2025/06/13: Horrors Under Snake Mountain Part 4

Buzz, Et-Kehri, Terana, Sith, Othar, Union, Malakai   The party readied up to strike the wall and fight the boss. Malakai showed up at high speed, having finished clearing the Ragnarok.   After some discussion and casting defensive spells, the party had Yiea and Egwin work together to hit the wall. Just as the mountain above began to crack and come down, Et-Kehri recalled the fact that all the water in the dungeon leaked in through cracks in the mountain above.   Corellon, another god (Lund?), and a little girl with RGB hair showed up outside the dungeon, where Sith had been spontaneously ported out. One really muscular god with a giant sword. (It's Ranthael.) Or rather, Ranthael, Corellon, and the girl showed up in front of him and Lund was an old man with a beard several steps down. Set was there (shadowy jackal-headed god? Maybe not Set.). Also Thor. Thor had called the whole group of gods together to figure out how all these interested parties were involved and how they should coordinate or contest efforts.  

Thor owes a solid to somebody who told him to look after a few of these adventurers. He wants those adventurers to live through this.

Ranthael is here because the Fist of Ranthael happens to be here. He wants to see her survive and the big evil here destroyed.

Corellon is here because this is elven territory. He didn't realize there were ancient temples of Set and Lund here, so he wants to get that sorted out. This is his territory.

Sith is here because he wants to see the heroes succeed and also owes Corellon a favor.

The bouncy little elf girl has an avatar down here as well.

Set is here because this is all literally undermining his temple. Which was concealed and hidden up to now, which is allowed. But it's also allowed to be discovered. He wants to see his temples and followers safe.

Lund wants to see to the balance of this land, and there are some very wrong things here that have lived here for a very long time (looks at Set) that should be brought into balance. Also there is a very big creature once used as a weapon against the gods by the Old Ones, which destroyed his temple, and which was sealed under the mountain and is now free. So some vengeance too.

Good news: None of the gods are supporting the Animus Society and the Old Ones!   Some talks between Corellon, Set, and Lund. Corellon wants them out. Set agreed, under the condition that his people were allowed to go safely. Lund was only hanging around because he liked the vibe and wanted to help and encourage people to deal with the evil under the mountain. He'd be leaving once the current crisis was over.   The gods made plans for how to make this all work.   Sith went back to find the party desperately putting up barriers to block the falling rocks, since they had no abilities that would get them out in time. The barriers started to fail immediately. Then the entire ledge below them (and the one with the villain below) collapsed beneath them. They found themselves tumbling through water and bits of rocks as they fell into the pit. On the way, they passed a tree with a glowing light on top of it. Also, earlier, some white-green flashes and the taste of wheat, before the tumbling started.   Finally, the group hit the ground. They could hear rocks smashing above them. They were submerged in water, and the "grainy cheerios" feeling stuff around them flowed away, to be left unknown. (It was Lund's divine intervention.)   Sith rubbed his stone of vocalize and cast Airy Water on the group.   Terana broke the top of the water. Above was what appeared to be an arched roof of rock, still rumbling and somewhat unstable. Sheer luck, clearly. (Othar's sword using three of Othar's 9th-level spells to boost Villain's Retreat certainly helped.) Sith rescued most of the party, Othar rescued Et-Kehri.   The party found themselves on an underground lake. There were sounds in the distance, including calls and chittering. The party checked themselves; they were, shockingly, all uninjured. (Yiea was sort of in shock, though, understandably.)   The area had a lot of gates. Many had been crushed. Out of the others, unspeakable abominations were coming and then encountering (and eating) each other. Terana opted to guide the party to what little shore existed.   Something dark, like a hundred-foot long, foot wide snake of darkness, was exploring its new environs.   Buzz used Stone Shape and Wall of Stone to create some safer walls, floor, and support to work with, and give some cover here and there.   Othar attacked the snake thing with darkfire. It died with crinkling noises, but Sith spotted that it was reforming in multiple places. Two horrible shadowy tubes with teeth launched themselves at the party. It was like someone hadn't fully understood what a snake looked like: The head was just a mouth with pointed teeth. When parried, the things seemed light, like balloons rather than creatures. Melee strikes seemed to do nothing to them.   Buzz opted to pull out a Light Grenade. As soon as he cast it, two more of the tubes, which had been hiding at the back of the battle, went for him. He dodged, but they weren't interested in him; they fought each other to get to the grenade, and the winner eagerly ate it. Buzz theorized that they must be servants of Apep, an Egyptian god who is all about eating the sun.   "Apera Serpent Trees". They're actually plants. They're immune to magic and nonmagic weapons and are immune to pretty much all elements. Terana's Scan turned out very useful.   Malakai detected that there were three normal-sized snake-things and one that was about twice as wide. He shot at the big one. When the dark lightning hit it, it popped like an exploding tree.   After some mishaps and successes, the party killed the snake things. Malakai did a lightning web that hit everybody, but fortunately the defenses were up to the task and no one in the group died.   Seeking a more stable area, the party dug rocks out of the way and reached another semi-submerged area. There was something else in the room with them.   Voices of Nightmare results:

No way out. Ancient immortal beasts, forever frozen in time.

A dangerous academic. Brilliant, but insane.

The infinite growing vines, never truly dead.

The destroyer of all things, enforcer of the Old Ones, is attempting to eat all the other residents.

Do not count out the tyrant in black. His will has never been surmounted.

The swarm comes, devouring all.

Party headed into the room with the hope-eating dragon. It didn't seem interested in them. Something was following them, though. Terana and Othar called out to it, and after Othar's attempt a woman's voice swore from the darkness. "Something intelligent out there?" The voice asked if the party was open to negotiation. Terana's equipment said the woman was both evil and not; she was apparently possessed. (Also old.)   Indications were that this was the brilliant but insane academic.   Professor Luftkin Gardenia. Formerly of the Magical Institute of Darden. Was sent down here as exile because she didn't live up to their "professional standards", which she calls incompetence. Terana, Et-Kehri, and Union introduced themselves. Buzz introduced himself as "Dr. Nunya". (Nunya Business.)   The professor showed an illusion of a trilobite, 7 ft. long, with really large mandibles on an ant-like head. Apparently there is a hive of these "fangol" that are trying to devour everything and turn them into more of themselves.   Terana scouted ahead. Found a dry riverbed that may lead out. Also a room full of those fangol, some of which were vanishing intermittently like something weird was eating them.   Four-headed despair dragon with no wings but a big tail. Semi-natural. Comes off as very weird to her senses. May be sort of dead, but not completely?   The party headed for the riverbed. Terana started digging. A dozen of the fangol dug out of the walls and dropped into the water, looking for the party. Et-Kehri cast a Void Storm, followed by Othar tossing a darkfire storm and several other spells going out. Half of the fangol came for the party, but then suddenly there was a long creaking noise. The fangol vanished. The water level rose slightly. And the despair dragon had turned roughly 80 degrees.   Terana realized the dragon had a dungeon on its back, an old temple. When Terana went closer, she saw that there were two dragons wrapped around the temple.   Most of the dragons seemed to be comatose. Old and sick and crusty. Mostly unresponsive. Terana and Malakai were investigating. The temple was very old. It also seemed to have lift hoists, like to move the whole thing. Or it had spots for lift hoists, like to move cargo? Apparently the thing is a giant ship with a temple on top.