Session 79 - The Slave Lord's Den

2 Kaldmont 1010

General Summary

The party checks the door to the east out of the gate area and finds a narrow hallway passage. This seems to wind along the outer wall, punctuated by a few doors. One, on the north wall of the passage, opens up (after Seraphina of course opens the door!) on another courtyard. There are some melted and mangled candles by the door, but no obvious (at the moment) use for these. The party moves into the room and becomes aware of a group of Harpies. Thankfully, despite not blocking their ears, the party resists their song and is able to violently defend themselves from the Harpies.
After defeating the harpies they continue to the northern door out of the courtyard. The rooms here seem to not be in good shape, but have seen recent use. to the east of this room is another door that seems to tie back into the outer wall hallway they left for the courtyard. Tork briefly explores this to find a collapsed portion of the floor that opens down to the sewers below. Further north, in what feels like it must be the very northern portion of the complex, they find an area that clearly is used to keep slaves. There is a chain with shackles periodically along the wall. The far end of the hallway has a trap door. Before going down this, they investigate the northernmost room in this section. They don't find anything of interest and decide to explore what is below this area by using the trap door.
Back to exploring the subterranean sewer/lair, they quickly find themselves in a large room with more of the insectoid warriors. They immediately go on the offensive, overpowering the creatures, one of which appears to be the dreaded egg-laying queen. As the battle rages, the insects fight while withdrawing down the rear hallway. The queen strikes with lair actions, hindering the party's progress, but in the end the queen, and the queen's guards, are defeated.
With the queen dealt with, the party decides it would be best to prevent a reinfestation of these formidable insectoids. They crush all of the eggs, some of which are egg casings filled with treasures!
Moving back to further exploration of the sprawling underground lair/sewer system, the party eventually works its way around to where they had first entered from the crypt. Exploring further around the tunnels, they find a room even lower than the level of the tunnels, accessible by a ladder.
In this room they see a human sitting at a table, surrounded by a pack of giant weasels, presumably pets or guards, and further into the room, a large circular are with a narrow, moat-like ring and a platform around the edge. Arrayed around this room are a dozen orcs with crossbows. Rising from near the center of the room to the far end is a staircase going back up, possibly into another part of the complex.
Almost immediately upon seeing the party arrive, the human becomes invisible, and combat breaks out. Only the first party members entering the room even caught a glimpse of the human before he disappeared, though the weasels and the Orcs attack quickly.
Elincia summons four giant bats with blindsight and then Wildshapes into one herself, hoping to prevent the man's escape, but struggles to communicate to them exactly what they are supposed to stop. After a round or two, she positions one near the far exit door and instructs it to attack anything that tries to get past it.
As the party deals with the orcs and weasels, the human tries to get past the bats, but is stopped. The party quickly defeats him, and all the rest, and they make a search of the room.

Report Date

14 Oct 2023