Chaos's Calliope

In the morning the group stepped out of the tiny hut into seemingly normal light.  Looking up at the sky they saw two pitch black spheres surrounded by a nimbus of pale, yellow light.  Cassilda indicated that the twin suns of Carcosa never shed more light than they saw.  The daytime sky was alien, as the surrounding star field remained just as visible as it was at night.

"The suns are such that you can even look at them without damage," Cassilda assured the party, "Though doing so may lead to nausea, headaches and bad dreams."

After sharing a meal and memorizing spells, Cassilda addressed them once again.

"I bid you good luck and promise to watch out for you and aid you if I can.  You recall I cannot oppose Hastur directly. You should head to the east/southeast." She then teleported away.

The group discussed trying to completely avoid the rest of the Neruzavin Nexus by Wind Walking to the Aevan-Vhor nexus.  But as they did not know exactly where it was and the possibility of finding more magic items in Neruzavin, they decided to move forward.  Agna had Barnabas fly over the area to scout ahead.  He found that the wider path zigzagged around to the east and south.  There was a huge chasm ahead at one place.  The only creature he saw was a large willow tree standing at the exit of the nexus.  There was an interesting carving on the wall of a chamber ahead but Barnabas did not know if it had any significance.

At last the group headed back to the battleground with the Pallid Mask.  The wider opening continued to the southeast and then north where the wind-carved basalt walls parted, opening into a large, empty space. Tall, irregular towers riddled with holes like titans’ flutes jabbed at the sky. On the northeast wall of the canyon was a sunken relief sculpture of a massive, robed humanoid, exquisitely hewn from living rock and thirty feet tall. A passage that led to the east revealed a wide chasm and rubble where it looked like the ground split open. A cold, dry wind blew constantly.

As the party moved cautiously into the chamber a bloodcurdling scream filled the air.  No creature was visible so Erevel began putting on her wings. Gavril meanwhile waited for something to happen or an enemy to appear.

A Wind Blast then buffeted the party, except for Armania who was slightly outside the chamber still as a different colored Polyp appeared 35 feet in the air.  Erevel was knocked prone and pushed right to the edge of the chasm, Gavril was knocked prone and pushed toward the walls of the area, while Ursina and Agna both lay on the ground.  Ciprian, who was riding his Phantom Steed was blown back by the winds against the walls of the chamber and buffeted around for some minor damage. Armania cast Greater Invisibility and moved into the chamber and cast a quickened magic missile.  Ciprian set about to identify the creature which was a slightly different kind of Polyp but having the same characteristics.  He then began a new Performance of Countersong thinking that the screaming that still came from the Polyp could affect the party.  Gavril stood up and moved toward Armania as Agna stood and fired arrows at the creature.  Ursina cast Flame Strike on the trumpeter.  

Just before Erevel took her turn, she began to feel large bursts of air released from the chasm that created a rapid series of inhuman notes in a deranged symphony.  Erevel then hit herself with her greatsword and stayed prone at the edge of the chasm.  The Polyp flew down and attacked Agna, grabbing her with a tentacle.  Armania waited for Ciprian to move close and cast Arcane Concordance.  She then let a lightning bolt fly at the Polyp.  Gavril fired his bow at the thing as Agna who was grabbed attempted to hit with her sword.  Ursina cast Flame Strike, that she recalled, on the creature after overcoming the bewildering symphony of sound, Erevel was not so lucky as she just lay on the ground babbling incoherently.  At this point all the party felt a sucking wind pulling at them and Agna and Armania found themselves slowed.

The Trumpeter released Agna and flew once again up to 35 feet in the air and another Wind Blast hit all but Erevel and Ursina.  The Phantom Steed died and unceremoniously plopped Ciprian on the ground, along with Gavril, Armania and Agna.  Ciprian crawled around between Armania and Gavril and then cast Glittering Dust on the Polyp.  Armania took the group to the north of the chamber, allowing Erevel and Ursina the benefit of the Countersong.  She then cast another more powerful lightning bolt followed by a quickened Magic Missile.  Gavril was still stuck with arrows as was Agna once again.  Ursina tried another Flame Strike but this one fizzled as it left her hand.

Erevel finally free of the confounding sounds coming from the abyss flew up to attack the Mad Trumpeter.  It responded with four tentacle attacks but failed to grapple Erevel.  Ciprian fired magic missiles as his sonic attacks would do no good.  Armania followed with her own magic missiles and the monstrosity fell out of the air.  Its screaming ended as it hit the ground followed by the deranged symphony falling silent.

Unfortunately for the party the wind kept affecting the party, it even dragged the invisible Armania toward the chasm.  Gavril hurried over, feeling around where he heard Armania's voice and grabbed her.  He then dragged her around a corner. Armania cast True Seeing to try and find any enemy left in the area but found nothing that could be affecting the party.  She also saw no secret doors, hidden passages or other anomalies.  Most of the party was slowed by the wind but Ciprian cast Tiny Hut, which negated the wind and the party gathered inside to start their healing process.  After Ciprian's healing Erevel was ready to proceed and went up to the edge of the chasm and almost before the party joined her she took to the air and flew across landing in a passage that led northward into another open chamber.

The remaining party joined Armania at the edge of the abyss and waited for her to cast Mass Fly, they then flew across themselves, although Armania still did not see anything in the chasm, not even the bottom.  The party edged forward to till the pathway opened into the larger area.  Nothing was visible but Armania flew forward and then reported seeing an enormous bat-like creature made of utter darkness, its eyes were red stars in the blackness.  The thing was stationary in the air but not visible to Erevel nor Ciprian.  Ursina, who had cast See Invisible, identified the monster as a Nightwing.

The party was flying around trying to decide what course of action to take.  At least Erevel and Ursina were visible to the huge creature.  As the discussion lingered, suddenly two shadowy figures appeared next to Erevel and Ursina.  Their touch was incorporeal and drew strength from the heroes.  Gavril immediately moved up to attack the shadows but found his attacks were less damaging.  Armania cast Mirror Images upon herself and moved back from the Shadows.  Agna attacked a Shadow next to her as Ciprian identified the Greater Shadows, who were not too dangerous.  He then began a Performance against the Shadows and levitate higher in the air.

The next thing the party knew was Gavril being bitten by the suddenly appearing Nightwing.  The damage was tremendous as Gavril almost fell unconscious.  Then the monster bit at Ursina causing less damage but still devastating.  One of the shadows then took more strength from Erevel.  Ursina moved attacked with her book, which she enhanced to damage undead.  The other shadow took strength from Agna.  Finally Erevel unloaded on the Shadow next to her and it disappeared.  Gavril staggered away from the front lines and downed a potion as Armania encouraged him to stay out of the battle for now.  Armania then cast Starfall on the two remaining monsters, followed by Agna casting a new spell Life Blast which drew upon the meager vegetation to blast the undead creatures.  It left the vegetation withered and died around her as the area was blighted.

Ciprian identified the Nightwing and found it had many capabilities, multiple AoOs, Damage Resistance, Snatch, Contagion and many more.  The Nightwing channeled Negative Energy healing itself and the shadow.  It then moved away from the party.  Ursina again hit the shadow with her book and it attacked back.  Erevel flew toward the Nightwing and took two AoOs getting close to the monster.  She finally attacked but had the damage reduced as usual.  Gavril was still nursing his wounds as Armania cast Starfall once again blinding the Nightwing and dropping it to the ground.  Agna took out the last Shadow and Ciprian cast Defeaning Song Bolt which killed the Nightwing.

After the battle Armania started to scan the area with True Seeing she did not find any hidden or secret passages or even any other creatures lurking around.  But she did see an opening in the walls of the cavernous area about forty feet up in the east.  Flying there she saw a larger chamber inside covered with a tangled pile of skeletons, tarnished mundane equipment, and half-rotten packs.  Ursina flew up and detected some magic items, a blade, a cauldron, a headband with a white gem embedded in it and some potions.

Entering and searching the area found much treasure of a non magical nature,  a sealed container, a platinum ring worth 3,300 gp, a set of diamond earrings worth 2,290 gp, a pair of silver armbands worth 340 gp as a set, and various gemstones worth 4,900 gp. The following coins were also available to be salvaged: 512 pp, 7,690 gp, 34,160 sp, and 85,400 cp.

DM's Notes: The party earned 19,200 XP for the night.