So far: Shadow creatures have broken out of their prison plane! A massive army of them have gathered on Tirkosu – and reinforcements are weeks away. A few hundred allied forces from across the planes are the island’s only hope. But can Toskan the dragonborn survive behind enemy lines?

Four days after Nightfall.

Figuring that Little Orthraze must be taken by the invaders, Toskan decides to head inland to D’Okai. But as he’s staggering through the strip of jungle between the mountain and coast, a wispy, barely tangible shadow creeps through the foliage. The birdsong goes silent, and the Dragonborn soon finds out why: The shadow is poisonous, choking the life in the jungle. The corrupting smoke gets thicker as he presses on, until he’s forced to return to the beach.

Head heavy, and lacking a proper plan, he swims back down south with the intent to take the road through the jungle, skirting around Paku before continuing on to Rahm Oru.

* * *

Turf and Lundal survey the northern side of Mt. Tirkosu from an airship hovering over the peak. The combined shadow forces that took Tapuk, D’Okai, and Little Orthraze are marching up the slope, headed for Sovu Vapohu. There’s over three thousand of them – with two and a half more rounding the mountain near Hepthurai. If the two forces meet, they’ll be able to obliterate the six hundred troops allied troops, plus any couple of hundred can muster within the next day or so. To make matters worse, a massive cloud of shadow has appeared over the peak, seemingly originating from D’Okai – and spreading by miles each day.

Even with the news that Appinamopu Tharth has been reclaimed by a few troops sent by the Colossi of light, spirits are at an all time low.

They decide to meet the shadow army in the mountains. The plan is to use the higher ground and the Mirlings’ hatred of daylight to their advantage. But as they approach the ridge, their Zailan scouts report bad news: The shadow force are retreating, apparently preferring to wait until they merge with the smaller group before taking on the defenders.

Turf: *grits her teeth* They knew we were coming. It must be scrying magic.

Elo: Elo has not witnessed any traces of divination.

Turf: They don’t need to watch us, or any of the leaders – Only the movements of the troops. *signals for their airship to turn around* It’s impossible for us to gain the element of surprise.

They make the weary, incredibly windy descent back to Sovu Vapohu. It’s as if the wind itself is rebelling against the corruption spreading from the moutain. The Dwarven islanders mutter that princess Della must be displeased…

* * *

Five days after Nightfall. Empyrus and Kazaior, the Colossi of light and fire, each send a century of warriors to the defenders on Tirkosu, courtesy of Vanella’s portals. The allied forces decide to abandon Sovu Vapohu in favour of the more defensible Rahm Oru. Word is sent to the town in order to give the many refugees gathered there time to evacuate: They are to travel south to Appinamopu Tharth while the armies clash.

The skies over Mt. Tirkosu have darkened – the corruption continues to spread. Elo and Vanella fly to D’Okai with the Zailan troops to investigate.

* * *

The allied defenders march to Rahm Oru, passing the refugees in Rahg Krahv. Reactions are mixed – some are bitter about giving up the safest spot on the island, others are given hope by the sight of so many warriors. They number close to a thousand now; still a fraction of the enemy’s strength, but much more than Rahm Oru had at Nightfall.

* * *

Toskan’s trek through the jungle would have been difficult enough without having to hobble along on a crutch. He only makes it halfway across the uneven terrain before exhaustion sets in, the stifling heat making him long to be able to sweat. But night turns out to be worse, as Mirling scouts from Paku ambush him while resting. The leader of Konu Tuga manages to send them running, using the power of his draconic heritage to strike fear into their malevolent hearts. But judging they’ve only fled to procure backup, he forces himself to march on all through the night.

A less hardy warrior would have collapsed long ago, but even with every ounce of grit he can muster, the journey takes it’s heavy toll. In the early hours of the morning, an exhausted Toskan misjudges a step and tumbles thirty feet down a crevasse – and realises that his limit has been reached.

He can’t go on.

* * *

A portal open above Hepthurai: Battle scarred Duke Ikeer leads a small squad of Aarakocra through and obliterates the few Mirlings occupying the air village. These warriors are a mix of loyal soldiers, and sellswords here for the promise of a significant reward if they survive. Ike is funding them out of his own pocket – the other dukes of the air believe the defence of Tirkosu is a lost cause.

While the warriors free the imprisoned griffons and villagers, Ike sends a trio of scouts to Rahm Oru to learn of the situation. Their arrival causes quite a stir among the defenders: Many of the remaining Waitanga troops fought under Ikeer’s command only last year, when he led them to victory against a much greater force. Soon the Aarakocra join the defenders in Rahm Oru.

* * *

As the Zailan battleskiffs are flying deep into the corruption over the mountain, the cloud pulses, surging with poisonous vitriol. It’s more than enough to kill the pilots, but the Elo and Vanella make it out of the crash with hardly a scratch. Vanella hurriedly summons an air myrmidon to their aid before teleporting all three into a shop within the great chimney, at the heart of D’Okai.

The deadly shadow smoke is thicker closer to its source; the everburning thurible has been rent from its chain, replaced with a series of pillars etched with evil runes residing in the plaza. The corruption seems to be emanating from them. Weirdly enough, a Valkeesh drone is presiding over the ritual, ichor dripping from its sensors.

Vanella tries remotely interfering with the pillars, which works – but also alerts the drone to their presence. It shoots a plethora of rays at them, hitting Vanella with a fear ray. She continues shutting down the pillars from the shop while Elo and the myrmidon engage the drone – And the Mirlings pouring into the plaza.

As the final pillar deactivates, Elo gets hit by a beam of petrification. His metal form is quickly converted to stone – Not a big deal, these two are used to spending time as statues. But then a Mirling Shatters him. Vanella watches in horror as her Warforged buddy fractures into a pile of rubble.

Yelling all kinds of archaic swears, she unleashes an explosion of different magics at the swarming Mirlings, but it hardly halts them as they swarm into the shop. She barely manages to escape with a hasty plane shift, dispelling the myrmidon for good measure.

Shaken by the sudden death of her friend, she shifts back to the farming community of Quartill, where the refugees from Rahm Oru are spending the night. She seeks out the Longstrider family, who are travelling with the islanders to protect them. They readily agree to help recover Elo’s pieces, but as they shift into D’Okai it’s clear that they can’t stay long – the poison still lingers in the air, and they don’t all have a Warforged’s constitution.

A group of large frog-like creatures have joined the drone in attempting to restart the ritual pillars – Vanella remembers encountering the same species on the plane of limbo. There’s no time to stop and ask questions though, as the remaining shadow smoke pulses of it’s own accord, nearly downing Anika Longsrider. They quickly defeat the Mirlings and their alien allies.

Jaysen can cast the Resurrection spell, but unfortunately it’s not as simple as that; as Elo technically isn’t a creature anymore: and on top of that, they only have half a minute or so before the shadow corruption pulses again, taking out the weaker members on the team. Vanella scrambles to collect the cracked pieces of her friend, but they’re far too numerous to carry.

Crunch

I kinda did a little cheaty thing here and asked if she could use the Mending cantrip to piece him back together, if she succeeded on a really high roll. MUNE said yes, despite it being unlikely. I wasn’t too happy about her chances, because; she’s Vanella. Keeping a cool head and rolling high under pressure isn’t her strong suit. So I rolled, and I kid you not – natural twenty.



Glowing golden brown as she channels every ounce of power into her gauntlets, she manages to stitch her friend back together at an incredible pace. Before she’s even finished, she tells the Longstriders to run – Jay obliges with a plane shift.

The poison cloud pulses just after they disappear, but Vanella shrugs off the damage. Out of portal spells, and without any safe way to transport Elo, she takes a gambit on her plane shift gear: and it works, dropping both her and the petrified Elo into a fairly shallow area on the plane of water.

Crunch

This was the one time V’nell’s low rolls worked out in her favour. The Amulet of the Planes is activated by making an Int check – if you fail the spell still works, it just sends you and every nearby creature and object to a random plane. She got lucky not only by rolling low enough to bring Elo along, not only by shifting to the plane of water, but also by winding up in a shallow enough area that she didn’t lose him in the murky depths of the great ocean.



She conjures a small raft to float on, staring down at her submerged friend through the aquamarine water, and praying that his soul will be willing to return to his body. The prospect of facing eternity without Elo scares her more than anything in a long time.

Woo, this was a dark one. I think we’re halfway through the second act now – getting ready for the moment when they pick themselves up and prepare for the final confrontation.

Or maybe they’re all just gonna die, who knows with this game.