DLVSBS01E027 - "The Outpost" Report

Our heroes finally arrive at the surroundings of outpost Barad Eithel. They met a team of Wildrunners led by Lieutenant Ribrien. She reported to captain Phaendar that they left the outpost on patrol and when returned, there was a Nightmare Shimmer surrounding Barad Eithel. After a brief conversation, our heroes decided it was time check out the shimmer themselves.

Crossing the shimmer wall, our heroes entered a hallucinatory landscape where the forest would blend with fantastic skies, taken by strange web-like formations, black ships, dragons and odd-legged spiders. Trying to reach the fortress, they found the bodies of elves that Sara recognized as being part the outpost's garrison, in the middle of what seemed to be a massacre. As our heroes investigated the site of the fight, a force of enemy combatants fell upon them suddenly as if materializing out of thin air. Comprised of demons and undead, the dozen or so hostiles were skillfully dispatched by the party before the latter moved on towards Barad Eithel.

After wasting some time navigating the dream-logic twisted path towards the fortress, the party arrived at the location to find a hole in the ground where the Barad Eithel should be, and the fortress itself flying in the air surrounded by all the water supposed to be in the moat. Catching sight of a small cavern on the waterbed, the party followed the rocky way down towards an eerie green glow. Deep down, right before they could reach the source of the ghoulish light, they were attacked by a small demon with goat legs, curved horns and a fiery sword, alongside a monstrous bat and an elf with wings of fire. After a brief but incredibly dangerous altercation, the party moves towards the source of the green light, and into the most dangerous fight they had ever fough.

The party arrived to a large cavern where a lake of green energy swirled with a ghostly disposition. They immediately noticed three elves and a large humanoid creature with four extra - and sharp - appendages coming out of her back. They did not know at the time that she was a demon, but it was a fact they would soon learn. The fight was arduous, and Hasturiel did not make it through. After the fight ended, Captain Phaendar suddenly told Syn to take charge of the party, and walked into the lake. The party followed, and they traveled through a dream-like tunnel that took Phaendar away towards an image of his tower back in Kiranost, while the rest of the party was taken into another direction.

The party landed into a location that Sara recognized as being a cellar of Barad Eithel. Demons and a dragon-like creature were fighting another party of elves, comprised of Aleaha Takmarin, Gwestadis Snowfall, Bones and Loriel Silverspring. Our heroes joined the fray and assisted the elves in dispatching the creatures.

After the fight, both parties talked and our heroes were primed to discover some uncomfortable truths.