| Session Date | June 26, 2022 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
After descending to the level below, the party rested a night without incident, returning to the previous level the following morning. There, they explored to the east where they soon discovered a prison or dungeon area. It had a sunken main chamber with numerous cell doors, as well as normal doors to north and at the southern end of the cell bay. A rhythmic, low-level banging was coming from that general direction. Hans cast clairvoyance and examined several of the cells. One room seemed to be the jailer, a Half Orc. Another was clearly a torture chamber. Others examined at random contained a dead Orc, a Wood Elf, a Hobgoblin, a chained up skeleton, and an empty cell.
The party decided to deal with the apparent jailer first, bursting in on him. A melee ensued but the Half orc was unable to do much beyond die at the hands of the party (the overall sleepiness of the DM did not help the poor guy). A search of him and his quarters revealed a few potions and a small treasure.
The party proceeded to examine the prisoners, eventually releasing a few. Among them:
- The Wood Elf. He named himself Aladas and clearly appealed to Attticus for support. Mordecai even healed him, as he was in poor condition. It became clear that he was a spy or scout from the Wood Elf realm to the east, sent to see what the Wizard Gold was up to. He was not unfriendly but, like most of his folk, very hesitant to speak much with non-Elves (and even non Wood Elves). But the party released him, for which he was clearly grateful.
- A Hobgoblin soldier. He was arrogant and obnoxious, unwilling to say anything of value, so the party left him in his cell to rot.
- An Orc with a broken leg. He whined a bit but the party had no interest in saddling themselves with a lame Orc.
- One cell, with a bar wrapped in fine silver, was found to contain a Wight. When the cell viewing door was opened, it nearly grabbed the person doing so (Mordecai? I forget). The party wisely chose to leave it stuck in its prison.
- The cell from which the rhythmic banging came contained a zombie whose upper skull had seemingly been removed and replaced with a steel cap bolted to the remaining bone. It was obviously left to its own devices.
- A human who claimed to be a merchant from Andor. A detect evil (or maybe it was know alignment) showed that this person was at least vaguely evil, so the party left him behind despite his protests and promises of a great reward for his deliverance.
- A huge carnivorous Ape who spoke with great erudition, and said his name was Romero. The thing was clearly intelligent and, with numerous scars around its skull, seemingly the results of an experiment by Gold. The thing was released and proved most thankful, if a bit wordy and talkative. It’s only desire, it said, was to flee this place.
- A beautiful woman. She said her name was Aleera and seemed to take an interest in Jarrik. She said she’d been taken by one of the “flying demon women” (as had others) and knew nothing of Gold or his ways. She merely wished to escape this place. Jarrik suggested that she remain with the party and she seemed torn between a desire to do so, and a desire to escape altogether.
In the end, the party released the Wood Elf, Carnivorous Ape, and Aleera. They gave them directions on how to escape the dungeon, and even provided some arms to help them if they met resistance. Aleera seemed most reluctant to go, but the trio soon departed for the level below. Meanwhile, the party continued their explorations…