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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7840679" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 2: TRIAL RUN</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardfolk 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 1</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 23 October 2019</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>For the next several days, the five combat slaves who had enjoyed such an unprecedented success during the Festival of Blood spent their time inside the hollow column belonging to House Jalamir while Calish decided how best to employ them. Sleeping in the same area as the common slaves, the four newcomers learned quite a bit about life in service to the drow. (Jhasspok, having been hatched into slavery, already knew much of it but his life thus far had been somewhat specialized in fish-gathering for his drow masters.)</p><p></p><p>The common slaves worked at various household tasks and this was the lot for the five former arena slaves during the days immediately after the Festival of Blood. There was plenty of work to go around, so the other slaves didn't mind being given five additional pairs of hands to help them finish their tasks. Besides the common slaves, though, there were personal slaves, who served but a single master or mistress, usually a person of high rank in the Jalamir hierarchy; the fisher slaves (of which caste Jhasspok had been a member), who either caught fish or gathered shellfish and debris from the river leading into the Underdark sea; and mercenary slaves, those who had proven either sufficiently loyal or worthwhile to be allowed to carry weapons and fight in the defense of their House and city (in that order, it should be emphasized). Mercenary slaves were sometimes assigned other tasks that furthered their House's goals and it was this caste of slave for which the five were being groomed.</p><p></p><p>Calish was the primary slavemaster of House Jalamir and he believed in rewarding good behavior in addition to punishing failure in order to maximize the productivity of those slaves under his command. While Calish was generally of a jovial nature, Cramer surreptitiously cast a <em>detect evil</em> spell and confirmed the drow slavemaster was as evil as any other drow, cheerful attitude notwithstanding.</p><p></p><p>After serving with the common slaves for a few days, the group of five was summoned before Calish. He took them to the House docks, halfway down the hollow column of House Jalamir, where they stepped onto a wooden skiff and were rowed over to the eastern gate of the city of Overreach by a pair of well-muscled fisher slaves. As the skiff skimmed the water, Calish asked, "Tell me, do any of you know of the lost kingdom of Brunniir?" Khari and Utred immediately perked up. "Ah, I see the dwarves are familiar with it. Please, Utred, tell the others what you know."</p><p></p><p>"It was a great dwarven city, in a vast cavern much like Overreach. It was so big it had a bunch of satellite villages at the end of twisting passageways beyond the great vault which held Brunniir. Me and Khari are from two of them villages. And then one day, some 15 centuries ago, it simply vanished - not just Brunniir but the entire cavern which housed it was gone, as if it had never been."</p><p></p><p>"A succinct description," approved Calish. "Brunniir once stood not 10 miles - as the xorn burrows - from Overreach. And yet the dwarves were unaware of our city's existence, for we had taken steps to ensure this was so. In any case, after the initial confusion of the city's disappearance we were able to plant seeds of paranoia and suspicion among the surviving dwarven villages. In-fighting between them has kept the dwarves from digging far enough to find the city of Overreach. Well, we're going to go visit one of those villages, as the closest one has an adamantine vein in which we are very interested. So, here's the plan: we could easily send in a drow force to take what we want, but to do so runs the risk of exposing our proximity and the last thing we want is for the bickering dwarven villages to unite together against a common foe. So instead, we're going to send you five in. The dwarves in the mine we're going to attack work in shifts, a week at a time. Later this day, the current shift will be replaced and the off-going miners will return the adamantine ore they have collected over the past week. Stealing that week's gathering of adamantine ore will be a good test of your combat abilities in a non-arena setting."</p><p></p><p>By this point the fisher slaves had brought their skiff to a tunnel opening along the outer edge of the vast cavern supporting Overreach. Calish stepped out and waited on the five slaves to follow, then sent the skiff away with a gesture of his hand. "This way," he said, strolling down the tunnel, not bothering to see if the five slaves followed nor worried he was exposing his back to five armed individuals; he knew they knew their place and indeed they hurried to catch up with him. As they departed the scant illumination provided by the bioluminescent sea, Marlo was glad Calish had seen fit to give her a purple-flamed "slave-light" torch to carry; the drow and the dwarves might not need light to see by but she, Cramer, and Jhasspok would be blind without the magical illumination.</p><p></p><p>Calish continued his briefing as they walked. "The adamantine vein is in a small cave complex on one side of a 100-foot-wide rift some three miles deep, with the dwarven village on the other side. The dwarves built a bridge across the rift to get to the cave with the adamantine ore and as far as they know it is the only way into the mine. Fortunately for us, the dwarves dug into a freshwater spring which, unknown to them, connects to a larger cavern that connects up to the Overreach via this very tunnel we now traverse." Khari's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to keep up with what the drow slavemaster was saying; Calish had a fancy way of talking and often used words unfamiliar to the simple-minded dwarf. Traverse? Was that like walking?</p><p></p><p>The miles passed in relative silence as the five slaves followed their master along the winding passageway. Utred noticed the tunnel seemed, for the most part, quite natural; the only times he saw signs it had been altered purposefully was in several of the thinner sections where it had obviously been widened, no doubt by a team of slaves with picks and shovels.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the group arrived at a cavern where a small gathering of common slaves stood waiting for them, guarded by a pair of armed drow soldiers. "Ah, good, all in place, I see!" smiled Calish at the sight of the slaves and the hand-carts they had brought with them. He addressed the five slaves he'd accompanied, "This lot is not fit for combat but they should be sufficient to lug away the treasures you obtain for us." If the common slaves took umbrage of being so disdainfully described they were at least smart enough not to let it show on their faces.</p><p></p><p>A pool of water lay at the back of the cavern. "This is your hidden entrance to the mines," Calish informed the group. "It slopes gently down to begin with, then goes laterally for some distance before rising ten feet or so straight up into the mines. You'll need to hold your breath for no longer than a minute, I'd wager. So: rules of engagement! You are to overpower the mining force on duty there; it doesn't matter if you kill them or leave survivors...although, come to think of it, it would probably be best if you let at least one of them live so they can report back they were attacked by a pair of dwarves and a few members of other - non-drow - races. That can only further the in-fighting amongst the clans!" He looked over at the group of five slaves. "This will be an interesting trial run for you. Off you go, then!"</p><p></p><p>One by one, the five slaves stepped into the water. Jhasspok went in without hesitation; the clear pool was not the same as the bioluminescent Underdark sea but it was at least something somewhat familiar. The dwarves went in less eagerly, knowing full well that with their dense structure they tended to sink like a stone - and their armor wasn't likely to make things any easier. Marlo submerged, marveling that the "slave-light" torch provided just as much illumination underwater as it did in the open air - but then its purple flames were only illusory, providing light but no heat. Her new ironsilk armor - which she had appropriated from a combat sacrifice during the Festival of Blood - clung to her like normal silk in the cool waters but she knew its exterior would remain as tough as iron - a perfect set of armor for an arcane spellcaster.</p><p></p><p>Cramer stepped into the pool quite willingly but it had nothing to do with his like or dislike of getting wet - he simply wanted to be out of sight of Calish as soon as possible. Once completely submerged, he mentally activated his innate <em>prestidigitation</em> ability and channeled it into altering the pigmentation of his skin, darkening it to the same black hue as that of the drow slavemaster. With Cramer's light blond hair he felt he could easily be mistaken for a drow - hopefully, this would be a means of alerting the dwarves they were about to attack as to the true nature of the assault force.</p><p></p><p>Despite his small stature Cramer was the first one to climb out of the pool at the other end; Jhasspok was busy helping the heavy dwarves to the top of the pool's surface before they ran out of breath. The gnomish cleric prepared the words to a <em>bless</em> spell, holding off on the actual casting until all of his group had made it out of the pool and back onto solid land again. Khari climbed out next, sputtering and coughing and clanging his warhammer onto the stone floor of the cavern. This was enough to draw the attention of the dwarven miner straight ahead of him, down a short passageway that was being painstakingly carved from the surrounding stone. The sounds of other picks striking stone echoed around the cavern, their points of origin indeterminate.</p><p></p><p>"Eh?" called out the dwarven miner in his own language. "What's this, then? Who be ye?" As far as he had been aware, the pool was just a pool of water, nothing more - the dwarves who had discovered it had never thought to go diving down into it to see if it led anywhere.</p><p></p><p>Cramer, the obviously fake drow (for drow males tended not to have facial hair and Cramer sported a fancy goatee; neither were drow generally around three feet tall) tried bluffing his way out of the situation. Fortunately, he not only understood but spoke the Dwarven tongue fluently. "Behold!" he called, waving his arms out dramatically. "I have returned from the kingdom of Brunniir!" As Marlo was still underwater, there was no light in the cavern so the gnome simply faced the general direction from which the miner's voice had come and hoped for the best. As such, he couldn't see the miner's eyebrows raise in incredulity.</p><p></p><p>Utred climbed out from the other side of the pool from Khari; now Cramer was flanked by a dwarf on either side of him. They could see just fine in the absolute darkness, but the gnome was still blind. Behind him in the pool, Jhasspok allowed only his eyes to rise above the pool's surface, not wanting to let his presence be known just yet. But he suspected combat was imminent and wanted to be a surprise addition to the forces the miners would be facing.</p><p></p><p>Finally, Marlo's head broke the surface of the pool and the "slave-light" torch brought some much-needed illumination into the mines. She pulled herself out of the pool and stepped in front of Cramer, preparing to cast her remaining <em>color spray</em> spell from the scroll she'd been given. But she had decided to wait until more miners advanced within range so she could get the most out of her single casting of the spell. (Cramer, in the meantime, took the opportunity to cast his <em>bless</em> spell upon the group under his breath.)</p><p></p><p>The lone miner called out, "WE GOT A PROBLEM OVER HERE!" at the top of his lungs and the sounds of picks striking stone ceased. A group of four other dwarves ambled over, most of them simple miners with picks in hand but a few holding more traditional combat weapons. Marlo cast her spell, catching all five dwarves in its area of effect but only causing one to drop to the stone floor, unconscious, blinded, and stunned. Unnoticed, a sixth dwarf was ambling over from another side shaft, curiosity on his dirty face.</p><p></p><p>In an eruption of water, Jhasspok exited the pool at full speed and raced in front of the sorceress, standing between her and the dwarves with his turtle shell shield held before him and his borrowed morningstar striking a miner into instant unconsciousness, bleeding from a head wound that stained the stone floor. In doing so, the lizardfolk made himself the primary target of the miners' follow-on attacks (although one went after Utred instead due to simple proximity), although none of the dwarves' retaliatory swings connected to their respective targets. And then all subterfuge was gone and it was a simple combat to the death.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>bane</em> spell on the dwarven force but the innate dwarven resistance to magic aided them greatly in avoiding the spell's effects. Khari swung his warhammer at a miner's head but failed to connect - and then the fighter heard the clomp of boots down a side tunnel to the left; apparently there were reinforcements coming! He turned his head for a quick peek and spotted a large chest in the corner of the tunnel, no doubt the week's worth of collected adamantine and the goal of this trial run for the slaves.</p><p></p><p>Utred swung his greataxe and had a better go of it; his foe fell to the ground, dead. Then he too heard the approaching footfalls and turned to face this new opposing force. Jhasspok swung his weapon and missed, then missed again with his snapping teeth - although the very attempt caused the miner he was facing to blanch visibly. Marlo fell back upon her successful standby - the <em>magic missile</em> spell - and hit a miner, although he stubbornly insisted in remaining conscious and continuing to fight back against her friends. The dwarves attacked as best as they could, one of them managing to get his pick past Jhasspok's shield and wounding him grievously. But the wound didn't last long, for Cramer healed it up by reading the words from one of his <em>cure light wounds</em> scrolls.</p><p></p><p>Khari swung his warhammer over his head and dropped one miner, then spun and cleaved into the head of another, dropping him as well. He grunted in satisfaction. That left only one miner standing of the original force and Utred quickly brought him down with his greataxe.</p><p></p><p>The footsteps grew louder. Jhasspok brought his morningstar down upon the head of the dwarf brought down by Marlo's <em>color spray</em> spell, not wanting him to wake up after the effects had worn off and become a surprise combatant behind the party, for the slaves were now all turning to face the rapidly-approaching reinforcements. Marlo was ready to pop off another <em>magic missile</em> at the first new foe to show his face, while Cramer used a simple <em>cure minor wounds</em> spell to stabilize the dwarf Jhasspok had just bonked into deep unconsciousness; he at least would survive the encounter to spread the tale of who had attacked the miners.</p><p></p><p>As one, Utred and Khari raced forward to the first junction and prepared to attack the approaching foes when they turned the corner. Jhasspok followed, leaving Marlo and Cramer behind the three-person wall against the incoming enemies. The first dwarven guard rounded the bend and got staggered into near unconsciousness by the combined force of Utred's greataxe strike and an incoming <em>magic missile</em>. She wisely backed off the way she had come, allowing those at her side to advance against these unknown enemies. Another dwarven fighter approached, swinging at Utred but missing.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok charged the fighter while Marlo cast a third <em>magic missile</em> spell at him. Behind them, Cramer advanced forward, wanting to ensure he'd be seen in his false drow disguise. Around the corner, a dwarven cleric of Moradin also advanced, preparing to cast a spell of healing upon the wounded female fighter. Khari moved up and attacked the male dwarven fighter and was surprised to come out of this attack with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his bicep; he'd failed to see a dwarven ranger at the back of the tunnel from which the reinforcements had come. With his darkvision, Khari could see the tunnel behind the crossbowman opened into the rift spanned by the bridge leading to the dwarven village.</p><p></p><p>With a wild swing of his greataxe, Utred dropped the male fighter and whooped in triumph. The female fighter retreated to the cleric, who closed her wounds with a casting of a spell channeling Moradin's healing energy. She then spun about, ready to attack any of the foes who might advance upon the reinforcements. The first such foe to do so was Jhasspok, who not only evaded the swing of her hammer but dropped her to the ground with an overhead blow of his own weapon, the morningstar's spikes driving deep into her skull, piercing it in several places. Miraculously, despite these wounds the female was still alive; these dwarves were made of sturdy stuff!</p><p></p><p>Marlo cast her last remaining <em>magic missile</em> spell at the dwarven ranger in the back, seeing him as the current biggest threat due to his distance and his ability to get in several attacks before any of the melee combatants would be able to get to him. Cramer charged at the dwarven cleric, who was dragging the female fighter away from the hulking lizardfolk who had attacked her. Once out of Jhasspok's immediate reach, he dropped to a knee and flipped the unconscious dwarven woman over his shoulder, then backed steadily away towards the bridge. Khari ignored the cleric - he seemed too busy to worry about - and raced after the ranger, wanting to drop him before he got off too many more shots with that crossbow of his.</p><p></p><p>But Utred wasn't about to ignore the cleric, realizing a priest of Moradin could call down several powerful combat spells upon them. He raced up and swung at the spellcaster with the full force of his greataxe, wounding him greatly and nearly making him drop the ally he was trying to save.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, in the meantime, had targeted the ranger and sped in his direction, just as the ranger had targeted the lizardfolk and sent a bolt streaking in his direction. But the bolt was deflected off the turtle shell shield Jhasspok carried and then the massive reptile was on the scene, swinging his morningstar for all he was worth. Marlo added an <em>acid splash</em> spell to the mix, all the spellpower she could manage at the moment. But then Khari caught up and slew the ranger with his warhammer, crushing his skull in by the force of his blow. He then turned in place and swung his hammer laterally at the retreating cleric, who by this point had advanced back down the tunnel far enough to be in range.</p><p></p><p>Then Cramer reached the cleric of Moradin and the two priests went at it, trading blows with their weapons - the dwarf, burdened with an unconscious ally on his shoulder, didn't have the required dexterity to be able to cast any spells so he had to make do with the mace at his belt. His blow struck true, sending the black-skinned gnome reeling to the side - but then Utred finished him off with another swipe of his greataxe, causing the cleric to fall to the ground, near death, the dwarven woman he had hoped to rescue lying unmoving atop him.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps due to a feeling of kinship with the dwarven cleric, Cramer knelt beside him and applied a minimal amount of healing via a <em>cure minor wounds</em> spell - just enough to prevent the dwarf from bleeding out. He now had two foes guaranteed to survive the raid - and hopefully spread the word that the drow had been behind it. While he was attending to this, the others in his party began stripping off armor and weapons from those who had been slain. Unable to wear any of the dwarven armor himself - his build was much larger than anything a dwarf might wear - and for the most part satisfied with his current weapon selection, Jhasspok checked the contents of the open chest in the corner. Sure enough, it was filled with nuggets of glistening metal, no doubt the adamantine the dwarves had mined during the previous week. He started dragging the heavy chest over to the pool from which they arrived, thinking how fortunate they were that they could simply drop it into the pool and then lug it sideways back to their own gradually sloping side of the tunnel. It would have been much more difficult trying to lug it in the opposite direction, where it would need to be lifted vertically for the last ten feet.</p><p></p><p>Everyone took a deep breath and jumped into the pool with their treasures, the dwarves doing their best to propel themselves along the submerged tunnel at best speed before their air gave out; neither of the two was at all comfortable in this environment. Jhasspok didn't mind it at all, as his powerful tail helped propel him forward as he dragged the heavy chest beside him. Marlo and Cramer helped push the chest from behind, the little gnome being sure to restore his skin coloration to its normal pigmentation before reaching the far side of the tunnel and coming within view of Calish.</p><p></p><p>As they emerged from the water and everyone helped drag their stolen goods onto land, Calish stood before them frowning, his arms folded in disappointment. "It seems one of you is not very good at obeying orders," he said without preamble. Then, looking directly at Cramer and allowing his voice to drip with disdain, he asked, "You do recall we can scry through those tattoos of yours, do you not?" The gnome looked up at the angry slavemaster - so different from his normally cheery demeanor - without comment, but his guilty expression said it all. "You will now go back and slay every one of those dwarves you allowed to see you in your ridiculous 'disguise.'"</p><p></p><p>"I will help him," offered Jhasspok.</p><p></p><p>"You will not," countered Calish and that was that; Jhasspok didn't dare interfere. "The gnome will slit each throat himself, knowing full well their deaths are on his own hands and his hands alone. And when we get back, you will visit our Administer of Discipline. Off with you now. I expect the task to be done by the time the goods have been loaded onto the carts." Without a word, Cramer removed his armor - he'd have to make his own way up the ten-foot vertical slope at the end of the submerged tunnel this time - and stepped back into the pool. He returned, grim-faced, just in time to grab up his armor again before the group - including the armed drow and the common slaves pulling the carts - began the long trek back to the Overreach. Cramer worried about what he might expect from this Administer of Discipline, nor was he alone in his worry for the imaginations of his friends were working overtime on that very subject.</p><p></p><p>Upon arrival back at the edge of their immense home cavern, another skiff waited in place for them. The fisher slaves rowed back across the bioluminescent sea to the docks at the column of House Jalamir, then the treasure was taken in one direction while Calish led his five slaves deeper down into bowels of the hollow column.</p><p></p><p>Walking into a dismal room, Calish had the other four line up against the front wall while he ushered Cramer onto the only piece of furniture in the whole room: a small chair in front of a door on the back wall. "Put this on," he commanded, passing a golden ring to the gnome. Cramer, in enough trouble already as it was, asked no questions and offered no objections, placing the ring around his finger; it shrunk to automatically fit, an indication the ring was magical in some fashion.</p><p></p><p>"The Administer claims it is more delicious when your brain is forming new memories of pain while he devours it," Calish said with a wicked grin as the door behind Cramer opened and a tall creature walked in. It had skin of a glistening purple tone somewhat reminiscent of that of a slug; long, skeletal-thin fingers; and a head looking like a four-tentacled octopus. Without a word it took up position behind the gnome and grasped Cramer's shoulders tightly, preventing him from looking behind him to see what horrible thing had his friends gasping in terror.</p><p></p><p>"Attend well," admonished Calish. "This will be instructive for all of you." Then he nodded at the Administer and the creature's four tentacles dropped onto Cramer's head, pulling the skin of his scalp taut while a parrotlike beak hidden beneath the appendages crunched through the gnome's skull and sucked up the juicy gobbets of brain tissue within. Cramer's screams echoed throughout the enclosed room, finally giving out when he slumped forward, his skull now visibly empty. The illithid's tight grip on the gnome's shoulders prevented him from falling forward off the chair.</p><p></p><p>Calish looked over at the line of slaves against the wall. Marlo's face was pale and she looked ready to pass out from fright; the dwarves stood open-mouthed in shock, their fists clenched and knuckles white but powerless to do anything to aid their friend. Jhasspok, being a lizardfolk but more importantly a lifelong slave, gave no indication of what he might be feeling - he just stood there impassively, letting the scene unfold before him. At least it had happened relatively quickly.</p><p></p><p>Then the slaves noticed the ring glowing on Cramer's hand as the brain in his empty skull started regrowing. Once it had once again filled the skull and the splintered bone regenerated back into place, Cramer gave a gasp and sat upright, the life suddenly returned to his body.</p><p></p><p>Calish looked straight at the gnome and muttered a single word. "Again."</p><p></p><p>Cramer's howls of pain could be heard from several corridors away. Then there was blissful silence for a few minutes as the <em>ring of regeneration</em> did its work, before the screams of terror were heard once again for a third and final time.</p><p></p><p>"I trust this is a lesson that will not need to be repeated?" asked Calish.</p><p></p><p>"N-no...no, master," whimpered Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"Good!" replied Calish, his good humor restored.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>This was an interesting trial run. Dan and I had been discussing at work what we'd be sent up against, since Logan had told us ahead of time we weren't going to the surface just yet. Dan was guessing kobolds while I was thinking svirfneblin and we were both wrong. But dwarves fit nicely, as it gave Logan a way to tie Khari's and Utred's backgrounds into the overall story by making their respective homelands different villages from the vanished city of Brunniir. (And knowing Logan, he'll have an answer about Brunniir's overnight disappearance at some point before the campaign ends.)</p><p></p><p>And that ending! Holy cow, that was the best part of the whole adventure! Logan hadn't decided on the spot to punish Cramer for his disobedience with having his brain eaten by a mind flayer; rather, knowing eventually one of us would try something similar, he had decided at the beginning of the campaign this would be the punishment for disobeying Calish. It just happened to be Dan who decided to push the issue with his PC and poor Cramer paid the price.</p><p></p><p>We're all getting pretty close to having enough XP to level up so I'm pretty sure at the end of the next adventure we'll all get to advance to second level. But we won't be playing next week, since Vicki will be out of town and we've all decided for this campaign all five of the players need to be here for each adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7840679, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 2: TRIAL RUN[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardfolk 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 1[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 23 October 2019 - - - For the next several days, the five combat slaves who had enjoyed such an unprecedented success during the Festival of Blood spent their time inside the hollow column belonging to House Jalamir while Calish decided how best to employ them. Sleeping in the same area as the common slaves, the four newcomers learned quite a bit about life in service to the drow. (Jhasspok, having been hatched into slavery, already knew much of it but his life thus far had been somewhat specialized in fish-gathering for his drow masters.) The common slaves worked at various household tasks and this was the lot for the five former arena slaves during the days immediately after the Festival of Blood. There was plenty of work to go around, so the other slaves didn't mind being given five additional pairs of hands to help them finish their tasks. Besides the common slaves, though, there were personal slaves, who served but a single master or mistress, usually a person of high rank in the Jalamir hierarchy; the fisher slaves (of which caste Jhasspok had been a member), who either caught fish or gathered shellfish and debris from the river leading into the Underdark sea; and mercenary slaves, those who had proven either sufficiently loyal or worthwhile to be allowed to carry weapons and fight in the defense of their House and city (in that order, it should be emphasized). Mercenary slaves were sometimes assigned other tasks that furthered their House's goals and it was this caste of slave for which the five were being groomed. Calish was the primary slavemaster of House Jalamir and he believed in rewarding good behavior in addition to punishing failure in order to maximize the productivity of those slaves under his command. While Calish was generally of a jovial nature, Cramer surreptitiously cast a [I]detect evil[/I] spell and confirmed the drow slavemaster was as evil as any other drow, cheerful attitude notwithstanding. After serving with the common slaves for a few days, the group of five was summoned before Calish. He took them to the House docks, halfway down the hollow column of House Jalamir, where they stepped onto a wooden skiff and were rowed over to the eastern gate of the city of Overreach by a pair of well-muscled fisher slaves. As the skiff skimmed the water, Calish asked, "Tell me, do any of you know of the lost kingdom of Brunniir?" Khari and Utred immediately perked up. "Ah, I see the dwarves are familiar with it. Please, Utred, tell the others what you know." "It was a great dwarven city, in a vast cavern much like Overreach. It was so big it had a bunch of satellite villages at the end of twisting passageways beyond the great vault which held Brunniir. Me and Khari are from two of them villages. And then one day, some 15 centuries ago, it simply vanished - not just Brunniir but the entire cavern which housed it was gone, as if it had never been." "A succinct description," approved Calish. "Brunniir once stood not 10 miles - as the xorn burrows - from Overreach. And yet the dwarves were unaware of our city's existence, for we had taken steps to ensure this was so. In any case, after the initial confusion of the city's disappearance we were able to plant seeds of paranoia and suspicion among the surviving dwarven villages. In-fighting between them has kept the dwarves from digging far enough to find the city of Overreach. Well, we're going to go visit one of those villages, as the closest one has an adamantine vein in which we are very interested. So, here's the plan: we could easily send in a drow force to take what we want, but to do so runs the risk of exposing our proximity and the last thing we want is for the bickering dwarven villages to unite together against a common foe. So instead, we're going to send you five in. The dwarves in the mine we're going to attack work in shifts, a week at a time. Later this day, the current shift will be replaced and the off-going miners will return the adamantine ore they have collected over the past week. Stealing that week's gathering of adamantine ore will be a good test of your combat abilities in a non-arena setting." By this point the fisher slaves had brought their skiff to a tunnel opening along the outer edge of the vast cavern supporting Overreach. Calish stepped out and waited on the five slaves to follow, then sent the skiff away with a gesture of his hand. "This way," he said, strolling down the tunnel, not bothering to see if the five slaves followed nor worried he was exposing his back to five armed individuals; he knew they knew their place and indeed they hurried to catch up with him. As they departed the scant illumination provided by the bioluminescent sea, Marlo was glad Calish had seen fit to give her a purple-flamed "slave-light" torch to carry; the drow and the dwarves might not need light to see by but she, Cramer, and Jhasspok would be blind without the magical illumination. Calish continued his briefing as they walked. "The adamantine vein is in a small cave complex on one side of a 100-foot-wide rift some three miles deep, with the dwarven village on the other side. The dwarves built a bridge across the rift to get to the cave with the adamantine ore and as far as they know it is the only way into the mine. Fortunately for us, the dwarves dug into a freshwater spring which, unknown to them, connects to a larger cavern that connects up to the Overreach via this very tunnel we now traverse." Khari's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to keep up with what the drow slavemaster was saying; Calish had a fancy way of talking and often used words unfamiliar to the simple-minded dwarf. Traverse? Was that like walking? The miles passed in relative silence as the five slaves followed their master along the winding passageway. Utred noticed the tunnel seemed, for the most part, quite natural; the only times he saw signs it had been altered purposefully was in several of the thinner sections where it had obviously been widened, no doubt by a team of slaves with picks and shovels. Eventually, the group arrived at a cavern where a small gathering of common slaves stood waiting for them, guarded by a pair of armed drow soldiers. "Ah, good, all in place, I see!" smiled Calish at the sight of the slaves and the hand-carts they had brought with them. He addressed the five slaves he'd accompanied, "This lot is not fit for combat but they should be sufficient to lug away the treasures you obtain for us." If the common slaves took umbrage of being so disdainfully described they were at least smart enough not to let it show on their faces. A pool of water lay at the back of the cavern. "This is your hidden entrance to the mines," Calish informed the group. "It slopes gently down to begin with, then goes laterally for some distance before rising ten feet or so straight up into the mines. You'll need to hold your breath for no longer than a minute, I'd wager. So: rules of engagement! You are to overpower the mining force on duty there; it doesn't matter if you kill them or leave survivors...although, come to think of it, it would probably be best if you let at least one of them live so they can report back they were attacked by a pair of dwarves and a few members of other - non-drow - races. That can only further the in-fighting amongst the clans!" He looked over at the group of five slaves. "This will be an interesting trial run for you. Off you go, then!" One by one, the five slaves stepped into the water. Jhasspok went in without hesitation; the clear pool was not the same as the bioluminescent Underdark sea but it was at least something somewhat familiar. The dwarves went in less eagerly, knowing full well that with their dense structure they tended to sink like a stone - and their armor wasn't likely to make things any easier. Marlo submerged, marveling that the "slave-light" torch provided just as much illumination underwater as it did in the open air - but then its purple flames were only illusory, providing light but no heat. Her new ironsilk armor - which she had appropriated from a combat sacrifice during the Festival of Blood - clung to her like normal silk in the cool waters but she knew its exterior would remain as tough as iron - a perfect set of armor for an arcane spellcaster. Cramer stepped into the pool quite willingly but it had nothing to do with his like or dislike of getting wet - he simply wanted to be out of sight of Calish as soon as possible. Once completely submerged, he mentally activated his innate [I]prestidigitation[/I] ability and channeled it into altering the pigmentation of his skin, darkening it to the same black hue as that of the drow slavemaster. With Cramer's light blond hair he felt he could easily be mistaken for a drow - hopefully, this would be a means of alerting the dwarves they were about to attack as to the true nature of the assault force. Despite his small stature Cramer was the first one to climb out of the pool at the other end; Jhasspok was busy helping the heavy dwarves to the top of the pool's surface before they ran out of breath. The gnomish cleric prepared the words to a [I]bless[/I] spell, holding off on the actual casting until all of his group had made it out of the pool and back onto solid land again. Khari climbed out next, sputtering and coughing and clanging his warhammer onto the stone floor of the cavern. This was enough to draw the attention of the dwarven miner straight ahead of him, down a short passageway that was being painstakingly carved from the surrounding stone. The sounds of other picks striking stone echoed around the cavern, their points of origin indeterminate. "Eh?" called out the dwarven miner in his own language. "What's this, then? Who be ye?" As far as he had been aware, the pool was just a pool of water, nothing more - the dwarves who had discovered it had never thought to go diving down into it to see if it led anywhere. Cramer, the obviously fake drow (for drow males tended not to have facial hair and Cramer sported a fancy goatee; neither were drow generally around three feet tall) tried bluffing his way out of the situation. Fortunately, he not only understood but spoke the Dwarven tongue fluently. "Behold!" he called, waving his arms out dramatically. "I have returned from the kingdom of Brunniir!" As Marlo was still underwater, there was no light in the cavern so the gnome simply faced the general direction from which the miner's voice had come and hoped for the best. As such, he couldn't see the miner's eyebrows raise in incredulity. Utred climbed out from the other side of the pool from Khari; now Cramer was flanked by a dwarf on either side of him. They could see just fine in the absolute darkness, but the gnome was still blind. Behind him in the pool, Jhasspok allowed only his eyes to rise above the pool's surface, not wanting to let his presence be known just yet. But he suspected combat was imminent and wanted to be a surprise addition to the forces the miners would be facing. Finally, Marlo's head broke the surface of the pool and the "slave-light" torch brought some much-needed illumination into the mines. She pulled herself out of the pool and stepped in front of Cramer, preparing to cast her remaining [I]color spray[/I] spell from the scroll she'd been given. But she had decided to wait until more miners advanced within range so she could get the most out of her single casting of the spell. (Cramer, in the meantime, took the opportunity to cast his [I]bless[/I] spell upon the group under his breath.) The lone miner called out, "WE GOT A PROBLEM OVER HERE!" at the top of his lungs and the sounds of picks striking stone ceased. A group of four other dwarves ambled over, most of them simple miners with picks in hand but a few holding more traditional combat weapons. Marlo cast her spell, catching all five dwarves in its area of effect but only causing one to drop to the stone floor, unconscious, blinded, and stunned. Unnoticed, a sixth dwarf was ambling over from another side shaft, curiosity on his dirty face. In an eruption of water, Jhasspok exited the pool at full speed and raced in front of the sorceress, standing between her and the dwarves with his turtle shell shield held before him and his borrowed morningstar striking a miner into instant unconsciousness, bleeding from a head wound that stained the stone floor. In doing so, the lizardfolk made himself the primary target of the miners' follow-on attacks (although one went after Utred instead due to simple proximity), although none of the dwarves' retaliatory swings connected to their respective targets. And then all subterfuge was gone and it was a simple combat to the death. Cramer cast a [I]bane[/I] spell on the dwarven force but the innate dwarven resistance to magic aided them greatly in avoiding the spell's effects. Khari swung his warhammer at a miner's head but failed to connect - and then the fighter heard the clomp of boots down a side tunnel to the left; apparently there were reinforcements coming! He turned his head for a quick peek and spotted a large chest in the corner of the tunnel, no doubt the week's worth of collected adamantine and the goal of this trial run for the slaves. Utred swung his greataxe and had a better go of it; his foe fell to the ground, dead. Then he too heard the approaching footfalls and turned to face this new opposing force. Jhasspok swung his weapon and missed, then missed again with his snapping teeth - although the very attempt caused the miner he was facing to blanch visibly. Marlo fell back upon her successful standby - the [I]magic missile[/I] spell - and hit a miner, although he stubbornly insisted in remaining conscious and continuing to fight back against her friends. The dwarves attacked as best as they could, one of them managing to get his pick past Jhasspok's shield and wounding him grievously. But the wound didn't last long, for Cramer healed it up by reading the words from one of his [I]cure light wounds[/I] scrolls. Khari swung his warhammer over his head and dropped one miner, then spun and cleaved into the head of another, dropping him as well. He grunted in satisfaction. That left only one miner standing of the original force and Utred quickly brought him down with his greataxe. The footsteps grew louder. Jhasspok brought his morningstar down upon the head of the dwarf brought down by Marlo's [I]color spray[/I] spell, not wanting him to wake up after the effects had worn off and become a surprise combatant behind the party, for the slaves were now all turning to face the rapidly-approaching reinforcements. Marlo was ready to pop off another [I]magic missile[/I] at the first new foe to show his face, while Cramer used a simple [I]cure minor wounds[/I] spell to stabilize the dwarf Jhasspok had just bonked into deep unconsciousness; he at least would survive the encounter to spread the tale of who had attacked the miners. As one, Utred and Khari raced forward to the first junction and prepared to attack the approaching foes when they turned the corner. Jhasspok followed, leaving Marlo and Cramer behind the three-person wall against the incoming enemies. The first dwarven guard rounded the bend and got staggered into near unconsciousness by the combined force of Utred's greataxe strike and an incoming [I]magic missile[/I]. She wisely backed off the way she had come, allowing those at her side to advance against these unknown enemies. Another dwarven fighter approached, swinging at Utred but missing. Jhasspok charged the fighter while Marlo cast a third [I]magic missile[/I] spell at him. Behind them, Cramer advanced forward, wanting to ensure he'd be seen in his false drow disguise. Around the corner, a dwarven cleric of Moradin also advanced, preparing to cast a spell of healing upon the wounded female fighter. Khari moved up and attacked the male dwarven fighter and was surprised to come out of this attack with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his bicep; he'd failed to see a dwarven ranger at the back of the tunnel from which the reinforcements had come. With his darkvision, Khari could see the tunnel behind the crossbowman opened into the rift spanned by the bridge leading to the dwarven village. With a wild swing of his greataxe, Utred dropped the male fighter and whooped in triumph. The female fighter retreated to the cleric, who closed her wounds with a casting of a spell channeling Moradin's healing energy. She then spun about, ready to attack any of the foes who might advance upon the reinforcements. The first such foe to do so was Jhasspok, who not only evaded the swing of her hammer but dropped her to the ground with an overhead blow of his own weapon, the morningstar's spikes driving deep into her skull, piercing it in several places. Miraculously, despite these wounds the female was still alive; these dwarves were made of sturdy stuff! Marlo cast her last remaining [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the dwarven ranger in the back, seeing him as the current biggest threat due to his distance and his ability to get in several attacks before any of the melee combatants would be able to get to him. Cramer charged at the dwarven cleric, who was dragging the female fighter away from the hulking lizardfolk who had attacked her. Once out of Jhasspok's immediate reach, he dropped to a knee and flipped the unconscious dwarven woman over his shoulder, then backed steadily away towards the bridge. Khari ignored the cleric - he seemed too busy to worry about - and raced after the ranger, wanting to drop him before he got off too many more shots with that crossbow of his. But Utred wasn't about to ignore the cleric, realizing a priest of Moradin could call down several powerful combat spells upon them. He raced up and swung at the spellcaster with the full force of his greataxe, wounding him greatly and nearly making him drop the ally he was trying to save. Jhasspok, in the meantime, had targeted the ranger and sped in his direction, just as the ranger had targeted the lizardfolk and sent a bolt streaking in his direction. But the bolt was deflected off the turtle shell shield Jhasspok carried and then the massive reptile was on the scene, swinging his morningstar for all he was worth. Marlo added an [I]acid splash[/I] spell to the mix, all the spellpower she could manage at the moment. But then Khari caught up and slew the ranger with his warhammer, crushing his skull in by the force of his blow. He then turned in place and swung his hammer laterally at the retreating cleric, who by this point had advanced back down the tunnel far enough to be in range. Then Cramer reached the cleric of Moradin and the two priests went at it, trading blows with their weapons - the dwarf, burdened with an unconscious ally on his shoulder, didn't have the required dexterity to be able to cast any spells so he had to make do with the mace at his belt. His blow struck true, sending the black-skinned gnome reeling to the side - but then Utred finished him off with another swipe of his greataxe, causing the cleric to fall to the ground, near death, the dwarven woman he had hoped to rescue lying unmoving atop him. Perhaps due to a feeling of kinship with the dwarven cleric, Cramer knelt beside him and applied a minimal amount of healing via a [I]cure minor wounds[/I] spell - just enough to prevent the dwarf from bleeding out. He now had two foes guaranteed to survive the raid - and hopefully spread the word that the drow had been behind it. While he was attending to this, the others in his party began stripping off armor and weapons from those who had been slain. Unable to wear any of the dwarven armor himself - his build was much larger than anything a dwarf might wear - and for the most part satisfied with his current weapon selection, Jhasspok checked the contents of the open chest in the corner. Sure enough, it was filled with nuggets of glistening metal, no doubt the adamantine the dwarves had mined during the previous week. He started dragging the heavy chest over to the pool from which they arrived, thinking how fortunate they were that they could simply drop it into the pool and then lug it sideways back to their own gradually sloping side of the tunnel. It would have been much more difficult trying to lug it in the opposite direction, where it would need to be lifted vertically for the last ten feet. Everyone took a deep breath and jumped into the pool with their treasures, the dwarves doing their best to propel themselves along the submerged tunnel at best speed before their air gave out; neither of the two was at all comfortable in this environment. Jhasspok didn't mind it at all, as his powerful tail helped propel him forward as he dragged the heavy chest beside him. Marlo and Cramer helped push the chest from behind, the little gnome being sure to restore his skin coloration to its normal pigmentation before reaching the far side of the tunnel and coming within view of Calish. As they emerged from the water and everyone helped drag their stolen goods onto land, Calish stood before them frowning, his arms folded in disappointment. "It seems one of you is not very good at obeying orders," he said without preamble. Then, looking directly at Cramer and allowing his voice to drip with disdain, he asked, "You do recall we can scry through those tattoos of yours, do you not?" The gnome looked up at the angry slavemaster - so different from his normally cheery demeanor - without comment, but his guilty expression said it all. "You will now go back and slay every one of those dwarves you allowed to see you in your ridiculous 'disguise.'" "I will help him," offered Jhasspok. "You will not," countered Calish and that was that; Jhasspok didn't dare interfere. "The gnome will slit each throat himself, knowing full well their deaths are on his own hands and his hands alone. And when we get back, you will visit our Administer of Discipline. Off with you now. I expect the task to be done by the time the goods have been loaded onto the carts." Without a word, Cramer removed his armor - he'd have to make his own way up the ten-foot vertical slope at the end of the submerged tunnel this time - and stepped back into the pool. He returned, grim-faced, just in time to grab up his armor again before the group - including the armed drow and the common slaves pulling the carts - began the long trek back to the Overreach. Cramer worried about what he might expect from this Administer of Discipline, nor was he alone in his worry for the imaginations of his friends were working overtime on that very subject. Upon arrival back at the edge of their immense home cavern, another skiff waited in place for them. The fisher slaves rowed back across the bioluminescent sea to the docks at the column of House Jalamir, then the treasure was taken in one direction while Calish led his five slaves deeper down into bowels of the hollow column. Walking into a dismal room, Calish had the other four line up against the front wall while he ushered Cramer onto the only piece of furniture in the whole room: a small chair in front of a door on the back wall. "Put this on," he commanded, passing a golden ring to the gnome. Cramer, in enough trouble already as it was, asked no questions and offered no objections, placing the ring around his finger; it shrunk to automatically fit, an indication the ring was magical in some fashion. "The Administer claims it is more delicious when your brain is forming new memories of pain while he devours it," Calish said with a wicked grin as the door behind Cramer opened and a tall creature walked in. It had skin of a glistening purple tone somewhat reminiscent of that of a slug; long, skeletal-thin fingers; and a head looking like a four-tentacled octopus. Without a word it took up position behind the gnome and grasped Cramer's shoulders tightly, preventing him from looking behind him to see what horrible thing had his friends gasping in terror. "Attend well," admonished Calish. "This will be instructive for all of you." Then he nodded at the Administer and the creature's four tentacles dropped onto Cramer's head, pulling the skin of his scalp taut while a parrotlike beak hidden beneath the appendages crunched through the gnome's skull and sucked up the juicy gobbets of brain tissue within. Cramer's screams echoed throughout the enclosed room, finally giving out when he slumped forward, his skull now visibly empty. The illithid's tight grip on the gnome's shoulders prevented him from falling forward off the chair. Calish looked over at the line of slaves against the wall. Marlo's face was pale and she looked ready to pass out from fright; the dwarves stood open-mouthed in shock, their fists clenched and knuckles white but powerless to do anything to aid their friend. Jhasspok, being a lizardfolk but more importantly a lifelong slave, gave no indication of what he might be feeling - he just stood there impassively, letting the scene unfold before him. At least it had happened relatively quickly. Then the slaves noticed the ring glowing on Cramer's hand as the brain in his empty skull started regrowing. Once it had once again filled the skull and the splintered bone regenerated back into place, Cramer gave a gasp and sat upright, the life suddenly returned to his body. Calish looked straight at the gnome and muttered a single word. "Again." Cramer's howls of pain could be heard from several corridors away. Then there was blissful silence for a few minutes as the [I]ring of regeneration[/I] did its work, before the screams of terror were heard once again for a third and final time. "I trust this is a lesson that will not need to be repeated?" asked Calish. "N-no...no, master," whimpered Cramer. "Good!" replied Calish, his good humor restored. - - - This was an interesting trial run. Dan and I had been discussing at work what we'd be sent up against, since Logan had told us ahead of time we weren't going to the surface just yet. Dan was guessing kobolds while I was thinking svirfneblin and we were both wrong. But dwarves fit nicely, as it gave Logan a way to tie Khari's and Utred's backgrounds into the overall story by making their respective homelands different villages from the vanished city of Brunniir. (And knowing Logan, he'll have an answer about Brunniir's overnight disappearance at some point before the campaign ends.) And that ending! Holy cow, that was the best part of the whole adventure! Logan hadn't decided on the spot to punish Cramer for his disobedience with having his brain eaten by a mind flayer; rather, knowing eventually one of us would try something similar, he had decided at the beginning of the campaign this would be the punishment for disobeying Calish. It just happened to be Dan who decided to push the issue with his PC and poor Cramer paid the price. We're all getting pretty close to having enough XP to level up so I'm pretty sure at the end of the next adventure we'll all get to advance to second level. But we won't be playing next week, since Vicki will be out of town and we've all decided for this campaign all five of the players need to be here for each adventure. [/QUOTE]
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