Out of the Abyss

Game Master Angie H

Wow those guys rolled poorly

The demon mist was chasing a mere 40 feet behind, and the knowledge that the chase had just gone from bad to worse made everybody run with laser focus. Only Ziyad, who had Stool in his eyes, lost some ground as he connected with his little bat's perception.

The chasing party, however, had worse luck. Only Ilvara (who was moving through the cavern with an uncanny grace), and Shoor managed to keep pace with you. Asha tried to leap over a fallen pillar, caught her foot, and fell prone. The priestess was now so far behind the leaders that she couldn't see them. Two other drow got their feet entangled in a tall algae growth, and had to waste time cutting their feet free. Another tried to dodge through the ribs of the giant beast Kalanzar had mistaken for a house, but unlike the druid, this one got himself wedged for a few seconds.

The sickly mist flowed onward with no barrier. A horrible cacophany of sound came from it - the slurping, sucking sound of flesh tearing from bone, the grinding of teeth, and screams of abject pain and terror. The mist made strange and maddening shapes as it flowed, teeth and stomachs and too man eyes, tentacles with suckers and jaws. It moved faster than should be possible, and was slowly gaining on the stragglers.

The ground now led slightly uphill, and the water was vanishing from underfoot. Leading the charge, Kalanzar saw the end of the cavern ahead - a dark, craggy wall with no sign of an exit.

Options. 1) run forward and hope there's a tunnel or something that you can't see from here (Kalanzar is 60 feet away). If there's nothing, decide then what way to turn. 2) Angle to the left/slightly uphill. The ground will be drier, but there is less faerzress and it's dark. 3) Angle to the right/slightly downhill, the conditions are more similar to what you've been running through - wetter and dimly light. 4) Surprise me.

Alexandra, sets a stinging ray of Eldritch magic at the demon pursuing them, before retreating another 30 feat
eldritch blast: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

It didnt like this one bit, and attempted with an attempt to telekinetically control the Algae at Alexandras feat!
complication: 1d20 ⇒ 6
reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19 The nimble bard thankfully dodged.

The Bard had an idea though, her mistress was extremely keen eared, and perhaps that demon was as well...
Kn. Planes? How far out does the Demon hear: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2
Not that she knew, but the attempt was cheap

deception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Putting her hand to one of her ears, as if being a human unusused to telepathic communications, she spoke in rapid fire Abyssal:
Госпожа Изалина, наша добыча уже почти у места засады, а их предводитель, наша цель, глупо стоит впереди! Какой раздражающе долгий заказ на убийство.

While thinking

Keep running, there is no ambush, Kalanzar, or Jimjar, what is the second most powerful Drow house in Menzoberran-whatever their dunk of a capital is called? Through the stool collective.

Alexandra is mostly working on deterring and slowing pursuit, she does not see the end of the tunnel yet, as is busy pretending to be an assassin.
The bluff she is trying to pull is that this is all a roundabout assassination attempt on Ilvara, organized by her drow enemies using catspaws!

:: I don't know, Alexandra. And why the second one? I don't think that our house :: a second pause :: this house is the first in strength there! ::

Kalanzar doesn't really follow what he thinks in the heads of his comrades. The problem he is trying to comprehend is much more important. There's a dead end ahead.

:: Turn right, otherwise we'll hit a dead end! Right and down. ::

Problems?: 1d20 ⇒ 4
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 Oh yes...

Too many thoughts in the druid's head lead to a predictable result. Trying to jump over a boulder, which is located below him on the slope, Kalanzar slips and falls, painfully hitting his ribs on a stone...

:: Got it! Right and down it is! :: Ksenia mentally chirps, trusting the drow to know the best tactics for running from drow in the underdark.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 1

But as she turns to do so, a low hanging stalactite looms down out of the darkness ...

acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

... but she deftly twists lower to avoid it!

insight to notice Kalanzar's house reference: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Going to assume that's too low to have picked up on the slip!

Maddy kept running and only paused long enough for Kalanzar to give direction based on what he could see. She sprinted to the right with Jimjar hanging on for dear life. "Any odds or bets about our chances of getting out of this, Jimjar?", she says just loud enough for her passenger to hear.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 18

"Make sure you keep an eye out for possible obstacles."

Running as far as she can

Its Complicated: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Con Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

"Gah...Stool!" losing his cool as the myconid flops on his face for the 3rd time in 20 seconds. Grabbing a bit of decaying muck from the pool "...here just eat that and leave me alone!" shoving it up in his material processing gills.

Wow, same complication 3 times in a row! Stool is slippery, that much has been made clear. Continuing to use familiar blindsight to sense as they go, 30 ft.

The adventurers angle to the right, hoping to find an exit to this cavern. Kalanzar trips and ends up on the ground, nearly tripping up Maddy and Alexandra. Ziyad shoves food at the myconid, who immediately begins stress-eating. Is there a reason why you can't dash while using blindvision? You evaded the obstacle, so I think you went the full 60 feet

Shuushar, however, has terrible luck. The kuo-toa's large flappy feet get fouled up in some loose rock, which traps his ankle as he tries to yank it free. As he pulls in vain at his leg, the demon-turned-mist is upon him.

The snarling mist envelops the pacifist, hiding him from your view. Inside, you can hear Shuushar give a strangled cry, then nothing at all.

Behind, the drow continue to chase them. The rapid turn to the right nearly trips up a few of them, but they leap agilely over the uneven ground and manage not to lose any ground this round.

Now in the lead, Maddy and Alexandra see an exit in the cavern wall ahead/to their left. 40 feet ahead is a wide, smooth-walled passage, wide enough for two-three abreast. Maddy's keen eyes notice a second exit 10 feet past the big one. The second one is narrow and crooked looking, and it will be tight going through one at a time. There may be further exits ahead and out of sight.

Happy holidays, everybody!

Complication: 1d20 ⇒ 3

After hitting the stones, the drow's eyes darken. He hears Shuushar's scream but doesn't see what's going on. He doesn't see anything. Only darkness in front of his eyes and stars from the impact.

Con: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 last inspiration...
Con: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

He prays to his star patrons... Desperately, sincerely, with all fervor. He doesn't want to die like that... His time has not come yet. And if it has come, then he wants to save his friends who are in trouble. It's too early, too soon.

And the Goddesses answer his prayers. The druid is still blind, but the stars in his eyes that danced from the blow add up to images! It's like a star map - only instead he sees in the darkness the shapes of boulders, crevices and the route he should run.

With a feeling of great gratitude to his stellar pantheon and bitterness for kuo-toa comrade, Kalanzar runs on...

Shushaar no!

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 2
consave: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

whatever bedeviled Alexandra, she gave no concern to it, as her devils sight simply pierced through it

Во имя полуночи вечной, он не твой! Ты, щупальцеобразное д*!*!о

GM can I take on a level of exhaustion to temporarily gain the benefits of repelling blast Eldritch invocation? (I push thing I hit back 10 feet) If yes then: Savior complex activates!

Alexandra kneels on one knee, as if to stabilize herself and conjures far more power then normally for an eldritch blast, keeping her shaking right hand stabilized with her left.

If I put my actual life force in it, this may just work!
The f&@* are you doing Alexandra? Shit, shoot now or the kickback is going to rupture every single sinew and muscle in your right arm!
Just a moment more! PEWPEWPEW!
She hears her Patron, quite clearly and uncharacteristaccally swearing.
She lets the blast out! Scoring a clean hit on the demon.

Eldritch blast on the demon: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Her improvisation may have left her exhausted, but it maybe pushed the demon away from its prey.

She gets back to running, her right arm hanging at her side, tendrils of smoke rising from it.

Complication: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Ziyad continued to follow those ahead of him, hoping to escape the sloppy demons and other strange hostile creatures.

Since there are now people ahead of me, I'll switch back to using my Minor Conjuration as dim light source and take my final Dash.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 6

dexterity: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Ksenia looks back over shoulder just in time to see the demon mist roil over Shuushar. She moans in both fear and rage at herself for not turning back to help the poor sweet man who wouldn't spill blood even in this nightmare of an underworld. But her knives, she knew, her knives were but metal and would do nothing to demons turned into clouds through horrible unknown magics.

The distraction made her miss the tangle of fungal vines sprouting out of the faerzress, and for one terrible moment it is looped tight around an ankle, about to send her sprawling ... but Ksenia flings herself forward, tumbling so that her foot pulls back and free even as she launch into a forward roll, that unfolds back into a running dwarf perfectly in stride.

Her effort is just enough to get her to the beginning of the passage, and lungs heaving, she steps to the side and waves anyone behind her through.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 13

Maddy's stomach clenched as she heard Shuushar's strangled cry. The silence told her that it was suicide to quit running. She also had Jimjar to think about. If she stopped then she was putting him at risk.

Her brain refused to think apart from making her legs work. She continued to run, telling herself that she was scoping out potential danger ahead.

She'll continue to run since I don't think any of us can do anything against a demon

Does the demon have a form that looks solid?

Which exit are you taking? The wider, closer one, or the narrower, slightly further one?

I fell behind tracking # dashes - I just caught up and put the number in the slide deck. You are allowed 3+Con bonus - for most of you that is 5 or 6 dashes. After that, you have to make a Con save DC10 or gain a level of exhaustion. Right now, Ksenia and Maddy owe me one Con save. I'll try to keep that info up to date in the spoiler so we don't have to flip back to the slide deck.

Now in the lead, Maddy and Jimjar saw the opening to the wider tunnel, and plunged inside. Immediately, they were engulfed in darkness. Maddy held out her little vial of glowing algae. It was barely enough to light the way 5 feet in front of her, but it was enough to make sure she didn't run into a wall or knock herself out on a low-hanging stalactite.

After the vastness of the cavern, the tunnel walls seemed to close in on the shepherdess, and she fought panic, knowing that if she allowed herself to give in to it, she and Jimjar would be captured, or worse.

Ziyad and Stool followed hot on Maddy's heels, just 10 feet behind them.

Ksenia reached the entrance at the same time as Kalanzar. The druid ran in, while the dwarf turned, urging the final two members of their party along.

As for Shuushar....
Darkness... Pain enveloping him.

You, Kuo-Tua are the weakest of your kind I ever devoured, and I will relish you, every single bit of your disgusting pacifist meat, every scream you will gurgle, every bit of despair I will...

The Demon's words cut like burning chains, assaulting his psyche at the same time it was trashing his body.

I shall not scream, the Kuo-Tua thinks. If I scream, the crazy surfacer warlock will turn and charge and attempt to save me, and then the others will follow her, and then we all are caught and killed. I must not scream! Shushaar thought, ferociously.

But scream you will, scream you must! You shall have no mouth, but you shall scream! The demon's words hurt Shuushar's brain, and the poison mist that was its body slithered in through his nostrils and mouth. The poison drained him of energy, made it hard to think, hard to move...

And then there was purple lightning, and something threw the demon off him.

Shushaar gasped for breath, for clean air. His muscles sluggish but gaining strength, the kuo-toa blinked twice and ran. He caught up to the crazy surfacer, reached over, and grabbed her still-smoking hand. They ran together. Ten feet ahead, they say Ksenia standing at the mouth of a tunnel, screaming at them to hurry, to run.

Behind them, the demon howled in impotent fury. It's form shuddered, solidified, became a thing of even more horror. Lumbering/slithering/oozing forward, it continued its chase. Behind it, the drow continued to run, most of them managing not to loose any distance. "Hurry!" Ilvara screamed. "Don't lose them in the tunnels!"

Everybody up. The tunnel you are in is sloped fairly steeply downwards. Water is running past your feet for the first 20 feet, then there is a two-foot crevice which is easily jumped, and the stream disappears into it. The tunnel is about 9 feet wide at the start, but is clearly narrowing as it descends.

We can do this Shushaar!

With a wild surge, Alexandra runs, draggin the Kuo-Tua along as much as she is dragged by him, mostly by constitution and by force of personality (and perhaps rejection of reality) then by strength.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 18 She dashes, if possible pushing the probably exhausted and poisoned Kuo Tuoa with her.
3rd dash Jumping over the crevice, her face breaking into a smile as she does so.

Quickly get over the crevice everyone, I have a cunning plan!

I doubt the demon will be impeded, but I may have a funny surprise for the first drow past or through it. Making it look like the crevice is 5 feet further down then where it actually is is probably doable if I invest a spell slot in it.

Comp: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Ziyad, rather out of breath, forced himself to keep pace with the others through the narrow passage...

Out of dashes so 30. If there is something within 120 I suppose he'll take a pot-shot.

Fire Bolt: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Dmg: 1d10 ⇒ 4

Con save,DC10: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

I don't remember dashing that much but I guess she's exhausted now

Maddy began to slow down. The extra weight and the extra exertion of having gone back for Jimjar was beginning to take its toll on the young woman. It was only sheer determination and some fear of what was pursuing them that kept her going despite the dark and the smaller space.

It would take a miracle for them to outrun a demon. Could someone even outrun a demon? A small voice deep inside said, You will probably need to fight and you will die unless you let me loose

Instead of running into the tunnel with everyone, Kalanzar abruptly turns into another one. He slows down a little to have time to say everything he wants to say (and at the same time to recover his breath):

Tha mi Ag ionnsachadh gàidhlig! Is e Mo mhàthair Khalica Mizzrym, neach-leantainn dìleas De Eilistrae mar mise. Cha robh thu a-riamh comasach air faighinn thuice, agus cha bhith e comasach dhut faighinn thuice. Tha an deamhan damhain-allaidh pathetic agad a tha gad shàrachadh dìreach gad dhèanamh lag gus an urrainn do chreutair cho beag smachd a chumail ort san dorchadas!

His words, full of righteous anger and faith in the victory of good over evil, resound loudly over the cave where this race was taking place. With the last of them, he disappears from view in another passage.

:: Run on. I'll find you. ::

Those dashes add up quickly! I rolled for saves for the drow and some of them are gaining exhaustion levels. Remember to check the slide deck for the levels of exhaustion. You can keep dashing, you just need to keep making con saves.

Ksenia con save vs exh: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 Ouch. One level of exhaustion for Ksenia. Anybody with one level is at disadv on ability checks.

It feels like you've been running for days. In actuality, it was less than 60 hours ago that you escaped Velkenvelve in the middle of a demon-on-demon fight. In that time you'd barely had a few pounds of fungus to eat (regardless of how tasty Ksenia had made it), not anywhere near enough water, and not enough sleep. A few hours ago you discovered the rescued halfling to be dead, killed somebody you thought was a friend, and misplaced two others. You're undernourished, exhausted, not adequately clothed, and now you're running for your life through a seemingly endless world underground.

Everybody is feeling the effects of the prolonged sprint. Muscles burning, breath hot in your throats, sweat running into your eyes. Human, drow, dwarf, gith...nobody was built for this sustained sprint. Especially in your current condition.

Even your pursuers are starting to feel the strain. Far in the back, the drow junior preistess and her bodyguard fell into a limping run. They couldn't see anybody ahead of them, though Ilvara's furious screams still reached their ears. The continued to move towards the others, but at a more reasonable pace.

Her passenger light on her back, shouting encouragement into her ear, Maddy continued to run in the lead. I'm not sure if you are dashing this round or not. If you do, make another con save, and Maddy will be further ahead of Ziyad. If not, what will you do with your action?

Ziyad, poncho sliding off one thin shoulder, turned to fire a potshot at whoever was closest. He was not prepared for the flesh-melting-rearranging demonic horror that was a mere 30 feet behind Alexandra and Shuushar. His shock made his firebolt shoot wide, and he heard Stool groan in an agony of fear as he turned and ran again.

Ksenia urged the others into the cavern, ::Hurry! Hurry!:: Alexandra, seeing an opportunity for another piece of cleverness, pulls and is pulled by the flagging Shushaar. But Kalanzar takes a different route.

The drow makes his heritage known in a most ... provocative manner. Leaving the others, he taunts the demon following them, then takes the smaller passageway. The demon snarl-gurgles in reply, and turns to follow the drow. After all, his summoner hadn't been specific.

Ksenia hesitates, then follows Alexandra in. She had to trust that the druid knows what he's doing.

Shoor is catching up. The treasonous drow running at his side had begun to slow down, to stumble, but Shoor is proving (again!) that he deserves to be his mistress's most trusted servant. He is catching up to these disgusting, vile, annoying prisoners, and this is almost over. They were entering the caverns, and he could not allow them to escape. He is almost close enough...

There! He is within range, he is sure of it. Slowing down just enough to be certain of his aim, he points his wand at the dwarf in the rear. A small, brown glob flies straight at her. Ha! That'll slow her down!

Ksenia, glancing over her shoulder, sees the dreaded wand being pointed at her! She throws herself foward, rolling painfully over some sharp rocks, and leaps to her feet, not losing any ground. The viscous glob splashes into the water where her feet had been a second before.

Catching up to Shoor, Jorlan grunts in amusement, making sure that Ilvara doesn't hear. He wished he understood Abyssal, for surely the skinny human witch had said something hilarious to Ilvara. He wondered if the drow priestess even understood the language. On the other hand, the drow druid's words, those he understood. Jorlan kept running. He didn't much care what happened next, but either way, it was sure to be entertaining.

What an irony, the world is full of it!

It was all the horror and hopelessness of the situation that gave Kalanzar a cheerful mood akin to the bravado of a lone warrior going to death.

Druid tried to recall in every detail the wolf spiders, the forest hunters from the surface, whom he had seen more than once while living with his relatives under the light of the stars.

The transformation happened intuitively and with lightning speed. An act of unity with memories of the smell of the night forest, the cries of alarmed birds and a battle or a gentle redirection with the help of natural magic of these huge arachnids...

It became difficult for him to focus his vision again. Young drow certainly did not expect this. It seems consist of different fragments, like pieces of glass, small windows from which the world is visible. But these windows, floating images one on top of another, created some kind of strange picture of the world around, with a completely different angle of view and other outlines. The colors have changed, everything has changed...

But there is no time to think about it. Kalanzar has to run.

What an irony...

Standard - Wild shape in a Giant Wolf Spider, move - 40 ft.

Do these Clowns actually dont speak Abyssal?While summoning Demons all the time? Thats like, both rude and stupid isnt it?
It totally is. Letting our quite common tounges at will ability do the work I guess? Drow that worship the spider b@+&$ are immensely racist and frequently refuse to learn other languages then theirs, which is pretty amusing given that, linguistically, Undercommon is the result of a polyglot mix of languages, and while there is a certain Elfen influence, based on the drows descent, inherent in it, it is by no means the only, or even the stongest influence on it.
Can I somehow turn this into an insult? Really need to learn undercommon! Back to our regularly schedules performance of Alexandra and doing stupid, crazy but actually also fun and workable things!

Seeing how Ksenia dodges, Alexandra expands a spell slot to mask where the crevice is, making an illusory one appear right next to where it actually is, so that a normal person seeing it would simply jump over it, putting his or hopefully her foot exactly where the actual crevice is.
and then hopes to get around a corner, the drow and the demon being hot on her heels.

complication: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Maddy's legs were burning and every breath felt like tiny knives were poking her in the chest, but she kept running. What other logical choice did she have? Fighting the demon and the drow together would be suicide, wouldn't it?

Con save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Using her earned point of inspiration to reroll
Con save,last round: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

But Maddy couldn't keep going. At least not at the pace she had been going - or so she thought. She found an extra gear and kept going, not wanting to let Jimjar down.

Con save, for this round: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

But how long could they keep this up? How long could she?

Ksenia sucks air in over and over again, her lungs on fire. She already was falling behind everyone even dashing as fast as she could, they were just a bit faster than her and it kept adding up over and over. Ducking the splatter that sails over her head, Ksenia grimaces and makes a decision.

::Run friends! Slow and steady I'll watch the rear!::

Ksenia moves slowly, trying to catch her breath and slink through the shadows of the cavern to slip the gaze of the pursuing drow, to catch them unawares if they catch up.

stealth with disadvantage: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

stealth with disadvantage: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

single move instead of dashing, she can't keep this up and will watch the backs of everyone

Please remember to keep player and character knowledge separate. There's no reason for Alex to suddenly suspect that Ilvara doesn't speak Abyssal.

Maddy ran through the darkness. Her little handful of light was enough to keep her from running into anything, but that was it. Jimjar pointed directions to her, helping make sure she didn't end up at a dead end. The svirfneblin passed messages back to Stool, hoping the others wouldn't get separated. ::Take the first right away from the main passage! It starts going up! Another fork, left this time...:: Maddy couldn't see or hear anybody behind her.

Jimjar whispered for her to stop for a moment, and she did. Ahead, they were faced with a choice. The passageway forked up ahead (or so Jimjar said, Maddy couldn't see that far). To their immediate right was a small cliff edge, leading down of of the human's sight. Jimjar thought there might be a passage at the bottom of it. He didn't know what to do and asked Maddy to decide.

Well behind them, Alexandra stopped for a precious few seconds, crafting an illusion she hoped would result in a broken ankle or two. A few paces ahead, Ziyad also stopped, shooting another firebolt behind him.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
damage: 1d10 ⇒ 1

This time he had better aim, but the firebolt was a paltry thing that fizzled on Shoor's jacket and merely singed him. Shuushar stopped, gasping for breath, and only started running again when Alexandra did.

Ksenia vanished into the shadows in the craggy walls of the tunnel. So she had an excellent view when the three drow came sprinting in. The two elite guards, Shoor and Jorlan, were a few steps ahead of Ilvara. Both leapt the small crevice that swallowed the stream...or thought they did. Falling for Alexandra's illusion, they both leapt too soon, landing in the actual crevice.

Jorlan dex save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Shoor dex save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
damage: 1d10 ⇒ 4

The scarred Jorlan managed to catch himself as he fell, and pulled himself out without only a few scratches. Shoor, however, fell in several feet, twisting his knee and banging his head. Ilvara, however, leapt over in the correct spot, and seemed surprised by the other two's mistake. She snarled at them in undercommon, keeping her voice low this time.

In the other cavern, the demon ran/glooped through the narrow and twisted passage, trying to catch up to the insulting drow that had been fatally rude to it.

I'm not going to keep up the map any more, as you're now in a maze of caverns again and it would be too hard. Alex, Ziyad and Shuushar are in sight of each other, but just out of sight of the drow. Maddy and JJ are quite far ahead and out of sight. Ksenia can see the drow, but not the others. Hopefully that makes sense. Everybody can still communicate with Stool, except Kalanzar.

Acknowledged Jimjar, right after entry, then left, Ksenia, break contact with the drow, reestablish contact with us. We went to the right after the entry, the correct way points upwards, then left. Alexandra out.

Alexandras telepathic voice seemed almost unnaturally calm and professional, more akin to a highly trained and experience combatant then an impulsive warlock.
Kalanzar you crazy, glorious bastard, may our Lady shield you from their sight and may her sacred wroth pierce their vile hearts. The Ladys speed and guile with you She offered a silent prayer, making sure it did not go through the Stool network.

@GM do we still roll complications etc.?

@GM do we still roll complications etc.?

Good question. I guess since pursuer and quarry are out of sight of each other, the chase is technically over. However, if they see you again, chase rules would be back. So for now, we will exit the chase, and leave round-by-round action. However, as they're not far behind you (or in front of you in Ksenia's case), we'll still move things forward a bit slowly.

TLDR: No, don't roll complications unless you still want to be sprinting. .

Complication: 1d20 ⇒ 15

Kalanzar does exactly what he has to do - he runs. On the floor, on the walls, sometimes on the ceiling, running around dangerous places where in humanoid form he would probably get stuck... Runs for his life.

Dash, 40ft speed. I hope that the demon's speed is lower, about 30ft and I will gradually come off.

Ksenia holds her breath as the drow pass, squeezing her eyes shut as they pass near enough to touch, their gray cloaks whispering in the darkness.

The drow have passed me, they're still following you. The demon thing followed Kalanzar, so there are only three drow tracking you, and one of them is injured now. He tripped and just about broke his leg! And they say dwarves are clumsy!

She pauses, thinking, and then continues. Do you want to stage an ambush -- you from their front, and I fall on their backs?

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Pressing into the stone and trying not to breathe (whatever it means in the form of a spider), Kalanzar lets the demon go ahead, then quietly returns back. He is in no hurry, knowing that his dark brethren are out there somewhere... Between Kalanzar and his comrades.

I hope they were able to break away from the pursuit. I hope they're alive.

Maddy gratefully stopped at Jimjar's request. As he looked around and assessed their situation, being able to see better in the dark, Maddy leaned over with her hands on her knees and gulped in as much air as possible.

After a brief rest, she realized that she couldn't hear any of the others with her ears, only within her head. Somehow she had managed to outpace the rest. When Jimjar asked her which way they should continue, she shook her head. "I think we should go back and make sure the others also get away. It's not good to be separated, especially since you and I have no idea where we're going."

It's then that she hears Ksenia's suggestion through the collective. If they were going to try to ambush the drow then they'd definitely need her there.

She offered Jimjar a hand up so that he returned to her back and she began to make her way back towards the others.

It didn't take long for Maddy and Jimjar to reconnect with Alexandria, Shuushar, Ziyad and Stool. They were very aware that they hadn't had time to try and hide the marks of their passing, and there hadn't been very many forks yet. If they wanted to avoid the drow, they had to keep moving.

Ksenia stayed hidden until the drow passed out of sight around the first bend. Before she left the cover of the shadows, however, she spotted another drow slipping into the passageway. He was moving quietly, staying to the shadows, trying not to be seen. Ksenia recognized him - it was their ex-fellow-prisoner Sarith.

Negative, do not attempt to ambush Alexandra telepathic voice speaks to Ksenia
Nipple-Hands palpable surprise at the other 2 drow falling for my trap indicates she is under a spell that lets her pierce illusions, she also spontaenously summoned what Yzalina called a Yochlol, meaning she is genuinely powerfull. When backed up by 2 elite drow warriors, I rate her as beyond our current capability to combat effectively.
Her voice is precise and utterly calm.
However, her column is strechted out and fractured, with the Yochlol likely chasing Kalanzar, as it is not chasing us. Her rearward elements gotten entangled, and communication is likely spotty. Unless she is literally mad, she will move to reorganize her forces, and inconveniently for her the 2 of her servants that would be capable of doing so in a timely manner are currently with her. I have not observed any telepathic inklings, meaning that she will at some point move back out, take stock, recollect her strength, mete out some punishment because spider-b@+&&-priestesses are going to be spider-b$!*%-priestesses, before pursueing in a more organized manner. This will give us an opening.
There is a pause
Furthermore, spontaenously summoning a Yochlol is well, loud. Other nearby beings of similar nature that do not share her allegiance will take note, and many of them are quite territorial. She may be about to have some visitors. You can sense a slight chuckle in Alexandras communications.

The next hour was a tense one. Ksenia followed Sarith, who followed the other drow. When Ilvara and her cronies took one path, Sarith took the other. It wasn't long before he bumped into the others, with Ksenia hot on his heels.

After a few tense moments, Sarith was able to convince the others that he wasn't there as a spy. He'd managed to convince Ilvara that he could be helpful tracking them, because of his "connection" with Alexandra. He was a little surprised that he'd managed to break free of them, but that Jorlan was being surprisingly helpful.

He shrugged off a backpack, and said, "Jorlan gave this to me, in case we reconnected. I guess he raided Ilvara's bedchamber before we left."

In the backpack is one item each that you would have had with you when captured. Your choice.

As you all look in the backpack, a giant spider sneaks up behind you. Fortunately Stool lets you all know its Kalanzar before you attack it.

You spend the rest of the day following Shuushar's nose, and sure enough, several hours later, you find yourself in a cavern that opens into an enormous, underground lake. The water is frigid, but fresh. With a shout of glee, Shuurshar dives in, cavorting in the water like a child. See image in the slide deck

You are all worn out from a long day, and need to rest before proceeding. Please post letting me know what you got from Sarith, and if you have any thoughts/plans for how to travel by water.

Welcome back Szarith! Alexandra gives the the surprised drow a hug. Well, a partial one because one of her arms is currently a bit damaged, and she is clearly exhausted.

Her eyes light up as she sees whats in the backpack.

Kalanzar you glorious Bastard you survived as well? You got away from a Yochlol after trashtalking it to its ugly tentacle face? Genuinely impressive Alexandra keeps up her Drow hugging spree.

Approval granted, praise the DM

It is a small closed clockwork device.

I will effing obliberate her if that nipplehanded spiderb~~$~ damaged it! She fiddles around with some controls and get increasingly happy.

Hah, it still works and she didnt! I need to reduce the volume and then...

In case you ever wondered what my Patron sounds like, I am not even in the same dimension as having that vocal range, I am doing the backup vocals, and I was on like, 3 different supporting spells when I did them. There was that Rock gnome who managed to capture sound and play it again and again, great guy! He said something about "idiot-proofing them or something" so he handed one to me, I can load it with some eldritch power.
Origa inner universe An upbeat song in what seems to be Abyssal, Celestial and Common plays quietly from it.

Jinjar, I bet you didnt see this coming!

Mechanically proposal: Its like music box from a rock gnome, but loadable by putting some eldritch power into it (in this case because the Eldritch power literally comes of the main singer), it can play more then one song (and may even have a slot left to record something), and can play songs either quietly or at moderate sound level.

Despite the strange crystalline growths that erupted from the gith's veins, he was happy to find his old spellbook.

When the trouble of the lake presented itself, Ziyad filled the magic gourd with some of the lakewater, turning it into a Potion of Flying. The gith next held his orb outwards, and it rapidly expanded into a porous flexible material...

Conjuring dimly lit 5 ft cube of cork with handholds. Idea is people can grab the floating cork and I will push them while flying.

Alexandra listens to her music, looks at the frolicking Kuo-Tuo, and thinks one thing.
Worth it. Absolutely worth it.
She doesnt join him, too exhausted for a bath and uncharacteristically mindfull of hypothermia.

Maybe we can make, I dunno, a mushroom boat?

Do we level up by chance? Currently level 2

: I'm a little surprised too, Alexandra :

Without leaving the spider form, the drow telepathically greets another drow.

: Isn't it ironic that a follower of Eilistraee escapes in the form of a spider from the Lolth's demon? I hope one day your path will also be illuminated by the same stars as mine, brother. :

I'm thinking about the item. As far as I understand, is this something that we should have had when generating the character?

I'm thinking about the item. As far as I understand, is this something that we should have had when generating the character?

Ideally something your character would have had on them when captured. I would also accept something one of the NPCs (esp the absent/dead ones) would have had instead.

: Pretty sure our Lady appreciates the irony, my patrons is giggling quite loudly, she was all like "I will honor his sacrfice and provide more assistance" before, and I think she is getting enjoyably drunk now, at least I am feeling a bit tipsy and I definitly did not have any booze :

Maddy couldn't believe that they had managed to escape their pursuers and the conjured demon. She felt that she had used up a lifetime of luck in the span of a few hours.

She looked at Sarith curiously as he unshouldered his bag. She wondered briefly if it was some sort of trap until she saw what was inside. With a gasp of surprise, she pulled out her greatsword from the bag. She had never thought she would see her great-grandfather's sword again. She gave it a few practice swings with a huge smile on her face. "I owe you a debt, Sarith, for bringing this back to me."

With renewed vigor, Maddy happily makes the next leg of their trek. She isn't quite as excited to come upon the huge underground lake as Shuurshar but there was something endearing about his response to seeing it. ::I take it we are close to your home, Shuurshar?::

The young woman wasn't too keen on the idea of swimming and hoped that the others in the group who were smarter than she would figure out a way for them to travel on the water rather than in it.

Feeling increasingly sloshed by her Patrons ongoing alcohol uptake diffusing into her, which can apparently happen if a warlock draws too much power over an extended time and gets an unusual connection with her patron, alexandra falls asleep thinking:

One day I will get you drunk this way
More like one night? Oh, the booze diffusion is on! Uff, I am happy for you I didnt take any of the pills that friendly if somewhat shifty red-haired fae offered!

Alexandras feet tap the cave ground in what seems to be the rythm of a music piece as she sleeps.

When the cork sloshed around and really didn't do much, the gith furrowed his brow. Taking Alex up on her suggestion, he started looking for any vegetation nearby that might be repurposed into a watercraft of some sort...

Investigation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Inspiration adv: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Kalanzar transforms from a spider back into a drow. Looking into the bag, he seemed to shine all over - and this time not in the sense of tattoos, but in the sense of a smile and eyes.

He pulls out a rather large leather bundle. Putting it on the stones and untying the ribbons, he slowly unwraps the bundle, which turns out to be full of pockets of different sizes inside. There are various scissors, tweezers, mortars and vials. He looks at it all with a smile.

Excellent. Now my knowledge will become more useful... Thank you, Dark Goddesses. Your ways are inscrutable, but your hand of care is felt in the darkness all the time.

Herbalism kit! It was almost always with Kalanzar, who lives in the forest, and certainly at the time of the abduction.

Then Kalanzar joins the search for ways to cross the water. Perhaps, indeed, a raft of large mushrooms? Or something else?

Survival or Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Maddy took her cue from the others as they began to search the area for anything that may help them get safely across the water rather than having to be in the water.

Even though Maddy wasn't familiar with the Underdark, she knew the types of items that could potentially float on the top of water. The challenge was going to find something big enough down here to support the weight of many beings.

She began by searching the area and then looked closer at the things she found to see if they were usable, even testing them on the shore of the water to see if they would indeed float.

perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
survival: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Wow, it looks like Maddy is trying to see if rocks will float. Sorry guys, not much help. But she'll be your muscle to harvest things if you direct her :)

The arrival at Dark Lake, and Shuushar's joy, lifts a feeling of dread from most of the party. Spreading out, they search the shoreline for anything that might float.

1d10 ⇒ 8
1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Ziyad and Kalanzar stumble across a strange shape few minutes down the shoreline - something tall and round, leaning out over the water at an angle. Further investigation shows it to be a nearly dead Zurkhwood fungus. You recognize it as the material that most of the furniture in Velkynvelve was made from. Its contained a few grain-like spores that were edible, which they collected (7 lbs of food).

As important, the "trunk" of the zurkhwood is bouyant. You manage to cut it off near the base, and end up with 21 feet of the stuff. It bobs in the water, and Shuushar guides it back to where you've made camp.

Now, the question is, what to do with it?

Meanwhile, Ksenia and Jimjar spend an hour looking for food, and find both ripplebark and fire lichen. She also finds a new fungus, a thin, two-foot-tall fungus with a strange yellow cap. Sarith identifies it as torchstalk. "That'll burn more than 20 hours when lit, but be careful. Sometimes they explode when you light them."

Ksenia takes the zurkhwood spores and gets down to business making mushroom stew, while the others decide what to do with their floatation device.

SnoresAlexandria sleeps of her exhaustion, hugging her magical jukebox, which plays soothing relaxing music.

We also need oars... Let's rest, get some sleep, build oars and set sail. Are there any wounded among us? He looks at Maddie and then at his own scratches and smiles. Yes, there are such here.

CW: 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (1, 3) + 6 = 10 hp 2 Maddy
CW: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 hp 2 me

He offers a prayer, placing his hands twice on the warrioress and once applying them to his own wounds. Every time something like moonlight runs over his tattoos in a light wave from the constellations on his body to his palms.

Maddy watched in awe as the others made delicious food out of items she thought were inedible and found something that would actually float on the water. She was definitely finding it difficult to be helpful here in the Underdark.

::Will the trunk still float if we cut it in half? If we can cut it in half then we could sit in it, like a small boat. We could possibly make a few of them::

As they ate and discussed their options, Maddy also added, ::We will definitely need to set up watches while we rest because Ilvara is probably still tracking us. She won't give up. I can take whatever watch you others don't want::

When Kalanzar's healing washed over Maddy, she gave a small smile and said quietly, "Thank you once again, Kalanzar."

::Will the trunk still float if we cut it in half? If we can cut it in half then we could sit in it, like a small boat. We could possibly make a few of them::

Shuushar took a break from swimming and came over to the floating log. ::Many people on the Dark Lake make boats from this. You will need to do something to it, it is too tippy like this.: He proceeded to demonstrate, showing how easy it was to roll the log as it floated in the lake. ::Can you make a boat? Or a raft? I can help push or pull it to Sloobludop::

I dont think I will be of much use for crafting, but the opposite maybe? Jimjar, did you see some areas close where judiciously applied eldritch blasts could cause partial cave ins?

Alex offers some assistance to probably jimjar in delaying pursuit.