Session three - Into the dephts

After reading the note on the previous page, we headed deeper into the mines; starting our journey.
 
After a short while, we found some traps that were already made safe. Tallis salvaged some gunpowder.
After another short while of walking, we found a caved in part of the tunnel, with a 5 foot sized hole in its shadows.
At the bottom, we found a humanoid, ripped to pieces..
With some quick thinking, Cassius sent his magical familiar into the dark below, which instantly got cut to pieces.
Al'Akir obviously believed it was a good idea to throw dynamite in there.. it hurt some of the creatures, and the skittered away.
We made a quick pulley system using my box and tackle and Tallis' rope to leverage Al'akir into the hole. as he went down, the creatures came back in a frenzy. we tried to pull Al back up, but he snapped the rope on his own.
I'll have to have a talk about resource management with him.
after a quick fight, we won and we all went into the hole.
There, on the corpse we found another note.
it spoke of the miners, who were all dead and the barricades they had made. they all pointed inwards, rather than out, indicating they were trying to keep something in, not out.
Hoping to find magical items, Cassius cast a spell to detect magic. sadly he did not find anything beyond what we had on our persons.
 
We went deeper into the natural tunnels till we heard noises. Tallis found it wise to scout ahead, and disappeared for quite a while.
When she came back she led us deeper into the caverns through a somewhat safe route. we found a donut shaped chamber with another caved in part of the wall indicating an old entrance.
Unable to find something here, we tried some different paths but were interrupted by an incredibly large version of the monsters we had previously fought.. we all froze.. as did it. i found out after the fact that it was listening for vibrations in the ground.. looking for a hunt.
Tallis threw a rock, and it went into a frenzy trying to get to it, almost stabbing Tallis and I in the process.
We quickly made our way deeper into the caverns and after turning a corner, three javalins found purchase on Tallis' body.
Three pale white dwarves, deep dwarves or how ever they like to be called, attacked us without reason.
We quickly fought back, and as the first one fell, my worst nightmare came true.
Its skull busted open and out came a brain with limbs. it latched itself onto Al'Akir, and did something to him. he fell into a catatonic state, even though we killed the thing.
Two more skulls busted out of the heads of these dwarves and we only barely managed to dispatch them.
We needed a safe space, any safe space at all. Tallis found a small nook in the wall, where we quickly pulled Al'akir to. there was a body there.. a dark elf, A filthy krik.
Two dwarves came from the entrance while muttering something. i listened closely and could only make out a few words. Ancient, Feeding.. symbiote. not the kind of church rhymes i was brought up on i'll tell you that!
We inspected the corpse, and found a note. it said the following.
 
Illithid below
 
Has the Beacon.
Desecrating it.
 
Something lies beyond
It's hungry
 
I was not 100% sure i had all of it correctly, as the page was drenched in blood.
Cassius did another quick magical sonar spell and found two magic items.
 
Two dwarves once more returned, and dragged the last of the bodies back. still muttering the same verse, i now caught what they said.
Hail the devourer, the end of the light. Come forth, hungerer. Praise the ancient, the Feeding, the Symbiote.
 
Yea.. this expedition just went from 70 to 100% creepy.
Dormund and cassius used their magics to identify the items; A cloak with the power of owl feathers. and a black candle, making you capable of speaking to the dead.
 
I quickly deviced a plan to speak with the fallen Krik. I cast a spell upon myself; changing my appearance to that of a Krik and then used the candle.
I asked who killed it .. - The grell killed me
I asked what is causing the earthquakes.. - the beast beyond the gate.
How many illithid were below? - 1 illithid
Our friend was attacked by the brain monsters.. how do we help him? - Magic of the light, or extended sleep.
For the last question, i made a gambit. How do we undesecrate our beacon? - Remove it from the ritual, take it to safety.. let it rest.
 
We decided we were all spent for the day, having effectively not slept for a day. we needed a rest, even if it brought us danger in this unknown darkness.