Session 44 - No Voice to Cry Suffering

The final member of martyr squad above decks heard the gunshots and started running to the door to the lower decks. It was locked, and after being broken down with an axe, there was nothing behind it but a wall of dark flame. Inside the room down below, the flames across the parties vision began to fade as the emergency lighting that Finn installed began to glow.   In front of them, John Dungeons had vanished, leaving only his backpack. Adam asked Yaldranth what happened, resulting in similarly confused stammering. As they talked about what happened and the plan that went wrong. Finn looked out the door, seeing a warped and twisted version of the corridor. Jurgen realised they had been pulled into some sort of separate space, and when Adam tried using divine sense, he was almost floored by the fiendish energy that permeated everything. He tried to focus on the tether he had connected to John Dungeons through his protection spell, finding a faint link still existed, but if it were severed, he feared their friend would be gone for good.   Finn wanted to send out his automotons to explore the area, but Adam blocked them, saying splitting up near demonic presences was never a good idea. As they debated what to do, they heard the sounds of screams in the distance, and decided they would stay together and look for what was out there. As they ran through the halls, Adam felt the presence of something watching them, but couldn't tell what. They came across a room where a member of marytr squad was facing away from them. Not wanting to enter a possible trap, they left and kept going. The corridors were much longer and chaotic than on the actual ship, almost like a labyrinth, but eventually they arrived at what used to be the mess hall.   Scattered around were the bodies of martyr squad, titan squad, and the Marcians. All had been torn apart in various fashion, but one thing remained consistent: their voiceboxes had been almost surgically removed. Yaldranth wondered if the whatever did it just hated sound, or was somehow stealing their voices, while Adam thought it might be a way to prevent any survivors or magic being able to provide information on the creature.   As they investigated, they heard another scream, but this time they recognised it as coming from Frederick. The party ran out and tried to track down the sound, which soon fell eerily silent. They came across a door that had been blocked by vines, breaking their way inside to see a room enveloped in shadows except for a small area in the centre lit by a candle. From its small flame, they could see Crick and Alpates kneeling beside a badly wounded Frederick. Yaldranth cast message to try and talk to them, getting only groans from Frederick while Crick motioned for them to come and help. Hesitating out of fear of a trap, they couldn't move before a shadow shifted near Frederick, slashing at him before vanishing again. Crick got up and tried to run towards them, but was similarly struck down. Not wanting to wait till it was too late, they decided to head deeper into the room, and suddenly all the candles on the walls snuffed out.   As they adjusted to the new dark, a figure emerged from the shadows. A body of black smoke that made a mockery of the human from, thin arms that ended in ended in elongated claws, and where the head would be, they saw the face of their friend, eyes gouged out and dripping blood, mouth agape in a silent scream. The figure vanished into the shadows as the candle near Frederick was snuffed out, and they heard another groan of pain as the creatuer kept attacking. Yaldranth and Adam ran over to try and help them, while Finn tried to relight some of the candles, and Jurgen tried to see where the creature had ended up.   While the creature was hidden, it summonded areas patches of total darkness to blind the party, before it seemed to set its eyes on Finn, who had managed to bring some light back to the room. It slashed at him but was unable to hit, while Finn just grabbed this facsimile of his friend, asking for John to come back. At the same time, Yaldranth summoned a massive area of light that managed to burn through the magical darkness that had been summoned, leaving the creature unable to teleport, while Adam tried talking to it and begging John to come back to them. Their pleas seemed to fall upon deaf ears, as Adam realised the tether he was holding onto wasn't pointing to the creature, but somewhere else. He told the others this likely wasn't John, to which Jurgen decided to attack the creature properly. Adam then tried to persuade Alpates to help him with Frederick, trying to suppress the shadowy corruption that lingered around his wounds, and hoping that she could activate her celestial heritage in order to help him. This failed completely, with Adam's healing being forcefully sucked out of him, while Alpates was unable to unlock any abilities.   As the creature ran towards Jurgen to attack, Yaldranth felt something tap his shoulder, and turned to see a vision of John, which distracted him enough that the light faded momentarily. In that moment, the creature turned its attention back to Frederick, and dealt a lethal blow. When the light flickered back on, it found itself surrounded by Yaldranth, Adam, and Jurgen's summoned hand. The creature seemed to burn away under their attacks, furious at losing one friend to a creature stealing the face of another. As Adam struck the final blow, the creature seemed to dissipate, only to reform into a column of gunsmoke with John Dungeons screaming face once again on top of it. It blew past all of them and fled the room.   As time ticked away, Adam told the others he could bring Frederick back, but he could only do it once, and it might mean that John was lost. Jurgen and Yaldranth both said to do it, while Finn just turned away. Hating the choice he had to make, Adam took out the diamond he had, and began the resurrection ritual to return Frederick to them. After an agonizing wait, he took a gasp of air and sat upright. When he tried to talk, it seemed like his voicebox had also been ripped out, so he used paper to tell them that they needed to chase after the creature, how it would wreak havoc if allowed to escape. The party all agreed. Before they set off, Adam checked Crick, finding that he had also been killed, and was truly beyond saving. He apologised to Alpates, and asked Frederick to take care of her. He nodded, and gave Adam a blessing to help him maintain the connection he had with John, then the party set off once more to find the demon.