The Hunter and the Reaver
Written by: Anonymous
Date: Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017
Addressed to: Everyone
A distant horn resonated through the boughs of Serenwilde, catching the
attention of Wobou and Kay at the Moonhart Mother. As they alerted their
commune and discussions began to form, a giant crack was heard from the
hills of Northern Serenwilde, followed by waves of psionic energy. A
tree once made by the Horned One for the Silver Goddess was found in the
early stages of petrification, leaking an unknown black smoke.
Depression and fear began to spread through the commune as the waves of
psionic energy began to ramp up, and the members of the commune began to
ramp up their search for questions.
Saran, Torgaddon, Selenity, and several others began to seek answers
wherever they might, first seeking out the caretaker Abeytu due to his
connection to the tree. Abeytu followed them to the tree, offering only
a grave diagnosis before returning to his greenhouse. A second opinion
was sought from a few denizens of the forest, Miakoda and Ridien amongst
them. Some of the monks tried meditating at the tree, finding their
minds violated by a mysterious psionic presence, probing through their
memories. Finally, with a few new voices in the fray and many in tow, an
idea was had.
With Tamsin and Aramel in the lead, the now massive group sought the
wisdom of the spirits, seeking out one Chuchip for a prophecy. After
many, many failed attempts, blunders, and bouts of forgetfulness, the
group managed to attain a cryptic prophecy from the spirit: "The horn
heralds he who knows not what he does, lost from his home to steal that
of another. A web tangled unspools, and tokens of love rot and shatter
as the reaver sings his forsaken song. Only with the spear shattered
will we be spared the horrors of its unfathomable longing."
Confused by the meaning of this prophesy, Tamsin, Saran, and Eamane made
their way to the White Hart who could not tell them much beyond the
existence of a mysterious presence in the forest who did not belong.
They received the instruction to wait for the presence to show itself,
to become bold. And so they waited, psionic pulses echoing throughout
the Serenwilde.
After some time, cracks once more began to form within the petrifying
tree, stone growing up its bark suddenly. The tree spewed even more gas,
and the White Hart appeared at the tree to instruct those of the commune
to fortify the tree, to delay the escape of whatever lived inside. The
essence to fortify the tree came steadily and in massive numbers while a
few members sat by the tree. Tamsin, Selenity, Torgaddon, Saran, and
some others began to inhale the mist from the tree as it mixed with the
silvery essence which had interesting effects on their psyche.
Despite the best efforts to keep the tree fortified, eventually the
being escaped, revealing a tall alien figure who had earned the name
Xarriv, the Reaver. His appearance was short-lived, for he disappeared
near instantly. Throughout the next month, the being kept appearing to
members of the Serenwilde, a party of seemingly interested individuals
following his every move. Each time he appeared, he took a life and
visions began to appear to those he killed, strong emotions filling the
minds of those who died to his touch along with visions of the being's
memories and seemed to take some of his victims' into his own mind.
It was shortly revealed through these visions, confirmed when he touched
the Moonhart Mother and all of Serenwilde saw a shared vision, that this
being was a maddened half-formed tossed into the void when its creche
was attacked by one of the Soulless, back in or before the days of the
Elder Wars. It was driven mad by the emptiness and loneliness of the
Void, left to its own devices to wander. But how it got to the First
World remained a mystery until Sarrasri appeared before it.
As Sarrasri stepped before the tree, the being immediately focused on
her, seeming to recognise her much to the confusion of everybody
present. As Sarrasri fell, she granted a vision which she later relayed
of a fight in the void between the alien being and Charune, ending with
Charune being wounded. Charune's memories of the First World begin to
flood into her mind momentarily. She relayed this, mentioning
remembering the tree specifically.
Future deaths and realisations gave the revelation that this being, in
its maddened state, psionically absorbed some of Charune's memories and
felt the Serenwilde was its home, but its paranoid madness led it to see
all the inhabitants as intruders, meant to be destroyed lest they cause
it more suffering.
Finally, the being appeared before the petrified tree once more, a
vortex of psionic energy appearing above the Serenwilde forest. As the
destruction unfolded, a horn sounded and a rift appeared from the sky
from the Void from whence Charune, Lord of the Hunt returned to the
First World. A battle ensued in the Serenwilde forest before Charune
threw a spear into the half-formed, banishing it to the Void once more
and shattering the tree it entered from.
Penned by My hand on the 6th of Klangiary, in the year 469 CE.