Chapter 6: On the Trail
A fight ensued against the hook horrors and the group managed to slay a few of them before the ground began to rumble. As soon as they had a chance, the horrors fled into the fungal forest as a massive purple worm erupted from the earth. Before the rest of the group could properly react (but not before Kane fired a guiding bolt at it), The Changeling used their magic to banish the worm to another dimension, allowing the group to prepare attacks against it. As soon as they dropped concentration of the banishment spell, the worm returned and was immediately assaulted by the entire group's attacks and magical volleys. As part of their surprise attack, Kelthar unleashed a stunning ki attack that incapacitated the worm and allowed them to unleash another flurry of attacks that took the beast down before it could react. Jawhara dealt the final blow, disemboweling the creature with a mighty swing of her axe.
Inside the beast's belly, they found a stash of precious gemstones which Jolkottr's conjured fey minion retrieved for them. The changeling took on the appearance of Dughlyn the dark elf. They returned to the Myconid with the deed done, and were asked to escort them to the fungal forest. Along the way, they noticed the Myconids used Rothe pack animals led by a bizarre deep gnome zombie covered in fungal growths. When asked about it, the myconids mentioned the deep gnome had been "perfected" by joining the myconid hive mind. When they arrived at the site, the Myconids wrapped the dead purple worm in their root system and turned the corpse into a desiccated husk that they would use as a home. The Myconid leader was thankful and offered the group a sack of fungus he said would "rejuvenate" them as well as a good night's rest. They held on to the fungus, wary to use it.
As they moved on towards Nidavellir, Jolkottr once again found the trail and led them in the right direction. The following morning, Kelthar and The Changeling awoke drenched in sweat and with aching bones and confusion. Worried that they were affected by mind flayer parasites, The Changeling cast a spell of mind reading to discover more. Kelthar felt entirely uneasy about his situation, feeling as if his body was corrupted. When the changeling tried to pry into their own mind, they encountered resistance but broke through. They discovered visions of the elder brain in the process of creating more mind flayers from the dead dark elves, as well as strange visions of a large mind flayer floating among the stars. The mind flayer opened its eyes, and revealed a third eye in the center of its forehead. The word "FIRST" came into the changeling's mind as the connection was severed. After probing into Kelthar's mind, they found the same visions within his mind.
The changeling told the group of the visions within Kelthar's mind, but withheld their own. Jolkottr offered to turn into a worm and investigate Kelthar's skull. He agreed, and prepared for intense pain as Jolkottr entered his skull via his eye socket. The druid was able to verify that a mind flayer parasite was currently wrapped around Kelthar's optic nerve and latched onto his brain. After discussing several different possibilities, including returning to deal with the elder brain and visiting the dark elf city of Anun, they decided to attempt to remove the parasite. Though the operation would surely kill them, Kane was prepared to revive them with his cleric magic should they perish. They hoped to be able to carve out the parasite quickly enough to only need a spell of revivification, but Kane was not quite good enough with the knife and needed to rely on a "raise dead" spell (and use their own appropriate spell component). The operation worked, killing Kelthar but removing the parasite before reviving him. Although the spell brought him back to life, his right eye was lost to the operation.
At this point, The Changeling admitted they were also infected with a parasite. With no means to bring them back to life should they fail to remove the worm in time, they decided to press on for another day and hope to find something to help. Alas, the next morning came and The Changeling grew worse. This time, Jawhara lent her aid to Kane with bolstering magic, and Kane used a spell of guidance to steady his hand. Despite the help, Kane was unable to complete the operation in time. The Changeling was dead, with no means to bring them back. Kane pleaded to his god Ingwi to revive them, but his prayers went unanswered. As they ventured towards Nidavellir, he tried again and again but his prayers continued to be unanswered. As they reached the outskirts of the Duergar city, Jolkottr devised a plan to use a stone shaping spell to meld two diamonds together into one large enough to bring the changeling back. The spell worked, and Kane was able to revive the changeling. Their natural form quickly shifted through various appearances before settling on the last one they had used (that of Dughlyn the dark elf). Like Kelthar, however, their right eye was lost to the process.
With the threat of ceremorphosis dealt with, the group ventured into Nidavellir. They found ancient dwarven ruins at the foot of a massive underground volcano. The place seemed uninhabited, and they discovered a library with records detailing the history of the city. Long ago, the Duergar had come here (or rather were brought here) as slaves of the mind flayers. Some of them broke free and founded the city of Nidavellir, where they enlisted the aid of a fire giant named Surtr to fight the mind flayers. In return, they would forge him a mighty sword. But the sword and its forging attracted the attention of a Balor that appeared from the mouth of the volcano with a horde of demons. The demons tore through the city, killing everyone there. As they searched the library for more information, they were attacked by an undead mind flayer and many duergar zombies. Though the battle began well for the group, it soon turned against them as the mind flayer took control of Jawhara and blasted them with a psychic blast that incapacitated all but Kane. He tried his best to fight the zombies and keep the group alive as the mind flayer feasted on Kelthar, but all seemed lost until suddenly Jolkottr managed to resist the psychic stun and Jawhara broke free from mental domination. At the same time, the mind flayer knocked the changeling out with a blast of arcane energy, and when Kane awakened him with a healing spell they found themselves able to move freely again. Jolkottr healed their wounds as Jawhara moved to enact her revenge on the undead illithid. Kane dispatched the remaining zombies with a flash of his holy symbol, and the combined forces of the changeling and Jawhara took the mind flayer down. The changeling discovered what appeared to be a lich's phylactery on the dead illithid, and after some discussion Kane destroyed it with a swing of his divine mace.
Badly wounded and exhausted from their first battle in the city, the group rested for a time and recovered before delving deeper...
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