This was an adventure that took place with Rachel D and Clove S in 2022/2023.
Diero Miravaldi and Nessie Flickerflow met one another in Buten Quay in the fall of the 87th year of the Third Movement. Diero, having been searching for the people of his hometown who have mysteriously vanished for the past year, was on his way to the Great Temple of Zhen in Hathfyr. Nessie, who spent the last decade of their life aboard the crew of The Yellow Dragon as a pirate, was returning home briefly due to their captain, Barun Bracklerock, wanting to attend the Harvest Festival.
After finding out their childhood friend, Prixipa "Prix" Castagne, was still alive, Nessie decided to travel with Diero and their new friend Benji Boone to seek her out at Kipper Academy. At the Great Temple of Zhen, Diero communed with Zhen who told him that a vampire lord name Corentin Arsenault could be the one responsible for the kidnapping of his townspeople, as well as a number of other Devout's loved ones as well.
Nessie reunited with Prix at Kipper Academy where they were studying as a divination wizard under Qwinhild. However, the group got her suspended until the next equinox from some shenaniganery surrounding a scrying orb and the academy's magic-item vault. That night, Arsenault's raven familiar, Wolfram, crept into the room where the four of them were sleeping. He consumed Prix's shadow and was about to do the same to Nessie, but was stopped just after their shadow was severed from them. Prix, having lost a third of her Essence, lost many of the abilities her studies as a wizard had granted her. Nessie, on the other hand, became an Echo Knight able to work in concert with their shadow.
After being attacked by shadow mastiffs, Nessie's shadow led the party into the Underdark and into Falkheim, a stone giant city. They met Drys, a vampire living among the stone giants and an Underdark spelunker, who had an idea of where the shadow was trying to go. Over the course of the next two weeks, the five of them ventured through the Underdark to reach Drys' Grotto: a pool of water so deep underground and so dark, it's actually a portal to the Shadowfell.
Nessie, Diero, Benji, and Prix traveled through the portal with the goal of reaching Tarzak: a shadow dragon with the purported ability to speak to shadows. Eventually, they made it to the Ferrospine Mountains where Tarzak's lair was hidden. With the help of the people from the nearby city of _______, they reached Tarzak and spoke with him. He told them that severing a shadow (and consuming it) is an ability he has only heard of one before: by Kruftin, Prince of the Enveiled Summits. He disappeared after he was defeated by The Raven Queen hundreds of years ago. He told them of a manor that Arsenault used to call home a few days journey away. He told them that Nessie's shadow simply wanted a name. And finally, Prix was given a replacement shadow (the shadow of a shapeshifting trickster spirit named ______) in return for her service to Tarzak.
The party infiltrated Arsenault Manor and discovered that Arsenault was obsessed with the end of the universe--the Opus Doctrine--and the theft of a god's ability--The Plagiarist's Heresy. Using both pieces of divine lore, he planned on cheating the unmaking of all things at the end of the world (whenever that might be). To do so, he needed to steal Zhen's ability to lie to the gods via a complicated ritual that involved Diero's family and others like them.
With the help of The Yellow Dragon's crew, the four of them (plus Cap Barun!) infiltrated Krix Keep--Arsenault's home. They had a showdown with him in his occult room deep underground during the final moments on the ritual. Arsenault was killed and destroyed in his coffin by Diero, but not before: 1)the ritual was completed; and 2)Wolfram was able to consume a weakened Arsenault's shadow in his last moments, causing him to swell with power. Wolfram revealed his true identity as Prince Kruftin, now restored to nearly his full power. He thanked Diero and shadow-walked away.
Diero returned to Questra with the 60 remaining townspeople to help rebuild. Zhen has yet to contact him again.
Nessie was made quartermaster of The Yellow Dragon after the death of the previous one during the assault on Krix Keep. They continue to sail with Captain Barun.
Benji also decided to sail with Captain Barun, who it turned out was his long lost father.
Prix was killed during the fight with Arsenault. The next day, when Nessie went to her body to say one last good-bye, she awoke. She was incorporeal and panicked. Prix turned into a shadow the flew away into the sky heading northwest.