Darkness Over Darmshall

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Kiramay
Posts: 2

Darkness Over Darmshall

Post by Kiramay » Wed May 17, 2023 12:39 am

[This is a compilation of several posts among multiple players. Contributors: Hans, Kayro, Salty Cat, Zaxic, Kiramay, Turkish, and RemnanTaka.]

Darkness settled around Darmshall castle on the fourteenth night. Those around would feel an uneasy chill on the air and in the shadows of the castle. Even the normally peaceful forests outside the mountain seemed jagged and foreboding. One could almost swear that the shadows moved when they weren't looking.

A cold draft runs through the castle.

--

Lance liked that he could the feel stone on his feet. He'd debated getting a carpet or two for the room, but with the forge nearby it seemed risky and the floor was often heated from it. Tonight though was cold, bitter. He got into bed pulled himself tight in the blankets, but the sleep he expected didn't come. He'd been part of a rescue. He'd learned of Vincent. But what kept him awake was a sense of the future. Of uncertainty if there would be one.

--

The aspiring druid paused as she placed wild ginseng into her bag. Had something moved? She looked around and whistled for the wolf she'd tamed on the tundras, the tracker. He looked to her, then back to woods, a low growl escaping. Pongo wasn't the only animal acting strange. She could sense it. She could see it. This was how they responded to predators. "Don't be out here," she prayed, looking to the castle where she had just left notes, "Don't let them be out here in this. Keep them safe." She placed a hand on a nearby tree, another on Pongo. She stepped forward, and was gone.

--

A strange stone with a carved rune had been discovered with Aradorra during her rescue that day. It ended up in Lothian's hands as the group returned to the castle. The runes glow an eerie greenish color all through the night.

--

The darkened atmosphere becomes filled with piercing screams of anguish as Aradorra writhes and tosses in a state of unconsciousness. Throughout the entirety of the night, she remains plagued by relentless night terrors, trapped in a liminal space where awakening seems unattainable.

--

Lothian rides through the main gate after the fall of the pallor across the region. She stops in the middle of the road and turns about her summoned horse a few times before snapping into a gallop to the castle door. As she dismounts she notices the unnatural flicker of the shadows and a chill runs through her.

She dismisses her magical steed and sprints through her chamber door, locking it behind her. After a moment of catching her breath, and calming her nerves, Lothian begins to empty her pockets and stops, looking down at the glowing rune. "Well I'll be damned." She looks to the door, and checks to make sure its locked once more before taking a few steps backwards. "I think I'll wait till morning."

--

A lone lantern burns low on the desk in Amaryllis's tower. The priestess sits bundled up with a blanket in a chair beside her bed, where her sister had been tucked in upon their return. There was little a healer like her could do to tend to a tormented mind. Still, she stayed by her side and hoped a comforting presence and gentle touch could somehow chase the nightmares away. Sleep would be a luxury she did not find as she watched over the one that seemed to be trapped within it.

--

The ferry pulled into Darmshall docks, looking a bit worse for wear. It was supposed to be a quick sail to Tilverton, pick up some supplies, then ride back to Darmshall, but the weather had had other plans. He was meant to help in the rescue effort, but the ship had gotten caught in a storm and ended up running aground far west of Darmshall. He helped make repairs as best he could, but there was little they could do until the weather died down.

"Here we are, sorry bout that," said the captain of the ferry
Rey quickly climbed onto the dock, shouting back to the captain.
"No problem sir, you can't control the weather, though I wish you could!"

The air was chilly, the castle even colder. It felt empty, he heard the sounds of people in their rooms. But if felt like there was something nearby, something foreboding.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Rey, "not one bit, no sir."

He patrolled around the castle, but was unable to locate anyone out of place. "I think I'll... help out Nynette! In Edana!"

Rey rode away!

--

Eradin lies down for bed as he always does. The forge in his room is out cold. The darkness of night envelopes the room. But something seems off. His eyes stay open. He feels a familiar pang in his chest. The feeling he would get the night before a battle in the civil war. The feeling that there is something coming that cannot be prevented. Try as he might to forget it and sleep, he feels the danger looming over him. Steel will clang, fire will rage, blood will be shed.
He closes his eyes but his heart is racing. Something telling him to run. But he knows there is no running from what is coming.

--

Rey delivers resources to Nynette and then decides to prospect around Edana, but realizes he forgot his portable forge and starts riding back.

--

Rey would feel a dark aura move past him by the doors at Darmshall. It felt withering.

In the Great Hall he discovered a strange stone on the ground.

--

Lothian received the stone from Rey and places it on the writing table next to the glowing rune.
She will attempt to discern the magical properties of both of these stones.

--

As Lothian set the stones close to each other, the red one begins to glow and draw itself towards the rune. Before she has time to pull them away from each other they fuse together with a surge of energy. The rune on the crystal begins to glow now as well, casting that green light over the room.

She'd be able to determine that the rune had summoned something and was providing energy. The newly fused stone seemed to be increasing that energy output.

--

Rey strikes the stones with a pickaxe the pickaxe tip bends but there is no damage to the stones. Rey would then feel something drawing his energy from him, leaving him unable to let go of or pull away the pickaxe from the stones. Lothian helps to pull him off.

--

Come morning the castle was mostly back to normal. The sun shone and birds chirped in the forests nearby. For all intents and purposes, the morning had forgotten the night before. The stones had stopped glowing around dawn and now sat quietly in a harmless manner.

However, the world had not forgotten the night before. Those in tune with the earth would find several blighted paths through the forests, ranging from Azamul's Fortress to Darmshall and from Darmshall up towards Edana.

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