Session 18: Entering Undermountian

General Summary

Session 01MAY2019: We head to the Yawning Portal, where we see a bedraggled Elf being “winched up,” now “wenched up,” from the great crack in the floor. Much betting, presumably regarding the Elf, is in the process of resolution as we enter. We talk to him, and he says that he descended as a party of three, and that two of his buddies didn’t come back.   I inquire about the presence of food in the Dungeon, and the Elf says that such is in short supply. So, Lily and I decide to invent protein bars, a.k.a. Chocolate-covered bacon. The betting seems to be in the form of a pool: green adventurers go down, and corpses/near-corpses come up. The betting seems to center around the statre in which a particular adventurer will return.   We canvas the tavern patrons for information. I overhear that many groups of friends go down, but usually end up turning on each other. Magical, or stress? I’m sure that we’ll find out!   We go shopping for food and supplies! We got the tools, we got the talent! As Durnin collects our Winch Fee, he warns us: “Be smart, old, bold soldiers and all that.”   WE enter the antechamber, which is decorated with broken shields and Elvish graffiti. The antechamber is 40-foot square, with one tunnel leading south. The floor is sand, and shows a lot of foot traffic. Lots of discarded adventurer trash, as well as adventurer parts, lay scattered about. We establish our marching order, Akira and I are in front, on low-altitude search duty.   As we start into the tunnels, the air gets colder and more cave-like. We enter a new hallway with a lot of doors depicting different kinds of demons. I notice, as we pass a particular door halfway down the hall (3rd on right), a subtle shift in the air (a breeze, pulling into the door). The figure is Chasme, a large insect demon. The door on the opposite side (Dretch, a dog/gorilla cross) has a similar outgoing draft. The eyes on this door’s demon sink in quite a bit. Moreover, we find a Kenku skeleton with its hand strategically pointing to the Chasme door. We decide to try the Chasme door.   We enter a room. 40-wide, in the middle is a wooden armor stand with a sword, a skeletal hand nearby, and voices coming from vents in the ceiling. We choose not to mess with the sword, but it has some kind of abjuration magic attached. We feel that the voices are coming from cellars and such from the city, above. In the back, NW corner, there might be another door with a draft around its edge. We open said door.   As we push on the door, we hear big footfalls beyond the door. We come into a large hallway that branches into a T, south branch with another T, and the north branch is a hexagonal room and the footfalls.   Det Vanishes and checks out the hex room. There are ten pillars scattered about, and more words on the SE wall with an arrow pointing to the S exit. “Certain death, this way.” There are more exits out of the room, in each cardinal direction.   We choose to backtrack to the Dogrilla demon door. The door opens to a 10-wide room with a 5-wide rough hallway leading down and smelling of sewage. The tunnel is 60 feet long with a stronger smell. Det investigates and finds a room with a tilted floor, more sunken to the west. In the back, an alcove holds a statue of a Sahguin (fish guy). The statue emits a dim, purple radiance. Its head is turned completely around and is missing an arm.   We backbacktrack to the pillar room, and I check it out. Poorly. But I live! We decide to try the south, “certain death” room. My poor perception is revealed when we find a giant 20-foot long snake skeleton suspended from the ceiling. Gnosh finds that the southernmost pillar has a loose stone, which reveals a hidey-hole, long since plundered. Lorin, who is egged on by Det, throws a rock at the snake skeleton. IT shatters with a veeeery loud noise.   Leading south, we find a 100-long hallway, that turns west 30-long, and south 20-long/downslope. The tunnel changes to a more earthen motif, and we find a dead Goblin. We also find evidence of mining and tools and a 5-wide tunnel. Clearly this Goblin was mining. West, SW, N, E, S, total 100-long. The tunnel seems to be a connecting tunnel to a 20-wide, 40-long room with a single door right and halfway down, with a double door to the left. We investigate. Half-buried, we find the headless statue of a nude woman. We find the head, which is the head of a cobra with fangs bared.   We choose the double door. As we open the doors, we come to a crossroads: east and south, 40-long each. We choose south. The tunnels are 10-high with flat ceilings and very clean. We find a T (east,west). There are candles in wall niches with 2 candles each. They make light and heat, but no smoke. We choose east.   We travel 40-long, S 20-long, still with candles, E 60-long, N 20-long. We enter a room with a metal mirror on the north wall; the edges are decorated with a graven image of a human wizard wielding a wand. The room is otherwise empty: no secret doors, so graffiti, no nothing. I hold up my pocket mirror to do the “infinite mirror” trick, but no oddness ensues.   Lorin sends Pepperdrop to investigate the mirror via touching. When Pepperdrop touches the mirror, the surface seems to liquefy. We see the image of a female Wizard, who warns us “You are not ready to enter here.” We ask what we must do to ready ourselves. We get the sense that this image is not originating from the mirror. Further conversation tells us that there are tougher rooms beyond the mirror, and that we’ll get killed in these. So, we “put a pin” in this. We ask for directions to Skullport, and she tells us that we’re looking for a Gate, but not this one. She also warns us to be wary of any runes we find; some are helpful and some are dangerous.   We backtrack to the first T beyond the double door and choose east. IT goes E 50-long, N 40-long, E 70-long. 20 feet from the end, we see a 30-square stone room on the left (north). Carved into a back-wall alcove, we find a bas relief of a nude fat man playing a harp. We also find a broken 10-foot pole. The harp is inscribed, “Gaze upon me with a bronzed visage, and all secrets I shall reveal.” WE continue down the hall   E 20-long, S 30-long, E 20-long and a door. As we open the door, we find a N/S T. We hear more heavy, running footfalls moving away to the north. We choose North!   N 70-long to a narrow room 20-wide, 50-long. Exits: N and E w/door. Gnosh finds a hidden door N with a tunnel leading N. We choose teh secret north door.   N 60-long, @ 50-long E 100-long, then a T: N/S. Door N, S 60-long and turns. 16 shields from various Dwarven, Human, and Elven tribes decorate the walls in a hidden alcove. We see a floating ephemeral human eye that disappears after a minute. Feng recognizes some old Human heraldry from Waterdeep’s founding.   We choose this new door. As we open the door, we find a zig-zagging hall. We hear an angry, rushing wind as we crack the door. We quickly shut the door. We head south.   We find a narrow room, 20-wide, 50-long. Immediately east is another hallway; exits W and S. The wall on the SE side is crumbled as if having been dug into. The west exit may connect to a previously explored location. We head west to confirm the connection. As we pass the threshold, we find a north tunnel, previously hidden by the doorway. There is a quite complicated set of branches, previously hidden. Gnosh hears some whispering or mumbling.   We see the broken halves of a stone table, tipped on their side. We see the corpses of two Goblins. One of the Goblins has some kind of tentacle-mouthed dead snake thing attached to it. We roll for initiative. Guns up and swords out! We encounter 2 bugbears and seven Goblins.