Into the Cavern of Inquisition

**When the Hammer Drops, The Magic Happens**

Our Party, stunned by the trap set before them, reacts slowly. That is, save for Fen. Knowing they’ve already taken the brunt of the twin-hammered trap, he moves with inhuman speed and casts Twin Haste on Leaf and Talek. His vision is blocked by the party before him, so he waits for the opportunity to strike.

Leaf and Talek, with their newfound speed, spring to action. To the left and right of the mouth of the cave, they spot a human and dwarf respectively, clad in fine plate armor and wielding warhammers, ready to strike.

“I’ll take the dwarf, you handle the human!” cries leaf, swinging with both weapons vigorously at the Dwarf. He lands a few blows and stuns his foe. Talek rushes the human, swinging his warhammer wildly. He fails to land a single blow as the human blocks and dodges his advance.

Butterstuff casts a spell, illuminating the cavern before them, revealing a mage hiding in the shadows by the bridge and a second dwarf wielding a crossbow on the other side. The Faerie promptly warns the party of the danger revealed before her.

The Mage, outed, casts a devastating spell of icy wind, hitting mostly everyone and dealing massive damage. In dire straits, the Tiefling cleric shouts a prayer to his god. “*Changebringer, heal the travelers who contest this tyranny*!” As light emits from his holy talisman, the party is healed. Nearly everyone seems surprised.

Suddenly, their long lost friend Hadrian, missing since the events which sent them to the Realm of Sanguen, appears in a brilliant flash of light, casting an ability enhancing spell on Talek and joining the fight. Talek bids him a welcome as they team up against the human in plate, noting Leaf seems to have the dwarf under control on his own.

Fen remains in the rear, casting Chromatic Orb on the Mage from afar with effect as a thundercloud erupts from Ryafrie, damaging the crossbow-wielding dwarf across the bridge. Butterstuff fires an electric bolt at the mage, who nimbly dodges the attack while the crossbowman fires a bolt at Ryafrie, who takes damage. Alluin fires a second Chromatic Orb at the mage, who seems to reel from the hit. All the while, Zophren appears to be attempting to wage battle with little effect.

As Leaf continues his assault on the dwarf, he takes a hard hit over the helmet, but holds his ground. He replies with a barrage of his own wielding both weapons; he locates a kink in the armor and lands a mighty blow with the Talon of Mirewood. He thrusts it through the dwarf’s stomach and lifts with all his might, cutting deep from navel to collarbone. The dwarf drops, dying – Leaf turns his sights to the mage.

Hadrian frost strikes his warhammer against the human fighter, who seems to be losing steam. Fen casts yet another Chromatic Orb at the mage who nearly loses his footing. Seeing the opportunity, Leaf charges the mage, who reacts with a Firebolt in Leaf’s direction, who nimbly dodges the fiery spell, sweating from the heat.

Talek points at the human with a glare. He whispers an incantation to Avandra as a dolorous bell rings through the air; the human takes heavy damage. Talek follows up with a strike to the back of the human’s head, staggering him. Zophren swings at the stunned human, narrowly missing as the wounded warrior loses his footing.

Suddenly, a blood curdling shriek is heard as an emboldened Kizzik flies through the air, plunging his weapon deep into the chest of the human, who collapses in a pool of blood. The party cheers, and a smile cracks across Kizzik’s blood spattered face with pride.

Ryafrie hums a tune as a bolt of lightning streaks past the party, striking hard into the chest of the crossbow-wielding dwarf. He stumbles and loses his footing, then plummets off the bridge, rended upon onto the rocks below.

As his companions drop, the mage turns and vanishes into mist, but Hadrian, having seen Alluin’s Misty Step so often, recognizes and anticipates the mages attempt at escape. As the mage reappears near-instantaneously at the end of the bridge, he is met by a Mind-Spike from Hadrian. His eyes freeze and shatter as the mage falls limp and collapses where he stood.

As the battleground clears, Hadrian remarks, “He needs to chill out.”

**A Messy but Lucrative Interrogation**

Knowing an interrogation is in order, Talek quickly stabilizes the human and dwarf while Ryafrie sneaks over to inspect and loot the Mage’s remains.

Talek and Hadrian remove the armor from the human as Leaf does the same with the dwarf, unconscious but somehow alive as a result of the quick healing by the Tiefling Cleric. As they remove the plate from the human, Alluin, Talek and Hadrian begin to discuss where they were since the events of the portal-in-a-portal. Alluin, who assumed he had jumped to the same hellish realm, admonished Hadrian for moving recklessly ahead - Hadrian corrects this. He goes on to explain how he visited with Bahamut – describing him as a platinum god-dragon – and was transported to Dal Karaz, the home base of his order and familiar territory to Alluin. He claims he is still there, and what they see before them is projected by the resident wizards. Alluin nods, unsurprised by this. Talek, however, touches Hadrian in disbelief, who appears solid but cold to the touch.

After inspecting the two stabilized foes, the party finds 600 gold and fine plate, which is still in excellent shape despite the damage from battle. Knowing it might fetch a fair price that could fund their cause, Talek moves to stash the plate in case they can come back for it later. He finds a hidden area filled with rations, cots and survival supplies – enough to last months or more. He informs the party, and Hadrian decides to rouse the foes to determine their allegiance, purpose and motivations.

Ryafrie returns from mage’s corpse with some items in hand. She brandishes a scroll, bearing the broken seal of the Inquisitors. She reads the message to the party – it’s addressed to Korliss the deceased Elf mage. It says he and his band should refrain from exploring the cave further – they’re expected to stand guard until further notice, and engage anyone who enters.

Leaf drags the dwarf adjacent to the human and attempts to assist Hadrian in his interrogation. Hadrian motions him to intimidate the human while waking their captive. Leaf enthusiastically steps on the human’s chest *hard* as Hadrian leans close, the human groans in pain, but does not speak. Hadrian demands answers, offering him an option – a death that is quick and swift or long and painful. The human refuses, citing there is nothing Hadrian could do that the Inquisitors won’t visit upon him tenfold. Talek appears uneasy but stands aside and rouses the dwarf who watches in fear as Hadrian stoneshapes a hinge around the human’s skull. “Very well. Perhaps your companion may shed some light.”

Talek averts his eyes while Leaf and Alluin look on – Leaf with an excitement in his eyes, Alluin puffing his pipe with indifference. The hinge begins to slowly close upon the human’s head as Hadrian glares into the eyes of the human. The Dwarf squirms as his friend’s head is slowly crushed into a pulpy mess that started with a blood curdling scream and slowly waned until all you could hear was splintering bone and the sloshing of grey matter on stone.

Hadrian shifts his attention to the dwarf, who is reeling in horror and disgust. He leaps to his feet with sudden vigor and attempts to dash into the forbidden cavern. Talek dashes after, trips him with his warhammer, then drags him back to the interrogation, dropping him beside what’s left of his deceased companion.

Hadrian and Leaf continue to intimidate the Dwarf, but yield nothing of value about the Inquisitors - he claims he knows nothing. Talek, in an attempt to shift methods, kneels beside the dwarf and promises him protection from his friends. “Tell us what you know, and tell us true - no harm will come to you. Attempt to deceive me and I turn you back over to them.”

With this promise, the Dwarf is convinced. He informs the party that he and his companions were - until recently - prisoners. They were released from jail a few months ago and hired by the Inquisitors to protect the tunnel. They camped in here for months, but nobody came. He claimed it was a dull affair until, “…you lot showed up this morning and killed all my friends!”

Satisfied that there was nothing left to tell, Talek turned to Hadrian with a nod. Hadrian grabbed the dwarf by his undershirt and lifted him off the ground to eye level. “I hope you can swim, dwarf!” he exclaimed as he approached the edge of the cliff, holding the Dwarf over the water below. The dwarf cried out in fear and anger that he can’t swim - and suggested Hadrian is prejudiced against Dwarves.

Talek attempts to diffuse the situation and insists that Hadrian refrain from tossing their captive. He gave his oath of protection, which must be honored. Hadrian stated he was “…simply going to toss him down to the boats so he can make his escape!” and suggested there was no other way down. Talek’s response was a simple gesture to the stairs a few feet away; a clear path leading to the docked rowboats below. Hadrian accepts this, but attempts to amputate the Dwarf’s hand, narrowly missing as Talek seized his blade arm, again citing the Dwarf is under Avandra’s protection. Hadrian reluctantly relented. After releasing the dwarf he spoke to him one last time. “Thank the Lord of the North Wind today, for you live and breathe by his grace.” Turning away, he gestured to Talek, “I’d thank his god too, while you’re at it.”

As the dwarf, seemingly free, made his way to the stairs, he thanked both gods. A snake roughly the length of a fallen tree (and nearly the same width) then struck out at the dwarf. Recognizing the snake as Zophren the shapeshifting Druid Tiefling, Talek quickly struck the snake in the the head with his warhammer shouting, “AVANDRA FORBIDS IT.” Zophren was momentarily halted as he regained his composure, staring down Talek with a hiss of malice.

The dwarf, realizing his peril is far from over, dashed down the stairs toward the boats. Zophren pursued, red eyed and bloodthirsty. Talek dove at the snake and grappled it to a standstill. As he wrestled the giant snakeform druid, the dwarf leapt into a rowboat and departed – hyperventilating, fearful, but alive. Holding the snake back with all his might, Talek roared again, “AVANDRA *FORBIDS IT*!” Zophren slithered away and gave up the chase.

As events wind down, the party rests to regain strength and heal what they can. They recount the events of the Blood Realm to Hadrian: The “truth” about the Realm Shards, Sanguen, Bhaal and Eldrin. Hadrian shares tales of his own activities since they were last together – his meeting with Bahamut, the Platinum Skinned Dragon god, and his prophesy of what’s to come – a war. Not just any war, but one where sides *must be chosen*. Friend will fight friend and foe alike. People *will die.* Alluin is confident that his brother Eldrin is deeply rooted in all this, and once his retribution is complete, the rest will fall into place. Talek trusts Avandra will guide him and the party; they will land on the side of righteousness, wherever that will lead. Zophren, Leaf, Fen and Ryafrie all seem indifferent to anything, save for the task at hand – understanding the secrets of the inquisition is paramount to unlocking the way forward. Butterstuff will trust in the Archfae for guidance.

**Into the Depths, The Path is Unclear**

After a rest; the party explores further into the cavern. A short distance in, they discover the tunnel has collapsed. Zophren turns into a giant mole lizard, which the party finds repulsive, and tunnels through. The party follows along, crawling through the freshly dug passage.

They emerge upon an enormous and apparently man-made cylindrical chamber - free of blemishes and markings along the walls. At the edge of the platform and high above them are what remains of what was likely one set of broken spiral stairs. Hundreds of feet above them, they see a set rolling upward into a vertical passage, burrowed into the domed roof of the chamber. As they approach the steps from the edge of the platform, they find the rest of the stairs spiraling deep down and beyond into the depths, shrouded by fog. As they listen, a faint moaning is barely audible below.

Zophren turns into a spider and Hadrian rides him up along the wall to the top where the stairs move upward. They follow the stairs, Hadrian using the magic earring provided by Alluin to inform the party with of what he sees. As they venture upward, towards the 'top' they reach an enormous glass cylinder at the center – the staircase spiraling up around it. It has been broken, and appears to have extended down further. Hadrian describes it as strikingly similar to the elevator tube they traveled up in the Tower of Alescia.

After 25 minutes of continued climbing, they reached the top, which appeared to end with a solid stone ceiling. At the center of the glass elevator tube, they note the seal of The Inquisition. Realizing it’s a dead end, Hadrian reports his findings back to Alluin and they use the spider’s web to quickly repel back down to the party.

While Hadrian and Zophren explore above, Ryafrie gives Alluin a scroll of Ice Storm, which she recovered from the mage. Alluin examines it to find it has 3 charges left. Reunited, the party descends the remaining staircase into the misty fog.

The air is moist and cold. On the walls along the staircase, they find alcoves with torch holes and what appears to be catastrophic damage all along them. After a while, Hadrian notices the damage follows a pattern of repetition.

After casting dispel and detect magic, the party agrees they are stuck in a loop and sends Hadrian and the Spider-Zophren up to determine whether they’re restricted from returning back up or if they should continue down. Hadrian, reports to Alluin as they venture upward, but suddenly, Alluin calls out – looking worried. He informs the party that Hadrian’s voice cut out and he can no longer hear him. The party begins their own trek up the steps to finds a fresh, undamaged platform where the broken stairs used to be. Shapes of their friends are visible in the fog - Butterstuff meows to attempt to get their attention, or fool any potential hostile deception.

Leaf and Talek decide to approach the friendly-shaped shadows, but approach warily, weapons drawn. Alluin suddenly hears Hadrian again – requesting the party to return to the top. Butterstuff sees there is no longer a hole on the bottom of the platform, and extending upward from the floor is a glass cylinder that has been broken, and appears to have extended upwards - calling this out to the party. Hadrian and Spider-Zophren appear to have already understood this.

After examining their surroundings, they discover an archway on the wall around the place where they had tunneled in. Hadrian, Leaf and Talek take point and enter the archway, which leads into a tunnel. The fog dissipates and Ryafrie casts Dancing Lights to illuminate their way ahead. As they move along the tunnel, its stone appears darker and darker with each step. They continue, and the scent of metal is pungent upon the stale air.

The walls appear to warp and darken. A sense of dread looms over them and strengthens which each passing moment. The faint moaning from earlier becomes clearer. *Sharper. Louder.*

Some of the indentations along the walls appear to resemble eye sockets to Ryafrie, who points this out to the party. The clearest indentation yet appears to be a body *fused* into the rock. Ryafrie tries to touch one and a hand grabs back – a man’s ethereal form bursts from the rock with an inhuman groan.

The Party reels in horror, and only time will tell what will become of them.