MAL Ep. 51

The party spoke with Henneran, who Jon identified as a being of Fey, not of Shadow. He asked if you were "followers of Aglan," and identified Aglan as the leader of the organization whose shrine you were breaking into. The party alluded to Dayant Arakin without giving her name, but he didn't seem to know what you were talking about, and instead offered to get you an audience with Enessiet, the Shadow lord of this region, if Jon (who had identified himself as a bard) could best him at a musical duel.

After a sequence of performances that left some of the party in tears and others wildly dancing, Henneran gave Jon his enchanted violin and told the party to give it to Enessiet as proof that he had sent them there. He gave them the following directions: "Follow the bridges west across the river, in the lee of the mountain find the door in the fog and knock upon it. It doesn’t matter how many times. Insist on seeing Enessiet, do not accept any counteroffer or it will go badly for you. Stay to the path, then give to her this violin, and she will know I have sent you. You will not be harmed.”

Jon told Henneran that an Avatar had given him his pipes, and learned that Henneran had been a friend of a previous Avatar of Malachi named Wendolin who had been given such pipes by the Fey god Lugh. Henneran also warned Jon that trying to play the violin himself might be dangerous for him, but probably no more dangerous than provoking a lich cult, so it was Jon's call.

Henneran left and the party decided not to further explore the Vecna building after all, instead setting off directly to see Enessiet. They also learned more about the peculiar nature of the Shadow Lands: that sound does not carry as far as they are used to, whispers are fully audible, sung notes (but not instruments) sound flat, spells are dampened, and vision is normal up to 40' and after that falls off rapidly into indistinguishable shadows.

The party arrived at the black bridge, which stretched to an island in the great dark river, beside which was a grated plaque with four gems mounted on it. Jon looked into the river and became dizzy from its flowing black patterns, rescued from falling in by Tanya. He then held his hand out over the water, feeling a strange sensation of numbness and one of the spells on him, Shield Other, flickered and nearly went out.

Aler scouted across the bridge to the island, which he found teeming with mouse-like shadow creatures. He avoided them by climbing on the rocks and located two more bridges leading off the island. Red used Animal Empathy to clear a path through the shadow mice and the party proceeded across the white bridge, only to be ejected back to the island where the mice grew to the size of bears and attacked. After a frenzied combat, the enormous shadow monsters were dispelled back to harmless mice again and the party set off across the gray bridge instead.

On the next island, the party saw a slender black and white tower with a large round top, and several hissing shadow beings milling about. By use of Comprehend Languages, the group was able to talk to them, learning from them that they had to follow the "sequence of bridges" to cross the river. The shadows did not know what it was, explaining that they merely flew over the river whenever they wished to cross it, but outsiders needed to use the right sequence. Aler realized that the gems on the grate were displaying a color sequence--a black gem, a gray gem, a pearl and a diamond--and suggested the party should cross the white bridge next.

Arriving on the next island, which was dominated by a huge gray statue with a linked chain around its neck, the party saw only one bridge leading from it, a black one. Continuing his line of reasoning, Aler wondered whether there might be a clear bridge the party was not able to see, and felt around till he indeed found a transparent bridge stretching out across the ocean. After using Speak With Animals to help Angara and Blue safely cross a glass bridge without balking or accidentally looking into the water, the whole party arrived safely on the west bank of the river.

And there we left them for the day.

Onward!