Session # 119
10 Phoenix (10:00)
You have decided to make your way to Dargaard Keep to find Le Nordais sister. Fortunately Heimdall has the sigil code for Dargaard keep that he picked up at The Majere Monestary.
As you are your are requiping and getting supplies, Laurana and Elistan inform you about what they have discovered about the Dragon orb. Now that Laurana is fully attuned to the orb, she and Elistan have been carefully studying it and attempting to better understand how it works (what is the affects on the dragons).
They have concluded that the Orb only attacks the dragon to the orb and would only want to destroy it.
You depart for Dargaard keep with Heimdall's teleportation circle.
Heimdall casts his Teleportation Circle, as usual, a shimmering portal opens up and you all head through.
A few of you notice that as you step forward, there is a brief flicker—so fast it’s almost missed it. This is unusual..
When you all arrive, you only see a stone floor beneath your feet and the world you are entering immediately seems to push back. You all lose partial eyesight, while pressure increases behind your eyes, not pain but weight. Cold tightens in your chest, stealing your breath for a heartbeat as if something unseen is grappling you.
A few of you take psychic dmg. Your eyesight fully returns and after about 5 seconds, the other feeling passes.
Heimdall can sense that magic is affected by something, not sure what it is..
You are standing in a circular room. Enclosed by thick stone walls.
Above a solid domed roof of stones and wood.
Evenly around the chamber are tall, narrow windows,
resembling arrow slits, but larger.
Each opening stretches 3 feet high.
Through them, you glimpse at storm-dark skies,
distant wasteland and you are above ground.
Along the outer wall, broken benches, overturned crates,
and collapsed shelving lie half-buried in dust and debris.
Moss creeps in through hairline fractures in the stone. It’s been while since anybody has set foot here. A stairway descends along the inner wall.
Heimdall casts a Fire Bolt, his spell doesnt work as expected, the colour of the fire is green and his mark is off by 1 foot.
Another arcana skill check gives him the impression that That the Weave of magic is warped, not suppressed and that not all the schools of magic will react the same way.
Searching the area, Heindall discover a circular crystal lens, about the size of a large coin. Its surface is faintly clouded with age, scratched by grit and weather, yet unmistakably intact. A thin brass rim encircles the glass.
Detect magic give off a faint glow.
You head down below.
The stairs spiral down for about 60 feet into another circular chamber. Four stone pillars evenly spaced around the room and aligned with the cardinal directions. Each pillar has the statue of a warrior in armor. Only 2 remain, the two others have fallen to the ground, shattered in pieces from the fall.
At the very center of the chamber rises a raised circular stone stand. Above it, a domed structure of thick, translucent material, now fractured and broken. Jagged cracks across its surface, and several shards are missing entirely, leaving the dome incomplete. In the chamber cracks are across the floor, and stone debris from the fallen steps.
Heimdall cast mage hand to see if anything is within the dome, he finds nothing but his mage hand reacts strange, it flickered once and it was missing a fingure.
You hear this in the distance. And another time but closer.
Dorren recognises the howling but just cant pin point where he heard it before.
A few moments later.... Outside, you hear at a distance, the pounding rhythm of many paws, fast and coordinated coming towards you.
Then 4 Dire Wolves approach and attack.
Combat with the wolves.
As you step out of the watchtower, the land beyond opens into a dead stretch of cracked stone and drifting ash, reaching toward the horizon. A mild, cold and heavy wind blows...
.......and then you see it.
Even if you have never seen it, you have no doubt, the recognition sends a chill down your spine. That is Dargaard Keep.
At the distance, the Keep stands alone against the dark, its tower climbs into the blackened sky. Higher within the silhouette of the tower, faint lights appear, small points in the stone.
10 Phoenix (13:00)
As you start to move closer, you start to hear a constant sound that is light and all around you.
With every step toward the keep, the air tightens and the world feels less forgiving. Nothing is stopping you, but everything feels judged, as though some unseen standard is being quietly enforced.
Half way there.... (700 - 800 ft away)
As you get closer, you notice small shapes circling
high above the top of the tower.
Near... Dargaard Keep (300 ft)
The Keep rises alone from the dead land.
The central tower dominates the keep. Narrow slits that glow faintly with ember light. The lights do not flicker like torches; they burn low and steady.
At the tower’s base, a fortification spreads out, thick stone walls broken by a large arche leading inside.
The tower itself about 200 feet high, narrows slightly as it rises. There are no banners or symbols.
Beyond the keep, the land lies barren and broken—cracked earth, loose stone and jagged hills stretching toward the distance.
Earlier..... You noticed the shapes circling ..... Its bats circling the tower as you approached. Now, closer, it becomes clearer. They are larger than ordinary bats, their wingspans broader, their flight heavier and more deliberate.
As you get closer, the circling bats tighten into a single dark mass above the tower. Then the mass stops, suspended in the sky. As if it was waiting for something. Then the mass tears in two.
Both halves hover for the briefest moment…. …and then they plunge toward you at full speed.
The bat swarm in and attack and combat.
As you approach the arched entrance, you notice a green myst that covers the whole entrance of the archway.
You start to hear chanting....
As you get closer to the Keep, 3 Banshees exit the archway and head you way in an agresive manner.
Combat starts with the Banshees....
10 Phoenix (10:00)
