Party: Chemist, Cynder, Karash, Naal, Roderick, Tuwidin
Dungeon Master: DGM
We’ve just returned from an expedition in the Underdark. Our original objective was to find the Flumph Darklord Fred “the second” to help him and his people. Let me tell you at this point that we did not accomplish this objective. However, instead we experienced many other exciting things.
Shortly after descending into the Underdark, we encountered a group of dark elves near a lake. The elves, who can only be spoken to in their own language, didn’t seem to be hostile to us. They even were willing to sell us things they had probably caught or found nearby. The goods they had on offer were not of great importance. They were fish that didn’t necessarily smell good, yet tasted all the better, and black pearls that seemed to be of particular interest to Cynder. There are about two dozen dark elves. They live in a small village directly at the lake. They have a large organic waste disposal machine that is able to swallow and process whole bodies. Before they dispose of the corpses, the dark elves take away the deads’ belongings. This appears to be happening as part of a strange ritual.
While most of our group interacted with the dark elves, the mage in our ranks, Chemist, explored the lake. He used his arcane eye in the process. There were many lights in the water, which probably cast a spell on the poor magician, who was surrounded by the many skeletons who are constantly accompanying him, because Chemist, who was still able to speak, was not ready to leave the shore afterwards. Instead, he just kept staring at the water.
We asked the elves what we could do about Chemist’s condition. Simply dragging him away was not an option, as he used his spells like misty step every time to stay at the lake. Neither did he shy away from using his skeletons to defend himself. The elves advised us to find the “Sage” who lives nearby and whom they also occasionally visit when they require his advice. They told us where to find him. No sooner said than done. Without Chemist, who was protected by his skeletons, we set off to find the “Sage”.
After a longer walk through the tunnels connecting the various caves in the Underdark, we found the place where the “Sage” was living. The “Sage” is a huge, floating meatball with a single eye in the middle and with several arms, at the ends of which there are no hands, but a single eye. Talking to the “Sage” was difficult because he spoke a terrifying language that we were not familiar with. After a while, the “Sage” offered us a shard of darkly shining rock. At first we reacted cautiously, but after a while Roderick decided to accept the shard. When he touched it, the shard jumped into the air and then drilled into the chest of the foolish halfling. But he didn’t bleed, so we decided to wait and see what would happen next. After a short moment Roderick got up again. He seemed to be well and now he was able to talk to the meatball in its terrible language. The “Sage” told us that Chemist was enchanted by the remnants of a dead god who once lived in the lake. He had a maximum of five days to be freed from the spell or to resist it. Otherwise, he would die. In addition, the “Sage” suggested to Roderick that he search for more shards. This would grant him “unlimited power”. Strangely enough, Roderick seemed to be quite interested in the meatball’s offer.
We immediately made our way back to the lake to save Chemist’s life. Once there, Cynder cast a sleep spell on Chemist. Unfortunately, a previous attempt had failed, but this time the trick worked. Then I pulled Chemist’s motionless body onto my horse and rode off as fast and far as I could. When Chemist woke up again, he made clear to us that he absolutely wanted to return to the lake. With much cunning, Karash and Roderick convinced him to follow us. The ruse seemed to work. But when we arrived in the meatball’s cave, Chemist, who had meanwhile seen through our lie, turned around and walked back towards the lake. Of course we followed him and again and again, sitting on my horse, I tried to block his way. When he had almost arrived at the lake, Chemist woke up like out of nowhere. He seemed to be fine, but couldn’t remember exactly what had happened. He was also very tired. So we decided to spend the night in the area where we currently were. Luckily, Chemist knows the spell “Leomund’s tiny hut”. So we were not exposed to the dangers of the Underdark during our sleep. After resting, we returned to the “Sage”. When we had almost arrived, Cynder pulled a long pole, which we had observed before, out of the ground. After that, a voice in the celestial language, which I understand as an Aasimar, said that “the seal has been broken”. But nothing more happened, so we continued our journey. When we arrived at the floating meatball’s lair, he again offered us one of his shards and asked us to look for more of them. This time, Chemist and Karash showed interest. They decided to find out in a dice game who of them would accept the shard. The dice were in Chemist’s favour and, after accepting the shard from the meatball and going through the same agonies as Roderick previously, he also spoke the dark language of the “Sage”.
As we made our way back to the surface, we came across a bigger monster that was lingering in a tunnel system with lava flowing through it in some places. The monster was able to catch Karash with its mouth and use his body to fend off our attacks. But the fight was short-lived. After we had dealt some skillful blows to it, the monster lay dead at our feet.
We resumed our journey and after several hours we arrived safely at the surface and then at the relatively nearby The Swollen Tooth Inn. Here ends my tale of our adventure. Tempus thanks you, my fellow adventurers, and I thank Tempus.
– Tuwidin Owir –
PS It’s quite pointless to describe you where exactly the various creatures we encountered can be found. The Underdark is a strange place that is constantly changing.