In the aftermath of their victory over the Sandpoint Devil, the townspeople reverently gathered the beast’s remains. Ner proposed a fitting tribute—a statue commemorating the town’s deliverance and, naturally, its heroic defenders.
Their growing fame brought new responsibilities. Vodger Magravi sought them out, desperate for aid. His sister Lanalee Magravi had been tormented by recurring nightmares that left her screaming each night. In her dreams, she searched for her mother in settings that shifted with each visitation. Always, she found her mother with back turned, milking a cow. But when the cow looked back, it bore her mother’s face and spoke a chilling warning: “They wear us when we dream!”
Her mother would stand, knocking over the bucket—but instead of milk, hundreds of tiny woodlice spilled forth, scuttling across the ground. As her mother’s body began turning toward Lanalee, it would split open from skull to shoulders, something emerging with the stench of rancid milk. Lanalee always woke screaming before glimpsing what crawled forth. X’s examination confirmed no curse or disease afflicted her, yet the mystery demanded investigation.
Ner and X spent time addressing lingering tasks. X finally activated the Hellstorm Focus’s teleportation circles, establishing a vital link between the Pit and Sandpoint. This breakthrough allowed them to methodically map the first two layers and transport ancient tomes to Veznutt Parooh for the Runewatchers’ library—earning the organization’s deep admiration.
Their investigation of the cathedral catacombs yielded an unexpected discovery: a remarkably articulate ghoul named Wolgur. He proposed a contract—the ghouls would abandon the city in exchange for sanctuary from pursuit. Uncomfortable negotiating with such a creature, the heroes declined, keeping the ghouls’ presence secret but forgoing whatever treasures Wolgur might have offered.
Returning to the Pit, they explored the Gremlin warrens on the first layer. Magic shrank them to fit the tiny tunnels, yet even diminished they appeared as dark omens to the gremlins, who fled in terror before them.
Confident they’d exhausted the first layer’s secrets, they descended to uncharted regions of the third layer. Here, all light died. Ner’s keen senses detected and disabled a magical trap triggered by illumination. Beyond a hidden door, movement-activated skulls fired bolts of flame until X’s dispel magic silenced them.
They discovered an impossible sight—a lush green cavern thriving in absolute darkness. Here dwelt the zoog, a hive-mind entity claiming transport to this plane by a “dreamer.” The zoog yearned to return to their native dimension of dreams and spoke of visions their dreamer experienced: glimpses of Ilvarandin, the legendary lost city.
Pressing deeper, X’s magic proved essential once more, safely guiding them through a forest of deadly poisonous fungi to reach the far side unscathed.
The pieces of a larger mystery continue to gather: dreams that warn, creatures displaced from dream dimensions, and visions of lost cities. What connects Lanalee’s nightmares to the beings dwelling in the Pit’s depths?