Based upon Violet’s and Gorm’s information, the final piece missing to elect a Speaker and restore the Palace of Ice was to reclaim the Guardian itself. The Guardian was said to be hidden away in a tomb/crypt deep underneath the Central Clan stronghold of Turvaamalinn. When they arrived they were met by Gilmar, the new Clan Leader. He loaned them his Claw necklace, saying he had been told it would be necessary for them to enter the crypt. Then he bade them good luck.
On the way down Brodir stared daggers at them, clearly still incensed about the their role in the elections.
They made their way to the Lower City, and headed for the newly repaired Well down to the volcanic tunnels. But along the way they were ambushed by House Perlevinn mercenaries! Clearly Brodir’s vendetta went far beyond words. Unfortunately for him, once again his reach far exceeded his grasp. He had *severely* underestimated them. Falcon cut down his pet sorcerer and her guards before they even had a chance to react, and the remaining snipers did not prove a significant challenge.They found the entrance to the crypt hidden deep in the lava tunnels. The door was surprisingly chilly considering the lava tunnels just outside.Making their way down the large hall, they came to an icy altar with a large, ornate mace laid on top. Clearly, this mace was the Guardian.
But before they could grasp it, they were ambushed… by a gigantic White Dragon and a cohort of Ice Elementals! The Dragon had crept up silently behind them. Not even Kat had heard its approach. And so their first sign of its presence was a massive cone of frost that blindsided them all!.
The Ice Elementals surrounded them to block them in while the Dragon continued to assault them with its breath. Roland and Falcon fought the Golems as fiercely as they could, while Tess did her best to shield them from the dragon breath. Kat, meanwhile, had other ideas.
Kat dodged right past the elementals, and ran straight for the Dragon. In the distraction, Tess loosed a fireball right above her – trusting that Kat knew her well enough to drop to the ground just as the flames exploded overhead – taking out several golems and singeing the dragon.
Kat used this distraction to leap straight for the Dragon’s neck. From there she gouged at its ears and hung on for all she was worth – keeping it occupied and enraged until the others could fight their way past the Golems.
Once Falcon and Roland fought clear of the Golems, they engaged the dragon from the front, and when it was forced to defend itself against them, it opened itself up to Kat finishing the job from behind.They made their way back to the surface to return Gilmar’s claw, and rest up and heal for the journey home. Back in White Rock, Gorm called the Election immediately. It was held in an ancient chamber deep beneath the city, full of platforms and ice.
Given their role in reviving the ceremony and defending against the onslaught of Demons and Soraks, they were given a vote as well. They ultimately decided to vote for Vigdis, as the leader the knew best and the one who had been most involved in their quest since the beginning.After Vigdis was elected, Gorm began the ceremony. All electors took out their claws, Vigdis held the Guardian, and power flowed into her from all of the Clan leaders.But then it all went wrong. A massive demon appeared in a cloak of darkness. A burst of dark energy flung them all away from the dais. And the demon drained energy directly from Vigdis! She immediately collapsed! Before they could even react, the demon disappeared and an entire contingent of other demons and Soraks appeared. Including Warlocks, Sorcerers, AntiPaladins, and demons of all sorts. Even including a Marilith – a many-armed demon which they had never before seen outside of the texts they had been studying.
Tess released a massive psychic attack – stunning attackers and sending the airborne portion of the assault plummeting to the ground.
Falcon cut loose on the Marileth. It may have had six arms with six large swords, but Falcon was still among the fastest and finest swordsmen who had ever lived. The demon simply could not keep up.
An invisible Assassin Sorak attempted to stab Tess from behind – as had happened once before. But this time the Assassin found the tables turned. The hunter became the hunted as Kat’s true-seeing dagger saw right through its concealment.
Roland challenged a huge Anti-Paladin head on. Good vs Evil. It tried every trick in its repertoire, but Roland was effectively immune to such things at this point. It eventually succumbed, screaming all the way.
A Sorak Warlock attempted to hit them all with a torrent of frost, as had happened in the Elven village. But this time the young elven mage Brightears, who had taken the temporary leadership of the Western Clans, magically Silenced it before it could complete the spell. And Kat and Tess ensured it did not survive to try again.They were all in shock after finally defeating their foes, looking at the still form of Vigdis. Gorm said it was even worse than they feared. Vigdis was not “dead”. The demon had stolen her *soul*! It felt as if all was lost, and then Violet spoke up.She said she thought there was still one way they could seal the portal. The Guardian was made of Dragon Essence combined with bone. Demon bone – which had come directly from Sessroth… And the symbols etched on the Guardian’s side were a Major Gate code. She believed those symbols could port them to the Palace of Ice. And that the Guardian itself was the key to enter. They did not need a Speaker for that. If they could enter the Palace and defeat Sessroth there, she believed they could re-seal the Gateway.This seemed to be near madness. It had taken two Manacalon Magister Dragons at the height of their power to seal away Sessroth in the first place. But it was the only chance they had. They prepared as best they could, and then stepped into the Major Gate. Destination – The Palace of Ice.
3 responses to “Solasta: The Guardian of the Gateway”
atcDave
Wow, just an amazing set of renders. The action and range of foes is amazing. I particularly loved the dragon and ice elementals.
I also love the depth of action you get, multiple characters doing different things. That isn’t easy!
It looks like you are doing a lot of editing in OpenArt? I see that tag come up often on these. It’s awesome how well that is working!
Yeah. This one was a lot of work. Worth it, but some of them – like Falcon fighting the Maralith – really took some editor work. I used the editor there to remove extra arms , fix funky swords, add swords where there weren’t any, remove extra snake tails, etc. And all the archery shots had extra arrows all over the place.
I’ve finished the game IRL, but the last installment may take a few days. Gotta do justice to what happens in the finale.
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