Story I: The Rift

As the bat is pummeled by magic and arrow, it dips down in the air, causing Devanis' bolt to go too high. It returns, however, bloodied and ruined, upon the bridge with its wings spread and its human face wide-eyed and screeching. It whips its spines toward a few of you, snapping its large jaws. Its spines are easily dodged, as its wings are riddled with tears and gaping holes; rendered useless. However, it bites at Baric once more, looking crazed as it aims for the bard (4 Damage).

In the meantime, Neph continues running as quick as she can into the tunnel, disappearing around a corner and out of sight from the bat.

The power behind Devanis' bolt topples the bat forward into Erran's waiting blade, which splits the beast's belly wide. The bat creature is panting for a moment on the landbridge, but eventually grows still, and dies. Its eyes remain ever wide with panic. After it does, Zubie reappears near the body, his claws and teeth coated in red ichor.Neph charges with what appears to be reckless abandon into the dark cavern beyond the land bridge. Pyrrah follows in after her, losing track of the pixie once the light of the cavern's crystals no longer aid her. She does her best to find her way, and feels confident in her direction, until she feels her footing slip. On one step only the back-most part of her heel catches solid ground, and her heart jumps as she nearly falls. Luckily, Ameera grabs her by the shoulder and redirects her.

It becomes easier to see after a few moments, as even Pyrrah's eyes adjust to the dim lighting within this place. The two women, led by a frantic Neph, find themselves in a large columnar pit that extends upwards and downwards as far as either of them can see. Downwards, however, lies a series of lights that rim the edges of this pit. Little protrusions from the rock wall house small stone structures with illuminated interiors. It looks like a village of sorts. Neph is running down a large, spiraling ramp that descends the column. Echoes of soft screams, and the sounds of Neph's language spoken in tragic, desperate pleas emanate from below.

Ameera and Pyrrah

As Neph descends the spiral, the two of you take a moment to see what you are about to come up against, should you continue. Below, when the structures that line the column begin to appear, built into the rocky facing, you see a large number of figures moving about. Small, winged humanoids - Neph's people - are abundant, flying from place to place and casting magics, but they appear to be largely on the defensive. Among them are large hounds with vicious-looking talons, scaling the cliffsides with ease and mauling whatever creature they can get within reach. As best as you can count, there are five of them, but they move quickly, and there could be more.