| Session Date | August 6, 2021 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party continued to negotiate with the weird "priests" with the iridescent robes. They continued to talk as if controlled by a single mind and, single-mindedly, were only interested in selling their "produce." They would not answer any questions about "elder ambergris," which the party had been told was present here and of great value. While the rest of party distracted them, Iban slipped and put on his ring of invisibility. He then proceeded to sneak past to scout. Around a corner, he found the passage opened to a very large underground canyon. The roof above glowed with a weird yellow light and illuminated what looked like a forest below. However, there were odd fruits indeed on the trees, which looked like large snakes except for the arms and legs growing from them. Iban became visible and returned, which caught the attention of the priests, who seemed most perturbed that he got past them. The party defused this by departing quickly, heading to the place they'd found earlier that had been clearly seen much use as a camp. After setting a Glyph of Warding to the north, the party spent an uneventful night.
The next morning, Amadin cast invisibility 10' radius on the party while (ZZ I think) cast a silence spell. The party attempted then to slip around past the priests in single file. However, Amadin must've momentarily left the silence as the priests sensed him and rushed at him, grabbing him despite being invisible. The elf, however, used his innate power to call on great strength and broke free of them. The party left the area and the priests resumed their dull-glazed expressions and station by the statue where the party had first seen them. Everyone was now able to see the deep valley which ran northeast-southwest. They followed a ledge around to the southwest where they found a strange, octopoid-faced creature apparently standing guard where a tunnel entered the cavern, just beyond the end of the canyon. They slipped around this thing and down the corridor. A short time exploring made it clear that this connected to the main underworld thoroughfare, and from thence around to the winding caves where they'd previously encountered the Drow camp. It seemed clear that the monster was a guardian or toll keeper of some sort.
The party returned and sought to sneak past the creature once again. However, it detected them somehow and charged to attack. Iban became visible to distract it, levitating with his boots to the cavern ceiling above. Unfortunately, the creature could fly and pursued him! Iban took a bit of a beating and the touch of the creature's tentacles slowed him. Knar now joined the fay with magic missiles, while Bel did so with arrows (becoming visible). The creature was soon slain. A side cave to the south looked promising so the party took it, finding a line of doors along the west wall and weird spiral caves to the east that seemed to look like the inside of tentacles themselves. Dimbul picked a lock on one door and the party quietly peered in, seeing another octopoid-faced creature, seemingly asleep. They quietly shut the door and moved on. At the end of this passage was a side cave that also ended in a door, Opening it, the party discovered another sleeper, but this one was larger...and woke up. A battle ensued, with the party throwing spells and arrows at it before it could come out and alert its fellows.
The party now moved down a steep, natural stair to the canyon floor. The trees and their "fruit" were hideous, and the eyes of the things growing on them watched the party. A train track ran around the floor of the cave, which was loamy soil and not stone. They followed it into a side cave off the canyon, which proved to be a workroom of some sort. Moving in, another octopoid-thing attacked, going after Amadin. On the first hit, he was slowed. On the second he seemed to dissolved into mist which the creature sucked into its lungs. The party slew the thing but it was too late for Amadin...there was nothing left to revive or recover! (I missed my chance to invoke Danny Glover and Lethal Weapon -- "I only had six months until I retire!"). The party did not examine the place with much detail, deciding to move back into the main canyon area. Moving north and following the track, they came to another side cave. In this one, they found a rail car of sorts - a chassis with a wide stone bowl on it. Form it extended many great tentacles, seemingly too large for the bowl!. There was no reaction from it so the party backed up and opened up with fireballs and lightning bolts! As soon as they did, dark spots on the roof above began to move...more of the octopoids! The party decided that they were outgunned at this point and fled back the way they'd come. They managed to make it up, with one monster in pursuit. ZZ hit it with his wand of wonder and caused it to be affected by Otto's Irresistible Dance, handily ending that danger! They did run into the two priests, whom they slew very quickly!
They were not pursued, and soon made their way back up the secret stair to the Dark Market. After discussion, the party decided it was time to pay a a visit to the Wizard (Lich) Silver, by way of the Elf Kingdom (to avoid Manston and the Giant King's army of occupation). We basically abstracted from this point as it was late. The party left the dungeon once again and made their way uneventfully back to the Dwarf city, arriving in the early afternoon of a very brisk autumn day...