The Umbral Flood was an event that marked the explosion of the The Shadowfell energies that had been growing under the Northern Snowy Mountains by the Shadow Dragon known as The One That Waits. The cascading of the explosion activated and connected shadow-y breaches located all over Isonhound, eventually culminating in pulling Isonhound completely into the Shadowfell, giving way to Umbralhound.
Timeline
Slow Breaches
At least one breach was found inthe Northern Snowy Mountains at least 3 months before the flood, detected by a large presence of Gloomwings in the area by scouts sent by The Order of the Watchful Eye. These early breaches would show three dimensional space being warped around it, as if the material plane and shadow planes were intermingling, pushing and pulling into each other. This expedition found Carrion Crows and Shadow Mastiffs in the presence of the breach, which were disposed of, and eventually the team fell back, fearing that more breaches would be opening soon.
Another breach was found that same month at a Fey Crossing in Isonhound, where the shadows had actually seeped from Isonhound into the crossing, where fairy creatures were attempting to hold it back. This particular breach was closed when the fey crossing energies were swallowed, nullifying the dark with the light.
Yet another breach was found in a mineshaft owned by the Pradassis Mining Conglomerate, shortly followed by one in a Fellstone mine in the northern snowy mountains. This discovery made the affected parties realize that the number of breaches is much higher than anticpating, but most of them were underground, waiting to emerge, only being discovered by chance thanks to the mineshafts.
The Wold Order believed that the cause of the breaches was actually BECAUSE of the mining being done by the dwarven companies and other groups in the north, and believed that they weren't "stumbling" upon the breaches but accidentally somehow causing them. This led to a brief period of tension between the Elves and Dwarves.
The Mountain Erupts
- The ship and crew of the Bonny Robert requested The Protectors of the People to throw a celebration for Asar Ogalas for a large excavation crew of Order of the Watchful Eye dwarves who had just unearthed a small outpost fortress in the Northern Snowy Mountains. Ensign received a strange visit from The Curator who gave the artificer a Steller Navy Rebreather and advised Ensign to read up on his readings of the Bonny Robert.
- Ensign joined members of the PotP on the deck of the Bonny Robert where they arrived at the excavation site. But soon into their excavation the mountains exploded with shadow and dark rifts formed all around the excavation site.
- At this time The Curator opened a fey gateway which allowed the players to travel between the Northern Snowy Mountains, Seglock, Gammelgard, and Sneerwell.
- After once again defeating the Hags of the Mother’s coven and discovering a still alive Joshua who got sucked back into the rifts by a Shadow Giant, the heroes attempted to escape on the Bonny Robert with what dwarves they could save. But the shadow energy overloaded the engine and the ship crashed.
- Beyond the shadows the heroes beheld a massive ruby citadel and a massive obsidian dragon atop it. Few remained to protect the ship against the minions of The One Who Waits which included a turned Marekoth, a turned Asger, and later a Shadow Legionnaire.
- All of the remaining dwarves were slaughtered along with all but one of the crewmates of the Bonny Robert, but Silent’s interference saved many of the adventurers' lives and prevented all from being lost.
- The heroes managed to fix the engine of the Bonny Robert but as they left, they beheld Silent shaking the hand of Markoth and giving themselves to the shadows.
(Longform Summary)
Members of the PotP were requested by the crew of Bonny Roberts to throw a celebration of Asar Ogalas for a company of Order of the Watchful Eye dwarves who had just finished a large excavation in the mountains and who had not seen their families for a long while. Ensign joined the ship as well as he had gotten an ominous warning from The Curator. The players arrived and began to set up the festivities when the mountains burst with shadows. The players had to save as many dwarves as they could, shield themselves from the elements and the chaos of the exploding mountains, as well as fight against the Hags of the Mother’s Coven as well as many other undead shadow monsters.
Since their last encounter with the hags, the Mothers had each changed in a strange way. Mother Joy’s head was separated from her body and was only held on by a few threads, Mother Peace was covered in scars and wore a Phantom of the Opera like mask, and Mother Love was drenched in water and had the face of a turtle. The players also found a beaten and broken Joshua who attempted to help the players. But he was soon incapacitated, and after repeating the prophecy spoken at Stollblossom Island, was pulled back into the rift by a Shadow Giant who attacked the players. Silent summoned their avatar of Flame who helped to fight the giant. The players only managed to save nine dwarves before escaping on the ship.
But the shadow energy overloaded the ship's engine and it quickly crashed. The players were then engaged by more of TOWIE’s minions which included:
- Apostle, who was a disguised Asgar and who preached the word of the shadow lord
- Tyrant, who was a disguised Markoth
- The Hound of Morkenshire, a massive 12ft tall black furred wolf humanoid who desired to fight strong combatants
A creation and former servant of the hags
- Umbra, a large creature with the bottom half of a wolf, the top half of a woman, and the tail of a scorpion
A creation and former servant of the hags
- Dr. “Morum” Mortimer, a figure dressed in the garb of a plague doctor who wielded a small firearm he used to fire potions.
Had been working to replicate some of Horatio Cheshire’s work
- The Many, freed from Silent’s grasp by the Apostle, forming a massive titan made of soul
But due to an initial lack of adventures all of the dwarves were slaughtered, but Ona the Owlin artificer was able to prepare all of the Caeruleum for installation. Eventually though more players showed up bringing Aerocrystal with them, including Vessel on a large mechanical dragon. During this time Silent gained four souls and used all of their power to protect players and to manifest to separate Deathlock avatars. But without the Wovenstone no progress could be made on the ship. Vessel lost their concentration and the mechanical dragon broke free of their grasp. The dragon continued to fight TOWIE’s minions which had been attacking it, but as soon as TOWIE’s minions were pushed back, it prepared to fly away. SIlent sacrificed their Deathlock avatar and much of their remaining points to possess the clockwork dragon so Vessel could charm it once again before both they and the dragon left. Out of TOWIE’s minions in this phase only three were truly defeated, Markoth who was cut apart and slain by Drang, Dr. Mortum who when near death set off a bomb in an attempt to take out those around him, and Asgar who was eviscerated by a cloud of daggers.
The Hound, Umbra, and the Many were called back by TOWIE as the Shadow Legionnaire was sent out to finish the job. Once again there were few players to fight back against this titan, and after Silent used the last of their power to summon another Deathlock to stall it, it made its way onto the boat and slaughtered the crew of the Bonny Robert, leaving only Karyna LeChamp alive from the original crew.
Ensign rigged the engine to explode and fled with Karyna, but Sly managed to defuse the engine which was repaired last minute by Grandmush, Feyjin, Drang, and Kacilius who had brought refined Wovenstone. Silent was approached by a reformed Shadow Markoth in his golden armor and Silent agreed to give themselves to the shadows. The players then managed to escape on the Bonny Robert.
If it hadn't been for Silent this table would have been a complete wipe. They made three summons over the course of the game including Flame and two Deathlocks which served mostly as distractions and meatbags to protect the players. In addition they used a number of Death Wards and I doubt Silent walked away with any remaining power. The arrival of refined Aerocrystal and Wovenstone only came near the end. We had the reveals of both Markoth and Asgar as well as players having the chance to behold the Obsidian Dragon and the Citadel. The fact that the ship made it out, even though all of the dwarves died as well as most of the crew, excluding Karyna LeChamp, is a miracle.
