High in the Skies and Deep in the Ground

The death of Oblex came none too soon. Virgil and I were both in pretty rough shape when it finally melted away. Underneath thee disgusting ooze that remained was a curiously small box that was rigged up with a rather vicious looking trap. Rhumor managed to open it, though there was a brief moment when we heard more than a single click that I thought he was about to immolated. Among other things inside was a curious circlet that apparently grants the wearer superior intellectual capacities. We collectively decided this should go to Virgil.
 
It took us quite some time to get everyone awakened and safely back to the surface. We cleared out the remaining mimics from the town, and a very thorough interrogation (both magical and mundane) was performed on any remaining people to ensure all of the dopplegangers had been ousted. Our return journey to Hardbuckler was thankfully uneventful. I spent my time making some healing potions and meditating on how to best to communicate with my wyvern mount. It finally came to me, like a strange vision, not unlike the ones that led to me mastering the additional speed and finesse required to wield such a large weapon as the greatsword. Whether from my ancestral knowledge or some twisted gift from Her I find I can now speak directly with my wyvern mount. I have decided to name her Daphne. Being able to communicate with her directly has made it a great deal easier to develop trust, dare I even say a bond, and she more readily accepts direction from me now.
 
Back in town, Nuri was able to spend a bit of time with her grandparents, who insisted that they did not an escort back to Berdusk. And so we made our way towards the cave near Greenest where our adventure first began. Conrad wanted to further investigate the door we had found there, and believed another piece of this amulet, much like the one embedded in his chest, could be found on the other side of the door.
 
We stopped over in Elturel on our way, and were able to convince a young woman by the name of Liao Chai to join our merry band to watch over and care for our wyvern mounts anytime we were not traveling. This did require a fair amount of haggling with her current employer, and even with the young woman herself. I hope she is worth the price we pay her. She has been able to help some of the others more quickly grasp how to manage their mounts as well, which is good. The last thing we need is for one of us to be stung by one of our own wyverns! Nuri knows all too well how badly that hurts.
 
Inside the hatchery cave we found a great many goblin footprints, but no goblins. In the back, where the doorway was, we again had to battle more of those vile smelling troglodytes. Some of them were a great deal stronger than what we had previously encountered. Worse still, the Roper had taken up residence in the trash heap and did not seem interested in the food we brought this time. But we are seasoned warriors now. A cohesive team of battle-hardened fighters and mages. I believe Rhumor took the worst of it, though it did go after Nuri quite a bit as well. Every time Rhumor tried to run and hide, a new enemy would spring up next to him. Virgil and I initially focused on taking out the Roper, and then we were able to aid our allies in clearing out the remaining troglodytes.
 
Conrad’s touch activated the door. It was eerie. The door began to glow, and the fire in his chest intensified, even Ardor seemed to react somewhat violently to it. But, nothing bad happened… yet. We entered into a tunnel and immediately the door shut, and would not reopen. A little further down the tunnel we found a curious note, apparently left by one of Conrad’s old companions. It essentially implored us to kill ourselves to spare us the awaiting agony. What a pompous, arrogant, ass. Though, I suppose he would have had no way of knowing who would be following him in here. And… there is something… unnerving about these tunnels and caverns. Conrad believes we have entered the Underdark, though it does not look like any part of the Underdark I have ever been to. Though I never did delve very deep before.