Following their destruction of the Nightlords Sorcerer, the team tried to return to their ship and to escape the Nightlands. But the wrathful fury of a Nightlord, even a fallen one such as the one that rules the mirror of Chicago, is not to be turned aside lightly. The streets of Dark Chicago filled with the metal hounds of the Nightlords army and the skies swarmed with Hunters. The only escape was in the still smoking crater where the Sorcerer's fortress had once stood. The force of the explosion had ripped a hole in a cavern buried deep beneath the city. The team scurried for the cover it provided and prayed that the storm would pass them by. It was not to be.
The uncountable armies of the Nightlord swarmed into the pit, driving the team deeper and deeper. There was time only to pause and free a prisoner from the deepest dungeon before they had to flee into the depth. The tunnel seemed to go one forever, the rough hewn walls slowly becoming smooth, until it became clear that they followed some subterranean road, hewn unknowable ages past for an unfathomable purpose. Finally the team reached an end, a room with doors leading away.
Before they could take stock of their position, a hound leapt on them from behind, taking the team by surprise. Their combined fire quickly felled their foe, but nor before its howling blade cut Candledark to the quick, wounding him with a pain he had never felt before.
Eager to escape the horrors behind them the team hurried through the doors, almost ignoring the strange black threshold as they crossed over it.
Inside is a huge room, dark and damp and incredibly vast. A quick search revealed three coalition soldiers, their spirits broken, collapsed in exhaustion in a corner of the great chamber. They do not respond well to questioning and Harm, responding to the brutally effective training of a coalition officer, executes them for their disobedience.
The team explores the darkness, finding corpses with strange puncture wounds on their bodies and greater darkness. They are attacked by supernatural Darkmantles, that blot out what little light the team can cast and attack from the inky blackness. The foe is defeated, but only grudgingly.
Candledark’s supernaturally heightened senses smell the hellish odor of sulphur and brimstone. Before long they encountered a ravenous pack of hell hounds and battle is joined. The fight is brief but brutal.
The exploration continues. The complex is obviously old. Older than anything anyone on the team has ever encountered. It’s original purpose is unclear, but it has obviously suffered damage since. Even now small earthquakes shake the foundations and bring rocks tumbling to the floor.
Suddenly the team encounters a group a Psi-Stalkers, barricaded behind rublle and frantic to remain undisturbed. The Psi-Stalkers are no match for the team, despite their use of magic and their attempts at a peaceful resolution. They are slaughtered in minutes. Blink, however is deeply affected by a final spell. He flees the battle and stumbles into an acient magical trap left by the creators. He is unconscious when the team finds him and Agni too succumbs to the trap. The team searches the room and inadvertently discovers a secret door that leads to room full of hell hounds. Quick thinking and a fast recovery by Blink doom the hell hounds, but bring a huge chunk of the ceiling down.
The team stands ready, surrounded by rubble, in an ancient complex whose purpose is unknown and whose halls are filled with the warriors of Hades.
