August 2019 Recap: Down In The Sewers

After careful consideration and excessive deliberation, the party decided to pick the lock to the warehouse. Operating with stealth and great caution, Lauris picked the lock and opened the door. Inside were twelve human corpses and four Kenkus, who engaged the party in combat. The party killed two of them, and the other two began to flee. Culdock used Thaumaturgy to make his voice unnaturally loud and knocked one down in fright. With an Entangle spell, Geth restrained the fleeing two and the party began to interrogate them only to find that they can only speak through mimicry. They repeated phrases in different voices, one voice saying to lock the prisoner in back, another explaining to take someone to the sewers, following the yellow signs and to the boss, and another saying Xanar sends his regards.

Checking around the room, the party found a man in a foul-smelling closet, who was very beat up, much like the conditions of the room.

The man in the closet asked if we had found his friend Floon. Culdock asked the man to identify himself, and he replied that his name was Rainier Neverember, and he believed that he had been kidnapped for ransom. He explained that he and Floon were out drinking and he was so sorry that Floon had been mixed up in this, and he thought that whoever jumped the two of them got them mixed up and thought Floon was him.

As best the party could tell, he was telling the truth. Rainier explained that he and Floon were hanging out at the Skeever and that they said that his father was said to have embezzled a large pile of gold when he was Open Lord and hid it somewhere in the city. Rainier did not know whether or not that would be true, because he hadn’t spoken with his father in years. The Zenterem thought that they could find the gold with an artifact called the Stone of Golor, which was recently stolen from the Xanathar. Rainier offered to join in looking for Floon, and the party accepted his offer.

Checking around the room, Geth observed something funny near the room at the back. Further investigation revealed it to be a secret door. The party decided to check upstairs before opening the secret door.. The only thing of interest was a system of bells attached to strings, and Culdock, intrigued, took them, along with an intricately folded paper bird from a table.

The party moved on to check the secret door, and found two crates. Gherkin borrowed Kulve’s crowbar to pry open the crates. When opened, one was found to contain four paintings worth 75 gold apiece, and another contained a bag with fifteen unmarked silver bars inside, worth 50 gold apiece.

Kulve and Rainier both noticed that someone was coming and alerted the group. A column of guardsmen entered. The sergeant, Stagget, demanded to know what was going on. Culdock, holding four valuable paintings, successfully deceived the sergeant into believing he had entered with the paintings. Upon sighting Neverember, Stagget with great consternation asked what his family was doing involved with all this. Neverember offered him much the same story as he did the party, and Stagget turned to the rest of us and asked what we were doing here. Gherkin explained that we had fought the Kenkus but everyone else was dead upon our arrival. Geth explains that we were hired to find a man named Floon. Stagget asks if Volo put us up to this, and Geth answered in the affirmative. He conferred with his men, who reported that the scene is consistent with our story.

Having finished the investigation, Stagget tells the party to get out and stay out of trouble with the gangs. Geth explained that he needs to get his compatriots from the back room, where they pocketed five silver bars between them. Lauris stealthily grabbed five more silver bars for himself, and was observed only by Geth.

The party ventured over to the Old Xagblob shop to see if the owner would be interested in buying the paintings. He was not.. The party headed back to the Yawning Portal on Neverember’s suggestion to regroup, rest and discuss the plan.

Culdock, speaking to the bar owner, arranged to store his paintings in the back of the bar. The rest of the party put money down on a common room and ordered food.

Back in the room, Geth brought the subject to the silver bars and said that it sounds like everyone gets two silver bars apiece. Culdock said he thought it was one apiece, to which Geth replied that Lauris grabbed an extra for each of them. They divvied the silver accordingly.

The party decides to make for the sewers first thing in the morning. They arose and ordered food. They asked around to find the entrance to the sewers, and someone pointed them in the right direction. They approached the sewers and the odor was repugnant, but only Kulve retches. Culdock cast Light on Geth’s scimitar, and Gherkin hands Lauris two torches. It was really nasty down there. There was a channel of sewage that divides into two paths. Geth noticed a yellow chalk marking on one and took the lead down the path, with Gherkin right behind him.

After a long trek through the sewers and completely losing track of time, the party came to a vertical shaft with a ladder with the mark they have been following nearby. There is a metal plate at the top, but blocking the way was a floating orb about the size of a grapefruit, with a large eye in the center and four smaller eyestalks. It bared its teeth at us.

Geth charged the beholder and slashed it with its scimitar. Culdock cast Spare the Dying on Geth just in case. The beholder bit Geth! Rainier shot the Beholder with his shortbow. Lauris shot the Beholder with his shortbow. The Beholder made a hissing sound and fell to the ground dead.

DM’s notes

Gentlemen, or whatever pronoun in which you identify:

From the point that you stumbled into the thriving metropolis of Waterdeep you have accomplished what few can claim.

You have:

1.  Shared beverages with questionable business men

2.  Visited BOTH reputable and disreputable drinking establishments

3.  Spent the night sleeping it off

4.  Made a gallant effort in covering yourself with raw sewage

5.  Killing bird-creatures that were doing nothing more than occupying a warehouse

If this were the real world I would say that the campaign, so far, represents a typical trip to Las Vegas.

BUT IT IS NOT!!!!

After killing a small Beholder you have rounded the corner to find yourself faced with a ladder.  At the top of the ladder is a circular-lock securing a circular-door.

I strongly suggest that the party make use of the internet to discuss the next course of action.

You are fortunate to have not had to roll Fortitude checks because that turd really looks suspicious.

Good Hunting.