Penumbra Probe

Garth had a vision. His friends did not believe his vision. But they went with him anyway. Now they're all dead. But that is another story.   The vision was granted to him by Shar: Garth stood on the dock of West Haven, surrounded by cloaked figures, but he felt only comfort from their presence. A western wind suddenly blew him across a vast, dark ocean to two mountain peaks flanking the entrance to a water channel. Dark shapes floated above, but a staircase rose infinitely into the sky toward the purple-shaded outline of the new moon. The stairs split halfway up the path, but eventually reconverged to meet at a dark cave.   When Garth spoke of traveling to West Haven, Richter pointedly refused, even though the party had already traveled to the front lines of the current war against the Sovereignty at the city of Slumber, but Garth convinced them all to wait for him while he infiltrated the capital alone.   After procuring the services of a spellcaster crazy enough to teleport him there, Garth sought out the Dusk Chapel. Avoiding the high priestess, Garth instead interviewed one of the lesser priestesses of Shar and she revealed that there was a resistance growing among Nihilus' forces, lead by a Sharran priest calling himself Remonstrance. Finding this Remon, Garth discovered a cabal of monks of the Dark Moon, Shar's right arm of assassins and warriors. Remon strongly chided Garth for making plans without consulting the Dark Lady, but relented when Garth offered him obeisance. Having shared the dream, and himself a powerful spellcaster, Remon agreed to make the trip should Garth obtain a trustworthy ship and crew.   Returning to his companions, Garth began to explain the plan when Remon appeared in front of them, apparently scrying on Garth to see who he was working with. Displaying his holy symbol of Shar proudly, Remon offered them all gold to keep the purpose of the trip secret: To establish a new monastery and sanctuary for the Order. Hearing this, Richter nearly left the quest altogether, but was convinced by his allies to see it through; after all, Nihilus' forces would be weakened by this exodus.   The ship braved treacherous waters, gaining passage past sea elf patrols with a borrowed coral bracelet, and made it most of the way past the stryx in the cliffs when the crew disguised themselves as darfellan. However, outside the cave of dark power were several stryx witches and their guardians, and the party nearly fell by hex and hold. Inside the cave, however, was potentially their greatest threat: a lone shadevar, summoned to protect the shadow weave node within. Upon summoning a cacaodaemon to aid himself, Garth was unable to convince Richter to enter the cave and the three entered without him. Garth was able to distract the ancient beast by empowering his spells with the node's power, but when Richter headed inside after hearing fighting, he arrived in time to witness Calleus chopping the shadevar's head off without mercy. The cave and the node secure, the quest was complete, and Remon moved his people inside, swearing the party to secrecy.   Garth was offered a choice, the forked staircase: Spend time and resources to build the monastery, or join the Order of the Dark Moon in grueling training for the next 14 months. He chose to join the monks, and began his new path.