head for Mercy, where the attacks may be the most vicious.
3.14.2863
Touching down in Mercy, they find the ruins of the Tower, still half standing, and the grounds of both the castle and the Mason Campus in ruin. Hundreds of captured Male Mages are here, and it's now that Selene speaks up, addressing Tanya Mason. She warns them that males can't be truly severed or circuit destroyed, enough of them in one place and they can rebound in power. And with hundreds here, the Masons have gathered for themselves a time bomb. She is about to walk away, when Tanya surprises her.
She calls a meeting of the remaining members of the Council, and they agree after some debate to invoke the Rite of Cleansing, a law set down by Sia Mason herself allowing the Mason Guild to take an offensive against evil mages. With that, they also agree to let Selene end the lives of the captured, and the Masons shift to an offensive stance for the remainder of the attack. Lia,
disgusted by the idea of killing them off, does not consent to help Selene, though with Tanya's insistence, Selene puts the males to sleep before ending them.
Unknown to Lia, Maria Mason, her mother, set aside a tiny group of males, including her brother in a side storage house to study and determine what caused the males to rebel and have such power, hoping that perhaps still, they can prevent more death in the impending second wave. The council votes on something else, but what it is, is unknown for now.
The others all get back into the ship and prepare to disembark, deciding to see if there's anywhere else they can help. Lia and Selene join them before they depart, Selene positively glowing with the power of male mages she took circuits from. They lift off and head to Ruun.
In the Demon Realm, the group approaches a corrupted Lava Flow which is the barrier that protects the Leyline. As they get closer, Deus explains the secret way in that only Asmodeus knew, and all this knowledge causes Kaelan to question her about her relation to Asmodeus. After resisting a few attempts to dissuade her, Deus admits her relations as his daughter. After further prodding, she also admits her desire to take over rulership of the Demon Realm when this is all done. Kaelan extends the hand of friendship, offering to help as long as the Demon Realm goes back to a state of peace and no one attempts to go for Centerpoint.
In Ruun, the Mage group arrives to find the people acting very strange, ignoring them and walking around like zombies. They are ambushed by a group of mages and before they know it, captured and collared to have their powers quelled. All except Selene, who's newfound degree of power allows her to evade and give the Mages there some definate trouble. A mage walks in and begins to brainwash the group into being good, productive citizens of Mage Town.
Session 433: Wizards and Wizards
After a day of groovy love and making it big being farmers for mages, farming mana seeds, the group is knocked out of good times by Lyn, who uses Mystifae to bring them to their senses. Reeling at what they've been doing, the group takes some time to figure out how to free one of themselves, Fate, from her collar. After some Metal Gear Solid style hiding their actions and allowing the guards to lower their alert, Wyrd uses Fate to break the rest out of their collars. Lyn and Ailee leap into the trees and the others fake lock up their collars again following a plan by Moira to get picked for sex to get taken into the main tree.
The plan somewhat works, Wyrd, Maka and Moira are selected for sexings. They're taking away and Lia and Bel have to figure out what to do alone. Rejoined by Ailee, they decide to head out using a secret entrance, which Lia remembers being in the tree but not exactly where.
At this same time, Moira, Maka and Wyrd are given a drink that makes them horny and loose in mind and told to wait for their males. As they wait, Wyrd finds a secret passage and Moira opens it, the three escaping. They begin to head along the back stairs of the tree, a passage Angel used to get around her servants.
Lia, Ailee, and Bel disembark with Narok, Finn and Fate as weapons, and head into the streets. They dispatch three mages on patrol and head towards the tree. Lia, unable to recall the secret way in, instead leads them to the ground servant entrance, which Bel is able to open for them. Moving in, they find Selene being tortured by 10 mages. The move in and start to attack the mages, after taking out half the enemy, the remaining summon a dark beast to counter Lia's Chaos Water Dragon. As the two monsters clash, more happens above.
Hearing the sounds of battle, Moira's group pauses when they also hear voices on their floor. They hear male mages deciding that the NAG must be attacking and deciding to adopt a scorched earth policy. The three move in, Wyrd launching a volley of blades into the mages, slaughtering them. The blood touches a mana seed they were empowering and it begins to mutate into a hungry gruesome monster. Wyrd slashes at it but this just makes it hungry for Wyrd Snacks. Moira finds a black scythe on the nearby desk and tries it on the monster, the monster is absorbed and Moira feels stronger, and creeped out. Recovering also a purple potion, a Death Mark seal and dark magic tomes, the group leaves, Maka trying to get the pretty scythe from Moira.
Down below, Lia dispels the beast's shields and sends a Golem at it, with her attacks and Bel's, the monster falls and the remamining few mages surrender. They cut Selene down and she aims a death spell at the mages. One of which is only 10 years old. Lia holds her off to question them, and ends up collaring the 10 year old and getting Selene to spare him as she takes the others. The group heads upwards to look for Sel, and they are joined by the others. Lyn also rejoins the group and lets them know she freed the citizens who are now taking back their city. With 5 mages remaining, they climb.
Above they find two mages with the women that did not get free with Moira, Wyrd and Fate - and they are apparantly talking and having a conversation instead of sex, but the mages, seeing them, yell out to attack, and Lia and Bel take them out, blood splattering the women, before Selene can death spell them. The boy they spared grows angered, but Lia cautions him not to run. Bel's move used the Death Seal, and she gains the man's memories when destroying him. She learns that they merely wanted to start families and have a home, backed by the boy. When they reach the next two, Lia demands they surrender and spares them from Selene. Collaring them as well, they move to the top where they find the last remaining mage.
He reveals he unchained Sel long before the others even escaped, and Sel has been learning much about male mages from him. Lia starts to see a greater humanity in the male mages and begins to question both the Mason's and the NAG's tactics in dealing with males. The mage escapes using an advanced teleportation spell, and upon seeing this, Selene announces she's going home to handle things on her own. She takes Sel and uses a very similar spell to vanish with her.
The others return to Mercy, Lia reeling from all that's happened and greatly questioning everything she knows about the Male Mage conflict.
In the Demon Realm, Kaelan's group is growing tired and beaten down by the intense heat of the desert. They near a Ruins, from the pre-Aschae Tareh days deep underground. They decide to head there to rest, and they find Angel there, waiting for them. During the time there, Deus begins to get close to Jubei and makes a pact with her to bring her mother back without needing to use the sword.
In Jeanole, the Templars secure a perimeter around the NAG tower, keeping the battle contained. Some Enforcers get ready to move in to end the fighting and Rachael, Leruste, Truth and Butler join her. They move in and are joined by Parita, and the group begins to launch their attacks at the male mages. Rachael and Parita begin to show signs of madness, and while they devastate the enemy, Butler and Truth add in their own volleys while Leruste leaps on a summoned Dark Queen to battle it in the skies.
Parita is glanced by a Death spell and Truth leaps to save her, healing her leg and setting her secondary sword bond to Parita to attempt to calm her mind. She manages to heal and somewhat keep it from snapping, and meanwhile the group mops up the remaining mages, Butler's life saved by the timely arrival of Zombie Simon, who is carted off for his final resting while the others return to the palace. Butler and Truth discuss Rachael and Parita's condition with the head of the NAG: Abigale, who offers to at least try and help them and innoculate Nephilim, who if treated soon, can be saved from dealing with the madness in the future.
3.16.3863
The group in Mercy is discussing what to do next when 400 more males teleport into the Mason grounds. They're stunned however, planning to draw the energies from the males the Masons had captured, and in no way expected the Rite of Cleansing to be inacted. With little power to draw on, they are caught without a rock to stand on as the Mason Mages unload a volley of destructive magik on them. Those that survive create a shield and begin to work on tearing the Mason tower down, the team arrives and brings physical attacks to bear, the shield made to absorb magik, not swords. As they and the approaching Aegis troopers begin to cut into the mages, a Mind Altering Charisma mage shows up and tries to charm the heroes.
Lia and Lyn escape the mind control and Lia tries to lure her friends away from them, making a giant Golem who creates force waves to knock over the mages and heroes. This distraction allows Lyn to slip back in and knock Moira out of her reverie. Moira is then able to take out the mage, freeing the rest. An unfortunate salvo of rock magic from the Masons breaks through the barrier and knocks Lyn down hard, Lia grabbing her to heal her up. The remaining Males are culled and the battle ends. After which the group has disagreements when Bel slays the leader out of her principals, causing them to lose their lead on who is running the show. Lia wants to find allies in Gemet, while Moira wants to rush to Anora to help people there and find a new enemy leader quicker. They eventually compromise.
In the Demon Realm, the team enters the cavern passage to the leyline, noting it's pourous rocks and the flow ofthe lava overhead. However, it is not lava they have to worry about, but tentacles. They grab and begin to try and embed smaller things inside the team, who fight back and try to keep the monsters at bay. When Angel is infested with four of them and seems in dire straights, Kaelan takes up the Rune Blade and uses the Holy Rune to purge them from her, then uses it again to purge the walls around them. Able to continue on, the group makes their way into the depths.
After this, they come across a lair of web coccoons, eating some of the coccoon restores the health and energy of someone who eats it, and many partake. However, they are then set upon by the spider to make the webbing. The group takes it down, mostly, and gets half of a web seal and Jubei loses her clothes. The group's final challenge is at the other end of the cave, where lava leaks form porous rocks. Lava swells up after them and the group races, Jubei freezing up, a Rose Knight sacrifices herself to save her. Clear of the cave, they've arrived at the Leyline, Kaelan attempts to get Jubei to work through her doubts, but seemingly to no avail.
Kaelan takes the Rune Blade to the Leyline, banking on her immunity to Darkness, and Cersei lowers her down. Kaelan releases the remaining Holy Mana from the extra slot to heal up the group and then dips the blade in, filling it and completing the Rune Blade. Cersei pulls her back up and then Deus has the group touch her, Kaelan focuses and teleports them back beyond the dark lava flow and they had for the ruins once more; once there, Angel gives her virginity to Jubei and then Jubei pledges her love to Deus and takes her virginity, becoming a Demon Queen, and convinces Angel to enter a four-way relationship with.
3.19.2863
After dropping off Moira, Lyn, Kohna, and Fate near Seacrest, the rest of the team lands in Gemet to find the capital still under repairs. Here they are greeted by a rather unhappy Tsuki and Thara, Tsuki being very hard on the mages who were being attacked by males. Lia tries to be diplomatic, and explains they're looking for allies and any leads they can on the leader of the Male Mage Movement, who is suspected to be Kapister. Zun joins the conversation and explains what he's experienced, he explains that the corruption and the number of male mages is on the rise because Kagu was freed, and the corruption allowed to flow forth. He also gives creedance to the idea that someone if fanning the flames of this revolution for their own purposes, which may be the end of all mages, getting them to kill one another off.
He explains that the talent is genetic, so the number of males who can develop the powers is limited. But this also explains why mages killing one another off is a bad thing, the gene is weeding itself out among those who have it. If the fighting isn't stopped somehow, magik itself will fade from Tareh. With it apparent that Gemet cannot help, Lia leaves a tome so that the Amatsune Mages can restore communications with the tower and takes her leave, the group lifting off to head back for the others and help them capture a leader and help Anora out.
In Jeanole, Gemane arrives and just before Jean can throw her in prison, Truth tests Gemane and determines that she is not Lilica. Gemane announces she has learned a lot of things, and she has plenty to share concerning her sister, the missing parts of their history, and a lot more.
In Seacrest, Moira, Lyn, Kohna, and Fate approach the city to see it's been taken by males, the 20 or so NAG who did not surrender dying slowly on crosses outside the city, the city itself covered in a magik barrier. They begin to sneak in to see what they can do to turn the tide for this city. They have a long hard battle in which they have to learn the situation by freeing an apprentice mage, then break in through the tower and take on the mages and their leaders with Yuel, the young mage leader with purple hair and purple-golden eyes. Soon, they have a leader though, and a lead to go on as soon as they can get a decent answer.
Having managed to defeat the male mages, Seacreast is freed by Moira and her small band. The leader captured alive, Yuel uses a spell to force the truth out of him. With some questioning, they find that Kapister is definately the one giving orders, and he lets slip that there is a plan to cleanse the corruption on the males by doing something at the Heart of Magik and the leylines. Before they can get further, the corruption in the man kills him, something driving it to full overdrive.
3.22.2863
Jean's group looks out over the NAG Army, mages by the hundred gathered and piling into ships, heading somewhere. All the group can be sure of is wherever they're going, mages of both genders are going to die. Butler makes her exit to join the NAG, while the rest resolve to protect Jeanole. Aurica continues her search, starting to study Lin Erica in her perifery.
The Airship lands in Seacrest, the group disembarking and rejoining Moira's. The groups compare notes and consider their next move, knowing they need to go for Kapister but not sure where to look. The Heart of Magik seems to be their only lead, but only a False God can explain to them what they need to do in order to reach it. Lia begins to bring up the gods that might know and are still around: Autumn / Phoen and Yeger. At the mention of Yeger, Ailee gets very defensive and tries to cut that off, while at the same time saying that Autumn is a dead lead. Without much else to do, the group is easily distracted when they learn that the NAG mages are piling into a boat.
Moving out to investigate, they find the mages are indeed rushing to disembark. Lia attempts to use her status as an NAG to mage to find out what's going on and winds up invited to the summit. She is able to take her Aegis, who she names to be Maka, and Wyrd has to remain behind. Lia gets on with the mages and the others take to the airship to tail the ship.
The Demon Realm group arrives at Asmo, about half a mile outside the city, the horses refuse to move further, leaving the group to close the distance into the city. As they approach, tentacles rise from the ground, before they can react, one tears Melissa in half and the group is forced to fight the things and beat them away to protect themselves. Taking a moment to say goodbye to the fallen Enforcer, they hurry on.
As they enter, Mimi forming Anima E to break through the gates, they find a seemingly abandoned city. However, Malthus' voice pipes up from the tower in the distance and announces that the city itself is a weapon, using 1% of the Matrix's power, he begins to turn the city on them. Mimi takes off in Anima E to distract Malthus, and while the others struggle, Con, trying to rise up, has his head blown off by the defense beams. As they struggle, Jubei turns the Rune Blade on the plate of the city itself and using 1/4th of the rune energy, destroys the block around them.
Malthus reacts by increasing the power of the city up to 10% of the Matrix energy, however, Kaelan gets the group through quickly by flying them on Anima T, using her Wind Affinity to shield them from harm till they get inside. Once inside T deforms and Kaelan puts the gauntlet away, and inside they are greeted by Seraphim. Asha moves to her, but Kaelan and Rica remind Asha that it's well known that Seraphim, who passes them a bitten and infected Mimi, is brainwashed. Asha busts her seal and readies for a fight, but Malthus shows up, the power of the Matrix with him.
As he's about to level the group, Jubei intervenes by slashing through the core of his attack with the Rune Blade, using 1/2th of the sword's power, leaving only 1/4th of it left. The attack, a banishment spell to the Heart of Hell goes off, but not without a hideous backlash on Malthus himself. The group is sucked into a black hole. The group comes to in a room with reflecting pools and a throne of skulls, the group having previously been here once before. It is the Chamber of Yeger, and only he can let them leave. Trapped in hell, the party must cope and try to figure a way out without the god, who has been hundreds of years absent from his duties.
4.8.2863
On the airship, the group has been following the fleet for some time, and it's about now that they decide to really persue the Yeger lead. Ailee explains that Yeger and Finn are sharing a body, and any time Yeger begins to become aware that he's not Finn, when he's in control, he lapses in giving that control back. Her fear is bringing out Yeger fully will destroy Finn. However, with the needs to the many and all that, Finn agrees to have Yeger brought out an the group manages to wake up the old God of Death. They awaken him and once they convince him his cover won't work, he tries to flee, and learns he's stuck high up in the air.
The NAG fleet meets for it's summit. Abigale explains that they intend to find the Heart of Magik and Kapister. They need to stop him and possibly, if it's a working plan, cleanse the corruption anyway. After explaining that they're pouring all resources and efforts into this, Lia raises her hand and is heard. She offers the support of her friends, and her identity, matched as a follower of the Angel like Butler, allows them to accept them help. On the condition that the group follow Butler's orders when they meet up.
Lia then brings up her fears, that Kapister in his madness may be planning to negate magik itself as a means to cleanse the corruption, this is met with skepticism, but the one thing everyone agrees on is this entire event is weakening the magical arm of Tareh, at least on the female side of things. The fear is that this will lead to male domination and females will become slaves to the male arm of magik. If there's one thing Masons and NAGs all agree on, it's that Kapister needs to die.
On the airship, Yeger speaks, they learn some things, namely that Tsukiyomi is one half of the Heart of Tareh, which may mean she's connected as the Heart of Magik. The Heart itself is at the center, or off-center now, of Tareh. Essentially, in the core of the planet is all the mana of Tareh, and it pours up to the surface as the leylines, and that is the Heart of Tareh/Mana/Leylines, and Tsukiyomi is the Heart too, and the way inside. What they need is a way there, but Yeger cannot start to help them with things like seeking out Kapister in his divining pools without resuming the duty as the God of Death, which would mean he has to take Finn as is. Narok volunteers to take up the mantle in his son's place, but what they need is a remnant of those touched by Gartareh to name any new gods. So the group will have to head to Lenneth, and see what she will do, take the mantle, or help Narok take it.
They decide to break away and head for Amatsune first, to get Tsukiyomi and Lenneth.
With the issues in Gemet dying down, surprise comes to those in Gemet's court when Selene, Sel, Lia, and Yuel appears out of thin air. They explain that they are after the Heart of Mana and ask to see Tsuki. Ama hears them as an audience and they explain the mounting issues and the discoveries of the various groups, as the rest of Lia's team begins to set down in the airship. The group united, they must deal with Yeger set loose in a room full of boobs. Selene presents the NAG proposal for the others to help and they agree to follow NAG leadership while on the hunt for Kapister.
With Yeger present, the group talks to Lenneth about instating a new God of Death, she explains that it is very dangerous for Narok and then leaves to spend time with her daughter. Lia attempts to sway her on considering the role herself, but it's left in the air for the moment. An explosion sounds out from the direction of Zuzu's palace and the groups in Gemet rush out to see what's happened. When they arrive, they find destruction, the place damaged and infested with Dark Magic. The damage done and the mages already gone, Tsukiyomi their captive. After freeing Mugi, Zuzu and Thara, the group realizes that while they took Tsuki, the mages made a fatal error, they left Thara behind. They return to the palace with Thara and a disc left for Thara and Ama by Tsuki.
In Hell, 17 days have passed and food runs short, the group is becoming desperate and clinging to hope that someone will come for them. Kaelan pushes the team to relax and rations the food, trying to rally them to stay hopeful.
Back in Ama's palace, Lenneth takes up the mantle of Yeger, freeing Finn from Yeger's control as he retreats back into Finn. Lenneth, the new God of Death, proposes trading her power with Narok from time to time, allowing them to take shifts, freeing the God of Death from being a position that someone would want to run away from due to total isolation like Yeger faced. She then opens a portal to Hell and the group going after Kapister steps inside. Wyrd, Lia, Maka, Fate, Thara, Narok, Belit, Butler, Aso Erevis, Ama, Selene, Sel, and Yuel head through.
In Hell, the group witnesses the others stepping in to join them, Lenneth peering over in surprise at others beating her to her new domain. The Demon Realm group then sends Mimi back through to Zegretta's palace for help. There is a moment where friends exchange good luck statements and hugs, before Lenneth sends the Demon Realm team back to the Demon Realm. Then, using the sword as a guiding rod, and the Disc unlocking to give Thara Valkyrie like armor and a sword as well as giving Ama a tiny marble that would let her use her full potential for 15 seconds, Lenneth is able to locate Tsuki in the Heart of Mana. An ocean of mana energy, the location she's in guarded by what seems to be a pocket ward formed by the remains of Lorelei and Aschae. This is a troubling note as the future Jean has Lorelei's body.
Soon Lenneth promises to make a warp point to Tsuki as she gathers the energy.
Inside the Matrix, the Demon Realm group emerges to find demon bodies all over. The group soon puts together that Lin must have reacted to the apparent death of Jubei by going berserk. They follow the corpses up the tower till it suddenly stops. Here they hear Malthus planning to fire the Matrix at Jeanole, and at the same time, to execute a prisoner. The team splits up, Jubei, Rica, James, Sal, Seraphim and Angel head after the prisoner and Malthus while the rest move for the Matrix core itself.
The group heading up to Malthus encounters some female vampires, Jubei turns the surviving of the two into a thrall and gets information on the hall above. The group chooses to race the vampires there instead of fighting, and nearly get through unscathed until Angel trips. Jubei tries to drag the vamp on her but Rica and James relieve her of the weight by killing him. Rushing into the ruling chamber, they find Lin in the Rose Knight's armor above them. As Jubei goes to retrieve her, the others face vampires rushing at them. Rica goes assassin and aims for Malthus directly, piercing him with arrows, he reacts by attempting to fire the Matrix.
Down below, the others flood into the Core and Deus takes the Rune Blade as she leaps into the heart of it to take it down. The others keep the vampire guards busy, fighting off impossible numbers. Cersei falls, and the others have to be saved by the stronger members of the group as they're flooded with vampires. Deus strikes the core and seems to be taken by the subsequent explosion. The Vampires fall back as above, the core being damaged during the firing sequence shakes the tower and tilts the room. The group beats down Malthus and he falls. The tower rights itself and the Cadre step out to look down on Malthus, just before Seraphim and Rica finish him off.
Deus comes out of the blast soaking in the Matrix energy itself, she finishes off resistance and the vampires remaining run off, freed from Malthus' control. Deus makes her claim as Queen of the Demon Realm and hands the Rune Blade back to her future wife, Jubei. They day won, Deus heads off to confirm her position with the Cadre, whatever they may think to the contrary. The group is able to rest, and they find Cersei still alive after her fall, healing her to full.
In Jeanole, Jean stares at the few blocks that were hit by the Matrix before the group could take it down fully. Nowhere near the devastation that could have been, but the scene seems to confirm one of Jean's dreams about the future. She stands convinced that soon the false Jean will rise, and the others look on worriedly. However, with what the Mage group is learning, is the False Jean really the one from the future, or is something else going on?
Once the group is ready, Lenneth sends them to the Heart of Mana. The trip takes them through layers and layers of Earth and Leylines, the unnatural movement causing them great nausea and disorientation as they head down. Once they come out into what appears to be a a paradise beyond the body made borders, they have time to recover. Crossing the land, they come upon a hill with voices beyond. They find four male mages taking samples of the corruption in a leyline. The group's sneaks move in and as the males are moving off, debating if Tsuki should be killed, they strike, knocking three down, killing one. The others join in and they attempt to get information from the males and to try and calm them.
Eventually they find that there are hundreds of males down there and that they will need a plan to sneak into the main camp in the center, where Kapister and his officers are. Setting the surviving three to sleep, Aso Erevis takes the form of the fallen one and his clothes, and Narok takes the clothes of another, they hook the girls up in unlocked collars and take them in as slaves. The group manages to get far, having to intimidate a group of three crazy males away before getting into the camp. They are joined as they enter by Agren, the male that they spared for helping Sel back in Ruun. He helps them sneak in, but the mages recognize Moira and Lia and call for Kapister.
They group then tries a new approach, they attempt to broker a peaceful solution to the cleansing. Kapister however, is dead set on his choice to retain power and manage the cleansing. The others, once set inside a tent, debate what to do and what choice to make, the other options being to seal the taint temporarily, which could result easily in the war continuing, or to end Magik itself to cleanse everyone. They agree on the latter and strike out, literally, heading for the tent after Agren lowers the shielding around them. They head for the circle of mages and Kapister's work on Tsuki, taking out mages and Ama moving in on her sister, attempts to start the cleansing, needing Yuel and Agren's help. As they fight on another plane to cleanse the darkness, the others beat down Kapister's attempts to death spell them all.
The fight is resolved when Ama succeeds, the taint cleansed, magik ends and all but the marked fall over as the change occurs. Some, like Selene, still strong enough to use magik to an extent. Kapister being one of those, attempts to make his escape. However, as he tries flying off, a crystal rips the back of his skull open and he falls, dead. They go over to his dead corpse and find Rose among those nearby, and she explains that she was recently captured by the male mages. They use a Lenneth portal to return home.
4.11.2863
The group, returned to Gemet, is able to rest up, Lia sends in her reports on what happened and the mages are sent to Mason towers for observation, the towers about to become male and female shared places once again. The others rest and and recuperate, deciding what they're going to do next.
4.14.2863
In Asmo, Deus gives her leave to the group at the top of the tower, allowing them to leave and their ship modified to be able to tunnel out of the inner realm. They take to the air and Asha's stalker demon makes one final attempt to get her prey. The group has to fight off killer bees and demons, but manage to come out of it in one piece. They fly off to return to Mercy.
4.17.2863
The group returns to Mercy, Kaelan reunited with her wife, the others able to take a moment to relax and get news. They learn about the fall of Magik, and Jubei, driven by a strange pathos, heads to her mother's grave. There's an explosion, and they all race to find Rachael Silas ressurected, as a demon. Jubei and Rachael have a warm reuinion, then Jubei explains what happened. The group begins to plan heading back to Gemet to rally the groups and decide their next move.
4.19.2863
After touching down in Gemet, the groups are united and people get to meet up with long lost friends. The reunion isn't long lived however, for a terrible warping sensation comes from Jeanole, and the marks are thrown into choas before settling again, inert. Cersei urges the group to plan first, and then they can race off to find what's happened to Jean, and possibly save her... or
possibly find themselves an enemy to some darker force.