The Cult of the Dusk

White Sparrow seems to be a town for the adventurer. Hanging in the tavern, drinking some ale, I look around. Adventurers, commoners, all enjoying a quite evening. It has been a nice respite. While enjoying my ale, the door is kicked in. Three robed figures stand in the doorway and one begins to chant.
 
Before I can set down my ale, crashes of lightening comes through the roof striking people. Three are killed in the onslaught. The lightening is different. It is purplish-black in color. I jump behind the bar, using it to steady my aim. As patrons fall, several of us adventurers easily dispatch the attack.
 
Shortly thereafter, the local constable enters the bar. She is frazzled, frustrated, and at the end of her rope. White Sparrow being on the edge of civilization appears to be a magnet for such activity. Searching the bodies finds that the scroll is of ancient text. Apparently, it is shadow magic. That explains the lightening color.
 
The reader of the scroll apparently is a former citizen who was not happy with his life here, and he returned for abject revenge. Four of us were talking with the constable. A barbarian, a paladin and a cleric. Further discussion into these raids show the constable is just exasperated. She literally threw a bag of 400 gold pieces into my chest to pay me to handle this. her demeanor was less then appreciated, but quite understandable. I believe she is ready to move on.
 
She makes the same offer to the others. We all accept and Lo and Behold, a party is born!
 
I wonder what experience they have in this sort of thing. Our investigations show that someone is looking for something of power connected to the Shadow Plane. Their magics are shadow tainted and this adds a significant nuance to the magics we will be facing. Reading the journal of the downed cultist, we find someone named Oravin, is looking for a Library of great information. It apparently has a connection to a root of power to merge the Prime Material Plane with the Plane of Shadow. The power of such magics would be insurmountable.
 
We head off and find ourselves going subterranean. This brings back memories! I am at home down here. We arrive at a room with a map of the stars and many statues. Thrawn notices one statue has dried blood on its sword. We are wary of these animating. Investigating the mural, we find a hint. The Light of the Gods will show the way.
 
Thrawn's wisdom and connection with the Gods of light benefited us greatly. Using his light, the map then glowed, and the doors opened to a hallway further underground. We move on. Further down the hallway is a plethora of bookshelves containing books of all subjects. This must be what Oravin was looking for. There is a stone bridge crossing the chasm with many more books against the wall.
 
Thrawn and Rory see a large blood stain on the wooden bridge, with a lone sandel. A foreboding warning indeed. They both investigate. We are all surprised by a Roper!!!! My position has me safe, but the others are exposed. I remain at my position firing upon the creature. It grabs Thrawn and Rory. A long battle ensues. Eventually, we defeat the beast, but Rory is bloodied and beaten. We surmise a long rest is necessary as we spent most our resources on defeating this thing.
 
Our rest goes uneventfully. Sometimes the stars align in your favor. As we walk by these books, my intrigue is peaked. I see books on history, nature, manifestos, it is a gold mine of information. We turn the corner and apparently, one of us is pretty noisy because we here a voice call out to us, Who is There?!
 
So much for surprise. Rory heads in fast, only to get held in place. Thrawn and Thullahnyr hang back Rory gets pounded on. Using a skirmish strategy, I hit the caster who held Rory, disrupting him. Rory is free, but only a moment. Several rounds of this goes on. Im damaging the caster, but they are just healing back up. I finally tell the others, we are not going to win this attacking one at a time, GET IN THERE!
 
They agree and this turns the tide into our favor. I wasnt aware of the inexperience these two held. Rory goes down. Thrawn goes in and distracts the attention. He is taking care of minions, but the casters are formidable. Thullahnyr helps Rory who gets back up. We have whittled away at their force. I place a potion of greater healing on the ground next to Rory as I move across the field. Firing my guns my targets take hits. Some of them are grazing though.
 
Eventfully, we defeat the casters. I hope the others learned a bit from their hesitance.
 
Hanging over a pit which seems bottomless, is a safe. I try and pick the lock and fail dismally. A jolt of negative energy flows threw me. I am able to shake much of it off, but I am hurt dramatically. We decide that this evil is too powerful to leave here. We undo two of the chains and the weight of the safe pulls the pillars down. The safe falls into the pit. This thing is so deep, we dont even hear it hit bottom.
 
I hope we did the right thing. Thullahnyr, Rory and I stay in the library for a week. We find many scrolls of magic. I hope to learn them in the future. These along with a book of several fire spells makes this a profitable venture.
 
Returning to White Sparrow successful, the Constable seemed relieved but her frustration with things doesn't allow her to enjoy the victory. She shared of another issue a group of adventurers resolved just a day ago.
 
Yes, White Sparrow is a place of things happening.