28 Hammer 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

While we are still racing through Manzessine, the illithid prison, we have hope that we are nearing the exit. The next hour should see us either through to the other side or failing in our attempt.

In my last letter I mentioned that we were about to descend the spiral of Manzessine. The spiral is a wonder of stonework. It almost appears to be a freestanding stone ramp that twists its way down more than 100 feet. Part way down, while scouting ahead, Xan discovered that the spiral was guarded by a hydra. This one looks a bit different from the one in ancient Netheril, but we decided that fighting it was best avoided right now. Xan and I flew down and I penned it into its cavernous lair behind a wall of force. I had a moment of terror after my spell went off and the thing reared back all its many heads and let loose with a blast of freezing cold energy. The wall held firm and was instantly covered with a thick layer of ice and frost. The hydra was furious, but we rapidly made our way past it and into the next check point.

The golems guarding this chamber were hidden in niches above the door. They jumped down on Xan when he entered the room. Fortunately, Primula was close and ready with healing magics, or our archer would have surely been killed. The golems were formed in the shapes of armored illithids. If their intent was to intimidate, they picked the right forms. Even broken and still, the stone statues of body tamers were frightening.

At the next intersection we were faced with several passages. One led to a ladder that went upward. Two went down and one led to another iris door. Behind the iris we found a room splattered in blood and gore with the bodies of humanoid slaves littering the space. Oskar detected two evil beings in the room, hiding behind the debris. Because the iris only opened from a handle outside the room, we simply closed the door and moved on.

Choosing a hall that lead downward, we continued on. We prepared for the bodak encounter before going further. Primula cast a death ward spell on Shane. As soon as Xan discovered the horrible undead monsters, the two of them, along with Oskar, leapt into battle. There were only two of the creatures and they were destroyed quickly. I realized, feeling a bit guilty, that I was hoping for more so I could have burned many of them with the sunburst I have prepared today. I wonder if Dalis is starting to rub off on me.

Looking around the room it was quite obvious that we had reached the fresco check point. The place was adorned with a huge painting on the walls depicting individuals from a variety of underdark races drowning in purple tentacles. We did not linger to critique the loathsome artwork, but passed through the next iris.

A short hall lead us to another iris. In front of this one was an intricately carved table that appeared to be used as a desk. A scrap of paper was all that we found on the table. It looked to be a torture schedule written out in undercommon. Whether the illithid names on the list were the torturers or the victims, we could only guess.

The next room was a huge cavern filled with stalactites whose interiors were carved out to function as prison cells. A metal ramp wound its way through the chamber, leading to each of the cells. The doors all hung open. A brief examination revealed that the runes inscribed at the doors all appeared to have been broken, perhaps with dispel magic spells. We speculated for a moment about the empty cells and the appearance of forced entry into them. Perhaps the prisoners had all been moved when the alarm was sounded at our entrance. That would not account for the damage to the binding runes. It may be that a prison break was happening. That might also explain the lack of coordinated attack against us by illithids with the exception of the one area before the spiral.

On we went until we discovered the "crushing room." The squished body of an illithid lay in the room. This one was dressed in little more than rags. Four holes in a diamond pattern adorned the wall near the next iris. It looked like a opening mechanism that only an illithid could operate by using its tentacles in the four holes. Rather than risk a fate similar to the one time prisoner, we chose to disintegrate the door as opposed to trying to open it using the mechanism. We rushed through the crushing room safely.

Next was the pentagram room. Aptly named due to the inscription on the floor. As soon as Xan entered the room, a huge Pit fiend appeared in the pentagram. It wanted to bargain safe passage across the room for its freedom. I could clearly see that the pentagram was riddled with breaks and the devil was actually free. I told Xan and he immediately began shooting. The devil roared and began to attack. I touched Oskar with a haste and quickly retreated. The devil teleported right in front of me but I just kept moving. Fortunately for me, it was facing Oskar and it attacked the paladin with a vicious flurry of clawing and biting and slamming of wings. Shane drew a sword and attacked. Oskar gave back as good or better than he got, and the warriors brought the devil down.

Again we were faced with multiple doors including one iris. One passage looked to hold nothing more than guard quarters. Another led to a torture chamber containing a night hag. We attacked her and she disappeared. It looked like she jumped to another plane rather than continue the fight with us. The third door led to a hallway and stairs up. Xan had heard a whispered conversation on the other side of the door so Kerith used Clairvoyance to investigate while Oskar detected evil.

The paladin detected two sources of very powerful evil. Kerith saw a human mage and an illithid. We quietly opened the door and attacked. The illithid was a monk and light on his feet. My fireball did nothing to him as he evaded it altogether. Neither did two of Xan's arrows that he batted aside. Fortunately, Xan could shoot faster than the illithid could deflect. The mage died from a spell cast by Primula. The monk died shortly thereafter.

Stairs leading up brought us to the graveyard. Two specters guarded the path. We couldn't see beyond them but I cast a sunburst in case there were more undead in the area. I don't know if there were or not, but no other foes assaulted us as we floated above the soft earth of the chamber. Once across, Xan flew ahead to scout again. He discovered a room with a strange set of levers and symbols. After a bit of puzzling things out, we guessed that many of the marks symbolized rooms that we had passed through. The passages between them and the levers looked to represent the iris doors and the hallways between. We switched one lever that we think represented the room and passage just past the entrance. Green fairy fire filled the passage and little section by the room symbol. I guessed that we just filled that part of the prison with poison gas. We had no way of knowing just what effect the gas would have, but someone pointed out that the green color of the fairy fire bore a striking resemblance to the bilious green mist in the chasm outside the front gate of the prison. I didn't think it would be fun to breathe the stuff. The gas would also explain why the iris doors were airtight and would solve the riddle posed by the small screened pipes we saw occasionally sticking out from walls in some of the rooms.

It was decided that we should fill the entire complex with gas once we determined, to the best of our ability, that the gas would likely not reach this room. We turned the levers until the entire display on the wall was filled with green. Anything in the place was going to either be killed or knocked out by the gas, depending on what effect the stuff had. I have a nagging fear that we might have caused harm to somone or something we did not know about. Oskar explained that it would be better to give a swift death to any good creature still trapped here than to allow them to suffer in slavery to the mind flayers. I suppose he is right. It is what I would prefer. I just wish I could be sure that we did the right thing.

After a long while, we started switching levers again, hoping to figure out a way to drain the gas from the complex. The display showed no signs of our succeeding. Without knowing what else to do, we set the levers with our best guess and settled in to rest, grab a quick bite to eat, and figure out what to do next. There are two other regular looking doors that we have to choose from, assuming we can get out of our little refuge. With a bit of luck we'll be out of here soon. The most unfortunate thing about that hope is that our exit leads us deeper into the underdark and further from the glorious light of day.

Sincerely,

Cedar