Quintessence of Myth

**Quintessence of Myth** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Elysiana, in the subplane of Olgeria and follows the perspective of a very strange adventurers’ party. It is followed by Quiescence of Myth.

## Main Arc

### An Adventurer Party Assembles

Thalyssa Delyoro, an asocial warlock living in the village of Oreliane, next to the massive Orsienne empire, is surprised by the visit of a Paladin, Edmond Leniel. Edmond comes to investigate the strange disappearance of members of his cult, the cult of Elysandre. Thalyssa, intrigued, decides to follow him.

The two are joined quickly by Nanashi, a seemingly innocent monk. In fact, Nanashi is a Hellion, a member of Orsienne's secret state police, who is looking for a strange mystical artifact. This artifact turns out to be a Demon-summoning Evoker's Candle that Thalyssa has been given by a mysterious wanderer.

The trio starts their investigation with a strange temple near Orsienne's border. The temple turns out to be hiding a secret passageway towards a lake, where a beautiful woman calling herself Lycea, Avatar of the Goddess, blesses the trio and labels them 'future heroes'. The trio then finds themselves in Orsienne.

### Secrets of Orsienne

The Orsienne Empire is both beautiful and finely crafted, and strangely ominous, its inhabitants living in fear and devotion of their empress due to the presence of the Hellions. Edmond leaves the group and attempts to find members of the Church of Elysandre, only to find that they have been imprisoned and brainwashed by the Empress's magic, humiliated and forced to serve her. Edmond swears to free them and defeat the Empress.

Meanwhile, Nanashi tricks Thalyssa into visiting the Empress, setting up a trap. Adrianne Medeah accepts Thalyssa's visit, and instead of simply taking the Candle from her, instead recruits a willing Thalyssa into the Hellions under the supervision of the shadow-mage Nelia. She then sends the now two Hellions to spy on Edmond once again.

### Shadowy Samurai

The trio regroups and the two girls help Edmond as he attempts to find ways to free his companion priests. Together, they encounter several times the mysterious Mizuya, the warrior who gave Thalyssa her candle ; he warns them that they follow a path of death. Edmond ignores their warnings and finally returns to Lycea, seeking guidance from his Goddess's avatar.

Lycea grants the trio a strange key as well as a path to a hidden temple in Orsienne, however, she is attacked by Mizuya who appears and attempts to kill the goddess. Edmond stops him, and after a brief hesitation, both Thalyssa and Nanashi do the same. By the time Mizuya dispatches the protagonists, Lycea is long gone ; an exasperated Mizuya leaves the place.

### Trials of the Past and Future

In the hidden temple, the trio finds the eccentric ferryman Ronakh who guides them to a hidden passageway, albeit "inadvertantly" leading them into several traps and Daemon ambushes. All the while, Ronakh cryptically hints at a repeating past, recounting the story of how Mizuya, his sister Adrianne, and Lycea were once heroes who defeated a powerful tyrant from times past. He then leaves the trio at the entrance of a majestic hidden shrine, not before giving powerful, forbidden spells to Thalyssa.

In the shrine, each protagonist is judged in trials of strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma. Once they have proven their worth, they advance to the last part of the dungeon where they meet Minaressa. The strange, emotionless woman, explains the truth about their world. In all times, there are three chosen ones : a **Hero**, a **Victim** and a **Villain** who is destined to bear the Curse of The World's Enemy. Previously, Mizuya, the Hero, slew the Tyrant, but Lycea died in the process, becoming the victim and Elysandre's Avatar, with Adrianne left as the villain.

Minaressa battles the protagonists and judges their worth, ending with her approval, giving them the Sword of Elysandre and the Scapegoat's Mantle destined to be worn by the future Hero and Victim, respectively. Despite Thalyssa's protests at the injustice of this world, Edmond takes the blade and
Nanashi the mantle.

### The World's New Enemy

Finally exiting the temple, the trio is guided by the enigmatic mage Emil Bleucastel into Adrianne's throne room for the last battle. However, Nelia allows Adrianne to run away while Thalyssa, ready to sacrifice herself for her Empress, seeks to stop Edmond. Lycea's magic empowers Edmond and turns him into a demi-angelic Avatar, who fights Thalyssa as she is forced to use her forbidden spells to survive his onslaught.

The last spell puts Edmond in a harsh position, forcing Lycea to appear and bless him with more powers. Then, Ronakh casually walks in and slaughters Lycea. Revealing himself as the creator of the Candle, the one who manipulated Mizuya into attempting to kill Lycea, and the first Hero of Elysandre's story, his anger at seeing his love Minaressa, the first Victim, turned into a puppet turned into a lethal grudge against Elysandre and the world. Labeling himself the new God of all existence and the World's New Enemy, he runs away. Edmond, mad with grief and anger, rushes towards him.

Helped by Adrianne, Nanashi, Nelia and Mizuya, Thalyssa reaches and clashes Ronakh in his tower, a mocking parody of final dungeons, and find him defeating Edmond. Thalyssa clashes with him and Ronakh, with a smile, accepts defeat after a long and harsh battle, disappearing into darkness and ending the Curse once and for all, Elysandre's influence over the subplane severed.

## Characters

* Thalyssa Delyoro
* Edmond Leniel
* Nanashi
* Adrianne Medeah
* Mizuya Medeah
* Nelia
* Lycea
* Emil Bleucastel
* Minaressa
* Ronakh
* Elysandre

## Trivia

* This storyline follows a **Pathfinder** narrative.
* More interestingly, it is a criticism of the standard Pathfinder storyline narrative, examplified as a curse for those who live it, both protagonists and antagonists.