PAX SFF
The Tempys Forge (Results of Gen Con’s Story Tournament)
Driven by visions of a terrible future, Korok returned to the Tempys clans from his isolation in the mountains. Many centuries had passed, and he was surprised to find the clans rallying around a new Tempys Forgeborn called Sunder.
Sunder challenged Korok to a duel, both to prove that he was truly the ancient Forgeborn he claimed to be and to decide whether the exiled should be accepted back into the clans—a Tempys tradition. Korok accepted, and Sunder struck at him with the fury of the elements, but in the end, the ancient Korok bested Sunder, bringing his centuries of training to bear against the young Forgeborn.
As Korok helped the young Forgeborn to her feet, the SolForge, far off in the distance, flared with arcane fire that caused the air around it to shimmer. Before their eyes, the SolForge transformed into a towering megalith. The sun, burning at the peak of the SolForge, was now held in place by a stone ring, sharp with seven points and inscribed with ancient Tempys runes. Rivers of magma seemed to bleed out of the impossible star, cascading down the tower's rocky surface into the surrounding land. Sunder and Korok stood together in disbelief, wondering what this would mean for the Tempys clans and the world of Solis.
Round 1: Breaking the Ice
Ever since the SolForge changed shape, a vision of a blood-red moon has haunted Korok’s dreams. Something to the north was calling to him, something ancient, something deep beneath the ice.
Korok followed a growing sense within himself, a feeling that he knew was leading him to the source of his vision. Unbeknownst to him, the other Forgeborn had visions of their own and were not far behind.
Korok braved the blistering cold, traveling north until he reached what appeared to be an ocean of ice pressed between two mountain peaks. It was a glacier unlike any he had seen before; it was clear as Alloyin glass and perfectly smooth, save for a single narrow fissure just head.
“Korok,” a voice called out, but the wind and snow were blinding, and he couldn’t identify the figure. “The visions haunt me as well, but this mystery is not for you, nomad. This power is mine alone.” A bolt of lightning cut through the snow. Korok summoned his weapon from the aether—the forgeborn had arrived, the battle had begun!
Mechanic
Ambient magical energy radiates from the glacier: During the first turn of each Deck Cycle, both players may play a spell for free.
Round 2: The glacier
As the Forgeborn do battle, Sunder raises her arms burning with energy, and then brings them down to the ground, unleashing a wave of fire that rolls toward the glacier. The ground trembles. There’s an ear-piercing shriek as the crack in the glacier splits apart, creating a massive cavern in the ice.
The Forgeborn feel compelled to race into the glacier. As they enter, a wave of magic hits them; they are suddenly more aware, more in tune with the energy of Solis. It is as if they are standing above the SolForge itself! Each of them knows that reaching this source first could change the balance of power among the factions.
Mechanic
As the Forgeborn race deeper into the cavern their magic intensifies: At the start of each Deck Cycle, if one player has the most Health, their creatures get +2 Attack, +2 Health.
Round 3: The Collapse
The champions call forth their most devastating spells: rays of fire and bolts of lighting leave frigid wounds along the glacier walls, bleeding water into the cavern as the Forgeborn do battle.
Steel Rosetta felt a strange energy overwhelm her; suddenly, a pitch-black energy erupted from her, arcing out in every direction. The whole glacier trembled. The ice beneath their feet broke away, and the floor gave way.
Mechanic
The cavern floor, made entirely of ice, is collapsing due to the power and heat released by the dueling Forgeborn. As a result of the collapse, the field of battle is narrowed. Place this in the leftmost lane of the player who has the Forge on the game's first turn. No creatures may enter this lane.
Round 4: The Forgotten
Steel Rosetta, still overwhelmed by the strange force within the glacier, found she was able to connect with all the Alloyin machines under her command. It’s only a brief moment of hive consciousness, but it’s enough to push back the other Forgeborn and their allies while the floor collapses.
While the Steel Rosetta managed her descent, the rest of the Forgeborn fell into an underground river. The freezing water knocked them from side to side as they scrambled to escape the rapids, eventually pulling themselves onto blocks of ice floating in the river.
The walls in this tunnel are lit with eerie bioluminescence. Within the walls are the dark silhouettes of the ancient dead—the Forgotten. These were the people of the world before the ice, killed long ago in the catastrophe that caused the world to freeze.
Mechanic
On the underground river, the shifting blocks of ice present a challenge to the Forgeborn as they leap from one to another. At the start of each Deck Cycle, each player must destroy any creature they have in their leftmost lane. Then, each player moves their creatures one to the left.
Round 5: The Rust Moon
Steel Rosetta and Sunder leaped from ice block to ice block as the river carried them deeper into the massive glacier. As they battle, Sunder spotted a corridor along the side of the icy tunnel, not a natural split in the ice, but something built by ancient denezins of Solis. With an arc of flame, she knocked Steel into the water and bounded toward the entrance.
Inside was the crescent she had seen in her visions, but it was more than that; in her mind, she could see it changing shape, an arc of metal, a cradle of greenery and stone, a great crystal of necromantic power. She laid her hand upon it, and it took the form from her visions—The Rust Moon. A place of power lost beneath the ice.
Sunder had only to maintain her connection with the artifact against the approaching Forgeborn, and it would belong to her people.
Mechanic
The power of the crescent manifests as raw elemental energy due to Sunder’s influence: Double all damage dealt to players.
CONCLUSION of PAX Event
With the magic of the Rust Moon amplifying her elemental powers, Sunder faced off against the other Forgeborn. One after another, they came at her, and one after another, she fought them into submission, feeling unstoppable in this enhanced state.
Then, out of the darkness, Steel Rosetta appeared the air around her shimmering with power and her eyes black as oil. Sunder could sense the magic from the Moon emanating from Steel, but something was different; it carried some alien signature, some corrupt element woven into the energy itself.
Steel rose into the air, carried upward by her fluttering crystalline wings. Sunder readied herself for battle, but Steel only reached out to her as if desperate for help.
Sunder was taken aback by what she recognized as a look of terror on the Alloyin Forgeborn's face. And then, in an instant, the expression was gone, replaced with a crooked smile and hateful eyes. Steel closed her mechanical hand with a snap, and hundreds of tiny ports opened up along her outstretched arm. A golden haze erupted from each opening, but it didn't fill the room. Instead, the mist seemed to gather and spiral toward Sunder in a golden blur.
They surrounded her, and she could see now that they were tiny mechanical insects. Sunder slashed at them with every element she could muster, but the bugs were relentless and moved in harmony, forming a grid around her. Most stung at her with bolts of pitch-black magic, while others siphoned power from Sunder's spells.
The net of bugs brought Sunder to her knees, and he could do nothing but watch as Steel Rosetta flew toward the Moon.
Steel reached out a hand and gently laid it upon the Moon. The instant Steel made contact, the artifact wavered and changed shape.
Sunder no longer felt any connection to the artifact; it had taken a final form—a silver crescent—a place now bound to the Alloyin people.