Yukiri's Final Transmission

The Githyanki Effigy
When the Githyanki Effigy is inserted into the Matakai Nexus, Yukiri's Final Transmission is played: You place the hexagonal base of the effigy into the hexagonal slot, and the Nexus springs to life. The eyes on the Gith bust glow. Humming can be heard from the pedestal as the shape of the beam changes. You see a projection of five people standing in a 'V' formation. Near the front is a woman whose hair flows and bobs like pools of water; her grip is tight on her trident, but her eyes are fixed more tightly on the frontmost figure.

Yukiri places Flux
The frontmost figure wears a long, black coat, unbuttoned to reveal a bloodstained undershirt. The coat's hood obscures her head while a black half-mask covers her face. In one motion, she pulls at the hood and mask as if tugging at an unseen string, and the weaves of the veils unravel. In place of the hood is an azure crown with a half-mask that descends from it, covering the top half of the wearer's face.

Everyone in the group is tense. Eyes dart from person to person, up to the frontmost figure, then back to each other. There is a rumbling in the projection from an untold source, and that untold source is clearly what has the group shaken. The frontmost figure, their leader, clearly, removes her headpiece with trembling hands and places it upwards, just out of sight of the projection. She holds it there for a second and the trembling stops. Their leader lets go of the crown, withdraws her hands, and the group releases a collective sign of relief.

"It's over? Is that it, Yukiri?" the trident-wielding woman asks the frontmost figure

The frontmost figure, Yukiri, responds "The barrier is up. Raghavendra was right. The Living Blight should no longer plague our world, and the Githyanki shouldn't be able to get in. It's time to give our report."

Yukiri's Report
I am Yukiri Konine: Spymaster of the nation of Vesper; Leader of the Matakai; Oathsworn to Flux, the Beguiler Crown.

It has been six months since Seda Mazrin Raybrandt, Emperor of Kandor entered the Vesperi Capital City of Therenon with his conquering armies and released a Living Blight upon our world. I will recount these events to the best of my ability.

Sel? Sel??

Sel is feeling unwell, a possible side-effect of the barrier given that she's Genasi.

Emperor Seda Mazrin Raybrandt
Regarding Emperor Seda Mazrin, I had heard rumors of his Eldritch might, that he could clear battlefields single-handedly. Vesper was not his first target. He used this power to conquer the rest of the continent before turning his sole focus onto us. We were able to rebuff his forces until he entered the battlefield himself. Not even the Oathsworn could stand against him. In the path the Emperor cut to Therenon, we lost four of the Oathsworn, and their Oaths with them. We lost the Oathsworn Sufrius, and his Oath Bolga, the Notched Bow. We lost Dalaine Nidae and her Oath Pax, the Diplomat Stone. We lost the Oathsworn Marcellus and his Oath Vitur, the Lifegiver Cloak. Lastly, we lost the Oathsworn Ferelle, and their Oath Imopecta, the Stoic Breastplate. What once was eight - eight Oaths and eight Oathsworn, was reduced by half before Mazrin ever breached the capital city. When Mazrin reached Therenon, the Blight was unleashed from his body. It turned people to ash instantly, and buildings that once reached up to the sky were reduced to rubble.

Our only options were to run or face certain death. We fled Therenon with the Vestige of Bahamut and our respective Oaths: Kaldani with Aegis, Lucas with Claev, Tazlasar with Sibyl, and myself with Flux.

A New Kind of Enemy
But in our flight from Therenon we were hunted by a new kind of enemy - they called themselves the Githyanki. They were psychic warriors, raiders on the Astral Sea, sailing the silvery void that exists between the planes, come to kill us from their flying ships. Their usual quarries were interplanar travelers stuck between origin and destination, and their usual modus should they invade a plane was quick, lightning-like strikes, then departing with their ill-gotten gains. But with us, they hounded us incessantly as we tried to escape the tide of the Living Blight. The Githyanki timed their invasion in line with the Living Blight's, targeting us when Vesper was weakest. At first I brushed this off as simple opportunism. The Githyanki would naturally strike when we could offer the least resistance, but now I suspect something greater.

Yukiri's Conclusion
Given that the Githyanki are targeting us - the remaining Oathsworn - and given that Emperor Seda Mazrin Raybrandt must have waited until he reached Therenon to unleash the Living Blight, I can draw only one conclusion: Everything from Kandor's Conquest to their Invasion of Vesper by land and sea, to unleashing the Living Blight to the arrival of the Githyanki.. These were targeted and coordinated attacks against us.. against the Oathsworn, the Oaths that we bear, and against Vesper's crown jewel: Vestige of Bahamut. So long as we bore them, we would never know peace.

A Solution
We sought out the Master Artificer Raghavendra in his laboratory outside of Vesper. He said that he could determine the nature of the Living Blight, and then figure out a way to defeat it, he just needed time; but with the Blight and the Githyanki hunting us, time wasn't something we had. So we came up with a plan. He divided the Vestige of Bahamut into four parts, and imbued each of our Oaths with a fraction of its power. He instructed us to carry our Oaths to the four corners of the world and ensured us that doing so would complete a ritual that would protect us, and give him time to find a solution. As a result of that ritual, we erected a barrier. It would bind the Living Blight to our world, the Material Plane, but make it powerless to harm us. It's a brilliant solution, and it'll buy us the time we need, but it's already having untintended consequences. Sel isn't getting up. I fear that the barrier is cutting off her connection to the Elemental Plane of Water, and, as a result, her lifeforce is draining. We've managed to keep her suspended in stasis until we can figure out how to defeat the Living Blight. We have no way to communicate with our allies on other planes, so no one's coming to save us. Raghavendra is our only hope of beating this thing for good.

The barrier is not a permanent solution.. It cannot be for Sel's sake. This is Yukiri Konine, signing off. May you be hidden from your enemies.