Session 17

Day 76
Arath immediately wakes up the others, and they head into the hills, to find the mine.

Making their way through the hills, the Sons are jumped by a huge blue monsters, all teeth and claws.  The Behir swallows Urnyx, but he manages to inflict enough damage with his dagger to it's gullet, so it pukes his back up. The fight is brutal but in the end, the Sons kill the beast.

Progressing further through the dark, with Urnyx leading them, they find the place it seems to be happening. A copper mine guarded by 6 ogres. The Sons jump the ogres and dispatch them fairly quickly, although Urnyx learns that when they gang up, they can still pack a punch.

After whipping their swords, the Sons of the Phoenix move to the makeshift elevator and go down the 80' shaft. About halfway down, an ogre, who must have been on a bathroom break or out for a walk, jumps down from above, hitting the elevator at full speed, sending Petyr and Chavron crashing towards the floor, while Arath and Urnyx manage to hang on. Urnyx rocks the boat to try to get the ogre to loose it's grip on the elevator, but manages to shake Arath instead, who falls down. Then Urnyx cuts the cord, sending the ogre with the elevator down on top of Petyr and Arath. But at least the ogre dies....

The Sons quickly recover and start moving through what seems to be natural caverns. Soon they can hear screams and chanting, and soon find themselves starring at 5 cultists who look to be in the process of a sacrificial process involving some captives and a monster of wings, horns and claws, hidden by a fog.

As soon as the Sons are spotted by the cultists, one shouts:

Interfere and you die. Walk away now.

The Sons naturally ignore the warning, and attack the cultists. A fight ensues, with the leading cultist breaking off the fight at some point, picking up the heart of the woman on the altar, and trying to finish the ritual. But the Sons manage to kill him before he can complete the spell. As he dies, clutching his broken throat:

You fools, we were trying to lock it away for good, not to free him. This is on you.

As the magical barrier holding in the huge demon-like creature comes crashing down, the Sons killed the last cultist.

FREE AT LAST. 200 years almost. While hardly a lifetime, it is certainly boring as hell. Now, since you were so nice and freed me, I will spare you this time around. Besides, your flesh will taste so much sweeter knowing you have caused untold deaths. In fact, right after I leave here, I will find a little village and kill all the men and then have the women watch as I eat their children. Then I will tell them your names, and tell them that you locked me out of my prison. That should be fun. I wonder how your church will look upon that, Arath. Haha.. Yes, I know who you are, who do you think sent you that dream? Hahahaha.

The demonic creature takes a few steps forward while he summons some kind of invisible creature, a demon hound.

Oh, and Chavron, your father sends his regards. He is cooking in a bowl of acid down below at the moment. If you focus, you might be able to taste his fear. I sure can.

And turns into black smoke that enters Petyr:

You are no match for me, but just in case. I have your friend now. If I ever see you again, he will be the first to die.

The creature then walks away, while the demon hound attacks the Sons. Arath tries to stop the creature, but only manages to slow it down. Urnyx runs for the exit and tries to remove the elevator cord, but unfortunately, the creature just teleports up and throws down the rest of the elevator. 

Meanwhile, Arath and Chavron kill the demon hound, after a long and hard battle. They free the last of the prisoners and with the help of Urnyx, everybody gets out of the mine. They look for Petyr's tracks, but none are found.