The hunger of Hadar chills Humble the Red Wizard, Hisssss the wight, and the two remaining grey oozes. The ochre jelly makes a run for Tatters. Creep’s shadow slips off him and into a shadow hound that hounds Hisssss while Creep’s eldritch blast jams the jelly. Hisssss gets a longbow shot on Tatters. In a dazed state, Tatters wonders how an ooze used a longbow. Tatters firebolts Hisssss and Knit, Tricksy’s suture fly, sews his eyes shut. Tricksy slays him with a couple of arrows. Slick evades the wall tentacles to assist Bizzle, slashing her magic great axe wildly into the hunger at the hiding ooze and killing it with a splat. The cold hunger claims the final ooze leaving Humble to wander through the whispering, milky tentacles all alone.
Tatters eldritch blasts into the hunger, amazingly hitting Humble just as Creep releases the spell. Humble’s momentary relief of freedom from the hunger dissipates as Creep strides purposely towards her, his hex a mere prelude of the fiercest witch bolt he can evoke. The air around Creep’s hands distorts from the gathering electrical energy that streaks neatly past Humble and into the wall. The wall shrieks in exploding pain behind her. Bizzle sidles up with a fatal triple scimitar move. Slick helps herself to Humble’s 26 gold, a glyph key for the temples of extraction, and a skeleton key.
The drow chosen of Ghaunadaur, suspended in the shrine by golden light, moans in undercommon, too sickly to wake. Creep laments his arcane shortcomings, hinting for Tatters to examine the shrine comprising a three step dais with runes on the highest step and four jet black pillars that don’t reach the ceiling.
Creep suggests that Bizzle enters the shrine. Bizzle has no particular objection, but the shrine disagrees and a force throws Bizzle back violently to the floor. Tatters repeats this experiment and lands on his back next to Bizzle.
Tricksy, thinking to learn a new trick, examines the shrine’s defense but discerns it isn’t mechanical. Having therefore lost interest, Tricksy sets about precariously stringing razor wire around the black gate.
Creep can read any language if he tries. He tries to read the runes: Magic Force Field. That explains it perfectly. Creep walks right into the shrine with only the very faintest of tugs. He reaches out to stir the drow but gets a slight shock. The drow is unstirrable.
Creep, having perfected the art of speaking with dead, preemptively gouges out Humble’s eyes, jams his fingers deep into her ears, and conversates. You have done well! Just real quick, before we install your soul into the vault, how far along did you get with the chosen? Very far. And the next step in your good works? Make a phylactery. Stop being selfish, think of Ghaunadaur! As if! Ghaunadaur is an anti-reverse-misogynist deity for male drow wishing to escape the oppressive matriarchy. He is malignant and unknowable in the sense he gets his jollies from destroying things with oozes. Creep drops her head with a crunchity smack.
Slick, Creep, and Tatters enter the shrine without difficulty. Inspiration strikes Slick: the shrine, drawing life force from the drow, can be interrupted by defacement or destruction. Creep levitates up a column and critically chips off a big hunk. The thrumming power becomes unstable by about two thirds. Tatters focuses his intellect, emitting profound contemplation upon the shrine. The golden glow fades, releasing the drow.
Therzt, the free drow, laments falling short of the glory of Ghaunadaur, and he Melfs himself with an acid arrow. Three grey oozes emerge from the walls. Slick and Tricksy dispatch the nearest ooze menacing the group still gathered on the dais. Tatters spreads his arms and sends a trio of magic missiles to each of the remaining oozes. Creep eldritch blasts one, leaving it barely alive. Bizzle stomps it to death. The last ooze attacks Tatters but is stopped by Slick’s crossbow and Tricksy’s shortbow.
Tricksy looks around for arrows to reclaim, but the ones stuck in the oozes have all but disintegrated. She collects the oozy splinters into a specimen jar.
Creep leads the group south to an adjacent, darkened room with another shrine draining a female drow. The room is apparently otherwise unoccupied. Slick and Tatters hurry into the shrine, intent on its prompt destruction but are forcefully ejected out to the floor when they attempt to disrupt it.
It becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the shadows moving ominously around in the darkness. Bizzle stomps in clanging his lady blades to draw out the lurking shadows. His plan works as the shadows converge on the party. Bizzle is blinded, weakened, and injured. Creep evades the attack as does Tricksy, who dashes up the wall with Knit. The shadows vanish. Creep quickly conjures a sword burst before the shadows have time to move away, but they all avoid the spinning blades. Blind Bizzle is not so nimble.
Bizzle lurches blindly, clearing his path with swinging scimitars. He finds a wall and backs up to it. His lashing scimitar makes contact with something. Five shadows swarm Bizzle, reducing his strength and vitality to near death. Creep yells for everyone to retreat to the previous room, takes a stab at a retreating shadow, grabs Bizzle’s arm, and dimension doors to rejoin the party. Tatters arcane locks the door.
Bizzle chomps one of Creep’s salvage bars and the group discusses alternate avenues of exploration for a short while.