The Ritual

"I will try to explain the events that have lead to this. Some time ago... My friend Khyrian... No ... we must start further back. Hundreds of years ago, a great evil descended upon Sosaria. He ... It ... was a thing of pure evil and it chose followers, who served him loyally. Their task was to feed this creature. He taught them how to do this. They spread a magical curse ... an Affliction. It was a sickness that spread across Sosaria in ages past. If some of the journals we have found are true, then it was a terrible thing indeed, ravaging city after city, decimating the population. And as the sickness spread, it slowly stole the life from the people. That life was fed to the creature ... Baal'morda was his name.

"His chosen... the Scions... were the conduits. But they were not unopposed. The Sacred Order of the Ankh attempted to undo their work and, together with the elves of that age, they were able to do so. At least... to some degree.

"This plague was thought long gone, but... in the past few years, this sickness arose again. And it was discovered that the servants of Baal'morda had not all been defeated. Small though their number was, they were still able to spread the Affliction again.

"So here we are today. My good friend Khyrian, descended from the healers of the Sacred Order of the Ankh, has gathered together the same ritual that was performed then in the hopes that this time, we might complete the work that was begun hundreds of years ago. So tonight, once again, elves and humans gather together to face the threat of Baal'morda. And, if this is successful, we hope to weaken him enough to face him in a final confrontation.

"But I am getting ahead of myself ... Tonight... we will perform the Ritual of Sundering which will sever the bond between The Afflicted and Baal'morda, so his draining curse no longer slowly kills us and he will be sustained no longer."

And with that, the ritual was begun. Talanithus Tarant, Veil of SIM, Strongbow of TGC, and Khyrian of Tao formed a circle, facing each other. Using pure spring water and intoning the phrase "Let this element representing life purify you in body, mind, and soul." in their native tongue, each of the priests in turn doused their forehead, heart, eyes, lips and hands. They then stood cleansed, prepared. Each of the afflicted was called to stand in the center of the circle, first Azeron, then Melyanna Lindor and Lunton Weyr. Last called to the circle was Myra Sunveil.

As each person moved to the center of the circle, the priests cast their spells and repeated the ancient words of the ritual. "Be strong! The Darkness within you fades. Release this child of the light! Be restored to the light! With this holy fire, the Darkness is consumed! You are sealed from the Darkness! The Dark Lord's power has been broken!" "Kwari beleg! TelHuinea yassene lle quella. Faina sina hini en i TelKalina! Lle coia vari tuulo TelHuine!"

In the middle of the ritual to cure Azeron, undead began swarming the temple: liches, skeletons, zombies, skeletal knights, bone knights, bone magi. The priests continued as the spectators rushed off to battle the undead hordes. As they tenaciously cast and chanted the words of power on each of the curse's victims, the daemon Baal'morda taunted and berated them. "You cannot win! It won't work! You cannot defeat me! This failed once before! It will fail again! I will send my armies, so that all that remains of this place is a pile of bone and blood!"

The priest ignored the waves of undead and the taunts of the daemon to continue, successfully performing on Azeron, Melyanna, and Lunton. When Myra stepped forward, it was different. Before they even started, she told them that it wouldn't work. The daemon agreed with her. As the priests cast their spells, the magic seemed to bounce off Myra and back onto the priests! Reapers sprang from the ground around the temple and another wave of undead crashed into Tel'Ruid. When the priests completed their words and spells over Myra, Talanithus declared the ritual done and called all to defend the glade.

When the last of the undead lay broken on the ground, the defenders headed to the Silver Arrow Tavern to celebrate. Yet even there, the celebration was interrupted by Baal'morda's haunting words, "Enjoy this evening while you can. This is Not Over! In the end... you will all fall to my power! In the end, the Lord of the Dead will prevail!"