Session 50
Coming And Going
Having but a moment to spare after the Tome Golem passed them on its way to the harbor, the Four Feathers quickly discussed their next plan of action until they unanimously decided to follow it.
While they made their way to the chaos that was ahead, Soul stopped for a moment to leave a sign for the Fold; She placed a specifically shaped pebble on the remnants of a fountain monument, communicating her continued efforts with the Four Feathers. Not entirely unnoticed by some of the Feathers, one of the scouts, a half-orc member of seemingly equal station to hers, quickly spoke to her from the shadows.
Soul briefly explained to her the reason why she was in Diremound, and in return the scout warned her about the dangers ahead and told her where one of their superiors could be found. After this she explained that they were planning to attack the Rattlers at the harbour soon; she would only have to await their signal for the attack.
With this newfound information, Soul quickly rejoined the group and shared with them her findings.
Once the sight of dilapidated buildings made way for the active battlefield that was the harbour, it became clear what exactly the scout had warned Soul for.
The field had seemingly been divided by the several factions that were each holding their ground; In the west was the Conquest Chamber, staying on the defensive as they guarded their ship that was boarding the citizens of Diremound, while straight ahead were the Rattler’s Revenge. The pirates seemed to have an almost deathlike pallor, though they weren’t quite as undead as their captain, whom Cynic recognised as his old Captain Redeye.
Seemingly animated from the dead, the man had a bright orange Saffron Stone embedded into his forehead, something Both Cynic and Aragir had seen before in Abador. And as happened before, the sky was once again dark and its clouds churning.
Behind the captain was a mindflayer. Its scars looked familiar and it quickly became clear that it was the very same they had met in both Abador and Whispertale. It was slowly casting a spell that was lifting a large chest from a black portal that Aragir could recognise as the Shadowfell. The chest had a clear blue hue, with iron edges and thick chains around it. As it was being lifted from the portal, shadowy hands tried to claw their way from under it, though it seemed that something was still holding it back.
In the meantime, another mindflayer - clearly larger than the other- was shielding the two, whilst firing away at those around him. It had a strange dark halo behind it.
The cloaked figures that were assaulting the mindflayers from the sky above could now clearly be recognised as members ot the Crimson Dawn from their distinctive colours and signatures.
As this was all happening, one member of the Skullmasters could be seen idling on the edge of the pirates’ ship, observing the harbour, while another seemingly stood in wait.
Upon seeing what was going on before them, the partly quickly decided what their plan of action was; They would prepare while they wait for the Fold’s signal and take advantage of their attack to attempt to stop whatever it was the mindflayers were doing.
Aragir quickly used Sending to notify Vaeri that the events of Abador threatened to repeat themselves, but before the party could continue to act on their plans the signal was fired;
The Golem they had sent straight towards the mindflayers had distracted the larger one enough that it had failed to protect itself and its allies briefly, and the Fold took this chance to attack the pirates. Though they were smaller in numbers, their expertise made up for it.
Without any time to lose, the Four Feathers quickly split up to do what they could to make use of this change of events. Aragir briefly spoke to his brothers, telling them that he had to stop the mindflayers before he made his way up to the vantage point he had spotted moments before.
He was followed by Cynic, who turned towards captain Redeye once he saw Aragir was in place. Aggravated and perhaps hurt by seeing his former captain in such a pitiful state, the had no choice but to challenge the now undead man to a duel.
Loxen, having followed both Aragir and Cynic until she was closer to the skirmish in the east, was now facing the chest that was being lifted out of the portal head-on. She briefly spoke to Tempus, who assured her that this was the power source she had felt before, and that it had moved to where it was now. In a leap of faith she then sprinted towards the portal and jumped onto the chest where she tried to break the chains from it. Below her she could now clearly see the barren world devoid of colour that was the Shadowfell.
with a bit of help from Cynic and Aragir and whilst the mindflayers were being occupied by their spells and the Golem, she eventually managed to break the last chain and quickly open the chest. Inside it was a strange but powerful looking piece of armor, sporting a skull on the chest from which purple and gold lines covered the rest of the piece. Despite the mindflayers’ best effort to stop her, she jumped from the chest and with Tempus’ help absorbed the armor’s power into her own.
Upon finding that the armor no longer had power, the larger mindflayer quickly retreated into another realm, and though his scarred comrade attempted the same, he was promptly stopped by Loxen and Aragir. The Skullmasters had since disappeared from view mysteriously.
Now that one of the mindflayers was dead and the Fold was pushing back on the remaining pirates, Aragir made sure that the shadow creature that tried to escape from the now closing portal was engaged with the Golem instead. Only half of it managed to escape before it fully closed, though strangely this did not stop it from continuing its struggle against the paper giant.
Cynic was still dueling Redeye, who was also being assaulted by Soul from the shadows, when the two Crimson Dawn members descended to fight along and hopefully retrieve the Saffron Stone. And to the group’s surprise the disappearance of the mindflayers had not stopped the clouds from churning, and instead they slowly spiraled down towards the undead captain.
As the Conquest Chamber had retreated onto the sea, It was now left to the Four Feathers, the remaining Fold members and the Crimson Dawn mages to solve whatever this new development would be.