2025-10-09 Shadow's Master

All of the party had to face the shadow dragon in pairs, each in a different location. While Harad and Milo faced it in a shadowy, abstract locale as Xandar and Iain did, Leo and Varanis found themselves in a bright, safe location atop a tall mountain, which seemed to shock the dragon. While we each defeated the dragon in our separate battles, it wasn't without expending significant resources.

Returning to shadowy world, the dragon taunted us that it could keep attacking us with "shadow doubles" until we were overwhelmed, but that rang false. It also let slip that its control over this world might be something others could take. This inspired us to try just that, each of us focusing on our own power and motivation. A battle of wills ensued, and we proved a match for the dragon. Varanis wrested control of the world from the dragon, exerting his will over the shadowy world. After Varanis sent the dragon away to a remote part of the world (at least that was kinda the idea... maybe it worked), we took a moment to recover from our battles. Varanis can feel the "current" connecting the door into the world with the house before us, but also a "tension" between what's in the house and Iron Shadow assaulting the world from the Infinite Staircase.