Altheya - Episode 3: Into the Depths

Katie Morrison as Daisy Thistleheart

 Kim Richards as Gruffudd of Tremorrew

Rhiannon Frost as Ophelia D'larosa

 Tom Hazell as Xantheus Auregan

**Into the Depths** is the 3rd episode of the Altheya: The Dragon Empire Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the highrollersdnd Twitch and YouTube channel on the 19th of November 2023 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*The party work together to delve into the depths of Blackrock Mine... as long as they don't awaken the skittering horde!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* If you would like to support High Rollers, get your friends into the brand new campaign. Episode 1 is available on YouTube and podcast. You can also join Patreon or YouTube members – both of these and Twitch subs will get early access to the VoDs plus the extra little bits and pieces.
* High Rollers are now also live on YouTube at the same time as the livestream is played on Twitch.
* This episode was pre-recorded due to many of the HR crew being at Telford ComicCon.

### Recap

*Our fledgeling adventurers have come to the village of Burnell, each following their own path, with their own goals in mind, and after staying the night in the rustic Caldran village, they awake to find that the road south has been closed off as a local Draconic noble’s army is searching for criminals in the area. Having found clues and a lead onto what had happened, they believe the criminals and a conspirator ally to be hiding in Blackrock Mine, north of the village. And as the army prepares to go after them, the PCs move ahead to try and deal with the individuals themselves, learn the truth, and perhaps earn themselves some gold and the favour of the Draconic Duke in the process.*

*At the mine entrance, the party witness miners fleeing for their lives as strange creatures chase after them. Rescuing some of the unlucky miners from these creatures, the wounded party are visited by an unusual Tyfling, who appears out of the earth: Kalifris claims to be an agent of “someone” who owns a magical artifact the criminals stole and have brought it to the mine, offering them healing potions and other rewards if the party agreed to return it to them. After a brief discussion and conversation, the majority of the party decline the offer and head into Blackrock Mine itself.*

### **Part One**

*The party work together to delve deep into the Blackrock Mine!*

(A slight retcon this week) Gruff has headed into the mine, refusing to deal with Kalifris, not quite followed by Rowan, who wants the rest to follow but will not go without them. Daisy is looking at both parties, not sure whom to follow, Ophelia is holding back a little, but Xantheus has remained temporarily above ground to try to trade with Kalifris.

It is night and the dim glow of lanterns that hang outside the mine entrance barely illuminates the miners’ camp outside. Reclining on a rock nearby is a green-skinned Tyfling with rocky looking horns, dressed in rich fabrics and covered with gold jewellery and gemstones – the Tyfling had appeared to them initially as more masculine in appearance, but has now taken on a more feminine appearance with long hair and curves. She looks at Gruff and waves a hand in the air as if to say farewell, while whipping her tail backwards and forwards – in her hands, she now holds the two potions of healing that she had offered the party previously, and she spins them mesmerisingly around in her fingers. Nearby, the previously frozen, but now thawed and preserved, corpse of the small Belamorph lies on the ground.

What Gruff said about acting the fact that he should act with honour has struck a chord with Xantheus, however Xantheus does not act with honour, so he calls to Kalifris, “Trade’s still on if you’re interested!” as he indicates the corpse. Kalifris tells Xantheus that they, their master, and the other people with whom they work are not interested in the corpse of a creature from this realm, and that it is connected with a being with whom Kalifris would prefer not to trifle. She tells Xantheus that one of the minor wizards might be interested, however, she is not. She asks Xantheus what he wants – Xantheus tells Kalifris of his concern that his party is heading into the mine while injured and suggests that he might like a healing potion and some blood for Ophelia – Kalifris puts a long, clawed, golden nail to her lips in exaggerated contemplation before offering a healing potion and some of her own blood… the only catch is that she wants a drop of Xantheus’ blood. Xantheus declines but Kalifris is not yet done bargaining, pointing out the inherent risk in their position, going into the mine with little health. Xantheus is a little shocked but tells her that she doesn’t really want a drop of his blood – Kalifris responds with, “Oh, I’m sure I do…” She shows Xantheus a small necklace charm that holds a tiny container indicating that she would only need a single drop.

Xantheus desperately asks Ophelia how thirsty she is for blood – Ophelia tells him that she is thirsty all the time before Kalifris tempts her by pulling back the neck of her tunic aside. Ophelia stands defiant, not wanting to be tricked into serving another being given that she is already in service to someone, and she does not trust Kalifris. Kalifris asks only for a single drop of Xantheus’ blood and Ophelia may drink from Kalifris until her thirst is quenched, although Xantheus does not wish to give up even a drop of his blood. Daisy, observing this back and forth between the three of them begins edging towards Gruff. Rowan is suspicious and scared of the conversation but also glancing into the mines after Gruff who has now moved beyond the entrance that is illuminated by Meilyr, the Crown, and the lanterns and torches outside, and disappeared into the darkness of the mine proper – Rowan can just see his lantern disappearing into the main tunnel. Rowan makes uncomfortable noises to try to hurry the others along, saying things like, “We should go… we should wrap this up if possible… Gruff…” but he does not wish to interrupt the conversation, so they are more background noise to the others.

Xantheus calls Ophelia over for a huddle and makes enquiries about her blood drinking. She tells him that she does not drink as often as she needs to, that she does not know where the blood comes from at home – it is just given to her when she requests it, she has only been in Ilmera for a few days and has not had any blood to drink since she came. Percival looms behind Ophelia quietly as she tells Xantheus that she did not have a plan to acquire blood when she came to Ilmera, but she would be prepared to ‘nibble on a squirrel or two’ and would not bite people unless they asked her to. Daisy immediately begins shouting to Ophelia that she does not have permission over and over again while Kalifris again not-so subtly offers her neck to Ophelia. Kalifris warns Xantheus that she does not have all day – a panicked Xantheus tells her that the deal is off. Ophelia asks what Xantheus wants out of a deal with Kalifris – he insists that he only wants them to have healing and for Ophelia to be able to drink so that she doesn’t have to go into the mines bloodless and weak. Ophelia takes umbrage at this term and shouts at Xantheus, causing Daisy to call out for a scarf and both her and Rowan to shuffle away – they notice that when Ophelia got angry, Percival’s skeletal hand clutched at a short sword hanging off his belt, he holds it but does nothing else.

Kalifris, believing that things are getting a little too tense for her decides to leave – she says that they could call if they need help, but that perhaps that ship has sailed. Saying this, she says goodbye, steps into the shadows, casts a spell and disappears. Daisy walks towards Gruff quickly, pulling Rowan with her as she goes, asking him if he has a spare scarf that she can borrow because she’s too nervous to go to bed at night now. He takes off his huge scarf and wraps it around her before hearing a muffled voice asking, “Do you think that she can still get me?” Rowan tells Daisy not to worry and says that he will protect her, looking nervously over his shoulder at Ophelia before moving quickly into the mine entrance.

Gruff looks at the map and the mine itself – it is a sprawling mine that has been worked for centuries and is now a labyrinth of tunnels. There are the occasional lanterns that are lit creating pockets of light at various junctions that show the worn, wooden support beams that hold up the roof of each tunnel and the ruts from wagons that have been used to pull out the bounty from the mine. Gruff realises that navigating the tunnels will be tricky – the map is crude and incomplete, but it does indicate that there are several levels to the mine. They hear odd noises echoing through the mine but cannot tell precisely where the noises are coming from – there are skittering noises, along with a deep thrumming reverberance – as Rowan gets closer, he begins to hear it as a disturbance or a cry of pain from the earth itself.

Before the others catch up to him, Gruff stands in the dimly lit passageway – he looks down the tunnel, glances at the map in his hands, looks around again, then listens to the skittering noises – his confident demeanour drops for a second as he says, “Oh bugger”. (In a flashback in Gruff’s mind, he stands in Tremorrew, announcing that he is going to go on an adventure and help all of these people – suddenly he is back in the dark and reality sets in again…) As the rest catch up to him, Gruff coughs and looks confidently at the map and the tunnels again.

As Xantheus and Ophelia move into the mine, the others hear Xantheus apologising for calling Ophelia weak and telling her that he does not know about customs in Osseus, but he reminds her that they are on the same team. Ophelia forgives Xantheus and Percival finally lets go of the shortsword. With the bad air between them now cleared, Xantheus formally introduces himself to Ophelia and offers his hand in a handshake. Ophelia takes his hand and similarly introduces herself - a skeletal hand emerges from Percival’s robes as if he, too, wants an introduction, but he does not speak when Xantheus introduces himself. Xantheus notices that Percival’s bones are perfectly clean and holding together because of magic.They finally group up and Rowan tells Gruff that there was ‘a little kerfuffle’ outside – Daisy is wrapped up in Rowan’s huge scarf and they can only just see her eyes above the scarf.

Rowan looks to Gruff to lead them through the mine, but it is clear that Gruff is not confident – he was a fisherman and has no knowledge of stonemasonry or cartography, so does not understand the symbols on the map. He knows basics – there are 8 levels to the mine and the tunnels branch in different ways, but there are multiple symbols that mean nothing to him. Rowan, on the other hand, knows about cartography, so can both read and use the map – he takes the map from Gruff and quietly turns the map the right way up before taking the lead. Gruff asks Xantheus whether he made a deal with the trickster, and while Xantheus swears that he was just trying to help them by getting some healing potions, he admits that he did not end up making any sort of deal with Kalifris, and this makes Gruff proud of him. Gruff is alarmed, however, when he hears that Kalifris wanted to take a drop of Xantheus’ blood, deeming it wise that Xantheus did not make that trade. Daisy says something unintelligible from amongst the hound of scarf material that she repeats: she does not want to be bitten – Ophelia reassures Daisy that she will never bite Daisy unless she specifically requests Ophelia to do so.

Rowan offers to allow Ophelia to drink from him if she is really desperate and holds out an arm (but turns his head away as if not wanting to watch) – in the dim light, Rowan’s grey-purple skin looks blackened, almost as if burned, but there is no charring or scarring, and all of his geometric green lines glow faintly. Ophelia notices the patterns on Rowan’s arm for the first time an points them out but Rowan shies away from her.

Daisy hears Nim’s voice in her head, *“Little one, there is a strange presence here – it’s far away, but the touch of the planes is strong here. I feel the presence of something from the Primordial Courts. I don’t have much experience against them, but I can feel their presence nearby”*. Daisy asks if the presence is a bad presence. *“With the Primordial Court, it is difficult to say. They were my enemies but whether they will be yours, I do not know. It is powerful, though – for me to feel it at this distance, it must be quite potent”.* Daisy asks whether anything would be particularly effective if they need to fight it. *“I will not know until I know what we face. The warriors of the Primordial Court and their Lords, the Djinn, they can come in different forms – elemental in nature, but until we know which Court it is, I will not know”*. Nim confirms that they are in a mine. *“I suspect that it is someone from the Earth Court that we must deal with. They will be toughened and perhaps will have control over earth and stone and enhanced durability. No obvious weaknesses that I know. As I said, I did not fight against them very often in my time, mainly I fought against the **Hellion**”*. There is a bitterness to Nim’s voice when she says this last. Daisy suggests that if they get close enough to the presence, Nim should contact her again. Nim promises to do so, stating that she will always look out for Daisy and give her what information she has. Daisy mentions her concern that Ophelia will bite her in her sleep, but Nim tells her not to worry, stating, *“I do not know what her intentions are, but I can promise you that she will be in for a painful experience should she try”*. Daisy, now more confident, unwraps the scarf and returns it to Rowan with thanks – Rowan puts the scarf back on, using it to cover and wrap his arms somewhat, and Daisy reapplies *Light* to her dagger.

Rowan tells Gruff quietly which direction they should go in and Gruff asks him why Rowan is whispering it to him. “So that you can tell everybody,” Rowan says to him, “because you’re the leader”. Gruff stiffens at that, trying to stay emotionless but with some mistiness in his eyes, before declaring their travelling direction to the party – “A fine choice,” declares Rowan. With Gruff’s torch and Daisy’s *Light* spell, they can see approximately 40ft around them (20ft of bright light and 20ft of dim light). Rowan has also lit his bullseye lantern, which gives them a 60ft cone of bright light and 60ft of dim light.

They begin wandering through Blackrock Mine – without being able to read the symbols and codes on the map, they need to try to rely on their instincts to get around and work out what is happening in the mine. Rowan leads them well. Ophelia begins to understand from what they are seeing what some of the symbols on the map must mean – as she moves down a worked mine shaft, there is a deep reverberation that causes pebbles and dust to fall from above. Ophelia notices that the wooden beams start to crack – she sees that the whole corridor is unstable and stops the group before a second reverberation rings out… and the entire tunnel in front of them collapses. They double back and manage to find another way around. While they are moving well through the mine, Rowan, who would normally be comfortable with his connection to the earth and stone, cannot stop hearing the jarring song that represents the screaming, tortuous agony of the earth - it starts to grate on him, and he starts to feel a bit more exhausted that some of the others. Rowan eventually realises that if they keep following the mine shafts, it will take them hours to work out where Marion is, but with all that they work out along the journey, he sees an area at the centre of the map of the mine that he is fairly certain indicates that there is a mechanical elevator shaft. He is also fairly certain from all indications that Marrion and the criminals have made their way down to the bottom of the mine.

He leads the party to a large cavern – Xantheus is full of praise for him, but Rowan tells them that it was mostly down to Gruff. Gruff, however, denies that he was responsible, insisting that they all thank Rowan for his skill. When they enter the cavern, Gruff’s torch has been expended, but by the light of Rowan’s lantern and Daisy’s illuminated dagger, they see a circular vertical shaft in the centre of the cavern which is surrounded by iron bars that are built into stone and wooden surrounds – the elevator is essentially surrounded by a metal cage. Nearby, there is a large wooden winch and wheel that connects to a pulley system. The elevator platform is not at the top of the shaft, but the ropes drop down into the darkness. They can just see that there are some barrels and sacks on the other side of the shaft outside the cage. They take a look around the outer edges of the cavern with Gruff following Xantheus (with Daisy in tow) and Rowan accompanying Ophelia and Percival.

There are more collapsed mines and caves with some rock having crumbled with age – the area looks to have been mined extensively. There are no signs of movement or life. Rowan is regretting his decision because he is beside Percival in the dark and he is trying desperately not to shine a light on him because it might create a skeletal shadow that will terrify him. He suggests to Ophelia that they rejoin the others, but Ophelia realises that something is wrong and asks if he is ok – Rowan tells Ophelia that it’s the darkness in the cavern that’s upsetting him, but she reminds him that he has a lantern.  Daisy moves back towards Rowan, not wanting to be too far away from the whole party. Ophelia instructs Percival to hang back just in case there is a problem.

In the dim light, Gruff and Xantheus begin to see scatterings of tables and blood spatter on the ground ahead of them. In the very distance of their vision, they think they can see an arm sticking out of the darkness. Ophelia sees many things, none of which take her interest – crates full of pickaxes, closed barrels, and sandbags, all of which represent work to her. She and Rowan also see the nearby winch, the ropes of which appear to be uncoiled and appear to control the elevator’s movement. Daisy peers down into the elevator shaft, Nim telling her that the presence is down the bottom – Daisy notices a faint purple light at the bottom.

Gruff taps his staff twice on the ground, green light starts to coalesce in a spiral up the shaft to the top where a green outline of a bird, an ice diver, coalesces. Gruff’s face softens as he makes a few quiet whistles towards the illusory bird which then flies out, seemingly to investigate the crates in the corner of the room. The crates seem uninteresting, but when it gets to the arm, it attempts to pull on in unsuccessfully – the arm is too heavy, being attached to something. Gruff tells Xantheus that a likeness of his little bird from home, Seren, has investigated the corner of the room and that nothing has attacked it. Gruff then reveals to Xantheus that he usually fishes with two birds, and that the bird that Xantheus can see is not one of the actual birds, but a representation. A kindly wizard had visited Gruff’s home of Tremorrew Cove (which Gruff describes as a strange occurrence) and enchanted Gruff’s staff - he could only afford to get one bird represented of the two.

Rowan and Ophelia find nothing unusual about the crates in their area. Rowan, exhausted, seats himself on the nearby sandbags and points out that Daisy appears to have found something. While he rests, Ophelia dances her way over to Daisy who, having been concentrating on the purple light at the bottom of the central shaft, is startled when she notices Ophelia suddenly next to her. Daisy screams, and the sound echoes through the mine – Daisy points to the light and tells her that that is where the presence is (as she does there is another deep resonance and the shaking causes rocks and dust to fall from the ceiling nearby).

Xantheus offers to go and have a look at the body in the corner – this will only be the second dead body that he has seen, however. He and Gruff edge closer towards the corpse that is illuminated by Xantheus’ torchlight – it looks like the person, a male Dwarf with metal bands of skin up their neck and down his arms, pulled himself up into a dug tunnel that is rough and about 3ft wide and too low and small to be a miner’s tunnel. There is a great gaping wound in his side as if something has ripped and torn at the flesh from the outside, and in his hand, he holds an elegant dragon fire pistol (a matchlock-style pistol) – it is a new Caldran invention, a very simple firearm that contains two shots. The other hand is holding the side with the wound and appears to be closed around something metal that glints in the torchlight, and there is blood pouring from the body’s eyes, mouth, and ears, and it looks as if he has died in terrible pain. There is also a miner’s satchel at his side.

Xantheus tries to work out how the Dwarf died while Gruff utters a short prayer over the body (“May your soul enter the stars in the name of the Scions”) – Xantheus is looking at the body from as far away as he can. He notes that while the ripping and dealt terrible damage to the Dwarf, such as a 6-inch wound in its side, he does not believe that this was the cause of death, and he believes that the bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and ears all happened after death. Looking closer at the wound, he believes that the small rips and tears have been caused by teeth – maybe rats? – biting into the creature, and when he places his hand against the body to feel for a temperature, Xantheus feels something ripple and move under the skin. All of a sudden, something bursts from the body… it is a swarm of miniature versions of the black-carapaced Belamorphs, and they let out an ear-piercing screech as they emerge. There is a skittering as the stone and earth of the cave wall near Rowan breaks as something larger digs through to the cavern.

### **Part Two**

*Plans accelerate as the party awaken the skittering horde in the Blackrock Mine!*

The party has descended into Blackrock Mine, ending up in a central cavern containing a lift shaft that currently has no lift platform at their level. Finding a dead body that holds a variety of different items, when examined, a swarm of tiny Belamorphs burst from the creature’s body, followed by larger ones that burrowed through the rock. The party is surprised by these attacks.

Gruff roars but fails to frighten the nearest small Belamorphs – it appears that the hive mind may be assisting the swarm in overcoming their fear, so he then casts *Produce Flame* in an attempt to burn them away, missing because they are much closer than he expects, and he casts instinctually. The small Belamorphs, called Rippers, attack Xantheus – they bite and slash into him before one of them leaps up onto his side, attempts to latch on and burrow into his abdomen. Xantheus’ last active rune flares to life and prevents it from biting into him, however. Seeing Rowan, two immediately pounce on him, and a third that was initially threatening Gruff and Xantheus screeches and joins the other two in attacking him – he is hit twice, managing to dodge only one of the attacks.

Gruff, being inspired by seeing Xantheus’ rune protect him, activates his *Armour of Oak and Thorn*, the branches and plants sprouting protectively from his body to form a living armour – he then swings his quarterstaff at the swarm nearby but misses as they dodge the attack, the staff slamming harmlessly into the ground between them, but the attack gives him an extra burst of health. The rippers, having been rebuffed from Xantheus now turn on Gruff, trying to bite him, but fail to make contact now that he is protected by his armour. The three Belamorph Workers attack Rowan once more, with two of them again managing to get past his armour and biting and slashing at him. Xantheus’ mage armour blocks the swarm that is attempting to overwhelm him.

Ophelia swings her blood whip at one of the Workers, but its carapace deflects the blow – she moves to avoid the creatures being able to get behind her. Daisy pulls out her shortsword and attacks with both it and her dagger – she stabs her shortsword under its carapace, causing it to ooze thick green, acidic blood (although she notices that the acid does not melt the stone and appears to be weaker than that of the creatures at the entrance to the mine). She then slips her dagger into it with Nim’s advice and notices that, as the creature falls over dead, an invisible cloud of something is released from its body. The nearby two Belamorph Workers suddenly look towards Daisy and lose interest in Rowan as the dead Belamorph’s pheromones cover Daisy and make her a more attractive target.

Xantheus moves away from the nearby Belamorphs which slash at him as he retreats – one of the Rippers manages to bite into his thigh, latching on. Xantheus charges two new runes before casting a *Firebolt* at the nearby swarm – realising the damage that the last fire attack did to him, Xantheus is reluctant to add any additional power to this spell, however. It seems not to matter as the swarm is vulnerable to fire and the flame incinerates a whole lot of them, leaving the swarm somewhat diminished.

Rowan, almost overwhelmed until Daisy freed him up, pulls his longsword and points it at the nearest Belamorph – he casts *Vicious Mockery*, telling the creature, “Your manners… aren’t good” – the creature does not understand what has happened, but it is clear that it has been hurt. Rowan then looks to Ophelia, saying, “I believe in you. You can do this. Please help. I’m scared” – this provides her with *Bardic Inspiration.* As they fight, another Belamorph Worker comes into the room.

Gruff casts *Shillelagh* on his staff before hitting the Rippers – several of them are squashed by the staff and they burst, releasing a spray of acid that splashes over Gruff – the rippers turn on him and try to attack but cannot get past his armour. One of the Workers makes a rush for Xantheus and gives him a glancing blow, while two others move around Rowan to attack Daisy, drawn to the pheromones, and one gets a hit on her. Ophelia begins to pulse with a red light as she rages, slamming into the injured Belamorph nearby – the blood whip wounds it heavily. Daisy swings and misses with her shortsword but manages to finish off the injured worker with her dagger – another cloud of pheromones wafts over her, causing the last Worker to froth at the mouth and spit as it looks hungrily at Daisy. Xantheus feels the small creature in his leg begin to burrow deeper – he grabs his torch and uses the flame to burn it away and the creature is no longer attached to him. Rowan swings at the Worker nearby but is too slow and misses it.

Gruff hits the nearest Nippers with his staff and kills the rest of them, taking acid damage as the remaining creatures explode – he then moves to Xantheus. One of the workers dashes towards Ophelia, ignoring Percival, while another swings and misses at Daisy with Nim telling her when to duck and roll to avoid the sharp legs. Xantheus is hit again, the xenomorph chipping away at him. Ophelia cracks the blood whip across the Worker next to her, almost managing to destroy it, while Daisy yells at the party to get to the lift so that they can leave (given that more creatures seem to be appearing at intervals). Daisy then stabs one of the Workers, killing it in one blow, and being covered in pheromones again, before moving to the wheel and working out that it will take multiple turns to bring the elevator platform to the surface.

Xantheus calls on Gruff to move the Worker away from him and prepares to cast a *Firebolt* once the creature is not directly next to him. Rowan tiredly moves to the wheel and manages to give it a turn, causing the ropes to move and the platform to rise a little. Gruff destroys one of the Workers with his staff, is covered in pheromones, and Xantheus’ *Firebolt* goes off, incinerating the Worker fighting Ophelia (Daisy sees the fire coming towards her, screams and hits the deck{Trivia}). Gruff instructs his bird to pick up the metallic item from the Dwarf body’s hand – it opens the hand, plucks the item from it and flies back to deposit a metal key in Gruff’s hand. Gruff tells Xantheus to move to the group then does the same himself. One of the Workers dashes towards Ophelia – she calls on Percival to make his way to her (he shambles his way to her, drawing his shortsword as he realises that his mistress is in danger) before Ophelia cracks her whip across the nearby Belamorph, ripping part of its carapace off and leaving acidic and ichorous blood on the ground under it. “Come closer, you oaf”, she calls to the creature – it looks at her and lets out an ear-piercing screech.

Daisy, having seen Rowan succeed at the wheel, gets to her knees and desperately tugs on it – she cannot move it, however. Xantheus shoots another *Firebolt* at the Belamorph near Ophelia but this shoots wide, so he moves to the group as instructed by Gruff. Rowan pulls on the wheel again, moving it once more, believing that the lift platform is now halfway up the shaft.  One Belamorph passes by Percival who swings at it ineffectually as it runs towards the pheromone-covered Daisy, another slices Ophelia with its sharp claws. Gruff remembers that the cage around the lift shaft had a gate with a lock on it and suspects that the key may open it, he hits the Belamorph attacking Daisy before reaching down and giving her the key, telling her that he believes it to be for the gate.

Ophelia’s Belamorph anticipates her next attack and ducks under the blood whip when it strikes out – it seems desperate to get past her to Daisy but Ophelia blocks its path. Daisy disengages and moves to the gate, using the key to unlock the gate and opening it. Xantheus shoots a *Firebolt* at the Xenomorph behind them – this time, the *Firebolt* becomes a raging inferno emanating from Xantheus’ chest (the shadows around Xantheus seem to extend for a moment), and the Belamorph is incinerated. Xantheus clutches his chest and head, screams in pain and falls to the ground.

Rowan keeps trying to turn the wheel but this time, with his limbs feeling tremendously heavy and tired, he is unable to make any further progress with the elevator platform. He calls out to the others that he will not be able to do any more than he has done and that someone else will need to finish the job. He grabs his longsword and moves to Xantheus. Gruff turns, concerned for Xantheus, his ward, and reaches down, trying to slam his furry paw on Xantheus’ chest – Xantheus grabs Gruff’s paw and stops it from touching his chest – there is a mad look in his eyes as he snarls at Gruff, “Get away from me!” Xantheus’ hands are still burning from his spell and singe Gruff’s paw as it releases healing magic into the young Dragonborn. Despite Xantheus’ reaction, Gruff firmly plants himself between Xantheus and the nearest Belamorph.

The Belamorph turns on Gruff and pierces his neck, Ophelia lashes out with her whip at the creature trying to reach Daisy as it moves past her – the whip wraps around its neck and she pulls it back with enough force to break it – is death results in Ophelia being covered in pheromone. Daisy stands there, watching all of this with the key in her hand, and lets out a squeaky, “Thank you!” Ophelia then turns on a badly injured worker, destroying it with her dripping blood whip, and is covered in pheromones again. She calls to Percival so that he can help her with the wheel. Daisy, hearing scurrying in the darkness, pushes on the wheel again but cannot move it – Xantheus pulls himself up using Gruff then moves to the wheel and tries to turn it but in his state, he cannot move it even slightly.

Rowan stumbles backwards, exhausted, before placing a hand on the ground to feel the emotions of the stone – it feels anguished, like a wounded and bleeding animal, it is desperate to survive, and Rowan can feel that there is no end to the Belamorphs – they are everywhere and will keep coming. They all hear a deep thrumming, followed by more screeching and skittering… but this time, the noise is distant and moving far away – they think that there are a large number of Belamorphs moving towards the mine’s entrance. Rowan’s eyes snap open and his lute string vibrates of its own accord as he sends a *Bardic Inspiration* through the stone to Ophelia. Gruff moves to the wheel, turning to Xantheus and telling him, “We will speak of this later”, before trying and failing to turn the wheel – he then moves to face down a Belamorph. Ophelia manages to spin the wheel, getting the platform closer to the surface. Daisy tries her hardest, and with the skeletal hand of Percival on her back giving her leverage, manages to push the wheel, making it spin and bringing the elevator platform to the top of the shaft - she rushes inside onto the platform.

Xantheus moves next to Gruff and sends a *Firebolt* towards the Belamorph, scorching the creature, then turns to Gruff and tells him that, “We will talk about exactly what I want to talk about”. Rowan hobbles quickly towards the door and stands in front of Daisy on the platform, holding his longsword up and ready to protect her. Gruff hits a Belamorph with his staff, killing it and being covered in pheromones, while Ophelia and Percival disengage and move into the lift. Daisy moves to the lever inside the lift and is prepared to pull it when the last person gets in. Xantheus runs into the lift and calls to Gruff to hurry up while Rowan moves to the gate and readies himself to close it once Gruff is inside. Gruff runs in, Rowan slams the gate shut, and Daisy pulls the lever, causing the elevator platform to begin to lower into the pit. The creatures swarm the outside of the cage, desperately trying to get in and slashing through the bars, some of them even try to eat the iron bars with their acid slowly starting to dissolve them, but it is apparent that the bars will hold for a while yet.

The elevator takes a while (about an hour) to get to the bottom – Rowan takes his lute out and strums and hums along to the clicking of the winch, allowing them to gain a *Song of Rest*. As the elevator descends, they get glimpses into the dark tunnels on other floors and see more Belamorphs skittering around thanks to the light given off by Rowan’s lantern and the torchlight. Xantheus is concerned that they may not be able to get back up once they have descended to the bottom, although Daisy reminds him that help is coming from the village. Xantheus is not convinced given the numbers of the creatures on each floor – Ophelia insists that they should get in and do what they have come to do for the reward. Gruff stands by the commitment that they gave to the Captain and Authorator – they will see this thing to its end.

As they descend, the faint purple light that Daisy had seen at the bottom of the shaft gets brighter and begins to fill the tunnels. Eventually, the lift comes to a stop as they reach the bottom, and they notice that these tunnels appear to have been constructed in a hasty manner – the supporting beams are not well-built, and the tunnels have clearly been dug quickly. They begin to hear the sound of the churning of earth and the same reverberation that they had heard from above. Over the top of this noise, they also hear humanoid voices shouting and screaming, as well as the high-pitched screech of the Belamorphs. While the noise is bouncing around the tunnels, they are fairly certain that they can pinpoint the direction from which it is coming – from the direction of the light source.

Rowan sets down the bullseye lantern and squints at the map, trying to make sense of the new level that they have reached – there are a couple of branching tunnels, but they mostly lead into one chamber that they were starting to dig through. There is one tunnel that clearly leads up and he thinks would lead to the entrance, but he also knows that there would be inherent dangers in taking this tunnel, what with the rock collapse and the presence of the creatures. Gruff prepares them for what they think they will face – they know that they will be dealing with at least four humanoids, Marrion and the three criminals (one of whom smells of chemicals or burning), but they do not know who else may be in there – there may be more miners, or there may be no one. Gruff assumes that whatever they are doing with the Hand of the Lightless Pilgrim is causing the appearance of the Belamorphs, so he suggests that they stop them by taking back the artifact.

With the time that it has taken them to get to the bottom of the lift shaft, Xantheus’ torch has burned down, Ophelia is no longer enraged, and Gruff’s armour has retreated. Ophelia and Percival, on their knees and with heads bowed, offer a prayer to the Grave Father. Once they have completed a rest and their preparations, they move out of the lift cage and Daisy locks the door behind them. They move down the only real path available to them – the light gets brighter, the sound of churning earth gets louder, and the voices become more discernible to them.

*(A clear male voice) For god’s sakes, get it off her! We’ve got to… deal with these things!*

*(A reptilian, hissing voice) I’m trying, boss! Trying to deal…! There’s so many!*

*(A clear female voice) For god’s sake, Benedict, shoot her or something!*

*(Same male voice as above) I’ve tried that, you blasted fool!*

Suddenly, they hear a distorted and pained voice, different to the others, saying, “I can’t… HELP ME!”

They round the corner and look into a wide chasm that has not been dug out but instead has been blasted open. There is a section of a scaffolding on a rocky cliff to the side of the chasm that is a miner’s station. In the middle of the chasm, hovering in the air, illuminated by purple light around her is Marrion, the foreman of the mine and the woman that Daisy saw earlier that morning in the garden. Marrion is holding a beautifully sculpted rod made of twisted metal and bound with a luxurious leather that comes to a twisted crystal point – the crystal glows with a purple light. Marrion clutches the rod in front of her with both hands as it projects a beam of magic that is carving through the stone and earth, digging it out at a rapid rate, almost like a mining laser. Marrion’s eyes are filled with purple magic, and she cries out in pain as she hovers in the air.

Elsewhere in the cavern, they see a rough Dwarven man with brass knuckles punching Belamorphs as they swarm towards him, there is a Kobold with a hand crossbow and sacks, throwing bombs, and a woman with a rapier who fights alongside them, fending off Belamorphs as they all try to get closer to Marrion’s body. The waves of uncontrolled magic emanating from Marrion seem to be pushing the three away from her, and the beam comes from the staff she carries like a whip, digging a huge chasm in front of her.

The Belamorphs surrounding them appear to be the same as those they have encountered in the tunnels above except for one – it is a hulking, armoured version that is much bigger and appears to be overseeing the rush towards the criminals by the smaller Belamorphs. As the party emerges from the tunnel, it turns its sightless eyes towards them and some of the Belamorphs leave the attack on the three criminals to head towards the party. Berrick begins to swear, realising that they have been found, telling his friends that they have to grab the rod from Marrion immediately.

Marrion’s head turns towards Daisy, and she screams at Daisy for help. Nim’s voice appears in Daisy’s head, *“That thing… the rod… that magic…”* The voice is distorted and difficult to hear over the loud noises in the cavern.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00 - Start

1:56 - Intro theme

2:56 - Part 1

1:24:33 - Part 2

2:49:17 - Outro

## **Characters**

#### **PCs**

* Daisy Thistleheart
* Gruffudd of Tremorrew
* Ophelia D'larosa
* Rowan
* Xantheus Auregan

#### **New NPCs**

* Berrick Brassfist(sp?)
* Yurgo the Eel(sp?)
* Regina Violatte(sp?)

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Kalifris
* Marrion Delamere(sp?)

## **Featured Locations**

* Caldra
	+ Blackrock Mine

## **Trivia**

* Gruff has “low light vision” instead of dark vision. This means that he cannot see in pure darkness and would need a source of light.
* Ophelia has only been in Ilmera for a few days and has not yet drunk any blood on this continent.
* Daisy enjoys talking to Nim out loud when she is alone but when with others, all conversations are private and in her head.
* Dhampir have dark vision in this setting.
* Mark introduced homebrew journey rules that he has adapted from the LOTR RPG.
* Mark confiscated the telescopic hands before the crew got to the studio. Trott had hidden his, so Mark did not find it. The hands were returned to them once the battle map was complete but were almost confiscated again because the players were screwing around with them so much.
* Tom had a rant because people were carrying 10 torches in their bag. This is the standard amount given as part of an adventurer’s kit. Tom wondered how big their bag was – so Mark decided that no one could have more than 5 torches. Because Ophelia has blindsight, she was deemed not to need torches, so hers were taken from her. Good one, Tom. Good one. (This rant is probably only second to the Travel via Plant rant).
* An ice diver bird looks like a cormorant. Gruff’s illusory bird functions as a mage hand, but the bird has AC and HPs (and can be destroyed).
* When Gruff told Xantheus that a “kindly wizard had enchanted his staff”, Katie asked quietly at the table whether it was Zim Zam, which drew a laugh from the players.
* Mark mentioned in a sarcastic tone that The Mummy, “one of [his] favourite movies ever”, is “definitely *not* an inspiration” for the Belamorph Rippers.
* The Belamorph Rippers are called such because they have an action called “Rip and Tear”.
* Belamorph Workers are the normal-sized creatures.
* As a Gold Dragonborn, fire does not affect Xantheus as badly as it would other beings.
* Tom says that Xantheus has “felt pain before” – what have you done to this poor boy, Thomas??
* Daisy is afraid of fire after losing her parents to a house fire when she was young (see character reveal video).