A Deserted City, More Betrayal, and Endless Tunnels

Upon speaking the words told to me through the scrying stone the wall behind us began to close. While at the same time the wall before us opened. What was beyond would take away anyone’s breath. The long-lost city of Elendon. Sprawled out for what seemed to go on forever before us was the abandoned city, which I am sure was once full of life, light, and sounds of crowds of people.
 
Looking upon the city I was filled with sadness. For once this city was bustling with people making a living. Their architecture incredibly beautiful, sophisticated, and yet simple in its design. I wonder what caused to its citizens to flee or as we would later find out for some of them to have turned into these horrible creatures. I have made a mental note to research this when I get to the next city, and when I get home.
 
Looing out from our vantage point we could see the city was very extensive. The cavern was lit from above, be it from some sort of spell or some natural phenomena I could not say. Sprawling for a mile or two in almost every direction in front of us. But in the distance, we could see a landmark which we instinctively knew was where we had to mange to get to. The Cathedral stood above all the other building, loving crafted from the stone in which it was carved from.
 
As we ventured into the city, I thought that our best and smartest idea was to openly walk the streets. Though no so brashly as to invite a challenge by whoever lives there, but to go forward with caution. That idea worked for a while but like the best laid plans they never survive contact with the enemy. While I expected to run into some underlings, I admit I was not expecting to run into the undead citizens of the city. It was lucky that we Barnabas with us for in the nick of time he advised us to hide. And not a moment later one of these undead abominations came around the corner searching.
 
We all waited for the last possible moment to strike and we were able to quickly dispatch this creature. But not with out a cost. Before dying it let out a scream, alerting its allies and drew them to our location. Quickly we took shelter in a nearby house over looking the street where the body was. Within minutes there were easily a dozen or more of these creatures, which would make sneaking by them almost impossible.
 
As were weighed our options of waiting them out, fighting them, or making a run for it, the decision was made for us. These creatures started to search out the nearby houses, and just so happened to start with ours. While Barnabas, Enna, Aura, Fang, and myself tried to dispatch the ones forcing or trying to force their way into this building, Willow gave us a taste of her power. Out of thin air she conjured a tidal wave and washed all of our enemies away. Seizing the opportunity created by Druid we made a run for it.
 
While it still took some more time to get to where we were going, we did not run into those creatures again. Upon arriving at the cathedral, at least I was taken in by its imposing nature and the feat of engineering that it took to build it. Not knowing if the building was occupied or not and not wanting to barge in, I went to knock on the door. It was at that point, pointed out to me to not draw attention to our group and that there may not be anyone to answer, so I was convenience to just open the door. But a cloaked creature was there to greet us as we opened the doors.
 
Before we could even speak we were told we had been expected and led down a long corridor to more doors. Through which we made our way into the room beyond. The room we found ourselves in was vast and creepy for there was a very large skull in the floor for which I can only guess if for making sacrifices. Along with that were two figures. It was none other than Zelmozoc, and Ardane the man I thought to be an ally.
 
Upon seeing him, I found myself feeling that outside of my group of friends that I travel with, and those with whom I am friends with back home are not trust worthy. I want to believe that there is good in everyone. But more and more I am coming to the realization that I need to be more guarded with whom I trust. And to be more wary of those I interact with.
 
A sense of dread crept over my companions, as we all became very quite and the tension in the room was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. The two asked what took so long and we tried to explain that the world outside this underground city has vastly changed and to get the all mother there was incredibly difficult. It sounded like they believed most of it but not all of it. Then we were asked if we brought the All-Mother with us, we had but not in the All-Mother they were expecting, so we did our best to “convince” them that we had safely hidden the All-Mother so as make sure we were in the right spot and weren’t going to be killed outright. For some reason that lie seemed to serve as a plausible possibility for them.
 
It was at this point that I couldn’t help myself, I moved closer and was eager for information that I pressed my luck. I sought to find out why the All-Mother was so important to Zelmozoc. He told that he is desperately trying to reverse the effects of Elven Rot and that he believes that by sacrificing the All-Mother that it would be. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Ardane trying to signal to me to back off, but having my trust in him shaken, I did not pay him any attention. Bluffing I told Zelmozoc that I am from a Monastery full of information and that I was certain that somewhere in all of the books, scrolls, and various texts we would be able to find a cure for Elven Rot, but it was a mistake.
 
I had apparently pissed him off and that when he was about to release his arsenal of spells on us if not for the intervention of Ardane, who took it upon himself to step in-between Zelmozoc and our group. In the heat of the moment he told us to flee and that he would explain everything later, I just stood there dumbfounded. It was Willow who shook me out of my frozen state and led me out of that room. Upon exiting the weird figures confronted us and we readied ourselves for battle but it was for naught. Making for the door we fled the cathedral with more questions than answers, but found ourselves with a bigger problem outside of the cathedral.
 
As the saying goes “Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire”, we found ourselves confronted with a city full of abominations screaming and headed our way. I truly believe that we had the tactically advantageous and strategically important position to take on the creatures rushing towards us. However, that most likely would not have counted for anything in short order as we numbered just six and we had no idea how many of them there were. Knowing the odds we looked for a means of escape. One path was a jump down off the ledge on which we were on. The other was a tunnel the led down a winding path. We chose the tunnel.
 
Before entering the tunnel Willow was again eager to use her Tidal Wave spell, but we had a need to flee. So returning the favor I grabbed her hand and led her to the tunnel. Taking point, Fang and I led the way through the tunnels with Barnabas watching our rear. We went down and down for what seemed liked forever. And just when I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to stop we leveled out and came to another portion of the city.
 
Just like the one above it had been abandoned for just a long as the city above, if not longer. Fearing that we would find the same creatures from above we carefully walked the streets keeping our eyes peeled for any danger. Journeying for a while that way we did not encounter any of those creatures, luckily. But we did come across so tunnels that were not natural or carved out by any humanoid race. So we took some more precautions going forward.
 
After a long while the tunnel started to finally go upwards, to our great relief. But as things are want to do when they fall into disuse, we did have a stairway collapse while walking on it. No one was hurt but we did manage to get separated by the gap, with everyone but Barnabas moving forward. We did eventually get him up with the rest of the party but it did take some time. So we continued on, in the hopes we would be able to eventually get back to the surface.
 
After journeying for another hour or so, the tunnel started to narrow. That’s when things took a turn. You know when your life is in danger and the world slows down and your actions fell sluggish, well that’s what happened to me when this creature burst through the wall. Not being ready for it I was caught at unawares and felt my body unresponsive to my commands as it carried me away. It did take me back to its lair where I was helpless as it tried to eat me alive.
 
Before it could really begin to sink is teeth into me my friends arrived to help. I tried to use some of the things that I learned, however it seemed to be able to resist it with ease. I started to get worried, but that when it fled the battle. Not knowing the nature of this creature, I was under the impression it was fleeing, when it was actually burring to surprise us elsewhere on the battle field. In doing so it was able to take Fang down and nearly take Barnabas down as well.
 
I can’t tell if it was luck or if the gods of the various members of my friends were with us and helping to guide their hands, but we did manage to defeat the creature. Breathing a sigh of relief, we took a moment to catch our breath. I am glad we have survived our adventure today, but I think we are all in need of a rest. And we need a plan for what to do next.