Session 12: Everyone Fucking Dies 2: Electric Boogaloo

The group tracks back to the dark tunnel behind the abyss carving. They tie a rope around Thorim’s waist and he goes inside. He immediately falls into a very deep pit, where he is surrounded by red eyes. The others hoist him back up. They inspect the tapestry of the mine and find ten slits in the wall behind it. Putting silver coins into the slits opens a passage to a room with two locked doors, and a panel with levers, buttons, and an empty holder. Thorim pulls a lever, which causes a dark fog to come from the walls. He is then suddenly possessed by something and attacks Vica. Ahrm, Vica and Vojta pile onto Thorim, but Thorim frees Fir, causing a chaotic brawl as darkness fills the room. Arran doesn’t even flinch at Fir’s intoxicating aura and starts operating the panel. Thorim is eventually knocked out and Fir is put back into the barrel, while Arran uses the panel to remove the fog and open one of the doors.

Vojta heals Thorim, who behaves normal again, but Arran takes Fir from him just in case. Ahrm and Vica head into the next hallway, but the door shuts behind them, and a crocosaurus appears from the ceiling to attack Arran, Thorim and Vojta. Thorim, still weakened, is mauled by the croc, but Arran and Vojta manage to kill it. Vojta harvests its hide while Vica gets back into the room and takes her gold back from Thorim while he’s still unconscious. They continue into the next room, which contains bones and empty cages, but nothing of note.

The group goes way back and finds the heaven door has opened due to the levers on the panel. Beyond is a room with six dragonborn statues all carrying different weapons. There’s a dwarf rummaging through a chest. He is Zuruk, another explorer. Thorim offers him beer, which he gladly chugs, and he shows them a jewelled necklace that he looted. It contains no gold or rubies, so it thankfully doesn’t trigger Vica’s greed. Zuruk heads out to leave the dungeon, vowing to tell the rockbacks that the group is still alive and still clearing the dungeon.

Ahrm tries to kick down the next door, but this blocks all the doors and causes poison gas to come from the chest. The group finds buttons on the statues and they press them all. One of the statues kneels down and reveals its eyes. Through trial and error, they find that each statue has differently-coloured eyes, but they can’t find a way to make them all kneel. Vojta braves the poison gas and finds a colour code hidden inside the chest. They press the buttons in the right order, which causes the gas to cease and the doors to open.

Thorim heads into a side room by himself and finds a statue holding a bejewelled sword. He takes the sword, triggering two huge stone hands to slam together, crushing him and the sword. The others hear the sound but arrive too late to save him, and Vica catches a glimpse of his soul dancing as it ascends to the afterlife. Ahrm postulates that Thorim was suicidally reckless due to PTSD and alcoholism, as they gather his surviving belongings. Vojta volunteers to carry on Fir out of solidarity.

The next room is a large blood-stained cell. Vica sees coins coming from the wall in one corner and starts picking them up. In other corners, Arran sees a large bookshelf, Ahrm sees his home in Glyckheart, and Vojta sees a feast in his home village. None of them can see what the others see. Vojta eventually sees through the illusion and notices a huge tentacled monster on the ceiling, which promptly grabs and batters him. The others try to save him from the invisible monster, but it teleports around and attacks them, only becoming visible to people it attacks. Vojta is eventually freed and transforms, and the whole group barrages the monster with claws and arrows. The powerful and elusive monster batters everyone, knocking out Vica and Vojta, and teleporting Ahrm away into a dark unknown room. The heavily wounded Arran eventually finishes the monster off with his magic missiles.

The others recover, but Ahrm is still stuck in a fleshy womb-like room with an altar. He burns away some of the flesh with a torch, then spends a long time punching through the stone wall behind it, until he eventually makes an opening back to the others. The group nopes away from the flesh room and rests. Arran identifies one of the found potions as a potion of longevity. They enter a different newly-opened door and find an undead tabaxi using an alchemy table. He threatens them to leave, saying they won’t break “him” out. The others back away while Vica tries to reason with him, but the wizard electrocutes her. The others jump in to attack him, but he immobilizes them with a wall of ice, then warns them again to leave, which they do.

The group rests again, and Arran identifies one of the potions as an incredibly rare potion of cloud giant strength. Suddenly a portal appears nearby, and a huge snake-headed demon emerges from it. He demands that Vica come with him to her father’s domain. Arran shoves Vica towards the demon, who uses a jade statue to magically imprison her before teleporting away again, leaving only Ahrm, Arran and Vojta in the dungeon.