5/16/20 pg 1

--BEGIN SESSION--
We immediately fuck off from the sewers to go buy some heal pots. Go to apothecary, meet Sage Darton, who may or may not be 5 kobolds in a trenchcoat. Get 2 for 75 gp. Now we're poor. We now head back in, ready to go. Get back to the last area we were, and all of the battle viscera is still there, but it shows that something had moved through it. This means the few remaining gelatinous cubes hadn't gotten there. I make a bad Dex check, Melfina passes. She doesn't even try to catch me as I slip, and I notice. We start in, and as we get deeper, there are a number of branches, only the left side ones are passable. I feel that we are somewhere on the south side of the city, under the residential district. Lose the trail, Melfina tracks her leftover blood from the previous encounter. She points us in a direction, and it gets dark, only our magical light remaining. Sense a shift in the atmosphere from sewer-y to more natural, moss underfoot, with a musty, earthy smell. Another, maybe final, perception check. We notice a creature approach, about 4 ft tall. Thick humanoid, it approaches. Mushroom man, like Toad. It shies away from the light on my hammer, so we dim it a bit for its comfort. Druss/Melfina Int checks. It is a myconoid. Not usually evil, live in colonies, usually speak Undercommon and Common, normally seen as servants. We begin to talk to it, it is named Mellow. It had seen some people a day ago, and we ask from whence they came and to where they went. History: Bard fucked a shrinking mushroom, and now these people exist as slaves to the Drow and Duragar, until this colony moved here and the city takes good care of them. They are tax-paying almost-citizens with the ability to vote on the horizon. They have a master, Harold Ravenswood. They aren't supposed to call him the master. We ask Mellow to guide us to the central location where the humans down here last were. It wishes an offering, and the girls produce loose vegetation and jerky. It accepts, and we follow deeper into the sewers, turning right and moving back away from their colony. Head down a series of passageways, and pass Wis check, to make sure we could remember the way. We are rising gradually and moving towards the center of the city. The passage gets pretty narrow, but we squeeze through. It opens up into a well-made meeting chamber. High vaulted ceilings, great craftsmanship. Realize this is right under the fountain in front of the Cultural Congress. Perception/Investigation checks to see what else is in the room/figure out what's going on in this room. INV - purposely crafted tribute to Lady Constance. Pedestal for sacrifices (not blood, but like consumer goods). PER - Madra and I notice around us that at least a dozen crossbows are pointed at us. They haven't shot us yet, and I call out to them. They don't answer, but some are lowered. 2.5 ft hunched figure Garnet the Tonedeaf walks towards us. She wonders what we're doing in this neck of the woods, she was also investigating stuff. Before their arrival this room had been vacated, assuming that the kidnappers used this room as a hand-off location. They are still in the sewers as of this point. Them having been through yesterday per Mellow meshes with her info. They knew we were coming because of Caleb getting away. Danarei is there too. The group investigates the upper wraparound of the room, looking for evidence of where the villains have gone. Rorin finds a hidden alcove with a coin purse (30 gp), a note, and a key. Melfina finds some dried blood to use for her witchcraft. Lastly Druss finds an old chalk message "Your princess was in another fucking castle!" Also an ornate scroll. Druss hands it to me, and I read. Has a series of unrelated phrases, I think we need a code breaker. Aurane cannot come to that conclusion though. Rorin opens his note, it is a letter written in a similar code to the scroll. His note includes the cipher. He tells us about the stuff. His note was in Thieves' Cant, so he can read it. It was about shipping out the kidnapped people, it was written about a week ago. The shipment out was delayed, to a date one week after this point. Apply cipher to the scroll, break down coordinates of (6) possible bases that they may have relocated to, all under separate temples, under the Temple of Dreams, the Gypsy Jamboree, the Temple of Pudge, the Solstice Study, Eros Choza, and the Temple Forge. Share this info with Garnet, her people are going to continue to patrol the night to protect against further kidnappings.
10 PM We go to exit the area, and I ask Mellow if we can visit the Hive later, yes as long as we bring better offerings (money). Head topside and have to get out from under cobblestones, Melfina in front fails to lift it, she falls to the floor. Marda was in second position and tried to stop Melfina's fall. She hurts herself in the attempt and loses position. I make no attempt to catch Melfina, repaying her earlier slight. I got a little smack on their way down. Make a second attempt with Druss going first to do the heavy lifting. Hear some metal snapping somewhere (his arm?), then he gets it open. We're topside and go to Eros Choza. Enter manhole nearest the temple. Another sewer channel with water on the right as we move east. Hear rats, begin combat. Victory. Rearrange party so that I'm not in front cuz squish. Continue on carefully, observing for more rats. See an opening and step in, water is on the left, find a small ziggurat that this chamber is located in. PER - Fairly certain no one else is here now. INV - Foot traffic, not recent, 2-3 days ago. Go to leave out of the ziggurat, SUR check to find exit, I find hidden stairs, to ladder, to cobblestone again. Druss goes to open with me behind for Guidance, first time fail and metal snaps again, it's the ladder rung disconnecting from the wall. Second time it works, and upon opening he gets pissed on. I mend the ladder on my way up. Melfina is the last one out and PER - nothing out of the ordinary? Make our way to the Solstice Study, no manhole this time, but there is a well. We go down the well one at a time. Madra, Melfina, Druss, me, Batdwarf. Successes across the board. Land on ledge in the well that leads to some caverns. The path is very narrow. Move into more common sewer entrance. Notice that Rorin and Druss are not with us anymore. They got stuck in the passageway. Get them loose and continue on. Next fight, fluttering of wings is heard. Swarm of bats attacks. And insects at the back. Victory. Stealth into the narrow passage that leads to the ziggurat. PER - Scan room with distinct feeling that someone is in the room, but can't see them. INV - Find a letter and give to Rorin. Mellow appears to be the thing we felt as being in the room. The villains left like 40 minutes prior, heading east. The note says the shipment is on track to arrive in the next 7 days, that some of their members have noticed people looking into their group, worried that the Cerulean Sanctum may know what they're up to, but that this city is not, and that their base is still secure at this time. Mellow says there were more than (4) of them.
1 AM Climb up and out from under the Study. Head back to the estate. PER - check for watchers/followers. No one appears to be watching. Druss and I head back to our places, run into Danarei who checks on our progress for the night. I head in to my joint for the night. Danarei escorts Druss home. He goes up to find his room ransacked.
--END OF SESSION--