Drakonia Adventure Log - Session 1

The Avatar of the Shadow

Party:
♦ Alvana (deva avenger)
♦ Barrus (bugbear rogue)
♦ Elessar (goliath barbarian)
♦ Rhakka (theifling warlock)
♦ Jenn (half-elf fighter)
♦ Hadarai (eladrin swordmage)
♦ Elendil (elf ranger)

Alvana sleeping in stasis.

    Alvana and Barrus awoke from stasis in a laboratory, completely naked, and with vague recollections of their equipment being carried to an adjacent room as they fell asleep in their pods. Surrounding them was a motley group of adventurers, which included a tiefling named Rhakka, a dwarf who introduced himself as Fredegar Boulder, a half-elven female fighter, Jenn, Elendil, elf ranger, and Hadarai, an eladrin swordmage. One of their group (Elessar) was locked in stasis in a nearby vat.

    While Alvana asked for a blanket to cover herself up, she looked around at the strange laboratory, trying to remember things about it, and feeling a bit intimidated by the large group of adventurers who in the meantime were arguing about things she couldn't focus on. She quietly asked them who they were and what their purpose was, and Jenn came to her to explain their quest... In a way which pretty much confused the hell out of the amnesiac Alvana. Jenn spoke of a thieves’ guild, of the Queen of Pridemaine, who had been or they were trying to resurrect, of how they thought they were traveling through the Shadowfell, and other things, spoken in a sudden blur. What hit home however, was the mention of The Shadow, which sent a chill down Alvana's spine. Jenn explained that as far as they could tell, the Shadow was some sort of Drow fighter/caster, and that he had been so strong as to destroy a flying ship.

Silly comic about Barrus' sword. [CLICK to full-view]

    They then moved on to exploring the next room, where their equipment was supposed to be, Alvana found her things and clothed and equipped herself swiftly, while Fredegar smashed various wooden cases, in the process succeeding to destroy Barrus's sword, who was understandably furious. Luckily a scroll of mending was found, but one of the adventurers, Elendil, who harbored spite for bugbears and feared that mending his weapon would make him turn aggressively towards them, threw a torch at the scroll, destroying it. Obviously enough that did make Barrus turn towards Elendil, grabbing him and almost choking him, while others of their group likewise responded aggressively. In the process Alvana was plainly shocked by how disjointed the group seemed to be, and begged Barrus, whom she felt a vague kinship towards, having been through similar experiences, to stop the senseless violence.

    Soon after the group relaxed the tension, the goliath who was locked inside one of the vats awoke from stasis himself, shocked at the madness of the current situation, and in a bossy manner told each of the people involved in the incident off and reminded them that they need to work as a group to rescue Queen Aalana. Thankfully, then, a second scroll of mending was found, and Barrus' sword was repaired.

. ___ . - ♦ - . __ ...--.--- ♦ ---.--... __ . - ♦ - . ___ .

    The next room on their journey was a portal to a throne room where it seemed the Shadow himself stood before us to fight. The chamber, lined with statues contained a large round table in the middle, to which a powerful living soul was chained. A living soul, Alvana realized, was the spirit of a powerful creature, which had been disintegrated incompletely, thus becoming corrupted. It would require a ritual in order to be purified.

The villain we faced, The Avatar of The Shadow.

    The Shadow himself was a dire adversary even on his own, appearing to us as a very capable drow swordmaster, wielding two elegant rapiers, and nearly devastating the exhausted party. We did our best to vanquish him, and as he perished he laughed maniacally stating that through his death he will now become more powerful than any of us could possibly imagine. It was only later that the party would understand that this was not The Shadow himself, but a mere avatar of his, chained to the Shadowfell. By destroying this avatar the party inadvertently freed The Shadow of his bindings.

    But for now, the party was glad to have a chance to rescue Queen Aalana. Fredegar performed a purification ritual on the table and through it, Aalana once again stood in flesh and blood, before the party, and a portal opened behind the throne which would lead the party back to Pridemaine...