Enter the Void Hollow - Episode One

== 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 entered the Void Hollow and were instantly trapped. They found undead as their immediate foes and dispatched a zombie lord while exploring the first level.
== Mercenaries: ==
* Asher "Whiffle-Tongue" - Lizardfolk Wizard
* Eisen Mistburo - Human Cleric
* Eyalon Bogpyre - Deerfolk Sorcerer
* Gobin Glowstep - Halfling Druid
* Nwalmë Shadhavar - Shadar-Kai Rogue
* Mr. T - Warlock
== Adventure: ==
In the town of Sunward, the party of six mercenaries met. They were the first Whispering Cutlass expedition into the Void Hollow, a dungeon of forgotten ruins, devilish and demonic traps, and dark fey energies, constantly changing and morphing. The party consisted of Nwalmë Shadhavar, Mr. T, Asher or “Whiffle-Tongue,” Eyalon Bogpyre, Gobin Glowstep, and Eisen Mistburo.
The reasons for venturing into the dungeon were various. Gobin, a Halfling druid, looked for lost knowledge on plants and their alchemical properties. He had called his closest friend, Asher the Lizardfolk wizard, on his Babel Stone and requested Asher’s help in plumbing the depths of the dungeon. Asher couldn’t understand the bleating goat noises coming through the stone, but nonetheless, he was eager to help his friend.
That didn’t mean Asher was without ulterior motives. In his Crystal Academy days, he had heard rumors of a fellow student—a wizard herself—using restorative magic to bring someone back to life. Fascinated by the prospect of a wizard using healing magic, Asher had studied ancient lore surrounding healing spells and had uncovered a passage implying a healing spell that even he could use resided in the Void Hollow. Desiring to return this knowledge to Embrel, Asher prepared himself for the expedition.
Another party member, Eyalon Bogpyre of the noble Bogpyres, had more personal reasons for braving the dungeon. The young Deerfolk, merely a sixteen-year-old, felt his mind slipping from him due to his wild sorcery magics. He wanted to find a way to understand his magic in the dungeon, or, failing that, to lose his mind in peace where he couldn’t hurt people.
The old Human Eisen Mistburo had been a devil hunter in his youth and had retired, but once his Talent emerged, he knew he had to get back in the field. The dungeon would be an excellent way to test himself and see if he still had it.
Mr. T’s motivations were more nebulous. He sought powerful items and cryptic knowledge, but the specifics of his search were an enigma. He had spent many a day researching planar gates, but he had come up with naught. Still, he hoped that his time in the dungeon would be fruitful.
As for the veteran Nwalmë Shadhavar, the Shadar-Kai rogue, guarding his allies was his goal. He knew the dangers of these dungeons touched by Gray Gods and felt that his time would be well-spent keeping his friends and acquaintances alive. To that end, he passed out smoke grenades to the party and shared his supply of specialty arrows with Gobin, glad to aid in survival through equipment.
Nwalmë also realized in his quickness to pack that he packed his wormsilk cloak along with the cloak he currently wore. He saw Eisen and asked if he'd like the spare cloak. Eisen eagerly accepted it.
Mr. T, a dark-skinned Orc with Kobold-esque horns and a fin on his head, went around the table shaking everyone’s hand. When he got to Asher, he looked the Lizardfolk dead in the eyes. “Pleasure to see you,” he said. “I’m looking forward to leaping with you into this dungeon.” He winked.
Asher could tell there was some hidden message behind this greeting, and looking at Mr. T’s body, he saw that one arm was withered, just as his friend Tar’ren’s had been. Asher eyed his new companion, beginning to put the pieces together, but merely nodded in greeting.
The party refreshed their supplies and prepared to enter the Void Hollow. Virgil had heard of the expedition and provided ten days’ rations for each party member, wishing them well. The group then departed Sunward.
They found the old doorway to the Void Hollow and descended a spiraling staircase with the glow of torches shining from the deep darkness. As soon as all were in the Void Hollow, the door behind them disappeared, sealing them inside.
No one panicked. The group stealthed their way down the stairs, but under Asher’s feet, a corner of a step crumbled and thudded down the steps. Suddenly red lights appeared, an undead glow from the eye sockets of skeletons. A battle was already upon them.
Asher blinked and squinted, unused to such darkness. He shook his Crystal Academy pennant, causing it to glow with light, and tied it around his neck. He left the stairs and readied himself to shoot when the skeletons got closer.
Nwalmë drew Sagrid’s Gambit and attacked the shambling creatures, using an armor-piercing arrow. The arrow hit, but seemed less than effective against a skeleton. Nwalmë aimed another shot and this one pierced the skull, shattering it and ending the creature.
Nwalmë snapped his fingers. Suddenly a spirit was drawn from the defeated skeleton, coalescing  as a death token in Nwalmë’s hand.
Mr. T tumbled off the stairs with grace, landing next to Asher. He shot Eldritch Blasts at a second skeleton, but they bounced off the armor plates.
Eisen walked off the stairs and cast Sacred Flame. The skeleton dodged and stabbed at Mr. T with a spear, but Mr. T sidestepped out of the way, his dancing shoes on.
Gobin made his cloak flutter majestically and jumped off the ledge. His fall was without grace and caused him to scrape his knee. Undeterred, he cast Entangle on the skeleton, though the vines also attempted to grab Mr. T and Eisen. Eisen broke free, but Mr. T and the skeleton were immobilized.
Eyalon remained on the stairs, chuffing at the sounds of battle. He cast a Fire Bolt at the skeleton, but missed. Some of the vines, however, burst into flame.
Asher cast Ray of Frost and hit the skeleton, but the ice seemed to encase the bones while doing no damage. “Careful,” he said to his party, “it seems ice has no effect.”
Nwalmë jumped into the vines, shooting off of Eisen’s pauldron to gain distance. However, he got entangled by the vines. He attacked with his flying tonfas and bopped the skeleton on the head. The tonfas broke off fragments of bone, snapping the skeleton into smithereens.
The dust settled, and no more skeletons came.
“He sounded like a xylophone when he fell apart,” Gobin said. He dismissed his vines, which put out the fire before his allies could be harmed.
Mr. T picked up a couple bones and stowed them in his pack.
Beyond the hall where they were attacked, there was an open area with a set of cots and rucksacks abandoned by adventurers. Asher checked the sacks for food and found old pieces of hardtack, iron rations. A week’s worth for one person, so he spread it out to the group.
Nwalmë saw forking paths leading out of the room. 
Gobin looked in some of the pots in the room and found tiny pieces of corn. It was a chamberpot. It looked like the encampment was used two or three weeks ago.
Nwalmë looked for where tracks went away from the camp and saw footprints heading southwest. They looked like they matched the skeletons. One set of tracks looked like bare feet burned into the stone. He brought that to the attention of the group. Gobin put his foot in the footprint. Gobin noted that it was not halfling sized, but was unnaturally smoothed. Eisen and Asher guessed that it was not physically burned but unnaturally decaying things around it.
Asher asked for Eisen to share his night eyes, a gift of Luniar that the cleric could bestow. Eisen chuckled and shared his sight with the group. Asher breathed a sigh of relief, able to see again.
Mr. T’s eyes lit up as he cast Detect Magic, looking over the room. 
Nwalmë asked if Maahes, his tressym familiar, could scout ahead. The group agreed to the tactic. Nwalmë gave Maahes a pep talk and sent him to the north path. Maahes set off but wasn’t looking very stealthy. Asher’s eyes glowed as he used Repercussion, and suddenly, Maahes crept without a sound. Just to be safe, though, Nwalmë cast Invisibility on the tressym.
Maahes spotted three passageways. The first one seemed empty but had more corridors. It looked narrow in places as if it could only fit one person across.
Maahes saw an undead hound which sniffed the air. There were also skeletons. The tressym crept with care and remained undetected. He found a broken stairwell heading downward. He also saw the last bit of remnants of a previous expedition; it was possible that the skeletons were the party members.
Finally, he saw a desecrated shrine. Nwalmë, looking through his familiar’s eyes, described it to Eisen and Asher. He noted a figure hunched over with fangs and horns. Asher guessed it to be a statue of Avadon.
Maahes kept going and saw a skeleton lying on a stone slab, along with another sarcophagus. There was a faint glow from a dagger inside the skeleton’s chest.
Maahes ventured back and went down the southwestern path. He saw five skeletal soldiers, along with a weapon rack with six unused spears. It might have been a Foultrappers expedition.
Maahes returned to the group. Asher suggested taking out the skeletons rather than leaving them to ambush them. The party voted to go left first.
Mr. T wanted to send an invisible servant to attract the attention of the creatures to draw them into a bottleneck. Eyalon wanted to cast Minor Illusion on the hallway to make a barrier for the skeletons. The servant scraped the ground and Eyalon cast the illusion. Four skeletons began moving towards them. They struggled to squeeze past the concrete barrier illusion.
Asher cast Mind Sliver, shattering the mind of the front skeleton. Nwalmë whacked another with his tonfas. The first blow clanged against armor but the second blow completely shattered the skeleton. He snapped his fingers and got a new death token.
Mr. T cast Acid Splash and sizzled through two of the skeletons. Eisen cast Sacred flame and burned a skeleton, incinerating it. Gobin summoned a spirit totem on the field. A ghostly hawk appeared.
Eyalon cast Chaos Bolt on a skeleton and hit, causing a psychic shattering. It flopped over, destroyed.
Asher cast Mind Sliver and destroyed another skeleton. He whispered a prayer of thanks to Oen and stepped back from the fray.
The mercenaries heard the sound of dragging in the distance.
Nwalmë preserved Eyalon’s illusion, moving around it rather than through it, then banged his tonfas on the rock to keep bringing attention to themselves. No more skeletons came, however.
Mr. T readied an Eldritch Blast in case a skeleton came into view. Eisen used his insight, wondering if the undead were cowering because the group was so strong. He sat back and waited for the enemy to come.
Gobin told Eyalon that he was going to run through his wall and asked if he could make it flashy so that it would scare the skeletons. Gobin wildshaped into a giant goat and charged through the barrier. Beyond it, Gobin saw that the weapon rack had been dragged as a barricade. Gobin told the party. He was fairly certain that the skeletons probably weren’t smart enough to do that on their own, but another creature might be controlling them to do that.
Eyalon moved past his barrier and looked around. He couldn’t see the barricade from there. He made a new illusory wall in front of him.
Asher checked behind them to make sure no skeletons were sneaking up on them, then went alongside Nwalmë and patted his shoulder. “We keep it simple, we keep it safe. Good job. Keep going.”
Soldier skeletons behind the weapon rack barricade popped their heads up and attacked with arrows. One hit its own barricade, but the second struck Gobin, grazing his head.
Nwalmë stealthed around the corner and jumped on Gobin in goat form, riding him. He shot with his bow and obliterated a skeleton. He then burned a death token and used Wails from the Grave to damage another skeleton. The necrotic energies seemed to perform at their full effect.
An archer skeleton shot towards the goat but missed. Eisen and T moved down the corridor.
Gobin backed up and then charged, ramming the barricade. It crumpled beneath his assault, scattering spears everywhere. “This is a bust!” Gobin shouted.
Eyalon moved close and cast Fireball, making sure it was far enough to not hit Gobin or Nwalmë. It was lovely and loud, disintegrating all of the skeletons.
Around the corner, Gobin saw a zombie with a chalice of blood and an iron crown. It glared at him and wracked him with pain. He endured it, however, and wasn’t stunned by the damage.
Asher moved to see the zombie and cast Magic Missile, slamming into the zombie. Blue and black fire rushed towards Asher in retaliation. It hit and sizzled against his skin, burning him with its cold and necrotic energies.
Nwalmë moved close to the zombie and became violently ill. Nevertheless, he whipped out his Poison Strand and said the command word, attempting to restrict the zombie lord, though the whip failed to restrain them.
T moved down the hall, getting closer to the fray. The zombie grasped Nwalmë and sucked out his life energy. Nwalmë went limp. The zombie moved past Nwalmë and closer to Gobin. 
Eisen moved in and saw Nwalmë on the ground. Eisen cast Sacred Flame, but the zombie dodged. The cleric then cast Healing Word, drawing Nwalmë from the brink. 
Gobin retched from the odor of the zombie but was otherwise unaffected. He charged the zombie and bowled them over. Gobin screamed at them.
The zombie disrupted the life forces of those around them, ripping Gobin out of goat form. Nwalmë was able to resist the effect.
Eyalon moved behind cover and looked for obvious magical effects buffing the wizard. He could tell that it had some sort of aura around it. Eyalon tried to shoot a Fire Bolt at the zombie but almost hit Gobin. Gobin used his Bountiful Luck to redirect the shot to hit the zombie lord instead.
Asher cast Psychic Lance, though the zombie lord resisted. Eyalon used Silvery Barbs to distract the zombie, but they still were able to overcome the effects.
Nwalmë tried to restrain the zombie but they surged out of the whip. Nwalmë stabbed with a shortsword and hit, doing massive damage.
T cast a Bubble Hex on Nwalmë. The zombie tried to touch Nwalmë but missed. They then tried to touch Gobin, but Nwalmë cracked his whip and caught the arm, pulling it away.
Eisen whispered a prayer into his hand and cast Guiding Bolt, blasting into the creature and searing it with holy light.
Gobin cast Primal Savagery and scratched the zombie. The zombie then sent cold fire towards Eisen, hitting him.
Eyalon ran to Gobin and used his Fey Step to teleport Gobin out of the fray. Then the sorcerer ran away to get out of melee range.
Asher cast Psychic Lance once more. The creature seemed to be affected, but shook it off at the last second. 
Nwalmë hit the zombie with his shortsword. The zombie used its painwrack gaze and stunned Nwalmë, but the bubble hex prevented him from getting harmed. T tried to use Chill Touch, but it missed.
The zombie lord hit Nwalmë twice, pushing through the hex to harm him. Eisen used Sacred Flame, but it missed.
Gobin cast Conjure Animals, bringing forth four giant goats. Two of them became sick from the zombie’s aura. Nevertheless, the goats charged. One rammed the zombie with their horns. Another gave a glorious back kick. The third gored them, finally ending the zombie lord.
The area safe for the time being, the goats took positions to guard the party. Inside a back chamber, the group found ruined tables and drawers, saw torn open boxes and crates. But not all was rust and decay: In an iron lockbox, they found 5,000 silver coins. Besides that, there were also the six spears from the weapon rack that appeared to be in good condition.
Gobin found some nice lichen and cast Speak with Plants. “Hey, I like your style,” he said.
“The spell! It’s gone! Thank you!” The lichen breathed in fresh air, happy that the zombie was defeated.
The party chose to rest, bunking for the night.
Next Episode
Enter the Void Hollow - 01