Session 67 - Watching Bears Die

Wed 21st June 2023

In-game timeline: UNKNOWN (3rd day in the Shadowfell)

Our "Heroes" spend some time discussing their next steps, knowing that whatever may be in the lower level(s) will now be alerted to their presence. Solveig is very concerned about making good use of his summoned black bears and would prefer to press on quickly.

They scout round the rest of the caverns on this level - Faith finds another cave but with no other obvious exits. Despite the time pressures, Alwaith and Faith look at the books that are in the rough-and-ready bookcases around this area, finding a number of hand-written journals that seem to describe personal events and lives. One especially piques their interest, as it seems blank at first, but as they stare at it writing appears in their most familiar language (dwarvish to Faith and elvish to Alwaith). They have no time to study it, but Faith tucks it away for later perusal.

A statue to Vecna is found in the next room, standing above an altar with a hand and eye carved into it, with what looks to be an emerald in the centre of the eye. As Solveig alters the form of the statue using his mold earth to make it look a little ridiculous, Sanada generously lends her sword to Alwaith to use in prying the emerald from the stone. This he manages, but at a cost - as the emerald pops out of the stone, a flash of light bursts from the altar and Alwaith's mind is corrupted for considerable damage. He is convinced that the earth around him is starting to suck him downwards. He reaches out to Sanada asking for health. Sanada sees nothing, but pulls him away - she manages to pull Alwaith out of his illusion, but he takes more psychic damage as he leaves the illusion, and he falls down, unconscious.

As Alwaith lies unconscious, Solveig and Sanada start to argue about the stupidity of the action to remove the emerald. Faith steps in and notes that perhaps they should help Alwaith, and they pause their argument long enough to bring him back to consciousness. They decide to leave the now-loose emerald where it lies for now.

Having spent about 10 minutes or so faffing around, they decide to focus on the hole into the lower level where the two creatures ran during the last battle. Solveig widens the hole a little, to make it wide enough for his bears to get through, and spends some time forming a mound in the floor below to ensure the drop is not so great for them, as they would struggle to use the ladder.

Solveig tells one of his bears to jump down the hole. Reluctantly, it does so, taking a small amount of damage from the fall. A second bear follows.

And one of the bears (Barney, apparently) is hit by something fired at him. Solveig quickly orders the other two bears to jump down into the hole and run to where the attack seemed to come from. At that point everyone hears a blood-curdling howl coming from the lower level. All four bears start to run back to the hole and scramble over each other in an attempt to get up the hole. In addition, Faith turns and bolts for the exit. Alwaith runs after him and catches him, but Faith struggles free of Alwaith and continues to run. It will be a number of rounds before Faith runs out of the keep and shakes free of the fear that has taken him over, and return to the others.

Meanwhile the others are back at the hole. They hear a gruff, echo-y voice laughing and asking why they are still here. The bears, meanwhile, are struggling to escape, and are one by one being picked off by attacks almost out of nowhere. At times, a bear randomly attacks one of the other bears - Solveig realises that this is not due to their fear, but they seem to be being affected by something in their mind.

As Solveig and Sanada look on, seeing the poor bears be picked off by dark forces, they see a terrible sight. A large hound-like creature, shrouded in purple light, fly across to the bears and tear into them before disappearing completely into nothing. The druid is forced to watch as his bears are one by one killed.

With Faith still outside, the remaining three decide that running away is the best option, and they make a "tactical withdrawal", eventually meeting up with a returning Faith who is a little embarrassed at his somewhat cowardly behaviour. Our "Heroes" hide around a corner and contemplate setting up a tent *in this somewhat evil cavern* to rest for *8 hours*, and then decide that would be a good idea.

Until, that is, a cloud of fog suddenly appears around them all, causing them to choke and cough and take some poison damage. At this point they agree that perhaps resting here would not be a great idea, even if they did have the protection of a Tiny Hut.

So they retreat outside, and head for the limited cover of some spindly trees in the distance. Just inside the tree line, Faith then re-starts his Tiny Hut ritual and they head inside for some cover and some well-needed rest.

But they realise the folly of putting an obvious tent up within sight of an evil keep when, shortly after they start their rest, the Tiny Hut suddenly disappears, and they are exposed! Unfortunately for the creature that dispelled the hut, it meant he was now visible. He turns to run and is hit in the back by a critical hit from Alwaith, who manages to cast his cantrip, despite the loss of his patron in this time period.

The creature responds by turning and casting a spell, encompassing them all in a void of cold, dark, whispering voices. Sanada, blinded by the darkness, tries to run away but trips and falls on an unseen tree root within the dark. Her remaining in the darkness causes further damage, and Sanada falls, unconscious and unseen by the others.

Solveig manages to find his way out of the dark and casts a moonbeam over the location of the creature. Faith manages to dispel the magic surrounding them and runs over to an unconscious Sanada.

With the darkness now removed, Alwaith casts healing word from his Ring of Spell Storing on Sanada, bring her back to consciousness, though now with level 4 exhaustion. Alwaith follows this up with his Eldritch Blast cantrip against the creature, and manages to bring him down.

With a very exhausted Sanada, and a somewhat exhausted Alwaith, our "Heroes" are even more keen to rest now. They decide to move further into the trees, attempting to hide their tracks as best they can. This time they do manage to get a proper night's rest, though it is a nervous night for all, and the effects of the Shadowfell once more weigh heavy upon them. In the gloomy morning, Faith manages to shake off his feeling of Fear that he has had all day, and he instead feels a lot braver. Unfortunately Sanada does not manage to shake her hopelessness, and additionally becomes somewhat fatalistic, meaning her death saving throws are less likely to succeed.

Our "Heroes" are refreshed, though dispirited. They still have not got the Visage back for the Raven Queen, and Sanada is somewhat hobbled by her exhaustion and the effects of the Shadowfell. How will the next day pan out…?