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Each of you had been imprisoned under castle Waterdeep for longer than you cared to think. Worse, your sentences were for life – you had thought yourselves doomed to remain in this isolated, heavily warded wing underneath the castle until you died. Life was a monotonous routine of long, dark silences broken by the occasional clang of metal on stone as a tray of bland, stale food was slid into your cell. You could hear the occasional patrol of guards – with the odd murmuring voice. Nonetheless, you were alone and forgotten.
All that changed a few minutes ago. With an enormous roar and an earth-shaking crack, the entire wing you were housed in convulsed as a massive seismic shock struck from deep within Undermountain, splitting a chasm through the massive dungeon lying underneath Waterdeep – collapsing some levels and opening new connections between others.
As the floor shook and the walls groaned under enormous stress, your cells were suddenly flooded with the bright light of a single spluttering torch. With a complaining shriek, a massive fissure opened up in the floor through your wing, the walls of your cells collapsing as they lost their foundations and allowing the four of you to stumble, blinking into the relative freedom of the corridor beyond your cell door. The violent shaking continued, as if the whole mountain was about to collapse in on itself as you emerged – warily considering one another in the torchlight.
“Halt! Back in your cells!” cried a voice suddenly from one end of the corridor as a patrol of heavily guards struggled to unlock the barred passageway. Needing no more encouragement, the four of you turned as one and fled down the other direction, running deeper into the dungeons of Waterdeep, desperately searching for any chance at freedom.
Your chase continued, plunging headlong down passages as you came to them, charging down stairs, taking them two, three, four at a time. As you ran, you could hear the sounds of pursuit behind you – the guards calling out to one another as they tried to cut off any avenue of escape. Finally, you burst in to an old, disused torture chamber. Cobwebs hung off the various rusted implements of interrogation, the mouldering remains of some poor victim who had perished on the wrack all but totally smashed and rotted away, leaving just a white, grinning skull.
The passageway you entered from led back to the guards and capture – yet the only other exit out of this room was locked. Peering through the bars in the door, you could see the remains of a guardpost on the other side. It had been almost completely destroyed in the recent cataclysm, a great gash in the floor leading downwards who knows where, the rest of the room covered in rubble and large blocks of masonry and worked stone. The guards who had been posted here were nearly all dead, one or two of them still breathing but unconscious and rapidly fading. As you looked through, tantalisingly close to freedom and escape downwards into the dungeons below the mountain, you could see a large ring of keys on the belt of one of the guards.
As you pondered your predicament, casting about for some way to reach the keyring on the other side of the door, you could hear the voices of pursuit drawing closer and closer. You tried to fashion a hook, to reach the keys, you battered on the sturdy door, nothing was working and it looked as though you would soon be caught and returned to your prison.
At that moment, though, an apparition appeared before you – the ghost of an elven woman rising from the mouldering remains on the wrack. Rather than attack you, or threaten you – she made you an offer. Take her skull with you into the mountain and she would free you from this room. Desperate to avoid recapture, it was an easy decision and at that moment the five of you agreed to band together – you would make your way to Skullport, deep under Waterdeep and known to be a haven for the desperate. From there, each of you would be free to go your separate ways, but until then you swore to assist one another – knowing that without allies, wandering Undermountain would be an invitation to a quick death.
With the deal struck, the apparition who introduced herself as Milaniel drifted through the wall of the torture chamber, swooping down on to one of the unconscious guards and entering his body. With a jerky motion, the heavily wounded guard staggered to his feet, extricating himself from the rubble and shambling over to the door. Fumbling with the keys, he opened the heavy barrier between you and freedom, the four of you pausing just long enough to grab the skull from the rack before barrelling through to safety. Locking the way behind you, Milaniel abandoned the unconscious guard, as he slumped to the floor and the five of you entered the recently opened tunnel, heading down through the floor at a steep angle.
As you climbed deeper and deeper, the mountain began to tremble once more. Small stones, then larger and larger rocks began tumbling down the shaft after you as you barrelled headlong into the depths of the dungeon. Soon you were rushing forward, helpless to stop yourselves as you were carried down the steep shaft, half stumbling, half falling forward. Suddenly, you were falling, tumbling out of the tunnel and finding yourselves in a vertical, cylindrical shaft some twenty feet across.
Milaniel and Cenciarch were able to drift harmlessly down to the floor, the rest of you took the more direct route, falling fifteen feet or so to land with a thud in soft, loose sand. The rumbles subsided and soon all was quiet again. After a moment to regain your senses, you realised you’d taken your first steps into freedom – you were free of the Lords’ dungeon and had entered Undermountain.
You find yourselves in a forty by forty foot room. There is an exit in one corner and a cylindrical shaft opening in the ceiling above you (through which you’ve just fallen). Far above, maybe a hundred feet up, you can hear the sounds of a large number of voices and see a small circle of dim light. The tremors seem to have subsided for now. Here and there through the sand, you can see various pieces of equipment and rusted, broken weapons poking through.
Grakl sits down with the skull, examining it, "Nice skull pretty skull, very even...Mili I will carry yes..."
Grakl looks for a backpack or sack to carry the skull in...knowing his natural weapons are good enough...for now...
The ghost scowls at all of you equally. "My name in Milaniel, not 'Millie.' And yes, I would appreciate it if you would treat my skull with a touch more decorum, Grakl. It once held a number of things I valued highly." She glances around the chamber. "We should get moving before those guards find a way down here. They will be coming... it's what they do." She moves toward the exit and through it without slowing (or opening it).
The ghost scowls at all of you equally. "My name in Milaniel, not 'Millie.' And yes, I would appreciate it if you would treat my skull with a touch more decorum, Grakl. It once held a number of things I valued highly." She glances around the chamber. "We should get moving before those guards find a way down here. They will be coming... it's what they do." She moves toward the exit and through it without slowing (or opening it).
Cenciach grins. "I was right, though, right?"
As they pick through the rubble and sand which covers the floor of the room, Grakl and Yhum Yhum find very little of any use. Grakl finds a small, serviceable sack and a rusted dagger which would be useable in a fight. Yhum Yhum discovers a medium metal shield and a mace. Most of the items strewn around the floor are broken and useless. With a bit more time, it is possible that you would be able to discover more by digging through the sand.
As Milaniel heads towards the open doorway, you can hear voices move into range and can see the flicker of a moving light. It sounds like a relatively small group of people, half a dozen at the most and it appears they will be arriving any moment now.
Saamasal's eyes glow briefly as he is briefly covered in glowing armor, which fades away quickly. "So, the vermin come to be killed."
"Thems what stands between us an' Skullport...we must fight or be cornered...giggles like rats!"
Grakl will listen carefully to hear what the newcomers are saying 1d20+9=17
Pre-Surprise round.
Shift to Hybrid form, then move to the corner of the room, in the shadows at and peek around for a target.
Control Shape (Hybrid shape DC15) 1d20+9=16
Stealth:1d20+24=25 since I successfully shifted.
I will throw the rusted dagger at a target that's in sneak attack range...I'll wait to see if there are any spellcasters to attack, so I can bury it to the hilt in their throat.
Initiative: 1d20+8=14
As the newcomers draw near, you can hear the note of concern in their voices. “It’s just up ahead, we won’t be long now...” Rounding the corner come a party of five adventurers, clearly the recent recipients of a number of nasty wounds. They blunder into your position, completely unaware – in fact, they seem more concerned with what is behind them than with where they are going.
The first two to round the corner are two heavily armoured individuals – one wearing a priestly tabard over his armor and wielding a heavy mace, whilst the other is dressed in a chain shirt and carries a shield and a longsword. Behind them are an elf – clearly a wizard of some description, holding a long, bamboo pole aloft, the tip glowing as the source of the group’s light. There is also a Halfling wielding a short sword and a dagger and dressed in leather armor. Bringing up the rear is another heavily armoured warrior, although he is only barely in view.
Initiative order is:
Rogue
Warriors
Milaniel
Yhum Yhum
Grakl
Cenciarch
Saamasal
Spellcasters
They are surprised for the first round. You can each make one standard or one move action, please post in any order.
Grakl grins to himself evilly...he moves to the right, and then flicks the dagger at the priest.
1d20+11=25, 1d4+3d6=9 bleeding attack...3/round bleed dmg til healed
(ugh such bad damage)
I will then wait to see where everyone is after the surprise round.
A high-pitched whine fills the air as a shard of crystal pierces the cleric. Saamasal floats there, smirking.
The hobgoblin tries to brain the fighter ...
The heavy mace Yuhm Yuhm scrounged from the floor of the entrance room clangs harmlessly of the fighter's armor as the man's face registers shock at the sudden, unexpected attack.
"Hobgoblins!" he cries, before looking past to see Cenciarch hovering over Yuhm Yuhm's shoulder. "And a dragon!" his voice is close to hysteria, eyes wide with fear, nonetheless he readies his sword to return an attack on his assailant.
The hobgoblin tries to brain the fighter ...
The heavy mace Yuhm Yuhm scrounged from the floor of the entrance room clangs harmlessly of the fighter's armor as the man's face registers shock at the sudden, unexpected attack.
"Hobgoblins!" he cries, before looking past to see Cenciarch hovering over Yuhm Yuhm's shoulder. "And a dragon!" his voice is close to hysteria, eyes wide with fear, nonetheless he readies his sword to return an attack on his assailant.
"I'm not a dragon, I'm an ethereal marauder!" Cenciach grins. "Roar!"
He calls to the elf. "Hey, are you a wizard? 'Cause I can't find my spellbook...I think the humans took it."He doesn't really expect an answer.
Grakl grins to himself evilly...he moves to the right, and then flicks the dagger at the priest.
Distracted by the sudden apparition before him, the cleric fails to defend himself from Grakl's attack, the dagger striking him in the neck. With a cry, he grabs at the protruding dagger, frantically trying to stem the flow of blood from the nasty wound.
"I'm not a dragon, I'm an ethereal marauder!" Cenciach grins. "Roar!"
He calls to the elf. "Hey, are you a wizard? 'Cause I can't find my spellbook...I think the humans took it."
He doesn't really expect an answer.
As the group begins to respond to the surprise attack, they start shouting instructions to one another, the second warrior at the rear of the group charging forward to engage you as those in the front line react to the assault.
The rogue stows his weapons and reaches for his shortbow, nocking an arrow and preparing to fire at Grakl or Cenciarch next round. Meanwhile the fighter who Yhum Yhum attacked swings his longsword at the hobgoblin, the blade cutting painfully into his side. Fighter's attack on Yhum Yhum. (1d20+9=23, 1d8+4=9 hit points damage)
The knight at the rear of the group hurries forward to protect his companions, charging through the party to take up position at I14. From there, he swings his sword at Saamasal and despite the Githyanki's protections, the attack hits home.Attack on Saamasal. (1d20+9=20, 1d8+4=11 hit points damage)
Corrupting touch (AoO) (1d20+4=5, damage 1d6=3)
The elven ghost swipes at the knight as he runs past, but is laughing too hard to do more than catch the air.
With a last cackle, Milaniel's mouth contorts unnaturally, jaw dropping like that of a snake, and she lets loose a howl that would strike fear into any hearer.
Cenciach stiffens. "Don't do that, Milaniel." He complains. "I don't like it."Corrupting touch (AoO) (1d20+4=5, damage 1d6=3)
The elven ghost swipes at the knight as he runs past, but is laughing too hard to do more than catch the air.
With a last cackle, Milaniel's mouth contorts unnaturally, jaw dropping like that of a snake, and she lets loose a howl that would strike fear into any hearer.
Saamasal recoils back and gets a far-away look in his eyes. With that, he lets out a frightful scream and runs away.
Most of the party you are facing hold their ground in the face of the awful moan emanating from Milaniel's terrifying visage. It is too much for the elven wizard, however who shrieks in terror, turning and bolting down the passage back the way they had come. As he takes the only light source with him, the corridor is soon plunged into darkness.
Resisting Milaniel's frightful moan. (1d20+11=27, 1d20+9=16, 1d20+8=24, 1d20+7=21)
1d20+8=20, damage 1d8+2=4
1d20+3=6, damage 1d8+2=6
As the knight moves into position, he exposes himself to attack and Yhum Yhum takes the opportunity to strike him with his mace. The hobgoblin's follow up attack is ineffective though, although only barely, the knight frantically fending away the assault with his shield.