The party wake up at the dilapidated tower in the late morning. The previous night's encounter had set them back from getting a full rest in. Edward investigates the tower looking for anything of interest, he can see the building is old, hundreds of years old. It has a similar build to the ancient ruins they had seen the previous day with large stone-work. Edward searches in the rubble on the ground floor and comes across an old weapon, a hafted weapon with a crescent axe/mace head at one end. The weapon is somewhat corroded and Crom thinks it could be a key for them.
The party decide to return to the mysterious black void portal to see if either the day time, or this new found item, can help them better understand it. It takes them an hour to travel south before they find the clearing. The winds on this day have blown the clouds away and the sun shines bright while the air is crisp.
The party start to investigate the clearing, the mist has subsided substantially and when they inspect the natural stone arch, there is no dark void. After trying to figure out how to open it, shouting phrases, trying to use the crescent weapon, combinations of the two, they give up. But then Edward notices, high in the sky above the clearing, are two halos of light. Or at least that is what they had been the previous evening. One of them is now a crescent moon and Edward can feel the moon turning, very gradually, but he can feel it slowly turn on its journey to being a half moon. Mornington, Fenris and Crom are all bewildered, as when Edward describes this they realise they can only see one moon, the crescent one. They do not see a second halo of light that Edward describes like an eclipsed moon. Edward hands Fenris the weapon and can no longer see the second moon, or feel the turning of the second. Instead Fenris can now see and feel what Edward was referring to.
After a few more minutes of discussing and pondering they conclude they cannot get the portal to reopen. They instead continue their journey to the north face of Horn Peak Mountain, travelling for several hours before tackling increasingly steep and rocky terrain. Finally, after hours of an exhausting uphill climb, Crom spots the cavern entrance up ahead over a rocky cliff.
With a sigh of relief, but also apprehension, they move forward before hearing something that stops them in their tracks. The sound of a large creature sniffing and a disturbance in the treeline close by. Emerging out into the clear before bounding into the air and into flight is a wild Manticore.
Everyone bursts into action and takes up ranged weaponry to deal with the airborne target. Crom his javelins, Edward his magic, Mornington and Fenris with crossbows. The party proceed to get peppered with poisonous tail spikes as the Manticore fly's around the battlefield, disappearing behind rocky terrain before re-emerging with another volley of attacks.
The Manticore takes a number of hits, several javelins and bolts protruding from it's underside, purple-tinged scorch marks on its wings and flesh. It pays more attention to Fenris than the others, and Fenris soon realises the beast may have caught the scent of the trophy he still wears on his back, a severed Manticore tail.
The fight comes to a climax when Fenris runs and leaps off of a cliff and onto the Manticore's back. He is then thrown by the creatures strength, landing in the upper branches of a nearby pine tree. The Manticore then meets it's end as more missiles pierce it and it soars downwards into the mountain side 100ft away.
Catching their breath, the party now have nothing between them and the cave entrance, they walk into Horn Peak Mountain as the cool shade of the mountain swallows them.
The inside of the cavern starts as a natural formed cave but quickly transitions into a marble floor, walls and ceiling. Three pairs of columns line the passage, intricate carvings are seen on the walls and various rubble, bones and armour are scattered across the floor. At the end of the passage is a huge pair of stone doors with carvings of concentric circles and runic language across its breadth. It perfectly matches the sketches from the parchment the party carry.
The party search for traps and find none, so proceed towards the door. Edward is immediately drawn close to the door, crescent weapon in hand. He feels his vision turn and a presence enter his mind. He sees nothing but oily black before seeing a series of glowing runes appear in his mind, runes he saw orbiting the element stone in the Faunar Watchtower, back when Knillback Ralinkost had activated it with an alien language. The others see him raise his hand to one of the five outer circles of the door's carving. One by one runic symbols appear within it, lighting up various symbols on the door and on the surrounding walls. Mornington notices that Edward's black stained skin on his fingertips is growing down the length of his fingers. The stone within this circle shifts, and makes a half turn before stopping, and then nothing. A voice sounds in Edward's head, "You must get me through this door Edward!". The blackness continues to grow down Edward's hand and then his wrist, small tendrils start sprouting from his fingertips and start thrashing at the wall, getting bigger and bigger.
"You must get me through this door Edward!"
"YOU MUST GET ME THROUGH THIS DOOR!!!"
The whole party can hear the voice! The dark tendrils thrash at the wall and Edward's head is pivoting backwards, his eyes rolled back, his mouth foaming. Fenris and Mornington recognise that this is similar to what happened to the Gemcutter before they killed him. They are horrified and unsure what to do, should they kill their companion? What is trying to escape from him? He then falls to the ground, the tendrils retracting into his hands.
Suddenly, Crom's large metal shield is violently tugged by unseen forces. He skids ten feet across the floor, barely keeping his footing, before the leather straps snap from his arm and it hurtles towards the door. Bright blue light is now streaming from the runic letters on the walls towards a location next to Edward. Pieces all across the floor begin to rattle, move, and then fly towards the same location. Various pieces of armour start to snap into position and within a few short moments a ten foot tall humanoid of armour is formed in the room, the last piece to snap into position, in its grip, is the crescent headed weapon from Edward's hand.
Everyone immediately draws weapons while Edward coughs and splutters on the floor, regaining his senses. Luckily the party manage to get between this creature and Edward and he is on his feet quickly. There are an exchanging of blows and it's evident that this thing hits hard. Crom switches to his greataxe as he no longer has a shield and lands a strike. Fenris goes to do the same but when his strike lands a blue energy washes over the armoured creature and he reappears 20 feet away with no visible damage from the strike. The creature then addresses the party... and tells them that the devil inside their companion cannot be let near the door.
The party, shocked, begin a dialogue with this creature. They were not expecting a sentient creature, and even offend it when they make the assumption it is some form of construct. The creature explains that it is a defender of the doorway to the inner sanctum, what remains of the Dargean Empire, and they are themself, a Dargean. More information is passed, the inner sanctum holds gates to the outer planes and the Dargean were the ones to banish creatures back to their plane of origin in an age before the time of elves, dwarves and men. The party ask of the void gate they found, the Dargean explains that there are many gates to the plane of shadow and the plane of light, of which material was taken from to build some of the Dargean Empire. The power of the Dargean has slowly declined as it matches the potency of magic in the world and the more the outer planes were sealed off, the weaker they became.
A loud thud and crack are heard from outside and the heads of the party turn to see what it is. Blood can be seen running down the cliff and into the cavern entrance.
"I sense a great evil approaches" states the Dargean, before striding forward towards the cave exit. As it falls inline with the last set of pillars, forks of blue energy dart back and forth between them, halting the Dargean from moving any further. It then beckons the party to go forth and keep the evil from the inner sanctum.
The party emerge from the cavern and see the source of the blood. The Manticore they had defeated previously has now been dumped on the ground outside the cavern, a huge chunk missing from its side and blood staining the rock and vegetation on the mountain side.
The beating of wings can be heard, a strong gust of wind sweeps over the party and a huge shadow of a dragon flies into view hovering over the cavern entrance. Immediately the party act, looking to spread out as the dragon let's out a mighty roar. Fenris passes Mornington and forcefully places a chained piece of jewelry into his hand, a locket. He gives him a solemn look before moving down the hill. Mornington moves forward near to the cliffs edge and casts hypnotic pattern on the dragon. Intricate geometric patterns glow into existence, swirling around the creatures head, the dragon descends gently down to land, it's eyes darting over the tapestry of magic. The dragon then mutters in a voice like burning coals "very interesting". Mornington, after successfully charming a dragon, shouts for everyone else to get into position, but not to attack. He then shouts into the cave, describing the creature to the Dargean and what to do. The Dargean informs them that it is Karna-Kar, a great evil force that has come to this world.
Mornington then talks to the dragon, with it charmed and sat on its hind legs, he would hardly get another opportunity like it. He asks what it is, what it wants and why it has come here. The dragon calmly explains that it is here to destroy those that banished him, he is here for vengeance. He plans to tear apart the planar gates, letting the world become a battlefield for those from the outer planes once more. With that the party are convinced that this creature is beyond evil, they know there is no other way out of the situation, and prepare to attack.
Crom and Fenris are already in position, arms held high they bring down their weapons through hard scales and into dragon flesh. A purple burst of light collides with the dragon's head as Edward joins in the onslaught and soon, Mornington joins, firing his crossbow and preparing spells. As soon as the first barrage of strikes land, the charm on Void Wing is broken and the creature takes to the air. It swoops out over the cliffs, keeping it's elevation just above Crom and Fenris and then it's jaws open wide as it stares them down. A bright green light emits from the back of the dragon's throat and suddenly a deadly jet of illuminous acid sprays at incredible speed at the two warriors. Crom dives to the side seriously wounded by the partial spray of acid, Fenris however, is not so lucky.
Fenris falls to the ground, his flesh, his armour plating, his clothing, drenched in acid. He, along with the area of ground around him, have smoke-like trails rising as the chemicals burn through all material equally. Fenris' eyes close as his body lays lifeless.
Edward, in an attempt to cast spare the dying, dashes towards Fenris and volts down a hilly verge, but he only makes it so far. Crom, singed from the acid, runs over to the downed body of Fenris and throws him over his shoulder and runs toward Edward. Mornington, turns to face the dragon from the top of the cliff, his hand outstretched, he casts once more, Hypnotic pattern. Bright geometric shapes trace onto the air, surrounding the dragon's head once more. The Dragon looks around at the patterns for a moment, then beats his wings, ignoring them as he propels himself forth. Mornington's expression, and his heart, sink.
Void Wing flies toward Fenris' body, propped up on Crom's shoulder. Edward is struck with terror as the creature's jaws open, expecting another glow of green. Instead, the jaws snap around the body of Fenris, tearing into Crom's shoulder as it does. Then, with a few heavy thrusts of it's giant wingspan, the dragon propels itself onwards and upwards. Crom turns, with reactional agility, swinging his axe at the passing target, as he looks up he sees into the wings of the dragon, he can see within them a black, star filled sky. Contrasted heavily against the orange of sunset hitting the clouds above. As his axe comes to a halt, something hits the ground with a thud. The tip of the dragon's tail, scaled black and the size of a greatclub, lies on the ground below. The dragon passes and quickly shrinks into the distance as it flies out of sight around the mountain, Fenris still clenched within its jaws, dead.
Crom and Edward stare into the distance, arms limp, lost for words. Mornington falls to his knees, struggling to breath after what he has witnessed. He looks down into his hand to see the locket Fenris gave him, he opens it carefully, and sees a small painting of his sister within. Mornington feels a coldness sweep across his forehead, and falls unconscious on the mountain side.
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