Lost in the Underdark
The realization that they had been walking in circles for the past hour was soon usurped by a more pressing matter: Zireael, Dala'gse, and Nancy could feel their blood quickening, the tidal pull of Lycanthropy growing urgent. Zireael and Slothrop scouted the caverns and tunnels for a suitable alcove to stuff the afflicted during their transformation. After an hour, they discovered a coffin-like nook that would serve their purposes. Using the newfound power of the two Sveldinstones, Safad shaped the stone into a prison for the wererats, who crowded inside obligingly.
The group set a guard nearby and Rook observed through air holes Safad had formed in the stone. As the group rested, the lycanthropes braced for the worst. Rook watched on, as, after hour two, a violent change overtook the trio in the stone prison. Their bodies convulsed and shuddered. Shaggy, mangy fur sprouted from all over, while their forms shifted smaller and smaller. It looked painful. Rook told the others the show had just begun and they watched as their friends turned into large rats then back to semi-human, settling on an ugly bipedal, rabid, feral, hybrid rat-man. The creatures clawed at the walls and bit at the airholes, but to no avail. They didn't seem to be interested in each other, but screeched bloody murder at those looking on. This went on for hours.
Even with the cacophony in the rock jail, the group managed to rest. Slothrop set out to do some exploring, making sure not to move more than one hour in any direction. He came across a trio of Svirfneblin miners who were in the area surveying for ore deposits. They could not believe Slothrop had come out of Myth Sveldin, and were astonished to learn the place even existed. Slothrop invited them to join the camp and convinced them to help show them the way back to the surface. They were eager to oblige for any knowledge of Myth Sveldin, something they would take back to their city. On another foray out into the surrounding tunnels, they came across a Basilisk den, and decided best to turn around. When they got back to camp, they had barely set down their packs when a pair of dog like beasts with large brains for heads came flying around the corner, charging right for them. The miners knew them as Illithid pets called Intellect Devourers.
The group fended them off, but not without losing one of the miners to the creatures. If this was an advance party, the illithids must not be far behind. The lycanthropes were just about done with the full moon's pool on their blood by this point--not a moment too soon--and began shifting painstakingly back into human form. Rook reported that they were writhing on the ground in agony. It looked like only minor damage had been done, but they were exhausted.
Frantically, the group packed up camp. The miners laid their friend to rest and agreed to show the party as far as they could before they needed to return to their city and deal with their friend's demise.
The pace was slow with the exhausted Lycanthropes. The party members exchanged nervous glances as they calculated the running speeds of an army of thralls against their diminished pace. Every turn felt like the mind flayer host was on their heels. And the Underdark wasn't exactly a friendly place without being chased through it--they would be loud, easy pickings for other predators.
At peak anxiety they found themselves in a narrow corridor like tunnel with high vaulted ceilings. Suddenly 12 crossbow bolts rained down on them, curiously striking just to this side or that side. From a perch near the ceiling, a dark elf dropped gracefully down in front of the party. She looked strikingly like Slothrop, and introduced herself as his sister, Diazza. She spoke in Drow and then in Common for the benefit of the party.
She explained that the coin given to them in Hagar's Mine was sent from their mother, a powerful Warlock hell bent on bringing Slothrop back into Drow society to stand for his crime of leaving. Her wards alerted her to Slothrop's presence when he re-entered the Underdark, and her creature spies tracked him as far as Myth Sveldin. Her cousin-by-marriage was recently looking for her own child near Myth Sveldin, and had just received word that a group of surface dwellers had rescued the girl from a band of Duergar. Slothrop's mother cursed a gold coin with scrying ability and had her cousin bring it as a reward for the group. Diazza managed to intercept the coin and gain the benefit of the scrying as well, but was unable to remove her mother's more powerful enchantment. During the fight with the Illithid, Safad flipped the coin and activated that enchantment. Slothrop's mother knew exactly where he was once again.
But so did Diazza. She made an excuse of investigating this Myth Sveldin claim more closely and set out quickly with her elite band to get to Slothrop before her mother's forces did. She succeeded.
Diazza explained all of this and then asked the group if they would prefer to keep bumbling about waiting for other Drow raiding parties or get back to the Surface. She told them she knew of a couple exits close by: the entrance they came in; one in the Greypeaks; another on the High Moor. They chose the Moor. The deep gnomes were confused about this friendly band of Drow and with nary a parting words left the group for their home city. Diazza and her crew led the dragging party toward the exit to the High Moor.
On the way, they passed through a Chuul lair, agitating it in hopes it would confront the illithids in pursuit. They managed to slip by it by having Rook fly near it with the powerful Sveldinstones, distracting the creature. Rook lost one of the rings in his beak but Ironica and Safad managed to get it back with their magic before the beast closed in on it. Diazza took her mother's coin and tossed it on the Chuul's island.
With the Drows' guidance, the group traveled myriad twists and turns that could beguile most Underdark natives. The pursuing illithids and their thralls had little hope of catching them. After the second day, Diazza led them through a crumbling stone wall into the root cellar of a ruined inn. She wished them well and embraced her brother. The group thanked her, and Safad tossed her a gold coin for her trouble. Diazza flashed a rare smile. The sound of a coin clattering on stone was the last thing they heard as she and her group melted into the darkness.
The group set a guard nearby and Rook observed through air holes Safad had formed in the stone. As the group rested, the lycanthropes braced for the worst. Rook watched on, as, after hour two, a violent change overtook the trio in the stone prison. Their bodies convulsed and shuddered. Shaggy, mangy fur sprouted from all over, while their forms shifted smaller and smaller. It looked painful. Rook told the others the show had just begun and they watched as their friends turned into large rats then back to semi-human, settling on an ugly bipedal, rabid, feral, hybrid rat-man. The creatures clawed at the walls and bit at the airholes, but to no avail. They didn't seem to be interested in each other, but screeched bloody murder at those looking on. This went on for hours.
Even with the cacophony in the rock jail, the group managed to rest. Slothrop set out to do some exploring, making sure not to move more than one hour in any direction. He came across a trio of Svirfneblin miners who were in the area surveying for ore deposits. They could not believe Slothrop had come out of Myth Sveldin, and were astonished to learn the place even existed. Slothrop invited them to join the camp and convinced them to help show them the way back to the surface. They were eager to oblige for any knowledge of Myth Sveldin, something they would take back to their city. On another foray out into the surrounding tunnels, they came across a Basilisk den, and decided best to turn around. When they got back to camp, they had barely set down their packs when a pair of dog like beasts with large brains for heads came flying around the corner, charging right for them. The miners knew them as Illithid pets called Intellect Devourers.
The group fended them off, but not without losing one of the miners to the creatures. If this was an advance party, the illithids must not be far behind. The lycanthropes were just about done with the full moon's pool on their blood by this point--not a moment too soon--and began shifting painstakingly back into human form. Rook reported that they were writhing on the ground in agony. It looked like only minor damage had been done, but they were exhausted.
Frantically, the group packed up camp. The miners laid their friend to rest and agreed to show the party as far as they could before they needed to return to their city and deal with their friend's demise.
The pace was slow with the exhausted Lycanthropes. The party members exchanged nervous glances as they calculated the running speeds of an army of thralls against their diminished pace. Every turn felt like the mind flayer host was on their heels. And the Underdark wasn't exactly a friendly place without being chased through it--they would be loud, easy pickings for other predators.
At peak anxiety they found themselves in a narrow corridor like tunnel with high vaulted ceilings. Suddenly 12 crossbow bolts rained down on them, curiously striking just to this side or that side. From a perch near the ceiling, a dark elf dropped gracefully down in front of the party. She looked strikingly like Slothrop, and introduced herself as his sister, Diazza. She spoke in Drow and then in Common for the benefit of the party.
She explained that the coin given to them in Hagar's Mine was sent from their mother, a powerful Warlock hell bent on bringing Slothrop back into Drow society to stand for his crime of leaving. Her wards alerted her to Slothrop's presence when he re-entered the Underdark, and her creature spies tracked him as far as Myth Sveldin. Her cousin-by-marriage was recently looking for her own child near Myth Sveldin, and had just received word that a group of surface dwellers had rescued the girl from a band of Duergar. Slothrop's mother cursed a gold coin with scrying ability and had her cousin bring it as a reward for the group. Diazza managed to intercept the coin and gain the benefit of the scrying as well, but was unable to remove her mother's more powerful enchantment. During the fight with the Illithid, Safad flipped the coin and activated that enchantment. Slothrop's mother knew exactly where he was once again.
But so did Diazza. She made an excuse of investigating this Myth Sveldin claim more closely and set out quickly with her elite band to get to Slothrop before her mother's forces did. She succeeded.
Diazza explained all of this and then asked the group if they would prefer to keep bumbling about waiting for other Drow raiding parties or get back to the Surface. She told them she knew of a couple exits close by: the entrance they came in; one in the Greypeaks; another on the High Moor. They chose the Moor. The deep gnomes were confused about this friendly band of Drow and with nary a parting words left the group for their home city. Diazza and her crew led the dragging party toward the exit to the High Moor.
On the way, they passed through a Chuul lair, agitating it in hopes it would confront the illithids in pursuit. They managed to slip by it by having Rook fly near it with the powerful Sveldinstones, distracting the creature. Rook lost one of the rings in his beak but Ironica and Safad managed to get it back with their magic before the beast closed in on it. Diazza took her mother's coin and tossed it on the Chuul's island.
With the Drows' guidance, the group traveled myriad twists and turns that could beguile most Underdark natives. The pursuing illithids and their thralls had little hope of catching them. After the second day, Diazza led them through a crumbling stone wall into the root cellar of a ruined inn. She wished them well and embraced her brother. The group thanked her, and Safad tossed her a gold coin for her trouble. Diazza flashed a rare smile. The sound of a coin clattering on stone was the last thing they heard as she and her group melted into the darkness.
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