Session 9

As they moved deeper into the dungeon, the heroes passed through several rooms until they found themselves in a large hall, lit by a soft light coming from the moss that was scattered randomly throughout the space. In the center of the hall was a magical symbol lined with light stones. Zorya performed a magic detection ritual and felt the hall soaked with magical energy emanating from the moss. In a vision, she saw the shadows of angels spreading their wings to hold the magic circle.

In the next room, the heroes encountered majestic statues of angels standing at a black altar. Zorya realized that this was the vision she had been shown earlier. Moving on, they found a closed door, which Raimi skillfully opened, giving access to a living room. Inside stood a table, a chair, and several bookcases. A search of the room revealed an ancient, dilapidated diary of a certain wizard.

The diary described the journey of his group and their discovery of a legendary artifact, the Deck of Many Things. The wizard, seduced by the artifact, drew a Flames card, and from then on he was followed by an archdevil from whom there was no escape. After spending all his savings to build this dungeon and traps for the demon, the wizard tried to defend himself, but something went wrong – the devil caught up with him.

Suddenly there was a rustle in the room, and a knife was brought to Raimi’s throat – it was an elf girl, locked here by her partner’s mistake. She said that they were hired by the headman of the nearest forest settlement to get rid of the monsters coming out of the dungeon. From the notes they found, the elven woman learned that something valuable was hidden behind the last door.

While Raimi opened the last door and the chest behind it, Essou sat on the altar in the room with the angels and, falling into a trance, saw a vision of how many centuries ago a group of adventurers had taken refuge in the dungeon from a terrible enemy, a demon that was stalking them. The demon, after walking through a trap and not getting caught in it, caught up with the adventurers in a far hall and destroyed them, but on the way back he stumbled and the trap triggered, tearing his body to pieces and turning his flesh into moss that covered the walls.

Raimi successfully picked the lock on the chest – it was the hardest lock he had ever picked. Inside was a leather pouch containing a deck of ivory cards with gilded edges – this was the ‘Deck of Many Things’.

Seizing the moment, the elven woman fled and, running through the dungeons, almost collided with Aden, who had been following the heroes since their night battle at the hut in the forest.

The heroes unmistakably recognized the legendary artifact in the deck of cards and decided to test their luck by starting to draw cards.

Nameless was first, he decided to draw two cards. The first, Puzzles, lowered his Intelligence to a value of 4, freeing his mind from unnecessary thoughts. The second was Knight, and in the same instant, a dwarf warrior appeared, breaking through the dungeon wall, sworn to serve Nameless until death.

Ramey was next, and spontaneously decided to draw seven cards:

“Key”: a magical weapon of rarity no less than ‘rare’ appeared in his hands.

“Moon”: he gained three opportunities to use a wish fulfillment spell.

“Fire”: a powerful devil became his mortal enemy, seeking to destroy him while enjoying his suffering.

“Ruins”: Raimi lost all of his wealth except for magical items.

“The Sun”: he gained 50,000 experience and a miraculous item.

“Jester”: he gained 10,000 experience or the ability to draw two more cards.

“Prison”: Raimi disappeared, finding himself in a state of suspended animation in the interdimensional realm. He will remain there until he is found and released.

Zorya drew one card, Void, and her soul was ripped from her body and stolen.

Essou, hoping for luck, drew a Gem and a Void, and his soul was torn from his body and stolen after Zorya.