Editing Challengers of the Unspeakable (section)

===A Name and a Promise===
[[Image:Harthur Brawl.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Harthur's bar brawl]]
The next day, the adventurers were given another task. Brightstone's miners had uncovered some ancient dwarven ruins, but they needed someone to go in and make sure no monsters had taken up residence before they began their excavation. Unfortunately, they found that Harthur had been involved in a brawl in the Wood's End tavern and been arrested, so the other four had to go in without him. They spent much of the day dealing with giant insects and a handful of [[duergar]], before returning to Brightstone to rest and recover. The next day, they went back in - alongside Harthur, who had been released in the morning - and discovered that a mad duergar named [[Hargash Bitterblade]] was summoning the giant vermin in the name of the demon lord [[Obox-ob]]. When they confronted him, he fled deeper into the tunnels and summoned demons to defeat them. Though the tunnel collapsed in the battle and cut off their retreat, after slaying Hargash and the demons the adventurers realized they had found their way into another of Voran's hidden sanctums. When they tried to activate the portal and escape, however, it transported them to a ruined tower where they were forced to do battle with - and ultimately destroy - the maddened ghost of Voran himself.

[[Image:Mutated Goblins.jpg|left|thumb|Goblins, mutated by the corrupting energies of the Far Realm.]]
Outside the tower, the adventurers found themselves in an immense, ancient, ruined city. As they walked through the ruined streets, a fog sprang up around them, obscuring their sight. Stumbling through the fog, they found a small cabin. Inside lived an old man named Jorn. After letting them eat and rest, he told them that he was a wiard living a hermit's life and had recently detected worrisome levels of energy related to the Far Realm. After hearing their tale, he asked them to travel to an ancient temple of [[Boccob]] known as the [[Temple of the Mind's Eye]] and eliminate whatever aberrations they might find. It took them most of the day to reach the temple, so they made camp outside. When they did, though, they experienced bizarre dreams. Though all were slightly different, they all featured dark, winding corridors filled with the sounds of grinding rock and scraping metal, a woman's bloodcurdling scream, a giant stone eye, and the opening of a great door. They awoke to find themselves under attack by mutated goblins; after defeating them, they chased those that fled into the cave where they encountered more of the twisted creatures. At the bottom, they found a planar leak from which energy was seeping from the Far Realm, which had so greatly warped the goblin tribe dwelling there. With great effort they managed to close it and returned to Jorn.

[[Image:Challeners vs. Yuan-Ti.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The Challengers encounter a band of Yuan-Ti inside Boccob's temple.]]
Though Jorn thanked them for dealing with the goblins, he could tell that the planar leak was merely the symptom of a greater problem originating from within the temple itself. The five set back out for the temple, camping outside once again. As before, they were plagued with strange dreams; this time, the imagery was much more vivid, and they saw the door open to reveal terrible aberrant horrors. Resolving that they must stop the disaster that their dreams were warning them about, they entered the temple. They first encountered a band of [[yuan-ti]] inside the temple, but when they explained their goal the yuan-ti allowed them to pass in order to eliminate a mutual threat, as they had claimed much of the temple for themselves. The adventurers traveled through grand chambers that had long-since collapsed, leaving only thin tunnels between the rubble, eventually encountering a [[shadow dragon]] in the darkness. It engaged them in conversation for a bit, before explaining that its mistress had set it to guard the passage, and that it would have to kill them. Though the dragon was powerful, the adventurers ultimately proved stronger.

[[Image:Tephra FarRealm.png|left|250px|thumb|Tephra opens the portal to the Far Realm.]]
Passing through the ruined sections, they found a long hallway that had been rigged with dozens of deadly traps. They just barely managed to reach the other side alive, where they found an enormous domed room painted with massive images of Boccob. In the center of the room was a small altar, atop which was a gem projecting a massive anti-magic field. After some discussion, they elected to leave it undisturbed. Continuing further in, they entered a vast chamber with a massive fissure through the middle and an enormous [[Lifecutter|scythe]] with a glowing red blade embedded in the back wall. Beneath the scythe, a mind flayer had opened a small portal to the Far Realm through which several aberrations were emerging. The five adventurers leaped into battle, and though it took nearly everything they had, they finally killed the mind flayer and all the aberrations it had summoned. While they bandaged their wounds, Tephra volunteered to seal the portal. As she opened the wailing tome and began to intone a ritual in deep speech, her allies realized too late that she was not sealing the portal, but opening it even further. As it spread to cover the entire wall, sucking the scythe deep into it, a small army of aberrations appeared on the other side. Tephra simply smiled as they approached, looking to her for leadership. Realizing that they could not face this foe and live, the other four adventurers fled even as a massive aberration stepped through with the scythe in its hands.

Returning to Jorn's cabin, the wizard was furious. With a sudden sweep of his cape, he revealed that was in fact the god Boccob, having been turned into a mortal following his defeat of [[Nerull]] in the [[Deity War]]. He angrily told them that he would do what he could to clean up their miss, then teleported them to Brightstone. The four quickly reported what had happened to Leardon, who immediately called a meeting of the Brightstone Heroes. The four adventurers retired to the tavern, where they decided to make it their mission to stop Tephra and close the portal to the Far Realm. Calling themselves the Challengers of the Unspeakable, they drew up a sigil and each had it tattooed upon them as a sign of their bond. While discussing their next move, a [[thri-kreen]] introduced itself to them as [[Kalth]], announcing that it was a monk whose one goal in life was to battle evil and asking if they knew where it could go to do so. The newly-christened Challengers of the Unspeakable explained to Kalth what their mission was, and invited the thri-kreen monk to join them. Kalth eagerly accepted, though it took some convincing for the monk not to immediately set out for Estorium right then and there.