The episode starts with the heroes fighting Azaernara and the dretches inside the abandoned mine. Azaernara flies towards Ike, who is charmed by her, kisses him, and nearly kills him instantly.
The rest of the party briefly contemplates fleeing but instead decides to stay and fight. Lyra casts Thunderwave, slamming the nearest dretches to the ground and sending the ball bearings Nemo had scattered earlier flying in every direction, hitting one of the dretches, Soto, and Azaernara. The blast also partially disperses some of the poisonous gas clouds.
Then Soto vaults around Azaernara and jumps at her, tackling her with a natural 20 and snapping her neck on impact. Natural 1 on her save. She crumpled down the stairs.
The heroes quickly dispatch the remaining four dretches, decapitating most of them and collecting the heads for Jinu. But Lyra is knocked unconscious in the process.
The party decides to take a rest in another abandoned mine, one not littered with dead drow, dead demons, and a dead succubus.
Nemo takes the lift up and stealthily approaches the exit, only to step into the open and find a group of 12 guards, the guard master, Sister Gloria, and Mon, the man who tried to kidnap Lyra a few days earlier. Nemo surrenders and is taken prisoner.
Back inside the mine, Soto and Gray hear the commotion above. They grab the unconscious Lyra and Ike, take the lift down to the third floor, then follow an air current to the fourth. They cut the lift ropes, killing three guards in the process, and run for the exit.
While Ike is unconscious, he hears the demonic voice in his head again, urging him to embrace the strange power he’s been feeling since recovering his first piece of wood.
Out in the forest, Gray and Soto split up: Gray guards Lyra and Ike while Soto scouts the area. He’s soon caught by two guards. He tries to pass as an innocent traveler but fails. The lack of weapons works in his favor, but the fresh human and demonic blood on his clothing works against him.
Ike and Lyra eventually wake up and, together with Gray, go to rescue their friends. Lyra wild-shapes into a wolf and finds two guards lurking nearby. Together with Ike and Soto, they kill one of the guards in cold blood to support the fake story they plan to tell. Gray gets into the other guard’s clothes. Too small: the party decides that a bloodied, towering guard with his navel exposed won’t draw much attention.
They head to Ironwound’s prison with the dead guard’s body and the other guard gagged and wearing Gray’s clothes.
The prison is surrounded by extra guards. Gray tells the entrance guards he’s bringing two prisoners who killed the other guard and nearly killed him. Convincing enough. He gets inside with Ike, who looks handcuffed but isn’t, and the captured guard, who can’t reveal the lie because he’s gagged.
Once near the cells, Soto, who had already snapped his handcuffs through sheer strength, starts a fight the moment the guard opens the door. The heroes overpower the three guards and free the six other prisoners, including Jinu and Nemo.
Armed and ready, the party tries to exit through the front, but too many guards are coming in. They leave through the window and the back door instead, outpace the guards, and disappear into the forest after yet another day of leaving corpses behind.
Jinu and our heroes, utterly spent, agree that’s enough bloodshed for the day and take a long rest in the forest, unwilling to go back to Jinu’s place, which is now likely guarded.
Before dawn, a massive explosion jolts the heroes awake.
As they gather themselves, they realize Gray is gone. He has left behind his bedroll folded with military precision, his holy symbol on top, broken in half. Next to it, a large pentagram drawn on the ground.
The heroes consider their options: south for nearly a month of boat travel to Zoqoi and then the Red Sea desert, advancing Ike’s and Nemo’s quests; or north to The Wicked Whiskey Warf to investigate the dragonborn menace and hunt XV-7, the warforged tied to Soto’s quest.
They decide to head north first, since it’s closer, and then south.
This entry is part of the series D&D Campaign Log S11 (2026):
- S11E07 - The Succubus Takedown and the Pentagram Left Behin (This entry)