Lawrance sends Gamliel in his snake form to the table.

- Grab hold of that...thing... and I'll send energy through you into it. But be quick, before it gains a foothold! Wormhold? Burrow? Whatever, just get it! -

#It's sure taken it's time getting into the poor soul's skull, so far. He's been screaming for many, many minutes.#

- The sooner we get it out, the better chance he'll have to survive it's damage. -

Pulling on a little used aspect of his magic, he waits until Gamliel has contact with the worm-thing and sends a Shocking Grasp through his friend. 

 Cratol will go with the other two to make sure the dwarf is swiftly dispatched. 

Per Daishain in chat...

The group finds a number of valuable magic items in the vault with the Tears...

...each character pick one item. Either uncommon and you can ignore any and all attunement requirements for that item, or rare and attunement still applies.

OOC:  I find this to be an acceptable outcome for the magical loot.  This way everyone can get something that they need. 

OOC:  I have no clue as to what Morgaine could use or need from the loot. Other than that, she can help take down the dwarf if need be

The duergar is swiftly brought down before he can raise much of a fuss.

Gamliel slithers up the table and grabs hold of the creature, it responds by digging tiny claws into the bone of the eyesocket, apparently determined to resist any attempts to remove it.

Lawrence sends a pulse of electricity through the creature, shocking the drow on the table as well, who spasms and goes limp. The wormlike creature is killed immediately, and loosens its grip, allowing it to be removed relatively easily.

The drow is alive, but unconscious. He's not in great shape however, the creature had burrowed through the eyesocket, you can see through to the man's brain, which now has some signs of being chewed up. Lawrence's knowledge of anatomy suggests that he'll survive with care, but might not be as adept as he once was, and/or have notable changes to his personality.

Velon looks at the eye and brain wound and cringes.  He places a hand on the drow's head and tries to channel Bahamut's divine energy, focusing on the eye and brain damage.

Lay on Hands for 5 HP

Previously in the vault...

As soon as the vault opened Velon quickly and instinctively held up a gauntleted hand to shield his eyes, although the others did not notice any strong heat, light or anything else to prompt this reaction.  "What is that?" he murmured while eagerly entering the vault.  Ignoring the search for the tears initially, Velon was immediately attracted to one area of the vault where an item with the shape of a sword lay wrapped in dirty cloth.  Waving a flat hand slowly over the item he was in awe of the magic he found there.  Unwrapping the cloth revealed a fine draconically themed gold and red blade with a gold dragon acting as the guard.  When the paladin picked it up the blade erupted with flame which wrapped around the blade like a flying gold dragon before disappearing as Velon and the sword became one.  The sword still glowed faintly with power while he gripped it even after the initial flair.

Soon Velon remembered where he was and what they were here for, but first turned to the others with a grin and said "this may or may not be useful..."

(taking Dragon Slayer longsword as my magic item)

Inside the magical vault Cratol sees a pair of bracers wrapped loosely in strips of cloth.  He quickly picks them up and places them upon his hands to help him with anything that they may face coming up in this lair of mind flayers. 

Back in the vault:

After the Tears are located, the group begins a careful inventory of the various powerful magic items placed so reverently on the shelves. Each of the group chooses what appeals to them best, with Velon his sword, Cratol his hand-wraps, Lia a pair of bracers, and others to their own. Lawrance, strangely enough, chooses a weapon with a unique design. The blade is baked obsidian, roughly edged, with a bright silver pommel ended by abstract, tiny bells. The end cap is carved realistically to look like an open eye, with a bright green agate as it's center. 

" This should help keep us safer, in this danger-fraught realm " He says to his friends " It keeps guard over it's possessor and companions. If any danger approaches, it will awaken and alert them well in advance of an assault. It also increases our reactions to prevent an enemy from surprising us"

The drow on the table is healed for the moment, and stable, but still unconscious for now. A few of the prisoners out in the hall have started weakly calling out for help as you stand in the torture chamber.

Velon turns toward the weak voices, then nods to Poljen, Morgaine and Lia to go free and aid the prisoners.  "Quickly, and give them some of this" he says, handing a couple of portions of rations to his companions to share with the no doubt hungry prisoners.

Turning to their new draconic friend he says "if there are too many for us to feed and get safely back to the surface, will you treat them as well as you have the others?"

Lawrance quickly says to the others going to free the prisoners "Tell them nothing of our plans. These mind flayers might pick the information from their unprotected brains if they know, and then things will get ... sticky. We're raiders, stealing stuff from the vaults. That's all they need to know." Turning to Velon, he adds "We can't afford to escort them out now. Should we reinforce this dungeon and come back for them later? Perhaps some of the other magic items from the vault would prove useful for this."

Lia gathers the prisoners in one area, treating their wounds and condition as best she can. 

"Right, they'll need to defend themselves here and we can come back for them after we find the brain."

Once things are settled, Lawrance says "Let's check out the big double doors we passed earlier, then head upstairs as quick as possible. The less time we let them learn our purposes, the better. " 

Once at the double doors, Lawrance uses his enhanced vision to help Mia locate any issues with the doors, as well as calling up relevant (overly) detailed descriptions and 'helpful' advice on the locking mechanism. 

Cratol will head up with the others once out of ear shot of the prisoners he will add, "Yes getting to the main source is the goal.  We need to get there quickly."

Zz'Pzora looks to Velon, "I'll promise not to be aggressive towards them if that is what you mean. If you're hoping for me to care for them rather than expecting them to go find a home outside of my new territory when they are capable of leaving, they'll have to prove their worth to me first. I have no desire to become some sort of nursemaid."

It takes a few minutes of work, but the prisoners are soon enough released from their bindings, given some basic treatment and food, and huddled together for some needed warmth. They express dismay at the news that they're being left behind rather than getting out now, but they don't have much of a choice other than to trust you and wait.

The group doubles back to the big doors you passed earlier on, and Mari manages to find and disable both of the traps on it.

The room beyond is quite large. The center of it is dominated by a raised circular platform with an altar next to it. Lawrance quickly determines that it is a planar summoning circle, most likely used by the drow of ages past to perform sacrifices, commune with their deities, and summon servants of Lloth.

The walls are decorated with murals. Most of them are scenes important to the drow, their retreat from the surface, raids on their elven kin, and of course the spiderqueen herself. One of them is odd enough to stand out. A strange looking surface city, with huge crowds of people celebrating in the streets, the number 2021 is everywhere, and colorful explosions are lighting up the sky.

Cratol looks around a bit and then at the others he silently says to everyone, "I do not think this is the chamber we are looking for.  Where do we need to go next, Lawrence?"  He looks to see how long ago this place was used as in dust covering anything.

2  (his passive perception is a 19)

To Zz'Pzora Velon replies "that will suffice."  "They'll either get out with us, prove their worth in serving you well enough to stay and perhaps have at least some protection, or venture out on their own."  "That last one isn't great, but all are better options than where they're at now."

As the group finds the circular platform and the altar and are about to move on, Velon asks Lawrance and the others "anything we should do here quickly to ensure nothing too nasty can be summoned here in the future?"

After a quick glance at the altar, Lawrance nods "Making this unusable would be easily enough done, but anyone of skill could repair it with a little more effort. The current 'owners' don't care for such things, as evidenced by their leaving it intact and untended. Perhaps a better use would be for us to make use of it ourselves. It's perfectly usable to summon our own ally, possibly even one of Lathander's higher powered aides, if we make use of the water from the Cup. Or even open a channel to ask a question or two that would aid our path? How about we ask about where to find the brain we seek?"