Session 24 - Deeper into the Lair

6 Yarthmont 1010 - 7 Yarthmont 1010

General Summary

The party decides to scout more of the cavern system before going back to their camp, as it is not clear that they will get a better chance during the day.
They decide to check the southern exit out of the arena first, as it is furthest into the cave system. Tork listens at the door to see if it is clear on the other side, and he hears a fairly large number of voices moving closer to the door. The party immediately retreats back toward the tunnel, and finds themselves clear of the arena just as a large number of Sahuagin begin entering. They decide to stay in the tunnel for a bit, and send the crab forward to see if they can get a feel for the number of Sahuagin present. It seems that there is going to be some sort of combat exhibition, as there are two Sahuagin with spears facing off. Moving cautiously, the crab is able to get a view of roughly 1/4 of the seating area, and they extrapolate that to assume at least 50 Sahuagin in the room. Rather than risk being found, they elect to head back up the tunnel and explore the paths branching from there while the Sahuagin are busy in the arena.
They start to the west and quickly, but carefully, scout the hallways. It's clear that significant changes have been made to the lower level (beyond just the addition of the arena) as the southern branch from the west direction now ties in to the arena western entrance and continues south, presumably toward the other sections south of the arena. Rather than risk getting cut off with the arena between them and their known exit, they head north to scout the areas with easier escape access. They find this area seems to match the layout shared by the Lizardfolk, including the stairs to the middle level, and then listen at the door of the room east of the corridor below the steps. Hearing nothing, they send the crab in to - this seems to be a storage area with shelves all around the room and racks with a large numbers of weapons on them. When the crab moves to get a better count of the weapons on a single rack, it becomes clear that there are strange, armored sharks circling about the room. The sharks have the various shells and pieces of metal grafted right into their skin (somehow) and seem quite menacing. After getting the quick single rack count of around 20 weapons, they pull the crab back and retreat from this area, wanting to avoid combat.
They double-back to explore corridor east of the prison/torture chamber and this also seems to more closely match the Lizardfolk map. They head south enough to see that it appears to connect up with the arena eastern door, then head to the north to scout the room shown on their map. They don't find any modifications to the passage, but when they listen at the door,they hear conversation in Sahuagin. The party backtracks to the western stairs, near the room with the sharks, to continue exploration.
The second floor starts with a similar story. There are parts of the map that agree with the original layout, but there is a new passage headed south. The party examines the rooms toward the center at the north end of the lair, and the first room seems to be full of seaweed and minor sea life - anemones, urchins, starfish, a lobster - possibly some sort of farm. Heading east, they find a large dining area with a vandalized Lizardfolk statue in the center of the room. The crab scouts up the northern passage, and sees what looks to be a court of some sort; a large, four-armed Sahuagin, probably the leader, seemingly passing judgement on a regular Sahuagin. There are a few other Sahuagin that appear important as well and a couple sharks circling above the leader's throne. The party backs away quickly toward the western end of this floor, not wanting to be captured or give their presence away.
They head south, down the newer passage, and find it connecting up with the southern passages that agree with the original layout. There are several branching passages, including some new ones. They head southward first, investigating what was a dead end room before. As they get close, they can see and hear what looks like some sort of military drill, with at least a dozen Sahuagin being lead by a bellowing leader of some sort. The party immediately backtracks, not wanting to attract attention.
They decide to head down the eastern passage, where they find further extensive modifications, as there is a new northward hallway west of a larger doorway. There are doors along the west side of this new hallway, with some rooms along it. Listening at the first doorway, they hear tapping, possibly someone working. Moving to the next door, it appears quiet, and they carefully open the door, and find a shrine of some sort with a mural along the north wall. Heading further north, they find an arched opening back east, and this appears to connect to the large central room. In here Leo, viewing through the eyes of the crab, sees a scene of horror. There is a huge, two-headed shark circling an altar, before which there are three priestesses chanting, in the middle of some kind of ceremony. The priestess nearest the altar reaches into a large, squirming sack, drawing out a small Sahuagin baby, which she immediately sacrifices to the double-headed shark. Leo becomes horrified, and immediately wants to leave. He's uncertain exactly what he just witnessed, but it was horrifying and chilled him to the core. After a minute or so, the terror passes, but regardless, he no longer feels comfortable pushing forward.
The party is also disturbed by what he describes to them and they start their retreat back to the staircase down. As they pass by the room that had the seaweed and appeared to be a farm, Stavos gets a pleading feeling from nearby. He goes to investigate, and finds himself the lobster they had seen earlier, waving it's claws as if to draw his attention. He gets the distinct feeling that it wants him to take it out of this Sahuagin lair, and he scoops up the lobster and places it in his bag.
As they head down the stairs, they do not see any danger until they round the first corner, past the storage room. They find themselves walking directly into a group of three of these armored sharks - there is no way to avoid combat, so they immediately engage the sharks. Combat goes reasonably smoothly, with everyone using their weapons that work better under water (javelins instead of swords and bows). These sharks seem reasonably vicious, entering a frenzy similar to the Sahuagin they faced on their earlier adventures, and they are inclined to attack an injured party member. They have 2 attacks, but only a moderate amount of damage resistance and, despite their armor, the party is able to hit them reasonably frequently.
After the quick victory, where Tork is able to take advantage of his new spear, they decide they should clean up the combat area to make it less easy to tell they were here, and take the corpses with them back to the torture room.
They gather the corpses, and push them out into the secret passageway. They pull the stone blocking the passage shut, hopeful it will prevent discovery by the sahuagin, and drag the corpses to shore, where they chop them up into small bits in the hope that they will be eaten by woodland creatures.
Seraphina casts Speak With Animals, and tries communicating with the lobster. She gets a visual response from the lobster, who seems to have some sort of magical communication capability. The party gets a visual tour of its time in the Sahuagin lair, where it seems the lobster has been used in a "dog fight" like lifestyle. Within this montage vision it shows two four-armed Sahuagin, one a smaller female. In the end besides the sense that it wants to be returned to the open waters, it gives them a vision of a location, just a couple miles Southeast, with a chest full of shiny coins and a sword. They get the feeling that the lobster understands that humans like the shiny coins, and is giving them the location as a reward for freeing it. Stavos heads a bit up the coast to get some distance from the lair, and lets the lobster go at the shoreline, and it waves back.
The party decides to do one last scouting run before heading back out. They want to check the eastern side of the causeway, and around the island to get a look at the main entrance for a sense of scale. After working their way around the island looking for another secret entrance, they sneak near the underwater gate, which seems quite large, and like a portcullis, with a crank to open the gate on the outside, and another similar crank on the inside.
Once again, they send the crab in to get a better sense of what is there to be seen. As they scout out more and more of this room, it becomes clear that this one room is enormous, and may contain over 100 Sahuagin. Some seem to be resting, or sleeping, but plenty are going about their daily business. This group appears to be armed. The width of the room is over 250 ft, and the depth is maybe 100 ft. With the portcullis entrance, it does not look like it would be fun to be the first wave of an assaulting army.
Without being able to test the gate, it is unclear that controlling the outer crank will enable full operation of the opening mechanism. After the crab successfully scouts out much of the Southern edge of the enormous room, Leo attempts to send the crab up the center, but the crab is apparently detected, as the visual feedback is suddenly cut off.
With the loss of their least conspicuous scout, the party decides this will have to be enough information for their report back to the alliance. They head back around the island, keeping their distance, and pick up the last remnants of their camp, and head back east. Stavos contacts the Sea Lion and informs them that they are ready for pickup at the same location they were dropped off. Kysh and Borgas agree to come to the ship to get further from the Sahuagin lair, and may be willing to come to Saltmarsh to join the report.
The party boards the jolly boat, prepared to give their report to Captain Hummock.

Report Date

17 Jul 2020