During the journey to Guradam, in the great elven vessel Lanalith, the party are intrigued to learn more of their allies:
Mornington and Edward wish to speak to Alloria Mialeth, and they find her below deck by a large animal cage. She introduces the two men to an animal held within, A large panther named Vanta, her animal companion. The jungle cat seems as powerful and deadly as he is agile and covert. He's supposed to be kept safe in his cage until their arrival, for the sake of the crew and himself. An animal of the jungle is not used to being on the open waters. Despite this they decide to let him out while they talk, giving him some freedom while no one else is around. The conversation quickly sways towards the topic Mornington wanted to bring up. He starts to explain just how important Artax Raelson was to Mornington and Edward, and to the journey that brought them to where they are today. They all commiserate over their collective loss, and how their companion, and her son, would have been happy knowing that they now stand as allies, facing the darkness together.
Crom and Amarion get into a conversation with Saeval Petecran, the transmutation wizard from the Order of Arcanum. Their curiosity (or mild suspicion) around his practices leads to an interesting explanation of his transmuter's stone. How it can allow someone to see in the dark, resist the elements, move with great speed, or resist poisons. He further explains how he can change between these powers at will, granting them to others as well, as long as they bear the stone to reap its rewards. The two adventurers certainly soften their disposition and see how Saeval will be a valued ally on the road ahead.
Returning to the present, the Lanalith has arrived at the Village of Kites, or at least as close to shore as it can get:
Supernatural darkness has spread along the coast of Guradam, a great mar on the landscape and this kingdom of men. From their position, they cannot see how far west it stretches, but from the message sent to Anlyth by King Dras Gura, they know it is spreading eastward, and the Village of Kites is on the precipice of being engulfed. Flocks of birds flee from the great shadow, and Alloria identifies there are species native to the Feywild among them. It puzzles her, where did they come from? How have they moved into the Material Plane? A crew member of the Lanalith spots a light on the cliff away from the village, but cannot tell what it is from this distance. When he fixes his spyglass upon the settlement he immediately rushes to Captain Melius Imryll. He reports that the village is burning, houses and windmills are aflame, and there is movement at ground level, people running frantically.
The party gather and discuss their next moves, the small jetty by the village cannot support the Lanalith as it is too large a vessel and will run aground. Melius' ship and crew are at their command, so they decide for the Lanalith to head back to Spearpoint, to prepare the city for what may come. Meanwhile, they will use their Folding Boat to take a small team with them to the village. Morthil Ulawen, Glanduil Trisbalar, Saeval Petecran, Alloria Mialeth, Vanta, and two of the ships archers will join the party to help the people of the village. Once the Folding Boat magically constructs itself from within it's wooden box, the party and their followers jump ship to make way for the shore. Once on solid ground they approach the village and are faced with the true scale of the darkness manifesting before them, like a dark bruise upon the world, draining all life and colour from around it. As they draw the distance Edward sends his Familiar Artax skyward to observe the village. Windmills and houses still burn, villagers are out on the streets trying to flee, but they cannot. They are being herded by dark clothed figures brandishing weapons, surrounding the settlement.
The party approach the village perimeter and can see there are perhaps a dozen people being cornered and forced into a large tavern building. It's half destroyed by fire, but has since extinguished, revealing the inside of the upper floors. Now getting a much closer look they can see that the dark clad figures are indeed Shadow Cultists, loyal servants to Karna-Kar. As they round up the last of the villagers in the area they have the building surrounded and the great tide of darkness moves ever closer.
The party forego stealth for a head on charge, catching the cultists off guard regardless due to their current focus. Between the party and their Anlyth companions, they have their opposition outnumbered. Mornington immediately leaps into melee with two of the dark figures, while Crom does the same, picking the cultist with the largest weapon, a large rusted executioner's axe. Crom pulls out an axe of his own, knowing that these worshipers of shadow can more easily evade his Shadow Maul, the re-forged tail of their leader. Edward can see their is a cultist in the tavern threatening and beating villagers, he blasts him with his eldritch powers as the purple explosions send him running for cover. Amarion draws divine light from his holy tome of Eloranos, and casts a shield of faith upon himself as shimmering light surrounds him. The Anlyth elves spread out to cover more ground on the battlefield, raining arrows upon the cultists, focusing on two they can see wielding short bows.
As quickly as the fight starts, Crom finishes his opponent. Throwing himself into a rage, his voice booming from within his helmet, he sweeps his axe high and cleanly decapitates the cultist before him. Several seconds pass before a wet thud is heard and the head rolls across the grass of the battlefield. Amarion moves as quickly as he can to help the villagers, and can see a stack of barrels and crates next to the tavern building. With a bounding graceful effort he steps from one crate to the next, athletically launching himself to the second story. He grabs at the ledge and pulls himself to his feet right next to the hollow looking cultist that ran for cover. With no time to draw his sword, he instead smashes the vile humanoid in the face with his shield, the cultist slams to the floor and the sharp edge of Amarion's shield soon follows.
Darkness is starting to sweep across the battlefield, and all the villagers are now trapped on the third story of the tavern. Having escaped the clutches of the cultists they are now further from the reach of their would be saviours. Despite losing some of their numbers, the Cultists continue to put up a good fight, holding key choke points on the battlefield. They return fire as several arrows loose and strike Edward, he ducks for cover, pulling the projectiles from bloody wounds. Mornington and Morthil stand side by side as they face off against the Cultists, but they struggle to land blows, the figures often shifting before them as smoke-like shadows replace where they once stood, evading the advances of both Scimitar and Glaive. Mornington suffers a slash to his arm and retreats back toward the Transmutation Wizard, to heal himself with bardic magic.
Saeval magically levitates a bucket discarded by the roadside, launching it at incredible speeds into the head of one of the cultists as it explodes into a shower of splinters. He follows up by doing the same to three large stones that float before him until he picks his next target. Alloria looses an arrow towards another cultist with her bow, Vanta prowls through nearby trees before pouncing and finishing what his master started. Glanduil runs forward in a sprint, throwing multiple daggers at another robed menace. He then calls upon his path of the Mistwood and teleports through mist, narrowly avoiding an arrow, and embeds another dagger into the back of the now startled cultist.
The supernatural dark sweeps across the tavern and the surrounding area, plummeting all into darkness. Terrible sounds are heard from the west, where the darkness originated. Hollow, haunting sounds, making hairs prickle on the necks of those who hear it. Mornington acts quickly and ignites his Lantern of Judgement, giving a beacon for his allies to orient themselves. Amarion too brings forth light as he draws Dawn Shard, the bright longsword indicating to the villagers that he is close by to protect them. Emerging from a darkened doorway in front of him, a gaunt cultist rushes him with two hooked knives as his blade sings from a parry. Edward draws forth the power of his Patron and wreathes his body in flames, not only giving himself a shield of fire, but also creating more light to protect them from the dark.
Shapes start to flow across the ground, dark and tattered, like rags dragged by a stream. They rise as they approach, shrouded skeletal humanoids with the glow of undeath in their eyes, jaws wide in silent screams. These are truly creatures from the Shadowfell, one they have seen before, undead Unknowns. Shrill screams are heard from the villagers high in the tavern, as several of the undead quickly scale the tavern's exterior about to prey on the living.
Crom joins the conflict with Morthil, helping the honour guard fend off Cultists as the new threat encroaches. The Anlyth elves loose projectiles at the Void Shadows, arrows pass through their vague physicality in a slowed manner, causing minimal harm. The only thing effecting them at full strength is Saeval's magic as he launches magically imbued stones. As Void Shadows quickly gather in number, Edward also lends his magic. Conjuring forth a fireball, he destroys three of them in a great roar of flame, that for a moment, illuminates the dishevelled village around them. The fireball also sets fire to a nearby tree, causing further illumination to their surroundings, holding a barrier of light to the dark.
Amarion's fight continues on the second story of the tavern, and the Cultist's hissing voice cuts through with every swing of his sword that meets only air. "The Second Death Stone is no more, your world is doomed to darkness. The time of the living is at an end!" Locked in combat, Amarion is kept from getting to the villagers exposed on the third story. Mornington sees this and follows the Paladin's lead, sprinting head long towards the stack of crates, he springs from them with such force that he has no need to grab the ledge. Instead, he curls up into a forward roll, acrobatically tumbling past the ongoing fight. He springs back to his feet and sprints into deeper into the building, shouting for the villagers to come back down the stairs.
Crom downs another robed fanatic and it looks like the fight is going their way, until the shadows gather. More of the ghostly figures swim through darkness and manifest around the two warriors. Now surrounded, they grab at his limbs and weapons, rattling chains and the weapons of their past lives, ensnaring the Barbarian. The sounds of struggling reach Edward, and he cannot see clearly into the darkness beyond, where his ally is in need. He musters forth more eldritch spells, an ear piercing drone cuts to silence before a thunderous force tears through the undead, the great boom of energy unfortunately catches Crom and Morthil, their heads throbbing.
Void Shadows have now scaled the tavern, and assail the innocent villagers. Through the darkness, the party hear screams suddenly shift location. Grappled by shadow, individuals are transported immediately into the deep darkness. The party are sharply reminded that the Void Shadows can teleport others if they secure their icy grip. Amarion finally silences his opponent, but not before hearing further threats that the darkness will prevail and that he is approaching. Hearing the distress of the villagers, he moves to the wall that meets the damaged floor above. He lifts his shield over his head and commands them to jump on it, so that he may lower them down one by one. Mornington is in the tavern, and with stern encouragement tells them to get away from shadows right now, snapping them from their fear and into sharp focus. The villagers make their way down to the second story, either following Mornington's voice, and the light of his lantern, or by jumping upon Amarion's shield. While it is a slightly shorter route, a couple slip from the shield and injure themselves, hopefully still able to run from the dangers at hand.
As the villagers run past Mornington to the stairs, and the way out, he notices something out the window. He can see vague shapes and movement, and hears a villager struggling against the grip of a Void Shadow. With a flourish of his flute, stitching the weave to his will, he projects a dissonant whisper into the mind of the undead creature. It is so effective that he causes two of them to flee from the vulnerable villager, who picks himself up and runs. The villagers all emerge from the tavern and head towards the burning beacon that is Edward, still wrapped in his fire shield. Edward sees them approach, towards the safety that he can provide, along with their elven allies. But he still can't see Crom, and the sounds of the ghostly whispers grow ever stronger.
Crom is now swarmed in Void Shadows, they are all around, overwhelming him, grabbing him as he struggles, restrained from swinging his weapon. Then in a sweep of dark magic, they coalesce together, sweeping through the barbarian as all disappear. The sounds of his struggle are replaced with eerie silence, and Crom is consumed by darkness.
Next Session. 105
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