Ro listens intently to Rum.  His illithid body regulated most of his feelings, flushing away emotional impulses to allow for logical and constructive thought.  Only very heightened emotions ever came through his biological filter.  So he was surprised when his body physically loosened up.  His shoulders dropped, his grip loosened, and his forehead relaxed.  He was tense, worried that he'd be at odds with an old friend.  But those worries vanished after hearing Rum's words.

Hearing all that Rum had to say brought on an even wider range of emotions.  If it wasn't for his emotional filter, Ro was sure his tentacles would tangle and knot from the many things he felt.  Tuto's leave, Oten's shift in personality, Greko's return, and... Lelith's innocence...  Ro's grip tightened once more thinking about the eladrin ranger.

There were so many questions to ask, but Ro understood there would be a better time and place for such inquiries.  For now, the focus was retrieving the Shard of Division.  (Still waiting on DM to see if Ro knows whether it's safe to proceed further down the stairs.  If it is, then Ro begins to lead the way down.) 

"I see you have new allies, Rum.  New members of the Twilight Embers, or have you taken to Lelith's habit of adopting strays?  And what is this Gmork that appears to be hunting you all?"

Quote from foggynights88 >>

To Jek Wo-Dan asks,

"Cenobites? What are those? Never have I heard of such a thing.... In fact during all my years in Hyboria I have never seen a creature like this Ro, what is going on here? Why is Rumble so intent on this being?"

Jek responds. "Do you remember, before everyone was summoned to Celestia. There was an odd lightning in the sky? Ro did something and a portal to another dimension was opened. These creatures are what came out. They have strange mental powers. Ro was dragged away by them. He was human, then. Now, it appears, he's one of them."

Jek listens on. He feels some guilt, hearing them talk about Lelith. But, he made the right choice. Jek won't debate this right now, it's not the time or place. He will let Rum have his moment with Ro. 

"Forgive me Jek, I was not present for what happened with your friends. I did see strange astronomical happenings while I was traveling to respond to Gandalf's summons bit I did not arrive in time to see anything that happened before the official meeting with Lord Atreyu. Thank you for helping me to understand what is happening here."

Wo-Dan stands aside for any following conversation with Rumble and Ro the Red keeping watch for Gmork or his minions.

Perception -21 for anything that might be a danger to the party, or else out of the normal for this area.

Rum gets a melancholy look when Ro speaks of the Twilight Embers.

"The Twilight Embers was not what it once was without yourself, Greko and Lelith. We had barely met Lady Kaede and Tuto decided to leave. That left just Oten and myself. In fact only I was left of those who first banded together at the Ivory Tower", he explains.

"The Order of the Phoenix were similarly low on numbers. What you see are those of us from the two bands who remain committed to the cause, along with a couple of new faces. We are the Ardent Remnants", he says sweeping his arms wide to encompass the entire group.

"As for the Gmork, perhaps friend Jek would be better explaining that as we move".

Lightning crackles across the road nearby, from one building to another, leaving red hot streaks of molten rock in the stone paved path.  There's thunder...and laughter.  Distinctly hideous laughter.  

As the group orients itself, reorients itself, questions each other and existence, Spook City comes...alive isn't the right word, ironically enough...but comes alive is the only way to describe it.  Shadows began to crawl over window sills and spill into the road.  Something with a long, wretched face walks out of a dark alley and moves with predatory assuredness down the road toward them.  The thing that had nearly destroyed the poor Nilbog floats back out where it's visible.  There are moving undead all around them.  Thing's they've seen before and things they haven't and every single one of them is awful beyond words.  There are dozens of them.

And they're all bearing down on the Ardent Remnants.  

Oten's head swivels from target to target as he gauges what is happening, and his javelin drops into his hand with a mechanical whir.  

"A strategic and defensive retirement to the stairway is recommended."  The Warforged announces, calm and decisive.  

Lady Kaede, showing no sign of fear, casually starts walking down the stairs, displaying a calming sense of confidence. 

For the first time since Ro returned, Rum turns his back to the wizard, looking back out to survey the scene of Spook City.

"It seems the city has decided it is time we leave, fellow Remnants. Let us do as Oten suggests and follow the good Lady", he says motioning after Lady Kaede as he looks from one horror to the next, assessing them all. "Let us hope Subternia is more welcoming".

With that he backs towards the stairs, waiting for the others to head down first.

Turning to Ro, he adds, "It seems talk of Gmork and introductions will have to wait, fr... Ro", he says almost calling him friend again. But it was too soon...

Wo-Dan begins to follow the others keeping an eye to the stairs behind in case they should be followed.

"High time we continued moving. It is well enough to speak of laying ambush for the beast, but not while laying ourselves as bait."

Jek watches in horror as the city come to life around them. He sees Gmork, but knows they can do nothing right now. "Darla, lets go. Follow the others."

He will say to the others as he starts heading down. "I can web the entrance as we go down.... or we could just blow it up. Oten, do you have anything that can seal the way behind us?"

The crowd of undead begins to close in, and lightning arcs across the clearing.  Blue electricity sizzles and ripples over the pavilion above the stairway into the belly of the world, showering those still above ground with sparks.  

The shadow creature that had attacked Nilbog rushes the pavilion as a umbral scythe is summoned into its hand.  Kit-Tik has enough time to raise his shield and deflect a blow from the scythe with his massive sword before Oten fires his javelin through the thing.  He looks over his shoulder at Jek as the Lightless asks his question.  

"Yes, I have something for that.  Go.  I'll handle this."  

As the last of the Remnants disappear into the hole, there is enough time to look up and see Oten tossing a series of small, rock sized puddy-like objects towards the pillars around them.  Then, there's motion as something large and wolf-like tackles him...

Seconds later, there's an explosion, and the roof of the pavilion comes down and blocks the hole leading into Subternia, trapping the Ardent Remnants inside while the sounds of battle rage beyond...

Continuing to walk down the stairs, Lady Kaede asks Ro “Master Ro, since you came from this direction, how far down do these stairs go, and what can we expect once a get to the bottom?”

"Oten wait!", Rum calls out but it is too late, the pavilion drops and blocks his path back to the surface and any route to get to Oten and Kit-Tik.

The sound of fighting at least gives him hope. He points in the direction of his mechanical friend and whispers, "Friend Oten, your actions are commendable, but get out of there. By the Great Dragon, today is not the day you or kit-Tik falls!".

With that done, he backs away down the stairs, hoping the message got through some cracks in the blockage.

Turning he moves to catch up with the others.

"We will need to find another way out when this is done", he says simply, now focussed on the path ahead.

As they march down the stairs to the underdark, Lady Kaede comments on Rum’s lament “The only way out of this place and this mission, Rum-san, is glorious death. Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning.”

As the rubble falls to block the entrance and cuts Oten and Kit-Tik off from the group, Ro yells in hopes the two can hear him, "Dammit!  Hear me Oten, you get out of there now!  I know you are capable, but this is not the place to make a last stand!"

The illithid would've loved to stay and find a way to reconvene with Oten.  But time was of the essence.  He assured himself that warforged would be safe.  After all, the group had an objective that could be delayed no further.

"Aye.  Oten can handle himself.  Hopefully, this Kit-Tik fellow can too.  I've only just arrived here myself, so I don't know what lies further down these stairs.  I only know that the stairs themselves are safe, at least the steps that I've walked," Ro says.

As the party first begins to descend down the stairs, Ro comments on Kaede's words calmly and casually, "I've not known you long, Lady Kaede.  And perhaps I misinterpret your words.  But dying for the mere sake of dying is meaningless.  I certainly will not allow myself to die unless it first falls upon the dark forces.  Your desires for death best not hinder my goals, nor put this group at unnecessary risk.  Else, your death-seeking shall be found by my own hands."

Rum listens to the interaction between Lady Kaede and Ro, and turns first to Lady Kaede.

He places his fist over his heart and bows his head, "To court death is to rob it of it's power, Lady Kaede".

He then turns to Ro, "If you sow the seeds of mistrust and division, all that will grow is the weed of failure. This is how the Twilight Embers saw it's demise, let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. Our power is in our bond and in our shared goal. Let there be no threats between the members of the Ardent Remnants, lest we feel we cannot rely on each other and bring doom down on us all".

With that he moves on, leaving them to their conversation.

Jek is glad when Oten appears to have something to handle this. He starts going down when he hears it. He turns just in time to see Gmork tackles Oten. "No. NO NO NO!" He turns to run back out, right as the blast goes off, trapping Oten and Kit-tik on the other side. He hears Rum whispering. "Rum.. RUM, we need to go back. We have to go back for them, right? Rum? We.... we.... we need to keep going. Bright Lady, please protect them."

Jek is uncharacteristically quiet during there walk down the stairs. Why do people keep sacrificing themselves. Brevon, Oten, Kit-Tik. Atoh is still out there somewhere, and Tola. So many friends lost. Maybe they will be back one day. One can only hope. 

Jek looks up and sees Rum up ahead. He catches up and walks beside his friend a bit before he speaks up. "I realize I never told you much about the trial and why I voted the way I did. Lelith is... I don't know how to describe it. Arrogant, argumentative, just plain jerk at times, and confident in her convictions. But, she was not evil, though. She was under attack for a long time without you all realizing it. She should have trusted you all more, talked to you all. She made decisions and went with them without thought of others. And that was her main flaw, her main crime. That she was a loaner and did not ask others for help or opinions. Because of that, she fell under the control of Lord of Darkness. But, in that instance, she was the victim. He was controlling her, making her do things outside of her control. If she was upfront with you all, trusted you all, more open with you, you may have noticed the change. But she wasn't. She was closed off. So my decision at the trial came down to one thing, and one thing only. I wanted her to accept help from others. I wanted her to accept that she couldn't do this on her own. And she did, she accepted the help of the Elders to cleanse her of the Lord Of Darkness's influence. If she did not, if she said she could handle it on her own, I would have voted guilty. Well.... That is what I did. I don't know if you will agree with my decision, but I thought I should at least tell you what happened."

Jek looks on ahead as they continue there way down. 

The sounds of battle die away as the Ardent Remnants move down the steps and away from the collapsed pavilion.  Suddenly they realize, one by one, they are now committed.  They're in this.  There is no going back without finding one of the other exits.  Now, there is only down...

And down...

...and down...

The noises begin just as the strange lights of the world's interior begin to permeate the darkness in the bottom of the stairwell.  There are many, many strange sounds.  The occasional high pitched ringing of what sounds like a chime or bell.  The low, hooting calls of something down in the dark, and the low hooting call that replies.  The constant singing that is certainly a bastardization of terrestrial birds, all in low-to-high calls that seem oddly familiar and yet completely alien.  

Faint violet light peeps through the opening at the bottom of the stairs and lets them into the cavernous belly of Hyboria, populated by strange boulder outcroppings, bioluminescent wildlife, jellyfish like creatures that seem to swim through the air, enormous mushroom trees that tower hundreds of feet above them, pulsating orange and yellow and green slime molds, and plate mushrooms with reaching tendrils hanging from beneath them.  

It's hard to believe this bizarre place exists below the feet of a world that, until recently, had been so normal.  

Rum listens to Jek speak of the trial, for the first time hearing the thought process that his friend went through. He nods to Jek to show that he had listened, but walks in silence a while as he ruminates on what was said.

Finally he speaks, "Thank you, friend Jek, for opening up to me about the trial. You are right that she was ultimately a victim. You are right in all the ways you describe Lelith, but more than that, I am not certain she is capable of compassion or empathy. I think she can mimic it when it suits her, but she doesn't feel it. The way I remember it, it wasn't that she didn't ask others for their help or opinions, it was more that she felt she was so far superior to everyone else that their opinion didn't matter. But again that doesn't make her evil, it just makes me wonder why she accepted help from the Elders", he says looking down to his friend.

"You had a difficult task, making sense of everything that happened and coming to a judgement. I am in no place to either agree or disagree with how you voted. There was a very good reason I was not present at the hearing. I am too close to it, emotionally invested. Lelith and I disagreed more than once when it came to the treatment of others. Her adoption of strays, as Ro put it, and her twisted sense of right and wrong. She is truly otherworldly in that sense", he continues.

"I am not sure the point I am trying to make, other than I hope you are right. I hope she has learnt something from the trial. I hope she has learnt to take responsibility for her actions. And I hope Ro doesn't turn into that which he despises. He was another who made rash choices without a thought for the impact on others. Another who would never admit to any culpability. I see now how similar they are, although either one would kill me for saying it. And it is true, how could I forgive one and not the other?", he says turning to look at the being that Ro had become. Ro the Red.

It is the sounds that first hits Rum's sensitive senses, strange sounds unlike anything he has heard before. His ears flick one way then the next as they echo up the stairwell. And then he gets his first glimpse of Subternia. His large feline eyes take it all in as he stands awestruck for a moment.

"Fellow Remnants, it is like stepping onto a different world", he says in almost a whisper as he scans for any sign of danger or that anything has spotted their arrival.

Perception: 15+11=26

Ro looks at Rum with slight confusion as the tabaxi cautions him about threats amongst team members, "I was not aware that I was already considered an Ardent Remnant.  You and I have a history, so I am not surprised that you would welcome me in so swiftly.  However, I am aware that the others may be apprehensive of me.  And they've a right to.  Their only experience with my kind was a hostile encounter and I know my appearance is not exactly friendly."

"Also, you are right that there is power in bonds and shared goals.  It is simply that Lady Kaede's remarks make me ponder her priorities.  We're all allowed our own personal feelings, but I will not stand idly by if it puts my friends in needless danger or conflict.  The Twilight Embers have already paid the consequences once for being idle with Lelith.  I will leave no room for such carelessness a second time."

The illithid returns to Kaede and asks, "As I've said earlier, there is great possibility that I have misinterpreted your words or simply do not understand the entirety of your bushido philosophy.  I believe death under the context of sacrifice for the greater good is allowable.  None of us former Embers would ever speak lowly of Greko's sacrifice.  As it was in that sacrifice that we are still here, able to continue the good fight.  But I do take issue with the reckless pursuit of death; especially when such a death is avoidable.  So could you tell me, in no uncertain terms, is it sacrifice you seek or simply death?"

Should Rum decide to scout ahead, Ro will cast Enhance Ability to give the tabaxi advantage on all dexterity checks for the next hour.

Wo-Dan spies the world beneath with great awe and not a little trepidation, never in all his years had he thought to see such a wonder. Even with the distraction of such a thing he still does his best to keep an eye out for any potential dangers.

Perception -21