Red-Demon Territory
- English
Tirnog
To the Red Demon Territory
After reconvening after their expedition to Pruinaum Outskirts, Noah relays the news about Henir's Order's base being in the Demon Realm and the group discussed their next stop, the Red Demon Territory, Asella and Baryon providing fair warning of the region's alluring treachery.
Village of Demons of Dreams
Upon reaching Magmelia, the group were greeted by Diana who showed them the venues they had to offer. The group enjoyed themselves in the amusement park. Split up, the group learned of the village and that the Dream Demons had a new Queen. Diana and Vasili eventually gathered that the group were the same ones that had slain Karis. During this time, Ara and Ain encountered a mysterious Roamer passing through the Red Demon Territory, headed toward the White-Ghost Land. Diana and Vasili then plotted behind the scenes to enact their revenge against the El Search Party.
Trickster's House
The El Search Party, still enjoying their stay in the amusement park, went together to the Tricky House. The group were split up and misled by illusionary voices. As they kept losing track of one another, the group sought a way to break free from the house of trickery and managed to get Mr. Hat to surrender by threatening one of his Rabbits. However, in the process, they lost track of Elsword, Aisha, Chung, and Ara. Mr. Hat directed them toward a painting, which he revealed was where the others had been taken to.
Strange Theater
Inside the painting, the group all found themselves in a theater. The missing party members were already present, conversing amongst themselves. Before they could warn the others not to sit, the remaining party members took their seats and were trapped in their chairs, forced to listen to a looping narration of a story of Five Magicians. When the actual play began, Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Ain, Raven, Eve, Elesis, Chung, Add, and Ara were strung onto the stage by an invisible force and were forced to partake in a crude reenactment of their adventure in Sander. After the play concluded, the group faced the Puppet Master and managed to defeat it, waking up outside the Tricky House. The group attempted to leave Magmelia but were suddenly met with the realization that chains materialized around them.
Queen's Concert
Following the chains that bound them to the village, they were led to a large concert stage with a packed crowd of Dream Demons. The Dream Demon's new Queen, Vanessa, appeared center stage and initiated her concert, which was also a ritual to turn the El Search Party into Dream Demons. The group fought desperately to stop the ritual but were trapped amongst the audience. Using some clever tactics, they managed to storm the stage but failed to stop the ritual in time. Though they failed to stop it, Vanessa saw their strong determination and realized that even if she'd turn them into Dream Demons, their convictions would've still taken them down their own path all the same. Though the night was still young, the concert continued till daybreak. Once the crowds left, Vanessa answered a few questions about Ran before Diana showed them where his castle was.
Shadow Earl's Castle
The El Search Party made the journey to the Shadow Earl's Castle and found the place suspiciously vacant. They encountered Ran, but the Shadow Earl remained evasive. Pursuing and meeting him in combat, shadows joined the fray as Ara and Ran dueled one on one. The two conversed as they crossed blades, but as they did, Ara recognized each movement; she realized that she was not fighting Ran, but her brother, Aren. The fighting stopped; Aren lamented the ruin he brought due to his actions, but Ara was determined to console her brother.
Ominous Red Demon Territory
The entire group convene to speak with Aren. Aren revealed to them everything he knew about Ran and his motivations, that Ran used the Mystic Stones to regain his strength and eventually discarded Aren as a vessel to pursue his next goal. Aren and Ara had a heart to heart as the night drew to an end. In the cover of night, Aren attempted to leave the castle on his own, not wanting to burden his sister's journey. The older brother was stopped by Chung who was on lookout. Chung inquired about his father, learning from Aren that Helputt has too broken free from Ran's grasps, having fled alongside another of Ran's subordinates. Chung accepted Aren's plea to set out.
Abyss
To Abyss
Returning from Ran's Castle, the group encountered the Abyss and swiftly returned to Magmelia where they met with the Dream Demons as well as Tir who were discussing the phenomenon. The group planned on trying to leave the Red Demon Territory, but the Abyss and surrounding factions impeded their path. Upon Tir revealing Ran was the likely culprit for the Abyss's expansion and Chung's pointing toward it, the group decided to delve in with Vasili and Tir's eyes.
Entrance to Abyss
The group descended into the Abyss, entering a layer filled with the ruins of buildings lost to the gaping hole. The group were trailed by the Abyss Worshippers; they tried to fight them off, but the Abyss's ability to rejuvenate the worshippers proved too great. They managed to ward them off with light as they tried to flee their grasp. Following Vasili's trail, they found a gap which led deeper down into the depths.
Split Path
Descending downwards, they enter a new layer which was alien to what was above, vibrant caves of luminous elements and plants. They continued to follow Vasili's trail till Ain started feeling energy similar to the Dark El encountered in Feita and Velder. Eve, Zero, and Add attempted to scan the area to suspicious but inconclusive results. They also found that the marks left behind by Vasili had suddenly turned chaotic, as if there were a struggle. The group decided to split up, one pursuing the signs of Dark El while the others sought Vasili.
Terrarium in Abyss
Elsword, Rena, Eve, Ara, Rose, Zero, Ain, and Noah followed the readings of El energy. They found the remnants of the fake El made of Mystic Stones Ran used to regain his strength. A Myuriconus hatchling was latched onto the false El, absorbing the stone's energy. The hatchling awakened and begans to panic due to being enclosed. The group managed to defeat and subdue to the Myuriconus and instructed Zero to take the beast out of the Abyss. Once they were sure Zero was on pace to leave the Abyss, the group headed to rendezvous with the others.
Backtracking Guide
Aisha, Raven, Chung, Elesis, Add, Lu, Ciel, and Laby followed Vasili's trail, and discovered him in a manic aggressive state. Vasili succumbed to the Abyss's energy and returned back to his violent ways under the Torta Brothers. The group battled fiercely until Diana managed to communicate through the rabbit doll Add has taken from Mr. Hat. Diana snapped Vasili out of his manic rage, but he was quickly consumed with fear and trapped everybody in a cradle of dreams. Diana managed to break everybody free from their slumber and conforted Vasili.
Gathered Again
The two groups reconvened with Vasili in tow. The Dream Demon led them to the door to the Birth of Origin, the place where Ran was. Using his powers, Vasili opened the door to let the group through, for their final encounter with the Shadow Earl.
Elsewhere outside the Abyss, Aren found Lilith analyzing a corpse of another Henir's Order member who was slain by Ran. Deducing the connections, Aren decided to venture into the Abyss.
King of Abyss
The El Search Party encountered Ran, who calmly answered some of their questions about the past and declared his intent of stepping up to the position of Demon King by harnessing the power of the Abyss. Half the group engaged Ran in a fight while the others noticed he was doing something with the Seed of Life. Noah attempted to destroy the seed and managed to damage it while Ran was distracted with the others. Before he could shatter it, Ran called upon its power and transformed into a distorted Henir beast infused with abyssal energy. They weren't able to defeat him head on, so they split their attention on the damaged Seed of Life and attempted to collapse the Abyss by destroying its Heart Core. Aren showed up and aided them in their search for the Heart Core. They managed to destroy the Heart Core which destabilized the Abyss; whilst Ran was distracted by the turn of events, Elsword went in to strike the Seed of Life, damaging it before Chung and Ara managed the final blow.
Collapsing Abyss
The Abyss has been destabilized and began to fall apart around them. Ara and Aren decided they would hold off Ran while the group secured the escape route. They ascended the Abyss and found thousands of Abyss Worshippers swarming the area, but they ignored them, passing further downwards. The group reached the surface and reunited with the Dream Demons followed by Ara and Aren returning. Ran's form kept changing as he attempted to also escape, but the Abyss Worshippers latched onto him and dragged him back down into the depths as the Abyss shrunk to a small hole in the ground. Back from their exhausting trial, the group rested in Magmelia.
Monaterra
Suspicious Invite
The El Search Party reconvened in Magmelia to recover from their Abyssal inflictions and discuss their next move to seek out Henir's Order. Diana then gave them a couple of letters addressed to them from the Medovine and Torta territories. A commission request from Medovine and an ominous wordless note with fifteen tally marks. After some deliberation, they decide to take on Medovine's request in search of more information regarding the Dark El and the state of the Land of Steel. Before they left the village, the Dream Demons gave Elsword a picture frame to hold onto. On the way, Lu told them about her original rise to power in the era before the original Demon King.
Queen of Gold Medovine
They group arrived to the Palace of Gold Medovine, but as they'd heard, the place was completely vacant. Rena felt force similar to a Holy Beast. Walking through the palace, they spotted Medovine outside and she went to greet her visitors. She revealed herself to be a collector and requested the El Search Party to resolve some things which had gotten out of hand in her collection, due to her evacuating her servants in light of the Abyss's appearance. Half of the El Search Party went to deal with the Plant Overlords and whist there, Laby got an odd whiff and managed to uncover one of Medovine's Golden Apples. Chung, Ara, Lu, & Ciel entertained Medovine, trying to get information, but were unable to obtain any concrete leads on the Dark El. Ciel and Raven asked about the Land of Steel, and she told them about the state of chaos befalling the Land of Steel and the contamination spreading from it, even corroding the water supply of her land. She revealed her true current nature as a plant-like organism that was withering away due to the contamination. When the rest of the party returned, Medovine was shocked to see Laby had found the Golden Apple containing her next vessel. Medovine pleaded that they help resolve the issue of the Land of Steel which Lu gladly accepted; Medovine tips off that the Tortas may know a way to get them into the Land of Steel. Before the El Search Party could depart, Medovine felt it not right to let them go on the task purely on trust, and wished to keep hostages to ensure the deed was done. Taken by surprise, the El Search Party were unprepared; but fortunately the picture frame the Magmelia Dream Demons had given Elsword warped them away and back to the village.
Story of the Past
Back in Magmelia, Lu picks up telling the group her story. They agreed to head to Torta on Medovine's tip off; during this time, Raven reveals he had been having his dreams invaded by the Torta King since the Abyss and wished to settle the score.
Underground Den
Guided by a former Torta Eris, they reached the entrance to the Hunter's Hideout, but were denied access because they forgot to bring the invitation. Eris managed to talk up the gatekeeper and let the El Search Party enter as fighters. They passed through the tunnel of toxic water until they encountered Shaddie who wanted to test them. After defeating her, she scampered away and sets Jecky the Jabberwock as their last test. The group devised their plan of action once they encounter the King of Torta, deciding to have Raven challenge him to a 1 on 1 as per Eris's recommendation. They ran into and defeated Jecky and made their way to the end of the tunnel.
Hunters' Canyon
The El Search Party arrived to the Torta Arena and immediately sparked the King of the Tortas, Ricardo's attention. Lu attempted to assert herself as the Steel Queen but was immediately dismissed as being one of many fakers. Ricardo chose Raven to face Torta's Champion and then set up a match against Ciel. Ricardo, pleased with their performance, announced to all the Torta's goal of conquering the Land of Steel, and decided the El Search Party would be their trump card to this end. Raven then provoked a duel, one the Torta King eagerly accepted. Raven and Ricardo duked it out while the others probed Shaddie for any info about the Great Steel Wall. She told them the massive wall was seemingly impenetrable from ground level, and any attempt they've seen of people trying to fly over were swiftly followed by sounds of some type of defense system out of sight. In the midst of their brawl, Ricardo switched up the terms of their fight, the loyalty of the losers, and raised the arena to the surface, giving the El Search Party their first look at the truly massive Great Steel Wall. Raven pulled through and bested the Torta King. As the two combatants exchanged cordialities, Lilith suddenly intrudeed and struck Raven unconscious. She gave warning that their plans to infiltrate the Steel Wall would gain the ire of the lord of the Land of Steel. Add tried to demand answer from the mysterious Nasod, but Lilith was unauthorized to divulge any addition information barring her creator residing atop the wall. Just as soon as she appeared, she departed the arena. After Laby helped heal Raven, the Tortas now saw him as their new boss and they showed the El Search Party a route connected to the arena which would let them scale the wall undetected. They provided any insight and maps they had on the wall. Elsword asked Eris to contact some people with more experience with Demon Realm technology and the El Search Party set off on their way.
The Great Steel Wall
The El Search Party ascended and made it to the top of the Great Steel Wall; however they were immediately detected upon doing so. Add detected Lilith's signal and decided to scout ahead with some of the team trailing him. The rest of the El Search Party stayed behind to distract the security system. Eve managed to confirm the machines present were all derivative of Nasod origin and that there had to be a central AI. The areas transformed into a airship and captured Lu. The rest of the present group commandeered an abandoned airship and gave chase.
Add found Friedrich and attempted a sneak attack, which was quickly foiled. The two conversed, with Friedrich already having manipulated Add's Nasod Ruler Code with dummy data to restrain Add. Friedrich figured out Add was Grace's child and almost activated Add's dormant weapon code, when the group trailing Add catch up. They cornered Friedrich, but it was quickly revealed Friedrich was still in complete control of the area. He admitted to being sponsored by Henir's Order and providing them technology, but that he didn't make deals with them for some time. He wished to keep them from going forward to learn more from the El Search Party, however saw it unneeded to prevent them further. With little resistance, Friedrich departed, bidding farewell to his nephew.
The group pursuing Lu found themselves in the midst of a firefight, as missile from the main island above rained down on them. Lu, still captured by a rogue airship, managed to damage the airship enough to force it to land. They reunited with Lu and the other party managed to catch up soon after. Lu became increasingly unsure by who or for what purpose the wall was built, losing suspicion that Barkat had any involvement. The group approached the edge of the wall overlooking the Land of Steel and were greeted with a truly desolate sight. Unable to progress forward with the land in this state, they set their sights on the Sky Fortress looming above.
