GREYHAWK
REYLA - Elf Paladin
Left her home of Celene to see the world, knowing it would be a long time before she would see her family again. She was kicked out of the Knights of Luna because of her revelry and nontraditional attitudes. Ended up in Greyhawk around the time the Battle of Emridy Meadows drove the hordes of evil back into the temple of elemental evil and got caught in the celebrations, surrendering herself to revelry and drunkenness. Met 3 strangers at the Black dragon inn one of the nights.
URTRU - Orc Druid
After being driven from her home in the wilds of Burneal Forest in the north by a group of marauding humans going ”orc hunting”, she fled her home and wound up in Greyhawk because she had heard a rumor that several of her tribe ended up there as well. Got swept up by the celebration and ended up at the black dragon inn where she met the other 3 heroes, who despite her being an orc treated her with kindness.
LYNOTT - Halfling Wizard
Lives in Greyhawk as a freelance scribe for various bookkeepers, noblemen, business and accountants, some of which are shady; however, he maintains a “no questions asked” policy, as long as he's paid and allowed to go his own way (he’s weary of being tied down). Despite being fairly straight-laced, he ended up getting swept up by the revelrousness of the victory announcement.
MOMO - Goliath Barbarian
Working as a mercenary for various criminal factions throughout Flanaess, they hail from the treacherous mountains of Crystalmist. After a dragon wiped out their entire tribe, they made their way through the world as a mercenary. After defecting from a tyrannical government which attempted to overthrow an otherwise peaceful nation, they ended up only taking jobs from groups that stole from evil-aligned factions and organizations, always helping the underdogs in need of help. Ended up in Greyhawk while on such a mission.
569 Common Year
Waterday, 12th of Flocktime
Waning gibbous (two days after the full moon)
HORDES OF EVIL DEFEATED IN BATTLE OF EMRIDY MEADOWS!
In the free city of Greyhawk the streets are filled with people ecstatic about the recent major victory against the forces of evil. Every bar and public house is filled to the brim with smiling faces and cheering, all happily celebrating the recent victory of the Battle of Emridy Meadows, which saw the evil hordes driven back to their abyssal home. In a dark and crowded corner of the Black Dragon Inn, four adventurers awkwardly are forced to share a small table, but after several drinks, they begin to learn about each other. As the night goes on, the adventurers, feeling a sense of alcohol-induced comradery, decide to check the postings on the help wanted board to find something exciting to be a part of. They find a posting for help wanted in investigating a rat infestation that is growing beyond normal parameters. They continue their night of drunken celebration, and in the morning wake up very hungover.
***
Earthday, 13th of Flocktime
Waning gibbous (three days after the full moon)
After a breakfast that included some of what Lynott calls “potion of sobering” (very strong Medegian coffee), eggs, toast and meat, the party heads over to see the person who made the posting for more information and to ensure that a reward will be available.
They find the posting again and rip it down from the board and follow it to an address in the artisan’s quarter.
Momo and Urtru wait outside as Reyla and Lynott knock. A shabby city worker answers the door. He’s a human by the name Drehg Rauzletz and lets Reyla and Lynott into his office. As he closes the door, he glares at Momo almost as if he recognizes them.
He metes out the quest, saying that the rat infestation is more than the city can handle. “Just wither down their numbers and bring a few of the tails back as proof. I’ll pay 2 gold each for the small ones and 3 gold for the big ones…” He provides them with an extra sack just for the tails.
The party doesn't suspect anything, but Momo thinks they recognize him from somewhere but can’t quite remember. “Kinda fishy that he’s paying so much for fuckin’ rat tails, but oh well!”
Lynott gets a weird feeling and is starting to regret drunkenly agreeing to find a quest with these four strangers.
They make their way to the far edge of the city in the River Quarter and look for the entrance to the aqueduct. Along the way they all share sips of rum from Urtru‘s flask and are mildly intoxicated for the next hour.
They find a derelict and crumbled stone building that used to connect across a small stream via stone bridge, but that has also crumbled.
***
The party enters the ruinous stone building through a broken wall and as they step over the rubble and into the various rooms they find nothing of importance or value, just a decrepit old building.
A small stairwell leads to a basement that's completely flooded with water that has risen up to about 3 ft away from the start of the steps
Lynott attempts to clear away some of the water but is only able to move one cubic foot.
They continue to search the building, scrambling over rubble and detritus, but are stumped. All they find is some graffiti of some strange sigils, shapes and symbols poorly scribbled among the rocks and stone, but none of them can identify or remember what they mean.
They find another hole in the building’s stone wall on the north side and exit the building through it. They go around the corner and see the destroyed stone bridge. Under the bridge is about 3 ft of clearance, so they urge Lynott to crawl underneath to see if he can find anything useful or important.
He doesn't find anything important under the bridge but he notices that across the river, a little bit to the right, he sees what appears to be a thin rope silhouetted in the setting sun’s twilight. The rope stretches between the building on this side and the building on the other side.
The party climbs over the broken slabs of stone. Reyla looks up to see the rope anchored into the roof of both buildings. She ponders what use the rope could have possibly had but comes up with nothing.
The party makes their way back over to the north most wall and re-enter the building through the hole there. In the southmost room they find a ladder that leads to the roof. Climbing the ladder they access the roof. They climb across some of the rubble and are able to reach a secure part of the roof.
Doubting the integrity of the rope, they send Lynott, the smallest and lightest of the bunch, across to the other side of the river via the rope. He searches around and finds a giant hole in the northwest corner of the building. Entering there he notices that there's a lot more rubble in this building than across the river due to the fact that the roof had collapsed. However there is a staircase that leads down on the western side of the building and a room that is still intact on the south side. In that room he sees a wooden ladder and calls back to the party. Surprised by how loud he can shout, the rest of the party back across the river can hear what he shouts: that he's found a ladder and he's going to go up to see what is above.
Lynott climbs the ladder and finds a small nook with a chest that is locked. He tells the party through shouting again and Momo demands that he open the chest. He begrudgingly agrees to do so. Since he can't pick the lock, he decides to attempt to smash the box open using a magic missile spell. He begins to chant the ancient syllables and conduct the ritualistic gestures of casting magic missile.
After using the spell twice, the box is almost busted open. With a couple thwacks of his quarterstaff, Lynott is finally able to drunkenly break open the box. Inside is 420 copper (equal to 42 silver or 4.2 gold) and two potions of healing (common) (2d4+2 hp). Also found in the chest is an old, dark lavender robe with scorch marks on the frayed ends. Lynott leaves the robe but takes the money and potions
It takes a couple tries but Lynott is able to hear Momo shouting a request to bring the ladder to use to cross the broken bridge. Lynott removes the ladder and brings it over to the bridge. It takes him a little bit but he’s able to do it. The ladder is 20 ft tall so it easily is able to be used to allow the rest of the party to cross over to the other side of the stream.
The party rejoins Lynott. He tells them about the robe he found. Urtru scratches her head.
“We better be careful, there might be something more than a rat infestation here…” Urtru tells the party.
Momo shrugs it off and laughs.
“Yeah, maybe there's sentient sewage! Ha!”
“Don't joke, I've seen such things before…” Lynott replies.
“Yeah, only when you eat the mold on top the Black Dragon Inn’s rancid porridge! Hahahaha!” Momo rubs their stomach as they laugh at their own joke.
The party makes their way through the opening in the building into the westernmost room and head down the staircase into the underground aqueduct.
***
As they march down into the first level of the aqueduct with Momo in the lead, Reyla behind them, Lynott behind her, and Urtru in the back, the party encounters a giant rat!
Light spills in from the sunset skies above the ruined building. Down in the aqueduct, the light extends about 30 feet into the tunnel, but as the sunset reaches a conclusion, the light in the tunnel fades. Now everything the party can see is because of their darkvision.
Reyla leaps past Momo and the rat, and as she leaps over the rat, draws her longsword and slashes the giant rat in half.
As soon as Lynott comments on the ease of the battle, three more giant rats appear, ready to attack the party. This time, two of them hiss from behind broken doors on either side of the hallway and one of them hisses from straight ahead.
Urtru leaps past Lynott and beckons the giant rat ahead of them in druidic while pulling out a piece of bread she had stashed in her pocket. Using the mudra of charming, the spell is cast and the giant rat no longer is poised to attack.
Momo, despite their dominant size over the rats, is freaked out by the presence of rats so close to them. They ready their greataxe to strike next chance they get.
Lynott magically summons his wizardly quill and begins to jot down everything that's happening.
Reyla calls over to Urtru,
“What's your plan? Are you able to make them back down? I'd rather not keep killing these creatures, but we have to defend ourselves.”
Urtru looks past Reyla as the pacified rat ahead and replies, “We are intruding on their place, we owe them their dignity. I can communicate with them, but we must stand down.”
Urtru readies another piece of bread to toss to one of the other rats.
“Oh Gods, who cares? They're so gross!” Momo cries out, gripping their greataxe, flexing their arm muscles out of half anxiousness and half hatred for the creatures.
Reyla takes a defensive stance, turning her back on the charmed giant rat and faces the party lined up in the tunnel.
The brown giant rat on one of the sides launches through the broken door at Momo, striking them with their jaws. Momo reacts by turning their skin into stone for a split second, a natural reaction to attacks for goliaths descended from ancient stone giants.
With more druidic speech and hand motions, Urtru throws out another chunk of bread to the rat that's just attacked Momo. The brown beast munches on the bread crumbs and seems placated for the moment.
Momo raises their greataxe, ready to cleave the rat in two, but Urtru calls out “Stop yourself! Show some respect!”
“I have no respect for such disgusting creatures! They tried to bite me!”
“They did bite you, and nothing happened! Your stone-hard skin kept you safe, didn't it?”
Momo, unable to stop themself, slices down hard with their axe but just narrowly misses the pacified rat.
Lynott shouts at Momo to calm down. “Enough, Momo! Save your strength for a more worthy foe.”
The giant rats scurry away.
Momo lowers their greataxe and lets out a sigh.
“We came to take care of the rat infestation, not save them! This isn't the job we signed up for. I knew I shouldn't have tagged along with you cowards. Drunken mistake!”
“I was gonna ask them questions! About the sigils and robes we found. Perhaps there is something else afoot. I have a bad feeling…” Urtru grips her quarterstaff and pushes past Momo.
Reyla leads the group further into the tunnel. After 15 feet or so, they come to a junction; they can go right or left. Momo, unable to see, asks Lynott to cast light from magic. He verbalizes some arcane words that Momo can’t tell and a flame appears at the end of his quarterstaff.
“Shut that light out, we might draw unwanted attention…” Urtru warns.
“Oh come on! There's nothing down here except r-”
Two swarms of rats charge the group from either side of the junction.
The first swarm leaps at Reyla, bouncing off of her sword as she parries while drawing her weapon. Momo shoves past Urtru and swings her axe at the swarm, obliterating all of the rats. Lynott holds his iron dagger pointing upward and chants the arcane words of the hold person spell. Maintaining his concentration, he reaches out to Momo and freezes them in place. Momo is unable to move as they magically are lifted into the air.
The second rat swarm lunges at Reyla, this time bouncing off of her breastplate. Urtru shimmies past Reyla and the paralyzed Momo and heads down the passage to the right. She turns back around and starts to mutter the druidic spell that allows her to speak with animals. She focuses her mind, and listening to the animals Urtru hears them yelling at each other to ward off the intruders. She speaks out in druidic to the rats, telepathically asking them through the syllables about other intruders. Lynott and Reyla put away their weapons as Momo frowns while held in place and floating.
“Others? You are the same intruders! You have invaded our home and step on us everywhere! We must strike you! We must die trying to defend!”
“But are there others like us that were here before? Two legged? Perhaps in cloaks?”
“Any two legged that enters are in cloaks! Different than yours! But we must drive you away!”
“We've put away our weapons. The big one means no harm, but is just used to fighting. They won't be a problem while we have them frozen with magic. Please trust us, and tell us where the others you saw are!”
Urtru, who usually isn't good at persuasion, is able to reach out to the rats and gain their trust.
“This way! You will follow us down here!”
The rats take off down the way they came from and run under a door. Urtru runs after them. Lynott releases his spell holding Momo.
“Sorry I did that, Momo, but you need to think before you-”
Momo grabs Lynott with one hand and lifts him up to their face.
“You know what? You’re pretty strong for such a little guy. I don't know what's going on, but I’ll play along. When it comes to cleaving someone in half, I'll be here. Otherwise, I’ll just shut up.” Momo gently places Lynott down.
Reyla sarcastically chimes in:
“Had some time to think there, huh Momo?”. She grins at the stone-blue Goliath.
Momo ignores Reyla as they shove past her and onward.
“Let's follow little miss nature lady…”
“Urtru, what’s going on?” Lynott shouts out.
“I was able to speak with the rats, they're showing us where other humanoids have gone. I knew there was something going on!”. Urtru kneels down and tries to peek under the door that the rats went through but can see only darkness.
“How do we know it's not just vagabonds or children exploring down here?” Reyla asks Urtru. “What else did they say about them?”
“Not much,” Urtru replies as she stands back up. “They are just rats after all. I asked if they saw anything like cloaks. But to the rats, they can't tell the difference.”
Momo walks past Urtru. “We goin in?”
Everyone looks at each other and nod.
Momo kicks in the door, blowing it off the frame.
“You could’ve just opened it, there was no lock.”
“Yeah, but this is more fun…”
The party enters the small room. In the center of the room is a big circular hole carved out for water to flow down into the deeper parts of the aqueduct.
“We’re going down there? Do we know where it leads? What if it's a pit of certain death?” Lynott cautions.
Momo steps past everyone and leaps down into the hole and disappears into the darkness below. The rest of the party hears a loud thud and a deep yelp.
“Yowch! I sprained my ankle!”
Momo’s voice bellows from below.
“What can you see?” Lynott shouts to them below.
Momo takes a moment to look around but has to get their bearings first before they can begin to see. It’s pitch black and Momo cannot see anything.
“Can't see shit.”
Momo pulls out their tinderbox and ignites a match to light up a torch. They now can see 20 feet down a narrow stone hall to a pile of caved-in rock and earth. They can also see a small opening to the right that continues into another area.
“Should we jump? I don't have Goliath-like strength to save me if I fall that same distance…” Urtru tells the others.
Reyla peaks down the hole and can see a 30 foot drop.
“Anyone have any rope?” She asks.
Urtru suddenly realizes she does actually have some rope.
“Of course, I completely forgot!”
She pulls out her rope from her travel sack and uncoils it. She then looks around the chamber and finds a metal bar that looks as if it used to be a ladder at point and ties the rope to it.
Reyla is the first to descend into the hole. As she grips the rope and leaps into the center, her finger slips and she falls down into the bottom, injuring herself slightly.
Urtru goes down next. She carefully shimmies down the rope and makes it to the bottom with no issue, helping Reyla get back on her feet. She offers to heal Reyla with druidic magic but Reyla declines.
“Don't waste your energy on such a small injury. I'll be fine.” Reyla says.
“If I didn't like you lot, I'd think you all were pathetic!” Momo snorts.
Lynott carefully peers down the hole. He begins to gesticulate arcane mudras and murmurs the spell to summon a magic ghostly hand that is under his control. He grabs the rope and begins to descend, making it halfway down the rope when his hand slips on something wet and gross. He falls the rest of the way down, landing on his back. Lynott is temporarily winded but unharmed by his fall. He stands up and dusts himself, ready to continue. Using his mind to call to the mage hand he’s summoned above, he commands the hand to untie the rope and bring it down to him.
Returning the rope to Urtru, the mage hand hovers over Lynott 's left shoulder and then disappears.
“That's quite a trick you got there, halfling…” Momo, slightly nervous by the ghostly hand’s appearance, tells Lynott.
“This old trick? Tis a mere charlatan’s deception.” Lynott puffs his chest out as he explains.
“I'm saving my vitality for a more suitable circumstance.”
Right then, a gurgling sound is audible to the party, coming from the passageway to the right of the rubble.
“This is most likely one of those circumstances…” Reyla says as everyone begins to ready their weapons.
Momo lunges around the corner and swings with their greataxe. Landing the heavy blade into the first ghoul, they cleave the ghoul in half. As the axe halves the first ghoul, it also hits the second ghoul standing right behind the first, cutting its arm and most of its torso away from the rest of its body. However, both ghouls still manage to continue to move toward them!
Immediately, Lynott runs past Reyla who is just unsheathing her longsword, muttering the summoning tongue for a fire bolt. As he does, he stands behind Momo’s giant calves as the ghouls come into his sight. His hands wave and flutter as fire begins to appear around his fingers, and with that he sends the ball of fire at the ghoul. As the flames hit the ghoul, the smell of burning flesh starts to fill the dank underground air. The burst causes Momo to shout, “Watch it, you little bastard! You almost burned me!”
“Impossible! My magic always lands as I intend…”
From the shadows beyond the two mutilated but still moving ghouls, a third enters Momo’s and Lynott 's view. The second ghoul, missing half a torso and a whole arm, swipes its remaining upper limb to attack Momo with its foul claws.
Momo takes the strike across their neck and upper chest, unable to fully dodge. They wince in pain as the burning feeling of necrotic disease infiltrates their blood, but their strong Goliath constitution prevents it from spreading and causing paralysis.
The halved-ghoul, now just a torso with a head and arms, crawls at Lynott, who while standing is the same height as this half-ghoul. The ghoul lunges to try and bite Lynott twice. Lynott pushes away the ghoul’s persistent jaws and dodges the first bite, but the second one hits- the ghoul’s rotting teeth sinking into his tiny Halfling arm. He yelps as the pain from the piercing sensation is followed by numbness and decay of the flesh around the bite.
Reyla closes her eyes and begins to whisper a prayer to the moon goddess as Urtru steps around her. Urtru stands between the injured Lynott and Momo and the ghouls and shouts the words in her ancient tongue that summons the warding winds, slowing down the ghouls’ advances.
Reyla, having channeled the divinity of the Moon Goddess’s energy, holds her now-glowing longsword above her head as she runs along the wall around Urtru and Lynott. As she leaps past Momo, she lands into a kneeling position on top of the halved-ghoul, radiant longsword-first. The sword strikes down into the broken stone floor under the ghoul who is now pinned to the earth and burning in divine, radiant light. The head still twitches but the ghoul is almost completely immobilized.
“Enough of this!” Momo yells, jealous of the ferocity of Reyla's attack. They dash past Reyla and the two ghouls, emerging into the room from which the ghouls came. Momo swings wide with their axe again, this time almost entirely missing the armless ghoul. They do, however, with that same swing manage to hit the unharmed third ghoul, carving a chunk of its side out with the impact.
Lynott, shooken up but still ready to keep fighting, shuffles past Urtru and squares up in front of the nearly-decimated ghoul pinned down by Reyla’s holy blade. With arcane syllables and gestures he summons fire again to his hands and blasts away the remaining animated flesh. The flames engulf the impaled ghoul and dances around Reyla, completely avoiding her as if sentient. As the ghoul burns away and turns to ash, Reyla removes her sword from the earth and stands up, glaring at the remaining two undead.
The armless ghoul makes a strike with its clawhand at Reyla but misses as she dodges out of its way.
The other ghoul standing on the far side of Momo reaches out to grab and bite them, sinking its teeth into Momo’s shoulder. Momo can feel their flesh almost necrotize as the poison tries to breach their body, but once again their strong constitution saves them from paralysis. As the ghoul tries to bite again, they miss as Momo shoves it away by pushing its face and ripping its jaw off.
Urtru steps in and stands back to back with Reyla, striking the armless ghoul with her quarterstaff. The sound of the staff whips through the dense air, collapsing the ribs of the undead ghoul as it sways wildly as if unaware of its surroundings.
Reyla and Urtru rotate, keeping their backs to each other, the shimmering blade shining brightly as the warding wind pushing against the ghouls dies down. Reyla makes a lunge at the armless ghoul, burying her blade deep into the ghoul’s center and then slashing out. The armless ghoul collapses to the ground, the unholy magic that formerly animated it now gone.
“Nice one ladies!” Momo exclaims as they cleave down on the last remaining ghoul with their axe narrowly missing the undead creature.
“Oh fuck this!” Lynott, breaking his upright stature and annoyed with the pain he's experiencing, dashes past his comrades and into the chamber while chanting the spell that weaves together shadow into a dense and sharp sword. He then takes the sword and thrusts it into the ghoul’s upper chest. The ghoul screeches as the psychic power of the blade actually pierces its undead flesh. It retaliates by lurching forward to devour Lynott 's flesh, grabbing him by his leg and pulling him toward its mouth.
“Nooo!!!”
The ghoul bites Lynott 's neck, blood spurting out and spraying the wall behind him. Lynott falls to the ground unconscious.
“Lynott!” Reyla screams as Urtru focuses her consciousness on calling to the earth in her native tongue. Holding her hands with her palms facing upwards and her eyes closed, the ground begins to slightly tremble as vines and roots start to rapidly emerge from the ground and wrap themselves around the ghoul, blood dripping from its chin. The sprouting plants grasp the ghoul and lift it up into the air, suspending its motion.
Reyla, leaping into the air with her longsword, slashes at the suspended ghoul. The grasping vines regrow as the sword slices through them and the undead flesh of the ghoul struggling to break free. One of its arms and one of its legs, now severed from the rest of its body, are carried away by the writhing vines.
Momo twirls their axe in a figure eight, dismembering the ghoul and ending it's unnatural existence.
Reyla runs over to the fallen Lynott, whose shallow breaths make Urtru cry out, “Stay with us Lynott, we’re here!”
The vines peel away and drop the chunks of undead as Momo puts away their axe on their back. They walk over to Reyla who is kneeling at Lynott 's side. She closes her eyes and grasps her moon pendant as she prays to her goddess, “Please, Sehanine, mother of the moon, keep your child Lynott here with us, for he has more work to do in service to this world…”
Reyla keeps praying in whispers as she holds her hands over Lynott 's wounds. Urtru looks on as light begins to emanate from her hands and into Lynott 's body.
“Come on little guy… I'm sorry I was mean to ya…”. Momo places their hand on his cheek.
After what feels like an eternity, Lynott begins to stir and opens his eyes.
“Wha… what’s… what has… happened…”
Through bated breath Lynott recognizes that he’s alive.
“Oh thank fuck!” Momo says as they stand up and fold their arms.
“You got some fight left in you yet, Halfling!”
Lynott grunts as he tries to sit up, but Reyla stops him.
“You’re too hurt. Maybe we can heal you enough to make it back to a tavern so you can rest.”. Reyla says to Lynott.
“So much… for our quest… I’m never drinking again, I think…” Lynott weakly says.
“We’ve only been down here for a few minutes and already one of us almost died… I’d be more pissed if I hadn't started to like you guys!”
Just then, another gurgling sound echoes from beyond the steady sewage stream that can barely be seen beyond the torch’s light.
“Sounds like a retreat and rest might be the best thing for now,” Urtru says, her eyes darting around, on the lookout for more ghouls or giant rats.
“The ghouls…” Lynott tries to speak, but Reyla shushes him. She then lays her hands on him as she begins to chant a prayer of healing. Lynott eye widen as he can feel his wound begins to seal up with a warmth he’s never felt before, even in his wizardly studies and practices.
“Thank you. I believe I can stand,” he says as he starts to sit up.
The gurgling sound happens again.
“We’d better get out of here while we have a chance…”. Momo says, readying their axe.
Reyla helps Lynott stand up, passing him his quarterstaff to lean on. “I'm fine, I can move,” he says as Urtru leads the way back to the chamber which had the hole they entered from.
“The rope! We need to fix it to something up there!”. Reyla shouts.
Urtru looks up. “If I tie it into a loop, we might not be able to reach it…”
“Plus, I might be doing better, but I don't think I'm well enough to climb a rope…”. Lynott says.
“I'll carry ya, little guy!” Momo says.
Suddenly, from above, they hear the source of the gurgling sound- in the dark they see a faint outline of what looks to be a person.
“Must be the echoes! Something’s above us!” Urtru exclaims.
“Bring the torch,” Reyla shouts to Momo, who picks up the torch and runs over to the chamber.
They suddenly can see a ghoul standing at the top.
“What the f-”
“This place is swarming with these assholes!” Momo shouts as they feel their blood starting to boil.
“We may have gotten in over our heads…” Lynott says almost under his breath.
“There must be another way out…” Reyla says, her hand starting to grip her longsword handle.
“I think I heard water in the room where the ghouls came from. I know perhaps there may be more, but they are slow, and if we follow the water we might find an exit…”. Urtru tells the group.
“Either way, I don't think any of us, except for maybe Momo, can take another fight like that…” Reyla says, looking at Lynott who slightly smiles.
“If we do, we’ll have to fight smarter…”. He says.
They all turn around and head back toward where the ghouls came from. With Momo holding the torch, they can see the entrance to another room to their right with water flowing from the ceiling next to the entrance on the far side. That water flows into a trough that comes up to just under floor level and heads down a round-ceiling corridor to the left. Across the trough is the rest of the room, but it's very dark and they can't make out enough with shining more light. Even with darkvision they can only see an empty room.
“Let's move then,” Momo says, lighting up one of their torches.
They all group up and follow the trough into the curved-ceiling corridor with Momo leading the march, Reyla right behind them, then Lynott, and then Urtru watching their backs. The water trough is on one side of the passage, with the floor above water on the other half of the way. They follow the corridor as the gurgling sound begins to fade. They then come to an intersection.
On their left, the water flows into a solid metal grate and falls into an abyss beyond their sight. Dead ahead is another cave in, with space between the stones enough for water to continue ahead. To the right the passage continues, but the trough blocks the way five-feet across as the water way turns and heads down the left-most tunnel.
Without thinking, Momo leaps across and clears the gap without any issue. Reyla soars across as if she's flying. Lynott jumps before Reyla turns around.
“Wait!” Reyla shouts as Lynott falls just short and ends up in the water. He’s swept close to the rubble of the cave-in, treading the water and trying to keep the water out of his mouth.
“Ahh!! Godsdamn it all!” he yells as Momo’s belly-laughing wretches Reyla’s eardrums.
Reyla, calmed by this small display of comic relief, holds back her laughter. Urtru looks ahead and assesses the jump she's about to make.
As Lynott splashes about, a small, sharp stone pokes Lynott 's flailing hands as he tries to stay above water. He feels around to find out what it is, horrified at the thought of it being another unknown beast. He grabs the object buly the base and lifts it up, unable to quickly register what he’s just found.
At the same moment, Urtru takes a five foot running start to try and clear the gap, but her foot slips right as she’s about to leap and she ends up in the water as well.
Momo, now on the floor and entirely enraptured by laughter, drops the torch on the wet floor. The torch extinguishes and all turns pitch black. Urtru, able to see in the dark but unable to detect any color, laughs to herself at the silliness of these circumstances and how they contrast with their previous plight. She doesn't detect anything with her sigh around her that's alarming, except the expression on Lynott 's face when he suddenly exclaims:
“No way! No way!!!”
Reyla replies, “What is it, Lynott?”
Lynott holds the gem above his head.
“I think I found a diamond! A big one! What are the chances… if only I had a little bit of light, I could see better…”
Urtru swims over to Lynott. She conjures a flame at the tip of her finger with a quick mantra of druidcraft, shedding more light on the diamond.
It is definitely a diamond, and a fairly big one at that.
Lynott laughs with excitement as he places the gem in his vest pocket.
“Now help me up please, I'm done swimming!”
Urtru wades over to the ledge and pulls him up.
“Time to push on, if we’re to find a way out of this stinking hole.”. Momo says as they hold the torch towards the darkness beyond. The five foot wide stream of river water, taking up the left side of the tunnel, runs parallel to the stone walkway alongside it. They can see up to the end of the corridor, which then turns right as the water trench continues through a grate in the wall.
They continue and follow the tunnel to the right, which bottlenecks ahead due to a giant pile of rubble taking up the left side of the hallway.
“Looks like another cave in,” Reyla says.
“Think thin guys!” Momo says as they storm ahead and march sideways, shimmying past the rubble. Reyla and Urtru follow.
Before walking past the caved-in rubble, Lynott notices a door on the right side of the hall. He hums curiously as he tries the door. The door opens to a narrow hall 15 long with another opening on the right. Momo, who is holding the torch, is standing too far for Lynott to make out any details.
“Lynott, what are you doing? Stay close to us.”. Reyla commands.
“I found a door to a smaller corridor, maybe there's an exit in here?
Momo spins around after glancing about the corridor. Up ahead is the beginning of another water stream embedded next to the floor that flows to the left down yet another tunnel. “Let's continue through the sewers and get the fuck outta here,” Momo says.
“Guys… I think I really need a rest... I'm not feeling so good….” Lynott says as he clutches his lower abdomen, blood spilling onto the floor.
“Lynott! You're bleeding!” Urtru shouts.
“I'll be fine… I just need to sleep this off…” the Halfling Wizard says.
“Sleep? We’ll be here all damn night! We got enough rat tails, let's fuck off and get paid!” Momo shouts.
Reyla steps forward. “Momo! I don't think Lynott thought he’d be risking his life for this.”
“Of course not. None of us did. We were as drunk as a dead willow!” Momo retorts.
“Dead willows don't drink, they stop absorbing moisture through their roots when they die. At least, they don’t circulate it through all its branches and limbs…” Urtru states
“Whatever, nature dork.” Momo looks all around the corridor, presumably for an exit. “Alright, godsdamnit… fine! I've been holding out,” Momo says as they remove a potion of greater healing from their pouch. “Here, little one. Okay, if the squishy halfling can't stay in the back line, then I'm leavin’ his ass! No offense, Lynnie, I'm just getting impatient!” Momo holds the potion out for Lynott to take.
“Momo! You’ve had that whole time?” Urtru says.
“Well, better to share late than never!” The Goliath murmurs
“Look, as impatient as Momo may be, we need to work as a team… we’ll never get out of here alive if we keep bickering like this.” Reyla says to the group.
“Right... I mean, yes, I agree,” Momo says as they hand over the potion to Lynott. Lynott knocks the bottle back down his mouth, a little bit of red luminescent fluid dribbling down his cheek. The bleeding stops.
“Alright little guy, I'm sorry. I'm just prone to rage. I've been working alone for so long, I… well, I kinda forgot how to work with a team…” the Goliath bends over to try and comfort Lynott, which ends up having the opposite effect. Lynott slowly keels backward in intimidation.
“Are we pressing on? What about spells, Lynott? Are you drained of your magic?” Urtru asks.
“Well, I didn't want to have to use this quite yet, but I think I have no choice…” Lynott says as he removes a simple-looking pearl from his side pouch. He holds it up to his chest, chants a quiet incantation and from within his hand the Pearl emanates a light that relaxes him and regenerates some of his magic abilities.
The group just kind of hangs out for about an hour just relaxing despite the unsightly and grotesque area around them.
Reyla then prompts the party: “Shall we continue? I'm with you all one hundred percent, and will do everything I can to defend each and every one of you.”
Everyone kind of passively nods, thinking about their own mortality.
“Okay… what exactly is it we are trying to do at this point? Because from what I count we only have about 25 gold worth of rat tails, that is, if this asshole Drehg is actually going to pay us…” Momo snorts.
“You know what,” Urtru explains. “I'm inclined to agree with Momo. I think that there is something shady about our employer.”
“Well it's too late for that now,” Lynott says, standing up to about three feet tall. “What of the robe that we found? And the sigils? I fear these sewers are being used for far more nefarious purposes than we initially understood…”
“He's right.” Urtru offers. “I'm feeling the same thing… something is out of balance here… the natural patterning of things seems to be out of alignment here the more I reflect upon it…”
“Then we must find the source of the corruption, and perhaps a way out of here…” Reyla exclaims.
They then leave the tiny room and continue through the sewers.
They come to a fork in the passageways. The pass on the right is blocked off by a slope that ends at a solidly-barred dead end. They then press on to the one to the left and come to a perpendicular extended corridor about 10 ft wide. To their left are iron bars; to their right, after about another 10 ft, are more iron bars. There's an entrance way directly in front of them. Urtru is the first to see a sewer crocodile scurrying towards them from the hall beyond the entryway.
Urtru launches her ice knife spell attack but misses. She then runs about 15 ft away hugging the wall alongside the hallway from which the crocodile emerges. Iron bars block her way to the corridor in the North.
Momo rushes up to the crocodile to attack, just barely missing the crocodile with a strike of their greataxe.
“Momo, move out of the way!” Lynott shouts as he begins to conjure a fire bolt to launch at the crocodile. Momo's presence in front of the target distracts him and his fireball curves just above the head of the croc.
Reyla emerges from the corridor from which they just came and strikes the crocodile, landing a blow from a diagonal position. Her longsword cuts into the reptile as it squirms and flails about. The crocodile then launches itself jaws-first at Momo, making an attempt to strike; however Momo is able to parry the attack as they step aside to dodge the creature’s strike altogether, using their greataxe to deflect the striking reptile.
Momo retaliates by swinging around their greataxe and brings it down on the crocodile’s head, obliterating the crocodile as it hisses and dies.
Urtru says a prayer of solace for the enraged creature’s soul.
Momo lights another torch and leads the party down the hallway from which the crocodile emerged, getting about 20 ft before another entrance on the right emerges. They head through to the right and then come to a perpendicular passageway. To their left are more solid iron grates and to their right extends 20 ft back to the main barred corridor just north of where they previously battled the crocodile. They continue to their right. Moving forward they cross the main channel and head through an entryway about 15 ft long, coming to a round and columned chamber. Momo’s torch illuminates three alcoves ahead at the far end of the chamber, each one holding some kind of switch.
From behind one of the columns a skeleton warrior jumps out and runs up to Momo at the front of the line. The skeleton attacks with its dull blade which is blocked by Momo's armor. Momo drops their torch and hits back with their greataxe, the bony warrior dodging the attack.
Urtru peels around the corner and sends her quarterstaff at the rib cage of the skeleton. The bones remain solid as the quarterstaff hits the skeleton’s midsection, failing to injure the animated bones.
Reyla also peels around the corner and flanks the skeleton with Urtru. She sends down her longsword, she completely misses the skeleton and wedges her sword into a crack in the ground.
Lynott dashes forward and unleashes a firebolt from between Momo’s giant legs, completely over-shooting the target and sending the bolt into one of the pillars behind the skeleton.
“Damn, and I even sobered up!” Lynott yells.
“Would be nice if we could hit something!” shouts Momo.
The skeleton leaps back ten feet and draws its shortbow, letting loose its arrow at Urtru against the wall next to the doorway. The arrow strikes Urtru in the chest. She quietly kneels in pain, the arrow stuck in her right shoulder.
Momo rushes forward and darts past the skeleton, pivoting about and then slices down with their greataxe. They smash a big section out of the skeleton’s dry bones, crumbling and caving its entire left side.
Urtru, now flanking the skeleton with Momo, twirls her quarterstaff to gain momentum in smacks down with it against its dry bones. The skeletons bones crumble into a puny figure of just two legs, a torso and a skull.
Reyla rushes past the fray and strikes from the remaining bits of the skeletons blind side. The long sword cuts through the bone and marrow of the skeleton's remains, bringing it down finally.
Looking to the north side of the room Reyla happens to see a corpse in black robes similar to the ones that Lynott found at the derelict municipal building on the surface.
“Guys, look! A corpse!” Reyla says.
Lynott rushes over and tries to determine the cause of death. He tries to determine but is distracted by the adrenaline of the previous battle.
“I don't know what killed this guy, but he's clearly affiliated with whoever left the robes and possibly the sigils inscribed back above…” Lynott explains. Urtru lights the tip of her quarterstaff using druidcraft so that they have more light.
“What about these switches here?” Momo asks.
“I would try to detect if there's any sort of magical trap or enchantment, but I'm basically all spent.” Urtru says.
“I can detect magic. I'll give it a shot,” Reyla says.
Reyla gestures and chants a spell to detect magic in order to determine if there's any illusion or magically triggered trap on the switches. She detects that there is in fact no magic having to do with these switches.
“Well, there's nothing magical here, but hopefully there's no physical trap.” Reyla tells the group.
“Is anyone able to determine if there is physical trap?” Momo asks.
“No, but at the very least we can be on our guard, just in case something does happen.” Lynott suggests. He continues, “But considering that there's all the bars blocking the passages, perhaps the switches do something to them…”
Lynott Momo and Reyla each inspect the handles. They appear to be normal handles that are used to activate some sort of gear mechanism as part of a switch system. The three of them look at each other in agreement.
“I'm ready if you are,” Reyla says.
“I guess there's only one way to find out if this is completely fucked or not…” Momo says
“Wait, should we switch them at the same time or individually?” Reyla asks.
“Honestly I have no idea” Lynott responds.
“Okay, on the count of three…” Momo exclaims
“One...”
“Two…”
“Three!”
The three of them each pull their switches at the same time. Suddenly, all four of them can hear the sliding of metal and the clanking of gears, chains, and pulleys.
“Let me check the main corridor…” says Urtru.
The orc druid runs back to the main channel corridor to see if switching the levers had any effect on the bars. Several of the barred gates are now open except for one, about thirty feet to the south. Urtru sees two undead ghouls trying to get past the bars.
“We got company, but they're currently blocked! One gate of the bars remains closed, and they're on the other side!” Urtru shouts from down the hall.
Momo and Reyla rush over from the columned room to the main corridor to see what's going on.
“Perhaps we try a different route south through this main channel,” Lynott says.
“It looks like there's a hall that runs off from the corridor next to those ghouls on our side of the gate. Maybe can get past the ghouls since the bars are blocking them,” Urtru says.
“But they can still strike with their claws through the bars!” Lynott reminds them.
“I agree with Lynott, let's try another route” Relya says.
“Either way, I'm ready to fuck up some undead! Momo exclaims.
Without anyone noticing, the corpse from the columned room has risen and made its way towards the group through the columned room and out into the main corridor as a zombie!
“Oh shit! Guys! Guys!!” Lynott says, turning around in horror.
Reyla turns around and heads directly at the zombie standing behind Lynott. Shimmying past her Halfling Wizard companion and dodging past the zombie, Reyla is now on the other side of the zombie while standing inside the columned chamber with the switches. As she moves behind the zombie, she unshealths her elvish longsword and slices into the zombie, cutting away part of its arm. Remembering part of her training as a paladin of Sehanine, the Moonweaver, she feels inspiration from her deity and remembers that she can either heal or injure if she but calls upon the name of Sehanine.
Since this is an undead creature she summons the power of the divine spark, causing additional radiant damage. Bright lights begin to sparkle from her sword as it cuts the zombie, searing its undead essence and slowing it down immensely.
Momo curls around the corner and enters the narrow passageway where Reyla and the zombie are fighting. They pass Lynott by stepping over him, Lynott crouching for fear of being stepped on. Momo swings their greataxe at the zombie, cleaving it in half. The damage is so great that the zombie's undead fortitude fails to keep it animated, and so the creature is defeated as chunks of its body slump over into a pile.
At the same moment, a ghoul dashes from around the corner from behind the group and enters the main corridor, running straight towards Urtru. It swipes at her with its claw. The claw digs into her arm, injuring the orc druid. She suddenly gets a surge of adrenaline and her constitution strengthens temporarily, giving her extra health as she dashes around the ghoul to attack. Gripping her quarterstaff with two hands, she narrowly misses the thin undead creature as it turns sidewards to dodge the strike.
Lynott leaves the narrow passage from the columned room and re enters the main corridor. Splashing across the shallow sewer stream, he conjures a fire bolt, sending it straight at the ghoul. As the fire bolt hits the ghoul, it's shreiks as it takes fire damage. The smell of burning dead flesh makes Lynott a little bit queasy.
Reyla dashes back into the main corridor, going past Momo who is slowly turning around to join her. Now back in the main chamber with everyone else, she flanks the ghoul with Urtru. Praying to Sehanine as she strikes, waves of divine light flood the cavern, melting most of the ghoul from the paladin’s holy smiting. The lights are almost too bright to see for a few seconds.
“Time to finish this!” Momo yells as they step up to the ghoul and cleave it with their greataxe. The might of their blow destroys the ghoul, ending its undead existence. Still holding
“Well, now that that’s been dealt with…” Lynott says, “Shall we try the corridor next to the two ghouls trapped behind the closed gate further down this here main channel, or shall we back track through the tunnels behind us?”
“I say we backtrack. The path ahead looks dangerous, and we’re all starting to run out of magic stamina,” Reyla states.
“Speak for yourselves, I haven’t even raged yet!” Momo brags.
“I’d hate to see what that looks like…” Lynott laments.
“Okay, back we go. I’ll lead this time.” Urtru says, holding up her druidcrafted torch at the end of her staff.
TO BE CONTINUED...