Community:Nightmares of Novia

Nightmares of Novia is a role-playing event coordinated by Travian Games in October, 2018.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

• This is a non-competitive event that will take place in the forum as well as ingame throughout the next weeks.
• During this time, a story will be told in the forum and the Community will have the chance to participate in some key-events of this story ingame, and by doing so, influence the story as it's being told.
• To find out where, when and how the story continues, the participants have to pay attention on the details of the story or riddles that may come up as the story progresses.
• The event begins with Chapter 1. Several posts will follow continuing the story, but it will not be disclosed when the next post will come.

• Hint: The crystal orb of the elven mage may actually disclose more hints about the first event location in the following days.

• This event includes RP-, PvE- as well as PvP.

PARTICIPATION RULES:

• The event is open to everyone.
• This thread is only for Avatars who want to participate. Comments/questions about the event and speculations and discussions about the unfolding story are welcome. Offtopic discussions and posts that do not contribute in any way will be removed.
• The CMs might (or not) answer to some questions or give hints.

DISCLAIMER:

• This event is the first of its kind and may be seen as an experiment.
• The event is held for the sake of mutual entertainment and fun. There are no prizes to be won.
• This event is supported by various Community members and is possible thanks to their contributions.
• Characters, dates, occurrences and other details of this story are not related to the original lore of Shroud of the Avatar.

Lore

Chapter I

Even before the sun could appear on the horizon to announce the new dawn, the clouds have covered every corner of the firmament. It was one of the darkest and grayest mornings in Novia. And by midday, this depressing grayness seemed to penetrate the minds of all creatures. Well, perhaps not all creatures... The Satyrs seemed to care little. The Kobolds... well, why would creatures who live in warrens care about the sunlight anyway, right? But the humans. They certainly felt that something was changing. And even though nobody knew what it was, every man, woman and child was haunted by this uncomfortable feeling crawling under their skin.

Some virtuous Avatars decided to consult a wise elven mage for him to solve this sinister mystery. The old mage listened to the urgent request silently and, without comment, pulled out his crystal orb.​

"I will help you, Avatars, for this threat may also affect the fate of the Elves. I shall try to catch a glimpse of the future, but beware, my powers are limited, and I can only see fragments and possible futures. Because like clay, time is melleable."

He closed his eyes holding his wrinkled old hands above the crystal orb and spoke...

"An unknown power is unfolding somewhere in Novia. When the time is upon us, it will open an invisible portal and vile creatures will trespass the world of the living to disturb our peace. I cannot see who or what is causing theses anomalies but the creatures who will appear in our lands might hold the answer.
You have to find these creatures, Avatars. You must find them all.
Be ready for the creatures to appear on December 1st, 550PC.
Be ready, at the place that the crystal orb discloses to you..."

It was almost November. December 1st was coming closer. The day many humans were concerned about. The virtuous Avatars of the Order of Chivalry were the first ones to find the images from the crystal orb and determine Ardoris as the most suspicious place. Strange things were happening there lately. There was even rumor about pirate ships that were seen by some sailors close to the shore of Ardoris. But well, who knows. Perhaps this was just a seeman's yarn or a tale told by a drunken beggar...

And so, Ardoris was inhabited by various Avatars who began to monitor the situation. Their presence was a relief to the citizens of Ardoris. But for somebody else, it was a thorn in the eye. Apparently there were some people lurking in the shadows, and they did not like this attention at all.

Chapter II

The layer of grey, sinister clouds covering the sky seemed to become thicker with every day that passed by. Many Avatars called their friends and prepared themselves for the arrival of the ominous visitors. However, lately some confusion unfolded as some Avatars were not quite sure if Ardoris was really the place of the assault. But judge for yourself...

The wise, elven mage has foretold that there is a mythical link between the creatures that will appear and the location from which those creatures have been summoned.

Will the Avatars be able to defend the humans? Will they be able to find all hidden creatures and determine the place of their source? We will find out soon.

The first hour of December the horror unleashed in Ardoris. Horrible creatures seemed to appear everywhere and began to slay the terrified citizens. But not all hope was lost. By that time, Avatars from all over the world have formed squads and positioned tactically in the city. With courage, they fought together until the next dawn. Many citizens lost their life this day. But not only the citizens fell victim to this terrible attack...

Despite all protection, the Shogun and the Priestess were no more.

"It was horrible! The Priestess was poisoned by a toxic spider and the Shogun was crushed by an Obsidian Golem. Despite our best efforts, we could not save them in time", an Avatar reported to the surviving guards.

When Darius, one of the Elite Guards heard those words, he screamed in rage. For he was secretly in love with the Priestess... And seeing her dead body now filled him with anger and hate. "This anger shall give me the stregth to find the one responsible for this. And do with him the same he did to my Khasi", he swore to himself, and rushed away...

Only a few days later, Avatars found out the location from which the dark portal was opened. But this discovery brought no joy, but rather dispute upon them ...

"Dysborg Ruins! A place where the Oracle has no power!",one Avatar said.

"It was obvious that the Obsidians would choose such place!", another one shouted.

But a third Avatar had his doubts: "How can you be so sure the Obsidians are behind this?"

And a guard interfered: "I DO know, because I still feel the wounds of Nefarios blade on my body!"

"There is no way we can go to a place where the Oracle cannot protect us!", several Avatars shouted now!

"But then who will protect Novia from further evil?! Something or somebody is spawning portals from this location!", others answered back angrily.

And as they were debating, some of the Avatars, those who did not show that much courage during the invasion, quitely disappeared in the shadows unnoticed...

With the death of the two leaders, Ardoris suffered a heavy blow and its citizens were weakened and discouraged. However, Jude and his companions were unwilling to accept this fate. And so they went on a journey to revert the irreversable. To do the undoable. Is there really a way to resurrect the fallen leaders? Will they succeed?

For them, just like for many other Avatars, this incident was only the beginning of a long adventure. But not all of them were heroes, fighting on the side of the virtues. There were also those who seemed to have enjoyed this chaos and the suffering. They too set off, but most likely with different intentions in mind.

Scoffer, Shimizu and Griffler, from the Chivalry Order who seemingly abandoned the path of virtue, met with Maeva to claim the reward for following her orders... Or was their loyalty towards Maeva just a farce to gain information about the true enemy? We might never know, for the moment Maeva took breath to speak out her knowledge, Darius the furious guard appeared. He seemed to identify Maeva as the person responsible for the Priestess death and salyed her with a powerfull strike. The 3 Avatars, shoked by the surprising attack confronted style="color:white;">Darius immediately. But he suddenly vanished, leaving behind no more than a mysterious after-image of a Demon, which too vanished after a few moments.

The 3 companions looted a rusty prisoner's mask from Maeva's dead body... How strange. But there was even more... a letter, written by an unknown man called "Aeddon". It seems he ordered her to proceed the way she did and if she failed to comply, she would be banished somewhere in Blood Bay, like her sister. But judge for yourself...

Meanwhile, Net, the recently ascended Avatar traveled to Dysborg. Covered by the shadows, he sneaked through the remainings of the city and saw a Demon slaughtering Kobolds. Truly, strange things are happening between the old walls of those ruins. Might this Demon have something to do with the Demon that was briefly seen right after Darius disappeared?

Also, the Avatar Arkah traveled to the ruins of Dysborg to search for the source of the dark portals, and discovered Ebon ritualists performing their dark practices. Does the Ebon Cult have something to do with this? What else may he discover?

Boris, the Pirate and Lady Catherine have recovered from the poison that was clouding their mind. A short time after his awakening, Boris found a bottle floating against his ship. It was a call for help from an unknown "Zaleena", supposedly trapped in the depths of a Dungeon in Blood Bay. Eventually, the pirate has decided to turn over the command of his ship to his loyal Lieutenant Razulah and set off to find this Zaleena, hoping to return with new valuable information, but also, knowing that he might be heading to nothing more but his doom.

All of them - and many other heroes (and villains) were on their way. All of them pursued a dangerous mission and none of them knew, where this mission would end. How will this story continue? We shall see soon...

As the days passed, more and more darkness seemed to poison the hearts of the Avatars. It almost seemed that with the death of the representatives of love, the love inside the Avatar's hearts was fading too. Little by little.

Hate was in the air. There was rumor that some Avatars even planned to start a war between each other while the real enemy could proceed with his dire practices. In a last attempt to reunify the Avatars, a big gathering was organized. Many Avatars appeared. Some with the hope to find the way back to the virtues, some to express their anger, and others... out of curiousity.

But instead of a constructive talk, there was shouting, name-calling and bigotry. Accusations instead of forgiveness. Separation instead of unification. Some of the Avatars, those who wore their sacret shroud of ascension, remained firm, for their hearts were not that easy to poison. But the hate of the crowd was overwhelming and despite all efforts to bring peace into this gathering, the rage went on.

And in that very moment, when some were about to draw their weapons, a young lady rushed to the middle of the crowd:

"Stop!", she shouted. "Stop this madness! Don't you see who the real enemy is?"

"It will be you if you don't get out of my way!", an angry Avatar shouted fetching his bow.

"Please, listen to what I have to tell you!", she continued. Avatars with a sacred Shroud now made a circle around her to shield her from the angry mob. "Let her speak!", they said. "Tell us, who are you?"

And so she began:

"My name is Zaleena. I was recently rescued by the hand of an unknown man", and her eyes wandered through the crowd to see if that man was present, but she quickly continued:
"I am looking for my sister, Maeva. Does anyone know her? I admit, alas, we both were working for the Ebon Cult for many years. One day we decided to leave the Cult. But the Cult's Arch Mage Aeddon did not accept our decision. He said we knew too much and so he trapped us in this terrifying dungeon in Blood Bay. One day, my sister Maeva begged for mercy and swore she would stay true to the Cult, so she was freed again. But I stayed firm and hoped for an Avatar to appear and free me one day. Since then I have not seen her again".

"And why should all of this be my concern?!", an angry voice arose from somewhere.

"Please, listen to me", Zaleena continued, "My sister and I have worked for a long time for the Ebons. We know everything about their wicked plans and their relation to the Obsidians. You must understand:

This Arch Mage receives great power from the Obsidians in exchange for his services. This power combined with his knowledge of occultism allows him to open portals and unleash terror upon Novia".

And suddenly, one of the Avatars listened up carefully. It was, as if he remembered something that was almost forgotten: "Wait, did you just say he summons portals?!"

And Zaleena nodded.

"But I've been in the Dysborg Ruins! And even though we are certain that the vile magic comes from there, I didn't find any mage there", someone objected.

And Zaleena replied: "Those rituals can be performed only during specific stellar constellations. I am certain, Aeddon will be back at his usual place to perform his ritual and once again unleash nightmares and death upon many Novians. And the next day for this to happen... will be May 4th, 551PC."

"Finally!" someone's voice arose. "Finally we have a day, a place and the name of the one who is to be slayn! And by the gods I swear, he will be slayn!"

Zaleena shook her head nervously: "You can't just go and kill Aeddon... Not only is he a master in camouflage, but he is always protected by the Descended Avatar. There is rumor that he can crush 5 men with one strike."

And when Zaleena said these words, some Avatars laughed out loud. But some others became quite and began to whisper: "Is this true? If so, imagine the powers we could achieve if we join his side..."

"Who is this Descended one?! Tell us all you know!"

Zaleena took a long breath, and began:

Chapter III

Finally, the Avatars found the truth behind the attack in Ardoris. And only a few moments later it would be decided whether they will stand united or be torn apart. How would they proceed to handle this overwhelming enemy?