Day 4:
The team had a tasty breakfast. I had to have the priest cut some sausage into tiny pieces so I could eat. Upon leaving the inn, a child paid us a few silver coins to kill the Barghest that killed his grandfather (the wood cutter we found upon arriving in Silesia). The mystic vowed to kill the beast. On our way out of town, Til told us something surprising. He said a team of dragonborn that had been driven off by the villagers two days ago left us a note. Sure enough, it was a letter from Ark, the dragonborn from the Game. It said, quite simply, "HELP US. WE ARE STARVING!"
Feeding Ark and friends.
We brought some food to Ark and company. We found them hiding out in the mountain caves above Berlitz. They were thankful for the food and told us about some strange noises and lights in one of the caves further up the mountains. We decided it would be best to kill the Barghest as soon as possible. Ark and friends agreed to help us hunt the Barghest. The priest made a special prayer to the platinum dragon, just for them. Ark didn't seem thrilled.
Slaying the Barghest.
We accidentally alerted the Barghest's advanced scouts. Like a good predator it avoided us because we (the 8 of us) were too much to handle. We decided to lure it in with some fresh deer. We sighted the Barghest and killed its entourage, but it escaped. After some time we managed to track it to some unnatural caves. We figured we only had one chance, so we made sure to trap or block the other entrances. We had the dragonborn camp outside the main entrance and we stealthily entered the caves from another entrance. The dragonborn intercepted additional reinforcements that would have made the battle a lot harder. The beast did not escape us that time.
The cave was an abandoned and very dangerous mine. We collected a few treasures, including a very nice jeweled metal comb. I was surprised and very happy that the beast seemed to be an isolated incident; it did not appear to be part of a larger problem. We brought the heads and pelts of the beast back to Berlitz and made sure to emphasize the Ark's role in the mission. The townspeople accepted the dragonborn.
The mountain portal
We investigated the cave Ark mentioned. It seemed like an evil gateway to an evil place. We decided to learn more about dealing with portals before attempting anything that might get us killed. We paid a visit to Katja and Ward. Ward didn't know much about magic portals, but he did extend an invitation to a party at the mansion. We found Katja drawing some kind of powerful transmutation circle. She gladly paused and consulted with us. We offered the jeweled comb as a gift and she seemed to like it. What a dragon would do with a comb, I have not idea. The ritual to lock the portal turned out to be beyond our ability, so we decided to physically break the portal while protected by a magic circle against evil. We executed the plan and disrupted the portal. However, we still sensed something odd about the cave. We found an unstable breach to another world in the back of the cave. It only functioned in the absence of light.
Neth, Letherna, and Nashik
We emerged in strange, black mountains in a dark, dark world. It bore a vague resemblance to Silesia. On the Berlitz side, the world appeared somewhat unstable . . . we later learned the region was called "Neth" by the people of the shadow world. We were greeted by floating jellyfish. They were attracted to any light and flashed like fireflies. We harmed one of them and it painted us with light and triggered a swarming response. That was scary. We decided to leave them the hell alone!
Upon investigating Neth, we discovered the (un)living city of Neth. I guess, it moves around and eats people. It must have accumulated great treasures inside, but we decided it was more than we could handle.
A Shadar Kai arrived and lead us to his hometown (Nashik) on the other side of the mountains, a region known as "Letherna". He spoke a similar language to one our Shadar Kai party member knows, but it is obvious that they are from different lands and do not know each other. Normal life seems to be sustained by some nasty black gunk seeping out of cracks in the earth. There are feathery worms and crabs and even giant spider crabs. The people Nashick cultivate them . . .
Slavery is normal here. The people regarded our Shadar Kai as a nobleman, since we seemed very high quality slaves! The Shadar Kai of Nashik have quite a few deep gnomes slaves from raids of surrounding towns. The wildly successful raids are, reportedly, the only reason the king stays in power. We heard rumors of a powerful wizard and we investigated a small magic market, but we did not pursue it further.
The nightmare beast
Instead, the Knight and Mystic triangulated the direction of the nightmare beast. We immediately left Nashik and ventured to a forest resembling a coral reef. Signs were posted "Keep out: Trespassers will be killed." We had to stop the nightmare best, so we decided to brave it. We met and fought guards at a small building with an antenna-like spire. Inside, we found a wizard's lab complete with the imprisoned nightmare beast! It was hooked up to the tower. We presume this modification amplified it's psychic power. We did not believe we could take the monster in a pitched battle, but we also did not believe it would want to fight one so we opened all the doors and released it. The beast retreated without harming us and we let it go.
Through further examination, we determined a wizard was using the beast to steal the souls of the dreamers in Berlitz and refining them into some kind of purple dust. (Katja later confimed that the dust was essentia, forcibly harvested.)
Two of the guards surrendered to us, so we did not kill them. We did send them off into the forest, however, while we retreated back to Silesia. Oddly enough, we discovered the the breach can move and only opens when we shine light on it. What we did was a crime (but for a good cause!). The wizard is going to be miffed and he's going to have the local law on his side. I hope we know what we are doing.
Party At Berlitz
The comatose people at Berlitz, including the innkeeper's daughter, recovered. We told them the story of the cave and they showered us with praise. There was food, drink and song---it was a heck of a party.
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