DM: DGM

Leader: Twee/Inti
Scout: Inti
Trailblazer: Hillval

Mission: Venture into the Underdark, make contact with Darklord Fred the Second and help him.

I’ve got a feeling this island has it out for me. I’ve gone on two expeditions and died on both of them. Maybe my shortcomings will help someone else.

Day 1, Weather: Clear & Chilly
We departed Ruined Oak as a large platoon of 12, reminding me of my army days. Our goal: The Underdark and one Darklord Fred the 2nd. We traveled the entirety of the day and paid for a safe night at a local outpost.

Day 2, Weather: Cloudy
Departed from the outpost early in the morning, traveled towards the mountain range. Arrived at the Swollen Tooth inn in the evening. Inti talked up the kobold barkeep and managed to score us a group discount + some refreshments and lunch for the next day. We rested at the inn for the night.

Day 3, Weather: Overcast & Windy
Departed from the inn and headed into the mountains. After traveling for some time we spotted a massive squirrel playing around on the mountainside. We decide not to mess with it and continue moving. Eventually we arrive at a large hole in the ground which leads to an abandoned temple. After traversing it for about 30 minutes we get to a tunnel leading further down and officially cross into the Underdark. Deeper we go, the more pressure we feel. It’s unearthly quiet, mere whispers carrying for long distances down the tunnels.

After traveling down for hours, the tunnel splits off into a huge cavern with local fauna, grass and an abandoned farm. We approach the building and spot a large ox-like beast grazing outside it. People speak to it, give it some rations and explore the house. Glen informs us of a huge bat-like “dragon”, it’s nest and spawn located behind the house. We can’t figure out exactly what it is, but we still send Inti to talk with it.

Some time later Inti returns and relays what he learned. The bat-thing is female, knows about White Moon Cove and promised not to hurt anyone wearing a WMC armband. She does not like Darklord Fred, as he has apparently attacked her before, and warns us not to go looking for him. Inti created her some food via magic and parted ways peacefully. We return to the main tunnel and continue heading deeper in.

Moving down the tunnel, we start getting a bit tired. Glen motions for us to stop as we start hearing a low rumbling sound steadily approaching us. We spread out, prepare and witness a huge purplish worm burst from the wall. It instantly swallows Ou-Kan whole and we all hammer down on it with magic, arrows and giant fists. Ssej gets the final blow and shatters the creature to small chunks.

The party regroups with Ou-Kan crawling out of the worm and we scavenge it’s body. We move down the tunnel, away from the body, and take a short time to refresh ourselves. Eventually the tunnel opens into a large domed cavern. In the middle of the cavern there is a foggy lake with something moving in it (according to Fred the 2nd it’s a god). On the opposite side we spot the tail end of another worm burrowing a tunnel, to the right is a dark tunnel and to the left there is an opening with light shining out. After a quick scouting trip by Lashi we head left to the Drow fishing village. Some trade and conversations later we spend the night at the village.

Day 4, Weather: Underdark
After our rest the group questions the drow some more. They also hate Darklord Fred and give us some directions deeper and to someone that might know more about Fred. We opt to just go deeper in, head to the wormless tunnel at the lake cavern and go through a series of intersections. Forward, right, right and we arrive at a huge cavern with numerous stalactites and stalagmites, we’re much deeper in now. Moving through the cavern, we spot a set of closed double doors and go investigate. Glen carelessly touches the doorknob and vanishes, alarming us. The others suggest Glen might’ve just teleported and we all (eventually) traverse the doors to their destination.

The cavern we arrive in has a high ceiling, pools of blood and a black stone altar. We spot a tentacled humanoid approaching us and Inti shouts something about hailing Darklord Fred, which only agitates it. Soon multiple mindflayers surround us and Inti is desperately trying to negotiate with them. We thrown down our weapons and converse in our mind about our mission and goal here. We tell them about having to find Fred and getting answers from him. The mindflayers know where Fred might be and one of them teleports to bring “Him” here. A short while later the mindflayer returns with “Him”.

A floating flesh ball with eye stalks, tentacles, blue robe and a goofy grin. It introduces himself, as The Darklord Fred the Second. Turns out we’d been getting Fred the 1st and Fred the 2nd mixed up our entire trip down here. I’ll be honest, at that moment I wanted to strangle someone. Unfortunately, we had no one to blame for this mess but ourselves.

Fred the 2nd informs us that Fred the 1st has taken over his “chapel” and imprisoned all his friends and family. Fred the 2nd begs and pleads us to save his friends and is ecstatic when we agree to help. He gives us some very mismatched and erratic directions which I did not understand at all, luckily some of us did. The leading mindflayer recreates the portal door and we get the fuck out of there. Returning to the caverns, we hear the rumblings of another worm and quickly head forward to avoid confrontation.

Heading deeper in through a series of intersections, we go: forward, right, forward and right. We arrive at a chamber filled with an abundance of vegetation. Grass, plants, mushrooms, trees and even a river. Cutting through all this is a stone pathway, which turns into a staircase, leading hundreds of feet up. At the top, an enormous, chained stone monolith with glowing writing on it. Beyond that, sunlight and an oasis of greenery and animals. We ascend the steps.

The writing on the pillar is in three languages: Celestial, Primordial & Infernal, with each language having one word in the set of three words.
1st Set: “Store” (Celestial), “Protect” (Primordial), “Maintain” (Infernal).
2nd Set: “Unified” (Celestial), “Order” (Infernal), “Imprison” (Primordial).

Standing near the monolith, the spellcasters notice a strange hum and vibration coming from the structure. My skin prickles and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Those without magic seem unaffected. We decide to move past without touching it.

The moment we walk past the monolith, the scenery changes. The oasis of nature turns into a grim, dark and unhospitable graveyard. In the middle, a mausoleum-like structure leading deeper into the earth. Above the entrance to the crypt is a warning written in Abyssal:
“Enter into your doom. Enter into my domain. Face your demise at my hand. All will serve me in the eternal life. All will bend to the will of the Darklord.”
Satisfied in being at the correct place, we enter into our doom.

The pathways inside are gloomy, filled with graves and a great dark void flanks both sides of the solid ground. As we’re walking, a group of shadowy figures emerge from the darkness and attack us. These corrupted figures are weak individually, but can sometimes resist seemingly fatal blows. The group is dispatched with ease and they scream out in pain as they fade back into the shadows. We move forward on the path and come to a more open area.

It is here the creatures reappear, numbering about 12. We are handling ourselves well until the shadows scream once more. About 25 of the things suddenly swarm us from the blackness. Don, Inti and Hillval manage to disperse them quite efficiently with bursts of holy energy but the worst has yet to come. We hear two loud roars coming from deeper in, and the damn shadows scream in unison. Over 50 of these things appear all around us and we’re suddenly in deep shit.

My memory of this part is jumbled. The creatures swarmed me and I went unconscious. Suddenly, I woke up with the shades all around me, watching two large skeletal minotaurs charge into our lines. I fade away again, but then awake once more to a large explosion of radiant energy. I’m mauled down again, someone feeds me some sort of warm liquid and I fall again. There’s a sharp, mind-shattering pain in the back of my head and I hear something breaking open. Next I know, I’m once again floating in that familiar black abyss. There is one key difference though, I’m not alone this time.

I hear my friends calling to me but I can’t go to them, I’m held down and trapped in these dark depths. I suddenly hear a voice, sourceless, saying that I must make a pact if I want to return. As soon as the words of my approval leave my lips, a bright cold blue star fazes into reality and my field of view. The cold light fills the entirety of the blackness and I double over, wretching out black blood. The others are glad that I returned, but also inform me of a black eye in my forehead and a skull fracture. We take a short rest.

Hesitantly, we move deeper into the complex, hoping to find Fred the 1st before it can resummon the shades. Eventually, we find an archway with a waterfall of blood pouring down below. Tentatively, we all step through to a nicely carved room, with five featureless humanoids kneeling in front a shrine. At our approach, we hear a deep voice and a huge figure emerges from the humanoids.

The imposing figure grandly announces itself to be Darklord Fred the 1st and commands us to submit to it or be killed. We’re all way past the point of caring and sling a slew of insults at the “Darklord”, finishing with a Dispel Magic and making the illusion disappear. The group starts ransacking the place and looking for hidden rooms, completely ignoring the newly returned “Darklord”. Some rooms, switches and levers later Ou-Kan busts down a wall and grabs the actual body of Fred the 1st before it can teleport away.

The actual body of Darklord Fred the 1st is a jumble of tentacles and eyes, covered in a putrid smell. It tries to escape by spewing some foul poison around but is shanked for it’s troubles. Fred starts fermenting in an ale keg whilst we loot the lair, divide the spoils and find the captive flumphs. Having completed our objective, we escape the crumbling mausoleum and make our way back to Fred the 2nd and the mindflayers.

Fred the 2nd is overjoyed at our return and negotiates with the mindflayers for our safe return to the surface. One of the mindflayers surrounds us and itself in a giant soap bubble and we begin heading to the surface, traveling through solid rock and earth.

For some reason we arrive at the Swollen Tooth inn and the mindflayer promptly snaps a kobold’s neck and begins eating it’s brains. It informs us that our home wouldn’t’ve been hurt, but the inn wasn’t part of that agreement. We quickly exit the inn as more and more mindflayers teleport into the inn and massacre it’s patrons. We camp away from the inn and prepare for the long journey back to Ruined Oak, which goes uneventfully.

Signed – Tor

Important notes:

Darklord Fred the 2nd and Darklord Fred the 1st are different people! Fred the 2nd is the nice and friendly flumph, while Fred the 1st is a mean jumble of tentacles in an ale keg.

There’s a bat dragon living near an abandoned farmhouse in the Underdark. She won’t attack you as long as you have your WMC armbands on and clearly visible.

According to Fred the 2nd, there’s a “god” living in the lake outside the drow fishing village. Approach at your own risk.

Darklord Fred the 2nd and his friends are staying at the Illithid lair for the time being. Head there if you need something from them.

The codes “SPM” & “UOI” we found might be new portal codes. A group should go to the Underdark Sage and verify this information.