The Unanswered Prayer
Night descends upon Toril. A shadowy rift opens in the forest and spews forth several shades. Nearby hunters fight off these few scouts and abandon their camp. Valiant Blinncraft, Lexa Dreskia and Yoruichii Lalani are wary of the rift and the ominous darkness that looms around it. They seem eager to leave before...
The voice of a woman is heard faintly through the portal. She's muttering a prayer to any deity, to
anyone who will save her from her captors. Valiant resolves immediately to see the conflict through, his determination spreading to his female companions, Lexa and Yoruichii as they approach the rift. After battling their way to the portal, the two mages quickly determine that the rift is closing. One of them attempts to hold it open while the other two step through, then leaping through herself as it snaps shut and erodes into effervescent pools of shadowy magic.
The three stumble out of the portal and find themselves standing partway up a large winding mountain. Fires burn in the distance giving increased strength to the shadows that flicker against their light. Mocking laughter echoes down the hillside in numerous cold, hollow voices. The portal winks out of existance behind them and they now face dozens dancing shapes moving with dark clouds along the ground and where the firelight doesn't lend it's sanctuary. The woman's voice, coming from above, takes a new tone of urgency in her prayers. She seems to be sobbing...
~~~Meanwhile~~~
Thedran Rock stumbles upon the scene in the forest, littered with it's own assortment of fires, shadows and blood. He scowls and swiftly moves to the rift's remains. With the aid of a scroll and his own magical prowess, he forces the rift open briefly enough for him to step through, drawing blade.
He lands firmly where the other three did, quickly scanning the dark environment and uttering a few wards as he assesses the situation. The three hunters fight up the mountain path some 100 meters, hurling spells and steel at the dancing, mocking forms. They stand at the edge of the firelight, a wise choice.
Thedran joins Valiant, Lexa and Yoruichii as they battle their way up the mountain. The woman's sobbing pleas continue to be heard through the shrill laughter in the dark. A chorus of chanting accompanies her, reverberating high atop the mountain. The group fervently sunder wave after wave of shadow beings, suffering significant wounds and forging ahead despite their own personal harm. The two women tend the most grevious wounds as they are inflicted while Thedran's presence seems to simply absolve any injuries he sustains.
The suns luminescence nears the horizon when the womans weeping is nolonger heard. The chanting continues, growing evermore in power and resonance. The party crests a ridge and can see an altar in the distance surrounded by thick mists of darkness and the eerie glow of the ritual. The sun finally peeks up and begins racing down the mountain, seeking to chase away the shadows. The four rescuers race ahead towards the altar. Dozens of shadowbeings close in on them in an effort to halt their progression. The final push shows the party victorious though their accrewed injuries now edge on fatal. The sun matches their victory as its light now illuminates the pathway and banishes the shadows.
Thedran sprints up the altar to find nothing but pools of blood and broken glass. The woman's body, voice, and soul are gone. Thedran clenches his fist tightly in anger and crashes it down upon the altar, cracking the bloodied stone. The party lick their wounds and grieve their failure.
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Rewards:
2x cursed +3 scythes (held by reapers!)
2x cursed rings of dark resistance (the only remaining signets of the woman?)
1x cursed jagged broken bottle (dagger) coated on the inside by the tainted blood of a human female
1200xp
Sadness
