Structure:

This will start off like an Adventurer's Crown. The attacking players will form teams of two or three. They will write an action heavy quest style thread that will detail their reasons why they want to kill Lye, how they found out where he was, and their dangerous journey to the Seventh Sanctum. After their thread is complete, the person with the highest individual score will move on to the final battle. If players submit a thread with three participants, I personally reserve the right to cherry pick a second winner from the remaining two based on personal bias. That bias will be heavily influenced by Lye's relationship to that character and the writer's usage of my personal head-canon and the lore of Althanas.

The second round will be the final round. It will be a three thread Ice Reaver/Facade style battle. It will have no more than 6 attackers. At the end of the thread, Lye will be killed. Whoever lands the final blow will be determined ICly by combat prowess, luck, and whose attacks I evade or don't evade. I wholly expect some people to fight among themselves for the "right" to destroy him. If not, whatever.

Edit: If you are dead set on a solo, you must score above a 65 to qualify. An exception can be made by myself if the solo appeals to my personal bias.

Details:

Lye's Seventh Sanctum is nestled in the Great White Expanse, a very desolate and unforgiving area of the Skavian Wilds in Salvar. Official canon states this area is so harsh, that only specific tribes of orc and hearty salvic raiders actually live out here. Aside from the elements, there are numerous local fauna that have adapted to this climate and would put their life on the line for a hot meal. Meaning, you.

Once you cross the frozen snow dunes of the great white expanse, you'll arrive at what I call, the Black Forest. It is on the official Althanas map, but the lore is my personal head-canon. Prior to the Forgotten one, Denebriel, covering Slavar with the Berevar frost, this forest consisted of massive, dense trees. They were likely the home of druids or people who worshiped the Old Gods. In the War of the Tap against the Forgotten ones, these residents created and summoned familiars of pure void energy that hunted efficiently in the shadowy forest the great canopy provided. Obviously, they lost, but their totem familiars remained tethered behind. When the frost covered Slavar, the heavy snow and ice compacted atop the forest canopy before the trees went into remission. Now, it stands as a frigid, pitch black cavern of sorts. Trunks of massive trees support the thick, icy ceiling. Inside, the Dark Crawlers use little orbs of soft light, like a torch flame, to lure unsuspecting prey into the darkness. Then, they descend upon them, leaving no evidence behind that they were ever there. They bite through steel like butter and trying to plunge your weapon into their bodies would be like dipping them into pure acid. This has been carefully navigated by Lye thanks to his abilities attuned to shadows and darkness. For anyone else, it will not be so easy. ((See the Supplemental Data Spoiler for more information.))

If you decide to take the mountain route, there is a sheer drop to get to the sanctum. But in order to get to that area, you will need to brave the mountain to get there. The Great White Expanse is already unforgiving with its snow dunes and brisk winds. Atop the mountain, you have to deal with loose snow, avalanches, wind-polished ice, and extreme updrafts. The cold alone would suck the consciousness from any man that braved to climb it, only to have them plummet to their deaths as a frozen statue. On top of that, moving targets against an elevated mountain makes you easily spotted by whatever hungry beasts are prowling.

When you finally get to the Sanctum, there is an outer perimeter made of logs from the massive trees inside the Black Forest. This creates a wall about three stories high. Archer's nests are placed about every 30 meters. It's only about 150 meters wide of an opening. Inside the wall are several shacks, longhouses, and lean-tos which house the barracks, limited livestock, blacksmithing, thermal water well, and a skirmishing ring. It's open, but congested with all manner of barrels, buildings, and supplies.

Butted against the cliffside is a massive longhouse called The Great Hall. This is arguably Lye's house. He shares it with his most respected and trusted associates. It is also used as a feasting hall where his human ivory throne sits elevated above the rest. It is two stories with the main hall itself being about 50 meters by 25 meters. The perimeter of the main hall is lined with the second story awning. Several doors lead to private quarters, the raven's nest, alchemy rooms, Madison's discarded lab, and war room.

Beside the ivory throne to the back are two large double doors that lead into the mountain itself. It opens to a large cavern about 75 meters in diameter by about 25 meters high at its central peak. At the back is a large hearth and about half a dozen iron doors lead to man made stairs which then open to smaller cavernous rooms. These include the torture halls, the dungeons/holding cells, the bestiary where captured war beasts and Madison's creations are kept, and several storage rooms for more sensitive goods.

Participants:

Attacking: Defending:
  • Lilith
  • Lye
  • Philomel
  • Amari*
  • Sir Artemis
  • Tainted Bushido (Taka)*
  • Shinsou Van Osiris
  • Dissinger (Seth)*
  • Ashla (Ayleth)
  • Warpath (Flint)
  • Jake Narmolanya
*It is possible and likely that these defending members will turncoat at one point. Not guaranteed.

Active Threads:



Rules:

No power gaming.
No massive NPC armies.
You fail to post in a timely manner, you're out. I make the final call.
No coercing inside information from an NPC. They'd sooner kill themselves than give out info. (Special abilities withstanding. I.E. Mind reading, etc)
You can begin your first round threads immediately. Again, only six attackers make the final cut and it is very first come first served.
Please link your thread here to be counted.
Please list any participating members to your linked thread.

Loot & Rewards:

Since this is a personal event, there is no special forum loot. At the end of the day, I'll pick who gets what off my corpse. I have several items in my character inventory that are of some value. The main weapons: The Four Horsemen Blades, are the largest of the rewards. However, they are useless to anyone but Lye. If you want to use them at their full potential, you will need to research Lye in intimate detail. You'll need to learn where he came from, why he was who he was, and what his goals were. By the time you have the information needed to use the blades, you may not see him as negatively as you once did.

Those that get a hit in during the final battle are eligible for the Player Killer Badge. Plus, bragging rights for killing off a character that has been on Althanas for over 14 years. (Started in about 2002-2003. I think...)

Supplemental Data:

Spoiler:
The Crimson Hand has now made a presence in Salvar in Knife's Edge and Rubble Town. To the Rubble Town people, they're more like angels in the night, "removing" problems for a bit of information and a touch of coin. To the Baron's, The Crimson Hand are more like pests or the boogey men depending on how bold the barons are. In Archen, Aurelianus has his brothel, the House of Sin. He's done well to keep it masked as related to the Hand, but speculation is strong that its more than just a brothel. People are just too scared to prod into it thanks to the rumors surrounding its owner.

Lilith would know that some of her "sisters" currently work for Aurelianus' brothel. Since she had a run in with Lye who was overseeing one such human trafficking run, she would be able to plug two and two together. Philomel obviously knows where the camp is, and likely how to navigate the forest. However, it has been a while and the Dark Crawlers may have relocated some of their hunting grounds.

If anyone has had exposure to Lye, they would know he likes to use ravens as a form of scouting and message sending. Unfortunately, avians are not keen on flying that far north. If they do, they keep flight short and to whatever trees they can. The Great White Expanse is like a snow desert. No foliage, no rock, just dunes of snow. To see a single black bird flying over this would be odd. To see several or to see them regularly day after day might raise a brow or two.

Those are some venues you may want to use to locate him.

As for the dark crawlers, here is an image I did up a while back: http://pre11.deviantart.net/60fb/th/...on-d5gaott.jpg

Their appendages are amorphous with no concrete length, thickness, or shape. They generally take the form of spiders, centipedes, or similar multi-legged critters. Their bodies are like black holes or pure void. When angered, their bodies will obliterate whatever they touch. If it swiped an appendage at a tree, it would cleave through it like a sword strike, but the wound path would be as wide as the appendage was thick. When they use their jaws to bite, it's a clean cleave. When most animals bite or eat, the wound is a tear or crunch. For these guys, its like the wound was just surgically removed.

They are like animal cells in the way they live and reproduce. By eating, they grow in size. After a point, that size is too large and they sort of break down, leaving little clumps behind until they're at a standard size (about bear size). Those little globs grow sentience over time and start as the babies in those image. The babies are skittish on their own, but arguably more terrifying than an adult when they swarm. Dark Crawlers use light to lure in unsuspecting prey. Consequently, they are also lured themselves by that light. So, its very likely that prey encounters more than one and you'll want to avoid the light to avoid them.

As for weaknesses, they dislike fire. More specifically, they hate the light that fire gives off. It attracts them, but more in an angry sense. This might have something to do with the druidic people that created them. They also dislike sunlight. Sunlight actually weakens them, like throwing water on magma. Their void bodies begin to harden like a shell where they can be torn open or shattered. If one were to remain in the sun for too long, it would become a hollow shell. This is a defense mechanism. The hardened shell essentially creates a personal cave to block out the light since by absorbing the light, they actually shrink. This is a double edged sword, because if they remain in the shell without food, they also diminish. Generally, they wait until night to shatter their shells and return to darkness.

Weapons that dispel magic or are immune to magic are also effective against them. So are most forms of elemental damage. They are fast and again, amorphous. They can literally change the shape of their bodies to dodge a threat such as a fireball or spear jab. They're honestly better avoided than confronted. Especially if any light is involved.