Chapter 8: The Nightmare Ends

As the group rested, the environment grew ever more oppressive. Wounds erupted with eye-stalks that looked around before disappearing, and hallucinations plagued the party. The light shifted into a disturbing purple hue, and hole appeared in a wall that spewed out a reflective silver liquid. Nalzmyr fired an eldritch blast into the pool, which erupted in a purple cloud that left behind a tear in the fabric of reality. As the tear appeared, a corpse was suddenly slumped against the wall. The robed figure was covered in writhing, thorny vines bearing bright crimson fruit. Keladrien plucked a fruit and tasted it. He experienced the fruit not as a flavor but a horrible stench of rot, but it allowed him to communicate with the dead wizard. He was able to ask it five questions, which revealed his name to be Euclidius. He had built the pyramid long ago and delved too deep, awakening Illuun and becoming his slave. Through the tear could be seen stars and massive tentacled beings, unconcerned with the passing of lesser beings.
The group then touched the engraved door, which melted into the floor after inflicting painful headaches and flashes of light to the party. As they ventured in, the chamber's floors and ceilings rippled in waves similar to breathing emanating from a pool of liquid in the center. Four floating globes of water surrounded the pool, and several glowing disks adorned the walls. As they approached, Sai was mentally enslaved by the aboleth and the glowing disks detached and floated down, revealing tendrils and glowing red. The floating creatures attacked the party with acidic tendrils, but were quickly dispatched. As Kathra approached the pool, she was violently pulled into the water by the surging water. Sai began attacking the group, and the aboleth Illuun revealed itself. As the battle raged on, Illuun was able to enslave Nalzmyr as well and the group spent much of their time fighting each other and trying to break the aboleth's hold on their fellows. Eventually, all were freed but the aboleth attacked relentlessly with tentacles covered in diseased slime. Pan fell prey to its touch, and his skin began to dry out. As Sai battled the creature, his fists became coated in the slime and he was similarly affected (growing gills and becoming unable to breathe air). Keladrien fired a fireball at the aboleth and badly burned it, following up with bolts of flame. Eventually, as the beast became surrounded and feared for its life, it leapt out from the pool into one of the floating globes of water before the water surged again and pulled most of the group into the pool. This proved to be a last ditch effort and failed to stop them. Finally, Kathra called upon the holy fire of Haela Brightaxe and smote the creature, boiling it within the globe of water. It melted into ooze, and the globe shattered. As it died, it spoke the words:

“Ph'nglui deepest gn'thorr ot cosmos, Y' ephainogephaii. Cahf ah nafl mglw'nafh hh' ahor syha'h ah'legeth. Ng llll or'azath syha'hnahh n'ghftephai n'gha ahornah ah'mglw'nafh”

Sai and Baen understood them as deep speech:

"In the deepest waters of the cosmos, I will return. That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die."

Pan's skin became translucent, and became painful as it dried out. He and Sai retreated into the pool to stay safe while the group searched the chamber. In the next room, they found more of the floating creatures. These glowed golden and were benevolent, sharing with the group the history of the aboleth Illuun. Images flashed through everyone's minds:

A massive cosmic war rages, with Gods fighting armies of aboleths. Giant obsidian obelisks float through the astral plane. One of them comes crashing down to abeir/toril, leaving behind a large crater. You see time pass rapidly, civilizations building around it. The town of nesme is built and destroyed. Images of a wizard building the pyramid amongst the ruins. He delves deep. Too deep. Illuun awakens and latches on to him, driving him mad.

Kathra used the power of her god to reshape her shield into a bucket, then filled it with water so that Sai could breathe. Pan used the alchemy jug to keep wet, and they returned to the surface. After speaking with Gaeron Alondo, he awarded them several magic items from his adventuring days and thanked them for saving the city and the silver marches from the aboleth. Sai's condition disappeared after a few hours, and Pan was cured by a temple cleric on the first speaker's orders. They returned to Hawk's inn and retired for the night, getting much needed rest. In the morning, they gathered in the common room and Sai suggested they form a mercenary band now that they are all debt and madness-free. They decided to name themselves The Savage Seven. As their first job, they chose to travel to Silverymoon to deal with the thieves' guild for the knights in silver.
On the way to Silverymoon, they passed a homestead filled with undead creatures (a family, victims of some random ghoul attack). They cleared the place of undead and Baen set fire to the buildings after the group searched the place.
As they approached the city, plumes of smoke could be seen. Arriving before the gates of Silverymoon, it became clear that the city was under attack. They circled to the hunter's gate on the north side and found it had been ripped apart by grasping vines. The Free Peoples of the Moonwood were attacking. After some discussion, they decided to side with the invaders and entered the city...