The group moved on in silence after finding Echo’s friend lying in the hall. It was clear that Ikan had given his life to save the little halfling that now accompanied them. Echo was quiet and following the others, but slowly growing more tense. You could sense the tension in the air, and she seemed like a snake coiled up, ready to pounce.

The corridors around them all looked the same. Moss, stone, exposed tree roots, pools of water. Several shrubs had started growing here underground, obviously not needing the light of day to flourish. Based on the way nature was pushing its way through the walls, any remnants of these ruins may be gone within a few decades.

Tanthalas took a scouting lead, checking ahead of the group as they moved slowly forward with great caution. They had already been assaulted once by one of those dark shadowy shapes, and then had been forced to deal with living roots that had attacked them as they passed through one of the overgrown stone rooms in the tunnels. They had even needed to burn their way through a gate of roots that seemed to have been grown to bar the way in front of them.

The fungi… of death!

Leaning his head against the hard wooden doors, Al didn’t hear any sounds from the other side. His claws tapped carefully on the frame, but found no signs of further defenses. It did not even seem as if the door was locked. Pushing their way into the next chamber, the group found themselves in a large room with a central pillar holding up the vaulted ceiling above them. Most of the room, however, featured a pool of water, perhaps a few feet deep. A large rusted pipe, big enough to walk through, took up a significant portion of the far wall. Cave-ins and time had caused stones to fall and block the pipe, making it impossible to explore. It appeared this room was likely a part of some sort of sewage system for the castle, though it had long since lost its purpose. In the water, in both directions, there were steel grates embedded into the stone walls which allowed the water to flow in either direction. A quick glance at the grate to their left showed that there were signs of something having passed through that grate. Whomever had passed by here before had made a hole in the grate large enough for one or more people to pass through. Audak, with his huge frame, would need to squeeze, but they would all be able to fit through.

“What do you think?” Thegman asked the others. “It’s probably the druids that went through the gate, ya think?”

“Agreed” grunted Tanthalas with a nod. “It’s our best bet, we can always check the other direction later.”

The water, shallow as it was, was still quite high on both of the halflings. Echo and Flynver held their gear high as the tall ones around them splashed through the water. On the other side of the broken grate they found the water coming to an end in a small cavern with high stone walls on all sides. At first glance, it seemed a dead end, but a closer look showed that one of the stone walls seemed to have an edge high above them. Standing from the back of the chamber, Flynver could see that there was more to the cavern up above the lip, along with some sort of soft, green, glowing light.

Tanthalas tested the surface of the stone, looking for handholds. It was scalable, but it would take some effort. Echo, having sloshed through the water up to the elf’s side, cocked her head as if examining what the ranger was doing.

“If you want to get up there, I can think of easier ways” said the little halfling, with a serious look on her face. Holding onto an amulet hanging around her neck, Echo closed her eyes and murmured a few words, before reaching out and grasping Tanthalas by the elbow.

“Try it now” suggested the druid, still holding in her feelings.

Tanthalas reached out to the stone surface and found his hands seemed to grip to the rocks as if some force was pulling him towards them. Within seconds, the elf had scaled straight up the sheer wall, moving in a way that didn’t seem quite natural. Standing at the lip, several lengths above the rest of them, the elf grudgingly nodded in approval before disappearing into the dark of the upper cavern.

Hugging to the wall, sneaking forward, the ranger stealthily approached the soft glow coming from around the corner. Being careful to only lean his head around the edge of the wall, the elf took a quick peek before pulling back. His quick glance had not noticed anything moving in the soft glow of the fungi which dotted the walls and floors of the cavern. It seemed to be the fungus itself that was giving off the glow. The one concerning bit was the group of four skeletons that seemed to be grouped in the center of the cavern.

Moving slowly back towards the group, the elf gestured a thumbs up before tossing down a rope to help the others up. Tanthalas braced himself to not be pulled over the edge by the weight of those climbing but found his feet gripping the surface supernaturally well.

“Quite the trick, little one” teased the elf as he helped Echo over the edge. The halfling returned a half smile and patted his cheek, not quite ready to engage in banter just yet.

Moving forward warily, the group took up a cautious position in the cavern, well away from the fungus and the skeletons. The presence of the skeletal remains did not do much to raise confidence in the safety of the room. Flynver crept forward towards one of the mushroom-like growths on the wall, carefully poking it with a stick and examining the fungus as closely as possible.

“I think they’re okay?” Flynver stated cautiously. He was fairly certain he had seen something written about this type of fungus before, but couldn’t quite put his finger on the details. Whatever they were called, he was fairly certain they were benign.

“Are those your friends, Echo?” the wizard asked, pointing at the skeletons.

Echo moved her small form towards the center of the cavern where the bodies lay. She was apprehensive, hoping her circle family were not the ones lying here. Kneeling down to examine them more closely, the druid could see that the tattered clothing and remnants of gear did not match to what had been worn by her friends when they had arrived.

“Doesn’t seem like it” the halfling replied, feeling relieved. “The robes are…”

Echo was cut off by the sound of shuffling and slapping as long probing tendrils snaked through the green glow of the cavern, slapping around wildly as several plant-like forms erupted around her. Using her nimbleness and size to her advantage, the halfling twisted and turned, trying to avoid the ambush. A vine-like tentacle slapped into her knee, buckling her leg for a moment, but the druid managed to hold fast.

Tanthalas had been prepared, suspecting something like this might happen. Standing at the ready next to Echo, the elf slashed forward, cutting through the skeletal frame to the strange bulbous fungus in the middle of the corpse. It took very little time for the others to realize something had happened and soon they were all pressing forward against the flying tendrils that reached for them. One by one, the group smashed into the fungal creatures, trying to take the attention off of Echo. The hungry fungi were little match for the combined might of the heroes and were soon dispatched, clearing the way for the party to advance through the rest of the cavern. As the others moved forward, Flynver stayed back to inspect the remains of the unfortunate souls who had fallen prey to the strange fungus. Hoping to find clues, the wizard found little left on the consumed corpses themselves. Nearby, however, the halfling did discover a wooden staff, taller than the wizard himself, which seems to be etched with fine engravings.

“That might belong to one of the circle” suggested Echo, eyeing the markings on the staff. “I can’t be sure, I don’t always pay close attention to their stuff, but they do like their sticks.”

“We should keep it close, just in case. Might be useful! Besides, every wizard loves to have a good walking stick” joked Flynver, a mischievous smile on his face.

The chasm… of doom!

The halflings caught up to the rest of the group who were watching Tanthalas examining the rough flooring of the cavern. Some of the mushrooms and other glowing fungi had been damaged here and close inspection revealed what looked to be a few different sets of tracks. Whoever had made their way through that grate had likely also passed this way.

Following the tracks forward, the elf moved cautiously, scouting ahead of the main group. The ruins felt labyrinthian, with some of the tunnels caved in and unpassable. Several more series of large wooden doors presented themselves, each one leading to another chamber or another hallway, twisting and turning below the castle ruins above ground. The air was still and quiet, which made the group jumpy. Flynver was regularly flashing his torch light towards the ceiling, checking for moving shadows.

After a few minutes, the tunnels opened up into a large chamber. The walls seemed rougher in this location, with some dislodged stones around the floor. In the middle of the chamber, Al spotted an enormous chasm, possibly caused by an earthquake many years ago. The chasm currently featured a very solid web bridge stretching across the chasm to allow individuals to cross to the other side. Cautious, wondering what creature might have made these, the group entered the cavern to investigate.

“What do you think made that?” questioned Audak, clearly suspicious of the conveniently placed webbing. After their encounter in the sewers of Denn the other day, they were all a bit wary of large webbing.

“Can’t be sure, obviously, but it’s possible the circle druids built this” suggested Echo. “We have all studied how to take on the form of nature’s creatures, so it’s possible one of them had taken the form of a spider to build this bridge for the others.”

While plausible, nobody was quite ready to throw caution to the wind just yet. They advanced slowly, peering down into the darkness of the chasm, attempting to see the bottom. There were no signs of anything lurking on the dark walls, though the strands of the bridge did extend downward past where they could see. Even those of the party whose eyesight could attune to the pitch black of the underground could not see the end of the hole. It did not seem like a good idea to fall.

Sneaking forward cautiously, Tanthalas grabbed an end of rope and handed it to Brylla, silently conveying his plan. Still using the magic that Echo had given him, the elf walked along the cavern walls, crossing the chasm safely. With Brylla on one side of the webbed bridge and Tanthalas now on the other, at least they would have a slightly safer way to cross.

Flynver was the boldest and bravest, rushing forward to cross the webbed bridge and reach the other side. The webbing was strong and thick, definitely solid enough to hold up even the heaviest of them and help them cross the deep chasm. It would be slow going through the sticky strands, but the rope held between his hands gave Flynver some comfort. For a moment, the halfling looked down and wished he hadn’t. The darkness below seemed to stretch forever, swallowing up the weak light from his torch.

“Am I afraid of heights?” thought the wizard to himself, settling his eyes back on the other side of the chasm where the safe and solid stone flooring awaited. Another step forward, then two. He was almost there!

Looking up at the ranger holding the other end of the rope, Flynver saw Tanthalas’ focus shift downwards. The elf saw the scurrying shapes first, having expected an ambush. The enormous spiders were upon Flynver in a flash, with no time to react. Skittering up from the dark depths below, fangs snapping, the ambushers closed in on their prey. With Tanthalas charging at the nearest spider in response, the halfling’s rope no longer provided the security it once did. Brylla held the other end of the rope wrapped around her wrist, working to see an angle to help push back against the spiders, but Tanthalas’ end of the rope now dangled down into the great dark below. The small halfling held onto the web bridge strands themselves, the sticky substance clinging to his fingers. Hanging on precariously, the wizard dipped and dodged, making himself a difficult meal for his ambushers. A few steps more and Flynver made his retreat to solid ground, feeling the comforting solidness of the stone beneath his boots, just in time to watch his companions finish their would-be predators.

The terrain might have favoured the eight-legged beasts, but the large group of adventurers proved to be too much. The party had launched into the spiders with full force, driving them back blow after blow. One of the spiders tried to escape, rushing off into darkness, but Tanthalas made sure that it would not threaten any other creatures with an impressive shot into the darkness. The arachnid bodies seemed to curl up as they fell down into the dark abyss below. There was a whistling noise in the dark until, a few seconds later, a loud thud was heard as the bodies reached the bottom of the chasm far below.

With the immediate threat dealt with, the others followed Flynver’s lead in crossing the large bridge of webs. Somebody had definitely gone to a great deal of effort to make it difficult to get through these tunnels and they still hadn’t found Echo’s druid circle or the source of the strange magic pulse that was affecting the town. Hopefully they were getting close!

The hallway… of madness!

It was not long before they found an exit from the cavern through another set of large wooden doors. There did seem to be a strange number of doors in this underground ruin, thought Thegman. Walls were caving in, water was seeping into pools in rooms, but somebody was making sure the doors were all operational, sturdy and politely closed. Slowly opening the door, Al did not notice any immediate signs of threats. It seemed to be a short corridor, but unlike most of the others, this one had another door almost immediately within view. For some reason, this caused Flynver to mistrust this particular hallway.

“I don’t know about this” the halfling said, worried. “What if there are holes? Holes with darts? Holes with darts that fire out of the wall and then you die!”

The wizard sounded a little paranoid, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that somebody might have decided to protect this walkway. A quick examination by Tanthalas didn’t turn up any signs of blood, but there did seem to be some foot prints in the heavy layer of dust and dirt on the stone floor. At the very least, several individuals had been able to make it through. The elf also noticed some sort of scratches along the well.

Flynver pushed through the legs of the large dragonborn in front of him to peer at the scratches, certain they must be the sign of some sort of trap. Running his fingers along the marks, the halfling noted that they seemed to be around his eye level, perhaps a little lower in some cases. Brylla stepped forward, moving up next to the halfling to examine them, and ran her dwarven hand across the wall to feel the shape of them. The marks on the walls seemed very much like impact marks, perhaps from a club or a blade, or both. Flynver and Brylla continued stepping in the footprints left in the stone dust, advancing down the hall very cautiously, looking for more signs of the marks, with Audak close behind them.

About half-way down the short hall, a forceful push entered their minds. The invasive feeling felt stronger this time, enough to cause the adventurers to hold onto the sides of their head as they withstood the psychic blast. The source of the magic must be nearby, Flynver reasoned. He turned to warn the others, only to find Brylla and Audak wild-eyed and staring around the hallway in shock.

***

As Audak looked around in stunned disbelief, the howls of many approaching beasts filled the air. Snow lay all around him on what looked to be a trading trail. The spot looked familiar, something close to home in the Spine Mountains. A campfire burned to his left, surrounded by what looked like sleeping bags of a group of travellers, though the travellers themselves were nowhere to be seen. The only other person here was Brylla, his cleric friend, whose eyes were filled with terror. Audak himself was feeling a strong emotion overtaking him, but it was one of anger, anger at whomever would dare to threaten a member of the Bear tribe and his friend here, in his own lands. Out from the trees they came, two by two, rushing forward with teeth bared. Enormous wolves, covered in white fur, their ears tucked back and eyes glowing. Gripping his axe, the goliath charged forward towards the nearest pack of advancing wolves with a cry of outrage.

For Brylla, though, the sound of the wolves filled her with a sense of dread that she could not push away. All she could feel was a pressing need to escape. She turned to run towards the small trader’s camp only to find another pack of wolves descending upon them from the other side. They were trapped! Brylla could only scream as the wolves launched themselves upon her, the large mass of white fur and claws snapping at her.

***

As the fangs dug into her leg, she felt a brief flash of pain and then clarity. The snowy scene around her dissolved, replaced by the damp stone of the hallway. Beside her, the barbarian was still growling and swinging his axe, forcing those around him in the hall to have to back away. Audak’s eyes seemed locked on his imaginary foe as he advanced forward with determination, his greataxe held high and swinging down again and again. Tanthalas, caught by surprise and unable to dodge the blows, crumpled to the floor under the heavy barrage from his companion.

“Wake up, Stretch!” shouted Flynver, smacking him on the back of the head with the reach of the long quarterstaff he held. The tactic seemed to work as the goliath paused, his focus seeming to come back to the corridor around him.

Looking down at the floor of the hallway, Audak saw the crumpled form of his elven friend, heavily bleeding. A crushing worry came over him as Brylla raced forward to stabilize him. Audak could only step back, muttering his apologies, as Flynver and Brylla tended his wounds.

A loud gasp escaped from Tanthalas’ lips as awareness flooded him, his eyes darting around in worry until he recognized the faces of his friends. Propping himself up on his elbows, the elf mentally prepared himself for continuing, before fully rising to his feet and stretching out his back.

“Audak, it wasn’t your fault” said Echo, comfortingly, as she walked up to the massive giant of a man. The top of her head didn’t even reach his waist, so she laid her hand gently on the big man’s knee, her head craning upwards to look up at the barbarian. The psychic wave hit her at that moment, causing her to shake her head to clear her thoughts, but the druid kept her focus.

Not wanting to risk another incident, each of them advanced down the hall one at a time, bracing themselves for the invasive push into their mind. Feeling confident about his previous success with the stick blow to Audak’s head, Flynver readied himself to hit anybody who looked at him crosswise. The tiny wizard with the massive stick was an almost comical threat, but it was better to be safe.

All of them pressed forward, one-by-one, feeling and then pushing away the magical force that they were getting closer to. The last of them to try to cross the hallway was the dragonborn, Al, who had stood rearguard. He stepped forward cautiously, his companions watching him with great care. As the force entered his mind, he battled it valiantly, but in the next moment all he knew was fear.

***

The old stone walls of the hallway were gone, replaced instead by the complete darkness of night. Around him he could feel the gentle movement of the wind blowing, the cool night air on his scales. He blinked his reptilian eyes, trying to adapt to the dark lighting. He reached out along the ground and felt the rough barks of tree roots and the thorniness of rough, dry, grass. A forest, perhaps?

At that moment, a chorus of wailing sounds filled the air. It seemed to come from all around him, gripping him with an uncontrollable sense of dread. Using all the skills he had been taught, Al slinked forward in the dark, moving slowly and silently, trying to keep as low a profile as possible as he fought the pressing need to flee as quickly as he could. His boots touched the grass so lightly one might have mistaken his soft tread for one of the wood elves.

With care, he found himself safely up against a stone wall or ledge. Feeling around, it seemed to stretch out in both directions, so he put his back to the wall and started moving along it, trying to put distance between himself and the approaching wailing sounds.

***

The others in the hallway noticed immediately when Al started behaving strangely. He was hunched over in the hallway, feeling the dirt with his claws, and then started slinking back the way they had come. Flynver had been ready but the sudden duck by the dragonborn caused his swing to miss. Al was fast, even with his careful dodging back and forth in the hall, but Tanthalas’ aim had been true this last little while. A rock flew through the air, hurled by the elf, striking the dragonborn in the back of his head.

“Hey, why did you do that?” Al questioned his companion, turning to face him, his senses returning. Looking around, Al realized where he was and remembered the feel of the forest and the sounds chasing him. “It felt so real… Thanks.”

The antechamber… of spooky sounds!

With everyone now seeming stable again, the group again pushed forward down the short hall to find themselves at the base of a short set of stone stairs, leading up towards the surface. The tracks they had been following had led them directly to this set of stairs, but there was another set of prints, a smaller group, heading away from the stairs in another direction.

“This must be it, right?” Thegman asked. “Up the stairs we go?”

The dwarf was probably right, thought Tanthalas. Based on the number of sets of prints in the dirt and dust the larger group had definitely gone up the stairwell. Echo had confirmed a rough count of the number of druids in her circle that had come down here and it was definitely larger than the number of prints heading the other direction.

“Let me take a look, just to be safe” suggested the ranger.

Climbing the short set of stairs, the elf found that they did not quite get up to the surface level. Instead, the elf was faced with yet another door barring the way. Leaning a pointed ear to the rough oak surface, Tanthalas listened carefully. Through the thick door he heard low rhythmic sounds, a repetitive noise of some sort. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to know that there was something on the other side of these doors.

Stepping back a few steps, the elf gestured the others to come forward quietly. Moving as carefully as they could, the seven heroes tried to make it up the stairs without raising suspicion. A clink from Thegman’s armour elicited a sudden stop by the group as six pairs of eyes threw daggers at him. The dwarf could only shrug an apology.

Carefully opening the door, their eyes were first drawn to the shapes on the floor. Four bodies were lying prone on the ground, the signs of battle around them. Sneaking forward into the antechamber, Echo checked on two of them and had to bite back a cry of despair as she recognized the faces of her friends. Strangely, though, the wounds upon their bodies did not seem life threatening. The same held true for the other two, whose bodies seemed to have passed on in the middle of combat. Unlike Echo’s friends, these two were dressed differently. They wore matching robes embroidered with the same symbol they had found in the sewers. Just like Ikan and the other druids, they seemed to have just stopped living.

As the group filed in, they could not ignore the sound Tanthalas had heard through the thick door. The antechamber was filled with a low rhythmic sound, echoing off the stone walls on all sides. As they listened to the sound more carefully, the sounds began to seem more like words being chanted by deep voices. It seemed to be coming from the main feature of the room: a large and ornate double-door at the other end of the chamber. Symbols in a language that none of them understood were carved into the stone above the doorway. From beneath the heavy portal came a menacing, red, glowing light.

Not wanting to make a noise, the group looked at each other silently, knowing what must come next. It seemed they had found what they were looking for.

Credits

• Writing credit: Inspiration taken from session notes by Matthew Moran.
• Cover image: “Underground ruins”, generated by Jason St-Cyr using NightCafe
• Chasm image: “Web bridge and spider”, generated by Jason St-Cyr using NightCafe
• Winter wolf image: “Winter Wolves” by Robson Michel for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, copyright Wizards of the Coast (sourced from Forgotten Realms wiki)