Chapter 1-19: The Worm in the Apple

General Summary

Aetilius and Miaug made their way into the Temple of Silvanus. At the moment, almost all of the beds were full; while all around Sisters flitted between the beds, their pale green habits stained and their faces drawn but determined, as they administered medicines, gently spooned watery broth into their patient's mouths, or just sat and comforted the afflicted.
One of the Sisters quickly intercepted them, gently shepherding them out of the hall back into the entrance antechamber. She explained she was looking to stop the infection spreading, and asked them what they needed. Miaug explained about Arwyl. The Sister couldn't recall seeing an elf who matched her description, but admitted that their record keeping had suffered due to the massive influx of patients. Aetilius volunteered to go in and look, as he was protected from disease by Selune. The Sister agreed and Aetilius started to look around the sick, looking for an elf matching the description Miaug gave him - but there was no sign of her. Miaug and Aetilius started to quiz the Sister on the symptoms and treatments for Gutter Cough. The rest of the party joined them in the antechamber, and they thanked the Sister for her help before leaving again.
Aetilius and Clootie went to speak to Perry about the symbol in Amyr's journal, while the rest of the group returned to the sewers. Perry explained that he had already been asked about this same symbol by Amyr, and had managed to locate some information, but Amyr had never returned to claim it. Perry also explained that he'd been unable to find a translation for the runes on Kulog, but that he had found some papers by a dwarven scholar named Hlant Ironhand in Rakheen regarding ancient dwarven runes, and suggested they seek him out for further information. Clootie also asked him about the Nethonris. Perry was able to explain that the Nethonris were an old cult which had been formed in the aftermath of the The Primordial War by the remnants of the Netheril Empire. They had been destroyed by the Inquisitors of Selune centuries ago, long before Wave Echo Cave had been found. Based on the documents Perry had been able to find, this appeared to be an Aboleth Warding Glyph. Clootie and Aetilius raced back to the rest of the party to explain before they accidentally came across the ward and triggered it.
In the sewers, the party regrouped in the Maintenance Storage with the Thieves Guild survivors. Faila provided them with directions to both the mysterious blind junction in the sewers, and to the harbour entrance where the children had seen a creature in the water. The party decided to investigate the creature in the harbour, and made their way through the winding sewer network.
After an hour of travel, the group began to feel a breeze on their skin, and they could begin to smell sea air over the foul stench of the sewage. Rounding the corner they saw sunlight ahead, as the tunnel ended in a large iron grating. The grating extended across the sewage channel in the middle of the tunnel, but either side was clear, allowing ledges to extend outward and along the harbour wall. Stepping out into the fresh air, they found themselves standing on a narrow ledge around eight feet above the waterline, in a deserted corner of the harbour quite a distance from the docks. An iron ladder reached down into the water, and a few metres to the left was a small shingle beach, an ideal fishing spot, only a short swim from the base of the ladder.
The party were unable to see anything in the water. Aetilius flew over to beach, but was still unable to spot anything. Clootie decided to cannonball from the ledge into the water. Treading water for a moment, she felt something brush against her leg. Panicking, she swam back towards the ladder and just managed to grab the lower rung when something tried to grab her leg. Reflexively she whipped it out of the way, and scrambled up the ladder as something thrashed against it below the waterline. Miaug could just make out a long sinewy shadow under the surface. She readied her bow, but decided instead to quickly cast Speak to Animals and call out a greeting. The creature stopped suddenly, and a narrow, spined head poked out of the water fixing its pale blue eyes on her curiously. She recognised it as a Dragon Eel, a fairly uncommon shallow water aquatic predator. She explained who they were and that they were looking into a mysterious sea monster some children had spotted in the harbour. The Dragon Eel explained that it lived in this edge of the harbour, and had no interest in attacking humans, it was merely protecting it's territory. Food was scarce at the moment as it was winter. Miaug asked if it had seen a large predator, like the aboleth, but it had not. She also asked if Ryoko could absorb it's shape. The eel was confused by this request, but agreed. Ryoko climbed down the ladder and gently rested her hand on the creature's head. After a moment, the Dragon Eel became very still, falling into a short trance, before whipping itself away from her hand. Miaug asked if hurt, the Dragon Eel responded that it wasn't painful, but that he felt Ryoko inside it's head. Miaug thanked the creature and promised to keep the Guild Members away from it's territory. With that, the eel dove back into the depths and the party made their way back to the Thieves Guild.