Ink and Blood: Episode 02

### Reddit Thread

***Ink and Blood* Episode 2** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on June 21, 2021, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on June 24, 2021.
The party enters a cave and dodges most of the creatures inside. Further exploration leads down a hole where a woman's screams could be heared.

## Summary

*Summary originally written by u/Ironzol24*

The group enters the cave, and notices some ancient torch holders placed long ago. There is enough light to see, but barely. They enter a larger cavern, where it opens, larger than one might expect. It does not appear that these caves are natural, rather that they have been dug or formed, by someone or something. Kouki also notices a large bloodstain to the side of the cavern; it is old and stale. Upon further inspection, it is certainly not related to the creature they seek.

Elliot is able to notice claw marks in the wall that lead down a certain passage, made clearly by something not of natural strength. Jerry gets the sense that the party eagerly wants to go engage in battle, but he shares his hesitancy towards running straight in. He wants to take the leftmost path, but the party is able to convince him to stay with the group, praising his abilities (and reassuring his insecurities).

The group proceeds through the tunnel carefully and slowly. They see a number of horrifying, undead handmaidens standing near a body of water washing something. The smell is sickly sweet and they are deeply disturbed by the sight. Tiri is able to sense another presence, far beyond the north wall that is so strong, he is even able to detect it through the wall. Elliot gets closer and sees a horrifying sight; there are drowned corpses being washed by dead handmaidens. Elliot throws a rock at the closest handmaiden, she turns her head around on her body to glance at what threw that, not being able to discern the stealthed monk. Kouki and Elliot insist on not leaving them to their forced duties, and want to go take care of the problem. The group devises a plan. Tiri and Jerry wish to leave them and focus on their initial mission.

The group proceeds through the cave, dodging many nefarious creatures, including imprisoned wax creatures and a number of undead bats. They find a small pond that appears to have a whirlpool and a deep hole/tunnel in the ground, leading lower into the cave. However, Jerry raises his voice too loudly and 3 handmaidens begin to crawl out of the hole and fall over into a heap. Tiri absolutely obliterates one of the hand-maidens with his great maul. Jerry decides to jump in the water. They are able to deal with the first two handmaidens and then Ral utilizes Shatter to block off the remainder of the hole, not allowing any more to enter the fray.

At the end of the battle, Jerry is sucked down into the whirlpool and disappears from view. Kouki and Elliot immediately jump in after him. With some hesitation, Tiri and Ral decide to follow and hop into the pool. They are all sucked down and pop out at a lower pond in a new cave. Tiri uses Divine Sense and locates a strong presence of evil from the north. Elliot explores further and finds an open room where the floor is covered with a thin layer of frost, with a large black oval shaped stone in the center of the room. There are corpses underneath the layer of ice and frost. There is a large amount of blood at the face of the stone. The stone is also covered in markings, though un-distinguishable to him.

Elliot explores further into the cave and finds a door hidden into the wall. He and Kouki look for some sort of way to open it. They are able to discern that the door is blocked from the inside. They investigate a small pool near the door, and find a strange object, which appears to be a small golden statuette of a cleric screaming out at a crowd. They bring the statuette back to the group and Ral is able to learn that it is a figure of a servant of the god Oloken’hai.

The group wonders if the item is related to the shrine that they located earlier. Jerry attempts to steal the statuette because he wants to commune with Oloken’hai, but Elliot refuses to give it to him. The group deliberates after considering all options and ventures north to the shrine together. They are able to see the intricate arcane sigils and symbols carved into the stone. Jerry is able to learn the symbols mean "open", and that they might be able to disable or open it. As Ral investigates the statuette to see if there are any similar symbols on it, he sees through the arms of it and is able to discern the rock is not actually real, but a magical permeation in the room.

As Tiri grabs the item and looks forward, the rock and symbols dissipate and reveal another hole in the ground, leading deeper into another cave. Ral slowly approaches the pit, and they are able to see the blood here is very new. They investigate the corpses and it seems they were meticulously stripped of flesh and meat, and the bones appear almost to be sanded down. The group hears whispers, breathing, and generally unsettling monster-like noises. It sounded initially like a woman crying but transitioned into something horribly monstrous. They call out to the creature who ominously beckons them into the cave. Jerry stealthily walks down into the pit. The rest of the party joins him. What horrors await them below?

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Elliot Mylic
* Jerry
* Kouki Subeuroko
* Ral'Sazesh
* Tiri Anand

### New

* Rotting Handmaiden
* Screaming Sealed

## References

1. ↑ Date is shown on YouTube VOD
2. ↑ Verum Weekly: Summaries of Streamed Games of the Week (June 24th, 2021)