3.1.2 IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT, WORM?

We decided to follow the escaping Dolgrim so that we could hopefully catch him before he's able to warn anyone else to our presence. However, before we could find our Dolgrim friend, we encountered a foul beast made of chattering, gibbering mouths and a red gloopy substance. Its terrible aura of cacophonous incoherent gibbering made it nigh impossible to approach. As I move in to attack, I am blindsided by something that blinded me. I'm still unsure of what it was. Eventually I was able to shake off the mental effects and blindness, to land the final blow to this detestable aberration. As it lunged toward us one final time, I wiped the smile off of each and every mouth of this creature by way of my greatsword. It moves no longer. Never in my days have I seen anything like this. Not even in Hell itself. I was able to get a nice piece of armor for myself though, which, coming from this thing, is the only silver lining to this particular cloud. We decide to rest for a bit before continuing on.
 
The escaped Dolgrim must have been a pawn because when we finally caught up to him, he was already slain, lifeless on the ground in the hallway. As we passed him by and turned the corner, we came face-to-face with the cultists we had hoped to rid the world of. So the rumors were true.
 
Whilst I may be looked upon from the outside as one who should himself be vanquished from this life for the vile things he has done, I do not wish undue harm upon anyone, as I have learned most people believe. What those people perhaps don't know, though, is that I do not wish to be the way I am. I was raised in quite literally the most hellish place in existence, by a noble family in Dis. They, like many others I know from Dis, worship Dispater. I was forced, perhaps brainwashed, into his beliefs and teachings. I'm proud to be able to do the things I can do, but I did not -- and still do not -- wish to be his underling. However, my curse binds me to him by way of the hag who clouds my mind with her (and his) will. All of this is to say that these cultists were doing some truly evil things and needed to be dispatched.
 
We realized we were nearly out of time when one of the cultists yelled for their companions to hurry to finish their ritual. Time was of the essence, and we had to be quick and efficient. And so we were. Or at least we would have been, but we had to quickly open the locked door which stood steadfast in our way. I lent Parzivel my crowbar. After some coaxing, the door finally gave way. We made it into the room featuring their ritual site to find them in the middle of the nearly-completed ritual. The runes on the ground were pulsing with magic and energy, and the lone cleric, who could have been a sacrifice or focus, was well guarded with magic and other cultists. Without missing a beat, the cleric summoned an animated weapon to defend them, but it made no difference. Nyrael, the incredible musically-talented support specialist himself, was able to put some of the ritualists to sleep, allowing us to more safely make our way to the cleric. With a little effort, we were able to end the ritual before it could be completed. Lim Dul got the killing blow on the central cleric, and we picked off each of the remaining cultists one-by-one.
 
Lim Dul suggests we dismantle the ritual site, and so we do. The paladin urinates on the ritualistic skull, desecrating it with what I can only guess would be considered holy water. I'm still not sure about that. After the site is completely ruined, we bed down for a longer rest this time. The rest goes by uneventfully.
 
Shortly after waking, we discuss whether we should continue or head back to town. There are good arguments for both, but we ultimately decide to do what we can to make sure the place is cleared before heading home. This decision very nearly cost us all our lives.
 
While trekking through unfamiliar parts of the hideout, Parzivel, who had taken the lead, found himself stuck inside a gelatinous cube of acid. These are no joke. It quickly engulfs him, and the fight is on now to take out this cube, and extract Parzivel from its grasp. During the encounter, I believe all of us but Nyrael found ourselves surrounded by acidic gelatin at least once, and all of us except Nyrael go down. Nyrael tells us he was able to defeat the cube with his frightening lightning breath, allowing himself to bring the party back to consciousness once more. Nyrael has truly done a lot for us throughout this adventure. I would be proud to call him my friend if he would allow.
 
In fact, I would like to be able to call all three of them my friend if they would have me. Parzivel is a hearty person, if not a bit rash sometimes. I like the cut of his jib. Lim Dul and I are from two sides of the same coin, the coin being Dispater's tenets. While I was forced into being a follower, Lim Dul seems open to Dispater's persuasion. I think it would be great to hash out our differences with open minds. I know he feels far superior in his power and is clearly proud of it. But I wonder if he knew where my troubles lie if he would be able to show a bit more compassion. It shouldn't be about who is more powerful, or capable, in my opinion. It should be about how we use the power and capabilities within each of us together that makes a group whole.
 
Anyway, we continue past the cube where the others say they saw some gnolls watching the fight from afar. When we get back into the room, we find that it is now empty. They must have gone through the door at the other end of the room. Parzivel listens for signs of their presence through the door, and hears some splashing. It must be them. The door is locked, so I hand Parzivel my crowbar once more. The door, once locked, is suddenly free to open. Lim Dul open it right up as if it were never locked. Perhaps Dispater favors him more than Parzivel's deity favors Parzivel? I don't know. Anyway, I put the crowbar away and get ready to battle once again. It's just the two gnolls in here, which make for an easy fight. Once they are no more, Parzivel quickly pounces on the locked chest in the corner. He attempts to open it, only to find out too late that it had been trapped. He is still adamant on opening the chest, so I hand him the crowbar one final time. With it, he is able to open the chest, and we gather its spoils before realizing there is coin to be had at the bottom of the nearby pool of water. After grabbing the coinage, we make the decision to head home.
 
There are still corridors we didn't travel down, as well as that hovering Spectator we left in the room by itself. But we called it quits and took what we found back to town with us. It was a fruitful, if not unforgettable, trip. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though we certainly came out worse for wear. I'll be sure to keep an ear (and eye) out for more rumors. I can already feel myself wanting to get back out there and discover what the West has in store.