6th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580 - Deeper into the Underdark

Because the party dressed like drow and were driving a drow merchant cart, most creatures with some amount of intelligence let them pass. It is clear that the drow rule most of everything down here. There are some exceptions, however, and the first encounter the party experienced was with a dozen wererats.

There was a portion of the road that narrowed between some rocks, forcing the party to stop and guide the lizards through one at a time. The wererats, which had been hiding among the rocks, sprang and ambush. One dozen wererats, to the sides, and fourteen giant rats behind. It may have seemed like a lot, but Sarril was able to quickly take out the 1/2 HD rats with an area of effect spell, allowing the melee fighters to finish off the were rats, which didn't take long at all. The party debated for some time whether or not to explore the side tunnels to look for their nest, but in the end, decided to keep moving, and thus ended their first encounter.

Three days passed. It is now the 9th day of Redy'reat, and the party came across an enormous cavern. 300 ft. across, at least, with ceilings almost as high. Everything was slightly illuminated phosphorescent lichen, and the party could see that there were multiple ways out of the cavern. About halfway across the middle, they were shot at by longbows from archers far away on a shelf. The attackers were bugbears, and while they were too far away to throw daggers, Dalron pulled out a longbow of his own and was able to take them out. Two more began shooting from another shelf, so Sarril cast Fly on Dalron so he can fly up and finish them off with thrown daggers. That's when the drow mage showed up. Sarril spotted him up on the shelf beginning to cast a spell, and, using a held action, he activated Minor Globe of Invulnerability from his staff, which has a 10 ft. radius, protecting everyone around the cart from the incoming fireball. Everyone except one of the lizards, that is. Dalron was able to fly over to the wizard and kill him before he got off another spell.

With only one lizard to pull the cart, things were moving slower. The party decided to allow Dalron to fly ahead, carrying Sebastian with him as a look-out (using Sebastian's infravision). Entering a cavern to the northwest, they smelled a horrible smell of death that caused Dalron to begin retching. In the cavern below were no less than 40 ghouls and ghasts. Dalron turn and flew back toward the party, with the undead horde chasing. Sarril cast a Wall of Force across a narrow portion of the tunnel, causing the horde to crash into it like a scene out of World War Z. Sarril then tossed a fireball over the wall, destroying the entire horde. Dalron, still flying, then searched the remaining side caverns, throwing daggers at any remaining ghouls.

The next encounter was more difficult. Up on high shelves on either side of the next cavern were 24 gargoyles, 12 per side. The gargoyles were not reacting to the party, but that just made things suspicious, so Dalron and Sebastian flew up to one of the shelves and Dalron pushed one of the gargoyles off the ledge. The gargoyle, and the other 11 on the shelf, all came to life and attacked.

Gargoyles are fairly low HD creatures and they don't do a lot of damage, but they get four attacks each, and when a lot of them are swarming, the damage starts to add up. Soon, the other 12 gargoyles were awake and joined the fight, causing the party to be swarmed by more than 20 at a time. Sebastian blew the Iron Horn of Valhalla, summoning two berserk warriors to the shelf he was on while Dalron flew down to join the rest of the party. It took some time to kill all of the gargoyles, and a lot of damage was taken due to the sheer number of attacks, but the party survived. As it turns out, the gargoyles knew better than to attack drow, and had no interest in attacking the party that were dressed like drow, so this was an encounter that could have been avoided, but hey, they got some EXP.

The party decided not to search the area, preferring instead to make use the of the limited time they had with the Fly spell to explore as much as possible. Heading around to the west and then south, they found a small, humanoid sized tunnel with terraced steps leading down. Dalron decided to explore, flying just above the floor to avoid traps. The tunnel was dark ahead, and tossing a Continual Light coin into the darkness did not change that. Realizing this was magical darkness, he asked Sarril to dispel it, but the dispel failed. Pressing forward into the darkness, Dalron triggered a magic mouth warning declaring that the tunnel up ahead has collapsed and is unsafe. Dalron took that to mean that there must be something interesting up ahead that someone doesn't want the party to stumble into, and therefore they should all move forward. He asked Sarril to try a second time to dispel the darkness. He did and it worked the second time.

There was then an argument that took place between the party members, led by Dalron on one side and Sarril on the other. Sarril believed that some very powerful magic-user must be located inside the tunnel (a lich, Sebastian postulated) and should be left alone. Dalron believed that such a powerful being would not need to issue such basic warnings, and that this was likely something trying to appear powerful. In the end, the entire party, except for Sarril, decided to go into the tunnel. They emerged in a cavern where almost everywhere they stepped, they tripped a Magic Mouth warning. At one end of the cavern were three illithids, but the illithids didn't attack. They were shackled to columns, and each one had a small spike driven into its forehead. They looked to be writhing in pain.
The party realized that whatever could do that to illithids was definitely too much for them to handle,  so they ran out of the cavern as fast as they could.

Continuing to explore the cavern, they eventually came across a pen containing pack lizards, which must belong to the drow who use them. Casting Animal Friendship, Sebastian took one of the lizards and connected it to the cart, making it fully functional again.

The final encounter of the session came shortly thereafter. In a nearby sub-cavern was a contingent of drow. Four male fighters with a male commander, and eight female fighters with a female commander. The female commander was riding a nightmare and holding a wicked looking magical lance. Recognizing that the odds were a bit overwhelming, Sarril summoned two, five-headed hydras while Sebastian summoned a fire elemental. These summoned creatures would buy the team the time they needed to squeeze out a victory.

While the male fighters were quickly dispatched, the female fighters proved to be tougher and more capable. Using atlatls, they hurled poisoned spears at Dalron and Shan-Ju, knocking them unconscious pretty early in the battle. Sebastian and Sarril, using the additional time bought by the summoned creatures, were able to cast Neutralize Poison to bring them back up just as the female fighters brought down the hydras. In the meantime, the new dwarf fighter, Tyril, along with the fire elemental, decimated the male troops, including the commander. A now awake Shan-Ju began tearing into the female fighters and Dalron started throwing daggers with terrifying effect at female commander, as Sebastian followed up, throwing a javelin of lightning, nearly killing her.

Enraged, the female commander charged at Dalron, striking him with lance for double damage. The physical damage from the lance was minimal, but the secondary magical damage was severe. Dalron made a save vs. poison and avoided the most devastating effects, then flew into the air and threw more daggers. At this point, the commander was almost dead, and had only one round to do something. She threw the lance at Dalron, rolling a critical and striking him in the chest. Although he took a severe amount of damage, he made his save vs. poison, and avoided the worst secondary effects of the lance, and thus lives another day. After that, with only a couple of hit points left, the party was able to bring the commander down. At that point, the remaining fight with the few female fighters that stood was easy.

We left off here, having overrun our scheduled session by an hour. It is late afternoon (or so is the party can guess) on the 9th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580.

22nd Day of Patchwall, 580 CY - Into the Depths of Oerth

The party rested for a full six days in order to properly collect all of treasure from the dragon hoard, so they will starting their journey already one week behind as the bubble continues to grow on the surface. But hey, I never called them heroes. EXP and treasure is what matters here. It is a game, after all.

Stand-in image for Tyril until his player provides a better one

During the treasure collection, a dwarf came wandering by and the party intercepted him. He introduced himself as Tyril, and claimed he was with a party of adventurers seeking out the fire giants and the drow to investigate their involvement in the chaos on the surface. He knew of a dwarf named Obmi who was previously sent to investigate and didn't come back. Tyril told the tale of his party being attacked by Mind Flayers (Illithids). He was able to escape but feared his companions all had their brains eaten. Among his companions was a monk named Shan-Ju, who had connected with the party in search of something called Slerotin's Tunnel, which would provide passage through the mountains and back to his homeland. Unless all monks are named Shan-Ju, the party recognized the name as a travelling companion they met in the demi-planes below the Temple of Elemental Evil, who was an honorary member of their group for a short time. Everyone recognized that there is strength in numbers and decided to stay together, so let's welcome Tyril to the party of the Bad Ass Motherfuckers.

The group explained to Tyril that Obmi had turned evil and was working for King Snurr. He had attacked the party, and they managed to defeat him and took his stuff, which they offered to Tyril. He
was honored to accept it (hey, +2 dwarven plate!). Soon, they were on their way, and having a dwarf in the party would be a big help in trying to navigate the complex caves of the underdark.

On their way out, the party explored all of the twisting side passages of the cave network of the fire giants, just to make sure they didn't miss anything. They found many empty rooms that looked they were drow barracks/living areas, but had been recently cleared out. They came across a jewel encrusted grotto that reflected their light brightly in a rainbow of colors. As they stepped into this room, they saw their old friend, Shan-Ju. He didn't look like himself, though. His eyes were staring blankly off into the distance. He then spoke a warning "Turn away from here, and your lives shall be spared."

Knowing that Shan-Ju was last seen with Illithid's, the party was now extra cautious. As much as they would have liked to turn around and walk away, they didn't want to leave their friend to his fate. So they started to fan out and cast various enhancement spells to prepare for battle. If there were Illithids in here, they were out of sight for now. Shan-Ju spoke again "Leave now, or suffer unbearable pain."

The party decided the best course of action would be to attack Shan-Ju, bring him to near-death, and then heal him. So that's what they tried to do. As the party converged on Shan-Ju and started to attack, three Illithids stepped out from behind nearby columns and used their mind-blast attacks on the party. Dalron was stunned, but everyone else miraculously made multiple saving throws. It looked like the party might have a chance to survive this. Sarril began blasting them with spells (ineffectively, due to their 90% magic resistance) while Sebastian and Tyril closed in. The first Illithid used Telekenesis to pull Dalron to him and start munching on his brain, but Tyril closed in on it and began attacking, slowing down the process. The third Illithid cast Suggestion on Sebastian, ordering him to attack Sarril, which he did. Sarril ignored these attacks for a couple of rounds as he tried to continue attacks on the second Illithid without any effect. The good news is that Sarril also made his save against all of the attacks coming from the second and third Illithids, so it was a stalemate with neither side able to affect the other.

Soon, Tyril had killed the first Illithid that was on Dalron. He then turned his attention to the second Illithid, who used Levitate to levitate Tyril into the air and hold him there, taking him out of the fight. Sarril decided to cast Dispel Magic on Sebastian, ending the Suggestion spell, which allowed Sebastian to rush back into the fight. Soon, thanks to some more successful saving throws, he was able to kill the third Illithid, leaving only the second one to face Sarril and Sebastian and a soon to be un-stunned Dalron. The Illithid chose to escape rather than continue the flight, flickering out of sight. Soon Shan-Ju was back to normal, unsure of how he got to where he was, but happy to see his old friend Sarril.

The party spent an hour or so searching the grotto and eventually found a large puzzle box underneath a pile of rocks. The puzzle box could only be opened by someone of 18 intelligence, but Sarril is smart enough and managed to open the box. Inside was an amulet which would later be identified as an Amulet of the Planes, and a book written with strange symbols that Sarril did not recognize. This book would turn out to be a Manual of Clarity (a one-time use artifact-level item which permanently raises intelligence by 1 point).

Almost out of the caves, the party came across a rope bridge over a lava river. Two Fire Salamanders were here, and the party quickly and easily dispatched them before searching the area and then crossing the bridge (with help from a Fly spell, just in case). Across the bridge was another cleared out area used by drow, with a table, chairs, and other furniture. Although everything of value was taken, Sarril discovered a chest hidden by illusion. Inside the chest was an adamantine scroll tube and an Ebony Fly. Inside the tube was a scroll of Wish. The rest of the chest was empty. A parting gift from Eclavdra, perhaps?

The party decided to rest in this area for another four days while Sarril studied the book he found. The book was written with a series of difficult to understand symbols which, once studied, seemed vaguely understandable, though it made his head hurt. After each page, the symbols became more difficult to understand, but he felt himself getting smarter as he went. After four days of headaches, his intelligence was raised by one point. Unfortunately, the book could not be opened again. It was now the 26th Day of Patchwall, and the party would have a lot of time to make-up (if time is of a concern for them).

Off into the Underdark they went. The underdark, at this stage of the campaign, is little more than a myth or legend. A vast network of huge underground cave complexes that connect deep underneath the surface of Oerth, and is home to all manner of vile creatures, like the drow. The party quickly learned why this map was not going to be easy to follow. The natural caverns form multiple levels of shelves with tunnels in many directions. Without a compass, it is unclear which way is north. Even for a surface ranger and druid, they would get quickly lost. And they did.

The Underdark

Near the end of the first day of travel, the party came back to the same area they started. This time, they saw a drow caravan coming over a natural bridge. There were 12 drow in total. Six male guards, two female clerics and four merchants. Sarril cast Invisibility 10' Radius on the party so they could hide off to the side and let them pass.

The drow guards fanned out at the end of the bridge, searching the area, then called back an "all clear" to the caravan behind. The party was safe. Then Dalron started explaining to the party that they should take this caravan out so they can get their stuff (not very "ranger-like" behavior, acting like a highwayman - we may have to visit his alignment in the future). One of the drow heard the voice, and looked over in their direction to figure out where it was coming from. Sebastian, figuring that they had been discovered, fired his own drow crossbow at one of the guards, then activated his Ring of Insvisibility to go invisible again. The drow responded as drow do, by using Faerie Fire to light up the entire party. Now the fight was on.

I don't remember a lot about the specifics of the fight. I do recall that multiple Hold Person attempts failed on the entire party, and that the drow guards, even at 4 HD and specialized with drow crossbows, couldn't hit the -6 and -8 ACs of the melee fighters. One lucky shot did hit Dalron and he failed his poison save, which caused him to fall asleep. A follow-up Web spell from one of the priestesses might have managed to capture the party, except that Sarril was able to leap free of it and then use Dispel Magic to get rid of it. Sebastian was able to use Neutralize Poison to bring Dalron back into the fight, and that pretty much meant things were over for the drow. One of the priestesses had already fallen, and the other priestess uses a Lurker Cloak to transform and escape into the cavern ceiling. Dalron, using Fly and Detect Magic, attempted to find her, but the ceiling was too vast and he was unable to pinpoint her location. The four merchants, in the meantime, used their innate Darkness and Levitate abilities to leap over the bridge under the cover of darkness and run away.

While they didn't manage to kill all of the drow, they did manage to get themselves a wagon, pulled by two subterranean lizards. After picking through the goods in the cart and taking what they want, the party disposed of the rest of the crates and piled onto the wagon. They could now journey through the underdark on the wagon and not worry about being fatigued from staying in heavy armor. They may even make up some time, depending on how often and how long the lizards need to rest (we shall see). For the next seven days, the party traveled unmolested through the Underdark (hopefully on course). Looking like a drow merchant caravan has its perks, it seems.

It is now the 6th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580, and the party is about to encounter something interesting. Stay tuned. . .