DIDx12

TL;DR

These were the highlights of the session:

• The group planned to head back to the surface to advocate for the Deepfolk, but were stopped by a device that collapsed the northern passage.
• While investigating the eastern passage, the group encountered the mercenaries and their leader Pasha setting up another device. She implied there was a bomb in the village.
• Zero teleported the group back to the village and they found the bomb. Zero then flew it back to the mercenaries, dropping it at their feet, producing a blast of spores that suffocated the mercenaries and their leader.
• The Sending Stone found on Pasha spoke to the group, appearing to be the one responsible for coordinating everything, and saw through their poor attempt to convince him they were Pasha, saying that there was only one option left and he'd be seeing them soon.

Full Summary

After hearing the sounds of the group's skirmish, Junyall rushed over to check on them. After being told what happened, she ushered them to the rear of Rikhevlovir to rendezvous with Nylin to update her. Approaching a large arch built into the cavern walls filled with smooth stone, Junyall lightly tapped on the stone in a rhythmic pattern, after which there was a grinding stone as the stone filling the arch folded in on itself and out of the way, opening passage to the chamber beyond where Nylin emerged, with civilians huddled in the chamber behind her. The group filled her in on what had happened, mentioning having killed the mercenary lieutenants and capturing Ansell, the Marshal Commandant, revealing his involvement in the attacks. Relieved at having stopped the attacks, but enraged that the Marshals were involved, Nylin suggested the players hand over Ansell so that she could "relieve him" of some information, which the group had no issue with, handing him over. She carried him into her home as Ansell struggled in panic. Nylin then asked the group their plans going forward, not being assured that the attacks were really done, asking if they could check the tunnels around them to make sure there weren't any other groups lying in wait. The group agreed, but asked if it was possible for the Deepfolk to relocate; however, Nylin said that Rikhevlovir was the only relatively safe area they had found anywhere near their current location, and migration would be dangerous. The group also suggested finding allies on the surface, wondering if despite the corrupt guild warden Vada, perhaps the Delvers could help if they explained the situation. For now, Zero suggested fortifying the village while they had time to do so after they took some time to rest and patch up their wounds, and that they could send messages to allies. Shein took first watch while the rest rested, and after the group had some time to recuperate, Nylin returned, offering a reward for their service to her village. She said that without their intervention, they could have lost all of their resources, so it felt only fitting that she give them some of the very resources the mercenaries sought, offering the group a few ingots of Muteniten, the very metal they had helped the miners extract when their adventure began. The metal is extremely rare near the surface, but is critical to many developing At Matica devices, as the metal becomes harder and more resistant the higher the pressure of the surrounding environment. Zero also inquired whether Nylin had any diamonds that Zero could make use of to ensure their comrades would not perish in battle; which seemed to confuse Nylin, who thought diamonds were "junk", suitable only for cutting things and looking pretty. Nylin then asked the group to search the area around Rikhevlovir, and they agreed, planning to take the northern passage to Dolenna so that they could advocate for the Deepfolk. Nylin gave them one final gift -- a talisman, with the ability to return them to Rikhevlovir should they need to in an emergency. She also handed over another talisman that would disable her magical defenses within 60 ft. as long as they had it on them. The group thanked her and proceeded toward the northern passage, planning to return to Dolenna by traveling through The Maw.

As the group traveled down the northern passage, Zero could make out the vague shape of something hanging in the center of the cavern ahead, suspended by what looked like rope or cables. As Zero moved forward to get a better look, there was a sudden mechanical whirring noise and the hiss of escaping steam, followed by a sharp crack of rock breaking as the cavern ahead began to collapse, kicking up a large cloud of dust that choked the group. When the dust cleared, they could see that the passage was completely filled with rubble. Shocked, Nylin came running and asked what happened, seeing the rubble. The group asked about alternative ways out of the village to the surface, and Nylin initially recommended the side passage; but after leading them to it and finding that it too was collapsed, she said the only option left was to go through the eastern passage, though it would go further down into the Deephollow before it they would find another passage to the surface. However, the idea was raised to seek a portal to Obscurus so the group could travel through the dark plane to find the portal they had entered previously, which was past the point where the northern passage collapsed. Toban explained that while possible, Obscurus' terrain doesn't mirror the Material plane, and navigating to this portal would be difficult. Figuring this was the only way, Nylin ordered Junyall to show them the way, and they made their way to the eastern passage. As they walked, Junyall told the players to be wary of the pressure near the Hollowpool, as it was deep enough that the air pressure would be high enough to take a toll on their bodies. As they moved down the passage, Zero spotted another one of the devices that collapsed the northern passage ahead; only this one had a pair of people tinkering with it -- a Human woman and a Vesperkin woman in a cloak. As Scarf tried to sneak ahead while staying out of sight, using her abilities to telepathically link the group. However, as the group approached the figures, Rainer walked through a tripwire without seeing it and caused a pair of bells to alert the figures ahead. Cursing, the figures turned to address them, and Zero attempted to cast Sleep on them; but they seemed unaffected. The Vesperkin woman addressed the group as if expecting them, and taunted them, mentioning that she knew they could resist investigating, but that she had planted a bomb of some kind within Rikhevlovir while they were distracted in the northern passage. As she said this, a large group of mercenaries emerged from behind cover behind her and leveled crossbows at the group. Zero acted quickly, grabbing the talisman that Nylin had given them and activating it, causing the group to immediately be pulled back to Rikhevlovir as the Vesperkin woman realized what they were doing and shouted "Fuck!", clearly not expecting this turn of events. As the group emerged in front of Nylin's house, she came out to see what was going on and said "Already?" The group explained that they had encountered the mercenaries and that there was a bomb somewhere in the village, though they weren't sure what kind of bomb it would be. As the group kicked into action to find the bomb, Nylin, thinking quickly, ran into her home and emerged with a metal box that she handed to Zero, explaining that it was made of Muteniten and could perhaps contain the blast. Taking the box, Zero began to fly around the cavern rapidly while the rest of the group went around to the village's residents warning them of the danger, hoping they could evacuate them. While Zero searched, Scarf began sniffing around, using her keen sense of smell to attempt to locate the bomb. After some searching, Scarf detected a foul musty smell and followed it to one of the village's supporting pillars, finding some sort of metal device nestled in behind a cluster of stalagmites. She removed the device and called Zero down, who immediately tossed it in the box. However, instead of simply waiting for it to detonate, they got an idea, and took to the air...

Zero zoomed through the air towards the eastern passage and rapidly navigated it, making sharp turns at high speed, carrying the box. As the mercenaries in the distance came into view, walking away from the device intended to collapse the passage, Zero flew right past them and landed, opening the box and dropping the device at the group's feet. There was a brief moment of shocked realization and horror on the Vesperkin woman's face, and she had but a moment to say "No, no, no!" before the device detonated. However, the detonation was not what Zero expected, producing not an incendiary or concussive blast, but a cloud of particles that looked like mushroom spores. Zero, unaffected, looked to the mercenaries and saw the Vesperkin woman immediately cover her mouth with a mask and cover her face with her hand. However, the rest were not so ready to act and Zero noticed them suddenly gasping, struggling to breathe. As the mercenaries began to collapse, clawing at their necks as they suffocated, the Vesperkin woman attempted to take off past Zero, running away from the village attempting to get out of the cloud of spores. However, Zero took to the air again, trading blows with the woman a few times before managing to successfully paralyze her with a Hold Person spell, causing her to collapse to the ground. As Zero ripped off her mask, she began to gasp and suffocate as a tear streaked down her face. Zero said that she didn't deserve any happiness in the afterlife and that they prayed Umos will take this as an act of devotion to protect her clerics in Dolenna. Zero briefly tried to cut down the device hanging in the center of the passage, but found that the cables were extremely durable metal cable, and they couldn't seem to figure it out. With the woman's death, Zero dragged her back to the village. As the rest of the group ran for the passage, stopping short of the cloud of particles after hearing the blast, they looked for signs of Zero. After a few moments, Zero emerged dragging the Vesperkin woman behind them. Zero crouched down to inspect the woman's body, looking into her mouth to determine whether the spores were possibly contagious, and found the spores clinging to the inside of her throat, but determined that they were unlikely to spread without direct contact or inhalation -- however, they decided that the spores should be destroyed before they begin to reproduce in the passage. Zero cast Guiding Bolt with their hand clamped down over the woman's mouth, and the spores were eradicated as burning light shone out of every orifice on her corpse. The group sat down to rest for a short time while Zero began moving down the eastern passage, repeatedly casting Moonbeam to burn away the dangerous spores, which seemed to devour all of the air in the passage, creating a vacuum.

After the group rested, Scarf began to organize efforts to clear the rubble from the northern passage as Zero went to check on the device in the eastern passage, which they noted had not yet gone off; determining that perhaps it had to be activated. After searching the bodies of the mercenaries and their leader, Zero found a good deal of money as well as another Sending Stone and a very fine rapier. As Zero brought the stone over to the group and they pondered it, a man's voice spoke through it, asking for a status report, asking if the "dirty cave fuckers" were dead yet. Scarf, thinking she was clever, took the stone and spoke through it, saying "This is Pasha, what is your name?" before Zero snatched it back and tried to recover by saying something implying a subordinate had spoken through it instead, before saying that the spores were deployed and everything was all set, before asking where they could meet. There was a tense silence before the voice said "So she's dead, huh?" and implying that you couldn't hire good help these days. He then said something to imply that there was only one course of action left and he'd be seeing them shortly. Zero told the voice to come find them.