11 Flamerule, 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

It may be premature, but we are all breathing a little easier after a ferocious battle with a gigantic creature made of evil and darkness.  It was a beast out of dark legend, one that I recognized immediately as a nightwalker.  We are fortunate to have survived.

After destroying the last remnants of the drow house inhabiting the spire in the Gap of Skulls we rested and recovered for a while.  We discovered a spell book with a dangerous looking trap that I was able to dispel after Shane identified its threat.  The spell book was badly mauled and missing many pages despite being magically protected from the elements.  The book still contained acid splash, electric jolt, open/close, ray of frost, resistance, burning hands, cause fear, forcewave, shield, Aganazzar’s scorcher, blur, bull’s strength, and summon undead II. 

While we were relatively safe, Primula used the sword Hoardmaster to speak with the now ancient gold dragon Gorgoland.  When told that we were faced with a threat from the Cult of the Dragon, Gorgoland told us to kill them all.  He also suggested to Primula that she had a temple to clean up again and that when she was ready, he would lend his aid. 

Yesterday, when we departed the former drow stronghold we encountered a group of skeletons that came near and fell to pieces.  Only one remained intact and it began to assemble a message spelled out with the bones of the fallen.  It read "HELP ME".  Shortly thereafter, when we offered to help, another skeleton arrived bearing a sword.  When someone took it from the skeleton that had simply knelt and proffered me the weapon, the remaining undead fell apart. 

The longsword was finely crafted and heavily enchanted.  It was intelligent and showed no signs of being evil.  In fact, we learned that it was fashioned to destroy creatures of shadow.  The sword is named Peranor and was created by Dorashem Kareel.  Master Kareel is a mighty, arcanist that must now be a lich.  He is being held captive by the Sharans as they and the Shadovar attempt to recover magic of ancient Netheril, which he guards.  Master Kareel managed to send Peranor to us to guide us back and affect a rescue. 

The blade was tremendously helpful and knowledgeable.  From it we learned that the skull watchers belonged to Master Kareel but the gloom and the varguille were the Sharans’ doing.  The Sharans brought in help recently and they were preparing to assail the Cult of the Dragon fortress. 

We quickly changed our plans and decided to move against the Sharans as soon as their army left their own stronghold to fight the Cult.  While they were gone we would slip in and free Master Kareel.  We would then try to enlist his aid against what remained to the two armies. 

As we approached the Sharan fortress we stumbled upon people in the gloom.  It was Khemed and two Zhents, tied and driven by a group of shadowy warriors.  We immediately attacked the warriors.  They turned out to be Shadovar, residents of the City of Shade.  This ancient Netherese city avoided destruction during the fall of Netheril by shifting to the Plane of Shadow.  They are now trying to come back and reclaim their former glory.  But these are things we learned later.  In the battle, their captors drove Khemed and the Zhents to the ground.  As the fight ended and Khemed regained his feet, confusion arose as both the Calashite and the Zhents accused each other of being traitors.  There was a very tense standoff for a moment.  In that moment, Khemed signaled for help using a magic ring.  Almost immediately a gigantic blue dragon swept out of the gloom and bore the man away in its mouth. 

The tension remained and we nearly came to blows with the remaining Zhents until we learned that they were Harper Agents.  One was a drow named Kymel Kilsek.  The other was a human woman named Roakshane.  Both were Sword Lords, warriors with strange mystical connections with swords.  Both were shocked to discover that the Shadovar were here and that the predictions of the Sword Lords were so far off in time.  The Sword Lords exist to oppose the return of Shade, but their prophecies put its return at more than a year away.  The two agreed to come with us to free Master Kareel. 

Peranor led us all quickly to the Sharan Stronghold.  This was actually its master’s lair.  We planned our assault.  There were battlements built out from a cliff face that guarded the inner sanctum.  At the top was a dome of blackness that hid the crest of the battlement.  The sword told us that just beyond the upper ramparts we would find a gate where the varguille arrived.  There was also a huge, evil shadow beast lurking there, guarding the gate to the Hells and the gate used by the Shadovar.  It was not far from there to the place where Master Kareel was being held. 

Knowing that the battle ahead would be difficult, we all prepared carefully.  Using potions of levitation and invisibility, cat’s grace, bull’s strength, spells of flying and more, we arrived undetected at the top of the walls.  The darkness did not penetrate into the passage beyond the top of the tower.  A penetrating chill of death and evil radiated out from the archway ahead though.  It was the cold of a nightshade.  We surged ahead, with the lead combatants rushing in to engage the huge dark shadow.  It struck repeatedly, wounding my friends badly.  I tagged Oskar with a haste spell as the battle began and then used a scroll to enchant Xan’s quiver of arrows with a powerful spell.  If not for this spell, even his arrows would have done little against the monster.  Few of our magical weapons were strong enough to affect the horror.  None of my spells could harm it directly.  I stood in the hallway, seething with impotent fury as the battle raged on.  I was grateful I had cast as many spells on my companions as I had.  There was nothing else I could do. 

A shout of victory, quickly cut off in an effort to remain undetected, accompanied the easing of the dreadful cold.  The nightwalker was destroyed.  My friends and the Harper agents had survived.  Unfortunately, almost all the potions so recently won from the drow were destroyed by the corrupting evil that radiated from the nightshade.  I was wondering how to keep the collection organized.  That will not be a problem now. 

That’s all for now.  After a quick rest to catch our breath, we are advancing our assault against the forces of Shar.  As ever, I remain

Cedar