Grethe descends and does not die. Yet. He sees refuse rushing by in a stream of garbage carried swiftly through the sewer proper. A five-foot-wide dry ledge sits a foot above the refuse and provides a walkway on both the east and west sides of the sewer. On the west wall, a massive iron door blocks passage beyond. An image carved into the door is of a dispassionate figure holding a gibbous moon.
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"Another sewer? Alrathien deplores the state of his clothes whenever he and his friends muck about in the sewers. Still, needs must. Friend Grethe, pelase look to the ground for the trail of paper that the prisoner's diary said to expect. Paper! You know, the material that Alrathien's books are made of? No, it is not for wiping your nether regions after you...look, perhaps friend Jeffrey can help you."
Alrathien followed the others into the sewer, still muttering about the thickheadedness of barbarians and their ilk.
There are no hidden spiders waiting for Watkins this time around. Looking carefully around the area Watkins determines that crossing the rocks is likely the safer route than a straight jump since there is no room to get a running start.
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Grethe finds nothing to aid him in crossing this muck.
"Ewwwww dis is gross. I don see no paper either."
He stands at the edge of the rocks trying to determine the best way to get across. "Ugh dis armor, no gud for dis, no gud at all"
He takes his time to take off his armor and shove it in his backpack before attempting to cross utilizing the rocks
Unfortunately even without his armor, he loses his footing and splashes down into the muck.
"Eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" he blurts out while getting his bearings and crawling out the other side.
"I hope i dun catch nuttin"
Once safely on the other side he puts his armor on, and looks around some more.
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"No, no, friend Grethe! Alrathien sees he should have gone first, after all. The intent, as Alrathien believes should be obvious, is to step across the stones like this, keeping your feet - and the rest of you - out of the muck. Running straight across is a recipe for disaster, one that you have now baked. Which reminds me of another recipe, one for desliming fengari slime toads. Fascinating things, those toads. Did you know that their slime is both a laxitive and an aphrodisiac? Wonderful contrast in effects, wouldn't you say?"
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Jeffrey puts his tower shield on his back and manages to get across by walking over the stones. He seems genuinely surprise by this fact.
"Well I'll be," he says as he takes his tower shield back in hand. "I expected to go for a swim with Grethe. Glad I didn't have to join him."
He walks over to the door while drawing his sword. Once everyone is on his side over the water, Jeffrey attempts to bash the door in.
The first thing that's Jeffrey is a horrific stench of rotten death that makes him sick to his stomach. Inside the room a purple radiance washes over this cold chamber from a variety of lichens and fungi that grow on the walls and ceiling creating an otherworldly sheen. Straw-filled cages line the north and south walls. In the room’s center, a strange pedestal, carved in the likeness of dozens of grasping tentacles, sits fixed into the stone floor. You see six bodies in some of the cells that appear barely alive.
Jeffrey is surprised and does not see the creature hiding before him in the darkness until he is on top of him. The creature lunges at him and attempts to bite him but the heavily armored fighter easily blocks the attempt.
Regrouping the creature throws itself at Jeffrey again with another bite attack and two claws slashing at him. Despite being AMAZINGLY ACCURATE attempts, only one claw manages to slip through Jeffrey's defenses (6 damage and DC15 Fort save or become paralyzed for rounds).
Jeffrey Perception
Attack Jeffrey vs AC 9999
Bite Jeffrey vs AC 9999
Claw Jeffrey vs AC 9999
Confirm
Damage
Claw Jeffrey vs AC 9999
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"Ugh what dat smell?" Just as grethes body is wrapped in the foulest of foul oders, he watches as Jeffrey comes face to face with some big stinky thing. But rather than take weapon to the creature Jeffrey instead has puked all over him.
"Wut da?!? First da crap water, now da crap smell, now dis? Jeffrey what you doing? You all in da way man! Arrrrghhhhh I don have time for dis nonsense!"
Grethe yells out a loud roar and goes into a fit of rage and attempts to push beyond the creature.
Once behind the creature, Grethe stops, and then goes into a full power attack from behind flanking the creature.
Move: run past creature, Overrun
If i make it, then ill power attack from the flank
Standard: Power attack, raging, flanking
Rage remaining: 3/6 rounds
Grethe pushes past Jeffrey and attempts to get past the undead. As he puts his hands out the horrid creature snaps forward and buries it's sharp teeth around his hand, ripping and snapping tendons Grethe yanks his hand away from the creature and stumbles backward behind Jeffrey again.
Bite Grethes Hand
Damage
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"Friend Grethe, now you are acting just like Jeffrey. Please clear the doorway so that the others can assist. You need to avoid the attacks. Maybe make a bending motion as you go through the doowrway. like this." Alrathien contorted himself sideways, got his left arm caught in a fold of his robe, and managed to catch his balance somehow before motioning to the others.
"Very well, Alrathien will assist in destabilizing the very foundation upon which the enemy stands, much like he undercuts the very weak arguements his fellows offer in their attempts to debate logic and Jerngian theory."
Alrathien made some motions, smaller this time, and muttered the spell to cover the floor beneath the enemy creature with grease.
Watkins recognizes this creature as a form of a ghoul known as a ghast. Although these creatures look just like their lesser kin, they are far more deadly and cunning.
The ghast is able to maintain his footing through Alrathien's spell. The first of Watkins two arrows strike the creature but the second sails high.
With Jeffrey paralyzed and laying prone in a pile of grease the ghast goes to town on him, ripping him apart with his teeth and claws
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In a heroic attempt to dart past the creature, grethe becomes entangles in Jeffrey's flowing hair and cant make it past the creature. He leaves himself open for attack, which this trained beast wastes no time in taking advantage of.
Ahhhhhhhrrgggghhhh......
Just as the creature sinks its teeth into Grethe, he starts to scream out and then stops. stop screaming, stops moving, just kind of stands there unable to do anything, dropping his weapon on the ground below him.
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Jeffrey's life is in the hands of his companions. With Grethe now paralyzed the situation is turning bleak. Should they fail to stop the undead creature these next few seconds then surely it will rip his throat out and put an end to the smiling, energetic man once known as Jeffrey.
Before the party can get too sidetracked on this path however Kimiya and Watkins step up and protect their fallen companion by putting down the threat.
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"Has anyone else noticed that every time we go after these derro, we run into undead monstrosities? It simply cannot be a coincidence. Why, I am reminded of the time when...oh, friend Jeffrey. Why are you still laying about? We haven't yet found the prisoners we were looking for, and Alrathien's throat is so parched. Perhaps some chilled wine is laid aside on a table nearby?"
Alrathien began looking about the room from the doorway.
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Jeffrey rises smilingly and pulls out his own wand of cure light wounds. He hands it to Watkins. "Use this to fully heal us."
"Will you hold onto that wand?" Jeffrey asks Watkins. "I can't use it anyway."
Jeffrey picks up his tower shield and longsword, gives the undead's corpse a kick, and moves past it in order to inspect the room.
"The paper trail went here, didn't it?"
Once the immiedate threat has been taken care of the party notices that in the surrounding cells are six humans that look recently deceased.
Alrathien finds a hidden switch beneath a floor tile at the far end of the room while Grethe finds a large chest rests in an empty cell.
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"Ah yes. Once more Alrathien's keen powers of observation, combined with his in depth understanding of the criminal mind, have paved the way for continuance. See here? There is a switch. Such switches are historically used for activating hidden doors and traps of such ghastly description that to hear of them would make you retch. Much like that ghast, in fact. That truly in a most dreadful smell. Friend Grethe, I am afraid your particular piquant odor loses out to that one today. Congratulations."
The prisoner moans and looks up at him. "wha?who?Ooohhhh"
Jeffrey easily opens the doors to the prisoners, but a closer look doesn't help him get any better of an idea of what is going on with them.
Checking in the chest Kimiya finds 1,600 gp worth of Cassomir trade bars and a masterwork longbow with 20 arrows.
The men are slow to stand and look extremely weak. They exit their cells and nods. "We will answer questions, thank you for freeing us. Do you have form of healing? I'm not sure if we can make it out of here in our current state."
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Before any of that happened Watkins moves back and asks Jefferey to drag the foul smelling corpse out and up the path to the north so we don't become sick as well.
To the prisoners"Its probably best if you stay here then, till our mission is complete, the way is treacherous we will likely have to bring in a rescue team to to extract you. Till then here are some rations, you look hungry. What happened here? Can you tell use how you came to be in these cages and what you have seen since?"
The stinking corpse floats away down the sewer. The prisoners don't take much convincing and look entirely too weak to go out on their own and just nod reluctantly. They eagerly take the rations and begin to eat. One speaks up, "The derro's kidnapped us and brought us here. I have no idea how long it's been, I've lost track. The derro's have come and gone by rotating this chamber with something over there by that floor tile . I'm afraid we're in and out of consciousness down here and not sure if we have any additional information that can help. Please hurry, I don't want to be down here any longer than necessary."