After taking a few days to rest, the Monster Mash decided to take a quest from the guild to pass time and gain experience so they could be better prepared to take on the challenges that awaited them. While they were looking over the quest board at the Londinium guildhall a currier came in holding up a sealed envelope. “I am looking for one Racknar Aradae. I've got a letter for Racknar Aradae.” Racknar raised up his hands and shouted. “Yo, over here.” The currier made his way over to the group and held out the letter. “I've got something special for you, your eyes only.” Racknar grabbed it. “Thanks, I guess.” Racknar looked over the envelope, sealed with the official seal of the Ranian Army.
Ariagoria eyes the envelope. “Who do you know that's in the military of Ran?” Racknar shrugged. “Besides Sir Kenneth, no one.” He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. “It's a personal request from Sir Kenneth. He wants us to meet him at the guildhall in Flowers. Says the payment will be worth the trouble but doesn't explain what he wants. I'm guessing he'll give us details once we are there.” The party took the effort to travel back to Flowers. Once there they entered the guildhall and looked for Kenneth.
Sir Kenneth was sitting with the rest of his adventuring party. “Ah, talk about punctuality. Come on, have a seat.” He gestured to some seats. Racknar crossed his arms. “Straight to business please.” Kenneth sighed and nodded. “Right. Me and my party discovered a new dungeon on an island off the South Coast while doing a normal sweep. Normally my part would be able to handle it on our own but I need your expertise.” He gestured to Racknar. Racknar’s right fang curled a bit. “What sort of expertise could I possibly have that you couldn't find elsewhere?”
Kenneth pulled out some sketches of the outside of the dungeon. Racknar noticed the tattered banners. “That's the symbol of Lolith.” Kenneth nodded. “You are the only person I know with knowledge of this particular heretical goddess. Knowledge of the false gods isn't exactly allowed among the military or members of the church and even adventurers that work here are reluctant to admit knowledge to such figures in public. Especially around members of the military.” Racknar put his hand on his chin and hummed. “Okay, consider the Monster Mash at your disposal for this dungeon. But only because there's a chance this dungeon has something I'm looking for.”
Kenneth nodded. “We'll divide the loot as evenly as possible. I'm sure that this dungeon will have lots of trinkets.” Racknar grunted. “And be filled to the brim with Driders and Sjónlauss’far.” The mage in Kenneth’s party tilted her head. “I've never heard of that second one.” Racknar cleaned his throat. “They're basically cave elves. Used to be drow but became blind after spending too long in the lightless depths of the under dark.” The mage then asked “Are they the banished tribe I've heard rumors about?” Racknar shook his head. “No, that's something else.” The Archer in Kenneth's party then added “You know, for someone who never left the Empire, you know an awful lot about elves.”
Racknar rolled his many eyes. “I read a lot. Berserkers aren't all denser than a block of cheese. Are we good to go now?” Kenneth nodded and grabbed his things before standing. “Let's tackle this dungeon.” The two parties headed out together to the dungeon on an island south of Ran. Technically a small nation that's part of the Empire, the large island seemed to be this world's version of Sicily. It technically being a separate nation meant taking a boat to the island from a harbor town like they have to do for Bramble. Once on the island nation the group traveled straight to the dungeon. The entrance looked just like the sketch. A decapitated catacomb entrance with old banners devoted to Lolith hanging on the sides.
Racknar took a deep breath. “It's going to get a bit crowded in there with two full parties. However, even if they don't have the magic item we're after they might have clues on where to look.” Kenneth had to ask “What exactly are you looking for?” Racknar looked at the rest of the party, trying to gauge how they felt about answering the question before responding. “Well they look sort of like glasses or goggles. They grant dark-vision as well as a few other things.” Kenneth followed up the response with another question. “Does this item have a name?” Racknar nodded but didn't verbally answer.
Kenneth let out a sigh. “Alright, front line fighters on the ends with mages and ranged fighters in the center. Let's try and get through this dungeon as quickly as possible.” The two parties mingled a bit and started moving through the dungeon in pairs. Racknar walked with Kenneth, the mage and ranger walked with Davy and Krys'tal, the rogue walked with Marionette, and Ariagoria walked with the healer of Kenneth’s party. The tight hallway was only wide enough for two people to move side by side. Up until it opened up into the first room.
The room was big enough for everyone to spread out and then some with the walls lined with shelves with embalmed dead wrapped up tightly. There were a few coffins in the center of the room but outside the corpses the room looked empty. Racknar looked around. “That's strange, there's no one here.” Kenneth gestured to the other hallway. “Go ahead and take the lead. My party will back yours up if we run into trouble.” Racknar looked at Marionette. “Mari, check the room for traps.” Marionette nodded and carefully scanned the room checking every time and the coffins before opening them. “Looks like this first room’s already been raided. There's not even an old set of embalming gear or an empty wooden bowl on a shelf.”
Racknar checked the dust. “Well whoever cleared this room out did it ages ago. Let's check deeper in.” The Monster Mash took the lead with Kenneth’s party close behind them. Marionette was upfront checking for traps. She had to stop to disable a classic guillotine trap at the end of the hallway before they entered the next area. It then opened up again into a second room identical to the first but this time there were two Driders looking over the area. As soon as they spotted the parties they ran. The party followed them through a third even larger room with a massive mural at the end that opened up to a secret passageway. The two groups ran through before the passage closed and made chase through a tight hallway until it opened up again.
The party stepped out onto a balcony in what looked like an open cave lit by bioluminescent plants and fungus with stairs leading down to the cave. “Did we… miss something?” Racknar commented. “There should have been more enemies in the first part, possibly undead.” Ariagoria shrugged. “Maybe the Driders came in from this end and cleared it out.” Racknar looked around the cave area. “Maybe. This place does feel like the surface levels of an underdark.”
Racknar could not help but feel uneasy. “(If it was the Driders who cleared it out, what were those two doing in the catacombs if they had already been cleared? Then again if it wasn't the Driders, why would the banner have the symbol of Lolith? There's something off and it's bugging me.)” The two groups started slowly moving deeper into the cave when they were suddenly assaulted by three giant cave spiders and five greyish skinned drow with strange masks over their eyes that covered them and loincloths. Not having much choice, the Monster Mash quickly mowed through them.
Deeper in the party encountered giant centipedes and earwigs. Again, easy to dispatch. Eventually Racknar spotted what looked like a carved and intentionally lit path. The torches using bits of collected bioluminescent plants and fungus or captured lightning bugs and similar creatures. Lightning bugs flew around the area and the path was completely free of monsters. Racknar rubbed a small cut from a lucky hit a giant insect had gotten on him. Ariagoria looked at it and got ready to heal it when Racknar stopped her and made a few subtle hand signals to her.
He pointed to her and Davy, waved his finger like a wand, made a peace sign or a two, then pointed down. Then he pointed to Krys'tal, did the wand-like finger wave, then ran his hand across his neck a few times. Ariagoria nodded in understanding. “(I'm not sure why, but Racknar is asking Davy and I not to use any spells higher than second level and Krys'tal to avoid using magic entirely. I'll simply have to trust him.”)
Racknar then did an obvious stretch. “I think this path leads to a hidden drow settlement. So we'll likely encounter heavy resistance up ahead from armed guards. Both drow and drider. I suggest we take at least a short rest.” Kenneth grumbled and nodded. “I suppose a short rest isn't out of the question.” Both parties sat on rocks in the cave in separate groups not far from one another giving them both a chance to talk quietly amongst themselves.
Ariagoria whispered to keep the other party from hearing. “Okay Racknar, what's the deal? Things are about to potentially get difficult and now that there's a genuine threat you hand cap us?” Racknar sighed and whispered back. “Something's off, my instincts are screaming at me. So I want to conserve resources as much as possible. Since you both can recharge spells on short rests you can use lower level spells that'll recharge. Though I doubt Kenneth knows our Cleric is part Sorcerer. I suggest we keep that info close to the chest.” Davy shifted a bit. “Anything specific you could point out that's feeding into this paranoia?”
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Racknar looked Davy right in the eyes. “Members of their party have been doing the bare minimum and letting us take the lead. Marionette has been the only one checking for and disabling traps and they only seem to help when their absence would be noticed. Their mage has yet to cast anything above a cantrip.” Davy points out everything they've fought has been relatively low level so far. Racknar nods. “But they are also keeping a distance now separate from us. We started moving as one party but now they lag behind as we do most of the work. Also, several things about the catacomb and cave are setting off alarm bells. Things aren't adding up and the structure of the area and placement of enemies feels wrong. This isn't how this dungeon should be. Granted there are outliers but normally when something's abnormal it's a sign.”
The rest of the party nods, deciding to trust Racknar's instincts. If his body and mind are saying something isn't right, then odds are they are correct. His knowledge and experience has yet to steer the party wrong. After a few hours both parties got up, stretched, and continued down the path. After a while they spot what looks like a building carved into a closely bundled group of stalagmites and stalactites that were possibly created artificially. The building almost looked like a beehive out of stone with small holes throughout its body. There were banners to Lolith at the side of what was likely the main entrance that was marked with torches.
Outside the door were four guards; two heavily armored driver males with shields and jousting lances looking like calvary knights, and two drow women in robes with staffs. Likely casters. There were more than likely archers inside the building ready to use the little holes to shoot arrows from. Racknar grumbled. “If it was just our party I could potentially get us through this without combat. Kenneth knows what I am but the rest of his party might not. We might have to kill our way in, keeping only the high priest for questioning.” Racknar then spoke loud enough for Kenneth to hear. “this looks like a temple to Lolith. We're going to raid it. At least leave the head priest or priestess alive for interrogation.”
Kenneth nodded. “Right. We can learn where more heathens who follow false gods reside.” Racknar sighed. “And if the artifact I'm looking for isn't here, then where to find it.” The two parties start going up to the temple with the Monster Mash taking the lead. Davy and Kenneth's mage made use of Magic Missile to get the archers inside. Meanwhile Racknar, Ariagoria, and Kenneth took to the front to go for the calvary while Krys'tal, Marionette, and the archer and rogue of Kenneth's party took on the mages.
Racknar summoned just the two swords using only two arms, but even with that he took on a drider all on his own while the other was double teamed. Racknar met shield with his first strike and after barely dodging a lance thrust made a solid strike to the Drider’s side then made three more strikes with the first hitting shield but the last two hitting their target and the third taking the head off the drider. Ariagoria’s mace burst into white flames as she slammed down on the shield of her opponent, burning him slightly while Kenneth took the opening to stab it in the ribs. Ariagoria then bashed the Drider's head in with a second strike.
The mages were hit with three arrows and three daggers each, turning them to pincushions before they dropped. The two parties made quick work of the archers after that. Racknar grunted. “Easy. Maybe too easy.” He opened the door and started walking inside when more drow warriors tried to attack him only to be cut down by chainsaw swords. Ariagoria switched to using minor healing as Racknar took point drawing aggro and doing most of the work until they reached the inner sanctum.
It was the largest room in the building. Well lit with actual torches and brazers. Adorned with gold accents and decorated with banners and statues devoted to Lolith. In the center of the room was a drider priestess performing some sort of ritual for multiple drie men and women in various states of conversation into drider. They even had a few cave drow locked up that looked like they were being forcefully converted to be placed in the cave as some sort of obstacle for intruders. The moment Racknar stepped in the ritual stopped. The priestess cast a non-combat spell at Racknar.
Racknar's illusion dropped and now everyone could see his true form. “Ah, well I guess I don't have to handicap myself anymore.” The mage, rouge, and ranger all gasp at the sight of Racknar as do several of the drow and Driders. The priestess addressed Racknar directly. “We've been expecting you, though not so soon. Your arrival was foretold.” Racknar summoned his shields, the ring tattoos coming off his wrists to manifest the weapons. “Then you know why I'm here? If you cooperate, I'll let you leave the cave with your lives and return to your native homeland of Svartalfheim.”
The priestess shook her head and made several clicking sounds. “Don't you see? We are on the same side, you and I.” Racknar gripped his weapons. “You follow the treacherous Lolith, so unfortunately for you that makes you my enemy. I'd rather not have to kill you, but I won't hesitate should you make it necessary.” The priestess sighed. “You are stuck in the past, I speak of the future. The artifact you seek is indeed in my possession, as is the information for the location of the main temple of Lolith where our goddess resides.”
Racknar revved up his weapons. “Oh, I already know where that is. It's in the same place it always is. At the heart of the capital of the dark elf kingdom where she leads as queen and goddess, oppressing the dokkalfar under false pretenses of having been their liberator. I don't wish to depose her because I'm stuck in the past, I simply can't suffer a tyrant to live.” The priestess frowns. “You really don't get it, do you? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We share a mutual enemy and should be on the same side. If you burn the bridge I'm extending to you, you'll be fighting a war on two fronts. He hasn't been sitting idly by twiddling his thumbs after you killed his champion.”
Ariagoria leaned over to Racknar. “What is she talking about?” Racknar shook his head. “I'm not entirely sure.” The priestess sighed again. “Right, I forgot you think like a human. For you it has been seven years, but to a god that is nothing.” Racknar's eyes widened, then he composed himself. “You and those of your faith have been an enemy to my family since before I was born into this world. Besides, I think you're bluffing. If Locath cared about that razor locust queen he would have taken noticeable action by now. My peaceful offer of surrendering the artifact and leaving still stands.”
The priestess waved her staff around. “I’d sooner die than see my goddess fall.” She cast an AOE buff on her fellow drow and combat was started. Marionette was the first in the frey and Kenneth's rogue should have been right behind her but instead simply slinked into a corner and vanished. Marionette popped up next to one of the cages and quickly unlocked it with her skeleton key, then she did the next. The cave drow immediately attacked the other drow wildly as soon as they were free. Krys'tal fired a purple ice spike right at the priestess hitting nearby enemies with cold, then fired her next two shots at regular drow affected by her first shot.
The ranger from Kenneth's party seemed to vanish just as easily as the rogue did and was no longer in view. Davy dual cast magic missile to hit two targets for a bit of damage. Kenneth’s mage cast a spell that caused a small ball of acid to strike one of the blind cave drow. “Oops, twas aiming for the one next to it.” Racknar activated his rage, enveloping himself in blood red flames as he ran at one of the worshippers. He cut down one with a single swing of Rip, then another with a single slash of Tare. Then two more fell to Flay and Rend. He could attack more but that would expend resources he was saving just in case. Kenneth also made four attacks but with his one handed sword cutting down four drow.
Several drow targeted Racknar with spells and arrows before three of them with dual daggers came in all at once slashing deeply into him. Ariagoria quickly used healing to recover his wounds. A few drow also attacked Kenneth with his healer casting recovery for him. With eight drow killed and others wounded from the efforts of the party and the wildly flailing cave drow the fight looked like it would end quickly in the heroes favor.
Suddenly arrows and daggers hit the cave drow killing them but Racknar couldn't spot where from, losing part of their advantage. Marionette popped up behind one of the remaining drow and cut them down with relative ease still having two attack to throw daggers with. Krys'tal once again fired their AOE arrow followed by two normal arrows taking out three more enemies. Davy continued to fire basic cantrips while Kenneth's mage seemed to take a back seat.
Racknar cut down the three drow assassins on him before making his way to the priestess and cutting down someone next to her. “Your next.” Kenneth cut down the last three drow leaving only the priestess. She charged up a spell to hit Racknar with but before she could cast it she took a fist to the face as Racknar punched her before she could finish casting causing her to lose concentration. She waved her hand in the air as her legs flailed in the air since she was knocked onto her back. “Wait wait wait.” She reached into her robe and pulled out the eyes of Arachne. “Just take it and go, don't kill me.”
Racknar grabbed the eyes. “Unfortunately I can't have you warning Lolith that we're coming since I plan on taking my time getting to her since I'm not exactly ready to take her on yet.” He then stabbed the drider, killing her in the spot. “We got what we came for, let's go.” His eyes then suddenly widened as he felt a sharp pain in his back and chest. He looked down to see his body and heart had been run through by Kenneth's sword. “I'm sorry Racknar, it's nothing personal. You really did seem like a nice kid.” He twisted the sword a bit. “Call lightning.” A bolt strike hit Racknar from a cloud that formed near the ceiling of the room.
