Nightmares in the Shadows

What lurks in the shadows? What lurks in your mind?

12th May 2023

## Adventurers Attending

* Io Aerkeryrm
* Tas
* Circe
* Saymour Cleavage
* Andar Liadon
* Dacen

## Session Summary

As Dacen sleeps in his quarters, dreaming of catching up in the guild bar with Andar, his dreams begin to shift emotionally. The usually affable Andar is hiding something, some slight against Dacen, having stolen from him the sword he once tried to grasp. The conversation turns irritable and finally angry. Disagreement, distrust, angst, antagonism all feeding into to the feeling that somehow Andar is wrong, that he should pay. The dream turns nightmare, as Dacen finds himself with hands around the throat of Andar, choking the life from him. As a familiar but external voice begins to encourage Dacen, it also begins to show him within his mind's eye, where Andar should be brought to die. Flashes of yellow wheat fields and tunnels into the earth, of dark chambers and somewhat familiar temple like runestones fill Dacen with the knowledge of a place, a desecrated temple beneath Yellowfield Farms. As the voice suggests, that if Dacen wants to live and to save Andar, then that is where they should come to meet their fate.

Waking from his nightmare and sensing a presence around him Dacen tries to place the entity around him, before his room is left still and absent of any visitors. Rising early, but feeling somewhat weakened by his nightmares, Dacen heads to the guild in an attempt to learn more about what had just happened to him and where the location he had dreamed of might be. Enlisting the help of Creak in the archives, as well as speaking to a clerk and Andar, Dacen discovers the location he seeks, as well as knowledge of a previous mission, in which other members of the guild fought a 'Field of Crows', some scarecrows and a bunch of demons beneath the surface of Yellowfield Farms.

Pulling a crew together of early risers with the help of one of the clerks, Tas, Io, Seymour and Circe join the party to aid in what was likely to be a dangerous encounter. Hamer outside was politely greeted, but ignored in favour of pulling together a cart from the stables for Andar to drive at pace towards the party's destination. Hitching the cart in Yellowfield Farms having made good time, they head for the location of the underground tunnel, which is easily found by Dacen's hawk familiar scouting ahead.

On arriving at the tunnel, the party found it guarded by 3 out of place scarecrows, which with some chasing were destroyed deeper into the tunnels. The party found an abandoned and mostly weather destroyed cart outside the tunnel and upon entering the first cavern, found civilian, guard and demon bodies lying dead, scattered all over the floor. Heading down further tunnels they encountered another cavern this time containing two tabaxi looking female priestesses, shackled in shadow. Dacen using his new found darkvision attempted to approach unseen, but alerted a set of shadows to their presence, shadows that had been sucking the life from these priestesses. Using a combination of light and magical weapons, the shadows were dispatched, but not before Dacens already diminished state was further compromised by a shadow.

Setting the priestesses free, they explain about the temple to Selunè in the following cavern and the arrival of shadowfell entities that had taken it over and imprisoned them. Taking some time to explain the layout of the temple and a method to restore it using a set of mirrors that power the temple through light. Tas at this point pulls a giant goat from her bag of tricks and encourages the priestesses to escape under its guard, while the party moves to the final cavern.

Charging in with light aplenty, the party enter the temple to find an old cloaked lady, with a number of demonic entities, stood around a large charcoal ritual sigil drawn out on the floor of the temple with desecrated symbols laid over the celestial blue runic stone slabs across the walls. Above towering pillars hold mirrors at various angles with a shaft in the apex of the cavern roof carrying light through mirrors from the ceiling.

Taking the fight directly to their foes and with Circe channelling the radiant power of Selunè the battle turned quickly in the favour of our adventurers, though they struggled to impose themselves on the old lady who continued to phase in and out of existence, before thinking better of putting herself in danger and disappearing entirely, along with another cloaked figure who decided not to make his presence overtly known. With the demons destroyed, the party set about resetting the mirrors and restoring the temple to its celestial glory, as the desecrations were burned away by light and the low hum of arcane radiance was restored. As the temple once again returned to a place of worship, little sparkles of light fell upon Dacen, emboldened, Dacen felt his temporary weakness leave him, as a fleece of shadow crept from his eye and dissipated into the dark.

## Rumours

* There appears to be a war ongoing between the light (Selunè) and the dark (Shadowfell) with individuals being used as pawns in the fight, what should the guild do?
* Why was the old lady particularly interested in Andar?