The work is hard, particularly coming at the end of days of marching and nights of poor rest under the shadow of the Dark Road, and the sight of it in the sky is not a pleasant one. Disturbingly, it seems easier to move towards it now than away. Nothing else disturbs you as you cross the lake, although once or twice those of you with darkvision see what might be other barges in the distance.
Are any of you going to try to rest or meditate during the crossing?
Dashel will continue to work the pole but eventually he will pray to Iomedae and have his opened spell slots filled for the day.
After the first hour, everyone rowing make a DC 10 CON check, modified by the Endurance feat if you have it.
Dashel is tuckered out.
Duncan takes his turns to keep them moving along, knowing the appointed time to renew his prayers.
I'll ask fer me blessings when yer done, Dash. We're gonna need every bit of hhelp we can muster if that last enemy was any indication. The half fiend musta had a fair bit of power to weaken it so. No offense to yer Shootin, Conner.
Dashel, take 5 points of nonlethal damage, and you're fatigued. Duncan keeps the barge moving.
"Wake me when we land, I need to rest. Those battles and the rowing really wiped me out." Dashel lays down to rest, soon drifting to sleep.
After shaking off his condition, Conner would have returned to the poles.
Conner is now fatigued as well.
He also communicates his feelings of social malaise to the others. He does not feel as talkative, not that he ever was, or as jovial, as prior to the encounter with the flying beast.
Lyekeli, your sleep is fitful and not terribly restorative, but it's enough for you to get your spells back. Your dreams were not happy ones, though--you felt yourself drawn into the gulf between worlds, the space you passed through to reach this Golarion from your own. In the vision you saw the Dark Road casting its shadow into that gulf, a myriad of small rifts spinning away from it into as many different universes. The Road echoed with the imminent approach of nameless and alien Things, coming closer as the planets began to align in conjunction. You awaken to the terrible fear that they are closer than you thought. Time is short.
During the second hour, Ava spells Dashel and Conner, pulling easily alongside Duncan.
Hour 3:
Assuming no one spells Duncan and Ava, they keep rowing. At the end of it the eidolon is still going strong; Duncan, give me a DC 16 CON check.
Conner:
Dashel will also use the lesser restoration on himself to remove the fatigue.
Thank you, friend. I am feeling like myself again.
Into the 3rd hour of rowing, the effort finally takes it's toll on the dwarf.
I'm slowin down Dash... If ye don't mind sparing a turn wit the wand, I think we're nearly there
Dashel touches the dwarf with the wand speaking the blessing,
The lesser restoration spells alleviate the immediate fatigue, and reset the cumulative penalties to CON checks to keep going, but do not remove the need for sleep.
After three hours you're about a third of the way there.
If it is alright with all of you, I will rest now, as well. If those of you requiring rest to perform your talents need it first then I will wait. Please, let us establish shifts.
Dash and I don't need sleep ta refresh our blessings. Just ta say our prayers when the time comes. Rest if ye need it. Got me a wand O'Keeffe watch which let's ye stay awake all night without fatigue but only if ye avoid vigorous activities.
Dashel looks around the barge for an anchor. "Perhaps, we should rest here before pushing forward. Does anyone see an anchor? He has an uneasy feeling about sleeping on a boat, he is use to solid land under his boots, and this is certainly something out of his element. "Does anyone need another blessing to remove the day's strains"
If needed,
If Duncan taps Dashel with the keep watch wand, Dashel will dutifully stay alert all night. Otherwise he will take the first watch and rest the remainder of the time and pray in the morning.
Before retiring:
if anyone else needs any healing
I made a lesser restoration roll above, if anyone needs more healing or restoration let me know.
Between naps and potent restorative magics, the party survives the night without loss of sanity or strength of arm. The morning disappearance of the Dark Road lifts everyone's spirits, but the relief is fleeting; the combination of several more hours of rowing and a growing unpleasant smell in the air leave the party somewhat short of temper when the barge finally grinds against the rocky shore of the barren island.
Duncan sends Silf up to get a quick look at the lay of the land. Though nothing seems to be flying at the moment, the pseudodragon does not want to be cut off from the party for any length of time. He reports that the island seems to be about two miles across, roughly circular, with a peak in the center. A road runs from another dock at the shore (roughly a quarter of the way around the island from you) up the central peak. The top of the peak, however, is obscured by a featureless black hemisphere at least 200 feet in diameter.
Other than that, the island is devoid of any notable features. There are no plants; nothing but rock. Silf did see signs of movement on the road, though.
Gazing up towards the center peak, "'sume we are eventually heading that way." He motions towards the center.
Indeed, let's have at then.
Conner takes the point with Longbow drawn and arrow set.
Time to get to it...
The group disembarks from the barge and starts towards the center of the island. The terrain here is not-well-eroded volcanic rock, so about half of it is Difficult; you're limited to about 1.5 miles/hour for the first half-mile, dropping to 0.75 miles/hour as the slope increases. That puts the center of the island within around an hour and a half.
By the time you reach the hill and come within sight of the road, there is no longer any traffic on it.
Duncan looks at the route before him.
Normally, I'd prefer to stalk ahead with Conner but I don't think we got time ta go this the smart, long way. The most direct path would be quickest but probly the best guarded.
"Aye...the direct path works for me." He pretty much follows the direction of Grimm these matters.
Throwing caution to the winds, the party advances up the hill. The hemisphere is visible from some ways away, looming over the crest of the hill like a hole into nothingness. There is not even a hint of reflected sunlight on its surface; it seems to drink in the light, giving up nothing. It gives some trace of the same feeling you've gotten from the Dark Road, but much muted.
From where you come up, you can see what looks like heaps of butchered bodies along the very end of the road. There may also be something moving around that quadrant of the hemisphere, but it's hard to tell.
Dashel squints trying to make out more detail. "What is that in the distance?'
"Blasted darkness!
Stick to our path, but be prepared. If time is of the essence and we find battle again, we must be fast and brutal.
You reach the hemisphere without being noticed. What do you do once there? Nothing can be seen inside it.
How about a light source?
Lyekeli, the tips of your fingers sink into the darkness with no resistance. They feel normal, but you can't see them on the other side of the darkness.
What evilness can block the goodness of light! Surely a blight on land.
Well, only one thing for it. Been dead once already.
Duncan steps into the Darkness...
Everyone else sees Duncan swallowed up by the darkness. He apparently felt no discomfort, as he didn't flinch at all.
Let's give Duncan a couple of minutes to see if he steps back out to report anything.
Duncan attempts to step back through the wall.
Looks the bloody same terrain as here. I'd say this hemisphere is either just a magic dome or one of them inter..junction things the mad wizard was talking about.