Alliance of Crowns: Mana Crisis — Time Keep

The Keep and the Timestream

The opening account says Malgor has absconded with the Queen of Monster’s Heart for reasons unknown. Drakath is chasing him to his Keep while Warlic warns the Eternal Dragon about trouble in the Mana Core.

The narration says the Core, or an Entity within it, retaliated against Malgor’s attempt to corrupt it. It describes control slipping, the allies marching to the Shadowlord’s Keep, and growing fear that the Mana Core has forsaken Malgor and Lore; it does not identify the Entity or say the corruption is complete.

At the Keep, the secondary account places the Hero, Gravelyn, Varga, and ShadowKnight Gar together, describing Gar as afflicted and missing an arm. The native frame pairs “…Malgor-” with the label “???”; later “No!” and “I’m not…” rows have no printed speaker labels. The fan account assigns some of these lines to Hero, but the native text supplied here does not.

Varga asks whether the affliction has reached the addressed player, using a username template; the native construction adds a second question mark. A separate, unlabelled line says its speaker only spaced out and has a lot on their mind. The fan account labels that response as Hero.

Gar says he cleared the way to Malgor’s door while minions were exploding, and that the Mana Affliction hit his side first and harder. He warns about swelling veins, says a mage’s head popped beside him and cost him an arm, blames Malgor, and says he is leaving Malgor’s cause.

A line the fan account labels as Hero relays Warlic’s report that the Core, or something inside it, spoke and retaliated against Malgor’s attempt to corrupt it; the native line itself is unlabelled. Gravelyn asks Gar what Malgor had planned and what he intends now; Gar says he does not know whether Malgor ever had a plan.

Gar calls Malgor a seasoned liar, says he met him a month or two before his debut, and says he joined because Malgor had power. He recounts setbacks and Malgor muttering “This time! This time it will work!” before blaming Gar when plans failed; these are Gar’s account of their history.

Varga says Malgor’s pursuit of alliances and powerful objects seems disconnected, and she and Gravelyn wonder whether he is simply taking shots in the dark. Varga characterizes him as powerful but focused on gaining power and spreading corruption, and says that peace through his aim would mean Lore’s obliteration. She also says neither she nor the Avatars have seen the Core act this way and that they can only hope.

Gravelyn says she will not complain to Celeritas, then says a Champion must face Malgor and someone has to watch @Name while the others are incapacitated or busy. Varga asks whether that concern is protective or wary; the username remains a template, not a supplied account identity.

Gar says Malgor wants the Queen’s Heart to enter the Timestream and that Drakath is pursuing the Heart through the Keep. Gar says he refused an order to fight Drakath, jumped out a window, and will guide the group to the portal so it can be destroyed before Malgor escapes. He asks to be even for the Hero having let him walk before; the fan account gives the reply as Hero making the arrangement conditional on Gar’s performance. In a separate Gar screen, he says portal security is tighter but not to keep intruders out, and speculates that if the Core has a mind, it is targeting Gar’s side before moving on to the player.

The shared Gar quest header requires Guilt Complex and marks the nine quests as once-only. In Mood Pendulum, Gar says Warlic and Brentan want to talk after Malgor’s attack and asks whether the apparent hallucinations are another symptom or a real call; the completion text says a crevice is calling specifically to the player. Warlic says the corruption’s effects have healed but he expects to leave after one last meeting with the Avatars. He explains that Malgor’s control through his emotions permanently scarred his ability to cast spells, so using magic again could be disastrous; only the player and Avatars know he intends to hide, because his presence attracts those seeking that power. He also says research that began altruistically was turned toward dangerous weaponry, then speaks hypothetically about a Being controlling a major element of Lore whose mental strain could manifest maelstroms, disasters, or monsters. He does not identify that hypothetical as the cause of these events.

Brentan repeatedly says he should have acted faster, believing Brittany would then still be alive and Greenguard would have been saved; he apologizes to his friend. He says Victoria stayed behind to defend the Kingdom while he wanted to help, lashes out that the player’s friendship is fake if Drakath and Gravelyn are not dead, and fears he may have to clash with them or Victoria. He insists Greenguard’s wellbeing must come first. He wonders if the Entity in the Mana Core is calling the player, asks whether stabbing them would quiet the noise, and immediately retracts the thought. The separately titled “A Familiar Voice” snippets remain fragments—“Don’t listen to him!”, “I’m here! I’ve been here this whole”, “Find me!”, “in the”, and “ore”—without enough text to identify the speaker or complete the missing words.

Investigation at the Keep

In Bug Issue, the listed task says Shadowflame has been seared into the Keep’s stone and claims the building is suffering mana overbloat. Gar says the affected critters began consuming imps and mages; the completion text calls them pests corrupted by Shadowflame, not Malgor’s minions.

In Advanced Age, Gar warns not to touch the puddles and describes tossing an imp into one: in his account, it wrinkles and shrinks, then rots to dust within seconds, or instead regresses to a baby before disappearing. This is his report of the puddles’ effects, not an independently verified law of the Timestream.

In One Singularity, Gar asks what would happen if the player touched a Timestream puddle. Its completion dialogue says the player looks pale but fine, asks whether they hear whispering, and raises whether Gravelyn knows the player is the Dragon of Time; the listed clicks do not by themselves establish that Gar’s warned-against touch test was performed.

In Canaries on Edge, Gar says Malgor is occupied fighting Drakath but might abandon that fight to attack the group or enter the portal, so he orders the mages silenced. At completion, Gar says he needs to catch his breath and is not feeling well.

The secondary account next titles a scene “Reflection in a Puddle.” Its caption places Gar beside the Hero and Gravelyn facing a deflated Mumbler; Gravelyn lowers her weapon before the later exchange in which the Hero warns that Gar might explode and says the slime can be left alone. The native dialogue includes those warnings but does not supply the captioned staging.

The unknown voice’s native lines remain garbled, including “ynvagler? rea you eht avelngry ni my orimesem?” and “waht fi i ehav ot klli uoy? htaw if ouy eahv to klil me?” The fan account adds readable translations in braces, but those editorial glosses are not present in the native text supplied here. Gravelyn says the voice sounded like the player’s; the following unlabelled lines insist on “it” rather than “they” and suggest Malgor is trying to turn the group against itself.

Gar says he is dizzy, may still blow up, and does not know why he is less affected; he assumes his hatred of Malgor is keeping him going. The native wording says “power of my hate,” while the fan account omits “my.” The account then has Gar say the Mumblers emerged from the portal after Malgor returned from Crownsreach, that he had never seen them before, and that Malgor nearly destroyed the portal; he warns about touching them and the group moves deeper.

It’s a Trap!

The route follows the Timestream leak. In Caution! Wet Floor, Gar sends the Hero through the flooded area to scout the barrier and report whether the Warfury is there. The completion report finds no sign of Varga and describes the barrier as torn but mostly working: only Malgor’s servants can pass, though Gar suspects the Mana Core may make it flicker. He guesses Varga saw a flicker and jumped through; neither the cause nor Varga’s whereabouts is confirmed.

In Reflection in the Puddle, Gar says that as the portal leaked, puddles gathered into Mumblers. He wants them cleared so Gravelyn and he will not trip, then jokes that the Hero need not tap-dance on their corpses. His completion text says the Hero’s outburst made him think he was seeing Malgor for a moment; the resemblance is his startled impression, not an identification.

In Meniscus Point, Gar needs time to tear down the barrier and warns that explosions would distract him. Killing the enemies first will prevent them from blowing up, he says. Afterward, he reports that a snapping noise was one of his ribs breaking from too much mana, that he had already blown out his throat, and that he will get to the barrier while he can.

Distractions has Gar ask the Hero to hold back Mumblers and Locusts while he concentrates on the barrier; he attributes the swarm to the dead imps and mages. In the completion text, he says all he wants is Malgor dead, wonders whether he had dreams before, and remarks that he does not think he is exploding but melting. The switch film later preserves Gar’s melting words as dialogue.

The fan scene account then describes the Hero and Gravelyn facing Gar as he says he may be melting; the native switch film preserves the unlabelled question, Gar’s words and scream, and Gravelyn’s report that he melted and reformed into a draconian beast. The account adds ShadowFlame engulfing Gar and the form fleeing, giving the transformation as a scene depiction rather than dialogue alone.

Gravelyn says she had been ready to cut Gar’s head off if the Mana Affliction reached its final stage, then says he melted, slipped through his armor, and reformed. She concludes that Malgor wanted Gar to lead them to the portal and calls it a trap. Her NPC explanation adds that Malgor would have killed Gar if he meant to punish the betrayal; the source note identifies this near-identical passage as editorially merged from her Initial Default Text into the scene script.

Dog Bites Back is a one-time quest after Distractions. Gravelyn says she will aid Varga at the portal while the Hero puts down Gar and keeps him from trampling them; she believes Malgor wanted them there and urges them to spoil his arrival. The completion cue brings the danger closer: the Keep is rumbling, and Gravelyn says she can hear Malgor and Drakath above.

Fearful Futures

At the portal, Varga says it is about to collapse and that just a little more is needed to destroy it. The fan scene places Varga and Gravelyn by the Timestream portal, then describes Drakath and a badly afflicted Malgor falling through the ceiling, knocking them away, before Malgor grabs the Hero. The closing film preserves Varga’s warning and Malgor’s later lines; the captions supply the surrounding action.

Malgor says Gar betrays him in most cycles and remembers “your mercy,” then says he will not despair over a tick. He claims he let Gar lead them back so they could return to the past and to the Queen. The cycle and plan belong to Malgor’s account; they do not establish a confirmed history of repeated resets.

The next native questions are unlabelled: one asks whether Malgor is trying to start over, and another says he has lost control of the Mana Core. Malgor blames the addressee, says he is making up for their mistakes by saving innocents, and says the Timestream is in shambles and predicts Lore will fall apart and life will disappear. The fan script has the grammatical variant “I am make up”; the native line says “I am making up.”

Malgor warns that disaster does not need an Eternity and says a few months would be enough even without the Queen of Monsters. The fan account then shows a possible Swordhaven future in which Gravelyn expects to die where her father died, calls it destiny, and wishes she had been able to be that naive. Malgor’s “You’re naive” has no named addressee; his claim that his presence spared “you” pain in their cycles remains his account of a vision.

Another possible future turns suspicion into public punishment. The fan account describes posters branding Victoria a traitor and spy, Brentan repeating the fear that Lynaria is a second Queen of Monsters, and a guillotine in Swordhaven. Native Brentan dialogue repeats the family claims, says he cannot trust Victoria, and places duty to the Kingdom above friends and family. These are fears and choices inside the depicted future, not established events.

The fan account shifts to the Timestream, where it places the Hero prone beside a Mumbler. Drakath says the addressee has succumbed to despair and that the universe will reset; later he calls both of them pathetic and says he would rather not exist in the cycle. The Mumbler’s native line remains garbled, while the English words in braces are the fan author’s translation. The reviewed poses show a prone figure and a nearby Mumbler, not a verified nudge or contact.

The fan account describes a return to reality and Drakath reaching into Malgor with the ability he used on Sepulchure; Drakath asks whether conjuring illusions is another trick, while Malgor says he has no soul to crush. The question casts doubt on the preceding visions but does not prove every possibility false, and Malgor’s soul statement remains his claim.

The fan caption describes Gar crawling up and biting Malgor’s leg, then says a flash closes the portal and shows Gravelyn bracing in front of the Hero and Varga. Native text gives Gar’s fragment and Malgor’s cry of “NO! GAR, YOU INGRATE-”. The result is not a confirmed death: the next report says Malgor and Drakath were thrown into the Timestream.

In the fan account, the Hero asks whether Gravelyn shielded them and whether Malgor is dead; the native question is unlabelled. Gravelyn reports that she glimpsed Malgor and Drakath being thrown into the portal and warns that even if Drakath kills Malgor there, he could access any point in time. Her later NPC account says the portal was destroyed only after the blast had thrown them into the Timestream, and that she wants to find a way in and deal with both herself. These remain reports, hopes, and conditional concerns.

Varga reports a glimpse of a Timestream overrun with creatures and says they are too much for the Hero to face alone. In the fan account, Varga says the creatures are unfamiliar; the Hero then asks about opening a portal, Gravelyn reacts to the power, and Varga says the discussion belongs with the Avatars, the Hero’s peers. The native closing text carries the surrounding glimpse and unlabelled portal question. The raw frame-1105 field is replaced by ActionScript, so the prose follows the supplied scene account rather than quoting that raw placeholder.

The optional Janitorial Duties quest follows Dog Bites Back; repeatability is unstated. It gives Victoria’s mages and Gravelyn’s warlocks a practical reason to study the Keep’s creatures and portal remnants. Its completion text admits that Gravelyn is also trying to distract herself from Malgor’s vision of the two of them fighting to the death; she suggests another patrol and a return to complaining about chores. The vision is a subject she remembers, not a forecast of an actual future.