11th Letter Home

General Summary

Baermak decoded the necromancer’s journal and we learned that the shadows are instantly destroyed by sunlight. That's a bit hard to come by underground, but other light sources do cause them discomfort. They do, however, require shadows to move. So they need at least a little light.
We headed back, deciding to go straight to the engineering school in the hopes that we might find something useful in our coming battle with the Sylvan encampment. And yes, we have decided to take these Sylvans out.
Many groups of undead worried our journey, but we easily avoided them.
We scouted the school when we arrived, and discovered that the mage had placed a magical ward on the entrance. The spell alerts him when something passes, and lasts for about 8 hours. When she was scouting, the ‘Baxi heard horse hooves receding, so our assumption is that the mage is riding around, recasting these alarm spells as they expire.
The 1st option would be to trigger the alarm and ambush whoever responds.
The 2nd, which is what we chose, would be to simply wait for the mage to return and ambush him. Hopefully he would be alone, but even if he was accompanied, it would be a smaller party.
We set up our ambush and waited.
And waited.
A really long time.
The jungle is beautiful, populated by wonderful birds and other creatures, going about their lives in the wonderful verdant world.
But we did sit there for a very long time.
After a while we checked, and his alarm spell had expired, so we decided to go in. We knew it might be re-alarmed on our exit, but we have a plan for that too!
We opened the door and could tell immediately that this door had not been opened in an incredibly long time. Eons.
And on the inside were char marks.
People had been trapped inside when these doors were locked those many moons ago. They had tried to escape, but had clearly failed.
We checked the doors, and we were able to lock them from the inside (and to unlock them). So we entered and locked the doors behind us.
The entryway was quite grand, obvious even under the dust. We found three skeletons, likely the trapped students or faculty. One lay in the lap of another. Another time and I would have felt deep pity for them, but these were Sylvans and I no longer have pity left for them.
I worry that I might be too cold, but...
As I examined the skeletons I discovered two of the tri-keys.
Again, I should have pity for these souls.
But they were Sylvan.
That’s when Alyona saw the shadow in the corner.
I marked it and the ‘Baxi shot some fire at it, but it was gone.
Another appeared, knocked Baermak’s lighted stone from his hands. Vessyr cast his spell that surrounds creatures with a bright glow, illuminating a new shadow we hadn't seen yet.
Then another appeared, slashing the ‘Baxi.
That’s when that first one reappeared…behind me. I saw it coming, so was able to avoid most of its slashing, though it did draw a little blood.
I chose to fire at the illuminated shadow so as to do the most damage. I definitely hit it, but it kept…shadowing. Bits of it seemed to float away, like smoke drifting from a candle.
The rest of the team followed suit and the shadow completely dissipated.
I dropped my bow and turned my attention to the one closest to me. I was able to swing my sword as I drew it, ripping right through the center of the shade. It was unhappy. It didn’t scream, necessarily…but I heard in my head the sound of a scream, without having heard it with my ears.
A few more attacks and that one also dissipated.
We turned our attention to the remaining two, but they quickly realized the futility of their attack and disengaged.
I tried to track them, but even my advanced skills couldn’t track a shadow through a dark hall. I could see some trails in the dust, but those quickly faded and I had no idea which way they had gone.
After we waited a bit to be sure, we resumed our exploration. We found a small room with a central lifting mechanism. We pushed the buttons, but nothing save a mechanical screech responded. We could see across to a great deal of rubble. We decided to head down and across to the rubble.
The room with the rubble was marked “Library” in Sylvan. And the entryway was surrounded with charcoal. The survivors likely burned everything they could find in order to stave off the shadows.
In the corner we found the final three, surrounded by the burned remains of fallen comrades; they had even burned their dead. Such utter desperation.
One had a knife in hand; a final murder and suicide to evade the grasp of the shadows.
As we explored further we found the Dean’s Office. The desk seemed not to have aged, so we moved closer to inspect it.
That’s when the two statues at the entryway came to life. The party panicked to action.
Baermak manifested a magical skeleton hand, grasping at one of them, and I shot at the other.
With my incredibly heightened attention from fighting those shadows still coursing through me, I was able to focus intently and send an arrow right through the connection between its breastplate and pauldron as it lifted its arm.
It shuddered and looked at me as it moved closer, and finished extending both arms. Then it started spinning at the waist, like a martial top, landing at least glancing blows on all in range. It connected well with Baermak, spinning him around and spraying his blood on Vessyr. The statue only bruised everybody else. Baermak healed himself as I drew down on the goliath. Baermak seemed in bad shape, and I feared he would not withstand another flurry.
I very carefully aimed at its neck, where I could see the joint for the spinning torso. And mother, I took its head right off! It collapsed in a heap and we turned to its mate.
That’s when those remaining shades reappeared; one behind the ‘Baxi and one behind me. They raked us both with their claws, and the ‘Baxi seemed to…shrink in stature, slump. It was as if she were suddenly smaller somehow. No, not smaller, but…less.
I quickly slung my bow and drew a sword, swiping across the shade as I pulled it out. It was as if you passed feather through the trail of smoke above a snuffed candle, with the smoke wafting back together. But not all of it did! As it tried to coalesce I reached across with my talon and it completely dissipated.
Everybody else seemed focused on the remaining statue, but I saw the shadow as the greater threat because I feared it would disappear again. Baermak tried one of his magics on it, but it seemed to simply ignore him.
However, while it was steadfastly ignoring him it was apparently not paying enough attention to me; my next arrow utterly dispersed its smoky wisps.
All that remained was the statue. And that statue did the spinning attack. And that attack was exceptionally successful this time. Alyona whimpered a bit and fell to a knee, quickly regaining her footing, but looking as if she might lose it again at the lightest touch.
Another important bow shot lay before me. If I didn’t take this statue out, it would likely take Alyonna. And the ‘Baxi with her.
But I did, mother, I did. I blew that thing apart, pieces falling and shattering.
We gathered ourselves and headed back to the library area to rest and regroup before further exploration. As we set up our little camp two shades appeared, slashing at us.
One of them connected with the ‘Baxi and I could see it draining her as it scraped her flesh. Her eyes seemed sunken in her head and I could see sadness in her eyes.
Again.
It fell to me.
Vessyr cast his glowing spell, outlining it for us, and also revealing another one.
Remembering how I dispatched the others, I aimed for the thickest part of the smoky glowing creature…and I completely obliterated it!
The other attacked Baermak, doing the same to him as it had done to Ingoria, the ‘Baxi. Ingoria saw that happen and focused on that shadow, eliminating it in one blow.
Two remained, one of them outlined. We all turned to the glowing shadow, taking advantage of its illuminated state.
But I did not. These tend to vanish and flee, but if the glowing one tries to vanish it will fail and we can dispatch it. So I instead shot at the other, hitting it hard.
The ‘Baxi shot fire at the glowing one and it was as if the smoke itself combusted.
Leaving the one.
Which immediately bolted for the door.
Baermak cast a spell on me, making my chest glow with bright light, and I leapt into the air, chasing the shadowy fiend, Alyona beside me.
She closed with it, fast fast fast, illuminating it brightly for me. Between the two of us we destroyed the shadow with only one shot each.
We quickly gathered ourselves and headed for the nearest door. Inside lay a skeleton with a hole in its skull, an ancient pistol laying at its side. The room had likely been a closet, but had been raided for combustibles during the last stand.
We cleared out what we could, and made the storage room our camp.
After our rest we headed to the Dean’s office.
His adjoining room was completely demolished, the door smashed open from the inside. A skeleton lay on the floor, its skull cracked. We found a broken sending stone and several letters, talking about the great catastrophe. We also found 3 potions.
Inspecting the remaining quarters, we found 4 more potions,more pieces of guns and such, and lots of notes and diagrams.
Now we need to explore the rest of this place.
And surely fight with more shadows.

Report Date

14 May 2022