The Ritual of Nibenay
Command: !namedcampaign the-ritual-of-nibenaySetting: Dark Sun / Athas Unlock requirement: 3 standard campaign clears Difficulty: Higher than the standard gauntlet Cooldown: Shares the channel daily cooldown
Lore
On Athas, survival is already a daily war.
The world is dying. The sun is wrong. Water is scarce. The forests that once covered the land are ash and memory. The city-states that remain are ruled by Sorcerer-Kings — arcane tyrants who sustain their power through defiling magic, draining life from the land itself to fuel their ambitions. Most people on Athas have never known anything else.
In Nibenay, the Shadow King has devised a ritual to ensure his city survives the final collapse of the world — by siphoning the life energy from everything beyond its walls. The Crescent Forest, one of the last green places on Athas, is already dying. The halflings who live there are watching their territory wither. The trade routes that keep outlying settlements alive are going dry.
The party is hired to investigate and, if possible, to stop it. What they find in Nibenay is a Sorcerer-King with cold, clear logic on his side. His city will survive. The surrounding lands will not. He has decided this is acceptable.
Whether the party agrees is the question the campaign is built around.
Starting the Campaign
!namedcampaign ashes-of-the-shadow-king
You will be prompted to choose !solo or !joincamp. Named campaigns require at least 3 standard !campaign clears to unlock. If you have not yet completed the required number, you will be turned away.
The Five Stages
Rest shrines appear before stages 2 through 5.
Brother Yvannis appears at one random stage (2–4) alongside his shrine.
| Stage | Name | Enemy | Special |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat and Hunger | Nibenay Templar Guards (x2) | None |
| 2 | The Forest That Devours | Halfling Hunters (x2) | Feral Swarm — hits all party members |
| 3 | The City of Spires | Elite Templar Inquisitors (x2) | Psionic Suppress — heavy hit on one target |
| 4 | The Cost of Survival | Dragon-Touched Defiler | Life Drain — hits all party members |
| 5 | The Shadow King Ascendant | The Shadow King, Nibenay | The Devouring — hits all party members |
The Ending Vote
After the Shadow King is defeated, the campaign does not end immediately. Surviving participants vote on what to do with the ritual and what Athas becomes next.
Vote window: 3 minutes, participants only.
Tiebreaker: If tied, the vote opens to all of chat for a further 3 minutes.
Final tiebreaker: If still tied, fate picks randomly.
Type the number of your choice during the vote window.
Some titles are locked to specific vote outcomes.
Permadeath
⛔ Death during a named campaign is permanent. If your HP reaches 0 at any stage you are eliminated for the rest of that run. Use !rest between campaigns to keep your HP healthy going in.
Consequences
⚠️ Every ending writes a persistent consequence to your character that carries into future campaigns. The ritual and what you chose to do with it will follow you. On Athas, nothing is free.
TIP
ℹ️ The artifact from this campaign was pulled from the ritual nexus itself. It does not feel like a trophy.