Personae dramatis
Grignok, orc druid often in panther shape
Felcanis, elf cleric
Honsou, larcenous bowman
Tulip, elf bard (NPC)
Mēnévē, broken-nosed fighter (NPC)
Quid occurrit
They go down the stairs on the side of the cavern, then walk down and come to a fork in the cavern. In the middle of this room where three passages meet are five columns of many hues that go from the floor to the ceiling. These are where stalactites have met stalagmites, and do not come together in any kind of pattern.
They go left, and wind their way into a big cavern. On the far wall there is what looks like a big stone waterfall, carved or frozen in place. Grignok checks out the waterfall, and it's strangely slick stone, spilling onto the floor. There are also big pieces of some brown stuff on the base, which Honsou jokes that this means this is the bathroom. Grignok does think it looks like big caterpillar poop.
They go back to the room with the columns, then down the right-hand tunnel. They find themselves in a big room, carved and with big rotten banners hanging from the stalactites. There are three pillars to the right, but they pass them and walk across the room to another way out. That tunnel winds down after bending to the right, stopping at a well, with four tunnels leading out. Grignok sniffs at something buried next to the well, and Honsou digs up an old wineskin, with a broken strap and the bottom split open.
They go out this room through the tunnel to the left of the one through which they came in, and find themselves in a cavern. On the left wall is a well-made iron switch. Honsou checks it out and pulls it. He does, and a loud mechanical churning and trembling from above fills the whole room. After many seconds, it stops with a loud "Bing!"
Honsou stands paralyzed as soon as he brings down the switch. Grignok licks him, leaving panther spit on his cheek, then drags him to Felcanis. Felcanis tries to see what is wrong with him, but doesn't understand it. Grignok realizes he's not poisoned, but can say nothing since he's in panther shape. So Felcanis keeps diagnosing. For some reason, Honsou starts to move normally during this. "I'm free!"
Felcanis walks to a tunnel on the wall opposite the one through which they came in, and the others follow. The cavern into which she walks is a dead-end with a stone slab in the middle of it. She checks it out, and sees a parchment on it. She looks it out but does not touch it. There are mystical symbols all over it, and crude drawings of what looks like fish with whiskers on the margins. This doesn't look like a text of Saundīvós or anything actually written in any tongue she knows. It might be connected with the slab somehow. It is definitely religious. It might have been a text to an old cult something or another.
Honsou takes a look at the slab as well. It has some grooves along the edges of the top that open up to the ground at the corners. Otherwise, it's just a slab carved out of a rock that lies about waist-high. He lies down on it, and nothing happens. Grignok pounces on it; nothing happens.
They walk back out the way they came, then go out the room with the switch to the right of the way they first came into it (or the left of the way they came into it this time). After many feet of walking, they see a tall, evil being in the shape of a winged man, wreathed in fire and shadow. It has a big fiery broadsword and a long fiery whip, and fights with those and its sharp teeth and claws. Felcanis is not quite sure what this guy is, but it's some kind of demon, she is pretty sure of that, and not friendly.
The balrog cackles evilly. "Who are you who has come to these caverns?" Honsou starts praying to him. The balrog laughs. "Good, that one knows true power!" It steps forward, and Honsou pulls out an arrow and aims. Mēnévē readies her warhammer and steps back. Felcanis casts Shield 3 on Honsou. Grignok tries to cast Fog but fails. The balrog cracks its flaming whip at Felcanis. She steps back and dodges the lash, but both she and Honsou can feel that the flame is close to lava-hot.
Tulip steps forward and starts casting Daze. Honsou moves back. Mēnévē steps back, her warhammer before her. Grignok casts Fog, and they dart away. The balrog cackles. "Plot all you want, puny scum!"
They run back to the room with the well. Felcanis checks out the well, and holds herself back from pulling the rope. They go out of the well room, then walk down the tunnel to the left of the one they first checked out. That tunnel splits: a cave to the right that looks like a dead end, then a passage opening to a big cave ahead. They check out the cave to the right, and find an old noose dangling in the middle of it. Under the dust next to the noose is a big wooden shaft. Since neither the noose nor the shaft do anything when Honsou prods them, they go to the big cave.
No sooner do they walk into the big cave do they see the balrog again, who tries to hit Honsou with its whip but misses. It roars in anger. Grignok dashes towards the tunnel through which they first came into the balrog's cave, and the others turn and run. "Stay and die!" It cracks its whip at Tulip, hitting her back and killing her. Then it starts to run after Grignok. The others run back to the well, and hear no more flapping of wings from the balrog's chamber.
Grignok catches up to the others at the well, having lost the balrog. They go into the one tunnel they hadn't checked out, and wind their way down it a long way. It opens into a big cavern, with a throne to their right. The throne is in the shape of a big head, or perhaps a skull, with the seat in the mouth. Honsou sits in it, like a little boy in the daddy chair. "I am god!" he yells. Grignok leaps into Honsou's lap.
Felcanis sees some words carved into the wall near the throne. She reads them; they're in Elvish: "The Underdark is under Rākētêr Tower."
As this means nothing to them, they move on, finding two tunnels on the left side of the cavern. They take the one to the left, and find themselves standing atop a short cliff about three yards high with many handholds. At the bottom, there are four women and one man, all with scythes, one woman in plate and mail, all others in heavy leather. One woman has an arm in a makeshift sling.
The one in plate, a heavily-built woman with fine features and long, straight medium chestnut brunette hair, and her eyes being a bit crossed, calls up. "Hello there!" After greeting her back, the heroes reveal that demons brought them there. "Oh. Did the bandits go after you, too?"
Honsou says, "Yeah, and we did try fight a big demon."
The cross-eyed woman gulps. "Uh, yeah, that one. Did you kill the bandits?" Honsou says they did, but not the demon, who instead killed one of their companions. "Oh. May his body be whole." The woman belches and blushes afterwards.
Honsou asks if the woman has a way of killing demons, and she shrugs. "Oh. I understand fire works well." Honsou offers to get the woman's and her companion's help in fighting the demon, but she passes on that. "We were mostly trying to avoid the bandits, but since you slew them, we should be fine." She asks if their dead friend is over by the demon, and Honsou says she is, and asks why she is asking. "Oh, just wondering. It's unfortunate to hear about his demise."
The cross-eyed woman leads her friends up the cliff. After some time taken to deal with the woman with the crippled arm, they make it up and walk out. "Thanks for killing those bandits!" With that, they walk past. Grignok hops down the cliff, then leaps up, and the heroes walk away as well.
They go back and take the fork to the right. After a short tunnel, they find themselves in a cavern with a hole on the west wall, about knee high. They shun the hole, and instead go left. They walk into a cavern with a big natural column in the middle, then, after a turn, walk to a fork in the road. They take a left, and find themselves in the room with the cliff where the cross-eyed woman and her fellows had been.
They take the other fork to the right, and walk upwards. In the tunnel where they find themselves Honsou spots a big rock pushed against one side. They push and push on it, and Bill tries pulling, but it won't move. Honsou spots the rock is snagged on other rocks in the ground, so he shoves it so that it doesn't catch, and then they open it easily.
Honsou walks into the small room, and finds a trap door in the floor. He pulls it open, and sees a long mine shaft. He climbs in, and climbs down for a long time until the shaft gets too narrow to go further. Since he can see nothing remarkable (or anything at all), he climbs up, and meets the others.
It dawns upon Grignok that the tunnel leads into the balrog's lair, so Felcanis casts Flaming Weapon on Honsou's knife and he sneaks into the balrog's cave. Grignok follows. They creep slowly into the balrog's cave. There is no balrog inside. They get Tulip's body and put it on Bill's back.
