Enter the Void Hollow - Episode Six

== Summary: ==
"The Void Hollow," also known as the Endless Dungeon, was a tapestry woven from the remnants of ancient caves, fallen cities, and forgotten temples dedicated to obscure deities. Its halls whispered of a history littered with those who never returned and monsters that thrived in the shadows.
The dungeon was not merely a collection of corridors and chambers; it was an entire world unto itself, a realm where the very walls seemed to pulse with a malevolent life. There were secondhand accounts and a curious wizard's notes describing a place where dark fey drifts intersected with the remnants of lost civilizations. The dungeon's inhabitants ranged from lost souls unable to find their way back, to malevolent creatures luring unwary adventurers with hoarded gold as bait.
This place was a crossroad of the vast caverns, exiled fey, and fiendish domains. Legends spoke of dark fey banished from their realms, demons and devils trapped in a purgatory of their own making, and entire ecosystems thriving in the dungeon's depths. Six mercenaries navigated this living, everchanging dungeon, where every step could lead to fortune or death.
In this episode, the party explored the fourth level, purifying unholy water and fighting off a raiding band of troglodytes. They found a survivor of the Void Hollow, Saval, who told them of a beast that stalked the level’s halls. Tar’ren got trapped by poison gas, and as soon as the party freed him, the beast reared its head and challenged the group.
== Mercenaries: ==
* Asher "Whiffle-Tongue" - Lizardfolk Wizard
* Eisen Mistburo - Human Cleric
* Eyalon Bogpyre - Deerfolk Sorcerer
* Gobin Glowstep - Halfling Druid
* Nwalmë Shadhavar - Shadar-Kai Rogue
* Tar’ren r'Eehp r'Eehp - Warlock
== Adventure: ==
On the fourth level, the party saw a torn-up obelisk and bits of loose stonework. Jutting from the wall sat a font that seemed to still be working, its waters carrying a mirror sheen. Asher wrinkled his nose and stated that it seemed to be unholy water. Gobin stuck a charcoal briquette into the water and said, “Clean water, clean water,” casting Purify Food and Drink. A surge of purification suffused the font. The mirror sheen went tepid as it became regular tap water.
Gobin filled up the Nearly Empty Decanter of Endless Water. The decanter took up the whole ten gallons greedily.
Tar’ren summoned his golems. The golems spread throughout the rooms, scouting them out. They found a room with crushed pillars. Doing some investigation along the walls, Gobin saw that the damage was from some massive beast.
Fanning out into a large room, the party found a set of stairs leading downward to the next level. Asher wondered if they were an illusion, but they looked real to him. Gobin and Eyalon went down the stairs to scout it out. It was a fairly long spiral stairway. At the bottom, they saw what looked to be a dense series of caverns. Gobin could see flickering torches and the glow of fungi in the distance. Gobin called up the stairs, “Hey, secret tunnels.”
Back on the fourth level, Tar’ren saw more broken down brick and mortar and heard voices from the end of the hallway. The party wanted to explore the current floor, so Tar’ren told Gobin to seal the tunnel so no monster would come after them. Gobin and Eyalon went back up the stairs and Gobin cast Stone Shape, blocking the stairs.
Nwalmë wanted to see what was ahead of them before they alerted the voices to their presence. He patted Maahes and gave them Invisibility. Maahes went down the hall. First they saw warrens with a sealed stone door and makeshift barricades. The barricades were set up as if defending against where the party came from.
Another passageway showed a dead end. It looked like a secret door.
In a third passage was a gruesome scene. Standing over the bodies of dead adventurers were ugly rock lizards. Nwalmë recognizaed them as troglodytes. One gouged an adventurer, pulling out the best bits of flesh for consumption.
Nwalmë suggested playing Get Help, pretending to be injured to draw them into an ambush. Eyalon and Eisen were excellent performers and could play the part.
Asher cast Dragon’s Breath on Bullwinkle the golem. Rocky, Balboa, and Nwalmë positioned themselves in the other hall to flank the troglodytes. Eisen and Eyalon went into the main hallway and began to wail in pain. Eisen sounded a little rusty, but Eyalon was quite convincing.
The party heard something spoken in a strange language. They sounded excited. Only three troglodytes started coming down the hall. One of them trained an arrow against what it thought was a wounded deer.
Gobin wildshaped into a goat and prepared to charge into an enemy. He pawed at the ground and chuffed.
Tar’ren cast Bubble Hex on Bullwinkle.
One of the troglodytes swung a greatclub at Eyalon. Eisen pulled Eyalon back, preventing the blow from landing. Eisen cast Bless and then ran out of the hall. Nwalmë prepared to attack.
A troglodyte moved to the barricade but then seemed to disappear, its rocklike skin keeping it hidden as it moved along the wall. A troglodyte shot an arrow at Eyalon and hit.
Eyalon smelled the stench of the troglodyte, but held his breath and pushed through. Eyalon spontaneously cast Crown of Madness on the troglodyte in front of him. He told the one brute to attack the other brute. He then ran out of the area.
Nwalmë snuck out of the hall and tried to slip the Choker of Only Water Breathing on the archer. It noticed him popping out of the shadows but saw Nwalmë too late. The choker clasped and began to choke the troglodyte.
Asher moved into the hall and shouted, “Duck, Nwalmë!” He then cast Lightning Bolt down the hall. Nwalmë pressed against the wall as lightning shot by him and fried two troglodytes, then ricocheted and hit a third. Asher then cast Ray of Frost on the troglodyte brute near him, freezing it to death. He then backed out of the hall.
Eisen held a Sacred Flame in case a troglodyte came into view.
Nwalmë stealthed in the rubble and prepared for more troglodytes to come. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a troglodyte crawling amongst the rocks, preparing to ambush Nwalmë. Nwalmë tried to trip it so that it went between the golems. He grappled with the troglodyte and forced it into the golems, knocking it prone. The golems slammed into the troglodyte, bludgeoning it. The troglodyte tried to bite Balboa, but missed.
More troglodytes dashed into the hall. They didn’t notice Nwalmë and passed him by.
Eyalon snuck back into the hallway and cast Chaos Bolt, hitting one troglodyte. The acid of the bolt slid off the troglodyte, doing minimal damage.
Asher cast Mind Sliver on a brute in the hall, harming it.
Behind Rocky and Balboa, a door opened. Troglodyte hunters came into the hall and pierced Rocky with an arrow.
Gobin let out exasperated goat noises and Eisen let out cranky old man noises, unimpressed with the troglodytes’ forward progress.
Tar’ren let everyone know that there were more troglodytes coming. The golems shoved the fallen brute into another brute, knocking the wind out of both of them. Tar’ren repositioned himself to fire something down the hall. He commanded Bullwinkle to start moving down the hall.
A troglodyte shot Balboa for a glancing blow.
Nwalmë laid the Somewhat Immovable Rod on the fallen troglodyte and activated it, pinning the troglodyte to the ground.
A brute tried to crush Nwalmë, but missed. A hunter shot Bullwinkle, though the bubble hex prevented the damage.
Eyalon peeked in and cast Chaos Bolt, critically missing. The orb bounced up to the ceiling, ricocheted over his shoulder, and turned into a giant eye that followed him. It wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen that day.
Asher cast Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm, harming the troglodytes and Nwalmë. A brute crushed into Rocky and bit off its head. Two hunters attacked Nwalmë and hit him with arrows.
Gobin charged into the hall.
A brute hit Balboa with a greatclub and critically bit the golem. The golem fell.
Bullwinkle breathed acid on two brutes, sizzling against their rocky skin. Bullwinkle then moved into the other hall to protect Nwalmë. Tar’ren then cast Eldritch Blast, destroying one of the brutes.
An arrow whizzed towards Bullwinkle, but it didn’t do damage.
Eisen moved behind Gobin and cast Sacred Flame. The flame hit, but fizzled, doing minimal damage.
Nwalmë had been trying to fight without relying on his traditional weapons, but he rolled his eyes, sighed, and drew his bow reluctantly. He shot an Arrow of Unpleasant Herbs that exploded behind the two hunters. The arrow immediately executed one hunter while the herbs incapacitated the other. Nwalmë then used Wails from the Grave to burn a troglodyte. He saw the spirit of a Goliath with a greateaxe who crushed a troglodyte and gave Nwalmë a thumbs up.
Nwalmë shot another Arrow of Unpleasant Herbs, but critically missed. Suddenly Gobin saw a future in which Nwalmë’s arrow bounced off a rock and crashed near his feet, causing him to choke on his own herbs. Gobin bleated, commanding that future to not come to pass. Instead, the arrow bounced off a rock and hit near the brutes instead of himself, incapacitating two troglodytes.
A troglodyte shot at Nwalmë, piercing him. Eyalon cast Fire Bolt, missing the troglodyte but hitting a barricade and setting it on fire.
Asher cast Mind Sliver on the prone troglodyte. Gobin jumped on the wall and kicked off of it, landing on the troglodyte and trampling it.
Tar’ren commanded Bullwinkle to use Dragon’s Breath, breathing acid on the brutes.
Eisen snapped his fingers to cast Toll the Dead on the prone troglodyte. The sound shattered the troglodyte’s brain, killing it.
Nwalmë drew his Dagger of Magic Missiles and performed a sneak attack against a brute. It hit on a glancing blow. Then he cast Magic Missile through the dagger, pinging a hunter, and then used Wails from the Grave to burn a brute.
Eyalon moved into the hallway and cast Chaos Bolt, but missed. The bolt bounced off the wall and back into his hand, surging him with magic and revitalizing one of his spell slots.
Asher cast Chromatic Orb at the hunter, shooting it with lightning. The hunter twitched and slumped over, dead.
A brute tried to strike Nwalmë, but blood coagulated out of Nwalmë’s injuries and formed a shield, harming him but blocking the blow. The Bloodprice Armor had saved him once more.
Gobin ran up the back of Bullwinkle to jump over it, leaping like the glorious goat bastard that he was. He flew over a brute and landed on the other side, turning around and ramming into the brute.
Bullwinkle breathed on the brutes and Gobin, the damage causing Gobin to change out of his goat form.
Eisen moved into the second hall, standing in front of Eyalon, whose sanity was caving. Eisen cast Toll the Dead, but the troglodyte resisted. However, Eyalon pulled his mind together and cast Silvery Barbs, distracting the brute and giving Gobin a boost of energy. The troglodyte crumbled under the depressing tone.
Nwalmë cast Chill Touch. He critically failed, the troglodyte biting off his fingers in the process. However, Gobin’s Bountiful Luck pulled out a less drastic future. Nwalmë still missed, but he reacted quickly and dodged the biting.
Eyalon cast Mind Sliver, causing the brute to have a nosebleed. Asher moved in range and tried to trip the brute, then used Green Flame Blade. The flame immolated the troglodyte, killing it. Gobin used the Nearly Empty Decanter of Water to put out the flame.
Nwalmë regained his tools and the party took stock of their situation. They recalled that Maahes saw a fallen adventuring party. They went to check out the remains. Tar’ren hung back and took a short rest.
Eyalon tried to talk to his floating eye, but it didn’t respond.
Casing the room, the view didn’t look good. There was a trail of blood leading out of the room across the way. Looking through, Eyalon saw broken benches that were positioned as barricades. The blood trailed to the right. There, laying on a dais covered in blood, appeared to be a paladin. He had nearly been sacrificed by the troglodytes before the party had stopped them.
Eyalon went over to him and realized that he still had a pulse. Gobin tended to the dying person while Asher performed funeral rites on the deceased adventurers. Asher was shaken by seeing some familiar faces amongst the bodies, but he held himself together and helped their spirits.
Gobin cast Healing Word and healed the adventurer, who wore the garb of the Synodic Parliament. The man’s wounds closed and he took deep, cleansing breaths.
“Okay,” Gobin said, “I fixed your booboos as much as I could, but you shouldn’t move around until your organs go back in their places.”
The adventurer asked if the other adventurers were alright. Gobin said they were no longer in danger, and Asher admitted that they were dead.
“The trogs were murmuring something about… I don’t remember the word. Some strange dragon tongue,” the adventurer said.
Asher asked the adventurer about his experiences in the Void Hollow. The man said that he had seen worse horrors in the Dreadwar. The adventurer recognized Nwalmë as the greatest assassin on the field of the battle. They shook hands.
The man’s name was Saval. He was a crusader brought on by the adventuring party with the promise of lost holy relics. His armor looked aged and inherited.
Saval limped off the dais. Asher told him that he needed to rest and the party would guard him.
Saval said a prayer over the bodies and told them to take what they needed. Looking at the gear of the adventurers, there was a blue-tinted tunic and a handaxe. Saval told them that the tunic was a Changeling Tunic. The handaxe was a thin axe with a blade as long as a dagger. It had a single word on it written in draconic. Asher Identified it as an axe called Icecarver that could burn with an orange glow. Gobin claimed the axe, hoping to use it to improve his fear of fire.
Saval said there was a beast that stalked that level. He had seen the broken-down doorways. Asher wondered if they could set a trap for it.
Meanwhile, Tar’ren had gone down a thin corridor and prodded a wall. Suddenly there was a click, and a trapdoor closed behind him. All the party heard it, but only Gobin and Nwalmë took it seriously. Asher, Eisen, and Eyalon had all clicked their tongues at the same time and thought the sound was each other.
Tar’ren said through telepathy to the group, “Thin hallway, poison gas, give it a moment to clear out.” He then went into his genie vessel. From inside the bottle, he saw the green haze and wondered if the seal in the hall was airtight and would keep the fumes from dissipating.
Gathering around the trapdoor, the group saw that the door was locked. Nwalmë picked the lock, and as soon as he swung it open, Gobin cast Gust of Wind to push the poison gas back. Tar’ren heard the billowing of wind against the vessel. The vessel was pushed back as well, but came clear of gas. Tar’ren popped out of his vessel and dashed out of the poison hall.
Tar’ren thought there was something important in the hall if it was trapped.
Nwalmë tried to disable the trap. He jammed the door with the Nearly Immovable Rod, which kept it open and turned off the gas.
Nwalmë and Gobin investigated the hall. Gobin found a secret door heading into the room with the dais, and at the end of the hallway, there was a secret door leading into a wide corridor with a stone door at the end.
Tar’ren suddenly felt an alarm from Bullwinkle. He looked into the connection just before it broke, showing a very large manticore bearing down on Bullwinkle, crushing it.
Asher told Saval to hide in the previous room and saw the manticore come out of the hallway. He cast Sickening Radiance, but it didn’t affect the creature. The manticore stalker smiled at him and clicked its tongue, saying, “This will be fun, prey.”
Asher grimaced and said, “Yes, I hope it will be.”
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Enter the Void Hollow - 06