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- Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
- Morsus Firebeard (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
- Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric)
- Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock)
- Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)
- Korra (Air Genasi Rogue)
Current NPCs traveling with the party:
- Pren Flintrock (stayed behind)
- Nor’Orn, The Green Goblin (Departed)
- Boogle the Boggle (Disappeared – was sent to deliver a message to Pren)
Connected Adventures: Adventure 14, Adventure 15, Adventure 16, Adventure 17, Adventure 18, Adventure 19, Adventure 20, Adventure 21, Adventure 22, Adventure 23, Adventure 24, Adventure 25, Adventure 26, Adventure 27, Adventure 28 , Adventure 29, Adventure 30, Adventure 31, Adventure 32, Adventure 33 and Adventure 34.
- The adventure starts with Morsus and Adrian expending spell slots to heal themselves from the rough session previously
- While those two are healing; both Korra and Sephrenia catch a glance of what appears to be a ‘shadow’ in the darkness
- Korra focuses – and hears whispers around her
- Korra and Sephrenia go to investigate – and see figures carrying lanterns – but the lanterns prevent their dark vision from clearly seeing who or what is carrying the lantern – and they seem to be speaking in a language – that from this distance – neither of them seem to be able to pick up
- When they return they tell the others – and Morsus is able to spot them – and sees four figures – which clearly look like Drow – and they’re not carrying lanterns – they’re carrying globes of light (size of a basketball)
- The spheres of light do not appear to be a form of natural light source; but perhaps glowing orbs – that are unusually large to be carried for something useful
- The party then looks around the lake and takes notice – that Doomsilk’s body doesn’t seem to be visibly floating in the lake (granted, there’s literally no light source here other than the light sphere the Drow are holding making looking for a floating body on a still lake in pitch darkness, nearly impossible)
- Morsus points out that there seems to be a Drow scouting party
- Just then Sephrenia hears someone whispering “Come here – quickly!” in Elvish from the shadows
- The party decides to follow the voice – and a hand seems to come out of the shadows itself near the bushes and pulls the party into a pitch black cave; as their eyes adjust to the complete darkness – they’re barely able to make out several figures standing in the darkness
- The leader explains that they’re known as Darklings – and that the Drow are capturing their kind – and using a contraption to capture their life essence – by exposing them to light – and trapping their “death bursts” into orbs – and then using their orbs to use their life essence to channel it into some large Drow statue
- He goes on to explain there’s a Drow camp not too far – where they take these “Moon Crystals” that are used to siphon the death bursts of the Darklings
- The party explains they’ve endured great injuries and are exhausted from a fight with Doomsilk; and the Darklings offer the party protection and explain that they can safely rest in the cave if they promise to help
- The party agrees, knowing they desperately need to rest to recover from the wounds and the spell slots
- The leader goes on to say that his name is Kazin (and pronounces some surname that is impossible to pronounce) and that they’d best rest because everything this far down is very, very dangerous – and anything and everything down this far – is out to kill you
- The party tells Boogle the Boggle to Dimension Door back to Pren and tell Pren what’s been going on – and Boogle explains he will try to get there as quick as possible (however the experiments done on him by Doomsilk have messed up his Dimension Door – as well as his own mental stability – making the Dimension Door sometimes questionable)
- The party speaks to Nor’Orn about Doomsilk’s book which he has and refuses to part with – but having at one time been Doomsilk’s most trusted slave, before he was experimented on – Nor’Orn explains that Doomsilk experimented on boggles – such as Boogle – which is why Boogle’s flesh is a purple-pink color, rather than the traditional shadowy flesh tone of his species – and that’s how Doomsilk learned how to open dimensions – but experimenting on Boogle’s ability to open Dimension Doors – and this allowed Doomsilk to open portals to the Plane of Fire – to steal a Fire Elemental to heat the adamantine; Plane of Air – to still an Air Elemental to keep the flames going; the Plane of Earth – to get durable stone as a foundation from an Earth Elemental; and the Plane of Water to steal a Water Elemental to cool the adamantine used to make the Drow Priestess Statue in the shape of their spider goddess
- Nor’Orn goes on to explain about the “Energy Bow” that Don picked up – it belonged to Utillia Doomsilk – The wife of Goarus Doomsilk, Utillia who was once hailed one of the most beautiful Drow in the Shadowvale. When the Drow had ambushed a group of adventurers, looking for more slaves (and people to murder and torture) – they discovered that the adventurers had just returned from the Broken Lands and had several unusual magic items and a tome of ancient knowledge. The High Priestess had Goarus begin translating the tome, and he discovered, long ago, in times long forgotten the Dark Elves worshiped a spider goddess named L’orak’ana – otherwise known as Lolth, who was said to be half Dark Elf and Half Spider – who had ascended into godhood through magic. The tome spoke of a way of binding her soul to a powerful Priestess to return to the world; the tome also spoke of how to make female beings that were half spider half Drow. The High Priestess demanded that Goarus learn how this could be accomplished – and after several failed experiments and magic (often creating horrific beings) – Goarus believed he had finally learned how it could be done. The Priestess demanded that his wife, Utillia be the first Drider to be born of this magic. Despite Goarus’ protests, his wife accepted – and became the first Drider. The Priestess demanded all females, when they reach the age of maturity either worship her since she would soon ascend as the embodiment of Lolth, and/or become Driders. Males were used for all the hard labor and had low standing in the Drow organization, which further upset Goarus. However, in order to protect his wife, he demanded that the High Priestess give his wife the energy bow – she agreed, thanking Utillia for being the first ever known Drider.
- Adrian asks if the Darklings know a way to destroy the Drow “Spider Queen” effigy / statue – and the Darklings explain that it’s encased in adamantine – which is a very strong metal, found only in the Shadow Vale
- The party leaves the caves – following the map they’d been given by Kazin – and as a group – successfully pass their Stealth check to avoid being heard by the Drow patrolling the area, looking for Darklings to capture
- The party climbs up some of the rocky, dark path – and comes to a cavern with water dripping from above – creating moisture in the air – according to this map – this area of the cavern is beneath a large underwater lake above which is what causes the drips of water in the cave, making it very slippery and wet
- The party forms a marching order of: Morsus, Sephrenia, Adrian, Korra, Don and then Ragnaroc
- Morsus fails to see something – and suddenly finds himself attacked – by some form of (acidic) liquid which fails to hit him
- Due to the lack of light (Adrian considered lighting a torch until being reminded Drow would be able to spot them) – it makes it difficult to see
- Sephrenia who rolled a Natural 20 on Initiative gets two actions (House Rule) and first unleashes Acid Splash which doesn’t seem to affect the liquid creature, then fires an arrow (at disadvantage since it can’t be seen) which hits – but the arrow is dissolved
- Don fires two shots with his energy bow – which lights up the cave – which makes Adrian wonder if the Drow might spot them from the bursts of light
- Adrian rushes towards where Sephrenia’s arrow had been and swings down at the darker spot of water – and despite a wild swing – still manages to hit the creature
- However, Adrian quickly discovers – by standing in it – it’s able to quickly eat through his metal boots!
- When Adrian makes his second attack – he hits – and decides to expend his Smite to try and destroy the creature – and in doing so expends a large, radiant burst of pure energy destroying the grey ooze
- Ragnaroc fails his Perception check – blinded by Don’s arrows, then Adrian’s Smite (Critical Fail) – however, the grey ooze seems to be taken care of
- The party hears Drow approaching – drawn by the bursts of light – and the party quickly hides – the group Stealth check surpassing their passive perception – so the Drow pass through the cave not seeing any of the party that managed to stealth
- The party notices that where the grey ooze was; the Drow keep to the left – clearly knowing the grey ooze (was) there
- Waiting until the Drow are gone; the party moves on and climbs up the small cliff face into an area that opens up into what looks to be a jungle of pure darkness – trees with black to purple leaves dangle everywhere; and vines sway, despite the lack of breeze; seeing in the dark without light is already difficult enough – the additional thicket makes it nearly impossible to see too far in front of them
- Morsus is suddenly hit by what appears to be a giant, flesh like flail – and the party finds themselves facing a creature they’d never seen before!
- Morsus is hit so hard he’s stunned (Natural 1 on Initiative), as the rest of the party reacts and goes into Initiative
- The large, unusual snail stands about twelve feet tall from the ground to the top of it’s head, the flails adding an additional 6′ in height when raised straight up
- Korra fires an arrow at it, getting sneak damage since Morsus is right next to it
- Don fires one shot and misses – but the second lands a Critical Hit
- In it’s attempt to hit Morsus again with it’s five attacks – one of the attacks Critical Fails – entangling one of the flails and hitting itself for some damage; but one of the flails did land a hit on Morsus doing some damage
- Sephrenia attempts Shocking Grasp but touches the snail’s shell, which has no effect, so she summons her spiritual weapon to aid in the fight
- Adrian runs up with Demonbane and hits with both of his attacks; taking down two of the flails; leaving three
- Ragnaroc tries to Eldritch Blast – but both shots miss
- Don attempts his sharpshooter – but it fails to penetrate the flail snail’s flesh; however, his second shot fired normally does hit; killing another of the flails – leaving only two
- The flail snail attempts to hit Morsus – misses the first time, but pummels him with the second flail
- Sephrenia casts Sacred Flame, which the flail snail is too slow to avoid; and it does enough damage to take down another flail; leaving it with only one
- Adrian then attacks – his first attack hits and lands solid damage, but he’s unable to follow up with his second attack, as it goes wide from the flail snail retracting itself slightly after the first heavy hit he’d done
- However the hit is enough to put a stop to the final flail; so the flail snail retracts its entire body into its shell … and begins wailing… loudly… easily heard for hundreds of feet… in an area, thick with Drow hunting Darklings…
- Morsus attempts to Toll The Dead, but the Flail Snail resists (Natural 20!)
- Korra reaches under the shell and stabs the Flail Snail and injects the Dagger’s blade – however, the Flail Snail is immune to poison!
- Ragnaroc helps Adrian try to push the large Flail Snail over, and successfully do so (Natural 20!), however, when Adrian goes to attack – he slips in the Flail Snail mucus and hits Ragnaroc with his sword (Natural 1!)
- Ragnaroc is able to hit the Flail Snail since it’s been rolled over – and deliver a killing bow
- But right then Morsus mutters, “We have company”
- And the three Drow who had passed by and not seen the party previously now have their bows drawn and firing arrows at the party – drawn here by the Flail Snail’s wailing cries!
- Morsus manages to drop Faerie Fire on them and lands it on two of the three Drow
- Korra turns and fires her short bow – and manages to hit one of them
- Don casts Hail of Thorns, moves his Hunter’s Mark then uses Sharpshooter on the center Drow who is Faerie Fired
- That shot takes down the center Drow
- Don’s second shot is also a Sharpshooter on the other one with Faerie Fire and kills that Drow as well
- The last remaining Drow is furious and fires a shot at Don and hits him for some minor damage
- Sephrenia fires back a Guiding Bolt that incinerates the Drow where he’s standing
- However – the flashes of the light from the energy bow, the guiding light, the wail of the flail snail attracted far more unwanted attention
- Adrian manages to find a pair of boots on one of the dead Drow unaware that something is rapidly approaching them and observing them
- The party suddenly finds themselves ambushed by three unfamiliar looking humanoids who attempt to strangle them with wires
- Korra is ready for the ambush, feeling uneasy here (Natural 20 on initiative)
- Her first shot hits – which shows her where they’re at – so her second shot lands a critical strike (Natural 20!) instantly killing one with an arrow through the head
- Don is able to hit one with an arrow, but his second attack as a sharpshooter misses; he sends in his pet, Jackson, to attack – who leaps on the small humanoid and rips out its throat, killing the one that Don had attacked
- Ragnaroc uses Eldritch Blast – sending two blasts into the last creature; killing it
- As the party examines the three corpses of the unusual humanoids, Ragnaroc suddenly finds a wire wrapped around his throat and takes 9 damage!
- Ragnaroc unleashes a full blast of Hellish Rebuke – but it’s not enough to kill the humanoid hanging onto him, trying to use the wire to decapitate Ragnaroc
- Adrian spots two more on the path – ready to spring into action – and warns the party as he runs over and swings at the one on Ragnaroc – missing the first time – but hitting on the second attempt
- Sephrenia hits the one on Ragnaroc with Guiding Bolt; but the creature hangs on – barely clinging to life, refusing to release Ragnaroc
- Korra tries to fire an arrow at the one on Ragnaroc, but misses so she quickly stealths into the shrubbery around her
- Don is able to hit the creature on Ragnaroc – and finally kill it so it releases it’s wire hold on Ragnaroc’s throat – allowing the gasping Warlock to breathe again
- Don quickly turns to try and shoot the one that’s on the left side of the path, however in his haste, releases his arrow too quickly (Critical Fail!) accidentally hitting Ragnaroc for some damage!
- Ragnaroc fires at the one on the left and hits it once – and shoots a glaring stare at his companion Don
- Morsus uses Toll The Dead on the one on the left which Ragnaroc had hit, dealing enough damage to kill it
To be continued!