As Erijay, Kern and Bjorn stood peering into the
passage, the sound of rustling underbrush came from behind. Erijay and Bjorn
quickly doves behind some fallen rock and vines, while Kern slipped on his ring of invisibility. They saw a man
emerge from the jungle, white haired and dressed in shining plate mail.
Although winded, the newcomer looked up at the tunnel entrance and announced
“by Veldes, I have reached the site of my quest!” After watching for a few
minutes, the trio figured he was of no danger to them, and they emerged from
hiding to confront the newcomer. They learned he was Vorn, a cleric of Veldes,
who was on a quest from his god to
track down the lair of the serpent god cult and destroy it. This cult once held
sway in his homelands before being destroyed by the church of Veldes, but has
started to reestablish itself. Further
questioning revealed they were far from home, deep in the southern lands. And
that there was at least one other magical gate in the area, through which Vorn
had come. Figuring their paths, for the time being at least, were the same,
Vorn joined the party as they advanced into the darkness of the mountainside.
And advance deep they did, as the wide worked stone
passage lead them hundreds of feet before emerging next to a fast flowing
underground river. The stream disappeared into the rock face just a short
distance to the left, but a narrow path continued on the right side of the
river. Moving the single file, the group advanced, the path soon turned past a
rocky outcrop. Or so it seemed, for Kern (in the lead) fell through the path
and into the river with a splash. Erijay
threw the man overboard a rope, and Kern hauled himself dripping wet back onto
dry land. Probing with a 10’ pole, Erijay discovered that the outcropping was
an illusion, and the path actually proceeded straight forward. They were about
to follow it when out of the water next to them shot four slime covered
tentacles, battering Erijay, Bjorn and Vorn. Turning to face their foe, the
four could see a hazy cloud of blue/grey in the water from which the tentacles
emerged. When they struck next, all four
aimed for Erjay and knocked the elf into the water. She was then drawn to the
thing, filled with the overwhelming desire to serve her new master. While the others turned their weapons on the
thing, Erijay was engulfed in its tentacles and started to get carried down the
stream. Bjorn desperately cast web,
hoping to block the hole through which the river exited the cavern. This worked,
and a flurry of blows destroyed the creature and released Erijay from her
servitude.
Unfortunately, at this point both Erijay and Vorn
noticed their skin had been changed into a clear slimy membrane. And as it dried
in the air, they both experienced excruciating pain. Vorn dove into the water
for relief, joining Erijay who now found that due to the mucus surrounding the
creature, she could now breathe water, but not air. Since retreating back down
a dry passageway didn’t seem to be an option right now, they continued on.
Erijay and Vorn advancing up the stream (which thankfully was only 4-5’ deep),
with Kern and Bjorn on the path. Before proceeding, however, Kern carefully
placed on the trail (facing away from them) the weird lizard head he was carrying
in his sack, hoping it might serve as protection if the searchers outside
followed them.
About 60’ further upstream, the cavern opened up. It
was filled by a pool of water, which was fed by a 40’ high waterfall emerging
from the rock face on the opposite side of the cavern. The trail continued around
one side, and then switchbacked behind the waterfall to a cave opening above. Silhouetted by a light in the cave mouth were
4 humanoid figures. While Erijay and
Vorn stayed in the water (and Bjorn hung back on the path), Kern donned his ring of invisibility and started to
climb the path. The creatures above had
seen him before he started climbing however, and one moved to pour something
down the waterfall and then toss a torch into it. The falls immediately erupted
in a gout of flame, scorching the merchant and causing him to slip and fall
into the pool below. This got Bjorn angry, so he dropped a sleep spell on the cave mouth. Three figures dropped out of sight,
while the fourth plummeted off the ledge and face-planted into the pool below.
Although the body was pretty battered, Erijay and Vorn examined it, finding it
was a frog like humanoid. Kern,
meanwhile, climbed up the path and slit the throat of the three remaining
frog-things. He also examined the cask poured into the waterfall, and found it
to be still half full of oil. Scouting ahead, he also saw the 10’ wide corridor
continued on quite a ways. Rather than risk being trapped alone, he returned
back to the pool to help brainstorm a solution to Erijay and Vorn’s
predicament.
By this time, Erijay found she was once more able to
breathe air, the mucus having cleared her lungs. But she and Vorn were still
unable to leave the water for more than 10 minutes. They waited a few hours to
see if the effect would wear off like the water breathing, but to no avail. And
had to deal with another group of frog-things that arrived to apparently check
on the original guards. Finally Erijay tried using oil to stop from drying out,
and that seemed to work to some extent. She could stay out of the water for
about an hour before having to reapply oil or get wet. Which not entirely
certain of the wisdom of turning themselves into walking Molotov cocktails,
Erijay and Vorn saw no other immediate solution. Gathering as much oil as they
could from the cask, the two lathered up and then followed Kern down the
passageway, carefully tracking time to make sure they would have enough oil to
get back to the pool if necessary.
The passage lead another hundred feet before opening
up into a larger, worked stone room, faintly lit by a phosphorescent glow on
the walls and ceiling. At the far end stood a pair of stone towers flanking a
grillwork gate. Just to the right was a narrow opening in the wall. Kern crept toward
the opening invisibly, noting a
shuttered window in each tower. Reaching the narrow opening, Kern signaled the
other three to follow him. As they crept along the wall, however, the shutters
in the towers opened. In each stood a pair of creatures that looked like a 3’
tall cross between a chimpanzee and a man. Armed with javelins, they let these
fly at the group. Kern responded with
crossbow fire, and expertly snipped the two in the tower closest to him. The
others were taken out by a hold person
spell from Vorn. But alas, not before Bjorn fell with a javelin through the
heart. With no way to help their fallen comrade at this time, they looted his
body and hid it in a corner. Just in case they were able to come back for him
later. Kern then threw a grappling hook up to one of the open tower windows and
climbed up. He found a mess of soiled reeds and food waste on the floor, a rack
of javelins, and a stairway down. Down he went, to find another room, this with
a door which faced to into the other side of the gate. While invisible, he pushed it open a crack to
look. Hiding behind each tower, he saw a mass of the same chimp-things, who
were now spooked by the door opening all on its own. Hoping to build on that
fear, Kern picked up one of the dead creatures in the tower, and still
invisible brought it out the door like it was the walking dead. This spooked them even more, and the mass
moved back towards the exit from the room. One, who seemed to be a leader,
directed a pair to go out the exit, presumably to get help. Hoping to stop them, Kern whipped out his
crossbow and started shooting. In this he was assisted by Erijay, who with Vorn
had now climbed into the other tower. After several of the creature fell to the
bolts, the remainder turned and fled up the corridor. A few more shots and they
were gone. Kern briefly contemplated chasing them, but wasn’t keen and rushing
into a potential trap and let them go.
Taking a few minutes to examine the side passage
(ending in a blocked tunnel) and the gate (which caused a large spiked wooden
frame to fall out of the ceiling right in front of the gate), the remaining
three then sat to determine what their plan was from here …
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