In a desperate grasp to maintain control over his domain, Ugrach used
most of his remaining power to confine himself to the Soulbleed Nexus,
an act that rendered him weak but invincible. But due to the
Magisterion's ministrations, the essence that fed the king was no longer
being drawn to the nexus; it now scattered throughout the Underworld,
coalescing in the form of blood-red rubies.

Rallying support from adventurers, Ugrach instructed them to gather the
rubies and bring them to him, promising rich rewards once the nexus was
restored. With each ruby, the Undead ruler strengthened the nexus,
occasionally focusing his remaining power to taint a portion of them.
Next, he bade his assistants slip the tainted rubies to the Magisterion,
who were themselves collecting soulbleed in order to form a new nexus.
Each possessed a ring of unnatural power, he explained, crafted from
shards of the broken planets Lunastra, Somnustra, and Noxtra. Ignorant
of the taint upon the soulbleed, each Magister would weaken gradually,
until their treasured rings could be collected and brought to him.

Meanwhile, the Magisterion taunted Ugrach and his diminished strength,
offering wealth and power to all who assisted them in overthrowing the
current king of the Underworld. Led chiefly by Istiria Aristata, Mhaldor
searched the plane for coalesced soulbleed rubies, returning them to
each Magister, who in turn absorbed the power with their rings.

~* * *~

In the hidden dungeon beneath Moldova Fortress, a young woman sat beside
a strange, dark pool, gazing upon its surface with a sombre expression.
Years ago, following her torture at the hands of the Undead Prince
Slith, and what seemed to be an endless eclipse of the sun, Apollonia
had journeyed to the Underworld, enamoured with the young unicorn foal
that was her companion for a time. The mute oracle had watched in
silence as the unicorn was traded to Ugrach for a ruby that held a
portion of Slith's essence, then bound to the king, her soul captured
within a blood ruby and placed within a crystal orb at the centre of a
sunken maze.

Wordlessly Apollonia cut the tip of a finger, dripping her blood into
the pool and watching as the unicorn's image formed upon its surface.
She saw visions of soulbleed rubies and of rings, sharing the images
with the few who found her hiding spot, and she wondered in frustrated
silence if the creature would ever run free again.

~* * *~

Battles raged back and forth in the Underworld, but after more than ten
days, efforts to help the Magisterion ceased, and the party assisting
Ugrach was left to their task in relative peace. For days they laboured,
gathering soulbleed for Ugrach and delivering tainted rubies to the
unsuspecting Magisterion. Chief among the gatherers were Diedrick Obuun,
Jaizsur Ta'sa, and Delphinus Windancer, though more than thirty
adventurers were a part of the collective effort to restore the
Soulbleed Nexus.

As the nexus grew stronger, Magister Dominar was weakened enough that he
dropped to the ground, unmoving, and the ring of Noxtra slipped from his
finger. The ring was brought immediately to Ugrach, but the party soon
decided to hold onto the other rings and seek Apollonia's guidance.
Within the sunken maze in Cor Kanth, Griffel Crescent toiled to keep
clear the obsidian scorpions that guarded the beast.

A third option for the situation soon became apparent. Using her blood
to catalyse two more visions, Apollonia led the adventurers first to
seek out a scroll from Ugrach's library, encrypted with a mysterious
message. Asara Eslofe, Thenidiel Shiva-Ar'thela, and Ilireth Lighthawk,
among others, puzzled out a handful of words which, after many
unsuccessful tries, were finally spoken in the right order by Misty
Corten, as she stood before the crystal orb in the sunken maze. "Shroud
of Unlife, reveal the living," she commanded, and the orb opened to
reveal the ruby that held the unicorn's soul.

Apollonia's final vision portrayed a single orchid, blooming within an
ancient battleground and covered in a luminous dust. Journeying back to
the Prime Material Plane, Nayuu Leafrost found a moonlit orchid within
the Sangre Plains and shook it, releasing a handful of sparkling dust
that he quickly brought to Apollonia, who held the unicorn's ruby and
the rings of Lunastra, Somnustra, and Noxtra.

Scattering the dust across the surface of the dark pool before her,
Apollonia wordlessly submerged the giant ruby, and onlookers watched as
a pure white unicorn emerged, her hooves bound by ethereal tendrils of
black. Apollonia thrust the rings into the blackness surrounding the
pure beast, and the binding receded, leaving the creature free. She
smiled at the unicorn as they were both enveloped in dreamflames,
disappearing from sight.

Back at his fortress, Ugrach growled as he realised his ill-gotten pet
was gone. Rising to his feet, he declared that, with the Magisterion's
rings gone, the repowered Soulbleed Nexus would restore itself
completely in time.

~* * *~

As the next days passed, some were visited by visions of the ethereal
unicorn, and left with precious gifts in the material realm in
appreciation for their help. Far away, the Undead began to reform,
coalescing as before, with the guiding hand of Lord Ugrach to oversee
them once again. The Magisterion, however, are nowhere to be found, and
what has become of the mysterious Traveller whose hand stirred these
events from the beginning?

Penned by my hand on the 25th of Glacian, in the year 455 AF.