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==== Book 1, Chapter 1 ====

The party gathered in Clydwell Plaza on the morning of 16 Abadius, 4713 AR, to observe Lord Hulrun's address to the citizens gathered for the Armasse holiday. The stoic ruler of [[..:places:kenabres|Kenabres]] had just taken to the stage when an ear-splitting explosion near the plaza rocked the very foundations beneath the city. As the ground shook and buildings began to topple, a huge demonic figure, [[..:people:khorramzadeh|Korramzadeh]] the Storm King, teleported into the square wielding a wicked flaming whip and a massive sword. The ancient silver dragon [[..:people:terendelev|Terendelev]], longtime guardian and ally of the crusades, took her true form and faced off against the demon. After taking the battle into the air above the plaza, the balor and the dragon exchanged mighty blows, during which the fiend got the upper hand and severed Terendelev's head from her body. In the final moments before her death, the dragon managed to protect the members of the party and a few citizens nearby from certain death by casting Gentle Landing on them. As the party fell into the darkness below, they watched as the dragon's lifeless body plummeted to the ground, the Storm King triumphant. Then the crushing stone collapsed above them, sealing the party in a dark natural cave system below the ruined city center.

After coming to their senses, the party found they were in the company of a few others that were near them at the time of the attack. A human woman named [[..:people:anevia_tirabade|Anevia Tirabade]], badly injured and with a broken leg. An elven man named [[..:people:aravashnial|Aravashnial]], severely injured and blinded by a nasty gash across his face, both of his eyes destroyed. And a human man named [[..:people:horgus_gwerm|Horgus Gwerm]], a minor noble that managed to avoid much beyond superficial injuries. 

The party did their best to heal the wounds of the three strangers and took a moment to discuss the situation with them. Anevia was made friendly by talking with her, and she mentioned she had some skill with a bow. Horgus started out with a rather unfriendly attitude, commenting about being stuck with a group of injured people that might slow everyone down, but was eventually convinced to consider the situation indifferently. The elf, Aravashnial, seemed to be in a strange mood, and kept any comments to himself for the most part. His actions seemed to be somewhat detached from the situation, being contemplative and introverted. He appeared to be indifferent to the presence of the party.

After taking stock of the situation, the party went to investigate the bloated corpse of a huge spider in the center of the cavern. As they approached, giant maggots burst out of the corpse and attacked! After making short work of the pests, the party took in their surroundings more completely. The silver glint of four objects reflected the light cast by Cornelius' magic, which turned out to be dragon scales shed by Terendelev during the battle. Each of these scales retains some magic, providing a boon to those that carry them.

The party discussed the situation further with the three others and convinced them to stay behind while the party explored further. A password of, "bananarama kumquat" was decided upon to announce their return; a unique phrase unlikely to be guessed by outsiders.

During their explorations, the party found some useful equipment in a fallen pack, as well as from an abandoned campsite. In the campsite, they found an unusual copper broach in the shape of a bat sitting on a mushroom. They encountered further critters as they explored deeper, including giant cockroaches and a giant viper, which proved to be a deadly opponent indeed.

After dealing with the venomous serpent, the party returned to the three they left behind to inform them of the situation. Those three were eager to move on, but saw that the party was quite injured and low on resources. A plan was made to rest for 8 hours, as everyone needed it after the ordeals of the day. Fortunately, nothing eventful happened during this time, allowing for healing and recovery of spent spells and other abilities. With that, the party moved into the cave system, leading the three others to the farthest-explored section. Here, they once again asked for the more injured to stay behind while the party ventured ahead.

Going deeper into the cave system, the party came upon a T-junction, with a northern passage leading into an old section of the caves with a squat stone structure set inside a circular cavern. Here, the party saw strange "growths" of stone on the floor and walls. Investigating the chamber further, the loud droning of an insect came from behind the building to the north. Moments later, a giant fly came and attacked the party! Fortunately, Crack managed to trip the fly, sending it to the floor twitching. The party made short work of the insect while it was prone, leaving quite the mess behind.

Cornelius noted the symbol of a hammer engraved on the side of the structure and recalled that it was the religious symbol of the dwarven god Torag. The building had no windows and only one visible door, solid and reluctant to open, having jammed in the frame after years of disuse and settling of the stone around it. Quick work with a crowbar and some elbow grease got the door open, which revealed a small antechamber with a stone pedestal at the end near another door leading deeper into the structure. Atop the pedestal sat a basin filled with crystal clear water. It was determined that the water had been sanctified and collecting it in stoppered glass jars set atop the pedestal provided the party with two doses of holy water.

After steeling their nerves, the party opened the ancient inner door of the squat stone building, revealing a small chapel inside. The desiccated corpse of a dwarf was slumped over on a stone bench, near an altar at the front of the small room. As Crack stepped into the room, the corpse suddenly lurched to life with an unworldly scream, shambling towards him with a warhammer clutched in one bony fist. A skirmish with the undead denizen of this forgotten temple ensued, leading back outside into the courtyard around it. The enemy was identified as a herexen, an undead spawned when a religious being turns against their god and dies with such hate for their deity that they rise again to continue their blaspheme. This foe turned out to be quite dangerous, using much of the party's resources to defeat it and destroy it once and for all. After the fight, the party returned to gather the other survivors and bring them back to the chapel to rest and heal. After regaining their strength, the party ventured further into the caverns beneath Kenabres. The next area was filled with large carvings of crusaders, cut directly into the stone walls of this long-forgotten cave system. Though the chamber the party found themselves in seemed empty at first, a pair of darkmantles descended from the shadowy ceiling and attacked, defending their territory. Though these creatures were not overly dangerous, they did put up a fight that echoed in the dark. After the battle, approaching the eastern side of the cave revealed the presence of a smoky fire in a connecting chamber beyond the line of sight. Though the party tried a stealthy approach, the denizen dwelling there must already have known of their presence from the sound of combat that had ended just moments before. A wild-bearded dwarf with ragged clothes and crazy looking eyes called out to the party, encouraging them to come closer to the fire and his haphazard campsite.

Though cautious, the party crept forward towards the dwarf, asking some probing questions. After gathering around the fire, the dwarf suddenly burst out in a fit of anger, claiming that he would not be "arrested by do-gooder crusaders." At this outburst, the dwarf moved to attack, and the party defended themselves against his magic attacks and depraved commentary. Though the crazy-eyed dwarf looked disheveled and world-worn, he still proved to be a challenging foe, shocking Crack with a powerful electricity spell that coursed through his metal armor for a number of agonizing seconds. At last the party put the wild dwarf to his final rest and spent some much-needed time patching up their wounds and searching the chamber for anything useful the mage had left behind. Knowing that the three others from the surface would be wondering where the party had gotten off to, and realizing that another good rest was in order, the party returned to the small chapel. Horgus again mentioned that the blinded elf and the wounded ex-adventurer were "slowing them all down", which caused an already growing animosity to deepen a bit. Some encouraging words to Anevia brought her somewhat back out of her quiet depression. She mentioned that her significant other, a crusader, is still somewhere in the city. She worries for them and hopes they survived the initial attack and suspects they are fighting back as best as they can. The elf, Aravashnial, remained mostly silent during this time.

Once the party was ready to move on, they scrambled up a steep incline in the cave system and found themselves wandering through a series of narrow tunnels, slowly ascending as they continued. Eventually, the group found themselves in a chamber that had been carved out to make it larger, a pile of rubble in the middle of the chamber evidence of what appeared to be a small tower that had collapsed. Judging by the dust in the air, the collapse was likely recent, caused by the chaos above.

Surveying the chamber, the party spotted two strange looking figures digging in the rubble, and could hear the pained cries of a third creature coming from the pile of rubble itself. Though the party was lurking in the shadows, one of the figures called out, asking the party's business and if they were friend or foe. Stepping forward, the party saw that the three creatures near the rubble were humanoid in shape, but each had different and disturbing features. The one that called out appeared to be half man, half lizard. Another had numerous tumorous growths and misaligned features. And the other was unsettling in other ways. After cautious discussions, the first one to speak introduced himself as Lann, and mentioned that his kind live in these cave systems below Kenabres. He went on to say that they were known as "mongrelmen" and are long-ago descendants of the crusaders that have lived in these lands for generations. They are outcasts that have gathered together in places throughout the [[..:places:sarkoris|Sarkorian]] lands and tend to live in the shadows of the civilizations that spawned them. Lann said they were desperate to free his comrade, and welcomed the party's help to carefully move the stones to free him from the rubble. Guy was able to make the process easier and safer by using his skill with crafting to shore up the loose stone with bits of timber and tools strewn around the area. Crack used his great strength to lift the boulders away, freeing the trapped mongrelman and further earning their trust. After attending to the injured's wounds, Lann invited the party to return with the mongrelmen to their underground village, Neathholm. He mentioned that their leader, [[..:people:chief_sull|Chief Sull]], would definitely like to meet with them and that they all should discuss the situation and what is going on above on the surface. The party quickly went back to chapel to retrieve the other survivors and the now larger group of once-strangers moved through the darkness together.

After some time traveling through the complex cave systems, the party came to a section of the tunnel that had a huge rift across it. Lann mentioned that the rift was not there previously, so the great shaking and tremors from the demon attack above must have reached all the way down here. The party spent some time surveying the situation and decided the best option would be to send someone to leap across the chasm with a rope in hand so they could secure it on both sides. Luckily, Feiyaviel had a climbing kit, complete with rope, a hammer, and pitons. With these tools in hand, Crack took a running start and jumped for the other side of the ravine... and entirely stumbled, plunging head-first into inky depths below. With a solid "crack", befitting of his name, he landed and was quite bruised up. Fortunately, the rift floor was only thirty feet down, and so the fall did not prove to be lethal. Gathering himself, Crack was able to climb up the other side after a few false starts, and the party secured a tenuous way across the hazard. After several careful minutes, the entire group was safely across and ready to move deeper into tunnels and towards Neathholm. As they entered a damp section of the cave complex, Lann pointed out the various fungal growths, and mentioned that several of the varieties are dangerous. He warned not to disturb them too much or attempt to eat any of them without knowing exactly what they are. The group moved into the circular tunnel carefully and found an unsettling site. What looked like two dead crusaders surrounded a decaying lump of fugnal growth with odd tentacles. Lann cautioned the party that the lump was actually a Basidirond, a mindless and aggressive creature with deadly spores. The party carefully got closer to investigate the scene and noticed that the crusaders were wielding unusual weapons, glaives, and were each wearing a brass bull head on a brass chain.

Cornelius took time to carefully examine both the bodies and the brass bull symbols. He determined that one of the crusader died from blunt force trauma, a likely result of being bludgeoned by the fungal creature, and the other died from spore inhalation. The brass symbol was easily recognized by the old cleric, who recalled that it was the religious symbol of the demon lord [[..:people:baphomet|Baphomet]]. Lann nodded with a grimace and mentioned that some cultists had recently been lurking around in the caves beneath Kenabres and had essentially blocked travel to the east out of Neathholm. He also mentioned that the cultists had recruited some "bad mongrelmen" to their side, and said that they had become more aggressive of late. This is the farthest into the cave system Lann has seen so far and he worried about what this could mean for his people and the people of Kenabres. He encouraged the party to continue on, as the safety of Neathholm and the council of Chief Sull were close now, just to the north of the fungal chamber. As promised, after a short journey, the group found themselves entering a warm and well-lit underground village with squat stone structures and the smell of food cooking. Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as they were cautiously admitted by the guards after a brief discussion with Lann and his cohorts. Aravashnial seemed to finally come out of his contemplative shell and began asking dozens of questions about the mongrelmen, which he found "fascinating." Unfortunately, he was also quite rude in his line of questioning, which turned off the mongrelmen quickly. Anevia was again quiet and brooding, and did not say much. Horgus seemed disgusted to be anywhere near the mongrelman settlement and cautioned "not to trust these twisted freaks." The party gathered near the center of town and Chief Sull was called for, as there was much to discuss between the two factions.