DW Session 38: Poroshenko's Sewer Troubles, Pt. 2

General Summary

10/1/897 After the previous session's fight against the Sunken God's sahuagin the Royal Knights Brigade took a short rest to heal themselves and prepare for a further descent into Poroshenko's sewers. No traps or barricades were erected to bar their journey, but the RKB took its time stalking down the dungeon to watch for any potential monsters.   Sure enough, at the end of the hallway Jax and Beleren came across a handful of sahuagin barking out orders in Abyssal. The party couldn't understand the demands, but they saw that Bratomil, Poroshenko's chief of defense, and a couple of his elven guards were speaking in Abyssal as well. Taking this as a sign that Bratomil and the guards had been turned into deep scions like the villagers of Gordigrad, the party prepared for another hard-fought battle.   The RKB ran into several setbacks during this second fight. A shambling mound of seaweed and algae engulfed Beleren and almost buffeted him to death. Meanwhile Jax was continually charmed and stunned by the deep scions and sahuagin priestesses, stuck in place while him and Kacie Whately got attacked multiple times over. Oleg's quick thinking saved himself and Flora when he cast 'Web' and ensnared several of the sahuagin in its radius. Flora killed the shambling mound (affectionately known as 'Steve') and rescued Beleren, and together they helped Jax clear the tunnels of the sahuagin horde.   The sahuagin were defeated, but the party had a larger threat to face at the end of the dungeon: a reservoir full of explosives. A blue flame burned on a candle above a barrel of explosives with a metallic clicking noise counting down to its detonation. Oleg determined that this explosives setup was the same kind used by the Sunken God's forces in Hedgpeth and Kassadeia to flood the towns and make it easier for sahuagin to invade, and from the look of the flame it was set to detonate in a matter of minutes.   Searching for ways to extinguish the magical blue flame, Beleren poured a 2-lb bag of flour over its wick to cut off its source of oxygen. The flame still burned. Channeling the powers of his nature deity Yo-Na, Jax slashed at the flame with his great-sword to snuff out the candle. The flame still burned. Flora was helpless to put out the flame, so Oleg steeled himself and told the party to strip the tunnels of any wiring branching out from the blue flame. He would stay behind to try and cast 'Counterspell', and if the spell failed the party would at least have time to stop the explosion from detonating all the other barrels in the rest of the sewers. With just a handful of seconds left before detonation, the tunnels were cleared of any wiring and the party fled down the tunnels to get as far away from the reservoir as possible. Oleg's 'Counterspell' failed, and the reservoir exploded with the firepower of a 'Meteor Swarm'.   Everybody in the party tried to escape the explosion, Beleren avoiding most of the blast while Jax and Flora took the brunt of it. Kacie was also badly injured, but Beleren helped carry her for the rest of the way out of the dungeons. Then the RKB remembered Oleg. They found his body near the site of the explosion, blown dozens of feet forward by the blast and burnt to a crisp. Flora tried to cast 'Revivify' on the body, but nothing happened: the minute had passed for 'Revivify' to work.   Before leaving the sewers to head back to Poroshenko, the RKB discussed whether Oleg should be resurrected or not. Flora, having confiscated the 150GP in Oleg's pockets after 'Revivify' failed to work, decided that it would cost too much to bring him back from the dead. So the four of them paid their respects to Oleg, a hedge wizard who redeemed himself and died a hero in the fight against the Sunken God.   Above-ground in Poroshenko the town was in an uproar after the sewer explosion had destroyed a segment of the Temple of Aurithrym. The party told one of the guards on duty that Bratomil's forces had been killed by the sahuagin horde, so a younger soldier named Kirill had to take over the duties of defending the city with the remaining forces. Beleren and the others then went to city hall to speak with city councilor Vadik, overworked from dealing with the explosion's fallout and the sahuagin threat. He was dismayed to learn that much of the city's garrison had been massacred by the Sunken God's forces, but he was relieved to learn that all of the sahuagin had been killed by the RKB. Sensing the gravity of the situation, he promised the party that he would speak with Glace's Prime Monarch and ask her to form a coalition that could sail to the Elflands and fight the Sunken God head-on in Kassadeia.   The RKB returned to the White Kraken tavern after a night's worth of traveling through the sewers, Beleren talking with Jax about how high the stakes were to defeat the Sunken God. Flora went into the girl's tavern room for a much-needed long rest, but she found the room in tatters with Margaret Keats unconscious on the floor. Asdis and Helena were missing along with the Iron Flask, and when Margaret came to she said that the Sardivelian Brigade of Knights had stormed the room while the party was down in the sewers. Radovan the Killer left them a note: hand over Jax for execution at Kolya Bridge, and the Iron Flask would be returned to the RKB.   Flora spoke with Jax and Beleren to tell them about the kidnapping, and the party agreed to make the day's journey out to Kolya Bridge by the end of the week to deal with Radovan and Giovanni Rosso once and for all. But first, a shopping spree was in order. Beleren bought some new sacks of flour, healing potions, and a cloak that could change colors at will. As usual, he lied to all of the shopkeepers about his true identity. Jax buried Oleg in the woods outside of Poroshenko, but afterwards he bought some nets and javelins along with a pair of handcuffs. He had a plan for his confrontation with Radovan.   At the end of the week the party traveled to Kolya Bridge, an ancient bridge built more than 5,000 years ago that used to span the Strait of Myltev. It was where Roland and Elan killed Arthur in the 870's, and now the Sardivelian Brigade of Knights were using it as a hideout while they waited for their final encounter with Jax. The party rode up to the bridge, and Jax put on the handcuffs to make it look like he was being restrained. He walked up to Radovan while Rostam Dova the white dragonborn sorceror sealed off the bridge's entrance with the spell 'Wall of Ice' to separate Jax from the rest of the RKB.   Radovan explained why Jax had to die: If anybody struck Radovan, they shouldn't be left alive. Resurrection upset the balance of life and death, and Jax's revival represented the most blatant disregard for this tenant. Nothing mattered more to Radovan than restoring this balance, Sunken God be damned. As Jax stepped forward and kneeled in front of the only man that had ever defeated him in combat, Radovan raised his great-sword and prepared to deliver a killing blow.   Several things happened in the seconds afterwards. Jax broke out of his handcuffs and jumped onto Radovan, grappling him to the ground. Once Flora heard the struggle happening beyond the ice wall, she summoned a 'Fire Storm' to destroy the ice wall and attack the Sardivelian Brigade of Knights with a searing wave of fire. The battle of Kolya Bridge had begun.   Margaret and Flora fought Rostam Dova, nearly frozen to death by his powerful cold spells. Margaret got close enough to deliver a killing blow to Rostam while Flora summoned a 'Blade Barrier' around Nick the fighter and several of the veteran guards hired to defend Giovanni. Kacie fought hard against Nick, forcing him to retreat and push through the Blade Barrier to try and help Radovan.   Beleren finally used the Cloak of the Mountebank that he'd purchased in Oblast to teleport to the opposite side of Kolya Bridge, running towards Giovanni and rescuing Helena and Asdis from their rope bindings. One veteran guard tried to hold Helena hostage, but Beleren and Jax let him escape so long as he agreed to release her. He was only there for the money, after all.   During all of this fighting, Jax's plan was working flawlessly. Maintaining the grapple against Radovan, he snapped a pair of handcuffs on him that Radovan failed to break out of even over the next several rounds. Incapacitated, Jax picked Radovan up and moved over to the edge of Kolya Bridge, overlooking the 230-ft. drop into the Strait of Myltev below. He warned Radovan to never interfere with the RKB ever again, after which he tossed him off the side of the bridge into the waters of the Strait below. The fight continued...

Rewards Granted

• Flora and Jax progressed to lvl 15
• Beleren progressed to lvl 14
• Beleren bought two healing potions, a sack of flour, and a cloak that could change colors at will
• Jax bought four nets, four javelins, and a pair of handcuffs

Character(s) interacted with

Vadik, Kirill, Radovan the Killer