Autumn is slowly coming to a close, just one month left!
The chill bites a little more in the air, and Hallow is officially over. Fang & Bone have gathered the rest of the Hallow Corn for themselves, though will keep their shop open till the end of the month in case anyone wishes to trade theirs for more goods, and of course will be back again next year for more tricks and treats!

We've got some exciting(and dangerous!) things unfolding this month, so lets jump right in.

Mana Touched History

The next chapter of Kyvalore's Story is here!

Rhea blinked hard and came to a stop as soon as she made eye contact with the clearing. She took a small wincing gasp, breath caught in her throat like a tied knot.  She stood amongst the ruins, a heavy feeling of foreboding in her chest. This was where it had happened. It wasn't visibly as lifeless as the Grave Isles, but it held the same deep twisting mana tunes that gave her unease to be near. This was where Modeous requested her help once before to take care of the werebeast putting her, and Pikk’s, life in danger. Here she stood once again, another call to the greater good, to discover more unearthed history of the world.
The knot in her throat stayed, but she finally managed to breath and take a step forward. She left the cover of the trees and made her way to the base of a stone stairwell, a winding path of dirty stone up to what must have been a modestly grand structure at one point. The remains of great pillars rose at her side before age and wear blunted them, and a large shattered archway waited to greet her at the top.
Making her way slowly through the archway almost felt like passing through a different domain entirely. The farther into the old ruin, the more the weight of mana around her reached out, the air heavy with twisted tendrils grasping and tainted; a curse that had found a friend.

There among the rubble shuffled Modeous, so deep into writing notes and digging through ink stained papers that he didn't even notice Rhea’s nervous approach.
“Professor?” She spoke as she gently knocked on a stone, not wanting to startle him out of his focus.
“Good good! You made it safe I see!” Modeus said joyously without even looking up and completely unaware of Rhea’s struggle to be there. He was pacing, manic almost, like there was something he couldn’t hold in. “I told you there were too many details to explain, so I shall show you!”

Rhea opened her mouth to speak, but Modeous continued on blinded by his excitement of the discovery of the unknown, rambling as he grabbed papers and pens, a book wrapped in royal blue stained leather, and the skull; the one she was gifted from a strange shadow from what felt like so long ago on the Grave Isles.
Modeous’s ramblings stopped and he made a quick nod to Rhea and began to concentrate, paw placed firmly on the old skull.
Suddenly light shone forth as his mana sigil burst into life. Light streaked from the sigil to broken glass, creating fractals and all sorts of colors danced around what was left of the ruined chamber. She would have admired the beauty of it if the circumstances were different, but the mana now had somehow become even heavier, so thick in the air you could almost choke.
The light blared brighter, becoming harder and harder to look at till the chamber and more was consumed.
At some point she had closed her eyes, but she couldn't recall when and for how long, but when she opened her eyes once more, Modeous stood before her. Tall, slender… wrong. It wore Modeous’s clothes, but instead of the dark furred four-legged voxibell, stood a figure on two hind legs, mostly furless. His front paws reached out, manabone now extruding from digits in small but long pointed numbs. Few features remained of the teacher she knew.

“Achievement!” Modeus exclaimed, as he fumbled with his pen as if to take notes on the spot. “I was able to do it! By searching the mana inside of the skull, and prying through the history of the object like a lost tome I forced it to remember! I took it’s memory and attuned myself to it, and found our long lost history! What you see here before me is a much older species that walked the surface of Kyvalore!”

He turned around. Placing the skull down gently onto a stack of tomes. It's eye sockets were dark and empty, but thankfully devoid of the bright, white malice Rhea had expected to see in a moment of panic.

 “What I hold here in what is no longer paws but hands, is the same kind of skull I have now, inside my body. A connection to what was, what used to be! The potential is incredible, this breakthrough cannot be understated! I want to share this with you my studious subject, I want to share this with the world! What wonders we could make, what advancements in history we could uncover, seeing everything in a different light, experiencing life as a whole ancient civilization did! How might we contextualize the ruins of Old Kyvalore by using the bodies of the souls who inhabited it!”

“Please, let me teach you the rites, the proper method to make this primordial magic your own, so that you too can increase your abilities, your possibilities, and your future! Let me share with you this ancient world!”

His voice began to quiver slightly, his speech faster. Manic, almost, in his excitement and need to share the skull's mana. Rhea knew of Kyvalore’s ruinous history, at least what little of it was known. The humanity that took magic and used it to curse the land and lead to its total destruction. The humanity who’s ruins they now inhabit, who’s monsters roam the lands. The humanity, now standing right in front of you, holding an ancient skull. A voice whispered to Rhea, a unique but strangely familiar mana tied to it,.”If you do this, you cannot undo what has been done. There are other ways to gain knowledge.” The soft presence dissipated, and the weight of the Ruin's aura came crashing down upon her once more.

Her gut feeling was just as foreboding as it had always been, but her conviction remained just as strong. History was being discovered and being made at this very moment, and Rhea was determined to be a part of it.

“Do it.” she said, her voice loud as she tried to stay confident in her path. “Teach me how.”

His hands guided her paws to the skull, and he taught her of mana attunement.
She moved her mana, her sigil blared into life and focused her energy, just as Modeus instructed. Rhea pushed herself into the ancient aura of the skull and dug through it’s sea of mana. It sucked like quicksand pulling her ever deeper, then pushed back like a magical barrier trying to stop the intrusion, but Rhea was not to be deterred, and dug deeper. Suddenly, like a door flying open in a gale, the mana of the skull rushed into her own, drowning her in its power.

She wanted to scream, her body twisted and pulsed, her flesh and blood and bone reshaping like quicksilver into a shape it's never known nor was meant to know. The mana filled her utterly, teaching her very soul what she should now look like, without mercy. It was over in an instant, though it felt much longer than that. Rhea was panting hard, and fell to one knee, her eyes closed hard as she processed the pain that she went through to get here and then opened them again. She looked at her paws… no... her hands, as Modeous called them. She was still wearing her clothes and gear. Pikk was thankfully unaffected by the transformation, still in her pouch afraid to emerge before, but now he tried to climb out and check on his friend. She loosened the pouch for Pikk to hop out, then stood up, turning over her arms and looking at her tanned, hairless skin. She gave her wings a little stretch as the breeze began to pick up, feathers and hair twisting in the wind and…
“Ouch!” Rhea exclaimed as she pulled her arm closer to her body. Was this form weak to water somehow? She rubbed her arm gently where the rain had hit her and backed into a farther corner of the ruins, still getting used to the way her body moved. It was heavy, like something more than the body itself weighed her down, and she distinctly felt a slight disconnect from her own mana that she was so used to.
She stared at Modeous, his hands already full of books and bottles of ink, eyes alight with so much wonder. She had so many questions, and he was ready to answer as many as he could.

“So how di-” Rhea stopped and jumped away mid sentence, a loose brick from the already broken ceiling crumbled down, barely missing her as rain billowed through the open gap, each drop burning more than the last. What rain didn't spatter against her skin hit the stone and dirt earth, leaving indents like falling knives. She pushed herself into another covered section of the room and watched with horror as it wasnt her flesh that was weak to rain, but the rain held some otherworldly strength to it.

BOOM

Lighting flashed through the open windows and holes of the ruin and the rain fell even harder. Each raindrop left a gouge in the floor as if the stone slabs were made of nothing more than clay.

CRACK

The lightning struck again, and the sky filled with an unnatural orange hue. It flashed again, again, thrice more before they could manage to compose themselves. Both Modeus and Rhea looked at each other, Rhea worried and scared, Modeous curious but concerned. The wind howled, barreling more shredding rain through the openings, closer to their cover. Another stone fell from above, right behind Modeus, its smashed surface more akin to bleached coral than stone from the downpour.

“I think it's time we made our exit!” Modeus yelled. Rhea nodded her agreement, and together they ran from the splintering chamber. Modeous filled his arms with all the books he could muster from his ruin research site and the old skull of course; while Rhea grabbed Pikk and shoved him deep into her satchel for safety.
“Sorry Pikk,” She muttered while tightening the flap of the satchel closed in hope of keeping the little gribble as safe as she could.

They exited the chamber to a sky of red, orange and purple bursts. Dark clouds surrounded them and wind pushed and pulled in all directions.
“This way!” Modeous yelled, barely able to be heard over the ceaseless storm.
The wind was pushing into them now, stealing their breaths, just as it stole the very life of the forest outside. What was once a dark green tranquil scene when Rhea arrived was now blighted from lances of angry lightning and rain that burned like acid. The trees were dead and dying, leaves suddenly brown where they could be seen; the rain ate away at them just as it did the stone, the trees and the grass. Everything in front of them was dead, devoid of mana, and what still stood was actively being torn apart by the wind, ripped from the earth like tearing fabric. Somehow the wind bellowed even harder.

Jagged chunks of tree trunks and bark circled above them, now carried by a tornado that was forming amidst the storm and all too close in the forest. Rhea was resisting not only the wind with her newfound center of balance, but withstanding the pull of her mana into the magical maelstrom. It was hungry not just for the destruction of the land but the destruction of magic itself, trying to pull Rhea's very essence from her.

“Come on!” Modeus screamed, pointing with an outstretched hand to their left, where this unnatural tornado had obviously started. The ground was barren, brown and lifeless, anything that stood even fractionally tall was gone without a trace.
“It's heading south, so we should move north!”

Rhea nodded and began to run, faster than she had ever ran before. She kept her head low, instinctively flinching whenever something flew too close around her in its orbit. As she ran, she clutched her satchel close as Pikk trembled inside. The sound of the wind was overwhelming, it's all she could do to focus on her sprint to hopeful safety. As she ran, small patches of dead grass and rock found her bare feet and ankles. They sliced at her, gouged at her with razor sharp blades and surfaces melted away to form thorns.

She did not have time to think about the cause of the storm, only to get away and hope with all her might that her friends, her family, and her home would be safe.

Need a refresher of what's happened so far?
You can read more at Rhea's Tale here.

The weight of Mana

Did your character join in on the last story chapter of Kyvalore and either accept or deny attunement to an old skull?
If they did, you may want to check your character's inventory! Something from their journey seems to still sit with them...

Weight of Mana" />

Legacy Questing

Missed out on previous story quests, or want to go back with other characters to experience the story?

The formatting of Legacy Quests is almost done and almost all legacy story quests will be released soon, as well as some special questing where you can only gain access by completing certain legacy quests!

Get ready to delve into the Aetherin Forest and Grave Isles for further discovery.

Of Fog & Fury Finale

Looks like into the final bit of Hallow we really got in there and got Sahmaron knocked back! There's still a few more quests to process for of Fog & Fury that we will be getting to over the weekend. Expect a final tally and a special prize for those that came in swinging and helped drive back the soul eating beast soon.

Secret Santa Sign-Ups

it's that time of the year!

Secret Santa Sign-ups are open! Join in and create art for other members of Kyvalore and get something in return! 

Our Team Grows!

We're excited to announce that we've got a few new members of our team that you've probably already seen around the site approving prompts and character designs, as well as answering in the discord!

ducclord & Newt !


And we've got a great little guest artist team that is already working away creating amazing designs that I can't wait for you to see them soon!

Kamodo030 Seagull Vaitael @Eldritch-Aberrance & fyre

SUDOKU !

We've got another puzzle for you featuring our little autumn friend, the Avaor!

If you don't know how to play, here is a handy guide to get you started. Complete your puzzle and turn it in here for a prize!

Seasonal Features

The raffle from last month as been rolled! Congrats to Lawlie ! Your items have already been sent your way!



Ready for the next one? The next raffle is a perfectly themed autumn avilli designed by our own SeaCrest ! They might even match a certain litle friend... 

You can find the raffle entry submission form on the questboard!

Shop Rotations

Rhea, Fern, and Athalie are updating their shops today! Keep an eye out for their new stock for the remainder of the Autumn season.

Keep an eye out on the Sweet & Savory Shop later this month for a special holiday treat!

Additional Notes

Thank you again for another WONDERFUL Hallow event! I've loved every single sahmaron prompt, and hey... maybe there was some casualties, but nothing we cant recover from right?

We've still got SO much brewing behind the scenes, might want to make sure your character is a bit stronger for what's to come.

Also just a last note that we're getting close to the holidays and exciting things as usual planning little holiday treats behind the scenes, but I do ask that you have a little bit more patience with the staff team during this time, as we want to make sure everyone gets to step away and spend time with friends as family!

And as always, thank you for being you, and being here. <3

-Wisp