Just A Stone's Throw Away To Safety

The adventurers regroup after a brutal battle with the duergar. They scour the rooms for any valuables and other useful items. Thokk begins his frantic collecting of anything he can get his hands on, as he obsesses over collecting, arranging and counting his items over and over again, a remnant of his brush with madness earlier on in these madness infused tunnels.  Sarith continues to hold Karis to prevent Karis from eating any more dirt than she already has, a side effect of the brush with her madness during the last battle.

H moves further down into the unexplored cavern filled with various mushrooms while the others continue to explore the duergar's alchemical laboratory. The room is filled with ingredients both natural and unnatural as well as vials of various potions. Thokk begins collecting all the potions he can, barely taking the time to note what each of them are.

Azalea comes across an odd piece of, what she takes for metal, sitting on the workbench. It is blacker than black and feels smoother than anything else she has ever felt. The shape of it is odd, as if it has been broken from a larger piece, as one of it's ends is jagged and non-symmetrical, like the rest of it. She pockets the oddity for later study.

Sarith, in the meantime, yells for some help as he has been holding back the raving Karis for quite some time now. The others arrive and begin to tie up the elf, preventing her from further inflicting damage upon herself. As the move about the small cavern, H notes a small passage further down the cavern hidden amongst a patch of growing fungus. Azalea also yells back that she has noticed an odd looking wall back in the laboratory. She pushes upon it and the wall swings inward revealing a small darkened room. In the center of the empty room lies a opening in the floor with a ladder leading down.

Thokk, jumps down to investigate and finds a tunnel that leads off into the darkness. The party debates then finally chooses to explore the darkened tunnel from within the hidden room. Azalea and Thokk takes turns trying to light a torchstalk mushroom to illuminate their way but time and time again, the torchstalk bursts into a explosion blackening their faces and leaving their skin singed. Finally, Stool is encouraged to light one and his unfortunately bursts into a small explosion too, leaving H to drool at the smell of broiled mushroom. Finally lighting one properly, they move on.

Parade Of Fools
1,210 XP

Travelling down the tunnel for quite some time they come to the end of the tunnel which has a panel of zurkhwood lying over top blocking the way. Thokk, as stealthly as he can, lifts up the panel to peer into the room on the other side. Noisily jostling the zurkhwood panel, he pokes his head up to see several myconids dancing silently in the center of a room.

One by one the party emerges from the tunnel to stare wondrously at dancing myconids. They do not seem bothered by the appearance of the group, if they have even noticed them at all. They dance around in a spiraling pattern of fungus which is several inches tall marked on the floor in vast rings. There seems also to be several quaggoths covered in fungus, sitting quietly off to one side. They make no movement whatsoever.

Stool cries out that he recognizes one of them. In the far corner is a myconid sprout, little larger than Stool himself. Stool says that it is Rumpadump. The other sprout looks nervous and begins to tell Stool that all is not alright.

Finally one of the myconids approach the group. He introduces himself as Voosbur and invites the group to join in the dance. "Join 'The Lady' and take part in her 'Gift'", he speaks to them using the same telepathic spores that they are used to from Stool.

H, pauses briefly before accepting. A burst of spores eminates from Voosbur and H breathes them in and begins to dance. H experiences thoughts, feelings and senses that up till now his mind could not even imagine existed. He dances and dances. As he moves into the spiral of fungus his body joins with the fungus as he moves further along the spiral.

The others are not so sure about this. They look around at each other and notice that Sarith, the drow elf, is struggling with something. His sores on his face are brighter and more colorful and he tries to speak but is unable to.  As they try to mentally take everthing in, Voosbur releases his spores.. Each of them do their best to avoid breathing them in. Karis is able to avoid the spores as well as Azalea, who also shields her friend Stool from the spores. Thokk is not so lucky. He begins to dance.


Alternate Pic

Karis and Azalea seem to be the only ones not affected by the 'Lady's Gift' and as they try to get to their companions the quaggoths, covered in fungus, rise up and begin to attack, defending their masters, the myconids. Karis is able to throw up a wall shield of magical daggers, using bladeward. This at least hinders the quaggoths but they soon find that the quaggoths have to compunctions as to heading straight through. Emerging on the other side of the bladeward, they are heavily damaged but continue to attack. As Azalea and Karis attack they find that not only do the quaggoth spore servants still have much strength but they are covered in a yellow mold which is poisonous. Thokk and H, of course, continue to dance.

The battle is hard won with H and Thokk finally coming round, back to sanity.

A Friendly Face

As they regroup and tend to their wounds, Thokk comes across a pen, where he finds a human male tied up within. He is tall and handsome and holds himself proudly. He asks for assistance in loosing his bonds. H hesitates while grueling him with questions.

It would seem that his name is Sandar and he is a noble from the house of Torval. His father harassed

him for being to coddled and so he set out to make a name for himself and seek out adventure. He fell in with some dwarves and eventually made his way into the Underdark. He has survived by his intellect alone.

H and the others quickly deduce that he has survived on his good looks, ample money and pure luck.

Azalea approaches to see what all the fuss is about and she is immediately smitten. She cuts his bonds after he has promised, and signed a contract to, being her personal assistant (slave? love toy?). He asks the group for a weapon in order to defend his lady fair. Thokk refuses to give over any of his plentiful spears. Azalea happily offers one of her battle axes.

The group asks is Sandar has seen any suspicious derro lately. Specifically, one with a large brimmed had with tentacles. Sandar says that he has and begins to lead the way he has seen the derro go.

After moving through the tunnels some way they come to a narrowing in the tunnel where a large patch of fungus grows. Sandar who has up till now been leading the way, pauses and says that he normally is not the type to be heading first into unknown territory. His skills lie elsewhere, as he raises a seductive eyebrow at Azelea who smiles back.

Exasperated, Thokk steps forward and the patch of fungus he is near begins to shriek loudly. Soon the entire patch of fungus is shrieking, filling the tunnel with such a volume that no one can hear anything else. Thokk immediately responds by throwing magical fire at the patch and the shrieking slowly turns to pained screaming and then nothing. The tunnel silent save for the sound of burning and the air is filled with black smoke.

H decides to move further on but he forgoes the empty patch between the patches of burning fungus and goes right through the fire. He emerges from the fire safely on the other side while patting out the small fires on his pants.

Thokk decides to move through the more sensible path which is not on fire, and immediately falls into a whole in the floor. He emerges covered in green slime. It hisses and pops as it eats away at his clothes, weapons and exposed skin. Thokk begins to scrape it off with some of his spare clothes. He looks up at H, who simply smiles a knowing smile.

H sees an odd looking mushroom on the ground. He has seen this one before. It looks like a little tongue. More red than  pink. He takes a small bite. It is good. Really good. He eats the rest. He tells the group that it's pretty good. Except that he doesn't just tell them, he yells it. Everything he says he yells at the top of his voice, even when he tries to whisper. He decides that he should perhaps not talk at all for a while.

'Two Heads Are Better Than One' Ritual
3,000 XP

The group moves out of the tunnel and into a vast cavern. The cavern is lit with an eerie  green glow. The same glow that they have occasionally seen in parts of these tunnels. There are also burning braziers of red coals.

H sees a cage with a dog in it, so he approaches it. Calmly holding his hand out to show the dog he means no harm, the dog turns it's heads towards him. H now sees the dog drool and bare it's fangs, from both of it's heads. Safe on the other side of the cage, H's outstretched hand slowly lifts and he raises his middle finger at the dog.

The derro who has watched this interaction from the other side of the cage, walks around the corner and opens the cage door. The death dog charges at H.

Thokk, who was standing nearby, runs in front and intercepts the death dog's attack. In the meantime, the others have joined in and are now trying to hold off attacks from other derro. The derro are in the middle of a vast ritual circle that glows with an intense green glow.

The derro sling spell after spell at the group. At one point a lightning bolt spell arcs out and hits both Thokk and Karis. Thokk manages to doge the majority of the damage but Karis takes the spell full force. Karis falls.

As the others are fending off the derro, an ettin who has been resting on a bed nearby enters the fray, protecting his masters. H fires shot after shot at his enemies but his guns jam. He watches as Thokk is felled by a derro spell. H watches as Azalea is felled by the ettin and Sandar running to her side to protect and aid her. He watches as Karis;s body, failing to hold on to life, explodes in a fiery green blast. H feels that this is the end.

He is frantically, trying to load his remaining gun when his hand falls on a heavy lump in his pack. The stone the Stone Giants have given to him as thanks for trying to save their comrade.

Daergryn's Stone.

He pulls out the stone and throws it towards the center of the derro mages that are attacking. The stone sails out in a smooth arc landing very near to the exact center of the derro. It lands with a thud and sticks to where it lands, not rolling at all.

The ground begins to shake violently until the ground near the derro begins to rip apart. Crevices begin to grow around and underneath the derro, most of them falling into the crevices, never to be seen again. The remaining derro try to stand and move but are unable. The sound of rock wrenching

and crumbling fill the cavern.

The lone derro that now faces the group, decides that the tides have turned and vanishes from sight.

H moves from companion to companion aiding where he can until each of them are standing once again. They look around and there is no sign of Karis anymore. Each find a safe spot to collapse in exhaustion while stool and his friend take watch.

The next morning, feeling more like their old selves, they explore the cavern further. H, finding he an talk at a normal volume again, finds an odd scroll with confused derro writing and can make little of it. He hands it off to Thokk for investigation. H finds that in the middle of the ritual circle is a statue that bears resemblance to one of the stone giants. In fact, inscribed along the base of the statue is the name, 'Dorhun'. Dorhun being one of the stone giants they had met. This statue though has an extra head grafted onto it's shoulder. H takes a swing at the statue's extra head and breaks it off.

Azalea explorers and finds a jar. It is filled with a thick green ointment, which smells faintly of aloe. She tucks it away for later study.

H also come across a large tunnel that has been newly bored through the stone. It is large and perfectly circular and goes straight into the darkness.

The Obelisk

The group now moves through their newly made tunnel, a product of the stone giants' gift. It is not long until they come to a cavern. Inside are two stepped pyramids. At the top of one is a large black obelisk. A spire of dark black material rising like a tower. On the other is a small red object.

H wonders aloud. 'A red dragon's egg?"

Let The Madness Begin

The next morning the group awakes. H and Karis are still at one of the small duergar forges. The duergar within being taught by H, the secret to forging firearms. The evening was productive but the gun still lies incomplete. H goes outside to find morning from within Gracklestugh is simply colder, quieter and less brightly lit because the smelting furnaces fires within the forges have died down during the night.

A Pool Fouled

He walks to a nearby pool of water and, after a quick glance around, with no one in sight, begins to empty his bladder, contributing his waste water to the pool. Mid stream there is a growl and a tap on H's shoulder. He turns to see several duergar, armed with war picks and seemingly very angry. They begin to yell at him in undercommon. It would seem this is a pool used for drinking water. H can only hold up his hands and mumble his apologies. He yells for the duergar, with whom he has been working with, for help. Both the duergar and Karis exit the small smith workshop and H attempts to explain in his best attempt in undercommon. After a bit of explaining and help from his work companion, the duergar leave. Some walk away while others simply vanish from sight.

The others, Azalea, Thokk, Sarith, Eldeth and Stool awaken in the Shattered Spire, the inn for those in Gracklestugh who are not duergar. Each awake groggy and unobservant and some like Azalea and Thokk find the acidic and smoky air of Gracklestug hard on their lungs as they cough up black mucus. Azalea walks to her door and nearly runs into Stool who has been patiently been waiting by the door. He doesn't quite understand Azalea's last number of hours spend unmoving and quiet. She tries to explain the concept of sleep to the myconid, but doesn't seem to get very far. After the group breaks fast in the common room, Azalea, accompanied by Thokk and Stool, decides to prowl the city for suitable bodily companionship.

Azalea On The Prowl

During their explorations, and failed attempts at finding anything more attractive than the dour looking duergar to flirt with, Thokk notices movement past some of the buildings, of a massive red dragon. He watches it move from forge to forge, lighting with his breath the furnaces. Parading in front of the dragon, are several duergar dressed in ceremonial robes making way for the dragon. As he turns to point out the site to Azalea he also notices a small derro darting around the market place, deftly pilfering various items while the storekeep looks the other way. The derro is remarkable for his odd, wide brim hat which seems to have tentacles attached to it.

Finally their explorations of the city are halted as they approach the main part of the city, which is walled off by massively constructed walls, which the gates of are heavily guarded. They decide to return to the Shattered Spire and wait for H to complete his job. As they sit in the common room, they all begin to hear the sounds of rocks being shattered and deep loud howls coming from outside.

Rampaging Giant
3,000 XP

They run outside the inn to witness the site of a large stone giant breaking though the city walls howling madly and flinging duergar aside as he strides along. As several duergar begin to descend upon the giant, the others run to join in. By the time they get to the giant, H and Karis, who have also heard the noise are arriving from the other side of the market area. They all notice that this is no ordinary stone giant. This one has two heads, both howling loudly.

Duergar begin to throw their javelins, not wanting to get too close to the rampaging giant. The group decides to join in. Perhaps helping defend Gracklestugh will ingratiate them to their hosts. As the battle begins, some of the group notice that  while one of the giant's heads is howling with a wild insane look, the other is looking at the other head with frightened horror and is screaming at the opposite head.

H holds his shots as he tries to figure out what is going on. Azalea does likewise but Thokk simply jumps into the fray and begins to throw his spears. After deciding that it is better to side with the duergar rather than the rampaging giant, H begins to fire and Azalea attacks as well. Shortly the giant is felled. As the duergar rush to begin repairing their wall the group approaches the giant and begin to inspect it.

H searches the giant but finds nothing of interest but does notice that the giant's second head, which seems to have grown out of the shoulder seems less formed and is even beginning to loose it's structure. He begins to cut if off. As he is doing so he notices the giant is not quite dead. Though after some debate and finishing hacking off the extra head, the giant finally bleeds out and dies. H cracks open the deformed head and finds that it is mostly filled with some sort of fungus. He pokes around inside with a dagger then tosses the head aside.

Noise of excited duergar alert the others. As they look up they see another stone giant approaching from the same direction the other did before it. This one has, the normal number of heads. one. It walks carefully and holds it's hands up in deference. Everyone watches as it approaches the fallen giant, a look of profound sadness on his face. He kneels down and talks to the group still around the fallen giant. The group explains what happened and that they didn't seem to have a part in the killing. The giant introduces himself as Dorhunn and explains what happened.

His fellow stone giant was Anthor, a student of the great Stone Speaker, Hgraam. They were in deep meditation and conversing with the stone when Anthor began to scream. Soon a second head began to sprout out of his shoulder and Anthor began to scream in fright and ran. Apparently he ran until he came upon Gracklestugh.

Dorhunn thanks the group for doing what they could and invites them to visit Cairngorm Cavern. There they can meet the great Stone Speaker, Hgraam. Perhaps he himself can bestow upon the group his personal gratitude for trying to aid poor Anthor.

The group moves to follow but are interrupted by a group of duergar dressed in ceremonial robes. Thokk would recognize them as the group which proceeded before the great red dragon earlier in the morning, but he has spend the last half and hour, missing everything which occurred with talking to the giant, because the was trying to find all of his spears. He has found all but one.

Finally, frustrated with watching her companion furiously, and embarrassingly, scrounge around for a single spear, Azalea stealthily pulls out one of her many spears and tosses it on the ground. When Thokk finally finds Azalea's spear, he proudly grasps it, stands up and announces to everyone, "Found it!"

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: I loved Thokk running around missing everything that was going on because he was obsessed with finding his spear. So much so that I used it for inspiration for Thokk's next failure at resisting a Madness check.

The Keepers Of The Flame


The duergar introduce themselves as The Keepers Of The Flame. They attend the great red dragon, Thumberchaud. Thumberchaud has extended to them and invitation to meet with him. It is a great honor and they should depart to meet him immediately.

They are allowed into the city proper accompanying the duergar priests. After walking some great distance, they pass a large crevice which spans the entire width of the city. They pass over it by one of several land bridges. As they cross they look down into a darkened pit where the derro live in crowded filth and anarchy.

Finally after reaching near the back end of the massive cavern which holds all of Gracklestugh, they arrive at the cave of Thumberchaud. The priests take time to instruct the group on the proper etiquette when addressing the dragaon and finally allow them into the presence of Thumberchaud.

Thumberchaud is a massive red dragon. Massive in size and great in girth. He has lived a life of luxury and plenty and it shows. He is obese beyond imagining. Folds of scaled fat overlap in unsettling ways as he sits atop his treasure trove of gold. He addresses the group in draconic but soon stops, puzzled and then pleased.

He brings his nose down and nearer to the group inspecting them until he finds Azalea with Stool nestled on her back. Thumberchaud smiles and says, "What a neat little trick he does.". Azalea brings the sprout of a myconid into the folds of her arms protectively. "Can he stop that?". Stool immediately stops emitting his rapport spores and the group can no longer hear the psychically translated speach in their minds. "Ah, that is better" and begins to speak in elvish.

Now that Thumberchaud's conversation with the group can no longer be understood by his attendants, he tells them why they are here. Someone has stolen his egg. It was to be his heir. He was to pass on to it all his power and privilege while he retired into a life of leisure. His duergart acolytes say they are doing everything they can to find it but he is unsettled by something and doesn't trust them. The group, as outsiders, have taken no sides and thus would be perfect for Thumberchaud's mission.

He tells them to report only to himself and then dismisses them. The duergar ask Karis what was discussed but Karis feigns ignorance, saying he doesn't speak draconic. The group is tasked by the duergar to find Thumberchaud's egg and that they suspect the derro. Specifically, they suspect a derro named Droki, a renowned and uncatchable derro thief.

The group is given badges designating themselves as deputized by the Keeper Of The Flame, which should grant them access to anywhere in Graclestugh.

A Deadly Toast

The group follows H back to the market area as he has to collect his equipment before carrying on. H returns to the forge where he and the duergar had been making a pistol firearm. He explains that they will not be continuing their project as he has been recruited by Thumberchaud for something else. The duergar is incensed. He has paid good money to learn this craft. H, aided with Karis, convinces the duergar with displays of their badges and H is able to collect up his equipment, and even a bit of the duergar's.

H retrieves two simple cups of water, while superstitiously stirring the duergar's water with his dagger, still covered in the vile fungus that was within the fallen giant's extra head. He presents the cup to the duergar and toasts to "no hard feelings". They drink and H and the others leave.

Cairngorm Cavern

The group decides to follow up with the giants and accept the invitation to visit Cairngorm Cavern, the home of the stone giants. The path is easy enough to follow as there is a trail of destruction leading from Gracklestugh through the rock tunnels and finally to a large cavern where the group finds several rock giants sitting in meditation.

Each rock giant sits near a wall of the cavern, reaching out a hand to touch the rock and all emit a low rumbling chant which permeates the cavern. While the group tries to decide what to do, Thokk boldly approaches the largest and most central rock giant. The rock giant sits atop several fractures in the ground which emit a dim green light. He holds his hands above the cracks with a look of deep concentration. Thokk sits down beside the giant an prepares to join him in his meditations.

The great rock giant immediately opens his eyes and yells a loud, "No!" and pushes Thokk away with such force that Thokk is thrown into the nearby wall. The giant gets up and approaches Thokk but without malice. He holds his hands out to aid Thokk in getting to his feet which Thokk takes. The great rock giant introduces himself as Hgraam, the great Stone Speaker.

Hgraam explains that Thokk was about to approach the area in which the unfortunate Anthor had been sitting in when he began to grow another head and went insane. Hgraam has been since trying to keep the vile energies at bay and perhaps cure the ailing rock of Cairngorm Cavern. The other giants approach and they too explain that the rocks, not only of Cairngorm Cavern but of much of the underdark, have been crying out in pain and sickness. And it has only been growing worse recently.

Hgraam thanks the group for trying to aid the now deceased, Anthor and moves to retrieve something nearby. When he returns he holds a spherical rock. In his hands it looks only to be a pebble but placed in H's hands it's size requires H to hold in both hands. Hgraam explains that this is Daeargryn's Stone, It will aid the group if ever they are in desperate trouble. It will, when thrown cause a massive earthquake, with the ground opening up and create a tunnel through which the group may escape.

MetaGame Item Info

Daeargryn's Stone:

• cast Earthquake (phb p. 236) cast at level 16; spell save DC 17
• for 100' radius it is:
• difficult terrain
• creatures must make Con save (17) for Concentration
• at the end of each creatures turn they must make Dex save (17) or fall prone
• several fissures (1d6), 10' deep, 1d10 feet long by 10' wide will open up (DM discretion)
• Open a tunnel (10' x 10') burrowing until it meets with another tunnel

The group thanks the giants and they swear that they will do their best to find what happened to their comrade. With Daeargryn's Stone in hand, they leave.

Outbreak

Returning to Gracklestugh they return to rest at the Shattered Spire. There they talk with some of the other denizens of the inn and there is much rumor as to what the significance of the two headed insane giant. H gently probes as to the well being of his previous duergar forge colleague. The room goes quiet as one of the inn's guests approaches H and asks in a surprised tone, if he has not heard of the horrific event. H says he has been away and has not heard of anything.

The room begins to tell him of the duergar who began to grow another head and that the duergar went mad with the occurrence. It took several duergar to put the deviant creature out of its misery. H gives Karis a sidelong look. Karis wonders aloud if it wasn't something in the water. The entire inn puts down their drinks in frightened suspicion.

Azalea, counters with, "that's not what's frightening. It's that it could be in the air."

With that the entire inn goes mad with fright. It is not more than a few minutes before the panic sets in and spreads through the entire city. Soon the group decides to move on and finds the city a very different place. The streets are bare and activity is not to be seen anywhere.

The group walks up to one of the city gates but even with their badges, the guards refuse to let them enter. The entire city is being quarantined. No one from the infected market square area may be permitted entry.

Azalea calls to the guards above and shows them a container of water. She claims that the group is well and healthy because they have imbibed the antidote to the curse. She is willing to give it over if they are allowed through the gates. After the duergar retreat from the wall to discuss they return and agree to the trade. The gates are quickly opened and the "cure" hastily grabbed and downed by one of the duerger. The other duergar angrily demand their own, to which Azalea gives them the recipe for the cure. Zinc dissolved in water.

The duergar think briefly before one of them says he knows of an existing vein of zinc ore in one of the mines. The duergar abandon their post leaving the group to enter and wander the city at their leisure.

Laduguer's Furrow

H is determined to find the derro, Bupido, with whom they arrived in Gracklestugh after escaping the drow back in Velkynvelve. Perhaps he can assist in their mission. He did after all allude to the fact he was a god more than a few times. They arrive at the derro quarters of the city, Laduguer's Furrow. A massive crevice running the width of the city. As they approach the furrow near one end of it, they look upon a massive iron door over a hundred feet tall, sealing off the crevice from the rest of the cavern from top to bottom.

H yells for Bupido but all he gets in return are several derro peeking out of their holes in the sides of the crevice, looking at him. H kneels and prays to the god, Bupido, and is joined by Thokk. Their prayers do not seem to be immediately answered. Each descend into the crevice, H Thokk and Sarith jump, slide and fall to the bottom while Karis and Azalea use flying to gracefully descend to the bottom. There they encounter numerous derro each scampering over each other trying to get away from the intimidating party. Finally, H is able to locate one of the holes from which a derro had peeked out in response to H's calling out the name, Bupido.

They pull the frightened derro out and explain they are friends of Bupido. This immediately excites the derro as he runs to show them the shrine dedicated to the god, Bupido. He brings them to a small hole in the side of the crevice. The birth place of Bupido. There are numerous offerings left at the shrine, most of it scraps and leavings most would consider garbage. H and Thokk kneel and give reverence to the shrine. Looking into the hole, H notices is goes back very far. Climbing up and into the hole brings gasps and mutterings of shock from the derro but H, undeterred climbs further back into the hole. At the end he finds a pile of garbage, mostly cloth scraps and pieces of zurkhwood.

Pushing aside the pile he finds an exit. A hole which descends down. From the hole emanates an odd pale green glow. H descends down into the hole. After some short distance the tunnel opens up into another larger tunnel. H stands and looks down the long dark tunnel which is lit by veins of pale green glowing material within the rock. Thokk stands, exiting the smaller tunnel and joins H.

Bupido's True Shrine
900 XP

The pair move through the tunnel util it branches. H takes one branch, Thokk the other. H finds a small cave with a cluster of mushrooms growing in a far corner. Thokk finds Bupido.

Bupido is atop a tall dais made of bodies and body parts. Each of the many bodies is arranged in a spiral arrangement which rises and moves up until it reaches the spot upon which Bupido is sitting cross legged. The room is lit with the odd hand raised up out of the mass of bodies holding what seems to be a clump of body fat which burns with a oily sickly light. The walls of the cave are splattered with the blood of many various creatures. The collection of bodies has definitely occurred over time as some of the bodies near the bottom have rotted considerably making walking across the room difficult.

The horrific sight attacks the senses of Thokk. He is unable to cope with the madness that Bupido has created. The only thing he is able to do is yell for H. "I've found Bupido"

H enters the room and Bupido invites him to kneel and receive his blessing. H approaches and kneels cautiously at the feet of Bupido. As Bupido raises his knife to sacrifice H, H jumps backward firing his guns upon Bupido. Bupido is shocked to see bullets penetrate his flesh leaving him badly wounded. Bupido begins to chant and several of the bodies lying within the dais rise and begin to attack. The battle is short. H is able to quickly recover from his jump and fires repeatedly until Bupido, is hit several more times.

Bupido laughs at H's futile attempt to kill an immortal god. Even as he spouts blood Bupido laughs, until he collapses dead upon the body pile he created. The resurrected bodies collapse too, as the source of their power dies.

Chasing Droki

The sound of gunshots alerts Azalea, Sarith and Karis to trouble and they make their way down below, into the tunnels. As they approach the small cavern where Bupido had made his shrine of death, Azalea catches a glimpse of a derro in an odd wide brimmed hat running down the tunnel into the cave opposite to Bupido's. She follows him and witnesses the derro, scoop up some mushrooms from the mushroom patch, pick out one, eat it and the derro shrinks to such a small size that he is able to fit in a small crack in the side of the cave and disappear into it.

Azalea quickly notifies the others and they all gather at the mushroom patch. Looking at the patch they find that it contains several very distinct looking mushrooms. Which one did the derro eat. Azalea grabs a bunch and holds them up for Stool to inspect. The junior myconid looks through them, finally holding one up for Azalea and exclaims, "This one."

With no hesitation she eats it and shrinks in size. The others do the same and they enter the crack in the wall. Shortly the tight passage leads them to a larger tunnel. Karis runs ahead scouting for the derro, while the others puzzle over another fungal patch, trying to figure out what the others do. They, with the help of Stool, find the proper mushroom to grow back to normal size while H discovers a mushroom which when struck, ignites and serves as a torch to light the inky blackness.

Some of the group note that Thokk has been acting odd ever since his encounter within Bupido's shrine. He has taken to collecting anything and everything he can get his hands on. He has collected and organized many of the mushrooms he has found and has begun a collection of any weapons he comes across, regardless of their condition. All the while muttering to himself and counting each item in his collection over and over again.

Azalea shrugs. She's seen weirder.

The Cavern Of Voices

The group moves on. Trying to find traces of Droki's passage on the floors, H begins tracking Droki through the maze of tunnels in which they find themselves. Eventually, they come across a large cavern in which their is a rocky ramp which leads up to a platform. Around the platform, descending from the ceiling are several large stalactites which all point towards a central point near the top of the rocky platform. Each of the stalactites's tips are cleaved off exposing a hollow center within the stalactite.

H cautiously walks up the ramp to the platform which ends near the center of the cavern. Once in the center, at the focal point of all the stalactites he is barely able to hold on to his sanity as his ears and mind are assailed by numerous voices, conversations and noises all seeming to originate from within Gracklestugh. Once he manages to stay sane, he is able to focus his mind on just a few of the converstaions. He overhears:

• the duergar priests of the Keepers Of The Flame hope that once the group has recovered the dragon's egg they will kill off Thumberchaud. He has grown lazy and demanding. They can restart with a new dragon that they may raise their own way.
• some drow have entered the city and are inquiring as to the whereabouts of the group of escaped prisoners matching the description of those who have been seen around Gracklestugh for the past few days. They offer a rich reward for their recapture.
• insane derro mutterings 
• the nearby voice of Droki, the derro thief, who they are in pursuit of. He is muttering that he must quickly rid himself of the package he bears and make it back out of the Whorlstone Tunnels.

The group seems to have reached a dead end. Before having to retrace their steps H begins inspecting the cave and finds a small crevice in the wall. He finds evidence of Droki's passage. They again eat some of the pygmywig mushrooms and shrink down to follow.

The Alchemists Cave

1,800 XP

Travelling through more tunnels they soon come to a tunnel which leads to a locked zirhkwood door. Azalea decides to set fire to the door. Soon tunnel is filled with a choking black smoke but they are able to barge through the door. 

The fire has alerted the duergar within and they attack. Two of the duergar grab from a nearby table filled with various bottles and glass vials and begin throwing them at the group. H is set aflame and Thokk runs in and begins to bash in their skulls.

Karis runs up to help and when the duergar attack, the elven witch uses her teleport to escape harm. This time though when she steps through the portal to a teleporation plane, something within the alternate plane assaults the elf's mind and the portal closes, leaving her where she began. Something in that other plane has broken her mind. She falls to her knees and begins scooping up handfuls of dirt and detritus and starts to shovel it into her mouth.

Azalea is attacked from behind as two more duergar emerge from the other side of the cave. One of the duergar has a device strapped to his back which is connected to a large tube which he holds. Suddenly the device begins to emit a foul smelling green plume of gas which burns everyone's lungs.

Sarith seeing Karis putting handful after handful of foul dirt into her mouth to the point where her stomach must soon explode, runs and grabs her and drags her out of the cave. He spends the remainder of the encounter holding her arms such that she cannot ingest anymore dirt, stone and other such non-edibles.

Soon the duergar succumb to the pummeling of Thokk who finishes each one off by crushing their skulls with his mace. After his enemies are vanquished he begins to collect each of their weapons and begins rifling through the caves contents, counting, organizing and recounting. 

Over and Over and Over and.....

Upon A Darklake

The morning finds the group well rested in the kuo-toa village of Sloobludop. They have slept in simple mud and reed huts but at least they felt safe amid the odd kuo-toa. The high priest of The Sea Mother, "Ploop" ask H if he is still willing to pose as a sacrifice to the Deep Father, whom his daughter is now high priestess to. H is willing but he must first have a cigarette, or something that is akin to one soon. A kuo-toa is sent out to retrieve several weeds which the kuo-toa offer to H. The weed is foul smelling but when rolled and fashioned into a cigarette H finds the flavor not unpleasant. In fact, he feels much stronger and faster than he normally and is charged with a sense of well being.

"Ploop" escorts H through the village until they approach the shrine of the Deep Father, a stark contrast to the statue of the Sea Mother. This altar is several sea creatures, two manta rays and an octopus bound together to create some horrific hybrid. It is pinned down with stakes and offerings of blood are poured over its body. Numerous kuo-toa begin to emerge in front of the altar and several lay flat on the ground and then on top of each other until a small mound of kuo-toa is created.

A kuo-toa puffed out with indignant pride strides out and up on top of the mound of kuo-toa. "Ploop" begins to address her but without the aid of Stool the exchange is lost on those in the group near enough to hear. H confidently strides forward until he is at the foot of the kuo-toa mound. There he pulls out his guns with a flourish and fires twice at the priestess. Recoiling back but not killed she begins to chant spells which try to work their way into H's mind. Resisting the priestess's spell, H fires again and Thokk who has been watching from a slight distance now joins in and throws his axe at the kuo-toa priestess. He misses the first time but summons his weapon back to his hands and throws again. This time the axe finds purchase and the priestess is knocked back. She begins to chant a new spell.

Soon the waters at the shore begin to rapidly recede back into the depths of Darklake, exposing the timbers of the docks and the muddy bottom below. Most of the kuo-toa now are chanting and dancing round the shrine in alternating circles. The group can no longer distinguish between the kuo-toa following the Sea Mother or those of the Deep Father. Perhaps it doesn't matter. There rises a huge noise of rushing water and a monstrous below of rage from somewhere out in the inky blackness of the Darklake.

Each of the group is trying to fend off multiple kuo-toa as they now jump and bite at the group in retaliation against the attack on their priestess. Karis moves to one side of the foul shrine and casts a spell and summons a plague of locusts. The locusts swarm a huge area eating into the flesh of anything in its wake, friend and foe alike. Thokk and H are able to retreat out of the swarm but not before sustaining a huge amount of damage to themselves.  Azalea is not so fortunate, she falls as the wave of insects chew enough of her flesh until she falls unconscious.

The Demon Rampage

It is then that the receeded water returns in a small tsunami. The six foot wave that rushes back into the village washes up the dead bodies, including that of Azalea but the other kuo-toa are able to swim to safety. Azalea regains consciousness, covered in dead kuo-toa and looking up into the face of Karis who has just healed her. Everyone then looks towards Darklake as they all hear the sounds of massive foot falls in the water approaching the shore.  Whatever it is that is approaching is too far out to be seen in the black of the Underdark so Thokk sends off a fireball in the direction of the sound. The fireball does not find any target but as it flies off into the distance it illuminates a vision of horror that is approaching them.

Lit by the brief and fiery blast of the fireball spell, everyone sees the massive figure of a two headed demon with long tentacle arms. Towering over the village the creature begins to kill and destroy everything in its path. The kuo-toa are mass of confused activity. Some run to their perceived god only to be picked up and tossed tens of feet to their death or ripped apart between its many tentacles. Karis screams to Sarith, the drow, asking what is it. Sarith yells back that, from its appearance it seems like it is the demon Demogorgon from legends of old. The scene before them is so frighteningly beyond anything his imagination can conceive, Thokk, stares up at the demon and begins to giggle then laugh, uncontrollably.

The group does not debate. They run.

They begin to run and Karis performs a ritual, raising dozens of kuo-toa to aid the group as the undead army runs ahead of the group to act as a shield. Azalea is forced to push Thokk along as all he can do is continue to stare at the demon and laugh. As they run to the only exit they know, the one they had entered the village from, they pass the small inlet where the kuo-toa boats are moored. Eldith is already jumping into one and begins to paddle furiously out towards Darklake, away from the demon. H sees this and runs and jumps into her already moving boat. The others, seeing the boat leaving also board boats. Thokk and Azalea, who is carrying Stool grab one boat and begin paddling. Karis, Bupido and Sarith jump into another. Karis's kuo-toa undead army enter the water and begin pushing the boat, following the others.

They steer their boats in the direction that takes them the farthest away from the onslaught as fast as possible. It is not long before the sounds dwindle and they are surrounded by the darkness. Darklake is not perturbed by any winds or movement where they are so the surface is black glass smooth. They cannot tell north from south. There are no prevailing winds. There are only the tiny points of light from distant growths of glowing fungus growing on the ceiling of the enormous cavern, reminding the surface dwellers of stars in their night sky.

Catch Of The Day

They row for what seems hours. Eldith who has done all the rowing in the boat she shares with H, finally gives out and sits down. She complains that they don't even know where they are going. It looks the same in every direction. Black.

The others in the group slow and converse. Each gives where they think they should go but it is limited to what destinations they know of and who can get them there. Sarith, the drow, believes they should return Stool to his home back in Neverlight Grove. Stool happily supports this idea but H says that perhaps Stool should accompany the group a little longer. Without Stool, most of them are unable to communicate with most of the inhabitants of the Underdark. Stool shrinks back down in visible disappointment. Bupido says that he can get them to Gracklstugh, the duergar city. There they can obtain weapons and perhaps other necessary items. The weapons idea sells it to the group and they ask Bupido to head them towards Gracklstugh. Bupido sits down to meditate upon the direction of their destination.

While waiting the others take stock of what they have. They have a few weapons, including some drow poisoned bolts, which Karis takes to surreptitiously adding to H's water that she hands him. Fortunately for H his constitution is healthy enough to ward off the poison, leaving him oddly tingly. Some of the kuo-toa who are now pushing the boats have nets tied to their reed belts, which H and Thokk take to removing. H is able to attack a net to one of his bolts with rope he has. Thokk uses his net and rope to fish. He tosses his newly fashioned fishing net over the side of the boat.

It is not long before Thokk feels the pull of his net and he begins to pull it back into the boat. It takes all of his massive strength to pull but when he finishes pulling his catch back into the boat he sees a massive manta-ray like creature with sharp teeth and a barbed flailing tail. He tries to hammer it to death but it is trashing in the boat enough to rock it, leaving Thokk to uselessly flail his axe.

Suddenly the boat is rocked violently from other similar creatures in the water. The water is teaming with them and Stool, who is sitting in a makeshift sling across Azalea's back is tossed overboard. Stool screams in everyone's mind as he is attacked by the ixitxachtil in the water. Karis sends all of his undead kuo-toa to the aid of Stool. They form a mass of bodies around Stool and lift him up and out of the water, guiding him back into the boat where Karis sits. The churning water, alive with the creatures ripping apart the bodies of the animated kuo-toa.

The creatures then begin to attack the boat with their fellow within it. The jolts against the boat are enough to eject first Thokk, then Azalea as he pulls the boat askew re-entering it. They finally are able to work together to manage re-entering the boat with no one being tossed out into the dangerous waters.

With their few remaining kuo-toa pushing the boats, the group moves swiftly on.

Against The Current

They continue on, this time Eldith forcing H to do his part of the rowing. H happily takes up the job and begins to loudly sing maritime songs. He continues, even after the insistence of stopping from Karis, until some hours later, Thokk yells at him to stop. He hears something. Once the group is silent, most of them can hear it. The sound of water rushing. The water around their boats begins to form waves and chop and they are moving at a faster speed.

Karis moves his few kuo-toa around the the front of the boat where they push back halting the progress of the boat. H, seeing this grabs his hand crossbow, fitting with his rope and net, securing one end to his boat and shoots the bolt into Karis's boat. His boat is now moored to Karis's. Azalea and Thokk's boat continues to gain speed. Stool waves goodbye to the others as he speeds away towards the falls.

Karis sends off both a shower of dancing lights and his sprite to scout ahead. She reports back that it is a waterfall of about 50-60 feet, no rocks can be seen below. Azalea and Thokk paddle madly but their progress continues towards the falls. Finally, Azalea is able to stick her oar into something below the boat and she is able to anchor her side of the boat. Thokk follows suit. They sit their anchored but stuck as the groups shout back and forth to each other, trying to find a way out of this mess.

Azalea and Thokk finally come to an agreement. They lift their oars and prepare themselves. The boat quickly picks up speed and they are flung out and over the falls. Thokk jumps as far as he can away from the boat and falls. Azalea and Stool brace themselves within the boat. Each lands hard and hurtful but they survive.

Yelling up to the others that they are all right, the rest of the party decides to follow the same action. H and Eldith are next over the falls. They surface hurt but alive. Bupido, Karis and Sarith prepare themselves next. Karis casts fly on herself and sails gracefully over the fall while Sarith casts levitate and slowly descends back into the boat. Bupido, still in his position, standing at the prow of the boat, simply continues to stand in that position, trusting in his powers to see him over the falls. At the bottom, still in the boat he stands again, incredibly damaged but does not show any signs of pain to the others. Though he is bleeding from his ears eyes and nose.

A Warm Duergar Welcome

Not long after, Thokk has to quiet H again. This time they hear another boat approaching. Sending dancing lights and the sprite again, Karis gets a vision of several dour looking grey duergar in a boat before a spear ends the life of the sprite. They hail the duergar and after some poor attempts of persuasion, convince the duergar of their intentions to visit Gracklstugh, for means of purchasing supplies. Soon after they begin to see the glow of the fires and furnaces of Gracklstugh. The smoke from furnaces and smelting is harsh. Both H and Thokk find it hard to breath and exert themselves.

Bupido is able to navigate them up to some secluded docks where the group hides their damaged but valuable boats behind some rocks away from the more trafficked docks. Once entering the open part of the city, they see several shops and smiths. As they move through these quarters, following Bupido, they loose sight of the deep gnome and cannot find him again.

H is able to find a duergar who is willing to let him forge a new firearm in return for teaching the duergar the craft and a 150 gold pieces. Leaving H behind to forge his weapon, the others find refuge in what passes for an inn, here in the duergar city, which allows non-duergar to enter.

They've arrived in a city full of evil dark dwarves. Is this much better than life with the drow?

The Great Escape

The adventurers are forced into their menial tasks yet again. After being fed their usual bowls of slop, the prisoners are separated and are taken to their various jobs.

Grimm, along with the orc Ront, is made to raise and lower the large basket that the drow are using to transport food supplies and other things up to their living quarters up near the top of the cavern. The drow enjoy watching the puny human try to pull at the large winch as they begin to heap heavy rocks into the basket just to watch the two prisoners work harder. After hours of this grueling work, Grimm has had enough and an evil thought creeps into his mind.

The two quaggoths, whose job it usually is to work the winch, are hunched over near the edge of the cavern watching  the two prisoners work. Grimm rushes one of the quaggoths as the demon within him takes over. Now with the demon, Tallstag, in control he is able to match the strength of the quaggoth and is able to grab him and force him to the edge. With a huge push, the quaggoth is thrown over the edge. The quaggoth struggles to catch hold of one of the many spider webs just below the ledge but is unable to. His horrified screams fade as he tumbles out of sight into the inky blackness below, until all that can be heard is the constant roar of the waterfall.

The drow are quick to respond. They each fire upon Grimm and he falls unconscious. The drow drag his limp body off but not back to the prisoner's cave that they have been living in. His fate resides elsewhere now.

When the other prisoners are finally returned to their prisoner's quarters they notice that Grimm is no longer with them. They shout at the drow demanding to know his whereabouts but the angry looking drow do not answer. The prisoners begin to scheme again. They will wait to see if Azalea's female drow friend will return. And return she does.

Not long after the sounds of activity within the cavern begin to quiet, Faeryl, the female drow enamored with Azalea, gives a quiet 'psst' at the caves door. When it fails to get a response, she does so again louder and louder until Azalea finally awakens.

As Azalea approaches the door, H slinks in the shadows nearby. Faeryl opens the door and reaches for Azalea but Azalea instead pulls her inside the cave. Confused but not frightened, Faeryl begins to question Azalea but H jumping from the shadows grabs Faeryl around the neck using his found metal bar. With the metal bar across her neck he forces Faeryl deeper into the cave. But not before she begins to shout for help.

Karis, uses one of the drow's poisoned crossbow bolts to stab the drow, trying for the eye but succeeding in stabbing her in the face. Faeryl falls unconscious. With the sounds of the struggle in the cave silenced, the prisoners can hear the sounds of many drow approaching the door. Several quaggoths and drow burst into the room, they see H with one of their own drow upon the floor, using her body as a shield with the metal bar to her neck. They demand the return of their companion, Grimm. The lead drow introduces himself as Jorlan, he has a large portion of his face scarred and burnt. He sends two drow out to retrieve Grimm.

When Grimm is returned to them the standoff resumes with yelling on both sides. It might have continued for sometime like that if not for at that moment the two twin deep gnomes, Topsy and Turvy begin to shake and groan. They begin transforming in front of everyone. Moments later, two werewolves stand where the two odd deep gnomes once stood and they begin to attack, drow, quaggoths and fellow prisoners alike. In the confused attack, Karis is bitten.

As the battle begins, many of the prisoners begin to edge their way towards the still open door at the end of the cave. Finally, with much of the drow and quaggoths occupied with attacking and defending against the werewolves most of the prisoners make it outside the cave with their jailers still within. The group works quickly to close and lock the door, locking the drow, quaggoths and leaving Ront, the orc, to be attacked and ripped apart by the quaggoths. Azalea looks inside as she is trying to break the key off inside the lock to further prevent the drow from escaping the cave. Inside she sees the quaggoth looking, self-proclaimed cursed elf prince, Derendil, sitting in the corner scared to move. He shouts that he will wait here until they return for him. That is the last they ever see of Derendil.

Across the bridge leading to one of the stalactites used by the drow, are several more drow coming in response to the battle. H is able to drop one of the drow and use it as a body shield while Karis and Grimm begin to slash at the bridge's spiderthread ropes, until the bridge becomes unsecured on their side. The group is trapped between the drow and quaggoths trapped in the cave and several more still coming from further down the cavern but unable, at the moment to cross the gap to get to the prisoners.

The only way visible to the prisoners are the rocky stairs carved into the side of the cavern leading up. They run up the stairs to find and empty cave, which is obviously used to house the quaggoths. The cave is foul smelling with rotting fungus caps and other such refuse for beds and food. Outside the cave is a small outpost with a door. Opening the door they find two drow who are quickly overcome. One of the drow they toss over the edge and the other is used for information. They learn that most of their weapons would be stored in the first stalactite while their more arcane items would be housed in the temple, which is further down the cavern.

The group returns back down to the landing just outside the prisoner's cave. Karis looks in to see what has progressed only to see a large quaggoth face just inside the door, who , in a rough guttural speech asks for them to open the door.

The rest of the prisoners are anxious to find escape and Shuushar, the fat kuo-toa, offers the strategy of jumping down to the webs and then down to the water, which is hopefully below them. Shuushar, still in a panic to leave before they all get shot and then tortured is the first to jump. He is able to grab hold of the webs and then drops into the darkness below. The party waits to hear the result of the fall until they hear a faint shout from below that he has made it. Injured but not dead.

H, who is not ready to depart without looking for his prized weapons, jumps for the webs below and then begins to make his way over to the stalactite. As he his climbing his way up the stalactite, Karis follows behind, jumping down to the webs below, missing the first layer of webs but is able to grab on to the second, and last layer before the empty space below.

Inside the stalactite H and Karis encounter a few drow which they fend off and Karis jumps down into a chamber below them and finds much of their gear. As she tosses up various weapons back up to H, several more drow approach from further down the cavern. Some of them cast a cloud of darkness that descends upon the group inside the stalactite but Karis is able to cast daylight which wards off the darkness. As the door holding back the drow bursts in a shower of splinters and lightning, H and Karis decide to make a run for it. As they approach the door they see Azalea who has arrived to come to their aid. As H runs and jumps to the webs below, Karis is hit by a crossbow bolt and is aided by Azalea to jump to the webs below.

Seeing the group fleeing to the webs, the remaining prisoners on the other side, still on the prisoner's cave landing, make their jumps to the webs. Eldith, the dwarf jumps to the webs and hangs there until she finds the courage to finally let go and drops into the darkness. Sarith, the drow prisoner jumps ably to the webs then lets go. H makes his jump down missing the spiderwebs altogether but is able to survive the fall into the small lake below. Bupido, the very odd derro, simply walks off the edge, arms folded across his chest with his feet together plummets at an incredible speed but survives the fall into the water. Azalea, who had Stool under her arm joins the rest at the edge of the water as everyone climbs to the muddy shore.

They notice that Eldith is not among them. Grimm jumps back into the water to search and eventually come back carrying the dead body of the drwarf. Karis begins the ritual for healing the group but as she does so the newly escaped prisoners hear the clacking of the winch. The sound of more drow coming down to the cavern floor in pursuit.

As soon as the ritual is complete and the party as healed as they can get, they see the drow approaching out of the darkness. There are only a few ways to go: through the drow to the other side of the cavern; away from the drow towards the other end of the cavern; or a small opening in the cavern which is the closest exit they can see. They run for the opening.

Karis provides a wall of green fire blocking their escape but it will last only so long. Grimm tells the others to run on. He will hold off the drow for as long as he can. Perhaps in penance for his murderous crimes, of which he has no memories of but suspects there is something evilly wrong with himself, he will give his life to aid the others in their escape. He allows the evil to over take him as his nails grow into claws and he knows no more as a human ever again.

The others run and eventually come to a large cave riddled with stalagmites and stalactites. H uses the opportunity to find a hiding spot as he is unable to see in the dark. The others spread out doing their best to hide. Soon enough several drow begin to move through the cave trying to track the escapees. One of them moves on through a passage but the others remain. A fight in the darkness ensues until the group is free once again and begins to move at a fast pace following Shuushar to his home, Slooblupdop. There he promises that they can get supplies and boats to travel using Darklake as it is the most efficient means of travelling the Underdark.

Travelling takes days and often Shuushar back tracks and seems lost at times. When the group is tired they rest and Stool, the myconid sprout, runs out and collects up safe fungus for the group to eat. Once when H grumbles about not being able to see where he is going, Stool runs off and returns with a clump of fungi, which when touch begins to lightly glow. H, fascinated by this constructs a makeshift torch using the fungi. When the group sleeps they are often disturbed by unfamiliar sounds and are unsettled and find it hard to relax.

During one days travel, they hear calls for help from a voice in the distance. Karis uses dancing lights to light up the area of a vast cave. There in the distance seems to stand the ancient ruins of a temple system that is perhaps thousands of years old. They continue to hear the pleas for help but the group quickly moves on, not trusting to their instincts and thinking mostly of their own preservation.

One one of the nights during a restless sleep the group is awakened by screams within their minds as Stool is screaming in pain and horror as a black oozing creature begins to cover him. Karis awakens and quickly grabs the sprout before he can become enveloped within the ooze. The others wake to find two other black oozes encroaching on their sleeping spot. They find that their metal weapons begin to deteriorate when they strike the oozes.

As the fight raged on, one of the oozes begins to shimmer and then dissolve as a wall of clear, almost invisible gel begins to envelope it. A human fighter appears beside it, not seeming to worry that he is standing right beside a huge gelatinous cube. Quickly the adventurers are able to overcome the black ooze with the aid of their two new companions.

The gelatinous cube begins to ask them a barrage of curious questions. Gelatinous cubes, not usually known for their conversation takes the group by surprise but the human, Thokk, whom it has been following for the past few days simply says that it found him and has been following, and aiding, him,

Not long after, Shuushar becomes excited during their travels, He smells home. Soon the others can hear the sound of lapping water and the air becomes more humid. At once they exit one of the caves and enter a vast open area with a vast body of black water lapping at the land near them an a village of simple mud huts ahead.

The village is protected by a vast net system surrounding the village. The group approaches the net near an entrance where several kuo-toa stand guard. These little creatures jump and skitter around and call for assistance. The group patiently awaits, Thokk playing music for the quickly growing audience of kuo-toa, all of them flapping their arms against their legs in appreciation.

Soon a village elder, denoted by his robes approaches the gate, introduces himself as Ploopploopeen, "Ploop" and after a bit of formalities allows the group to enter. They are taken through the village towards a central shrine to their Sea Mother. It is a statue that resembles a woman with a lobster face with large crawfish claws. It is made from the real creatures that are now beginning to rot. The smell is not made any better by the numerous offerings of food from the Darklake which is laid at the feet of the statue.

The group is told by "Ploop" they are to stay for a feast in their honor and the next day they shall receive supplies and boats to carry them upon Darklake. Their discussion is cut short by noise of conflict outside the hut. Exiting the hut they see a large faction of kuo-toa which are fighting other kuo-toa. Some are chanting honors to the Sea Mother while others, more violent, are shouting the dangers of not worshiping the Deep Father. A female kuo-toa stands on a rise of other kuo-toa, each laying down to form a makeshift dais, she shouts that if all of the kuo-toa do not worship the Deep Father, they will begin to kill anyone who follows the Sea Mother.

It is then that "Ploop" quietly addresses the group. "Ploop", who is high priest to the Sea Mother, wants the group to kill that high priestess of the Deep Father. It his daughter, Bloppblippood, "Blopp".

Will they please kill his daughter.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: What the hell was Gary Gygax on when he came up with the Kuo-Toa back in the seventies.

A Rude Awakening

Several adventurers awaken to find themselves inside a dark and dank cave. Exit is blocked by a massive wooden door with only a small opening, which contains several bars of iron. Outside is pitch black with only the sound of a massive waterfall nearby.

Inside the cave they are not alone. Assembled are an eclectic mixture of creatures. As the group moves around the cave they meet each of the creatures.

• Jimjar. A deep gnome who constantly talks and is constantly trying to engage others in wagers he can not pay or collect on. He quickly begins to annoy the newcomers.
• Eldeth Feldrun. A female dwarf. She is motherly and kind. She wants nothing but to return to her family back in Gauntlgrym. She does not get along with the "dark dwellers" in the cave but is kind to the new arrivals.
• Ront. A massive orc who blusters about fighting and courage but is quickly disparaged by Eldeth to whom he defers.
• Derendil...or Prince Derendil to be more precise. He is appearance is that of a quaggoth but he claims that a cursed spell is upon him and in reality he is a high elf. A prince of the kingdom of Nelrindenvane. He is refined and polite. He detest his "beastly" appearance.
• Topsy & Turvy. Brother and sister deep gnomes. Topsy speaks but Turvy never speaks to the others. They converse in whispers and seem not to trust anyone else.
• Shuushar. A fat kuo-toa. He claims that he can direct everyone to his village, Sloobludop. There they shall be welcomed and since it is on the shores of Darklake, from there they can travel most anywhere else. That is, after they escape their current situation.
• Sarith Kzekarit. A drow who is sullen and keeps to himself far from the others. When confronted he admits he is imprisoned as punishment to the crime of murdering another drow of his house. He will be taken to Menzoberranzan to be sacrificed for his crime. He also admits he doesn't remember actually killing anyone.
• Stool. A young myconid. He gives of spores which allow everyone to be able to communicate regardless of their native language. He is scared and only speaks of returning home to Neverlight Grove.

The others inform the new arrivals that they are fed once a day and are forced to work. The food is near rotten and the work either menial or grotesque. When the food arrives the adventurers look at the horrid state of the food and forgo the horrid meal. The ones who have been imprisoned here longer rush to the food and begin eating. Eldeth, the dwarf, is the only one who still tries to remove the worst parts of the rot off the food. Some  of the newcomers try to summon their magic, but upon reaching for the threads of the weave they find that they cannot perform any sort of magic. H's hands often go to his sides but his guns are not there.

Not long after, several drow accompanied by a number of huge muscled creatures, the quaggoth. These quaggoth are similar in appearance to the prisoner, Derendil, but where he speaks haughtily an refined these brutes do little more than grunt and growl, following the orders of the drow. They remove several of the prisoners on work detail. 

Grim repeatedly questions the drow as to why they have been brought here and other such demands. These are met with a beating with a whip and a few of the drow fire upon him with their hand crossbows. Grim quickly falls unconscious from the poisonous bolts. Retrieving their bolts and several prisoners the drow and quaggoths leave the room. H takes a few moments to take a chicken bone and immerse it into the wounds to try and retrieve as much of the drow poison as possible without drawing any attention. H is given the job of emptying chamber pots and tossing them over the railings and into the dark abyss of the massive cavern they are in. H uses the opportunity to observe the stalactite that some of the drow soldiers occupy. Their rooms are carved into the huge stalactites and travel between is via bridges strung between. Several feet below is a vast network of spider webs and below that is a vast darkness.

Azlalea uses her time to befriend a female drow,Faeryl, who has caught her eye. She is able to convince the drow of her friendly intentions and later that night when the prisoners are returned to their prison Azalea is awakened by Faeryl for a late night tryst. Azalea is escorted across various bridges past the great waterfall of the cavern and into a soldier's barracks. Inside the barracks she sees numerous sleeping drow soldiers and their weapons. Content to enjoy the company of Faeryl and use her time to gather information, Azalea spends the night in the arms of Faeryl.

That evening when Faeryl, returns to the cave to retrieve Azalea, Karis uses her skills at stealth to sneak out along with the two lovers and follows at a safe distance exploring the cavern and system of bridges as she goes along. When Faeryl returns Azalea to the prisoner's cave Karis finds herself locked out of the cave.

Jimjar. RIP.

The next day upon talking to the rest of the prisoners, Jimjar begins to annoy the others. So much so that the others begin talking about killing him. Without much warning, something takes a hold of Grimm and he in a insane fury rushes Jimjar, twists his neck and kills him. In retaliation for killing one of the valuable slaves, the drow enter the cell and one of the drow males, Jorlan begins to lash Grimm and some  of the other drow shoot him with their hand crossbows. Dropped to the ground Grimm nearly passes out but in the end only feigns unconsciousness. In the attack, Karis uses the opportunity to slip back into the cave. The drow retreat out of the cave. Some begin to question Grimm as to the reason for his fatal outburst against Jimjar. Grimm claims to have no memory of this. There is no food this day.

The next day, when food arrives in the same fashion as the day before the newcomers take to eating voraciously. The tasks for the day are assigned as before with new prisoners chosen for the grueling and demeaning jobs. H, during his assigned labor, finds a short piece of steel from a table and is able to slip it away from sight. 

Azalea being escorted, by her lover Faeryl, across a bridge feigns tripping and running into another drow female guard and expertly removes the key from the drow's belt. Unfortunately, Faerys notices and becomes jealous. She throws Azalea back in the prisoner's cave and is gone.

When H returns and the planning begins he asks if anyone else has anything that they have been able to secretly obtain as makeshift weapons. Azalea produces the key. Eldeth holds up a small piece of sharpened flint with a knowing smile. Ront holds up his two fists with pride. Eldeth sneers.

As H begins to grind his metal bar against the stone floor trying to sharpen it to a point, everyone begins to plan together for their escape.  They debate as to what would be the best time for their jailbreak. The two sibling deep gnomes, Topsy and Turvy, enthusiastically say it should be tonight. It has been close to a month since they have been imprisoned. When asked why it has to be tonight the deep gnomes become silent. H and Karis question them harder until they let it be known that they perhaps suffer a condition that my be related to Grimm's. When the entire group is pressing upon them, Topsy accidentally admits that the two of them suffer from lycanthropy, more specifically, they are werewolves. 

And they're pretty certain that it has been just about a month and....well.... 

The Rise Of Tiamat

After returning to Boareskyr Bridge and the tent tavern, Bolo's Tentside Inn, the group meets back up with Ward, a member of The Order Of The Obsidian Dagger. After some nighttime revelry, drinking and a bar fight, or two, with H taking the  brunt of the damage, they discover that Ward has had the White Dragon Mask all along.  Unfortunately for Ward, he cannot remember acquiring the mask or why he has taken it in the first place. His Order's dagger brooch on his overcoat is melted and twisted. Perhaps whatever Ward has d been cursed.

An Oath Breaker

The group tries to recall the lore that surrounds the Order Of The Obsidian Dagger but much of what happens is secret, known only to those within the Order themselves. Smallfang does recall hearing his father speak of an oath taken upon becoming a member of the Order but doesn't recall ever hearing the consequences of breaking the oath.

No matter. The group now has the White Dragon Mask and spend the evening experimenting with it. As it slowly gives up some of its arcane secrets, H begins to pick bar fights and ends up on the losing side of a fight. Fortunately, H had the good sense to bet on the bruiser of an opponent. After being picked up off the ground he looks to collect on his earnings. Trying to save the honor of their group Yethaniel and Smallfang challenge the same bar bruiser and end up finishing their battle.

What's Worse Than A Dragon? An Insane Dragon.

In the morning, the group is off, headed towards Waterdeep and the council. Along the way the group encounters two dragons. The dragons do not immediately attack, so the adventurers hold their weapons cautiously and wait. It would be folly to take on more than they can handle. The dragons converse, and Smallfang is able to catch portions of their discussion. It would seem that the female dragon, is in search of a replacement for her pet "wizard". Upon her back the group is able to make out a corpse that is lashed and secured to a saddle. It is dressed in wizards robes but it has been long dead. The other dragon tries to placate the other but is forced to attack when the insane dragon begins to advance upon Yethaniel, as she has decided to take the elf for a replacement. Dead or alive.

The battle is one sided. H, still riding his horse drawn wagon, along with his passenger, Arno, are both struck with fear and unable to do anything but flee. H drives his cart hard and fast away from the battle. Ward, the amnesic member of the Order, has also run. This leaves only Smallfang and Yethaniel to fight the dragons. It does not go well for Smallfang and he is frozen with the dragon's Ice Breath.

Yethaniel decides to reanimate the corpse upon the back of the insane dragon. As it comes to life and begins to try and free itself from the saddle, the dragon upon which it is lashed is surprised at first. Surprise turns to joy as she begins to fly and yell to her companion about the return of her "wizard". The other dragon takes the moment to convince the other that all is well again and that they should continue their journey towards The Well. With the dragons departure, the group returns back together and they revive Smallfang.

An Army On The March

Not long after, they meet up with the cobbled together army making its way towards The Well Of The Dragons. They intend to stop the cult from summoning the dragon god, Tiamat. The group is assigned the task of infiltrating, along with 3 other teams, inside the mountain and gain access to the ritual and stop it if they can. The remainder of the army will occupy the formidable forces gathered around the mountain in defense. The group takes the remainder of the day collecting what they can in preparation for the battle.

H recruits several mages and clerics to craft several dozen bullets that have been blessed or enchanted with radiant damage or fire damage. Smallfang, after his brush with death from the dragons, has decided to scavenge the army for healing potions and a cleric to accompany them into the mountain.

The next morning before sunrise, the army marches towards their goal. The Well Of The Demons. The land surround the ancient volcano is scorched and  desolate. There is nothing to provide cover for defense or stealth, so the army marches boldly up to the marauding hoards of cultists, several dozen bearded devils summoned from the second layer of Hell, more than a few giants and dozens of dragons filling the sky.

The group makes their way to the south side of the mountain unnoticed by the enemy. They look for and find the little used entrance way into the mountain, that the dwarf cultist, Varram, had spoken of. As they make their way inside the mountain, using a narrow tunnel, the spirit of a long dead cultist, now a wraith, emerges from the sides of the tunnel cutting the party in half as it decimates the acolytes accompanying the group. The fight is awkward in such close quarters and much of the damage the party inflicts is ineffectual against such a creature. But eventually, they overcome the wraith and continue to move further into the mountain.

The Well Of The Dragons

They emerge into the ancient caldera, the empty mouth of the now dormant volcano, and look down into a deep and disturbing pit, filled with the dead bodies that the cult has used and then disposed of. Beyond the pit, the caldera is littered with hundreds of thousand bones. Smallfang inspects some and tells the others that they are walking upon thousands of years worth of bones from various dragons. In the center of the caldera is a towering citadel, made from the bones such as the ones under the groups feet. Within that citadel should be the cultists and the ritual being performed. That is their destination.

Yethaniel and her acolytes are thrilled to see such a collection of useful bodies that they can resurrect. As the group moves cautiously around the pit, Yethaniel and her clan begin the ritual to reanimate the multitude of dead, but something is wrong. The magic is not working. These bodies have been sacrificed, their souls and spirit energy have been pulled away into Hell. The clan is unable to use these bodies in the battle.

Several knights who have been waiting impatiently, finally charge towards the citadel around what they think of is the back, and begin to pull apart some of the bones which make up a wall. Once they have worked away enough of an entrance they charge through. The group who isn't ready to enter, hear the battle cries of the knights which quickly turn to death throw screams as they quickly succumb to the enemy.

When the screams subside, the rest of the group debates as to what they should do. Call in for reinforcements? Enter the citadel from the front? Look for the still sounding Draakhorn?

Finally, it is the roar of a giant dragon from within the citadel that breaks the debate. It is Tiamat and she is finally trying to emerge from Avernus. The group decision is made. They must act now. They move cautiously and stealthily through the breach in the back wall. Inside they see a massive citadel with 5 towers around a central tower which reaches hundreds of feet high. At the base of each tower are at least a couple of mages performing a ritual around a cauldron. At each ritual, a cultist is wearing a dragon mask, except for the one on the far opposite side of the citadel. There, because of the lack of the White Dragon Mask they are performing sacrifices of young dragons.

Hovering high above all of the rituals is a huge portal which opens up into Avernus, first layer of Hell. There they can see Tiamat struggling to come through to this side of the portal. Above the portal is Severin, the dragon cult's leader. The fight is long and arduous. Severin continuously harasses the group with his fire chains and fire bolts while cultists and drakes pour into the citadel in waves. There is even discussion on how to retreat from this battle. To live to fight another day.

The Rise Of Tiamat

As the group continues to fight, Tiamat is able to pull herself through the portal. The group notices that Tiamat's white head is lolling limply and is useless. The group finally hits upon a strategy whereby they try and destroy each of the cauldrons in the towers, thus disturbing the ritual. They cannot interrupt each ritual fast enough to avoid massive amounts of damage from Tiamat's remaining heads. As each cauldron falls or is destroyed, the corresponding head on Tiamat falls limp.

It is not long after, that all of the rituals in each of the towers is disturbed and the portal begins to pull a weakened and limp Tiamat back through the portal. As Tiamat thrashes and resists being pulled back into Hell, she grabs on the Severin. As they are both being pulled back through the portal, H takes aim at the head of Severin and fires. The cultist who has been the driving force behind all of the groups woes is finally killed.

Some of the group moves quickly to retrieve as many dragon masks as they can and leave the citadel. As the group is trying to decide their next course of action, the citadel begins to crumble and fall back beneath the sea of dragon bones from whence it emerged. Smallfang, who continues to hear the blaring sound of the Draakhorn, decides to chase after the last few fleeing cultists. With Arno upon his back, the two ride out on his summoned war steed and chase after the cultists. Smallfang must pause though trying to track them through the branching tunnels in the mountain. Down one tunnel he hears the blast of the Draakorn even louder. The Draakhorn must be down this tunnel. But he pursues the cultists long enough to know which direction they are headed. But he cannot take them on all, even with the aid of Arno. He returns to the group. Along the way he notices the dragon battle in the skies carries on.

The others in the meantime have been trying to discern what they can from their newly acquired dragon masks. Yethaniel decides to have his demon imp familiar try on the mask to see what will happen. The imp tries on the mask and is delighted to have an item of such power given to him. He immediately goes invisible and flees. Yethaniel telepathically speaks to him, implores him, threatens him, cajoles him , lies to him to try and have the imp return the mask. It is of little use. The imp has decided that the dragon mask is his way of getting a promotion in hell. No longer satisfied with being the peon of hell he is going to use it as leverage one way or another.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Some intense reference searching by at least a couple of us came up with the fact that the demon imp familiar would have the ability to bugger off and not have to be summoned back. Hope this is okay.....cause it was funny!)

The Sounding Of The Draakhorn

Returning to the group, they decide to investigate and try to stop the sounding of the Draakhorn. Entering the massive cavern where the sound is coming from, Arno is blasted, by the force of the sound, off of the steed. Within the dark cavern they find an Air Elemental who has been continuously sounding the horn. They attack but find attacking an air elemental more difficult than perhaps they bargained for. The group is able to distract the air elemental long enough for him to stop blowing through the Draakorn. The ceasing of the sound brings a crashing down of silence almost as forceful as the sound itself. Past where the air shimmered hazily with the sound of the Draakhorn, now stands an Stone Golem, there to protect the air elemental.

The battle finds many of the group hit into unconsciousness as the acolytes of Yethaniel running from person to person riving them. Finally both air and stone monsters are vanquished and the group investigates the caves further. H is the first to come upon a massive treasure hoard of coins. The group works hard at trying to figure out how best to remove as much of the treasure before the rest of the army arrives. H gives orders to bring his carriage into the cave but when it arrives it also brings Onthar and other members of the army.

Onthar gives orders that no more treasure is to be removed. This has been taken from the people of the Sword Coast and it must be returned to the people. A little spoils of war is to be granted but the plundering is to stop. H moves further into the caves and finds another hoard. He quickly scans the mountainous treasure hoard and his eyes alight on a piece of cloth. He pulls out a cloak with dozens of patches covering it.  He dons it and walks back to the others.

Experimentally, he pulls off one of the patches and a solid iron door appears which cuts off the others who are in another part of the cave. The ones behind the door believe they have set off a trap but H simply turns the key that is in his side of the door, unlocks it and opens the door.

Heroes Return

The group finally is able to return to Waterdeep heralded has heroes. There is a massive feast and party which lasts until the sun begins to warm the air once again. H has drunkenly regaled his audience of his many stories and skills. Arno is asleep upon the table, comfortable within his Leomiund's hut. It is left to Yethaniel and Smallfang, who have decided to drink only water in order to stay alert, to protect the others.

Unfortunately, they fail.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Good news: Level Up! Bad News: You're all screwed.