Chapter 1: A Friend in Need

Zemk remembers his clan he abandoned in the underdark. "I didn't want to be a fungus farmer! I wanted to see the world!" he belows, but the realization is too mcuh for his weakened state. He collapse on the ground and reverts to regular dwarf size.

Alastriona drags Floon through the hallway and holds the end of the chain out for Prince to take (or lets it drop if no one takes possession). She then walks over to the body of Zemk and clasps her amulet, closing her eyes and meditating a silent standing vigil over the dwarf's repose.

The aasimar repeats this with Krentz, then Grum'shar, and even including the intellect devourer. Alastriona ends her contemplations in the large room, where she looks around for another shiny bead to try to open the stone wall.

With the excitement seemingly over, Vatra enters the large room and begins to look around as well.

Stepping over Zemk's corpse, Prince goes to Floon. "Hey there, handsome. Let'sget these chains off."

Butler moves round and retrieves his crossbow bolts but pauses at the wall the mind flyer disappeared into for a closer look.

Butler moves into the large hall (Q7) and get a better look at the place.To the east he sees a small, empty room (Q8). Along the eastern wall are two sets of threadbare curtains. There is a wide pair of double doors leading to the west.

Butler approaches the southern wall, where the Mind Flayer retreated into. The wall now looks and feels like solid stone. Butler sees that the wall is carved with a small symbol: a perfect circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating outward from its circumference. In the middle of this circle is a smaller circular indentation that bears a passing resemblance to a lidless eye. This is where the Mind Flayer placed the bauble, which Butler finds on the ground.

The bauble is a stone orb 3 inches in diameter and carved to look like an eyeball. It has now broken in two rough pieces. This is clearly the key that the mind flayer used to open the portal.

Alastriona walks over to the curtains and draws each one open, looking into the area beyond.

Stitches pops the lock on Floon's chains but leaves it to the others to help the human up. He heads to the corner of the hallway and scoops up his silvered dagger, checking it intently for any damage before carefully brushing it off and sticking back up his sleeve.

His fingers twitching with excitement, Stitches begins searching the corpses.

The kenku wriggles free of Floon's embrace as quickly as he can, preening his feathers back into place before beginning to rifle through the pockets of the fallen. He piles the loot he finds by the duergar's body, stopping to carefully count the coins and mimicking the clinks they make as he drops them back into the pouch.

Grum'shar's satchel he examines with interest, testing its weight and fit. But when he finds the spellbook within, he tosses the bag aside, sits on the ground, and begins poring through the pages, oblivious to everyone else. As his fingers trace the lines of the spell inscriptions, his beak claps appreciatively, and he tests out rudimentary imitations of the incantations for shield and burning hands, in Grum'shar's own voice.

Alastriona pulls back the two sets of curtains to find similar chambers at the foot of a short stair. Straw pallets lie on the floor, and rusty manacles are bolted to the walls. A key ring hanging by the stairs of one of the chambers matches the manacles.

Alastriona takes the keys and steps towards Floon. Seeing that the man has already been freed, she puts the key ring back.

Finally, she heads for the double-doors on the western wall. Alastriona presses an ear to the doors to try and detect any sounds that might indicate the presence of another.

Seems quiet.

The aasimar pushes (or pulls) the doors open.

"Volo sent us to rescue you," Prince says to Floon. "I expect you'll be wanting to get out of here now, but it looks like my friends are in the mood for a little more poking around. I mean, how often does one find oneself in the Xanathar's hideout, eh?"

Vatra stays behind, but near Alstriona as she opens up the double doors.

Vatra watches Alastriona's back as she passes through the double doors into a large, dark room. At the center of the room is stone pillar carved top-to-bottom with crude eyes, and at its foot is a solid, iron-banded chest with a sturdy lock.

To the north and west are two more chambers similar to what you found behind the curtains in the previous room (Q7). To the northwest is a stair that leads to two doors. Behind the north door, you hear contentful snoring; behind the west door, you hear the sound of running water.

"I very much want to feel the sun on my face again. I don't even know if it is night or day!" Floon says to Prince.

When Prince mentions the Xanathar, he responds:

"Gah! What is the Xanathar? They kept talking about him, said they would feed me to his pet fish! Oh dear heavens, can we please go now? That octopus-headed man might come through that portal any minute!"

Alastriona walks past the iron-banded chest without a glance, and heads directly for the north door. She tests the handle and attempts to open the door, to see who slumbers beyond.