Session 11 Recap

Under the Happy Beggar, the group finds an unworked tunnel behind a secret door. The tunnel descends twisting and turning through the darkness. They come to an open cavern with numerous stalagtites & stalagmites. A cliff splits the room and is covered with strange mushrooms. The party quickly identifies this as Doomspore, a toxic plant. As they cautiously clear a path to the steps 6 very large bats swoop out of the darkness. The heroes quickly group up & outsmart the flyers.

The tunnel continues on to a metal grate door. People try to come up with a quiet way to open the old gate, but in the end it still makes noise. Did anyone hear that? The central cavern is large. There are 5 metal gates and one white marble door. Toradin tries to wedge several of the gates shut. Seregdur spots a trap in the center of the room. And the party makes it's way towards the marble door.

Shadowfell creatures emerge from a lit tunnel, a shadar-kai witch & 2 hounds. Toradin quickly moves to contain them in the doorway, but gets jumped by 2 dark creepers. The party makes quick work of these guards(?) and finds a stockroom with a few weapon crates left. They were loading the remaining stock to move elsewhere. This looks like a staging area for Modra's arms dealing.

The marble door opens to a white marble room. The southwest corner of the room has a large crevase in it. Three walls have ornate marble archways in the center. A dark creeper stands at the back arch activating it with a brass key (looks familiar). Black rolling mist & shadows fill the archway. When the party rushes him, he calls to the crevase "Tarshazim, there are more trophies here for you to collect." He then steps through the portal.

The crevase is dark. Even the light of the sunrods has trouble penetrating the shadows. The group tries to form up for whatever lurks there, but has little time. A large shadow dragon emerges and immediately engages the group. It's mouth opens and black tendrils of shadowy necrotic energy engulf several of the adventurers.

The fight drags on for a while. The dragon hides within a bank of shadowy smoke lashing out at anyone in reach. This makes seeing and hitting her difficult. The armored adventurers try to push her out of the stuff, but she just recasts it. She lashes out with bite, claws and tail. Fortunately none of her blows are significant, though she chips away at several people's health.

Once slain, the dragon's essense departs the body and swirls through the adventurers, seeking something. It finally stops at Seregdur's bow & enters it, empowering the necrotic weapon. The group finds it's other "trophies", dead adventurers, in the crevase. Some have usable gear, which the party distributes.

The adventurers examine the archways and determines their function, gateways to distant locations. They correctly surmise that they have a key to one of the destinations. They stake out the gate used by the dark creeper (Modra?), but he doesn't return. They rest for the night.

The next day marks a new experience for all. They activate the gate to the shadowfell and venture forth....