In the aftermath the group spends a few moments preparing, opening the tomb of the spirit of magic and descending the stairs. At the bottom is a plain room, a coffin and a swirling ball of red chaos. It is all eyes and mouths and grasping arms and swirling madness. It is also apparently immune to all magics. Luckily, Reza is carrying the long lance taken from the fallen bat-rat-toad rider. He stands well away from the creature and pokes it repeatedly until it vanishes. When the creature fades away, a shimmering radiance coalesces into a silvery form of a woman. She kisses each party member and delivers some information regarding the unraveling strands of magic and a likely target for the party to engage in their quest to free the dale.
The party rides quickly away from the area, returning to the village they saved and regaling the villagers with their tales of glory. The villagers seem a bit skeptical, but they listen intently. The party quizzes them on local lore and attempts to identify the location of the next target.The next morning, the group rides through the fringes of the forest with Bud flying a looping scout mission in the skies overhead. He spots a rat-bat-toad that seems to be trailing the party.
A quick discussion and the group sets up an ambush. An ambush lightning bolt and a followup fireball from the wand and the rider plummets like a comet from the sky to the ground. Not enough of the rider is found to make looting worthwhile.
Fleeing the scene of the most recent crime, the group wends its way into the foothills and then back up amongst the craggy cliffs. The group – through the eyes of Bud – surveys the scene for the better part of the day, observing the coming and goings of the patrols, riders and strange wall-walking figures. Under cover of darkness, they sneak up the side of the hill and cross into the courtyard. Barada scouts ahead and tries to gain a glimpse of the strange liquid shadows that flow around the courtyard within the wall. Instead he falls into a pit. When he exits, an automaton assembles itself out of the rubble and tries to attack. Dalliance springs into action and disintegrates the offending attacker. Humbar casts Detect Traps and finds another pit – and another automaton. Dalliance disintegrates that one as well.
The liquid shadows coalesce into shadowy hounds that howl bone-chilling howls and attack. The howls cause panic amongst the party members and first Reza, then Barada and finally Humbar panic and run. It is left to Lubbitch to slay the hounds with Dalliance’s help and as the echoes of the howls die out, they wait for the return of the runners and haul Humbar out of one of the pits. A moment later, the group has regrouped and awaits the fall of the other shoe…
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