Demon Lord Jublex (Recap from 2-24-23)

Demon Lord Jublex (Recap from 2-24-23)

(Grissen the 21st of Fessuran) The night of the fourth day of  travel, after the battle with the ropers, the heavy work of salvaging the trade goods, and clearing the ship wreckage, the Heros sat down to dinner with the crew of the Theurgeme. After the “delightful” dinner of Roper meat stew, that tasted a lot like beef, Captain Griliggs Firehorn invited the party into his cabin for a bit of “truth time”. After seeing Abner's squier Svela manifest an echo in combat, and him being a veteran of the war of ash and light, knew that only the Kryn used such magics. He advised Abnar to make sure Svela didn't do that in front of any Dwindalian officials, or they might make her for a spy and have her executed. Svela explained that Ishel was teaching some dunamancy to the kobolds to better help them defend themselves in case the children of malice were to attack, seeing this Svela sat in on the training and found she had a knack for it. She agreed to only use the magic when nothing else would work, and agreed to be discreet around the empire's officials.

The party went to bed and were awakened by a horrific shriek, followed by insane screaming and the sounds of combat. The cook, Magrus Gravechains, experienced a terrifying dream about being seduced in her kitchen only to have her lover change and morph into a terrifying mass of flowing tarlike ooze, with hundreds of eyes and toothy mouths, and dozens of grasping sticky pseudopods. The dream drove her temporarily insane and she attacked her shipmate Nesdeth Underway. After a brief struggle Nesdeth managed to grapple Margus and restrain her until the madness passed. When the cook came back to her senses she related details of her nightmare and how she was literally afraid to go back to sleep. Around this same time Abnar was having a similar dream and woke to the shock of it causing him to lose consciousness for six minutes. The night was uncomfortable for most of the crew and party being racked by bad dreams and the screams of others having bad dreams. The very air seemed to hang ominously around the ship.

 

(Whelson the 22nd of Fessuran) The next morning when Abnar and Margus compared notes over breakfast the erie similarities were too much to be just blind chance. There was some underdark evil at work causing these dreams, maybe demons, or the mysterious faerzress radiation that seemed to permeate some areas of the underdark. Maybe it was faerzress,  the passage the river was going though at the time had faerzress radiation so thick you could see the mist like glow emanating from the ceiling. Corvar made the remark that the dreams could be depicting Juiblex the faceless demon lord. This gave everyone pause, the uncomfortable pause was broken when someone suggested “it could be the roper meat?” Everyone but the cook laughed and travel continued though the alien underdark river with the crew on heightened alert.

Mallik detected some movement along the shore but couldn't discern what it was. He saw some barrels and crates trapped in a cargo net snagged on an outcropping in the river. He grabbed a boat hook he was able to snag the net and with the help of the crew, pulled it onboard. It was more grimgolir trade goods likely from a sunken trade ship. It consisted of:

• A 5 pound barrel of salt. (1 GP)

• A 13 pound drum of salt. (2 GP)

• A 133 pound keg of wheat. (6 GP)

• A 8 pound tub of pine nuts. (16 GP)

• A 27 pound barrel of red wine. (404 GP)

• (Total 186 pounds and an underdark value of 429 gold pieces)

These salvaged items were secured in the hold with the rest of the salvaged goods. With this done, the ship continued on into the ever present darkness. On the surface world it would have been nightfall. 

The ship passed into a strange surreal tunnel of what looked like slimy glowing green walls. Here the group encountered: five monstrous Black Puddings, two ancient aware Black Puddings (who were telepathically praising Juiblex and trying to instill fear in the party), two Gray Oozes, and two Large Ochre Jellies. The Oozes attacked in their relentless slow oozing motion allowing the party to dispatch a couple before they could get in range to attack. The battle lasted six rounds with multiple folks being knocked unconscious by corrosive black oozing pseudopod attacks. The party bloodied barely managed to defeat the oozes and jellies and collect the loot which was: 2 vials Ochre Jelly essence, 7 gp each, 21 vials of Black Pudding Sludge 15 gp each, 2 vials Gray Ooze Samples 7gp each, as well as some loot left by previous victimes scattered about: 

Coins: 1177 cp, 1551 sp, 43 gp, 

Art Objects (5): Worth 25 gp each. [2 Embroidered silk handkerchief, 1 Gold locket with a painted portrait inside, 1 Copper chalice with silver filigree, 1 Small gold bracelet], 

Magic Items (3): [1 Scroll of Protection, 1 Ammunition +2, 1 Dawn Scroll (Level 5)]. 

Just as they finished gathering the discarded loot, they were assailed by the psychic screams of the demon lord Jublex who was coming down a side tunnel. Hurriedly the crew pulled the anchor and called for full engine speed headed down the river motoring past two more monstrous Black Puddings who also tried to join the chase. In a few minutes the powerful planer engines of the Theurgeme were able to outpace their pursuers and continue their journey. The cook made some warm porridge and the crew were able to rest the rest of the evening.

(Conthsen the 23th of Fessuran) This day of travel was uneventful, thankfully for the party and crew. It was a time to rest and regroup from the terrible dreams and battle the night before. The watches reported seeing movement on ledges hundreds of feet above the river, possibly a Drow patrol who was passing above and missed the passage of the boat on the river.  As the night watch came on the ship continued on, having an uneventful night of travel and much needed rest. During one of the night watches, the lookout caught a glimpse of a Duergar raiding party in a cavern ledges above the subterranean river. The Duergar either ignored or failed to notice the ship below.

(Folsen the 24th of Fessuran) The ship sailed into a wondrous immense Crystalline cavern gallery. As they continued the group noticed a Duergar raiding party fighting a Drow ambush where the duergar seemed to have the drow pinned down behind some boulders. The ship quickly  and quietly passed by the battle and slipped by unnoticed, along their way to Darklake. Soon the ship passed through into narrower caverns and farther into the underdark. The travel that night was uneventful, nightmares still continued to plague the crew and party.

(Yulisen the 25th of Fessuran) The next morning the caverns widened and the current slowed to a leisurely pace as the ship made steady progress throughout the day. As the night shift came on the cavern opened up into a huge open cavern that contained an expansive sunless sea. The Theurgeme powered on though the dark black waters of the huge ancient subterranean sea. The Captain told them the journey was about to be finished. There were only a couple more days of travel crossing the Darklake and the ship will arrive at the underdark trading outpost. 

Kobold Mining Profits for the first week of the third month, 1600 gp worth of gold ingots, less the mines operating expenses of 325gp grants each party member 212 gp (Also there were nine new kobold pups born in the lair).