Session 9 - Return to the Surface, Victorious!

Recap
After finishing our last ale, we discussed what to do with the Warlock. We decided to wait until the morning to interrogate her and let Creep watch the prisoner since he does not need to sleep. We settled back into our rooms for the night.

When Creep returned to his room, the warlock, Anna, tried to speak to him through the gag in her mouth. Creep, curious about her magic and the symbols on her clothing, decided to remove it. She repeated her story that she did not know anything and was under control of the shadow creature, and then pleaded to be allowed to use the loo. Creep casted alarm spell as a precaution, untied her, and stepped outside the room to give her privacy with the bucket. Within a minute, the door was blasted off its hinges, and Creep was enveloped in darkness. The alarm spell triggered a loud audible bell alerting everyone, while a large 30 foot sphere of darkness rushed away from the rooms into the main hall. Tranquility, Anika and Ebinir chased after the sphere and waited until it exited Shamukar to attack. Ebinir and Tranquilty rushed forward but failed to slow her down when Tranquility was knocked unconscious by an Eldritch blast. I stabilized Tranquility while, Anika chased after her stealthly. Ankia followed her for a quarter of a mile, but then lost the trail and had to return to Shamukar. Ebinir and Creep took Tranquility back to his room, while Ebinir scolded Creep for leaving the warlock alone. Our party decided to return bed to rest and leave first thing in the morning.

Early the next day, we argued about different plans of escape while enjoying a delightful breakfast prepared by Aldren. We settled on a plan to simply take the direct route back. Ebinir created an illusion of “The Littlest Moon”, and tossed it into the fire to confuse any possible spies in Shamukar. After checking numerous times if we were being watched, we exited and headed towards the Ash Blacks.

We traveled back through Khyber’s Gate retracing the previous path we took before. When we arrived at the same fountain where we ambushed on our initial journey towards Shamukar, we encounter a couple of bugbears who wished to revenge their brother, the one who attacked us before. A group of goblins and an ogre emerged to aide the bugbears and we began to battle.

Aldren and Tranquility rushed forward to meet the assault. Just as the fight begins to start, a shadow Tranquility-shaped creature emerged from Tranquility’s own and shadow and attacked Toussaint. Toussaint attacked and then tactically retreated, but the shadow pursued him wherever he ran.

Slowly but surely we fell the foes. First a bugbear went down, then the shadow demon, then a goblin, then another. Toussaint killed the shadow Tranquility-dobleganger. And then finally, after being shot in the chest by Anika, and burned by Ebinir’s flames, the ogre started to totter. Tranquility landed a well placed kick at his knee cap and took the orgre down. The rest of the enemies scattered and we stood victorious and begin to loot the bodies.

We continue on our journey and arrived back at the House Cannath forge and meet 799 again. 799 is surprised to see us alive, and warned us not to return Khyber’s Gate again. Aldren asked if there is any assistance that the party can provide to her or her fellow warforged. 799 declined but then told us of an inn called the Red Hammer in the Blackbones, where the warforged Blue and Crucible help any other warforged that might need help. She said she will send word to them of Aldren’s offer. We bid goodbye and headed back up to the surface.

We returned to the Fallen, via the same elevator that we took down. Bennet wished to leave the party for a time to send correspondence to Lady Delorith and to recover from his ordeal. He agreed to meet with the party later in the week at The Eye of the Beholder. We puzzled over the Shadow form of Tranquility that attacked us but come to no solid conclusion as to its origin. Bennet took our party via skycoach, to the Underlook, and then headed on his way.

Exhausted from our journey, we settled down for a week of somewhat leisurely activities. Anika spent her week locked in her room crafting a cloak of protection. Toussaint spent most his time in the brothels, carousing. But on his second day he encountered a weapons dealer named Dirty Dan. Most of Dirty Dan’s equipment was junk, but he spotted a revolver in his wares, with the letters ‘C’ ‘d’ ‘C’ engraved on the handle. It invoked a great sense of nostalgia in Toussaint so he negotiated with Dirty Dan and purchased the revolver and a few bullets.

Ebinir spent a day searching for a small printing press and found Reynald’s Books and Flyers in the Lower Wards. He asked the Gnome working there, to make an altered forged copy of the Littlest Moon. He negotiated to get a rushed order, and returned to collect it the next day. He spent the rest of time deep in the stacks of books in Morgrave University. He learned that the Silver Flame creature that Karola summoned was in the shape of a Rakshasa. And delved deeper into the history and rumors around the Silver Flame.

Tranquility spent his week relaxing and recovering from the many wounds he recieved. Creep spent his week researching the warlock’s symbol, learning more about Delor and the possible patrons that the warlock Anna may have had. He also explored how one might cross back and forth from Delor.

Aldren purchased a cloak of protection from House Cannath. He returned to Blackstone church and made a generous donation to Fayla, who thanked him with tears in her eyes. For the rest of the week, Aldren returned to the pits for more fighting. In his last match, while Aldren was being choked out, he heard a sudden scream. He had a vision of a very large man choking some poor woman to death.