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Everybody can read Alex's spoiler, I quite like it. :)

There was no safe way for Kip to get down to pick up the kuo-teens, so they had to stay to listen. However, in typical youth fashion, the news was seemed to be more exciting than scary. The adults, however, looked serious, and thanked them for the news. "Where did this happen? Darklake is a big place.

"I'm from a small village on the surface. I was taken from my home and brought to the Underdark as a slave. I was lucky and escaped and now I'm trying to get back home."

Loogoome nodded as if she expected that answer. Her husband (who had introduced himself as Glubboono) asked, "Do you have very far to go?"

"Oh! We are from a small village on the west of Darklake. Ghaullappool. But we are returning from a pilgrimage, and trading on the way. The most dangerous place is here! We did not come through this way before, and we will mark as dangerous for other travellers!" He pulls out some chalk and sketches a strange, simple rune on the ground. "This means the area is not safe! I will mark the walls at the other end, to keep our people safe if they come this way."

The younger kuo-toas speak quickly to him, and he makes a hideous expression which is probably a smile. "My spawn wish me to tell you that we also saw a giant running through here, but she seemed harmless. And there were some slavers, but they do not want our people, so we traded with them instead. Do you have anything to trade?"

Again the fish-teenagers spoke to their father, and he asked, "Where are you from? You are not all people of the below."

I keep giving you guys NPCs to interact with and ask questions of, and it's just crickets. You have two hours while Hue collects fungus. Anybody want to know anything about these guys, or the area they've come from?

There is sufficient fungus for Hue to find what he needs, but the ground is so dangerous that it will take double the time to safely collect everything.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody!

The injured kuo-toa has a broken arm and several broken ribs, as well as lots of cuts and abrasions.

The fish-folk take the berries with suspicion, but are delighted when they actually try one. It helps with the injured ones surface injuries, but her broken bones will take more than a magical berry to heal.

Loogoome spends several minutes struggling with the rope, trying to get it around themselves, under the armpits, and tying a knot. Finally they call up, and Maddy and the other Kuo-toa begin to heave on the rope. It's difficult, as the edge of the hole is jagged and they have to be careful to prevent the rope from fraying and snapping. Loogoome cries out in pain several times, and is panting by the time they're hauled up over the edge and to an area Maddy deems safe.

The two smaller fish folk throw themselves on the rescuee, causing another cry of pain, but Loogoome draws them both close in a hug. The spokes-fish begins examining Loogoome's hurts, and for a moment, you're all ignored.

The fish folk watching in amazement as the drow became a lizard. One of them shouted something down to their stuck companion, in their language. Probably warning them about what was coming.

Maddy found a place to tie the rope off, just in case. Then, the shepherd holding one end, the lizard scampered down into the hole with the other.

At the bottom he found a kuo-toa with a large backpack, loops of rope draped all around them. Their back was clearly injured - they couldn't sit up straight, and certainly couldn't stand. They watched with wide eyes as the rope-bearing lizard climbed effortlessly down the sheer side of the hole they were trapped in.

The fishfolk will say that their trapped friend can't climb, but they could hoist her up with the rope. Or somebody could climb down and get her, or Alex could levitate her up. Or levitate Maddy down and up again to get her.

With Precious and Hue alert for danger from within and from without, Maddy checks the ground carefully and inches towards the hole. The footing is treacherous, but she gets close enough to see that the hole is about six feet in diameter and about 25 feet deep. Definitely too narrow for Kip, and the ground wouldn't support his weight.

Survival to pick a safe path. Once you're close you can tell by looking

The ground in this whole area is unstable, you guys have had to tread carefully for hours. You'd need to get close and have a look at the pit to see if Kip would fit.

The three kua-toa spin around to face Alexandra when she speaks. The one on the ground scrambles ungracefully to its feet. "Oh! Um, hello surface people!" One steps forward, arms spread low to indicate no weapons in hand. He speaks undercommon a bit slowly, as if to ensure he's understood. "Yes, um, we have trouble. Loogoome has fallen down, and she has the rope! But she is injured and can not throw it. A cucumber, as you say up top!"

The other two shrink back behind the speaker, as if trying to hide. They look smaller, with bigger eyes. Juveniles? One of them whines something in their language to the speaker, who responds with a single word.

He then looks at Alex and who came forward with her? I know Hue is hiding, clearly looking to see if they have rope.

You guys remember that Shuushar and the others spoke their own kua-toan language, but most also spoke undercommon.

It wasn't hard to sneak up on the shouting Kua-toans. There were three of them, standing around a large pit, alternately staring down into it and shouting at each other. As you watch, one of them lays down next to the pit and reaches an arm down into it. The edge of the pit, however, is unstable, and begins to crumble. The fish-person shouts in alarm, and one of their companions grabs their ankles and pulls them to safety.

The pair lumber off down a different tunnel, continuing their hunt for the stone piles.

You keep heading in what you believe is the right direction, and eventually it's time for another sleep. The next day, you find yourself on a path with treacherous footing - the path seems to be comprised of a thin crust, and beneath it are pits and crevices. It appears to be a natural formation, but no less dangerous for it.

You move very carefully as a group; as the lightest, Hue picks a careful way. Even Maddy, riding upside down on Kip on the ceiling, has to be careful, as pieces of the ceiling are also loose and keep tumbling down.

After several exhausting hours of traversing this landscape, you hear shouting coming from ahead. Several voices shouting in a language you recognizes from your time with Shuushar.

The area here is wide enough, with enough cover, that you can go towards the shouting or probably skirt round and avoid it.

If there are no questions or answers for this guy, I'll move us along this afternnon.

Alex wracks her brain, but can't come up with a memory of that name.

You make a roll and tell you if it gets you anything. Your choice.

If Alex is trying a knowledge roll, then make a roll.

The creature's accent is thick, but Kalanzar understands well enough. "We look for special place, special for our folk. Marked with stone piles. We not see, not know how big. But some see. We look and we look. Big power there, lost gift from Entémoch, power there. Big boon power gift. Entémoch gift to small folk, but they lose it. Foolish! You see stone piles?"

Greetings! We don't want anything bad. We come in peace!, says Kalanzar in Primordial and Undercommon. He raises his hands slightly in a gesture that in any culture means that there are no weapons in my hands right now.

As Dawn's light dims, the two creatures blink a bit then look again at your group. The winged one looks baffled at the primordial words, but its eyes widen a bit when Kal switches to undercommon. It pats its mount on the head and says something Anybody speak Terran?, then says, "People hi! Where stone piles see? Big piles?" The stony mount holds its hand about four feet off the ground.

There weren't so very many of them, about 2 dozen. Probably not enough for war. :) No obvious signs of battle damage.

The next few days pass quietly. Kip sticks to the roof, and clears out a few darkmantles lurking overhead, his stomach gurgling with happiness after the feast. The corridor gains more side tunnels, and the river begins to narrow as you travel upstream, as various feeder creeks join it. You pass an area where the eerily glowing purple faerzress swirls thickly around you, and everybody has bad dreams. You pass a restful copse of fungal forest, and are able to hunt and catch a large lizard. You roast it in relative safety, and sleep with fully bellies that night.

Finally you leave the river behind - it has separated into smaller streams that vanish into passageways too small to follow. However, the main passageway continues, and you start to see signs that the stone has been worked. Stalactites have been knocked down and stacked tidily, and the floor is very even.

As you feel you must be getting close to Blindingstone, Precious begins to notice faint vibrations in the stone beneath your feet, as if something heavy is approaching. You are in a larger, twisting cavern, with several passageways of various sizes leading away. Stumbling into view is a very strange sight. A large, stony biped, clumping heavily along. On its shoulders is a smaller creature, dark skinned with wings, and a swirl of dust whirling around it. The "mount" stops as you come into view, holding up a hand over its eyes in Dawn's light.

Image on slide deck

I assume Kal is still getting back into the habit of checking this regularly, and I don't want to hold up the game waiting. So we'll keep moving, and when they're able, they can write the catching-up scene.

The mechanical person hurried away after its companions, and you're left alone in the passageway again.

The monodron designated 1 Esk 19 turned back to Alexandra as she started vocalizing again. She attempts a series of whirrs, whistles and clicks, hoping she's speaking its language, but in its soft monotone it replies,

It glances occasionally at her magical images, but it seems more interested in watching what she's doing than the substance of the images. When she fires her eldritch blast it visibly startles, and the hand comes up again, this time with a grey light. It doesn't attack, however, and after a moment it says,

It then turns and hurries after its companions. Unless you physically try to stop it or attack, it will leave.

Unfortunately, the spell comprehend languages does not allow you to speak their language.

The modron flashed the red light over Precious, and then again over Maddy when she appeared. It kept up a monotone drone of whatever language it spoke, though it didn't appear to expect an answer. When it was done scanning Maddy, the red light went out, it put its hand down, and turned as if to catch up to its companions, who had marched on without it.

The modron holds up its palm and a wide beam of light falls over Alexandra's head. It seems to have no effect. The modron tilts its hand, and the beam slowly moves from head to toe. Then it does it again, this time moving slowly from left to right. Then it turns to do the same to Precious.

The creature listened intently to Alexandra's words, and when she stopped reciting, it waited a moment, then repeated them back to her, exactly. It was eerie - the same words, but recited in a flat, mechanical voice. It was clear that this was mimicry without understanding.

When Precious appeared, the mechanical creature repeated its incomprehensible jargon at the dwarf, and then repeated the dwarf's dwarven greeting back at him, in that same flat voice. Then it held up one arm, and a red light shone from its metal palm. It moved its hand, clearly intending to aim the light at Alexendra.

The march of the mechanical creatures moved past Alexandra, who moved up against the wall out of the way. When most of the creatures had gone past, one of the almost-identical round creatures stopped, turned to face her, and moved a small dial on it front. A cog began to whir. Then it spoke a few sentences in a strange language, its voice full of clicks, whirs, and other machine sounds.

Arcana, religion, or history

New image on the slide deck. It's an AI creation, so a bit funky. The lead guy shouldn't be twice the size of the others.

Hue's roll isn't good enough to know anything. If anybody recognizes these guys, please don't act on it unless your character succeeds on a roll.

Precious, Hue and Maddy scrabble to find cover among the broken rock and small stalagmites between the path and the cavern wall. Kip climbs easily up to the ceiling and hides as best he can. Maddy douses Dawnbringer, and the cavern becomes entirely black.

Alex, her glowing sign alone in the dark, is the first to see the cause of the noise. A host of almost two dozen....somethings...are marching towards her. They're metallic looking creatures; most of them are round bodied, with thin arms and legs. The leader is diamond-shaped, with too many legs, and three, spear-wielding arms. Bringing up the rear is a large, hulking shape that looks somewhat like a walking, metal seastar.

They don't seem to notice Alex's rune. The leader makes a sweeping motion with one of its spears, clearly indicating that she should move aside for them.

They'll be upon her in 6 seconds.

So good to be back!

The cavern corridor you're in isn't straight enough for Alex's devil sight to be an advantage. They'll come around a corner into sight about 80 feet away. Precious' survival roll is good enough to find a place for everybody but Kip to hide in. Though he could always go on the ceiling and hope not to be noticed.

You have about 30 seconds before they come into view. What's the plan?

Yes, forgot to mention, you all rest enough to get rid of exhaustion.

There's always a chance to hide - make a survival roll.

15d20 ⇒ (11, 2, 1, 9, 2, 17, 17, 2, 13, 12, 2, 6, 2, 4, 19) = 119

The tracks are old; scuffed up places in the algae and lichen, or just clear places where the ground cover hasn't had a chance to build up. There is no evidence that the trail has been used recently, but it would take somebody extremely skilled to be certain of that either way.

Kip does his carrion crawler thing, and finds carrion to dine on. Some of his finds are truly old and horrific, and his breath is terrible, but he seems content enough. He'll also eat a nut when necessary to assuage his hunger.

The next seven wake/sleep cycles pass uneventfully. This section of the Underdark seems to be completely devoid of any life bigger than a fish or a centipede. The trail continues on along the river, which gets slowly smaller as you travel towards its source. Occasionally you have to scramble up a steep slope as it cascades to your left, but the trail never becomes overly difficult or treacherous. Sometimes you pass through larger caverns, sometimes through narrow corridors, but the way is always passable with relative ease. After a few days, it even becomes boring.

A few hours after the 8th "morning" since the oozing temple, Precious hears the sound of many footsteps coming from ahead. Perhaps dozens of footsteps, strangely clanking in the echoing passageway.

The cavern's false starry sky shines dimly down as you make your way along the shore of the underground lake. Precious and Hue work together as you stick close to the cavern's edge, examining various tunnels and openings as you pass them, trying to determine their direction.

After you've been travelling for a few hours, Maddy begins to feel a strange rumbling in her pocket. Suddenly remembering Kip, she pulls him out just in time - he suddenly swells and grows, returning to his original size. You hear an enormous gurgling sound as his tummy rumbles.

Eventually, you come to a small waterway that is flowing into the lake. There is a well-worn path alongside it, and its tunnel is fairly spacious. It seems to be going in the right direction (roughly northeast, though how anybody can keep a sense of direction in this place seems like magic of the highest order).

The pathway is dark, but Dawnbringer is happy to brighten the way. The walls of this tunnel are well-worn and smooth, hinting that at some time in the past, the water was higher and running faster. There are few stalactites here, and the ground is relatively flat and easy to walk. Precious even finds some pale, blind eels in the water. They look terrible, but make good eating. Along with the ripplebark, and even some sporebread made from ground bluecap, you have enough food to fill your bellies, instead of only relying on Precious's magical nuts.

Great survival rolls, even with disadvantage. Anything you'd like to do/say in character today?

I think 10 hours counts as a long rest. :)

Nothing happens for the next 10 hours, and you're in a relatively comfy space, so everybody heals one level of exhaustion.

I'll need a survival check for heading in the right direction tomorrow.

Maddy checked on Precious, and the first thing she noticed was that his antlers were gone. Two round, bloody wounds stood on either side of his hairline, showing where his fey-created headgear had stood. Other than that, he seemed exhausted but uninjured.

Hue looked around to find a better place to rest. The shoreline was narrow but the cavern wall behind it was riddled with small caves and niches, and it didn't take long to find a small dead-end niche that would hide them. The phosphorescent lichen on the walls was dry, and Hue set Alex to collecting a large pile of it. With trembling fingers Hue scraped and scraped and scraped at his tinder until he managed a spark. Soon they had a small fire going, and they begin to warm the chill from their bones.

Halfway to shore, Maddy regained consciousness as the amount of oxygen entering her body made it clear that she was no longer suffocating in a small space. Maddy stopped and treaded water as she took stock of everyone. She looked to see if anyone needed help.

It was only then that you realize that Jimjar is no longer with you.

It's one of the worst hours you've spent in the underdark. Treading water and bad air saps your strength quickly. The ice blocks help with flotation, but not with the bone-numbing cold that makes it hard to swim, hard to think. Lidelse is able to stay above the water for a while, but as the ceiling gets closer she's forced to hunch so far over that soon she starts to sink into the water.

As soon as they're close enough, Lidelse and Alex begin to attack the ceiling with fists and maul. Attacking from within water is terrifically difficult, as they are pushed down into the water again and again. Precious helps where he can, using ice blocks and his control of water to stabilize the warriors as best he can.

Hue, unable to hold Lidelse while she punched the ceiling, found himself falling through water and memories. His halfling luck and creative mind served him well, however, and his featherfall potion helped keep him boyant. Feathers do float, after all.

Finally, the water is at the ceiling level, and you each take a final lungful of stale air. Holding Dawn alight in the dark, Lidelse leads the way, forcing her way upwards through the crack with brute strength. Fortunately, now that there's nowhere for the water above to go, there is no longer a current going downwards. Hue grips her ankle and is towed upwards, his every strength being used to hold his breath and hold on tight.

Alexandra has to dismiss her enormous maul to get through the crack, but she's doing the best out of all of them, and gets free of the stone crevice quickly.

Precious urges the water to flow upwards, helping them rise. His antlers are by far the widest thing getting through, and after twenty seconds of moving upwards he gets snagged. The dwarf twists and pushes and begins to panic, then suddenly he's free and surging upwards.

You make it to free water, and then stroke upwards, upwards, through dark still water, following Dawn's light, hoping that there was a surface. And then, suddenly, your head bursts clear and you're able to suck in great lungfulls of air.

For a moment, you think you're surfaced outside. The sky is alight with stars, a beautiful sight. But after a moment you realize it's just phosporescent lichen growing on the cavern ceiling high overhead.

Alex's keen eyes spy the edge of the water, some 100 feet distance, and begins to lead you to it.

I agree, inspo for everybody!

Precious started pointing out any spots he thought might be weaker than others, and Alexandra began to blast with abandon. It was slow going, as her spell was intended for blasting creatures, not stone. However, the eldritch energy eventually whittled away at the stone, and the water started rising faster.

The main concern was becoming trapped under the water if the opening wasn't made big enough in time. However, the water was icy cold, the air was thin, and soon everybody was treading water. The constant barrage of magical energy began to wear the warlock out, and she realized that there was nothing more her cantrip could do to increase the now near-deluge of water that was filling the temple.

CON save from everybody, this is exhausting. DC is 10, and you make the roll after your Con ability in minutes. If you fail, you gain a level of exhaustion. Once you reach third level, your future saves will be made with disadvantage.

The water was rising at one foot per hour, and Alex's efforts greatly increased that. So it will take 60 minutes to get to the point where you can reach the ceiling (with hands or with a weapon). After that, you all have 20 minutes to do something to help widen the gap so you can swim up and out.

So, what I want is: A number of con saves equal to 60 divided by your con score (round down). Keep track of your exhaustion level each time. If you reach level 5, your speed drops to zero and you will drown without the intervention of somebody else.

Then, if you're still with us after an hour, then let me know what your character is doing to help widen the gap, and give me an appropriate roll to go with it. Be creative.

Finally, write up what's going through your mind as you take your final breath of air and prepare to try and swim up into the dark, and whatever awaits you.

Glabagool's mental voice is sad. "The ways up are gone, from the earth shakes. That is why nobody visits anymore."

There is a long pause, so long that you think the gelatinous cube isn't going to answer. Finally, it says, "I think, up? There used to be a way up? Like the place I usually stay, but with little flat areas that go up up up up? And the....priests? They said at the ...top?...was a dock. I wasn't really awake back then, so it's hard to remember. Now the earth keeps shaking and people don't come anymore and the ways up are gone. Does that help?"

EDIT:

Take a look at the map. Glab has moved closer to you, and says the oozes are behind him.

You also don't know of a way out back the way you came in. But all that water is coming from somewhere....