Session 47: The Shadowed City Report

General Summary

The session began in the basement belonging to Kadik, the Iron Shadow that the characters had been tasked with disposing off by both the Dustmen and the Orphanage of Jagaduth. In the basement, they found a hole filled with water that led downwards below the city. The passage brought the party to another, more older looking city, completely submerged in water, though, this water was breathable, which Nitt found especially strange. Upon entering the room with the hole, each party member felt strange whispers in the back of their mind, though no one seemed affected.   As the charaters descended, they saw an ancient city of grey stone in this massive cavern, the buildings seemingly shifting and swaying on their own. Upon landing on a large street, the characters lit some items using light, and Cathrine De Clair Antebellius activated her Amulet of the Dawn to find that the walls and buildings seemed to shun the sunlight it brought forth. With this, Nitt concluded that the buildings were made from Shadowstuff an easily immutable material from the Shadowfell that was most commonly used to make illusions real.   Before following the road north, Eldon Caufield sent an Unseen Servant to scout north-east, while Nitt sent an Arcane Eye to scout south. The arcane eye quickly met the southern cavern wall, and was sent to follow the wall west, and found a large walled off area surrouned by a magical dome shimmering with black and white.   The road led the characters to a tower that had avoided any damage, and had black glass orbs set into its sides. The door of the tower had the following text on it: "Predan Shadowcraft of the Umbratilis". The party entered the tower to find a decorated interior and a silver plate with an arcane sigil in the center. After some investigating, they found that the sigil was conjuratory in nature, but was unpowered. So, Baradin Godchosen spent two 1st-level spell slots to power the plate, and it was useable as an elevator, teleporting the person on it to the next floor. On the second floor, they found a bedroom and study, containing a scroll case worth 500 gp, and a Scroll of Create Magen. On the third floor, they found a strange arcane structure housing a Shadowstone, which upon Omen ei' Taure touching it took a lot of damage. So, they instead used Maro Rei 'Sky''s cloak and a Dispel Magic from Arten Veronica Lagurdo to remove the effect that was keeping the stone in place in order remove it. The estimated the stone to be worth 5000 gp, or could be used as a crafting material.   Continuing to follow the street north, they walked into a plaza with a fountain and a statue of a mage weilding a staff, engraved with the text: "Arodan Vyrien Obortos, Umbratilis Excelsium". The plaza was under watch of a creature made from shadow (Nightwalker) armored with brass plates, as well as several Magen. The enemies were dispatched off, but the characters were exhausted and decided to take refuge in a magic item shop called: "Solthyn's Sorcerous Sundries of Sethren" that was found near the plaza, and also had those black glass orbs embedded in the walls. In the shop, the party picked up a Mirror of the Past, a Shadow Tag, and they took two Lantern of Restraining from the magen outside. In order to rest safely, Nitt cast a Tiny Hut and Eldon used a Magic Mouth that would react if someone entered. Nothing seemed to approach and the characters finished their long rest safely. During the rest, Omen decided to used the mirror on himself, and saw a field of blue flowers, beyond it, a burning village in a jungle, and in the background a smoking mountain that turned into a massive tree. After finishing the rest, Arten noticed that her vestments had gone missing, and asked Nitt if he knew who took them, to which he responded that it was Cathrine. Arten confronted Cathrine, and Cathrine argued as to why she wouldn't take Arten's vestments, and Arten then asked Nitt if he lied, to which he replied "Yes". Arten then hit Nitt on the head, to which he responded with using his Illusory Step. Although he did not notice it, Eldon also lost an item, namely his bottle of perfume. Now, they were left with a decision, the street signs outside noted the following locations: "North - Westfall Archives, East - Shadowstone Core, South - Umbratilis, and West - Westfall Menagerie".   The party considered heading north to investigate the archives, but decided to instead head west for the menagerie. There, they found the same walled off area with a domed barrier of magic. The entrance was a metal archway reading "Westfall Menagerie", leading into a domed structure made from stone. On the inside of the dome was a garden overgrown with algae and kelp and the walls and ceiling were enchanted to display an alpine environment on a sunny day. Amongst the greenery were statues with red veins, and large floating jellyfish. When the characters began moved deep into the building, all the jellyfish twitched and began to attack, using their incredibly long tendrils to grapple the characters, who wanted to try and just run past. But, Arten decided to first banish one that grappled her, after which Baradin spent a 8th level spell to banish five more, leaving only a single jellyfish left. Eldon transformed into a Royal Ludroth to increase his swimming speed, and they decided to kill the last jellyfish since it moved to block the exit, and as such, the characters moved past the dome and into the Westfall Menagerie.