Hi, everyone.
No more personal backstory, as it was the same as last time
Quite excited about the completed story. I thought, without the new kingdom debut, it won’t be as interesting, but with the whole new parallel plotline, I think it worked out very well and bring much-needed lore to the content of 6.5 Update.
Hope you guys have fun reading them as much as I do when I write about this Gem creatures’ lore. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
The coronation ceremony was a success, and Hyndla was able to attend just in time. There were indeed some troubles in her kingdom that kept her busy, so she requested us to visit and help sort them out. We went up north through the Dragon’s Path.
There was an old myth, that told about how Krystara used to be devoid of any Elemental creatures. Then one day, a portal appeared and brought Elemental lives to the world. But not all were well, as another portal made of light and darkness also show up soon after. Two creatures emerged from there; Diamantina, the light prism Dragon, and The Onyx, the dark prism Giant. They both amplified the Elemental power to disastrous results.
- Excerpt from Hellcrag Historian’s book on Krystara’s Myths and Legends
We met with Keghammer in Stormheim, and he was not in a good mood. A new type of Elemental Giant just emerged out of nowhere and froze the local breweries in a chunk of ice. Their body seemed to be entirely made of gemstones, sapphires in this case. It looked nothing like any giants here. Keghammer wanted us to help kill them for revenge, and so he could get back to slaying normal Giants and drinking in peace again.
The trouble was over. The Sapphire Giants left a lot of Sapphire shards where their body used to be. It was beautiful but dangerously sharp. The Glory Gnomes nearby didn’t seems to care about the risk, only collecting shiny things. We wondered if it was worth chasing them to stop their plan or join their efforts.
We gathered some shards just in case. We felt like they might have some hidden, corrupting power. We needed to learn more about them, and what cause these giants to appear. Keghammer said Drifting Sands’ Dungeons might give us some clues, as he heard about strange new Elemental creatures appearing there too.
So we looked for the North Star, then followed the Libara’s constellation, for the direction for our long trip.
Chapter 2
We arrived in Drifting Sands and planned to enter the Dungeon next. At the entrance, we met with a scholar, Fakyr the Wise, who told us about his recent exploration in the Dungeon. A lot had changed in there.
…To control their influence, the people built dungeons to worship Diamantina, who in turn reflected her light, separating herself to become six Gem Dragons, keeping her full power in check. As for The Onyx Giant, people had to slay and shattered his body into six pieces, then separated the parts across Krystara, hoping they would never assemble again. But even then, his power was still too strong, as his heart was able to escape back through the portal, and his five buried body parts ended up corrupting the lands they are in, forever limiting their mana flow.
His left leg froze the north port.
His right leg twisted the east forest.
His left hand scorched the west plain.
His right hand escalated the old magic in the south.
While his head distorted the central holy power.
- Excerpt from Hellcrag Historian’s book on Krystara’s Myths and Legends
We told Fakyr about our encounter with The Sapphire Giants in Stormheim, which reminded him of the old legend he read in one of his old books. We also had a similar book we got from Hellcrag, so we gave it to him.
Thankful for our help, so in turn, he gave us details about his Dungeon research. It was expanded recently, with a lot more floors and rooms to explore. Inside some of them, there were traps, which inflicted the explorers with terrible curses or even teleported them to the Underworld, forcing them to fight to survive. Although, there might be treasures in some of the rooms, like Dragonites, jewels, and blessing artifacts. It was rumored the rare Gem Dragons and their eggs could also be found inside too.
After collecting some crystals there, we came back to Fakyr. By combining both books, he was able to get a more complete history. Seems like something was disturbing the elemental balance, awakening the influence of both Diamantina, which altered the Dungeon, and The Onyx Giant, which revived his body parts to form the Gem Giants. Guessing from the legend, Forest of Thrones might be in trouble next…
Chapter 3
We arrived in Forest of Thorns, but it seemed we were too late. Another group of Gem Giants was already awakened, stirring up trouble in the woodland.
Rowanne said she was glad to be back in her forest again, but being here also made her sad, because she missed Gloom Leaf. She wanted to thank us again for trying to cure her tree, and even went as far as disturbing King Bloodwood for his bark, and going against King Avelorn’s order. Even though Gloom Leaf couldn’t be saved in the end, she was grateful we did all that for her
We remembered helping her, but couldn’t recall our fights with any royals at all. What causes our recollection of the event to be different?
These giants were made from toxic emeralds, so their presence alone had already poisoned the soils, causing the plants to be withered. The wood creatures were in a panic, fighting their way out of the wood, and we were in their way by trying to go deeper, so we got to defend our guild from them. We had to end this trouble soon to save the wood from this chaos.
We had slain the giants, and carefully collected their shards, which were still quite poisonous. King Avelorn thanked us for our help in stopping the forest raid and apologized for his aggression the last time we visited. We were a bit confused about what he meant.
With the trouble cleared up, we headed out for our next destination in Pridelands. It would take quite some time to reach there, so we went to the port and prepared our ship for the voyage.
Chapter 4
The sea was calm when we left the port, but it kept getting rougher the closer we were to Broken Spire. Should we take the longer route along the coastline? We had to reach Pridelands as soon as possible before another giant horde was awakened, so we didn’t have much time. Going near active volcanoes shouldn’t be a big deal anyway.
We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose, as the dust settled around us
And the walls kept tumbling down,
In the kingdom that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills,
Bringing darkness from above
We should have avoided the volcano. The waves were too high to navigate safely. We tried our best to steer away from them, but it was too late. One rogue wave hit our ship so hard that we almost capsized. Checking our supply, it seemed like we lost a few items to the sea, including a few Giant Shards…
Everything just kept getting worse for us. The concentrated Elemental energy inside the shards fueled the eruption even more, and now some Lava Worms were chasing our ship. This was almost as bad as when we accidentally awakened Amarok, so we hoped our trouble didn’t disturb his hibernation this time, or the whole world might be in danger.
We were far enough away from the volcano now, but we wasted too much time protecting our ship from the fiery creatures. We had to be more careful with the shards. With this much power, the Elemental balance of Krystara might be in jeopardy now with their existence.
We luckily reached Pridelands just in time despite everything, so we notified the Rakshas about the upcoming danger. We would soon build an arena to prepare them against the Giants.
Chapter 5
The Rakshas’ pride was ready for the giant threat, so we went scouting with them across the savanna. The weather was hotter than usual, which caused us to feel like our blood was boiling. Even the Rakshas seemed a bit irritated.
From the day we arrive in the kingdom
And, walking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the red ruby sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round
We found the Ruby Giants far up north. Turned out they were the cause of the heating air, which inflicted anger in all creatures. The monsters seemed to be the most affected, as some of them even attack us unprovoked. We might need to fight with them, keep our cools, and try to catch up with the giant before everyone goes mad.
The giants were way too fast, and we kept being slowed down by the monsters’ blockage. This chase might be more difficult than expected. We were way past the savanna now, reaching the valley below the Vampire’s peak. We considered using the route closer to the gulf as a shortcut.
We ended up having to climb the mountain near the Wargare woods before we were able to ambush and slay the giants. While carefully collecting the shards, Baba Yaga came to us, complaining about our invasion of her land. We explained our situation to her, and she said she heard about the legend of Onyx Giant before and might have some helpful information for us.
We followed her back to her hut.
Chapter 6
Baba Yaga was annoyed with our slow travel, so she just flew away in her mortar. Maybe it was alright to take our time and unwinded a bit, as her hut with chicken legs would be hard to miss. We just needed to make sure the Urskas wouldn’t try to ambush us when we were resting.
With the Onyx Giant’s heart escaping through the Umbral Portal, it’s only a matter of time before he returns and revives himself with all the Gems Giants made from his body parts. Unfortunately, the portal disappeared before anything can be done.
Only The Prismatic Key made from Diamantina’s scale, enhanced by all the Gem Shards from each Giant, would be powerful enough to permanently lock his heart away.
Although, to forge such a powerful artifact, a sacrifice is needed, as the spark created will obliterate anyone who dares to try.
We forgot how aggressive the bears can be during this time of year. Most of our supplies were saved, but we were unable to stop them from stealing some of our Ruby Shards. The elemental magic transformed some bears to Spirit of Rage, so we had to deal with this issue before we moved forward.
We finally reached Baba Yaga’s hut. She showed us an old manuscript that revealed how to craft the artifact that could stop The Onyx Giant’s return. It was good that we already collected three shards that we would need for the key, so we only have to find the other two. Although, we had no idea yet how to find Diamantina’s scale.
We thanked Baba Yaga for her help and asked her if she knew where to find the scale. She rolled her eyes and grumbled that the only shiny object she cared about right now was the rare pearls in Sea of Sorrow, which she was about to go out to find. She didn’t want us here any longer, so we left her alone.
The next group of Gem Giants should be in Karakoth, so we would need to fly to get there in time. We also split some of our armies back to the Drifting Sands’ Dungeon, to notify and assist Fakyr in finding the scale. The last time we heard from him, he was dealing with Scoprio, a celestial scorpion that only showed up once a year.
Chapter 7
We had reached Karakoth, but couldn’t seem to find the Gem Giants anywhere. Daemons were everywhere here though, more than they should be. Something felt wrong, it was almost like we were in the Great Blight.
Gthsgh Argchuach Ulghoth
The Giant’s hand brought demonic growth
Time magic enriched the ruined land
Daemons released, The Warlocks command
But just the minions would not suffice
An Old God summons, would be a delight
So bring the sacrifices, feed them to the fog
Mgepog r’luhhor ahuh’eog shuggog
We went to the Great Library of the Cerulean Tower, to figure out what was going on. Looked like our theory was unfortunately correct - We were in the Great Blight, or to be precise, the illusion of it from the past. Was this the power of The Amethyst Giants? We had to find a way to break free and return to reality.
The time Illusion was starting to get mixed up. We were bounty-hunted by both the Hounds of Yao Guai and Liang, for our intrusion with the Sky Elves’ ascension. More Daemons kept attacking us from around the world, including the ones we recently fought in Hellcrag. It was an all-out demonic war.
But not all were bad. Dealing with this strange time trap, we got to see the happenings of the world from a new perspective. It’d been almost a year since Nexus Portal appeared in Krystara. The elemental balance was quite off since then, which caused the Wild Magic calamity. With the added stress of the Gobmother’s chaos and The Sparkinator’s rampage, the balance must be at the breaking point. So it seemed everything came crashing down once Hellcrag was liberated, adding too much Earth-Elemental power to the world. That could be why the Gem Giants were awakened now, trying to reunite and brought back The Onyx Giant.
Suddenly, we saw the bright light on the horizon. We followed it to find Whitehelm’s zealots of the holy knights. They had come to assist and break us out of the time trap, so we fought together with them to slay The Amethyst Giants and collect their shards for the key.
To return the favor, we accompanied the knights back to their kingdom. They said another group of Gem Giants was already awakened there, causing quite an unusual storm.
Chapter 8
There were indeed some strange yellow thunderclouds above Whitehelm, which already caused a lightning storm. We had no idea what kind of object would rain down, but it couldn’t be good, so we raced to evaluate the citizens inside the cathedrals for safety, while we and the zealots prepared for the worse.
After Diamantina reflect her light to be six Gem Dragons, she gives us a special ring, the Diamond Ring of Fire & Ice, to summon her back in case we need her help. To keep such a powerful artifact from falling to the wrong hand, we hide them in the Underworld’s holy hall, so that The Gaard’s Guardians could keep it safe.
- Drifting sands’ ancient temple ruin’s carved stele’s writing
This should be the last Gems Giants we have to defeat, so we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we didn’t expect it to be this brutal. Crystals began to fall from the sky, damaging all structures in the area. Then, the scattered shards began to form Topaz Giants, and the variant of the other four Gem Giants we had fought before too. It was an Elemental Giant storm!
We and the zealots tried our best to fight, but the Giant horde was too strong. But as all hope seemed lost, we spot a flying creature in the sky that shined brighter than all the crystal hails.
Landing near us, Fakyr climbed down from what we could now see as a dragon with topaz scales. Fakyr heard we were here, so he came to tell us what he knew about Diamantina’s scale. He recently found a Gem Dragon Egg in one of the Dungeon rooms and from it, he was able to hatch Topasarth, an offspring of Diamantina. The dragon then led him to a stele in the desert depicting a legend about how to summon Diamantina, and where to find the artifact required for the ritual.
With the new goal, we retreated from the storm and traveled to the Underworld to find the ring. And after making it past the Guardian Pillar, we found it! Maybe after summoning such a powerful dragon, she could help us deal with the storm too.
Back in Whitehelm, we gathered Dragonites and did the ritual while wearing the ring. The thundercloud split apart to form a rift, in which Diamantina slowly descended upon us from the sky. Her presence alone caused all the clouds to gradually dispersed, and all the Gems Giants to become stunned. We used this opportunity to slay them all and collect the topaz shards.
We asked Diamantina for her scales, which she kindly let us take from her wing before she flew away. Now that we had all the parts we need, we just needed to figure out how to deal with the sacrifice issue. Gemhammer said she might have an idea we could try in her home kingdom.
We agreed to follow her lead and travel with her to Dhrak-Zum while leaving some of our guys behind to help clean up the mess in the city. A gang of Glory Gnomes from last time was already here, bringing Jewel Gnomes and other tiny friends to steal the shiny shards that littered the street.
Chapter 9
The path of Dhrak-Zum mine might be tricky to navigate, so Keghammer instructed his sister, Gemhammer, to guide us, because if we wandered by ourselves in the maze, we would likely become a lost soul here like their father. As Keghammer waited at the entrance, Gemhammer led us deep inside the quarry. She said there was an old forge near the Underglacier that might be ideal for crafting the Prismatic Key.
You draw: Strength
The power inside you will help you overcome the tough situation. Use your courage and be confident in your abilities. But be careful, abuse of strength and recklessness can bring you trouble
We finally reached the forge. It was guarded by Dhark Smith, an Undead Dwarf forger. Gemhammer revealed her idea, that if the smith was not alive in the first place, then he should be able to withstand the spark from crafting the key, thus avoiding the living sacrifice. As we couldn’t come up with any better options right now, we agreed that her idea was at least worth trying, and hoped that it would work out.
We handed over our shards and scales to the smith to make the ore and helped him reignite the foundry. It was not long until the arrival of Los Carminos, the Day of the Rising Dead, so the Undeads and Daemons might be more restless. We should fortify the place so he didn’t get interrupted by those ghastly creatures.
The key kept growing brighter the closer it was to being done, so we moved away from the forge to be safe. Suddenly, a blinding white light flooded the whole cavern, followed by a loud explosion. Then, a strange ray of dark rainbow rushed out of the forge, sucking colors out of everything. We went back to the forge and found it to be completely obliterated, with the smith nowhere to be found. The only thing left was the shining key. Did we succeed?
As we took the key and headed to the mine’s exit, we immediately got berated by Keghammer. He grilled us about what exactly we did in the mine, and told us that he spotted The Onyx Giant raiding Stormheim, destroying everything in its path while heading west. How did this happen?
Chapter 10
Keghammer theorized that because we didn’t sacrifice life in the key crafting ritual, the power balance was broken, and we accidentally ended up summoning The Onyx Giant as well. He likely doesn’t have full strength yet, as his heart was still trapped behind the Umbral Portal, so it seemed he was using a fraction of Diamantina’s power and Dhrak Smith’s soul as a substitute instead.
In the darkest day,
The black giant turns the world gray
When all hopes seems to slip away
Please have faith, conviction, then pray
In the brightest night,
The dragon will save you from plight
Your triumph will be in sight
Everything will turn out alright
The Onyx Giant kept advancing in Nexus’s direction. If we didn’t manage to stop him from gaining his heart in time, we wouldn’t stand a chance to defeat him at all, and Krystara would likely fall into the dark time as a result. Feeling sorry about her botched idea, Gemhammer suggested we went down to the Underworld, so we could reach the Umbral Portal faster. After thinking it through this time, we agreed with the plan.
There was some trouble at the portal. It seemed like The Onyx Giant’s heart could sense the reconstruction and the upcoming arrival of its main body, so its power was now leaking out, forming a horde of The Umbral Giants, guarding the gateway. We had to try to push past the shadowy creatures to use our key before the situation become even worse.
We only made it half of the way before the Onyx Giant showed up. He headed straight to the portal while absorbing the giants to gain more strength. Without enough force to slow him down, we might not be able to lock the portal in time…
With some luck from the Sagittarian Zodiac or other celestial interventions, a miracle happened. Diamantina had returned to assist us. The place had now become an arena for a battle of light and darkness. We used this opportunity to rush to the Umbral Portal and lock it with our Prismatic Key.
It worked! The Umbral Giant slowly faded away without their power source. We helped Diamantina to land a final blow to The Onyx Giant, destroying his body. With the annihilation threat neutralized, the diamond dragon reflected her light and separate herself into six rays of light, shooting them across the world. It was just like what we learned about from the legend.
Hopefully, the elemental balance of Krystara should be restored now. There were still a lot of restorations to be done, but at least the world was at peace again. To celebrate our victory, it might be nice to go on a voyage in the open sea.
And, as last time, if you want a weekly update on the next Campaign story and an exclusive Tower of Doom chapter, please consider becoming my guildmate in my Guild family.
See you soon!