Previously: Chapter 14: Monstrous Encounters
Continuing Through the Cave
As the party wakes up the next morning, everything seems to be normal, or at least as normal as can be when waking up in an ancient cave filled with undead. Everyone gathers around the campfire the group set up the night before, and as Theren sits down to eat, everyone goes quiet. He can feel the stares of his companions piercing him, so he asks if he has something on his face. The party tells him he’s blue, with Granny reaching over to touch his skin, and realizes that it is paint, so Theren grabs his waterskin to clean it off. He manages to get most of it, except for two circles around his eyes, making it look like someone has drawn fake glasses on him.
Theren takes out his knife, and wipes it clean with a piece of cloth, to check his reflection. He does a short incantation, and activates his detect magic, finding that he has been affected by some sort of illusion magic. Unsure of what the cause is, and considering it seems to be harmless, albeit comical, the party decides to not worry too much about it for now, and instead focus on the dangers of the cave.
The group decides that the first order of action should be to take out the roaming ogre zombie that could cause a disturbance if it were to discover the party. Granny focuses her ears and tries to listen to where it might be, but the only thing she can make out is the booming coming from within the cave. Checking out to see if the coast is clear, they hurriedly sneak their way towards the room where they fought the first ghouls, in the hope of ambushing the zombie ogre.
Waiting around, Penny eventually can hear the undead approaching, and so they all go into position in order to take it out quickly. As the ogre passes by, they all release their attacks at the same time, causing the monster to go down without any hassle. After making sure that the zombie is actually down, they move back to the chamber where they encountered the roper and the shadows, and take a closer look at it.
The chamber is littered with corpses of men, dwarves, elves and orcs, signifying a large conflict taking place here. Most of the bodies are ancient, apart from the bugbear that the party didn’t have time to loot the day before, so Penny takes the opportunity to do so now. Looking around at the walls of the chamber, they spot sigils belonging to what looks like three different families. One of the sigils is easily recognized as that of the Mercier family, as it matches the one on the Longsword of Twilight that the party found in the nothic’s chest. One of the other sigils seems to belong to a dwarven family, judging by the hard edges and general aesthetic.
More Undeads
Feeling confident that there is nothing more of value in the chamber of the roper, the party sees that there is a hallway leading south towards what probably once was the original entrance of the cave, and what is left are two entrances on opposite sides of the hallway. Approaching them they can see that the doors are much shorter than the rest of the cave they’ve seen so far, and figure it’s probably due to being dwarven made. One of the doors seems to be unlocked, so Penny carefully opens the door and peeks inside. There she sees a large room with a bunch of broken furniture, as well as remains of skeletons laying motionless on the ground.
Thinking at first that the room is safe, she suddenly stops herself from opening the door further as she sees a silhouette standing in the middle of the room. Theren tries to take a look inside, as Penny didn’t know what she was seeing, and he recognizes it as an undead, more specifically a wight. He tells the party that it steals lifeforce to stay active, and it’s highly unusual for it to be alone, and so the party should be careful if they enter. As they don’t want this thing to roam around and find them at an inopportune time, they decide to take care of it here and now.
The party prepares themselves, and Demetrius kicks open the door, allowing Penny to surprise it with faerie fire, making it easier to attack. The beads of light flowing through the air attach itself to the skin of the wight, who screams a blood-curdling scream at the intruders, awakening the group of skeletons that were dormant in the room. Willowbark summons a moon beam, with Theren firing a fireball into the room. Kal uses her turn undead ability, taking down a few skeletons, with Granny using her axe after rushing into the room.
A measly group of skeletons accompanied by a wight proves no challenge for the party, and Willowbark takes down the leader with her moonbeam, causing it to melt into nothingness. After clearing out the room, they decide to look through the ruined furniture, finding a letter talking about Mormesk, and how powerful he is, recommending that whomever the letter was addressed for to stay close to him, as Mormesk can protect them. Kal, remembering reading about the weapon Lightbringer that was commissioned for a cleric, hopes to find the Forge of Spells soon. On one of the walls they found a box full of earplugs. At first wondering what they were used for, the resonating boom of the cave answers their question. They decide to move on.
Crossing the hallway they decide to check out the other room in the area, and so Demetrius carefully listens to the door, but thinks that it is clear. He opens it carefully, and finds no enemies, but rather an old office of sorts. There are a few corpses inside, and they have to use force to open the door, as it seems they were trying to keep something out when they died. On the counter in the north side of the room there are some scales, indicating that this room was used for assessing ore samples and paying miners for their labors. Demetrius finds a strongbox beneath the counter, and tries to open it, but the lock is too deteriorated to pick, so they decide to take it with them to try later. They also pick up some of the parchments that have dwarven writing on it.
In a small shrine to the north of the room has two gold pieces lying in it that have been there for as long as the cave has been lost, considering the dust. The shrine seems to be dedicated to Shehemis, as they recognize his symbol. Willowbark puts a gold coin in it, and suddenly feels blessed by the deity. Kal tries to do the same, but nothing happens. Thinking it’s either a limited time use or that she is following the wrong god she can’t be sure of, but in either case, they have taken what is of use, and leave the room.
The Glowing Cave
The party returns to the roper chamber, and heads east towards a faint light they can see in the cavern ahead of them. There is a faint green glow, and a sweet scent in the air, which Granny quickly deduces is poisonous. In front of them there is a vast chamber filled with mushrooms that have been allowed to grow freely for the last several hundred years. Among the mushrooms they can see corpses in various positions, most overgrown by the mushrooms.
On one hand sticking out on the path through the mushrooms, Granny spots a ring shaped like a skull. She points it out to the group, with Theren using his mage hand to retrieve it, bringing the finger it was placed on as well. He carefully shakes it out, and takes a moment to get a sense of the item, and notices it is magical. After identifying it, he finds it to be a Ring of Obscuring, useful to hide oneself from attackers.
The party figures that the mushroom will probably release a dangerous fungus that could harm the party if disturbed, so they don’t think they will be able to move through, no matter how fast they jump. Theren points out that the mushrooms are probably highly flammable, so a well placed fireball could easily clear a way for them, but he is hesitant, as that could potentially ignite the whole chamber and kill them all. The party decides to take the long way around to play it safe, as the map indicates that there is another path.
Mormesk, Maybe
They move away from the mushroom chamber, back to the large chamber where they fought the group of ghouls and ghasts, as they know there is a way to the northeast of there. Peeking around the corner of the hallway, they see the flameskull hovering around the room looking at things. They talk amongst them, thinking that this must be the mage Mormesk they have seen references to. Looking at the soft glow of the undead hovering in the room beyond, they decide to make a battle plan. They think it’s time to use the Bag of Tricks again, and take out the flameskull quickly, considering that it might be quite powerful.
Penny and Kal both run into the chamber, and casts a shatter each at the flameskull, with Willowbark following close behind to throw a furry friend at the enemy. She manages to summon a direwolf that rushes forward and attacks the skull. Feeling things are going a little too easy, they suddenly notice the various corpses scattered across the room begin to move, as a large group of zombies rise due to the disturbance.
As the zombies come shambling towards them, the party takes a defensive position in the hallway, hoping to bottleneck the zombies so that they are not overwhelmed. Unbeknownst to them, the flameskull knows fireball. Realizing their mistake just as the small bead of fire they have seen Theren fire so many times before is heading straight for them, the party braces for the impact. Kal raises her shield, and manages to deflect from herself the flames that erupt, but the rest of the party isn’t as lucky.
The party manages to eventually take down the skull, which drops to the ground, flames extinguished. Taking some time to finish off the zombies that remain, Willowbark quickly picks up and uses dispel magic on the skull, preventing it from reanimating as Granny has heard rumors of the flameskulls being difficult to kill. Theren hopes to keep the skull as a souvenir, but as soon as the spell is cast, the skull evaporates into a fine dust in her hands. Theren decides to keep the dust, hoping to find some use for it.
The dire wolf, whom Willowbark has decided to call Mr. Fang surprisingly made it through the battle. Seeing no more enemies, and wanting to play it safe, they reconvene at the safe room they have used so far, and take a short rest. During the rest the dire wolf suddenly fades into nothingness, and the party realizes that dawn just arrived.
War Crimes
After the rest the party heads back to the room where they fought the flameskull, or Mormesk as they are now sure it was, and realizes that the room leads both east and west. Wanting to find Gundren’s brother before it is too late, they decide to try to head west, towards where the tracks were going. Crossing the room and entering the hallway, they see a closed door in front of them. Checking the map, they find that there is a room beyond it, and as they try to open it, they find that it is barricaded from the other side. But Kal is nothing if not stubborn, so using all her strength, she pushes the door with all of her might, managing to open it slightly, allowing the party to help.
As the door swings open, they see several bugbears on the other side, groggy and tired, with shocked expressions on their faces as they obviously thought the barricade could keep out anything. The bugbears demand to know who they are, with Demetrius trying to claim to them that they are with the Black Spider. Being proficient in bullshit, Demetrius manages to convince them that he is telling the truth, and demands that the bugbears line up in formation. It is unknown if it is the shock of being rudely awoken or the intimidation, but they actually listen to him and form up into a line by the wall. Demetrius sees his plan working and shouts to Theren to use his fireball.
Theren wastes no time, throwing a bead of fire straight at the bugbears, managing to get all of them within the flaming eruption. The bugbears, being surprised by the whole situation are easily dispatched and killed, apart from what appears to be the leader, who they knock out. They tie him up, and search the room, finding some coins as well as a potion.
After looting the room and placing the bugbear chief next to the wall, they wake him up. Granny immediately casts charm person on him. He is disoriented, and extremely angry, but feels that he can trust Granny. They ask him his name, which he gives as Kragnarg Bash. They ask why he’s here, and he tells them the Black Spider hired them to help look for something in the caves, and tells them where they can find him. He is in the temple of Dumathoin, just around the corner. They ask more details about the Black Spider, and he tells them the name he knows him as is Nezznar, and that he indeed is a drow. None in the party recognize the name. Nezznar hasn’t told the bugbears what they are looking for. Kal deduces that the bugbear isn’t withholding any information.
During the talk, Kragnarg keeps looking towards the door, as if he is worried about something. The party tells him they took care of the undead, so he calms down a bit. When asked about what abilities the Black Spider has, he just gives a cryptic response in that he changes when he gets angry.
The party huddles together to discuss what to do with Kragnarg, and as they do, the bugbear sees his opportunity and breaks free of his bonds. The party surrounds him, and prevents him from escaping, telling him to break away from the Black Spider’s influence. Willowbark gives a heartfelt plea to try to redeem him, and offers him a way to live away from danger in peace, and tells him she can give him the way to her tribe. Granny tells him in the kindest way that she can that if he doesn’t they will be forced to execute him. After thinking for a while, weighing his options, he eventually agrees, as long as the party provides him with healing, some rations, and promises not to tell the Black Spider.
They agree to the terms, and provide him with the supplies, with Willowbark telling him how to get to Faunus’ Forest, as well as how to get in contact with her tribe. Kal watches his body language, and finds that he probably just wants to get away from here, alive. They send him on his way, and he disappears into the dark caves, heading towards the ravine.
Facing the Spider
After taking a short rest, with the cursed coffee pot whispering gleefully at its growing influence over the party, they decide that it is time to face the Black Spider once and for all. Exiting the room, they find a short staircase to the north, and see remnants of spider webs in the corners of the hallway. Turning the corner, the hallway is positively covered by it, and they have to break much of it away in order to reach the large double doors that lead into the temple. As they open the door, the first thing they notice is the large statue of a dwarven deity, presumably Dumathoin, holding a large warhammer with large emerald eyes. Some pillars that hold the roof up have broken, and the roof itself is covered in spiderwebs, with a large hole in the middle of it.
To the side of the room, a drow seems to be looking at something with a bugbear, and as the door opens, he looks over at the party. The drow is clad in what appears to be expensive clothes, with black and red silk adorned with trims of gold. Around his neck there is a large spider necklace, and he carries a staff with a spider adorned on the end of it. The party thinks it’s a little over the top, but the name fits at least.
“Ah, so we meet at last. Nezznar Khalazza, at your service.”
The drow bows to the party, and then proceeds to list every party member's full name, showing them how much he already has learned about them. He asks them if they have dispatched with all of his minions, and Theren lies to him by saying that they didn’t give them much of a choice.
The party wants to know what the Black Spider is doing here, and demands the return of Gundren’s brother. He ignores the demand, and instead tells the party that he is searching for something of great personal value to him in the caverns to the east. Apparently the flameskull has proved to be a bigger nuisance than Nezznar first thought it would be, and his troops are unwilling to get too close.
Nezznar offers the party a job, to help him reach the Forge of Spells, or hand over the map that he has been searching for so that he can find another path to it. The party is careful not to mention to Nezznar that they have already taken care of the flameskull and the undead. He mentions Morgan’s name to Penny, and seems to hint to her that he was present in Centahelm the night he disappeared. She replies that she didn’t see any drow in the crowd that night, but he simply answers condescendingly that he of course didn’t look like he does now. He probably took the form of an old man so that she wouldn’t notice him. Penny asks when this was to prove it, and he replies that it was about two months ago. Kal can sense that he isn’t being completely truthful about this, but doesn’t say anything yet.
When Theren chimes in, he mockingly calls him “Theren With The Copper Eyes”, several times, and tells him to be quiet, as he cannot bring anything of value to this conversation that he doesn't already know. He asks Kal if she knows of Centahelm, hinting that he knows it’s her hometown. A veiled threat to her family? He asks again to consider his proposal, telling Demetrius that he has to find a way to pay for the daggers he has ordered. Kal asks why he keeps tabs on them, and he responds to the party that he was told.
“I may have been told that you could be important, by my patron.”
He doesn’t reveal who his patron is when asked. But he admits to the party begrudgingly that he knows the least about Willowbark, as there seems to be no records of her prior to a few months ago.
“But please, no rush, take some time to confer about my proposal”
He strikes the floor twice with his staff, and the doors behind the party close shut and lock themselves, before returning to the bugbear and talks with it in a low voice. Luckily for the party, Willowbark can read lips, and she sees that he is telling the bugbear that if the party doesn’t help him he won’t need them anymore. The party discusses quietly and thinks about the pros and cons. They could avoid fighting Nezznar, but they don’t know what they are providing to him, so they don’t want to risk it being a danger to other people. They ask Nezznar what they would receive if they helped him, to which he responds “Money, your lives and a favor down the line.”
He goes on to say, noticing the party’s reluctance, that he knew when they arrived at the cave, as his spies are everywhere, and that beating his men was his way of testing the resolve of his minions. A test they sadly failed, and if they were alive now, he would execute them for their weakness. When asked why Gundren is so important, he tells them that his knowledge is important, but he confesses to having never met him in person.
The party tells him that they talked to Zelya in Cragmaw Castle, and wants an explanation about his goals. He tells them that the greater good, in his eyes, is equality between his people and their people. Wanting to convince the party, he tells them the artifact he is searching for is a key. A circular shape, and not really any use for the group, or so he claims. They ask where the key goes, and he tells them the lock is out of their reach.
The party tries to argue that if he does what he is planning on doing, he will take away something from everyone, without them even having a say in the matter.
“Yes, I will. It is a consequence of what I do, but it is not our goal.”
Willowbark proclaims that she will never work for or follow someone of whom she doesn’t know the true intentions of, and in the end, hers and his goals, his being to remove all magic, don’t seem to align. And so she tells him that she has to refuse, with the rest of the party backing her up.
“So be it.”