The short summary:
Through the hard work of many in town, as well as the help of Menard the Scholar and Nanaki the Dream Elemental, we were successful in Imprisoning Ulo Mahdin back into the Silver Tower early Sunday morning of this Gather (March 602). I wished to thank everyone that helped in imprisoning Ulo Mahdin and to let everyone know what had occurred this past gather (and throughout the past year). I am sure that in my description of the events which led up to his imprisonment I am going miss some names of those who were there. Please feel free to add to the list underneath my post and accept my apologies beforehand! It has been a very long year for me. Also, many were not recognized for their assistance till now because we were worried about Ulo trying to harm them in some way as revenge.
--Elayne Josita Riveth-Ramirez
The full background as I know it- (taken from my notes)
Last year (601) in February a large shining tower appeared on an island in the Frost River. Soon thereafter a group which called themselves the 'Avalon Dream Emporium' let it be known that it was their tower and that on a certain day in February they would open it up for people to visit. There people were able to combat their nightmares or dreams - the dreams would come alive in certain rooms of the Tower and if they defeated them their nightmares would go away forever. At the end of the day in February, 601 shadows or shades of some sort began to appear from the floor and walls and pushed everyone out of the Tower, including most of the Avalon Dream Emporium. Some of them were trapped inside though.
By March of 601, the Tower had mysteriously moved into the Center of Wainsford, Avendale. During the first gather of the season, the members of the Dream Emporium who had been trapped inside the Tower resurrected at the Healer's Guild and told of horrid creatures which had taken over the Tower. The Tower had been 'powered' by a crystal in a special room. Some groups of adventurers traveled inside the Tower and destroyed that Crystal. One member of the Dream Emporium named Gavin was seen that night speaking to a strange figure in the doorway of the shining Tower - Gavin accepted a 'Gift' from the strange figure. The next day Gavin appeared and seemed to have gone insane ... he was able to cause everyone around him to die immediately, he had clockwork golems which were attacking the town and a huge battle ensued. Gavin was finally killed but the Tower remained, and no one knew who the strange figure who had given Gavin his 'Gift' was.
We began to learn more about the Tower through research and finding the myths and tales which are located in my library. Our knowledge was greatly aided by a scholar named Menard. Without his research and help we would never have learned as much as we did about the creature and his vulnerabilities. Apparently, by destroying the crystal in the Tower we released the creature known as Ulo Mahdin. The Fae say he is not of them - that he is 'before their time' but that he was truly evil and needed to be imprisoned as quickly as possible. The elementals say that they know nothing of him, and he does not appear to be any race common to Tyrra. This creature had destroyed many other planes, including his own. He enjoyed the suffering of others and would seek our people to torment.
One method he enjoyed using to torment people was by Cursing them. He would walk around the town inquiring as to people's names and their meanings. He would grant their name 'meaning' if they asked for him too - which would be a type of curse, very similar to a Fae Curse.
When he first started to walk about Town, he was carrying what appeared to be a weapon in the shape of the shining Tower which had been his prison for so many years. He gave the Tower weapon to Kaigen aka Wraith who has since been banished from the lands of Avendale for other reasons. Ulo also had the power in control the dreams of townsfolk, making it so that they would attack us thinking they were surrounded by their nightmares. Many adventurers reported having horrid nightmares as well. Also, he seems to have the ability to charm people in a very similar manner as vampires are known to charm their victims.
There was also a minion of Ulo's by the name of Morias Ventrai. Some documents of his are in this library as well. It is through his writings and those of an adventurer who traveled to Ventrai Manor that we learned a great deal of what we know of Ulo Mahdin. Morias Ventrai himself appears to be some sort of Celestial Undead and is controlled by Ulo. As far as I know, he is still freely walking about the land and we may encounter him again.
We learned of the Sign of Mahdin, and how to create it - which both weakens Ulo so that he cannot inflict his illusions upon us (his minions were illusions of sorts and would attack the town in waves) and the Sign acted as a repel so that the wearer and those around them cannot be affected by Ulo. Many of the people in Avendale went on adventures in July 601 to gather the 'ingredients' needed to make the sign. This included gathering Phase Spider silk, obtaining the clay from the Agalla Spring in the Realm of Fae, and gathering four sticks freely given of a sentient tree. I do not know the names of all the people who helped to gather these ingredients but you know who you are and we thank you! A group made up of Michiko, Arkyn, Telaris, Feyd, Garion, Daedalus, Wyatt and myself then traveled to the Dream plane with the help of the Dream Elemental Nanaki with all of the ingredients to create the Sign. Once this Sign was created, the dream construct minions of Ulo no longer could attack Avendale and he was greatly weakened.
During the gather of September of 601 many people collected texts which added to our knowledge. Sasha d'Von Skya, Kelra of the Healer's Guild, and others all donated their knowledge to aid in ridding us of Ulo. Through their work we also learned that the Vlay knew of Ulo and in fact that was how we learned what we needed to do to imprison him again.
During the November 601 gather, a group that included Telaris, Michiko, Arkyn, Amra, Garion, and I believe some of the Weasels fought a giant sea serpent in the Frost Lake which had been attacking ships and boats that traveled on it. This Sea Serpent was the 'Betrayer' who is mentioned in the texts in the library. Inside of it was the Dagger which was required in order to imprison Ulo again.
This most recent gather - March 602, now over a full year since Ulo Mahdin was released from his prison we were able to Imprison him again. In order to Imprison him we needed the following items:
-The Dagger of Bone (retrieved from the sea serpent)
-The Silver Mace
-4 components of every type
(Power, Void, Element, Creation, Destruction, Spirit, & Time)
-A gem of finest quality
We were only missing the Silver mace. It had been lost as it was passed from adventurer to adventurer after Wraith was banished. In order to find the mace, I cast a Dreamvision to try to contact the Dream Elemental, Nanaki who had helped us previously regarding Ulo. From the Dreamvision I learned that Nanaki, who appears as a Barbarian of the Raven Clan while on Tyrra, had been cursed by Ulo and had no memory of his help or of us. Another of the Raven Clan, a Barbarian Elder named Sundance who was about to die knew of some old clan ways which he thought might help Nanaki remember what had happened to him. He gathered the barbarians in town - Juluk Gorfang, Tornak & Mortag of the Greytusk Clan, as well as the Half Ogres Ashe & Octol, myself, Scout, & Telaris. We performed these Ancient Clan ways and once they were completed, Nanaki remembered everything that had happened. He searched throughout the Dream world and was able to retrieve the Silver Mace.
Early Sunday morning, we attempted to gather everyone who had been directly hurt, killed, and cursed by Ulo Mahdin. This group included Baron Algorian, Storm, Ashe, Octol, Jimmy Redgrave, Telaris, Arkyn, Michiko, Sir Kaylin, Garion, Juluk Gorfang, & myself. With the aid of Nanaki the Dream Elemental we entered the mace (which was the Tower) and fought our way to the main room. There we encountered Ulo and we were able to Imprison him in the Rod for another millennia. Hopefully during that time we will be able to find some way to fully destroy him while he is in his prison so that he cannot be released on Tyrra again.
If people are interested in reading all of the tales and myths, etc that we collected over the past year about Ulo Mahdin, I have donated them to the Avendale Library so that they remain available for all to read. The Library is located at
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~kjflemin/avendale.html
--Elayne Josita Riveth-Ramirez