Last Time on Emberheart Z: Darkness Under Halfhill (Vaer Ming Awakens)

🔥Last time on Emberheart Z!🔥

In the following weeks after the disastrous party, Emberheart pulled together to combat the magical affliction of unknown origin that swept across the Valley of Four Winds, taking both civilians and Expedition members indiscriminately. Contracts were canceled, favors called in, and supplies were brought in from outside. Healers worked around the clock to tend the sick. Alas, five more would perish before the situation stabilized.

When the Expedition came together next, the atmosphere in the once-joyous Lazy Turnip Inn was tense, but exhausted. Like standing in the aftermath of a hurricane. With the combined knowledge of Mr. Roterick Skinvee (on loan from the Desolate Watch), the Spectral Sight from the demon hunter Viktos, and the power of the Bronze Dragonflight from Ioneid, the party was able to track the corruption. The trail led them to a large, excavated tunnel, dug out by an entire colony of virmen under compulsion to spread the corruption. The trip down was long, dark, and winding, descending deep into the earth beyond anyone’s expectations, until the earth gave way to a Mogu structure. However, a tomb might be a more accurate description, given the oppressive atmosphere. 

Inside, they found a long chamber, the walls of which were lined with six pictograms depicting a series of scenes recounting the tale of a Mogu sorceress by the name of Vaer Ming. As revealed by ancient panderen slave carvings translated by Dorant, Vaer Ming used dark magic in the form of a cursed-dragon-face urn to trap souls. This earned her the adoration of her own cult and the ire of the Thunder King, Lei-Shen. To secure his power, Lei-Shen had Vaer Ming and her followers executed, their ashes put inside the cursed urn before sealing them away deep under the earth, to be forgotten.

Following the magical trail once again, the party was eventually led to a constructed reservoir, which was the primary source of corruption. At its heart was a chamber; in the center was the urn. When Merada and Ioneid attempted to put an end to the curse, the protective wax seal on the urn broke. The surge of power knocked Merada down and unleashed Vaer Ming’s terror into our world. 

She spared no time in turning Emberheart’s worst fears and regrets against them. The battle was fierce, but with every fear conquered, her power waned, and with a decisive action on the part of Dorant, Vaer Ming was cast back into her prison.

Unsure of what to do with the artifact, but uneasy at the prospect of leaving it, Ioneid trapped the artifact in a time displacement bubble until such time as a proper banishment ritual could be devised. Bruised but stronger than ever, Emberheart returned home to Halfhill to find the curse broken and the sickness dispelled.

---------------------What awaits the Expedition? Find out next time on Emberheart Z!!------------------

Vaer Ming, the Spirit-Binder