Ep. 145 The Nightmare’s Dusking Chapter One

## Listen

Ep. 145 The Nightmare’s Dusking Chapter One

—Dex

They party makes it to the eldritch machine. They prepare their spells for the fight, and stick the Destiny Arms in the machine. Beric wreathes himself in silver fire, Dex pulls out his ribbonweave, Booyah is a wrecking ball with Planar Justice, and Bhimanni needs nothing but her fists.

As soon as the put the weapons in, shadows pour from the planar gates. Booyah calls on the Silver Flame to help, and obliterates a number of shadows. Both Booyah and Beric put guardians up.

Then the quori themselves arrive. They make their way to the party, and one rushes up to Booyah—and disappears.

## Synopsis

They finally make it to the eldritch machine. It sits in a courtyard about 100 feet long. In preparation for what they assume will be a fight to destroy it, Beric casts False Life on Booyah, Bhimanni, and Dex, while Booyah gives Beric some extra heartiness with Enhance Ability and allows Dex to run free with a Freedom of Movement.

As they make their way to the machine, they realize what a ghost town this courtyard is—and therefore just how many quori are invading Eberron. There are seven planar gates that they can see. They approach the machine and look for a place to stick the weapons, and find Khyber shards powering it up. A few look like they're about to shatter from wear, and they'll be able to put the weapons in the soon-to-be-empty slots.

Beric starts a bonfire, and warns everyone that if they need to make a quick escape, he'll have to cast a spell on them that they could potentially resist—and to please not. Bhimanni is unsure of how much time they'll have after the machine explodes. She'll do her best to give them a heads up, but it might be instant; there might not be time for a warning.

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On the count of three, they shove the weapons into the machine. A magical dome surrounding it seems to shatter, and the stones on the weapons glow. Two gates that were previously hidden from Booyah seem to trigger, and Beric and Dex recognize inky black shadows from inside: Mabar.
Beric crouches over his bonfire and summons Erebus. He reaches into the fire and it runs up his arm and covers his entire body with a silver fire.

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Booyah raises his hand and calls on a guardian to help protect them. A huge shield with a gleaming sword appears before one of the portals, ready to attack anything that comes out.

An inky set of hands tears a gate open and a skinny, shadowy figure pulls its way out. It wields two shadowy daggers and sprints towards them with a scream. From the portal behind them a winged, demonic looking shadow steps out with a loud thud, and in front of them the same thing. Dex casts a Fireball at them.

More shadows pile out of the portals, including two shadow mastiffs. Beric reaches out and a line of fire races from his hand along the ground at the shadows.

Booyah is taken aback by all these evil creatures, and says a prayer to the Silver Flame. Immediately all but one of the shadows disintegrates.

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Beric turns to an empty gate, and through his amulet summons his own guardian, a gigantic horned figure who glowers at the portal. The first quori appears through a portal, and it flies at top speed towards them. Booyah blows a powder substance onto Dex, to protect him from possession. Two of the scorpion looking quori come around a corner, and Dex swings at them. A blue tentacled quori runs at Booyah—and disappears.

End of episode.

## Spells

* **Beric**
	+ Create Bonfire [0:14:30]
	+ False Life x3 [0:02:41]
	+ Guardian of Faith [0:45:02]
	+ Guiding Bolt [0:50:38]
	+ Investiture of Flame [0:25:22]
* **Booyah**
	+ Enhance Ability [0:03:43]
	+ Freedom of Movement [0:07:12]
	+ Guardian of Faith [0:25:59]
	+ Hunter's Mark [0:45:45]
	+ Protection From Evil and Good [0:51:53]
* **Dex**
	+ Fireball [0:31:02]

## Quotes

[0:17:11]

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## Trivia

* The party levels up for the last time! They hit level 17: Dex takes his fifth fighter level and has an extra attack and Booyah reaches cleric level 8 for the Tough feat. Beric has been playing a level lower than he was supposed to, and so took two levels of warlock. For the flavor of it and Philip's dislike of the Hexblade ability, he was allowed to take the 10th level ability of the Undying patron, which means he no longer has to eat, sleep, or breath, and he ages at a much slower rate.

## References and Footnotes

1. ↑ Taking an ability for flavor over utility for the last fight is of course the most Philip thing Philip has ever done.