Part Fourteen: A Githyanki and a Mindflayer walk into a bar..

The party descends into the suffocating darkness into the depths below. Their light source shine on the rusted ladder and stale bricks, revealing that this entrance was barely traversed. Upon reaching the bottom, the room opens up revealing a smooth, circular corridors leading off in two directions, each housing more iris like doors. The party advances into the next room, which mirrored the previous in an unsettling way. Upon listening at the door, Sevah hears shuffling and scraping noises, with odd bits of slurping sounds coming from the next room.

The party gets into position and opens the iris doors, revealing two robed figures with a pairs of tentacle like mandibles feasting on a fallen host. They look up at the party in surprise as one catches an arrow to the face, while the other finds itself on the receiving end of a magic missile. After a couple of rounds, the green hued, pale figures lie crumpled up on the large, raised platform in the corner of the room.

At the opposite side of the chamber, another large stone iris door, larger than the others, is opened from a key on one the bodies. Inside lies another ladder leading further down into the Underdark. Korgul drops a light source and it lands below revealing a shoddy pieces of wood strewn about the ancient brick tile. They wait a while for some indication of occupation, but hear only silence. They cautiously descend downward.

The party found themselves in a small square room containing what looked like a triggered spike pit trap. At the bottom of the pit was a crumpled decayed carpet, and a body. The figure had a spike protruding into it's midsection, and it's mouth hung open, twisted in agony. At it's right hand was a tarnished silver great sword. At the top, near the edge of the pit trap with the dead githyanki, a crudely craved hole was found that was barely big enough for an emancipated figure to fit through.

Suddenly in the distance a chime of a small bell could be heard. The party paused for a minute, curious about the surrounding area. Sevah hushed his companions as he thought he heard some shuffling sounds from around a distant corner. As they approached the corner quietly, Riardon noticed a small bowl held up in a crafted iron holder from the floor. Inside were the remains of a human head pocked with bite marks bobbing around in some putrid, smoking green liquid.

From around the bend, another pair of robed figures accompanied by two brutish hollow looking wrackspawns spotted the party who immediately charged down the prison like hallway. Ki Amar and Quinn matched arms with the hulking brutes, while the rest of the party focused on the lesser mind flayers in the back trying to stop them from casting any spells. After a few rounds the robed figures dropped, and the soon afterwards the wrackspawn thralls  toppled over.

As they stood over the deceased catching their breath, the elf ranger hears a faint distant chime of another bell from somewhere farther on. Riardon starts searching through the lifeless bodies and in the pocket of one of the robes he finds a alien looking bell, with a skull crafted in the hilt. The party confers and decides to answer the distant bell with a chime of their own. The mage brings the bell down and it echoes throughout the cavern. In silence the party waits. After a minute or so, the elf's ears pick out some distant voice. It sounds like a lady singing in long sustained pitch perfect notes. Her voice fills the air and sends chills down the party members spines.

The party searches the jail cells, finding human remains and more head snacking bowls. Near the ends of the cells, connecting to a large central chamber, small alcoves are carved into the side wall, with enough room for the top of a human head to lay exposed. Various decayed remains of humanoid races are held in the alcoves, their lifeless limbs strapped in wooden stockades. The party explores the central chamber more, finding illithid themed artwork and various skulls littered throughout the rooms and hallways. At the far end of the chamber, a larger carved double door offers a way deeper into the area.

In the distance the haunting eery singing continues*

Part Thirteen: The Hidden Fortress II

The party walk to the edge of the pit and dismally realizes it falls all the way through the massive island. However, Seveh notices a sewer outlet embedded into one of the side cliff faces. The adventurers lowered themselves slowly down using a large amount of rope, until they could safely traverse to the sewer exit.

As the last party member set foot into the exit, the foul stench overcame their senses. Miscellaneous garbage and litter was thrown about the large tunnel. No sign of the drow was in view, however there was a door at the far end of the sewer way. Also in the far ceiling was a large rusted metallic iris door, with various slimes and oozes slowy dripping down. As the party cautiously pressed on, they heard a rallying cry, and footsteps stormed down stairs and the the door at the far end begun to open. Ki-Amar jumped across the foul smelling waters and bottle necked the attackers from above. After a few footmen fell to the swordmage and his companions, the footman captain closed the door and barked out the order "Flush 'em!"

Immediately the metal iris in the ceiling begun to grind open, and a disgusting mass of sewage and filth plopped down and filled up the far end of the room. Some of the party member lost their footing and fell prone. As they begun to regain their composure, the recently dropped mass begun to writhe and wiggle, slowly coming to life.

A large disgusting mass begun to take form and attack the party, flinging filth and excrement at the adventurers. Riardon threw a flaming sphere at the wretched elemental, while Ki-Amar held his position stopping any guards from entering into the fray. After some more immolating attack and splattering blows, the sewer elemental was slain. Now the party turned their attention back to the congested doorway.

A few more guards stood between the adventurers and the topside. With deftly placed blows and a few more unleashed magic missiles, the stairway was now clear and accessible.

A the top of the stairs, the party found themselves in a circular room filled with crates and storage containers. They pressed on and found another set of stairs leading even further up. As they lumbered towards the surface, Sevah heard another rally cry coming farther ahead. They took their places in another circular storage room and waited patiently for the attackers.

As the half a dozen troops poured into the surface storage room, the were met with arrows and blades that lay hidden in ambush and quickly dispatched. Amongst the carnage, Sevah spies a stairways that leads even farther up, into a tower connecting to some upper walkways. The ranger leads the party upstairs, hoping the high level approach will avoid further contact from more, large groups of the patrolling guardsmen.

Atop the tower walls, Sevah spies a few lone watchmen standing their post at various intervals. The party figures they can quickly take out the guards, however, something sinister catches the ranger's eye. At the end of the large walkway above, at the final tower in the center, three robed figures appear to be completing a ritual of some kind.

Sevah ducks down in wait, as the rest of the party members finish ascending the stairs. As they hunker down out of sight of the guards and ritual casters, they feel a massive rumble beneath their feet. A loud crashing, crumpling sound is heard in the distance as a bridge falls into the abyss below. Stalagmites collapse and burning brazers tumble into darkness as their flames flicker and wink out of existence.

Riardon confirms that the fortress and the hovering island are now moving laboriously through the large underdark cavern.

The ranger stealthily approached the first guard in the upper walkway. The let a pair of arrows fly, and soon the rest of the party caught up and finished off the lone watchmen from his post. As a few other watchmen scurried over from the other towers, Riardon noticed the robed figures didn't move, but nearby a large patrol group was pouring out of a trapdoor on the roof.

The last of the watchmen fell easily, being outnumbered and outmatched.

As the party prepared themselves for the last onslaught of patrolmen, Quinn saw a familiar figure trying to open the front gate of the central tower. He started to run down and confront the dark elf, when he witnesses a large disfigured shape hurl itself from the top of the tower. With a fluid horrific motion the wrackspawn demon seizes the drow by his head with one talon like hand, and lifts him effortlessly off the ground. Then a large scalpel looking blade hidden in his other hand impales the dark elf and he lets out a final dying yell. The towering wrackspawn demon tosses the lifeless drow body aside and fixes his murderous gaze on Quinn.

The rest of the party finishes dealing the patrol above and start to attack the robed figures. As they start to do damage, the realize with each hit, the fortress and the island start to sway and lurch. Not certain if they should press and finish off the drivers, they realize that the robed figures are using arcane magic to keep them adrift with the aid of some magical runes embedded on the floor.

Riardon claims if they slay them, he should be able to take control of the tower being a practitioner in the arcane arts. Quickly the party dispatched the enemies atop the tower and have control of the fortress, with the exception of the wrackspawn below. As fast as possible the adventurers run down the final tower stairs hoping to meet up with Quinn.

At the bottom of the stairs lays a horrific scene of dismembered bodies and an crudely made operating table. Various limbs hang from chain hooks while scalpels and cleavers line the wall, stained with blood and rust. In the center of the room on the floor, pools of blood and waste slowly empty into a clogged, covered drain. Sevah noticed one of the butchered bodies had a symbol of a drow house matriarch, barely recognizable.
Despite the nightmarish surroundings, the rest of the party go through the room and the tower gate, pressing on into the courtyard to meet up with Quinn.

The paladin takes a wicked piercing stab that seems to penetrate his plate armor as he looks like hes about to stumble. Quickly he lays on hands and his grievous wounds start to close, although he's not too certain how much longer he can trade blows with this monstrosity. Soon he hears the war cry of a half orc barbarian from behind the wrackspawn and watches and a huge heavy flail comes down smashing the wrackspawn surgeon into the side of it's head. Suddenly, the blows from the wrackspawn don't seem so heavy, and Quinn musters up the courage to stand his ground. Ki-Amar trades barbs and gets the demon's attention while Brother Japeth delivers some much needed healing to the paladin. Within a few rounds, a final arrow streaks from Sevah in the tower above, shattering the wrackspawn surgeon in the back of it's head as it collapses before the feet of the mighty Quinn.

________________________________________________________


  The party gathers together and decide to have Riardon remain atop to steer the fortress, unsure of where the cavern leads them. They also decide to investigate the surgeon's lair and try and make some sense of this madness.

While the island fortress slowly hovers in the caverns of the underdark, Sevah thinks they should investigate the drain in the surgeon's chambers, noticing it probably leads down below into more unexplored sewer chambers. Also among the bloody debris and remains, Brother Japeth finds a procedural manual. After reading through the contents, he finds a chapter on safely removing the extra appendages four of the party members acquired recently.

With the help of the tome and surgical instruments, the cleric removes the troll arms and carrion crawler tentacle from the party members. While they offered a boon in combat, they realized any return to the civilized would have been near impossible. After an extended rest, they decide to continue down into the remaining, unexplored sewer drains.

After stifling back gags and the mage securely at the helm of the fortress, they open up the drain and climb down rusted ladder into the unexplored depths. Below they find themselves standing atop a rusted metal grate surrounded by the rotted decayed remain of the wrackspawn surgeon's victims. They also come to the conclusion they aren't alone among the refuse. Ghostly blue lights flicker from around the corners as Sevah spots the spirits of the deceased looking for vengeance upon those in the area. As the party press forward to meet the wraths head on, an enveloping darkness swallows the paladin's light source. With light still behind them, the wraths are easily dispatched although the darkness continues to creeps towards them, extinguishing any light in comes across.

Soon, a large mass of perpetual dark energy and flailing tentacles emerge and attack the party, trying to consume any light sources and hope for survival in the foul smelling sewers. While the battle ensues, more wraths glide through the walls below and take up positions trying to steal the life of the adventurers. Althought being pushed to their limits, the party in triumphant in the skirmish.

Meanwhile, atop the central  tower, Riardon the mage spies a white flying creature in the far far distance in the cavern. He pull the fortess down to a crawl, barely moving forward hoping to avoid any contact with whatever lies ahead. After a few held breaths, the white colored dragon vanishes from sight. He begins to slowly propel the hovering fortress forward some more. After a few hours he notices what appears to be some sort of makeshift dock in the side of a cliff. He also notices some lit brazers, seeming to match the ones the party encountered earlier on the bridge. He directed the fortress towards the docking area, and soon the fortress ship had a mind of it's on, slowly but gently guiding itself foward.

Below the party had finally found an obscene amount of leftover treasure, although they had to rifle through the bodies in the sewer to find them. They came away with pouches of unwanted coin, soiled yet useable armor pieces, and some weapons, once polished up, seeming to give off a magical hue.

This was their first encounter with a torture den in the underdark, one of Torog's many. They were basically constructed for a homage to the king that crawls, who relishes in the cries of the tormented and bathes in the cries of anguish. A dread feeling overcame the party when they realized this was one of the tamer ones, as it was closer to the surface than the others. What lies further down below caused them to question the wisdom of continuing on.

Riardon parked the fortress at the cliffside docks with little effort on his behalf. They walked off the rotting planks and onto solid ground for the first time in a while, slowly overcoming their motion sickness. Near the dock entrance, Sevah noticed a campfire that had burned down to it's embers. Among the makeshift campsite were what appeared to be more wrackspawn, yet these seemed somehow devoid of their previous spry lives. The ranger let an arrow fly and and it hit one square in it's sleeping chest. Riardon picked up two more of them and dropped them off the cliff, into the abyss below, certain they'd never survive that fall.
As the party engaged the remaining wrackspawn, Quinn notices a puncture mark in the back off the wrackspawn's head. They also didn't seem to fight like the previous wrackspawn they encountered, seeming uncoordinated and lifeless.

After slaying the witless guards, the party searched the camp area. There was another dock nearby, complete with lit brazers, and also there was a large iris opening door, flat on the ground in the ground nearby. It seemed to pull away into four equal parts when unlocked, and inside was a rusted ladder mounted on the side descending into darkness.

The party took a quick rest, then slowly descended into the darkness below, climbing down although they weren't certain what was ahead.

Part Twelve: The Hidden Fortress

Darkness and energy engulfed the party as they pressed on into the swirling portal. Upon arriving on the other side, they found the continuing blood trail, and the unfortunate realization that while there was a archway in the area, the portal didn't seem to be working, making their trip a one way affair.

 On the ground, the party also noticed recent bootprints that led down a dirt path and ended at pair of brazers atop two brick pillars. Between the pillars rested a delicate bridge that was littered with more lit brazers more bridge way that disappeared into the distance. A lone sentinel like figure stood atop the bridge in the center. Below the bridge was a swirling smoke like darkness, ready to engulf anyone who took a misstep.

Suddenly, the party heard mass skittering sounds, and beady humanoid eyes climbed around the bridge entrance and pillars making their way up the dirt pathway. Quinn and Ki-Amar bound into the small humanoids, easily cutting them down with deadly single blows. While making a pathway of bodies to the bridge, Sevah noticed the sentinel had started marching across the bridge. The smaller creatures had either been slain or skittered out of the way of the figure approaching from the bridge.

Quinn charged up and locked blades with the sentinel, catching the stench of decay coming from beneath the helmet. Arrows and magic missiles pierced into the heavily plated guardian, while Korgul brought up the flank and started to decimate the bridge sentinel. While putting up a valiant fight and trying to prevent the party from crossing, the bridge sentinel finally fell with a horrid laugh and a slow, evil feeling mist escaped the visor and vaporized into the underground air.

The unguarded bridge now lay before the party, filling in a large span to the the other side. Sevah could make out a fortress looking silhouette in the distance, behind a column of huge stalamites jutting out of the ground. His eagle eyes also spied some figures patrolling the distant wall. While taking a moment to study the distant area, Riardon the mage came to the conclusion that the entire fortress was erected atop a massive island that floated ominously in the underdark caverns.

Not seeing any enemies about, the party swiftly moved across the intricate, stone marble bridge. As they reached the other side, the adventurers ducked down behind one of the final burning brazers. Near the stalagmites, three more sentinel figures were taking down some corpses in what looked like some sort of ritual. Behind the figures, Sevah caught the glimpse of a ghost like apparation fading in and out of existence. And with that, he knocked an arrow and let loose.

The arrow burrowed itself into the heavily armored warrior as he let out a yell. The mass of apparations seemed to launch themselves en masse towards one of the stalagmites that that had steps wrapped around the outside, leading to a golden, detailed gong. Quinn ran as fast as he could in his full plate to head them off.

Undead after undead fell before the paladin, while Ki-Amar dashed out to meet the three sentinels. The party managed to continue the fight in front of the towering stalagmites, out of the view of the patrols on the fortress wall. While catching his breath fighting the mass of undead, Quinn flipped the metal gong down from it's purchase, resting it atop the ground, making it nearly impossible to be rung. The party proceeded to defeat to hulking sentinels and thier large horde of undead within a few minutes. As they finished up the last of the foes, they wiped thier blades clean, and ran over to the stone column closest to the fortress entrance.

As they talked about their plan of attack in entering the gates, Sevah noticed a couple of rocks cascade down a large boulder nearby. While they talked, the ranger watched the large rock unwavering, until finally he noticed a dark elf lock eyes with the party, turn and disappear into a pit a few feet away. Brother Japeth caught quick sight of the drow and recognized the insignia it bore on it tunic, being a guard for one of the drow house matriarch.

The party decided maybe a better approach to entering the fortress might be the underground way and hastily followed the queen's guard into the pit.

Part Eleven: Lending a Hand

 Venturing slowly into the light filled room, the adventurers find a large, high vaulted chamber. Within they also find three floating, glowing orbs located at opposite ends of the room, along with a circular portal on the far wall, brimming with a dark energy. Also, they find a stone altar raised on dais in the center of the room, with some fresh bloodstains trailing towards the portal.

Although the dwarves, who were also with them, claimed that this was the infamous torture den, the party was disappointed at the lack of treasures or belongings. In fact, the place seemed outright desolate which was amplified by the sound of the occasional howling underground wind about them.

The ranger deduced that there was a skirmish of some kind in the area, and the previous occupants fled into the portal, maybe three large humanoids, along with one bound prisoner.

Sevah then turned his attention to the hovering orbs. The mage studied them from a distance and determined that they had a aura of some kind of transmutation magic about them. The ranger decided he was going to try and destroy the orbs and told the party to stand a distance away.

One arrow flew and shattered the orb, and immediately, the energy within shifted into the other orbs, making them glow brighter and thrum loudly. Again, the ranger knocked an arrow and released.

The second arrow broke the second orb, and once again the contents migrated into the last orb, which was now bathed the whole chamber in a bright white light, and thrummed intensely, like a mammoth heart with an irregular beat.

Upon the last arrow firing, the final orb shattered, and the party was blinded. Four member of the party, who were still a good distance away, were knocked off their feet. Sevah, Ki-Amar, Quinn and Korgul felt something sickeningly growing inside of them. Brother Japeth and Riardon the mage tried to figure out what had happened, sensing some kind of magical disease or trying to deduce if some kind of transmutation had taken place.

Suddenly, The four front runners felt a wrack of pain shift through their bodies, and felt something hideous trying to push it's way out of their flesh. Within minutes, they crumpled over in agony, and tearing through their cloths and armor, some nightmarish appendages broke through and writhed around with some sentient minds of their own.

The dwarves that had helped them break through the cavern rocks, looked on in horror, and slowly backed away, and soon ran off in terror.

Quinn, Sevah, and Ki-Amar had some hideous green troll like arm emerging from their back, while Korgul had a tentacle like appendage flaying about. And although hideous looking, the heroes with the troll arms found themselves with ability to regenerate hit points, a nightmarish boon for the tanks of the party. The orc barbarian also had the ability to paralyze his opponents. While the appendages did have some twisted usefulness, the party knew they would have to somehow have them removed before returning to any civilization.

Brother Japeth began to study the cursed abombinations and vowed to find a way to remove them. Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided to make best of the situation and pressed onward though the portal, uncertain of what lay beyond.

Part Ten: Maelbrathyr, the Ruined City

After coming around a quick bend in the dirty, carved passageway, the party found themselves at the top of some underground steppes. The large path below zig-zagged back and forth, and at the bottom they saw the crude entryway into some ruins of an old, sprawled city that disappeared into a dark horizon. Masses of shambling undead wandered the ruins, all slowly headed to the sound of cannon fire on the far end of the city. Near the center it all was a glowing, hovering figure swathed in robes and pulled the deceased souls up from the ground, rabidly adding to his undead army.

Sevah also noticed something else disturbing among the ruins. Four hulking dog like creatures appearing to be patrolling the ruins, stopping only to sniff the air and then return to their affairs.

The party descended down the steppes following the dirt pathway, when they noticed a group of skeletons marching up to meet them. Having the high ground, the party easily cut a path through small patrol, and soon found themselves at the entrance to the ruined city. They took a moment to discuss their plan of action. They soon realized the cannons firing were aimed at the hovering figure it's newly created undead army. There were too many skeletons inhabiting the collapsed city, and they decided to pick some side streets and stay on the move. As they were hunkered down behind the entrance walls, Riardon realized that some of the locals had spotted them and were shuffling slowly towards the party.

Quinn led the charge and gathered up the skeletons. As he demanded undead's attention he barked at the rest of the group to fall back to the streets as they planned. The party started to move and the paladin pulled the undead scourge with him. As the lifeless bones collapsed to the dirt, the party noticed even more skeletons lumbering towards them. Brother Japeth called upon the powers of light to try and decimate his foes, inflicting the undead with radiant damage.

Upon doing that, the large undead canines slowly inhaled some of the air about them. Then they quickly reared their heads, and started to plod their way towards source of the radiant light. Quinn and Brother Japeth realized that any radiant damage would draw the immediate attention of the undead, dog like guardians, hindering the progress of fighting the massive undead army.

The party pushed on through the ruins, fighting group after group of skeletons, and finally got close enough to the center to witness the robed figure pulling undead from the ground. The cannons firing was being delivered by a group of dwarves from behind some crudely made metal fortifications in front of a carved cave mouth. While the cannons were effective at destroying the undead menace, the party could tell it was just a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed. Sevah deftly sprinted ahead towards the heavy barricade while the rest of the party concentrated on more of the skeleton groups and the necromancer.

Suddenly, one of the undead canines that had been tracking the party appeared nearby and charged. The beast was enormous and Riardon noticed the creature had no eyes, just empty sockets, and also on it's back were two bat like useless wings that were tapered with rotting holes. Taking a seemingly long time to kill, the canine howled and finally collapsed. The party decided it was for the best not to draw the attention of any more of the hound like creatures, as three on them together would certainly mean instant death.

Their attention turned back to the necromancer and the skeletons as they hurried up to join Sevah and the dwarven cannons. With guns blazing, arrows finding their mark, and magic bolts searing forth, the undead army finally fell, along with it's creator. The large canines seemed to lose their focus as well and dissipated into piles of smouldering ash.

The dwarves thanked the party for their assistance and asked what they were doing so far into the Underdark. The mage stated they were looking for one of the torture dens of Torog, but had been unable to locate it. The dwarves knew the location, and offered to either take them to the den or make their way back to Forgehome, further on down into the cave. Eagerly wanting to find the torture den and it's treasures, the party asked to be escorted to it's whereabouts.

A small band of three dwarven scouts led them and they backtracked across the now barren city, up the steppes and though the drow jails. Back near the fallen beholder zombie corpse was a small crop of fallen rocks, and with the help of the dwarves and their mining picks, they made short work of the collapsed area, and formed a new entrance.

Further down the newly made cavern pathway, a thrumming bright glow lit up the room ahead.

Part Nine: Ow My Eye!

The party hunkered down and watched from a secure distance as the large sphere shaped creature scouted around the rubble filled cavern. After a while, Sevah grew impatient and went up to his knee, gazing out into the caverns. He noticed a few peculiarities about the situation, seeing as the creature was moving about lethargically and slabs of skin hung loosely off of it's bulbous, bloated body. It dawned on the elf that this creature wasn't alive any longer as something or someone had drained it's life essence. Still, an undead beholder was a fearsome sight, and the party was uncertain how tough the living corpse might be.

The elf let two arrows loose from his bow and they bore into the creature's lesion pocked skin, grabbing it's attention. The party charged in, slashing and piercing at the hovering menace. The undead menace didn't prove much of a fight and was vanquished with surprising ease. However, a new problem came to light.

 Riardon posed the idea that something must of killed and/or raised a beholder which are fearsome creatures often ruling entire areas of the underdark further below. There might be something nearby even more terrible or ferocious than the eye tyrant itself.

After dispensing of the monstrosity, the party had a new problem of crossing the rubble filled cavern. There were a few natural steps across the howling wind filled chasm, but they were spread out and divided throughout the place.

Most of the party, even Quinn the paladin, made their way across safely. Only Brother Japeth had trouble, briefly losing his footing, yet was helped back atop with the aid of his companions.

On the other side, the ruined wall of a dark elf dwelling housing a secure, thick wooden door. They heard shuffling noises and a low, haunting moan coming from the other side. Quietly, the ranger opened the door and knocked an arrow, peering cautiously in. Slowly lurching up the stairs on the other side, a massive body of decayed muscle locked it's lifeless eyes on the party.

The hulking zombie took up the entire hallway, and pushed it's way out into the ruined cavern area. Soon it was filled with arrows and heavily bruised as it stumbled about tearing wildly at the intruders. While the battle raged on, another lurching figure appeared in the hallway, looking like some mishapped, possessed dark elf.
With a quick blink, the figure appeared right behind Brother Japeth and trying to prevent the cleric from healing the party. Ki-Amar immediately blinked himself over and locked swords with the possessed elf, tearing him off the Brother Japeth.

After some more coordination and teamwork, the two undead fiends lay defeated by the party.

They entered into the ruins, realizing it was another drow dwelling, but the current inhabitants were no longer of this mortal coil. Further shuffling sounds were heard from down the hall, and a study area presented itself off to the eastern side. Papers and books were littered about the tables and floor. Notes and entries indicated this was a jail block that was connected to the previous explored slaving area, but some terrible force had come through the area recently and condemned every living creature within the area. More paperwork revealed some codes and maps of the local area. Also near the bookcase, the eladrin mage discovered a secret passageway. The party gathered up and squeezed through the narrow tunnel that led into private chamber, complete with a algae covered tub and a stack of private books. Another chamber wound around further and exited into a jail assignment room. Inside the party was greeted by a pale human looking figure covered with bloodstains and another pair of hulking zombies. They weren't friendly.

After a long enduring fight, the zombies were slain and reduced to lifeless piles of meat, yet the jailer hissed at the party and dissipated into a flowing mist and disappeared underneath the large, bulky and locked double door that led further into the jail cells.

After figuring out the large, complex lock mechanism, the party carefully entered the cell. Four large containers were locked and lowered into the floors, with a catwalk high above circling the whole area. Sevah gracefully jumped up and guarded the catwalk door, while the party figured out how to raise the jail cells, certain the jailer had taken inside one somewhere. Slowly wheels and gears whirred and the first empty cell slowly made it's way to the surface. Next, the ranger listened to the door and heard some familiar shuffling and moaning noises as the second cell was raised. A hideous, agile being lunged out at the party from the cell, while a hulking zombie started smashing in the catwalk door.

The ghoul bounced around the room frantically tearing at the party, while the elf called for help at the large monstrosity creeping though the destroyed doorway. To add insult to injury, a mist was slowly escaping out of one of the cells and beginning to materialize in the room.

Sevah backed up to distance himself from the approaching undead horror, while the other members focused their efforts on the ghoul, that while surprisingly lithe, was easily dispatched from some very well aimed blows. Now the party divided their focus between the newly formed jailer and the zombie hulk on top. After many rounds of heavy flails pounding down and magic missiles flaring across the dilapidated prison room, the zombie hulk lay defeated, and the party could synchronize their actions on to the jailer, whom they were worried would materialize before destroyed him completely. Brother Japeth proved useful in hindering the undead lords means of escape, while Quinn dug in and kept the jailer from attacking his companions. The fight went on for what seemed like forever, until finally the vampire was destroyed and a peculiar key was found on the remnants.

The drow key had a small glowing blue orb that had the intricate carvings of a black widow spider surrounding it. The paladin placed the key for safekeeping into his pouch and pulled himself up to the catwalk to join the rest of the party as they made their way out of the jail area.

According to their map, there was a large exit chamber ahead, with a note saying the passage beyond led to the fallen city of Maelbrathyr, a once ancient, thriving city believed to be pulled down into the Underdark by Torog himself.

Approaching the exit hall, the party noticed a large spider statue with a hole in it's abdomen that interestingly enough was an exact match for the key and a large pair of metallic doors that brimmed with electrical energy.

After placing the key into the statue lock, the doors slowly hummed open, and the large hallway beyond showed a floor with many runic symbols that had lightning charges dancing across it in a serpentine like dance. The mage consulted his notes from the library, and figured out a pattern from some some of the notations and riddles written on the page. Ki-amar, being a genasi born from the storms, stepped up and volunteered to go first.

The swordmage cautiously stepped on the plates that were called out by Riardon, and after making his way slowly across, found a lever near a solid metal door at the other end of the electrical rune puzzle floor trap. Upon pulling the lever, the whole room powered down with a slow descending thrum.  The rest of Ki-Amar's companions met up with him at the other end and opened the door that led into a rough, uneven earthly passage. The stench of death further on overwhelmed them.

Part Eight: Dead man's Party

Once again the heroes came back to the horrific common room where the drow guards fell, and faced the large iron double doors. They knew this was where the dwarven adventurers had come through weeks before and took a moment to catch their breath before pressing on.

After Riardon once again used his opening ritual, the tumblers fell, and the path was now set. The party entered a small  abandoned hallway with marble pillars on each side. A shift in the ground produced a noticeable crack running across the dirty floor. There were also half a dozen drow elf bodies scattered about the far end of the room. The stench of decay and ruin filled the air as the party dreaded remembering what the dwarves told them about the battle between the drow and the wrackspawn. At the opposite wall was another unlocked, yet closed, door.

Inside the next entrance, a smaller room appeared with an larger, more obvious crack in the floor and a fallen pillar amongst another row. Two large black puddings were trying to dissolve the fallen bodies that lie on the floor. The party fell back a few paces so as to draw the puddings out one by one, however the mercurial bodies twisted and shaped themselves allowing them to easily engulf Japeth and Quinn instantly.

Very, very slowly the paladin and the healer found themselves being dissolved and remained dependant on their comrades to free them. Meanwhile, the rest of the party made the discovery that with each hit, a smaller pudding detached itself from the original. Soon the room was populated by lesser pudding spawns.


Quinn managed to break free, only to discover himself surrounded by several of the smaller oozes. Even though they were easy to kill, there were simply too many of them.

Ki-Amar teleported in a flash of lightning getting behind the lines and, while conjuring the genasi powers of the storms, dissipated the smaller oozes with little effort. Ki-Amar was a great 'area of effect' tank and the smaller minions proved very easy for him to defeat. He didn't even use a shield.

Soon Japeth broke free only to unfortunately be engulfed once again. After some freezing clouds and deftly fired arrows, the large black puddings and their spawn were defeated. The party needed a rest before continuing on through another set of doors.

After washing the muck off from the puddings as best they could and regaining their strength, they pressed on in search of the torture den. The next door was also unlocked, although a slight chilled wind escaped through the cracks. Quinn peered inside slowly.

A drow captain with a regiment of guards stood at attention readily facing the door. Behind them the paladin noticed two fallen dark elf bodies that were being savagely eaten by a pair of blue colored zombies.

"Hello!" the captain pronounced loudly as he ushered the party towards him. "Please, come in!"

The party hesitated and cautiously stepped into the room. The cracks in the floor were more like small  earthquake crevices now, and the pillars of this decrepit banquet hall now lie on the uneven floor.

"What brings you to our great dining hall?" asked the drow captain with a wry smile. Rairdon noticed one of the guards developing a slight facial twitch, as if he was trying to contain something.

Quinn answered his question with a question asking what happened here and where were they?

The captain told them to relax and explained he was one of the leaders of the drow house of Vae, and the surroundings were simply the result of the spellplague. Things were being repaired, but it might take a while. He then determinedly asked them again make themselves at home and to perhaps come closer.

The party stood where they were as they witnessed the captain and his henchmen transform into incorporeal nightmarish fragments of themselves. The former dark elves' arms grew exceedingly longer and blood stained claws pierced out through their armor.

The captain immediately changed form and vanished through the floor and materialized right in front of Quinn.  The guards surrounded the party on both sides near the entrance. In the back of the room the two zombies who were now surrounded by a chilling mist that followed them, started to shuffle slowly towards the fray.*

The ghostly visage let out a tremendous shriek in front of Quinn that also enveloped the entire party. Ki-Amar was suddenly quivering in fear, unable to move. The captain's cohorts lashed out at the side flanks with claws pulsing with necrotic magic, but the party defended themselves and found the lackeys easy enough to dispose of.

As the zombies finally reached the front lines, the party found themselves moving slower whenever  they were caught within their vicinity. After a few quick cuts and brutal strikes, the pale reaver lord that was once the drow captain and the ice chill zombies were no more. The party nimbly jumped over the large crack in the room and exited the ruined banquet hall through yet another door.

A low howling wind moved through the cavern. After coming through the next door, the party was greeted by a large room that looked like it had collapsed in on itself, with the walls pushed down into a large underground tunnel, filled with debris. On the opposite end of what remained of the room, was yet another doorway.

Traversing the tunnel was difficult yet possible  near the eastern wall, as the collapse did leave a few sections of the original floor, which now stood up like small ruined plateaus.

While the underground wind roared the party approached the edge of the crevice and Riardon noticed a large hovering sphere approaching slowly from down the tunnel. He recognized the silhouette and his heart filled with dread as he signaled for the party to fall back and get down immediately.

"Heeerre contact lense..damn, it's around here somewhere"

The beholder made it's way lethargically in the sunken area that was roughly thirty feet down. After waiting a  silent few panicking minutes, Sevah poked his head up and finally gave the all clear sign. The party was puzzled as to how the great eye tyrant didn't spot them, but they felt lucky having avoided it.

Ki-Amar led the way after using a fallen pillar as a makeshift bridge and found himself first on the other side. The rest of the party was on the way over. Suddenly the swordmage, who had been keeping watch down the tunnel, spotted the familiar horrific shape hovering in the distance, drawing closer...

 *House rule by the GM: Zombies don't charge in combat. It's just not their nature.

Part Seven: Meet the new boss..

"It's only a model."

After returning to Underwatch following a triumphant battle against a godsdream ore golem and drow geomancer, the party receives a heroes welcome as they approached the town with the newly freed dwarven slaves. The locals and the captain of the guard praises the party and invites them to a banquet that evening in their honor, hoping to learn more of their adventures.

While passing the town gates, a dwarven maiden looks at Quinn with an overly serious look, or rather at something on his person. The rest of the party goes about getting cleaned up and getting their items repaired.

Underwatch is a large circular town with thick dwarven crafted brick walls. In the eastern half is a over sized watchtower that houses an ale tavern on the ground floor, with an inn above that, followed by a worshipping temple primarily dedicated to the god Moradin (but also having other religious houses), and finally at the top a dwarven watch area fitted with heavy dwarven artillery.

Underneath in the tower's basement is a large furnished banquet hall, where the head figures and the party gather that evening to exchange stories and have dinner. The food is an excellent feast with a giant sized roasted boar and ever flowing cups of dwarven ale. Revah, being the discerning elf, preferred wine and less offensive meal choices, and quietly whispers his distaste to himself.

Later while Quinn is weaving the tale of what occured in the shallows, the dwarven lady who met his eyes at the gate earlier, bluntly interrupts him. She demanded to know where he obtained the armor he arrived in, claiming it belonged to her missing husband, Hamilston.

Quinn stopped his story and thought for a moment. Then the paladin told them about finding a body that had been laid to rest in the giant mushroom patch. He was probably killed either by the myconids, or possibly the drow.

Also at the table, a small group of the enslaved dwarves, who were also being honored, seemed to be nervously looking at each other. Riardon notices the dwarven companions giving one of thier elders an imploring look.

Finally, Zurik, a dwarven cleric and one of the freed slaves spoke up.

 He told the tale of how the party of thirteen dwarves ventured down into the shallows, at first wanting nothing but to raid the drow treasury in a thirst for revenge and gold. After they had their rogue sneak ahead to the drow common room (which connected to the small treasure chamber) he discovered the dark elves at war with a wrackspawn from the deep. While the dozen or so drow finished off the abomination, the dwarves noticed there were more approaching. Originally they were going to loot the treasury, but they also knew about the torture dens of the underdark. That was where the wrackspawn took the essences of all manners of creatures, leaving behind thier weapons, armor and other material goods, having no interest in them.

Ultimately the regiment of the drow house guard fell and the dwarves swooped in managing to finished off the last of the now wounded wrackspawn. They then pressed further, hoping to find the infamous torture den.

Moments later, they got their wish. They come across a large cavern with various bodies of creatures and humanoids scattered about. However, they weren't alone.

A large, malevolent muscular humanoid floated in the air hovering in a dull purplish glow. It had a head, but the face had no physical features. It also appeared to have feathered wings that were once removed, leaving nothing but scarred stumps. Also constantly orbiting its body was long lengths of chains, infused with horrid spikes. It appeared to be pulling the souls out of recently slayed foes. Realizing immediately they had made a terrible mistake, the dwarves ran in terror. Only one escaped.

They heard a maniacal laugh in their heads as they realized they'd been spotted by the dreaded angel of torment. A blackness out of nowhere seemed to fervently consume them.

When they awoke, they found their legs hobbled in some twisted homage to some underground lord. They didn't know why they weren't dead, maybe another regiment of drow 'rescued' them. However, while they were at least glad to be alive, they were still in a dire predicament. Soon after, some dark elves handed them over to the ogres and gnolls as mining slaves.

Zurik finally drew the conclusion that Hamilston had made it away from the angel and the drow, but met his end above in the shallows, probably searching for help or a way out. The cleric stood for a silent moment and then finally whispering an apology to the widow, saying it was their fault for being so greedy and he might still be alive if they hadn't strayed from their original plan.

In that somber moment, the dinner came to a conclusion, and everyone went their seperate ways. The party being exhausted, turned in for the night.

Sevah dreamed.

The young deity was in a battle with the primordial dragon, fiercely fighting in the vast underground caverns. Garash reared around and impaled the god in the legs with his horns into the ceiling. The pain was unbearable and would have instantly killed any mortal man. However, Torog simply smiled and seemed to exhibit a dull ecstasy.


He laughed at Garash's foolish attack, and while he was still pinned, began to slash with his weapon. The dragon roared fiercely, but knew it's life was coming to an end. As he lay dying, Garash cursed the young god, forever making his wounds never to heal.


In a malicious rage, Torog begins tearing down cities into the Underdark. With one seemingly effortless gesture, a giant bleeding hand reaches up and slowly pulls down the town of Underwatch.

Sevah bolted upright in his bed after the horrific images, and looked down upon his hands, realizing he hadn't removed all the debris of the godsdream rock. In the morning, the elf ranger told his companions and the dwarven captain about his vision.

The rest of the party loaded up on supplies and equipment ready to head back to the Underdark while Japeth spent some time in the tower temple researching the deity Torog, or as he's better known "The King that Crawls" to those afraid to usher his name.  He learned the deity is very "hands on" when it came to doing his bidding, having no true avatars or minions. The only creatures he may rarely usefor his biddings are the occasional angel of torment, as witnessed earlier by the dwarven adventurers.

Interested in the torture dens and what may lie beyond the locked door, the party set out, returning once more to the Underdark shallows.

Part Six: We need to go back, I think I left the oven on.

This session was a longer one over the Labor Day weekend.

Standing about the room after having slain a gnoll leader and his followers, the party considered their options.

 They might be able to climb down and somehow traverse the rabidly flowing underground river, but not knowing what else was down there could prove fatal. There was also the matter of the recently liberated dwarves. The party could try and repel down the cliff face, but it was impossible for the hobbled dwarves.

Riardon had his pseudodragon familiar fly into the rushing ravine to glance at the surroundings finding nothing but fast moving rapids and slippery moss covered rocks. The party was unpacking their supply of rope, when Sevlah heard a thunk coming from the water below. He listened and heard a couple more dull thuds in a slow secession. He shushed for the party to be quiet, and about fifteen minutes later, he heard it again.

Quinn tied a sunrod on the end of a long length of rope and lowered it down. A few moments later, Sevlah pointed out a shaped cylinder that appeared to be a half submerged barrel rolling about in the river and hitting the cliff sides before disappearing further on.

Still not brave enough (insert Gamemaster snicker here) to try and descend the walls Riardon suggested a ritual that might grant them access to the room at the bottom of the first discovered elevator shaft. Plus it looked like a better possibility to get the dwarves out of their current predicament. The party agreed to the newly formulated Plan B.

So they retraced their steps back up the elevator, back through the mushroom cavern waterway, and finally to the room with the mechanical winch that allowed access to another unexplored deep part of the shallows.

As they descended down the elevator shaft and again faced two large iron doors, Riardon started his ritual that would allow them to enter. The party stood ready and when the magic was done, they grinned as they heard the latches fall and the locks tumble. Quinn opened the door about an inch, when he started to hear a whining creak in the door hinges, he stopped and spied inside.

Although the door was cracked a bit, it wasn't enough to get the attention of the ogre walking up the packed dirt ramp in the center of the well traveled room.

The party quickly decided to let the ogre shuffle lazily into the next room. They waited a bit when Sevah heard the thumping, trudging footsteps of yet another ogre entering the chamber, hoisting a barrel over his shoulder. The elf ranger put up a silent "halt" hand signal to the party, who were waiting in.. anticipation.

They waited for the cargo carrying behemoth to continue on his way as they slid out from behind the door and prepared themselves to launch a surprise attack while the ogre hand his hands full already. Within seconds, the melee fighters charged the large brute with thier weapons and the mage near the arrow artillery elf pummeled the ogre with projectiles. The hulking beast dropped his barrel and engaged the party, who was unaware they had been spotted byanother of his brethren in the next room. As the first ogre was dropped, the second one bound heavily into the room, heading directly for the vulnerable mage, who had been in the rear flanks.

Korgul reared back immediately in desperation to provide some protection to Riardon before the menace smashed him with his fist seriously injuring the Eladrin mage. All during the commotion, Sevah heard a muffled cry of "Heeeelp usss!" coming from behind him.
The party soon amassed together and finished off their large foe, and the silent and fast members of the party lightly stepped into the next room trying not to draw any attention to themselves. Another group of hobbled and chained dwarven slaves were looking at members of the party with pleads of help in their puppy dog like eyes. Revah quickly spotted the obvious supervisor on duty. It was one the largest ogres he'd ever seen, and it was lazily sleeping away in a connecting distant chamber.

Not wanting to waste time for it to wake up, he fired his arrows into the unconscious mass, and the other party members quickly charged into the barely waking ogre chieftin, making one of the fastest kills ever witnessed by mortal eyes. The party freed the prisoners, breaking open their shackles, discovering they too were also mining vast amounts of the Godsdream ore and having it contained in barrels with just enough air on top to let the barrel remain buoyant. Unanswered questions remained about who or what was using the ore.

The rest of the area was explored, discovering two ramp ways to deliver the ore into the rushing river as well as the deceased body of a drow supervisor who was given a heavy retirement party by his ogre co-workers in the eastern delivery passage. Within his desk were meticulous notes, but nothing revealing the ultimate destiny of the precious metal. Also in the desk drawer was a solidly constructed key which the party guessed opened up a pair of unopened large metallic doors in the previous elevator room.

After passing through the doors and crossing over a decorated marbled stone bridge over the fast flowing river, the party noticed an engraved emblem on the floor space in front of an imposing door. Riardon concluded the floor symbol of an curved chain that circled around the outside were indications that the party was about to enter a sect of the drow house of Vae, renowned for their dealings in the slavery trade.

Once again using the key, they entered unhindered.

A statue posed in a menacing stance greeted the party, while the thin passage immediately turned to the right illuminated by red lit torches. Across an immaculate five foot wide bridge, two more white marble statues stood, covering from eyesight three drow guards wearing Vae house insignias across their chest. The melee fighters charged into combat so not to be caught on the bridge, surrounding the drow guards. The rear line of the elf ranger and eladrin mage fired their volleys of arrows and magic into the fray. As the combat continued, the party noticed the guards unsheathed blades that dripped with a poisonous green venom. As they dodged the toxic swords, they heard another battle taking place in the room beyond the door that the dark elves had been protecting.

The party quickly dispatched the house Vae defenders, and proceeded through the door. They entered the chamber and found husks of drow elf bodies were scattered about the room, decimated by something unknown. Bloody footprints ushered themselves through a double set of newly locked doors to the north.

Knowing the previous guards had put up quite a long fight, the party had knots in their stomach not readily willing to proceed after the harbinger of death. Quinn suggested it might have been an Vae house dispute or another drow house acting out their diplomatic options. There was also other doors in the room, and the party decided to investigate the chamber further.

One of the side doors had another meticulously engraved Vae emblem on it, and the paladin opened it easily with the new found key.

Dim torchlight lit up the shallow stepped room as the party revered in amazement finding a small drow house armory. Shields with blacked Vae emblems sat against the wall, along with some various finely crafted weapons and two small chests also opened by Quinn's key.

While the party was delighted at the new found fortune, the question that hung in the air was why did the unknown assailants leave behind the gold and wealth?

The party gathered up their new fortune and chose to look at the remaining single door that headed east out of the chamber. While they were starting to descend down a stone carved staircase, Sevlah heard a door from far below slam close and elven voices carrying on a conversation entailed leaving someone alone to do their job.

Sevah motioned for the party to fall back to the chamber and quickly close the door.

The drow matron cleric and her bodyguards were met with the warm hospitality of arrows and heavy maces.  Although the guards were tough, they were easily enough defeated thanks to the advantage of a quick surprise round. Soon after the panicking matron cleric, thinking the party had caused all the mass slaughter in the room, ran for the locked doors only to be brought down by the crushing heavy mace of the half orc barbarian.

After the fight the party proceeded down the square cornered stairs and cautiously pulled open the frail wooden door and peeked in.

Inside, they found a large storage of recently retrieved wet barrels near an archway, a large cavern tunnel that descended down opposite of them, and lo and behold a shaft of light from above with heavy iron rungs impaled into the cavern wall.

As they ventured slowly into the room, eager to see a way out for the party, Rairdon momentarily turned his gaze at the barrels. He spotted a large troll wearing a slave collar, carrying a barrel in each hand . There was a brief moment of awkwardness as each they weren't quite sure what the other was doing here.

Suddenly a voice from below bellowed out, "Where are you with that ore, you dim-witted lug!"

The party rushed to the troll and tried to circle around it. Ki-Amar called upon his powers of flame to encumber the trolls regenerative ability, while Riardon summoned up a flaming sphere that kept bumping into the abomination's body, setting it ablaze. Within a few moments the large behemoth toppled over in twisted agony, dissipating into nothing.

"I need more ore down here, NOW!" was screamed from the chambers below.

The party mustered up their courage and followed down into the unknown knowing they would finally find some answers.

As they arrived at the bottom of the rocky steps, a drow geomancer was hunched over a makeshift desk along with various smithing and alchemy equipment. In the middle of the large cavern, a large magical circle set aglow with the godsdream ore surrounded an immense rock figure, made from the same other worldly mineral.

The geomancer and the golem seemed to slowly left their heads up in unison and look at the intruders.

Riardon released a blinding toxic cloud into the room, and  the drow soon became irritated and started coughing, meanwhile the godsdream ore golem seemed to shrug it off and started plodding slowly towards the party. The tanks, Quinn and Ki-Amar rushed in to protect the rest of the party from the oversized hunk of glowing rock. The geomancer ran out of the cloud blindly trying to find a place to breath and assault the party with his earthly magics.

After a few exchanging blows, the golem reared up both of his stone fists on the tanks and pushed his way through the ranks, pummeling all the party members in a furious rampage. Then, just as quickly as it began, it shoved it's way through back into the chamber, in a raging whirlwind of destruction.

The cloth wearing healer and mage were badly hurt from the thunderous assault. Japeth, being quick on his feet, brought out the big healing gun spells and soon breathed new vitality into all his greviously injured comrades.
Meanwhile, the drow was getting annoyed at the seemingly sentient cloud that kept following him and finally charged into hand to hand combat with the sword mage, who was eyeballing the now freshly unsheathed flaming longsword.

After a long harrowing fight, the construct was shattered and soon after his master, the drow geomancer collapsed to the floor in defeat.
Ki-Amar grabbed the longsword and proclaimed it for himself. The rest of the party did a quick search of the room, yet no more loot was found although a wave of satisfaction swept over the party knowing they had defeated a major foe and found some answers.

Soon afterward the party gathered up the dozen or so dwarven slaves and hoisted them out of caverns to the world above. Once they reached the surface and got their bearings, they squinted in the sorely missed sunlight and proceeded to hike off back towards Underwatch, glad to leave the shallows behind for awhile.

Part Five: You must whip it

Riding the elevator down into the lower depths of the shallows, the party once again heard the distant clinking sound of pick axes on rock.

As the platform landed, the dwarves looked expectantly at the group, no sure what was happening at the moment. Sevlah, like the first group they met, reassured them with a quiet shushing, and motioned them to keep mining. The group decided to send the ranger ahead to check out the situation.

Ahead past a winding "S" shaped tunnel, the ranger saw some gnolls, tormenting yet more miners. He also noticed the dull reddish orange tinge that covered the rock they were mining. He withdrew back towards the party to come up with a plan. They decided to have a couple of the dwarves stop mining and hopefully draw the gnolls back one at a time. One of the slaves agreed to help out, as this seemed to be a good chance at freedom.

Once the clanking stopped, two gnolls barked and yelled at the miners to keep working. When they heard the silence of disobedience, they came determinedly into the elevator tunnel.

The party got a surpise round and they ambushed the gnolls hovering over the slave, ready to whip them. One of the large hyena beastmen was seriously wounded, while the other was rushed by the tanks, Ka-Amar and Quinn. Keeping the gnolls seperated was key as they learned from an earlier fight.

Suddenly an arrow shot from across the farthest reaches of the other side of the room.

In the distance, beyond the first room, four gnoll hunters fired from across a retractable bridge barely missing Riardon. The first group of gnolls were successfully brought down, but the party was at ends and how to deal with the ranged foes. Sevlah fired back and seriously impaled one of the hunters.

Just then, one of the gnolls pulled a lever retracting the bridge, leaving a gap that fell over eighty feet into rushing water below. After the bridge finished withdrawing, the gnolls fled into a nearby doorway and closed the entrance.

The party talked quickly with the new group of enslaved dwarves, and learned they were mining a substance known as Godsdream, yet then didn't know what it was being used for, or how it was transported.

Godsdream Rock:The energy remaining in this stone provides creatures with the certainty of one incredible blow against a foe.

The party faced the task of getting over the chasm to the other side and defeating the gnolls. While the party members started coming up with ideas, Riardon, being an eladrin simply fey stepped across the way and pulled a release lever that extruded the bridge to its former state. The party scampered across, leery of looking down at the rushing water below them.

The party opened the door and rushed inside, only to be met with a room full of gnoll archers and a gnoll mage wielding a war staff, and finishing an incantation. Soon the room filled with a few spirit wolves that materialized next to the adventurers, causing havoc and creating a menace to the party. The gnoll leader fired necrotic bolts at the tanks and the archers fired arrows at the members in the back. Slowly the hunters were brought down, but the real peril was the gnoll mage who was constantly summoning spirit wolves to hinder the party. Finally, the tanks and damage dealers focused on the leader, pressing him up into a corner and bringing his foul existence to an end.

Riardon picked up the war staff, and glady equipped it, allowing some of his magic to cover a greater area now.

The party searched the room and surrounding area. After finding no additional ways to go,  their only seemingly viable exit was down into the rapid river.. unless Riardon had something else up his sleeve.

GM's Note: The party is 5th level at this point. The godsdream ore provides additional critical range on a chance to hit while it's being stood on.

Part Four: How much for the doggy in the window.. the one with the spiked flail?

The tunnel curved constantly to the left, always seeming to wind downwards. Makeshift steps in the stonework gave clues to the party that this was a constructed, yet crude area. The faint tinking of minepicks on the rock walls was heard up ahead, as well as the sound of whip cracks and whimpering laughs.

Not certain what lay ahead, the party moved slowly and cautiously on. The laughs and whip cracks gave way to an audible sniffing sound, and large cast shadows reared around the bend. The scampering of paws and growls drew closer.

Soon the party were face to face with two of the largest gnolls they'd ever seen and a lesser group of pups, significantly smaller than their counterparts, but big enough to still be a threat. Large bony spikes hung from thier forearms as they charged Korgul, tearing deep into his unarmored body. The barbarian almost collapses from being surrounded. After some quick massive healing from Japeth, Korgul regains his composure and sets about situating himself and the party as not to be circled like that again.

Soon one of the gnoll goes down, but not without a furious bloodlust, striking out a final lash at the party before it drops. The pups go down fast and easy that round as well, thanks to Ki-Amar's channeled lightning that leaped from beast to beast, making the battle turn quickly in favor of the heroes. Soon the final gnoll, in howling death throes, is dropped. Despite being almost vanquished himself, Korgul finds some bracers on the large hyena like beast and puts them to good use.

The clinking sounds had stopped from slaves down the tunnel, unsure whether friend or foe approached. The archer scouted on and came across a group of tattered dwarves. When deciding to make his presence known, Sevlah noticed the miners had been hobbled beneath their knees. Their legs were twisted and unusable, shaped by some malicious ritual as determined later by Japeth. The ranger pressed his finger to his lips to signal the miners to be quiet and motioned for them to continue mining, to mask their presence to any future caretakers.

The tunnels continued on, still veering downwards and spiraling to the left.

Soon the party came across another elevator in a shaft with a cable descending down into darkness. A whirring sound was heard as the platform ascended slowly to the top. The party readied themselves with arrows knocked and weapons at the ready.

A drow cleric and her two bodyguards were suddenely surprised when the lift finally came to a stop. One of the dark elves was dropped immediately after being focus fired by the party, and although the drows might have been a threat on equal ground, the dark elves found themselves in a dire situation. They were easily outmatched and overthrown, hardly a match for the six bold adventurers.

After the brief fray, the miners tell their story to of being a band of explorers themselves, not unlike the party. They said while nursing their wounds from fighting some drow scouts upon the surface world, they found themselves kidnapped and hooded from a wandering. ravaging band of gnolls. Mercilessly dragged down into the shallows, they were brought before a taskmaster, who had the physically impairing ritual performed on them. They said legs were wracked and then placed upon wooden slats, furnished with crude wheels. The condition left them unable to run away making any escape from their captors impossible.

The party also learns there are more dwarves below. While they find the tale disheartening, at least there is hope for a way out of this dungeon, and it should be nearby.

Part Three: Very dangerous. You go first.

..As Riardon is suspended in the large mist-filled cavern, he notices two shadowy figures walking away on a ledge that's slightly lipped above the surrounding waterline. While he magically signals to be pulled up he notices another patrol emerging on the opposite corner.

A few moments later most of the party descends cautiously one by one into cavern and start to engage the two drow. Quinn the paladin, however, enters the fray hastily by cannonballing into the water below, spraying water everywhere. The first group of dark elves are put down, yet the other patrol doesn't seem to materialize.

Sevlah the elven archer scampers up the inner slanting walls of the walkway and hits higher ground trying to scout the area. While there he notices a decayed dwarven body slumped beneath a large mushroom among an entire garden of the fungus. Also searching the hazy horizons he notices some outlines that are very slowly rising and falling in a slow breathing like pattern.

The archer descends back down to the watery walkway and informs the rest of the party of what he witnessed and they then decide to search out for the remaining drow. As they turn the next right corner, they come upon a decorative stone arch bridge crossing over the waterway. The party approach and see an partially opened door on the other side of the bridge, and a larger group of drow inside that haven't taken notice to the party yet. They also catch a glimpse of another doorway inside the room.

The party surprises the patrol and their companions, but to their dismay the connecting door locks shut, and within a few seconds, a large whirring mechanical sound of gears rotating is heard. The dark elves are finished off, and the remaining door is brutally forced open.

Inside the mechanical chamber is an elevator shaft with a nearby gearbox that smells of heated oil and grease. Also within the room, located at a desk, is a job roster detailing the patrols and surrounding duties. A few members of the party descend down, only to be barred by a massive locked iron door. Milling around and trying to decide what to do next (with a tinge of regret for not having a rogue in the party), the group continues onward by heading to the unexplored areas of the waterway.

Turning around another right corner, Sevlah the ever vigilant sees an ominous sphere floating slowly around the figures he sighted earlier. More spheres come and go on a patrolling pattern in the area when one starts to descend towards the party, then seemingly moves off and away. The party decide to press on a take up arms against the unknown entities ahead.

A large mushroom shaped being and three accompanying smaller guards heavily lumber towards the party. Also orbiting the fungus beings are six spore like creatures, acting as caretakers, join into the fray. The guards are the first engaged while the larger myconid envelopes the party in a poisonous gas. As the mushroom men are starting to get bloodied a couple of the spores seem to explode, releasing pollen that heal the myconid guards. Immediately, all focus is on the incoming spores. Sevlah releases a volley of arrows, Ki-Amar releases a crackle of lightning energy, and Riardon fires off some magic that bring down the spores and the rest of the mushroom men are brought down. Then sauteed in some nice butter sauce. Man, that is tasty.

Later, the dwarven body is looted and some magical plate is put to good use by Quinn. On the remaining corner of the unexplored walkway there seems to be a large crevice piercing the floor. It was likely the results of an earthquake that moved through the shallows of the underdark, marking a massive change that affected the world below just as above.

The party presses on and climb among the rubble in the water to another winding tunnel that seems to start to descend downwards, giving an alternate route to that of the elevator room nearby.

In the distance, the faint clinking of mining picks, whip cracks, and snarled laughter are heard..

Part Two: Under the horde stalk..

After defeating the kruthik swarms and a small band of drow atop windswept plateaus that were barely traversable, the party scampered after the remaining dark elves. They descended into a ten by ten hole in the ground and lit up the area using purchased sun rods. Rock piles and dirt dotted the large cavern, as well as some footprints and a slight trail of blood.

There were natural stairs that led off into a larger cavern as well as a small hole large enough to crawl through overlooking the same area. In the larger cavern  a slippery stream flowed to the left and seemed to be developing into a small river.

The party cautiously moved inward in silence, using hand gestures for communicating (Player one does two fingers poking near eyes then a walking motion and then a twirling gesture, player two yells "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!") and see three drow investigating a large pile of rocks near a cave wall. As the archer drew his bowstring and the mage stationed readied himself in the cubbyhole, a large pair of mandibles shot through the rock and snatched up one of the drow before retreating backwards into it's hole.

The other drow ran off, knowing it was outnumbered, heading up the stream bed into some unknown area trying to escape the party. The remaining dark elf was immediately impaled by an arrow, lit up by the mage, and charged by the rest of the party. Moments later a large growl and a horrible yell was heard from further upstream.

More kruthiks appeared at the rock face and the party dispatched the creatures before ascending up further into more freshly bored tunnels that seemed to twist about in confusing darkness. Party members heard soft, unnerving skittering noises, when suddenly the ground burst open near the paladin and he found himself locked in combat. Nearby the cleric Jepath was also quickly engaged with one of the creatures, and knowing he certainly was not a fighter he yelled for assistance.  The nearby half orc clamoured through the tunnels to offer up a steaming, warm plate meal of heavy mace for dinner.

The party brought the fighting with the kruthiks out of the tunnel ways, when yet again the cleric noticed a stirring patch of dirt beneath his feet that was larger than before. He shouted and moved away as fast as he could, while another Hive Lord roared  emerged from below. The party deftly got the flank on the large kruthik and brought it and it's companions down. Later, after investigating the tunnels and finding the remaining drow, they pressed upstream discovering a large bear sniffing through the remains of a dark elf.

The bear turned to face the new intruders and was met head on by the party who easily outnumbered and outmatched the beast. Various bits of kruthik and fresh drow remains lay scattered about the cavern as well as the origins of a stream from above.

The party deduced that the drow had simply ran in here hoping for refuge from the fight above, and maybe a possible exit to reorganize. They had no identifying insignias or papers on them. After searching the bodies,  the party realizied the only unexplored areas were downstream.

They started walking next to a small river that was picking up speed the  further down they went. Around a bend of algae covered rocks the barbarian lunged forward leading the way and planted himself to catch other party members who might not manage the treacherous terrain so easily. Quinn, whose plate armor made it harder to maneuver the splashing river found himself on his back perilously down the natural slide. Korgul easily scooped up the paladin and brought him to safety with the rest of the group. Everybody else used a system of ropes and timed jumps to easily traverse the rocks, and found a safe embankment to plot out their next move.

Riardon summoned his pseudodragon to scout out the area ahead.

The river in the cavern descended in a downwards slope that roared towards waterfall at the end.

Tying off a rope and determining the mage, not being that heavy and could use magic to silently signal the group if needed, went first. Riardon was speedily consumed by the rushing water and shot out into a system of canals into a gigantic underground cavern. As the mage dangled in midair, he was unsure what he had gotten himself into..

Gm's Note: The underground waterfall was a gaming mechanic to put the player's at a "point of no return"

Part One: Like a bridge over troubled Kruthiks..

Hiding behind a large rock formation, the party came to the first of two handmade dwarven bridges standing forty feet over the large ravines, littered with bones and cracked earth. Something was tunneling in the dirt far below them, making it's daily rounds scavenging for food. Meanwhile the party hunkered down and was coming up with an elaborate fool proof plan to deal with the dark elf scouting party perched on the center island connecting the two bridges first noticed by Sevlah. The drow were involved with themselves, unaware of the party.

The historical "Get 'em!" plan was set into motion.

Quinn led the charge being careful about his footing as he was aware the bridge had thoroughly rusted plates and dilapidated cables barely able to support itself, let alone him in his plate armor.

Korgul was hesitant, and wanted a recount. But, realizing half orc barbarians don't use debate skills and he'd lose points for bad role playing, he followed after the paladin.

Six drow, half archers and the others being melee masters, stood up fully revealing their presence. An arrow from Sevlah whistled towards the villians and found it's mark. As the drow blademasters rushed to meet Quinn head on, the dark elf's footing gave way and found itself in panic and hanging from one hand on the side of the bridge.

The dirt below stirred and several man-sized chitinous creatures ascended the middle tower, seeing the dangling drow bandit as a easy meal.

The dark elves found themselves being thrusted over the edge from bull rushes and forceful magic, quickly in a losing situation. The remaining scout fled across the second bridge as the party continued to battle the kruthik that were atop the plateau. The blades and arrows pierced thick carapaces while large hissing masses flung poisonous spikes at the heroes. Across the last bridge the remaining drow tried to find aid from more of his brethren.

The enemies fell off the pinnacle as the party pressed on in certain victory, but as each body hit the ground below, shockwaves of dirt and dust echoed across the cracked, barren earth awakening something big.

More of the kruthiks and a Hive Lord emerged from the earth. However, the nearest prey was the unfortunate drow scout. Thought to be within salvations reach, the Hive Lord blasted him with acid, ending his existence and poising a new threat to his comrades.

The dark elves retreated after more losses to a vertical cave (what us modern folk might call a hole) disappearing into the shallow darkness below.

Now the Hive Lord and the party were at a showdown atop the second bridge. Once again, after closing in, the kruthik widened its mandibles and blasted acid at the heroes, while it suddenly found itself being bull rushed from it's blindside. After a seemingly fatal fall, the large Hive Lord righted itself and stubbornly began to lumber up the side of the natural tower. However, being bloodied and close to death it found itself the recipient of one of Riardon's magic missiles. The Hive Lord fell flailing and screeching to it's demise, falling to the ground below with a thunderous crack, as a halo of dust trailed about the body.

The party quickly gathered themselves up at the hole, ready to descend into the darkness after the evasive drow elves.

Map: Follow your nose..

The Underwatch* was located near the East Rift, which was at the right hand of the Underchasm. After buying rations and supplies the party learned of the history of dark elves that assaulted the dwarven threshholds and were constantly under nocturnal attacks, with the dark elves becoming more fearless every passing night. Never to back down from a threat, the dwarves sent out scouts and discovered various new found caves, and fearing some might directly connect the Underdark they offered up rewards to those brave enough to explore them. One of the new found holes opened up south near Sadrach's Splinter, about a half days travel from the dwarven town.


Picking up their packs and heading out so they wouldn't lose the light of day when they arrived, the party headed out to the homemade dwarven suspension bridges that were held together by rusted metal plates, thick unravelling cables, and a bit of luck.

*Yes, everything in the area uses the prefix "Under" when describing itself. Underwatch, Underdark, Underchasm, Underbelly, Underwear, Under my Thumb.. you get the idea..

Intro: Remember where we parked.

The ship was finally moored at the docks, having endured a bellowing nighttime travel into the Gulf of Luiren. Thunderheads echoed off into the dawns horizon as the party walked towards the traveler's checkpoint in the town of Delzimmer. Although the group had a few exploits notched on their belts, this was new territory for them.

A couple of the members heard about a simple job exploring the newly unearthed areas and figured they were more then qualified for the task.

A long line led up to the dispatchment area, and the man at arms at the checkpoint took a quick look over of the group and barked "Underwatch!" Before any protest or response, they were hurriedly pushed ahead on their way.

Some members of the party knew the Underwatch post was a settlement of dwarfs that stood guard against the denizens of the Underdark. A couple wondered what they were doing even helping dwarfs in the first place.