Dark Dealings

If you’re reading this, don’t follow the white rabbit. And don’t make deals with a devil. Just...don’t.

Henk lasted for about a minute before he went from zombie to full-dead. Just enough time for an opportunistic rogue to retrieve a chest and some other treasure from the bottom of the underground lake. After crossing the lake, the expedition continued, following after the music that was no longer in their heads, but very real and surrounding them with every step. The lake chest, which had ancient unreadable Dwarven markings on it, provided a distraction during the nightly hours. As each person, during their watch, added to the progress of deciphering the writings, Kromal eventually succeeded in finding one of the command words, and waking the party by dropping a full-sized longship on top of them. After some more fumbling with ancient Dwarven dialects, they managed to fold it back into the box.

Continuing downward and further beneath the large lake between Golddale and Faykeep, they stumbled upon a room that contained a large (colossal, giant-pillar-size large) organ pipe that made the very stonework vibrate and shook the Dwarf’s bones when he approached too close, taking after his roguish friend by curiously sticking his head in large, dark, dangerous, blasting holes. Not long thereafter, they found the source of the music. A round room, a clavier tracing along the entire circumference. Playing it, a hatted devil listening to the name Hat-Trick. While the girls chased his white rabbit down a hole and fell/flew into an endless pit, the boys bargained with the devil for souls. In exchange for dealing with a certain demon in the foreseeable future, Kromal would be teleported to the shield of his ancestor Vinnicus Brassbeard, his quest’s goal. (Also a lot of extra conditions and a possible resurrection in exchange for a second task if he should perish before completing his end of the bargain). Because if either Kromal or Hat-Trick would come back on their word, their soul would be forfeit to the other. Yay?

After Kromal signed the contract, determined to find his ancestral shield, the party found themselves no longer falling down the rabbit hole, but in a hidden, empty chamber next to a hall in the underdark. The hall was seemingly floor-trapped to detect intruders, and summon a dozen Duergar guards from somewhere nearby. The corridor lead to a monumental safe door on one side (also trapped and locked by some paranoid madman) and a guarded exit on the other side, with the secret room somewhere halfway. Weighing their limited options, Kromal was turned invisible and spider-climbed his way out of their corridor-trap and into the unknown Duergar fortress...and the mysterious underdark beyond.