Taking a few moments to decide what to do, they opted to open the first door and found a set of stairs leading down. As they descended the stairs they could feel that strange feeling of disharmony and confusion growing stronger. The stairs led to a chamber with a large table and several chairs; a meeting room of some sort with a map of Neverwinter on it.
There was a door that led to a room that seemed to take up the rest of the basement. Inside were two sleeping mats, a knocked over bowl of water and a few bread crumbs. They ascertained this was likely the place where they were holding Alein, but she had been moved somewhere else. The most striking feature of the room was a hole in the floor that opened up into ancient looking stone steps going down into darkness.
With nary a thought to their own safety, they plunged into the depths of the earth beneath the city of Neverwinter to save the abducted paladin. The stairs ended in a long, rough hewn tunnel half filled with rubble, but passable. They came to a door which was ajar, and beyond that a more purpose built even tunnel, still strewn with rubble, and lit by an oil lamp, which let to the base of stairs going up.
The stairs led up to a lit room with a tunnel in the west wall and a door on the far wall. The east side of the chamber seemed to be completely collapsed. As they began to explore the room they were ambushed by a strange other-worldly being which seemed to be made of light energy, but with four long tentacles which it used to move about the walls and ceiling of the room. It shot forth it's tentacles to assail the party. Soon a second creature of the same type came out of the west tunnel to join the fray.
The fight went fairly well, with not too much damage being done to the group. These aberrations withered and wasted just as the other summoned creatures had done before. They were on the right track it seemed. The west tunnel led to a non-descript room with a strange idol in an alcove on the far side. It looked like the idol had been recently robbed of it's eyes (maybe gems?).
The far door opened to another set of stone stairs, leading down this time. The stairs opened into a wide hall running north to south ending in a set of double doors, with a wide hall branching off to the west. The oppressive warping of reality was continuing to get stronger and the air was filled with the muttering sounds of madness and the echoing chant of a strong voice, the direction of which was indeterminable.
As soon as they began moving into the great hall black tentacles erupted from the floor, walls and ceiling in the hall in front of them. Farooq was entangled by the inky tendrils. Attacking the tentacles themselves had no effect, so thinking quickly Bronn used his dispel magic on them and they quickly dispersed, opening the way forward.
The west passage ended in a set of half collapsed double doors, beyond which lay a large room half collapsed with large rubble piles and nothing else of interest. They moved to the south set of double doors and could feel an almost repulsive wave of that bent reality energy coming from beyond. Farooq pushed open the doors and a chaotic scene opened up before him.
Almost like an ancient amphitheater, tiered stone steps/ seating lay upon all walls of the room. In the center of the room stood a raised platform upon which sat a large stone bowl. Tied to ropes, her limp form lifted out over the lip of the bowl, was Alein - her life blood draining into the bowl. Beside her was The Blessed, a beautiful blonde haired woman whose cloak was thrown back and her voice was raised in exultation as she gesticulated towards the ceiling. A growing rift, a vortex of black energy, was spinning on the ceiling of the chamber. Waves of chaos radiated from that rift and a maddening, nonsensical, cacophony of alien voices and sounds erupted from it. Two subordinate sorcerers occupied the room with her.
Even as Farooq moved to charge into battle, the sorcerers were chanting and casting their summoning spells. The way forward into the room was obstructed by one of those huge tentacled worm creatures (a Wyste) that they had fought in the streets above and an Alien Squid, like the one they battled in the bell tower. Both creatures presented a wall of tentacles reaching out to capture Farooq.
The creatures served their purpose as attacks were sent flying into them, buying time for The Blessed to finish her summoning ritual. The other sorcerers send magical attacks at the PCs. Attacks against The Blessed seemed to be protected by an invisible shield of energy which deflected attacks against her. The sorcerers cast obscuring mists upon the PCs in the hall which Bronn had to dispel multiple times. The sorcerers also possessed the ability to counter spells cast at them, but Finder managed to get a Faerie Fire off.
Farooq was taking a beating and the ranged attacks of his comrades were only partially successful due to the obscuring mists which came and went. But when they did score hits on the sorcerers, they were mighty. The tactic quickly became to try and kill the sorcerers with the hopes that would dispel their summoned creatures. In desperation, with Nash's arrows plunged deeply into them, they were forced to hide behind the raised platform and hope that their summoned creatures would deal with the PCs. All the while, The Blessed continued her ritual and huge black tentacles could be seen dipping out of the swirling black vortex above.
She cast forth a deadly fireball, damaging most of the group as Bronn moved forward to heal Farooq and sent forth his magical spirit hammer to attack the sorcerers behind the platform, who kept poking their heads up and casting spells at the PCs. Soon, one of the sorcerers were finished off and the Wyste he had summoned vanished into the black void. This is what Farooq was waiting for as he rushed forward and plunged his spear into the other sorcerer, killing him and dispersing the Alien Squid.
Attacks were sent towards The Blessed and her concentration on the summoning ritual was broken as she was forced to defend herself, ultimately having to teleport away by casting a Far Step spell. The void in the ceiling above quickly shrunk and the tentacles pulled back into the dark void of the Far Realms once again. Farooq went and cut down the paladin and began carrying her out into the great hall.
There in the hall, around the corner of the hall leading west, was The Blessed, preparing for her second jump with the Far Step spell. Farooq dropped the paladin and launched his spear at the Sorceress, scoring a hit. Soon Finder and Nash rounded the corner and Eldritch Blasts and arrows flew at her. She fell to the floor with one of Nash's arrows plunged deeply into her chest. They had defeated the Blessed and stopped whatever horrifying being she was attempting to summon.
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