27: The Shadow of Modiminir (Moh-dee-min-eer)

General Summary

The crew of the Efreeti’s Fortune looked on with dour expressions as the Crimson Eight gathered on the upper deck. The heroes stood in a circle as Rowan donned the helm of teleportation. The young wizard looked up at the rest of the party one last time before risking it all, and the team nodded at each other decidedly. Rowan took a deep breath, looked to the sky, and shouted the command words ”In absentia!”
Before Rowan’s voice could echo off of the ice in the surrounding waters, the eight vanished in a blinding flash of white light. The party had successfully teleported to the first floor living quarters of Modiminir- but this time they were not greeted by the warmth of Dwarven hospitality and a hearty breakfast. This time the halls were dark, stagnant, and horribly silent. The group carefully proceeded through the lost city's corridors to confirm Kedar’s grisly visions.
As they drew closer to the vault the tension and quiet grew unbearable. A sense of dread built up in the adventurer's chests for they knew what they would find. Strange whispers filled the edges of their minds, but nearly all of the party subconsciously willed away its needling control; except for Jin-e, who, seeminly entranced, began to make his way away from the vault towards the portal room.
The remaining seven followed, stepping over the freshly lacerated corpses of a dozen dwarves, leaving footprints of blood behind them. This awful scene was pushed aside in the party’s minds as the roguish halfling mindlessly pressed on towards whatever caused this massacre. The team entered the portal chamber just as Jin-e stepped through the now active gateway. All seven fearlessly jumped through the mirror-like opening, one by one, and they found themselves in a small dark room, part laboratory, part crypt.
Jin-e pressed on toward the center of this innermost chamber. Mummified Duergar corpses laid on fine stone slabs lining the walls of the cold stone room and a large pool of ink-black darkness loomed in the center. Jin-e reached the pool of shadow and stepped inside, disappearing from sight. The darkness reacted to his presence and began to roil and squirm. The heroes were too late; they watched in horror as a thin black hand reached upward from the dark.
An awful, lanky humanoid figure emerged from the pool. Fifteen feet tall, long and skeletal frame, wrapped in tight black skin. It’s appendages quivered and bent in unnatural ways and it’s head resembled some rotted bovine carcass. It clutched Jin-e tightly in its awful fingers and slowly lifted him off the ground. The party stood before the Nightwalker.
The nightmarish monstrosity raised its hand and pointed a long spidery finger at Aralia, as if she had been chosen. On the Nightwalker's finger a golden ring glinted a magical shine and a mighty armored automaton in the back of the chamber awoke, eager to serve its master. The party flew into combat.

Jin-e snapped back to reality and quickly sprang from the monster’s grasp and slipped into the shadows. Vash roared and charged at the fiend; cleaving into its inky meat, black blood splattered across the Duergar tomb. The Nightwalker screamed an unimaginable scream and a wave of necrotic darkness poured from its body, filling the room, searing the skin of all who were doused in it.
Gabriel the Great, true to his title, unshaken by evil, raised his shield and repelled the wicked aura. The Nightwalker’s vile darkness scattered away from the cleric and his allies but continued to sear Vash as he hacked at the beast, ignoring the pain.
Thinking quickly, Jin-e slipped between the massive monster’s legs and tied a rope to its ankle. Completely unnoticed, he tied the other end of the rope to the armored guardian. Rowan, Aralia, and Kedar launched a volley of magics at the Nightwalker, knocking it back, and causing the rope to trip both the beast and its metal thrall. They crashed to the ground with a clatter.
The Nightwalker wailed like a chorus of a thousand tortured souls and its arms, legs, and neck snapped and clicked and thrashed in all directions. The pool of darkness began to shrink as if a drain had been opened beneath the creature as it squirmed on the floor. In an instant, a massive black hand wrapped around Vash, who roared, and was drug down into some unseen hole along with the monstrosity.
Rowan screamed out “nooo!” and sprinted toward the center of the room. He saw a dark hole in the floor that he recognized as a magic gateway to another plane of existence. He dove in head first, desperate to retrieve Vash. Gabriel, Jin-e, Aralia, Kedar, Metztli, and Ember all followed them into the unknown.
The eight found themselves in a dimension of eternal night. Islands of earth floated above a bottomless void and the sky was a starless black. Polished stone obelisks on each island loomed over piles of bone and rubble. Shadowy wraiths and ghouls seeped out of the obelisks as if aware of mortal intrusion in their plane.
The Nightwalker stood tall before the party- empowered by the darkness of this realm- and crushed Vash in its black fist with a loud snap. Blood rained to the ground followed by Vash’s lifeless body. He lay in a heap at the monstrositie’s hooved feet.
Aralia screamed a bloodcurdling scream that echoed into the nothingness. Tears streamed down her snarling face as she unleashed a great and terrible magic onto the Nightwalker. Aralia burned a sigil of domination into the monster’s mind as it recoiled in pain and desperately clawed at its head. The enraged druid forced the Nightwalker to turn and begin wreaking havoc on its own domain. It floated into the air to a different island. It screamed and toppled the mighty obelisks, shredding the wraiths in the air.
Ember ran to Vash’s motionless corpse and held it in his arms. Ember screamed “someone, please! Help him! Do something!” Vash’s blood saturated Ember's crimson gloves as his hands shook with rage and grief. Gabriel rushed to Vash’s side, raised his hands to the sky, “REVIVIFY!” Holy light emanated from Gabriel’s palms and he laid them on Vash. A spark, a thump, and then- nothing.
Gabriel’s face fell, he peered up at the raging Nightwalker in the distance. “He isn’t just dead… that thing… it has his soul.” Speaking these words seemed to cause Gabriel great pain. He knew his faith alone was not enough. Gabriel the Great clutched his holy relic and began to plea to Ilmater, the god of sacrifice, for Vash had sacrificed everything for his friends and asked nothing in return.
Meanwhile, Rowan was keeping the metal guardian busy with illusions and Jin-e had spotted large iron cages throughout the realm. Possibly the only surviving dwarves sat as prisoners of the Nightwalker. Jin-e selflessly rang the fragile chime of opening twice, and the prisoners were freed. In the midst of the chaos no one noticed Kedar, who was somehow more pale than usual. Kedar was frozen in place and staring into the distance as if the darkness of the plane had overwhelmed them.
Aralia’s body shook as she struggled to maintain her grip on the Nightwalker's mind. The monster turned back to face the party, in defiance of the spell, and the sigil on its head exploded with a blinding magical flash, causing the creature to shriek in pain. It raised its slender arm once more and pointed its awful finger at the party. The golden ring it wore shined once more, but this time, Aralia noticed it was no ring- it was a king’s crown, the very treasure they sought.
Aralia looked the Nightwalker in the eyes, took off in a sprint to the edge of the island, and jumped off into the void below. In midair Aralia took the shape of a dragon and flew directly at the Nightwalker with claws bared. The nightmare and the dragon collided and began to shred each other mercilessly while dark wraiths swirled through the air around them.
That moment, a brilliant light illuminated the plane of darkness. Gabriel’s prayers had been answered. Recognizing Vash as a true martyr, Ilmater the Rack-Broken Lord, made his divine power known. The veil between planes had been pierced and Gabriel was granted a miracle. By Ilmater’s will, a single pale-blue orb burst from the Nightwalker’s chest and gently floated away. Gabriel knew what his god had done. Charged with a new level of faith and devotion, Gabriel once more placed his hands upon Vash’s bloodied body and bellowed “REVIVIFYYYY!!”
A golden blast broke; Vash coughed up a spray of blood and turned his head to look at Gabriel and Ember. Vash grinned and calmly asked “what took you so long?”
Aralia was still in a tangle with the Nightwalker which howled and shrieked as she assailed it with claw and fang. Aralia snapped at the monstrosity’s crowned finger and was able to bite it off cleanly in a spray of black blood. The armored guardian which the crown controlled immediately halted its attacks on Rowan, as it now served a new master.
Rowan took the opportunity to orient himself on the battlefield and noticed Kedar had collapsed. Rowan ran to Kedar and began to drag them to cover while firing psychic lances at the Nightwalker. The creature's mind and body began to falter. The tide seemed to be turning in the party's favor.
Jin-e seized this opportunity and carefully drew his bow. The Manslayer lined up an immaculate shot and launched an arrow across the void, through the darkness, into the hole in the side of the Nightwalker’s skull. Time stood still for a moment- and then a flash of purple lightning signaled the Nightwalker’s defeat. The creature exploded into black dust and a swarm of pale blue souls scattered in every direction. Jin-e looked on with a blank expression and nodded, just another job done.
Dragon Aralia scooped up the released prisoners who turned out to be Vitmar and good ol’ cousin Elmo the half Dwarf kobold. Aralia dropped Vitmar and Elmo off with the rest of the party and returned to her halfling form- Duegar King crown in hand. The green dragon ran towards Vash, shifting back into Aralia, and she collided against his chest in a desperate embrace. Pulling back, Aralia’s gaze met Vash’s one remaining eye. Aralia smiled and placed the crown on her head. Sadly, it was not time for celebration. The party hurried out of the plane of darkness and regrouped at the treasure vault.
Vitmar and Elmo were grateful but traumatized and agreed to join the crew of the Fortune- for the lives they had once known were now destroyed. Aralia took a lock of Visindi’s beard hair in hopes of resurrecting her later. After shoveling as much gold as they could carry into their bags, the party used Dao’s magic to return to their ship. The day was won, the cost was high, and the lineage of suffering and grief left behind by the ancient Duergar King had finally ended.

Players Present:

• Katie - Aralia

• Juston - Vash

• Ernie - Rowan

• Melissa - Kedar

• Victor - Gabriel

• Armando - Jin-e

Report Date

05 Aug 2023