Session 11

Faolain

No torture, as it turns out. It would have made a nice diversion. Alamar said it would be easier to just drag the derro back to the city where a city guard captain wanted him for questioning, then to question him ourselves. From what Alamar and Creg said, there were multiple authority figures, including the dragon itself, that wanted this derro. The guard captain had promised them a way out of the city, and supplies, though. I was all for getting out of the city. It took some doing to get the derro into a sack. I tried a sleep spell, but it didn’t work on him. He struggled and yelled in desperation. Eventually we got him tied up, gagged, and knocked unconscious. A search of his belongings included notes of what Alamar said were list of the names of demon generals, and a note to someone promising more information in return for more scrolls and “time.” I wonder what he wanted more time for. He also had pouches with giants’ skin and nails.

There was a statue of a stone giant with a lump next to its head in the middle of the circle. There was a big crate filled with stones the size of that statue. There was a broken statue with two heads beside the circle, which crumbled to dust when it was touched. I have theories, none of them good. Creg and Alamar described a fight in the city when a stone giant suddenly grew a second head and went mad. It seems someone is using the circle and the samples from the derro to make that happen. But are they summoning or invoking demons to do it, or are people the derro was taking notes about using the names of demon generals? My lady of pain would not approve of the ritual either way. It wasn’t sanctioned by her, and the Underdark is hers. I tried to break the circle, but it was made of something that I couldn’t scuff or scratch out. Prim did throw bodies into the circle and get the statute out of the center at least. I burned the samples in a brazier on our way out. As we walked out, a plant on the wall screamed, then fell silent. Soggy said it was an alarm.

Alamar led the way out of the caverns. We were attacked by a water elemental on the way. It seemed to focus on me, even though I kept to the wall of the tunnel and tried to stay away from the end of the pond it was in. It even dragged me under once, but I broke free. We all got out of the way, and then it seemed more work than it was worth to try to find the thing in the water and kill it.We climbed out of the tunnels into a warehouse. Got some odd looks carrying the derro in a sack, but nobody stopped us. The guard captain was surprised to see us three new people with Creg, and didn’t know Alamar at all. But she honored the original deal in exchange for the derro. We’re staying at an inn tonight, please not in a room anywhere near Alamar, and being given supplies and an escort out of the city in the morning. I can finally get on with my mission to find the relic my lady of sorrows wants found. I wonder if we’ll hear gossip in the inn about more giants with two heads.

Alamar

We didn’t really remember the questions we were supposed to ask the derro Drogi. Well, I mean, mostly I didn’t, because I’m not used to handling that stuff. The boss told me to go find Drogi, I found Drogi. Creg remembered a little. Mostly I remembered that the dragon, the dragon priests, and the guard captain all wanted Drogi, but for different reasons. The rest of the group really had no idea of any of this, but they wanted out of the city and out of the underdark, so they were following my lead. Which is weird, and I’m not used to it.

Anyways, I led them out of the caverns and back to the city proper. That part was easy, except for the water weird that tried to eat Faolain. I’m convinced it was really just Soggy’s subliminal desires manifesting. We got past it without bothering to kill it, figuring any treasure would be too hard to bother getting to.

The guard captain honored our deal, gave us some goods including a breastplate for me, and got us out of the city. I hope the dragon doesn’t eat her.

I feel strange, like some important change is about to descend upon me. I’ve been throwing up every morning, and feeling nauseous. I thought it was something I ate. Now I’m not so sure.