Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter Four

Dark Lake Part 2:
Sloobludop

Dramatis Personae:

Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies

Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian

Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor

Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto

Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon

Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee

Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth who thinks he's an elven prince under a polymorph curse, and that he's the best at everything

Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa 

Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube

Hemeth, the Duergar Arms Dealer

Comrades we have lost:

Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent

Buppido, the Derro- left with duergar merchants

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress- swept away

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard- skull caved in by rock thrown by Fidget, then finished off by black pudding

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout- drowned

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric- taken by kuo-toa for sacrifice

Stool, the Myconid Child- taken by kuo-toa for sacrifice

Friendly fire overall: 12

Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 4

Party members killed: 5

Overall party members lost: 8

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Lythana's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the hunter can't be everywhere at once.

***** Mirtul 16, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)

       As the boats of kuo-toa approached, Orvald ripped the head off of the one that seemed to be the leader of the assault on us, planning to throw it at the ones approaching when they got close enough. That mouse really likes using appendages as weapons, it's a little disturbing. 

       Suddenly a voice rang out across the lake, and each of us heard it in our native tongue. She told us not to attack, that she had seen what happened and that it wasn't her people who did it. The woman said that her name was Ploopploopeen, and that she was the ruler of Sloobludop and the archpriestess of the goddess Blibdoolpoolp, whom the kuo-toa call the Sea Mother. Yeesh their names are a mouthful, I suppose if you're a fish they are easier to say, but those names are horrible when you have a normal tongue and vocal chords. Ploop requested our help in exchange for rewards; apparently she had recently been challenged for leadership of her people by her daughter, Bloppblippodd, who had become the priestess of the Deep Father, Leemooggoogoon. I seriously hate this race's names for everything. 

       Ploop said that a few weeks ago Blopp started having visions that the Deep Father was the new god of their people, and she was granted powers from these visions. Now their people are split into two factions, those who follow the Sea Mother, and those who follow the Deep Father. Ploop told us that Phil and Stool were likely being taken to sacrifice, and helping her defeat the Deep Father and destroy his altar would allow us to get our people back. We agreed to help Ploop save her people, since it would give us a chance to save Phil and Stool; plus, money.

       I saw what looked like a massive tangle of reeds sprouting from the water, with parts glowing from phosphorous mushrooms. As we drew closer, I realized that the city was a series of towers that were attached by rope bridges, seemingly without pattern to the build. The entire city was constructed to be under water, even the parts that were above the water seemed to have been built to be beneath the surface. This place was fucking weird, but it seems that everything about the kuo-toa is weird.

       Upon our arrival to the city, it was decided that Glabbagool should stay behind with the boats, so he wouldn't cause panic amongst the kuo-toa. Ploop led us to the shrine of the Sea Mother, which stood at nine feet tall, carved out of wood, and shaped in a vaguely feminine humanoid figure. The head and claws, instead of being made of wood, were made from the severed head and claws of some sort of crab or something; those bits reeked of rotten fish, and were attached with bits of rotting entrails. There were tons of shells, rocks, fish, and mushrooms were strewn at the statue's feet and strung around its neck. It was disgusting, and Ploop told us that everyone who comes to the statue has to make an offering to the Sea Mother. Not wanting to offend Ploop, I made an offering, as did everyone else- with the exception of Orvald and his spider kisser.

       After making the offering to the Sea Mother, Ploop ushered us into a small shack and told us we could access all of the potential offerings- junk recently salvaged- to see if there was anything we could use that would help her save her people. About and hour later, she returned with a plan: she wanted to use us as bait, telling Blopp that we were a peace offering and sacrifice to the Deep Father; then, we attack. We were to destroy the altar and slay the cultists once we got close enough. We were already there, so we may as well help, and it seemed like we had to help whether we liked it or not.

       Ploop and some of her flock took us to the altar of the Deep Father, which was equal parts disgusting and disturbing. This altar was some sort of hide cut into a shape like a manta ray, which was stretched out and attached to a couple of poles. There were two dead octopuses on top of that, with their tentacles arranged with care, their heads were tied together and painted blue and red. A stone altar was below all of that, stained with so much blood it was nearly black. It smelled even worse than the Sea Mother's altar did. I hate this place.

       Upon our arrival, Ploop walked up to her daughter and told her they were joining the Cult of the Deep Father, and we were to be her sacrifices; she asked her daughter if she would accept us. While they talked, I noticed Phil, Stool, and a duergar all waiting to be sacrificed next. It was going to be difficult telling the difference between the two factions once the fight began, all kuo-toa look the same to me. As the other kuo-toa began preparing for the sacrifices, Shuushar slipped away and blended himself into the crowd; he took up position as Pwent's "guard." There was one cultist on each of us, so it was easy enough for Shuushar to pretend he belonged.

       As soon as the cultists approached the altar with Phil, Stool, and the duergar, Ploop attacked her daughter. I whipped around and killed the fish on me instantly, then I lost my grip on one of my swords, again; it flew right into the head of another kuo-toa, killing it instantly. Damn I'm good. I saw Derendil attempt to fight, but he got his sword stuck in his shield and was again useless in battle. The insane mouse began swinging one kuo-toa around, using it to beat others, then throwing it across the courtyard when he was done with it. He then leapt to Blopp and joined Ploop in that attack. Blood was still flowing, giving the Deep Father the sacrifice he needed; the party was making the sacrifice even bigger than planned, feeding the Father. There was no way to stop the blood from entering the water, and they couldn't end the fight or move it.

       Pwent rammed a kuo-toa with his armor, killing it, and it got stuck to his armor. The dwarf wasn't as macabre as Orvald, so he did not use it as a weapon. Zenit disappeared into a hut near the altar- the one they had seen Blopp emerge from earlier; the drow would rather look for treasure than help her comrades. 

       I heard weird, gurgling screams, and saw kuo-toa vanishing beneath the water, with blood bubbling up in their place. Blopp cried out in excitement- the Deep Father was coming. Fuck. In response to Blopp's excitement, Orvald decapitated her. Manta rays- ixitxachitl- began coming out of the water and joined the fray, cause it wasn't annoying enough already or anything- I think they were demonic. The airhead launched a bolt at an ixitxachitl, and hit Pwent instead; it pissed the battlerager off so much that he smashed the manta ray Aura missed.

       The water continued bubbling, and tentacles began to rise from it, this wasn't looking good. Then a two-headed monster rose from the lake, with its eyes full of bloodlust; it stood at least thirty feet tall, and when it was fully out of the water it roared- a sound so terrifying it chilled me to the bone. The roar caused Lythana to retreat into her own mind, Fidget became terrified of the creature and began to run away, and Derendil began to suffer from temporary amnesia- he forgot everything that happened over the next thirty hours. Hemeth, the duergar sacrifice, would potentially suffer from confusion for the next fifty hours if he was struck by something. Almost all of the kuo-toa began chanting "Leemooggoogoon," and it disturbed Derendil so much that his mind broke a little more, and he became convinced he was the absolute best at everything. And Derendil's ego grew three sizes that day.

       The beast was actually Demogorgon, one of the Demon Lords.

       I came out of my daze to see Elle shaking me, before me was a giant demon that needed slaying; it is my sacred duty to slay such horrible beasts. Derendil began running from the beast, while Elle began trying to drag me from the fight. I couldn't just leave these people defenseless; that thing would destroy the city. Everyone except Orvald began running away; Elle still wouldn't let go of me. Zenit knocked Lythana unconscious with pleasure, allowing Elle to get them out of there easier. Aura decided to take on the Demon Lord by herself, so Orvald threw a grappling hook at the genasi, and began reeling her towards him. 

       Demogorgon reached the shore and began lashing out with his tentacles, smashing every kuo-toa in his path, and decimating the city. The mousefolk began reeling Aura in even quicker, but she got snagged by two ixitxachitl, and between the two of them, the sorceress was unconscious and bleeding profusely. Pwent stopped running to assist Orvald in getting Aura out of there, and Zenit dumped a health potion down Aura's throat to get her moving so Orvald would leave. Demogorgon had begun smashing the Sea Mother's shrine. With everyone finally moving, Orvald, Zenit, and Pwent began running away whilst the demon began leisurely decimating Sloobludop. 

       When the group made it out of the city, Derendil began accusing everyone of kidnapping him. After smoothing things over with the prince, Elle woke Lythana up. I came to outside of the city, seeing the demon destroying it in the distance. We decided to sneak back to the boats and escape by water, we couldn't leave Glabbagool. The duergar who was supposed to be the sacrifice was still following us, he introduced himself as Hemeth, and said he was an arms dealer. Hemeth said he had a weapons cache nearby, and if we took him with us, he would help us get supplies, and guide us to Gracklstugh.

***** Mirtul 17

     The next day we piled back into our boats to head towards Hemeth's stash, which the duergar assured us was only about 4-5 hours away. We were in the middle of a tunnel when he said the water was getting shallow, but before we could do anything, the boats stopped suddenly, and Aura and Fidget went flying out of the boat they were in. Our boats had gotten stuck on some stupid sandbar thingy, so we all had to get out to push the boats over it and back into the water.

       As we were in the middle of pushing one boat, while Zenit levitated another one, the airhead got attacked by something. Then Fidget was suddenly grappled by something and pulled into the air. Grell. Disgusting brain-looking tentacle monsters. Jim Jar was the next one to be grabbed by one of the beasts, there were three of the fuckers. We had to get them out of the air or this fight wouldn't go well. The spider kisser put the one trying to eat our genasi to sleep with her poisoned bolts, while Orvald threw a grapple at the one that had Jim Jar in its clutches; the mousefolk's grapple is the only thing that kept it from escaping with the gnome- there was a lot of blood falling from it, and it didn't look like it was all from the grell.

       Hemeth grew huge and battered the one on Fidget with a boat oar, while his highness finished off the snoozing grell on Aura- I swept in and freed the paralyzed airhead from its now-dead clutches. The grell holding Jim Jar tried to flee again, but Pwent yanked on the rope Orvald had it grappled in, and pulled the beast to the ground. It responded by ripping poor Jim Jar's head off, and trying to escape again; it's really bad at getting away though, the barbarians shredded it as revenge for the loss of the svirfneblin.

       A few hours later we arrived at Hemeth's stash, it was in a small cove with a false wall, and there were tons of weapons inside. Since part of our deal with Hemeth was that he would arm and armor us, we each gathered what we thought we would need; hopefully I can hang on to my swords this time, the bloody Underdark seems to be my bad copper for hanging on to my weapons.

       Hemeth also traded Zarrus an immovable rod for this odd magic box he had found that none of the mages could read the runes of. Hemeth conned the tiefling out of a floating boat, which could have carried the entire party with ease during their journey. 

       After some deliberation, we decided we would take Hemeth to Gracklstugh with us, we'd need more supplies by the time we reached that end of the stupid lake anyways. The duergar wanted to spend a couple of days at his stash, but insisted he'd catch up to us soon, or meet us in Gracklstugh if we managed to get too far ahead of him for him to find us.

***** Mirtul 18

       The next morning we packed ourselves up and headed out on the boats. We had to get through some nasty rapids to get out of Hemeth's cove, so we had to be super careful about our navigation of the boats. Orvald's boat was fine, but Aura's hit a wall and took some damage. Elle and I weren't so lucky, apparently we're fucking bad at boating... Our boat slammed into the wall and snapped in half, Elle and I were gripping pieces of the boat and praying we would make it through these rapids alive; Phil and the twins had been in the back of our boat, and there was no sign of them.

       Frantically, I called out to Glabbagool to get help for us, but I'm not sure if the cube heard me. Glabbagool heard the half-drow, and did ask Orvald to help them, but there wasn't much the mousefolk could do in those tumultuous waters. I clung to my part of the boat, and began thinking I might survive this when the rope got snagged on a rock, smashing my piece of the boat to smithereens. Elle's half kept going, and I managed to get to it, but the fucking thing capsized from our combined weight. We still managed to hang on, and keep our heads above the water.

       The water was making the raft too slippery, and I felt myself losing my grip on the raft. Just as I fell away from it, Elle caught me and got me back onto the raft. Then Elle started to slip, but I somehow managed to catch her, and keep myself on board. Suddenly, the rapids were gone and we had spilled out into peaceful water. The others saw us and brought us aboard their boats quickly.

       We decided to wait a couple of hours for Phil and the twins, and Orvald wanted to salvage while we waited. Of course the mouse found something random, a huge metal thing buried in the sand; which he made Fidget come help him dig up. Since Glabbagool could see what it was, Fidget asked him to "show" hi telepathically. The cube complied, and Fidget's mind crumbled a little more; the svirfneblin had vivid hallucinations for the next 100 hours. 

       Orvald asked Glabbagool to bring the metal thing up, and of course he complied. After about a minute a whirlpool began to form, spinning the boats above. Zenit had the cube drop the thing to stop the whirlpool; they didn't want to lose any more of their boats. The mousefolk wanted to investigate the hole that was under the metal thingy, but Zenit convinced him there wasn't enough rope. 

       I don't know what the hell happened to Fidget, but he came back up completely batshit. He was going to be a danger to us in this state, so I asked Zenit if she would use her poison to knock the gnome out. She gave him a weed, and with his hallucinations, that made him think he could feel magic. Not at all what I meant, though it did make him a little more amusing.

       We found a little rock shelf nearby, and Orvald asked Glabbagool to haul the thing up onto it. It was probably just some crappy sunken boat, but arguing with that mouse is pointless. What he had found was a big, rusty drum looking thingy- the spider kisser found a switch on it, that made it come apart and put itself back together. Orvald kicked it, and a hatch sprung open. Something from within shot Zenit and bit her. It was a ravenous sea troll that was trying to eat the bitch; the thing was nothing but a skeletal, emaciated form, with its skin hanging loosely off its bones. I don't know how long it had been down there, but had it been most other things, it would have been dead by this point.

       While I would have liked to see it eat Zenit, since I knew she would always choose the Sword over the Song, but I didn't dare try to give her the Sword while Orvald was around, unfortunately the bitch wriggled from its grasp. The mighty mouse sprung into its mouth and began stabbing; it tried to reciprocate the damage by clawing at Orvald and biting him, but it couldn't do near enough damage while the barbarian was in his rage. I sliced my palm, calling forth the powers of the blood hunter, and covered my sword in radiant acid- I hacked at the beast and finished it off. Poor Orvald was completely covered in its blood- and its natural regeneration powers made the mouse's fur and tail grow back overnight.

       Orvald, wanting to try to eat everything, tried to cook the troll, but failed miserably. While no one was paying attention, Glabbagool snuck over to the troll's corpse and took the rest of it to eat.

       What the party had found was a very old Apparatus of Kwalish.

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

*Author's note: Many of the events and characters that take place in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast.

Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter Three

Dark Lake Part 1:
The Giant

Dramatis Personae:

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric

Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies

Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian

Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor

Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto

Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon

Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee

Stool, the Myconid Child

Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth who thinks he's an elven prince under a polymorph curse

Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa 

Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube

Comrades we have lost:

Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent

Buppido, the Derro- left with duergar merchants

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress- swept away

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard- skull caved in by rock thrown by Fidget, then finished off by black pudding

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout- drowned

Friendly fire overall: 9
Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 3
Party members killed: 5
Overall party members lost: 6

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Lythana's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the hunter can't be everywhere at once.

***** Mirtul 15, 1489 DR

       As we traveled we heard some roars and scuffling up ahead of us in the tunnel; a few moments later we heard some snuffling, like some creature sniffing or snorting. The mouse and his spider kisser were supposed to be scouting ahead, but they were so fucking loud they were probably just calling more attention to us than was necessary. I heard what sounded like a pig scream and looked up just in time to see what looked like the rear-end of one vanishing around the corner. Orvald caught and terrified it- turns out it was a nug, so it played possum, but I saw it breathing and decided to carry it. The little shit squirmed out of my arms and ran from me- Aura caught it, and when I tried to take it back it hit me in the eye with pee. I get that it was scared, but that was just disgusting. Wish I could take a proper bath. I always wanted a pet nug, but now I'm not so sure. Aura said it smelled of shampoo, and looked well taken care of- as if it was somebody's pet.

       We still heard the roaring noises and scuffling further up the tunnel, and continued on in that direction. After a sharp turn the volume suddenly increased, and we saw a stone giant fighting a hoard of skeletons. I noticed a few larger skeletons in the back with horns that seemed to be directing the others: minotaurs. Orvald launched himself at one of the minotaur skeletons, tackling it; they both landed on the ground with a clatter. Another minotaur charged at the spider kisser, I hoped it would take her down- I knew she would never choose to come into Eilistraee's light. Elle, Pwent, and I swarmed the other minotaur.

       With so many new targets entering the fray, the skeletons abandoned the giant and began running at us- mostly Orvald and Pwent. The insane mouse grabbed one skeleton and used it as a weapon against another one, causing it to fall to pieces. Fidget began launching rocks at one of the minotaurs while the giant helped Orvald by taking out some of the skeletons that were running toward him. Elle used her divine powers to make some of our attackers run away, thinning the herd a little bit. I saw Orvald brandishing a minotaur as his weapon, and successfully taking down some of the smaller ones with it; he then hurled it at one of the ones that was escaping, shattering it before it could flee. I've never seen something so small use the enemies as a weapon and have it work. The mouse is weird, but he's definitely effective.

       Suddenly, the giant scooped Orvald up and began cradling him, calling him "Squishels;" I realized he must be the nug's owner, and apparently a bald mouse looks enough like a nug to him. The final minotaur charged Elle, slamming her into Aura; Pwent cleaved through both it and the final skeleton, leaving only the giant to deal with. Even though it had helped Orvald, I wasn't sure if it was actually on our side, especially since it seemed to think the mouse was a nug. The giant realized Orvald wasn't Squishels, and hurled him away from us; it then began moving toward, and through, us to get to its damn nug. We began backing off to let him get to his nug, but Pwent was still enraged, and began climbing it with his waraxe; it was a gory sight. The deranged giant began crawling into the tunnel most of the group- including the nug- was in, and when it saw Derendil holding the nug it attacked him- and missed.

       Zenit grabbed Squishels and hurled it at the giant- she missed, and the poor thing was injured. It swiped at Derendil again, and this time hit, sending the quaggoth into a rage and causing his highness to reciprocate the assault. Pwent continued his ascent up the giant's back, and Orvald joined him in the climb. With its dying breath, the giant cradled his nug in his arms, and cooed "Squishels" at it; then the spider kisser finished the poor giant off. I've never felt so guilty about a kill as I did at that moment. The giant just wanted his pet, and instead of giving it to him, we killed him and his nug; this will haunt me for years.

       As we collected ourselves from that horribly depressing battle, Derendil became catatonic; we couldn't snap him out of it for about ten minutes. Shuushar thought he smelled fish, and insisted that Dark Lake was nearby. We went in the direction the kuo-toa indicated, and eventually we heard water in the distance; we entered a mushroom grove, and decided to spend some time harvesting the mushrooms for food. Shuushar wandered off in search of the lake instead of helping us, not that he's terribly helpful anyways- a while later she came back and announced that we had indeed arrived there. We chopped down some Zurkhwood to make rafts, and spent the afternoon making four longboats/rafts to cross the lake with; we decided to camp in the grove for the night, and begin our trip in the morning.

       I took this opportunity to slip away and do my devotion to the Dark Maiden, though I would not do it sky clad, it's too risky to be nude in the wilds of the Underdark without backup. I found a fairly secluded area next to a little pond and began my dance. Unbeknownst to Lythana, Zenit saw her slip away and decided to follow her. About halfway through Lythana's dance, Zenit noticed a ripple in the water, and some of the water began creeping out of the pond, toward Lythana- a water weird. I was suddenly enveloped in water and being drug toward the pond, it pulled me under too quickly, I think I was drowning. Zenit shot at the weird as it grabbed Lythana, but didn't hit it hard enough to force it to drop the half-drow. 

       Zenit plunged into the water after Lythana and wrested her from the weird's grasp, getting her to shore before she could drown. After dropping the half-drow on the shore, Zenit was grabbed by the weird and pulled back into the water. Elle and Orvald arrived at precisely the right time; the lythari rushed to her pack sister's side, while the barbarian freed Zenit from the weird's grasp. As soon as Zenit was free the weird grabbed Orvald, though that was the barbarian's plan. Elle went into the water to help Orvald escape, but he refused, he was determined to kill it. 

       I stood at the shore of the pond- is it a shore if it's only a small pond? I may look into that later- and waited with bated breath for Elle to surface. At that point Aura and Pwent arrived, and apparently Aura is a complete idiot. The airhead cast a lightning spell on the water, electrocuting everyone; she may have gotten Elle killed in there. Nobody attacks my pack sister. I stalked toward the idiot and stabbed her, she responded with some spell that pushed me away, which couldn't deter me when Elle's safety may be on the line, so I stabbed the stupid bitch again; Aura attacked me again, and I tumbled into unconsciousness.

       While Lythana was beating on Aura, Orvald drug Elle to the surface of the water; Fidget threw a grappling hook at the pair to reel them in, and he missed. Pwent, always ready for a fight, jumped in the water and hacked at the weird until there was nothing left of it. Everyone else got out of the water while the dwarf was killing the creature. When the dwarf broke the surface of the water, he was able to catch hold of Fidget's grapple, and Orvald yanked him out of the water. 

       When we got back to camp, I attempted to explain to the little idiot why she shouldn't electrocute water, but she just didn't understand. Aura is a liability and she is going to get herself, or one of us, killed.

***** Mirtul 16

       In the morning Orvald decided to go back to the pond to look for the sword I had lost during the fight the night before. My sword was gone, except for the hilt, and the mouse also found a potion of enlargement; I shudder to think of how he may use that with the spider kisser. After Orvald's hunt we had a mushroom breakfast and climbed in the boats to begin our journey; we had Glabbagool set up to haul all of our boats, since we didn't have oars for them.

       About six hours into our boat trip Shuushar began insisting that we were almost to Sloobludop, he said we only needed a couple more hours and we would be at her home. I heard a splash and saw some ripples in the water, then kuo-toa began appearing and surrounding us. Phil was pulled underwater and vanished, and nets began flying onto our boats, grabbing people. I sliced the one that landed on Elle off before they could pull her overboard, and yelled at Shuushar to talk to his people.

       Orvald wrestled a net off of Aura, and out of the kuo-toa's hands. Stool was snatched and pulled overboard before anyone could save the sprout. A bigger one jumped in my boat and attacked the twins, but Topsy kicked it overboard before it could do much damage to us. Orvald attempted to go after Stool, but Zenit caught him and refused to let him go look for the myconid. Of course, the moment the drow looked away Orvald dove in anyways; he didn't understand that per drow hierarchy he was supposed to bend to her will. Unfortunately for Orvald, Fidget caught him with a grappling hook, and Zenit reeled him back to the boat, with the mouse fighting all the way. 

       We had just finished off the kuo-toa who were swarming us, when we heard a bell and another kuo-toa began speaking to us. I again told Shuushar to speak to her people, but who knows what he was saying. The attackers got away with Phil and Stool.

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

*Author's note: Many of the events and characters that take place in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast.

A Blood Hunter's Beginnings

Lythana Belmyr

       I was born in a small shrine to Eilistraee, and grew up in a time where my goddess was absent from Toril. Everyone knew that eventually the Dark Maiden would return to us, and we continued our devotions to her, alongside our training, eagerly awaiting the day that her light flowed through us once more. I was primed to be Darksong Knight, an elite priestess-warrior who devotes her life to not just spreading the Maiden's light, but also to the destruction of any yochlols, and other demons or minions of Lolth. 

       Not long after the Maiden's return to us during the Sundering, before I had truly begun my training in Eilistraee's magics, a group of lolthites attacked our shrine; killing my mother, my sister, and my best friend all in one fell swoop. I knew if I had just been stronger, further in my training, I could have done more. While I still walked in the Maiden's light, I needed to become stronger faster than my studies would grant me. 

       I found an old book with the alchemical compound in it to grant me the powers of a Blood Hunter, a Demon Slayer. The others pleaded with me not to do so, that if I did I could no longer be a Darksong Knight, but I felt that this was the path that Eilistraee had illuminated for me. 

       I set out to begin my demon hunting, with the hopes that someday I could kill Lolth myself. I stayed mostly to myself, but still offered the Song or the Sword to any drow whose path I crossed. The Maiden wanted me to continue spreading her light, even while I was on such a shadowed path. 

       While I was investigating reports of poltergeists in an ancient ruin in a forest, I met a path of lythari. Elle, the further alpha of the pack, was about my age, and we became fast friends. After helping the lythari eliminate their haunting problem, I was invited to stay with them for a time. I was given the status of Pack Sister, a title not given lightly. 

       My new found home with the wolves was short lived though, I began getting restless; there were still so many demons for me to slay. There was a cave in Elle's forest that led directly into the Underdark, which I had visited before to kill shit. Since my dear friend was needing a trial to prove herself a capable alpha, I convinced her to come to the Underdark with me to go kill shit. About two days in we met Orvald's little group, and decided to help them get the innocents home. 

photo from deviantart.com

Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter Two

The Oozing Temple

Dramatis Personae:

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress 

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric

Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies

Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian

Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor

Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto

Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon

Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee

Stool, the Myconid Child

Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth who thinks he's an elven prince under a polymorph curse

Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Rogue Twins

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout

Jimjar, the Deep Gnome

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa 

Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube

Comrades we have lost:

Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent

Buppido, the Derro- left with duergar merchants

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape

Friendly fire overall: 4
Party members killed: 2
Overall party members lost: 3

NOTE: Things are mostly from Hera's point of view, switching to Lythana's point of view later, anything in italics is from a third party, since they can't be everywhere at once.

***** Mirtul 13, 1489 DR

       We decided to leave Stool, Zenit, Derendil, Shuushar, and Phil in the mushroom grove while the rest of us went after the twins. After about two hours of tracking the little brats we began to feel a rumbling, like the beginnings of an earthquake, and small rocks began trickling down the cavern walls. As the rumble quickened, we began running, in hopes of avoiding being trapped in a collapsed tunnel; it was unavoidable though, and the damned tunnel collapsed. As we picked ourselves out of the rubble, we heard someone calling for help- Orvald and Luna went to investigate, and found a svirfneblin buried in the rubble.

       After freeing him, we learned his name was Fidget Stonegear, and he was some crazy inventor who had been separated from the caravan he was traveling with when the tunnel collapsed. We allowed him to join us since the Underdark is much safer in numbers. A little while later Orvald began hearing a voice in his head, that he was calling Glabbagool. The deranged little mouse decided to follow the direction the voice in his head was coming from- though it shouldn't work that way. Further down the tunnel, some gray goop started dripping onto Orvald- it was a gray ooze, which we took out quickly. Another ooze was stupid enough to attack Pwent, and that one went down even faster- that dwarf is frightening.

       We entered a tunnel that was completely smooth, as if it had been made, and was much clearer than it should have been. Right around the corner there was a skeleton that at first glance appeared to be suspended in the middle of the tunnel. It was actually encased in a gelatinous cube, which we learned was Glabbagool- the voice in Orvald's head. He didn't try to attack us, but instead wanted to be our friend; not wanting to anger the ooze we agreed to be his friend. Glabbagool had a beautiful ruby in him that he was using as an "eye" to make us more comfortable talking to him, which he claimed had a friend inside it that needed freeing. He spat the gem out at Orvald, but the mouse couldn't break it, so the ooze then spat out a flaming mace- which worked. Before us was a tiefling, an infernal tiefling, who had been trapped in there for 200 years; who decided to come with us, cause we totally need a fucking Devil Child traveling with us. You can't trust the Infernals with anything, and I definitely didn't want one watching my back.

       Orvald invited Glabbagool to come with us, and none of us wanted to argue with the damn ooze or the crazed mouse, so we agreed. As we moved down the tunnel, something hit Orvald and caused him to fall unconscious; it was another fucking ooze. Another one popped up further down the tunnel, Glabbagool called it Bloop, but it wasn't as friendly as him. We filed into a little room to kill the ooze, and during the combat my wand started glowing and did not cease for the next hour; wild magic is funny like that sometimes. After the fight we decided to take a brief rest, and for some reason we decided to trust Glabbagool to keep watch, though the ooze seemed more trustworthy and friendly than the infernal.

       While we rested Aura heard water, and Glabbagool told her that was new; the quake must have broken loose an underground river or something. The insane mouse decided to go down the corridor to investigate- of course- while the genasi took a different route, and fell through the floor. The Devil Child attempted to follow her, only to make more of the floor cave in- though he didn't fall in, pity. A black pudding began to envelope Aura, and in her attempts to defend herself, she split the pudding into two puddings, both of which were now attacking her... she fell unconscious quickly. I took care of the pudding that assaulted me quickly enough, while Fidget dropped a bomb on another one. Orvald thought he smelled soup burning, though the burn he smelled was Aura's flesh being sizzled by pudding. The mousefolk was able to free the genasi and revive her just in time.

       Luna went up to a pit, and got attacked by another pudding, while Fidget threw a rock at it; the rock partially caved in Luna's skull. We were never able to tell if the svirfneblin killed her, or if the pudding did. Pwent wrenched the wizard's body from the pudding and finished it off, while Orvald took down the largest one. The Infernal was dropped to unconsciousness by the final pudding, but the stupid gnome freed and revived him; pity, it would have been nice to get rid of the devil that quickly. Aura went down another corridor, crumbling it and freeing more black pudding- apparently we needed to avoid the small corridors in this room.

       I noticed water seeping out from under Glabbagool, the water we had heard earlier. We asked the cube to stop the water- or at least slow it down, and he attempted to plug the leak with himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pwent go down, the distraction cost me though, another pudding got me and I fell into unconsciousness. The others were able to stabilize Hera and Pwent quickly enough, but couldn't heal them to wake them yet.

       With the puddings finally finished off, the party continued their investigation of the temple, and came upon a door. They found two wererats on the other side, who were wearing similar gear to Topsy and Turvy; the twins had left in the night because of the full moon. The twins screeched in surprise, accidentally activating the statues in the room; the statues were gray oozes, and the party made quick work of them. In the room the party found healing potions and were able to revive their unconscious members. 

       After I was woken up, we decided to swim out of the temple, since we couldn't go back the way we had come. In an attempt to get over one of the pits we had created, Fidget tried to jump- Orvald attempted to catch him, and both idiots fell into the pit... After we got them out of the damn pit, Orvald swam out; Glabbagool moved away from the door the water was seeping into, allowing the water to surge in. We tried to grab hold of things to prevent us from getting swept away, but I lost my grip- as did Fidget and Sarith. The devil caught the svirfneblin, but Sarith and I were swept away, I landed in one of the damn pits that was in the midst of flooding. The water also allowed another damn ooze to emerge, which followed the drow; until Glabbagool blocked it to protect him.

       Orvald realized that the others needed help, and attempted to go back for the rest of the party, everyone except him and the twins were having trouble swimming out. Sarith and I were having a horrible time trying to swim out, and the drow suggested we wait until the water got a bit higher, thinking it could help us get up to the dry ledge. By this point everyone else was out or almost out of the water except for us. I asked Glabbagool to help us, and he pulled us through his gelatinous body- which was a very disconcerting sensation- and shot us out toward land. Neither of us made it, and instead got caught up in an undercurrent going the opposite way.

       Sarith drowned moments later. I saw a bank in the water, and attempted to swim toward it; instead I got caught in a fucking web. I cut myself free, and was swept further down river- though I swam back toward safety and briefly made some progress- until I got caught in the web again. I used a spell that made daggers whirl around me, cutting me free again; I was swept back down river. As the insidious cold of the river seeped into my marrow, I knew my life was forfeit; yes, I could breathe underwater, but exhaustion prevented me from swimming. I slipped into unconsciousness, and then into death.

       The rest of the party found an exit and began heading back to the grove with the rest of the group. They reached them the next morning.

***** Mirtul 14- Lythana

       Elle and I were sitting in camp, only two days into our tenday expedition into the Underdark to kill shit. I wanted to continue my mission to purge Toril of evil, and Elle needed to prove herself as a capable leader before she could officially become Alpha of her pack. While we sat in front of our fire, enjoying a pot of tea, we heard a weird clanging sound from the cavern below the cliff we were atop of. Elle shifted into her wolf form, and I drew my scimitars.

       The rest of the party arrived at a cliff that was about eighty feet tall, the twins climbed up it as if it was nothing, and Zenit levitated up with Orvald. They were bringing climbing gear up to the top to make it easier for the rest of the group to get up the cliff.

       Two wererats scampered up the side of the cliff, and a Lolthite appeared with another, smaller wererat in between her breasts. I knew the Dark Maiden's word decrees that I should slay all were creatures on sight, but I was curious, especially since it sounded like there were more people coming up from below. We had a bit of a standoff with this odd group, and decided to sit down and talk while waiting for the rest of them to come up; they had a gelatinous cube with them that they had to bring up with a pulley system; it took forever. Eventually we learned that they were trying to get to Dark Lake, and were hopelessly lost, so Elle and I agreed to help them- there should be plenty of shit to kill on the way to the lake, and onward to the Neverlight Grove to take Stool home.

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

*Author's note: Many of the events and characters that take place in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast.

Abyssal in an Infernal World

The Life of Hera Adaar

       I was born and raised in Halruaa, a small country in southern Faerun. My country is mostly humans, and tieflings aren't terribly welcome there, especially ones like me, whose roots don't lie with Asmodeus, but instead with a creature of the Abyss. I was adopted as an infant by a pair of humans who couldn't have a child of their own, so I've never been able to learn of my origins, or of how my ancestor escaped becoming a devil child, and instead remained Abyssal. We believe I come from a balor, based upon my physical features; the giant bat-like wings kind of helped us narrow down our options.

       Being Abyssal led to me being picked on by both the human children, and the devil children while growing up; my version of different is too different for them unfortunately. Smelling of brimstone constantly, my smoldering eyes, and razor sharp teeth didn't help me make any friends either. I do not trust anyone except my family as a result of this, and I tend to remain aloof with most people.This is an Infernal world, and an Abyssal trying to make her way through life is met with resistance from all angles.

       I began having odd dreams about a long chamber with a layer of ankle deep white dust, with a colossal adamantine door at the end of it. There's footprints moving away from the door, that sink deeper and deeper the closer they draw to the door. I knew there would be something interesting in there, it's got to be a vault or library. These dreams came with the ability to pull on the weave, giving me the wild magic abilities of a sorceress; of course my family didn't approve, it was one more thing to make it clear I didn't fit in.

       I became obsessed with the door, and started spending all of my time in the library scouring maps. When those didn't yield any results, I began to search the country for it. I had to find that door and open it. My crazed obsession got me exiled from Halruaa, and my parents were dishonored. I know if I can just find the damned door I can make everything better for my family.

       After months of searching, I eventually realized that the door had to be in the Underdark. It was the only place that made any sense with the architecture of the chamber.

       Recently my dreams about the door changed. The door has cracked open, just an inch or so, and the dust in front of the door is swirling in the air, as if there's a breeze escaping from whatever lies beyond the door. The dust is getting deeper. Someone else opened my door, something beat me there... My need to find this door began to consume me, and I ventured into a part of the Underdark that I didn't have maps for. It was there that the bloody drow caught up to me. 

Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter One

The Escape from Velkynvelve

Dramatis Personae:

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress 

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric

Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress

Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian

Stool, the Myconid Child

Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth who thinks he's an elven prince under a polymorph curse

Ront, the Orc Fighter

Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Twins

Buppido, the Derro

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa 

Friendly Fire: 3

NOTE: Things are mostly from Hera's point of view, anything in italics is from a third party, since she can't be everywhere at once.

***** Tarsakh 29, 1489 DR

Phillip Johnson was captured by drow slavers and taken to the camp Velkynvelve, and added to a cell that was already occupied by Stool, Prince Derendil, Ront, Thimblepwent, Topsy, Turvy, Buppido, Sarith, Eldeth, Jim Jar, and Shuushar. 

Tarsakh 30

                Orvald is captured by the slavers and drug to their camp, joining the others in their cell.

Mirtul 1

                Luna Trelawny is taken by the drow, and due to her nature as a diviner, she is rendered unconscious before they reach the camp. Her unconscious body is dumped in the cell.

Mirtul 3

                While I was chasing down what was probably just another dead end, some bloody drow snuck up on me. Before I could begin barraging them with magic missiles, they hit me with one of their damned poisoned bolts. When I awoke I found myself a prisoner in a cage that was very full.

Mirtul 4

                A peculiar slave has joined the cage today. She is apparently new to the material plane, and came from the Elemental Plane of Air. Aura is her name, and she is an odd person, even by my standards. Perhaps another sorceress will be key to getting free of this stupid cell so I can resume my search. There's footprints leading away from the door now, something beat me to it.

***** Mirtul 7

                When our captors came in today, I was instructed to clean their quarters, along with one of the svirfneblin twins; I’m not sure which one, they don’t talk much and it’s hard to tell them apart. I swear they dirty their quarters just to give us something to clean.

                Earlier that morning, before the drow came in to delegate responsibilities, Phil had asked Eldeth to carve him a new holy symbol, with his magic he thought he might be able to begin an escape. When the dwarf pointed out she didn’t have any tools, he said he would try to steal something next time he was on duty in the mess hall. Lucky for Phil, today was the day he was sent to the mess, along with Aura and Sarith.

                Upon reaching the mess, Phil asked Aura to try to make a distraction for him. The genasi planned to just drop something to distract the guards, but she’s incredibly clumsy. Aura’s feigned trip, turned into a real one, and the bowls in her hands went flying; knocking out one of the drow who was watching them. This gave Phil an even better distraction than he had hoped for, and he was able to sneak around the remaining guard, who was wholly focused on the sorceress, and get his hands on a knife and fork.

                Aura was grabbed by one of the quaggoths the drow use for muscle, which sacred the little genasi so badly that she peed herself. The beast carried the terrified girl out of the mess hall, and held her over a ledge high enough up that it was unlikely she could survive the fall; except that a giant spider web was stretched across it. Aura was dropped, and landed on the web, the spider instantly started going for her.

                Phil was not the only one who used Aura’s peril to his advantage, Sarith took this as an opportunity to stab a guard, and managed to make it look like an accident.

                The other guards began leaving the rooms they were guarding to see what the commotion was about- the quaggoths had congregated around the ledge Aura was dropped from, and were watching in twisted glee while the spider prepared to eat her.

                Orvald was cleaning the supply room at the time, and when the guards in his room left, he began looking for his stuff. The mousefolk had had a philter of love taken from him when he was captured, which he found, and soaked a crossbow bolt in it. He then took a length of chain and walked out to the ledge, using it to hook Aura, and began reeling the unconscious genasi back to safety- though he did further injure her in the process. He knocked a quaggoth over the ledge in the process, and the spider fell upon its new prey quickly.

                When the drow vacated the room I was in to investigate the commotion, I sent the deep gnome that was with me to look for help; little did I know that would mean he would go find his brother. The drow don’t seem to keep useful things in quarters like these, so I went to the door to see what was happening outside.

                By the time the odd mouse had pulled the genasi out of whatever trouble she seemed to be in, a full uprising seemed to be happening- I joined gladly. I saw the mouse stab a drow fighter in the leg with a crossbow bolt, and suddenly she was on our side. He must be some sort of mage. With that drow on our side, the battle was over quickly, and the others decided we should jump down the waterfall to escape- the same waterfall we’d been dumping waste in. Glad I have wings.

                After we reached the bottom of the pool, we heard new commotion above, and saw a group of vrocks and demon insects fighting above us. While we were watching that, a grey ooze attacked us, but we made quick work of it. We had a brief discussion of where to go, and since we couldn’t agree on where exactly to go, we decided to head to Dark Lake, and decide when we got there if we would take Stool back to the Neverlight Grove, go to Gracklstugh like the derro wanted, or go to Sloobludop like Shuushar wanted to do. We realized we would need Stool in order to gain access to the Grove, and I flew back up with Orvald and his pet drow to get him and the unconscious human. We also got gear, including an odd wand that lightly vibrates when I press a glowing button on the top of it, I was able to turn it into a new arcane focus. It seemed that all of our stuff was there, except for our arcane focuses, sucks to be the rest of the casters. 

                That night after making camp, we learned that there were less drow at the camp than there should have been, which is why our escape had been so easy. Zenit, Orvald’s pet, said that one of their caravans had been attacked by a beholder and some kobolds, and they had dispatched reinforcements to help with the beholder. The caravan that was under attack is the same one that Teegan rescued the Ironfang Eight from; had he not saved them, they would have found themselves in the same camp with this party.

***** Mirtul 8

                In the morning, or when we woke up, since we have no sun to tell us if it’s actually morning down here, the human girl finally woke up. We learned her name was Luna, and she instantly made friends with Stool- adding her voice to the requests that we take the lad home first.

                Later in the day, we heard voices up a tunnel who were fighting about being hungry. Orvald decided to go investigate, but because his sword is bigger than he is, the sounds of it dragging along the rock alerted them to our presence. It turned out they were a group three of goblins, who began shooting at Orvald the moment they saw him. The little mouse responded by hacking one of their arms off, which terrified one so badly that it curled up in the fetal position and began rocking; another was so scared it began babbling incoherently. Ront charged in and took one of the goblins out instantly, I used magic missile to kill another, and Orvald polished off the one whose arm he had taken.

                That night at camp, after I had gone to sleep for the night, along with most everyone else, I was awoken by Zenit screaming, and found everything cloaked in magical darkness. Pwent, thinking the foe was next to him, smashed poor Ront to a bloody pulp, turning the orc into hamburger. He then swung again, hitting Zenit instead of the foe. Orvald began pounding on the thing hurting Zenit, and managed to wrench her out of its grasp. I blindly slung a magic missile in the direction the sound was coming from, I think I missed though based on the sound I heard after casting.  Luna slung a spell blindly at it, killing it and causing the magical darkness to fall away. Zenit, realizing that Orvald had just saved her, went completely mad, and permanently fell in love with the mouse.

                When the darkness slid away, we discovered that our attacker was a giant rocktopus. We also found the fleshy smear that remained of Ront, no one is sure what happened to him, since the hamburger that was the orc wasn't near the giant rocktopus. Orvald decided to cook some of the rocktopus for us, that barbarian has odd tastes- though it was pretty tasty.

***** Mirtul 9

                Our day was blessedly uneventful, something that rarely happens in the Underdark. I wondered how long we had until the drow bitch turned on us, and how long before the rest of her friends caught up to us.

                As we made camp that night, we heard voices and odd skittering noises coming from the tunnel, which this time were not something coming to attack us. We met a small party of duergar merchants, and Buppido asked if he could join them. The derro was anxious to get to Gracklstugh, and didn’t want to wait until we made it there.

                Orvald, not realizing that duergar don’t haggle, attempted to do so with the merchants, who were unintimidated by the tiny mouse.

***** Mirtul 10-11

                The next two days were peaceful. I enjoyed this brief break, for I knew it wouldn’t last long. I hope I'm getting close to my door. 

***** Mirtul 12

                We stumbled into a cavern of mushrooms, and decided to harvest some for food and water; Stool helped us identify which ones were edible, and showed us the Zirkwood mushrooms, which are the Underdark equivalent to lumber.

                Derendil, not wanting to lift a royal finger to help us, got himself attacked by mushroom stalks- his flesh where it had touched him looked rotten. Pwent and Orvald, always ready for a fight, ran to his rescue; I also helped since I was close enough. I used an ice spell and froze the stalk, allowing Pwent to shatter it, saving Derendil from the threat- or so we thought.

                We all turned back to what we were doing, when Derendil got attacked by three more of the bloody things. The insane quaggoth went into a rage after getting his arse handed to him by a group of mushrooms, and attacked Pwent. Pwent went into a rage of his own, and whacked his highness with his waraxe. Derendil somehow managed to knock Pwent unconscious, and Orvald knocked his highness out in turn.

                The rest of our night of harvesting was rather uneventful.

***** Mirtul 13

                The next morning we discovered Topsy and Turvy were missing. There were some tracks around where they had slept that looked like they were made by large rodents, heading south. We decided we needed to go rescue the twins.

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

*Author's note: Many of the events and characters that take place in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Four, Condensed

The Savage Lands

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking


***** The Savage Lands

       When the Knights finally finished getting their new mining business set up, they decided it was time to head toward the Savage Lands. This was a part of the country that not many people ventured to, it was rumored to be quite dangerous- making it perfect for the Knights. There was one outpost they had heard of, and they decided to head that direction first. They packed up Kelani's wagon, bringing along her wolf puppies and dog because she couldn't bear to part from them, and set out on the trail. 

       After a few days of travel, the group encountered people who had been turned to stone. They attempted to get information from the statues, but couldn't get much more than that they were adventurers who had encountered something horrible. This put the group on alert, and they proceeded with extreme caution on their route. For several days there was no sign of whatever had been turning things to stone, but they kept seeing different animals frozen in time as solid rock. Finally, after days of travel, they finally found the source of the stone: gorgons. Gorgons are bull-like creatures that seem to be made of interlocking metal plates, and they have the ability to turn beings to stone. The group found them migrating through a valley, that they needed to cross. Kelani used a spell that allows her to travel with people through trees, and after much effort she managed to get everyone to safety. 

       The group had several encounters with the gorgons over the next several days, as they continued to make their way towards the outpost, and they always prevailed. Though their final encounter with a gorgon ended up turning Kelani to stone... Fortunately for her, they were just a day away from the outpost, and were able to get her back into her normal self in no time. 

       During their two day long rest at the outpost, the group learned of a mysterious plateau, that was believed to be a dragon lair. Thanks to Mother, I also learned that there was a piranha invasion in the lake in front of the plateau, which gave us more reasons than just potential monies to go there; I had to help the lake's ecosystem. I also learned that a chasm had appeared at random, cutting off water flow and making the lands a desert. Ralliakkan thought it was an entrance to the Underdark, and we decided to explore that later. 

       The trek to the plateau took several weeks, during which the group was constantly hounded by sand worms. After a few fights, they got into a sort of groove fighting them, to the point where it almost became an automated thing. While the worms were annoying, their scales were worth a good price, and they usually had interesting treasure in their bellies. 

       Finally, after weeks of travel, the group found themselves at the base of this plateau. Since there was no trail up it, the group decided they needed to return to Crossroads for a couple of days, get new gear, and drop off the wagons and Kelani's puppies. Kelani grew them a tree large enough to take the wagons through, and off they went. 

***** The Plateau

       When the Knights returned to the base of the plateau, Kelani summoned giant eagles for the group to fly on, and they rode them up to the cloud line, but the eagles dared not go farther. The druid could not get any help from elementals on why either. Finding themselves on their own, Kelani became an earth elemental and began to tunnel the group into the plateau. 

       After much traveling, they found a normal path within the plateau that they began to follow. As they went, a fog began rolling in, growing thicker by the minute. Kelani turned into an air elemental and surrounded the group so they could continue to breath easily. Hours went by, with the fog growing thicker and thicker by the minute, and finally the group found themselves staring at a cliff. It was pitch black out there, and they couldn't see the bottom or the other side. Kelani turned into an albatross so she could carry everyone across the cliff, but once she hit the middle, the group was hit by a sleep spell. Everyone except Maggie succumbed to it instantly, but the gnome was able to stay awake just long enough to cast Feather Fall on Kelani, so the druid wouldn't crash and possibly kill them all.

       They awoke in a forest, unaware of how much time had passed. When the Knights began to explore they met an elven woman who took them to her tree community. It was a giant tree that had somehow grown into an entire colony. The townsfolk told the group about the black dragon who ruled their realm, and of his many lesser minions who terrorized the humans in the communities, making them slaves. Of course the Knights could not resist saving a small country worth of people from their brutal enslavers; they swore they would bring the dragons down. 

       It took the Knights several weeks to methodically kill all of the dragons, but eventually they had slaughtered all of them, and were leaving the plateau with a sizable fortune. The elven woman showed them how to leave the plateau, and they returned to Crossroads, to learn that time moved slower in the plateau, and while only a few weeks had passed for them, an entire year had gone by outside. 

***** 

       Ralliakkan made good one her promise to buy the inn the group had taken up residence in. She renamed it the Underhearth, and began working on making it a self-sustaining compound. Kelani set up plants of all kinds, and got livestock, taking over the stables as her personal palace; surrounded by what she loves. She set up an animal training, animal shelter, and veterinary business in the barn and sought out a young druid to apprentice- she'd need someone to take over while they were out adventuring. Kibbik finished his Temple of Apsu, and his following grew exponentially. The Knights decided to take a year off to set up their new businesses and new home.