Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Back to the shadows and out again

After some discussions regarding difficulty level, the adventurers got a break and successfully rested beneath a Tiny Hunt, but only after me explaining several different ways the vampires could have thwarted them. Anyway, moving on to a hitherto unexplored corridor, at the end of which strange cultists were chanting something. Cue Fireball.

While the rest of the adventurers checked around for loot, Brienne opened the double doors into a hall with more chanting cultists and a purple cloud with a vision of a dragon inside.

The party wasted no time in assaulting the cultists, and successfully disrupted the ritual. However, each dead cultists rose as a shadow assassin. Some were turned, the others died, but not before severely injuring Brienne, and lightly injuring several other. Strength loss is no joke!

The adventurers surprised and killed more cultists in the next room, but soon had to contend with the returning turned shadows. No match for Groin's Holy Aura!

Upon inspection, the cultists were anointing some treasure with Shar's holy oils. The adventurers rubbed the oil off and took the loot.

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Next session, we had a guest character and lots of players present. Even so, we made some progress.

The party was once again facing the curtain of darkness. Solid called forth his trusty warhorse, Stella, and sent her in - she died. Assuming the worst, the adventurers buffed up, and sent in Solid. He took some damage, and discovered  the chained man covered in vampire bites on the other side - our guest character, Billy Butcher. He was freed and geared up, while the adventurers opened the ominous double doors.

They stepped right into the Shadowfell. Cue surprise assault by the vampires and their dark mage friend. A couple vampires died, before a mass turn undead and they all fled - even those not turned.

The adventurers moved on in pursuit of a larger group, and stepped into a room full of skeletons. Recognizing the remains of some of his former comrades, Billy rushed forward - right into the lair of a shadow dragon. He fled out.

Once the rest of the party arrived, they moved in, but the dragon was expecting them. Unfortunately, Sunlight made all the ghosts weak.

When Brienne was turned into a giant ape, the dragon beat it back, turned into a humanoid and fled. The adventurers mopped up the ghosts.