8-9 Silverside Report

General Summary

Enter village of Silverside, find a Shadow of Man attacking, blanketing the area in midday darkness. Hide in the bright house with Escher and village residents. Karyb bonds with the halflings while everyone bunkers. Escher convinces Foreset to show him the book and tells them it is an artifact of power. Stories are important, they have power. The deep itself is using that to sow fear and hopelessness among the survivors it intentionally leaves to poison the populace's minds. Set up an ambush for the Shadows of Man, attack and Serenade kills 2 of them. The residents run away after Bron sows fear among them when he sees one of the deep's shadows. More of the deep's shadows attack and surround Karyb. Zulex runs off and blows off his arm in trying to sever the deep's connection to the abberation. Everyone runs to hide in Escher's warded house. Karyb sends magic to help the halflings father. They fortify the wards and amount of light to keep the house safe through the night.   In the morning they find everyone but Zoe had been killed and eaten away by the abberation as she was protected by her father. Escher offers to take the girl to Amielos and over two days prepares the abberation to be transported to Amielos as well. Party continues to Randgriz.   Silverside residents: Halfing worried father Ashil Ashil's twin girls Zoe and Zelda Young salamander woman, Shena "the mayor I guess" Human couple Roric and Bron, both frightened. Bron hiding it   The deep finds and preys on the hopeless and scared, and hope can keep them at bay   Escher quotes:   When questioned "I've lost nearly everything in the name of stopping this. Most of my family, my humanity, my body. I spent hundreds of years as the plaything of a madman just for the chance to understanding it better. What more would you have me give"   "I've been trying to understand the game plan of the deep. They clearly have the capability to root out survivors even hidden in population centers but they never seem to put in the extra effort to do so. There's always survivors to tell the story afterwards. It's not an accident, their actions seem too deliberate for that. It's the same story in the city of glass."   "It confirms my theory. I find finding pockets of humanity managing to live despite everything. Somehow they still have hope and the deep can't seem to breach the cities in meaningful ways. Only preying in the darkest depths of the night on lone stragglers. The only things that seem to move freely are existing creatures affected by the deep. But as soon as a settlement is breached and the people panicked the abberation descended. "   The deep finds and preys on the hopeless and scared, and hope can keep them at bay