Journal Day 9

Enemies:
Pain (actually a swarm of insects that forms into a woman’s body)
Woe (a golden woman, susceptible to fire)
Burden
Fear
Bone dragon
A Vortex from Shadowfell
Ice devil
Zombie hulk

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I launched a fire arrow at Woe. As the arrow flew, time slowed down and the portal reopened. 2 individuals standing there: a human w/ his hand on the portal and a dwarf, who stepped through the portal and then became solid. He touched the dragon which burst into motes of light & disappeared; then he touched the ice devil, which melted away. His body was totally covered in tattoos, which glow with a golden light. Then time restored to normal.

An epic battle ensued. We all took serious damage. Burden kept raising more minions to battle us. Dillius at some point found Kalarel’s book of rituals and used it to dispel the shadow creatures of the vortex & zombie hulk. Fergus took control of Burden somehow & forced him to attack his allies, and Pain killed Burden to stop his attacks. I managed to hit Pain with a Sun Hammer and she burst into flame and died. We all dealt out some good damage to Fear, but finally Dillius finished him off with a Stirring Shout. But we were all in tough shape at that point and Woe was left. She was dealing some serious damage. I was brought down to 0 hit points, but managed to take a healing potion and then to launch an Evasive Strike at her, making a critical hit and killing her.

We found that the Rift was permanently closed.

Fergis told us he was sent her to help by the Raven Queen to fight against Death. He is a Revenant, a race of beings created by the Raven Queen. She brings their souls back to life, making them appear just as they did in life. They are not undead, but reborn individuals, generally treated as any other race. The tattoos that cover his body are an ancient language. We somehow (??) know there is a temple related to that language somewhere near Freeton.

When we got back outside, everything was different, barren and dead. The sky was gray and the sun dim. Very far in the distance there were wide swaths of blackness in the sky, pillars maybe a mile high. We saw no animals or signs of life anywhere. It reminded us of Splug’s Tale of the 9.

We went to Winterhaven. There was nothing moving or alive there. There were signs that the city was simply abandoned, in something of a rush. It was a complete ghost town. We gathered rations when we could find them. The magic shop was packed up and locked and Padraig’s mansion was packed up, locked and boarded.

We went to the scholar’s tower and found at least many of his books left behind. We spent a bit of time going through them and found a ledger of people who’d entered the town. Based on what we can gather from the ledger, we seem to have been gone for at least 3 years. We also found some scholarly text on the Shadow Realm and looked for info on the Keepers of the Nine: tales of the world’s last days, destruction and disasters. We found some prophecy scrolls that describe 9 portals, each corresponding to a different catastrophe, and once each have been triggered, the world is destroyed. Each portal has a keeper, typically someone from the Council of Divinity.

We spent another day searching Winterhaven and found nothing especially worthwhile, and no other signs of life. We went to the River Freenik not far away and built a boat to travel to Freeton. The water of the river is gray—no algae, no fish, no bugs, no life at all. As if all life has just stopped.

For a full day of traveling on the river, there were still no signs of life. The next day, we began to see vague signs of lige. By the third day, we started to see birds and small animals. On the 4th day we approached Freeton.

In the distance, still see those deep black pillars in the sky. As we approached the city, we saw that it was on fire, or at least big chunks of it are. There are some fortifications and we can see people there, fighting to defend the city.

We pulled up to the docks of the city and the guards approached.

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The loot:
6000 GP
Safewing amulet +2 [Fergis]
Goggles of the Book Collector (+3 to monster knowledge check)