Hearing Marthohtar's words visibly eases up the gnome and also seem to loosen his tongue. "Phew! I was so hoping somebody would come, literally praying that somebody not enthralled by that damned thing in the lower level would come and set us all free! Somehow I snapped out of her charm... um, yesterday? I managed to escape through the ladders and a secret trap door I saw while I pretended to do the tasks they appointed to me. The other enthralled were easy to bypass, as they don't seem to mind, but I couldn't find a way get past those bloody bipedal lizards, though! Today they were searching for me, I know it!"

Vavrus pauses and takes the flask Logresia offers and drinks eagerly, taking long thirsty sips. "Ah, so good! Thank you, miss. I stumbled upon and was trapped into this place, the only room having light down here." He makes a vague sign with the flask towards the daylight shining from above. "Hour after hour I've been here, stuck into this room, hiding every single time the patrol went by. They are easy to hear, you know, the lizards... anyways, I was beginning to fear they'd smell me out, eventually, as I had to pee behind the altar..."

He eyes each of you, looking a bit confused upon seeing Tristan and Morland with you but says nothing about it. "Ok, I'm ready. Let's get the hell out of here right now before the patrol comes again, shall we? Which way is the fresh open air and daylight?"

"We still have those kidnapped young'uns to rescue!" Thorgrim grumbles. "Did you see any of those, by the way?"

She couldn't resist "There is more than kids we are here to rescue.  There is a village not to far that has missing people. That is why we all are here.  To rescue the missing people.  Yes there is one child that we know of but others are not. she didn't know where they got the idea that the were here saving children.

Then she turned to the gnome "Which way takes us down further to save the rest of your village?
Again she didn't miss the eye contact that the gnome was giving Tristan

Logresia frowns.  "What patrol?  The lizards we just massacred before your very eyes? Or are we expecting some others?  If it's others, which way did they go?"

"Yes, only Aisaac is a child, the others missing from our village are young adults or teenagers, all strong, fit and capable. Well, apart from the old village madman Leonus, but I don't know if he's here or just has wandered off."

Vavrus gives light nods.

"Yea, I've seen the people from Thistleby; Semil, Lesviel, Hantus, even that old fool Leonus. They all are here and I also saw Aisaac brought in yesterday. The boys is enthralled, I'm afraid."

He gives a quick apologetic glance towards Morland.

"I saw Aisaac arrive just after I had climbed the ladders up to this level. They're all alive, though it's impossible to say whether they are still under the sorcerous charm or not without speaking with them, and that was really hard to do because of the Gnolls. They hated us and guarded us all the time and would rather have eaten us than keep us working, but they fear her...it... or what the hell that thing is." Vavrus pauses for a moment to think, then adds: "There are other people too, others not from Thistleby. I think they are folks gone missing from the passing trade caravans and from the other nearby villages as well."

Lady Magister looked at Vavrus "Working, you say.  What kind of work did they have all of you doing? she was interested in knowing what is really going on down there.  Was they excavating some lost treasures or some hidden evil power.

"You've killed the lizardfolk? They are the patrol. They've been swarming this level constantly like ants. But I don't want to go back down there! Please don't make me! I just wan't to see the sun... She is going to charm you all and I'm f*cked up again! No offence." Vavrus hands the flask back to Logresia.

"I know of two possible routes to the lower level. Both are that way." He points to the door leading south where Doherti alrady waits.

"The next chamber that way is a throne room of sorts. Behind the stone throne there is a trap door with rusty stairs to the lower level, into a small chamber there. That is where I came up.

The other route which the lizardfolk, gnolls and the thing usually use, is a secred door in the chamber beyond the the throne room, but I don't know how the secret door there is operated. There are proper stairs and all there and it leads into a storage room with a cistern of sorts. There are guards there usually."

The dirty, dusty gnome sniffs and looks at you, appearing generally miserable.

In reply to Lady Magister (msg # 156):

"Cleaning the chambers, carrying and sorting goods, mostly. The lower level is already much more...polished than this one. And then there are areas they never let us enter."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:49, Sat 15 Jan 2022.

Logresia smiles a merciless smile and says in a wickedly soft voice, "You heard the bangs did you not?  That was me, killing the patrol with one of my little bombs.  Now I have another question and I'd like you to answer regardless of any charms or compulsions you may be under because quite frankly, you should be more afraid of me.  Are you ready for the question?" She stroked the dwarf's hair in a manner not designed to arouse, but quite the opposite. Then, without waiting for an answer, she asked, "Who, precisely is she?  And WHAT is she?"

In reply to Logresia Skrieven (msg # 159):

The eyes of Vavrus widen as his emotional state takes a notch towards horrified."Y-y-yeah I -I heard the bang. I thought it was THEM coming for me..." Vavrus shakes his head and stares the floor. "I think she...she is a demon. She looks like... almost like a satyr and... she's tall and beautiful and... she can mess your mind when you're near her, making her more appealing. She can force her will on you and you'll think she loves you... But she does not. It's dangerous to be near her...." the gnome's voice dies out.

"Demon eh? Do you know her name?" asks Logresia.

In reply to Logresia Skrieven (msg # 161):

"Yea, she called herself Zaath."

Logresia nods.

Thorgrim snorts into his moustaches. Why do people keep bothering him with the details? Young'uns, old'uns... clearly the important thing is that there are some 'uns who need rescuing and that said rescuing will involve him getting to hit things with his axe! Surface dwellers just don't have their priorities straight...

"Ah, then our course is clear!" he says. "Our quivering friend here can leg it back to the village, while we advance through the throne room and down to the lower level! This demoness needs a good smiting in the name of Hyemgald the Deep, I say!"

"Don't demons have to be banished?" asked Logresia politely. "As opposed to revoked?"

"Gnolls, demons..." Tristan shakes his head and sighs. "I'm out of my depth with such monsters, I'm afraid. I'll return to Thistleby with Morland and Vavrus. I'm more useful there warning them and starting preparations... in case of the worst outcome. People need to know. I hope our agreement still stands, heroes."

"Bring my boy back to me, please." Morland says.

Vandren hesitantly raises his hand. "I'll return with you to the surface. I have means of creating light until we get there. I'm not a dwarf and I've learned that I get anxious underground... and especially in the dark."

Lady Magister had no problem seeing in the dark but she was worried about Jobol, cause this was all something that would of gotten his interest and he would of been running ahead of everyone just to see what chaos he could muster.

Giving the young Vander a nod but she also understood that he was a loose cannon down here.  As the group left them and started their way back to the surface she looked at all here now and wondered what fun this is going to become now.

"Where's Jobol?" wondered Logresia aloud.  "Is he likely to have gone ahead on his own?"

"Let us move on," says Doherti, already by the door. "Watch each other, lest this creature take control of one of us."

"Right!" Thorgrim says. He strides for the door, at least to the extent that someone with very short legs can be regarded as striding.

Marhohtar nods at Tristan.  "Stay safe, we shall celebrate on our return."

He joins Thorgrim, relaxing his pace to keep even with the dwarf.

Tristan, Vavrus and Morland depart accompanied by Vander, who hands his torch to Doherti before they leave. "Good luck, friends. I hope to see you back in the village."

+++

After a short corridor between the chambers the southern passage opens into a very large and high - certainly the largest you've seen here so far -  hall. You can more sense than actually see the vast openness of this chamber - it's certainly big enough to have a large gathering or a dance. It's a bit baffling to enter into a such large open space after previous chambers, which themselves weren't that small to begin with.

The walls here are chalked white like in the chapel. A complex and detailed mural portraying forest scenery with animals, human hunting parties, camps and skirmishes is still partially intact and visible on the walls. The ceiling above is domed, beginning some 20' above and rising higher towards the center. You arrive near the NW corner of this vast hall.

In the NW corner some 30' to our right there's a large rusty iron brazier, now dark and cold, hanging from a sturdy iron chain, thick as a man's thigh. The chain is supported by a tall iron tripod. Some 30-40' in the SE direction you can just barely make out very wide steps, beginnings of a raised area of the floor which looks to elevate into a large dais in that direction.

In the SW direction, some 40-50' away, you can see another similar decorated heavy door, closed, similar to the ones you saw when entering and leaving the chapel behind and again entering this hall.

The torchlight you carry doesn't even begin to reach the other corners of the area. It's dead quiet here apart from the noises you make yourself. Jobol is nowhere to be seen, he seems to have vanished like a shadow into night.

What do you do?

Doherti moves into the room, toward the mostly likely signs of where the townsfolk are. He'll keep within the party's light.