Episode 4- The Sinkhole

After arriving back at Red Larch after slaying the Necromancer, the party found a sinkhole in the middle of town.

People were crying, panicking over children that had been trapped down there. Only with a brief exchange of how to get down (safely), Henry, Thok and Menelwen descended. While working on rescuing the children, the rubble moved to reveal a mole. A very familiar mole. That garnered a severe beating from Thok.

Henry had to reassure a sobbing child who was confused as to why the mole was getting beaten. He eventually poofed back into the druid. A very confused Vega.

After the children were safely out of the sink hole. Menelwen came upon a smooth stone surface. A door. Then managed to open it, intent on investigating further. It opened up into a a long hall. Along the sides there were statues, partially crumbled. They were very intricate.

Deciding against going straight down into a possible attack, the party went through the path on the left. Following the path, it opened up into a room....with rats. Large rats. Rodents of Unusual Size. They were relatively easy to defeat though it was rather gross. On the floor when they were able to look around were bodies. In the forehead of each was:

And it was very clear that it was not post-mortem. These individuals were alive when it was carved.

Almost instantly, Menelwen felt sick. Upon noticing it, Thok asked if she recognized it. "I do. This is the mark of those who killed people."

Moving along, they found a crumbled statue of a large and imposing dwarf. And a small blade. Reszur. Henry took it.

Off of this second room, there was a small door. And movement.

Very carefully they surprised the individual  who turned out to be Grund. He had been watching the hallway that they had avoided, ready to pull a lever. Vega shifted to panther form and chased him, blocking off his exit. Thok thought quickly and pulled the lever which dropped a cage around both him and Vega.

"Oh..."

Some questioning later, it revealed that he was a simple minded half-orc. He had been guarding as he was told, as well as watching a young man named Braelen who was being punished by Harbuckler. Henry was concerned for the young man, going to give him aid.  Then he became furious.

"I'm going to punch him in the teeth."

Grund seemed....concerned. "Are...are you tall enough to do that?" He was completely sincere.

After giving him a piece of silver (something shiny), Grund told them where to find the ones in power.

They head that way and trick their way past the guard thanks to paying Grund to play tag with him....they move in. It was a large room.

Henry stealths in, getting into position for an inevitable fight. Vega turns into a large spider and climbs up the wall onto the ceiling.

Leaving Thok and Menelwen to stand awkwardly at the door. As soon as they crossed the threshold...a fight would start.

A number of figures; one hooded and several in black stone armor step over, watching them.

Menelwen (having a dumb moment) stepped forward. She tried to talk to them. And earned a bunch of arrows to the chest, nearly dropping her then and there.

Then the fight was on.

Thok cursed, getting her back up and fought hard. Vega attacked as a spider before dropping down. He turned back to his human form. He had fallen, gotten up by Thok (who hated being a healer) only to use Ice Knife.

It impaled the target, but then exploded into shards. It got Vega in the chest and down him again.

"Why?! Why did I help you?!"

Between Thok and Henry, the fight was won. The leader was knocked out and bound for questions.

Henry rushed over and tried to do CPR on their druid. He only succeeded on pushing the ice knife in further.

Luca pointed out the goodberries that had been made before. Feeding one to Vega brought him back. He gasped. "Ice, ice, bad idea."

In gratitude, Menelwen hugged Thok. Vega did the same. Thok accepted the first hug but told Vega to "Get the fuck off".

Taking a moment to look around, they saw that the room was a Dwarven Ruin with workstations . The floor had been enchanted to move large rocks with ease. The cultists had been mistaking them and misleading people to believe they had to do with a  religious power.

When the leader came to, they managed to get a few answers before allowing him to escape. They were told a name...and a place.

Marlos.

The Sacred Stone Monastery.

That was their next destination.

But first...

The Believers had been deceiving Red Larch with the stones. They were gathered and put to justice, setting Kaylessa up as the new mayor.

~To Be Continued....~

Episode 3- Lance Rock

Upon returning to Red Larch to gather supplies and gain information, the party stopped by the Swinging Sword Tavern to speak with Kaylessa. She was already engaged in conversation with a young man in full armor, with short blonde hair and spectacles. The symbol on his armor caught Menelwen's attention.

Thok and Henry stepped away to get a drink, keeping an eye on their companion. She approached, politely waiting until they finished their conversation. Upon speaking with the young man, she discovered his name was Theamen, a knight of Mystra- which was odd given that he was a human and Mystra is considered to be the patron goddess of magic and elves. Their conversation slipped naturally into Elvish about what he and Kaylessa had been speaking about.

There was something going on about ten miles south along the Kendal path with dark magic. Kaylessa had asked him to look into it. Theamen asked if Menelwen and her party would be willing to assist. Any loot they found along the way could be kept.

She said she would ask but believed it would be fine. They had done things like this before after all...

However...Henry had been listening in and misunderstood the whole conversation. His jaw dropped. He spoke to Thok, "I think he asked her for companionship!" "He offered to pay her!"

Thok looked over. "You know those humans."

"What??"

"How do you think Half-elves are made?"

At which point, Menelwen walked over. Henry spoke up. "You don't need to do this."

"Huh? What are you talking about? We've done this before."

"Just...make sure you use protection."

Confused, Menelwen blinked. "Um...I'm wearing armor." (Not really).

Theamen came over and introduced himself. Henry gave him a rather cold reception. Thok pointed at the rogue holding the cat. "This is little shit."

"Er, which one? The cat or the child?"

"Yes."

After some other words were exchanged, the party rested and geared up to leave for Lance Rock the next day.

~*~

Upon arriving at the cave's mouth, they saw a sign.

Come No Closer
Lest ye catch the Death Plague

-The Distinguished Lord of Lance Rock

There was a corpse of a human male sprawled out on the ground. They moved on past him into the cave. Given that two of their party did not possess Darkvision, Menelwen cast it on Thok's shield. A similar glow came from behind her giving her pause. Theamen had used it as well.

Paladins don't have that spell.

That brought suspicion on him from her in particular. Until he (very sheepishly) revealed his own tome. Having been a paladin of Mystra, he learned some magic (took on some wizard levels) as well. Promising that they would have words later, they pressed on.

On the way they fought some skeletons who were drawn by the light. An inner chamber held a set of four zombies that seemed to be paying the group no mind. One very clearly male was dressed as a woman, dancing with a gentleman while one dressed as a bear and one as a jester danced as well.

It was a very, very odd day. They fought (and beat) the zombies handily, moving on to the inner chamber. There they faced the necromancer and his crawling claws that grabbed a hold of the party. 

Two of them grabbed at Menelwen. She fended them off with Thunderwave. The coward of a necromancer used his wand of magic missiles and after several well placed shots, dropped Thok. Thankfully Theamen used Lay on Hands to bring him back up. Seeing his opportunity, the necromancer escaped.

He was pursued by Henry and Menelwen. No way was he getting away!

They did eventually manage to drop him, once his shield spells ran out.

Feeling triumphant, they returned to see a revived Thok. After taking what they could, the party moved on, back towards Red Larch.

Unfortunately, Theamen took his leave of the party having need to continue on a different route. He did hope that their paths would cross again...

Upon arriving back in Red Larch (sadly paladin-less) they discovered a massive sink hole in the middle of town with people panicking....

~To Be Continued....~