Another night has come and gone and it was quite the adventurous one for the Karameikan Fist. The group began with discussing their options, returning below, and encountering a number of things that left them in a bit of a hard place. The night ended with the group splitting as they fled from their last encounter ... but the recap is below, not here in the first paragraph.
Temeris, Daisy, and Crispin quickly searched the campsite of the fallen Zhentarim as the cleric left. Gathering up what they could and taking the horses as well they returned to their own camp, intent on finishing the night and speaking with their friends in the morning when they awoke. However the noise of their return cause Shadow to stir and sit up and ask what was going on, and that was enough to awaken Karath as well.
Temeris proceeded to tell the story of how Crispin saved him from attack and how they rushed off to save Daisy, and how they defeated the Zhentarim agents and negotiated information from the cleric of Cyric in exchange for his release. They also spoke of how the Zhentarim were headed for an area that sounded just as Temeris's map did, a shock to all but Temeris.
Karath noticed that many of them had received wounds and using an spell he recently discovered the secret to was able to help by healing some of those wounds. Being of late hour they all decided it was best to rest but Shadow and Temeris remained awake and discussed potentially leaving to seek out the location on the map as opposed to continuing. However they decided to finish that conversation in the morning with everyone else.
That next morning the group weighed the pros and cons of both staying and going at this point, but in the end decided to keep their word and return below but to do so quickly so that they could rush to the location on the map hopefully before other Zhentarim agents were able to.
As they descended again they overheard the chittery language that they had come to associate from the Chitine and upon entering that area one of them rushed off as normal. This time however it was several minutes before they returned with Vald. He explained that they had been discussing returning to the city and accepting whatever came of it as they felt that it was better the Chitine were whole given the encounter the party had earlier. When asked why they were worried about the "shadow swallowing them" Vald explained that they believed that they were Drow, and that the Drow enslave Chitine. He also told the party that they could continue below if they wished and they would try to distract guards on their way down to allow the party safe passage but could not do the same for the return trip. The party quickly agreed to the idea however.
The Chitine gathered as the party waited, some 30 or so of them, and soon were headed off down the halls toward the stairs down. As hoped they were escorted to the city by the Chitine guards to the city leaving the path behind them clear for the party to head south in the caverns. The Chitine return held the attention of the Chitine of the city so fully that they were easily able to find the slope down, tie off on a rock, and descend to a lower level where they found the uncovered hallway and large black iron door they were looking for.
Temeris boldly strode forward and after determining he didn't believe there were traps on the door threw it open. On the other side the first thing the party noticed was that the room beyond was lit by a faint glow emanating from the floor, cieling, and walls by a strange substance like a field of dandelion seeds. The second thing they noticed were the three strange creatures such as none they had ever seen further into the room seemingly playfully attacking each other. The creatures standing a head taller than they did and a few feet longer from head to tail were covered in reptilian scales and had short clawed front arms but massive back legs ending in talons.
Thankfully these creatures didn't seem to notice them however and as the party waited patiently first one and then a second wandered off down a hallway. The third remained but Karath stepped forward singing a lullaby and oddly enough the creature seemed to become drowsy and laid down. The party had all but snuck past the thing to a door across the room when Howler began to growl at it. Thinking quickly Karath cast a sleep spell upon the creature and as quickly as it had risen its head and bared dagger-like teeth at them it dropped its head again and slept.
Opening the door the party entered into a hallway ending in another door just as another of the creatures was reentering the room. Opening this next door the party noticed small lumps of flesh moving around on the other end of the room attempting to cross a white line in the floor. The lumps didn't appear to have limbs but had a mouth on the stomachs which uttered noises. Temeris moved forward quietly and despite being extremely close to the things was able to see that the line was salt. He leapt across and told the others to hurry as well, but his actions seemed to alert the things of the party's presence.
Temeris continued into the next room as the party behind him split into those that attempted to fight and those that rushed forward to the other side. The things sprung at the party and bit at legs and feet where they could not doing much with each attack but collectively the bites began to mount. A few even crawled upon the party members.
As they party behind him continued to fight Temeris noticed a sack he believed would hold gold and gems and slashed at it, spilling out more of the white substance from the floor. He then continued on and in the next room found a partially skinned raptor-like creature upon the floor, an unlit fire, and a rack with smoked meats on it. There was also a door with a pull ring on it in the opposite corner.
Making his way to it he noticed the ring covered with something, and placing his grappling hook through the ring he stepped back. As he prepared to pull Crispin came to the opening and told him that his party members still fought and needed him. He pulled open the door seeing a bed on the other side and what could have been a figure under the covers, but he returned to help his friends. As he came around the corner Karath was reforming the line that had been broken and Daisy was throwing one of the things from her pack across the room.
Seeing that things were finished Temeris returned to the other room, however Karath noticed a strange rectangular shape along the opposite wall. Temeris upon reaching the other door realized that his hook and rope had been taken and the door was again shut. He told the others of this but at the party's urging he returned to Karath to see the door in the wall the dwarf pointed out. After a brief search Temeris found a stone that when pushed opened the door to the room beyond.
As the party moved forward into the room Shadow took a spot where he could see both the secret door and the pull ring door. The party found a warped workbench, rusted and broken tools, and other useless items in the room beyond, and while Temeris and Crispin were unable to find anything further Karath noticed another door similar to the one they entered from. Temeris once shown the area was able to find a stone similar to the last and the door opened.
On the other side was a hallway, and directly across from Temeris was an urn with a single word in an old script inscribed upon it. Both Temeris and Karath had seen the word before though and knew it to be "Gaurdians". As Daisy went back to inform Shadow of what they had found Temeris stepped forward and grabbed the urn. Karath stepped down the hallway a ways as Temeris unstoppered the urn.
A moaning and wailing began to grow from it, and peering inside Temeris saw a swirling mist. A strange fear came over him and while Crispin was moving forward with the intent of replacing the seal he was unable to reach the urn before it was dropped. It shattered as it hit the floor and the mist began to take a form. Temeris ran down the hallway as the rest watched what was happening and the moaning grew.
Shadow joined Karath, but Howler would not come any closer to the thing and Daisy stayed with the dog. The mists formed a head, then shoulders ... though the form was wispy and had black tendrils and no real features to it. As it continued to form Karath began trying to sing a counter song which had little effect, and as such switched to a song to inspire courage. Temeris reached the end of the hallway where it ended in a stone door but also turned and then for the first time in this area there was darkness, however there were sounds of movement from further down the hall.
Soon the form had nearly formed a torso and the mists that were forming it were becoming less and less. Shadow attempted to fire a couple of arrows into it, however the mists swirled around the arrows as they flew through it. Crispin seemed to hurt it some with a Burning Hands spell. It continued to form and two bursts of energy from Crispin struck it causing a great howl and Karath hoping that positive energy would harm the thing stepped forward and risked a healing spell upon it. The howl it issued forth gave the indication that it had indeed harmed the thing however.
As Karath called out for the use of holy water, not realizing that the vials they had were used already upon the zombie previously encountered, Temeris turned his attention to the doorway. As he stuck his lockpicks into the door a needle struck him but he went on and soon the lock clicked open and the found a storeroom of sorts on the other side. He stepped in and called for the others to run to him. Daisy meanwhile heard a noise from behind her as the bench moved. Turning she saw a humanoid shorter than herself with green and red patches of skin that made it appear leprous. It saw the creature beyond the doorway however and with a look of fear turned and ran quickly out the door, shutting it behind him. Daisy reached the door but couldn't find the mechanism to open it.
Back in the hallway another pair of arrows went through the torso of the thing while another pair of energy bursts from Crispin struck and hurt the thing of darkness. Karath pulled out a scroll meant to protect one from evil and cast it upon himself. However the figure now fully formed was no longer rooted to the spot and moved quickly to Crispin, lashing out with cold finger-like tendrils. They struck him and a momentary weakness passed through him despite the glancing blow, and Crispin was left feeling that the creature was capable of much more. He turned and fled down the hallway with the form in close pursuit. As he reached the end of the hall Temeris held the door open and as Crispin entered shut the door quickly. Back down the hall Shadow and Karath both returned to the secret room quickly and shut the stone door.
And that is where we now sit. Our adventuring party has been split. One group finds themselves behind a stone door in a storeroom with no other apparent exits but numerous containers of all sorts along the shelves on the wall. Outside the door as this thing, and just down the hall other things were moving in the darkness. The other group is shut within a room having two secret doors, one leading to the hall of the creature they fled, the other with another humanoid with unknown intentions behind it.
What is this creature they have awoke? Can it pass through objects such as walls just as the arrows passed through it? How can they stop it when they tossed every bit of magic they had left at it and it kept on coming. What is this other humanoid and what does he want? Where is the Chitine leader, and what other creatures and mysteries of times past await them further on? What is the party to do now that they are separated, and how do the re-unite?
We'll have to wait until next week to find out it seems...
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