05. Smolder Mines - Part II

Following their exploration at Smolder Mines, the adventurers escorted Manning Hillview to his home in the mountains, where there was the small dwarven hold of Hyem Vidar.
It was late into the evening when they were greeted by Lord Thorsten Hillview III, an old amicable dwarf. The lord was more than happy to help the adventurers recover and offered them food and lodging.
Bal'Aur asked the lord if a messenger could be organised to deliver the remains of a spider-eel like creature back to Junstol, so that perhaps it would help Mrs Eren aid in determining how to help Mirabel's father who had been poisoned by one of these. They noticed that the carcass was deteriorating quickly, so a bucket was filled with ice and the carcass would hopefully be preserved. The messenger would leave at first light.
Another messenger would deliver the news to Hyemsfrey, the great dwarven hold to the West, that Skongrat Ironbraid was dead.
During their stay, Gilles was able to organise the hold's librarian to bind the manifesto he had written a few nights ago, as was dictated to him by the being known as Azuth.
Meanwhile, Surina had deep talks with the Lord over ale, suggesting closer association between Hyem Vidar and Junstol.

Nightmares

That night, Eberond was awoken by a strange noise. He saw bloodied fingers start to grasp and clamber at the foot of his bed, with a horrible rasping voice groaning. The bloodied dwarf that was Skongrat Ironbraid appeared, crawling on to his bed, his body convulsing sporadically, blood gushing from his cut throat. He tried to speak condemning words but hissing and gurgling was all that could be heard. Beside the bed, Lora and Maryanne, the two girls from the massacred village, stared at Eberond. The elder one, Marry-anne pointed her finger and spoke:

"You killed him, just liked you killed us."

Return to the Mine

The next morning, the adventures left Hyem Vidar. Eberond was still shaken but put away the nightmare from his thouhts.
Upon arrival, Smolder Mine was much the same as they had left. They carefully advanced through the tunnels, keeping an eye for any of the spider-eel creatures, especially the larger one that had chased them out. They reached the cavern with the underground glowing lake in short order, and upon further investigation it could be seen that the water glowed due to light reflecting from an underwater tunnel. Taking a deep breath, they adventures dived in. Surina, a Dragonborn with quite a large girth and lack of agility found the underwater tunnel a tight fit, however with a friend managed to use some leverage to kick the stuck paladin further along.
The adverturers broke the surface of the water to arrive in a anoter small cavern, lit by a strange engraved totem which eminated a strange light. In front of this they found the large monster from yesterday, interrupting its prayer, or whatever it was doing. The half elf rogue was quick and slunk into the darkness provided by some stalacite pillars. Gilles' hand s swayed in a complex pattern and a crackle of energy struck past the charging paladin and half orc fighter but missed its mark. However Eberond's short bow was more accurate and the arrow bit deep into the furry tuft of the monster's abdomen.
Before Surina and Bal'Aur could complete their charge into the creature, it suddenly disappeared behind some kind of shimmering in the air itself.
Shaking some of the water from their bodies, the adventures advances forward trying to sniff out the monster.
Gilles, behind his friends didn't realise teh creature had somehow appeared behind him, and suddenly his sense of self fell into pieces, the words echoing in his mind - "You are mine now."
The others glanced back and saw the monster and with haste sprinted forward. The creature back pedalled up the cavern wall and with its one pincer waved a delicate gesture and uttered something in its strange speech. Suddenly Surina, Bal'Aur and Eberond found themselves in a cold black void, leeching their very life force. They could see nothing but they waded through. They could not see as Gilles kindly sought healing powers to bestow on his new master, for it only seemed right.
The remaining heroes emerged from the black inky void and managed to reach the monster, perhaps finding it strange that Gilles also stared at them angrily. As Gilles sweeped his mace against them, they realised in horror that their friend had fallen under the influence of the monster.
"Ignore Gilles, concentrate on the monster!" bellowed Bal'Aur, his warhammer swinging into it.
The creature was now backed into a corner, with Surina and Bal'Aur working as a perfect team to protect and counter, whilst Eberond let struck from a range whenever the creature clambered any further up the cavern walls or ceilling. Despite Gilles' mind being under the alien influence, he had somehow kept his thoughts concentrated on weakly attacking the well armoured dragonborn and half-orc, shielding his deeper thoughts that this was the only thing he could do to limit aiding the monster.
Slowly but surely, the monster because tired and bloodied, limbs having been smashed or cut own, deep wounds in its abdomen. It was too cornered to escape and it could its powers of magic had been exhausted. before it could think of a way to escape, an arrow penetrated through its eye and it thought no more.

The Owl

As the adventurers panted to get their breath back, Gilles' mind came to and a tiny pitch black being crawled up his arm and into its palm, opening its one eye. Before the adventurers could react, the thing that Gilles had met a few nights ago struck out a bright light, sucking the energy from the strange glyph on the cavern wall.
As the light receded back to shadow, the black thing was gone and now a glowing grey owl shifted its weight on the monster's carcass. It mentioned how this form of an owl was far more fitting and then introduced itself to everyone as Azuth, a being some had before considered the god of magic.
The owl calmy explained to them that it had been banished over 5,ooo years ago during the Mending, when heroes of old closed the Rift that was tearing the world asunder. It was not only the Unknown Hero of Helm that had closed the rift as priests of today claimed, but a collection of mortals selected by Azuth and other gods who now slumbered. The Rift was mended, but Azuth and magic had been mostly wiped from this world as a result.
Yet after millenia, the Mending's stitches slowly have peeled back and the influence of magic from another plane trickled into the world once more. Hence, Azuth said that he is returning thanks to this but the Rift was getting larger and could engulf the world if left unchecked, which would not be good for anyone. Lately, the seeping magic has been collecting into globs around the world, forming points of concentrated magic such as the glyph in this cavern. These glpyhs would cause more problems such as the Neogi, the race of monsters that they had found in this cave.
The owl then had fire cascade from its eyes, the heat burning the remains of the Neogi. Nodding with satisfaction it then gingerly flew away, disappearing into the cavern wall. To Gilles'mind it spoke only, "Do not forget to copy my book, it will be needed for another."
The adventurers were left somewhat confused by the encounter, their minds struggling to comprehend what had just happened. For Surina, what the odl had claimed was very different than the teaching of Helm, for it was claimed there was only one god.
But for now, they set their minds to simply returning to Junstol and seeing what had happened to Mirabel's father.

Date
Sune 3rd - 4th, 5249 AC
Locations
Hyem Vidar
Junstol
Smolder Mine, north of Junstol