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Hail and well met! I've heard that the Prophet and his forces have been vanquished in the Yew crypts late last night. Congratulations to the courageous and persistent ones that defeated him! I hope to read something about the final battle soon. Alas, I was snoozing in my house in Yew and didn't know anything about it.

Agreed! Good work everyone, and I am looking forward to a detailed acocunt of what happened.

*Toten Atei*

I'll try to relay as much as I can remember.

I had just awoken from a much-deserved "rest" (read: server restart) when a shimmering green Druid summoning gate appeared nearby. I stepped through and there awaited Kale Greeneye. He had contacted me "in my dreams" (read: via the message boards) and we had arranged to hunt for the Angry Ones together after the "rest."

I arrived just outside the Main Brig Camp and I quickly finished buffing. Together we finished clearing the Camp and then headed north toward Yew. Several notes found on various dead Angry Ones talked about a final push toward Yew, and also discussed the idea that "camps" were already set up. We surmised that these "camps" were the Brigand Forts and some other spots along the road, and we were right.

As we neared another of these "camps," we were joined by Ogden. The three of us made short work of the brigands, knights, bone dewds, necros and generally angry folks that inhabited the area. We came to the Skara-Yew Crossroads and decided to check out the Brigand Camp to the East, followed by a trip to Yew. The camp was infested with the various minions of the Prophet, and soon it was cleared.

Ogden opened a portal to Yew and we stepped through, expecting a fight that never came. We checked the town, the Prison and the Abbey and found nothing. Ogden then had the idea to check the Yew Crypts, and sure enough, we found a whole bunch of trouble there!

As we began killing off the group that were on just the top level, Cathavene's death cry rang out. Ogden opened a portal and the three of us went to help our fallen comrade. After the rescue, we asked for and received assistance from the large group that had gathered to rescue Cathavene. The entourage that went back to the Yew Crypts was large indeed: Ogden, Kale, Cath, Belle Remings, Kasia, Herakles and others that I can't remember ( sorry).

When we got back, we prepared and headed in. Anyone who has ever fought in the Crypts knows that they are aptly named: underground passages that lead to dead ends abound, there are open and mercifully closed caskets everywhere, and this night there were also Praetorians (including Lord Feswick), blood liches, lich lords, angry ones, Two Prophets and a bunch of Prophet mages.

At first the going was relatively easy. The mobs were not that concentrated and we handled them without much fanfare. As we got in deeper, however, we found the Praets, all surrounding Lord Feswick. In addition, the Angry ones had learned how to hide, which made walking treacherous at times.

After Lord Feswick fell among his Praetorian cronies, we continued on and discovered many Prophet mages, angry assassins, angry marksmen, angry this and angry that. They were tough, in that enclosed space, and our losses began to mount. (I ended up pushing up daisies 4 times before the night was over.)

At last we fought our way through to a room with a desk. In the center of this room was an altar with a pillar of flame. Seated behind the desk was THE PROPHET, thanking us for helping him, and standing beside him was another THE PROPHET, casting spells at us. I made the stupid mistake of rushing forward to attack, trusting in my poisoned quarter staff, and was soon dead.

The group was finally able to vanquish the remaining angry ones and kill the standing PROPHET. The seated PROPHET fell all over himself thanking us and telling us how he had been forced into service. He also asked for and received food. He was questioned and said he was from Moonglow and that now, everything would be all right. The strange thing about this PROPHET was that he kept changing, right before our eyes. One moment he was "blue" (friendly) and the next he was "red" (an enemy). We questioned him on this and he became agitated and demanded to be set free. We refused, and he ran. We pursued him, and even though he was on foot and we were on horseback, it was all we could do to stay up with him.

Many more of us died in the chase (me included) and he then raced out of the Crypts into the surrounding forests. He ran back to the Crypts, however, and was soon cornered in a room with a huge, bloody Pentagram on the floor. He was being assaulted by Ogden, Belle Remings and others. I attacked up close again and he killed me, again. I left the room he was in and was resurrected, and when I went back in all I wanted was a shot at this pompous, arrogant, self-serving blithering idiot. I looted my corpse and found that he had taken my main quarter staff. I found a spare silver one and commenced to beating on him, along with the others who had joined in the battle.

At last, finally, he fell, asking for help from some unknown entity. He was beheaded and then I zombied and released his corpse. The bloody Pentagram on the floor briefly flared with a pillar of fire in the center and then was gone. Someone (I think it was Ogden but I could be mistaken) went back to the other room, where he had been seated, and spotted him again in the flaming altar in that room. We hot-footed it to Moonglow, since he said he was from there, but he was nowhere to be found in the town.

We were assaulted by a spectre at the docks, and that gave me the idea of checking the Graveyard. It appeared empty when I arrived so I went to the Zoo to continue the search when Jaena's death cry rang out, from the Graveyard. Apparently they had been laying in wait! The group returned to and assaulted the Graveyard and the various undead, including liches, blood liches, skeletons, mummies, ghosts etc were soon back in the Seventh Circle of Hell. Our comrade restored to the land of living, we departed.

We returned to Britain to split the loot and tell the tale. Two nice lich staves were recovered: both have lightning charges and both are power, I think.

Yes..thank you all who rescued me many many times yesterday and resurrected me. It was much appreciated.

I only got one screenshot but I'll post it.

"Some sought the Prophet for advice"

This was taken when we were talking to the friendly Prophet. He was explaining how he had been an ordinary guy but started having visions. He gained reknown for his visions and was looked up to by the Britainian populace. He claimed that his priests had taken control of him to exploit his political influence and thus none of the fighting was his fault.

His story didn't sound too convincing so I waited and sure enough he turned red. After regaining his strength he attacked one of us with a lightning bolt and made a run for it. I cast paralyze on him a bunch of times as he ran, but he managed to elude me. After searching I rejoined the others to find he had returned to the crypts. After killing him there the town crier announced that the townspeople had lowered their arms.

It looks like this Prophet business is over. Or is it? I saw an image of the prophet flash a few times even after we killed the second one. I hope it was just the last flickerings of his fading soul.

Still a few bits I am confused about though. If the Prophet was really evil, as he turned out to be it seems, why was he in such a starved and weak condition when we first found him? Maybe his priests were even more power hungry than he was and had made a coup. Or maybe the Prophet really was good but some evil being possessed him against his will.

Why did the townspeople calm after we killed him? If he was controlling their minds then it would have been evil for us to murder them when they couldn't help it, right?

If he wasn't controlling them then why would they stop? Martyring the Prophet doesn't undo any of the injustice in our land. I thought they were fighting for their rights before the Prophet even showed up telling them what they wanted to hear.

Well at any rate I think these Britainians have learned something from the experience. If there is an authority figure who seems really nice and honorable its just a facade. That person is just hiding a cold selfishness, cruelty and inherently evil. Also, talking never works. They only way to solve problems is to kill people you disagree with.

*Toten Na-Atei*

Figures that the ONE screenshot he posts has me in my "confused" state.

Thanks Ogden, yer a real peach.

According to the accounts I have read here, I wonder if we really have seen the last of the Prophet. Perhaps the last of him in the current incarnation you all witnessed but it is possible he'll be back again. Evil never gives up but it can be stymied for a period of time.

One theory of life regards a Balance between good and evil. It is a constant struggle not only externally but within ourselves to reach for greater awareness of the Light and the dissolution of evil. It is what makes us humans so incredibly glorious as well as being so incredibly pathetic. How we react to this struggle is what defines us. But...I digress.

Toten Atei zombied him and then released his corpse. The pentagram flared with a pillar of flame and he was seen briefly again. All the undead business in moonglow afterwards. Perhaps the Prophet has been rendered bodiless but his evil spirit survived? The events kind of indicate that possibility.

The Prophet was obviously not a pawn of priests, judging from his behavior.

The very injustices he proclaimed either are not real or were not resolved, as Ogden brought out. The instigating influence of the taint of violent madness within the townspeople has only been removed from corporeal existence at this point in time.

They only way to solve problems is to kill people you disagree with.

That is what scares me the most.

I don't think this saga has ended. Perhaps this is just another beginning...