Cats out of the Bag
After taking out the Drow priests come to offer tribute to Ombra in the depths of the Tomb of the Twilight Mistress, Frank, Raiden, Binx, and others begin to assess their surroundings. The room has golden murals all around it with different colored inlay for Ombra's eyes, ears, and mouth. Frank quickly asks for the gems and climbs atop the statue to place them in according to matching colors to the mural counterparts. The statue rises above revealing a staircase leading down into an open cavern. "I'm coming!" Frank shouts as he goes running quickly inside. The others follow more slowly behind.
Ombra greets Frank welcomingly and is please he's brought so
many willing sacrifices to her, motioning towards many skeletal bodies below
her. Her avatar form floats above them
with her bottom half dissolving to ethereal mist which ties back to an obelisk
on the ground which glows with a dim violet light. Darkness almost moves like a curtain in waves
behind her with body like forms pushing part way through at times. Chained to the obelisk, the keen eyes of
Calvin notice a staff which is made of two twisted pieces of purpleheart wood
and seems to have a crystal shard embedded at the top, with rings set near the
top and bottom to keep the wood in its twisted shape. Meanwhile, Frank has a conversation with his
deity about not wanting to sacrifice his...Friends? Yes, that's what their called, friends, and
he won't do it. Ombra lashes out in
anger towards the others, depriving Frank of his Cleric abilities and jerking
everyone towards her. The battle begins
(roll initiative!).
Frank while deprived of his powers, won't simply give
in. He and the group move to fight
towards her, but a few shadows and skeletons move to block their path. Calvin thinks quickly and misty steps behind
them all to the obelisk where he tries to break the staff free. The shadows persist in moving to block each
party member while IG and Binx work almost in tandem at taking them down. Raiden gets hounded by skeletons who
unknowingly line up for his excellently placed lightning bolt! Brock masterfully plows through several
shadows. He takes a large beating doing
it, but he's still standing. Frank,
battling a shadow sees it quickly morph into a shadowy version of himself. Soon, Binx also sees his shadow form up and
things become more difficult.
Calvin finally finishes off the shadow in front of him and
breaks the staff from it's mounting on the obelisk. Quickly he moves to exit, seemingly disturbed
by something. Others follow and Binx,
having had a taste of dealing with his own skills turned against him by his
shadow is beaten down. A force of energy
flings most of the party towards Ombra and they all land prone. Frank uses the last of his healing potions to
wake Binx. Binx knows it is time to
leave. He springs to his feet, rushes to
Calvin and helps him up. Seeing Raiden,
he rushes to his aid. Raiden gets up,
circles around Ombra and thudersteps out of the room. Most of the party moves to leave with the
staff, but there's a couple that stay to fight.
Before Binx can get out, another shadow flies toward him and takes his
life. As his comrades race back to the
fight there is nothing they can do to save him, and they attack Ombra. As a final blow is dealt to Ombra's avatar,
it dissipates and a pulse emanating from the obelisk knocks everyone unconscious.
I.G. is the first to awaken, but everyone else is still out
cold. Everyone is breathing, except
one. Binx is dead. IG grabs the staff and hears it speaking to
him. Disturbed by the voice inside, he
puts it away so he can't hear it and moves to the entrance where the doors are
still shut. As the others awake, they
loot everything in sight, without any remorse.
Ombra doesn't deserve this they think, but Frank takes no part in it. he
doesn't even want to take anything that was hers. IG is missing but they reunite back with him
waiting for the doors at the entrance to open again at the dawn/dusk hour
(can't tell while inside).
The group carries Binx's body out for a proper burial by his
faction and stop by Halstad's home on the way out of the canyon. He asks if they have the staff and holds it
gently. He explains how it was made and
why they locked it in with Ombra. It is
capable of storing the blight inside it, but when it's released it withers
anything it's cast upon. The voice they
hear is that of Marla, who helped to create the staff. He has no intention of taking it from them
but knowing that they accidently trapped Marla's soul inside one of the two
rings on the staff (Rings of Mind Shielding) he makes a desperate attempt to
free her and uses the staff on himself.
He withers into almost a husk of the man he was and weakly answers a few
questions about where the other shards might be before IG grants him a quick
death. Everyone stocks up from Halstad's
supplies and Calvin takes up his Warhammer to honor him. Everyone heads back into Roanor.
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