Alliance of Crowns: Mana Crisis — Deadlines

Not Far Behind

Deadlines begins from an uneasy victory: the war is over, and the allies have survived intact, 'for the most part.' Its path runs through the Timestream and the remains of timelines Malgor left behind, toward the ShadowLord and an answer to how the Queen of Monsters died.

Malgor says he was born with a Dragon's powers but was never taught how to use them. The Dragon's memories were all he had, he says, and they never truly belonged to him. Watching those memories taught him what warmth meant, though he says he has never been warm. His thought trails off as he begins to explain his purpose.

Drakath greets the others with a jab about arriving late and carrying dead weight. Gravelyn calls him a constant disappointment, while an unnamed response asks where Malgor went before they start fighting each other. Gravelyn's next reply says the slug-spawn lost him.

After a pause, Gravelyn says she will try to cooperate as long as Malgor lives, though she cannot speak for the serial back-stabber. Drakath answers that he and @Name have been on far better terms, then cuts off mid-word while describing how often their paths crossed. An unnamed response says he is lying to get on their nerves.

Drakath says he has learned which dreary corner of an unnamed addressee's mind Malgor came from. Judging by their gloom and Doom, he thinks both listeners have already realized what Malgor is. The replies leave their speakers unnamed: one describes Malgor as an evolved Mumbler, a manifestation of the speaker's own negative emotions expelled by the Timestream; a further reply says they made him unintentionally and therefore have a responsibility to destroy him.

Drakath warns that anyone who knows Malgor's origins must take the secret to the grave or be silenced. An unnamed response reacts with a joke about being in someone's camp and a lobotomy. Gravelyn says she hates agreeing but Malgor has caused serious damage, including harm from Shadowflame and Mana Affliction.

Drakath warns that people might seek vengeance and that even the risk to the current timeline would not stop them from ending someone's life. Gravelyn adds that the Avatars might begin seeing that person as a threat. An unnamed response calls this another problem to worry over later.

An unnamed voice asks whether Gravelyn is all right and begins asking about the markings on her face. Gravelyn supplies the description herself: excruciating pain and gripping paranoia. 'So what?' she asks; it is nothing new. After an unnamed 'Oh…', she says the Mana Affliction is talking and asks to be trusted and allowed to stay.

Drakath calls her a liability if the Mana Affliction makes her mind snap. Unnamed statements tell Drakath to stop posturing and ask what happened after he had Malgor on the ropes. Drakath then describes a maze of locations from across Lore, where people repeat the same sentences and do not notice his presence.

Gravelyn asks whether Malgor is already going into the past. Unnamed statements say the group could still interact with the inhabitants as in standard time travel, then suggest this must be different if the people did not react to Drakath. Another unnamed response says they will find out by diving in and that its speaker will bring up the rear so the others do not start killing one another.

Drakath's Path Through the Deadlines

Drakath's ten-quest Deadlines route begins after Middle Child, and its shared header says the quests can only be completed once. Falling Apart opens with blue Mana fissures splitting the Timestream ground. Drakath wonders how Mana Core effects can reach a place so disconnected from reality and asks you to examine the cracks. He reports that Warlic told you of a threatening chorus in the Core; after the examination, Drakath says you and Gravelyn hear a soft voice you might recognize. The objective is to examine six fissures by clicking the blue arrows on Screens 1, 2, and 3.

Baby Steps follows Falling Apart. Drakath describes a clearing outside what used to be the Queen of Monster's lair, where a Mumbler stands amid frenzied Mana leaking in from Lore. He treats the leak as further evidence that the destabilized Mana Core is affecting the Timestream and says they will dispel it before listening to the Mumbler. In the completion dialogue, Drakath calls this the first cycle: he says Malgor had no legs, was not trying to corrupt anyone with Shadowflame, and seemed hopeful despite his origins. He says Malgor planned to speak with Victoria to bring back his Creator—whom Drakath identifies as you—and wonders what you did in that cycle. The objectives are to listen to and talk to one Mumbler, and collect six Mana Dispelled credits from Frenzied Mana (Version 2).

Eternal Flame follows Baby Steps into a burning castle. Drakath says the scene was not there when he searched for Malgor alone; he thinks your presence is putting the scenes in sequence and turning them hostile. He points out Shadowfall Warriors from a dead timeline and asks you to defeat them so he can hear a False Wyvern speaking with Victoria—or her shade. In his account of the first cycle's end, Victoria believed Malgor, but he was too late to stop Gravelyn from attacking. Drakath says he dislikes seeing his father's castle in Alteon's colors, yet enjoys seeing you and Gravelyn miserable over the destruction. The objectives are seven Shadowfall Helms, then listening to and talking with the False Wyvern and Victoria.

The Wolf Cries follows Eternal Flame. Drakath says Malgor's second attempt has gone worse: a False Wyvern is being attacked by Brentan and Victoria's knights, who behave like the Shadowfall Warriors in the previous room. He wants you to fight them so he can hear the Wyvern's account. Afterward, Drakath calls Malgor a fool for expecting no one to suspect an unfamiliar creature, and says the Wyvern's warnings about people's deepest fears and coming disaster sound like a children's fable. He also observes that Malgor grows stronger as he meets more difficulty. The objectives are seven Knight's Crests and listening to and speaking with the False Wyvern and Brentan.

Breaking Down follows The Wolf Cries into the catacombs beneath the Shadowscythe Fortress. Drakath infers that Malgor tried the Good Queen before approaching the Empress; he says Gravelyn looks green and asks that the shades be heard while the warriors are fought off without her. In the completion dialogue, Drakath says Noxus experimented on Malgor under the Empress's orders. He wonders what drove Gravelyn so far in these cycles, and says the shades speak as if Malgor's Creator—or, as he corrects himself, you—had disappeared and was not welcome back. The objectives are seven Shadowfall Bones and listening to and talking with Gravelyn and Noxus.

Growth Through Hardship follows Breaking Down. Drakath says talk has given way to a scene where Malgor is thrashing Warlic, while Swordhaven Knights sent to protect the Blue Mage turn on the group. He wants them driven off so he can hear what Malgor was asking Warlic. In the completion dialogue, Drakath recounts Malgor trying for hundreds of cycles to soothe Greenguard's conflicts peacefully and failing each time. He theorizes that repeated misery made Malgor stronger because Malgor is a manifestation of your negative emotions, then wonders what Malgor's purpose would be if not saving Lore in your place. The objectives are seven Knight's Armaments and listening to and talking with the Twisted Wyvern and Warlic.

Arteries follows Growth Through Hardship at the Ghost Nexus in Akiba. Drakath says he had heard Malgor tried to take control of the Nexus and teases you for doing that work in his place. He is unsure whether the Frenzied Mana belongs to this dead timeline or leaks in from the current one, so he asks you to clear it and listen to Malgor and Gar's shades. In his explanation afterward, Malgor initially lacked the power needed for an attempt on the Core, so he started with the Leylines, where spreading corruption required less effort but was slower. Drakath calls Malgor a bumbling weakling and says good acting can take someone far. The objectives are six Mana Dissipated and listening to and talking with Malgor and Gar.

Paranoiac follows Arteries. Drakath says he has finished laughing and identifies the scene as his throne room in Crownsreach, with a stain he thinks is most likely Malgor. He asks you and Gravelyn to handle the Chaos Mages while he takes another five minutes, then says he wants to hear from a past-cycle version of himself. In his completion account, fear runs through Lore in cycles without you; he says even he sounded on edge. He reads the past version's wary fear as being about the 'accursed dragon'—you—and wonders what you could have done to make everyone, including Malgor, so paranoid. The objective is six Mage Hoods and listening to Past Cycle Drakath, then talking to Drakath.

A Hard Swerve follows Paranoiac as Drakath says the real Malgor cannot be far away. The scene resembles the Queen's fortress, with her remains still present; Drakath says a past-cycle Malgor is rifling through the rubble and that the nearby Frenzied Mana is especially unstable. He demands that it be cleared before they investigate what Malgor was doing, then tells you not to pity the Queen because he feels only loathing for her. In the completion dialogue, Drakath rejects what he sees and threatens to tear Malgor limb from limb and turn his remains into a punching bag. That is a threat, not a reported outcome. The objective is to collect six Mana Cleared credits from Frenzied Mana (Version 2) and listen to and talk with Past Cycle Malgor.

Nigh Invincible follows A Hard Swerve and closes the ten-quest route. Drakath says the truth behind the Queen of Monsters' death in Malgor's first cycle lies ahead. He speculates that the distant Dragon was you, engorged on the Queen's blood, then questions whether the answer could be so simple. He says he will bring the Dragon to heel to find out, and assumes you and the Empress will have no qualms. Afterward, he taunts you with a claim that you control creation, time, and destruction but cannot control how people feel. These are Drakath's claims and interpretation, not independently established history or a universal rule. The objective is Eternal Dragon Slain x1, dropped by the Eternal Dragon.

The First Speaker Records and the People Around Them

A record headed The First Speaker opens with a voice practicing its way into speech. The speaker says its throat is growing and hopes it can eventually resemble its creator. It wants the creator to return and make it whole, and plans to try speaking with Victoria because Swordhaven's rulers seem kind.

The Last Queen of Greenguard offers consolation and self-blame. Victoria tells the addressee not to blame themself, says she let this happen, and imagines Gravelyn might have second thoughts about burning the castle. Victoria calls herself weak and refers to having abandoned the addressee's creator, but the record does not identify that creator.

One First Speaker recording asks why the Shadowscythe are attacking and tells an unnamed addressee, 'I thought you were family!' The speaker says it cannot heal the wounded addressee, wonders why its creator is absent, then decides to go back and try to save everyone.

A separate First Speaker fragment remembers being believed and called a friend in a previous cycle, then being hurt despite trying to help. The speaker threatens to go to the Shadowscythe to stop the attack on Swordhaven and says it must keep trying or its creator will never return.

In separate records, the Co-Ruler of Swordhaven distrusts a strange creature and orders it caged, while the Imperial Necromancer argues for keeping a creature alive to learn about its creator. Noxus boasts that such creatures can live without skin and bones and invites Gravelyn to watch; the records do not establish that these are the same creature or that the proposed treatment happened.

The Empress' Shade demands that the creature be cut open, burned or crushed to find what can kill it. She calls herself a fool for lowering her guard during the alliance and wants preparations in case its creator returns. Her declared aim is Shadowscythe supremacy; these are her orders and intentions, not proof that the tests occurred.

A First Speaker account under Twisted Wyvern describes hundreds of cycles spent trying to stop Lore from imploding. The speaker says no option has worked, more possibilities remain, its body twists and breaks after each cycle, and appeals to Warlic to use his power.

The Blue Mage says endings are natural and that he restrains his power to avoid disrupting balance. He says Lore would not implode from Greenguard's collapse and tells an unnamed addressee they are getting stronger. He begins a thought about falling further into despair, then breaks off in alarm over their purpose.

The Shadowflame Knight compares the Leylines to arteries and the Mana Core to a heart. He reasons that corrupting Leylines may achieve the same result, while corrupting the Core would spread Shadowflame faster and serve as a last resort; he wonders whether the slower approach would be noticed.

A First Speaker record says that, after speaking with Warlic, the speaker abandoned the hope of winning peace through words. It claims all life craves conflict and describes forcing peace through corruption and Shadowflame, while admitting that spreading it this widely requires power that must be accumulated again after each attempt.

The Shadowlord's entry describes thousands of cycles as a source of growing power, but says it still is not enough. The speaker says Leyline attempts are noticed and access to the Mana Core remains unreliable, then considers going farther back to stop its creator from disappearing and return near the Queen's death. This is a stated plan, not a recorded success.

One to One

An unnamed question trails off at the mention of the Queen of Monster's remains and Malgor's escape. Drakath says he lost Malgor in the maze and ends with 'End of story.' Gravelyn calls the explanation complicated and says Drakath's dramatics helped Malgor get a lead. An unnamed response points to a gigantic elephant in the room; Gravelyn's reply is only an ellipsis, before Drakath calls the situation ridiculous.

An unnamed response says the shade or recording of Malgor may have more to say. Past Malgor then speaks of thousands of cycles, growing stronger but still lacking enough power. He says his attempts on the Leylines are easily noticed and that he barely escaped Drakath in the last cycle; he has not found a reliable way to reach the Mana Core because there are too many variables.

Past Malgor weighs Haeos, Celeritas, or another Avatar as possible routes, with only a few leading to success. He wonders whether going further back could stop his creator from disappearing. He needs more power to return to the moment of the Queen's death; looking at her remains, he says he can make a copy of 'that Artifact' and destroy the wretched slug's pride. The creator is not named, and the Artifact is not identified in that line.

Drakath tells an unnamed addressee that they flaunted the Chaos Amulet until it fell into his lap. Gravelyn asks how 'he' could conjure a completely new Chaos Amulet. An unnamed response says its speaker does not know how the original Chaos Amulet was created, followed by another unnamed, unfinished 'What if -'. The earlier line about copying 'that Artifact' did not itself name the Chaos Amulet.

Drakath says theorizing will not help find Malgor and asks how he grows stronger each cycle; he also notes that their favorite dragon has not appeared in the dead timelines. Gravelyn says the Queen's original death is obviously connected, then says Malgor lacked the power to make significant changes during his early attempts.

An unnamed response says, 'He said I killed the Queen.' Its speaker adds that while holding the Queen's Heart, they felt themselves killing her in the past. The next unnamed response asks, 'How did I do that?' The speaker remains unknown, and the question supplies no answer.

Gravelyn answers, 'We're about to find out.'

Control

An unnamed voice claims the thing before it is itself before Malgor was created. It remembers almost reaching the Queen while the others were far behind, then starts to admit there was no plan. Malgor replies that the addressee was alone, with no Champions or friend, and depended on themselves as their full power awakened. What follows is Malgor's version of the past.

In Malgor's telling, the Dragon of Time made Lore from the remains of several timelines and took the title of Creator from gods and goddesses who no longer existed.

Malgor calls the Queen a lowly threat beside the Creator. He says she exposed herself in anger after the Dragon reached through time to use her former husband's voice. He describes the battle as ending in the Dragon's absolute victory and says they held control over creation, time, and destruction, though not over people's feelings.

After the battle, an unnamed voice calls out to Victoria and Gravelyn and says, 'Look, I did it!' before trailing off. Gravelyn warns an unnamed addressee not to come closer; Victoria says a thing ripped through the Queen like paper, and Brentan says they are going to be sick.

Unnamed speech asks about recognition and promises to change back. Later words report that the change is not working and may take a while; the exchange ends with a scream. The speakers remain unidentified, and the words do not establish a completed transformation.

Gravelyn says she knew @Name was the Dragon of Time but is shocked by the amount of power shown. She then accuses an unnamed addressee of keeping that power secret and says the explanation will come in chains.

Victoria demands to know what they are, and Brentan asks whether they had withheld this strength as a joke or scheme. An unlabelled response says the powers cannot be used all the time and that the speaker did not know they could do so much. Malgor then says the Dragon's turmoil was not apparent to their allies, who were beginning to see them as the next threat and monster the Alliance would oppose.

The Dragon retreats into the Timestream, intending to stay there and cause no more strife, until Gravelyn attacks Swordhaven. Later, as Greenguard politics reach a tipping point, the Dragon hides away again.

Malgor says the forces of Good tore each other apart, consuming lives that could have served greater things. His account then leaps eons ahead: he was born into a universe about to die. His creator was before him, but Malgor was too weak to help them rise.

Malgor says he witnessed the Dragon's memories and naively thought they could be his destiny; he was created by a Hero. He traveled back in time to become the Dragon's Hero, but says every cycle ended in ruin because mortals seek conflict on their own.

Speaking with a listless Mage taught Malgor that he would have to force people to see things his way. He calls himself Shadowflame, the weaponized form of burning despair in the Dragon's soul, and says he wanted everyone in Lore to crave eternal peace.

Malgor says he was too naive to do it alone and thought that traveling farther back to kill the Queen of Monsters in the Dragon's place would make them join him. Instead, he says, he accidentally granted the Dragon's real wish: to become a threat their allies would unite against. His appearance changed to fit that need, and he asks to go back, fix the world, and save everyone.

An Invitation to the Core

Gravelyn calls to @Name with the broken words '..ap out of it!' Drakath says watching 'his memories' put everyone in a trance. Gravelyn says she cannot move, warns @Name that an unnamed 'he' is draining them, and urges them to push him away.

Malgor blames an unnamed addressee's evil and chaos, says he is close to succeeding, and starts one more try. Then he breaks off: 'Wait…what is-'. In panic he says, 'It caught up. They caught back up to me. I have to get out of here, I-'; the distinct 'it' and 'they' remain unidentified.

An unidentified voice begins, 'Vi…no she's not here,' then welcomes Gravelyn and an unnamed addressee. An unnamed reply recognizes the voice and says it was thought lost to the infernals. The exchange leaves both speakers' identities unresolved.

The unidentified voice replies, 'You did,' then offers to take the group where it has been the entire time: the Mana Core. It urges them to hurry because Malgor's actions are already changing Lore.

What the War Left Behind

Galanoth says the war is won and asks Tyndarius to let him return Tyndarius to his people, if Tyndarius can still hear him. Tyndarius says he deserves a lonely death and asks that his ashes be scattered as a lesson about becoming lost. Galanoth later says, 'In the end, you found your way back.' The words can suggest redemption; they do not establish physical travel.

Artix calls Aria. She asks for her dad without naming him, says she is in pain, and cannot feel or move her legs. Artix says Yulgar is waiting and promises to bring her home, then begins another unfinished promise: 'I will…'.

Aria asks Artix about his bleeding nose. Artix calls it a little leak and says it will not stop him helping her, then trails off at Abel. An unidentified voice murmurs, 'Abel…'.

Abel asks whether he is alive and how he could still be alive after such pain. He wonders whether the pain came from the Mana Affliction and calls for Lord Kyanos; these are his questions, not an explanation of how he survived.

Abel asks Kyanos why he did not use Abel as his shield. Kyanos says he lost them all and will not lose another, then repeats 'Maintain balance' until the words fragment and trail off.

Khazri asks whether Kyanos could be dying. Voidstar says they would feel a major imbalance if he were, and says, ‘I think’ Kyanos used Abel for a time before stopping because he could no longer stomach his envoy's pain. Voidstar says Kyanos's body functions while his mind is gone and his husk maintains the Plane. Haeos calls Kyanos a fool for risking himself for a mortal.

Celeritas says Kyanos cannot hear and that he senses nothing from the shell; Fiamme asks if anything can bring him back. Terrane asks how none of them noticed the pain and suggests, conditionally, that Kyanos may have hidden it to protect Abel. Neso calls it Kyanos's choice and blunder; Terrane says shaming him for protecting his envoy is itself shameful.

Haeos reminds Terrane they are Avatars and that Terrane came on Tremblor's recommendation. Terrane calls the timing exceptionally good. Tremblor says Terrane was brought in in case Fiamme needed someone to hold her place, not just to use the Champion; Celeritas ends the exchange by saying they are falling into disarray.

The Deadlines Records: Drakath and Gravelyn

In the record headed Chaos Incarnate after Middle Child, Drakath says he may have caused many of the strange beings to be born, then calls the Mumblers the addressee's misery made corporeal. He identifies Malgor as one of them and says Malgor means to return to the past and begin again after failing to spread Shadowflame across Lore. This is Drakath's account of the threat, not a general rule for every cycle.

Under the heading Malgor, Drakath says the Timestream expelled fears, hopelessness, and misery as malformed creatures. He compares their creation with life that has an aware creator, then says Malgor began as a mumbling, formless ooze and developed a personality. Drakath wonders whether guiding Malgor would have put him in trouble.

The Queen's Heart entry leaves the Heart's whereabouts unresolved. Drakath says Malgor stole it from Crownsreach, but he stopped sensing it during the chase; he asks whether the Heart played a part in the addressee's account of killing the Queen and wonders what Malgor did with it.

In Deadlines, Drakath describes locations across Lore where people repeat the same sentences. He says these may be recordings of past events that he does not remember from the current timeline, and offers a theory that they are remnants of timelines Malgor abandoned when restarting his plans.

The entries available after completing A Hard Swerve and Nigh Invincible circle the Queen's death and the Chaos amulet. Drakath says Malgor made a one-to-one copy from the Queen's remains, asks how he knew it would work and where the original came from, then says the Queen was vanquished by the Eternal Dragon of Time. He recalls the rulers of Good, Evil, and Chaos coming to fear the addressee, and says Malgor redirected their animosity toward himself; Drakath leaves the question of what to do with that knowledge open.

A separate record titled Leftover Chaos has Drakath accuse the addressee of tampering with the Leyline. He remembers being controlled as a pawn, fears the return of the accursed Dragon, and says he will not fall to another Entity; he then claims to sense the Dragon's spawn and threatens them.

In the entry headed Empress, Champion, and Friend, Gravelyn asks whether she is allowed to feel guilt or anger at herself. She wonders if she will ever feel happy, linking her loosened speech partly to the Mana Affliction and partly to thoughts she had let fester. She asks whether the addressee is angry with her and says they can be.

Under Speakers, Gravelyn compares the final Timestream monster with Malgor: she says both were Mumblers and became False Wyverns, though their later development diverged. She says the Mumblers carry the addressee's memories and negative emotions, yet can form their own personalities and motives. She stops before completing the comparison she was about to make.

The Mana Core entry leaves another possibility unresolved: Gravelyn asks whether its destabilization has reached the Timestream, notes that the Leylines should not reach a place disconnected from Lore's reality, and would rather believe in a connection like the Elemental Planes than in an Entity inside the Core actively searching for them. Her final thought trails off.

In Cooperation, Gravelyn fears that she and Drakath might lose their wits and choose to kill each other over the greater threat. She says Drakath killed her father, her father killed King Dethrix the First—Drakath's father—and Drakath directly caused Victoria's father's death. She says none of these murders can be forgiven and admits the family history is confusing.

Fallen Branches

Fallen Branches is a separate Drakath panel whose header requires Nigh Invincible; unlike the ten main quests, that header does not state a repeatability rule. Drakath says he suspects something about the location and wants to know whether abandoned cycles keep growing on their own or have been left to rot. He sends you back among their hostile inhabitants, then jokes that he can work out the answer when you return because he had private tutors, then asks whether you had public school.

Drakath describes the scenes as recordings: remnants of timelines that have stopped moving. In his model, whenever Malgor restarts a cycle, he tries a different plan; the events of the 'precious cycle' are then cut off and sink into this place. Drakath warns that this will be their fate if Malgor does not go back in time and perform the exact same sequence of actions he did in this cycle. That conditional warning is Drakath's account, not a general law established by the panel. The optional objectives are eight Armor Scraps from Shadowfall Warriors or Swordhaven Knights, eight Captured Mana from Frenzied Mana (Version 2), and one Eternal Dragon Scale from an Eternal Dragon; the listed reward includes one Unbound Thread.