(WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!)
Immediately soon after, Macedonia arrived at Lumbertown, Arcadia’s main federation settlement.
Daven, the town’s prefect, reported centaurs and faeries assaulting the loggers, thus making it difficult to supply Velika’s troops with wooden materials. Macedonia wondered if the denizens of the Fey Forest were being affected by the same dark energies that surrounded the Island of Dawn. Daven urged her to look into the matter.
She met with Lillix, just one of a handful of faeries who still managed to retain their sanity.
“Woodcutters kill trees, so there has always been conflict between them and the fey,” the little faerie said, “It was Seravy who made the peace, but something is controlling his mind. He’s inciting the fey to all-out war against the federation races!”
The key to bringing Seravy back to his senses was the something called the gracebloom essence, which had therapeutic properties that cleared one’s mind. But the problem was that Seravy would explode into a fury if anyone tried to get close to him. The only way to successfully give Seravy the gracebloom essence was to wound him first and put him in a weakened state. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Macedonia understood the task at hand and could sense Lillix’s desperation.
Further deep into the forest, she eventually spotted a lonesome Seravy. She quietly closed in on the unicorn, but he was still able to sense her coming and, as expected, became enraged! The unicorn galloped around frantically. Each time, he tried to impale Macedonia with its long, sharp horn. She could do nothing but either leap away or block it with her axe, a dangerous move since it was obviously not as big as a lancer’s shield. To make matters worse, she couldn’t simply strike Seravy down, as doing so would certainly kill him.
By carefully using certain damage-dealing skills, Macedonia was able to weaken the unicorn in no time. She gave Seravy the gracebloom essence, which quickly took him out of his mind control. He still suffered from the blows inflicted upon him and left him vulnerable, but at least he was conscious and back to his old self. Macedonia escorted the wounded unicorn to the Faerie Pond to complete the cleansing.
Seravy, grateful for Macedonia’s help, asked her to assist the others. He gave her a droplet of his tear, which helped convince Volos, the commander of the fey, to withdraw his centaur forces, albeit reluctantly. Macedonia then escorted the faerie Himir cross a dangerous trail to spread the message to the other fey creatures.
When all was said and done, Macedonia returned to Klaon, who spoke of vortex shards stealing the life force of the forest and led by its ritual leader named Garkior. It was obvious as to what Klaon was asking Macedonia to do, and so she headed off to Scarwood, one of the deepest parts of Arcadia, and the place where Garkior and his minions have been reported to perform their evil rituals.
Macedonia arrived as soon as she could and immediately saw the vortex shards that Klaon spoke of. They were guarded by fearsome beings known as the Scions of Lok. Macedonia knew all too well who these guys were and they needed to be stopped from advancing their plans. She readied her axe and charged ahead.
Macedonia quickly took them down. She would’ve enjoyed it more if they actually put up a fight, but she figured the faster they were gone, the sooner she’d be done. She touched the shard and chanted a spell to disable it, which caused it to crumble down into pieces. She continued to do the same to the remaining shards nearby.
Macedonia’s acts, however, did not go unnoticed. Garkior, the ritual leader, finally appeared before her and he looked none too happy for what she had done. The demon raised his fist in the air to call upon his minions and ordered them to attack. Macedonia smiled. It looked like the fun was about to begin!
But the battle was over in an instant. Garkior was a total pushover even with his so-called bodyguards. Macedonia was left feeling disappointed. With the deed done and nothing else to see, the Castanic berserker returned to Lumbertown.
Macedonia met with Daven again, who informed her that devan brigands have attacked the trade routes of a nearby town called Crescentia just past the Oblivion Woods. Macedonia’s eye twitched for a moment after hearing “deva”. She knew she’d be facing her kindred. But no, she thought to herself, they’ve made the wrong choice of following Lok and were no longer a part of the Castanic family. With a new resolve, Macedonia was determined to put an end to these uprisings.
And her first target: The devan warlord, Tuebenius.
The people of Crescentia were grateful for Tuebenius’s death, but the fight was far from over. The deva were still running amok and, apparently, Tuebenius was only a minor figure in the ranks. A new target by the name of Dakanius was suspected of having a higher authority, but he was an elusive one.
Hendry, the primus at the Vanguard Outpost, requested Macedonia to locate a volunteer named Kantusa whose mission was to spy on Dakanius and his whereabouts. Kantusa had failed to check back in since the last time she carried out her mission, so Hendry urged Macedonia to look for her. And with that, Macedonia rushed off to the Deva Silva, a region deep in the woods where Kantusa was last seen.
Eventually, she spotted Kantusa hiding behind the entrance of a deva fortress. For a moment, Macedonia almost readied her axe against Kantusa for the agent had done a great job disguising as a deva. However, something was not right. Kantusa spoke with pauses in between words and she seemed preoccupied with one side of her waist. Was she wounded?
Macedonia motioned to help, but Kantusa insisted that the Castanic listen to what she had to say first. Apparently, Dakanius had already reported to the high priestess about their failure to corrupt the Fey Forest. The high priestess assured them that there were bigger plans in store, so she ordered Dakanius to simply keep attacking the Arcadia province until then.
But before the high priestess could say anymore, watchkeepers spotted Kantusa from her hiding spot! She managed to escape, but not without a scratch.
There was nothing Macedonia could do at this point. Kantusa has had those wounds unattended for at least a day. It was only a matter of time now.
“It’s no use… I’m done for…” she said softly as if about to cry, “Avenge me… against the Scions of Lok…”
And she was gone.
Macedonia clenched her fists. Kantusa was just a young girl, yet she bravely volunteered for such a dangerous job, and died for it. Kantusa’s death would not be in vain. Macedonia vowed to get rid of Dakanius. With a surge of anger, she rushed to the inner section of the fortress. She caught Dakanius within her sights, and with a flurry of powerful strikes obliterated the warlord beyond all recognition!
Afterwards, Macedonia returned to Hendry and delivered the sad news…
Macedonia was now away from the dense woods and out in the open fields. In a little place called Two Oaks Ranch, she met with Petrina who needed help getting rid of a Gutrend leader named Smulch, an obstacle that Macedonia took care of in no time. But Smulch was just part of a bigger Gutrend problem. Macedonia sensed something was up. These Gutrend aggressions didn’t seem like isolated incidents, and she needed to know for sure.
After killing a few more, she finally got her answer. Some Gutrend beasts dropped crests with Lok’s symbol engraved on them. Although it didn’t surprise Macedonia as much, it had her concerned. Now they had Gutrends to deal with besides devas and Scions.
There was only one thing to do at this point: Kill them all!
Her enemies often cried out the name “Dakarius”. Macedonia figured this would be leader’s name. His death would cause the Scions to be disorganized and vulnerable. So without further hesitation, Macedonia searched the enemy camps, which eventually led her to an ominous shrine known as the Altar of Anguish. There, she spotted Dakarius moving about as if guarding something. She approached him, glared at the giant that towered over her, and challenged him to a fight to the death.
And to the death it was; Macedonia swiftly put an end to Dakarius’s life. She reached the top of the altar and found a chest. Inside was a note detailing the enemy’s course of action, which also mentioned the Celestial Hills, a region further down south. She would eventually head there, but first she needed more information from the Scions of Lok themselves.
Using the teleportal nearby, Macedonia infiltrated the Scion hideout and spoke to the cultists inside. They revealed a project involving the amassing of arms inside the Bastion of Lok and harnessing obscene amounts of power to resurrect their master. The Scions appeared to be preparing for a full-scale war that could literally force the world into chaos if they weren’t stopped. Macedonia rushed back to Lumbertown and reported the news to Daven.
With the exact location of the enemy’s secret base in hand, Macedonia made her way back to the Oblivion Woods and, this time, made a detour to an area known as the Bestial Vale, home to aggressive ghilliedhu and large ravaging beasts known as basilisks.
Not before long, Macedonia found the entrance to the Bastion of Lok…
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