Session 03
General Summary
The deadly battle between aboleth and Nex Pervenio continued unabated. Rutu hurled Mika away
from his companions where he suffered grievous wounds from the aboleth and thralls. But then
Dash took Rutu out of the fight with a couple of well placed arrow shots. All attention focussed on
the aboleth. The slimy puddle beneath it hindered movement but did nothing to save it from the
onslaught. Soon it lay dead, causing its few remaining minions to flee for their lives.
Rutu was not dead, merely knocked out. When brought round, his glazed eyes and wooden
expression were gone. Instead he looked confused and surprised. The last he remembered, he'd
been exploring a shallow cave close to the surface, along with 4 other gladiators, doing work for
the temple. It seemed he'd fallen prey to the aboleth, his comrades presumably dead. He gladly
accepted offer of escort onward to Forgehome.
One final "night" was spent in the oppressive Underdark tunnels. As Nex Pervenio awoke on 28th
March, Forgehome was only a few hours away.
As they journeyed, Bugman warned that ahead was a bridge over an underground river. The
shortest path to Forgehome was to cross the bridge and down a tunnel on the far side of the river.
A longer route to Forgehome was to stay this side of the river and loop around through a different
set of tunnels. This was yet another common ambush spot.
Dash and Shinobi cautiously scouted ahead. They glimpsed corpses littering the floor - grimlocks.
These savage humanoids dwell throughout the Underdark and are often slaves or bodyguards for
more powerful creatures such as fomorians or mind flayers. Their bodies were mangled and
mutilated, whatever had attacked had huge teeth or claws. The grimlocks seemed to have been
fleeing from the river area. Then Dash's keen ears picked up sounds of shallow breathing from the
far cliffs.
After dropping back to discuss, there was no way the bulk of Nex Pervenio could hope to sneak
past the bridge in the dark. So it was decided to put on a show of force, to march boldly out with
sunrods blazing, hoping to dissuade any thoughts of an ambush from whatever was lurking
nearby. Dash remained hidden, ready to unleash a volley of arrows if needed.
As the group neared the rickety bridge, a figure revealed itself at the far end of the span. A drow
hailed the group, offering greetings and seeking word of the nearby area. He was treated with
suspicion.
Bugman whispered that he recognised the drow from his time in Erelhei-Cinlu. He's Belgos the
Tormtor, a mercenary with a repuation as a nasty piece of work, though Bugman had no personal
dealings with him. He also recalled that the Tormtor used to be one of the leading drow noble
houses but had spectacularly fallen from grace. So this Belgos was probably an outcast renegade.
After some cagey banter, the two sides established it was probably not in their best interests to
fight. Nex Pervenio counted as another 6 drow revealed themselves. Belgos was interested in the
dead grimlocks and came to inspect their bodies. He said it looked like the work of hook horrors
and that hook horror eggs were extremely valuable. Without a backward glance, the drow swiftly
melted away into the darkness and were gone.
Crossing the bridge and not long after, Nex Pervenio arrived at Forgehome, a dwarven mining city
in the shallow Underdark. It perches atop Storvirk's Lode, a vent of rock where several different
veins of ore intertwine. There are about a dozen mineshafts, hundreds of feet deep, which are used
to work the lode. Its discoverer Storvirk still lives, having reached the ripe old age of 207.
Even with Bugman to vouch for them they were not permitted entry. The only part of Forgehome
they were allowed into was a very basic inn outside the main city gates. They were told they could
earn the freedom of Forgehome, not a privilege granted to many, by performing some task of
importance to the dwarves. The city was gearing up for some kind of commemorative celebration.
They spoke to Dale Thunderkeg, innkeeper, who explained the current task. A local mine had not
been heard from in a few weeks, some dwarfs had gone to check a week ago and they too had not
been heard from. Nex Pervenio had to visit the mine and figure out the problem. Dale could
provide a rough map and directions. They agreed to head there after a night of well earned rest and
recuperation.
The next morning, 29th March, Nex Pervenio headed out. It was a little daunting not to have
Bugman along for advice and guidance but Dale's map seemed more than adequate and the mine
was easily reached within a couple of hours.
As they descended the mine shaft it was immediately evident that something was badly wrong
here. They were greeted by a scene of carnage, the corpses of dwarf miners littered the floor. The
smell of the dead was worsened by the stink of rotting vegetation. Several large fungal spores
drifted lazily through the air and there were large mushrooms throughout the room - some of the
mushrroms seemed alarmingly humanoid and they then sprang into life and moved to attack! Mika
recognised these mushrooms as a race known as myconids, there were some shambling mound
plant creatures too. The plant creatures clumped to stoutly defend the entranceway, which suited
the gladiators as Valun, Dash and Riya could operate from the back unimpeded. It took a while to
kill all the hostile vegetation but presented no real danger.
With a moment to catch their breath, a couple of things caught the attention. One was that every
dwarf corpse was missing its hands. The other was that there were plenty of wooden pick handles
and coils of rope scattered around, but no metal tools. In fact even the buckles had been removed
from the clothing on the dead dwarves.
Report Date
11 Apr 2024
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