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

Dark Lake Part 4:

The Search for Lythana

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

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins

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

Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian

Stool, the Myconid Child

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- in a seemingly irreversible coma

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome- eaten by grell

Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- captured by sea troll, possibly drowned

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

Friendly fire overall: 29
Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 13
Party members killed: 7
Overall party members lost: 10

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

***** Mirtul 28, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)

       The party spent some time trying to figure out where Lythana had vanished to, with Glabbagool telling them she had been taken by the troll. They asked which way it had taken her, but the cube was not good with directions, though he tried to give them a general way to go. As they debated, rocks began falling from the cavern above, so they high tailed it out of there, going the direction the cube had indicated. 

       After some time sailing, Orvald thought he heard Lythana calling out for help among some stalagmites, so he called for the ship to stop, and disembarked to investigate. The mousefolk found an elven female chained up in a cave- she said it was a troll's cave. She introduced herself as Iris, and told Orvald there was a strength potion inside a desk in the cavern; if he drank it, she claimed he'd be able to free her and help Lythana. At first, the barbarian refused to drink it, arguing with her about why he needed to, but then she claimed to hear the troll coming, so Orvald gave in and downed the vial. Iris became more beautiful to him than Zenit- it had been a philter of love. 

       He unchained Iris, and took her back to the ship- she glamoured herself to look like Lythana. The mousefolk tried to convince her to look like herself, since that was the form he was enamored with, but Iris insisted the group wouldn't accept her if she looked like herself. She made herself look like she had been badly beaten and as if her throat had been previously slit, and not healed enough to remove the line.

       What Iris didn't know, was that Orvald had a sentient dagger that could see through not only her glamour as Lythana, but also the glamour Orvald thought was beautiful. The blade showed Orvald what was really under "Lythana's" face, and instructed the barbarian to act normally. 

       Once on board, Iris told the group they needed to go after the trolls, and drew a map to their supposed den. Hemeth didn't want to go to the den, so Orvald bribed him- that duergar is extremely greedy. 

       Iris also didn't realize that Elle was Lythana's Pack Sister, so she was surprised when Elle announced that the woman in front of them was not who they thought; Elle could smell the difference, and most glamour illusions don't change the person's scent. Iris attempted to strike Elle after this announcement and failed miserably. Orvald, still pretending this was "Lythana," contradicted Elle trying to feed the lythari the lie that Lythana didn't smell right because of being in the smelly troll den. The priestess tried to freeze the impostor in place, but she shrugged the spell off. At about this point, Elle realized Orvald knew this wasn't her Sister, and decided to walk into the trap the others were sailing toward, fully prepared for a fight. 

       When they got to the den, Elle smelled two more beings inside, who smelled identical to Iris; they were hags. They entered the cave through a narrow tunnel, and instantly got hit with a lightning bolt- the party had lined up perfectly for the shot- Elle fell unconscious.

       Zenit shot Iris with her hand crossbow, as Iris cast a spell to hold the drow in place; she ordered Orvald to "take care" of Zenit, which according to Orvald means to fuck her. He gladly began following his orders, and was hit with another lightning bolt from a different hag, just as he started. The mousefolk began hitting that hag because she was getting in the way of his orders to "take care" of Zenit; apparently the barbarian doesn't take kindly to being interrupted. The rest of the party was grateful for the interruption, since none of them wanted to see those two screw- EVER.

       Aura sent a lightning bolt of her own at the hags, and promptly fell unconscious afterwards- Fidget quickly woke the genasi back up, while Zarrus revived Elle. Upon waking, the poor sorceress was hit with a spell that made her run away in terror. One hag vanished, while another turned Zenit into a mouse, which probably made her sexier to Orvald... Iris attempted to run away, but the lythari was faster, and stopped the hag.

       Aura overcame her terror and returned to throw an ice knife at a hag and Iris- hitting Pwent and Orvald in the process... The damage Pwent took from Aura weakened him enough to allow the hag to knock him out- Orvald finished that one off. With that hag dead, Zenit was turned back into herself. Suddenly, the invisible hag reappeared and grabbed Iris, making her vanish too. 

       Orvald took off for the exit, he had to find Iris- Zenit shot him in hopes of knocking him out with her poison, but the mousefolk shrugged it off. Aura moved to tackle Orvald, and instead tripped and fell over- he stabbed the genasi as he ran by. Zarrus cast a spell to hold the barbarian in place, but that also failed and the tiefling was also stabbed for his efforts. Zenit latched on to Orvald just as he set himself on fire to force the group to stay back; but his drow wouldn't let go. Zenit spilled a potion on Orvald, and the mouse began smoking purple- just then the drow fell unconscious- Orvald took the opportunity to flee.

       Alone, the mousefolk found the hags actual lair, and proceeded to raid it. The potion finally wore off while he was pillaging, so once he was satisfied that he had taken it all, he returned to the ship.

       Zenit began trying to convince the group to just move on and stop looking for Lythana- since she despises the half-drow, she wanted to take the opportunity to rid the group of her. Aura sort of agreed with the drow, thinking that if Lythana was still alive she would head toward Gracklstugh, so they should just continue on their way- even though Lythana wouldn't really have the means to get to the City of Blades on her own. The ship turned around and made its way back to about where it was when Lythana vanished. 

       On the way, Orvald held an odd mask he found in the hag's lair out to Aura, attempting to compel her to duel him; he failed miserably. She damages the party enough unintentionally, it could have been interesting to see how she did intentionally. 

***** Mirtul 29

       The next day, the ship reached a lock system that was in place to traverse a waterfall, which was manned by armed duergar. Hemeth bribed the guards to get clearance to pass through; while it was granted, they were currently doing repairs, so it wouldn't be usable for a couple more days- yesterday's earthquake damaged it. The party was ordered not to leave the ship- if they did, they'd be shot. 

***** Kythorn 1

     Repairs were completed on the system, and the ship was cleared to go. While they were between two levels, Orvald spotted a figure floating in the water, appearing dead. When he inspected it closer, the mousefolk realized that the form was Lythana. He swam out and hauled the hunter back to the ship- she looked like she has drowned. On whim, Aura gave Lythana CPR, and it worked! 

       I came to sputtering, water forcing itself out of my lungs, with Aura towering above me. Somehow I had made it back to the ship! Elle was beside herself when she saw me, whining excitedly- in elf form- and pawing all over me. She had spent three days thinking I was gone. I recanted what had happened to me, and Elle was astonished when she saw my body healing itself. I knew I'd make it back to my Sister.

***** Kythorn 5

       That evening after everyone had finished rowing for the day, rocks began falling and the ship started getting banged up by them- it felt like another damned earthquake, until balls of darkness descended on us. I felt something hit me as everything went black, and I couldn't move- something had me stuck.

       It was darkmantles that had flown onto the ship, they were causing the darkness. Orvald hit the one attacking Zenit hard enough to knock it out, ending the globe of darkness that was on her- but in the process of getting Zenit out of the beast's grasp, it woke again- but was smart enough to fly off before the barbarian killed it. 

       Elle used a daylight spell to cancel the darkness surrounding her, then, after surveying where the other globes were, she cast one in the darkness she thought Lythana was in. If being stuck in darkness with something attacking me wasn't bad enough, suddenly my head was engulfed in a bright, white light. Elle had accidentally dropped the daylight on her Pack Sister's head. Blindly I struck out with my scimitars, hoping to connect with the thing attacking me, and not hitting Fidget in the process. Whatever I hit made a gurgling noise after, so I'm pretty sure my aim was true. The half-drow had killed the darkmantle on her. 

       I suddenly felt something else grab me, and then I was falling... I landed with a painful smack into the waters below. Zenit pushed Lythana overboard to get rid of the daylight spell. I couldn't see, and I hadn't had time to take a breath before hitting the icy waters of Dark Lake- I frantically tried to swim up, but I didn't know if I was actually going up; I could have just as easily been swimming further down. Then I felt a tug from something around my waist- I was being pulled by something. Orvald was pulling the hunter to the surface of the Lake so she wouldn't drown. I felt the waters part over my head, and took a satisfying breath. We managed to get that infernal sun off my head, but I still couldn't see- that didn't last long though, I felt Elle's hand on my arm, and my sight was restored.

***** Kythorn 6

       Hemeth was pushing us really hard today, insisting that we were really close to Gracklstugh; I hoped we'd get there today, I'm getting really fed up with this fucking lake. As we were rowing, we felt the ship collide with something- debris, I think. Sturges flew off the debris right for us, and Fidget tossed a bomb... which instead of sailing through the air, landed at his feet- the svirfneblin blew himself up. He wasn't dead, but that had to have hurt. We all charged the sturges and made very quick work of the little beasts.

       Orvald and Elle worked on clearing the debris, and soon discovered that the debris was covering a metal keel boat, but before we could do much more than announce our discovery, the little boat flipped over, sending Orvald and Elle into the water. The fucking trolls were back- they'd better not kidnap me again. Elle managed to break away from the trolls and began climbing the rope back to the ship, all the while yelling "trolls!" She seemed unharmed for the most part, but Orvald wasn't so lucky; he was badly injured, but still managed to climb the rope back to the ship. I sliced my palm and prepared my blood rite, placing acid on one of my scimitars- I was ready for the fuckers. We watched, waiting for them to surface.

       We still had that fucking boat to move before we could get away from the damned trolls; we scrambled to get it done before they could act.

       Down below, the rowers heard scratching on the bottom of the boat, as if the troll was trying to cut an entrance down there, sinking the ship. Instead, the troll burst through the wall in the hold, grabbed Shuushar and swallowed him in one bite. As the troll reached for Aura, planning to cleanse his pallet with a genasi, the twins yelled for backup.

       Just as we got that damned keel boat on board, we heard Topsy and Turvy yell that there was a troll in the hold- fuck. That explains why the ass monkeys hadn't surfaced to attack yet. Their ringleader had to be the one who experimented on me, which meant he was smart- the douche could strategize.

       As we moved to go fight the ass in the hold, Aura came running up looking super fucked up, with Stool in her arms. She deposited him in what she hoped was a safer spot than the hold, and went straight back down. While she is an idiot, she's got some stones. If she had the brains to go with them, she'd be formidable.

       Orvald charged at the fuckers, and both of the trolls somehow squeezed out of the portholes and fucking escaped. What. The. Fuck. This has turned into a monstrous fuckpuddle. I heard the douchebags climbing the side of the ship, and went back up.

       As soon as one of the trolls reached the deck, he promptly stuffed Fidget in his mouth. Then he and the other one surrounded Zarrus and knocked him unconscious- they remembered he had fire spells from their last attack. 

       I saw Zarrus go down, and Fidget sticking out of one of the trolls mouths, and charged them. Orvald and I wailed on the fuckers, and apparently hurt them badly enough to make them jump overboard. The mouse jumped in after them- shocker- I didn't have that circlet anymore, and even if I did, I kind of hate water now... if I never swim again, it'll be too soon.

       The mousefolk caught up to one troll and killed in instantly- explains why it had escaped. In the center of its forehead was the same Y-shaped spiral scar that was now covering every part of Lythana's body. He then caught up to the larger one, who had two heads and seemed to be the one calling the shots. It spat blood in Orvald's eyes and swam back to the ship. 

       While we stood waiting for Orvald to surface I saw Zenit get grabbed and yanked off the ship- the troll was back and wanted the spider kisser's blood. Zenit managed to wriggle out of the troll's hands, but it grabbed her ankle when she attempted to swim back to the surface. Aura jumped in after the bitch, since apparently she doesn't have to breathe- which explains a lot really, her brain must be oxygen starved, no wonder she's a dumbass. The sorceress instantly unleashed a spell that not only hurt the troll, but herself and the drow as well. 

       Orvald managed to catch up to the troll and hacked its heads off- that one would not be bothering the group again. Once again, Zenit was saved by her mouse just in time, had he been any later, she would have been dead. 

       Later that night, after we had recovered from the attack and repaired the ship, Hemeth demanded that Elle hand over a magic bow she had found; of course she told him no, and he gave her a look that said she had made a mistake. He'd better not try anything with her.

***** Kythorn 7

       The next morning Hemeth emerged from his cabin in beautiful full plate armor that was covered in dwarven runes. I think he thought we would try to rob him or something, which was tempting, but the Dark Maiden would never approve of such an act.

       Apparently everyone was going to act weird today- Aura randomly decided she needed to pet Orvald- his dagger insisted he stab Aura for that, an idea it was given by Zarrus. Of course the mouse stabbed the little idiot for that. Like I said, the dumbshit has some stones, but without brains she's going to get herself killed.

       Hemeth continued to push us hard to get to Gracklstugh, saying we should be there by the end of the day- he was right. Before we could disembark, the asshole jacked up the price of our fair, by far more than any of us could afford. The mouse paid for us, but claimed we were now his slaves- something the spider kisser enjoyed- I'll have to rectify that soon.

       We left Hemeth's boat a much smaller group than we began with, and we left Phil in Hemeth's care, since we can't very well carry the poor unconscious human around until he wakes up or dies. I fear Hemeth will just kill him now that we're gone, but since we can't pull him out of the coma, that may be a kindness.

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 5.5

Lythana and the Sea Troll

Dramatis Personae:

Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee

*****

       I came to, feeling groggy and blurry eyed, with my head pounding and a sick, wet feeling down my hair; I was chained securely to a rough stone wall. I was vaguely aware that most of my clothing had been torn away, and my nerves were on fire with the sensation of hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny cuts covering my flesh- like I had lost a war with a book and was coated in paper cuts. I sensed movement in that was just beyond my field of vision, and a I heard a deep, guttural laugh before the world went black again.

       The next thing I remember is the strong, acrid scent of acids, fluids, and bases burning my nostrils. The chamber I was in was thick with clouds of multicolored smoke. My eyes watered and stung as the crust gluing them shut was broken open. As my senses seemed to clear, a large figure stepped up to me and roughly grabbed my face, forcing some vile concoction down my throat. It felt like it was stripping the flesh away from my tongue, throat, and stomach as it went down. The pain radiated out from my core, first to my lungs and chest, then into my extremities. I began to shudder and convulse before tumbling back into darkness. 

       I have no clue how much time passed before I next came to. When I did, I felt queasy, but otherwise better than I have felt in years. My flesh was tight with hundreds, if not thousands, of small spots, that as my vision focused on them, I realized were small spiraling "Y" shaped scars- my entire body was covered in them. I could worry about the scars later, I needed to figure out where the hell I was, get out of the chains binding me to this wall, and get back to Elle.

       In one corner of the chamber was a broken alchemy lab strewn across the floor- likely the cause of the smoke- and the bleeding corpse of a large troll that was nearly bisected through the skull, and halfway through his chest and torso. Under the body was a large two-headed battleaxe that was rusted and pitted, but somehow looked freshly sharpened. I began working to wriggle out of these damned chains. White-hot pain lanced through my shoulder as it dislocated, and the flesh from that hand got stripped away- but I was free. The hand was mangled and broken, but that was the least of my worries; Elle could fix it once I found her. 

       I inspected the alchemy set and found absolutely nothing of use- the set was completely destroyed. With my broken hand, I couldn't even heft the battleaxe. The troll began twitching, so I left through a hole in the ground. It ended up dropping me into a tunnel of water, I was somewhere in the depths of Dark Lake, probably with those damned trolls who kept attacking our ship. 

       After swimming for a ways I came into another dry chamber- a bed chamber- with two snoring trolls. I crept past them and opened a chest, finding a short sword and a dagger. I felt a little better now that I was armed again. I exited that chamber through another hole in the ground, and found myself in a tunnel that had tons of crates in it. I decided to poke around in those in hopes of finding something useful; I found some leather armor that looked disgusting, but when you're desperate and naked, any armor is better than none; when I next emerged for air I discovered that the armor smelled even worse than it looked.

       Behind the crates I found a secret passage to another bedchamber, but this one was much fancier. I guess it was the head troll's room, though I didn't think until now that trolls actually had a societal structure. I found some weird looking potions in that room, that I figured might be worth keeping. I hadn't found that damn circlet yet, I hoped it would pop up soon. The next room I swam into looked like a dining area, with nothing of use in it. 

       The next tunnel I swam down brought me to a cavern of glowing purple and blue crystals. Lythana didn't know what faerzress crystals were, since she didn't grow up in the Underdark in drow society. I walked through it for a minute, with my skin tingling more and more as I did. There seemed to be another voice in my head, telling me to just lie down and take a nap. When it seemed I was getting nowhere fast, I turned around. 

       I came upon an alcove next, but that was a dead end, so I circled back to the dining area I had last passed through. I took a different branch of the tunnel I'd used to get there originally, and found myself swimming into a large, open cavern. Before I could enjoy that I had possibly just escaped, a current caught me and slammed me into a rock, knocking all the breath from my lungs. Lythana fell unconscious and was swept away by the current. 

Photo from deviantart.com

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

Dark Lake Part 3:
The Assault of the Sea Trolls

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

Stool, the Myconid Child

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- lost in boating accident

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins- lost in boating accident

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome- eaten by grell

Friendly fire overall: 22
Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 8
Party members killed: 6
Overall party members lost: 10

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 19, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)

       This morning Orvald decided it to use poor Jim Jar's entrails as fishing bait. It was a good idea, but still a little unsettling to see someone I've fought alongside be reduced to bait; I'm kind of surprised he was able to get them from Glabbagool, I figured the blob would have devoured them by now. The mousefolk was on to something though, he ended up catching a huge cavefish for us, which should make a decent dinner. Fidget decided to use the fish's guts to make faerie fire bombs, hope he uses those before they start to stink, otherwise, I really hope he doesn't chuck them at whoever I'm locked in melee with- I really don't want to get hit with that nastiness.

       Hemeth had marked on our map the location of a potential mushroom grove, so we decided it would be a good idea to hit that and get some more provisions; our food stores were getting dangerously low, and we had a lot of mouths to feed. It felt like it took forever for us to find the stupid island grove, and we decided to spread out so we could cover more ground to harvest.

       As Elle walked past a group of mushrooms, an ear-piercing shriek rang out, and tendrils lashed out of the shrooms, hitting my Pack Sister. The shrieking mushrooms were working in conjunction with the violet mushrooms. Fidget decided this was the opportune moment to test his stupid fish bomb- the godsbedamned svirfneblin missed the fucking mushrooms and hit me with his bomb. That was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life, and not having a warm bath to scrub it away in just made it worse. The moment that stupid bomb hit me a group of fifteen sturges swarmed Fidget, myself, and Aura.

       Fidget activated a different bomb on himself- of course the jackass didn't activate one of his bombs of disgusting fish guts on himself, to kill the sturge that had attached to him, while I neatly sliced up the two that were on me. Orvald and Pwent ran to assist with the violet mushrooms, and the pair of barbarians quickly pulverized the fungi. Another stupid sturge attached itself to me, and I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. Once the barbarians were finished making mushroom soup they turned to move toward the onslaught of sturges, but the shriekers had yet to be silenced. Zenit attacked those, but not before their call had maddened Pwent; he kept attacking the same one over and over, even once there was nothing left- the dwarf could still hear their cries, even once they had been silenced. When I came to, the battle was over, the sturges were gone, and the only sound was Pwent sputtering and rhythmically smashing the stone over and over.

       For some reason, Fidget decided to use Pwent's rage to get a Zurkhwood mushroom chopped down. The suicidal svirfneblin antagonized the dwarf into chasing him around the base of the fungi until it finally went down- right on top of Pwent. Of course the damn thing was really close to the edge of a rise- and both the tree and the dwarf tumbled over the edge. It was hilarious.

       We utilized the wood to make a smoker house, and spent the night there smoking the fish we'd caught, and the mushrooms we'd harvested. This should make our provisions stretch for a while.

***** Mirtul 20

       We decided it would be in our best interest to continue harvesting mushrooms and fishing, the more food we could gather, the better our journey to Gracklstugh would go. Orvald hooked something huge on his line, and began fighting to reel it in. It immediately bit Orvald, a quick snap and release with its massive fangs...

       I heard Orvald exclaim that he was under attack, so of course we all rushed to his aid. I had never seen a demon like the one before me, the beast that looked like a rabid bear, with large pointy fangs, and in place of its arms, it had small sharks- it was a demonic sharkenbear. The thing grabbed Orvald and the spider kisser with one of its shark arms, and suddenly the area was shrouded in darkness. The sharkenbear dove back into the lake, taking the mousefolk and the drow with it. 

       Orvald was able to get out of the beast's grasp, but Zenit was not so lucky; the drow couldn't escape its shark-hand jaws, and she began to drown. The mighty mousefolk saw his lady love drowning, and hurriedly put the Circlet of Water Breathing on Zenit to get her breathing again. It didn't matter though, those jaws clamped down on the drow and she began bleeding to death. Orvald quickly slew the sharkenbear, and swam to Zenit in time to stabilize her and prevent her death.

       After what felt like forever, Orvald resurfaced with Zenit- still alive, unfortunately- and the carcass of the shark-bear-demon-thingy. We resumed smoking mushrooms and fish.

       A few hours later Hemeth and the twins found us, but there was no sign of Phil. We asked him where the human was, and Hemeth claimed the Phil had been in a coma since the boating accident, and they hadn't been able to snap him out of it; Elle tried to no avail to revive Phil.

       We were offered passage by Hemeth to Gracklstugh on his beautiful boat, but we would have to pay- and work- during the trip. The boat Hemeth was using was the foldable one he had conned Zarrus out of. He tried to buy that apparatus thing that Orvald found, but Fidget insisted we needed to keep it so he could fix it up. Supposedly it'll be useful if the svirfneblin can get it running. After some haggling, we agreed on a gold price for passage, and were shortly underway.

       Once we got settled on the boat, Aura asked Hemeth for soap, something the duergar doesn't use. He said he had lard that he used on his beard, and I suggested he give her that- the little idiot doesn't speak Undercommon, so she had no clue what I was suggesting. All I told her when he gave it to her was that it was what he uses in his beard.

***** Mirtul 28

       Eight days into their journey to Gracklstugh, the party had settled into a routine, splitting themselves into shifts to row. Unbeknownst to the party, three sea trolls slipped onto the ship, and one grabbed Orvald and slammed him hard into the side of the ship. Zenit yelled "Trolls!" to get the rowers attention. 

       I heard some thumping up above, and thought something interesting might be happening, then we heard the spider kisser sound the alarm. I jumped up and began heading toward the stairs to help, after so many days of rowing I was starting to want some action.

       The troll that had grabbed Orvald began gnawing on the mousefolk, while another began ripping into Hemeth. The third troll held the doors to the downstairs closed, blocking the reinforcements from coming. Orvald was thrown overboard by the troll who munched on him, but the barbarian had a jump ring that let him soar back on board. He landed on top of the troll that had been chewing him, and began swinging. 

       Aura didn't want to wait for the group to get the doors open, instead the genasi went out one of the oar holes, joining the brutal fight that was happening up above.

       We decided to put our combined strength together to get out to the fight. Something was barring our passage, and Pwent and I really wanted to get in on the fight we heard. We all heaved on the door, and after a couple of attempts we busted the stupid thing down, to find a fucking troll on the other side who immediately began stomping at Elle and I. Zarrus hit it with a fire bolt, drawing its ire, and when it charged at him I was able to kill it.

       I saw Hemeth grow larger, then begin wailing on the troll that was attacking the spider kisser- maybe it would kill the bitch before we killed it. The troll Orvald was kicking grabbed him and dove overboard; the mousefolk escaped the troll's grasp and began swimming back toward the surface- allowing the troll to escape. As we converged on the troll that Hemeth was beating on, Orvald came sailing through the air and landed gracefully on deck. That troll turned toward the mousefolk and began attacking him- our combined efforts killed the damned thing, but Orvald nearly died in the process.

       Three hours after the troll assault, Derendil was secretly pulled overboard and killed by the escapee troll. His body floated straight into Glabbagool, who was quite pleased with his surprise snack. The ooze happily told Orvald about the snack, alerting the mousefolk to trouble.

       Elle suddenly complained her oar was stuck in something and wasn't moving. As she struggled with it, it suddenly snapped back and hit her in the face. It didn't hit her hard enough to actually damage her, and I couldn't contain my amusement at the scene- my Pack Sister glared daggers at me. Then it clobbered her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious... not funny.

       Above deck the troll grabbed Zarrus' leg and yanked him overboard; the troll was disposing of the mages who could cast fire and acid spells at him. Orvald leapt overboard to go after the tiefling, hooking him with a grapple- when the mousefolk went to cut the rope to tie him off, he accidentally hacked into the tiefling's leg too- knocking him unconscious.

       I tossed a health potion at Aura and told her that if Zarrus didn't come down to heal Elle, that she was to give her the potion- I went upstairs to get the lecherous tiefling. Lythana didn't know that Zarrus had troubles of his own above deck. Within seconds of the half-drow going up the stairs, the impatient genasi poured the potion down Elle's throat to revive her. Elle stood and began to head toward the stairs when another oar smacked her in the face, knocking her unconscious again. 

       Orvald managed to get himself and Zarrus back to the safety of the ship, and attempted to stabilize the sorcerer, only injuring him further. Zenit poured a potion down his throat and revived him, undoing the damage her mouse had done. 

       Aura realized something was in the water and decided to electrocute it, even though she had been told to never to that again. Fortunately, she did it right after Orvald and Zarrus got back on the ship, otherwise she could have killed one or both of them. 

       Pwent and I got above deck just in time to see Zarrus stand up, and immediately get yanked down again, by something... I didn't see what, but Pwent claimed he said a hand and claw- the dwarf leapt at it and hit the spider kisser instead... That was awesome. If only it had killed the bitch. Suddenly Orvald was tanked under the longboat that was on deck, it would seem our adversary was under there. Pwent tried to lift the boat, but it was awkward for the barbarian to do on his own. The spider kisser dropped to the deck and rolled under the boat- and stabbed Orvald instead of the troll. Aura came up, and seeing what was happening, decided to use her ice knife spell- hitting Pwent, Orvald, and the spider kisser, in addition to the troll.

       The longboat flew at us as the troll threw it off of itself, and Orvald grabbed on tight to it. The troll jumped overboard with the mousefolk still attached. I asked the spider kisser for the circlet of water breathing, so that I could go after Orvald- my blood rite allows me to use acid even underwater, making me the best person to try to help the mouse. Of course she was hesitate at first, because according to her, the mouse will always come back. No one noticed Zenit coat a needle in drow sleep poison, and attach it to the circlet. Eventually the bitch gave me her stupid circlet, and I tied a rope around myself and dove in. I saw some murky thing in the water that looked like an ixitxachitl- I really wasn't in a place where I could fight the damned thing. The ixitxachitl was actually Orvald, who had broken away from the troll and was heading back for the ship. He only looked like a manta ray because of his cloak. 

       I was beginning to contemplate going back up, there was no sign of the mouse anywhere, when I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I don't know why I was so tired all of a sudden, but this was not the time to pass out. The sleep poison took hold of Lythana and she was out. Up above, the line she was tied to got snagged and broke, it bean slipping into the water. Fidget attempted to catch it and fell in the water in the process. Orvald reached the surface and helped Fidget get back on board, then went back down to look for Lythana. but there was no sign of her anywhere. The troll had taken Lythana captive. 

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 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.