The group presses on and examines the hydra’s lair. It is stiflingly hot and unpleasant to be in, but they score some minor loot left behind by past hydra snacks and call it a win. They move to investigate the door and gain access to a series of connected levels that are largely uninhabited, though there are signs of intermittent occupation. It appears to be mostly unused chambers for living…perhaps priests – or a barracks of defenders…tough to say.
They press on, investigating inner doors and forcing open ones that block passage between levels. They continue to spiral downward, descending deep underground. Some light looting is occasionally undertaken, but the entire experience is largely uneventful. At one point they find a concealed staircase that descends steeply into the depths.
Following it, they exit into a large, nearly lightless chamber whose walls are lined with massive roots. As they enter and begin to move about the area, they are attacked by a magic storm that rages on, tossing lightning bolts and dousing the party in acid rain, overpowering their magical defenses as though they were just so many spiderwebs. The now-panicky party decides a high speed retreat is in order and they scramble up the stairs and flee as fast as they can. They climb back to the surface without stopping, worried that the Green Wizard might be in pursuit.
They quickly deploy protective magic and engage various escape mechanisms, fleeing from the tower and hoping their flight is not tracked. They manage to escape detection by the various forces camped nearby and stop only once they have put a significant distance between themselves and the lair of the Green Wizard. They deploy a shelter and post watches.
In the wee hours of the morning, the group silences and webs Bayga while he sleeps. Fingers webwalks over to him and attempts to stab him to death. Though Bayga awakens and struggles valiantly, he is unable to defend against the rain of magic missiles that slam into him, cast by Zaal and Kegdrain. Once he is slain, Sniffles reanimates the corpse and sets it to work, digging a hole. All chaositek items are buried within the pit and the earth and loam is replaced, to hopefully sequester this mutating force.
Once the job is complete, the skeletal remains are pulverized with a warhammer and the dust is spread far and wide as the group heads towards Trolone. Do they have a new enemy in the Green Wizard? Time will tell, but now it is time for the vultures to circle as Bayga’s possessions are redistributed. They head to Trolone and catch a boat back to Ptolus, returning to the mansion to sort out their next steps. Kegdrain and Zaal report to their contact in the Inverted Pyramid, and the Defence Council is informed of Bayga’s heroic death fighting the Green Wizard. For them moment, no one is sure of the next move – though the tales of a corpse-festooned fortress rising in the Necropolis does seem interesting. Isn’t there also that strange windy obelisk out there? Hmm.