Senator Stonedust’s Report – Vale of Eternal Blossoms
Greetings Champions of Azeroth and Ironforge Senate, to whom I am able to deliver this final report of the year to, in person. The Crystal Path caravan and I have returned from Pandaria with vital and exciting new information in our developing quest to understanding Azeroth’s history and how to secure her safety. However, the process of gathering that information was perilous and taxing, but I shall endeavour to give the best account I can on the happenings in the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms.
As I left you in the previous report, I mentioned our remaining threat, Kei’mon. A powerful stone Mogu, formerly of the Rajani clan (who are the Champions allies in Pandaria). He was laid to rest thousands of years ago after falling in battle to the Black Empire, but had since been brought back, his body impaled by spires of Azerite erupting from the ground, which flooded him with power and scrambled his mind. He had grown hyper focused on defending Pandaria and Azeroth at any cost, and so had been building an army loyal to him which he would try to use to conquer Pandaria and crush any remaining corruption. In addition to the remnants of the Legacy of Shaohao (whom he had been using as ‘gateway-imperialism’ to make his eventual takeover more palatable), and the Saurok followers of Prince Ridraan, he has also uncovered an old vault of Stone Mogu and a crypt of bound ‘mortal mogu’ souls. He placed the newer souls into the older bodies and had them infiltrate the ranks of the Rajani.
He had managed to accomplish this using stolen Mantid technology mixed with otherworldly reagents from strange soul trading creatures. However, following a mantid attack on the Shado-Pan base that he orchestrated to gather more resources and improve his disguised soldier’s standing amongst the Pandaren, the Crystal Path uncovered the fiendish plot. The false Rajani were exposed and the ritual circle in the woods was reversed to draw their souls out of their bodies and send them back to whence they came. The Pathfinders and Outsiders, suspecting that they might find some clue as to where their missing friend Chi’um had her soul taken to, followed the Mogu souls back to the source. They infiltrated the old Rajani vault that had been conquered by the Baruk Clan and destroyed the defences. Finally, they reached the vault with all the bodies and buried it again, rather than let them be used for Kei’mon’s insidious plans.
However, in the vault the Pathfinders had witnessed a meeting between Kei’mon and some of the strange otherworldly traders. They rescued one from the collapsing room and took with them one of the self-proclaimed emperor’s relics for locating souls. Forming a temporary alliance with the strange creature it revealed that its boss had worked with both Kei’mon and the traitorous elder monk, Xiaosheng Gentlebrush. The latter of which, had been the recipient of the soul of the child Chi’um after she was stolen from the coronation. Chi’um’s soul now was lost inside a pocket realm created by Gentlebrush with the power of his dark master, Phage. Our new ally had a way to reach it though, with enough relics from Gentlebrush’s past that he had a close connection with, he could help pinpoint his soul and open the way to this demi-plane.
With the help of Lorewalker Tenzin, the Pathfinders scoured Gentlebrush’s past, reliving pivotal moments in his life. The frustrated painter had been born over ten thousand years ago and lived through the War of the Ancients, to witness the reshaping of Pandaren culture as their people followed the teachings of their last emperor, Shaohao. Whilst others had embraced their new ways and learned to block out the Sha, Gentlebrush could not. He had wallowed in his hatred and fears. He had abandoned his colleagues to die in pursuit of darker artistic inspirations. He had even murdered a man in a fit of jealousy, before finally having his fabled meeting with Phage. The Shadow Serpent bequeathed him the power to steal identities, as well as the capacity to live indefinitely, so long as he maintained rage and anger in his heart.
Along this dark path he had left behind his old heirlooms, works of art, and weapons of murder. Few of which had survived the ravages of time and were salvaged to be used in the ritual. The Pathfinders, Lorewalker and their new ally used these heirlooms to open a temporary rift to Gentlebrush’s realm, into which the Pathfinders and Outsiders delved. Within they saw a twisted vision of the Vale where all the Titans and Pandarens work had been overtaken and destroyed by the Black Empire and Mantid. They snuck through the wastes and infiltrated the dark palace, fending off shadowy mantid and defeating monstrous creatures made from living paint. At the heart of darkness, they rescued the soul of Chi’um from a prison where she had been forced to use her powers to create and now enhance the deadly rage inducing sludge that spread from person to person like a virus. They were unable to undo her work, nor capture Gentlebrush, but the girl was safe and returned to her body in Mistfall Village.
It was a small mercy that Chi’um remembered little of her time in Gentlebrush’s realm, aside from the basics of what she had done. However, she had also learned some insights on the origin of her abilities to manipulate emotions, they had come from her connection to Ra’Vah, the ancient Crystalline Cloud Serpent that the Pathfinders had been putting back together. Though initially she believed herself to be its reincarnation due to a lie from Phage, the truth is closer to her holding the small sliver of Ra’Vah’s soul that remained after escaping the dark fate that befell the rest of it long ago. But at the time, she believed that in order to ward Pandaria’s soul chamber from the shadows, we must return the completed body back to its resting place outside its doors.
With aid from the Golden Lotus the Crystal Path began to investigate some excavation sites near where the body of Ra’Vah was originally found, in the hopes that they could find the entrance to the Soul Chamber. But before they could, they discovered the Zan-Tien and Dokani Mogu clans in league with Kei’mon had set up camps around other nearby excavation sites and old ruins. They snuck around to the top of the Zan-Tien’s camp and flooded it with water as a distraction before sneaking inside to retrieve the relic out from under the Mogu noses. They found a large flat stone ring, the outer layer of a disc that seemed Zandalari in design. They had taken one piece, but the inner ones were in the hands of the Baruk.
The following day, some of Kei’mon’s Pandaren followers had the nerve to attack them inside the inn at Mistfall to try and steal the disc fragment! Luckily, they were subdued, and they learned their plan was to try and bait the Pathfinders into hastily moving the Relic and body of Ra’Vah to the Shrine of Seven Stars, so they could be ambushed along the way. Now armed with the knowledge that the Dokani were waiting to ambush, the Pathfinders sent the Outsiders the long way around to the Shrine disguised as farmers, whilst they delivered a decoy cart along the quicker route towards the shrine, loaded with fireworks, and a hidden portal circle. They lured the Dokani into the first attack and then summoned reinforcements, causing the Mogu to bring in their own reinforcements later down the road to finish the job, including their sorcerer who held the relic. They stole the relic from the Dokani Sorcerer and then ignited the decoy cart, causing the fireworks to go off in a cacophonous explosion that gave them the cover they needed to escape.
Combining the outer and inner rings of the relic, plus a small Zandalari shield that Farseer Lebular had been gifted by the spirit of a Zandalari defector and the descendants of his Pandaren friends, the relic turned into a magical compass that could lead the holder through the labyrinth of tunnels in the earth beneath the excavation site the Golden Lotus had found the body of Ra’Vah inside. Though her body was incomplete with the Lungs still in the hands of Kei’mon, the Pathfinders took what they had down through the twisting corridors into the earth. They found the ancient chamber with its grand door at one end, requiring two ancient titanic keys to open, just like the ones we discovered in Uldaman, Uldum and Ulduar. The room was magnificently designed, held up by four statues of the elemental champions, a Phoenix, and Djinn, a Gemstone Colossus, and a Giant Koi. In the centre was a forge beneath a platform, onto which the body of Ra’Vah was placed and locked into. Once the room’s defences were recharged, the Zandalari spirit appeared, revealing that at one stage he had been one of the two Key Guardians, but had passed the title onto the Pandaren he chose to protect, which leaves the current title in the hands of Yubi Thunderpaw, their descendant and now friend of the Pathfinders.
Yubi claimed her key, but to enter the Soul Chamber and return the Azerite, we’d still need to find the second Guardian and their key, as well as Ra’Vah’s lungs. Handily, the two items presented themselves together shortly. Not so handily was they being in the hands of Kei’mon, who revealed that he was the original guardian chosen to protect the Soul Chamber long ago, and had never relinquished the key or title at the time of his original death. He had sensed the partial reactivation of the chamber and demanded that Yubi hand over her key to him so he could claim its power to save Pandaria. He then revealed that he had already reactivated a bleeding, floating titanic machine of war! Which he had turned into his new palace, and was hidden in the storm clouds above. With it he could unleash the souls of his mogu army and terrible storms, which he threatened to do unless his demands were met.
I am proud to say though that the Pathfinders and Pandaren would never give in to a tyrant, even one who proports to be acting for the betterment of Azeroth. Working alongside the Shado-Pan and the Rajani Mogu, a plan was hatched to deactivate the engine’s main cannon to prevent it projecting souls, whilst simultaneously removing it’s central power source. The Pathfinders and Outsiders were taken up on cloud serpents into the ruins around the engine. The Outsiders made their way up towards the top, sabotaging defences with the ultimate goal of claiming the driver’s seat. Meanwhile the pathfinders snuck down into the lodestone mines from which the engine drew power and stopped the emperor’s men doing so, before stealing their Azerite draining equipment. The teams then split up, Deputy Molge’s team made their way up through the sewers, battling Cloud Serpent riding Mogu, and even bartered their way past the deformed and disgraced Saurok Prince Ridraan, to reach the engine. They defeated the Mogu and drained the Azerite power source, before going down to face Dai’lee Longfang and Narla Twinfriend. Narla turned on Longfang, hastily explaining she had been a Shado-Pan agent in deep cover all along. He put up a solid fight over the command of stone with Molge, but was quickly overwhelmed. He attempted to escape his body, using his newfound necromancy learned from the Baruk Mogu, to inhabit a stronger stone body. Solarex managed to use the Light to ensnare and trap his soul and bind it back into his true body, defeating the traitor once and for all. Mhurtan Ironwill and Ranknar Matchbeard using the engineering skills they’ve picked up through their travels deactivated the cannon.
Meanwhile above, Lebular’s team were taking the mining tools up into the heart of the engine. They slipped through the defences and held off Mogu forces whilst my assistant Borduff used his magical and runic knowhow to deactivate the locks. The Pathfinders bypassed electrical defences and recharged magical locks to open the way to a grand chamber, where they encountered what they believed to be Kei’mon. The massive imposing stone Mogu gave them and Yubi the chance to surrender, but upon refusal launched into a fierce battle! They traded heavy blows back and forth with the giant stone tyrant, each strike drawing out dazzling and shimmering globules of Azerite energy which he used to unleash devastating attacks. But in turn the Pathfinders used the stolen tools and their own connection to Azeroth to take the energy back, and turn it against him! After a fierce battle over the blood of our very world, the Pathfinders stood victorious over Kei’mon’s body.
However, it was not the true Kei’mon, his stone simulacrum crumbled into rubble and his voice boomed through the halls, beckoning them into the heart of the engine. Following they found him as he truly was, still imposing but weary, pained, his stone form cracked with large shards of Azerite coming from his shoulder, causing him great pain. They put together what had happened to the man, how the world blood had driven him from a stalwart defender of Azeroth into a mad tyrant. The pathfinders proved that they were more capable to protect Azeroth than he, by preventing the four pylons in the corners of his chamber from charging him, by taking the brunt of the power and energy themselves, or blocking it with magic. Kei’mon was not impressed at all of them for not taking on the energy themselves, but conceded that their strength lay in their teamwork, and adaptiveness, able to overcome many situations with a wide spread of skills. He stood down, passing the second Titan Key Stone and the Lungs of Ra’Vah to the Pathfinders. The Azerite was taken from his shoulders, and he agreed to leave, taking to the throne of the engine to pilot it (with the weapons deactivated) away from Pandaria and out on a new voyage of his own, to watch Azeroth from afar.
With Longfang imprisoned, the self-proclaimed emperor abdicated, and the Pathfinders now in possession of everything they needed to enter the Soul Chamber of Azeorth, things were looking up for our little gang. All that remained was to head back to the Soul Chamber and venture inside to recharge it with our gathered Azerite. However once the lungs of Ra’Vah were returned to her body, the old titan machines reactivated and stated that it needed to be cleansed, and its plinth sunk down into the earth, taking the crystalline cloud serpent with it. We pursued after, opening the chamber door with both Yubi and Kei’mon’s keys.
The information we discovered in the chamber pertaining more of Azeroth’s history, and the struggle between the Titans, Elements and Phage will be fully documented in a second report once I have finished going over all the information we extracted. But for now, we witnessed a retelling of a fateful battle eons ago between the four elemental champions who used their titanic instruments, the Horn, the Hydraulophone, the Erhu and the Drum to defeat the Phantasmal Phage. The Pathfinders bypassed ancient puzzles and traps to open doors, and cleansed Phage’s lingering corruption within the halls. The corruption fully manifested within the body of a giant Koi fish made from water, the Water Champion, now turned into a giant sludge aberration. The Darkness was purged and what pure waters remained followed the Pathfinders, opening the passage into the final chamber for us.
The console to channel our Azerite down into Azeroth’s Ley Lines was at the end of a passage filled with murals and old texts. We decided to split in two parties, with myself leading the group that stayed behind to gather the information, whilst Lebular went on ahead to return the Azerite. As mentioned, what I found will be the subject of another report. The Pathfinders meanwhile discovered the console before a large shaft leading down into the heart of the world, suspended above it, between four strange discs, was the body of Ra’Vah, coiled up. The Pathfinders repeated the process they had undertaken in the three prior soul chambers and put their gathered shards of Azerite into the console and directed it to cleanse Ra’Vah and the Ley Lines. The Azerite broke down into a blinding coalesced ball of swirling blue and gold lights that washed over the Cloud Serpent and then blasted down the shaft into the world’s soul. The energy spread all across Pandaria, restoring strength to Azeroth and purging Phage’s influence and presence from the continent, or so we believed.
What Azerite remained was infused with the Water Spirit’s energy and turned aqua blue before being returned to us. However, the Azerite coursing over Ra’Vah’s body shifted from radiant blue and gold to a hissing, festering red and purple energy that corrupted the body, turning its scales from white to black. It uncurled and revealed it had been wearing the mask of Phage, stolen from the Caravan and placed upon it’s head by Narla Twinfriend. The Double-crossing fiend revealing she had been working for Gentlebrush and Phage all along! The situation went from bad to worse when our Lorewalker ally was revealed to be Gentlebrush in disguise after he stole his identity.
Gentlebrush explained how he had stolen the body of Ra’Vah and split it apart and sold it to the different factions across Pandaria to fuel conflict, whilst also enabling them to gather reagents he needed. Magically enhanced Kafa’Kota Berries and Kunzen spices, grown in spiritual Jinyu waters to induce rage in those who consume them when they also witness flashing lights fuelled by Yaungol Oil and filtered through Saurok gathered Serpent’s Eye Crystals. Those afflicted would be corrupted by the Phantasmal Sludge and turned into rage fuelled ‘Hollow’ beasts, which would empower Phage who now resided in the corrupted body of Ra’Vah.
Thankfully there was a small mercy. Gentlebrush and Phage’s power only worked over those who’s identities they knew, and could only start small. They pulled the Pathfinders and their closest allies into Gentlebrush’s nightmarish realm once again, with the intention to infect them with hatred, so it would spread to others like a virus. With each soul that fell to hatred, Phage would grow more powerful, and her influence would spread to more people, drawing them into her realm and away from reality.
The Pathfinders and their allies concocted a plan. They needed to use the Titan instruments to defeat Phage in her new body, but they were not as powerful as the elemental champions of old. So, they would need to gather help from spiritually inclined performers they had met across their journey. Whilst also simultaneously looking for Gentlebrush’s hate resonator to shut it down. Before they could enact their plan right away however, we were attacked by a swarm of Hollow. The poor rage filled souls chased the Pathfinders across the dark reflection of the Vale and to the Gates of the Setting Sun. There the Pathfinders convinced the Shado-Pan drawn into Phage’s vision not to make a last stand at the wall, but to retreat and regroup with their allies at the Garrison near Niuzao Temple. The Pathfinder and Shado-Pan convoy retreated through the gates and into the Dread Wastes, trapping the Hollow in the courtyard. But, before they could get far, Gentlebrush showed up and damn near blasted through the gates. He was only held off by Farseer Lebular who remained behind to keep him busy in a duel. Our caravan leader put up a good fight but knew she would fall eventually. Thankfully something miraculous happened, and with the aid of Pandaria’s spirits, she was able to escape the Fallen Monk’s clutches through a cloud of mists that kept his hollow minions trapped.
Temporarily without their leader, the Pathfinders set about enacting their plan. From the Niuzao temple they flew across Pandaria on hot air balloons, gathering the aid of the Yungol Fire Singers from Kun-Lai, the Jinyu Water Dancers from the Valley, and the reformed old stone Mogu Choir from the Jade Forest. At each location they helped their allies escape the hollow and aberrations that infested this dark reflection of Pandaria. From the Gal Ever Yaungol clan they also gathered the help of the fire spirits who had once been used as test subjects by Gentlebrush to create the hate frequency in the past. Using the help of the empowered Fire spirit Gal, the Pathfinders and Yaungol cleansed the fires around their clan and kept the darkness at bay, as well as isolating the corrupt frequency.
With this frequency in the flames, they travelled into the Dread Wastes and used the Klaxxi resonator rods to track the true source of the hate frequency. They located it inside the old lair of the Mimic Mantid that had tormented them months ago. Sneaking inside they bypassed the new defences set up by Gentlebrush before coming face to face with the man himself. He attempted to overwhelm them with Hollow and turn their allies against them, but the Pathfinders escaped, thanks to the magical might of Denna Starshard creating an impenetrable inferno between them and their allies. They escaped the flames and found the hate resonator further up. The fuel oil was disconnected and hurled away, whilst the crystal lens was shattered. With the threat removed, the Pathfinders realised the runic circle upon which the resonator was placed could reach out to all the spirits of Pandaria, explaining how the frequency had spread so far. However with it, Denna could locate and summon Lebular using the ring she had given her has an anchor for such a spell before she stayed behind back at the gate. With everyone working together, the Pathfinders were all reunited and returned to the safety of the Niuzao temple.
All that remained to escape this vision and return to the true Pandaria was to defeat Phage. The Pathfinders and their allies boarded their hot air balloons and flew back across the Steppes and over the Serpent Spine wall, into the Vale. In the darkened skies they clashed with the monstrous onyx cloud serpent and it tore down their aircraft. They regrouped on the ground whilst Phage freed the trapped Hollow and basked in their collective rage, before leading them over to the Pathfinders. The Outsiders, and Shado-Pan as well as their other allies formed a defensive line at a chokepoint to hold the Hollow off, whilst the Pathfinders, backed up by the Mogu Choir, Yaungol singers and Jinyu dancers engaged Phage in the confrontation that was half deadly battle, and half intense performance!
Lebular and Taalja held off Phage and healed their allies using shamanistic and arcane might. Wyonna was on the horn, Molge on drums, Maeren on the Hydraulophone, and Denna on the Erhu. Together they overcame Phage’s defences, purging her corrupt body of the twisted elemental energies she had stolen from the champions that once defeated her, and left her vulnerable. With their backup, they unleashed a final barrage of primordial elemental and Azerite power and cleansed Ra’Vah’s body, forcing the soul of Phage back out and thrusting it to the dark corner of reality from whence it came! The Cloud Serpent body collapsed and turned to Azerite. Meanwhile, the Hollow continued to advance, but with backing from the Pathfinders music, Chi’um used her powers to undo the hatred corruption, and turned all those unfortunate souls trapped in Phage’s vision back to normal.
All that remained was Gentlebrush, who attempted to flee the scene and steal a new identity to go into hiding with. But his hostage was saved by Maeren, and Molge apprehended the fallen monk. Bereft of his patron’s power, and surrounded by a swelling of positive emotions from the restored Pandaren, Gentlebrush’s immortality began to fade. Though Lebular attempted to save him by making him feel remorse, he decided I would be too difficult and painful to try, and would rather die out of spite.
The Pathfinders and their allies phased back into the real Pandaria, which had mercifully been spared Phage’s corruption, and where most remain unaware of what transpired in that horrific vision. With the Ley Lines cleansed I believe Phage will be unable to afflict Pandaria at all ever again, and the grim spectre of the Black Empire will hopefully soon fade from this land.
Though troubling news has reached us from the homelands about the Scourge’s return, the Crystal Path has earned a sorely needed break, and have spent their last week in Pandaria attending the wonderous Wanderer’s Festival in Krasarang, and taking part in the final round of the prestigious Iron Paw tournament in Kun-Lai, which I am proud to say they came out the victors, after a splendid final round with no losses! Afterwards we rested in the serene Zouchin Province whilst awaiting a ship which came to take us home earlier this week. We have since returned to Ironforge and while I will miss Pandaria for it’s charming people and beautiful landscapes, it is nice to be back in my own office once again.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that my pathfinders will be able to bring about more results for the betterment of Azeroth that I can share with you, next year.
Hey everyone, with that the Crystal Path’s adventures for 2020 and our third year together have come to a close.
We will be taking a short break from scheduled and structured RP, but I suspect some of us will still be around casually in Ironforge every now and again over the holidays.
We’ll be kicking off next years adventures at some point in January. But until then, Happy Holidays Argent Dawn.
