The Birth of a Betrayer

After some more exploration, the companions come upon a room with two doors on the far wall. A bronze plate with levers mounted on the wall nearby to the left of it. The plate shows an interior of a large room, nozzles protruding down from its ceiling. Also, it shows a short corridor, a haze of distortion to it.

Yshven opens a door, it reveals a short corridor ending at a door. Beyond in a room with nozzles hanging from the ceiling, a group of men are milling about, surprised at Yshven’s presence. Kurgan speaks out at them, signifying peace, they are wary and suspicious.

After a terse exchange of names Kurgan strikes an agreement with their leader, a human named Borrick, to allow the group and escort them through their hideout to the pyramid’s exit.

Borrick himself comes with two bandit companions to enforce the agreement. Along the way, Kurgan dupes Borrick’s companions to march ahead to their deaths in a room called the hall of mirrors where some devils and a flame skull lay in ambush. Realizing the treason, Borrik turns to attack but  too late, he realizes the completeness of Kurgan’s treachery. And so, flanked with danger on all sides, Borrick falls alone by Kurgan’s stained blade, an expression of utter shock and dismay on his pale dead face.

The group goes on to fight against the room’s guardians and meet with success. However, to know and witness firsthand Kurgan, their noble leader’s capacity for malevolence sowed a seed of fear among his compatriots and from then on they were instinctively wary of his words and were glad that his malice was directed outward of their circle.

Lover’s Quarrel

Continuing their quest for Virellis, the group finds a room filled with soft mysterious chanting. The chanting gets louder on entry. Inside stand four statues: a human in full plate hefting a full blade; a dwarf armed with an axe; an elf in leather with daggers; and a dragonborn with a shield and longsword. A search for hidden compartments prove futile and they are stumped about the chanting sound. They leave through large double doors leading east. The corridor leads at a bend with a southern side passage ending at another double door where this time the group hears singing from beyond. They burst in surprising a woman in front of a plain altar lit with candles. Virellis’ orb stirs and tells Kurgan that what she seeks is nearby. The woman, introducing herself as Dana pleads for assistance. She claims to have been brought there by bandits and is prevented to leave by some magical compulsion. The heroes agree to help her.

Suddenly, two devils appear in their midst and focuses attacks on Yshven. The dwarf responds with a cleaving blow, hitting them both. The woman turns into a succubus and attacks. The room erupts into confusion as Kurgan and Garrosh fall under the temptress’ compulsion and hack at each other’s throats.

The scuffle is ended when the succubus is finally slain, apologies are exchanged, and tears wiped off scaly cheeks. Searching the altar, a hidden panel yields a chest containing magical and masterfully made plate armor which looks to distort itself every now and then and a garnet gem that is absorbed by Virellis.

Wet and Wild

Muttering to himself, Kurgan connects with renewed vigor versus his wounded mark. Quorbin assaults his quarry with one hit of two. Kurgan’s flanker moves for another sneaky barrage but Quorbin fires to interrupt him. The rushed shot hits air and Kurgan’s flanker menaces him yet again with a pair of painful lunges. Garrosh’s opponent closes in on Yshven but misses. With a sweeping blow, Yshven crushes the skirmisher and lands an impact on the bruiser as well.

Garrosh moves to flank the hulking reptile but opens himself up for an attack. Yshven swings in at the momentary lapse of the bruiser’s attention. Kurgan lets loose with a guarding strike against his skirmisher and connects. Quorbin aims at the the bruiser and hits home twice. The reptiles attack Yshven and Garrosh but both prove to be too battle wizened. Both hit in retaliation, Garrosh with a divine strike lining the bruiser with divine light, Yshven with a hard-hitting charge. Kurgan surges against his mark hitting it twice, bloodied and sore.

Quorbin looses on his hulking quarry but is still vexed by his misses. Garrosh and Yshven continue to dance away from harm delivering tremendous blows in return. The club wielding reptilian hulk goes down with a blazing attack from Garrosh. Kurgan trade tremendous blows with his target but the smaller reptile proves inferior, it falls a flayed crisscross of slashes.

Scattered Engagement

Garrosh ducks beneath the two flailing bruisers. As the caster rises, it attempts to duck the incoming arrows but two projectiles hit him nonetheless, it attacks Kurgan but misses. The skirmishers circle Kurgan again and he takes three hits of six thrusts. Yshven shouts a challenge peeling the skirmishers from the spear riddled dragonborn. He hammers one but misses the other.

Garrosh keeps planted from the whirlpool’s suction and casts priest shield. Hackfrost arcs and falls, leaving a fatal freeze dried gash on the bruiser’s torso. He faces the other one as his target falls to its side, a mean gleam in his eye. Kurgan breathes fire at the pair of spear wielders including the mystic. With a croak, the mystic falls boiling fat mixing with the darkened water. He continues with his attack, making an ugly gash at a skirmisher’s arm.

Quorbin designates one of Yshven’s targets as his quarry, leaving two arrows sprouting from its scaly back. It sloshes down slowly under the surface, very surprised and very dead. Garrosh ducks from a massive club swing but the reptilian bruiser is wise to his maneuver and clubs the dragonborn back toward the suction behind him.

Yshven dodges two spear thrusts. Kurgan’s fair closes in, his flanker gets lucky and he grimaces at a pair of wounds at his side. Yshven attacks, pushing his enemy back with hammer blows and shield shoves. Garrosh advances out of the vortex, healing himself and bracing for the next swing.

Sucked In

Kurgan moves but gets sucked by one of the whirlpools. Emerging confused and staggered behind the first two reptile bruisers. Quorbin fires at one of the smaller reptiles, grazing it with an arrow. Kurgan is attacked by the bruisers, one connecting with a large club. Meanwhile the caster churns mud beneath Yshven, immobilizing him and then dives underwater. Yshven thrashes about unable to free himself from the churned mud.

Garrosh, still dazed closes in on his attacker. Kurgan ignores the large club wielding reptiles in front and instead goes after the caster hiding beneath the water level. Quorbin readies for when it surfaces. The bruisers attack Garrosh, one connects and slams him into the churning vortex behind. He keeps his footing and resists getting pulled in.

The caster pops above the water surface but is met with two arrows connecting in chorus. Undeterred, he sends another gas cloud towards Kurgan and dives again to hide from the archer. Kurgan holds his breath in time. The skirmishers circle Kurgan wielding spears but he avoids their thrusts. They are more agile than meets the eye and Kurgan is severely wounded by an assault of ten spear thrusts in mere seconds.

Garrosh shaking off his confusion, strikes his attacker and breathes catching it in electrical tendrils and sparks. Kurgan moves away from the flanking skirmishers taking a spear thrust in the process. He mutters to himself and engages the caster with an invigorating strike, connecting with the prone reptile.