Well, we’ve finally managed to get some rest, so I’m taking the opportunity to write down some more before I get dragged off to save everyone from their own foolishness again.
As we explored the demon caverns, we found our way to a foreboding room containing some thrones and mirrors. It was obviously some kind of ritualistic room, and after experimenting carefully I was about to come to some conclusions when the tiefling got himself sucked into one of the mirrors. No on ever listens to me. Eventually the dwarf dived in (and it was nice to be rid of the gruff man for a while) and then the bar wench dived in too! What these people were thinking was beyond me, who thinks diving through demonic portals is ever a good idea? The wench even ruined my rope!
Anyway, it turns out that the tiefling somehow was possessed by one of these horrid ape demons we keep coming across and attacked the dwarf on the other side of the portal. After some fighting (and getting them selves covered in blood after falling in a pool of the stuff – ugh!) the matter was sorted out and everyone seemed fine. We all went through the portal since we didn’t have anywhere else to go at this point and as we travelled up the staircase that was in the room beyond, we were set upon by demon apes again. Of course, I courageously dispatched them, with some minor help from the others, and we continued on our way.
There were two rooms above and we explored one at a time. The first had another throne is, which we discovered was hiding an entrance to a small chamber with 2 chests in it. Now I wasn’t going to mess around with demon treasure chests, probably cursed treasure anyway, but the others couldn’t leave well enough alone and triggered a trap for their trouble. I just waited outside and sighed.
Afterwards, we moved into the other room, a horrid place filled with bones. Venturing in quietly, we discovered a naga and the tiefling and dwarf ventured over to kill it before it got us. Unfortunately, as they approached, they decided they’d rather befriend it than kill it. Something was obviously amiss, the dwarf would have a hard time being friendly to his own mother, let alone a naga, so we presumed it had them under some kind of spell. We stood our distance and tried to converse with them, trying to get them to leave the naga alone but the naga only followed where they went. While we were speaking, I dispatched Snappy to fly over and attack the beast while the others readied themselves. After we killed the naga (thanks mostly to me of course), we noticed there was another door. Using some items we had found earlier, we solved a puzzle and unlocked the door to find our friend Earrol (who had been kidnapped by one of the apes) in a cage above a fiery pit. The cage began to lower to the pit and the tiefling sacrificed one of his swords (a darn shame too, for it was of the second power, what a waste) by jamming it into the mechanism lowering the cage.
The dwarf, never content outside of a fight, shouted a challenge to the ape demons and funnily enough they were happy to oblige. The others always seem to get themselves into trouble, no one ever listens to me. I was trying to do something productive, like rescue Earrol by flying up on Snappy to the cage and seeing if there was any way to free him. I spent most of the battle trying to free the poor soul, but to no avail, though I did get to admire the craftsmanship of the cage. After the battle, we only had a few moments to discuss other plans to rescue Earrol when the hideous statue at the back of the hall came to life. A golem!
Now, I had to admire the golem, I do have a certain fascination with things constructed and animated and it was almost a shame to destroy it, but the others having no appreciation for such works dispatched it and it burst into a ball of energy. Destroying it seemed to be the key to releasing the area from the Abyssal bleed-through effect we had seen, because as we managed to free Earrol (now we had the time to) and escape the dungeon, we noticed the twistedness of our surroundings beginning to revert to a more natural form, which of course I knew would happen, being knowledgeable in all matters of the Planes.
We are getting nearer to Farshore now and hopefully we can make it there in a few days from now. I’ll be glad to finally find some shelter in this horrible place!