A Light at the End of the Tunnel

The earth elementals left the Fateful 8 beaten and clinging to life. Mr. Fahrenheit demanded the party rest before venturing further into the tunnels. The Fateful 8 and the fey walled themselves up into one of the tunnels and slept for the night. In the morning, Froderick and Eup once again took the lead and the group walked the tunnels for hours. Eventually, everything came to a dead end in front of a wall that had a magical aura about it.

Upon further investigation, Bodo noticed the wall had runes carved into it in a 3 by 3 grid. Froderick wanted to send a firebolt at the wall, but then considered trying to dispel the magic of the runes. While Froderick was mulling his options, Bodo ran his hands across all the runes and one lit up red after a second. Bodo pressed another rune and it lit up green, then a third rune lit up red. When Bodo touched a third rune, it turned green, but a third red rune also appeared, completing a line of three in a row. A lightning bolt immediately shot out down the tunnel, damaging anyone standing in it.

Now that he understood the purpose of the puzzle, Bodo easily defeated the runes and was able to match 3 green runes in a row. The wall then crumbled. Buck wanted to forge ahead, but Mr. Fahrenheit tried to convince him to hang to the back and let the quieter party members take the lead. Buck suggested that Mr. Fahrenheit was scared of the dark tunnel ahead, so to prove him wrong, Mr. Fahrenheit charged down the tunnel and threw a javelin at one of the sounds he was hearing... effectively attacking the darkness. The javelin fell harmlessly to the ground, but Buck and Mr. Fahrenheit heard a feminine cry as the javelin was thrown.

Buck paused to look around the tunnel and saw that the Merfolk that were there were mostly women and children. Buck attempted to speak with the Merfolk and eventually was able to talk with Esmerelda. She wasn't the leader of the Merfolk, but she informed Buck that all the leaders of their people had gone off to fight the Fateful 8, who they saw as intruders into their homes. After a spirited discussion, Buck was able to convince Esmerelda and the rest of the Merfolk to leave peacefully, and with the knowledge that they would be able to return to their homes once the Fey made it through the portal. However, a group of warriors called The Overguard refused to leave. The Overguard consisted of 8 Merfolk, led by a man named Rigatone, and they were guarding the entrance to the portal.

The Fateful 8 made their way towards the chamber with the portal. Beldor insisted on honoring Esmerelda's wishes, that the Fateful 8 attempt to reason with, and do not kill, the Merfolk in The Overguard. When Beldor was approaching the chamber entrance, he, like Squawk, got trapped in a net. Froderick was able to get Beldor down using fire, but wisely lit the rope holding the net up on fire, rather than trying to set the net itself on fire. As a result, Beldor did not perish when the Overguard used that distraction to attack.

Dreld attempted to cast calm emotions on the attacking Merfolk, but he was met with a cone of cold down the tunnel the Fateful 8 was standing in. The cone ended up knocking Beldor unconscious, and a subsequent fireball knocked Dreld, Euptellea, and Bodo unconscious. Mr. Fahrenheit, Froderick, Won, and Buck managed to heal their unconscious companions. Mr. Fahrenheit and Buck then moved into the chamber and took the fight to the Overguard. Mr. Fahrenheit dueled two Merfolk while Buck started making short work of their mages. Dreld threw out a fireball of his own, which burnt one mage to a crisp. Dreld then remembered the promise to Esmerelda and tried to revive the mage with a goodberry. When that failed, Dreld absorbed his essence.

One by one the Overguard succumbed to the superior strength of the Fateful 8. Buck cornered Rigatone, who then begged Buck to kill him. Beldor and Won shouted at Buck to get him to stay his hand, but it was too late, and Buck fired three rounds into Rigatone's head.