Shadow and Flame

Background

The party has been contacted by two mysterious extra-planar persons: Asmerdyas, a devil in the form of a exceptionally yet strangely beautiful woman, and a man from the plane of shadows and known only as the Shadowman (since named as Shadroth). From a conversation with the Shadowman the party understands that there is some sort rivalry between the two — a struggle for power played out by their agents on the material plane. Agents such as Yolande and (unwittingly) the party themselves when they indirectly caused Yolande's execution after his trial.

Setting

The adventure seems likely to involve the plane of shadows, a gray and misty world like the material planed viewed through a distorted pane of frosted glass. It's the home of ghosts, shadows and other stranger beings.

Where else the the party might travel to is not yet known.

Story So Far

The story begins on an island of the western coast with a strange unstable portal between worlds. Briefly the portal jumped to the plane of shadows where the Shadowman smelt their rich memories of death and blood. Eager to consume these memories he began to pursue them, chasing them with his shadow mastiffs.

Some time later, at a remote chapel on a remote hill top two eyrines, messengers from Asmerdyas, approached the party with a deal: kill Yolande and information on the Shadowman would be theirs.

With Yolande dead, the deal is concluded and Asmerdyas herself travelled to the material plane to meet the adventurers. According to her, "His name his Shadroth and he controls a small portion of the plane of shadows, of similar size I suppose to this mortal kingdom here. He works through mortal agents, watching the suffering they cause in their wake and finally capturing twisted memories for his own use."

Using information from Asmerdyas, the party travelled to Greenmere in search of one of the Shadowman's agents -- a priest called Akbar.

Having reached Greenmere the party learned that a number of people had died in unusual, apparently accidental deaths. Investigations so far conclude that:

• Frank the fisherman's boat was sabotaged (the keel was weakened) and capsized in a freak gust of wind.
• One of the clay digger was buried alive when a spoil heap collapsed in a sudden and unexpected rain storm. Larry, the assistant foreman at the time supervised the stacking of the spoil and it was piled too steep.
• Klara the experienced tracker, was attacked and killed by a shadow tainted bear. It was unusually foggy at the time.
• The Willard family's young son caught a fever and died suddenly. Akbar supplied some 'medicine' which a initial inspection suggests was simply honey water. A more detailed alchemical analysis may reveal more.

(DM Notes)