====== Session 21: Umber, Black Seas, and Giants ======

=== The Darkness, ??? CE ===

  * Ragnar, Moira, Maeve, and Marcus had followed [[wiki:npcs:chaaya|Chaaya]], the Dark Elf, for several days.
    * Chaaya mentioned that the landscape in the Darkness changes, and it is very easy to get lost in it.
  * Eventually, the group came upon the town of [[wiki:places:umber|Umber]], an underground city surrounding the Umbertree.
  * The party met [[wiki:npcs:mother_magun|Mother Magun]], the Shepard of Umber.
    * Magun welcomed the party into the town and gave them their own home.
    * The party were able to enjoy light for the first time since they extinguished their camp fire when they met Chaaya.
    * Magun explained that the town was separated mostly into the Shepards, the Scouts, and the Hunters.
      * The Shepards were the leaders of the town,
      * the Scouts mapped the changing landscape, and
      * the Hunters killed monsters that got too large or plentiful.
  * The party then spent the next few weeks in Umber, learning about the town, their history, and getting to know the people.
  * Maeve spent some time with Chaaya, learning how to the Scouts track and map the changing terrain in their head.
    * While out scouting, the party came across a large group of Undead trudging towards somewhere Chaaya called the [[wiki:places:giants_graveyard|Giant's Graveyard]].
    * Having spent so much time with the Chaaya, Maeve learned how to navigate the land of the Darkness like a Scout.
  * Moira and Ragnar spent some time with [[wiki:npcs:irdreth|Irdreth,]] an Umberan Hunter.
    * They went out on a ranging party to defeat a large infestation of worm-like monsters.
    * While out, Irdreth explained that the monsters come from the Black Sea, and that they grow and become enraged, so the Hunters kill them before they become too plentiful.
  * Marcus also spent some time with Mother Magun, and learned of the History of the Dark Elves.
    * The short history of the Darkness was that, there were once stars in the Sky, until they met the Light.
    * The Light seemed good, but from the Light the Black Sea was born.
    * Marcus also learned about the dark secret that the Shepards will only tell one person at a time.
    * Apparently, Terra and the Light came together to create the Moon. But the Light betrayed Terra and both it and the Moon were killed because of the betrayal.
  * Mother Magun also told the party that if they wanted to return to where they were from, they could ask the White Shade how.
    * The White Shade lived in the Black Sea, but the people of Umber didn't go near the Sea because it is the source of the monsters.

  * Later, Chaaya returned with information as to where the Black Sea was currently.
    * As the party was gearing up to go, Marcus said that he wanted to stay behind.
    * Even if they found a way back, he was happy in Umber and decided to stay permanently.
  * The party, plus Chaaya, left Umber to find the Black Sea.
  * After about a week of travel, the party came upon a purely black sea.
  * Maeve looked into the sea, and eventually found a being of white swimming inside the water.
  * The being, calling itself the White Shade, explained a few things to the party.
    * White Shades are created from the Pure Darkness being missing from the Black Sea.
    * There were currently two White Shades, he who had existed for a thousand years, and another just recently created.
    * He appeared to be benevolent, saying that he was the absence of evil.
    * He told the party that there was a way out of the Darkness, if they traveled through the Tower of Thorns.
    * The Tower was locked, however, and would require a key to open.
    * He told them, "At the Heart of where Giants lie, is the Key."
  * The party then left to find the Giant's Graveyard.
    * The Giant's Graveyard appeared to be home to hundreds of bones and human skeletons.
    * The found it, and proceeded to leap down the spiral chasm.
    * When the entered the bones came alive and began to fight them.
    * Ragnar, having yeeted himself down to the bottom of the Graveyard, found a giant crystal heart embedded in the wall.
    * After a close encounter, the party managed to free the heart, and slay the skeletons that fought them.

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