Unndilar 17, 835
When they woke, the Clockwork Companions discussed a dream they all shared of a soldier crouching over her dead commander in a plaza filled with the bodies of people and monsters. The weight of responsibility settled uncomfortably on her. "Harbinger!" she spits at Alyxian. "War-bringer! Omen! We sheltered you!"
They gathered their things and after Tymlor cast Water Breathing on them all, they headed north from the eastern section.
A short corridor led to a small grotto with a mote of light floating over a marble pedestal rising from the center of the floor. Half buried in the sandy floor at the foot of the pedestal was a small wooden chest.
Sarielle touched the light, absorbing it.
Tymlor examined and opened the chest and investigated the contents finding four Potions of Greater Healing and a wand he Identified as a Wand of Secrets.
They headed north through a long descending slope until they reached the backside of a secret door, which Tymlor opened, revealing a very large chamber extending beyond their vision.
Floating twenty feet above the floor in the middle of this chamber, rotating slowly on a slightly tilted vertical axis, was a ruidium sphere pockmarked with crater-like indentations. The moonlike sphere was not quite fifty feet in diameter. Two giant sharks, their mouths and skin encrusted with ruidium, swam around the moon's equator in opposite directions. Thermal vents in the floor heated the grotto and bathed the lower hemisphere of the moon in red light.
Sarielle’s Echo entered the chamber, circling its perimeter, and spotted an exit to the north.
As they moved into the chamber, the sharks snapped to attention, doors opened to the south and west, and dozens of large bloodshot eyes opened on the face of the moon!
Tymlor heard Alyxian’s voice in his mind, “Embrace the malice that swirls deep within your heart, as it does within mine.”
As the sharks engaged, Tymlor cast Wall of Force, trapping the nearest shark. Sarielle slinked north. Tik hit the far shark with two Eldritch Blasts and ducked into the newly opened door to the west into a small chamber with another glowing mote. He shouted, “It’s a dead end!” as he touched the mote. The free shark swam to the doorway and ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead and cast Shield of Faith on Tymlor.
Tymlor hit the shark with a Lightning Bolt on the way north. Sarielle’s Echo slashed into the shark. Tik momentarily paralyzed the shark with Hold Monster. Psychically assaulted by the shark, ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead.
Tymlor Mind Whipped the shark. Sarielle’s Echo slashed into it. Tik hit the shark with two Eldritch Blasts, pushing it back from the entrance. ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead and it stopped moving.
Tymlor escaped through the northern corridor. Tik exited the small mote chamber and hit the shark as it began moving again. ACHU smashed it with his radiant censor, finishing it for good.
As Tymlor continued to trap the remaining shark in his Wall of Force, Tik investigated the mote room finding a half-buried stone statue of Alyxian. Sticking out of a hole in the statue's chest was a dull red key with a crescent moon-shaped handle, which Tik took.
When everyone was in position, Tymlor released the Wall of Force. Tik hit with an Eldritch Blast and ACHU smashed it with his radiant censor.
Tymlor incapacitated the remaining shark with Momentary Stasis. Psychically assaulted by the shark, Sarielle slashed into it. Tik hit it with an Eldritch Blast and ACHU smashed it with his radiant censor.
Sarielle slashed into the shark. Tik hit it with two Eldritch Blasts. ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead and was bit by the shark.
Tymlor hit the shark with a Fire Bolt. Psychically assaulted by the shark, Sarielle slashed into it. Tik hit it with two Eldritch Blasts and ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead.
Tymlor hit the shark with a Fire Bolt. Sarielle slashed into it and Tik hit it with an Eldritch Blast. ACHU smashed it with his radiant censor and it stopped moving.
As ACHU cast Cure Wounds on himself, Sarielle tried to stab at the moon’s eyes, but they were impenetrable. Tymlor cast Detect Magic, confirming the moon was magic similar to other Ruidium.
They headed down the southern corridor, which gradually led west for about 150 feet before opening into a larger, thirty-foot-high cavern with walls expanding and contracting like lungs. The water was warm from natural fissures in the floor that belched out columns of steam and bubbles.
ACHU noticed a red-streaked Slithering Bloodfin chasing a Swarm of Sorrowfish at the far end of the cavern.
Tik hit the Bloodfin with an Eldritch Blast. As the Swarm of Sorrowfish ran toward them and continued past them, Tymlor Mind Whipped the Bloodfin. Surging, Sarielle’s Echo engaged the Bloodfin, slashing into it. The shark bit Sarielle’s Echo. ACHU hit it with Toll the Dead.
The Sorrowfish returned, psychically assaulting Tymlor, who cast Misty Step to escape into the chamber. Sarielle’s Echo slashed into the Bloodfin, which engaged Tik and swallowed him whole. ACHU hit the Bloodfin with Toll the Dead.
Inside the Bloodfin, Tik was encased in his Tomb of Levistus.
Tymlor animated tiny objects from the cavern floor and eviscerated the Bloodfin, which released a cloud of toxic blood that left Tymlor poisoned. As the water in the cavern began to get very hot, Sarielle slashed into the Swarm of Sorrowfish.
As Tik thawed from his Tomb of Levistus, Tymlor grabbed him and cast Dimension Door, both of them reappearing down the hall as his Animated Objects slashed into the Swarm of Sorrowfish. Psychically assaulted by the Swarm of Sorrowfish and burning from the boiling water, Sarielle slashed into the fish. ACHU hit the fish with Toll the Dead and moved into the corridor with Tymlor.
Tik hit the Swarm of Sorrowfish with an Eldritch Blast and they fled the room after ACHU. Sarielle slashed into the Swarm of Sorrowfish and Tymlor’s Animated Objects eviscerated them.
Once they were all gathered in the corridor, Tymlor cast Tiny Hut and they took a short rest.
As they began to depart, they had a vision:
A guttural roar leaves the throat of the young warrior as he cleaves through the foes in front of him. His rapid breathing makes allied soldiers around him skittish. “Omen of malice,” one hisses to another. “Don’t get on his bad side.”
They returned to the breathing cavern, which had cooled to safe levels. Sarielle and Tymlor investigated the vents, sensing the warmth coming from them. Tymlor also found a secret door on the north wall.
Beyond the secret door, they ventured through a winding tunnel until they reached the back of another secret door. After investigating it, Tymlor opened the door revealing a fifty-foot-long narrow cavern, with a ten-foot-high ceiling and an exit at the far end. The floor and walls were covered in a five-foot-thick, rippling carpet of thin, pale arms ending in hands that had long, delicate fingers, almost resembling seaweed. Whispering voices began to echo in their minds, saying things like "Join us," "Be with us," and "Never be alone again."
Closing the door, they reversed course and went through the breathing cavern into a large chamber with Ruidium spines lining the walls. Thermal vents in the floor gave off swirling bubbles, dim light, and warmth. The Apotheon's ragged breathing was audible in every heave of water. The current threatened to pull them into this chamber.
Again they doubled back, heading to the north exit from the moon room. From the north side of the cavern, Tymlor used his Wand of Secrets but did not detect anything.
Heading north, they reached a pit strewn with humanoid skeletons clad in rusty armor as well as the bones of other creatures. Tendrils of Ruidium weaved along and through the battlefield like ivy. A shining spear stood upright in the center of the room, its shaft emerging from a pile of bones and rusting weapons.
While Tymlor was casting Detect Magic, Tik cast Armor of Agathys.
Tymlor determined that the bones were magically created and that the spear was magic and free of Ruidium.
As Tik pulled the spear free of the bones, a loud growl reverberated throughout the cavern. As the sound faded, a soft, melodic voice said, "You shouldn't have done that." The voice came from a translucent, pale blue figure of a child who appeared to have materialized out of nowhere. Floating next to him was a slender sculpture of a man carved out of Ruidium and bearing a solemn expression.
"I am Theo Nathope," said the ghostly boy. He pointed to the Ruidium golem. "This is Alyxian the Hunter. It has come to destroy you, but it won't do anything as long as you're with me. We must go now. Do you want to save the Apotheon and end this nightmare?"
They told Theo that they did want to save the Apotheon and Theo shared that the spear was a replica of Alyxian’s spear.
Theo led them south, and when they reached the moon cavern, Theo crinkled his nose and gave the moon a disapproving look, saying, "Ruidus was the one enemy Alyxian could never face, yet the one he hated the most."
Theo led them out of the south exit and immediately through a secret door on the southeast wall that opened into a thirty-foot-high, oblong cavern heated and illuminated by thermal vents in the floor. The Ruidium-veined walls expanded and contracted in regular pulses like the beating of a heart. A Ruidium archway in the far wall led to a darker chamber.
"Alyxian's suffering has made him callous and selfish," Theo said. "I know he can be reminded of his goodness."
A human-sounding howl echoed throughout the grotto. Darkness engulfed the cavern, swallowing them and flooding their minds with visions of Ank'Harel, of Wildemount, and of a godlike wrath that ravaged the world until only corpses and smoking ruins remained. The visions abated and they were back in the grotto.
"That is what awaits you in the Heart of Despair," said the ghostly child, as he led them through the archway. "Well, kind of."
A few tendrils of Ruidium clung to the walls around the archway, and the water beyond was cold and dark. Within the darkness, they saw a small, pale white light hovering six feet above the ground in a crevice to the north.
"You have seen and heard the creatures in here,” Theo shared. “Their rage is Alyxian's rage. Their sorrow is his own. Their yearning to escape is his yearning to escape. And when he is angry, Alyxian curses and scorns the gods. But he always returns to prayer, as if hoping for an answer to why the gods abandoned him.
"When Alyxian's rage is spent, temporarily, the Netherdeep grows dark and quiet. In those moments, I hear gentle laughter echoing through the grottoes and I feel a lightness...dare I say a budding joy. I think in such moments he finds peace.
"A piece of the Apotheon remains uncontaminated by regret, fury, yearning, and despair, submerged beneath all his anger. When you see him in his present form, appeal to this shard of his psyche. Please, you must not simply free him. Do whatever it takes to truly save him."
As Tik touched the mote of light and as it merged into him, they all saw a vision: A warrior, now an adult, kneels before an altar in a ruined temple of Avandra the Change Bringer. “Fight for the freedom of others,” he whispers in reverence. His hand, scarred and shaking, grips the hilt of his sword. “Luck favors the daring,” he says with determination. “The Change Bringer doesn’t bless cowards.”
Theo screamed and hid in a corner as three giant Chuuls emerged from the sand.
Tik hit the Chuul to the south with an Eldritch Blast. Tymlor caught them all in a Slow spell and withdrew from the room. ACHU cast Shield of Faith on Sarielle, whose Echo slashed into a Chuul.
Tik hit the nearest Chuul with an Eldritch Blast. Tymlor blasted two Chuuls with a Lightning Bolt but one of them chased after him and grappled him, leaving him paralyzed. ACHU hit two Chuuls with Word of Radiance. Sarielle freed Tymlor from the Chuul.
Tik hit the nearest Chuul with two Eldritch Blasts. Tymlor shook himself free of the paralysis. ACHU was grappled by a Chuul and Sarielle slashed into it.
Tik hit two Chuuls with Eldritch Blasts, killing one. Tymlor cast Resilient Sphere on himself. ACHU was grappled and paralyzed by a Chuul and Sarielle slashed into it.
Tik hit a Chuul with an Eldritch Blast and summoned a Shadow Spawn, which slammed a Chuul. Tymlor moved his Resilient Sphere and cast Cure Wounds on himself. ACHU fell unconscious as Sarielle cut down a Chuul.
Tik’s Shadow Spawn smashed the last Chuul to pieces. Dismissing his Resilient Sphere, Tymlor rushed to ACHU and cast Cure Wounds, but no healing came. Sarielle revived ACHU with a Potion of Greater Healing.
ACHU channeled his ability to Preserve Life to heal himself and Tymlor.
Tymlor cast Tiny Hut and they took a short rest. ACHU cast Remove Curse on Tymlor. After some discussion, they agreed to rest until the next day.
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