Session 16 -- Shadowboxing

After the party rested and recovered with their new hobgoblin allies, they set out to contact the Neheuol Elves and secure permission to use the Cave at the World’s end. As they progressed through hills and Caldera Mountains which skirt the Swamp of Ineffable Gloom, it did appear to them that Lily was somehow protecting them, as there were no random wandering monsters that crossed their path.

Their good fortune in this regard ran out as they left the mountains, however. In following the pass, they trespassed on the territory of two chimerae. They were attached by a pair of hideous creatures with three heads -- that of a lion, dragon, and goat (and with three-part bodies, too).

Tiv uses her cloak of Elven Hijinks to escape being seen, and Vedica employed her ring of invisibility to attempt backstabbing one of them. A tough fight ensued.

Several members of the party found themselves bitten by a lion head or butted out of the way by a goat head, and Ceangal and Murchad each bore the brunt of a dragon’s breath weapon.

In the end, they managed to find 24 turquoise gemstones, a rare book containing the history of the Magiclysm from the perspective of the elves in the Feywild, the hide of a dragonkin, and a bottle of potent healing wine. The label was marked “From the Vineyard of Martha, Tír na nÓg.”

Their trip to Neheuol was uneventful, and they arrived at sundown. Before entering, Ceangal spoke up and refused to go farther. He skirted their settlement on the way northward, and he knows that the elves of the Feywild do not abide the Drow.   Vedica tried to use her disguise skill to make cosmetics out of some local clay in order to disguise him, but her attempt was unsuccessful. There is more skill to carrying off a disguise than simply applying makeup.

Ultimately, Ceangal decided to wait in the woods while the rest of the party attempted to parlay with the elves.

Murchad jumped at the suggestion and said, “Maybe Vedica should stay outside because her mouth always gets us into trouble. She should stay with Ceangal in case trouble emerges or he gets attacked.”

Vedica, taking much offense, retorted, “I can go invisible, you know!”

“...but you can’t go silent...”

As they entered the center of the city, they were surprised that there were no walls. The round buildings were built up in the trees, and seemed to be accessed by ladder that could be pulled up after.

As elves came to the railings of their homes, looking down at the interlopers, Jack shouted up to them, “Live long, and prosper!”

One elven child enthusiastically called back, “...and also with you!” before his mother put her hand over his mouth and moved him back from view.

And old elf with a long, gray beard, called down to them, “Who goes there, and why?”

“I’m Jack Flynn, and we have some business with the Cave at the World’s End.”

“Well, Jackflynn, what makes yo uthink you can just trespass on our territory and invade our cave?”

At his side was a younger (but still adult) elf who interjected, “What ‘business’ is it you have with this cave?”

Murchad answered, “Our children were kidnapped from the human world. We are in pursuit.”

The younger elf whispered something to the older elf, whose face took on a pensive expression. He asked, “Who took them?”

“Malek,” replied Murchad.

The two elves looked at each other, and the elder one said, “Come up here so we can speak in more privacy.”

A rope ladder was send down, and the party ascended.

They were shown into a large, round room with a beautifully carved wooden table with high-backed chairs. The two elves sat and the elder elf motioned for them to do the same.

The elder elf spoke, “I am Daldragh, kin gof the Neheuol Elves, and this is my son, Hastios.”

Jack introduced the rest of the party, but stumbled over Dwårfy’s name.

Dwårfy, in pint-sized indignation, quickly responded that it is not uncommon for that to happen to him, as his incredible handsomeness and regal moustaches and beard.   Daldragh nodded, and remarked that his beard was, indeed, impressive...as impressive as his stature was small.

“So...your children have been taken by Malek?”

Jack replied, “Yes, that’s correct.”

Daldragh gave a sad sigh, and said, “This is a name I’m hearing more and more these days, and it does not portend good things for the Feywild.  We consider oursleves the guardians of the Cave at the World’s End. Things come through that cave from the Shadowfell...and occasionally from other places...and we’re doing our best to keep the seeping evil at bay. It would be unwise to let just anyone who comes through here to use the cave. First of all, if you use the cave, you may go to the Shadowfell, where the dangers are even greater than the ones you’ll find here in the Feywild. However, that cave may take you somewhere else besides. “

Jack replied, “Yes, I myself am from one of those ‘somewhere else’ places.”

Daldragh took his hand and looked deeply into Jack’s eyes for a moment. Then, he withdrew his hand and nodded. “Yes, that statement is more true than you know.”

“In any event,” he continued, “we’re concerned that the more people who use the cave, the more other things will use it, too. We’ve been trying to deal with something that came through that cave and has been causing us no end of trouble.”

Murchad jumped in, “Perhaps we can be of assistance.”

Jack added, “Yes, we could, maybe.”

He looked up at Murchad and then over at Jack. “Alright. A dangerous monster from the Shadowfell came through that cave and has been absolutely terrorizing the southern portion of our territory. “

“What does the monster look like?” Jack asked.

“That’s very...difficult...to answer,” he continued, “If you’re talking about what it looks like, you’re thinking about it in the wrong way. Looking like things is...well...let’s just say that’s a bit ‘fluid’.”

“Is it like a phantom or a ghost or something?” Jack asked.

“It is something like that. It is made of shadow.”

“Shadow?”

“...and I don’t think it’s alone, either, but we haven’t been able to successfully confront it to vanquish it.”

He told them that there’s a fey temple deep in the forest, and the creature has taken up residence in it, siphoning its magical power.

He added, “If you could vanquish it and get rid of it, it would definitely make our task of guarding the cave much easier.”

He looked over at Tiv and said, “You’re a cleric of some deity, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

“Your kind occasionally frighten things off and get them to flee. This thing must be vanquished. If you cause this to flee, it could go anywhere in our territory, and when it returns, who knows what it will bring with it.”

“Have you tried holy water?” Jack asked.

“None of the elves we have sent to deal with this have returned. What we know, we know from rumors and reports of fleeting encounters to even know what it is we are dealing with, and we’re afraid it’s going to use its position to drive a wedge into the cave, holding it open for all manner of dark things to flood through.”

Dwårfy interjected, “So you have no actionable intelligence.”

“Other than that it seems to be an undead of some kind, no.”

Taking things in a different direction, Jack asked, “Is the Shadowfell like the outer planes? Like Hell? Or the Abyss?”

“The Shadowfell is essentially a mirror of the Feywild. Where the Feywild is dangerous because of its chaotic magic, it is at least a place of light. The Shadowfell is its inverse.”

“So the landscape is similar? Like a mirror of the Feywild?”

Daldragh nodded.  He then suggested that the party stay the night in Neheuol since it was by then dark. They would have the elves’ blessing in using the cave, if they could clear out the temple.

Hastios led them to some guest lodgings. After a time, Jack went out to smuggle Vedica into town, but Ceangal opted to camp in the woods.

The trip south toward the temple was largely uneventful except for being attacked at one point by a treant.

Upon arriving at the temple, the party was greeted by a darkened ruin. A rectangular building with only a colonnade entrance at the front.  

As they peered into the shadowy darkness, they saw a number of statues peering back at them from the fringes of the room. In one part of the broken floor, a tree had begun to grow, near a very large central statue.  Jack lit a torch, and as they made their way inside, heading toward a door in the back corner,  they were attacked by the shadows themselves. The shadows in the room coalesced into humanoid shapes and began attacking Jack (with the torch) and Vedica. Successfully clawing at Vedica, she immediately became exhausted.

The party did kill those two shadow creatures, and Jack opened the door, revealing a long hallway. The air was cold, and there were ominous whispers in the distance.  Stepping into the hallway, however, Murchad tripped a trap and bore the brunt of an energy blast. Vedica, exhausted though she was, checked for traps down the whole rest of the hallway, finding one near the door at the end. 

Jack was the first person through the door, and inside, his torch revealed a chapel in ruins. Stone pews were overturned or smashed, and a large pool of inky black water was in the middle. The altar had been taken from its place and thrown against the wall in the far corner.

Jack went to check out the altar, but as he passed the narrow point near the inky pool, the darkness congealed into a large, hulking humanoid form as if there had been a skin of darkness on the surface of the pool.

Ceangal called out, “Stay out of fireball range!”

Jack jumped out of the way.   Murchad attempted to hit it with a crossbow, but the bolt passed right through it, harmlessly.

Ceangal detonated a fireball, and the creature teleported through the shadows behind the party and attacked Ceangal. He also summoned four more shadow creatures from the pool which began attacking Jack, Vedica, Tiv, and Dwårfy, successfully exhausting Dwårfy.

The party did fight and defeat all the entities, and then they began to explore the ruined chapel.

The shattered altar appeared to be resting over a trap door or pit of some kind, but it was protected from tampering with a magical ward of some kind.

On the altar could be read the inscription: what is both light and dark, unseen by present, endless but finite?

As Ceangal translated it from Elven to Latin, Murchad blurted out, “Shadow!”

As soon as he did so, the altar crumbled and fell into the chamber below.

In the chamber underneath the chapel, they found 3 valuable opals; a ring of invisibility; a sword +2, +2 vs. lycanthropes; and a horn of blasting.

The party divided the treasure and went back to Neheuol to make good on their promise to the elves. They will rest there for the night before heading out to the Cave at the World’s End.

As they rested, Ceangal opened the tome and began to read the history of the Magiclysm...