The heroes slowly recovered from the intense visions granted by the Ghost Stones. While part of the group remained unconscious, Shogath and Ner pressed onward through the northern passages.
Their exploration led them into the old rumpus hall—now a decaying cavern infested with enormous bedbugs the size of tomatoes. Far more dangerous, however, were the two huge spiders that ambushed them from the rubble. The battle was fierce, but the heroes prevailed.
X rejoined the group, having recovered from the visions. Together, they quietly crept into a research room filled with scattered scrolls and documents. What they discovered was chilling: the cultists had been abducting lone travelers from the roads for months, sacrificing them in their dark rituals. Worse still, the cult now planned to escalate—making late-night raids on Sandpoint itself to kidnap citizens. Lists of targeted townspeople lay among the papers, each marked for their “qualities” needed to fuel the Sandpoint Devil’s ascension.
Adjacent to the research room, they found a grim prison chamber with four pits used to hold victims before sacrifice. Fortunately, it stood empty save for the forlorn remnants of past captives.
Armed with this urgent intelligence, the party moved quickly. They burst into the large chamber where the cultists had made their quarters. Shogath got the jump on them, and the heroes swiftly cut down the fanatics, who fought with suicidal devotion to their twisted cause. When only one initiate remained alive, his courage broke.
Ner, ever practical, offered him gold to run back to Sandpoint and warn the town of the cult’s plans. The terrified cultist took the coin and fled toward the surface, carrying news that might save innocent lives.
The immediate threat had been disrupted, but the heroes knew the cult’s leader and higher-ranking members still lurked somewhere deeper in the Pit’s shadows.