. Caves of Chaos

The group finds a relatively safe place to rest again. Their dreams are not nice. By the time they get ready to head out again they have discerned the mask is the Mask of Baphomet which will enable the wearer to see in the dark. With one item left, they head out. South of the minotaur room they find a small room with four coloured pools of water. One red, one green, one blue and one yellow. The group spends considerable time carefully examining the pools, and the liquid. At the end they discover that the blue seems to be inert. The red makes you rage, the yellow is poisonous and the green protects you from poison. A discussion ensues about what the pools have to do with the items. Does each liquid match one of the artifacts they need to open the inner sanctum? Finally they decide to head deeper south down a long corridor. They find a set of dark wood double doors carved with many leering faces of minotaurs. The doors push in easily and a hot blast of warm damp air washes over them. The room ahead is carved from black rock. Here and there, pillars formed of piled bodies stretch from floor to ceiling. Gibbering mouths, darting eyes, and squirming arms which end in taloned hands move within the strange columns of flesh. As one, the forms within the pillars let loose a mournful howl.
As the group carefully enters the room the air around the pillars warps as the figures within scream in rage. Darkface, found himself teleported to the far end of the chamber next to another pillar. Immediately a Carnage demon squeezes out of each pillar, and one angry Balgura demon appears next to Darkface. After a frenzied and chaotic battle in which the demons and the group are teleported randomly around the room and often grabbed and entangled by the figures in the pillars, and even endure streams of acid from the mouths of the tortured souls, all the demons lay dead. They find a bell sitting on an altar in the farthest corner of the room. Mathers reaches out and picks up the golden bell in both hands. It is covered in glyphs but has no clapper as Mathers discovers by shaking it. He grasps the bone handle and the sharp, steel spikes along its length are driven into his hand dealing excruciating pain and damage. He feels a wash of anger pulse through him and a burst of crimson energy flashes when he rings the bell. He feels strong and reckless. The group runs from the room to avoid any further attacks from the Howling Pillars. They rest again and discuss what to do with the items and if the liquid pools have anything to do with what they need to do with the runes.
Is the length of time they have been underground taking a toll on them?
They decide to position Rayron, Darkface, Gandor and Mathers at a rune each. Panril and Surina stick together near the inner track to yell the trigger for each to drop his item on the rune. When each item is place on the runes at the same time the rune themselves pulse with a blue glow, the items themselves fade away, and suddenly every single door in the complex slams open the noise and vibration rolling over them. A moment of deep silence and stillness, then the eyes of alarm start screaming and an enormous roar, like evil incarnate, shakes them to the core. Something old, evil and very angry has risen unseen from the deep well in the centre of the complex. Chaos erupts. The blue pool of liquid bursts up and becomes a swirling vortex of frothing water. The skeletons chained to the walls which lie at Gandors feet start clutching and grabbing at the Halflings legs. Crossbows drop from the ceiling and start to fire at Rayrond. He escapes the minotaur room to the north and yells to Darkface that he is coming to his position. Mathers is pulled almost twenty feet by the vacumn created by the vortex and barely escapes being pulled into the water elemental itself. He moves out of reach and summons his familiar. Panril sees an enormous boulder rush past him, smashing down the inner track corridor, and then turns to see a small brown bear wearing a fez and riding a ball, rolling up behind him. The bear asks him if he is Panril.

Then a large green wyrm flies past them and takes a bite out of Surina as it flies by.
The battle is one the Guardian turns out to be a large Green Dragon. He flies around the inner track keeping ahead of the rolling boulder. Rayrond and Darkface encounter some small minotaur idols that start to scream and compels them to leave the room. They spend some time trying to smash them.
Surina rushes into the central area and blasts the dragon with arcane energy, it turns on her then flies past. Darkface is compelled to leave the room and comes face to face with the angry dragon. After knocking Darkface down the dragon spies Rayrond. Rayrond lets loose a volley of shurikens that rip the wings and knick the ankles of the dragon causing his mobility to be severely impeded. The group then starts to attack the dragon full force. The boulder comes past three times, crushing Darkface, but the dragon manages to scurry over the boulder. At one point the dragon compels Gandor to come within range. She tries to smash him with her tale, but Gandor morphs into a cloud of bees and flies to safety. It matters not because the group let loose with volley after volley of devastating damage. Finally the dragon collapses and dies. Gandor notices that the door is partially open now, and then ten rounds after the dragon had arrived the doors to the Inner Sanctum slam open to reveal a room full of glowing white mist.

What lays beyond? What treasure was the dragon guarding? What did the BlackFang Gnolls want with the Well of Demons?

Exp. 7508 6th Level.