Chapter 29: Chasing Death
Once in the shadowfell, the hellraisers began their trek north to the nightwalker's haunt. On the way, Dorn and his squire Ascalan Janders were overcome with dread and became apathetic in the face of the shadowfell. Nalzmyr's patron Melegaunt suddenly became very excited and revealed that he sensed his brothers and the shadow lich Firble Gemcutter nearby. The group decided to follow melegaunt's directions and found a crumbling tower nearby. Inside the tower, they found Firble chained to the walls, mumbling to himself and violently phasing in and out of his corporeal form (parts of his body flickering into shadows). The group stepped back as Nalzmyr drew his blade, raised it into the air and struck Firble down. The sword known as souleater devoured firble's essence and freed the shade princes within him. The 6 shade princes, led by Melegaunt (now sporting a shadowy spiked crown as the new Shade Lord) manifested themselves around the party. Melegaunt, now unbound from Nalzmyr's sword, thanked the group and swore to take back the shadowfell from the Raven Queen. He promised to continue his dark gifts to Nalzmyr, then faded away along with his brothers. For Nalzmyr, his father's death was avenged and his patron was at last in his rightful place.
The group left the tower and traveled to the ruins where the red wizard Escobel had told them the nightwalker would be. They discussed their plan of action (whether they would sacrifice the cultist Jesper or destroy the nightwalker), but with Dorn afflicted with shadowfell despair the decision was made to sacrifice the cultist. They approached the ruins and presented him to the nightwalker, who strode out and devoured his soul. The giant horror of negative energy faded away back to its home, and was replaced by Szass Tam's minion who held the phylactery in his hands. The mage proved to be entirely insane, having spent untold years in the lightless negative energy plane unable to die. Dorn managed to wrestle the amulet away from him, but the mage became violent and attacked. He was no match for the hellraisers, however, and soon perished against Dorn's mighty halberd.
The hellraisers thus returned to the material plane through the same portal they had stepped through to get to the shadowfell. Back on their home plane, kathra set about destroying the phylactery. She channeled her divine power into the artifact, destroying it in a brilliant flash of light. But the negative energy contained within it reverberated through her soul, causing her to be cursed with exhaustion. No matter what she tried, no magic could rid her of it. The group then used their magic to speak with the head of the fallen deathknight from bezantur. He revealed that Myrkul compelled him to give them the location of a phylactery, and soon told them of one's location (an ancient mulani tomb to the west). They also learned that one of Tam's lieutenants (named wilfred) could be found north of Bezantur, and that the mulani tomb and phylactery were guarded by a "terror on wings" known as Boraksaghegirak.
With this information, the group traveled west towards the next phylactery. They sent a company of knights to clear the site of undead, and when they arrived they found only 3 knights had perished in the culling. They entered the tomb and found the place filled with traps and other dangers. They soon encountered several ancient mulani revenants who emerged from sarcophagi at their trespassing. Though lulu did her best and managed to disable some, they encountered several deadly traps along the way through the tomb. They cleared a room of zombies that held a cache of potions, and managed to sneak past a room filled with sarcophagi. Finally, they discovered what the death knight had meant by "terror on wings." Though lulu tried to scout ahead sneakily, she was spotted by a massive blue dracolich in the tomb's largest chamber. The dracolich roared and the entire tomb became cold and the air charged with static electricity. Access to the chamber required climbing a set of stairs, atop which the dracolich awaited them. Its frightful roar frightened all but Dorn, and Kathra found herself trapped in the stairs unable to move further out of terror (though she managed to unleash a storm of flame at the beast from afar). The dracolich unleashed its lightning breath at lulu, who deftly dodged out of the way. Before it could do much against the group, Dorn channeled his divine might to mark the dracolich as his enemy (gaining keener senses and insight against it). He unleashed a flury of attacks with his halberd, smiting the undead dragon with holy light and sending it away reeling. The dracolich flapped its wings, knocking all melee combatants down before flying further into the tomb. Kathra continued to be paralyzed with fear, but lent her aid through ranged healing magic. The group battled with the dragon back and forth as it attacked and retreated, until at last the beast was laid low by the squire Ascalan. The phylactery embedded in its skull was knocked free by his final blow, and the largely skeletal dragon became inanimate once more.
Kathra gathered the phylactery and they pressed on deeper into the tomb, seeking the dracolich's phylactery so it could be prevented from returning. But they found only Tam's phylactery (embedded in the dragon's skull for protection). They battled a mummy lord, found cursed gold (which cursed lulu with similar exhaustion) and a magical spider cloak which Nalzmyr took for himself. After battling four bodaks in the final room of the tomb, they left the tomb entirely exhausted from their ordeal. Outside, they asked one of the knight chaplains to try to destroy the phylactery, but his power was not enough and he was incinerated by the attempt. Thus Dorn took up the task and destroyed it with his divine power, though he was also cursed. All those he touched would be afflicted with necrotic energy, barring him from healing anyone with his magic (but also gaining a frightful new power). With the destruction of the second phylactery, Kathra's curse lessened. She managed to free lulu from her curse with a dispelling incantation, but no magic could free her or Dorn from their curses.
They returned to the outpost as Escalant, having succeeded in destroying two phylacteries since their arrival in the thaycreep (and with a path towards another)...
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