Dark Martyr

Dark Martyr Campaign Summary.

This was the latest guild event of the Magus Senate of Dalaran.

Brief Summary
Twilight's hammer remnants steals a fragment of the Cipher of Damnation and goes to try and mess up the elemental planes. Along the way a Twilight Sub-faction called The Eventide Contingency surfaces and proves to be a bit of a problem.

Full Summary
Everything remained mostly stable for several weeks while the more diplomatic minded members of the Senate sought out new relations. After a week of talks, Councilor Verus Baelheit arranged a meeting with the Dark Iron faction, The Hand of Thaurissan. The senate met under the pretense of the exchange of knowledge, but in addition to that the Hand had arranged for the Senate to take possession of a fragment of the Cipher of Damnnation, that which had brought Ragnaros into Azeroth. En route to secure the transfer of the fragment, buried with the cities chief architect, they walked in on an action of thievery unheard of. Through unknown means the last remnants of the Twilight's Hammer had made a desperate bid to do something, anything, now that their masters lay defeated. As they reached the surface, the dark irons's and the senate eliminated the last of them as their leader ranted and raved for them to make their sacrifice worth it, and to martyr themselves before vanishing into a shadowy gate.

Working with the Earthern Ring the Magus Senate and the Dark Iron Dwarves managed to track the cipher fragment to the elemental planes. They recieved a tip off that the fragment was being moved into the elemental plane of air. Utilizing shamanistic help and complex portal magics, the senate was able to infiltrate the plane of air and intercept the fragment. Upon arrival they found the remaining air elementals in turmoil and vast gulfs of sky. Utilizing provided Gryphons they assaulted the ritual location where the fragment was being brought through. They were intercepted by cultists on enslaved Storm Drakes. They managed to get to the ritual site and intercept the fragment and disrupt the ritual. The fragment portal was collapsing and a voice came through, along with a faint image of Deepholme, their next hunt.

After some time speaking with the Earthen Ring, the Magus Senate and Hand of Thaurissan. managed to get into deepholme. The group reached the Twilight Camp and found it barren, save for scores of corpses, sacrificed in ritual, some slain, some suicide. They head sounds in a building, rushing in to investigate, they were confronted by a cultist, blocked by powerful twilight magic. He informed them that the cipher had been used and that deepholme would be damaged. He gave them a choice, rush to stop the cipher's effects, or stop the Twilight Martyr. He then slit his throat on the altar to his gods. After brief but heated argument, they decided to prevent the damage to Deepholme. Rushing west they found elementals being bound into a huge conglomerate, they killed the elementals to prevent their fusion, and toppled the earthen abomination. As it fell they tried to get back in time to catch the Martyr, but found only a closing portal which burst forth with a deluge of water, taking the senate by surprise. The cultists had fled to the water plane.

The plane of water was a difficult recon. Several spells and enchantments of water breathing were required and the area around the entry point was still tumultuous and difficult to set portal nexus' up. The magi managed to intercept the cultists in the water plane. They found the Twilight Martyr and his disciples attempting to widen the rift once more. The minions fell easily, but the Martyr spoke several words and the Senate was betrayed by one of their own. A previously brainwashed member, Aithnea Escol, a powerful shield magi. They were able to break the barriers and slay the lieutenant of the martyr, but the man himself was able to escape to his last safe haven, the fire plane.

The senate manage to break into the plane of fire, already decimated by the Cenarion assault. In the smoldering ruins of the land, the cultist rituals were easy to spot and locate. Guard Captain Durthan, already intricately linked with fire magics and battlemage Nathul Furlbrow moved ahead to bring in the senate via portal nexus. They confronted a fire ascendant, one of the few remaining twilight cultists gifted with such power. He led a faction of cultists determined to use the cipher to birth a new firelord. They were reinforced by a second group of cultists, The Eventide Contingency. At the time an unknown splinter faction working with the martyr. They were skilled combatants that fought well, but ultimately failed to defend the flame ascendant, which was slain midritual. The Eventide contingency used the ensuing chaos of the failing ritual to abduct Councilor Meriahm Lausten and flee with the Twilight Martyr. The fragment of the cipher of damnation was recovered from the corpse of the ascendant.

With nowhere left to run the Twilight Cultists retreated to their ruined fortresses and dillapidated safehouses. They were weeded out one by one, and the Councilor was in non of them. The Magus Senate Scrying Corp evntually found the cultists, having no planes left to run too they had hid in the remains of the Bastion of Twilight. The ruined structure provided many hiding spots. The Battlemage Corp made the first intrusion, setting up a warded beachhead deep within the underground fortress. They triggered many traps and established a safe zone for which a portal nexus could be estalished. After bringing the senate and the dark irons through, they found the Martyr and the leader of The Eventide Contingency in meeting with their forces. The two leaders retreated while they were ambushed by additional Twilight forces. The elites of the Eventide Contingency proved much more ferocious this time, quickly inflicting several wounds and casualties before being summoned by their dark masters and retreating, leaving one member behind, which was a dazed Councilor Lausten, dressed in Twilight garb. They were found again in the ruined throne room of Cho'gal himself, trying to bring forth old god creations. They used brainwashing techniques and devastating attacks to disrupt the senate. But as they were ever so slowly driven back, the leader of the Eventide Contingency, identified by Kira Frostheart as Nox, betrayed the Martyr, claiming that he had fallen from favor with their Gods and stabbed him through the heart with a magic dagger, shattering his defenses and triggering a mutation into a warped and pityable creature. The senate put him down soon enough, tentacles and all. His mutated and desecrated corpse was retrieved for study in Dalaran and casualties and wounded were taken back. All senate members affected by the corruptive magic were placed in the Hold until they were deemed free of corruption. So ended the Twilight threat.