Not long after the previously described events, Tyria went through a period of peace. Even the crime waves in Kryta seemed to have stopped.
However, something was off.

People slowly started to take notice on certain irregularities, like the dozens of empty houses in cities all over the continent, and apparent “holes” in people’s family trees, as if those who belonged there had vanished without a trace. No one could apparently remember who any of these people were, and local city records show no such inconsistencies, aside from the obvious empty spaces on the documents that should mention one’s parents, siblings, or children. Scholars have suggested an en masse spiriting away, or punishment from above.

-

In reality, these changes have been caused by Souren’s attempts at modifying the Akashic Records, to rid the world of those “unworthy” of being part of his ideal utopia. The process was not only flawed, though (as Tyria was left filled with that sort of easily-noticeable inconsistencies), but also fatal to himself, as no human could ever hope to master the power of Akasha itself.

The world still carries on as normal, without the Traveler and Record Keeper to watch over it.

Not long after awakening, the party noticed several irregularities. Amber, who was not supposed to be able to be resurrected, was still with them. The same applies to former margonite general Agnis, and Lion’s Arch’s old blacksmith, Boris, both supposed to be dead since the margonite war. No one but the party seems to find any of this strange. But the most worrying part is the fact that not only does Akira Hamano not seem to be reachable, but no one else besides the party seems to remember his/her existence at all. The party also found a strange coin each, amongst their belongings, but it’s not yet clear what their purpose is.

The date is now May 29th, just one day before the Shirakawa Festival, when Kohina was supposed to be killed. After spending this first day to rest up, the party made their way to Shirakawa on the following morning. Jinta, Arche, Tsukasa, Chikage, and Klarth were recruited as backup for this mission.

Speaking to Kohina revealed some strange details. Apparently, even though this was supposedly the first timeline when Kohina would get the party’s help, she now claimed this to be the fifth. The party now fears that they didn’t just sleep for a few days, but were actually sent into a different timeline… Or worse yet, that they’re looping like Kohina is, without realizing. Kame claims that she doesn’t have the means to affect people other than Kohina, and finds their suspicion “impossible”.
Further details about Kohina’s life were revealed, as well as from "Granny"’s real identity.

An investigation on the island led to two discoveries: first, the seal of Shirakawa’s rift had been tampered with, and demons could easily sneak through, as shown by Cynthia and Elyse. Elyse has revealed no knowledge of who could be planning the attack against Kohina, though she claimed that many demons would support such an attack, if it’d allow them to recover the island which was once theirs.
More important, still, was Aku’s discovery of a secret passage hidden away in Shirakawa’s abandoned mines, which led to where Kohina’s enemies were hidden. Unfortunately, the party’s carelessness led to them triggering the Alarm trap, warning the demons of their presence. This prompted the party to swiftly escape the area, and detonate the tunnel, sealing the hideout. The explosion attracted the attention of not only the villagers, but also Aya, who was already on the island to cover the festival, but had now been lured into “something bigger”. Unwillingly, the party decided that keeping Aya under surveillance would be the smartest decision, and decided to bring her along. Only Chikage believed that having her around would work in their favor.

When night fell, Klarth finally arrived at the island, though he had been injured after some trouble in Rata Sum. After the festival’s traditional play, the party reunited with Kohina, while Arche left to do some scouting in the swamp, as per their earlier plan.

This was, unfortunately, when things went wrong. While the party wasted some precious time talking to Kohina in the back of the temple, they failed to notice the presences hiding not far from there. Before they knew what was going on, a throwing axe had flown past them, lodging itself in Kohina’s face and killing her instantly. Kisuke entered a blind rage, throwing himself towards where the axe had come from, and found two Mariliths, visibly amused with how things had worked out. Their claims were that they had decided themselves that slaying Kohina immediately, rather than take her alive to their boss, had been the smartest decision, given that their presence in the island was already known. A battle broke out, with Aya and Klarth ordered to stay out of it, while Tsukasa was sent to Qill’s tower to get a Scroll of Resurrection. Arche rejoined the party soon afterwards.

At a point during the battle, a mishap caused by Aku’s Circle of Death spell caused the deaths of Chikage and Amber, while the Mariliths remained alive.

(To Be Continued…)

The following day, the party took the time to meet with Kassandra in New Ascalon and try to get some information out of her, with Aku and Carol letting her know that they’re also interested in the Avatar. Kassandra told them a little about Arkad and Souren, but refused to develop much on the matter. They did find out, however, that Arkad was and old student of Atlas, and “marked to be sealed”. While this conversation didn’t give the party much more information, Kassandra promised to contact her companions and arrange a meeting. On the way out, Kisuke had an encounter with a small girl, as old as Mikan, who Kikuichimonji recognized as the reincarnation of Asura, a spirit that inhabited inside Kisuke’s katana for several years, and was released after the end of the Margonite War.

After leaving New Ascalon, the party visited Chikage to get some insight on Arkad’s past, since she is, like him, an old student of Atlas. Chikage couldn’t offer more than just rumors and gossip from when Arkad was part of the Academy, but it gave the party an idea of what they were dealing with.

Three days later, the party finally met with Kassandra’s full group, and heard about their plans. Now aware that they knew where the Avatar was hiding, the party was quick to inform the King of Rats, but saw their efforts wasted when Kassandra’s group teleported away, headed to the Avatar’s location.

The party gave chase, and a battle began inside Souren’s Reality Marble. The combined strength of Souren and Arkad proved to be too much for the party to handle, and one by one, they were slain. However, because of the Avatar’s intervention in preserving their bodies after they fell, or for whatever other reason, the party was eventually rescued and woke up at Lion’s Arch’s inn several days later.

In the following days, the party started an investigation to work on Kohina’s problem, all while gathering clues related to the Avatar’s past. An otherwise normal assignment in the Crystal Desert, where a margonite artifact was found, has caused the release of a trapped margonite spirit, who had met the Avatar before his imprisonment over a thousand years ago, as well as revealing knowledge of a demon-infected island, as seen in the dreams both Kisuke and Aku had.

While investigating in Shirakawa, trying to find any traces of activity near the sealed rift, the party has a run-in with one of Kassandra’s companions, Souren. He admits that he was interested in the method used to seal the rift, though he realizes that it’s imperfect and easy to break. He shows no signs of wishing to break the seal, nevertheless, and the party moves on.

Following Ilya’s disappearance, a scry attempt managed to easily locate not only her, but also Matsuri and Gudrik, exploring a dungeon in an undisclosed location, where they recovered an ancient tome. After confronting them about it, and Ilya’s initial resistance to explain their actions, the margonites were convinced, and gathered with the party at Gudrik’s mansion for a meeting. Ilya then explained that, due to recent events related to the Avatar escalating, she had decided that the best course of action would be to seal the Avatar away permanently, and the tome they recovered held within its pages a ritual powerful enough to do the job. Strangely enough, Ilya refused to explain exactly how she knew about the Avatar or the tome, becoming visibly uncomfortable when the topic came up. Not only that, but Ilya insisted on taking care of this issue without the party’s help. She was convinced otherwise through diplomacy, though she wasn’t too happy about it.
Upon examining the tome, however, they found out that it was not only encrypted, but written in Celestial (which struck everyone as strange, since the tome was guarded by demons, of all things). Still, the tome was entrusted to the party, who left it with Qillassien to be translated and interpreted. Qillassien warned that he’d need a few days to get the job done, but at the same time that it was clear enough, even without a full translation, that it wasn’t a ritual that could be performed by only one caster.

It was then that the party decided to confront the Avatar directly, inviting Arche along for arcane backup, should the need arise. After pinpointing his location (mountains north of the Charr Homelands), Sohei started the teleportation spell. Unfortunately, a mishap sent the party to the Shiverpeaks instead, where they soon found themselves face-to-face with a small norn hunting party, who challenged them to a fight. The party was victorious, despite the outstanding strength displayed by their larger foes, and left the area in good terms, being invited to visit them in the norn city of Sifhalla whenever they felt like it.
The travel towards the East was a rough one, especially for Arche, who was not as used to this kind of long travels as the rest of the party. Soon enough, after a few minor incidents, Arche started to reveal a more aggressive behavior, especially towards Kisuke, though most of it could be attributed to her exhaustion.

After a nearly-eventless travel (not counting the run-in with a charr warband who granted them passage without much resistance, though supervised), the party finally reached the uncharted mountain range, and the cave where the Avatar was in hiding. Upon arrival, the party became immediately aware that they were being watched. They knew, after all, that the Lady of Craft was most likely standing guard. It wasn’t until they found themselves face-to-face with the Avatar, though, that their suspicions were confirmed. The Avatar panicked upon seeing the party, trying desperately to keep a distance between him and the party. Only seconds after this, the Lady of Craft had broken through a side wall, hellbent on destroying the intruders. The party didn’t need the King of Rats’ warning to flee the scene, while the surprisingly agile aggressor gave chase, closing the distance between them and trampling the party before a first attempt at escaping through arcane. The second attempt, however, succeeded, sending the party several miles away through a Shadow Walk.
Over a hour after this close encounter, not having had the time to return to Qillassien’s tower yet, the party is warned by the King of Rats that they are still being chased, at which point they find the prospect of seeking shelter with their new norn friends a lot more inviting.
After spending a few hours at Sifhalla, resting and drinking with the norn, the party summons Akira to bring them back to the tower. The party reported to Qillassien, and retired for the night.

During the night, the group that visited the Avatar that day found themselves pulled into the library of Akasha by the King of Rats, who promptly apologized for his master’s behavior. He also admitted that the dreams that Kisuke and Aku have been having were shown by none other than himself, in an attempt to allow them to understand the Avatar’s past a little better without breaking the oath he’s bound to, which doesn’t allow him to talk about it directly. He’s aware that the dreams have been cryptic and incomplete, due to his master’s (unconscious) resistance towards the attempts at drawing out the full extent of his memories, and promises to continue trying, asking only for patience while he does. At the same time, he reveals that the Lady of Craft will be inactive for at least 72 hours due to the energy wasted earlier, and asks that the party does what they can to keep the Avatar safe.

The Avatar was not the only thing worrying some members of the party, however.

Aku and Kisuke were assaulted by dreams involving an eclipse and the Avatar. In that dream, the Avatar has revealed himself quite different from what they knew: not only could he speak in those dreams, but he sounded angry, having reached his boiling point, and with a profound hatred towards humans (or a non-mentioned group of them). As a full eclipse of the moons began, the Avatar rose up, his body changing itself into an eldritch abomination, while the plains were invaded by a neverending horde of Shades (an extinct race of demons). No matter how much they resisted, the one having the dream would inevitabily be overwhelmed by the endless horde, and sometimes find a “HELP ME” message written in blood on the ground as they’re being devoured. The dream usually ended with the dark mass formed by the Avatar destroying everything around it, including the land itself.

Other troubles arise in the island of Shirakawa, as a young girl, Kohina, is faced with a fate from which she cannot escape from. Being the descendant of a human who ascended into Godhood, she is also the sole carrier of a divine aura that keeps the island’s curse at bay, and its people safe. She has been allowed to cheat death several times by having her life reset itself by the goddess Kame after her inevitable kidnap and murder, at the hands of an unknown assassin, after the local religious festival, and that time is coming closer and closer once again. With little to no clues to work with, Kisuke vows to avoid the murder and spare Kohina from having to face such a fate again. It’s also of the party’s knowledge that the journalist Aya is also fated to die during the night of the festival, though no efforts have been made so far to stop this from happening.

While this is happening, Matsuri of Torc’qua, along with former 3rd General Ilyasviel, go missing.

The tournament hadn’t ended yet when the group realized that something was afoot. The runaway Kournan princess, Kassandra Ossa, is spotted in Lion’s Arch along with two others: a strong-built bald man and a scrawny man with a mohawk. All three of them wear similar, white overcoats. Going out of their way to eavesdrop on them, the group discovers that they’re seeking an “Avatar”, though their goals were as of yet unknown.

On the day before the tournament finals, a colossal manta-like unidentified flying creature soars over Lion’s Arch from the West, headed towards the Shiverpeak Mountains. Despite the panic generated, the city was unscathed. Azumi, Captain of the Lion’s Arch White Mantle, quickly mobilized her men to search for any damages in the surrounding towns. Loremaster Qillassien, on the other hand, was quicker to find what they were looking for: Something had happened in Sanctum Cay, to the West, and several houses were destroyed, along with part of the roof in Gudrik’s mansion. This was the group’s next destination.

Upon arrival at the mansion, the group was directed towards the city by a concerned maid, Misuzu, who asked the group to check a co-worker who had gone missing: the head-maid Iza. Going through the incident’s ground zero, the party started the searches, while Sohei did what he could to help the wounded, along with the clerics at the site. Iza was found with a bad injury, but alive and stable, and in turn carried back to the mansion. The mansion’s master, Gudrik, could provide no information on the attack, as he was in the basement when the crash occurred, though he did see the creature that flew past Lion’s Arch. Still unsatisfied with their progress, the party paid a visit to an acquaintance of Kisuke who lived in one of the unaffected areas in Sanctum Cay, Chikage Makinami.

Chikage was already fully aware of what had happened, having read the memories of an eye-witness with her etherlite strings shortly after the incident. Back at Qillassien’s tower, Chikage uses a crystal ball to show those memories, instead of vocally describing what she had learned. This is when the party saw a large humanoid construct chasing after a badly wounded Kassandra, destroying everything in its path. After she was cornered, Kassandra summons her guardian creature, starting a fire in the surrounding houses, after which the memory ends.

A new scry attempt on the flying creature reveals that the aforementioned construct was riding on its back, while carrying an unconscious and injured child. The same child who has been “stalking” Kisuke and Aku since the Margonite War, and held powers that left Amber, someone used to the inner workings of magic, absolutely terrified. He was the “Avatar” that Kassandra’s group was chasing.

May 11th, 1374 AE

Four years have passed since the Margonite War and the death of the fallen god Abaddon and the sealing of Jadoth, the margonite firstborn. Despite the increasing crime rates in Kryta, the continent is going through a period of peace.

This is also the day when the old Lion’s Arch tradition of holding combat tournaments was reintroduced. The resistance group that defeated Abaddon, along with Elonian assassin Erner Haust and vanara Sarutobi no Sohei, were ready to spend the next few days fighting for the championship. In the end, however, Erner would decide not to sign up, and Kisuke Ibraha would be defeated in the elimination matches by none other than Masaru Hananakajima, his bellowing, self-declared rival.

Sohei is defeated in the semi-finals by the margonite Matsuri of Torc’Qua, falling victim to a gruesome technique. Aku Unescia makes his way to the finals, stomping through the competition, which included sylvari necromancer Jenna and Qillassien’s apprentice Arche. Against him, Carol Ashford, who had already defeated the asuran golemancer Krugg and Matsuri. The battle was a quick one, granting Aku the victory and title of Champion (along with a well-earned prize money).