Praerus D&D 5e Campaign Notes, Session 11

Greetings, internet-people!

I have a small announcement before I begin writing up the campaign update you came for:
At the top of the page, you may notice a link to a page called "All-Brew."
This page has direct links to everything that I'm working on (and some stuff that I just like).
That way, you don't have to dig through back log to find a homebrew that you were interested in :)

Now, back to business!
This week, we had Rellon, Agent M, and Trinity in the party. Everyone else was sick or otherwise occupied.
For those of you paying attention, that means that the paladin and cleric were both relegated to "healbot" for this week :)

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When we left off, the party had just reached the second floor of the cave complex.
The labyrinth.

When looking over their options, the party decided to travel to Arroh's shrine first.
There, they went through one of the western doorways.

The chamber beyond was largely devoid of features.
An odd glyph was carved into the doors on the northern, western, and southern walls.
Rellon looked them over and recognized them as an older dialect of primordial.
They said "You shall not pass." (shut up)

The party spent a few minutes dividing themselves up among the doors so that they could investigate:
Trinity and Rellon investigated the western door;
the dretches investigated the southern door;
and M stayed as far back as possible.

Trinity and Rellon spent some time with their door, searching for any hidden catches or other triggers.
The dretches were hammering away at the surfaces.

Then, Trinity decided to touch the rune (despite warnings).
And it lit up briefly and emitted a sound like crystal ringing.

Everyone thought this interesting.
Then, with some excellent planning, the party stepped back and assigned three of the dretches to trace the runes at the same time.
They did so gleefully.
The runes glowed and the crystal-sound grew louder and louder.
Just before it couldn't get any louder, it stopped and the doors rolled into the ceiling!

Trinity decided to try to walk through the northern door to check for danger.
She found herself walking back into the room from the western door.

Of course, this was puzzling for everyone.
With some exploration, they found that all three of the doors looped back on the main chamber without much rhyme or reason.
To make matters more confusing, anyone that looked beyond the doorway saw that the room beyond wasn't the one they were standing in.
After some further experimentation (throwing rocks, throwing a severed dretch head from the last session, etc.), the party decided that they didn't want to mess around with this puzzle any longer.

Then, in an out-of-character discussion that turned funny, someone mentioned the possibility of the Tarrasque being in the tunnels.
And Trinity's player is completely new and had no idea why that could be so bad.
So, after some explanation that a wish is required to kill the thing for good, Trinity's player spouted this bit of awesome: "It's the opposite of Tinkerbell."

After that bit of silliness, the party resumed their journey through labyrinth, seeking out the prophecy.

On their way there, they encountered a very long room that was filled with ashes.
Everyone figured that the room would be trapped, but a dretch volunteered to confirm it.
By running across the room.
Fire started shooting out from the walls, trying to incinerate the odd demon.
Somehow, it managed to cross the room and return to the party before collapsing (unconscious, not dead).

Agent M looked over the floor to see what kind of pressure plates might be there.
Once those were identified, Rellon used a mage hand cantrip to push the tiles to see where was safe.
Using this method, he crossed the room with Trinity.
They were curious to see if a door might be hidden on the opposite wall.
With a quick search, they found one and Ulic unlocked it (while on autopilot).

Opening the door, they found a large round chamber with a ladder in the middle and three other exits that had the same rune as the odd chamber earlier.

While the rest of the party decided how to proceed, Trinity decided to run around and be Trinity.
First, she climbed up the ladder and opened the trap door to reveal that it exited onto a grassy plain.
Then, she slid down the ladder and didn't set her brakes fast enough.
To the north, she found a room filled with cages and animal bones. There were three additional exits from here, but she decided to go back to the main group.

Next, the party decided to travel southwards.
They came to a fork and decided to take the right branch.
Then Trinity was nearly taken out by an arrow.
The room had a large "fortress" made of chairs and tables set up on the opposite side.
A quick look told Rellon that it was lizardfolk make.
Putting two and two together, they realized that some lizardfolk were behind the barricade.

Diplomacy was had (by Trinity even!) and the lizardfolk eventually entered the room.
Four warriors that had no idea how they had gotten into the labyrinth.

And then Rellon had to make a minor magical display to keep the dretches in line.
And lizardfolk revere magic and its practitioners.
To show follower score here: Rellon 9, Trinity 0

With their new allies, the party continued southward.
And found a room filled with hieroglyphics and other images.
With a quick history roll, the party realized that this was how the Old Ones recorded their prophecies.
VICTORY!

Rellon used comprehend languages, but the prophecy was encrypted (because why not?).
While the party recorded the images on the walls, the lizardfolk cried out "THEY'RE HERE!" and started firing arrows down the hallway.
Trinity decided that she would try to win them over with a display of bravery and charged in, hammer and shield raised.
M peeked around the corner and saw absolutely nothing.
Apparently, the lizardfolk had been in the tunnels long enough to lose their minds.
The dretches, however, were already slightly mad and took this opportunity for potential bloodshed to charge down the hall.
And no one stopped them.
And they kept charging...
Rellon 4, Trinity 0

One of the lizardfolk acted like he was shot - "THEY GOT ME!"
He laid down and was acting like he would die. M scooped him up and called for medical attention.
Which Trinity provided (she is trained in medicine, after all...)

Rellon tried using sleep to pacify Trinity and the lizardfolk, but they refused to go down. One lizardfolk did yawn, however.
His next plan was to utilize Sabah to cast lesser restoration and fix the lizardfolk.
Which worked beautifully. They all came out of their madness!

With the prophecy secured and the lizardfolk calmed, the party returned to the surface using the ladder they had found earlier.
As they neared the forest outside of Rosewood, they started to fall asleep - one by one.
Except Trinity.
When she turned around to find her companions passed out, there was a shadowy figure snatching the prophecy and making a run for it!

Trinity decided to pursue the interloper.
Despite her party being unconscious and without guards.

She chased the thing through the forest, throwing her spear after it, jumping over obstacles...
And then she tripped!
Just as the shadow was about to get away, she hurled her flask of acid at it.
It made contact, and the shadow vanished.
She searched for the scroll case that the prophecy was in, but it was nowhere to be seen.
Disheartened, she returned to the party.

Just about then, M came around and found a wolf nudging him.
He laid there and tried to not be intimidating.
Suddenly, something came crashing through the trees and scared the wolves off.
Seeing this as a truly bad situation, he jumped up and drew his twin daggers, ready to slay whatever it was or run, as needed (pure rogue stuff here).

Then, Trinity came out of the woods.
M relaxed and the two set about waking the party up.
With a quick search, they found that the prophecy was missing.
The party thought about who or what the shadow may have been. As it could put others to sleep and apparently teleport, it was clear they were dealing with a spellcaster of sorts. Rellon suggested that someone from the Arcanum, who knew about his mission, might have done this. But, that just left more questions than answers.

After some discussion, the party decided that Rellon would set up several alarms near the prophecy chamber to alert them if anyone decided to visit it.
Then, they started back toward town.

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And that's what happened!
Even though Trinity was present, we got some good plot progress taken care of :) (nothing but love, if you read this Benny)

But who was that shadowy character and what did they want with the prophecy?
Will Trinity be able to get the lizardfolk into town and get them drunk?
What will the party do now that they have lost their hard-won prophecy?

Answers to these and more when next we game!
...
Which might not be for a couple of weeks, as I am moving and still haven't done much packing.
But we shall see!

Until then, dear readers.
Until then.

Praerus D&D 5e Campaign Notes, Session 10

Morning, everyone!

Sorry that my 4e-to-5e conversion project is taking so long. Between work and moving into my first real house, things have been hectic. Like I keep saying. However, I should have the roughest of drafts done up for the races sometime by the end of the week.
If all goes well.

Now, onto other things: the Sunday group met up for gaming. This week, Ulic was back in but Trinity was out. Also, the session was kind of short due to other obligations. Even so, we managed quite a bit of ground covering :)

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When last we saw our adventuring companions, they had just re-entered the dark caves below Rosewood.

And, not long afterwards, Ulic awoke on the pew.
After gaining his bearings, he went off to catch up to the group. He took the quicker way into the caves and ended up bumping into the party completely by incident.

Reunited, the party decided to finish "mapping" the first floor of the dungeon complex.

The first chamber they entered was filled with more of the violet fungi and shriekers that they had encountered earlier.
Hek, deciding that some mushrooms would be a great addition to his next dish, started flinging eldritch blasts about. And, given that mushrooms can't move, it was quite literally like shooting fish in a barrel.
When he was done, he entered the chamber to collect the spoils. Surprisingly, he also found 3 pieces of platinum.
M, using his keen rogue eyes, noticed a pouch of something near his feet. Picking it up, he discovered a full bag of dust of dryness. More on that later.

Satisfied with their haul, the party wandered the tunnels once more. This time, they discovered a room that was literally filled with rats. Swarms of them.
The party, having moved ever so sneak-ily into the tunnel outside the room, struck up a pretty solid plan to avoid trouble.
Hek, having the initiative, charged into the room and cast arms of hadar. Twice (using action surge).
Then, Sabah tossed in a fireball.
Between the two of them, they wiped out 18 rat swarms in the surprise round.
Which is pretty magical (pun aside).
But not as magical as Hek's player's next line - "Diplomacy - success!"
And then when we discussed marching order after that - "Hek in front, party in back."

After some hearty chuckles, the party resumed travel.
This time, they wanted to explore the tunnels near the chamber they found all the zombies in.
Down one side of it, they found a path that ended in what appeared to be a waterfall.
Smart adventurer sorts that they are, they decided to test it.
First, they threw a pebble with light cast on it through the waterfall. And it fizzled out. Antimagic?
Then, M stuck the end of "his" spear through it. And the end got melted off. Acid!

And it was then that I regretted some of my earlier DM-ing decisions.
M took five pinches of his dust of dryness and cast them into the waterfall.
He now has five pellets of compressed liquid ouchy.

Seeing no path beyond the waterfall (and deftly dodging a pretty sweet trap, might I add), the party left the vicinity and soon found a broom closet and another tunnel leading off from the room before the zombie chamber.
With some quick thinking, the party realized that the tunnel should come out behind the door that scratched when they knocked. So, they looked for a hidden catch or other lever to open it with.
M, being the rogue-iest of rogues, spotted the trigger before anyone else.
With Hek in place as a meat-shield, they opened the door.

It rolled slowly to the side.
Hek, using his demonically-fueled sight, saw several green, hairless gorillas beyond the door.
Unfortunately for him, they saw him too.
He charged them, they charged him.
And nothing happened.

Rellon, using his expansive knowledge, tried to figure out what they were and was able to come up with a name and origin - dretch, demon.
With a quick look, he also established that there were about 12 of them in the room.
He shouted out "Can we talk?"

Ulic, finding his time to shine, charged one of the dretches and used his smite ability to cleanly sever the head of one from its shoulders. Very epic scene.

On his turn, Rellon dove into the room and flung a lightning bolt through several of the dretches. Despite their lightning resistance, he rolled well enough to atomize all of them.

At this point, we let Trinity grab the severed dretch head. Because, auto-pilot or not, that is pretty much exactly what everyone thought she would do.

This left five dretches standing.
Rellon, dusting his hands off, politely asked "So, ready to talk now?"

Interestingly enough, the dretches decided to listen.
Also interestingly, Rellon was the only party member capable of speaking abyssal.

With some quick smooth talking and promises of slaughter for good behavior (M said something about stringing them along), the five remaining dretches became the hapless minions of the party.
With these new (and possibly soon to be reformed?) demons, the party headed for the second floor, deep within the earth.

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And that's where we left off!
Not so much actually done in terms of finding the prophecy they were sent to find, but a genuinely bizarre and fun time was had.
But, what will become of these folks that traffic with demons?
And will they find the prophecy they have struggled to locate?

Until next time, may the dice fall in your favor :)

Praerus D&D 5e Campaign Notes, Session 9

Sorry for only posting once last week! Things got hectic and I couldn't make as much progress on the 4e-to-5e Race Guide as I had hoped. Should have something workable up later this week if all goes well (but with moving and such... we'll see...).

Now, the Sunday group met and things got kind of... Well, Trinity wasn't absent if that's any indicator ;)

This week, we had Rellon, Trinity, Hek, Sabah, and we introduced... Agent M, as I call him. Multiple names for different reasons. That sort of guy. Ulic was gone due to some mix-up in communication.

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When last we left off, the party had just gotten Ulic restored at the temple by a priest of Pholtus. However, the magic that cured him also promptly sent him into a deep, deep sleep.

Meanwhile, Agent M had received his next task in a cryptic letter. That's just the kind of man he is.
With those instructions, he slapped together his "wandering Priest of Heironeous" disguise and went to the temple, as instructed.

At this time, Rellon left to have a proper holy symbol of his new god (Trykus) forged to anchor Arroh's spirit to.
Hek, ever the helper, went downstairs to the galley to be "the cook." There, he made fast friends (sarcasm) with a reasonably-stable priest of Erythnul that was the acting chef for the day.
Trinity and Sabah, however, went into spiritualism mode and prayed with the old priest. Trinity would later, very forcefully, ask for help in finding out about the god-shard residing in her (she has a major problem with in-/out-character knowledge :/ ).

Agent M, seeing the act of aggression, figured that this was a signal for a shakedown that he was to be part of, so he locked the door. Very helpful of him.
It was also around this time that a scream issued from downstairs.

Across town, Rellon's holy symbol was being forged and he spent some time attuning with the strange sword he found in the elemental armory.
After some time, it whispered "hello?"
Ah, a truly mysterious thing.

When Rellon returned, he found the door barred and there was a brief conversation about why that might be. Many side-steps and circular phrases were used.

About that time, Hek's beef tongue was finished cooking and the meal bell was rung.
Everyone went and enjoyed the meal considerably. Unlike the dungeon cuisine that was served the day before.

Ulic laid on the pew like a lump.

After the meal was had, Trinity and Rellon went into full-on research mode and went to the archives to research this, that, and the other about their respective deities.
Hek recruited Agent M to clean up with him. And, given M's natural fear of orcs that wear severed hands as trophies, he was more than happy to help!
Sabah... smoked. Tobacco. Outside. She was rather boring.

In the archives, Rellon's background as a sage (and, after a die roll, professor at the Arcanum!) really shined through: he found some books on dead gods for Trinity to peruse and located a single passage that could help him track down more information about Trykus.

I don't remember the exact logistics of this decision, but M heard Rellon mention a prophecy, looted Ulic ("I always loot when I'm sad"), impersonated him, punched out a random adventurer outside, swapped their clothing, and went back into the church. Rather odd.

Back in the archives, Trinity was blaspheming (in Draconic) against every god of the world as she looked through her books and found nothing helpful.
Then, in a moment of pity, Rellon joined her search and, discovering what she wanted to do, he tried something rather intriguing: ink blots and free drawing.
Some dice and magic later, and Trinity actually got an idea as to which god was within her: Bast, a war god that died at the beginning of the Reckoning Wars.

The rest of the day was largely unremarkable, except Hek going hunting with a priestess of Ehlonna and stopping a deer's heart with eldritch blast.

During the hunting trip, Trinity attempted to deface the shrine of Beory and replace it with her own shrine.
Thankfully, a priest in the temple noticed this.
There were a few questions about how to remove him as an obstacle.
Finally, Rellon (or M? can't remember now) helped negotiate the establishment of a shrine to Trinity (going by the divine name of Hammurtym... I know).

That night is when we had to sit Trinity's player down and have "the talk" - more on that shortly.

Trinity decided she wanted to do all of the following that night:

• break into the temple
• attempt to deface the holy symbol of Beory on the shrine (made from pure malachite, btw)

So, there are clearly a few things wrong with what she wanted to do.

There was a looooong discussion that mostly involved the more experienced players saying "there are gods in this world that will smite you for something like that."

Thankfully, she saw some reason in that and amended her plan to:

• break into the temple
• shout "Beory sux, Trinity rulez!" (direct quote with misspellings)
• leap out a different window and beat a retreat to her house

Suffice to say, the town guard were at her door in the morning.

Blessedly (or not), M recognized the sergeant of the squad and was able to "negotiate" a "reduced" fine.

And just like that, my attempt at educating the warforged about consequences in the game world fell apart.

But M roleplayed the discussion so well that I literally couldn't argue with him.

After much silliness, the party decided to go after the prophecy again.

They took the sliding path in the field down instead of the goblin tunnels.

Down there at last, they decided to investigate the odd door that Rellon had found.

The one that scratched when he knocked on it.

With some trial and error and a quick conjuring, they were able to unlock the door and open it.

On the other side...

Stone.

The door was set in the wall, but there was nothing behind it.

Rellon used detect magic and saw an aura of conjuration on it.

Trinity searched for a hidden door, but found nothing.

There was some debate about using stronger divinations or dismantling the door, but they decided to close it and leave it be for now.

The whole time, I had my "DM strikes again" face on.

Next, the explored the tunnels again and came across a room that held several stone coffins.

M, keen-eyed rogue that he is, noticed the traps from a mile away and was able to stop anyone from entering the chamber.

10-foot pole in hand, they tapped the sarcophagi and sent darts flying from one wall to the next.

Then, Hek decided to test the mechanisms.

He took the pole and tapped one sarcophagus in a rapid burst.

Darts flew out.

Then, he gathered them, tested their strength, and divided some between his backpack and the holes in the wall to try to jam them.

Trinity was disappointed by the lack of poison on the darts.

And that is, more-or-less, where we ended for the day.

Will they find the prophecy next week? Or will they continue to derail themselves at an alarming pace?

Only time will tell!

Until next we chat, may the dice fall in your favor :)

Difficulties in Getting the Group Together and Other Gaming Group Discussions

Internet people! How goes?

So, Sunday fell through.
As usual.

But, Hekatonchires' and Rellon's players showed up and we hung out anyway.
And discussed a campaign that Hek's player wanted to run.

For those of you that are familiar with Giant in the Playground, this campaign is called "The Test of Ice and Mettle."
For those of you that recognize that, you can stop reading now.

For the rest of you:
This campaign takes place in a fantasy-version of Scandinavia/Norway.
It is cold.
The whole thing is an escort mission.
Death is expected more often than not.
The classes are all homebrewed (and pretty freaking cool!).
The rest is pretty crazy (bloodlines, feats from anywhere, traits and flaws, one homebrew item, any race, etc.).
Full information here.

So, there's that.

I'm playing an eighth level Pengu (refluffed tundra halfling turned sapient penguin) Pathfinder with a major Titan bloodline and feats that focus on his "backstory" of being one of the spawn of Loki.
Might tack on some other stuff...

So... yeah...

Anyway, I've decided to stop saying that the group "will meet," because I'm constantly surprised.
However, I can say with certainty that I will not be doing any gaming this weekend, so any updates will be on completely random tracks :)

As always, may the dice fall in your favor!

Praerus D&D 5e Campaign Notes, Session 8

Evening, everyone!

Sunday was certainly interesting for gaming, and here's how!

To begin, the phrase "rub your butt on the enlarged man" was uttered.

This week, we had Sabah and Ulic in attendance, and Saito's player introduced a new character named Rellon (information on the character page). Hec and Trinity's players couldn't make it, making this the first time that Trinity was on DM-autopilot.

As a note, there was a lot of improvisation on my part as the DM this week. And, you know what, I think everyone enjoyed it that way.

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Rellon was en route from the Arcanum to Rosewood to locate the prophecy that was underground.

After some trial and error, he was able to find his way into the tunnels below Rosewood (the same pit that Kara and Ulic had used when they first went there).

It was about that time that Ulic's amulet "ping'd" and set Sabah on guard.

She assumed a defensive posture and approached the hallway while Trinity and Hec enjoyed "brain over brawn." Ulic was ill from trying the stuff.

After some quick searching of the nearby tunnels, Rellon discovered an ancient armory where everything was marked with elemental runes. As a researcher, this tickled him in a powerful way.

Sabah and Ulic decided they might want to seek out the mage that triggered the charm, so made their way slowly through the tunnels.

After some bungling about on both parts, Sabah and Ulic located Rellon and Sabah attempted to sneak up on him.

Rellon, however, has unusually keen ears and heard the approaching priest. With the snap of his fingers, he produced the sound of a rattlesnake near her feet, freezing her in place.

Rellon took advantage of the situation to knock over a table and take cover.

However, it turned out that such movement triggered some sort of elemental windstorm in the chamber, snuffing out all light sources and making it hard to hear.

At this point, Ulic cried out "I think I know him..." and the player's cell phone indicated a text message with two silenced pistol reports. Much laughter ensued.

After settling down, Ulic and Rellon confirmed each other's identities and the party gathered once more.

Together, they looked about the room for anything interesting or important.

And, in a stack of odds and ends, Rellon found a shortsword that was strangely clean.

He wrapped and stowed it and the party moved onward.

This room had several entrances, and they tried one of the doors.

Sabah heard something on the other side and warned everyone, getting them into combat positions.

Without warning, she kicked the door in.

And it bounced back from something.

With another kick, it was revealed that the room beyond was full of zombies.

Thankfully, Sabah's Channel Divinity feature was ramped up at this point and could destroy any undead of CR 1/2 or less. And so, only one zombie (an ogre) was left in the room.

And it failed its saving throw.

It made a very hasty retreat toward some stairs that it stumbled down and promptly went to pieces under.

As Sabah torched its remains, the other party members examined the room.

It was a way-shrine to the traveler god Fharlanghn.

But, the question was asked, what was it doing here?

With this mystery ever-building, the party headed downstairs.
And discovered a large summoning seal in the floor of the first chamber.
With a little remembering legends and lore, they discovered that this was part of a long-lost labyrinth complex described in some passages of Old One literature.
And it was hiding under Rosewood the entire time.

With a little wandering, they mapped out a good chunk of the southern portion of the map.
There, they found a chamber for guards to rest in and a place where they stored their food.
While passing through the storage room, Ulic set off a trap that launched two walls at each other.
Thankfully, his checkered past prepared him to jump out of the way.

With a few minutes of work, he was able to dismantle the trigger to prevent any further trouble.

Beyond this, they saw a strange sight - a shrine. It was apparent that this was not part of the original construction.
Shortly after entering, Sabah approached the alter, knelt down, and said softly "so, this is where I died..."
It turned out that a ghost was residing in this room and possessed Sabah to communicate with the party.
During a rather pleasant conversation, the party learned that this was the ghost of Arroh Hartsight, a member of one of the races they call the Old Ones. She was once a huntress, but became the high priestess of the god Trykus (knowledge and light, symbol is an open tome with a scepter along the spine). And, much like the party, she was unsure as to how she got to where she was presently.

Rellon decided to see if Arroh could recognize the summoning seal in the other room, and so led Sabah/Arroh to the door.
Where the two promptly separated, with Arroh's form floating in the doorway.
At this point, one of the ghost's natural defenses kicked in and everyone had to make a Charisma save to avoid being frightened.
Sabah and Rellon were fine, Trinity and Hec were frightened.
But Ulic got hit the hardest. Having failed his save by more than 5, he also aged 40 years, making him go from his youth to middle age in the blink of an eye.

Arroh did not expect that happen and apologized immediately.
With short order, however, her specter vanished from sight.

With some puzzling over the situation, Rellon decided to become a willing vessel for Arroh.
While the two were connected, they did a very high-speed information exchange. Rellon ended up converting to the faith of Trykus in that time.

Then the joined-souls struck upon a plan.
Using his conjuration ability, Rellon created a holy symbol of Trykus to act as a focus for his beliefs.
The theory was that this would allow Arroh's spirit to leave her final resting place.

So, with a deep breath, they crossed the threshold...

And it worked!

Now free of the shrine, the group went back to the summoning seal and let Arroh analyze it.
Unfortunately, she knew nothing of it.

With their new ghostly companion, the party returned to Rosewood to try to establish a more permanent abode for Arroh and restore Ulic's youth.

And that's what happened.
Lots of fun for everyone, like I said.

But what sort of strangeness is going on in the tunnels below Rosewood?

Tune in next time to see what happens!
Until then - roll the bones :)

Praerus D&D 5e Campaign Notes, Session 7: Back in Black

Hello, dear readers!
This week's update on the campaign is coming just a touch late due to not having my notebook with me at work.
Better now then not at all, though :)

This time, our characters included Ulic, Sabah, and Trinity from the earlier arc.
Eos has been retired for the time being and replaced by a character named Hecatonchires, a half-orc barbarian/fighter/warlock who has a thing for hands (his name means "hundred handed one," btw).
We lost one player from the game, and another one is out of town for the next few sessions, so his character will be introduced then.

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To begin, Ulic had just returned to the Arcanum and was told, almost immediately, to go back to Rosewood. A highly important prophecy was hiding in the caves below the town and it was imperative that he recover it.
Ulic set off and arrived in Rosewood at the same time as Bloodbane's caravan palace.

After Trinity finished making her potions, she decided to pursue the criminal syndicates of Rosewood.
Not to stop them.
To force them to follow her.
She tried intimidating someone for information.
Long story short, she wound up in jail.
And stayed there for most of the session.

Ulic, having an idea as to who might help him in his quest, decided to head towards the pub.

Sabah, who had spent the night getting all sorts of plastered, decided to head into town herself.

Along the way, the two crossed paths and continued to the pub, where Ulic told both Sabah and Angus that he needed some assistance for a trip back into the caves.
They both agreed to help. Angus gave the pair a list of names of militia members and other townsfolk that would be most likely to help out.
First on the list: a half-orc named Hecatonchires.

Before leaving, though, Sabah noticed a fellow cleric that was proselytizing about turning "away from the light."
If you recall, she is a follow of Pholtus, a god of the sun and light on Praerus.
With some quick words, she was able to remind the folk listening of the folly of trafficking with shadows and told the cad to leave. He obliged.

With that taken care of, they decided to try to locate the half-orc hermit.

At this point in the day, he had been trading and partying with the caravansary and was well past "illuminated."
When the other two found him, he was playing a beautiful glass drum in the glassblower's tent.
After some one-sided conversation (he replied with drum playing), Hecatonchires was on board.

And then the obligatory party scene was had.
And Trinity was still (blessedly) in jail.

The next day, Sabah woke in jail with Trinity.
Hecatonchires was alone in a tent in the caravan.
And Ulic had wound up spending his night with Sonata, the master glass blower.

With a little bit of asking around, the party reunited at the jail.
The guard was leery of letting Trinity out, but decided that the others would keep an eye on her.
When he was giving them their confiscated items back, Sabah's holy symbol was strangely missing. He told them that it hadn't been with her the night before.

With a quick search of the caravan, they found it laying face-up in the middle of the road.
When Sabah looked it over, she saw that someone had scrawled "I am Watching" on the back.
She didn't want those words blaspheming her holy symbol, so she asked Hecatonchires to fix it.
He wrote his own name under the words.

After this slight break in tension, the party gathered their remaining supplies and departed for the caves once more.
In the entrance, they passed by some goblins that were quite clearly three sheets to the wind and headed for the caravan to continue the party.
At this point, Ulic finished describing to the party why they had to return to the caves.

Thus, they climbed back into the pits. (Though, thinking on it now, why didn't they ask any goblins for a hint of the prophecy's location?)
At the bottom, they got their bearings straightened out and headed for a tunnel they hadn't explored previously.
This path led to some over large mushrooms that were blocking some sort of mining office.

Before anyone could fall for the clever trap, someone noticed that green slime was growing in the same area as the mushrooms.
With a call to her god, Sabah channeled daylight into the area and cleared the slime away, thus freeing them to proceed.
Unfortunately, the room was largely deserted.

Undaunted, the party returned to the labyrinth and chose the fork opposite the last one.

Here, they found the remains of a kitchen that was being used by the goblins during their campaign against the warforged of the area.
Having been at this for some time, the party decided that some refreshment was in order.
Hecatonchires, being the cook, went back to the mushrooms to wrangle some up for flavor's sake.
Ulic decided to scout ahead in the tunnels.
Trinity wanted to work with some acid she had gathered from the green slime so as to - you guessed it - weaponize it.
And Sabah decided to investigate the kitchen a little.

Not much happened for the rest of the party, but Sabah thought she saw shadows moving in the corner of her eye in the kitchen.
She approached, flames at the ready.
And then she was picked up from the floor.

A grell had been floating about, waiting for just such an opportunity.
Unfortunately for it, Sabah wasn't paralyzed and a scuffle ensued.
The grell tried floating away with her, but Trinity was able to jump up and join combat (though, only because she had reached a stopping point in her research...)

Trinity tried to throw her magic spear at the thing, but it missed by a wide margin.
Sabah was able to burn it and set herself free.

Around this time, Ulic and Hec heard the noises of combat and decided to investigate.

With some quick thinking, Ulic used his wand to create a web that caught the grell.
Sabah, knowing that these particular webs are flammable, was delighted.
The webs, now aflame, did nothing to keep Trinity from jumping onto the thing and trying to club it to death.

And that's how this particular grell died: screaming and burning.

Now, properly roasted grell in hand, Hec took the party back to the kitchen to make his famous "Brain over Brawn" dish. Whatever that might be...

And that's where we left off.
We should meeting Sunday assuming that nothing major happens in real life.
Until then, may the dice fall in your favor :)