Arc 5

Arc 5 is the sixth story arc in the Malice campaign.

## Synopsis

Liam and Victoria are competing over who gets to control the Malicious Order - and by extension, the Sword of Malus - in a tournament, Aveeno, Mauder, and Menira join Liam's side, while Ham joins Victoria's side.

During the competition, each side claims an amount of "territory" over which they have jurisdiction. This territory changes every week depending on how the contest fights go. Although Olivia had been interrogated and implicated in many crimes, Liam had pardoned her; she remained imprisoned because Victoria had taken control of the prison as part of her territory. Liam also pardoned Mauder and Menira; he chose to pardon Aveeno and not Ham because Aveeno's connection with hiding the artifacts made it politically valuable to keep him on Liam's good side, and because Ham had already proven he was on Victoria's side.

Ham's crimes were paid for via volunteer work after Julian (1) defended him in court; Thanatos's crimes were unforgivable to both Liam and Victoria, and caused considerable Grainsboro/Malicious Order tension. A team of Ezekiel, Roy, and several others was dispatched to find Thanatos and give him up to the Grainsboro government, which eventually succeeded, and Thanatos was executed around the end of 1846.

During the arc, Ham and Julian (1) work on the Demon Orb with help from Grainsboro University scientists and Victoria's funding. They raid the remains of Josephine's Laboratory at one point for parts. At one point, several people in the castle are transported to the Fogged Ones plane of existence in an implied assassination attempt; Morrigan is also present during this, revealing he is still alive.

In the middle of the contest, Liam managed to reclaim part of the prison, allowing an attempt at Olivia's release to be made. Ezra managed to succeed in dragging Olivia back to Liam's side of the castle, but in doing so she entered Victoria's side and was herself imprisoned. Despite being released, Olivia was prevented from participating in the contest and Liam revealed his disgust at her handling of the artifact situation - a situation he apparently knew about all along, despite Olivia trying to hide it from the Malicious Order.

At one point, Coliocanth was angered by Leslie after she drove a longsword into him at Chance (1)'s direction. Liam, Victoria, and the Malice Party sought him out in the volcanic caverns underneath the castle, and after finding him, Aveeno was able to pacify him using his royal bloodline. This new method of pacifying Coliocanth means, in theory, the Malicious Order doesn't require the Sword of Malus for that function anymore. That idea is never expanded on unfortunately, as Coliocanth bursts free and starts attacking everyone at the end of the arc, and even the Sword of Malus isn't enough to pacify him.

During the arc's end, Olivia activates the magic spell on the Sword of Malus, transporting it to Aveeno's hiding place. Menira gets Mauder in a Portable Hole after several Arcane Faltering events happen. Ham manages to get several people in the Demon Orb. He is about to escape when, suddenly, the phrase "Elton, who's items are these" is heard from afar. Most of the Malice Party's Julian-originating magic items are engulfed in white light and turn into Magic Dust, and Ham is engulfed in a Sphere of Annihilation and time stops.

Aveeno's Pendant of Reflection is revealed to have been the Magic Eraser all along. Julian (2) reveals himself and is immune to time stopping, and takes the Magic Eraser, which currently has Aveeno trapped inside it. Julian (2) is revealed to have collected all the artifacts. The cause of time pausing is the four elemental artifacts existing in a Sphere of Annihilation. Julian (2) speaks to Julian (1) and berates him for not having a soul. He informs Julian (1) his goal was not to destroy the artifacts after all. Julian (1) is openly hostile to his creator, but still follows Julian (2)'s orders, this may be because Julian (2) has leverage over Josephine, who is apparently still alive. Julian (1) leaves by splitting a Portable Hole.

Julian (2) melds Ham's Kinesis Gauntlet with a Sphere of Annihilation in order to nullify its power. He then sends Ham on his way with another Portable Hole being split. Menira was similarly transported after Mauder split the Portable Hole she was near; the fate of Mauder is as of yet unknown.

### Interlude

Aveeno receives guidance from a vision of Elton in the Magic Eraser. Elton had made a deal with Order (4) and Julian (2) earlier in order to erase the Fogged Ones from existence, but it is not a deal he is fully happy with. He tells Aveeno that the choice of whether or not to ally with Julian (2) and Order (4) is now up to him. This apparently allows Aveeno to claim the Magic Eraser.

Ham, Aveeno, Menira, and Julian (1) reconvene in the Astral Plane. Morrigan is also present, having apparently been in the Astral Plane before time stopped. They meet in the Astral Chapel with Cuthbert, who reveals the other gods are also absent. Cuthbert reveals that the Malice Party has to leave to 2^8 in order to stop Chadwick, and they do so by using Ham's Demon Orb and the Mythical Longsword of Adjudication.