Into the Depths

The room we found ourselves in is of old stone, shaped like a hexagon some 30 feet across. It was cold down in the room as it was in the square, and a dark aura permeated the air. Hide blankets covered the floor, curtains were drawn over what looked to be windows, and another curtain covered an archway in the far wall. Almost everything in the room seemed old and on the point of decay, except for a piece of parchment that Dru and Zarruk found fastened on the wall. It was a letter from Bevil addressed to us. He wrote that he had tracked Darneska down here, and that that devil spawn had many followers with him this time. Bevil feared that Father Briar may have allied himself with Darneska based on what they had been able to learn. The area down here was trapped, and Elodin had been injured. He closed the letter with special words for each of us, and promised to tell us everything if we met again. Strangely the letter was dated the 15th of Ariel, which is one week in the future. I do not believe this to be a mistake on Bevil's part. Wherever this room was, I felt like it was part of some planar portal or dimensional rift. Inspecting the windows reinforced this belief, as drawing the crumbling old curtains revealed a black void beyond. We were no longer simply underground beneath Barad Ellion. Looking more closely at the floor also revealed a pattern of rivets that formed the outline of a dragon. I wouldn't have thought anything of such a symbol if the Boy hadn't seen a dragon flying on the edge of Barad Ellion a few days ago. It seems like too much of a coincidence for a dragon to appear outside of town and a dragon symbol to be on the floor of whatever portal or anomaly this room is.
We were about to continue on when Descartes collapsed, ice shards erupting from his chest. He was not equipped with the cold resistant armor that Bevil had gifted to us, and it did not seem he could withstand the growing cold. As much as I did not wish to lose him as a companion, I suggested he return to the surface and seek for aid, and he reluctantly agreed. We then headed towards the archway on the far side of the room, only to encounter a trio of imps on the other side of the curtain, one of which latched onto my arm. The imp cackled something about its master finding a scroll here, and a "reckoning" that was about to happen. We fought the imps (in the future, imps are immune to fire; my Burning Hands spell had no effect on them) and managed to kill two of them. Zarruk took a nasty sting from the imp's tail, which also apparently can inject poison, and the third imp vanished and escaped down the hallway ahead of us. After making sure the area was clear, we found that the second room we had entered contained several things. I found a magical ring (the Ring of Death Knocking), and the others found satchels containing gold and several gems, all in all about 309 gp worth of treasure. We also heard the strange sound of music playing, an instrument called an organ apparently. Eerie and discomforting to say the least.
The tunnel ahead of us was not trapped and began descending down. It appeared that some portions of the tunnel had begun to collapse and rubble littered the floor, but thankfully not enough to slow our travel. Strange chains lined the walls, and upon examining them I found they were stretched taut. Their positioning and construction reminded me of contraptions used in lifts, or in torture chambers to stretch victims, and I feared that we may face either some restrained beast ahead or one of our allies being held prisoner. As we moved further down a dim light appeared ahead, and Dru noticed liquid like grease or oil running down the walls and along the floor into a room ahead, so we quickly extinguished the torches we had lit. Thinking back to something Bevil had said in his letter, I took a moment to pray to Silvanus. I was unsure of how a prayer from me would be received, but I felt a reply back that simply said "It is not who you are right now that matters. Bring balance."
In the room ahead my worst fears were realized. The room was littered with junk, but in the center stood a pristine bed, and on either side of it a table. Two demonic beasts, with wide gaping maws and bodies covered in eyes, were straining to catch drops of blood that were falling from the dead body of our friend Elodin suspended by chains from the ceiling. A rage filled me at the sight of these two fiends desecrating the body of this kind elf, and without thinking I rushed into the room and attacked. Fortunately the others followed me and gave their support, and we were able to kill the beasts. Zarruk and Dru got into some quarrel over an insult that Zarruk threw at one of the fiends and Dru had taken offense to, but I barely even noticed their conversation. Elodin's body had been cut loose from the chains and fallen during the fight, and I went over to examine it. He had already begun decomposing, so he must have been dead for some time, or the process had been sped along by some foul sorcery. The skull of a mind flayer fell from his robes as I examined him; what that means I have no idea. All I know is that I found another friend dead, and still did not have the means to either prevent his death or reverse it. I did what I could to lay him to rest by placing his body on the bed and wrapping it in the sheets, vowing to find the person that did this to him and avenge his death. But even as I spoke his body began to disappear in tendrils of dark energy, and a light shone through a previously overlooked window made of stained glass. The organ music began playing again. The image of a black hand was embedded in the window, and voice spoke out thanking me for completing the "sacrifice". It said "Through this mortal body I grow stronger. I will take my throne back, and that queen will learn that she should never have crossed us".
I fired an eldritch blast at the stain glass window, shattering it. But even as the glass fell it reversed and reformed itself as if I had never damaged it. Dru challenged whatever entity it was to come down and fight us now, but I told him to wait. Whoever this being was, it was far stronger than us. My initial belief is that it was either one of the three evil gods that stole the Tablets of Fate or one of their undead servants seeking to grow in power by consuming mortals. But we have too little information at this point to know for sure, and none of us have the strength to challenge such a being yet. But I will not allow whatever this entity is to consume one of my companions in such a way again. Such power should be used to restore life, not take it like a parasite.
Weariness overcame me after this, and the last thought I had was a small voice saying "Can I come out now? Why does he get to have all the fun?" Oh little one, if you only knew the pain I have kept you from, you would not think it so fun. But have your own way, I am tired.