Episode 15-Escape from the underground! Revelations in the light!

The party continued down the stairs. They enter a room where a waterfall gushes out of the wall. The head down the left (Northeast) passage.

It opens up to a room that has a large stone bench against a wall. In the center of the room, nests of moss and a fire pit with coals still glowing. Not far from the bench are two chests by a pile of skulls.

As Henry approaches, an eye inside the skull opens. 

Roll Initiative 

8 lizardfolk jump out of the bones, and one large one landing behind them.

Thok tried to speak with them. "Gary said to clear out."

"I...hate GARY."

Menelwen turned, trying to use Chromatic orb on the one behind her. She missed. He cracked his neck and stared straight at her.

Luca jumped from Henry's shoulder, turning into his large tiger form.

Henry used Burning Hands.

A familiar sensation washed over Thok as his armor heated up. Again. 

Drexa, the lizard king who was behind the party with his sights on Menelwen, attacks! The first hit misses, but the second doesn't. She falls unconscious. 

Thok took advantage of that attack to hit him in turn.

The bulk of the lizard forces surround Henry and Luca. They took several swings at the tiger.

Vega placed the flaming sphere behind the lizard closest to them, but in a way that he wouldn't damage his allies.

Thok caught a glimpse of the shaman who was messing with his armor. He was hiding in the bones...

Henry saw Thok running that direction. Clearly he was coming to save Henry. Then he veered off towards the bones. Thok wailed on the pile of bones, spending his action surge to kill the shaman. Then with an attack still remaining, he threw a javelin at one of the lizards attacking Luca.

Theamen begins to sing, attacking twice at Drexa, laying down a smite. 

Luca whirls on his opponents, tearing one of their throats out.

Menelwen manages to come to with Theamen standing over her, holding back the lizard. 

Henry cries out for someone to heal him but attacks with his short sword.

Drexa failed his dex save against Vega's Flaming sphere. He pivots,stepping on Menelwen's wound. He shoves his trident at Theamen who flips the weapon, parrying every attack to get him off of her.

Thok keeps attacking the Lizards around Luca. 

The Lizards attack Henry, knocking him down to zero.

Theamen misses his first attack but gets the second.Between his blade and Vega's claws, they take Drexa down. Vega ripped the throat out, Theamen got the back of his neck. The head goes flying.

Vega moves his flaming sphere. Theamen grabs Menelwen and pulls her out of the path of the movement. 

Luca bites (the shit) out of his enemies.

Finally up and conscious, Menelwen sends Magic Missile strikes to one of the lizards over Henry. It kills it. Theamen's song shifts as he keeps fighting.

Two enemies remain on Luca. One accidentally attacked his friend. 

Vega heals Henry for 7 points and then Mass Cure Wounds on the party.

The sound of bone grinding on metal rips through the air. Thok downs one of the lizard folk and imposes himself between Henry and the other lizard.

"I hit you with the bone." Twack onto Henry's head before Thok killed it. Thok did notice the shift in Theamen's singing, wondering why he was singing such shit songs? He knew Theamen knew better songs than that.

Then Theamen crit killed one, killed the last with the pommel of his sword. And Thok decided to not say anything about the song choices.

"I can see what Vega sees in him." Henry said to Thok. 

The battle having ceased, they take the loot from the chests. Thok pats a purring Luca, earning a dirty look from Henry. But everyone else saw something rare- Thok actually giving a genuine smile.

It was decided that coming down here was a bad idea...so the party heads back up with the intent on asking the Nothiks if they knew anything about Drown before they rested.

"Sell our soul just a little more, yes that's a perfect way to go to sleep." Theamen quipped.

On the way out, mist started trickling out of one of the passages near the stairs that had been passed by earlier. Along with whimpers of pain.

They head that way to save them, seeing human captives hung up on the wall. Vega heals them from distance and uses sculpt water to give them a drink. 

Finally, Thok and Vega said 'fuck it' and walk in. They fall into a pit.

Thok's armor starts turning a reddish color and links fall off. An antenna appears behind him.

Enter the Rust Monster!

Thok strips off the armor, tossing it to the creature and putting on his spare. The rust monster happily nommed on it.

The captives, a sailor and two men in reddish/orange dyed furs were hung. Thok and Vega get them down, unchaining the sailor but leaving the manacles on the two while interrogating them. Vega uses Primal savagery to intimidate them. (It worked)

It seemed like they were spying for Dryflaggon, the leader of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. Their goal was to cleanse the world with fire.

As they keep talking, Vega seems to think they have a point. Menelwen yanks on his ponytail, snapping him out of it.

The party moves on, keeping the sailor and the druids with them. The rust monster followed behind (just so happy). He keeps looking at Thok, purring at Vega's attention.

They head up the stairs, past the myrmidon and back to the Nothiks. Theamen stays outside with the prisoners and the rust monster.

Henry asks about Drown's effect on the person who attunes to it.

"Stay humble because it gives much power...but the greed...jealous Olhydra...keep them worthy...you need a drawback or it will overwhelm the user. Now...secret."

"Always alone, always teased, mocked, taken advantage of, an unwanted starving dog...starving for both attention and food...kicked and unwanted."

Henry storms out.

The Nothiks look at each other and start singing "street rat, riff raff" from Aladdin. Then they argue a bit, like an old married couple.

"We'll see you again."

"Yes yes, be..our...guest!" They start singing. Vega and Menelwen chime in, Thok dragged into the dance.

Hearing the commotion, Theamen peeked in.

As they leave, Theamen looks at Thok.

"I don't want to talk about it." Thok grumbled. Theamen whistled the tune. "What happens in the room stays in the room."

"Hm? I don't know what you're talking about." Theamen grinned, whistling.

The rust monster nuzzled Henry, trying to steal his dagger.

They leave, going to Bronzefume's room to get access to the waterway and make sure the slaves were freed. She is called for, given a gold chain they found and warned that we would be

The foldable boat is set up to bring them back out to the keep.

Henry didn't seem inclined to talk about his secret, but Thok insisted they talk about it now. But the guys didn't read Henry as well as Menelwen. It was revealed that he would eat rotten food, get things thrown at him for scavenging.

"That fact that you can overcome and be who you are proves you're strong." Thok assured him.

Henry hugged Thok.

And onwards! With Henry as a navigator. Thanks to the guidance of Menelwen and the rust monster they find their way out and around to the docks by the keep.

The keep itself is in disarray from a hasty departure of the cult members. They shrink the boat.

Henry goes to find Sasha.

"I owe you an apology."

"Yes, yes you do."

"Look...it's been a rough few days. I fought some bugbears....and cultists...I almost died....and fought...a fever dream..."

Sasha breaks, hugs him tight. She pulls him away to be taken care of.

Theamen (in protective mode after all that happened), pulled Menelwen away.

Thok and Vega find a new home for Rusty!

The Next Morning

Vega, Thok, Theamen and Menelwen sit around, trying to figure out Vega's new strength.

Henry saunters over to the table, a cocky grin on his face.

"So you got laid." Thok grinned.

"Who told you?"

"Sooo...how was it?" Menelwen asked.

"A gentlemen never tells. I mean, you two know what I mean." Henry looked at Vega and Theamen. "You're both in a relationship."

"Oh, you're with someone Vega? Good for you." Theamen smiled.

"Huh?" Henry was confused. "We won't judge you for loving another man. You can be honest."

Thok snorted.

Theamen and Menelwen exchange looks. "Have you been keeping a secret from me?"

"Nope. You would know."

"I would hope so. With the number of times I've seen it...and the number of times he's stared at you..."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Henry...sweetie." Menelwen said, catching on. "We're together."

Thok falls on the floor, laughing.

Henry gasped. "Does Vega know?"

"Thok, did you know about Henry's...misconception?" Theamen asked.

"Yeah."

"How long?"

"A week."

"But you two...at the inn! I heard you."

"Henry, what inn are you talking about?"

-flashback to the inn, Vega doing exercises in his and Theamen's room that sounds...sexual-

"Henry, you didn't mind when I was with Vega, but you care that I'm with Menny??" Theamen frowned.

"I hate you all."

Menelwen winced. 

"He's a 13 year old boy, it'll blow over in a week." Theamen assured her in Elvish.

Henry snapped, having heard "She blows me every day of the week." And he tried to hit Theamen. "She's not a whore! You can't say things like that!"

"Henry, what did you hear?"

And it was revealed the depth of his misunderstanding of Elvish, stemming from the first meeting with Theamen.

Theamen sighed, giving Henry his book. "Here. It has common on one side, elvish on the other. You need to learn properly. You have me, Vega the cannibal, and Menelwen, an actual elf to teach you."

Vega, tired of the cannibal jokes wandered off. Embarrassed, Henry drinks heavily and pukes.

Theamen cleans him up, and everyone just sort of laughs. It was a relief to have some levity.

"Ah..." Menelwen chuckled, looking at Theamen. "I love you."

"Love you too dear."

A pause. It was the first time they'd ever said the words.

Thok, still on the floor and drinking heavily passed out with a smile on his face.

Henry looked at the two still there. "Do you have ink?"

"Just magic ink...why?"

"I wanna draw on his face,"

"I know he was sending word to the wardens...Thok probably has ink on him." Menelwen suggested.

Henry stole the ink from Thok's bag, Henry nearly losing his arm there. He drew the cat face on him, nearly killing Thok...

~To be continued...~

Episode 14- Turn the Tides! Fight against Shatterkeel

Henry, having finally awoken found himself back in the boat. Frustrated with his allies and not knowing where they went, he basically gondola'd the boat around the waterways.

He found a large open underwater lake.

And as he dangles from the mouth of a dragon turtle...Henry reflected on his short life. And what he missed out on.

The party called up to Bronzefume, claiming that he was with them. Carefully, she put Henry down. She apologized and sunk back into the water.

Henry was safe! Wet but safe. Their boat, a goner.

Henry starts berating the party about how dare they leave him without a note, and all the troubles he'd been through to get there.

Thok stood there, arms folded as he listened. Then grinned. They decided they would bring Henry to meet their friends...

They head back to the Nothik's room, who are more than happy to answer the questions.

"Who's responsible for my sister's corruption, and how can I fix her?" After some clarification about who his sister was, they answered. 

"Ah the Air witch...She is under Aerisi Kalinoth, an Avariel. She does not know the secrets, if she knew...that would be the thing that brought her back or at least tear her away..."

(History check on the Avariel revealed a race of flying elves, haughty and refused to crossbreed despite needing to. They have not been seen for a millennium)

They grin. "Now...secrets. Two secrets." A pause. "This one works with the flying serpent, he does not know what power he messes with but is willing to do whatever it takes. He is a dagger in the dark, and speaking of dark..." A toothy grin. "If you spank the monkey before bed, you won't have those...nightly emissions..."

Henry was mortified. Thok was amused. "Do you have a card?"

"We have a hand." They gave him a severed hand, which Thok handed to Vega. Vega stared at it. 

"What, not fresh enough for you? We can get another one."

Henry noticed Theamen's shifted demeanor, watching Vega carefully. The two of them speak.

Vega moves to speak with Menelwen. He tried explaining that it was an inside joke with his circle. "Did they take me seriously?"

"Yeaaah..."

The party walks back towards Bronzefume's room. Menelwen tells Henry the joke about double-teaming the spell caster...

From here, they decide where to go. A perception check of the room reveals a hallway and another door. 

Vega and Henry roll poorly and end up staring at their teammates. Vega stared at Thok's crotch, Henry at Menelwen's chest.

The door turned out to be a kitchen with people working, some sleeping on bunks to the side.

Vega prepared to cast a spell on Thok.

"Do you want to live?"

Vega moved his hand.

"What would it have done?"

"Nevermind."

Roll Iniative

Henry snuck up, knocking one of the people on the head. 

(Menelwen facepalmed and looked at Theamen, who smiled in return).

He knocked the first one out.

Vega stealthed over, attacked the second one with the quarterstaff. The person turned, screaming in pain since it wasn't enough to drop the old woman outright. 

Thok rushed in, using the pommel of his sword to knock her out.

The people were wearing collars. They were slaves, brought down to work in the kitchen.

The party agrees that they want to free them, but how? The either needed to return after defeating the cult, or get a boat. Vega offered to turn into a crocodile, but Theamen in particular did not trust him to not eat them.

Vega went to the lake, transformed into a shark to go and retrieve a boat.

The Party has split.

Vega used Invisibility, but was attacked by a Hunter shark,

Better that than the giant squid...

It was a  shark on shark fight. And Vega was on the losing end.

~*~

"Wait, Vega's a cannibal?" Henry gasped.

Menelwen tried to explain what Vega said to her. But no one believed that. Theamen made sense with his argument.

Vega returned, drenched, injured and boat-less. 

"What happened?"

"Another shark."

So they tell the slaves that they'll come back for them when they had a way out. And onwards!

Down the hall, they cross a quay, and a bridge with a large door that pulses energy. Menelwen manages to recognize it as a Glyph of Warding.

Unsure what to do without the password or what it would do, they looked for another way in.

There were two large culverts in the form of stone Dwarf faces. There was water coming from them but not enough. It was theorized that there was enough room to slip through them to the next room. 

Henry gets tossed like a shotput towards it by Thok. Slipping through, he was able to see the next room.

There were five lizardfolk standing guard, an altar with a water genasi that must have been Shatterkeel. Henry watched him dive into the water, under a wall. He disappeared and reappeared. 

Making his way back, he filled the party in on what he saw. Vega suggested going back to ask Bronzefume for help.

"You know she could eat you, right? I know you're used to it being the other way around, but she can. In one bite." Theamen quipped. 

Henry looked at Menny. "Wow, Theamen's vicious tonight."

Throwing a rope over to Henry, it was secured at both ends. Theamen looked at Thok. "You and I should be last then."

Menelwen went first...and failed to cross. She fell but was caught by Theamen.

"Looks like I'm last."

"Sorry. ><"

Eventually, everyone (Menny getting carried by Theamen) gets across.

They observe the room and form a plan.

Menelwen summoned her earth elemental, keeping him under ground.

Theamen and Thok were going to drop and get the guards, and everyone else was to go for Shatterkeel.

Roll Initiative! 

Menelwen dropped a fireball on Shatterkeel who failed the save.

Vega used Moonbeam on him.

The Earth elemental reared up and attacked him. Both attacks hit.

Thok attacks the lizardfolk who are just staring with shock at what was going on. He drops one, then looks back up to where the others are.

"For the love of god, move!"

Theamen used Spider climb and ran along the wall. He used his flaming sword to attack the guards.

Henry rolled his eyes. "He's trying to show off for Menelwen."

Menelwen dropped a second fireball on Shatterkeel, taking him down before he could even attack once.

Vega used Haste on himself. He dropped down, shillelaugh his quarterstaff to back Theamen up.

He used Produce flame, throwing what looked like a flaming coconut at a guard, taking off his head. 

The earth elemental moved over, standing behind Thok. 

The three remaining lizards give up. Menelwen hadn't actually moved yet so Theamen came and helped her down. 

Drown was retrieved.

The lizards were bound and questioned. About the current going under the wall. about the glyph on the door....about Bronzefume. How she deserves better. And Phil...that seven foot tall lizard folk. The lizardfolk told them that Phil's daughter was about to graduate...and they knew that the party had killed him.

The current led to a vault where Shatterkeel was keeping his treasures. "I'm wearing plate mail and would sink like a stone." Theamen said. "and you," to Menelwen. "can't hold your breath very long. This we know."

So it was decided the two of them along with Scruffy (the earth elemental who was thumbing through rock nude magazines) would stay behind while Vega, Henry and Thok retrieved the treasures. But after they checked out the priest's room at the end of the hall first. Scruffy went through and came back.

"What did you see?"

"Dead guys." He shrugged, returning to his magazine.

Thok and Theamen exchange looks. They investigate.It was a bloodbath of a room, clearly killed when the earth elemental walked through. One man was still alive though his neck was twisted. Thok put him out of his misery.

They informed the rest of the party to not go in there.

To the vault!

Inside was: 820 gold pieces, 2 scrolls, silver ewer, waterproof bags containing 50 heavy old tomes written in Dwarvish, and a box that turned out to be a folding boat.

After regrouping, they make a deal with the lizardfolk to free the slaves. The leader tells that to tell any other lizards to clear out. That Phil was dead and Gary said to clear out. They are released and head off.

The party moves on to the only other door in the room.

A completely dark one with stairs going down. A hunched figure clutching a bident sits there.

As they move, so does it.

"Who do you serve?"

Before anyone can stop him, Henry answers. "Water."

It bowed, stepping aside.

Menelwen also cautiously answered "Olhydra." It bowed again, stepping aside.

The party continued on down the stairs...

~To be continued...~