Total Eclipse of the...sword?

Between bouts of recouping at camp from our last adventure, some epic partying in the town of Ilyria, and recouping from said partying, we found time to visit the monastery again to ask the librarian monk some questions about the kidnappings in town, the strange sword that still eludes us, and any lore of the Shepherd of Souls or the Shepherd’s Staff that I need to obtain.

I wanted to know if the monks were even aware of the kidnappings. The librarian informed us that they were and that the kidnappings have been going on for many years. He had a suspicion that the Cult of Thanatos was somehow involved (even though it’s believed they haven’t existed for quite some time). Perhaps some members of this cult have somehow survived or were reborn and are waiting beyond the levels we’ve currently searched. There is still much to discover in those abhorrent caves.

We also asked the librarian what powers Eclipse possesses and he told us that the sword has many powers, but its primary purpose is to oppose evil (especially necromancers). He also mentioned that the powers of the sword grow stronger as the warrior wields it. We must keep a look out for this item as it sounds like it could be quite a useful weapon to have.

When we sought some information about the Shepherd of Souls and the Shepherd’s Staff, the librarian wasn’t of much help. In fact, he seemed quite confused and spoke about legends of god-men that herded souls to the afterlife. He then made a reference to the many lost souls in the caves that probably needed the same help. He knew nothing of the staff that I was told about in my encounter with the cave spirits.

After we left the monastery, we prepared ourselves to head back into the caves. We restocked our supplies in town and I was able to create a good number of poison darts, which I invoked with a cantrip to seek out our enemies’ jugulars with a divine strike! Once we entered the cave opening, I was relieved to find that our two half-goat buddies, Ralph and Willis, were still there waiting for us. I feel the deeper we get into these caves, the more manpower we’ll need. Together with them and myself, were Christopher, Elvis, Hans, Grimdor and NICOLAS!

We headed back to the rooms beyond the glowing purple door. Though we noticed the door was no longer glowing for some reason, we paid it no heed. We continued to explore some adjacent rooms in the area and much to our surprise, we discovered Eclipse sitting on a rack behind some sort of throne! We were so close to finding it the last time we were here – we simply failed to open that last door! No matter, the sword is a beautiful sight! The blade is constructed from some strange metal or alloy that has a silvery, purple colour to it. The hilt is of platinum with images of stars and moons and the pommel is some sort of big, purple, glossy gem. What a great sense of achievement to finally locate it. Now that Elvis wields it, he tells us of his great satisfaction and how he feels unnaturally energized because of it. I’ll take that as a good thing.

Continuing on with our exploration, we eventually discovered a secret door behind the throne. Once we were able to open it, we were shocked to find that it led directly to a secret room with about 30 or so prisoners! Immediately, one of them arose and proclaimed that he knew we would rescue them. It was Bungor! He too was still alive! Once the prisoners were convinced that we had only good intentions, we spoke with a few and found that some had been imprisoned there for many years – kidnapped from Ilyria and held captive in these caves. Amongst these prisoners was Agnesia, the brother that Nicolas was hoping to rescue. We were able to lead them all out of the caves and they immediately headed back to town. We remained behind to continue the exploring. Seems as though we’re on a good roll now…

Another battle with those goat buggers!