Shiver Me Artifacts

We discussed our options for dealing with Michael Merchants. We discussed a few options, but we figured the best bet would be to convince Michael to let us return the orb, on the condition that we would then rejoin him and return Jaedan's soul.

As our discussion wound down, the room grew cold. We saw frost on our breath. We ran up to the deck and told our guard contingent. The air grew frosty there as well. We told the wizard it could be a lich (though we were pretty sure we'd killed it) or a necromancer.

The wizard screamed, as we saw a massive shadowy shape lift him up. It was a great beast with wings and fiery red eyes. I knew the demon was resistant to most kinds of weapons.

I unleashed a torrent of holy energy, but the demon resisted enough to only take 9. It disturbed the demon, causing it to miss its next attack on the wizard and drop him to the deck. Shatain distracted the demon with a bluff, depriving it of its maneuverability, and stabbed it for 18. It seemed only some of the damage got through. Brennen attacked with his 2-handed axe, hitting twice for a total of 30. Only 10 seemed to get through.

The monster caused magical darkness to encompass the ship. It was now effectively invisible. Shatain stabbed at it, guessed well, but only did 4 after the beast's damage reduction. Brennen missed with his axe in the darkness. I conjured a magical warhammer to attack the demon. I got it in the right place, but it missed.

Brennen swung again, but still missed due to the darkness. I fired a burst of supernaturally bright light at the demon, but missed & hit Brennen instead. Shatain bluffed the demon in the flash of light, but missed with her attack. The demon magically feared us; Shatain & I ran as far as we could within the confines of the boat. Brennen stood his ground.

Brennen swung his axe, missing once but hitting with his second attack for 10. The demon focused on Brennen. The coldness and darkness went away - the demon had teleported away.

A minute or so later, Ezekiel appeared on the deck, staff and wand at the ready. Brennen told him briefly what had happened. The crew reassembled. I healed us all with a burst of holy energy.

Ezekiel asked to see the orb. I took it out... it had a small crack in it. He believed the demon came out of the orb.