The minecart elevator takes us down slowly to another level that doesn’t even feel like it’s part of the same mine. The walls are rough cave, not the hewn stone from above, and the cart track ends abruptly as the wooden planks give way to a floor that has been inlaid and polished to a near shine. Was this built before the rest of the mine? After? I’d need to look up the stonework to try and figure this out.
We turn the corner to see a minotaur statue illuminated by glowing red runes on the floor behind it and holding two keys in it’s mouth. Looming over it all is an imposing door with an obvious key hole on either side.
Reading the runes, it’s obvious that this gate is meant to keep something inside. You don’t go sealing off passages like this for nothing. Given that the ogres were coming out a different way, their improvised defences would likely be weaker than this.
As we agree to leave and check out the other passage, Spesof chimes in that we should probably just leave entirely, as we already cleared the place out last week. We come to a stop on the elevator and ask him what he means about last week. With a bit of confusion, Spesof reminds us of the giant brain we killed inside last week, and how he stabbed it to death with Shifty. As he recounts the walls behind the door coated with mindflayer tentacles, I give a shudder remembering how much they looked like the tentacles on the walls of the beholder’s lair. I have no desire to see those again, and so agree with Spesof that we should leave.
Tittlin stares at both of us as if we’ve each grown a second head. He starts talking about how we were in Astain last week and couldn’t possibly have been here. Somehow it seems like he doesn’t remember that we came here before Astain, and he seems to expect the journal notes to confirm this. At this point, I realize that the Drow necklace is probably tampering with Tittlin’s memories, causing him to forget what we’ve previously done. At this, Tittlin is visibly frustrated and starts stomping back to the statue. I chase after him and try to stop him as he start’s reaching for the keys. He reminds me that we’ve already cleared this place out, so it should be perfectly safe, right? Of course it is? Tittlin dares me to unlock the doors and prove that it’s safe. I start grumbling but do it if it will get us out faster.
As I reach for the keys, the minotaur’s eyes start to glow. In my moment of hesitation, it starts coming to life, roaring and chasing as a passageway opens up before us. We run, and after several twists and turns we seem to loose it for a moment. Slowing down, we come across a chest and plan our next action. We’ve fought minotaurs before, so it shouldn’t be to hard to take this one down. I draw my staff and wand and wait. After what feels like an eternity, I start wondering if we’ve lost it, when the roar comes from around the corner. Before I even realize what’s happening, my heart’s beating like a drum and I’m three turns down from where I was. We come to a crossroads and I follow Spesof, dreading the prospect of getting separated.
I can’t think through the fog of fear, and find myself nearly loosing track of Spesof. As my heart feels like it’s about to burst, I grab onto Spesof’s belt and let myself get dragged along, struggling to calm myself down and think. As I do, I remember the ring of x-ray vision. With a whisper, the nearest walls become translucent. Looking around, I realize the minotaur is further away than I thought and can start to notice a pattern in the nearby passages. I struggle to get Spesof’s attention, but eventually manage to lead him out of the labyrinth.
As we exit the labyrinth, I realize Tittlin’s no longer with us. I look around briefly to see if he’s hiding anywhere in the room, before starting to panic that he’s still trapped inside. Just as I’m thinking about going back to look for him, he walks out looking as unhurried as ever. I sit down with a sigh of relief.
Tired, but no longer terrified, I’m able to get a better look at my surroundings and realize the room has changed. The two keyholes beside the door are gone, replaced by solid wall. The door now appears carved out of the rock itself, unmoving and too thick to even see through. Even the entry passage is closed off, a wall of solid and natural stone so contiguous there could have never have been a passage. But that doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t match what we saw either a few minutes ago or what we saw last week. As I realize it has to be an illusion, the blocked passage starts to tear open, like stretched fabric slowly ripping. I wake up, staring up at the minotaur’s chin and the ceiling, keys in my hand. I sit up and notice Tittlin and Spesof are asleep as well. Given that they’re probably in the same illusion, I yell it at them, in hopes that it will help them realize as well. It works for Tittlin, but he doesn’t have the patience and smacks Spesof who awakes with a larger gasp than I would’ve expected for the slap.
In spite of none of us being physically injured we all feel exceedingly worn out, leading us to take an hour rest before continuing. As we’re wrapping up our rest Tittlin’s trying to make Spesof write on his arm not to trust the old memories. Given how much the statue screwed with our heads, I’m inclined to agree. I give a key to each of them and they move to unlock the door, Tittlin walking on the ceiling to avoid the runes. Given that the runes only affect that which is within the chamber, I walk straight through them, taking a bit of enjoyment at Tittlin’s gasp.
Looking at the door, I can remember fighting mind flayers and ogres inside a week ago. But those memories are fake, as Tittlin said, implanted within our minds to deter us and keep us out. Well, it won’t work on me twice I think, pulling the doors open and revealing those exact monsters. In the moment it takes me to realize what has happened, Spesof has already charged in and been stunned by one of the flayers. Tittlin walked in across the ceiling, seemingly unconcerned that he’s dangling unarmed above the enemies. An ogre charges up, filling up most of the door and barely missing me with it’s club as I step back.
With mounting panic, I realize I’m the only one who can fight and am outnumbered eight to one. I ready Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere and launch it towards the back of the cavern, praying to the Luckmaiden that it’ll hit the mindflayers harder than us. As the cavern is coated in a thin layer of frost, I can see several enemies fall to the ground… as well as Tittlin, who is lucky enough to have a mindflayer break his fall.
As a second ogre tries to elbow it’s way through the door, a mind blast stuns both of them. I wince as the psychic energy ripples through my mind. A mind flayer manages to get out between the stunned ogres, but the runes flash brighter, freezing it in place. Behind all of this, I can see a mindflayer starting to drag Tittlin along the ground.
With Spesof still up, I try and break him out first, misty stepping over and blasting it with necromantic energy as I try and get in between him and it. As I do, there’s a pulse of pain that suddenly shoots upwards, feeling as though a wave of painful swelling travelled up me and lingered in my mind. It slows me enough that I can’t stop the mindflayer. It grabs Spesof and as it’s necromantically withered tendrils start surrounding his head I see Shifty erupt from it’s back. The mindflay slumps to the ground, dead as Spesof turns to me with a bloodied head. We see the last mindflayer dragging Tittlin into a side tunnel and give pursuit. I misty step once more, getting ahead of it to cut it off. Unfortunately, it turns out that wasn’t the last mindflayer, as one emerging from an unseen passage launches a burst of magical energy that I barely have enough time to dodge, much less identify. I seal him off in the side tunnel with walls of stone as Spesof catches up and eliminates the last mind flayer.
We finally have a moment to catch our breath and realize it’s too late for Tittlin. The mind flayer that was dragging him had already eaten his brain and wanted his corpse for some unknown reason. An ogre starts trying to squeeze in after us but quickly falls to Spesof. He then suggests trying to fly out through a passwall tunnel, but I shake my head. I no longer have enough spellery for that after sealing off the passages. Given the lack of options, we decide to just rush it. I grab Tittlin’s body and catch up with Spesof at the corner of the tunnel. On the count of three, we rush out, Spesof using a flurry of miniature meteors to disorient the remaining ogres as he closes in to cut them down, feinting and slicing in a whirlwind of death as I try to keep up and hit as many as I can with Toll the Dead.
Pushing our way through, we clear the threshold and the psychic pulses suddenly stop, giving us a moment’s reprieve.