Enter the Void Hollow - Episode Nine

== 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 descended to the fifth level. Eisen sacrificed his vitality to restore Roger’s. Asher nearly ran into a dungeon roomba. Gobin collected acid-resistant mushrooms. While Nwalmë acted as an air taxi for Eyalon, Gobin tried to use his words to subdue a carrion crawler which had already dropped Saval with acidic spit. The noise of the fight attracted a giant worm, from which the party ran, reaching the sixth level. There, they rested and talked with each other, enjoying a moment of peace.
== 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: ==
During their short rest, Eisen approached Roger and said, “I know you want to survive this so we can try to figure out how to prolong your new life. I wanna help you out, buddy.”
With that, he steeled his weary bones and cast Life Transference. Necrotic energies ravaged his body as he touched Roger. Green flames raced across Eisen’s right arm. Roger was suffused with power, revitalizing his undead form.
Eisen meanwhile suffered from the effects of aging another year, but only on his arm. He rolled up his sleeve and said, “Oh great, some more liver spots.”
Gobin came over with a pencil and started connecting the liver spots.
Roger looked at Eisen askance. “Is that healthy for you?”
“I’ve had worse,” Eisen said.
Roger’s ruby eyes blinked. “If you say so. Anyway, I feel way more wholesome. I think that crack in my skull is fixed, too.” His eyes roved the insides of his skull to confirm that the crack had indeed been fixed.
“Good as new,” Eisen said. He then stammered and added, “As new as a skull in your condition can be.”
“Your head looks like my great grandma,” Gobin said.
On the fifth level, the party looked around. The walls were supported by intricately carved gargoyle faces and the winds blew through those gargoyles, whistling. The wind was strong enough to blow out any torches. To the north of them were bioluminescent mushrooms with bugs of various colors. Gobin and Eyalon had also noticed during their trip to the level that there were walls that were too smooth and square to be natural.
Asher suggested they grab mushroom samples for Gobin. Gobin didn’t want to bug the bugs, so they went to the southeast and found mushrooms that didn’t have bugs.
Eisen was very noisy as they moved, his armor rattling, distracting Eyalon. Asher and Gobin however noticed that the rocks were moving. Or, rather, Asher realized that the rock-like carapace of a rock roach squirmed as it traveled over a boulder. Asher asked Gobin if he could speak to roaches. Gobin wasn’t sure. He could speak to beasts, but were these beasts or monstrosities?
Gobin talked to the roach. Thankfully, he could understand it. It was hungry, and it spat acid that dissolved the rock. The roach ate up the dissolved rock. Gobin also noticed that those were iron rocks.
The roach sniffed the air as Eisen’s armor rattled. The antennae perked up.
Nwalmë suggested smoking the roaches out with a smoke grenade. He lobbed a grenade into the hall, and when the bomb exploded, smoke enveloped the area. One roach scuttled into the crevices to escape the smoke while another ran towards the party, aggravated with the smoke-thrower.
But suddenly, the roach stopped, stuck and suspended. It started to wiggle as it was dissolved, trapped in a dungeon roomba, a giant cube of slime that towered over the party and rested merely fifteen feet from Asher.
Eyalon cast Fire Bolt at the dungeon roomba. He singed the cube.
Asher felt his heart speed up, so close to inadvertently walking into that acidic monster just as the roach had. He pulled out his Scroll of Gust of Wind and caused a gust to hold back the roomba.
Nwalmë shot a flaming arrow at the cube, the arrow bouncing into it. He shot a second arrow and once more hit. Gobin cast Erupting Earth at the same time that Nwalmë’s arrow hit, making it look like the arrow caused the ground to explode. Rock shards plunged into the cube, dissolving in its flesh.
Eisen studied the massive roomba. He cast Sacred Flame, which sparked inside the cube.
Tar’ren watched the mushrooms and bugs, making sure they didn’t join the fight.
Roger flew past Asher and shot a Fire Ray, burning the cube.
The cube charged through the wind and rock, and despite the party’s best efforts, it neared Asher and threatened to swallow him whole. Asher squeaked out a prayer to all the Blessed Twelve and jumped back, narrowly dodging the ooze.
Eyalon cast Cursed Bolt, the darkness slamming into the creature. It tried to launch a pseudopod at him, but the strike missed.
Asher shivered, shook from his narrow escape, and cast Ray of Frost on the cube. He then Misty Stepped away and backed to the stairs.
Nwalmë shot a stalactite above the cube. The stalactite fell into the cube. Nwalmë then shot against another stalactite behind the cube, but it critically missed, bouncing off the stalactite and hitting into a crevice. Rock roaches scurried out of the area angrily.
Gobin yelled at Tar’ren, “Get in my head!” Then he cast Meld into Stone, sinking into the ground.
Eisen cast Sacred Flame and hit once more. Eisen then retreated as far as he could.
A rock roach advanced towards Nwalmë, and slammed right into the roomba.
Roger looked at Nwalmë. “I know we gotta be careful of allies, but can I fireball?”
Nwalmë gave his consent. Roger threw a Fireball, engulfing the cube, himself, and Nwalmë. Nwalmë evaded, and Roger was immune, but the cube took the brunt of the damage.
Tar’ren continued to watch the bugs. They continued to do buglike things. Tar’ren then looked at the roomba and said Nwalmë would be fine.
The other rock roach rushed into the gelatinous cube, getting dissolved by the roomba.
Already full of creatures, the roomba tried to grab Nwalmë to save him for later, but it critically missed and singed itself on Roger’s fire.
Eyalon cast a careful Fireball, keeping Nwalmë out of the flames. With a huge burst of flame, a colossal explosion destroyed the cube and the roaches in the cube. Tar’ren felt an ominous premonition in his pact link, maybe because of the fire being against his watery magic. He didn’t know for sure why.
Tar’ren said through the telepathic link, “Where are ya, Gobin? Are you in the cube?”
Nwalmë told Tar’ren to tell Gobin there were a bunch of bones in the dead cube. Tar’ren said as much while adding an echo effect to his words. Gobin came out of the ground.
In the cube, the party found a monocle, a large cowbell missing its wooden clapper, a spotless bronze longsword with “Oozebane” engraved on the crossguard, and an ancient piece of platemail damaged by corrosion.
Gobin wanted the cowbell, because he needed more cowbell. Nwalmë shouted, asking if the paladin wanted any of the stuff. Saval murmured a few words and cast Detect Magic. The cowbell and monocle and platemail were magic. The sword was junk. Nwalmë took the sword to potentially sell to someone. He put it in his Blademender sheath. Asher stuffed the rest of the items into his haversack to Identify later.
The group went to the southern mushrooms. Asher noticed that the mushrooms were not affected by the dungeon roomba, as if when the cube went through them, they were filter feeding from the cube. They could be acid resistant or immune. Tar’ren lent his herbalism kit to Gobin to try to pick them while Nwalmë helped with keeping him on track. He discovered that they were not poisonous.
Gobin got fifteen solid samples of the mushrooms, which could be used to create Potions of Acid Resistance. There were also bioluminescent mushrooms that might be able to dye their feces on consumption. Many in the party were eager to gather some for their rations.
Exploring further, Nwalmë noticed that some of the walls were sliced. There could be a slicer beetle on the loose. Slicer beetles relied mostly on tremorsense to suss their surroundings.
Gobin used Mold Earth to fix the destruction from his Erupting Earth.
Asher led the way to a southern crossroad. The wind seemed to be coming from the east path. Eyalon didn’t want to go near the wind yet. They went to the west.
Asher was trembling, still shaken from his close encounter with the roomba. Nwalmë picked up on this and took the lead, asking if Asher could watch his back as he checked the corridor. Asher was grateful. Nevertheless, Asher and Nwalmë were a bit less stealthy than desired—Their echoing footsteps caught the attention of a giant slicer beetle, which erupted from the ground to the south.
Nwalmë pulled out his Flying Tonfas and cast Fly, hovering outside of the beetle’s tremorsense. Unfortunately, Asher was still on the ground, attracting the beetle.
Asher informed the party via mental link that they had disturbed a slicer beetle. A large one. Asher considered trying to soothe the beast, but the beetle looked like it was going to charge, so Asher cast Psychic Lance. The beetle reeled in pain.
Nwalmë floated to the roof of the cavern and shot arrows at the beetle. The arrows pierced deeply.
Meanwhile, most of the party was in another corridor, trailing behind the scouts. Saval said, “It went this way, right?” He drew his sword.
Eisen moved closer to the fighting party members. He cast Bless on the main party.
Eyalon used his Fey Step to teleport under Nwalmë, who grabbed him with his legs so that Eyalon could be out of the tremorsense. He then threw a Cursed Bolt at the beetle. It nearly deflected off the armor, but he was Favored By the Gods and was able to hit anyway.
Back at the other corridor, an enormous carrion crawler appeared near Gobin to the east. Gobin ran towards Eisen and said, “There’s something over there!” He created his spirit totem of a hawk.
Tar’ren wondered what was wrong. Asher sent a mental image of the beetle in front of him. Tar’ren shifted so he could see into the unknown and found the beetle. He cast a Vitriolic Sphere, just barely missing Nwalmë and Eyalon. The beetle sizzled.
Hearing Gobin’s cry, Asher’s anxiety spiked at the thought of his friend facing another enemy while he himself was too busy to aid him. It almost caused his shell to emerge, but Asher fought off the panic attack and cast a Ray of Frost at the beetle. The frost crusted over the beetle, but didn’t harm it. Asher remained in the gap in the wall to block the beetle off from the rest of the party.
Nwalmë shot an arrow at the beetle and cracked into its carapace, causing it to collapse in death. Nwalmë shushed its death throes. Then Nwalmë flew northward to try to find Gobin, legs still entangled in Eyalon’s antlers. Gobin screamed to let Nwalmë know where the rest of the party was, attracting attention from dark creatures. Saval called him an idiot for screaming.
Nwalmë saw the enormous carrion crawler and shot an arrow, doing critical damage. Saval uttered a Vow of Enmity at the carrion crawler.
Eisen moved closer to the carrion crawler and cast Toll the Dead, but it resisted. He hid in a crevice.
Eyalon cast Cursed Bolt, critically hitting. The carrion crawler was heavily affected by the curse. Eyalon detached from Nwalmë and backed away.
The carrion crawler spat acid at Nwalmë and Saval. Nwalmë skillfully dodged, but Saval was covered with acid and fell unconscious. The crawler crawled closer to them.
Gobin took a power stance while standing in front of his allies. “Leave my friends alone,” he yelled, casting Geas. Unfortunately, the carrion crawler was unaffected as it was a monstrosity that couldn’t understand him. Gobin stepped back next to Eyalon.
Tar’ren shouted at Nwalmë to have good luck and cast Bubble Hex on him.
Asher ran to find the carrion crawler. Tar’ren directed him around a corner, where Asher saw the massive creature right in front of Nwalmë. Asher cast Psychic Lance, causing the crawler to shake in pain and become incapacitated.
Nwalmë flew over the creature. He opened the Efficient Quiver, causing the six spears to rain on top of the crawler. The spears crunched into the carapace.
Saval sizzled in his death throes.
Eisen scooched out of his hidey hole and used Toll the Dead once more. It failed. He crawled back into his hidey hole.
Eyalon sidled over to Saval and threw another Cursed Bolt, hitting. Eyalon then burned his sorcery points to build a new third-level spell slot.
Gobin moved close and cast Grasping Vine which lashed out at the carrion crawler. The vine pulled it closer.
Tar’ren said to the group that the paladin might be dying from the acid. He Eldritch Blasted the crawler and hit twice.
Asher aimed a Lightning Bolt at the corner of the crawler, clapping it with thunder. The carrion crawler screamed upwards as it was being electrocuted. Nwalmë shushed it and Asher, shooting arrows down the monster’s gullet. The crawler fell.
Roger told Gobin that there was a worm on its way. Asher picked Saval up. Gobin cast Healing Word on Saval, saying, “Next time, don’t tell me what to do.”
As Saval came to, he said, “Sorry, lost my temper.”
“It’s okay,” Gobin said, “things happen in the heat of the moment. We’ll keep you alive, just follow our lead.”
The group ran southwards, stumbling through the caverns until they eventually reached the stairs to the sixth level. They descended, and free from the terrors of the fifth floor, they took a rest.
Asher Identified the magic items they had found. The monocle was an Echosight Monocle. It could show an echo of the past as well as aiding in identification and discovering forgeries.
The cowbell was broken and cursed. It was a Bell of Haunting that could cause people to see shadowy figures and prevented them from resting well. Gobin put it in his handy haversack.
The armor, while old and damaged, was a breastplate. It looked like it might grow and rebuild itself with blood. It was a Breastplate of Living Armor.
Meanwhile, the Oozebane gained magic from Nwalmë’s Blademender Sheath. Asher investigated the blade and noted that the handwriting was specific. He did not know it, but the blade was the handiwork of Kahw, a Kenku who was known for his shifty sales.
Asher and Nwalmë felt that they had been pushing themselves hard over the years through the training, the mercenary work, the war. Somehow, the Void Hollow seemed even more of a test of their skills, and while it exhausted them, they were stronger for it.
Asher sidled up to Eyalon as the Deerfolk stirred a pot over the fire. He blatantly looked like he was intentionally not paying attention to Eyalon. Then he asked if Eyalon felt any different after Tha’Baum’s pact, if he had a stronger affinity to the Gods.
Eyalon said he had never been particularly religious.
Asher asked if he had more of an affinity to dragons.
Eyalon recalled a childhood memory of playing knights and dragons. One kid always had to draw the short straw and be a dragon. Yet somehow, he enjoyed it when he was able to be a dragon. That wasn’t his natural memory, but rather a shift in his perception. He was aware of the shift, but didn’t mention it or the memory. Instead, Eyalon shifted the subject slightly, mentioning the fact that Asher conjured a dragon’s spirit. He asked if the spirit was a real dragon.
Asher said that in his studies, he had learned that spirits sometimes lingered in or around the planes even as their bodies were destroyed. He knew that there were many dragon spirits still connected to Embrel. However, rather than subjugate them with his magic, he tried to form bonds of cooperation with them to show them that there could be a different path than domination. In a way, he hoped to bring peace to the spirits as they aided him.
Eyalon wondered if he could someday return a dragon’s spirit to a body using Tha’Baum’s power. Asher said that could be a natural further step in his studies, but what mattered would be what the dragon did with their new opportunity of having a body. That’s what they had to be careful about.
Eyalon said that it was a shame that he got the magic of healing that Asher was striving in the dungeon to find. As consolation, Asher could study him if he wanted. Asher perked up and agreed. His secret studies of Eyalon’s behaviors and skills would now be public studies.
Meanwhile, Roger moved to Nwalmë. Roger said, “You have a lot of friends riding on you. You okay, buddy?”
Nwalmë didn’t know what he meant. Roger could see spirits and knew that many were lingering over Nwalmë.
Nwalmë nodded and moved Roger off to a private corner. “I didn’t know you could see them.”
“There’s a whole party on you,” Roger said.
“Yeah, they do that. They’ve come and gone, but a few always stick around. That’s how it’s always been.”
“Some seem to really want to save you even if they can’t in person. You’re a good friend to them. That Goliath with the axe is really protective over you. He looks the saddest.”
Nwalmë swallowed and looked grim. “You get kind of close with the people you work with. It's part of the job.”
Roger understood that. He sometimes felt that his former friends would leave him in the lurch. He was glad Nwalmë’s friends didn’t do that.
Nwalmë said that Roger didn’t have to worry about that anymore. He had new friends. Roger used his Mage Hand to give Nwalmë a warm hug.
“Anyway,” Roger said, “I can see dead things, so I can probably detect undead, if that is helpful to you.”
Nwalmë whispered to Roger to keep it on the downlow. Seeing dead people made others uncomfortable.
Roger agreed and gave a smile. “Thanks for everything.”
While they were talking, Gobin went up to Tar’ren and poked him. Tar’ren raised a brow.
“Just making sure you’re still you,” Gobin said.
Tar’ren laughed, then said, “Wait, who’s that over there then?” He pointed to the blank wall behind Gobin. While Gobin glanced away, Tar’ren cast Disguise Self, turning into Asher.
Gobin turned around and was alarmed.
“Something startle you?” Tar’ren said.
“I… you… but…”
“Yes, me,” the fake Lizardfolk said. “And you are you, and that’s truer than true.”
As Gobin swung his gaze between the two Ashers, the real Asher looked at Tar’ren, chuckling at the slice of peace. In Tar’ren’s mind, he said, “I love you.”
The fake Asher had the trace of a smile on his lips.
As Nwalmë and Roger came back to the campfire, Roger made the fire glow dimmer but hotter, to keep them warm and safe.
Nwalmë said, “Hi Asher,” to both Asher and Tar’ren disguised as Asher.
Eyalon glanced up at the double sound of Asher’s name and noticed the other Asher. He looked at Tar’ren like a deer in the headlights, then went back to cooking.
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Enter the Void Hollow - 09