Out of the depths and why is the sky so red?

Campaign Log of Autec the Landbound, Day 5 

Everyone seems excited to be off early this morning and we make good time to the area Chief Sull has indicated as the traitor’s compound. On the way, we brainstorm a method to either sneak or bluff our way in, but a number of us are... conspicuous at best. We decide a frontal assault should be sufficient to cow the weak-willed mongrelmen and put that to the test moments later.

The corrupted tribe has prepared the narrow entry tunnel with chest high boulders, but Pax doesn’t give a damn and lets rip a ululating warshriek she has been practicing. Their return volley of crossbow bolts doesn’t stop our charge and we force one to die and the other to retreat. Ralan and Pax go in after him as the rest of us bludgeon the last mongrel down.

The next room is slightly larger, with 3 doors leading off in different directions. Also a lizard and some more mongrels being hacked up by Ralan. The lizard gets the upper-limb on Pax during a grapple, but Katsa blasts it off with a magic missile, saving Pax an untimely trip back to the twisting nether.

As we slay the rest of the mongrels before they can escape, a womanly shriek of pain rings out from behind one of the doors. Ralan valiantly rushes in, presumably in an attempt to rescue the damsel, but encounters only a spider-woman with more arms than is attractive and an arrow along the cheek. Bereft of maidens, he goes and gives her a crushing bear hug anyway. She doesn’t seem to like it and attempts to duck down a hole cut into the floor, but Ralan clings to her like a lost child and we take the opportunity to fill her with holes.

With spider-lady down, we take a moment to survey our surroundings: 

Ralan pokes his head down the hole and narrowly avoids the bolt that whizzes upward to clack against the ceiling.

With his sensitive nose, Kesh lets us know that one of the doors holds nothing but garbage and another fresh water.

Undaunted, Simi starts digging through said trash heap attempting to find Eadro-knows-what. While she doesn’t find anything, a small slime digesting the debris does find her hand and gets to go for a wild ride when it burns her hand. Ralan yanks her out as we shake our collective heads.

We hear muffled chanting from the third door and rush into another battle vs. some nasty looking tiefling clerics that prove no great challenge despite their time spent buffing. We retreat to the crossroads room and Kesh investigates the fresh water smelling door.

He finds a rope dangling down a hole that leads to a small underground river. Seeing nothing, he gives me the all clear and I dive down into the waiting jaws of two large and angry garr. As they rip my tender flesh, Pax alerts the others to the emergency and dives down the hole. Katsa manages to get a bead on me under the water and uses one of Terendelev’s scales to levitate me out. Pax rips up the fish in spite.

With the entire party now on the banks of the small stream someone notices the nearby wall looks a little off and we discover a hidden chamber. Ralan also discovers the hidden pit trap in the chamber, but we lift him out and loot the long forgotten chest for some goodies.

After climbing back up, we continue onward into the mongrel’s complex and soon find further resistance in the form of more crossbowmen and a human woman with a nasty glaive. A wounded Sitzva maneuvers into a close position to nullify the Baphomet worshipper’s longer reach, but is dropped by a mongrel club to the head. Kesh retaliates by feathering the throat of the club wielder in a beautiful shot and we struggle to regain control of the fight.

Ralan and Pax restrain the woman while Kesh and I are beaten to within an inch of our lives, but in the end we triumph with no casualties. Though it was close with a bleeding out Sitzva, Simi and Katsa managed to force a healing potion down his throat at the last moment. Upset at being knocked out, Sitzva begins interrogating the cultist, Hossila, rather severely as the party secures the room.

She admits to being a Baphomet worshipper easily and it is clear she believes her fellow cultists have the upper hand. Eventually, she angers Sitzva sufficiently that he staves her head in with his morningstar before the rest of us are able to stop him. She was rather unpleasant, but I feel we could’ve gotten more information out of her, who knows.

Kesh locates her personal effects and we gather to read through a letter we find on her. 

While thoughts are on escaping this underground hell with our lives at the moment, we should probably check those out if we reach the surface.

Ralan also takes charge of some paladin-loving sword Aravashniel recognizes as the weapon of a previous crusader-hero. I don’t pay much attention to the long and boring human historical details, but the sword is called Radiance and it glows, exciting.

Sitzva takes a moment to tend our wounds and, mostly hale, we proceed down the last unchecked hole. We are attacked by three, large, mangry (mangy AND angry) rats after disturbing their pile of crap. Why does that keep happening!? Run away you freakishly aggressive beasts! We stomp on ‘em and are accosted by two more mongrels as the tunnel narrows. I give them the option of unconditional surrender or certain death. One of them agrees to the certain death by trying to fight, Pax and I are happy to oblige. Simi convinces the other to throw down his arms, and, though he won’t lead us through the maze behind him (citing demons infesting it or some such silly excuse), he agrees to accompany us back to Sull’s village. The others seem convinced that this mongrel can be spared and will aid our fight against the demon. He doesn’t strike me as repentant, but Ralan claims he isn’t evil, so I go along with it.

Back at the village, Sull is happy about our victory over the traitorous mongrel clan and cultist accompaniment. He accepts our prisoner/parolee and reminds us to secure diplomatic terms with the crusader leadership, if such a thing still exists. We rest up and finish healing our wounds. The trip back to the maze entrance is uneventful.

Campaign Log of Autec the Landbound, Day 6

Turns out that mongrel wasn’t lying, the maze, is, in fact, occupied by a few demons of the lowest order, dretch. Fighting them in the narrow tunnels filled with their own magical noxious breath proves annoying, but they don't present a very large danger with their unimpressive claws. We take turns alternately puking and stabbing them until they get out of the way. The “maze” turns out to be very tiny and un-mazelike, but leads to the surface quickly, so I guess I can’t be that upset.

Kenabres is another story, and “upset” would be one way to describe it. From our vantage in the hills on the SW side of town, it appears that the demons have control of the city. In the distance, the fortress of Kite is a smoldering ruin. The sky above us glows red with arcane lightning and large swarms of giant insects buzz through the air. Rough.

Aravashniel want us to see if the Blackwing Library still stands and claims that is contains information that will aid us. Annevia counters by requesting we accompany her to see if her wife is okay at their home. We agree to help her, but, as the library is closer, we will go there first.

Skirting from ruined building to ruined building based on Aravashniel’s directions we encounter a man and woman about to be killed by an abracondalu, a minor demon of destruction. We rush to their aid and are able to dispatch the beast without a scratch. In between panicked, wheezing breaths, they tell us of the dire situation in Kenabres. The crusaders have been scattered and no longer present a force in the city as far as they know. The demons control the streets and are hunting down the last, few, remaining holdouts. Possession is a possibility with anyone we meet and we will need to rely on Ralan’s senses to guide our trust. They are unaware if the library still stands. I give them some clubs to defend themselves (though they seem not at all eager to fight…come to think of it, why were they wandering the streets unarmed?) and they agree to accompany us for protection.

We reach the library before nightfall, a rather large metal blocky building surrounded by the ruins of a larger structure. Aravashniel tells us that the ruins are the rest of the library, and only the inner sanctum remains. He is deeply troubled by this and tells us of his job as a Riftwarden here at the library, their semi-secret headquarters. He believes they have been specifically targeted for destruction by the demons due to their abilities and the threat they would pose. He demands we head inside to salvage what we can and check for survivors. We comply.

Inside, a rugged man in crusader’s garb is instructing a woman in a robe to pile books around a group of people bound together with rope. Knowing that this isn’t how libraries work at all, Pax, Ralan, Kesh, and I engage the traitorous crusader while Simi and Katsa free the bound librarians. He presents no threat to us after the dangers of the underground and we quickly subdue him. He begs for his life and claims the demons were forcing him to commit these acts. Though the librarians inform us he was just trying to get on the demon’s good side, my companions choose to spare his life in hopes of redemption. He tries to run off at the first opportunity, but both Pax and Kesh’s arrows are considerably faster. I don’t give third chances.

Back at the library, our less blood-spattered members learn that the library was, in fact, intentionally targeted by a man-shaped demon formed of thousands of worms and wielding enormous magical power. Sounds like a mess. Aravashniel decides he will stay at the library to assist further refugees. We will set out soon for Annevia’s home to the north. I don’t actually expect her wife is foolish enough to have stayed there and doubt we will find anything, but the woman is clearly grasping at whatever seagrass she can reach. We agree to accompany her and settle down to tend our wounds and browse through the rubble for anything useful.