Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Raiders of the Overreach
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8162504" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 32: CITIZENS OF THE DEPTHS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 10</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 1 January 2021</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>One of the advantages of dealing with House Ky'hulcressen was they had quite a few wizards devoted solely to the creation of magic weapons and items and the upgrading in power of those already in existence. The five House Jalamir arena slaves, fresh from their mission in stealing back the <em>Tarrasque soul prison</em> (and snagging the traitorous slavemaster Calish Jalamir in the process), took the opportunity to have some of their weapons further enhanced. Due to direct orders from Matron Ky'hulcressen herself, their requests were dealt with immediately, even if it meant bumping pre-existing orders to be dealt with later. With the money they had left over, some of the arena slaves even purchased a few new items that looked like they'd be of aid in future combats.</p><p></p><p>To their surprise, after they left the Ky'hulcressen marketplace and returned to their temporary quarters in the drow House pillar, Matron Jalamir was there waiting for them.</p><p></p><p>“Line up,” she commanded without any further explanation. “Kneel and expose your backs.”</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok dropped immediately, a lifetime of slavery conditioning him to instant obedience. The others dropped to their knees as well, but unlike the lizardfolk they wore armor and robes that needed to be removed; Jhasspok had only to sweep his <em>slave-light cloak</em> over his shoulder to hang before him before he had complied with his Matron's demands.</p><p></p><p>A drow wizard approached, a male the lizardfolk thought looked familiar, although he couldn't quite place him. Cramer, glancing at the mage suspiciously from the corner of his eye as he removed his armor, recognized him at once: he was the drow in attendance when Matron Jalamir had had her daughter Eri'dia dismembered and rebuilt into a series of flesh golems before allowing her to regenerate back to her full form. The little gnome wasn't sure why the drow wizard had been brought here to the five arena slaves, but he doubted he'd like whatever was going on.</p><p></p><p>But he was quite wrong on that front, for the drow mage knelt down behind Jhasspok and, with a modified version of the <em>erase</em> spell, began removing the slave tattoo that had been etched upon the lizardfolk's scales shortly after he was hatched. The process took but a few minutes, then the drow wizard moved on to Marlo, removing the slave tattoo from between her shoulder blades as well. Cramer almost wept with joy as his hated tattoo was removed from his back. The dwarves were stoic, their stony faces hiding any expressions of their relief that the slave tattoos were being taken away.</p><p></p><p>Once all five had had their tattoos removed, they were allowed to put their armor and robes back on, then another attendant stepped forward and handed each of them a metal cloak pin in the shape of the House Jalamir emblem. “Prick your thumb with the pin,” Matron Jalamir commanded. “That will allow the pins to drink your blood, which in turn will ensure they can each only be used by the person to whom they belong.” She then had them attach the House pins to the left side of their <em>slave-light cloaks</em>.</p><p></p><p>Motioning for them to stand back up, Matron Jalamir gave a slight smile. “Congratulations,” she said. “Your days of slavery are now over; you are citizens of House Jalamir, in recognition of your loyalty and dedication.” Cramer was aghast to recognize the swell of pride in his chest at her words for what it was. Surely he wasn't actually <em>glad</em> to have been elevated to the equivalent of a drow! Still, he reasoned, it was good to be acknowledged as something more than a slave.</p><p></p><p>“With the slave tattoos gone, the Mortal Queen can no longer take advantage of the loophole in the law that allowed her to scry upon you,” the drow matron explained. “Drow law prohibits scrying upon citizens of other Houses, so if she tries to do so we will have legal leverage against her.”</p><p></p><p>"Then...what are our duties, if we are no longer slaves, Matron?" asked Marlo hesitantly.</p><p></p><p>"Your duties will be roughly the same, attending to the needs of the House. However, you will be paid for your services in real coin, not the slave tokens to which you have been accustomed." That didn't seem like such a big difference to Jhasspok, replacing one type of money with another type of money. But the dwarves seemed impressed, so the lizardfolk assumed this was a good thing.</p><p></p><p>"To that end," continued Matron Jalamir, "in the morning you will report to the Jalamir fishing shore for your next assignment. House Falmakyorl has been performing naval maneuvers in the Bioluminescent Sea outside the confines of the vast cavern housing the Eight Great Pillars of Overreach, and with most of their House pulled away elsewhere, a pair of threats have entered the cavern through the Sea Gates in their absence. Reports from the fishing slaves are that a pair of scrags have moved into the area as well as a swarm of abysseels. The eels seem to drag their victims into the ruins of the city below, while the scrags stay closer to shore to avoid the spirits of the unquiet dead. You will deal with both threats." With that, the House Matron dismissed the newly-sanctified citizens to rest up for their next day's mission.</p><p></p><p>"What's an abysseel?" Marlo asked Jhasspok, assuming the lizardfolk's five years as a fisher slave would have made him an expert on the local aquatic wildlife.</p><p></p><p>"I don't know," Jhasspok admitted.</p><p></p><p>"And what's this about city ruins on the sea floor?" Cramer wanted to know. Jhasspok had no answers for him, either, as the waters below the Eight Great Pillars were very deep and his job as a fisher slave had kept him to the shallower waters, where the bulk of the fish swam.</p><p></p><p>"Here's another stupid question," Utred said. "If the Mortal Queen's about to attack the surface world - Greenvale in particular - what's she doin' havin' the Overreach Navy goin' out on maneuvers? It's not like they're likely to be of much use in a surface raid - Greenvale's not next to any bodies of water!" Nobody had any answer to that question, either, but trying to figure out the Mortal Queen's thought processes was a fool's game in any case. But Cramer at least had heard about scrags: they were aquatic trolls, capable of regeneration and susceptible to both fire and acid.</p><p></p><p>"That won't help us underwater, will it?" pointed out Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"More than you'd expect," Cramer answered. "Your <em>scorching ray</em> and <em>fireball</em> spells, for instance - they can both be cast underwater, you just don't get open flames out of them, more like scalding steam. But they'll be just as effective underwater in killing scrags."</p><p></p><p>"I wonder what scrag meat tastes like," wondered Jhasspok aloud, gaining him a slightly disturbed frown from Marlo. Her scowl only intensified when Cramer pointed out that Jhasspok could take a bite out of a scrag and then take that exact same bite again shortly thereafter once the creature had regenerated its wound. The concept intrigued the lizardfolk greatly: meat that grew back! This was something he wanted to try out for himself!</p><p></p><p>The next morning, the group assembled at the Jalamir fishing shore as commanded and decided to interview the fisher slaves to gather what information they could before braving the dangers of the Bioluminescent Sea. The slaves warned the abysseels had an electric bite, so Cramer shuffled his spell preparations accordingly: he'd not only need to provide the ability to breathe underwater to the members of the group, but also shield them from electricity damage. After finishing his prayers, he cast a <em>longstrider</em> spell upon himself, then cast <em>resist energy</em> spells on the entire group. He was about to do the same with a <em>water breathing</em> spell, but Marlo cut him off. "Don't bother casting it on me," she advised. "My <em>ioun stone</em> allows me to survive without air."</p><p></p><p>"And I can hold my breath," added Jhasspok.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, you're exempt," Cramer acknowledged to Marlo, casting the <em>water breathing</em> spell on just the four males. "But you're getting one anyway, Jhasspok. No telling how long we'll be underwater - no need for you to have to keep heading back to the surface for more air. Okay then, let's go."</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok needed no further prompting. With a splash, he leaped into the water and started swimming, glad to be fully immersed in the sea where he had spent so much of the first five years of his life. The others stepped into the water more hesitantly, it being a more alien environment to them. Cramer and the dwarves immediately took in deep breaths of water, letting the magic of the gnome's spell work so they'd be able to talk while submerged. Jhasspok, not trusting the magic, kept his mouth clamped shut, well aware he could hold his breath for at least eight solid minutes; he'd start breathing underwater only when he absolutely needed to.</p><p></p><p>"Lead on, Jhasspok," suggested Marlo. The fisher slaves having explained to the five citizens the areas where they'd seen the scrags before, Jhasspok figured the marine trolls preferred a depth of about 50 feet. Even at that depth, the bioluminescent plankton that suffused the Underdark sea and gave it its name allowed for an almost normal range of vision for the landbound adventurers and it wasn't long before they spotted a pair of large, humanoid forms swimming their way from the open sea in the center of the vast cavern's waters. Of the five, only Jhasspok was waterborne, the other four standing on the surface of the sloping sea bottom, among various coral formations and fronds of plant life.</p><p></p><p>The scrags were as Cramer had described them the day before: possessing powerful, muscular bodies with webbing between their fingers and toes, the main difference between their terrestrial cousins being the lack of the standard troll's ridiculously-long nose. The two approached the five side by side, grinning evil grins filled with rows of sharp teeth like those of a shark.</p><p></p><p>Utred rushed forward, charging with his greataxe and bringing it crashing into the side of the first scrag. Greenish blood seeped from the wound, making a small cloud around the combatants. With a flick of his powerful tail, Jhasspok was there above the dwarven barbarian's head, bringing his own battleaxe crashing down upon the scrag's head. Khari raced forward as well, but he was a much slower sprinter than his barbaric fellow dwarf and hadn't even made it to his target when Cramer suddenly appeared before the scrag Utred and Jhasspok were fighting, arriving courtesy of a <em>dimension door</em> spell. But as the second scrag was still somewhat off by himself, Marlo targeted him for her first underwater <em>fireball</em> spell. It worked as Cramer had assured her it would; while there were no flames, a burst of scalding bubbles erupted around the marine troll, causing it to cry out in unexpected pain.</p><p></p><p>The first scrag bent forward and bit at Utred, while the second one retaliated against its scalding by lashing out at the closest target: Jhasspok. The lizardfolk's scales were raked by a set of powerful claws and the scrag's horrible mouth closed down on Jhasspok's shield arm; only the fact that its sharklike teeth had the shield pinned partly in its mouth prevented the foul beast from biting completely through the reptile's arm. A cloud of Jhasspok's red blood added to the green from the first scrag's wounds.</p><p></p><p>Recalling Cramer's recommendation, Utred pulled out his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em> and stabbed it straight into the chest of the marine troll towering above him. It hissed as the sword went in and was pulled out, and Utred was pleased to see the wound he had inflicted was not healing over, as the one from his and Jhasspok's axes were already starting to do.</p><p></p><p>Testing a theory, Khari activated the power of his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> and disappeared beneath the surface of the seabed floor, only to pop back up behind the scalded scrag, slamming his weapon into the back of the sea-beast's left knee. Jhasspok, in the meantime, had freed his shield arm from that scrag - its inarticulate cry of pain from Khari's attack certainly helped on that front! - and switched back to his original target, the scrag fighting Utred. He brought his battleaxe crashing down on its skull and he chopped right through it, causing the massive sea troll to crash in a lifeless heap before Utred. As the lizardfolk understood it, that didn't mean the scrag was really dead, but he was sure one of the others could permanently slay it with fire or acid. But before that, Jhasspok took advantage of the opportunity and bit off a hunk of flesh from the back of the scrag's calf, chewing it briefly and swallowing it almost whole. Then he made a face of disapproval; scrag meat, he'd learned, wasn't anywhere near as succulent as fish flesh: it was stringy and had an unpleasant taste that would make it a definite last resort, to be eaten only if there weren't any other meats available. How disappointing! When Cramer pulled out his <em>Elderwood flaming mace</em> and started smashing it repeatedly into the dead scrag to prevent it from regenerating, Jhasspok didn't even care that it meant his "bite" would no longer grow back - one bite had been quite enough!</p><p></p><p>Marlo cast another <em>fireball</em> at the remaining scrag and this time it saw who had been responsible for both blasts of scalding pain. It headed straight for her with a look of absolute hatred on its horrid face, but only got a few strokes before it collapsed to the seabed floor, dropped by a warhammer swing from Khari as it passed above him. It lay there motionless for a brief moment, causing Khari to believe he might have slain it, before it raised itself up on its arms and stood back up, its skin blistered and unhealing from the sorceress's spells. But before it could attack, Utred was upon it, slaying it permanently with the glowing green heat from his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em>. Just to be sure, those with <em>flaming</em> weapons applied them liberally to the corpses of the two scrags until they were sure neither would rise again.</p><p></p><p>"Well, that's the first threat taken care of," observed Cramer. "Now we just gotta find those abysseels."</p><p></p><p>But that wasn't a problem at all, for the abysseels found them almost immediately, no doubt drawn by the scent of blood in the area. Five of the creatures swam up, each of their thin bodies longer than Jhasspok was tall (even taking the lizardfolk's tail into account). Utred was the first to spot them and warned the others, switching back to his trusty greataxe as they approached since he had the time to spare. They spread out, each apparently choosing a separate victim for themselves. Utred readied his weapon and gave it a powerful swing directly into the creature's head as it swam up to bite him and the blow cleaved the creature's skull in twain. It collapsed to the sea floor before the dwarf as the other abysseels dashed forward to try to bite their intended prey. As the group had been warned, electricity flashed in the teeth of the giant eels, but the protective spells Cramer had cast upon the group protected them fully.</p><p></p><p>Marlo sent a <em>magic missile</em> spell darting into the one coming for her and it was enough to slay the beast. The others had no particular difficulty in slaying the eels trying to eat them, either. "That was a lot easier than the scrags!" Khari said. "So, I guess we're done here."</p><p></p><p>But that announcement was premature, for another five abysseels came slithering up from the same direction as the first five had come. Marlo caught sight of them and warned the others. This time, even though there were five eels attacking five adventurers, they changed up their tactics: two of them converged upon Cramer and two others targeted Utred while the fifth hung back, apparently just observing. But this second batch didn't last much longer than the first set; Utred slew two in a row with one mighty swing of his greataxe, cleaving through the bodies of the two trying to bite him. Khari and Jhasspok stepped forward to help slay the pair attacking the gnome, and Marlo sent another <em>magic missile</em> spell to take care of the "observer" eel. "Weird," she said.</p><p></p><p>"This is even weirder," Cramer pointed out, looking at the tail of one of the slain eels. It had teeth marks upon it; upon further examination, so did all of the others, including those of the first wave the group had fought. Marlo gave the tails a lengthy examination, noting their ragged edges, as if there had been more flesh behind the eels' bodies that had been ripped away. She also spent some time peering into the eels' mouths, noting the placement of the sharp teeth and then going back to look at their tails again. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense," she told the others, "but I think these guys all bit their own tails off!"</p><p></p><p>"What? Why?" demanded Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"The tooth placement matches," argued Marlo, demonstrating how one dead eel, with a slightly dislodged tooth that stuck forward ahead of the others in that particular eel's mouth, matched up with the bite marks on its tail - where one tooth mark was placed forward of the others.</p><p></p><p>"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense," agreed Cramer, stroking his beard in thought.</p><p></p><p>"Maybe they just taste good," suggested Jhasspok, testing his own theory by taking a bite out of the side of the nearest abysseel corpse. That was more like it! Abysseels, Jhasspok decided, tasted <em>much</em> better than scrags did. And with that, he had the problem solved to his own personal satisfaction: the eels probably ate the rest of their own tails because they tasted so good. But then that thought led to another one and Jhasspok found himself wondering what lizardfolk flesh tasted like. His brow furrowed as he contemplated the tip of his own tail.</p><p></p><p>"I wonder if there are any more of them," Khari wondered aloud.</p><p></p><p>"I don't know," Cramer admitted, "but since they both came from the same direction, we'd better head that way and find out. Remember, these things have shown a tendency to drag their prey back to those underground city ruins Matron Jalamir told us about yesterday."</p><p></p><p>"So we're going into a haunted underwater city?" asked Khari. "On purpose?"</p><p></p><p>"We should be okay," assured Cramer, casting <em>hide from undead</em> spells on each of the adventurers and explaining how they worked: simple undead, like skeletons and zombies, shouldn't be able to even tell the adventurers were standing right there in front of them. "Just don't attack them - or even touch them - and we should be fine. Remember, we're there for the eels, not any undead!"</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok led the way, swimming just over the surface of the dropping seabed floor as he knew the others, weighed down by their armor, preferred walking. But they kept going down further and further, until the lizardfolk was much deeper than he'd even been in the Bioluminescent Sea. Even at these depths, though, visibility was normal; if you didn't know you were this deep you'd never have guessed it.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, eventually the group encountered the ruins of buildings ahead, some of them merely vague forms covered in plant growths and others piles of collapsed stone. But there were figures walking around on the sea floor between the buildings, going on with their lives as if nothing was different from the centuries previous when this had undoubtedly been a city above the sea.</p><p></p><p>"What are they?" Marlo wanted to know.</p><p></p><p>"Ghosts, I'd imagine," Cramer speculated. "Drow ghosts from who knows how long ago?" Cramer's <em>hide from undead</em> spells seemed to work against these translucent figures, who gave the adventurers no heed.</p><p></p><p>"I'll go look for any more eels," offered Jhasspok, swimming above the city for a top-down view. He promised if he saw any he'd come back to tell the others before engaging them in battle. "And don't mess around with the ghosts!" Cramer reinforced. Khari offered to look below the city by earthgliding below the ruins, using the power of his hammer. "Just be careful," the gnome said, not wanting the dwarven fighter to pop up from the floor bottom straight into a ghost or anything.</p><p></p><p>Khari didn't have any luck, and having to pop back up above the surface of the solid stone every so often to get a breath of water (which still kind of creeped him out when he thought about it) didn't help matters much. After a cursory exploration in the immediate vicinity of his friends, he returned with a negative report. "It'll take forever looking for eel-caves that way," he admitted. "We'd better wait for Jhasspok."</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok was having no better luck in finding stray eels, but he did swim over quite a large swath of the city ruins and saw quite a few oblivious ghosts going about their business below him. One ghost, though, stopped what he was doing and looked straight up at Jhasspok as he swam by overhead. Jhasspok noticed his attention and was somewhat surprised when the figure rose up from the seabed floor to approach him. Even though his body was see-through, the lizardfolk noted his drowish features, and when he started speaking Jhasspok recognized the drow language being spoken, even though he himself only knew the "slave tongue" Cramer and the others referred to as "Common." Not knowing what else to do, and careful not to touch the ghost (like Cramer had said not to do), Jhasspok spun about and swam back the way he had come. The ghostly drow wizard, under the effects of a <em>fly</em> spell, followed.</p><p></p><p>Dropping back among his friends, Jhasspok pointed to the ghost and said merely, "He followed me here. I didn't touch him!" The ghost dropped down beside Jhasspok and continued his verbal inquiries, which only Cramer, wearing his magical helmet that allowed him to understand all spoken tongues, could understand.</p><p></p><p>"What's he saying?" Marlo wanted to know.</p><p></p><p>"He doesn't recognize our House insignia and is asking where we're from," Cramer answered.</p><p></p><p>The gnome cleric held up a hand in a "wait a minute" gesture and cast a quick <em>tongues</em> spell before answering the ghost. "We are from House Jalamir, a...much newer House than the ones you are accustomed to," he said. Then, wanting to get back to their primary mission, he asked the ghost if they had seen any eels nesting around their city.</p><p></p><p>"A what?" the gnome asked when the ghost answered his question. "What's that?" he followed up with.</p><p></p><p>"What's he saying?" interrupted Marlo, eager to find out what the ghost had been saying.</p><p></p><p>Cramer turned to the others. "He says an eel has made a lair in his home, and it's grown the rest of its body into a deep hydra that's now too big to leave. It's been biting off its own heads and sending them out to fetch food for it. Those 'abysseels' we've been fighting? Those are deep hydra heads!"</p><p></p><p>"We need to slay the hydra then," reasoned Utred. "Tell the ghost we'll take care of it for him if he'll show us where it is."</p><p></p><p>Cramer did as asked and the ghost led the group through the city; none of the other ghosts seemed to notice their appearance among them, going about their otherworldly business as if they were still alive after all these centuries. Finally, the undead drow wizard pointed to a collapsed building straight ahead, a massive pile of stone with a single opening visible, a passageway about ten feet tall and half of that wide. Normally, the interior would have been sheathed in pitch darkness at this depth, but the ever-present bioluminescent algae illuminated the place like the most well-lit of terrestrial dwellings.</p><p></p><p>Utred wasted no time; he charged into the collapsed building at full speed, his greataxe out and ready to slice into the first creature he met within. But the deep hydra turned from around a corner and attacked the dwarven barbarian at range. Utred had a mere moment to see his enormous foe before it struck: ten eellike heads on thin, long necks opened their teeth-filled mouths and ten blasts of lightning erupted from them, striking the dwarf in one massive jolt of electricity that quickly overcame the magical protection he'd received from Cramer before entering the Bioluminescent Sea. The hair stuck out from the top of his head and his beard bristled out in all directions as the electricity surged through his body.</p><p></p><p>And then, to make matters worse, five more "abysseels" - each a previously-bitten-off head and neck from the multiheaded hydra - swam up behind the parent creature, swimming up to attack those who would defile its new lair. Utred's greataxe slashed out and suddenly there were only four abysseels in the ruin's interior.</p><p></p><p>Getting a glimpse of the creature Utred was facing inside the ruins, Khari sunk below the surface of the stone bottom of the fallen city and resurfaced over by the back of the hydra, between its right rear leg and its thrashing tail. He slammed his weapon into the hydra's hip, causing it to hiss in pain. Jhasspok, in the meantime, took advantage of his aquatic maneuverability and swam over Utred's head, making a beeline for one of the hydra's still-connected heads. His battleaxe sliced completely through the thing's neck, releasing it from the hydra's body. But before it could spin about and bite him, the lizardfolk had the presence of mind to swing at the newly-formed abysseel with his battleaxe and sliced through its skull. It sank to the floor of the ruins, leaving the hydra with only nine heads - for now.</p><p></p><p>Cramer stepped up and allowed Fharlanghn's healing energies flow through his fingertips and into Utred's body, healing him of a goodly chunk of the damage he'd taken from the deep hydra's concentrated breath weapons. Marlo cast an <em>empowered scorching ray</em> over their heads at the deep hydra, targeting its body as she feared slaying a head might only cause two more to grow back in its place - and not wanting to create any more of these abysseels in the process in any case. Utred saw how little the hydra liked being hit by the fire-based spell and yanked a bead from his <em>necklace of fireballs</em>, tossing it at the front of the creature's body as well. The blast took out one of the four remaining free-swimming abysseels as well as dealing the other three eels and the main creature considerable harm.</p><p></p><p>In swift retaliation, the deep hydra darted out with its remaining nine heads, three each concentrating on Jhasspok, Khari, and Utred, the only combatants within immediate reach. The three remaining abysseels each focused their attacks on Utred, perhaps realizing the amount of damage the furious dwarf could dish out with his greataxe. But the adventurers pressed on with their attacks, Khari with his <em>earthglide warhammer</em>, Jhasspok with his battleaxe, and Utred with his greataxe, although they stopped attacking the creature's heads and necks and focused their weapons upon the great beast's body. Cramer, in the meantime, stepped forward and cast an <em>inflict moderate wounds</em> spell on one of the abysseels, slaying it outright.</p><p></p><p>Marlo <em>empowered</em> a <em>fireball</em> spell and set it off such that it exploded into two of the three remaining abysseels and the front of the deep hydra. The blast of superheated steam took down everything it hit, leaving only a sole abysseel remaining - which Utred handily finished off with his greataxe. Upon the destruction of all of the invaders to his home, the ghost of the drow wizard floated through the wall, took a look around, and fired off a question to Cramer, the only one capable of understanding him. The gnome heard the question, "Are you by any chance 'the Dark Champions?'" through the translation properties of his magical helm.</p><p></p><p>"We have been referred to as such in a prophecy or two," admitted the gnome, speaking Drow through his still-active <em>tongues</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>"I recall a tablet, looted from some duergar ruins, that had a message for the Dark Champions," replied the drow ghost. "Although the place has been smashed up a bit since the Mad Queen brought the destruction of Lolth upon our city," he said, waving his hands about to encompass the crumbled remains of his once-proud dwelling and the ruins of the ancient city surrounding it, "the tablet came through the destruction mostly unscathed. The message reads, 'The long road shall lead you where you need to be; shortcuts will cut short the lives of the innocent.' And there's a strange symbol at the bottom. Here: see for yourself." Leading the gnome to a stone tablet off to one side of the ruins, far away from the deep hydra's corpse, the ghost pointed to it. The rune at the bottom of the tablet might have been strange to the ancient drow ghost, but Cramer immediately recognized it as the holy symbol of Fharlanghn.</p><p></p><p>"Tell me of this Mad Queen," Cramer asked the ghost.</p><p></p><p>"This was centuries ago," the ghost advised. "The Mad Queen proclaimed herself a living avatar of Lolth, which apparently did not sit well with the Demon Queen of Spiders. Lolth sent an earthquake rending the wall of our great cavern apart, letting in the Bioluminescent Sea to wipe out our entire city. Such is the way the Spider-Goddess deals with great hubris."</p><p></p><p><em>And that's probably why the Overreach Houses haven't had a Queen in the centuries since,</em> reasoned Cramer. <em>Until this Mortal Queen elevated herself to such a position. I wonder if she knows how dangerous a game she's playing?</em></p><p></p><p>"We done here?" Utred asked, eager to get back to solid ground and fresh air if there was no longer any need for them to stick around breathing water. He wasn't sure how long the <em>water breathing</em> spell would last, but he didn't want to be still underwater breathing the stuff when it wore off!</p><p></p><p>"We're done here," agreed Cramer and indicated for Jhasspok to lead them back to the surface.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>This was a blast to play through, especially since it was our first session in this campaign since August! It took us all a while to get back into the groove; more than one of the players was scanning through their equipment lists to recall what all their PCs had on them. Logan had us guessing with those "abysseels," and the deep hydra was an inspired creation.</p><p></p><p>And for the first time in this campaign, we started up around noon instead of our normal 6:30 PM. As a result, we had an opportunity to go through a second adventure in the same game session.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8162504, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 32: CITIZENS OF THE DEPTHS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 10[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 10[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 1 January 2021 - - - One of the advantages of dealing with House Ky'hulcressen was they had quite a few wizards devoted solely to the creation of magic weapons and items and the upgrading in power of those already in existence. The five House Jalamir arena slaves, fresh from their mission in stealing back the [I]Tarrasque soul prison[/I] (and snagging the traitorous slavemaster Calish Jalamir in the process), took the opportunity to have some of their weapons further enhanced. Due to direct orders from Matron Ky'hulcressen herself, their requests were dealt with immediately, even if it meant bumping pre-existing orders to be dealt with later. With the money they had left over, some of the arena slaves even purchased a few new items that looked like they'd be of aid in future combats. To their surprise, after they left the Ky'hulcressen marketplace and returned to their temporary quarters in the drow House pillar, Matron Jalamir was there waiting for them. “Line up,” she commanded without any further explanation. “Kneel and expose your backs.” Jhasspok dropped immediately, a lifetime of slavery conditioning him to instant obedience. The others dropped to their knees as well, but unlike the lizardfolk they wore armor and robes that needed to be removed; Jhasspok had only to sweep his [I]slave-light cloak[/I] over his shoulder to hang before him before he had complied with his Matron's demands. A drow wizard approached, a male the lizardfolk thought looked familiar, although he couldn't quite place him. Cramer, glancing at the mage suspiciously from the corner of his eye as he removed his armor, recognized him at once: he was the drow in attendance when Matron Jalamir had had her daughter Eri'dia dismembered and rebuilt into a series of flesh golems before allowing her to regenerate back to her full form. The little gnome wasn't sure why the drow wizard had been brought here to the five arena slaves, but he doubted he'd like whatever was going on. But he was quite wrong on that front, for the drow mage knelt down behind Jhasspok and, with a modified version of the [I]erase[/I] spell, began removing the slave tattoo that had been etched upon the lizardfolk's scales shortly after he was hatched. The process took but a few minutes, then the drow wizard moved on to Marlo, removing the slave tattoo from between her shoulder blades as well. Cramer almost wept with joy as his hated tattoo was removed from his back. The dwarves were stoic, their stony faces hiding any expressions of their relief that the slave tattoos were being taken away. Once all five had had their tattoos removed, they were allowed to put their armor and robes back on, then another attendant stepped forward and handed each of them a metal cloak pin in the shape of the House Jalamir emblem. “Prick your thumb with the pin,” Matron Jalamir commanded. “That will allow the pins to drink your blood, which in turn will ensure they can each only be used by the person to whom they belong.” She then had them attach the House pins to the left side of their [I]slave-light cloaks[/I]. Motioning for them to stand back up, Matron Jalamir gave a slight smile. “Congratulations,” she said. “Your days of slavery are now over; you are citizens of House Jalamir, in recognition of your loyalty and dedication.” Cramer was aghast to recognize the swell of pride in his chest at her words for what it was. Surely he wasn't actually [I]glad[/I] to have been elevated to the equivalent of a drow! Still, he reasoned, it was good to be acknowledged as something more than a slave. “With the slave tattoos gone, the Mortal Queen can no longer take advantage of the loophole in the law that allowed her to scry upon you,” the drow matron explained. “Drow law prohibits scrying upon citizens of other Houses, so if she tries to do so we will have legal leverage against her.” "Then...what are our duties, if we are no longer slaves, Matron?" asked Marlo hesitantly. "Your duties will be roughly the same, attending to the needs of the House. However, you will be paid for your services in real coin, not the slave tokens to which you have been accustomed." That didn't seem like such a big difference to Jhasspok, replacing one type of money with another type of money. But the dwarves seemed impressed, so the lizardfolk assumed this was a good thing. "To that end," continued Matron Jalamir, "in the morning you will report to the Jalamir fishing shore for your next assignment. House Falmakyorl has been performing naval maneuvers in the Bioluminescent Sea outside the confines of the vast cavern housing the Eight Great Pillars of Overreach, and with most of their House pulled away elsewhere, a pair of threats have entered the cavern through the Sea Gates in their absence. Reports from the fishing slaves are that a pair of scrags have moved into the area as well as a swarm of abysseels. The eels seem to drag their victims into the ruins of the city below, while the scrags stay closer to shore to avoid the spirits of the unquiet dead. You will deal with both threats." With that, the House Matron dismissed the newly-sanctified citizens to rest up for their next day's mission. "What's an abysseel?" Marlo asked Jhasspok, assuming the lizardfolk's five years as a fisher slave would have made him an expert on the local aquatic wildlife. "I don't know," Jhasspok admitted. "And what's this about city ruins on the sea floor?" Cramer wanted to know. Jhasspok had no answers for him, either, as the waters below the Eight Great Pillars were very deep and his job as a fisher slave had kept him to the shallower waters, where the bulk of the fish swam. "Here's another stupid question," Utred said. "If the Mortal Queen's about to attack the surface world - Greenvale in particular - what's she doin' havin' the Overreach Navy goin' out on maneuvers? It's not like they're likely to be of much use in a surface raid - Greenvale's not next to any bodies of water!" Nobody had any answer to that question, either, but trying to figure out the Mortal Queen's thought processes was a fool's game in any case. But Cramer at least had heard about scrags: they were aquatic trolls, capable of regeneration and susceptible to both fire and acid. "That won't help us underwater, will it?" pointed out Marlo. "More than you'd expect," Cramer answered. "Your [I]scorching ray[/I] and [I]fireball[/I] spells, for instance - they can both be cast underwater, you just don't get open flames out of them, more like scalding steam. But they'll be just as effective underwater in killing scrags." "I wonder what scrag meat tastes like," wondered Jhasspok aloud, gaining him a slightly disturbed frown from Marlo. Her scowl only intensified when Cramer pointed out that Jhasspok could take a bite out of a scrag and then take that exact same bite again shortly thereafter once the creature had regenerated its wound. The concept intrigued the lizardfolk greatly: meat that grew back! This was something he wanted to try out for himself! The next morning, the group assembled at the Jalamir fishing shore as commanded and decided to interview the fisher slaves to gather what information they could before braving the dangers of the Bioluminescent Sea. The slaves warned the abysseels had an electric bite, so Cramer shuffled his spell preparations accordingly: he'd not only need to provide the ability to breathe underwater to the members of the group, but also shield them from electricity damage. After finishing his prayers, he cast a [I]longstrider[/I] spell upon himself, then cast [I]resist energy[/I] spells on the entire group. He was about to do the same with a [I]water breathing[/I] spell, but Marlo cut him off. "Don't bother casting it on me," she advised. "My [I]ioun stone[/I] allows me to survive without air." "And I can hold my breath," added Jhasspok. "Okay, you're exempt," Cramer acknowledged to Marlo, casting the [I]water breathing[/I] spell on just the four males. "But you're getting one anyway, Jhasspok. No telling how long we'll be underwater - no need for you to have to keep heading back to the surface for more air. Okay then, let's go." Jhasspok needed no further prompting. With a splash, he leaped into the water and started swimming, glad to be fully immersed in the sea where he had spent so much of the first five years of his life. The others stepped into the water more hesitantly, it being a more alien environment to them. Cramer and the dwarves immediately took in deep breaths of water, letting the magic of the gnome's spell work so they'd be able to talk while submerged. Jhasspok, not trusting the magic, kept his mouth clamped shut, well aware he could hold his breath for at least eight solid minutes; he'd start breathing underwater only when he absolutely needed to. "Lead on, Jhasspok," suggested Marlo. The fisher slaves having explained to the five citizens the areas where they'd seen the scrags before, Jhasspok figured the marine trolls preferred a depth of about 50 feet. Even at that depth, the bioluminescent plankton that suffused the Underdark sea and gave it its name allowed for an almost normal range of vision for the landbound adventurers and it wasn't long before they spotted a pair of large, humanoid forms swimming their way from the open sea in the center of the vast cavern's waters. Of the five, only Jhasspok was waterborne, the other four standing on the surface of the sloping sea bottom, among various coral formations and fronds of plant life. The scrags were as Cramer had described them the day before: possessing powerful, muscular bodies with webbing between their fingers and toes, the main difference between their terrestrial cousins being the lack of the standard troll's ridiculously-long nose. The two approached the five side by side, grinning evil grins filled with rows of sharp teeth like those of a shark. Utred rushed forward, charging with his greataxe and bringing it crashing into the side of the first scrag. Greenish blood seeped from the wound, making a small cloud around the combatants. With a flick of his powerful tail, Jhasspok was there above the dwarven barbarian's head, bringing his own battleaxe crashing down upon the scrag's head. Khari raced forward as well, but he was a much slower sprinter than his barbaric fellow dwarf and hadn't even made it to his target when Cramer suddenly appeared before the scrag Utred and Jhasspok were fighting, arriving courtesy of a [I]dimension door[/I] spell. But as the second scrag was still somewhat off by himself, Marlo targeted him for her first underwater [I]fireball[/I] spell. It worked as Cramer had assured her it would; while there were no flames, a burst of scalding bubbles erupted around the marine troll, causing it to cry out in unexpected pain. The first scrag bent forward and bit at Utred, while the second one retaliated against its scalding by lashing out at the closest target: Jhasspok. The lizardfolk's scales were raked by a set of powerful claws and the scrag's horrible mouth closed down on Jhasspok's shield arm; only the fact that its sharklike teeth had the shield pinned partly in its mouth prevented the foul beast from biting completely through the reptile's arm. A cloud of Jhasspok's red blood added to the green from the first scrag's wounds. Recalling Cramer's recommendation, Utred pulled out his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I] and stabbed it straight into the chest of the marine troll towering above him. It hissed as the sword went in and was pulled out, and Utred was pleased to see the wound he had inflicted was not healing over, as the one from his and Jhasspok's axes were already starting to do. Testing a theory, Khari activated the power of his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] and disappeared beneath the surface of the seabed floor, only to pop back up behind the scalded scrag, slamming his weapon into the back of the sea-beast's left knee. Jhasspok, in the meantime, had freed his shield arm from that scrag - its inarticulate cry of pain from Khari's attack certainly helped on that front! - and switched back to his original target, the scrag fighting Utred. He brought his battleaxe crashing down on its skull and he chopped right through it, causing the massive sea troll to crash in a lifeless heap before Utred. As the lizardfolk understood it, that didn't mean the scrag was really dead, but he was sure one of the others could permanently slay it with fire or acid. But before that, Jhasspok took advantage of the opportunity and bit off a hunk of flesh from the back of the scrag's calf, chewing it briefly and swallowing it almost whole. Then he made a face of disapproval; scrag meat, he'd learned, wasn't anywhere near as succulent as fish flesh: it was stringy and had an unpleasant taste that would make it a definite last resort, to be eaten only if there weren't any other meats available. How disappointing! When Cramer pulled out his [I]Elderwood flaming mace[/I] and started smashing it repeatedly into the dead scrag to prevent it from regenerating, Jhasspok didn't even care that it meant his "bite" would no longer grow back - one bite had been quite enough! Marlo cast another [I]fireball[/I] at the remaining scrag and this time it saw who had been responsible for both blasts of scalding pain. It headed straight for her with a look of absolute hatred on its horrid face, but only got a few strokes before it collapsed to the seabed floor, dropped by a warhammer swing from Khari as it passed above him. It lay there motionless for a brief moment, causing Khari to believe he might have slain it, before it raised itself up on its arms and stood back up, its skin blistered and unhealing from the sorceress's spells. But before it could attack, Utred was upon it, slaying it permanently with the glowing green heat from his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I]. Just to be sure, those with [I]flaming[/I] weapons applied them liberally to the corpses of the two scrags until they were sure neither would rise again. "Well, that's the first threat taken care of," observed Cramer. "Now we just gotta find those abysseels." But that wasn't a problem at all, for the abysseels found them almost immediately, no doubt drawn by the scent of blood in the area. Five of the creatures swam up, each of their thin bodies longer than Jhasspok was tall (even taking the lizardfolk's tail into account). Utred was the first to spot them and warned the others, switching back to his trusty greataxe as they approached since he had the time to spare. They spread out, each apparently choosing a separate victim for themselves. Utred readied his weapon and gave it a powerful swing directly into the creature's head as it swam up to bite him and the blow cleaved the creature's skull in twain. It collapsed to the sea floor before the dwarf as the other abysseels dashed forward to try to bite their intended prey. As the group had been warned, electricity flashed in the teeth of the giant eels, but the protective spells Cramer had cast upon the group protected them fully. Marlo sent a [I]magic missile[/I] spell darting into the one coming for her and it was enough to slay the beast. The others had no particular difficulty in slaying the eels trying to eat them, either. "That was a lot easier than the scrags!" Khari said. "So, I guess we're done here." But that announcement was premature, for another five abysseels came slithering up from the same direction as the first five had come. Marlo caught sight of them and warned the others. This time, even though there were five eels attacking five adventurers, they changed up their tactics: two of them converged upon Cramer and two others targeted Utred while the fifth hung back, apparently just observing. But this second batch didn't last much longer than the first set; Utred slew two in a row with one mighty swing of his greataxe, cleaving through the bodies of the two trying to bite him. Khari and Jhasspok stepped forward to help slay the pair attacking the gnome, and Marlo sent another [I]magic missile[/I] spell to take care of the "observer" eel. "Weird," she said. "This is even weirder," Cramer pointed out, looking at the tail of one of the slain eels. It had teeth marks upon it; upon further examination, so did all of the others, including those of the first wave the group had fought. Marlo gave the tails a lengthy examination, noting their ragged edges, as if there had been more flesh behind the eels' bodies that had been ripped away. She also spent some time peering into the eels' mouths, noting the placement of the sharp teeth and then going back to look at their tails again. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense," she told the others, "but I think these guys all bit their own tails off!" "What? Why?" demanded Cramer. "The tooth placement matches," argued Marlo, demonstrating how one dead eel, with a slightly dislodged tooth that stuck forward ahead of the others in that particular eel's mouth, matched up with the bite marks on its tail - where one tooth mark was placed forward of the others. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense," agreed Cramer, stroking his beard in thought. "Maybe they just taste good," suggested Jhasspok, testing his own theory by taking a bite out of the side of the nearest abysseel corpse. That was more like it! Abysseels, Jhasspok decided, tasted [I]much[/I] better than scrags did. And with that, he had the problem solved to his own personal satisfaction: the eels probably ate the rest of their own tails because they tasted so good. But then that thought led to another one and Jhasspok found himself wondering what lizardfolk flesh tasted like. His brow furrowed as he contemplated the tip of his own tail. "I wonder if there are any more of them," Khari wondered aloud. "I don't know," Cramer admitted, "but since they both came from the same direction, we'd better head that way and find out. Remember, these things have shown a tendency to drag their prey back to those underground city ruins Matron Jalamir told us about yesterday." "So we're going into a haunted underwater city?" asked Khari. "On purpose?" "We should be okay," assured Cramer, casting [I]hide from undead[/I] spells on each of the adventurers and explaining how they worked: simple undead, like skeletons and zombies, shouldn't be able to even tell the adventurers were standing right there in front of them. "Just don't attack them - or even touch them - and we should be fine. Remember, we're there for the eels, not any undead!" Jhasspok led the way, swimming just over the surface of the dropping seabed floor as he knew the others, weighed down by their armor, preferred walking. But they kept going down further and further, until the lizardfolk was much deeper than he'd even been in the Bioluminescent Sea. Even at these depths, though, visibility was normal; if you didn't know you were this deep you'd never have guessed it. Sure enough, eventually the group encountered the ruins of buildings ahead, some of them merely vague forms covered in plant growths and others piles of collapsed stone. But there were figures walking around on the sea floor between the buildings, going on with their lives as if nothing was different from the centuries previous when this had undoubtedly been a city above the sea. "What are they?" Marlo wanted to know. "Ghosts, I'd imagine," Cramer speculated. "Drow ghosts from who knows how long ago?" Cramer's [I]hide from undead[/I] spells seemed to work against these translucent figures, who gave the adventurers no heed. "I'll go look for any more eels," offered Jhasspok, swimming above the city for a top-down view. He promised if he saw any he'd come back to tell the others before engaging them in battle. "And don't mess around with the ghosts!" Cramer reinforced. Khari offered to look below the city by earthgliding below the ruins, using the power of his hammer. "Just be careful," the gnome said, not wanting the dwarven fighter to pop up from the floor bottom straight into a ghost or anything. Khari didn't have any luck, and having to pop back up above the surface of the solid stone every so often to get a breath of water (which still kind of creeped him out when he thought about it) didn't help matters much. After a cursory exploration in the immediate vicinity of his friends, he returned with a negative report. "It'll take forever looking for eel-caves that way," he admitted. "We'd better wait for Jhasspok." Jhasspok was having no better luck in finding stray eels, but he did swim over quite a large swath of the city ruins and saw quite a few oblivious ghosts going about their business below him. One ghost, though, stopped what he was doing and looked straight up at Jhasspok as he swam by overhead. Jhasspok noticed his attention and was somewhat surprised when the figure rose up from the seabed floor to approach him. Even though his body was see-through, the lizardfolk noted his drowish features, and when he started speaking Jhasspok recognized the drow language being spoken, even though he himself only knew the "slave tongue" Cramer and the others referred to as "Common." Not knowing what else to do, and careful not to touch the ghost (like Cramer had said not to do), Jhasspok spun about and swam back the way he had come. The ghostly drow wizard, under the effects of a [I]fly[/I] spell, followed. Dropping back among his friends, Jhasspok pointed to the ghost and said merely, "He followed me here. I didn't touch him!" The ghost dropped down beside Jhasspok and continued his verbal inquiries, which only Cramer, wearing his magical helmet that allowed him to understand all spoken tongues, could understand. "What's he saying?" Marlo wanted to know. "He doesn't recognize our House insignia and is asking where we're from," Cramer answered. The gnome cleric held up a hand in a "wait a minute" gesture and cast a quick [I]tongues[/I] spell before answering the ghost. "We are from House Jalamir, a...much newer House than the ones you are accustomed to," he said. Then, wanting to get back to their primary mission, he asked the ghost if they had seen any eels nesting around their city. "A what?" the gnome asked when the ghost answered his question. "What's that?" he followed up with. "What's he saying?" interrupted Marlo, eager to find out what the ghost had been saying. Cramer turned to the others. "He says an eel has made a lair in his home, and it's grown the rest of its body into a deep hydra that's now too big to leave. It's been biting off its own heads and sending them out to fetch food for it. Those 'abysseels' we've been fighting? Those are deep hydra heads!" "We need to slay the hydra then," reasoned Utred. "Tell the ghost we'll take care of it for him if he'll show us where it is." Cramer did as asked and the ghost led the group through the city; none of the other ghosts seemed to notice their appearance among them, going about their otherworldly business as if they were still alive after all these centuries. Finally, the undead drow wizard pointed to a collapsed building straight ahead, a massive pile of stone with a single opening visible, a passageway about ten feet tall and half of that wide. Normally, the interior would have been sheathed in pitch darkness at this depth, but the ever-present bioluminescent algae illuminated the place like the most well-lit of terrestrial dwellings. Utred wasted no time; he charged into the collapsed building at full speed, his greataxe out and ready to slice into the first creature he met within. But the deep hydra turned from around a corner and attacked the dwarven barbarian at range. Utred had a mere moment to see his enormous foe before it struck: ten eellike heads on thin, long necks opened their teeth-filled mouths and ten blasts of lightning erupted from them, striking the dwarf in one massive jolt of electricity that quickly overcame the magical protection he'd received from Cramer before entering the Bioluminescent Sea. The hair stuck out from the top of his head and his beard bristled out in all directions as the electricity surged through his body. And then, to make matters worse, five more "abysseels" - each a previously-bitten-off head and neck from the multiheaded hydra - swam up behind the parent creature, swimming up to attack those who would defile its new lair. Utred's greataxe slashed out and suddenly there were only four abysseels in the ruin's interior. Getting a glimpse of the creature Utred was facing inside the ruins, Khari sunk below the surface of the stone bottom of the fallen city and resurfaced over by the back of the hydra, between its right rear leg and its thrashing tail. He slammed his weapon into the hydra's hip, causing it to hiss in pain. Jhasspok, in the meantime, took advantage of his aquatic maneuverability and swam over Utred's head, making a beeline for one of the hydra's still-connected heads. His battleaxe sliced completely through the thing's neck, releasing it from the hydra's body. But before it could spin about and bite him, the lizardfolk had the presence of mind to swing at the newly-formed abysseel with his battleaxe and sliced through its skull. It sank to the floor of the ruins, leaving the hydra with only nine heads - for now. Cramer stepped up and allowed Fharlanghn's healing energies flow through his fingertips and into Utred's body, healing him of a goodly chunk of the damage he'd taken from the deep hydra's concentrated breath weapons. Marlo cast an [I]empowered scorching ray[/I] over their heads at the deep hydra, targeting its body as she feared slaying a head might only cause two more to grow back in its place - and not wanting to create any more of these abysseels in the process in any case. Utred saw how little the hydra liked being hit by the fire-based spell and yanked a bead from his [I]necklace of fireballs[/I], tossing it at the front of the creature's body as well. The blast took out one of the four remaining free-swimming abysseels as well as dealing the other three eels and the main creature considerable harm. In swift retaliation, the deep hydra darted out with its remaining nine heads, three each concentrating on Jhasspok, Khari, and Utred, the only combatants within immediate reach. The three remaining abysseels each focused their attacks on Utred, perhaps realizing the amount of damage the furious dwarf could dish out with his greataxe. But the adventurers pressed on with their attacks, Khari with his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I], Jhasspok with his battleaxe, and Utred with his greataxe, although they stopped attacking the creature's heads and necks and focused their weapons upon the great beast's body. Cramer, in the meantime, stepped forward and cast an [I]inflict moderate wounds[/I] spell on one of the abysseels, slaying it outright. Marlo [I]empowered[/I] a [I]fireball[/I] spell and set it off such that it exploded into two of the three remaining abysseels and the front of the deep hydra. The blast of superheated steam took down everything it hit, leaving only a sole abysseel remaining - which Utred handily finished off with his greataxe. Upon the destruction of all of the invaders to his home, the ghost of the drow wizard floated through the wall, took a look around, and fired off a question to Cramer, the only one capable of understanding him. The gnome heard the question, "Are you by any chance 'the Dark Champions?'" through the translation properties of his magical helm. "We have been referred to as such in a prophecy or two," admitted the gnome, speaking Drow through his still-active [I]tongues[/I] spell. "I recall a tablet, looted from some duergar ruins, that had a message for the Dark Champions," replied the drow ghost. "Although the place has been smashed up a bit since the Mad Queen brought the destruction of Lolth upon our city," he said, waving his hands about to encompass the crumbled remains of his once-proud dwelling and the ruins of the ancient city surrounding it, "the tablet came through the destruction mostly unscathed. The message reads, 'The long road shall lead you where you need to be; shortcuts will cut short the lives of the innocent.' And there's a strange symbol at the bottom. Here: see for yourself." Leading the gnome to a stone tablet off to one side of the ruins, far away from the deep hydra's corpse, the ghost pointed to it. The rune at the bottom of the tablet might have been strange to the ancient drow ghost, but Cramer immediately recognized it as the holy symbol of Fharlanghn. "Tell me of this Mad Queen," Cramer asked the ghost. "This was centuries ago," the ghost advised. "The Mad Queen proclaimed herself a living avatar of Lolth, which apparently did not sit well with the Demon Queen of Spiders. Lolth sent an earthquake rending the wall of our great cavern apart, letting in the Bioluminescent Sea to wipe out our entire city. Such is the way the Spider-Goddess deals with great hubris." [I]And that's probably why the Overreach Houses haven't had a Queen in the centuries since,[/I] reasoned Cramer. [I]Until this Mortal Queen elevated herself to such a position. I wonder if she knows how dangerous a game she's playing?[/I] "We done here?" Utred asked, eager to get back to solid ground and fresh air if there was no longer any need for them to stick around breathing water. He wasn't sure how long the [I]water breathing[/I] spell would last, but he didn't want to be still underwater breathing the stuff when it wore off! "We're done here," agreed Cramer and indicated for Jhasspok to lead them back to the surface. - - - This was a blast to play through, especially since it was our first session in this campaign since August! It took us all a while to get back into the groove; more than one of the players was scanning through their equipment lists to recall what all their PCs had on them. Logan had us guessing with those "abysseels," and the deep hydra was an inspired creation. And for the first time in this campaign, we started up around noon instead of our normal 6:30 PM. As a result, we had an opportunity to go through a second adventure in the same game session. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Raiders of the Overreach
Top