Recovering Rhovan & an Eggcellent Discovery
The trapdoor opened on a tunnel that should not have been there.
You followed it. Past a fork, past torchlight, past the steady drumbeat of a ritual already in progress. Bestial heads on the walls. A pit at the room's center, dropping out of sight. Rhovan on an altar. Six cultists in a circle, lifting their voices to the Demon of the Hunt.
Ubys became Baphomet — for thirty seconds, anyway. Loud enough that they all closed their eyes. Then Lessie kicked the floor out from under them. Five of six fell into the pit. AC sprinted for the head cultist, sigil flaring, but Moist's thorn whip caught him first and yanked him into the dark. The last cultist — eyes still shut — Ubys instructed him to step forward and receive his blessings. He did. Distant splashes, a long way down.
Six cultists, no party damage. The fire in AC's chest never got to break.
KeYs felt it first — something deeper. You followed her down a limestone passage to the bottom of an underground well. Moonlight, thirty feet up. A bucket suspended in the shaft. In the bucket, a bronze egg the size of a small barrel. Dhuxtyn conjured a step stool. Moist made an ice bridge. Moist tried the step stool first and fell in. Dhuxtyn laughed. Then the quippers came.
While the others wrestled with the egg, Lessie and Ubys carried Rhovan home. Jorry wept. (Rhovan asked Lessie to carry him upstairs. She did. She fixed his spine on the way.)
Above ground, at the surface of the well, you found Talon standing watch. He offered you 100 GP each to walk away. Then 500. Ubys put him to sleep with a single word.
KeYs hauled the egg up by hand. It was beautiful.
Moist and Dhuxtyn eventually got out of the well, too. (Eventually.)
You levelled up. The egg is warm to the touch.
Dhuxtyn dreams that night of a dagger called Bloodtooth.
Next session: a wall comes down.