Song of the Endling

After the fellowship departed Den No. 47, the last remaining outpost of the Great Goblin Wars of the Greypeaks, the group made haste for the entrance to Myth Sveldin. Or, at least as much haste as is possible with three geriatric goblins and an arthritic wolf. That is to say, the going was slower than before, but not unmanageable. Rya and Po tolerated it.

The first night of camp, Quartermaster Kargi jumped to action, laying out the dinner provisions and setting up the cook fire, while Falz and Prex put their military discipline to use, rolling out bedrolls and setting Dunny to patrol the perimeter. It was remarkably efficient. That night and the next two days passed without incident, and finally, the group reached the cave entrance by the glacial erratic that was the entrance to the Underdark.

Rya looked at Po, who nodded, and Rya began laying out the ground rules of their journey into the earth. "Be on your guard. Be quiet. Keep light to a minimum. No fires. Preserved fish, fungus we find, and the hardtack supplies we took from Lakeville will have to last us. Remember, we are guides not bodyguards. This is your trip to Myth Sveldin. We will let you know when tunnels diverge which way to go.

"Stay together, no one off even to use the outhouse except in groups of 3. That includes us. If we are lost you have little hope of reaching the surface again – such is the mazelike madness of the Underdark. Stay on your toes…and let’s see what we--"

Before Rya could finish her speech, an impossibly fast, shambling shape, bolted out from the entrance to the cave. A blur of white fur bowled Rya over, and then paused, revealing a massive white-furred, ram-horned creature that could only be the mythical Yeti. It beat its chest and let out a terrifying howl.

Zireael got the drop on it and charged first, but barely pierced the tough skin of the creature. Safad sent out a flaming firebolt that scared the creature, putting it off its guard. Ironica followed up with her deadly dagger, finding an easy opening the ribcage. The goblins wasted no time getting into the fray, with Lieutenant Falz scoring a quick hit with his shortbow, and Quartermaster Kargi charging the beast astride Dunny, who was feeling fine from the hisperin. Rya managed to throw a feeble dagger and Po closed in with a shortsword. Then Nancy fired off a crossbow and Dala'gse scored a massive lightning hit to the chest. The beast was barely standing by this point, but managed to use its arctic magic to paralyze Dala'gse, however it was too weak to score hits with its terrible claws. Captain Prex was up next, energized by the fight, he leaped off the Yeti's thigh and embedded his axe deep into the beast's chest cavity...riding the creature down to the ground as it was felled.

To see Prex astride the felled Yeti must have been reminiscent of what he looked like as he returned triumphant from the great bridge racoon rout of legend. For a moment no one could believe he was practically an octogenarian...but then he burst into a phlegmatic coughing fit, pounding his chest until he produced a wretchedly vile loogie, that may have smelled worse than the decomposing beast. Ironica skinned the Yeti and took a large portion of its pelt.

The group found a stinky old bag in the cave entrance, that contained a number of gemstones and some coins. As they saw Falz's "itchy fingers" pocket a few of the coins before they were counted, the fellowship decided it was best to come to an agreement to split up the loot before they reached Myth Sveldin. Rya and Po would each be entitled to a lesser trinket or magical item, as payment for their guiding services. The goblins would together account for one share of the loot, that is to say, 1/7th of the plunder, in terms of currency, coinage, and gemstones. Major magical items would not be included, and if itchy fingers happened to take an extra coin here or there, so be it.

With that, Rya led the group down into the tunnels of the Underdark, with Po taking up the rear.

The going was sometimes cramped, and as they descended it opened up into larger tunnel. Fairly soon it was evident that this "Underdark" was a massive underground network. Slothrop had so seldom spoke of his past but this was his life before coming to the surface. Some of the group felt claustrophobic, they missed the sky, and everyone felt completely disoriented after a few twists and turns. They could still feel gravity and understood they were steadily descending deeper into the earth, but which way was north or south was impossible to tell.

After a few hours they could no longer smell the surface, and their eyes grew more accustomed to the gloom. They smelled must, dirt, mold, fungus. Every now and then a wind blew from strange directions, sometimes the smell was sweet, sometimes it was foul and acrid. Sometimes they passed through disintegrating cobwebs, and at other times the webbing was still sticky and fresh. A few times the torch light reflected off multiple eyes tucked away in some cave ceiling nook.

The geology was interesting. A few times they walked into sizable caverns with vast stalagmites reaching from the ground and stalactites seemingly dripping living rock from the ceiling. They saw glowing mushrooms, other strange fungus, and exposed quartz-like geodes. Sometimes they saw or heard aquifers, winding slowly through the subterranean caverns. Constant drips and trickles were their constant companion. Every now and then they heard a scuffle, a scrape, or a hiss, of some underground creature. The walls felt alive in certain areas. Creepy.

Once they took a bend in the tunnel only to have Po steer a stray party member back toward the wall and away from what turned out to be a vast chasm falling away into nothing but abyss.

It was very difficult to track the passage of time.

Rya seemed to be confident in her directions and only a few times looked back to Po for confirmation. After who knows how long, they saw a white marking on the wall, maybe something in chalk, and immediately after it an opening in the tunnel wall. There was a little room off the main passage that looked like it had been used as a campsite before. There was even a rug on the floor and some pots stashed to the side.

The goblins set up camp in their efficient manner, while Po and Rya set a watch, hanging the rug over the entrance to the nook to hide it. The night passed without incident, save for the old goblins getting up every hour to relieve themselves. And they followed the rule of three, so every hour it was a little goblin parade to the privy. 

The next "day" or whatever time it was, they heard strange whistles and peeps, croaks. Some kind of song. It was sort of a croak, croak, croak, back beat and a peep whistle melody. It was eerie and sad. As they approached the source, the air grew humid and they saw a large humanoid-froglike head peering out from an alcove near the roof of the cavern. A steady trickle of water dripped down on to it, perhaps from an aquifer that ran above the alcove. The creature tried a number of languages unknown to the party before landing on a broken Common:

“I am die..death...soon. But need wife first. I am last Endling. I am sing for wife. But no wife here. One place is wife I think. Help find, send to me. We are last Endlings. Last chance. Last hope. Make baby. You and down-down people help find wife. She live like space like this. Space is nice. Water is nice. Only small place like this now. Tunnels leaks now. Tunnels kill. We die die die. I am last Endling. Find wife. I rest. Wife I know, place is like this, near dead city. In top of street. Like me. She has home like me.”

The party agreed to help the Last Endling find a mate, and Rya led them further into the Underdark, toward Myth Sveldin. 

Rya told them they were close to Myth Sveldin, and they passed through another humid chamber, where they saw a similar alcove to the Endling's. Zireael and Dala'gse helped Ironica scale the wall, but all she found was a dried up pool and a dead Endling. It seems the creature was indeed the last of the Endlings, singing a mating song for no one. 

Rya and Po led them through the next cavern which opened to a massive space, with huge ceilings and rock in column-like formations. They traversed a thin trail through the cavern until they reached one of the broadest staircases they had ever seen. One continues step, carved into the stone, spanned at least 150ft., and continued upwards at a steep pitch, out of sight.

Rya and Po confirmed this was the entrance to Myth Sveldin, the ancient deep gnome, "svirfnedblin" city. They led the way up to the top, and were about to describe what to expect when a strange creature seemed to melt out of the rock in front of them. Squat and solid, looked to be made of rocky stone itself. Three claw-like clasping arms emerged out of a solid trunklike foundation, with three squat legs supporting it. It moved like a mix between crab and man with a limp. It had three eyes, one per side, but the most prominent thing was the large gaping maw rimmed with six inch teeth, at the intersection of its shoulders/arms…as though those arms were made for shoveling things into its mouth. 

It tried to communicate to the party in some raspy speech. "Gerash kruub! Arkxashk!" It kept repeating while sort of sniffing and pointing at Dala'gse and Ironica. Ironica gave it a handful of gold pieces which it accepted eagerly, and kept repeating its words and pointing. Dala'gse gave some gold as well and it was excited. Then Ironica gave some gemstones and it greedily consumed them. It did a strange spin move, sunk into the earth, and then emerged again, seemingly content, and following the party. Rya and Po shrugged, they'd never seen such a creature before. 

Po then led them to where the cavern narrowed to a small opening which Po called the labyrinth. He explained how he had solved the statue trap puzzle and to look for statues of gnomes with sword and shields. Always travel on the path of the shield-side, and you would be OK. Travel on the sword side and you would be lost and likely burnt or gassed to death. He led them safely through the maze to where a foyer contained two statues flanking an entrance way. One was an elegant gnome with a pickaxe, the other a celestial gnome holding up something in its outstretched hand. Po said it was Wepo Juming who had pried the massive ruby that the statue once held. 

Rya then explained Myth Sveldin best practices:

1. This place is weird. There was a Mythal here that fell a long time ago, but creates odd effects. Magic is strange and creatures behave strangely.
2. This place was trapped vigorously by the Svirfneblin who lived here, they knew the tricks to their traps but they were paranoid and weary of invaders.
3. Apart from the ancient dangers, newer underdark denizens pass through or have tried to make this place their home. You never know what you will encounter. 
4. This was a city. It was magnificent. What we consider passageways and tunnels were city streets. The homes and shops and offices were built into the cavern walls. Some have crumbled and closed, others are open. This is where we have found our treasures. We have named certain places but only explored a small radius from Arch square (the entrance).
5. There are a number of locations to go. We always start at Arch square and people have gone different directions:
• The Ruby Caves (Due straight)
• Hagar’s Mine (Left and back)
• The Standing Stones (Right and Back)
• Cloaker Hall (Forward and left)
• Fungal Pools (Forward and right)

Then Po added that Myth Sveldin has an ecology of its own. Over many years it has become an ecosystem and the party was disrupting it. Everything that inhabits these parts is native to the underdark. We are like a cat in water here. Strength in numbers helps, but be careful!

With that, the Misfit Six and the Fellowship of the Key found themselves at the entrance to Myth Sveldin.