Session 23 - Scouting the Sahuagin

1 Yarthmont 1010 - 6 Yarthmont 1010

General Summary

The party met to discuss their approach to the scouting mission the alliance has given them. They have decided to go to the area a day early to scout it out, then enter the cave complex on the next day. They decide they should also get some feedback and clarifications, so they talk through it with Eliander, and confirm some parts of the map with the Lizardfolk ambassadors.
They have all done various chores in town to prepare themselves, and the crew of the Everlasting Light has also done some chores. With funds provided by the party, Captain Kazimir has outfitted the ship for fishing, and brought on additional crew; so that the ship can be put to productive use when not commissioned by the group.
The party embarks with the Sea Lion to get to the Sahuagin lair, rather than take the Everlasting Light, as they would be escorted there and back either way. Leo re-summons Flametalon, but as a crab rather than his normal owl form. This is not the fastest of options, but it is versatile, as it can move moderately well on ground and in the water, and has 30ft of Blindsight. Leo ritually casts Breathe Underwater, giving the party the ability to breathe underwater for 24 hours, as it seems likely that they will need to spend some time fully submerged. Once they have arrived in the area, the Sea Lion brings them to the shore, and the party hikes through the woods to an area near the causeway to the island. From here they set up to observe the cave entrance. Unfortunately, they can see from here that stone doors have been added to the cave.
Elincia finds some local squirrels to consult, and from them she finds out that scary fish-people come out of the doors just after dark, and go to the marshes. The doors stay open much of the night. Dusk comes not too long after; the party observes some Sahuagin emerging from the doors and heading out along the causeway, as the squirrels had indicated, and walking toward the marshes. The party decides to go scout out the entrance while it is open. Elincia casts Pass Without Trace, and Leo refreshes their Breathe Underwater spell.
They sneak carefully along the causeway (the Pass Without Trace is quite helpful in maintaining their stealth) and get near the entrance. Leo brings forth his crab, and it skitters carefully up to the doorway. Just inside the doorway, there is a room full of what appear to be six Sahuagin guards. Beyond the guards is a second door with bars and, while the crab carefully observes the area, another guard stops by the bars and chats with the Sahuagin closest to the gate. Also, it appears that the outer door has brackets and a bar which could be put in place - which would make it difficult to sneak in if closed.
The party slips a bit further from the entrance and discusses options. With six guards on duty it seems unlikely that the party could penetrate the cave system through here. They could go back to their observation point, but would still not know where to go next. They decide to check out the rest of the area with the hope of finding an alternate path in. They swim down into the water on the east side of the causeway to see what they can find, and easily find a lower cave entrance. They send the crab in to see what is inside, and work their way to a section of corridor with much fouler water and blocked by a large, broken slab. The crab is able to slip in, finding a dead giant eel. It seems that that is all that is in the small room, besides another door. Moving aside the slab, and entering the room, the party examines the door.
When they put their "ear to the door" on the next door, they hear tortured screams of pain, followed by cruel laughter. It seems somewhere beyond this door is someone in trouble. Tork's notices, through a crack in the door, that there is a bar on the other side, but perhaps they could manipulate this through the crack. On his first attempt, he nearly drops the bar, but thankfully is able to recover it before it makes too much noise. Stavos steps in to assist, slipping his rapier throuh the gap, and between the two of them they are able to successfully lift the bar and open the door. Maintaining their stealth, they slip into the room. Here, they find two Sahuagin torturing a Locathah on the rack, cranking it out to pull him apart. While their original intent was to stealthily penetrate the lair, the sight of a Locathah being tortured makes them angry enough to attack the Sahuagin.
With their superior numbers the party makes pretty short work of these Sahuagin, and it is the first time Tork has been able to use his new spear in combat. It turns out that this spear is pretty impressive, as it not only does slices through flesh with ease, but also allows him to counter his opponent's blows. This surprises all of them, but Tork seems quite happy with his new spear!
Once they have dealt with the Sahuagin, they release the Locathah from the rack, and give him some healing berries. He introduces himself as Borgas, and explains that he was out hunting with his pet eel when he was captured. He saw many Sahuagin when he was brought in (dozens), but didn't see much of the caves when he was brought to this dungeon. It turns out that there was no purpose to the torture the Sahuagin were putting him through; they didn't even ask any questions, it seemed to be purely a sadistic activity. He does mention that there seems to be another prisoner in one of the eastern cells. He also says that he would like to leave sooner rather than later. The party suggests that he can leave the way they came in, but maybe he should wait in the corridors a bit, as they may be leaving shortly as well, and it might be safer for him to stick with them.
The party opens the doors from west to east. The first two are empty, the third is the one they came in through that has the dead eel, and the fourth cell has another prisoner - this one is a Triton, and he seems happy that they are not the Sahuagin. He introduces himself as Kysh. The Tritons are another water based society, but their home is further into the Hin waters, and have not been included in the alliance due to their distance from Saltmarsh and the Lizardfolk. He was captured just a couple days ago, and imprisoned here. Unlike Borgas, who seems unhappy about staying, Kysh seems interested in helping the party. They arm both of them with the spears that the slain Sahuagin had.
The party decides to push into the caves a bit further before leaving, to confirm their location on the map. They have Borgas head out the cave to the relative safety of the outer cave mouth, but request that he stay there about 20 minutes before departing, as they may come out pretty quickly. They tell him where he can find the Sea Lion in the event that they don't come quickly.
They crack open this southern door, and send the crab out to scout. They pretty quickly are able to confirm that the hallway layout matches their map of the lower level of the cave system by sending the crab to the 60' distance that Leo can see through the crab's eyes in each direction. To the south is a room that seems different from the map, so they decide to investigate this further. Elincia recasts Pass Without Trace, and they push out and head to this room. It appears to be quite large actually, and clearly not in the original construction. The stonework is quite good, and does not seem too worn, and the space appears to be a very great arena with a large amount of stadium seating for viewing whatever events take place here. Based on the proximity to the prison cells, it is probably some sort of fighting arena.

Report Date

22 Jun 2020