View source for RPG:Campaigns/Iwaku Shardscape: Mistforme

The Iwaku Shardscape: Mistforme campaign takes place ca. 30087 Y.D. in [[Dominion Era/Locations/Termalttë|Di'Termalttë]], a few miles to the north of the border between the [[Dominion Era/Tretallë (Government)|Dominion]] and the [[Dominion Era/Elledynnë (Government)|Silvered Realm]] and is participated in by members of the [https://www.iwakuroleplay.com Iwaku] roleplay community. The story begins at a [[Dominion Era/Tretallë (Culture)|Tretalleri]] warcamp in the aforementioned location, and characters recurring in the Shardscape canon, [[Dominion Era/Garidë a'Zo-Hanyll|Garidë a'Zo-Hanyll]], [[Dominion Era/Talus a'Rendë|Talus a'Rendë]], [[Dominion Era/Dur-Uk Whitefang|Dur-Uk Whitefang]], [[Dominion Era/d'Adlan Nyrë|d'Adlan Nyrë]], [[Dominion Era/d'Loren Vysellë|d'Loren Vysellë]], and [[Dominion Era/Lady Veýs|The Lady Veýs]] appear in this particular campaign as well.

== Plot Summary ==
On the sixth Day of the Third Length of the Middling Moon of the Season of Light in 30086 Y.D., Garidë a'Zo-Hanyll decided that it was time to send a group of individuals on a mission to find and rescue, or recover, three scouts that had not only failed to appear on the appointed day, nine Days(one Length) after they left for their scouting mission, but still seemed entirely absent three days afterward. However, things do not seem to be so straightforward, and an event that had occurred only the previous night has Garidë worried.

=== The First Session ===
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''Held: 30th January, 2016''

At the beginning of the first day of the mission, five Dominion soldiers set out on their mission to find the missing scouts, headed by Talus a'Rendë, a notable figure for the service that he provided to one of the heirs presumptive, the nephew of Garidë, a young man now 67 years of age, [[Dominion Era/Zavyrr a'Zo-Hanyll (Imperator)|Zavyrr a'Zo-Hanyll]]. These five soldiers were Ellendë a'Zo-Hanyll, a child prodigy adopted into House Zo-Hanyll; Setirana, one of Di'Mârrë who cast aside his House's name upon embracing the Stranger's Gift; Jorezi, a trained assassin who, for his dark past, distanced himself from the name of his House; Lucinë a'Perida, a glorified thief whose skills were picked up by the military and put to better use; and, finally, Algor Burdik, a diminutive [[Conquest Era/IstErinin (Culture)|Dwarf]] fighter from the [[Conquest Era/Locations/IldRenn|West]], who likes alcohol almost as much as he dislikes discussing his past and the circumstances that surround his presence in the Dominion Warcamp.

No sooner than the party had entered the woods that surrounded the warcamp, they encountered two large bears. Upon further inspection, the bears turned out to not only be heavily injured but were also [[Dominion Era/Elledynnë (Culture)|Elledyn'ni]] [[Dominion Era/Elledynnë (Military)#The Warbears|Warbears]]. The party dispatched these bears rather quickly and after warning Garidë of this state of affairs, proceeded deeper into the forest where they encountered a larger Warbear, presumably that of a commander, and after killing it, discovered that its wounds came from weapons that are likely of Elledyn'ni make.

Spurred on by the possibility of dissension in the Elledyn'ni ranks, the party proceeded deeper into the forest, happening upon a clearing where three [[Dominion Era/Kut-rusk (Culture)|Faeren]], anthropomorphic wolfmen, had gathered around a small stream that flowed from a spring that emerged from a strange formation of stone in the heart of the clearing. After a tense few minutes, the party, thanks to Ellendë's quick-thinking, avoided combat with the Faerên and ended up in a tenuous alliance with the Fareni leader, Dur-Uk of the White Fang clan. Dur-Uk led the party in the direction, seemingly, of the Elledyn'ni warcamp, but half an hour into their sojourn into the forest, Dur-Uk stopped and disappeared in a raucous cacophony of snapping twigs and branches.

The party happened upon two Elledyn'ni Swordsmen, both of whom looked heavily injured and bandaged haphazardly, blue blood leaking through the coarse cloth they'd used to bind their wounds. The two Elledŷnnë swordsmen wore porcelain masks over their faces and begged for mercy as soon as they saw the party. The seemingly less-injured of the two swordsmen invoked the ancient covenant that was the [[Dominion Era/Mercy of the Prophetess|Mercy of the Prophetess]]. Ellendë attempted to attack the two, but was stopped by Talus, who ordered her to stand down.

The party then asked the Elledŷnnë questions that they thought pertinent to their mission, finding out that the masks were worn in order to hide the brutal mutilations that had been inflicted on the swordsmen as a result of their being "ugly." Before anyone could speak, when Talus left with the two Elledŷnë in tow, Dur-Uk dashed off into the forest, presumably to find the Elledyn'ni camp.

=== The Second Session ===
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''Held: 6th February, 2016''

The party, with a renewed vigour and hatred toward the Elledŷnnë, decided that it would be best to follow the path that Dur-Uk left through the forest, if only for a little while due to the damage that they had sustained from the battles they had just fought. The party discovered that the two Elledyn'ni swordsmen had left behind a pair of swords, one gilded and the other silvered. Once the party was able to discern the magical nature of the items, a lengthy argument was sparked between Algor, Setirana, and Ellendë over ownership of the new weapons, which ultimately ended with the prodigy gaining the weapons.

A little ways down the path, the party encountered a fork in the forest. To the east, the party was able to discern the sounds of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of blades rasping and grinding against each other. to the west, there was nothing of the sort. The party, nursing its injuries, began to journey to the west, except for Algor, who had noticed that there were no voices among the blades and wanted to eliminate any threat, if there was one, that could come up behind them. After a brief battle with [[RPG:Monsters/Blademane Colt|a strange creature]] that looked like a tiny horse whose body was made of a steel frame and had a mane made of thousands of razor sharp steel blades, where the creature, defeated, dissolved into a single mote of grayish-white light, the party discovered a campsite that they could stay in to nurse their wounds before continuing on their journey.

As the party rested, Dur-Uk returned to them, rather distraught. He had found the Elledyn'ni camp, but it was empty. After being lured into a game of dice where he lost one platinum piece, Dur-Uk grew violently ill. Despite the party's best attempts, the only things they could find that could point to Dur-Uk's condition were droplets of liquid metal on his paw. Dur-Uk and the party decided to bed down for the night, with Lucinë taking the first watch. Lucinë's watch proved uneventful, and Ellendë took the next watch.

Halfway into Ellendë's watch, three large hulking wolves padded into the camp without Ellendë noticing. A brief fight broke out between Ellendë, Jorezi, whom she had woken up, and the wolves. Talus, the two Elledŷnnë swordsmen, and another soldier, Ifan a'Dorivë, entered the battle. Just as Ellendë was about to strike the final blow on one of the wolves, Dur-Uk awoke and stopped the fight, revealing that the wolves were not simply wolves, but were the bestial ancestors of the Faeren. There was a brief attempt at recruiting the wolves to the Tretalleri cause, but Dur-Uk made it clear that the [[RPG:Monsters/Fen Primal|Fen Primals]], as they were called, did not know the meaning of allegiance.

After this, the party spoke with Talus to discuss his return. It became quickly clear that Talus had come with a change in the objective of their mission. They were to find the Elledŷnnë and put an end to whatever plot was brewing. The two swordsmen, who revealed themselves to be Adlan and Loren, had come with Talus in order to aid the party because they wanted revenge. Ifan was an arbalest that Garidë assigned to aid in the new mission. By the time that everything had been settled, the party discovered that the three Fen Primals had already made away with some eight pounds of bear meat between them.

The party settled down again to sleep, with Jorezi taking the watch. Talus, who was not sleeping, walked up to Jorezi and cryptically asked after an item that Jorezi had in his possession. Talus, mysteriously commented that Jorezi should keep the object safe for it would come in handy in the next few days. Overhearing the strange conversation, Ellendë pursued the topic with Talus, who took her and Jorezi aside to talk. Talus revealed that he was not the same Talus as the one that was born in this world and timeline, for he was born in another place and another time, and the Talus of this world had died 10 years prior to the beginning of the mission. Talus related some of his story to Ellendë and Jorezi but did not tell all of it.

While the conversation was happening, the rest of the party was attacked by bubbles of [[RPG:Monsters/Quicksilver Mote|quicksilver]] that poisoned them upon contact. The battle was fierce but quick, the motes destroyed with single attacks. When the ordeal was over, the party settled down again, deciding to face whatever it was that they needed to face in the morning. The next day, the party debated whether to head east, where the motes had come from, or west, where Dur-Uk had found the Elledyn'ni camp. In the end, the party decided to go east and discovered a large swathe of forest either ill, dying, or dead.

The party fought more of the quicksilver motes and conquered them rather quickly. Moving forward, the party discovered a large rift in the fabric of reality through which a horse some sixteen feet tall, made entirely of steel, bearing a mane of blades, emerged and attacked. After an arduous battle, the party was able to fell the beast. The party took a brief rest after the battle, during which Setirana approached the portal and was whisked away to some other time ''or'' place, and saw a disturbing vision of the Tretalleri Warcamp. At Talus' behest, the party rode back to the Warcamp, only to find that what Setirana had seen had already come to pass and that the dust was only just settling.

Fortunately, it seemed as though Garidë and some of his men had survived, but before any discussions could be had, three Elledŷnnë emerged from the ruins of the Warcamp, weapons at the ready.

=== The Third Session ===
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''Held: 13th February, 2016''

Surprised by the sudden arrival of two [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Swordsman|Elledyn'ni Swordsmen]] and an [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Tallbowman|Elledyn'ni Tallbowman]], the party was unable to act before the Elledŷnnë launched an attack against them. Fortunately, there were two individuals that had been alert: Garelantë, a battlepriest of Di'Khitêýfë, a sect of the Faith of the Nine that revolved around the worship of the Darkness, the Rider, and the Maiden, and Lucian, a druid that had been wandering in the nearby area when he heard the sound of earth shifting and the screams of men.

During the battle, one of Garidë's men attempted to attack Adlan, but before that man could even deal damage to Adlan, he met his gruesome end, exploding in a shower of blood and viscera that Talus noted as the price of violating the Mercy of the Prophetess. Eventually, with the help of Garelantë and Lucian, the party was able to defeat the Elledŷnnë. Garidë approached Ellendë, having noticed the blades that she wielded. Garidë said that he would allow Ellendë to keep the weapons on the condition that she, eventually, sanctify them to the Stranger. Garidë also indicated that he wished to take his men to the nearest town, [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar|Thirë Gallethar]]. To that end, he asked that Algor and Lucinë accompany his troop in case they encounter any difficulty on the way.

Talus was torn between going with the general and the party, but Garidë told him that perhaps it was for the best if Talus accompanied the party instead. Garidë gave the party two options: to continue on their mission or to go down into the ruins of the camp to rescue the survivors that Garidë had been unable to save, and then left, saying that it would be best if they got on their way before the sun set. Dur-Uk arrived shortly afterward, while the party was taking a brief rest and expressed great interest in hunting down the Elledŷnnë that had initiated the camp's destruction. The party decided to descend the seven-foot drop into camp and after a comedy of errors on the part of a few party members, managed to enter the camp without much injury.

Upon doing so, the party encountered a [[RPG:Monsters/Flickerwolf|wolf]] made of glass that popped into existence in front of them, and then disappeared moments later. The party decided to pursue the wolf, and, in doing so, wandered deeper into the camp. A preternatural mist began to flood their surroundings, and the Flickerwolf engaged the party in a battle that saw yet more spectacular failures from party members—such as Garelantë striking at the wolf's head only for the warhammer to bounce off and hit him in the face. After the Flickerwolf was disposed of, the party proceeded deeper into the mist, where Dur-Uk's keen sense of smell led the party to two more Tallbowmen that they quickly dispatched.

As the preternatural mist thickened, the party noticed that Talus was beginning to become more and more unsettled. He expressed that perhaps they should not have come down into the camp, and that this mist phenomenon could not be good. The party argued about staying or hunting the Elledŷnnë that remained, during which Lucian heard the sounds of executions all about him but did not say a word to the party. Impatient, Dur-Uk left the party to venture deeper into the camp. Eventually, the party came to realize that Talus had disappeared, only footprints and a massive claw-mark in the ground remained where he had been standing mere moments ago.

Garelantë, standing to one side of the party, noticed a glowing wisp dancing in the mist, and was enthralled by its appearance. He managed to shake off the wisp's influence, but not before Ifan was struck by it, and then Ellendë after him. The two managed to snap out of their trance, but by then, Loren had been caught. By the time that the party managed to get its bearings back, they had travelled quite a ways into the west. They came upon Dur-Uk, looking at his paws with a distraught look, and Talus, bleeding and unconscious at his feet. Dur-Uk claimed that he did not mean for what had happened to happen, that he had thought Talus was Elledyn'ni, but did not get much time to argue his case as Ellendë heard the sounds of a child screaming for help.

Without wasting time, Ellendë dashed toward the sound, while Garelantë attempted to stop her. When Garelantë caught up with the prodigy, he too heard the sound and could not resist the impulse to protect. Together, the two launched a blindingly-fast assault on the Elledŷnnë that were tormenting the child and two other Tretâllë, the party right behind them. During the brutal battle, one of the Elledŷnnë, a [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Bowmaster|Bowmaster]] turned to the child and launched a volley of three attacks against it. Adlan, fortunately, was able to get in the way, taking the three arrows and immediately falling unconscious from the severe pain caused by the attack.

Jorezi brutally decapitated the Bowmaster, ending the violence. The party decided to take a brief rest to gather their bearings and to discuss what they needed to do with the child, who had just revealed that there were other children, each potentially in danger, in the camp.

=== The Fourth Session ===
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''Held: 20th February, 2016''

Thanks in no small part to a prayer of healing from Garelantë, the party was able to head out from their small fortified position to seek out the other children, but not before Algor, the only dwarf in the party. Algor had been given an order to return to the party by Garidë, whose men had encountered another troop of survivors from the camp. Garidë had been confident that they had the strength in numbers needed to reach the town safely, and had thus sent Algor back to aid the effort at the camp.

Shortly after leaving the confines of the tent that they had been using as temporary shelter, the party encountered an ambush from two Elledŷnnë who weren't entirely corporeal or alive. After dispatching these creatures, but not before taking some significant damage, the party proceeded deeper into the camp, encountering another seven-foot drop that nearly all members of the party, save Dur-Uk and Jorezi tragically fell down from. They found themselves face to face with a rough stone wall that extended well beyond what they could see in the limited vision afforded to them by the mist. They followed this wall until Lucian, Ellendë, and Jorezi all heard the sounds of children subjected to terrifying things.

The party split in two, having heard cries for help from two different directions. After dispatching two flickerwolves and two [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Blademaster|Elledyn'ni Blademasters]] the party were able to rescue both children and a number of other Dominion soldiers that were in extremely rough shape. After some arguing about whether to continue or not, the party decided to hunker down in a nearby area enclosed by the stone walls that had risen from the ground as a result of the magic that had torn the camp asunder. Garelantë was not pleased, but the others were injured enough by the previous fight that rushing headlong into what was probably another battle was simply not in their best interests.

Begrudgingly, Garelantë and a few of the soldiers that had agreed with him made their way into the small encampment where a fire had been set up, and food started cooking. There was some sparse conversation around the campfire, the party looking through what they had managed to pick up from their fallen foes. Even with Dominion soldiers present, the party had decided that taking up Elledyn'ni weapons was acceptable, for the time being, as a desperate measure in a desperate time. Algor received a shortsword enchanted with cold fire, to add to the two daggers made of ice that Jorezi had managed to retrieve from one of the earlier, half-incorporeal foes that the group had faced.

When everyone had settled down, it was Ellendë who took the first watch. Lucian meditated in a corner, while Ifan tinkered with his crossbow bolts. Ifan took the next watch, although everything was quickly derailed when a series of visions, flashbacks, and images assaulted the party. Those who were awake found themselves gripped with an unearthly fear, while those who had been asleep woke up in a cold sweat from the insidious nightmares that had manifested in their dreams. The party talked, sharing stories about the visions they had seen to help calm themselves, and after a few minutes, Ellendë attempted to raise the morale of all those in the small camp by singing a Tretalleri warsong which, it seemed, Lucian was ''quite'' familiar with.

Jorezi was not impressed and attempted to convince the party to shut up as they were making noise that could attract unwanted attention. After a while, the singing came to a stop and those that could attempted to go back to sleep, while those that couldn't kept a close watch on the surroundings. A few hours later, unable to tell the time because of the thick mist that shrouded the party's vision, everyone came to. The soldiers that the party had rescued said that they could not, in good conscience, go further and bring the children potentially closer to even greater danger. The party agreed, and Lucian accompanied the group of soldiers and children a little ways back in the same direction that the party had come from, retrieving something that had been left behind in the tent that the party had used earlier.

When the party reconvened, they proceeded further, into a cave that Dur-Uk had discovered prior to the party hunkering down for a few hours.

It was eerily quiet within the cave. The party discovered an Elledyn'ni camp inside, but it was all abandoned. There was no sign of life, and the party was able to make it through the cave without much trouble, until they reached an area where a rather large amount of water had gathered in a subterranean pool. They came into contact with a [[RPG:Monsters/Cave Terjaldullë|Cave Terjaldullë]], a tentacled monstrosity that resided in that large underground body of water. The fight was brief, but brutal, with Ellendë pinning the beast to the back wall of the cave with three arrows.

The party proceeded deeper into the cave, eventually coming upon what seemed to be a dead end. Walls of stone sealed the party in, and an [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Warmaster|Elledyn'ni Warmaster]], [[Dominion Era/d'Dalen Hyrda|d'Dalen Hyrda]], seemingly materialized from out of nowhere. The mist was warded away by a single burning flame that hovered over the water of the pool that gathered in the middle of the cavern. Filled with rage because of what had happened at the camp, the party assaulted Dalen and the four other Elledŷnnë that he had brought with him.

Dalen struck down quite a few of the party, his power almost overwhelming for the Dominion soldiers. And yet, it seemed, there was a benevolent presence watching over the Tretâllë, something ensuring that they would not die that day. When the four other Elledŷnnë with Dalen had been killed, Dalen himself fled the scene, leaving the party to regroup after the arduous battle.

With Dalen gone, the party gathered its bearings, and those who had been felled, Ellendë, Dur-Uk, Jorezi, and Setirana said that they had all seen the same vision as they lay in the limbo between life and death. There was a woman, dressed in red, bathed in crimson light, just watching and smiling at them. Dur-Uk immediately claimed that it was the Lady Veýs, and mere minutes after that, the water in the middle of the cave turned red as iron-rich blood and a voice rang out, saying "Find me."

=== The Fifth Session ===
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''Held: 27th February, 2016''

Somber and demoralized by the relative loss that they suffered at the hands of Dalen and his men, the party trudged away from the site of their near-fall. Dur-Uk, for once, urged the party to leave the cave as fast as possible, acting on the instinct that the cave was the only way that the Elledŷnnë had to leave the site of the camp—an instinct that, in his mind, was supported by the fact that Dalen was able to make a quick escape once things started turning bad for him. Talus commented that for once, he was in complete agreement with Dur-Uk and slowly, the party made their way out of the cave.

The trip was not without its trials. Not long after passing by the small lake they had fought the Terjaldullë around, the party encountered an [[RPG:Monsters/Elledyn'ni Treesinger|Elledyn'ni]] individual who used an powerful spell of light in self-defense. That Elledyn'ni individual managed to burn away the mist long enough for Jorezi to notice a pulsing read pearl on the individual's injured arm which later exploded when the Elledynnë was hit by a red beam. Wary and somewhat afraid, the party slowly crept along the wall, hearing the sounds of Elledŷnnë in the vicinity and fearing whatever it was that had just caused an explosion that completely evaporated the Elledyn'ni individual that they had come across mere moments earlier.

Inevitably, the party was drawn into the conflict when the beast that had been attacking the Elledŷnnë fired another concussive beam at a nearby figure that turned out to be an Elledyn'ni Bowmaster. The party found itself facing a group of Elledynnë, clearly returning from the fight from above ground, as well as a strange beast that seemed to be made of a large maw set into the earth, with teeth made of jagged crystals, and four menacing eyes supported by stalks that rose from a single fleshy mass that could easily be mistaken for a mound of stone. The battle was lengthy and difficult, but the party only just managed to make it through, thanks in no small part to strange happenings happening in the mist around them, such as large blistered, pustuled, pus-dripping hands appearing from the mist to grab Elledŷnnë and kill them in cold blood.

Bruised and battered, the party headed onward, although much more wary now that they had encountered Elledŷnnë that were returning to the cave. They marched onward until from out of the mist, a strange creature attacked them. It seemed to be an Elledyn'ni Swordsman, only made out of mist instead of flesh, and wielding mirror-bladed swords instead of gold and silver. Jorezi was unable to perceive the threat until it was too late, and the creature struck him twice, each strike cleaving an imperfect reflection of Jorezi from him, each sculpted from the thick mist that still surrounded the party. Though the battle was brief, it left the party unsettled. The mist was growing thicker and with that thickening, more and more events of the supernatural sort were beginning to take place around them.

Dur-Uk urged the party on, but after a gentle reminder from Ellendë and Jorezi that he was heavily injured, Dur-Uk capitulated and asked that the party take a few minutes to rest so that he could lick his wounds. After the fifteen or so minutes that it took for Dur-Uk to recover his strength to some degree of satisfaction, he and the party made their way out of the cave, thankfully, with no other encounters as they did. Above-ground, the party decided to explore what remained of the camp, though there was a consensus among party members that they should not stray too far from the path that they knew out of the camp.

As the party emerged from the cave, Ifan saw a vision through the mist. He saw the moment when the terrifying nightmare that had visited him on his watch the previous day had come upon him. He found the sight strange and unnerving. The party did not know what to make of the information, until Ellendë saw a vision of herself talking to the deathriders that had defended a scared child the day before. What had been an agreement to explore the camp turned into a desire to escape it as quick as possible. With the mist still thickening, and preternatural things happening with increasing occurrence, the party was rightfully afraid. The party decided to skirt the edge of the cliff that they had descended to get to the cave, and saw nothing for a while, until they came upon a pillar rising from the earth.

The pillar was made of rough-hewn stone, but that was not what made it grotesque. Instead, what made it horrifying was the sheer amount of Tretalleri bodies pinned to it in all sorts of wicked and torturous ways. Some were pinned to the stone with arrows, others with spears, and yet others with spikes made seemingly of the earth itself. More disturbingly, still, were the two bodies that faced the party directly. These were not Tretalleri. They were Elledyn'ni. Two familiar men were pinned to the stone with arrows, Their hands were placed together on the stone and held there by a spear driven through the palms. The faces were unmistakable. They were Adlan and Loren. Briefly afraid, the party had to confirm that Adlan and Loren were still alive and well.

A ripple passed through the mist and the eyes of the dead all came alight with eldritch power, streaming green, and black, and silver coruscating mist as they all twisted their heads to look upon the mortals that beheld them. As quick as the vision had come, it disappeared. The party was unsettled, but none more so than Dur-Uk who walked to the pillar—which was apparently bare and free of any dead bodies—and touched a particular spot as though lost in thought. When pressed for why he had done so, Dur-Uk explained, in a roundabout manner, to Ellendë that he had seen her body among the dead.

The party encountered another glittering maw not too long after that, and then an Elledyn'ni Blademaster made of mist. This one wielded a mirror-bladed greatsword that cleaved a mistforme Elledyn'ni swordsman from Ifan. The battle was rather quick but brutal, the party surviving relatively healthy but not unscathed. During this time, the party came upon the corpses of the deathriders that had defended the children—the same ones that the party had sent to take the children back to Thirë Gallethar. There were concerns that the children had died with the deathriders, but there was no trace of them.

The party left the camp with haste as the mist grew ever thicker, and tentacles from an eldritch, elder monstrosity attacked Lucian, with Ifan as a witness. After a brief scramble up the sheer sides of the seven-foot drop created by Elledyn'ni magic, the party managed to fully escape the ruined camp and the preternatural things that had accompanied it. Up on stable ground, the party ran into the three children that they had saved, as well as the two soldiers that had been with them. All were safe, if a little banged-up.

It was Setirana that had the wisdom to look back at the ruined camp. What he saw visibly startled him and shook him to his core. Where there had been thick, obscuring, suffocating mist was now only clear air filled with motes of still-settling dust. In the distance was the pillar that they had come upon while making their retreat from camp. In their vision, the pillar had returned to being a simple formation of rock that reached for the sky, but the one that he bore witness to was covered in dead bodies—like the ones that the party had seen in their shared vision.

Unwilling to let the sight in the distance drag their morale even further down, the party decided to take the children and the soldiers to Thirë Gallethar, the nearest town Garidë had said he would take his men to. Dur-Uk bade the party farewell at this point, saying that their experiences together, below in the camp, had made clear to him that he had been acting selfishly. Dur-Uk states that as the alpha of his pack, and a face rising to prominence in his clan, he had responsibilities to his people that he had thus far been neglecting. He did, however, say that he would be present at the spot where he and the party first met should he be needed.

Over the next two days, the party managed to make its way to Thirë Gallethar without much trouble. What should have been a day's ride at most was delayed by the presence of the children and the fact that the soldiers they were with were rather injured. Upon arriving at Thirë Gallethar, the party was stopped by the guardsmen on watch by one of the town's three main thoroughfares. Ellendë used her house name as a concise explanation of what the party was and who they were. The guardsmen suggested that the party visit the military encampment just outside Thirë Gallethar before proceeding deeper into the town, and the disdainful looks the guardsmen shot at Adlan and Loren were explanation enough on the matter of why.

At the military encampment, the party was separated from the people they rescued, since the children and the soldiers decided to go their own way. At the command tent, the party encountered Garidë, again, who expressed relief and surprise at the party's arrival. It wasn't long before the party noticed that the general had taken on a secondary position at the command table, sitting to one side of it instead of at its head. It was Talus who, upon entering, fell prostrate at the foot of the table, demanding that the party show some respect for the heir apparent [[Dominion Era/Zavyrr a'Zo-Hanyll (Imperator)|Zavyrr a'Zo-Hanyll]]. Zavyrr, however, turned out to have a much more lenient personality than Talus' actions indicated.

Garidë wanted to debrief the party immediately, but Zavyrr saw the stress of battle and travel on the party and decided to give them the remainder of the day to rest before such a thing happened. Zavyrr recommended that the party visit the [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar#Academy of Arcanology|Academy of Arcanology]] to register the magical weapons that they carried with them, now entirely legal due to the fact that the Dominion was now officially at war with the Silvered Realm. Before the party left, Zavyrr had a final word with Algor, whom he'd heard a number of things about, and informed Algor that [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar#The Wanderer's Boot|The Wanderer's Boot]] was an establishment in the town, a tavern run by an [[Dominion Era/A'Drekh (Culture)|A'Drekh]] manager, that had some of the best alcohol in the region. Talus left the party since Zavyrr wanted to speak to him.

The party made its way to the Academy of Arcanology with the expectation that the building would be rather grand and imposing, only to find that it was a, for lack of better terms, large rundown shack. Within, the party encountered [[Dominion Era/Tiris a'Torilë|Tiris]], an aging Di'Marrë, an old Trigallarë behind the counter, [[Dominion Era/Artan a'Madar|Artan a'Madar]], and an [[Dominion Era/A'Drekh (Military)#The Fireshapers|A'Drekh Fireshaper]] who was fastidiously cleaning the counter: [[Dominion Era/Gorvesh Volgos Disrekh|Volgos Disrekh]]. During the conversation with the members of the Academy of Arcanology, the party discovered three things that may or may not help them on their journey onward:

Moonfire, the blade that was found and given to Algor was found to be a weapon imbued with druidic, instead of arcane magic. Artan noted that such a weapon hasn't been seen in hundreds of years. Artan also noted that rather curiously, what should have seemed like ancient Elledyn'ni or Aen{{sub|e}}ve'ni craftsmanship looked more like modern Elledyn'ni work, despite the fact that no Elledyn'ni blademasters had seen the field of war in centuries. Nevertheless, Algor was not required to pay the fee for Moonfire, but was still required to register with the [[Dominion Era/Locations/Ifatallë Cselvë#The Grand Rookery|The Grand Rookery]] for the sake of documentation.

The arcane magic of other races, such as the magic that allowed Volgos to do his fireshaping, was not illegal in the Dominion, and that the restriction only applied to those with Tretalleri blood. As a result, the magical weapons that Adlan possessed were in a bit of a grey area with regard to Dominion law. As a result, Artan noted that he would have to consult with his superiors before any action was taken with the items.

Finally, the party discovered that the bow which they had obtained from one of the Elledyn'ni bowmasters simultaneously possessed and did ''not'' possess arcane magic. Artan and Volgos both claimed that the weapon had some sort of arcane magical property, but Tiris wondered what the fuck the two were talking about because there was ''clearly'' nothing arcane about the magic that surrounded the bow. To illustrate his point, Tiris used the Di'Marrë spell ''Call Iron'' around the counter and demonstrated that in fact, the anti-Tretallë enchantment on the bow was not interfered with in the least.

Before leaving the Academy of Arcanology, the party inquired about the Temple to the Pale God, and were directed to [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar#Madra Gallar|Madra Gallar]]. Madra Gallar was the name of the large structure that stood to one corner of the estate wherein the Academy was situated. Volgos noted that it was the place where much of Thirë Gallethar's lore and knowledge was kept. It was also the place where many of the children went to have their education.

The party asked Artan if there were any places to stay for the night in the town, and were given two options, [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar#The Wurmshead|the Wurmshead]] inn, or [[Dominion Era/Locations/Thirë Gallethar#D'Garro Anra Deýla|D'Garro Anra Deýla]], the farmstead of the matron Deýla. The party elected to visit the Wurmshead where they found out that Thirë Gallethar was experiencing rather troubling economic times that were beginning to bleed into the food supply. Marta, the innkeep, noted that the hunters were being cowardly and refusing to go hunt because the forest was supposedly filled with beasts gone mad.

Ellendë and Ifan had a conversation with the hunters who informed them that there were red horned beasts lurking in the woods capable of goring and instantly killing even Irsë, a local species of large bear often caught and domesticated by the Elledyn'ni for use as warmounts. Shortly thereafter, Ellendë and Lucian made their way back to the Academy to ask about an item they had forgotten, an arrow with a blood red shaft as well as fletching and an arrowhead that were pitch black.

=== The Sixth Session ===
{{main|RPG:Campaigns/Iwaku Shardscape: Mistforme/The 6th Session|l1=The 6th Session}}
''Held: 5th March, 2016''

After taking dinner at the Wurmshead inn, Ellendë, Garelantë and Ifan made their way to Madra Gallar and inquired about information to do with the Temple to the Pale God. At this time, it was rather late into the night and few people were still up. Fortunately, the party encountered Thira a'Gallar, the headmistress of the school in the manor, and Danil a'Tadhar, the head librarian of the town's archives. The party was led down into the depths of the manor, where it turned out that the books were being kept in relative darkness, the humidity of the area precisely controlled to help keep the documents preserved for longer. The party discovered that the librarian Danil was in fact a Di'Marrë, who cast blood magic upon them so that they could see better in the dim red light of the subterranean archive.

While there, the three members of the party were able to discern a number of helpful hints as to the location of the Temple to the Pale God. At first, the clues they found gave them an area about a hundred miles in radius centred on the ruined camp that they had just left, which was too large an area to comb through, even if they were not pressed for time. However, a good bit of insight, that the Temple to the Pale God was built on Dominion territory, allowed the party to eliminate the region to the south of [[Dominion Era/Locations/Rodë Qadë|Rodë Qadë]], the river that marks the shared border between the Dominion and the Silvered Realm. Further investigation eliminated the area to the east of the camp for lack of iron deposits, which were said to be places where the Lady Veýs' creatures gathered. Finally, the party was able to reduce the area to a 25 mile radius slice in the northwest section of the original circle around the camp before having to adjourn for the night.

On the way back to the inn, Ifan noticed a wagon headed off into the distance. He went in pursuit of it but could not get close enough to discern whose wagon it was and for what reason it had decided to take off in the middle of the night. His investigation did not go unseen, and a man named [[Dominion Era/Adramides Aemon|Adramides Aemon]] encountered him. It turned out that the man on the wagon was [[Dominion Era/Merenaile Adar|Merenaile Adar]], the owner of the town's self-styled "general" store. Adramides expressed that he had no idea why it was that Meren had decided to leave, but reassured Ifan that there was no reason for him to worry since the old man was mostly harmless, if a bit dangerously obsessive at times.

Deciding that it was fruitless, Ifan returned to the inn and the rest of the party settled down for the night. The next morning, the party attempted to visit the general store to buy supplies, but it turned out that the shop was "closed for business but open for inquiries" since Meren had expressly forbidden Adramides from selling anything without his presence. Adramides expressed frustration at the fact, but said that his hands were tied anyway. During this time, Ellendë was in the military encampment outside of Thirë Gallethar, visiting an old friend, Averrë.

The party, remembering that they were due for a meeting with the heir presumptive, decided to head on down to the military encampment after the fruitless endeavour at the general store. They entered the command tent, with Ellendë in tow, who at this point had been told cryptically by Garidë to trust Zavyrr. Much to the party's surprise, they found themselves facing a Court Martial for having served under a commanding officer who is under suspicion of being a traitor. Furthermore, the party was charged with neglecting the sacred duty of burying the dead. As a result, the party was summarily suspended from active military duty—not dismissed because of Zavyrr's plea for leniency, but nonetheless removed from front-line duty in the war that had been sparked with the Silvered Realm.

After the Lords General had left the command tent, Zavyrr turned to the party and commended them for utterly failing at defending themselves from the charges raised against them. He marvelled at their political ineptness and said that he could not have hoped for a better performance. He revealed that he had talked with Talus and decided that indeed, the threat of the Mistforme creatures was too great to be ignored. However, he realized that with the military bureaucracy hanging over the party, they would never get to do what was necessary to put a stop to that threat. So, as a result, Zavyrr manipulated events to result in their ejection from active duty to form a secret task force with the responsibility of uncovering the secrets of the mist and its preternatural presence.

After being dismissed, the party had to decide between going after the star that they had heard about or heading to the Temple to the Pale God. Ultimately, the party decided that they could not do either without getting supplies—since the military was no longer going to supply them. They decided to go after Meren and headed immediately to the northwest, the direction that they had seen Meren head out. They followed the trail of Meren's wagon to the forest, only to find the vehicle under attack by a normally nocturnal beast, the [[RPG:Monsters/Dalgur|Dalgur]]. Although the party attacked the Dalgur, the beast ignored them and kept attacking the wagon until such time that a mirror within the wagon leaked a mist of coruscating green, and black, and silver, which swept across the form of the Dalgur, crystallizing parts of its flesh and turning it hostile against the party.

The party executed the Dalgur with impunity and harvested some of its parts before investigating the mirror within the wagon. Magic was attempted to destroy the mirror, but it did not seem to work. Nothing the party could think of worked until Ifan shot an iron crossbow bolt at the mirror's surface, shattering it, but not without an explosion of energy that dropped many of the party to their knees. The mirror left a crater in the ground lined with a greenish residue that seemed to vastly accelerate the aging of objects that touched it. Disgruntled and unsettled by the experience but unwilling to give up, the party forged ahead.

They came upon an abandoned farmhouse and although the first instincts of the warriors in the party had them suspecting that the farmhouse had been abandoned because of the mist, they came to realize that the farmhouse had simply been abandoned for other reasons. While there, however, the party discovered that all reflective surfaces were brimming with the same green, black, and silver mist that had corrupted the Dalgur from earlier. Although no threat seemed to be present, the party decided to move on to attempt to find Meren—whom they had originally suspected to be behind the mirror, but now they realize was just a victim of it.

They found Meren in the middle of a clearing, tending to two Crimson Stags, beasts that the hunters from Thirë Gallethar had warned the party about. However, instead of Meren being gored by the beasts, it seemed as though they were rather pleasant with him. Meren was petting one of the regal creatures when the party entered the clearing. After a brief conversation about the Temple to the Pale God, the prophetess, and the beasts that were in the clearing, the party, along with Meren, decided to head back to Thirë Gallethar, only to find that it was encircled by a wall of mist.

=== The Seventh Session ===
{{main|RPG:Campaigns/Iwaku Shardscape: Mistforme/The 7th Session|l1=The 7th Session}}
''Held: 12th March, 2016''

Although Ellendë wanted to charge ahead to find Averrë and keep her safe, it was, to the surprise of everyone, Meren that reined the party in. Demonstrating some knowledge of the eldritch anomalies surrounding the mist, Meren declared that only magic could harm the creatures that dwelled within the mist. Keeping the members of the party with no magical weapons at the centre of the formation, Meren called his own weapons out. In one hand, he held a wooden rod that extended into a staff topped with a blue crystal that began to glow with the radiance of the sun, while in the other he levitated three bronze balls that came alight with burning flame. Meren led the way through the mist, burning it away with the intense light of his staff.

As the party made its way through the thick wall of mist, they were assailed from all sides by phantom beasts that sapped the very energy that kept them alive. It was Meren that came to the party's defense, the burning bronze balls whipping about them in the mist, destroying the beasts that dared to appear before they could do more harm than they did on their first appearance. After fighting their way through the mist, the party came to realize that they had entered the town from the southwest, contrary to the direction of the forest, which was to the northwest. The men atop the watchtowers expressed some concerns about the wall of mist that had surrounded the town, but the town itself did not seem to be inundated in the same thick, supernatural mist that had formed the wall.

The party decided to split up for a little while to take care of things in the town before departing for the Temple to the Pale God. One group headed off with Meren to the general store where they stocked up on supplies that they needed for their journey south, and inquired about a number of things—particularly the crystal teeth that the party had managed to retrieve from the glittering maw they had fought in the ruined camp. Meren said that he knew nothing of the teeth, but that he was more than glad to buy the object in order to study it closer. When Lucian asked about Meren's staff, Meren directed Lucian to the Academy of Arcanology where Artan was more than happy to accept Lucian's request for a staff like Meren's.

Jorezi, on the other hand, headed to Madra Gallar in pursuit of books or stories about mirrors. He did not find much, other than a cautionary tale used to keep children in line where an unruly child, who acted up during the Lighting of the Lamps, fell into his mirror while his reflection took over the life that he had left behind. Ellendë and Garelantë headed to the warcamp in search of Averrë, and although Ellendë experienced a brief moment of concern when Averrë's tent turned out to be empty, she eventually managed to find her friend who was helping the camp's healers pack up the physicians' pavilion. In doing so, however, Ellendë discovered that Averrë had become aware of the presence of the mist behind reflective surfaces and she emphatically warned her friend to stay away from it.

Afterwards, the party regrouped at the inn, buying expensive rations before heading to one of the farms with the intention of helping out the farmers in any way that they can. However, the matriarch of the farmstead, Anra Deýla, said that there was very little ''anyone'' could do short of changing the weather. Deýla expressed concern that the winter was coming earlier than anyone had ever expected, since they were still in the middle of the Season of Light. Unable to help, the party departed and bought horses and tack from the town stables. By the time that they left Thirë Gallethar, the mist had dissipated and the town was in the clear once again.

On their journey south, the party encountered a [[RPG:Monsters/Kirthik|Kirthik]], a relatively large beast of prey that is mostly found only around the [[RPG:Monsters/Drake|Drakes]] that make their home in and around the [[Dominion Era/Locations#The Shrouded Peaks|Shrouded Peaks]]. Although the creature managed to injure Ifan rather seriously before being taken down, the party had little trouble dealing with it. The next day, Ifan urged the group to leave the area with haste, as he knew that the presence of one Kirthik likely signalled the presence of more—and perhaps, more worryingly, it was also a clear sign that a Drake and its mate had roosted nearby.

The party broke camp and made their way to the meeting place with Dur-Uk whom they came upon fighting off Kirthik. The party rid the area of the Kirthik but not before realizing that lightning only made the beast stronger. Dur-Uk said that the tower his people had been staying at had been taken over by the Drakes and that, for the time being, the Faeren were relocating. He said that his talents were wasted with his people and that his warriors could handle themselves, and although Dur-Uk was not being entirely truthful at the time, either the party did not notice or no one wished to speak up about it. Together, Dur-Uk and the party made their way to the first of a couple of sites that Ifan and Garelantë had determined were potential locations for the Temple to the Pale God.

The first location was a bust, and while travelling to their second, the party was sidetracked by an inaccurate reading of the map on the part of Garelantë. They found their way to a clearing where they saw the empty damaged armour of Tretalleri scouts. Although they could have been any scouts, the fact that there were three was pretty damning evidence that the three empty sets of armour they had found were the remains of the three scouts. The situation turned even darker when Garelantë noticed, inside the empty shells of the armour, the same green residue as they had seen from the explosion of the mirror in Meren's wagon. Concerned, unsettled, and with a renewed sense of purpose, the party forged onward.

The second site turned out to be a false lead again, although this time, Ellendë prayed to the prophetess for intervention, at which point a Crimson Stag appeared out of the woodwork and seemed to beckon the party onward. The party followed the Crimson Stag until it vanished, but not before they noticed a clearing up ahead. They entered the clearing and saw, in the distance, an almost monolithic structure of black rock that rose high into the sky. Atop it were the ruins of a statue, and in front, seemingly painted on, was the likeness of a set of doors. The party found no way to enter the structure until Ellendë attempted to scoop up blood from a nearby pool of it and ended up encountering an abomination born of the pool.

The party took a while to realize the weakness of the beast, as most attacks seemed to pass through it unharmed. It was not until Jorezi struck the creature with ice from his Glacii that it began to show signs of weariness and the party's attacks began to actually hit it. Once the aberration was vanquished, Lucian found a black pebble at the bottom of the pool. Upon closer inspection of the black stone structure, Lucian found a small depression at ist base that the pebble fit into perfectly. The paintings on the stone seemed to come alive, stone grinding as the doors that were drawn onto the stone became physical doors. At that moment, the party noticed that this portion of the structure was part of a much, much larger structure that was by now ruined.

Beyond the doors was a deep, lightless staircase that the party carefully made its way down through. Upon reaching the base of the stairs, they entered a room that had a shallow pool in the centre that was mostly dry except for a small puddle of blood. Surrounding the pool were four pillars, one of which had already fallen to age. Before any further investigation could begin, the party was assailed by a pack of three [[RPG:Monsters/Vicious Spitter|red spiders]] that proved to be more of a challenge than they were anticipating. Barely clinging on to life and with the somber realization that although the Lady Veýs seemed to favour them, the Temple to the Pale God was still filled with unsavoury beasts, the party decided to take a moment to recoup their strength.

Lucian and Ellendë climbed the stairs again, only to find that the doors had closed behind them.

== The Player Character Cast List ==