Vanrakdoom V

…picking himself up and putting out a couple wisps of flame, Shady opened the door to the south and stepped in to a grand hall (27)… one that he had seen during a vision in a prior area (21).

He knew in his very bones that this was a place no mortal ought to tread. The darkness was smothering, tyrannical. It clung to his sides, snaking its way into his throat and laying a primal dread in his very stomach. He felt as if he was nothing more than an up-jumped lizard, scared witless by that which lurked in the dark. And it slithered. In that inky blackness slithered a leviathan, its scales rasping against the stones. The courage in his heart nearly bled out on the floor, threatening to leave only terror behind—but he fought it with all his willpower. Then it spoke, this darkness. Its voice was midnight hanging over dead woods. It spoke, and everyone listened, like doomed prey lucky enough to hear its own inevitable doom:

“You know as well as I,” the leviathan said, “that this place will be your grave. I have sensed you since you first stepped foot into my domain. Upon the shoulder of the Shadowfell, I lay in gloom… Join me.”

The 40-foot-high vaulted ceiling was buttressed by eight stone columns, around which gathered fifteen shadows, seemingly right at home in this slice of the Plane of Shadow. To the south, stone steps climbed 10 feet to a dais, where this leviathan, Umbraxakar the shadow dragon was perched. A double door at the back of the dais was flanked by two 20-foot-tall, black marble statues, one depicting Shar as a cloaked woman wielding a dagger in each hand, and the other showing Halaster Blackcloak, the Mad Mage, clutching a staff. The statues glared at one another like mortal enemies.

Shady overcame his fear, and greeted the great wyrm, while Thaminor, made his way into the room, standing like an iron golem (now with glowing red eyes) between the shadows and his friends. Nym and Leo stepped in to the room, forming the second ring of defense in front of the wizard and cleric. The gnome opened with his trademark salutation:

Pix: “Hi!!! I’m Pix Wimbee, nice to meet you!”

Umbraxakar: “You were fools to come here! To leave the love you once had. Misery is the currency of our realm… may you die rich!”

No matter how he tried, Pix could not make any progress with the dragon… the gnome’s questions about Vanrak were met with the dragon’s dismissal of Vanrak, Umbraxakar stating that the Dark Ranger turned against Shar and left the dragon here alone. Molish‘s attempts to question the great wyrm in regards to the whereabouts of his mentor were met with cryptic answers. The slowly advancing shadows seemed to indicate that Umbraxakar was growing impatient, so Molish took one last gamble. He stepped back into the hallway outside the wyrm’s lair and conferred with Pix…

Charging back into the room, the Lord of the Dead‘s faithful servant was nearly unrecognizable, for Molish had donned the treasures found in Vanrakdoom: the black cloak, dwarven horn, coral ring, sword hilt, and mithral chain shirt. Running back in to the room, Molish franticly beseeched the great wyrm listen to him, using the bronze dragon’s true name: Glyster. One by one, Molish referred to the items they had found, alternating between playing the role of Vanrak and deceiving the dragon, and speaking to the bronze dragon’s noble heritage. Whenever he struck a chord with the dragon’s true self, moonlight rippled across the dragon’s scales as it was reminded of the life it once had, the friendship it enjoyed, the memories made and the victories won. Molish reminded him of all that is good and right and worthwhile in the world—-a different world than that deleterious plane! Finally, as Molish made his final bid and held forth the sword hilt…

Heaving a sigh of relief, the dragon clawed at the stone, as if releasing every toxin left in its body. The darkness slipped from his scales, evaporating as shadows that shrieked and snarled with disappointment, curling up like smoke. With his every shiver, color surged back into the world, banishing the Shadowfell’s dismal taint to the pit from whence it came! The dragon wretched, vomiting out a blood-streaked curd of solid shadows across the stone floor. The party watched with rapt horror as the mass moved on its own accord, sliming its way across the chamber.

“I…” the dragon sighed. “I… feel once again! By the graces of Selûne… I am forgiven—and at last I can forgive myself! It was by no fault of mine that my dearest Vanrak fell to darkness. It was by his own hand that he sought redemption—and so too do I! I am alive! Begone Shar, goddess of loss! Begone shadow-mine! Begone!”

With a mighty roar, Glyster lanced the shadows with a gout of lightning! The mass shrieked and flailed as if it was alive—but in mere moments, all that was left on the floor of Vanrakdoom was a scorch mark.

“Come,” said the wyrm, “let us purge this dungeon of the darkness and all who dwell within it!”

Glyster, in his true dragon form.

Glyster, in his human form.

Molish had done it. He had broken the Dark Lady’s hold over the noble dragon, allowing him to shake off the despair that had corrupted his soul. Not only was the bronze dragon returned to his rightful form, the shadows disbursed, and their surroundings had shifted fully back to Toril, leaving the Shadowfell behind. Shifting form, the dragon changed in to the human form that Shady had seen in his visions throughout Vanrakdoom. Glyster thanked the party again, and answered some questions:

• Yes, he believed Molish’s mentor was still alive, held by the Sharites that remained.
• Yes, there was a segment of the Rod here. The Sharite priests had used it to help anchor Vanrakdoom to the Shadowfell.
• No, he did not believe that the Rod was still here–believing that it was banished from this place when the spell was broken. [Confirmed by Pix’s divination.]
• The room to the west contained his treasure, of which he no longer had need for.

Molish asked Glyster if he wanted Vanrak’s belongings returned, and Glyster stated that he would greatly appreciate keeping the coral ring, as it was a symbol of the friendship he had with the Waterdhavian noble. When no one else in the party had use for Scintilmorn in the upcoming fight, Molish passed the sun blade to Glyster to use. With no other business to attend to, the party passed through the double doors to the east and into a massive octagonal chamber (28)…