Heart and Soul

Participants

• Damek Lestus
• Tingle
• Kaladan of Norixius
• Ulfgar Fireforge
• Arden Rook
• Zeek the Zapper
• Iria

Recap

As the bulk of the JKS enforcers made their way deeper, about to exit the forge, Iria had been lost in the demonic portal Tzench had created, and she tumbled through a dizzying, twisting tunnel of fire with seemingly no end. When the guild managed to open the forge door, Iria's nightmare suddenly came to an end, thudding unceremoniously to the warm slate of the steaming, smoking forgery.

Disoriented temporarily, she soon connects back with her friends. Finding herself unable to speak, her confusion deepens, miming muteness to the other enforcers and they explain they all have some kind of malady since entering this accursed place. Iria motions for parchment so they can properly communicate, and JKS catches her up to the recent events she missed while trapped in the portal.

After some discussion about how to best proceed in their rather diminished state, they decide to continue down the tunnel knowing that time was likely a factor in their chances of success. Leaving behind the sweltering heat of the forge, the dark tunnel before them glistened with condensation, and the drafts of cool air began to overpower the warmth above.

Tingle's familiar scouts ahead along the three possible passageways for obvious dangers. Finding none, it returns, but the group has been alerted to the location of a chest, and a body in the far left corridor.

Using a bit of basic magic, the gnome rummages through the body's belongings at a distance, ultimately returning with a small notebook. Thumbing through the pages, the writings detail some of the daily life of a Ahtos member, with the last entry expressing regret at turning their back on Normaad, citing the perils of the void, and Mortoja's ability to persuade.

Before leaving the area to explore the center corridor, the group magically secures a rope around the chest and hauls it out of the room, in an effort to avoid any traps in the vicinity. The rust around the chest proved stubborn, but their efforts eventually yielded a few items that could prove useful in their adventures to come.

Damek uses his stealthy approach to enter the next room, a door at the far side remains sealed, and four sarcophagi, three sealed one cracked and slightly open. Iria follows slightly behind, treading lightly as the rest of JKS watch pensively just outside the room. The air is still and stale, and aside from the slow drip of water off the stone walls, deathly silent.

Damek quietly moved across the room to examine the broken sarcophagus. Despite the foreboding circumstance, his heartbeat remained steady, his actions smooth. It was because of this monastic calm that he was able to discern the slate tile beneath his foot gave way just so. His head shot up to look at Iria behind him, whose eyes widened. Before either of them could utter a word, an enormous iron gate slammed to the ground at the entrance, cutting Iria and Damek off from their friends.

An instant later an ear-piercing scream resonates wickedly from the closest sarcophagus, and many of the party suddenly collapse to the ground. The wispy visage of a woman climbs from the stone resting place, wearing a look of fury. Her icy claws slicing through Iria's armor before she could step aside.

As group outside the door struggled to cling to life after being wracked by the effects of the scream, they slowly begin to gather themselves as Iria and Damek are engaged in a savage, yet silent combat on the other side of the ragged iron, the monk casting a spell to prevent this wraith from uttering another sound.

After a few tense moments, Damek finally lands a backhanded blow, twirling the wraith into a perfect line of sight for Iria. The drow's arrow finds its mark, delivering a devastating blow. The woman staggers, only for two more arrows to lodge into her, and she falls to the ground. Looking backwards, Iria sees that those shots came from outside the room, her allies stabilized enough to contribute through the slates in the gate.

Breathing a sigh of relief, JKS opened the stubborn gate and searched the remaining stone graves. Within, the bodies of several cult members who choose to follow Mortoja down to this place, lay in the first stages of desiccation.

The group decides that they should check the entire area before proceeding. Ensuring that they left nothing unturned, the last chamber of this alcove is explored.

The fiery visage of Normaad appears before them, the guild boss projecting himself from the disconnected floors of the Embrace above. He greeted the enforcers, glad to see them alive and on-task, and he came bearing further information about the situation.

Normaad explains their antagonist was a being from the middle levels of the hells, a fiend named "Tzench". A dangerous and formidable foe, Tzench was known for toying with his victims.

Breaking off his initial thought, Normaad took note of the state of his allies. Lacking rest and with mounting injuries, the wight knew he had to offer some aid, conjuring potent potions of stimulant-laced healing in order for JKS to carry on strong.

As they progress deeper, the sound of the heartbeat is extraordinarily loud, yet the voice of Tzench reverberates in their minds, speaking ill of Normaad, and making reference to "wasted souls".

Entering a new area filled with shattered bookshelves and desks, the words barely had time to resonate with JKS. Tingle's familiar reported back that the floor in one of the rooms ahead seemed to writhe with blood. Other rooms seem to have been converted into holding cells.

The group learned several pieces of information in this area. Damek and Tingle searched through the books, learning more about the devious inhabitants of the middling levels of the hells. Meanwhile, Kal explored the holding cells, finding several members of Ahtos that had regretted following Mortoja, and were subsequently locked away. They warned the group that the heart they hear must be destroyed if they ever hoped to succeed.

Avoiding the red veins on the ground, the group traveled north, and found a crawlspace through the wall into the next chambers. Hearing activity ahead, Tingle conjured a light-trick to get any foe to show themselves. A zombie lunged forth, and the enforcers quickly streamed into the room, dispatching them. Damek ensured the two girls they escorted stayed safely behind them.

The holding cell with the zombies had no apparent exit, but the group found a magical aura emanating through one section of the far wall. Breaking through a weak-point, JKS found a dark corridor that pulsed strongly with a thicker network of blood of veins covering the floor, and creeping partway up the walls. Any venture into this was met with small vessels reaching out and lightly burning those who walked through it. After a few painful moments, JKS learned how to safely navigate the hostile terrain.

A series of switches and roaming zombies made the tight corridors more of a problem than anticipated. With quick thinking, the group uses an immovable rod to lodge a switch to stay in place, allowing them to trigger a final switch deeper within the complex which opened a hole in the floor, leading straight down into darkness.

Seeing Tingle frozen with fear, Zeek carries him into the next room to allow his familiar to scout. Knowing that prior attempts resulted in the veins burning the small arachnid immediately, the gnome tries to move closer to the opening in the chamber floor.

Suddenly, the larger veins buck and throb sharply, causing the wizard to lose his balance. Before Tingle fell into the darkness below, his friends saw the terrified look in his eyes before he slipped out of view.

With barely a second of hesitation, Zeek dove into the hole after him.

Things then began happening quickly - Inside the chamber, the heartbeat was deafening and a massive ogre, twisted by some foul magics who stood before the massive heart turned to see who had come. Above, Arden began fastening a rope in order to control the team's descent, ahead of the rest, he dives in.

As this happens, the voice of Tzench enters the team's minds once again, exposing what seems to be a conspiracy between Escher's pits and the Cult of Ahtos using the souls of the vanquished to feed Ahtos himself. The word of a hostile demon is difficult to go on by itself, however.

Zeek desperately tries to buy time, casting a spell forward, enveloping the area between himself and Mortoja in a thick fog. Almost in reply, a thick green gas rises from the ground, choking Tingle, Arden and Zeek, the gnome nearly succumbing to the poisonous attack.

Above, Iria had begun the descent into the heart chamber, with Ulfgar not far behind. Damek gives the women some basic items to defend themselves, then their eyes wide, he leaves them to help the group.

Arden uses his wind-fan to disperse the green gas, saving Tingle from an awful fate.

In the chaos, the beating of the heart suddenly stops, and a heavy set of footsteps seems to be approaching through the haze. Iria casts a handful of magical powder into the air, making herself, Arden, Zeek and Tingle invisible. When Mortoja burst through the fog, he had no one to target.

As Zeek moved around the side of the chamber, a new foe met him in close quarters. Whatever had emerged from the heart, as insect-like humanoid, scaly skin, four arms and wielding a trident. It's attacks find no weaknesses in the stout cleric's armor.

As the remainder of the group re-positions or attacks Mortoja, the strength of the ogre's mace lands a crushing blow on Ulfgar, who responds in kind. Iria uses her stealth to try a poisoned arrow attack, but the blood on her hands causes her to slip, nearly delivering a lethal dose to herself. The drow calms, and ends up landing several crucial blows from afar.

Minding their charges above, Kal decides it's time to enter the fray, and engages in the melee below. Around this time, Damek used his natural speed to investigate the heart, which lays dormant, apparently ripped open from the inside out.

As the battle raged, and the options for the group became desperate, Tingle, still invisible, located himself strategically, letting loose a volatile weapon in a magical dust causing sneezing and choking. The dust lodges itself in the airways of Mortoja, causing him to gasp and fall over, it also killed a small demonic familiar that had recently tried and failed to injure Zeek, still engaged with the insectoid.

Damek, however, also inhaled some of this dust, his airway collapsing, and his body falling to the ground.

With the help of Kal's arrival, JKS dispatches the helpless Mortoja who could never catch his breath, and the insectoid retreats away from combat with Zeek.

With Kal and Ulfgar advancing on the remaining enemy, Tingle causes him to float helplessly in the air with a levitation spell. Ulfgar takes advantage of the situation, ending it's squealing existence with double hammers.

Focused on his dying monk friend, Arden finds a salve in his bag that feels like their last chance at saving Damek. In a few tense moments, Damek takes a deep breath, avoiding a painful fate.

The heart and veins around them begin to wither and die and Damek uses the opportunity to retrieve the ladies. Soon, Normaad's visage appears again congratulating their efforts. Providing a portal back to the upper embrace, the Ahtos leader rewards the group with both useful materials and a new contract for Zeek's Zap Room.

Not one to shy away from controversy, Zeek inquires about the accusations that Tzench made against the cult, while clutching his amulet to get a read on Normaad's thoughts. The wise wight notices, and gives a dismissive answer. Reading the situation, Zeek is satisfied enough with how things turned out, and drops the subject.

Finally back at Squadquarters, the enforcers lay down to rest. Most are asleep within seconds, their last 48 hours some of the most trying of their lives. Among those to find sleep quickly, Damek groaned and tossed in his bed.

The images, and that thing he saw as he lay dying in the chamber of Tzench's heart, wouldn't leave him. The thoughts would sometimes focus on the hell-scape itself, and colossal demon, wreathed in shadow and flame. Or the nightmare infiltrated a common dream, of peaceful moments in reflection, or training with his guild.

In those dreams, he would parry a blow from Kal in practice, turn to reset, and be facing the fiend instead. Or his meditation was interrupted by the roaring of molten rock suddenly surrounding him.

The cold sweat Damek woke to was almost soothing, the torrid heat of hell feeling all too real even rejoining the waking world.

Damek slept much later than usual the next morning, but he found little rest. Dressing quickly to join his companions for the morning meal, the monk paused for a moment, his ears betraying him, as of course he didn't briefly hear the ripping sound of white-hot flames behind him in his room.

Of course he didn't.

Live Notes

In the heart chamber

• The heartbeat is deafening
• Demon guy spouts some shit
• Arden leads off by patch-summoning a rope, tying it to the button base, and dives into the hole like james fucking bond. he'll probably die in 2 turns
• Zeek casts a cloud of fog between us and the ogre, mutters "protect Tingle", and starts drawing attention
• A toxic cloud manifests and brutalizes those in the room. Zeek largely saved, but Arden gets hit hard and Tingle goes down
• Kal signals to Ulfgar that some folks went down the hole
• Damek leaves the ladies a couple weapons, hoofs it into the other room, and dives into the hole
• Tingle crit saves his way to stability
• Arden disperses the cloud
• Iria makes the group invisible
• Zeek fires a bolt at a new friend and misses
• Big guy moves a lot closer
• New buggy friend slashes a trident and some claws at Zeek, unsuccessfully
• Damek flurries the blows and gives the big dude what for
• Tingle potions up
• Ulf drops in and lays hammers into the large enemy
• An ugly little demon flying thing appears and nips at Zeek, but misses
• Iria loaded up a poison arrow - then crit failed the attack and very nearly poisoned herself
• Zeek thunder damages his foe
• Big ogre lays a large morningstar smash into Ulfgar
• Meanwhile, upstairs, the girls totally bail on Kal and bolt
• Kal goes to climb down the rope
• Ulfgar tries to roll through, but bumps off a knee. Swings anyway, misses. Swings again, also misses.
• Arden waves his arms around, and disappointingly learns that his enemy has no intelligence
• Iria nails the big guy with a magic arrow, knocking him prone and dealing a pile of damage
• Damek zips over and inspects the heart. He sees that something has burst out of it, but not much else
• Tingle bursts out a dust of sneezing and choking, enveloping all the known enemies but also Damek
• Zeek strolls up to the choking ogre and warhammers him within an inch of his life
• Bug dude tries to lay a hit on Zeek but fails. Runs away, avoiding an attack in the process
• Kal arrives in the lower room and wordlessly halves the ogre
• Damek succumbs to the choking dust
• Kal and Ulfgar lay into the remaining bug dude
• Arden smears a healing goop on Damek, bringing him back from certain doom
• Bug guys starts to rise into the air under Tingle's command
• Squad nicks and misses here and there for a handful of damage
• Bug guy claws a bit into Damek
• Ulfgar sinks a strong hit into the bug, rendering it no more
• Upon felling the final foe, the heart begins to deteriorate and die, the fleeting life spreading into the veins throughout the lair
• Normaad appears, happy about the lack of magic, beckoning us to follow him into a suddenly appeared ball of fire
• Damek pops off to retrieve the ladies

Victory

• We find ourselves back in The Embrace
• We are presented with a chest of stuff
• Zeek asks about the updated contract. Normaad happily agrees.
• Zeek questions a little harder, which Normaad notices is enhances by magical items, wondering about the arrangement Zench referred to regarding souls of the pit fighters

Loot