It has been suggested that the contents of this log be kept more strictly to the series of events and not include personal opinions and bias into the log. Haplo apologises for any problems with the previous log entries and will endeavour to correct the problem. The intention was merely to provide a slightly more entertaining view of events, and not to introduce bias. Honest Guvnor.
At the start of the session the party were investigating the circle burnt into the grass along the line. Frederick had continued along the line further than the rest of the party, who were finding it very difficult to walk shadow.
Ulrich recieved a trump contact. He took it, and after listening for a few seconds responded with "Oh NO! I'll be right there!!" and promptly disappeared from the shadow. This was closely followed by the sighting of a THING in the distance - it might be possible to be more specific, but it would probably require the use some very illegal narcotics. In short it was some sort of creature, constantly shifting its form. And it was coming closer.
Haplo, upon noticing the creature satyed only on one side of the line stepped over it (The line, not the creature). The others kept a fair distance away. Danville decided to attempt a mental contact with the creature, and appeared to go glassy eyed to the rest of the players. He then felt himself being struck, even though nobody was near so he broke the contact.
Frederick then appeared, took a look around and threw a dagger at the creature. It disappeared in, and didn't seem to come out, so we must assume it remained within the thing (possibly to this day) but this did not seem to hinder it significantly. At this time it was also determined by Ralthus that the creature was real and not of pattern. This implied chaos of course. Seeing the creature escaping along the line Frederick took up the chase and disappeared. Volkazz also disappeared from the shadow, to an unknown destination.
Then Danville tried something else (the players in general are unawre of exactly what) and began to fade out of existence - along with most of the surrounding scenery.
In fact he was at the centre of a growing circle of darkness, which the other players all avoided. It was also noticed that there was a gap in the line directly outside the circle of darkness - however no players volunteered to step through the gap, probably due to the proximity to the darkness it would entail.
Then substantially more suddenly than it started the darkness disappeared and everything returned to normal - with the notable exception of Danville, who had completely vanished.
As the players were pondering this, Faustus received a trump contact, which he accepted. The other presence attempted to push his way into Faustus's brain, which he resisted and even began to push back. During this time Haplo had taken his own trump deck and was attempting to trace the trump call.
The events of the next few moments are a little confused, but somehow Haplo and Faustus started contacting each other and Faustus got into Haplo's brain, withdrawing however as soon as he found out what was going on.Then Faustus recieved another trump contact, which turned out to be Ulrich asking for himself and another (unknown) person to be pulled through, who turned out to be a female member of the chaos court known as N'taye. Both were somewhat bloodstained and singed from an encounter with fire breathing demons, from which Ulrich had rescued N'taye.
It turned out Ulrich had met N'taye several days before, and had agreed they had a mutual interest in tracing the line. Everyone's interest was piqued when she said she thought she knew what was going on.
At this point another of the "things" came along the line from the other direction, and promptly exploded and disappeared. Ralthus made several muttered comments to the effect of "oops". Players may draw their own conclusions.
N'taye asked to be taken back to the burnt circle, and as the party moved there through shadow Faustus got a 'creepy feeling'. At this point, Haplo and Ulrich both received trump contacts. Haplo blocked his while Ulrich accepted and found it was Flora, who made several (polite) suggestions it might be time to get on and find the diplomatic mission, the purpose for which the party had originally been sent out.
While Haplo was still blocking his trump, a gate materialised not too far away and the demons previously only known to Ulrich and N'taye began to pour out. Ulrich rushed forward to attack them. N'taye, by this time, was kneeling by the circle and making various marks on it in silver dust.
Haplo, helpless while blocking the trump contact, accepted it and a stranger on the other side immediately asked to be pulled through. Haplo asked why, and the stranger merely asked again more urgently. Seeing things were in a bad state Haplo agreed, and a well dressed gentleman appeared. Faustus at this time was trying to contact Benedict by trump to ask for help, but the stranger threw a well-aimed dagger which substantually spoiled Faustus's concentration.
While this was happening a shimmering line appeared which split the party into two parts, with Haplo and the stranger on one side, and Ralthus and Ulrich on the other. Also, a swirling vortex appeared near to Ralthus and began to grow.
In response, Haplo grabbed the stranger and gaining a psychic contact, managed to stun him, while Faustus pulled out a medical kit and began to bandage the serious wound. Unsurprisingly he was kneeling at this point. Ulrich, in the meantime, was holding his own but as more demons arrived was beginning to get into serious trouble. Suddenly there was a surge of mental energy, and Haplo was forced out of the strangers mind as he whirled away from Haplo. Things were looking a little grim.
At this point Ralthus, who had been concentrating, sent out streams of glowing energy towards the gate, which collapsed completely, sending a backlash back to Ralthus momentarily stunning him. Ulrich, at this time, managed to kick a demon into the swirling blackness, and it was immediately torn to shreds. Also, the shimmering line began to fade out, possibly due to Ralthus's actions.
Faustus had managed to bind his wounds by this time, and desperately threw the dagger back at the stranger. This distracted him long enough for Haplo to fumble through his trump deck and use a power to banish the stranger, who by this time was becoming more like the demonic form of Bariman. A glowing circle appread under Bariman, which he fell through screaming. Haplo collapsed in exhaustion, but not before noticing the trump he had grabbed at random from the deck was Fiona's.
By this time the swirling blackness was spreading substantially and Ralthus was desperately attempting to contact an ally to ask for help, apparently without success. Also there was only 1 demon left, who appeared more powerful than the others, who seemed to be protected from the darkness. Ulrich charged him, and he disappeared, leaving Ulrich to dash back before the darkness closed in on him.
A gap had also appeared deep in the darkness, and moved towards the edge - it turned out to be centred on a figure none of the players (openly) recognised. At this point another gate opened and the powerful demon reappeared, but the players were only marginally aware of this as the darkness met the line, which quickly began to become unstable. All the players (and N'taye) immediately left the shadow for various destinations, leaving the two strangers to their fates. Next session the players will try and pick up the pieces of the encounter and hopefully meet up again.