Calista told them that the Elder Gods, children of Praemus, had rebelled against their father for trapping the noble races along with the Galchutt in the world the Creator had formed to imprison these evil Lords of Chaos. Unbeknownst to the Creator or the Galchutt, they fashioned a secret in the world and planted the seed of that secret’s location within their own lineage so that it would one day manifest within one of their bloodline: Calista. For her own safety, and the safety of the world, they hid the knowledge even from her.
The Elder Elves, in their great wisdom, had long ago glimpsed a bit of this secret and built the city of Dreta Phantas, the Dreaming City, for the moment it was to become important to the world, although they did not know exactly what would happen. The elves had always called their city the Soul of the World, but this was a bit of a misnomer. The Soul of the World had always existed within the Seven Chains, located on the long- absent Vallis moon, which had only recently returned. When the Night of Dissolution came, the Galchutt would travel to Vallis, slay its guardians, and break the chains, which would destroy the entire world and free them forever. (At that moment, the Galchutt’s forces were attacking Dreta Phantas, proving that even they were confused as to where the Soul of the World truly lay.)
And there was nothing that the heroes could do to stop the Night of Dissolution from coming. The world no longer possessed the might to stop the Galchutt once they had fully awakened.
The secret of the Elder Gods, however, lay in an artifact—a golden sword—they had forged and hid within a place called the Mountain of Making. If they wished to save the world, the Runewardens would have to beat the Galchutt to the Vallis moon and use the sword to destroy the Seven Chains before the Lords of Chaos did.
This plan seemed insane to the heroes, but there also seemed to be no other solution. Thus, they gathered their courage and used the Tourbillion to travel to a place they had considered only a myth: the Mountain of Making, where the Creator long ago crafted each race and each creature that inhabited the world.
Exploring the mountain was like something out of a dream. The heroes literally walked the halls and wandered through the chambers where Praemus had made their ancestors. Finally, they found the young boy they had encountered in the Jewel of Esh. “My children think they keep secrets from me, but it is not so,” the boy told them. “I’m not so terrible as they believe—and, you know, their plan might just succeed.” Then he handed them the sword.
So armed with a golden sword of the gods, the group traveled back to Ptolus—specifically to the Pale Tower—to talk the Malkuth. Afraid to tell the angels there of their plan, the Runewardens informed them only that they needed to get to the Citadel of the Seven Chains. Their friend Falstef, an angel they had rescued from the Dark Reliquary in an earlier adventure, warned them that they would almost certainly not be admitted into the Citadel but volunteered to go with them to help. At the Pale Tower, they also encountered another old friend: Urlenius, the Star of Navashtrom. Urlenius offered to accompany them on whatever heroic quest they were undertaking. The group agreed, although Zophas was a little hesitant to take the exuberant ogre-mage along (considering that the cleric had once slain him in error).
