DM Elanmorin's Hell' Rebels

Game Master Nathan Hartshorn

Once Oren receives the all clear from the others, she will use the keys (assuming we found them) to begin opening the cages.

Elurius gives Lirotha speaking in common a small moment of side eye before she shifts her outfit and appearance to a half-sea elf and floats in closer. She starts a small comforting song in elven, though notably pausing when she has to change a few words to fit the underwater theme.

♫"Lullaby and good night, with...seaweed bedight
With sea lions spread is baby's wee bed
Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed
Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed"♫

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (9) + 20 = 29

Rocco spell confirms the aquatic elves are alive. Unfortunately for you (and them, possibly), you didn't find the keys to these cells. You look around unsure about what to do

At last one of the female elves decides to stop ignoring you:"Leave us alone. We don't know what tortures you have in mind but we won't serve your fell masters and you won't get us to betray Acisazi... we would all die first!"

Then they hear Elurius song and another of the evves murmurs:"Such a wonderful voice... how could a servant of the aboleths sing these melodies?"

Your Diplomacy check was good enough to make them doubt their initial assumption about you. You also need to use the right words to convince them. And yes, I'm ruling you can communicate with them through the water

Your Diplomacy check was good enough to make them doubt their initial assumption about you. You also need to use the right words to convince them. And yes, I'm ruling you can communicate with them through the water

Thank-you! I had forgotten that might be an issue!

Elurius flays out her hair, relishing in the praise she'd been missing for so long. She then gives a small puzzled look as she finally breaks down what the elves said.

Knowledge Local on Acisazi: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
I'd roll for Aboleths but their knowledge is dungeoneering so no goes on that

She gives them a serious flat look and comments, ♫"Abo-less? Acisazi? I have no clue what those mean. But I can promise you that me and my friends have no intention of torturing you or anyone. To be honest, we're from the surface and don't have a clue as to what has been happening down here, minus the various things trying to kill us. That ooze was particularly scary. Might I assume from the fact you are in a cage you don't want to kill us too?"♫

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24

The female elf seems uncertain and surprised by Alurius' words:"I dared not to hope... if what you say is true then i beg you to help releasing us. To our eternal shame we were ambushed by the Skum lairing into these depths and we have reason to believe they plan a fate far worse than death for the lot of us: slavery to their overmaster, an aboleth wizard we have reason to believe is attacking our village, Acisazi!"

You don't have keys but you may try to break down the cells' doors. They seem rather rusted... knowledge(engineering) to get the mechanical details

Valrani thrashes her tail in sympathy with the elves, trying to avoid appearing too frightening.

While powerful, this form does have some disadvantages.

Feeling at a loss at the elves plight, Lirotha looks around then contacts the Professor via their thought link.

"Professor? The fish-men down here are called Skum? We have found some captured aquatic elves who were their prisoners and claim to come from a village called Acisazi? They claim the skum worked for some sort of aboleth-wizard? Do you know what an Aboleth is? Is that some sort of underwater race I've never heard of before? We also can't find a key to the cages. Any suggestions?"

Rocco swims toward the cages and shakes his head. "What do you guys need keys for? Let me see if I can work my magic on these locks." He digs around in his pack for the briefest moment before pulling out the set of finely crafted picks and levers the Ravens recovered from Varl Wex's apartment.

Disable Device, mwk thieve's tools: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 12 + 2 = 34

Oren waits with the others while Rocco does his work on the lock.

Rocco proves being submerged has not dulled his skills at all as he proves able to get the locks on the doors open with minimal effort.

One by one the elves rush out from their cells, alook of gratitude on their faces:"Thanks friends! We were almost resigned to be sent to those despicable creatures' master as slaves. We are all from the village of Acisazi... if you don't know, it's an aquatic elf settlement along the shores of the Dismal Nitch on the coast of the Archduchy of Ravounel, west of Kintargo. We came here seeking the aid of an elven ally of ours who lives in your city. You might know her as the half-elf Shensen. Unfortunately we were dishearthed when we discovered Thrune now controls the Silver City and even worse after we learned that our ally was nowhere to be found. Further adding to our misery and shame, we were captured not long thereafter by the skum you no doubt encountered.
And that's brings us to the predicament you so graciously freed us from. WHo are you though? We'd like to know the names of our saviors, mine is Aava, while my companions are Maenu and Saracea" - she points at the women - "... and Iquellan and Velmaian" Aava concludes pointing at the 2 male elves.

Valrani eyes up Iquellan appreciatively. Then, after realising that having a shark eyeing you up appreciatively might send the wrong message, stops.

Lirotha quickly opens up, and explains the Silver Ravens basic function as a group and the reasons for being here. All the while, she will be filling the professor in on what is being said as it is being spoken by both parties.

"Coming across you and yours was the pure luck of Desna. I'm sorry you have been brought to such a state! Let me help you with your bonds. Oh...I'm Lirotha Karsani, a Varisian Harrower by trade and blood."

Cutting their bonds free, she will then use her Healing Hex on each of them in order to heal the terrible wounds.

Do I need to roll for this part? I'm assuming not. They will all get the equivalent of a Cure Moderate Wounds to each of them, assuming they allow it.

Sorry, I'm struggling to remember all our NPC allies. Do we know who Shensen is? If not, can we make a roll to see if we know her?

I think she ran the opera house before it was shut down. Back story maybe? The name is certainly familiar.

A former Silver Raven maybe? I will check tonight, or maybe the professor can enlighten us once I relay the name to him.

I know I’ve heard the name too, but I can’t place her.

I know a little (she gets name dropped in the first book, which I GMed).

Elurius's eyes light up at the mention of Shensen. She rushes up to the elf, nattering away in an almost clangorous cacophony of speech. ♫"You know Shensen. THE SHENSEN? The most famous opera singer to grace the Kintargo's opera stage? The woman I spent most of my savings on to go see, even if it meant angering Gran-Gran? The only woman I consider to be a rival in performing ability? Oh, Shelyn Above! You have to tell me all about her! What is she like in person? How does she act when she's not performing? What is her favorite color? Does she lead with her left foot or right? What does she eat for breakfast?"♫

No need for social rolls now. You gained their trust

"We are honored to make your aquaintance then. And yes, Shensen is all that but she's also one of our own. I can't claim tyo know much about her career... but she's a good person at heart, someone willing to fight evil and tyranny whenever they rear their ugly heads. Unfortunately in our greatest hour of need we found the city overrun by Thrune and Shensen disappeared. I know it's asking much but I need to ask you for your help against the Aboleth. In return we shall assist you with whatever you are doing... although we are wounded and weakened... and with no equipment. It's been 2 days since we last eat. Skum don't waste time feeding their prisoners it seems, but they took away our possesions for sure"

Lets get them out of the water so we can talk a little easier.. thinks Val-shakani.

"We are honored to make your aquaintance then. And yes, Shensen is all that but she's also one of our own. I can't claim to know much about her career... but she's a good person at heart, someone willing to fight evil and tyranny whenever they rear their ugly heads. Unfortunately in our greatest hour of need we found the city overrun by Thrune and Shensen disappeared. I know it's asking much but I need to ask you for your help against the Aboleth. In return we shall assist you with whatever you are doing... although we are wounded and weakened... and with no equipment. It's been 2 days since we last eat. Skum don't waste time feeding their prisoners it seems, but they took away our possesions for sure"

Elurius takes a moment to find a little light beam filtering down from above and in the glimmers created by the scum floating around in the water before taking a gallant pose. ♫"Oh, what a terrible tragedy! In dire need you reach out to the majestic Shensen only to find she has disappeared and been replaced by the slimy, malicious Barzillai! And then to add salt to the wound you get caught by the disgusting Skum and nearly starved to death! I say we should help! To deal with the nasty Aboleth and help our aquatic cousins! Additonally we should feed them... though I don't have any food on me.... What do you expect? Me to lug things like some kind of pack mule? Pish posh, the Illustrious Elurius Parthreon does not 'pack mule'."♫

Only hesitating a little, Lirotha replies.

"We could use all the allies we can muster. We will try to help you, but I'm unsure what we can do to help you directly here. We barely managed to handle these 'Skum' and the other underwater denizens here in this place. We have food in the air above. You are welcome to whatever we have."

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

"Heh heh! That Shensen sounds like a real thorn in Thrune's side. I always respected the fact that she just totally rejected him when he demanded she perform for him. I hope she's alright. I agree--we'll do what we can to help out. Come with us. We'll get you fed. And we may have some extra gear you could borrow too."

Only hesitating a little, Lirotha replies.

"We could use all the allies we can muster. We will try to help you, but I'm unsure what we can do to help you directly here. We barely managed to handle these 'Skum' and the other underwater denizens here in this place. We have food in the air above. You are welcome to whatever we have."

Elurius pauses for a second before an idea seems to click into her head. ♫"Not sure what an abo-less is, but it's some kind of sea creature is it not? We could just get it on land and it would be really easy to fight! Or would that not work? Anyways sounds like we might need a few better ways to handle fighting underwater. I mean, I thought the day would never come, but I am actually missing Kurglunn... But yes let's give the place a final look over and then get out of the water. I'm tired of being sopping wet!"♫

There's a few places we haven't checked yet, right? Let's make sure the place is cleared out first.

The elves seem slightly upset by Elurius mentioning Aboloeths in such casual manner:"Friend Elurius... Aboleths are abberrations that predate history as we know it. They claim they shaped the world as it is today... they are liars, of course, but there's reason to believe their words are not completely false in this case. Whatever else they might be, Aboleths are dangerous, cunning and powerful monsters... and the one we believe is attacking our village is supposed to be some kind of necromancer, too. We'd be overjoyed if you could help us but at the same time we need to warn you not to underestimate the challange laying ahead of us"

Then Aava smiles and adds:"Your offer of help is most welcome, as it is the prospect of replenishing our strength. Tell us where we need to go in order of safely leaving this cursed place. The very water here feels slimy and polluted by wickedness and evil!"

Ok, you saved the elves and they are ready to follow your orders, although they are weakened and basically naked. You also need to complete the exploration of this level. How do you want top proceed?

”Can you breathe air? We have an associate nearby who could watch over you while we finish exploring this area, if so.”

Over the link.

"Elurious? Take the elves up to the Professor and Talon. Have them get food and something to keep warm. Oren, let's finish checking this place out. We can't afford to allow anything to survive down here if we want to use this area as a possible base. Come back and find us once they are safe."

To the elves, Lirotha will continue out loud while drawing her spare dagger.

"Follow Elurious. You can trust her to lead you to safety. Here, take my spare dagger. Whomever is the strongest among you should carry it for now so you can try and defend yourselves if needed."

Elurius gives Lirotha a nod, before sending back, <<♫ I would love to lead them to safety! Not sure how readily the professor will try helping with getting food though, but I'm sure such an adoring fan will be willing to help!♫>>

When Lirotha pulls out her spare dagger, Elurius waves it away and pulls out a solid looking wooden box from her tiny purse, and pops open the lid, pulling out a cold iron morning star and silver sickle. ♫"Hrmm, I was probably going to have to dry these out and rub them down with some sand and oil later anyways, but here, you can use these. Lirotha, keep your dagger in case you actually need it... Oh, good the wax seals on these corks is holding! Hate to have my acids ruined by some water."♫ With this she shoves the box that is clearly too big for her purse back into it and pulls the drawstring on it closed.

She then smiles at the aquatic elves and gestures back towards the surface. ♫"Right this way please! Now don't you worry, I have enough magical might to keep you safe and protected in case anything decides to try snaking on us! Now, watch the rusted bars, torture equipment, shells, and dead corpses. Nasty cuts are not fun, especially in the water!"♫

The aquatic elves follow Elurius who leads them to the upper level, where professor Borhausen welcomes them with a suspicious glare before adressing them... and completely ignoring Elurius:"So... you claim your village is under attack from an Aboleth am I right? What is that makes you think this? And let's suppose you are right... what would you know about this creature?"

Unless there's something specific you want to do, you can consider yourselves reunited in the torture chamber. Where next?"

Oren suggests the group head north as it looks like the passage continues just north of Ela’s current position. When the group is ready, she takes the lead.

Perception 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

"Everyone follow Oren. Let's get this done."

I'm not clear where you want to go next: north leads to the cells where the elves were imprisoned (I forgot to clear the "fog of war", sorry). You can go south (next where Rocco is atm) or get back into the caverns below, reach the intersection and then move west to whatever lays there

Let Oren’s previous post lead to the area where Rocco is standing now.

I thought that had been what was under there! I remember seeing some of it but it got recovered so there might have still been something important in there. Hrmm. Let's go south then if we can get through where Rocco is standing.

Elurius swims back up to everyone else. ♫"My biggest fan is taking care of the poor elves. I think he's even getting their story down on paper so I can make a proper play later! But let's make sure this place is secure first. Rocco what's up over there?"♫

Sorry, coming back from a bad flu and having to deal with work anyway. I'll try to squeeze in a post as soon as I feel better and can make the time

"I'm not sure. I took a look over here earlier and couldn't quite figure out a way through."

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Despite having already searched the area near the broken looking wall before, Rocco isn't able to get much of a better read on it now.

Rocco enters the narrow underwater corridor followed by the others he knows there's a room behind the wall in front of him but cannot find any evidence of an entrance on this side...

@Everyone byt Rocco: you might attempta perception check with a modifier of +10 because you know there's a room on the other side of the wall. Unfortunately 26 is not enough to beat the assigned DC, so Rocco fails the check though

OMG! A perception check Elurius might have a shot at.
Elurius takes a quick glance at the wall... Perception, w/bonus: 1d20 - 1 + 10 ⇒ (16) - 1 + 10 = 25 and while the idea of getting into the room appeals she can't seem to find a ready way in, meaning it'd likely take some thinking or worse, manual labor, so she soon gives up and swims around the place instead.

Aid another Perception 1d20 + 10 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 + 10 = 25

Oren also looks around for a way into that room.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 14 + 10 = 35

Oren and Elurius bot have no better luck than Rocco but Lirotha proves herself more attentive and manages to locate the trigger for an hidden door that opens into the room the Silver Ravens spied from the other side.

The west wall of the flooded chamber that opens before the Silver Ravensis almost entirely obscured by an elaborate contraption of stone and metal comprised of intertwined pipes, pumps, gears, and bellows. The metal on the device seems unharmed by its long submersion, other than being caked with algae and silt.

You need a DC 30 Spellcraft check to understand what the machine is meant to do

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22

Oren communicates to the others that this strange item perhaps needs the Professor’s advice. It was clearly out of Oren’s sphere of knowledge.

Aid Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Rocco confers with Lirotha about the devices function and use. Perhaps with further insight from their comrades, they could piece together an understanding of what it does.

Elurius and Val, any chance you can aid as well? Then maybe our benevolent overlord could let us ring the professor for some additional insight (and a circumstance bonus mayhaps)?

Elurius doesn't have a rank in it so she can't aid, all she could do was give a guidance beforehand.

Elurius looks over the contraption and gives a small sigh. ♫"Hmph! For something so hard to access, I would have thought this was going to be something impressive, like treasure or an artifact. It's just some archaic machine. How mundane..... Oh, Shelyn, don't tell me we're going to have to dismantle this and bring it up to the professor?"♫

Lirotha can take 20 later and figure it out, but will need to renew her water breathing magic to do it I suspect. Have we explored everything now?

Are we OK? I'm unsure what to do from here.

You guys actually only have one area left to explore down here, so let's move along there.

By my calculations you guys have used the following spells and items in this fourth excursion in the Lucky Bones:
Oren: Mutagen
Elurius: shield other, bull's strength, shield of faith (x2), protection from evil, heroism, prayer, haste
Lirotha: mage armor, vampiric touch, inflict moderate wounds
Valrani: barkskin, bull's strength, cat's grace, magic fang
Rocco: magic fang, spectral hand scroll, heightened awareness

Swimming order?

Oren and Valrani usually go first, and the rest of us trail behind.

Rocco's usually in the middle so he can give the melee folks touch buffs

[Yep!