Session 18: The Potato Cellar of Horrors


 * We are in the spooky basement cavern. Sarienne can hear something squelching down the hallway. Middle path: We go to a ledge and peer over. Vikrit sees something glinting at the bottom - a bone.
 * Tork sends a mage hand down but it only gets down a few feet, hits something. Vikrit throws a rock down - after a foot, stops like it hit something, then slowly glides down.
 * Mogen and Tork send down the shocking grasp glove in his mage hand. They shock it but it doesn’t appear to react, then bring it up. (Gelatinous ooze - invisible?)
 * Behind the ooze, it slopes down - maybe a small passage behind it. We decide not to deal with the ooze yet.
 * We check out the passage on the right. Light coming from down this passageway. It’s small - single file. It goes into a cliff spiraling downward. There is a large body of blue-green water down here. Vikrit can smell some kind of fishy animal in here. Tork floats the glove down, shocks the surface of the water, and a huge tentacle gets zapped then grabs it. Vikrit and Sarienne shoot it and it crushes the glove, then retracts, bleeding.
 * The giant octopus (?) inks. We head back up to the left hall.
 * It turns and becomes a straight hallway, finished with tiles. As we walk, it appears to be endless. The walls are greasy and warm. Vikrit tries rolling down a jar then shooting an arrow down - nothing useful.
 * We keep going. Sarienne occasionally makes marks on the wall.
 * Cornerio wakes up, speaks to Constable Parsons who tells him where we went (and admits he was reading a romance novel). Cornerio finds the trapdoor, but has to hide in a cupboard when the Abbot comes out of cellar, dragging something heavy in a bag. He moves the table back on top of trapdoor, then leaves. Cornerio tells Constable Parsons where he’s going then goes down (Parsons mutters, “Can’t believe that idiot’s gonna investigate a potato cellar.”)
 * Cornerio finds the octopus pool and assumes Mogen died. He then finds the ooze, tries to touch it but his little arms can’t reach. He goes to the long hall and strolls down, whistling.
 * Vikrit and Sarienne creep forward after V hears a sound, arrows knocked. S manages not to shoot Cornerio when they see him, but Vikrit shoots him in the arm (then clumsily bandages it). They recognize his voice, and he reports that Brother Aram’s body is gone.
 * Mogen says “There’s a great quote by Brelish leader Wistnut Churchman that said 'when you’re going through hell, keep going.'” (EDITOR NOTE: I have no idea what this means)
 * Finally come to T junction. Left slopes up. Right = staircase down w/door at bottom.
 * Cornerio: “Alright, let’s split up.” Mogen &amp; Viktrit in unison: “NO!”
 * Sarienne opens the door. Black obsidian walls like before. Torches in sconces, statues of humanoids with bulging fish heads. (Amphibian race.)
 * C pulls out the jade tablet - Vik and Sariene get headaches and feel sick. There’s a similar tile (giant) on the floor. Sarienne investigates the tile - it feels natural. When they step on the tile, the tile glows blue in the center (GHOST MOUTH) and lights up things around the room. C and M hear skittering from behind the wooden door on left (there is also a stone door).
 * Vesun opens the door, and a trident barely misses him. There’s a kuotoa gurgling at us. There are 2 other ones behind it backed against the wall - also bed and some other supplies. Cornerio goes through his legs - and gets stabbed right in the middle by the trident. C: “Aren’t ya gonna say hello??”
 * Vesun moves so he’s not blocking the door. Mogen pulls out a kukri and runs in waving it. The kuotoa stabs at Mogen and hits her. Vikrit gets stuck behind Mogen. Tork magic missiles the kuotoa with the trident and he drops it. The 2 in the back try to attack Cornerio but he rolls out of the way. He then nearly kills it with the trident. Vikrit goes to the back to attack the left kuatoa. Tork roasts it. Vikrit tries to calm the last one down but it charges him and he beheads it.
 * S finds 16 gold pieces and a silver bar. Vesun heals Mogen and Cornerio.
 * We open the stone doors - they go into the same room. Two koatoas are putting keys next to an adamantium plate at the far end and a big gelatinous cube is unleashed on us.
 * Vesun casts Sanctuary on himself and charges toward the cube. The koatoas hold hands and lightning shoots at Vesun, and he takes a shitload of damage. Vikrit murders one of them with arrows. Tork burns the heck out of the cube. It goes up to Vesun. Sarienne shoots it, the arrow sinks in. Cornerio turns one of the keys back. Mogen blasts the cube with a hot potato. The remaining kuotoa runs at Cornerio but slips on his ass and drops his trident. Tork magic missiles the cube. Cornerio destroys the remaining kuotoa and turns the other key, and the plate starts moving back down to block the door. Cornerio runs underneath it with the keys, then Mogen yells at him to send back the keys.
 * Since it can’t attack Vesun and move, we hack away at it until it dies. Sarienne checks out some boxes - adventurer clothing. Vikrit finds a journal - Naveen’s. M finds 3 bonds for Naveen Del, small chain shirt, small masterword shortsword. gnome hooked hammer (glowing N is embossed on hammer).
 * Meanwhile, Cornerio goes through the door. He can hear someone talking. There’s a kuotoa at a desk speaking in common (“You speak today?” to the prisoner - female dwarf). There’s a figure hanging in shackles. Cornerio drops down.
 * Naveen's Journal: came from Sharn with someone named Konstadin (in charge), Jana, some other workers being made to dig? Hit a city deep underground - everything in perfect shape. They were in Mavadtorop’s domain. They are supposed to “recite tales of the ancient Daelkyr gods and pray for their return.” They drove off the fish-people but kept a few as prisoners, and they . Konstadin has been torturing the prisoners. He says a dwarf named Demora went back to fetch tools?
 * Vikrit asks the prisoner, “Are you Demora?” Vikrit tells everyone she’s working with Jana. She says she’s been trapped here for years. (Journal would imply 6 years.) She has a stargazer tattoo but says she is no longer allied with them (tell her Jana’s alive and we’re working against her - she is wide-eyed). They say they’ll protect her going out if she tells us everything
 * Cornerio goes down the passageway forward - they go to a lake beach. They see through the illusion of fine sand to corpses and the lake to blood (that Cornerio drank some of). There’s a humanoid eel creature with tentacles swimming at them. They come back to V, D, and and Mogen. Demora freaks out that Cornerio drank the blood and runs, but Vik catches her. - Demora’s eyes start to go dark. Cornerio feels a strong urge to kill her - and not let her leave the room. - Demora suddenly runs toward the tunnel - Vik is going to catch her but Sarienne rolles a 1 and gets in the way. Vesun casts hold person on her, Sarienne handcuffs herself to her. - “Vesun, do you have an anti-possession spell?” Don’t think so.&quot; “Then I take zero responsibility for what I do.” “We expected that, that’s your standard behavior.”
 * We backtrack to the T-intersection. Then we go up. Takes an hour to walk up to an area that’s unfinished - glowing purple fungi. (Cornerio picks one.)
 * We go up the stone staircase. It ends in a stone wall - there’s a pulley on the other side.
 * DM: “Demora says she’s not going to run.” Sarienne: “I’ve heard that before.” (points covertly to Cornerio)
 * Tork casts unseen servant to pull pulley. The door slowly opens - and there’s a huge bugbear with a sword. Tork tells it to stop but the bugbear lifts it up the rest of the way and slashes Sarienne. Vikrit shoots it twice. Mogen reluctantly gives Cornerio the fancy magic gnome hooked hammer (and I guess Dan finally learns he can do Flurry of Blows with a hammer).
 * We are in a small one-room hut. Cornerio speaks Goblin. “Where are we?” “You are in my domain!! Give me my sword! Let me die like a bugbear!” Tork hands it to him (because he thinks he’s going to kill himself???) and he roars at Cornerio to draw his weapon… he critfails and throws his hammer. The bugbear grins and carves him up. Tork magic missiles him to death, on top of Cornerio.
 * We find 5 silver daggers, 55 gold diamond earring, bottle of everlasting smoke. Tork takes the twin blade.
 * Vikrit opens the front door - we’re in some kind of marsh. House is on stilts in a marsh - we are in the troll fens. We go outside down wooden path. There’s a large wooden cabin where three orcs are sitting outside playing cards. Tork casts Ghost Sounds - trees crashing sound behind the cabin. An orc in a headdress comes out and hears Mogen sneeze, opens the door and looks behind it at Mogen, Tork, Demora and Rio. But Vikrit, Sarienne and Vesun have dropped down hanging on the dock, and S&amp; Ves grab his legs when he’s about to yell and pull him over the ledge, so he gets knocked unconscious and drowns in the mud.
 * We try to run out, successfully evading the distracted orcs, but Tork magic missiles three goblins about to shoot us. However, this causes noise and the three orcs pursue us. We hear human voices shouting for help in Common from the other building. Vikrit, Mogen and Cornerio want to leave, but Sarienne insists we stay and help.
 * Mogen shoots one of the orcs with a crossbow, Vik drops the other 2 with arrows. Vesun finds a male half-orc (severely beaten), female human, male human unconscious partially submerged. Vikrit shoots the fleeing orc who was around the corner.
 * Half-Orc says “We’re trappers, they captured us.” S: “Looks like the trappers… became the trapees.”
 * Merris, Gerald (m human), Ferthak (half-orc) - says . Orcs kept talking about “the Watcher”. Mentioned the demon bear. Sorceress living out in the woods - Tatta? - summoned demon bear?
 * Sarienne menaces the 2 goblins that were inside the hut. 150 gold, lapis lazuli (20 gold value). - Barracks - copper statue of fish scale (25 gp), chest with lock. Sarienne opens it - +1 studded leather armor, 2 flasks of alchemist fire
 * Vesun casts ZONE OF TRUTH: Asking what Konstadin is: tentacles dripping from face - (mindflayer). Can’t really describe. Female halfling named Celine. All Stargazers. They came here while war still on - was just an old battlefield, they were supposed to dig down - giant underground cavern. The fish people captured her but it was Mavadtorop speaking to her. She can hear “his whispers” coming from Cornerio, who we try to make puke (doesn’t seem to help).
 * Konstadin would go on and on about the daelkyr and how they shouldn’t. Mogen finds stuff about illithids in the planes book.
 * It’s evening by the time we get back. It’s raining lightly. There’s a large crowd in the back of the cathedral. The abbot is speaking on a raised platform. He’s eulogizing Brother Aram as he is buried. We ask Demora what the symbol is on the church - in the bowels of Sharn (House Cannith) - plates with that symbol… WARFORGED RELATED.
 * We go up to the Constable, he asks after the orc camp. We go back to our room. The Constable says the symbol (red dragon sitting on cloud) is that of Dol Arrah, it’s been there.
 * We try to explain everything. We tell him about Brother Aram and the child - he knows about it -named Ruven.
 * We go to the cathedral. The constable tells the abbot we want to investigate the cellar. We check it out but it’s a normal root cellar, and the blood smell stops at the trapdoor. We get Cornerio (who has been resting) and get the jade tablet - he feels compulsion not to bring it down, Mogen does too but is able to resist. Vik smashes the “dessication” magic disk . Geiger counter - Illusion magic everywhere.
 * Vesun notices that the Abbot is chanting something under his breath in the kitchen. He casts Silence on a pebble that Tork uses Mage Hand to put it in the abbot’s robes.
 * Sarienne has gone outside - speaks with some of the priests, then as abbot and constable come out, can’t hear. Everyone goes back to the cellar.
 * Mogen gives gold to the Abbot as sorry for smashing thingy. Vesun casts invisibility on Sarienne, she sneaks in while we go back in. Abbot is muttering to himself about not being careful enough - things have gotten too far/out of control. He’s searching the cupboards frantically for something. She sneaks the stone of farspeech into his pocket
 * We go to the guardhouse with the constable. We talk about Ruven - we’re going to want to find him. Constable seems to understand something weird is going on but doesn’t completely trust us. Says he’s going to stay in the guard house.
 * Sarienne comes back, takes a nap. Mogen can hear creatures speaking in Aquan (like the fishmen) over the stone - one very guttural one and one smaller-sounding one.
 * We rest.
 * The next morning, we hear Abbot speaking to someone - in Aquan, then in common “tell him that we have to meet the Tusk tonight. Go.”