Greetings everyone, greetings elders from the 18 tribes, an old white bearded elder speaks at a circular table in front of many exotic looking guests. I hope you all enjoyed the feast, our cooks have been preparing each dish meticulously since last night. They tried and succeeded in making something to appease all tastes, with such a diverse crowd this was no easy task. Everyone around the table claps as the kitchen staff enter the room and bow before the guest. Then they resume serving drinks and several make their exit. But it is now time to discuss that for which we all gathered here. Sir Ayar, you have the word.

Sir Ayar stands up and walks to a raised platform at the head of the table. He's a small, older man, with a brown complexion, wearing beautifully feathered robes and a broken animal skull on his head, with trinkets dangling on the side of it.

He starts to speak. As you are no doubt aware, the forces of darkness have reunited under the Necros alliance, and they are expanding rapidly. They are controlling several areas around the bottled sea, and meet little meaningful resistance. Their current leader is immortal and works directly for a general to the god of death. With their construction of death temples their forces are more powerful than they have ever been.  They will spread death and destruction everywhere they go the moment a region has served its purpose to them. Recently, they successfully invaded the Apsara kingdom, the stronghold of the Valkyrie and the last connection to the gods in Essanys. Refugees from there tell us they desecrated the temple of light and slaughtered their king. This brought an end to their 4300 year old empire. Seeing as they were the strongest combatants in Essanys, the situation is dire. We, by which I mean the Pheoqaviel dynasty and the Ventus tribe, do not foresee them losing a war. When a great evil assembles, it is the duty of good to align themselves to defeat it. Eastern Essanys is in a state of turmoil, it is fractured and in constant dispute. We have aided many attempts to diplomatically form alliances that were all in vain. If things continue this way, the Necros empire will subjugate every other group and finally exterminate all those who oppose the god of death, Zernebog. We thank all of you for coming here today and providing aid with our planned attack.

As mentioned before, direct confrontation with the Necros forces is futile. At this rate, we expect a direct invasion by the forces of darkness within a few years. There is one thing we can do and will do to stop them.

About 1200 years ago the great purge happened. An event in which most empires of the time murdered all wizards and magically aligned beings. A great servant of the god of time, named Ocilon, had built a temple of time to travel back in time and shape history in a way that allowed him to gain power. He did so successfully and created the Ocilon empire. Witnessing his great powers upset many nations and they allied against him. Ocilon saw this coming and constructed a new temple of time, to yet again travel back in time and to prevent the alliance from forming successfully. At the time, it was impossible to assassinate him because he lived in a temple that was frozen in time. However, he had to travel to his new temple, leaving him vulnerable. He tried to do so in secrecy, but he was assassinated. Afterwards the great purge happened and mages everywhere were prosecuted and executed to prevent such an event from happening again, however the Ocilon empire remained and other regions become accepting of mages. The reason this is relevant to us today is because this second temple of time was never destroyed, nor located. Unfortunately, we do not have contact with any chronos mages, nor would they likely aid us, but a skilled chronos mage could travel back in time. Our plan is to travel back in time and to slaughter the leader of the Necros forces, Misanthria, before she becomes immortal. We have considered many alternatives, but we have calculated that this would lead to the best outcome. The Arcana empire was on the losing side of a 70 year long war. Before she assumed power, things had turned around in the Arcana empires favour, and the destruction of the neighbouring kingdoms would be inevitable. After the Arcana empire defeated so many neighbouring forces with the use of magic, other empires once again became more accepting of magic users, thus strengthening them against a confrontation. This is why she needs to be removed around that time. It is the ideal outcome as it will still lead to an acceptance of magic, further shielding us from any future invasions by the followers of death. If we go back earlier and crush the Arcana empire, they would never become accepting of magic. If we go back later and try to stop say the formation of the Necros empire, it would be futile, because they have already gained too much power.  The reason it is important to protect against future invasions is because they are followers of the god of death.

They genocide planes of existence in order to strengthen themselves. Many planes have fallen to them. They target weak planes to built up their power, then they fight stronger planes with resistance in order to weaken the strength of the other gods.

However our plane, Essanys does not have to be lost. If we can form a strong enough resistance and restore our connection to the gods, we can avoid being targeted, or make their invasion unsuccessful.

To achieve this mission we have requested all of you to send one of your most skilled warriors, strategists, generals and so forth, which you did, and which is how we formed this plan. We will split the warriors and assassins into 6 groups. Group one will be tasked with reactivating the temple of time and putting our plan in motion. The remaining groups will sabotage the Necros empire by destroying the southern temple of death. This sabotage is extremely important because one of the items needed to control the temple of time is unfortunately located within their territory.

Of course there is a chance that when they rewrite history, all of us cease to exist, however, if we weren't to do this, we would all be slaughtered by the Necros forces sooner or later. Our future is in the past.

 

The elders have decided to split you into two groups. The other groups will delay the Necros empire for as long as possible, they are tasked with sabotage and their main priority is to destroy the southern temple of death. It would be a huge blow to their empire and they'd lose a lot of their power. Your group however has the most important mission, which is to locate and reactivate the temple of time, and to remove Misanthria before she ever becomes a problem. She is immortal, but according to our sources she hasn't always been immortal, she was born a regular half demon. We decided it is best if you dispose of her because before she assumed power the Arcana empire, which is the previous empire controlled by the followers of death, was far weaker initially. We expect that without her the empire would eventually fall after destroying the allied kingdoms. In our time, they barely managed to defeat the mightiest empires of their time. Without Misanthria the invasion by the forces of darkness would be severely delayed. The wars at the time forced many empires to become accepting of magic use in their militaries, thus making the plane of Essanys as a whole stronger, and better prepared for an eventual confrontation with the forces of darkness.

I suggest you each introduce yourselves to the group so you can get an idea of each others strengths and weaknesses. Lets start with you, Zephyr.

I am Zephyr Ventus, an aspiring archmage of the Ventus clan. I of course specialise in wind magic, and was selected for this mission because I am the most powerful mage after the elders. Being specialised in wind magic I excel in mobility and area denial focused combat tactics. They selected me to learn chrono magic as I am fast learner. I look forward to working with you.

Good, thank you Zephyr. How about you go next, Xenia.

I am Xenia Triea, loyal saboteur of the Pheoqaviel dynasty. I practise poison magic and know a few blood spells. I was selected by my elders for this mission because of my successful work defeating rebels, singlehandedly. I am not used to working in teams but I look forward to it anyway.

What about that staff you're carrying, it seems very decorated, can you tell us about it?

I'm glad you asked. This is the Corruptor of Akzkanash #4, about 20 of them are supposed to exist. Akzkanash was a plane that was a stronghold for the forces of nature, mostly elves. The goddess of pestilence, Nergala, had a very difficult time fighting this plane and was losing many forces to it. That's when she decided to create special poisons and diseases to bring it to its knees. Each of these 6 cylinders contains one of them. First is ricin, a poison so deadly that a teaspoon of it could kill a bear. Next is Beautido, a disease that spreads through the air. It feeds on happiness, causing depression wherever it spreads. It has a massive demoralising effect. Next is Incrementumia, legends say it was created by the god of fear, this ones causes victims to become gross and deformed, they will spontaneously start growing extra organs such and eyes and limbs over their body, making them look like unrecognisable monstrosities that are unfit for combat. Next is Separatumia, this disease causes one to lose their connection to the gods and severely weakens their victims magical proficiency. Very useful, but it's not very contagious. Last is Sanguinis luxuria, a disease of the brain that fills one with extreme bloodlust and rage, causing them to fight allies. With these 6 diseases she managed to bring down the plane of Akzkanash. Her most loyal followers were given this staff. One of those followers later lived on Essanys, but he was slain, and eventually the Pheoqaviel dynasty managed to retrieve his staff. The elders borrowed it to me for this special task. These days there are antidotes to deal with Sanguinis luxuria and Incrementumia, but it is still without a doubt the most powerful poison staff on this plane, and I am honored to wield it.

That is quite impressive, yet horrible. I fear for your enemies. Even though the goddess of pestilence is an ally to the god of death, the Pheoqaviel dynasty has decided to support us, as they are exclusively loyal to the goddess of pestilence. They managed to retrieve a chrono magic staff for us, Xenoglossy, Lakota's apprentice stave. It is a powerful magic staff that will make wielding the power of time far easier. Next introduction is you Damon.

My name is Damon Masaki, I am from the southern Yuzan empire. I was chosen because I am their best assassin. I rely on teleportation and close combat fighting. I 'm also experienced in scouting and retrieving information or objects. There's not much else worth mentioning. I'm task focused.

Thank you Damon, I'm sure your skills will come to great use. Please introduce yourself Amalsius.

The name is Amalsius Gadium, I'm also a mage specialising in poison abilities. However my abilities don't end there, I am an experienced potion crafter as well. I'm from the Rarus sect in the southern mountains of the Sanoran region.

Very impressive. Despite already having a poison mage, Amalsius uses many different spells than Xenia, and he can craft potions, which we thought would make him a great addition to your group. Last we have Felicity.

My name is Felicity Haimon, I'm a Draconia from the Fortis clan near the Serpensius river. We're far smaller than your factions but we're very powerful and have been expanding recently. Compared to you guys I'm not very strong, I was trained to be an assassin and hunter, particularly for targets they want to capture alive. Most of the higher ranking assassins are occupied.

Worry not Felicity, we are most pleased to receive loyalty from the Fortis clan. We decided to group you together because with your combined abilities you should be able to receive the artifacts required to master chrono magic. Your group has a lot of mobility, area and single target focused combat, and most importantly experience. Your mission is of utmost importance to the survival for all our tribes, clans, empires and families. There are allied factions which you can request for aid if you are near them, but we suggest you keep the details of your mission an absolute secret.

Zephyr come with me, I will give you the current items for your mission. They both walk away in a narrow hallway towards a study room. Zephyr, I and the other elders have absolute confidence in your abilities. You were destined to do great things, and you mastered wind magic are the youngest age in our clans history. However the burden we lay upon you is tremendous, and I must remind you that if somewhere along the line you start having doubts or are considering other options, you are free to contact us at any time and we will work towards a solution.

Thank you elder Kaze, I am most confident in our mission and my ability to succeed.

That is great to hear. They arrive at the large study room. It is filled with books, scrolls, and various exotic looking staves and trinkets. Thankfully we have already obtained two items required for you to master the magic of time.

He grabs a staff with a large staff, at it's head is a sideways hourglass filled with crystaline sand, surrounded by crystal triangles that look like arrowheads, each pointing at each others tail. It's silver and grey.

This staff here is called Xenoglossy, it was Lakota's apprentice stave. As the name suggests, it makes the wielder far more adept at wielding the magic of time, nd as such we couldn't have asked for a better introductory staff. Even with almost no experience, you should be able to master the first basic spells quite easily with it's aid.

He reaches out both his arms and presents the staff to Zephyr. He takes the staff and holds it in the air. It is surprisingly light weight. I can feel my connection to the god of time strengthening when I hold it.

Next we have the scrolls of Zerekesh, delivered to us by a Valkyrie refugee who fled the destruction of the Apsara kingdom. He went to great lengths to guard these scrolls. It contains instructions on how master three separate spells of chronos magic, namely: Clairvoyance, which allows you do look into future as it currently is, restoration, which allows you to return a material object to a previous state, and fast forward, which allows you to speed up the process of time in an area.

I've also added a scroll containing a map that has been outlined with the approximate location of the items you must retrieve. These are based on old information, it is entirely possible that they have been removed or that our information is incorrect. But I can say with certainty that the items have at one point been located in these areas. You have a bit of leeway with the time crystals because multiple exist and you only need one, and although the scrolls of Ocilonius are very important, if they were somehow unavailable I'm sure that there are other scrolls in existence explaining advanced chronos magic.

The location of the temple of time itself is unknown to anyone we could reach, but we suspect you will discover its location along your journey.