Grand Lady Malavox knew the risks when she pursued the Abomination and dared to return it to the First House without any pre-negotiation or threats. She knew the Abomination’s history of betrayal and the lineage from which it came. The risks were great, but with the able assistance and advice of Lady Petrichor, the Fifth House had ultimately been promoted to the Fourth House with the simple announcement from Queen Vlaakith of the First House that she now viewed the Houses in that order and any who disagreed would feel the full might of the First House.
Grand Lady Malavox
Lady Petrichor
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Rumour was that the Abomination had complained about how she was treated when held in the Box by the then Fifth House, but rumour also was that the Abomination had been carted off to some other box for time-enhanced training.
True or not, the rumours were believed when the Abomination returned from its training reborn.
General Nyneve (née: Abomination)
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Even after being promoted from Fifth House to Fourth House, Grand Lady Malavox’s empire continued to grow. Usually after a re-ranking the rising House spent years or decades defending their new position from usurpers from below, but not with Grand Lady Malavox. In her tenure, her House had risen and would continue to rise.
As expected, once promoted, the First House began to make resource calls on the now Fourth House. With the arrival of General Nyneve, and as punishment for her complaints, the resource calls had been significant. Among other things, the Fourth House had been tasked with tracking down the Sea Ghost and destroying it and killing everyone on board, or at least capturing either Lord Gilead or the monk renegade Ash, both believed to be Lanterns of Light.
General Nyneve required this commitment of resources from the Fourth House. It was she who set the events that followed in motion.
Lady Petrichor, a talented planes ranger, found the Sea Ghost easily. The Sea Ghost’s captain, himself nothing but a shadow from the plane that General Nyneve made somewhat real, had entrusted navigation to Lord Gilead, another shadow from a reality-infused but otherwise backwater plane. No match for Lady Petrichor.
Lady Petrichor found the ship and gave the scent to Gathyonser the White Dragon in service to the Fourth House.
Gathyonser demanded even more resources, and again the Fourth House gave. Gathyonser demanded and was given a murder of Vrocks and a Bone Devil to assist in its assault against the Sea Ghost.
Vrock
Bone Devil
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When the attack was made, Gathyonser masterfully maneuvered the Sea Ghost more and more, steadily, towards an arctic environment. The intention was to position the Sea Ghost and its crew in the most comprising circumstances for them. Surprisingly, however, Lord Gilead won the contest between them and turned the planes to desert, which is where he wanted to go, but in the process the Sea Ghost crashed.
Also in the process, the mighty cleric Ryparin banished the Bone Devil, and the renegade monk Ash was stolen from the ship by a Vrock!
Now the balance of the multiverse hangs in the balance of the solo adventures of a living lantern monk who was once a Lord, is one no longer, and whose temperament and intentions are known to none, perhaps even to the dwarf himself.