Fierce combat continues as we push further into the Halix Mausoleum in search of the remaining two nobles of Neverwinter. We know that time is running short and likely a horde of cultists stand in our way.
The third noble, Indrino, is saved from a pair of demons. He's an expert on dimensions but has a surprising secret; he tells us that Lord Neverember is not who he says he is, and not even of Neverwinter lineage.
Indrino tells us that the last noble was just recently taken away from his cell. Gnarls focuses the group to hurry down the twisting hallways towards the sounds of screams and more dark deeds.
We encounter a more of Vecna's cultists and their monstrous allies, the Nothics. Jarto is a powerful necromancer and summons a horde of skeletons to assail Skygge when she bursts into his study.
Meanwhile Fell continues to another door and hears the sound of screams beyond. A dark ritual is underway with many more victims than the last noble. Hooded cultists channel arcane power to their cult leader, and beseech Vecna himself to grant them powers of undeath.
Jain Zar bursts into and across the room in a whirlwind of screams and blades towards the cult leader. Her blows rain down on the leader but the magic of the ritual makes all of the cultists supernaturally durable. The group is split between battles on two fronts. Enemies are everywhere.
Jarto falls at the hands of Fell and Skygge and they join the main battle. The party fights ferociously against the horde of Nothics and continues to attempt to interrupt the ritual by slaying cultists and the cult leader. Gnarls blasts three cultists to smithereens with the power of rock, Fell confirms a kill with nearly every carefully placed shot of his bow, and Skygge is a whirlwind of blades and knives. The ritual reaches a crescendo nonetheless.
Vecna at last heeds the calls of his servants and appears through a rift in reality. A magical duplicate floats through the rift and joins combat. Jain Zar flies forward and deals some heavy blows, but it is not enough to stop him from summoning a wall of reality warping power that consumes us one by one. All is silence and darkness.
Sangora, a vampire, greets us when we awake, bursting from coffins in a strange land. The fourth noble, Elden, survived the ritual as well and begs to join the party. Sangora tells us that we're in Evernight, part of the Shadowfell. For a small payment, she agrees to guide us to the nearby Corpse Market and gives us some leads on how to escape. Either a Crevice of Dusk, or the Shifting Library. She tells us that our mortal souls shine brightly and we're sure to attract unwanted attention if we overstay our welcome.