Setting Sail for Grimgolier (Recap from 3-10-23)
Setting Sail for Grimgolier (Recap from 3-10-23)
(Whelson the 29th of Fessuran) The next day in port, the hucksters heroes searched for some supplies in the various stalls and shops, looking for supplies for projects they wanted to work on during the trip home, also some bags of “colding” for storing provisions. The last night in port at Mantol-Derith, the party had dinner with Rystia Zav who asked Grok to deliver a package to Lassryn Bronzepride (a member of the Golden Grin) in Grimgolir. She confesses that she desperately wanted out of the underdark, but she felt the need to thwart the children of malice in their attempts to start a war between the Kryn and the Empire. Also she wanted to help heal the demon wrought damage in Mantol-Derith, she bid the group farewell and departed with Sladis Vadir who also wanted to help with restoring Mantol-Derith. So he too vowed to assist Rystia and watch out for one another. They both took their leave talking together as they went ashore.
The Captain, and crew made ready the Theurgeme for the Journey back to Grimgolir. They loaded stores of dried mushrooms, lizard meat, and a variety of wines and ales, checked and double checked the planular drive, as well as all the linkages and gears. After all the preparations finally they settled in for an uncomfortable sleep anticipating the long journey ahead of them.
(Conthsen the 1st of Quen'pillar) The group set sail for Grimgolier, the Captain said it would take a sixteen day and night journey (if all went well). He seemed a bit nervous and with almost 60,000 gp worth of rare gemstones in the cargo hold, he felt they could easily become a target for either Duergar or Drow raiders or BOTH. Starting out, travel was quiet and easy, no rapid currents, or hostile encounters. As the day of travel transitioned to the night watch the ship headed farther into the dark lake, gratefully they also had no encounters.(Though some of the crew had night terrors and suffered short term madness during their rest periods.)
(Folsen the 2nd of Quen'pillar) Another day of uneventful travel, the glassy surface of the darklake broken only by the powerful Therugeme engines pushing the ship effortlessly ahead. Nesdeth taught Corin and Abnar to shoot arrows tied to fishing cord to catch fish swimming by the ship. Using this method they caught a couple dozen Quippers, which Magrus Gravechains the cook cleaned the fish and stored away the fillets. She reserved some which she used to make a really nice fish fry for lunch. As the night watch came on duty for the off shift, all was quiet with no encounters. The ship crosses Darklake and enters the wide subterranean Blackrun river and begins fighting the slow but steady current, the ships engines seem more than adequate for the job making great headway against the current.
(Yulisen the 3rd of Quen'pillar) A quiet day of travel at sea, ship and crew settling into the routine of being on passage, no encounters. During the 4rth watch the night watch standers see 2 kuo-toa poling a keelboat. The Kuo-Toa are refugees fleeing the destruction of Sloobludop. In their boat are three mostly naked Drow, a female Chardalyn Hunzrin (a Junior Priestess of House Hunzrin), her cousin Ruathel Hunzrin(a warrior of House Hunzrin), Nadal Ignin'rl(a warrior of House Ignin'rl) who look fearfully up at the massive(compared to their keelboat) ship. The Drow were sent out on a doomed patrol group that was ambushed by Duergar Raiders, and after being stripped of all clothing and possessions, they were left for dead. Being unconscious and bloodied near death for several hours, Chardalyn came to consciousness. She healed some of her own wounds and searched for other survivors in the carnage. Of the 10-person patrol that was sent out from Menzoberranzan, only Ruathel, her cousin, and Nadal were left alive, just barely alive. Naked and hurt, Chardalyn cast healing spells on the survivors and they sought shelter in a small secluded alcove in the cavernous crystalline grotto where the ambush had occurred.
The Duergar left precious little behind, just some torn ruined clothing. The group Huddled together for warmth while one of them kept watch. They made it through the night and the next day managed to find the bones of a long dead beast in the cavern. Chardalyn created a crude club from a bleached femur, while her male companions crafted crude bone daggers from the ribs. They managed to find some edible fungus and water so decided to remain in the cavern in hopes of flagging down some river travelers to aid them in getting to Mantol Derith or at least Darklake.
In a couple days, a boat being poled by the two Kuo toa priests happened by and picked up the group. They were fleeing the destruction of Sloobludoop, agreed to take them to Mantol Derith if they would put in a good word for the Kuo toa refugees.
Chardalyn knew how the demons got into the underdark. She also knew House Baenres' plans to attack the warring surface world. She secretly believed House Baenre had her patrol ambushed on purpose to “get rid of loose ends”. All three were afraid to go back to Menzoberranzan, or their own houses, and plan on disappearing in Mantol Derith.
The party gave them blankets and food, and offered to ferry them to Grimgolir to give testimony against House Baenre; they were willing to share what they know about the plots hatching in the Underdark in return for protection. Chardalyn, didn’t forget her promise to the Kuo Toa and Wrote a letter to the Drow of Mantol-Derith, telling how these Kuo Toa saved the doomed patrol and deserved sanctuary under the shield of House Hunzrin.
(Da’Leysen the 4th of Quen'pillar) The journey continued and during the first watch, some loose rocks and shale fell from the ceiling above the crew on deck had to dodge, so not to be hit by chunks of falling stone, which then struck the deck causing superficial damage that the crew rushed to repair. By the night watch the repairs had been complete and the rest of the night was uneventful with no further encounters. The ship finally reached the crystalline cavern where the Duergar/Drow ambush had happened 8 days earlier. After an investigation the party confirmed the Drow story. As the crew went to sleep some of the party had more horrific dreams and suffered temporary madness.
(Miresen the 5th of Quen'pillar) The voyage continues, and the crew is quite dreading a possible encounter with a Demon lord in the Green cavern on the previous passage.There were no other encounters the rest of the day, and also throughout the night watch as well all quiet.
(Grissen the 6th of Quen'pillar) There was some excitement the next day as later in what would have been afternoon on the 3rd watch, the vessel hits a sandbar and runs partially aground. The characters and crew jumped into the four foot deep water, trying to push the ship off the sandbar as the engineer reversed the engines to try and pull the vessel back off the sandbar. They were successful, but while characters are pushing the boat free, six stirges descend and attack the nearest party members. To make matters worse the comotion had attracted a Swarm of Quippers that attacked the crew in the water. After a short battle they found 14 gp worth of coins in the 28 quipper bodies. The quippers were also turned into dinner for the crew. The ship traveled onward upstream through the darkened river caverns. The ship arrives during 3rd night watch to the green slimy cavern where they had fought the oozes and ran from the Demon Lord. There was no sign of the Demon Lord but there were 4 Monsterous Black puddings eager for a meal, and Several patches of green slime on the walls and ceiling. The Alarms were sounded and everyone jumped into battle. The fight took quite a while and was very challenging but none of the slimes actually got to attack as ranged attacks brought them all down. The Loot was:
4 vials of black pudding sludge,
Coins: 1621 cp, 366 sp, 115 gp
Art: 6 art objects worth 25 gp each
[2 Black velvet mask stitched with silver thread, 1 Small gold bracelet, 1 Cloth-of-gold vestments, 2 Silver ewer]
Magic Items (5): [1 Potion of Heroism, 1 Potion of Mind Reading, 1 Potion of Clairvoyance, 1 Potion of Superior Healing (8d4 + 8), 1 Potion of Invulnerability]
All remnants of some other party that had fallen victim to the oozes, jellies, and slimes.
(Whelson the 7th of Quen'pillar) The party somehow was able to sleep after the battle and thankfully had a quiet day with no encounters, smooth travel all day. This trend repeated itself for the haggard night watch; there were no encounters.
Kobold Mining Profits for the third week of the third month, the Kobolds uncovered a layer of gemstones, 200 gp worth of cut Spinals, and 10,000 gp worth of cut Rubies, (Subtracting the mine expenses of 325 gp each party member gains 1646 gp once they get back to the mine of course. (also 6 new kobold pups were hatched in the lair, the Kobolds are being fruitful)
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