Episode 24, "Hunting the Order"

Just as the heroes dust themselves off from the long fall into the Underdark, the ground beneath their feet erupts into an explosion of dirt, mycelium, bones and detritus. Some nasty creature (otyugh), awakened by the visitors' arrival, lashes out with huge brown spiked tentacles and a gaping maw of dagger-like teeth. The heroes manage to slay the creature handily, only to be attacked again by a small horde of phase spiders. Wave upon wave of the blue metallic insects wink in and out of existence as they advance on the newcomers atop fungi hill. A sense of impending doom engulfs the party as they ready their swords for the onslaught.

The spiders have no problem phasing their way through the deadly mix of giant mushrooms littering the dirt mound but the heroes find it a tad more difficult to navigate. A spell and an errant bolt from Fhasys' crossbow detonate a couple gas spores sending a cloud of toxic gas in all directions. During the melee, Vyreth gets poisoned by spiders so badly that he collapses to the ground and gets dragged-off causing much concern. Fhasys manages to track Vyreth as he gets dragged down the hill and luckily keeps him from being cocooned. The battle rages for what seems like hours until finally the last of the spiders crumples. The heroes, at this point barely clinging on to life, manage to orchestrate a heal-fest using their remaining potions and spells and take inventory of their surroundings once again.

The area surrounding the mound on which they stand lay shrouded in darkness; a seemingly endless expanse of unknown. Fhasys looses a fiery bolt in each of the four cardinal directions in an attempt to feel out the dimensions of their cavern. Sure enough, with a thud and a steamy hiss, each bolt lodges into a far wall covered in lichen and spider silk. The cavern, however, is too damp to foster a cleansing wildfire and the bolts quickly extinguish. The light from the bolts suggests a large cavern some 500' in diameter, crudely carved from the dirt and lined with spider webbing. At the junction of the floor and walls on all sides of the cave sit clusters of shiny spider eggs. They've fallen right into a spider nest! A couple tunnels are spotted as well, but the heroes decide to risk a much-needed long rest before making their way down the hill.

Their rest, of course, is interrupted by several more phase spiders and combat ensues. On their second attempt at extending a short rest, they manage to get some R&R in the dark quiet of the cavern. The heroes turn their attention to the tunnels and set to exploring. A handful of resting spiders guarding cocooned prey are discovered at the end of several winding tunnels, and Fhasys cuts open the cocoons only to find decayed miner bits. Talos has a bright idea and animates the corpses to be used as probes, but they're quickly torn to shreds upon discovering the next cluster of spiders. After a short while of exploring, a cry for help comes echoing through the labyrinth. The party pensively decides to investigate.

With Fhasys in the lead, the heroes attempt to stealth to the best of their ability but Doc's squeaky metal armor gives away their location. They soon arrive at a crossroads of sorts with a dead robed Order mage lying on the tunnel floor just beyond a large opening into some sort of room. Assuming she's stealthed, Fhasys pokes her head around the corner and is spotted by the room's occupants--one humanoid figure clad in a dark leather trench coat with a purple octopus-like head and one raised miner corpse standing idle, swaying slowly by the entrance. The mind flayer, sensing Fhasys' arrival, cassts mind blast and then planeshifts out of existence. Fhasys, partially stunned by the blast, slumps against the dirt cavern wall as the raised miner slowly shuffles toward her. The mind blast, having reduced Fhasys to zero intelligence, creates an opening for the intellect devourer using the miner as a host. The miner grabs on to Fhasys' shoulders, opens its mouth and issues forth a blackened fog from its mouth engulfing her head.

Unfortunately (or, perhaps fortunately), the rest of the party--having filed neatly behind Fhasys--doesn't really know what's happening at this point. They call out her name but she doesn't respond, standing slumped against the entrance to the room motionless. The heroes rush in to investigate and immediately cut-down the miner locked in some sort of "moment" with Fhasys. The rogue, released from the intellect devourer's attempt at brain theft, collapses on to the tunnel floor and stares blankly out into space seemingly unresponsive. The corpse of the now slain miner lies still for a moment, then its head splits open gushing ichor all over the ground. Its brain, apparently having sprouted legs, claws its way free of the confines of the skull and dies. Meanwhile, the mind flayer planeshifts back into existence and snares Vyreth into a strangle-hold. The heroes attempt to wrap their minds around all that's transpired while the flayer goes to work on Vyreth's skull with some ancient, serrated blade. As the cold metal cuts through his skin, Vyreth stands paralyzed and helpless. As the party gets ready to assault the mindflayer, it suddenly drops its weapon and vanishes. Talos finds himself once again overcome by a familiar voice and imagery as the aboleth Quar-Jezz't reaches out through the Underdark using telepathy. The aboleth kindly reminds Talos to follow-through with their original bargain made in the Embershale mine, or next time they won't be so lucky.

Talos comes to to a grisly scene... Vyreth lay on the ground, scalp bleeding profusely from an attempted brain extraction. Fhasys sits slumped against the tunnel wall apparently incapable of rational thought. And the dead, four-legged brain of an ex-miner lay in a puddle of ooze at the entrance to what appears to be the food storage room of the phase spider den. Those heroes still capable of evaluating the situation at hand all agree... Shit just went from bad to worse. And, they haven't even found the Order mages yet.