Deep in the forest, the party goes toe to toe with a tortured and infected Vala and 3 bulezau. After a brief exchange of blows, they are dispatched and Vala is captured and returned to his bed. A brief conversation with Deja ensues wherein the party learns Artemis had been tracking something to do with the mage’s guild. Berte acquires some of the inkwell arrowheads, and the party takes some rest. In Saloon, Onan gives the party a test kit to determine if they’re in an area that has been exposed to a luxon shard.
Some deliberation later and they decide to travel to the caverns where Vala retrieved the tainted mushrooms that caused his curse. Rather ingeniously, the group uses some abyssal black ichre they’d recovered to track the location of the caverns which they find in no time via a sunken passageway. The group carefully enters the tunnels and gets their bearings; they discover they’re under the Line and Gaffe, the Lord’s Manor, and Balenport as they extend into the farmland to the west.
After some scouring the group finds a door with a very new lock - a stark contrast to the other features of the cavern - and decide to enter. They find a series of rooms and hallways of a smugglers hideout comprised of an armory, a records room, a storeroom, and a dungeon. The dungeon itself contained some surprises: the abandoned body of a merchant’s guild member, an emaciated Demetrius, and Artemis herself who urged the party to destroy the large portal at the end of the room with great haste.
With eyes focused on the portal, it opened and peering through was a large beast, tentacles for hands, dragons’ feet, and two ape-like heads - its gaze totally froze Dwimmer and Dave who rushed in to help the shouting Artemis. A battle ensued wherein the party struggled with avoiding being frozen by the beast beyond the portal whilst fighting the demons that came through. They eventually triumphed, capturing a red gem in the process.
After rescuing Artemis, she made the party aware that they’d been spotted by an arcane eye at the entrance to the cavern and they needed to evacuate posthaste; after which the party leapt into Saloon where they sit now working on devising their next move.