#The vala witch

[cat-or-kitten]

Am i crazy for finding the Vala witch hot? i mean did you see her oh and don't get me started when she's not wearing the mask😫 Like step on me and break my back Sive

SHE LOOKS SO FINEEEEEE

[askefrueee3]

XII. Justice- Sive (Vala) Justice card brings themes like legality, rules, equity, equality, law and jugdement. At first, I was puzzled as to who or what to depict here. My initial idea was to paint Derek in SSL time- with photos of Anne and Jay, as his photos were evidence of the powers at play on Jorvik (and evidence also relates to law). I didn't like that painting though- so I made a second one- now with Sive. With Vala magic in one hand, and the Gunnar's hammer in the other, as those are the "artifacts" she helped Soul Riders and Dark Riders with, forwarding the battle towards it's ending, but keeping the sides equal.

[crawlingwithmagg0ts]

Meme dump

[noireovertures]

cw: familial, parental vore (as i know that's not everyone's cup of tea)

what's this? traditional art? yeagh.

meet vala (he/him), my beloved fallen angel demon <3 and by implied extension, his kiddo, spiffy. aka the beast. vala is a very protective person, but especially of his family. storing away his little one is a no-brainer for him, especially since it's not nearly as cumbersome for him as it would be to a mortal (like his best friend, parsil).

may post separately about vala and his family in a bit, since my brain is a lil mushy rn, but hope you like him!

[wibzenadarksiderwithasoftheart]

Today has been an incredible day at Esbjerg Fantasy Festival in Denmark.

It's amazing to see all the many wonderful and extremely diverse people, so many of them in different kinds of costumes. The atmosphere is phenomenal and welcoming and I'm already looking forward to being back tomorrow as Vala the Purple Witch.

[pandoriasmostwanted]

Making a Vala OC is lowkey hard especially when your only point of reference is Sive

[lukas-crowsong]

is it bad i want to ship sive and mrs holdsworth

[ald3r-wolfcak3]

Alder's two halloween costume this year.

The lost ranger and the pink jester

[strawberrystreamfields]

More Carolina Stuff (minor spoilers for the story quest?):

[hirazuki]

Oh my gosh your addition to my post is amazing thank you! I love your art!

-@outofangband

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!

It was way too funny of a concept not to draw! I'm always here for Melkor struggling with personnel management in the most mundane and ridiculous of ways XD

[askefrueee3]

Secret Second (and a little bit late, I had very little free time today sadly) prompt for @kelly-dreamway-sso 's SSO Promptoween. Today, I decided to create a sketch of my AU's take on Rosalinda. Here, she is one of the Vala witches, few that took Sive's lead and decided not to adapt to humans, but to remain hostile and keep their own customs. Despite that, her curiosity about people remained- and for many years she observed them, using illusions to appear human, in her last character picking the name of Rosalinda, and the story of affluent merchant's daughter, recently coming to Jorvik, allowing her to mingle with the island's most important. There she gets to meet young Sands, then only a protege of the headmaster to the academy of Jorvik and the lord of Pine Hill mansion, picked for this position thanks to innovative ideas for mining on Jorvik. The pair quickly grows fond of each other, exchanging knowledge and questions. Yet, their story is cut short, as Rosalinda is noticed in her true form by one of the men of Jarlaheim. Soon, Sive becomes the last remaining Vala.

[bellarkeselection]

Hey could you write for Daemon targaryen like while he's being haunted in harnehal he finds his comfort in a prisoner and falls in love with her targaryen type of love and obsession and he married her like his second wife something he listens to her obeys her admires her while he fights war for rahaenya right guess she isn't happy with their marriage but have to accept as he's crucial for her but later on when they're leading she asks him her head so they both escaped with caraxes alive to anywhere you want

His Compass of Harrenhal

Tag list - @only4thefics @superintenseart @universallyrascaldreamercookie

This request will have a couple of parts to it so enjoy and if you want to be added send that below in the comments 😊

I could hear footsteps slowly coming through the castle that I was forced to be a prisoner in. Not physically but mentally inside my mind for years and years to come. Sneaking through the hallway near the kitchen I raised my sword until I jumped around the corner feeling the cold tip of a sword against my throat. “Show yourself you ghost!”

“Not before you reveal yourself first!” I heard a deep man’s voice shifting my gaze up to meet his purple eyes that could only belong to a Targaryen.

I gulped slightly nervous that I must still be having another nightmare. “What is your name, ghost?”

“I’m no ghost, strange woman. I am Daemon Targaryen. The future king of the Seven Kingdoms. Now who the hell are you!” He growled under his breath glaring his eyes deadly in my direction.

The tip of my sword was pointed up against the fabric of his tunic shirt while he had his sword end up against my throat. Both of us never lowered our weapons while we spoke to one another. “My name is Y/n, Y/n Tully. I was wed to the late lord of this castle until I started hearing and seeing things that didn’t make sense. I’ve been attempting to escape ever since he called me a witch.”

“He’s named you a prisoner then?” Daemon raised a brow at me.

Shaking my head, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. “I’m not quite sure anymore. I haven’t been able to trust my own mind to tell me what is real and what is fake for far too many years. Why are you here, if you’re truly here.”

“Have you known any of these ghosts you see to ever have a sword pressing against your throat.” He questioned me.

I replied, beginning to lower my blade off of his chest. “I can’t say that they ever have.”

“Then we may not be alone in whatever is going on inside this dreadful castle.” He placed his sword back in his belt, walking into the kitchen and I followed him knowing it was probably a better option then going back alone to my old chamber room. I couldn’t stand the idea of being a prisoner here anymore than I already had because I feared I wouldn’t make it through another night on my own. Not without Daemon by my side.

I wasn’t sure how long I had been staring into the burning flames of one of the candles I was holding in one hand and my sword tightly clenched in the other. The rain hadn’t stopped at all during the day and I didn’t believe it was going to stop throughout the night either. Hearing footsteps coming into the chambers I scrambled to my feet I spun around aiming my blade towards the shut window until someone put their hand over my mouth causing me to go into fight or flight mode. “Get your fucking hands off of me - gah!” I screamed attempting to cut the ghost with my blade.

“Gīda ilagon. Gīda ilagon, issa klios ābrazȳrys ( Calm down. Calm down, my fish wife ).” I sucked in a breath feeling the tension in my body beginning to fade recognizing the voice that spoke in my ear.

Closing my eyes I paused lowering my sword asking him a question. “Issi ao se vala nyke call issa zaldrīzes dārys? ( Are you the man I call my dragon king? ).”

Daemon’s voice whispered in my ear, hot breath framing on the side of my neck. “Kessa, issa byka ābrazȳrys ( Yes, my little wife ).”

“Daemon!” I squealed out in such a relief flinging my arms around his neck letting my sword clank to the floor without a care in the world knowing that he wasn’t in fact another ghost attempting to haunt my mind night after night.

He wrapped his arms around my waist clinging onto me like he needed me to physically breathe. He buried his nose into my hair barely letting some tears be shed from his eyes. “Y/n.”

Unaware of how long we had been there together we had come up with our own secret code system that we made sure no one else knew except for the two of us and us alone. He was fluent in high valyrian and very few people who weren’t a part of the Targaryen family could speak it. So he would teach me every chance he could when he wasn’t trying to raise an army for his queen and former wife Rhaenyra.

“Touch me, Daemon.” I muttered under my breath barely pulling away from his embrace. Needing just a tiny bit more proof that it was truly him.

He moved his hands up to cradle the sides of my face in his own hands , crashing his lips down onto mine in a very deep kiss leaving me breathless when he broke it. “I’m here, Y/n. Your dragon husband is right in front of you.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck I drew him in for another long kiss. He threaded one of his hands into my hair drawing out a moan from me. We remained attached to one another making our way back to the bed where I collapsed onto my back with him hovering above me.

Wrapping my arms around his neck I went to kiss him but a loud knock came from the other side of the door. “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.”

“I’ll go tell the asshole to leave.” Daemon got up from the bed, flinging the door opened seeing the caretaker of Harrenhal. “What the hell do you want this late hour!”

The man extended his hand holding out a letter. “A letter from Dragonstone, my king.”

“Who’s it from?” I asked him sliding down off the bed walking over to him, taking it from his hands and tearing it open. I began reading it aloud since Daemon seemed to be in no mood for any company tonight except for me. “Dear Daemon, I have been wondering how the search for men for my army is going. It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard anything from you so this is me asking for an answer. I need more men to secure my throne and my birthright. Keep your word and loyalty to your queen and wife , Rhaenyra Targaryen.”

“You’re first wife. She’s the one the late king Viserys named his rightful heir right?” I asked him sitting the letter down on the nearest table.

Daemon lowered his purple eyes to meet my gaze. “She’s actually my second wife. My first died on her horse, then her until the night I met you in this castle. I need to give her an army to help her take the throne back.”

“You’ll need the support of the Riverlords. House Tully controls how loyal they are. I can speak to Lord Grover for you.” I draped my arms over his neck and he put his hands on my hips bringing me closer to his body.

Daemon smiled widely down at me, kissing me deeply a second time not caring the lord was here. “Brilliant and beautiful I certainly won with you Lady Y/n Tully.”

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[rinravenkeep]

The Trees are part of the Squid's Plan! (major main quest spoilers)

After spending way too long playing through the new quests in SSO, I've come up with a theory. A real long theory. That the Life Wardens are siding with both Dark Riders and Soul Riders in order to repair the Wild Weave and reconnect with one another, inadvertently helping the Dark Riders to free Garnok.

Lemme explain.

This is the map in the Fort Maria portal room. It shows the seven major Life Wardens that we know of, but it also gives us some clues about the story going forwards.

First, the obvious.

Yeah, there's no way that little illustration in the corner is anything but Ol' Squiddy's Tentacles. But we knew he was imprisoned between worlds, in neither Pandoria nor Jorvik - so finding out he's been chilling in the Wild Weave, or a location only accessible by it, makes sense.

Next, when it comes to putting a name to each of these trees I think most are fairly self explanatory. We've known about most of these trees for years, even if they've never been a part of the story, such as with the Ice Tree by the Stonecutter's Vault in Dino Valley, and the Unnamed Tree way up near where you finish the Red String Trail in the Firgrove Mountains.

Where it gets interesting is with the two trees I couldn't place; such as the one between the Sentinel Tree in Mistfall and the Ice Tree in Dino Valley; and the one on the far left, signified by floating islands.

In my mind it makes sense to have a couple of the trees sprouting in Pandoria, since the two worlds are connected by the tree roots - and the only floating rocks I know about are in Pandoria - but who knows.

Overlaying the normal map on top of these locations makes it pretty clear that they're supposed to correspond to real map locations. The only anomaly is the Ice Tree and Sentinel Tree, whose positions are reversed on the portal map.

What's interesting is that Garnok, if I'm following the map's logic correctly, would hold exactly the same positioning as the Dark Core Oil Rig.

(For context, we know the Rig's position from old skybox errors that used to show it when stood in the right spots, some maps from the books (which I know aren't always canon anymore, but hey it's the best we've got) and, most recently, if the player looks South when entering Devil's Gap, thanks to that little black hole we helped Sunshine open up recently.)

Where am I going with all this? Okay!

Firstly, we know that the trees have helped the Dark Riders in the past. The Life Wardens have repeatedly said the only loyalty they have is to each other, and quite frankly after what the Jarl did, who can blame them. (Thanks Jon).

This is going into massive spoiler territory for the most recent quest as of 17/1/24 so if you haven't completed it yet, flee.

The Sentinel Tree in the Wildwoods has been corrupted by Pandorian magic for a while now. But in the newest quest, we saw Sabine using the Runesmasher to break into it and create a portal to free Erissa.

Side tangent about the hammer:

For those who didn't play the Halloween quests, basically one of the Jarl's servants got the ice valley smith to make a hammer that could destroy runestones, broke one open, and a Vala witch gave him immortality. Aka. Sive (or an identical Vala witch), who is deeply connected with the Life Wardens and who probably gave Sabine the hammer when we saw her in Devil's Gap, has no problem with this action.

The Life Wardens, or at the very least Sive, their ally, wanted the portal opened and Erissa freed.

Why?

To re-grow the Wild Weave.

Assuming Garnok's position on my map was correct, the only way the Dark Riders now have to free him is to go directly through the Wild Weave.

And since we're good people who like nature... yeahhh the Soul Riders are totally going to end up healing some trees and inadvertently opening the path to Garnok wide open.

Oh yeah. We're going to mess up royally.

[windforestsso]

The Vala, witches or Ydris I wasnt sure if they could be count as civilan or small villians so they got their own seperate option.

[starshinedragon]

SSO Rewritten: SPRINGVALLEY

Fan written main storyline (Update)

Previous Part: Winterdale https://www.tumblr.com/starshinedragon/736955792328146944/sso-winterdale-fan-written-main-storyline?source=share

Map of Springvalley:

Life Warden Trees of Springvalley:

Story design:

-> Part of SSO Rewritten (my writing project of the whole story of SSO until defeating Garnok). You can find the story related posts with the tag "sso rewritten" -> This is the updated version of an old post, that takes place after the Winterdale part. -> Phases 1-2-3 is the main story so far (Harvestlands), phases 4-5-6 is the Winterdale parts in the previous post, phases 7-8-9 are the Springvalley parts written in this post.

-> The area of Springvalleywas established in the Star Stable Spring Riders game and I added elements from SSO (rangers, druids, a lightwood, etc) to fill in the empty places. The focus characters of the Springvalley main storyline are Jessica and Elise (as the main opponents), Anne (as she is Jess' rival), Jordan Jet (from the Spring Rider game), Life Warden Trees and Vala witches (eg. Sive). The thematic guide for the Springvalley story is the dark corruption spreading in the valley and the final confrontation of this phase is cleansing the Cursed Forest and the witches' castle.

So saddle up and get ready for the adventure!

PHASE 7 – Opening Springvalley

PART 1: Resurrection

-> At the end of the Winterdale Storyline, the Soul Riders managed to win back Pandoria and banish Garnok from there. A new reputation opens: Pandoria. We can access all of it again, but it is in ruins. Ydris kind of forgives the druids, since his world was saved, and begrudgingly agrees to help and direct the restoration of Pandoria. Ydris becomes the faction leader and sends MC and the Soul Riders to all kinds of quests. 

-> MC is summoned to the Secret Stone Circle. The Soul Riders, Ydris, and some druids are waiting for you there and tell you that you are going to restore Pandoria and cleanse it from Garnok’s corruption. MC, Fripp, Ydris and Anne open and stabilize the Path of the Winds, the portal at the edge of the Circle, that now leads to the central part of Pandoria. The team rides through and you set up base in the main structure of Temple Ruins, a building similar to the ruins you saw in Starshine Legacy 3’s Pandoria.

-> For your first quests you are to secure that island. They ask you to help set up the base, and cleanse Garnok’s (dark blue) corruption from the land and creatures. You explore the island and find three portal sites you have to activate. With Anne’s help MC opens the way to the other three islands. You report back to the druids and unlock the map of Pandoria. 

-> You are sent to explore a new Pandoria. In the Harvestlands storyline (live SSO) we can only access two areas: the crystal cave island where Anne was imprisoned and the island with the winding paths and many plants under it. The crystal cave is also not accessible anymore if you have already completed those main story quests. In the Winterdale storyline (SSO Rewritten) we banish Garnok from Devil’s Gap to Pandoria, thinking it is a good plan, but we soon realize it was a mistake. During the quests when we banish Garnok from Pandoria (back to his spaceship prison at the bottom of the Jorvik Sea) we access the two areas from live SSO again: the crystal cave and the winding paths. Here, in the beginning of the Springvalley storyline, new areas of Pandoria become accessible. Ydris sends you to explore all of the areas: you unlock all 4 map parts of Pandoria after completing the quests. The now accessible areas are:

1. The Botanical Gardens: this is the winding paths currently accessible in live SSO. The Pandoria botany dailies send you here, to find the plant they want (see the names of Pandorian plants below!). The area now has pathways to make it easier to find your way, some lamps with wisps in them and some decorative fences and benches, as well as Pandorian critters and creatures hanging out there.

2. Crystal Peaks: the second zone from live SSO, the island where Anne was imprisoned in the crystal. This area now has some plains and various wild Pandorian horses running around. Zee watches over this island and sends you on quests to help the wildlife there.

3. Temple Ruins: a reskinned and upgraded version of the area you walk with Anne, when you find Concorde in Starshine Legacy 3. This is the main base of Pandoria now. Ydris, some druids, and those who help restore Pandoria hang out here. From here, three portals lead to the other three accessible Pandorian areas.

4. Rune Island: where the Soul Riders went so seal their power runes in the last map of Starshine Legacy 4. Reskinned and upgraded, the stone circles of the seals are now the training arenas for each power. These are where you will get and practice your new soul rider powers.

Entrances to Pandoria: -> Secret Stone Circle: the Path of the Winds portal leads to Temple Ruins (central part). -> Random daily portal to Pandoria: still leads to the Botanical Gardens. -> Five Horse Valley: leads to Crystal Peaks, like during the saving Anne storyline.

-> Races: each island has multiple races. There are simple cross country runs around landmarks. There are butterfly and wisp collection races, a catch Pandorian rays race (like the catch rabbits one), a garden race, etc.

-> Pandorian Quests: after exploring Pandoria to unlock the maps you can access all quests and dailies on every island and Jorvik. The daily quest that can appear on each island is when you are sent to cleanse sites of umbrasyan (Garnok’s) corruption. Quests by zones:

1. Jorvik: pink cracks and lost beasts. All kinds of pandorian creatures had appeared on Jorvik as the veil between worlds got torn in the confrontation with Garnok. MC and the Soul Riders are sent all over Jorvik to clear the Pandorian cracks, and capture and return beasts to Pandoria.

2. Temple Ruins: You help set up the magical defenses of the base in dailies like rune carving and rune ciphers. You investigate and locate sites of gathering corruption and dispel them. Ydris figures out a way to stop the Pandorian scars’ spread on Evergray and he joins the camp too.

3. Crystal Peaks: Zee oversees this island. Many Pandorian wild horses (magic horses, unicorns, etc) roam the plains and valleys here. The caves are where the druids and Ydris collect the most powerful magic crystals from. MC is sent to cleanse corrupted crystals and horses, to befriend the magic horses and also on fetch quests.

4. Rune Island: Rhiannon hangs out there with some druids who are interested in the magic of the circles. Here you meet Amryn, a Pandorian humanoid like Ydris. She had survived the destruction of Pandoria by living a nomad life (much like Evergray during his wanderings in the pink world). She came back because she felt a dark presence gather in these parts. Mc befriends her and she and Rhiannon teach MC some new magic. MC is taught how to use their star powers to heal sick horses, how to use visions to spy on the enemy, you use sun powers to dispel darkness and corruption and fight with lightning to destroy shadow seekers.

5. Botanical Gardens: there are both some druids and capran-like Pandorian cratures here. You unlock the Pandorian botany dailies: they send you to ride around in the gardens and find them 3 different types of plants each day.

-> At the end of the storyline with the Pandoria faction, Ydris discovers a Remnant of Garnok (a dark tentacle) that threatens to attack, corrupt and destroy what we had achieved so far. With the help of Ydris, Zee, Evergray, Rhiannon and Amryn, a plan is formed: to complete a ritual that dispels the Remnant forever. MC and the Soul Riders are sent to gather four rare materials across the islands on four consecutive days.

-> With Lisa, MC goes to the Botanical Gardens to find the Cyclamen Starflower. With Linda you explore Temple Ruins to find a special, ancient runestone, the Eclipse Cypher. With Anne, you go to Crystal Peaks to find the strongest Pandorian Crystal yet, the Aphelion Gemstone that glows light blue. With Alex, you go to Rune Island, carve a magic wand out of a nettletree branch and infuse it with lightning magic, creating the Fulminus Wand (Alex just calls it the Boomstick).

-> MC brings these four ingredients to the Temple Ruins, where you set up the ritual to dispel the Remnant. Ydris draws a complex magic circle combining star, moon, sun and lightning magics and stands in the middle conducting the ritual. The Soul Riders stand on the circle’s four point, paired with each of the other characters: Zee, Evergray, Rhiannon and Amryn. You start the ritual and the Remnant of Garnok attacks.

-> You have to use the powers you learned recently to stop the Remnant from stopping the ritual. The Remnant summons shadow seekers which you have to shoot with lightning to dispel. If it hits one of the characters with its shadow attacks, you use the star circle to heal them. You dispel spots of corruption from the ground using sun magic. For the moon ability check, the Remnant curses MC using a rune sealing all your other abilities until you dispel it. You get rid of the curse by finding the same rune around you, like the rune ciphers in Hollow Woods. You have to hold out for some minutes and once the progress bar completes, Ydris directs the power of the ritual to you and MC destroys the Remnant. The shadowy tentacle bursts into sparks of light and you are rid of it for good. You have fully restored Pandoria.

PART 2: The Violet Fog – Dark Rider Elise’s introduction questline

-> The forces of good couldn’t enjoy their victory for long. A suffocating violet mist covers the island. The lakes and rivers are frozen over, shadow seekers roam the night. An eerie atmosphere covers Jorvik. Before you start this questline a window will pop up asking if you are ready to start it, as the story will start a Jorvik-wide event and most NPCs will temporarily disappear. They come back once you have completed this questline. You click Yes, I’m ready. (This is a single event. Even though it is divided into four days, you don’t need to wait a day to do the next one, you just get a black screen and the game tells you a day passed.)

-> The screen goes black, „The first day” title appears and you hear a sound of magic being used. MC wakes up in their home stable. Your first quest is to do a round of stable care for the horse you are riding (doesn’t matter if you did it already, it is for the immersion). Next, you remember that Avalon wanted to meet you and you leave the stable. Outside it is dark, despite it being the morning and you are greeted by a thick, violet fog. The people are confused, but not yet panicking. The soundtrack has changed to playing the dark and mysterious ambiance anywhere you go.

-> You hear the magic sound again and a shockwave sweeps through Jorvik. Your horse rears and people panic and run to their houses. You ride to Avalon. He tells you that all of Jorvik is covered by the violet fog and that it blocks both magic and technology. This means no quick communications and the Valedale spiral leading to the Secret Stone circle is also blocked. The spymaster arrives in a panic, telling MC and Avalon that people have started to disappear. His critters told him that if they get lost in the fog they vanish. The Soul Riders get here as well and Avalon takes the lead.

-> Avalon tells MC and the Soul Riders that the druids prepared for something like this. He tells you to gather the people of Valedale who haven’t vanished yet and meet him at the door in the Hollow Woods. You do that and he opens the door. It leads to a bunker similar in design to Stonecutters’ Vault and Fripp’s study. Avalon tells you it is protected from magical attacks. The people hide inside and MC and the Soul Riders are tasked to go sort out the other bunkers. The plan is to split the bunkers among the Soul Riders, get the people to safety, and meet up the next day.

-> You ride together, leaving a Soul Rider at each bunker. First, you go to the Starshade Woods through Northlink. The Soul Riders remain at the door to open it as Avalon showed you, while MC rides around to gather people. Some you can find, and some have already vanished. You get the people into the bunker and Alex stays with them.

-> Next you go to Goldenhills, and try to find the people and Linda stays with them. After gathering people in Epona, Jorvik Stables, and Jarlaheim, Lisa stays to guard them in the Greendale bunker. You gather the remaining NPCs from Silverglade and Moorland and leave them with Anne in the Moorland bunker. Alone, you return to Avalon to the Hollow Woods bunker. The screen goes black as the day ends.

-> „The second day”. MC rides to Silverglade Village, where you agreed to meet. The Soul Riders made it as well. The cutscene shows a shadowy rider watching you from afar. You are in the middle of talking when you feel an eerie presence. Black lightning crashes down in the middle of the group and everyone freaks out. Shadow seekers appear and you have to flee. MC manages to lose their pursuers in Valedale. You talk to Avalon and he sends you to the other bunkers to check on the Soul Riders. You ride to Moorland to check if Anne has returned, but she hasn’t. You search for the Soul Riders all over Jorvik, riding to certain places indicated on the map. You cannot find anyone and return to the Hollow Woods bunker to sleep.

-> „The third day”. Avalon sends MC to check on the other bunkers. There is a snowstorm in Dino Valley. You find that Northlink is infested with shadow seekers and you cannot go through. Linda hadn’t returned to Goldenhills but the people needed supplies. You ride to Cape West and bring them some. The Greenwoods bunker is ok, but Lisa isn't here. You collect supplies from Jarlaheim for them. MC feels a dark presence following them, cutscenes sometimes show the silhouette of the dark rider, watching you from afar. Moorland is also ok, but Anne hasn’t returned either. When you ride in the fog, sometimes you can see aurora up high, a single wisp flying around, or lightning strikes and hear thunder in the distance.

-> MC rides back towards the Hollow Woods. In the forest, you walk into an ambush set by the mysterious dark rider. Dark lightning almost hits you, and MC flees out of the forest into Everwind fields. The fog thickens so much, that you can't see more than a meter ahead. The single wisp appears and you follow it. The wisp leads you out of the fields, to your bunker. You go to sleep.

-> „The fourth day”. You leave the bunker and the wisp is waiting for you there. the Moorland runestone. Moonlight illuminates the stone and MC touches it, and has a vision of one active runestone in Jorvik (one with five runes). You have to find it. The quest sends you to check some other 5-rune stones first and finally, you find it in behind the Jorvik Stables. You have a new vision there: it shows you riding to the Secret Stone Circle and using magic to dispel the mist.

-> The dark presence finally reveals itself. The fog gathers and a dark rider materializes. She is wearing the dark rider outfit in violet and rides a quick-looking dark horse with a blond, almost white mane and tail. She says „Greetings, worm. I am Elise Samassa, Dark Rider Nihili, and this is the strongest horse in Jorvik, Acheron. Now that we are acquainted, it is time for you to face oblivion, like your pathetic friends, chosen of Aideen.” MC attacks her, releasing a lightning bolt, but magic is so weak in the fog that she easily deflects it. You decide to flee and get to the Secret Stone Circle to dispel the fog. The longest race leading through the island commences.

-> You are chased through the island by the cloakrider, following the wisp, while the rider tries to stop you using magic. You escape Jorvik Stables, and run through Jarlaheim, Greenwoods, the bridge, Moorland, Everwind, Hollow Woods, and Valedale. You enter Dino Valley for the first time since the fog fell. The Icengate is blocked, so you ride to Ashland, down the Frostfire pass, through Coldstone forest, Sharshade Woods, and up Starshine Mountain. You jump the broken bridge.

-> Cutscene: MC stops their horse and watches how the dark rider does the same on the other side of the bridge. Like in Starshine Legacy 1, she can’t follow you into the circle. She removes her hood: the introduction of Elise, the 4th Dark Rider. She says „Enjoy this victory, because ultimately it means nothing. You might have won the battle, but the war has just begun. And you pathetic servants of Aideen better prepare, because I will bring down upon you hell itself. And so it begins!” She raises an arm and you hear the magic sound that summoned the fog for the third time. Thunder rumbles and it gets much darker, the fog thickens. You barely see enough to get to the center of the circle.

-> MC goes to the middle of the Circle and activates the runes, but doesn’t know what else to do. The wisp is still hovering next to you. You investigate the rune: it shows the other four Soul Riders and you call out for their help. The wisp hovers over to one side, moonlight and aurora appear and lightning strikes the last one. A faint glimmer appears in the middle as the darkness around you approaches. You use your rune stick at the glimmer. The four Soul Riders materialize around you and together you use your magic to disperse the fog. Cutscene: people rematerialize in cities and the one refugees leave the bunker. The Druids celebrate and you get rewards.

PART 3: Opening Springvalley

-> The next day you are called to the Circle again to talk to Fripp and the druids. Before the meeting could start, the Spymaster appears, telling you that druids from Springvalley arrived and need your help. He leads them in front of the council. They tell you that darkness attacked Springvalley, a dark rider wreaks havoc there, Nihili. Elise really didn’t waste any time. Her power summons umbrasyan corruption, her dark power infuses the land and she woke up the witches inhabiting the Morrinweals as well. It is chaos in the valley and the druids alone are not enough to fight her. They ask for your help. You agree to go, but Fripp warns you that you have to improve the defenses of Harvestlands and Winterdale first. The two druids wait in the Circle until you complete the Runestone Upgrade Questline.

-> Runestone upgrade questline: MC gets a message, that Fripp wants to meet you in the Secret Stone Circle. He tells you that you all have to prepare for the war to come, and Elise will be a tough enemy. The druids have to bolster their defenses the best they can, and the first step is to strengthen the Circle. The runestones around the circle only had ceremonial purposes (meaning they had some power, but they were mostly just pretty), but now you have to make them into proper magic runes, that will protect the place. You are sent to go talk to Ydris about how to use the Pandorian language as a magic weapon.

-> Linda comes with you. MC and Linda meet Ydris in Pandoria, and he sends you all over the pink world to look at the runestones there. He made those to protect the islands. Linda remains in Temple Ruins to study his books. You get a new page in your notebook labeled Pandorian language and have to collect the drawings on all of the runestones in Pandoria. When you are done collecting the inscriptions on one island, you go to Ydris, who tells you the meaning (plus Linda tells you the Pandorian phonetic pronunciation if you are interested). Once you collected all of the runestones and meanings, you unlock the last page, which is the Pandorian runic and phonetic alphabet and dictionary.

-> MC and Linda return to the Secret Stone Circle, where Fripp, the druids, and other Soul Riders are already waiting for them. They talk about which runes should be used where. MC has to choose the correct runes to be carved in the 10 stones of the circle.

-> The druids decide to remake the runestones with the help of Conrad. MC is tasked to meet him, offer the job, and bring Conrad to the Circle. He will work on the project for 10 day (a day for each of the stones). You have to complete the quest he gives you each day for him to finish a stone. Those will be simple fetching quests: he needs a special carving tool from Stonecutter’s Vault, needs you to check out a stone in Pandoria again to make sure the shape of the rune is correct, wants a dessert from Aideen’s plaza, etc. You get the stuff he wants and he will get to work. The next day he is done and your first quest is to use your magic to activate the runestone he made. After that you get the usual fetch quest, get him his stuff, he gets to work, the next day you activate the runestone, and so on.

-> While this is happening, the rune recarving side quests become available. MC will be going around Jorvik, looking for all the old, not working runestones. You need to carve them into one of the Pandorian words you learned. For each quest, you grab the carving tools and find the runestone. Once you click it, it will give you a choice IN PANDORIAN about what you want to carve. Using your notebook you have to choose the correct thing to carve- For example, it will give you the runic options for “leaf”, “blue”, “defense” and “laughter”. If you choose the wrong one, you get a funny punishment: if you choose blue, the stone turns blue, if you choose leaf, a bush grows around the stone, and if you choose laughter, MC will keep laughing. You have to choose defense (after you figured out the correct rune combination). You replace every runestone in Jorvik this way with a useful inscription, which keeps evil forces away from the area, so the violet fog incident will not be repeated.

-> After 10 days, Conrad is done. When you return to the Circle, you activate the last runestone and the whole circle flares up with magic. Astral Crown awakens truly (Fripp was only able to wake her power before, not her consciousness), and thanks you for waking her by giving her enough power and helping her protect the Circle.

-> Now that Harvestlands and Winterdale are sufficiently protected, MC and the Soul Riders are ready to depart for Springvalley. The two druids are Sienna Springleaf, the leader of the Everspring druid village, and her horse Solaria, a palomino, and Lorelei Moordusk, the leader of the Thistlebranch druid village, and her horse the black Shadowsong. They arrived by taking the Seaside Road from Bayridge to Anvil Woods, barely managing to sneak past the Dark Core Barricade. Initially, we plan to enter Springvalley that way. Anne is excited to be back home at her family’s manor.

-> MC, the Soul Riders, Sienna, and Lorelei ride to the Seaside Gate. The two druids have the key and they open it. Linda casts a magical shield around the group that makes you invisible and you ride slowly and stealthily, trying to remain hidden. It seems like you can pass the Barricade unseen, when a cutscene triggers. Katja and Elise are standing on top of a lookout tower of the DC Barricade. Katja uses her scrying powers to detect Linda, she says „Got you, little Soul Rider. Elise, now!” She casts black lightning towards the mountain. The scene cuts back to your group, right when Alex spots draconium barrels hidden up the mountain, among the rocks. She shouts „Watch out!” and the black lightning hits the barrels, bringing down the whole mountainside. Your group has to turn around and flee the rockfall. The road in now blocked by huge rocks, you can’t enter Springvalley that way. Now your only option is the Wolf-pass, which is not used for a reason. In the final cutscene, Elise looks over the destruction satisfied, and says „Bye-bye Soul Riders. I hope you like the present I left for you in the mountain pass”.

-> You meet up with the team in the Rimefang Woods, near the mouth of the Wolf Pass. You ride through carefully, your Kallter wolf coming with you. The pass is similar to the gorge of Aideen you go through in the Light Ride quest. Everything seems fine, but is is eerily quiet and you have a bad feeling about it. Anne spots a patch of corruption and the familiar violet fog starts to seep into the canyon. You hear wolf howls and the Kallter wolf growls. Dire wolves appear high on the canyon walls and in front of you, blocking the path. Their eyes glow with Garnok’s dark blue corruption. Anne steps forward, saying „Enough is enough. No Dark Rider will keep me from my home!” She starts to channel sunlight. Lisa says „Quick, MC, we have to help!”. You join the spell. The wolves attack, running toward the team, horses freak out. Right before they reach you the spell completes, and an explosion of light burns away the corruption from the canyon and the wolves. They are dazed, your Kallter wolf walks up to them, and they sniff and greet each other. They leave and let you pass. The team crosses the Winter Mountains and arrives in Rockville. You get your 100 SC for finishing a phase.

PHASE 8- Jessica and Elise

PART 1: The Jet Syndicate and Von Blyssens

-> For now, you quickly ride through Rockville and get to the windmill in the middle of Seabreeze Meadows where you were to meet the druids. Lorelei leaves halfway, she has to go back to Thistlebranch Village and invites you to come and help, once you are done with Everspring. Sienna leads the team to the windmill, but no one else is there. We find signs of a recent attack by Elise and follow the hoofprints of the fleeing druids towards Everspring Plateau. We race to the Cliffside Mountains and spot the fleeing druids. Cutscene: they are chased by shadow seekers, black lightning strikes, and corrupted vines. Sienna gets ahead of the Soul Riders, trying to help her people. She runs into the pass after them, leading to Everspring Plateau. Before MC or the Soul Riders could follow her, the corrupted vines close the pass. You stop your horses and see Elise and Jessica standing on a ridge above you, laughing. They dissipate into dark smoke and fly away. 

-> You have to cleanse the corruption of the battlefield here. By the time you are done, the Cliffside rangers appear to ask what the hell was that. You try to explain and they kind of buy it as there are no more signs of corruption, just the battlefield. You say it was a lightning strike and they accept it saying that there was some weird weather recently in Springvalley so why not.  MC and the Soul Riders ride back to Rockville.

-> Jordan Jet greets you in Rockville, saying she has heard that you are an excellent rider, and invites you to take part in the dressage and other competitions of Springvalley. She tells you of the two main equestrian factions here: her Jet Syndicate ruling Rockville, Bayridge, and Beauvista, and the Von Blyssen riders of the manor. She recognizes Anne and tells you that she’s not going to keep you anymore, as you would probably want to go with your friend to the Von Blyssen manor, but you are welcome to come back anytime to ride in her syndicate.

-> Introduction to the Von Blyssen Manor: The team follows Anne to the Von Blyssen Manor. It is managed by Eva Von Blyssen, Anne’s mother, who used to be a soul rider. You explore the manor and unlock dressage training and reputation dailies. You see the trails in the woods, the riding arenas, and the stables of the manor. You can’t yet cross the river as the bridge to Suncrown Island with the conspicuous golden tree is blocked by a closed gate. At this point, the dressage in SSO receives a huge upgrade, dressage becomes available at the Baroness', Pine Hill and Shoreline Riding Arenas and a Dressage Championship opens.

-> Exploring Springvalley: You are sent to check out the Shoreline Equestrian, where the great dressage competitions of Springvalley are held. It is solely a competition center, designed similarly to the Baroness’ racetrack. The main dressage arena is the upgraded version of the one where you do dressage at the end of the Spring Riders game. Here you meet some nice Jet Syndicate riders. They have a rivalry with the Von Blyssen riders, and both factions would like to win the Great Dressage Trophy. Both factions are very sportsmanlike, whichever loses, they don’t get bitter, congratulate the winner, and are happy that they took part even if just for the experience. Since Anne’s been gone, the trophy was won by the Jet Syndicate’s best rider, Jasmine, Jordan’s niece. Anne vows to win it back with Concorde.

-> Next MC goes alone to explore the Jet Syndicate villages. You meet the people of the villages and the crew of the stables, explore the places, and unlock local quests. You also unlock the Rockville, Bayridge, and Beauvista Championships (normal, cross-country ones, the only dressage championship is at Shoreline). You meet the rangers of Cliffside and Highmarsh station. Cliffside Station is north of Beauvista, in the red pine forest (from the Spring Riders game) and their leader is Jace Morrin. They oversee north of the Seabreeze Meadows and the Cliffside Mountains. The Highmarsh Station oversees south Seabreeze and they are led by Alys Morrin, sister to Jace. They are the descendants of the ancient Morrin family, that ruled over the Morrin Meadows since Jon Jarl’s age. You still cannot enter either Everspring Plateau to the west or Morrin Meadows to the east (both the pass and the bridge are blocked by corrupted vines).

-> Unlocking the Von Blyssen gardens: They are located on the side of the manor facing the river and on the little island in Suncrown river. In style, they are similar to the Silverglade Manor’s gardens. MC meets Anne’s mom in Silverglade Manor. She tells you that she has recently met the Baroness and she likes what the gardeners did there in the garden. She sends you to invite them to fix the Von Blyssen Manor’s gardens as well and train her new gardeners. You meet them and they say that they need a day to prepare and pack up their equipment. The next day you have to give one of them a lift on horseback to the Von Blyssen gardens, while the other takes the car with the driver, the Baroness, and Anne’s mom. There they (and MC of course) start to clean the gardens and train the new Von Blyssen gardeners. They are the siblings Amara and Andreas (Amy and Andy). You help them fix the gardens, and the siblings become the groundskeepers of the Von Blyssen gardens.

-> Jessica appears: It is time for the big competition in Shoreline between the Von Blyssen Manor and the Jet Syndicate. You compete in the place of Anne for the Von Blyssens because Concorde is still too inexperienced to take part. MC is tasked to win the grand trophy. You go through three rounds of dressage tests. They are moderate level tests and you need your starter or another dressage horse for this. MC almost wins, but the last rider is Jessica and she and Erebos absolutely destroy you. MC and Anne witness the victory ceremony as the Great Dressage Trophy is won by the Jet Syndicate and given to Jessica Jet. Even the other Syndicate riders are not happy about this and Jordan Jet is shocked. While Jess passes her, she says: „Well, mother? Aren’t you proud of me? I’ve defeated the Von Blyssen bastards for you!” She rides away with the trophy laughing.

-> MC and the Soul Riders speak to Jordan in her house in Rockville. The trophy is ominously sitting in the Great Hall there. Jordan tells you she had a daughter who disappeared long ago and she didn’t know Jess was back, even that she was alive and what she has become. She just dropped the trophy here and left again without a word, destroying the good friendship between the Jet Syndicate and the Von Blyssens. Lisa says this smells like Elise’s plan. Jordan asks you to try and repair the relationship between them and the Von Blyssen riders.

-> Anne’s comeback: She is the only one good enough in dressage to beat Jesica. She plans to train and get Concorde good enough to win the trophy back. Jess is going to compete again in the next grand dressage competition against Anne. Even though both the Von Blyssens and Jordan know what she’s become, they can’t stop her from taking part in it. She has been training with her dark horse Erebos for a long time, and Anne is having a hard time. Corcorde is still young and magically aged up, she still has a lot to learn is dressage. Anne has also just gotten her back and is afraid, that Jessica will hurt Concorde to win if they manage to be better, than Jess.

-> Helping Anne’s training: Concorde’s dressage knowledge appears as a reputation bar and you have to complete it for Anne to have a chance against Jess at Shoreline. The daily you get changes every day: one day you complete a dressage course, while Concorde and Anne watch, the next you go on a trail ride race with them, etc.

-> The Competition: Once you max the bar, the day of the competition comes. You meet up in Shoreline Equestrian. The first day Anne and Concorde arrive and settle in the stables. You are tasked to help Concorde get comfortable: bring her food, give her a bath, etc. Jess and Elise are also there, and you have to make sure they don’t get to sabotage Anne (for example they switched the good apples for Concorde for rotten ones, made the horse shampoo disappear, made the water dirty, hid Anne’s stuff all over the place, etc.) The second day the actual competition happens. They stopped making mischief, but are now using evil magic and runes to sabotage Anne. This time Jessica rides first. While Anne is riding her round you „fight” against Elise and Jess: they will run around drawing dark runes, that harm Anne and Concorde, you have to follow her unseen and dispel them. You succeed and Anne wins back the trophy, which Jordan is happy to hand over to her. Jess and Elise angrily ride away, promising this is not over.

PART 2: West- Everspring Valley

-> Next up is opening Everspring Plateau. Jace Morrin, the leader of the Cliffside Rangers sends you a message that they have an injured druid who came from the west. You ride to the station and find Linda and Lisa already there, trying to heal him. MC is sent to gather some herbs, and you manage to heal him enough that he wakes up. The druid tells you Elise attacked Everspring Village and completely closed off the plateau with her dark magic. You have to find a way to go there and help. Lisa says you should take a boat and the druid tells you that the plateau has a port: Shark Point. MC agrees to meet the Soul Riders in Shoreline Fishing Village the next day (dayblocker).

-> The next day when you ride to the shore, you get a cutscene of Elise summoning a dark storm over the bay. You see the black clouds, thunder and lightning strike every minute, wild winds blowing the trees on the shore. You meet the Soul Riders at the village. Linda suggests that MC and Alex try to dispel the storm, but your magic can’t affect it. You are tasked to ride around in the fishing village and try to find a captain who will take you to Shark Point through the storm. You ask every captain, but they are not willing to sail out with five horses in a storm. You are about to give up and look for another way when one approaches you. The old man says he overheard you and asks if the storm is some kind of witchcraft. He’s seen weird stuff in Jorvik and wouldn’t be surprised. He takes pride in being the only one who is brave and skilled enough to sail through storms and says his ship is the only one that could stand a storm like this. You get the horses on board and sail out.

-> Cutscene of the ship sailing through the storm. The team lands in Shark Point and they ride up a winding path to the Everspring Plateau. It is similar to South Hoof, as it is a relatively flat, elevated area, but it is covered sparsely by an oak forest and blossoming bushes, the Monarch Woods, and framed by hills and mountains. Usually, the woods are full of colorful butterflies. A small river originates from Pegasus Spring and creates the Butterfly Lake, and the druid village is in the middle of the lake. Right now, however, the whole plateau is covered in the strange violet mist Elise used before. As the team rides through it, shadow seekers start to chase you. You race through the unfamiliar woods and get separated. MC alone arrives in the druid village as the race ends. You realize that the Soul Riders were once again claimed by the violet fog.  

-> Everspring village and the druids were not claimed by the fog. There is a shield made of light around the village that keeps the dark out. The power to keep them safe comes from a Spark of Aideen that the druids are protecting. It is a magical spark of light contained in a polished light pink gemstone. Sienna Springleaf welcomes you and she tells you that Elise wants the Spark and she made the fog trying to steal it. MC tells her they know how to dispel the fog but they need the Soul Riders back. Sienna stays in the village to help protect it, you ride out in the fog alone. The butterflies are momentarily gone from the forest, shadow seekers patrol in their place. You find the wisp (Lisa) in the northern forest, the moonlight (Linda) in the southern part of the Monarch Woods. You ride up to the Pegasus Spring to find the aurora (Anne). The place has a rearing statue of a pegasus where the water erupts from the mountain. The lightning strike (Alex) is at the highest peak of Everspring, which is in the hills above Shark Point. You use your her magic to dispel each one and the two race back to the village. Once all five of you are there, you use your magic and the Spark of Aideen to dispel the violet fog. Cutscene: Elise and Jessica appear (in dark rider uniform) in the woods and send the shadow seekers against the shield. The Soul Riders and MC manage to dispel the fog before the creatures reach the shield. The magical explosion of light burns away the shadows. Acheron and Erebos rear up and the dark riders gallop away. The woods become bright again and the butterflies return.

-> Now you are free to explore the Everspring Plateau. They send you to cleanse the Garnok effect that grips the vines blocking the pass leading from Seabreeze to Everspring. You clear the path, return to the village, and unlock the reputation dailies for the Everspring druids. You get two races here: the Pegasus race and the Butterfly race. You meet the Life Warden tree of the plateau: Everbloom Elm, who gives you several random flowers each day if you say hi to her. The Everspring plateau is a lightwood: you have an additional Motherstone here and you can collect light, similar to the Hollow Woods and Starshade Woods. At the north edge of the plains, you discover the broken Suncrown bridge that will lead to Summerplains in the future. To keep Elise from summoning the violet fog again, you recarve the protective runestones of Springvalley as you did in Harvestlands and Winterdale.

PART 3: The Sun Queen

-> The Von Blyssen gardeners, Amy and Andy call you to come immediately. They say they need you because you know a lot about the „weird stuff” of Jorvik. They show you signs of weird corruption spreading in the garden. This time it doesn’t look Pandorian or Umbrasyan, it is the vala’s magic. You trace the corruption to the gate leading to Suncrown Island where the golden crowned tree is. Anne arrives to help you. She has the key to that gate and opens it for you. The gardeners tell you the same corruption attacked the Von Blyssen vineyard and the whole eastern valley, that is why the gates were closed.

-> You inspect the tree and realize that it is a Life Warden, currently being suffocated by the dark magic of the vala witches. It was attacked by corruption coming from the cursed forest in the northeast. Anne’s mom arrives and tells you that the golden three is called the Sun Queen. She protects the Von Blyssen Manor and makes the plants grow extraordinarily well, so they must save the tree. She asks you to find a way to cleanse the corruption and save the Sun Queen.

-> MC goes to ask Fripp and find out if there is a way to save the tree. Historically, Life Wardens who fell to the darkness were cut down, but Anne’s mom wants you to save it since it makes the manor, gardens, and vineyards bloom with life. Fripp directs you to the Everspring druids as they are the best in plant magic. Sienna tell you about the ritual that could be used to save the Sun Queen. Unfortunately, the specifics of the ritual were lost centuries ago. Luckily, she knows which tree was saved by the ritual: the Silent Poplar, on top of Firgrove Mountain. MC and Sienna meet there and talk to the tree to find out how the ritual was done. Poplar tells you that the last time it took all four Soul Riders, the chosen of Aideen and a powerful magic source to save him.

-> Fortunately, the Everspring druids have the Spark of Aideen that can be used to save the Sun Queen. But Sienna is reluctant to give it to you as it would leave the village vulnerable and it can get stolen by the dark riders. As MC and Sienna argue, Everbloom Elm shakes off petals and enters the conversation. She tells Sienna to help save her sister and while the spark is gone, she will guard the village. Sienna agrees, but she is holding on to the gem containing the spark and she also brings many druids as escorts and wants all four Soul Riders to come as well.

-> Race to the manor: from Everspring Village to Von Blyssen Manor, the whole group rides together to keep the Dark Riders from getting their hands on the gem. Sienna was right to worry as halfway there, in the Seabreeze meadows all four Dark Riders ambush you. The Soul Riders and druids stay there to hold them off. MC and Sienna ride on and she gives you the gem to get to the Sun Queen at all costs. You continue to race towards the manor. Cutscene: the Soul Riders and druids are successfully keeping the four Dark Riders from chasing you. Anne manages to hit Elise with a beam of light, which reveals that she is just an illusion. Katja laughs and mocks the Soul Riders and the real Elise is catching up to MC.

-> You complete the race and almost reach the gate of the Von Blyssen Manor. Cutscene after you cross the finish line before the manor: Anne’s mom covered the walls in protective runes, so Elise couldn’t come in. She decides if she can’t have the spark then no one shall: she shoots dark energy at you to destroy it and you. Sienna jumps in front of the spell to protect you and is crystallized, just like Elisabeth was (but as a figure on a rearing horse). You reach the manor and Elise is kept outside by the runes. She retreats.  

-> The Soul Riders arrive, as the other Dark Riders also retreat with Elise. The Sun Queen is in a really rough shape, she barely has any light in her leaves anymore and they are drying and falling down. The five of you perform the cleansing ritual on the Life Warden tree. For a second, it looks like it failed, but then the light gets stronger and burns away the vala corruption. The tree is cleansed and she thanks you for saving her from the suffocating darkness. She tells you that the source of this darkness is the great castle up in the mountains in the cursed forest. She will now use her powers to cleanse the land around her from this darkness. In an explosion of brilliant light, the gardens are cleansed as well as most of the vineyard, and the spell that turned Sienna into crystal is broken.

-> MC returns the spark of Aideen’s magic to the Everspring druids. After that, you go back to the Von Blyssen gardens, where you meet Anne’s mom under the tree. She agrees to open the gate to the vineyard and sends you to help out there. She opens the other gate for you leading to the eastern part of Springvalley. MC goes over the bridge to the other side of the Suncrown River and into the vineyards. You have unlocked the Cursed Forest Area and you get your 100 SC as it is the end of a Phase.

PHASE 9- The Vala and Morrinweald

PART 1: East- The Cursed Forest

-> First you are sent to help the Von Blyssen vineyard. MC and Anne help cleanse it from the grasping vala vines, corrupted thornbushes, and other aggressive flora. You and Anne clear out the whole vineyard, get the grapes growing and wine production started again. You unlock the vineyard race. Anne opens the other vineyard gate for you, leading to the Morrin Meadows and you can leave the vineyard.

-> You can explore the rest of the eastern valley now and meet the druids and rangers trying to keep the corruption in the forest. First, you meet the Morrinweald station rangers. This station is led by Saoirse (seer-sha) Morrin, Jace and Alys’ mother. Saoirse knows about magic stuff happening and her rangers are close with the druids. MC tells her that they are here to cleanse the corruption. For this, Saoirse is willing to unlock the gate on the bridge below the Old Morass – the way to Highmarsh station.

-> She also tells you of the druids in the forest in Thistlebranch Village, led by Lorelei Moordusk. Unfortunately, the druids’ village is deep in the forest, and it is dangerous to go in there alone as the wildlife in the forest tend to attack you. Saoirse tells MC about the vala witches of Caer Cailleach and warns you to not go near their castle unless absolutely necessary. She suspects, that their dark magic did something to the druids as no one hasheard about them for weeks. Saoirse wants to go check on them. MC is invited on the mission to go into Morrinweald, to Thistlebranch village and see if the druids are okay.

-> Slowly and sneakily the group goes through the dark forest, avoiding all signs of the Vala. You arrive in the village and find that everyone is okay, but the whole place is asleep. A strange pollen cloud covers the village, coming from exotic looking, vibrant flowers. Before you too fall asleep, you have to ride through the village and stomp all the flowers with your horse. The village wakes up. Lorelei welcomes you with a better late than never.

-> You are introduced to the village and the forest. You unlock the dailies to help them and a race, where you run over the sleepy flowers. You help cut back the vala vines trying to cover the village. In the last quest, Lorelei thanks you for the help in front of the whole village, when Sive, matron of the Vala Witches appears. She says „This is our forest. You are not welcome here! Leave, or face the consequences!”. Then she recognizes you, but she is strange, different. You know Sive from Devil’s Gap and try to reason with her. She says that she has to do this to keep the balance and keep her sisters safe. She leaves. Mc realizes that the Vala witches are not simply causing the corruption to spread, they are victims to it as well.

PART 2: Enemy of my enemy

-> The Soul Riders suggest that we should try negotiating with Sive. The first step is to go to Moorland and Goldenhills to invite Mrs Holdsworth and Pi to help us against the bad witches. MC and the Soul Riders meet with Mrs H and Pi in Thistlebranch village and ride towards the castle. On the way, Elise and Jess ambush us, but the Vala also attack. The witches try to kill both the good and bad guys, we have to work together to escape the forest. Race in the forest, jumping over vines and dodging rabid animals to escape.

-> Jessica tells us that this corruption is not their work. They also want to get to Caer Cailleach. Since our goals align, the good guys agree on a truce with the Dark Riders. Our goal is to try and find a way to cleanse the forest, and stop the corruption from spreading. The gods only know what the DRs are planning to do in the witches’ castle. Jessica tells us about a hidden path leading up to the castle  starting where the Claymore fence and the Aurora Mountains meet.

-> We fight off the corruption together. MC, Anne, Elise and Jessica work together to clear and cleanse our way to Caer Cailleach. Each day, we clear another part of the path leading there. After 5 days, we finally reach the castle, but the gates are closed and Valas are patrolling all over the walls. The next quests are stealth missions to explore the castle, like when we were sneaking through the DC platform. MC discovers the source of the darkness: a corrupted Life Warden tree, the Twilight Oak. In a cutscene, we witness Sive performing a ritual, where all the witches draw power from the tree.

PART 3: Helping the Vala

-> The next 3 days we work with Mrs Holdsworth and go to the Fort Maria library to learn more about the castle, the witches, and how to defeat them. On the fourth day, we meet with Elise and Jess in front of the gates, hiding from the Vala guards. The Dar Riders want to convince us that the witches cannot be saved anymore, they have a plan to exterminate the Vala. We don’t trust them anymore. MC has been learning about the history of the witches and realizes they were originally corrupted by Garnok. Now that they are uncontrollable and inconvenient to the Dark Riders they just want to get rid of them. We want to help the Vala and cleanse the Twilight Oak. The plan is to perform the ritual we used to cleanse the Sun Queen. We must get to Caer Cailleach and use it on the sacred source of the Vala’s power, the Twilight Oak. We hope that it is enough to free the witches from the festering corruption.

-> We borrow the Spark of Aideen from Everspring Village once again. However, the spark is too detectable, especially in the dark forest, so we have to enchant it first with a magical camouflage spell. Pi can do it if we collect some ingredients for her (she sends us all over Jorvik and asks for very weird stuff. She gets it done and we set off on our mission.

-> The final conflict: MC and the Soul Riders meet up under the castle. MC helps all four of them sneak into the throne room, where Twilight Oak is. You spot Elise and Jess nearby, they also picked this day to come and destroy the tree and the Vala. They bring the gates down with their Shadow and Darkness powers combined and incapacitate the witches, putting them into stasis with shadow magic. MC, Anne, and Alex run down to the courtyard to fight them. Tin-can, Concorde and MC’s horse run in, we mount up. Linda and Lisa start the cleansing ritual.

-> In the meantime, a small boss fight commences- MC against Jessica. Jess surrounds them with a shield and summons a dozen shadow seekers that circle around them, while Elise casts a spell to gain control over the corruption affecting the tree. We have to dispel the shadow seekers and Jess’ shield to stop Elise from finishing the spell. We succeed and race them through the castle to the throne room. Stalemate, as neither the DRs or SRs are willing to give up their position, attacking or guarding the tree. We can’t do the ritual and hold off the Dark Riders at the same time.

-> Mrs Holdsworth and Pi arrive, flying to the castle using flying brooms. They cast a shield and hold off Elise and Jess while we perform the ritual and cleanse the Vala and the tree. The magic wave that happens then dispels the shield. Elise is about to kill Pi and Holdsworth, but Sive saves them, and uses her magic to teleport them away from the castle. Cutscene: they fall into the ocean with the island in sight and start to swim back. à We talk with Sive. She thanks us for saving her people and her forest from the corruption. You unlock the Vala reputation quests: cleaning up the castle, cleansing the forest and the animals, races. Once you are at max reputation, Sive gives you the quest to look for a legendary horse of the forest. This is the 3rd free magic horse grind: you are tasked to go into the Morrinweald to look for the horse, find hoofprints, find their favorite places, gather special grasses they eat, etc. Once you complete the rep, you get a free horse: Nightshade, the Vala magic horse. You get 100 SC for finishing the phase.

TO BE CONTINUED!

THE OTHER PARTS:

SSO Rewritten 1st Part: Winterdale https://www.tumblr.com/starshinedragon/736955792328146944/sso-winterdale-fan-written-main-storyline?source=share

SSO Rewritten 3rd Part: Summerplains https://www.tumblr.com/starshinedragon/726343248992419840/sso-rewritten-full-story-series-summerplains?source=share

[a-m-w-worlds]

SSO Theory: The Secret Behind the Masks

"It looked like a mask. One of those old wooden ones with holes for the eyes." (Excerpt from Shari's Mask.)

The Miscreants might be the most famous mask-wearers in Jorvik, but have you noticed they aren't the only ones? The Miscreants, Xin, the Vala, Shari, even Pi in The Legend Awakens, so what's the deal with all these wooden masks?

I have a theory!

The only common denominator I can find between all these characters is neutrality. Not good, not evil, something in-between the two. Let's start with Shari, who is first mentioned in the Soul Riders short story collection Ghost Stories from Jorvik., in Alex's story, Shari's Mask. We don't learn much about Shari other than that she is referred to as a goddess and wears the Miscreant mask, as seen on the book's back cover and other illustrations.

According to the About section of the Miscreants page on Spotify the Miscreants styled the masks they wear after one found in a thrift store that likely either belonged to Shari or one of her followers.

The Miscreants are shown to be neutral troublemakers, in no way evil, but not saints either, also equally liked by Soul Riders AND Dark Riders. (Their song Face in the Crowd is used as Sabine's theme and Lisa has a Miscreants poster and replica mask in her bedroom.) Similarly, the Vala, Pi, and Xin (through Ydris) have all been shown to be our enemies AND allies at different points in time, and all seem to have agendas separate from the battle between good and evil.

Xin is an odd case; we know very little about him, although I assume he is Pandorian in origin like Ydris and Zee. The way Ydris refers to Xin's mask is interesting and definitely makes me think it has some greater significance.

In the questline where we're trying to save Concorde from the circus, we also have this little exchange between Linda and Evergray. (Pardon crusty Linda!/lh)

I feel this strengthens the case for Xin being Pandorian.

Now for the witches!

And yes, I do mean witches generally, not just the Vala!

In the second Soul Riders book, The Legend Awakens, Pi is described as wearing wooden masks also! This is an excerpt from Pi's introduction.

"She emerged from the darkness. The darkness sent her to them. All they could see was a figure shrouded in shadows, dressed in a dark cloak with something in front of its face. A wooden mask? The mask was glowing pink, with almost luminescent letters. Anne gasped as she felt the Pandoria sickness wash over her, sticky and pink. She recognized those letters."

Thanks to Sive in the Storms Over Devil's Gap questline we know the masks have some power beyond just cool aesthetics.

I find it interesting that these masks are always specified to be "wooden" either by verbally being referred to as such or in their design.

This makes me wonder if the masks are perhaps made from the wood of Primeval Tress. We know Lisa was able to communicate with the Sleeping Widow while in Pandoria and it was explained the Primeval Tree's roots reach to Pandoria. Dialogue from the One of Our Witches questline also states that witches and Primeval Trees do sometimes form alliances, making this theory even more credible in my opinion.

This same questline also gives us this bit of dialogue.

I find myself wondering if Pi's masks specifically came from a corrupted Primeval Tree. Anne's reaction to it and the fact that Pi's is the only mask to glow pink suggests a stronger Pandorian connection than the Vala masks. Pi in The Legend Awakens is also described very differently from her in-game counterpart. (Since this depiction is more current, I'm considering it the canon version. I want her to be updated in-game so bad!) She's described as having feet like rough tree roots and hands that are half claw, half atrophied wood. Maybe using masks made from corrupted trees corrupts the wearer as well?

For the last part of my theory, we're going to circle back to Shari for a minute.

In Shari's Mask it's revealed that Shari is searching for her missing horse who was taken from her, which I believe to be the Laverna, who is also a mask-wearing trickster. Here's Laverna's in-game description.

"The veil between worlds grows thin around Halloween, allowing spirits to travel to other planes. Laverna was one of these, though no one knows when she first crossed over.

When she arrived on Jorvik she was a mere wisp and a mask. But Laverna is a powerful soul, and before long she created a solid body in the shape of a creature she saw around Jorvik that was suitable for her interests. Disguised as a horse, she got up to all kinds of mischief, preferring the "trick" in "trick or treat."

Laverna fashioned her body after an American Paint Horse; she likes the splashy colors even when concealing her magical coat and mask. She employs nighttime and shadow as cover for thievery. Mischief is her entertainment, so be prepared to keep an eye on her!"

The line "though no one knows when she first crossed over" seems to imply that Laverna is quite an ancient spirit. When Alex meets some of Shari's hypnotized followers in Jorvik City they describe Shari as "the goddess, the deceiver, the rebel, the legend", which is in line with Laverna's mischievousness and the Miscreant's rebelliousness. Shari is described as wearing black robes and not having a face, only the mask. And if Shari can be referred to as a goddess, I would imagine that she's also a very old being. The only other character that's ever been called a goddess is Aideen, so here's my thinking.

Aideen and Garnok are both treated as deities with their own missions and followers, what's interesting though is that while witches and Pandorians (the primary mask-wearers) acknowledge both as powerful beings, they don't seem to worship either. Aideen seems to be a goddess of Jorvik, and we know Garnok is not from Pandoria, merely trapped there. My theory is that witches and Pandorians are followers of Shari, who I believe to be a Pandorian goddess, more specifically a trickster goddess, who is unaligned to good or evil and acts only in the best interest of herself and her followers, the masks symbolizing their neutrality. Mask=ambiguity=neutrality.

The only thing that gives me pause about Laverna being Shari's horse is that Gabby (one of the hypnotized followers) calls Shari's horse Solomi (no clue if I spelled that right, I only have the audiobook version of the story). But it's possible that this is either a discrepancy or Solomi is the horse's real name and Laverna is the name given to her by Jorvegians who didn't know her real name.

So, am I onto something?

Thank you for reading my insane wooden mask deep dive!/gen