King's Cage

The King's Cage is a temple built during the Calamity by Prime Deities Moradin and Sehanine. The temple was placed around a primal fane of corrupting power and was intended as a trap in order to banish a Betrayer God Torog, and later imprison his champion the Laughing Hand. It is located five to six miles west of Bazzoxan and its entrance is hidden from prying eyes.

The entrance
The entrance to the King's Cage is hidden behind a slab of stone. To open it, a round stone must be placed in a small palm size pocket, 30 feet to the right of the entrance. The seal is inscribed with a simple carving of a toothy mouth, and there are runes in celestial language above and below it, reading "Let lie the king's instrument, deathless and detained, until the world ends". Behind the seal six-foot tunnel on the side of the mountain.

The tunnel
The tunnel, seven-foot high and six feet wide, descends two hundred feet below, then it turns in Bazzoxan direction, and after the next two miles, it opens up into a boundless chamber. It has two larger cylindrical tunnel, 40 feet in diameter, leading to the left and right. The left passageway is fully caved in and collapsed. The right tunnel continues to drop down. Eventually on the right side of the tunnel, there is a slate gray obelisk rising up about 15 feet. The tunnel continues before it slopes further down.

The obelisk
The obelisk has abyssal symbols written that have been mosly defaced, reading "build every bridge, become every nightmare, feast on every heart".

On the right side of the obelisk is another small ten-foot square tunnel. At the end of this tunnel there is a set of stone doors with two humanoid statues of alabaster, one on each door: hairless, with folded wings, adorned with robes, and blank in their expressions. There are trails of crimson down their faces. The door leads to a subterranean courtyard.

The subterranean courtyard
The subterranean courtyard has a crescent form with a curved wall and uneven ground. There are a fourteen humanoid statues, all situated facing the far wall. They all are of alabaster stone with smooth heads, hairless, folded wings, robes, and a trickle of blood run from their eyes. The statues lightly vibrate. Beside the statues there are celestial bodies buried along with their armor and weapons.

The far wall is of a jet-black stone, with grooves about every ten feet. In the center of the wall, there is a 20 feet wide, 15 feet tall adamantine door with a yellow gem affixed to it by a chain.

The collapsed room
The collapsed room is 80 by 60 feet chamber with three pillars and a collapsed corner on the right side. There are two sets of doors, one large gate of intersecting lattice metal bars that are at angles in each side. An inch to an inch and a half between each portion of this lattice that's open and it's shattered beyond that. There is a central bar that ties the two doors together in the center there is a keyhole through which mist is emerging. The room is covered with spiderwebs and sacks stuffed in small alcoves. Beyond the gate is a 10 feet wide and seven feet tall tunnel leading to an descending spiral staircase.

The radiant stairs
Emerging from the staircase is a foot thick mist that covers the floor. Five feet from the far wall there's a 10 feet hole in the floor. The spiral staircase is three feet wide and spirals down to the right. One of the steps is trapped, triggering a very subtle hum, summoning an invisible stalker, and an electrifying wave periodically goes through the staircase

On the bottom of the stairs is a large gold, brass and silver tower with a blue crystal at the top There is a small oval-shaped alcove in the tower with a brass metal dangling in the center with the little blue sparks on each side. There is a door made with similar material as the tower without a handle there is a small slot where a crystal can be placed.



The discard pits
The Discard Pits is a ten-foot room with an archway that opens into an octagonal room with another door. The archways lead into an octagonal room with chains an manacles hanging from the wall on each side and a rack with implements and tools.

On each side of the room are two, 15-foot by 5 feet, 45 degree slopes that disappear out of view towards the walls. At the end of the slops are piles of undeadbodies. Some of the undead have glowing heart pearls.

In the center is a two-and-a-half feet high pedestal. it has a smooth top, with grooved designs in the sides that spiral from the ground to the top. It has three concave openings in a triangular formation on top. When three glowing pearls are placed in the holes the groove fills with light and the door open.

The bridge
15 feet beyond the entrance the rock, dry, dirt, dust surface comes to an natural cavern. At the very edge, bolted into the cliff side, is a pair of heavy, metallic bolts, like poles, with giant, drilled screws and metal spikes set into the side. Massive chains reaching out into a ten-foot wide, elongated iron bridge that bows 120 feet out into the darkness.

In the middle of the bridge 20 feet from it are two stalagmites, they rise up into 15 feet wide platforms that have rusted iron cages on them. Within the cages are bones and armor. When noise is produced the chasm begins to whisper, almost maddening. Underneath the bridge are gibbering mouthers, a mass of flesh and teeth writhing and shifting below. On the ceiling between the stalactites lives a roper. On the other side of the bridge there is no platform. The bridge is bolted onto large rocky towers and there is an archway that the bridge goes right into. Beyond the archway is hallway that leads to the next chamber.

The mirrored halls
This room is made out some of 15 feet tall cold, cut reflective surfaces embedded in stone walls. The cavern is very refined, and also very rough and natural. There's a tunnel that curves around and opens up into a hallway that turns left and then breaches around. There's a whole series of scattered tunnels that all move and weave. When some of the mirrors are touched it a feral mirror images of the individual, pulls them within the mirror bringing them to a mirrored realm. There is a rectangular archway, blocked by a crystal barrier embedded within a thick brass frame. On the brass frame are five ovals placed, one in the top and 2 on both sides of the frame. When the ovals are hit they make a sound. If the ovals are hit in the correct order a melody is created and the glacial wall moves. Mist pours out from the interior and about five feet beyond it is another door. This door is split in the center. In the door is a carved angel, wings open. The eye lids almost closed. The hands are both forward clutched in the chest and its heads looking down. When opened it reveals a tunnel that leads to The heart of the King's Cage.

The mirrored realm This world is mirrored to the halls. On this side of the mirror there is no crystal blocking a hallway In this chamber is an dagger jammed into a brass sheath that is embedded in the stone wall. The dagger has a pearl carved handle, small hilt, and the blade looks like Damascus steel. The design on it has spiraling grooves. Beside the dagger is a mirror that once the dagger is removed it can be passed through.

The tomb of the Laughing Hand
The entrance to this chamber is a 20 feet wide platform with a pair of symmetrical staircases spiraling 20 feet down. The chamber is lit by candelabras and torches. In the middle is a sarcophagus of 10 by 10 feet in size, across which three sets of dark chains are stretched, and a faint golden sigil is pressed into it. On the ceiling, there is a massive mural depicting Torog, as a giant worm burrowing through a series of varios landscapes.

History
The King's Cage was a trap: unbeknownst to the Torog, the Crawling King, the temple had been secretly constructed by Moradin and Sehanine. When the Crawling King was defeated by the holy light of Pelor and Sarenrae, the "King's Cage" was instrumental in imprisoning the Betrayer God. With the Crawling King bound to the fane, he was banished and sealed away at the fane's source of power: the Far Realm.

After the Divergence, the still-corrupted King's Cage fell under the control of the Crawling King's zealots, including the undying Champion of the Crawling King, known only as "The Laughing Hand". The followers of the Moonweaver fought the forces of the Crawling King on the very steps of the King's Cage. Upon realizing that the Laughing Hand could never truly be slain, the Moonweaver's celestials martyred themselves to seal away the temple. It was their hope that the King's Cage and the zealots within would remain forgotten, and thus could never be unsealed and unleashed on the world.

The Mighty Nein went into the King's Cage in search of Obann, with Locate Object they found crest placed inside a palm side alcove, and read the inscription. It had already opened the door into the cliff side, they entered the tunnel and found an obelisk marking a side tunnel. Down that tunnel, the two doors have been already opened and the statues appeared to be weeping blood. Nott went Invisible and entered through the doors, finding a room filled with fourteen aasimar statues, kneeling, all weeping blood, and surrounded by what seemed to be aasimar skeletons, the remnants of a battle. They faced a huge adamantine portcullis door. Thrumming through the statues, the party could hear faint oboe-like music. Caleb sent Frumpkin underneath the door and into the dark room beyond, but he could see little without light. Fjord and Caduceus transformed to look like Yasha. The still-invisible Nott creeped beneath the adamantine door and into the chamber within.

The party crawled under the door, while Nott got entangled in a web. Caleb was able to free Nott, but it disturbs the webs. There were multiple demonfeed spiders coming, and one large mama spider who immediately webbed and pulled Caleb to her. Caleb Polymorphed into an image of the mama. Nott, with a natural 20 and sneak attack, manageed to kill the mama spider quickly and the swarm of lesser spiders was fairly quickly dispatched, as well. They investigated the room, finding a key and a spell scroll of Protection from Energy. The key fitted the gate and they went through and into the hallway. The group creeped downward stealthily, but Fjord, taking the lead, stepped on a trapped step, and triggering a low humming sound. They moved down as quickly as possible, being attacked by a shape emerging periodically from the mist. At set intervals and with increasing intensity, lightning from below shocked and damaged all of them. Beau used Slow Fall to reach the bottom. Jester and Caleb both Polymorphed into giant eagles and flew the party to the bottom. Meanwhile, Beau found a blue-sparking piece of brass and grabbed it. She then inserted the piece of metal into the doorway, it got pulled in and the door opened. The party went through the door before Caduceus slamed it shut behind them.

As Beau investigated the pedestal, it seemed to shift down an inch and the masses of undead in the piles below began to attack. They noticed that some of them leave behind a faintly glowing golden heart when they died. After much experimentation the Mighty Nein needed three glowing hearts to put in the pedestal. As each one went in, one of the grooves in the pedestal lit up. As the third glowing heart was dropped into the pedestal, all the remaining undead collapsed and both doors to the next chamber have opened. The stepped into a chamber with a bridge across a gapping chasm. At Fjord's urging, Beau tossed a ball bearing into the chasm, awakening a chorus of hundreds of whispering, moaning, screaming voices which gradually subsided as Beau resisted their influence and backed them away. Caleb cast the tiny hut, for a long rest. Jester Sent to Obann, saying, "this place is really scary. We have her. How far is it? What is this place? Did you know there were gold hearts? Okay, anyway, bye." He replied, "Oh, yes. I've made my way as well. I'm glad you've kept up. Hope to see you soon. Just be careful. Wouldn't want you spoiled." Nott raised her voice at one point and the whispers rose up again from the chasm, this time causing Nott, Yasha, and Beau to go catatonic for six seconds. Caleb wrapped his silver thread around the party's little fingers so they'll knew if anyone tried to wander off, putting Yasha at one end at her request. With Beau volunteering to take first watch, they began what they hoped will be a long rest.

Yasha and Nott took the first watch, Beau and Caleb took the second watch, then Caduceus and Fjord took the last one, and nothing happened. When everyone woke, the Mighty Nein decided to tie themselves together, 15 feet apart, to cross the bridge. Caleb sent vulture-Frumpkin ahead to scout, and spoted two cages. They started to move across, slowly and stealthily to the center point, directly across from the first cage. The whispers rose, causing Beau to walk off the edge, but she was hauled back by the rope. The group continued, the whispers caused catatonia or forced some of them to dash in random directions, as well making both Nott and Caleb to involuntary try melee attacks against the party. Nott panicked and cut off the rope, stealthing her way ahead of the party. The party reached the second cage mark, at which Caleb sent Frumpkin inside the cage and he found a magical whip inside. Just then, a roper disconnected from the ceiling and attacked the Mighty Nein, but swiftly Banished by Jester. They continued; the whispers made Nott dash off the bridge into the shifting mass below. Jester dove after her and Dimension Doored them both to safety at the end of the bridge. When the rest of them reached the end, the party moved into the chamber on the other side and discovered that at least some of the walls were reflective.

Fresh footprints in the dust led up towards the glacier wall. Caduceus used Speak with Dead on the skull that Jester brought with them, learning that it was slain by those it was charged to contain, but succeeded. It was charged to contain "the Laughing Hand, timeless and seeking the torment of all, the Undying Chosen" who cannot be defeated, only sealed, and this was his tomb. When the group began to investigate the chamber, Fjord caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He touched a mirror, but nothing has changed. Yasha put her hand to a mirror, her wrist was seized, and she was pulled inside, facing a doppelgänger self in the mirror realm. She couldn't get back through the mirror, therefore attacked the creature. Moments later, Fjord put his hand to the mirror, and was also pulled. Yasha managed to kill her feral version, and went on to help Fjord, when a feral Caleb attacked her from behind. Outside, Caduceus saw a dagger jammed into the wall, that did not exist in the "real" world. When he went toward a mirror, he was pulled in, as well. His Spirit Guardians quickly finished off all three remaining doppelgängers and Yasha pulled the dagger out of the wall. Caduceus then discovered that they could go back through the mirror to the normal world by putting his head out. Fjord pulled Jester and Beau through the mirror with them and they all investigated, but found nothing more. The rest of the party rejoined them in the normal world. They discovered that tapping the egg-shaped protuberances around the door created varying tones, and Jester was able to re-create the song she heard thrumming through the statues when they first entered this cavern. The wall cracked open, Nott used Mage Hand to place the blade of the dagger in the angel's hands, and the door split open, revealing another chamber beyond.

The party took a short rest and entered the final chamber. They were investigating the room when suddenly Obann came in behind them, telling them a bit of the history of this buried temple. He then asked the Mighty Nein why they have followed him. Obann greeted Yasha as the Orphanmaker and dropped his disguise. Yasha recognized his true form as the figure from her dreams. He told them he was in this place to follow the design of the Angel of Irons. He thanked the Mighty Nein for helping him find one of the Angel's "lost children". He flew into the air, pulled out a stone slab, and began reading an incantation. The Mighty Nein attacked, but despite the party's best efforts, they were unable to stop the rite and have only managed to slightly wound him. As he concluded his reading, the tablet flashed, the chains shatter off, and the lid of the sarcophagus exploded upward.

The Laughing Hand standed, Obann shouted to the figure and encouraged it to join the fight before flying up to the ceiling. The Hand called forth spirit creatures in the shape of dark hounds that emerge from the shadows and attacked Yasha. The Nein realized immediately that the Laughing Hand was likely unkillable, according to the incriptions they found as they entered his tomb, and that they needed to flee. After a long fight Obann looked at Yasha and murmured, "Avenge me". This caused a sharp burning pain in the back of her neck, at the base of her skull, and forgotten anger welled up within her. The party decided they had to retreat. Fjord tried to take Yasha out of the room with Misty Step, but she refused and remained in place. Fjord was confused as to why Yasha was't with him outside the chamber as he teleported. Beau pulled the dagger out of the doors, and it began swinging shut. Not everyone has escaped the chamber yet and Beau put the dagger back in the door to start its re-opening. Retrieving the last of the Nein, save Yasha, outside the chamber, Jester tried to use the whip to bring Yasha to join them, but failed, and as the doors were closing in she reached out in a hand gesture toward Yasha, sobbing.

As the stone door in the Angel room closed behind them. They heard heavy footsteps and a loud hammering as the Laughing Hand tried to beat the door down so he could escape his prison. The Mighty Nein dashed across the bridge spanning the whispering chasm as fast as they could, narrowly avoiding the effects of the voices. They killed the mist creature guarding the spiral staircase leading upward, dashed back through the spiderling chamber, and into the dusty mid-afternoon of the base of the Ashkeepers at the edge of the Barbed Fields.