Session 116

The battle continues as the mysterious dark figure rapidly assaults Skinner, putting him down for the count. He speeds around the chapel using his deadly claws to rake through the party's flesh, using their blood to sustain himself. As he reappeared near Summer, hoping to take down one of the party's heavy hitters early, Valdor pulled himself together and decided to get experimental with his dark magic, conjuring a large javelin out of blood which he hurled at the man, skewering him and pinning him to the wall. Summer took the opportunity to disengage and dance around him to retreat to the other end of the chapel. Valdor then gathered some of the blood on the floor from the party's wounds in the same way the enemy was doing and used it to heal the party's wounds. On the opposite side of the chapel, near the altar, Dain managed to obliterate one of the lesser creatures with his Branding Smite, causing the creature's skin to darken before it erupted in white flames and fell to the ground, quickly scattering into ash. As their leader darted around the room, attacking wildly before vanishing and reappearing next to someone else, Dain managed to finish off another of the lesser ones in the same manner. However, without the group's heavy hitters to protect her, Summer took a devastating blow from the leader and fell to the ground, dying. Valdor managed to use his superb healing skills to keep the party away from Estrea's doorstep, but the leader launched a furious assault on Merrick in his divine form, damaging him so quickly and severely that Merrick lost control of his altered state and reverted to his Letheni form.

After trading a few more blows, things weren't looking so good for the leader. After launching another devastating attack on Summer and Dain, putting them both down, he sped over to the altar where Sabine was still restrained and gagged. He grinned before plunging his claws into Sabine's stomach and absorbing her Flow, healing his wounds. After Valdor healed Summer and Dain, the leader called out, telling them to back off or he would drain Sabine dry. Dain, not willing to negotiate, told him to pound sand and tried to get up to go reach her, but the leader began to drain Sabine, dealing her a nearly mortal blow and siphoning her life force, causing her to prematurely age by 10 years. Merrick attempted to use Banishment on the creature, but it seemed unnaturally proficient at resisting his spell. Feeling impotent after expending almost all of his magic, Dain engaged the leader again and Summer ran over and cut Sabine loose. Sabine took the opportunity to hop off the altar and immediately unleashed one of her most devastating spells, her Crown of Stars, but due to the exhaustion of being drained just moments ago and being so severely wounded, her attack missed…