Session Sixteen Recap 31DEC2016

Our party had just discovered a secret door behind a fake teleportation ring behind another secret door behind an ornate tapestry in what looked to be some kind of meeting room, dominated by a long table. the meeting room w long table

The irregularly shaped room, roughly carved in some places but primarily still natural formation, sloped gently down to pool of cool, black water that vanishes under the wall on the far side of the room.

(To make the map below easier to follow, the party has seen underwater only up to the purple areas or the southern edge of the map. The red lines show where the cavern ceiling comes down far enough to touch the water, meaning that beyond that point characters must either breathe water or start holding their breath and hope to find another air pocket.)

Submerged caves explored so far

Before entering the briny water, the party found an odd wooden club, made of some dark timber or perhaps painted, with an oily sheen to the whole weapon. The water itself was cool and fairly clear, allowing about 30' of vision underneath with a light source or darkvision.

Ali used alter self to gain gills and the ability to breathe underwater. A short distance to the nort, the cavern floor sloped up into a chamber where a humanoid figure lay.

The trip underwater was short enough that the party as a whole ventured to the chamber to discover a human chef bound. The poor gourmand rattled on about not wanting to be kidnapped underground to cook before the party could get any useful information from him. Apparently one of the drow smugglers had told him, "You're lucky! You don't die today!" before poisoning him into unconsciousness.

Ali scouted more to the south, finding more tunnel branches but no indication of air pockets. A chuul followed her back to the party, which they killed before anyone was seriously hurt.

With no obvious leads, the party returned to the unflooded portions of underground complex, helping the chef escape along the way. Going south, they found the kitchen, mess hall, pantry and a room where all the rubbish was thrown. They also found two very not stealthy otyughs and killed them before anyone got eaten.

Past the dining area, a small temple was found. A wraith was guiding one secret alcove to the east, and a secret door to the west revealed another set of hallways not on Razazco's map. The first room of this section was a storage room holding large quantities of wooden crates and broken down boards. The boards appeared to be normal pine and looked similar to those used inside the burning safehouse for smuggling magic weapons.

A few rooms later, the party found two trolls using lathes, saws and other woodworking tools. Ample use of acidic magic facilitated the destruction of the two ersatz carpenters, but the party felt quite drained at this point, requiring rest before continuing on.

At the end of the session, each member of the party had earned 1,983 XP, bringing the total of all characters to 12,567 XP. This amount is just under the 14,000 required for 6th level. (Looking ahead, it also takes 14,000 XP to get from level 8 to level 9, so it sounds like I need to start throwing bigger and more numerous encounters at the party to continue advancing with any semblance of speed.)

~Tidwin

01/07/2017