We came across a terrifying foe recently. It was a creature I have dubbed a Nether Lord. It was able to, with any previous warning, take control of Janis and turn them against us. We were able to defeat it, but at great cost to ourselves and Janis’ life. What follows is, as best I remember, an account of its abilities and weaknesses. Perhaps if we encounter one of these again, we can be better prepared.
The Nether Lord’s motivation seems to be to keep us stuck here on this island. It murdered our guide, leaving us stranded before attempting to sow dissent amongst all of us.. Magically or otherwise. I believe it feeds off that dissent. They appear to be able to drain our essence and turn us against one another. It is a temporary effect, but horrendous to see. The Nether Lord seems invulnerable at first, but the creature is vulnerable to magic when attempting to consume the essence of others. This takes it only a short time, so you must strike quickly.
If you manage to wear it down, it may attempt to bring you into some sort of pocket dimension… at least as far as I could tell that’s what happened. It has minions that aid it. Its power seems focused on these minions, so, once the creature’s minions fall, attack with full force. Fortunately this is more straight-forward.
This is where things become more terrifying. The Nether Lord we fought became desperate. They began casting a large spell which was capable of knocking those amongst us to the ground, where it immediately finished off several of our own. It wasn’t until Alaric blocked the creature’s channeling with his own form that we found a window. He.. did not make it. The creature drained him to a husk, but his sacrifice gave us a moment to strike. While the creature is distracted, we brought it to its knees with magic. This threw the creature into a rage and whatever protective magic it had seemed to fade. After a final raging battle, we were victorious. We were unable to spare Janis, but the creature seems to have perished or returned to wherever it came from.