18/18/17: Travel down to the Well of Demons, deal with choker & tentacle beast sentries & gnoll pack.
Messoria Account - To the Well of Demons
As the tieflings who had ambushed us had a controller for a Bronze Guardian, we decide to meet with a representative of the Mages of Saruun as we had been of the opinion that only they had access to the amulets enabling control of the Bronze Guardians. After some negotiation with the clerk, we gained an audience with the Ordinator Arcanis, one of the Mages.
Messoria related the story of the ambush and how the amulet had come into our possession. She went on to describe the results of the interrogation of Tears of the Rain, her description of the hooded figure named Paldomar and his instructions for meeting up with him at the Well of Demons. The Ordinator expressed his concern but raised doubts that it was Paldomar who ordered the ambush: perhaps a creature disguised as the wizard or Paldomar himself had been possessed.
He went on to tell us some of the lore surrounding the Well of Demons: it had been a cult centre for the worship of Baphomet, the demon lord of Minotaurs that had been raided and sacked by followers of Baphomet’s rival, Demogorgon. The centre of the Well was shielded and had been created as an area to test Minotaurs in their worship of Baphomet.
Recalling her studies of the area’s history, Andraste tells that the Minotaurs of Saruun Kel had been turning away from the worship of Baphomet in favour of Torog. They were cursed by Baphomet with the Curse of Mindless Fury, sending them mad so that Minotaur fought Minotaur until they were destroyed. The Curse caused the fall of Saruun Kel about 300 years ago.
The next day we head for the Deep Stair and the route to the Well of Demons shown on the tieflings’ map. As we are leaving the Seven Pillared Hall, Aelar spots recent tracks going away from the Deep Stair – we think they belong to the hobgoblin warcaster and his two goblin archer followers.
The Deep Stair winds steeply downwards until we think we are about 500’ below the level of the Seven Pillared Hall. The tunnel opens up into a large, low ceilinged room with five pillars and a dark pit. The ceiling is split by several old cracks about 18’’ wide.
As we wait at the entrance of the room, a voice booms out, greeting us as seekers of Baphomet’s Glory. It makes reference to tests and refers to Mask, Bell, Blade and Tome – perhaps a reference to the particular skills of rogues, priests, warriors and wizards? A moment later we realise that we have all heard the voice in our own language.
Before we can share our thoughts on this introduction, Messoria and Aelar notice a stocky figure, a ghoul, lurking behind a column, while the keen-eyed elf also notices slender creatures skulking on the ceiling, waiting to ambush us. Messoria calls out to focus on the ghoul as it can paralyze its victims, and with only four of us that could turn the tide of a fight. Messoria leads the charge and with the assistance of Aelar and Andraste the ghoul quickly falls. In that moment a strange, tentacle Lurker bursts from beneath the ground trying to snare Aelar in its lashing tentacles. Only Hengist’s timely warning gives the elf time to duck away. Other tentacles reach for Andraste but she calls on her winter fey heritage to dissolve into a flurry of snow to escape its grasp.
The Chokers on the ceiling attack Hengist and Aelar but as they in turn attack their captors, they have little resistance to either sword or arrow and area soon destroyed. Messoria tries to keep the Tentacle Lurker focussed on her, but its tentacles are able to attack everyone in the room. Just as it too is destroyed, a sleepy gnoll archer wanders into the room, perhaps awakened at the sound of the fight. Unfortunately we are unable to stop him from raising the alarm.
With the end of the fight, we are forced to take stock and catch our breath, despite knowing the gnolls are preparing for attack. They come at us from two directions, a hyena pack leading the charge from one corridor and a Dire Boar from the other. Aelar observes the Boar is mad with pain and being forced along at spear point.
He focusses his aim at the attacking groups and showers them with arrows before they can charge. Many of the hyenas are killed along with a couple of the gnoll marauders. The remainder charge at us, but the gnolls’ plan backfires as the other group of hyenas are unable to charge past the Dire Boar, thus halving the effectiveness of their planned two-pronged attack.
Aelar is able to convince the Dire Boar that we are not its enemies, so the Boar turns and charges the frustrated gnolls, trapping them in the corridor as the elf archer rains more arrows down on them. Messoria moves up to support the Boar, calling on Sehanine to heal the valiant beast as it gores its tormentors.
The gnoll marauders and their remaining hyenas close on Andraste and Hengist, but the eladrin rogue blinds them as her magic dagger stabs at their eyes. As they struggle to manoeuver, they are killed one by one. Seeing their comrades fall, the three remaining gnoll archers escape followed by the single surviving hyena.
