Session 3
Alamar
We made our way, with much starvation and thirst, to the underground city of Sloobubaloodoop or something like that. It was on the edge of an underground lake complex which we later learned was filled with fish very eager to eat or be eaten. However, our welcome to the city itself was somewhat lacking. First we met a group of fish people who wanted to sacrifice us to their father-god of fish. Then we met a second group of fish people who killed the first group. They worshipped the mother-god of fish and wanted to pretend to offer us as sacrifices to the father-god of fish as a sort of peace offering. We were supposed to start a fight when the father-followers tried to sacrifice us, so the mother-followers could kill them all. That… didn’t go as planned. But we got a chance to rest, some food, and slightly improved gear. A longsword and shield for me.
That bit about not going as planned? A two-headed demon at least 30 feet tall attacked in the middle of the sacrificial ceremony. We ran. (It wasn’t Daddy, thank his scaly nethers!)
We fled on a boat, or really three canoes, since this area of the underdark is, apparently, wet.
When we made camp for lunch, we met three duergar. They were surprisingly hospitable for a place with such a grave reputation as the Underdark. They were headed for the place we had just left, so we told them it had been eaten by a demon. They did not believe us, of course, so continued on their way.
We talked over our future path and decided to go from Sloobadoodle to some other place near the Neverlight Glen. Our mushroom was headed to the Glen. From there, to Mont someplace which might have a connection to the surface.
If that didn’t work out, Gauntlygrym was far away but definitely has a surface connection. The mushroom is sure of it.
We’re down to trusting a telepathic mushroom.
This is bad.
What’s worse is that the person who has been finding our food went temporarily insane when we walked through a haunted cave. She doesn’t seem all there anymore.
And on the way to Glinglefruck (I can’t keep any of these names straight, no wonder people get lost down here) we met a pack of stirges. It was a close thing – the only benefit is that Thea had to bite one to get it off of Eldath, and if I can just mentally edit the stirge out of THAT picture in my head, I’ll be able to tease Thea about it mercilessly.
But as soon as we settled down to rest after the first group of stirges, another group appeared.
I hate the Underdark.
Alia
The gear we grabbed from the dead drow lasted us until our destination, barely. A brief incident through a cavern with screaming and murmuring. Thea started babbling and doing everything in triplicate. A naked man ran by, screaming. We didn’t see anything, but that’s probably a good thing. Our fish-man guide finally led us to his village. Before we reached it, a band of fish-men accosted us, and demanded we surrender. Our guide tried to ask for an explanation, but they attacked us. They outnumbered us, were fresh, and had armor and weapons. We were no match for them, although we did kill one and knocked a couple more unconscious. I could have run. I should have run, probably. But without supplies, having no idea where anything is down here, it didn’t make sense. I stayed, and was knocked unconscious with everyone else.
When we recovered, we were bound, and the fish-men led us towards the village. Another group of fish-men approached, and there was a fight between the two groups. The new group won. They freed us, and made us an offer: help them defeat the rivals worshipping the father god instead of the traditional mother god, and they would reward us handsomely. We had no choice really, so we agreed. We were brought into the village and put in a building near the altars. We were given gear and weapons. I was hoping for clothing, but all they had was fabric tied with rope. I had better freedom of movement naked under the leather armor. I’m never going to be warm again, I swear. I do, however, have a ton of darts to throw, so it’s a slight improvement in my arsenal.
The mother god priest led us towards the altar of their rivals. He stabbed a rival, who bled onto the rival altar. The battle began. It seemed to be going well, but Alamar was moving towards the edge of the battle, and urging us to leave. We were promised a reward, and where else were we going to go? This was supposed to be where we’d find help. Then the lake started churning and tentacles reached out. A huge demon rose out of the water, with tentacles and two heads. It started indiscriminately slaughtering everything, and destroying the village. So now, I have to wonder, did Alamar know this was coming? He’ll need watching.
Our fish guide led us to boats by the docks, and we fled the destruction across the lake. I looked between the 30 foot huge demon and Alamar. Is his father demon that big? If so, how exactly did that work…? The upside to being on water was there were fish to eat and water to drink. Fish that wanted to eat everything else, but at least it’s food. We smacked fish with our paddles and chucked them in the boats, which resulted in bites if we weren’t careful. We stopped at an island to camp. A boat with three duergar pulled up. We told them about the massacre, but they were determined to see for themselves. They believed we could find passage to the surface at a city to the northeast. Our female dwarf companion believed we could find passage to the surface at her city to the northwest. Both beyond the home of our telepathic mushroom friend. We had promised it we would bring it home, and it had been useful. We really should honor the promise. Hopefully we can get close enough that it can guide us the rest of the way.
We arrived at a spot of land we would need to carry the boats over. We were promptly attacked by stirges. I was hit hard, but fought on. Thea bit one of the things, which was just gross. Thea went down, but was revived by Hans and K9 after we killed all the creatures. We were about to start moving the boats back to the water on the other side, when another pack of stirges approached. Is it too much to hope that, if I’m going to die here, I can at least get warm once first?