Ashley McKnight

Template:Issue12 This article is a stub. You can help the Paragon Wiki by expanding it.

Overview

Ashley McKnight
Zone	Cap au Diable
Coordinates	(725, 1630, 15)
Level Range	30-50
Introduces	?
Enemy Groups	Circle of Thorns, Rikti

Ashley McKnight is a villain contact in the New Haven neighborhood of Cap au Diable at coordinates (725, 1630, 15). She can be found outside the University.

Introductions

None. Ashley McKnight is a singleton contact in Cap au Diable.

Information

Midnight Squad Member

Ashley McKnight is a member of the Midnight Squad. She was initiated into the group on the same day that the Rikti invaded. She watched as many of her new members were killed as the Rikti assaulted the magical groups first and foremost. Ever since that day, she's been one of the more controversial members of the Midnight Squad, believing that the two events occurred at the same time for a reason. She sees it as her mission as a Midnighter to bring down the Rikti.

Initial Contact

When you were a kid, did your parents ever say to you, 'Hey, Character, you want to see something really scary?' Then they would go 'BOO' or some silly thing like that?

Well, my parents did that, too, only what they showed me was a Dark Void Beast they were keeping locked up in our basement. That was the day I got my first grey hair. I was eight.

You would think I would have been afraid, but I wasn't. I found the beast, and what he meant to the world around me, fascinating. Imagine, this simple little world we have with people and jobs and buildings and right in the middle of it is the creature from another realm who swallows light and speaks in quasi starbursts. My father told me it couldn't even perceive our presence or where it actually was. It was that alien. Amazing.

I've worked with my father and his group to unravel the secret world around us ever since.

Midnight's Hand (Story Arc)

Collect the Amulets of Corax

Midnight's Hand Part One

Briefing

Hello, Character. Are you interested in helping out an organization that deals with the invisible world of the occult and arcane? A world that exists directly on top of this one with both the power and the desire to reach across the void and snuff us out like so many little wooden matches?

Before I can even begin to explain to you about our group or take your name to my keepers, I need a show of loyalty from you. I'm sure you're used to that type of thing - what with all the 'chosen one' rhetoric being thrown around these islands.

Mission Acceptance

Knowledge is the currency of the mind. Without it we are left broke and destitute along the path of life. You don't like being broke do you? That's likely why you took up this life of crime in the first place.

Well, my group needs a withdrawal from the bank of knowledge. We're willing to pay you handsomely for it as well. Currently, this bank is located in a Circle of Thorns occupied cave and is being guarded by four of their more powerful mages.

What we want is in the form of 4 amulets known as the amulets of Corax. Collect these amulets for us and bring them to me.

For your own safety, do not look upon or open the amulets in any way. I myself have never seen them, but legend speaks of men being turned to stone simply by looking upon it.

Unnecessary Solicitation

These amulets are from an ancient land known as Cimerora. It is our belief that the Origin of Power, what nomenclature refers to as a Super Being, started there. Collecting these amulets will allow us to determine the validity of this theory.

I'm sure the Circle of Thorns seek these amulets for a similar purpose. If I had to guess, they want to taint the origins to favor their path of magic, or bring back a path that has long since been lost. Either way, we can't let that happen.

Mission Objective(s)

Cap au Diable

• Collect the amulets of Corax

You've collected the amulets of Corax from the Circle of Thorns. You should give them to Ashley before they take any more of a hold over you.

Primary Enemies

Circle of Thorns
Rikti

The Amulet of Corax (1 of 4)

Even though Ashley told you net to look upon the amulet, you do so anyway. Instantly you're lost in its gaze... You feel yourself flying over a strange land on wings of black. In the distance across an ocean, a mountain of wisdom. The sea air fills your nostrils. You look down and see a strange, ancient land under attack. Before you can focus more, the darkness swells from the ground and snuffs out your life... You snap out of your trance, not having moved from your location, the sea air still stinging your senses.

The Amulet of Corax (2 of 4)

Unafraid, you open the amulet and look inside... A lock of deep red hair is tied to a small chain inside the locket. There's a small charm on the chain that looks either like a face or a shield or both. You look closer at the clasp and feel your senses being pulled into it. Your eyes blur and you feel as if you're floating. All around you a single voice chanting... ...By the gods of the mountain... ...by the blood of man... ...by the power I am... ...Show what can not be seen... ...Reveal the destiny I command... You realize as you pull yourself out of the trance, that it was your voice you heard saying those words.

The Amulet of Corax (3 of 4)

You see yourself within the reflective sheen of the amulet... This is not the you of the here and now. It is you, in ancient armor fighting atop a mountain surrounded by ocean. A monster assaults you with great fury as women run away from the battle in terror. Before you can regain your focus, the monster's weapon cuts across your visor and all goes black. You snap out of the trance with an odd sense of deja vu.

The Amulet of Corax (4 of 4)

You open the amulet and sand falls out of it. You watch it fall to the ground, swirling like tidal pools around your legs. The sand is dark, almost black. As it swirls, a face appears in the floating sand. For an instant you think it's just a trick of the light. But then the face scowls at you and explodes in a blast. It gets in your eyes and your nose and your mouth and you feel yourself suffocating. Rubbing your eyes, you try and look around, but find that you are someplace else. An ancient cave with columns that push up to the darkness. In the distance you feel more than see a man... no, not a man, something else, something worse, standing just inside a shadow. His eyes glow with an ancient hate. As he looks upon you, you feel as if your body is turning to stone. You try and move, but cannot even breathe. You watch in horror as your body slowly decays into dust. When you open your eyes again, you find all of the sand that poured out of the amulet has returned. Best to keep it there.

Debriefing

The amulets of Corax. With these we should be able to see into the past and discover the origin of power that still guides us today.

You seem agitated. Did you look into these amulets? I warned you against it. I hope you still have some of your sanity. There's plenty of work to be done and the last thing I need is you getting locked up in the nut house.

In the future, feel free to call me on my cell.