[i]Skittering almost upon all fours, the last and only undefeated shadow of Haemar's contest found itself a new target; the back of the Templar. Not by any obvious means of course, these fiends played not with any sense of reason or logic, but rather untampered and untested instinct. They learned nothing, but their persistence was what made them a threat. You could run, you could hide, you could fight, you could do anything in truth, but they would not cease their pursuit. For them, like a moth to the flame, the light in the darkness was too hard to ignore; too tempting to touch. And that is exactly why the collision between shadow and servant of light happened. The small being leapt up to strike at Theodore with its limbs outstretched, but in its haste, it closed the gap too well and rammed into his back, throwing itself to the ground. At most the man stumbled, only to see the being leap back to its feet swiftly and stare at him with dim, emotionless response. Curiously, like the others before it, there was something oddly familiar about its blank, featureless face; no nose, no mouth, no ears or eyes really. It wasn't unsettling, just... off. During that exchange, the second remaining figure of darkness moved to one side then the next with the bard, the two engaged in a duel. Despite being woefully matched, the shadow displayed no sense of self or desire for preservation; it dove in for an attack and was casually sidestepped. It turned about, only to cock its head to one side at the man who kept it beyond point of his sword. It scratched itself with its seamless claws, responding to his words in some fashion, but was clearly as eager as ever to attack again the moment after, none too sure what the challenge was to have really meant. But then came the shock of darkness that threatened to sunder the brick pathway once more. Thea did, just as she intended, draw the attention of the giant beast and perhaps for the best, she stepped into the way more - sword before her - as it hurled the dark energy in its hands. The resulting explosion enveloped her, Wick, and Katia, drowning out the feline monk and the prone woman in a flurry of black fog that jolted with ebon lightning. The blast was so immense that pieces of their decrepit world fell off into the darkness, leaving those in the black precariously placed until a beam of radiant light shot out with startling force. It pierced the shroud of seeming defeat and struck the giant through its chest, clearing out the other side and off into infinity like a shooting star. For those who could see in full view, namely the wizard Haemar, but both Theodore and Cesar too, the effect was a resounding sign of hope punctuated best by the fact that the leviathan burst into violet flame and in a breath, the entire figure vanished into nothing, burned away completely. Yet, the air of victory changed radically from inner celebration and jubilation to shock; the boundaries of reality shuddered violently and burst into pieces as a great unlocking boomed louder than any other sound they knew. Then, every brick, every stone, every bit of mortar and craft, ripped apart beneath them and the six heroes fell into the abyss. Time itself, twisted by altered fates, came to a slow crawl... ... and all they could see above them, as they all went together, was the light of the white doors above cast open; a lone figure standing in its threshold, hand outstretched.[/i] [hider=Effects] [b]Map[/b] [url=https://www.myth-weavers.com/map.html#id=4370]Turyn's Keep[/url] The last of the [i]Shadows[/i] that Haemar had fought off earlier pounces at Theodore. It instead rams into him and falls, springing back to its feet and inflicting no damage. The other [i]Shadow[/i], the one beside Cesar, jukes to one side and swipes at him, missing entirely. The creature appears to be fixated upon him. The [i]Dark Leviathan[/i] hurls its [i]Shadow Orb[/i] at Thea, critically striking her for 33 necrotic damage. Thea, Wick and Katia all need to make Dexterity saving throws at DC 10 or suffer 6 necrotic damage, half damage on successful save, as it explodes upon them in a 10 foot area. Katia's [i]Golden Surge[/i] ability strikes the [i]Dark Leviathan[/i] in a brilliant burst of light, shooting clean through it. The [i]Dark Leviathan[/i] is defeated and a tremendous unlocking sound is heard. The last shred of existence shatters and the six heroes fall into the empty void, left only to see a mysterious figure reaching out to them from the doorway that soon disappears from their freefall. [/hider] [hr][i][h3]Unknown[/h3][b]Unknown,[/b] [b]Currently[/b][/I] For how long they fell, none of them could recall. The world, the doors, their friends... they all seemed to fade away, separated in the endless dark. It was not until the sound of whipping wind and the course of it around their bodies did they realize they were plummeting through the sky; opening their eyes again, above them they witnessed great clouds and a vast blue sky, more broad than anything they had ever seen. Faster and faster they fell, until the reached the sudden stop at the bottom. First fell Theodore, a cloud of bolts and his crossbow tumbling beside him, who hit the rolling grassland hill with such force he skidded for a ways before he rolled to a stop, his gear careening past him and scattering. Next came Haemar, who landed not far beyond the Templar and rolled with the impact not from any sense of training, but from his arcane ward trying to resist the earth under him. After that, the body of Wick collided with the wizard, who found himself pushed further backward across the land, sliding beyond control, but neither were worse for wear either. Thea too arrived, rolling head over heels until she slid to a halt just before a large, crystal lake; her greatsword penetrating the earth like a missile next to her, fixed in the soil up to half its blade. Cesar was not so fortunate, for on his whistling fall from the heavens above, he struck the water in full dive at an angle. A great geyser erupted from this, showering the lake in freed droplets and creating waves; some of which the monk caught as she passed overhead and landed on the other side, crashing through a few of the tall, aged branches of pines until she found herself in their boughs. The long, evergreen needles made for a soft nest, so perhaps it was worth her fur being covered in them and their sticky, sweet sap. Only a few jays squawked in astonished protest as they took flight away from Katia's arrival. Through some miracle, not a single injury marred them. Not the impact, not the collisions, not the... anything. However, they were somewhere unknown, somewhere strange and somewhere most certainly not home, as before them stretched a great track of land, distinctive by its vast snow crested mountains in virtually all directions, rolling pine hills and bright, warm sun with the faintest of breezes that wafted. For a place of clearly thin air there was no difficulty in breathing here, not in the slightest, and not even the cold water of the lake proved anything less than startlingly refreshing. [hider=Effects] [b]Score[/b] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBkcwy-iWt8&index=5&list=RDQM5L_ge2PwjVk]Daylight[/url] [b]Map[/b] [i]???[/i] The player characters are now 3rd level, are fully rested, and have arrived in a mysterious land of soaring mountains, vast fjords and exceptional beauty. None of them recognize or know any land by this description or design, at least not to such a near exaggerated extent. [/hider] [@Big Dread], [@Cu Chulainn], [@Gordian Nought], [@Hekazu], [@JBRam2002], [@Zverda]