Pulyana 28, 1423
Silvermane loses contact with Rucia almost as soon as he confronts the new threat outside the Flapping Salmon...the PCs spy an adversary, the masked figure from the Fairgrounds, and several move to confront it, although they are partially barred by a stampede of tavern customers to escape this bad, developing situation. Several of the PCs get out first and are greeted by a trio of white, taloned hands that float about in small shadowy voids. They attempt to grasp onto our heroes, and when they are successful, they are ported into shadowy pocket realms of limited size...each containing a separate, shadowy creature or group of creatures trapped there.
Nebol'shoy summons a group of shadowy rats to deal with the shadowy goblins that ambush him within his pocket realm, and eventually Mockleg ends up there. Ruci and the Salmon's bouncer Smoker end up in another facing off against shadowy, snarling wolves, and after a rooftop evasion, Aldren is nabbed by one of the hands, to square off against some tentacled monstrosity that grasps and pulls prey towards its shadowy maw! Out on the street, Bjork engages in a battle of spells and wits with the adversary, and even gets it to speak in a chill, whispering voice. For the longest time, it cannot put Bjork into a shadow realm until it finally has dealt with Mockleg and Captain Condor, the latter of whom ends up with Bjork and Aldren against the tentacled thing, which is flaying the life nearly from the trio!
Once inside, the shadow wizard begins to SHRINK the pocket realms, threatening to crush all within, but the PCs manage to destroy the creatures lying in wait. As each disappears, spilling the PCs back out into Zolovny, the wizard seems to weaken, and since he accrued damage from Bjork's attacks earlier, the closing of the third pocket realm destroys him outright. All that has left behind is a Spellbook with his name ('Sadomator'), which the PCs give to Mockleg, a strange violet bag that summons balls of fur which turn into creatures (claimed by Nebol'shoy), and the wizard's mask.
After the grueling battle, the heroes do some healing and return to their sleeping tent, still squashed from the earlier prank...to find that all the surrounding tents have also been trampled, some of them torn up with what must be a sharp blade. Bjork casts Leomund's tiny hut and the PCs sleep there until the morning...
Pulyana 29, 1423
Although their long term plans include traveling towards Arkany and/or Old Bloodwalls, the PCs are waiting on a few items to be finished, and also want to hover about Zolovny in case of further attack, so they decide upon a day's journey to nearby Borgaborsk. There is a bounty upon two dwarves known as the Bitter Berg Sisters, who are poisoners and hoodwinks, and they want to look for some leads there. First, Aldren and Condor speak with the Trawlers' Union about the paperwork to repair the Slack Mallard, and then the old sailor goes back to stay at the Soverat Stockage. They rent two bows, one for Bjork and Nebol'shoy, the other for Aldren, Rucia and Mockleg, and they row on a bright sunny Fall day down the Skorbi towards their goal. En route, Aldren has a tense conversation with the dragonborn about trust issues, but otherwise there are no unusual occurrences. They arrive at Belker's Quay, moor their boats and speak with a local soldier as they take in the sights.
They head towards the Smeltworks, the smoggy center of the town, and speak with a few of the local smiths to pick up some ammunition. One dwarf Smith, Benzhi, tells Aldren that the rare black arrow he has inquired about was made by one 'Yacoby' who lives up in the Gargoyle Steeps. Another smith, a minotaur, speaks to Bjork of the axe he found in the Deepwood Barrows, clutched in the bones of a minotaur skeleton. They hear a rumor that a local farm might be haunted, and they might follow up on that as well, but first they head over to Forge Row Jewelers to make some exchanges.
PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia
NPCs
Benzhi (dwarf male): A weaponsmith and vendor of the Smeltworks in Borbaborks, fairly non-descript with a sooty smock over a suit of fur-trimmed leather armor. His hair is jet black and his beard is braided into two spikes.
Old Borly (minotaur female): A minotaur, white with black spots, who works at the Smeltworks in Borgaborsk. She seems to have a great love for history, especially that of minotaur-kind, and assigns great value to minotaur-crafted items.
Sadomator (? male): An associate of the villains Csunori and Borya, appearing as a white mask with a cross-shaped slit visor floating amidst a billowing, shadowy cloak. A capable mage with unique abilities that let him manipulate the Shadowfell, transporting opponents into pocket realms populated with shadowy creatures, in addition to a nasty assortment of spells. Defeated by the PCs at Zolovny outside of the Flapping Salmon.
