-The group begins their session by taking a long rest
- Cade creates a dome over the group to provide them some cover
- X2 and Cade begin the first watch
- About an hour or so into their first watch, a figure approaches the group from the northern tunnel
- The figure appears to be humanoid in appearance and wearing a beanie/cap
- He appears to be a drifter of some sort with eerie translucent skin
- The figure approaches the group and stands still outside the dome
- He doesn’t appear to have any weapons and doesn’t act in a threatening manner; all he does is stare inside the dome
- X2 and Cade remain on guard
-Lotty
and Dol wake up and take their shift while X2 sleeps and Cade goes into sentry
mode
- The mysterious man leaves
- From the eastern tunnel, another figure appears. The figure appears to be a cleaning lady/maid
- Like the first figure, the maid approaches the dome and only stares
- Lotty and Dol notice that her skin is green
- Dol suggests that they burn her, channeling his inner Elric, but Lotty warns against that; Dol is really exhausted
-Elric wakes up and sees the maid
figure
- He remembers that there are some people of the Underdark who may be controlled by others and do not act on their own behalf
- It’s possible this maid is being controlled and reporting back to some other entity
- Lotty and Dol take their rest again
- During Elric’s watch, the maid goes back to the eastern tunnel and disappears
-A woman with a cane appears from
the northern tunnel
- Like the other figures, her skin is translucent, slimy
- She approaches the dome and stares
- Elric does not see nor feel a powerful presence on her
- Everyone completes their long rest, the dome fades, but the woman remains staring
- X2 puts his hand next to her hand to compare their skin
- Her skin appears to be diseased, almost like a wet blister that you can see through
- Cade offers a goodberry to the woman, which she does not eat (instead, X2 eats the goodberry)
- At this point, Cade determines that the woman is a vessel
-The
group decides to move forward via the northern tunnel
- Elric sees a pool of green liquid
- Cade approaches the pool and sees 2 tunnels to the left and right
- The group goes back to where they started and into the eastern tunnel
- Throughout this whole time, the woman with a cane follows them
- The group, as they continue through the eastern tunnel, notice that the tunnel becomes tighter
- To avoid touching the slime on the walls, the group stops and Lotty summons her raven to scout ahead
- Lotty discovers that both the northern and eastern tunnel are connected
-To make
a long story short, during the next 1-2 hours, the group encounters pools and
pools of green slime, which they discover to be poisonous. Using various
spells, tricks, tools, and teamwork, the group navigates across the dangerous
pools. A few highlights:
- Cade uses his spider form to climb on the walls and creep Elric out
- Nessie doubles as a surfboard
- X2 can use his echo to traverse the pools (climbing and teleporting tricks)
- Lotty doesn’t trust X2’s rope tying techniques
- Dol is literally incapable of teleporting, flying, climbing, etc.., anything to get him out of sticky situations
- Ropes, blankets, and pitons galore
- The mysterious figures appear in the center of each poisonous pool… all just staring at the group
- The group encounters a very large poisonous pool, so Cade summons a family of 4 octopi
- It is worth mentioning how traumatizing this experience was for this family of octopi who were probably enjoying a nice afternoon at home.
- Cade, Elric, Lotty, and Dol all mount an octopus, and Cade commands the creatures to take the group to the other side of the pool (X2 uses his echo to travel to the other side of the pool safely)
-As Cade,
Elric, Lotty, and Dol cross the pool, a massive tentacle being with 3 eyes
appears in the middle of the pool
- The being communicates to the group telepathically
- X2 tries to befriend the being while Elric asks the being what he is
- The being introduces himself as the “Ancient One (AO) who holds up the city” (as he talks, the octopi cross the pool and let the group off on the other side safely)
- AO explains that when the Newcomers had their war, he offered shelter for people
- He has devoted followers that bring him riches of their family, etc.…, and in exchange, he protects them
- Elric the opportunist tries to deceive AO, which does not turn out well. Elric almost dies but Cade heals him back to consciousness
- AO continues… Daes the Deceiver was the most interesting of the Newcomers after his fall from grace
- Daes received a special punishment. He was stripped of his divinity and made into a mortal
- Elric pulls out a sword and asks AO what he knows about it
- In exchange for information, Elric gives AO 100p and 900g pieces
- It’s worth noting that under the pool beneath AO is a massive pile of coin, the largest pile of coin the group has ever seen
- AO tells Elric that the sword, crafted by Daes, is called Elias/Elyas the God Breaker
- The sword was wielded by champions of the fallen gods and seemed to be broken currently
-X2 asks
AO about his parents
- AO reaches out towards X2, tells him not to worry, and shoots tentacles up X2’s nostrils
- After releasing X2, AO tells him to come with him
- Cade in the meantime uses his ring of truth telling and senses no malevolence coming from AO towards X2
- X2, seeking his parents, decides to follow AO and says his farewells (X2 gives Dol the Immovable Rod)
-AO raises 2 tentacles and
thrusts one to each side of the pool, ripping space time and creating 2 portals
- The portal next to the group shows Sierrona
- AO raises a third tentacle and gives Cade a chest containing 3,000p pieces, which he splits evenly among the group (excluding X2)
- Cade asks AO where one can worship him, and AO responds by saying that no temples exist for him; the city is his temple. AO does not need worship, only respect.
- Elric asks if Daes sought it again, could he reach divinity? Possibly.
- Cade, Elric, Dol, and Lotty, after saying their goodbyes to X2, step into the Sierrona portal and disappear
- X2 hops on AO, and they both disappear into the other portal
-The
group of 4 return to the city of Sierrona along with 4 octopi
- They all feel a bit stronger and are looking forward to sushi for dinner