NBHK, A great deal happened today, no doubt you have heard of the mass insanity that briefly befell the continent. Allow me to fill you all in on what happened from my own recollection.

The mission began like many others, with us venturing out to investigate the creation of a Nadai gas that we had learned was being worked on. A former drug mule by the name of Elise assisted us. Though she was initially co-operative, after giving us some information about her work on the gas, Elise and her coworker began choking for seemingly no reason, and she was forced to turn to smoke and retreat into her staff in order to survive: an ability which evidently none of us knew she had up until that point.

Following Elise’s directions, we visited the “Mistress of The Maelstrom,” looking for clues, only to find the proprietor dead, with insects of black ichor bursting from her corpse. Disarming the trap set up to take the entire establishment up in flames alongside its evidence, we investigated the place and found a necklace that directed us to the edge of sharn, where we found a labyrinth of metal and glass.

Inside, we had to solve several odd puzzles, but were able to make our way through, encountering a strange padded room with a map of khorvaire covered in red thread. In another room we encountered some fire elementals and freed them in exchange for some information. They told us that the hag who lived here had recently left, and informed us which of the magical coins we had discovered to use in order to progress through the labyrinth.

In the first of the rooms we were directed to we encountered several children that had been missing for months, though they thought that they had been gone for only a few days. The children were cheerful and thought the hag was their friend, not realizing that the plan had been to keep them there until all their loved ones passed away. Realizing that staying too long could be bad for our own perception of time, we left quickly, planning to return and pick up the kids on our way out.

The next room was a strange smelly swamp with no discernible use, so we moved onto the next, yet another maze of metal. At the end of it we found one of the missing crates that contained the dangerous new nadai gas, with it hooked up to the pipes in the walls.

Realizing that we were in the cogs beneath Sharn and that the rest of the crates were likely distributed all across the city, ready to gas everybody in town, we worked quickly to disable the device, and Elise assisted Jinnis in reversing the direction of the gas so that it would all be directed to us in the cogs.

As a result of this reversal, we had to make a quick getaway, barely escaping with the children in tow, but luckily no Nadai gas was distributed into the city proper.

Returning with the children to the offices of the Accord, we were just settling down from our dangerous mission when we noticed a commotion outside.

The clouds swirled and a storm covered the entire continent as Draal Duor, now transformed into a mindflayer, announced to all of Khorvaire the arrival of Xoriat, as people that had been users of Nadai were mindbroken and turned into a horde of zombie-like creatures that attacked the healthy. One can only imagine how much worse the carnage would have been if the entire city had been infected just moments prior.

Seeing an incoming airship about to strike Sharn, we made use of the timely arrival of Rosie the Goblin Bard to quickly skate past all the violent hordes on the way to the top of the city. On the way up to the top of the city, we had several close calls with violent civilians, but managed to avoid killing any of them. Reaching the top without too much incident, we landed awesomely on the deck of the crashing ship and began searching for away to stop it. The ship appeared to be abandoned, but once we found the engine room we discovered a hobgoblin and an elf floating inside strange mechanical tubes. Investigating further, we realized that these two were actually the pilots of the ship, and we quickly swapped out the cables hooking them to the machine so that Velkro and Jinnis could take over piloting.

While the two of them course corrected, the rest of us had to deal with the sudden attack of the rest of the crew from beneath the floorboards. Realizing that we were putting a stop to the orchestrated disaster, they clamored at the doors to the engine room trying to get in and stop us. Helios was able to confuse them by impersonating Draal Duor, and we used that time to break the machinery used to pilot the ship so they couldn’t override our course changes. Then we feather falled out the window. At this moment, portals opened up all across Khorvaire as the remaining gatekeepers surrounded Draal Duor on his mountain and summoned the Accord Keepers to battle him.

The sunken crater that remained of the mountain we found Draal in last time had transformed into a swirling abyss of madness, and we fought to keep our footing on the few remaining pieces of even ground. Draal’s Shadow Dragon had survived alongside him, and we had to battle both of them to keep the gatekeepers alive while they sealed him back into Xoriat. Against tentacle and claw we battled, but still many of the gatekeepers fell, however the Accord Keepers were able to keep just enough of them alive to finish the ritual. Duor was sucked back into Xoriat, screaming that the seal could not hold him forever. I pray that he is wrong.

The storm across the continent ended, and the madness afflicting Nadai users ended, with remarkably few casualties. As her overseer, it is my duty to inform readers that MAtilda d’Kundarak was responsible for one of these civilian deaths, however I would also add that this was done under extreme duress amidst a noble pursuit. My recommendation is that the incident be overlooked.

YLA, Toryn Viphonastar