In The Shadowfell

The Shadowfell become overwhelming for some of the group. Lirath and Hope fall into despair. Lirath giving up hope of ever seeing his world again, slumps against a withered tree and refuses to move. Hope feels the weight of despair but tries to fend it off, only to have waves of nausea causing her to lean hands on knees. Rook, meanwhile, loses himself in a book. All attempts to distract him from the book fail, until the group begins a tug-of-war with Rook over the book.

Rook even goes so far as to threaten death on anyone who tries to take his book.

Tired of being stuck watching this display of weakness, Smallfang finally gathers up Hope and Lirath under his arms and begins walking in the direction they were previously headed. The others finally coax Rook to walk and read at the same time.

Travelling Through The Despair

They travel like this for sometime. Barb leading the group gets glimpses of movement out of the corner of his eyes every once in a while. Shadows seem to move in the distance between trees. He ignores this as a trick of the land. He's seen what it has done to some of the others. After a while of this slow travel, they decide to rest. It has been hours and they are feeling hungry.

Lirath, finally awakening from his trance-like despair, accompanies Barb as the barbarian swears he can find food even in this gods forsaken place. Heading off into the mist filled sparse forest, Barb busies himself with finding roots, grubs and edible mosses. He's quite proud of himself. Lirath on the other hand, is glancing around constantly and begins to see movement in the trees ahead.

A Dangerous Foraging
10,000 XP

Lirath warns Barb of what he sees but Barb seems unworried. Finally as they move far enough ahead, out of the shadows step several shadow beasts. They have positioned themselves around Lirath and Barb. They move back towards the camp while fending off the creatures finally killing off the creatures as they return to camp.

The group uses various spells and collects their knowledge on how to get to the Raven Queen. She lives in the mountains of Latherna, within a demiplane within the Shadowfell. As protection it is impossible to use spells, such as plane shift, to enter her domain. On top of that, her demiplane sometimes shifts in order to make travel there difficult.

Rook, angered as being brought to the Shadowfell to defend his Raven Queen against the rival god, Vecna, bellows into the Shadowfell. The Raven Queen should give them more assistance if they are to come to her aid. Why would they be stranded in this place with little ability to get to the Castle Of The Raven Queen.

Rook begins to walk and swear into the sky at his patron god and demands that she aid them.

The Blacklantern Inn

At that moment a large inn appears before him. It's two story building is shaped light a horseshoe and the windows are brightly lit which stands in sharp contrast to the landscape around it. In it's courtyard move various ghosts. Each wears a widely different style of clothes as they obviously come from a wide variety of lands and times.

One of the ghosts, a older gentlemen dressed formally, welcomes the group to the Blacklantern Inn. The group asks if he knows the way to the mountains of Latherna. He does not but perhaps they can ask the proprietor of the inn, Yarol. Soon the group finds themselves inside the warm inn. There is an eclectic group of creatures from all over. Behind the bar is a well dressed teifling with large round horns. He introduces himself as Yarol. He tells them that the inn is special. It has the ability to move around the Shadowfell, sometimes sensing when someone is in dire need.

Yarol sets up the group at a table. Rook immediately notices a group of dark skinned creatures and recognizes them as Shadar-kai, creatures associated with The Raven Queen. They are heavily tattooed with multiple piercings all over their scarred bodies. Rook and Lirath approach them and tell them that the Raven Queen is in danger and that they need to get to her as quickly as possible. One of the Shadar-kai spits upon the floor at the mention of the Raven Queen. These Shadar-kai are not loyal to the Raven Queen. They blame the queen for their miserable lives trapped within the Shadowfell. The only thing staving off the despair of the land is constant pain and fighting.

The Eviction Of Unwanted Guests

Lirath pushes into the mind of the Shadar-kai standing in front of them and forces him to attack one of his comrades. This immediately erupts into a fighting frenzy as the group falls upon each other in an orgy of violence.

Yarol begins to shout for them to desist but to no avail. As the Shadar-kai continue to fight, the floor boards and walls of the inn begin to creak and move and the walls begin to shift and grow as the Shadar-kai are ejected from the inn, as the inn itself reforms around them forcing them outside it's walls.

Lirath and Rook then turn to Yarol, the inn's owner. They demand that he make the inn take them to the Raven Queen. Yarol does not take kindly to the demand and subsequent threats. He moves his hands in intricate gestures. The walls and floor boards of the inn begin to creak and move but almost immediately stops. Yarol seems puzzled. and then sighs.

It would seem the Blacklantern Inn does not wish to eject this group of adventurers.

The Inn Has Been Sent To Aid The Group

The group tells them of their mission to save the Raven Queen from Vecna.

Yarol stares at them in disbelief. Vecna is but a legend. A myth. But it would seem the inn believes them. He sets them up in a private area and gives them food and drink as well as lodging for the night. The inn it would seem is not ready to take them just yet. Perhaps they can help with a problem that Yarol has been having.

For A Favor
34,000 XP

Lord Nill, a undead lord who has come to power in the Shadowfell, has been forcing the Inn to pay a "tax" for which Lord Nill will allow the inn the continue to exist. He and his shadow dragon have terrorized the inn for decades. Perhaps the group could find a way out of this before they move on.

Lirath stays outside of his room during the night and soon spots Lord Nill approaching flying upon the back of his shadow dragon. He calls to the others and using his psionic powers pulls Lord Nill off of the dragon and pushes him down to the ground.

The battle was short. The group focused its damage on Lord Nill, who stood now beside his dragon in worn and ancient armor. The dragon using it's breath weapon several times to injure the group. But the dragon eventually takes to the skies but after being damaged enough disappears from the group's sight.

As Lord Nill falls, Rook notices a little girl standing just behind him, as he stands on the walkway on the second floor in front of the rooms looking out over the courtyard. She asks what he is doing. Rook tries to shoo the girl away but the girl soon transforms into a large creature who is loyal to Lord Nill. At the same time, Rook finds the dragon, as it's large head appears in front of him as the dragon, sitting on the roof of the inn, looks down over the roof and begins to inhale, readying it's breath weapon.

Soon all the enemies are defeated and the group gathers in the courtyard of the inn. The air shifts around them, turning cold and they see looming ahead of them the towering peaks of mountains.

The Blacklantern Inn has taken them to the mountains of Latherna. The home of The Raven Queen.