Nightmare in the Elemental Age - Chapter 6
From Duels Content
You have teamed up with Commander Embergeist, Zang the Slayer, Grol Flamehammer and Detective Jode Trublade. Shadow Fiends are infecting the dreams of orcs and making them kill. You need to find out why.
Intro:
You tell the Commander that if you are going to assist in tracking down the Shadow Fiends, you will need your companions to be released. He glares at you, as the flames on his head sputter.
"The talking sword and the idiot?"
You nod.
"What do we do with him?" The Commander points to the freshly exorcised Grol Flamehammer, who is sitting up and rubbing his temples. You tell the Commander to bring him along.
"Of course. A possessed orc. I can probably find a dragon on crutches and a super-intelligent ball of yarn if you want to complete the 'Dumbest Looking Team in Phyrra' motif." The Commander sighs, then holds out his hand.
"By the way, my name is Commander Krysil Embergeist, Elemental Ally." You shake his hand.
Act One
Twenty minutes later, you are standing in front of the Elemental Grove and have finished filling Zang, Flamehammer and the Detective in on the situation. Trublade is raising his hand and making excited little hooting noises. You ask him what it is.
"We have a guy, he works with us sometimes at the ummm..."
"Shindaan?"
Shindaan... Headquarters, gate... place. Anyway, he's this spooky guy, knows all about crazy stuff like shadows and corpses. Was one of the guys who took down that Singlemind thing a while back. His name's Edgar."
You agree to meet with Edgar and follow Detective Trublade down a grim alleyway in a particularly ugly neighborhood in Beggar's Row. Trublade looks at you with an apologetic smile.
"Hope you don't have a problem with death. Edgar lives in Tomb Town."
"Tomb Town?" asks Zang.
"Right. Tomb Town. See, before a few months ago, the only undead you ever saw were zombies and vampires. Zombies, obviously, don't want or need houses and vamps are rare enough and like to keep to themselves. But then the Kahns started reanimating and we have these new undead. They're smart, they don't drink blood or eat brains or anything, but they're not pleasant; they smell, they look disgusting. So this guy Edgar Crawls, he's this big hero, defeats the Singlemind and all that, he gets sick of being called a zombie all the time, having stakes shoved into his heart, etc. So he starts up Tomb Town."
The alleyway dead ends at a wide staircase, leading down into cobwebby darkness.
Act Two
The undead in the doctor's smock sets the defeated Kahn back on the table, stares at the body and speaks without looking at you.
"I am assuming you have a reason for being here?" Trublade steps forward.
"Edgar Crawls? I'm Shindaan Detective Jode Trublade. I heard that you sometimes help us, I mean the Shindaan, with really morbid stuff and we have a doozy of a morbid situation here." Edgar Crawls turns to look at the Detective, then glances at you, eyes widening in recognition, before turning back to the Kahn on the table.
"Sorry, I'm mourning. Come back in a few weeks, once I have this sorted out." Detective Trublade takes another step toward Edgar.
"This is related to his death. He was killed for a reason. What do you know about the Shadow World?" Edgar stares at the Detective for a long moment.
"Not a lot off hand. But I have a book around here someplace..."
Fifteen minutes later, you have briefed Edgar on the situation and he is thumbing through a thick tome, bound in rough, hirsute flesh.
"...Shadow World, Shadow World. Alternate dimension... created by Scarvek... obscure genius... evil mirror of our world... Okay. So, apparently this isn't the first time that the spooks on the other side of the dimensional line have tried to breech this one. A few have made it here before. My guess is that they probably snuck one Shadow Fiend into Phyrra and it is broadcasting these nightmares, making the orcs crazy. The murders they have committed appear ritual in nature and, when you get evil, interdimensional beings, hell bent on entering our world and mix them with ritual murder, I bet you can guess what that means. We need to track down the Shadow Fiend in Phyrra."
1. Track down the Shadow Fiend
Act Three
As you land your final blow, the shadow stands, its whole body vibrating in place. Edgar approaches the creature and grabs it by the neck.
"Someone needs to enter its mind, to sever the psychic link. Now! Stare into its eyes!" Without waiting to see what the others do, you approach the Shadow and stare into its red eyes.
Reward
- 10 Tokens for each Shadow
- Jeweled Key
