Episode 3: Audentis Fortuna Iuvat
Your sleep in the slave pen is troubled and fitful, filled with strange dreams and disturbing images. Dark shadows seem to move and reach out toward you as you wander lost through endless mazes of tunnels. Oily tentacles slide to brush up against you, while a great buzzing and howling rises in the distance. Suppurating wounds burst open in clouds of spores or crawling masses of maggots or insects. You both wake in a cold sweat from these nightmares feeling as though something is out there in the dark depths — something far worse than the drow.
"GRRRRGGGLLLLGLGLGLGL... You lack balance. That is why your sleep is disturbed. Shuushar the Awakened recommends meditation."
The other dark gnome male chained to you grins at Vax and introduces himself, "I am Jimjar, and some say I'm the luckiest guy that ever lived." *winks* "Stay with me and we'll be out of here in no time."
(You are chained in this order: ARAN VAX JIMJAR SHUUSHAR)
Vax considers Jimjar for a few moments as she recovers from her dream. She shakes her head back and forth, her hair tosseling around like a muddy brown mop. She looks at Jimjar again and busts out laughing. "If that was a pick-up line, you picked the worst venue, but if you mean you have a plan of escape then I will forgive you."
Jimjar: “I'll bet you 5 gold we'll be out of here in less than three days. How about it. Nothing to lose?”
Shuushar: "Material things, like this world, are mere illusions."
Aranala groggily lifts his birdbeak head. He squints down the chain at Vax and the other two. "Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing..."
Jimjar: "So we have a deal then. Now who's this then?"
Vax's eye brow shoots up as she listens to Jimjar and Shuushar.. she opens her mouth to speak but turns to Aran.. "you too Birdy?" She bites her lower lip and whispers to herself mostly" Something is crawling around the belly of the dark."
She smiles at Jimjar and sticks out her dirt covered hand "I will bet the illusionary gold if it get us out of drow town. My sightless friend is Birdy. I'm Lilly."
Out of a different voice, comes another reply to Jimjar's inquiry "I'm her favorite toy."
Vax visibly shivers at the thought, but watches Jimjar to see his reaction.
Shuushar: "Toys and games. Also vanity."
Jimjar: "Well Birdy, Lilly, we got to make the best of this situation. I have a feeling we are going to have some good things happen to us today. How about you Birdy, are you the gambling type?"
Birdy directs his quirky answer towards the voices of the two new cohorts. " ... and because we are all a great deal luckier than we realize... We usually get what we want## or near enough."
Vax waggles her hand at Jimjar. "Are we going to shake on it or what?"
Jimjar spits in his hand and stretches it out to you.
Shuushar: "Desire is ..."
Jimjar cutting him off: "Looks like it's show time."
The floating orbs of light approach the cell again. This time it's the quaggoth alone who opens the cell and points at Aranala.
YOU FOUR, COME WITH ME.
Vax grabs Jimjars hand and gives it a firm shake. "Luck be lucky this time around."
The black feathered Kenku gazes around at the others in the orbs' lights, then glares at Quaggoth with half lids before standing and leading the way.
Aranala takes the lead and follows the quaggoth out of the cell. You are led to the main central platform and into a room beside the barracks you were in yesterday. It's a mess hall... you pass by the mostly empty tables and are led into the kitchen at the back.
TODAY, FISH SOUP.
The quaggoth stares into the eyes of Shuushar, who gulps, flaps his gills and turns to look for ingredients.
Vax looks at the quaggoth and then around the kitchen. She thinks to herself he can't be serious. It's like he wants us to poison the drow. Vax will help Shuushar with the search. "Anyone bring the recipe?"
There's a barrel in one corner of the kitchen with a variety of strange pale colored fish with spikey shapes and eye tentacles like a deep sea lantern fish meets beholder monster. A few shelves are stocked with various kinds of underdark fungi and lichen. There's a butcher's block with some knives, an oven for baking, and a large cauldron on a fire. Near a washtub is a stack of clean dishes and utensils made from zurkhwood. An open counter connects the kitchen to the mess hall. The quaggoth stands watch.
Aranala looks around for an apron of some kind.
Quaggoth: ONE CUTS FISH, ONE CUTS FUNGI, ONE MAKES BREAD, ONE TENDS FIRES. NO KNIVES LEAVE HERE.
Shuushar: Shuushar is awakened. All living creatures contain life force. I am sworn to never harm them. Please let the woke one do the bread.
Jimjar: Birdy here looks good with a knife, but I know a trick or two myself. What's it gonna be beaky? You pick fish or fungi and I'll bet today's scrap of bread that I can finish chopping faster than you.
Aranala goes over to the fungi. Turning the chopping utensil in his hand, he meets Jimjar's gaze and nods.
Shuushar heads over to the counter and starts making dough from powdered zurkhwood.
Jimjar grins. "May the best gnome win then" He heads to the bucket/chopping block and flips out a knife and twirls it. "Give us the go signal Lilly"
Vax gives the signal…
ROUND 1: Jimjar 18 - Aranala 25
ROUND 2: Jimjar 19 (37) - Aranala 24 (49)
ROUND 3: Jimjar 17 (54) - Aranala 13 (62)
ROUND 4: Jimjar 10 (64) - Aranala 11 (73)
ROUND 5: Jimjar 5 (69) - Aranala 14 (87)
Final Score Aranala 87 to Jimjar 73...
Jimjar: "You're good with a knife. That's lucky for me, because we're going to need those skills soon. I know it. I'm a man of my word... tonight you'll be feasting on a double portion of bread. Hahah!"
Aranala feels the pride puffing up his feathery chest. He never likes to lose, but he does not yet trust these new cohorts. He eyes Jimjar up and down, flips the knife in his hand and stabs it into a piece of fungi.
Jimjar: "And now you Lilly. I have a little secret stashed away in the cell. I'd be willing to wager it, if you can spit in the soup and then hide it so no one's the wiser. Of course if you fail we might all be punished, but this place is so dreary... we could use the fun. What do you say? Do you feel lucky?"
Vax wrinkles her nose at Jimjar as she tends the fire"I may hate the drow but I'm not gross." She then looks at Jimjar and in a very serious tone she adds "also I may worship Luck, but it's not nice to test her so often, less you want bad luck."
Jimjar: "Well, I feel lucky. I'm the luckiest guy you'll ever meet. I'll bet on you." *HOOORRRRK *
Quaggoth: THIS SHOULD BE GOOD. I LOOK FORWARD TO PUNISHING YOU WHEN THE MASTERS TASTE IT.
Jimjar: "Of course it only counts if they actually eat it. You need to make sure it's edible too... "
Vax recoils from the pot and without thinking she strikes him across the face with an open palm. Fury burning in her eyes. "How dare you waste food. Food is precious no matter who is eating it. You may never have been starving before, eating nothing but pig slop just to stay alive. Do think food is in great supply down in the dark? "
Jimjar: "Aww well, I was looking forward to surprising you with the prize. I guess it's up to me to save the soup."
Aranala examines the strange kinds of fish and guts. He will help determine how much to use, as he puts a taste of bitter morsel in his mouth.
Vax will go calm down in a corner.
He get through the steps of cooking, and then Shuushar comes over to take a look...
As Shuushar comes over, Aran holds a sea lantern up to him by one of its tentacle eye stalks and squacks loudly to deter him from getting close to the cooking pot. "You look like you wanted that one, sonny."
The meal is ready, it appears without a hitch.
Quaggoth: OTHERS WILL CLEAN. BACK TO YOUR CELL.
Vax moves toward the exit with her eyes down cast.
You get back in the cell. The Quaggoth grins a little too widely... you're not sure whether all those teeth are hoping you get away with doing something back to the drow or hoping he gets to torture you when they find out.
Jimjar is a man of his word. He gives Aran his piece of bread before setting down.
"You earned it"
Vax turns to Jimjar with her eyes still downcast and says flatly "sorry" before trying to get some sleep.
Aranala scarfs his bread, both pieces, and then slowly crawls about the room. He is searching for Jimjar's hiding place. INVESTIGATION 1
As you fumble around, the already snoring Jimjar, snorts and rolls over... Seems to wake and then is asleep.
Aranala grumbles and goes back to rest near Vaxraff. He checks his items, the shiv and black bag, then sets to work on his shackles. Using thieves tools he figures out the trick to opening them. He caws quietly and nudges Vax. After showing her his hands, he closes the shackles again. (They close without locking)
Vax will brush her bangs aside opening one sleepy eye and regard Aranala... "Hmm?" She grins at Aran and says in a hushed voice. "Don't forget how to do that trick later."(then Aranala unlocks her hands, his feet, her feet, his neck, her neck, then puts them back on all closed but unlocked.)
The last thing before curling up and drifting off to sleep is Eldreth Feldrun's words, which Aranala will say each night as a mantra, "many days passed of us traveling Into Darkness. And then we found it... the world must know if there's to be any hope of stopping it..."
Commercial Break
You both pass into fitful dreams... It starts as complete darkness (think Stranger Things). Then there's a sound rushing. A wild, chattering, gibberring madness. Unnatural forms swoop by and suddenly you are one with them, soaring. Sounds of flapping, snapping, creaking, screaming, flailing... Tentacles and melting... in front of you a portal... you pass through it and then another sound. roaring, dripping... shapes.... pointy, hanging, swirling, skittering... dark skinned elves... a scream... an alarm... a twanging of a cross bow... pain ... elves on a shelf... your sisters and brothers also close in.... swoooop.... now one is in your mouth... you enjoy the crushing sensation as you break its back in your beak... but then bright spots... a spear jabbing in your eyes... in your head... it hurts... its hurts... let the chaos come.... ahead of you bars... no strength to turn... a crash...
[Both take a long rest if you need it and Aranala gets 4 temp hp after waking from the bread he won]
Vax and Aranala awake ... Jimjar is pulling on the chain connecting your necks. "I told you I'm lucky... look" Other prisoners have already left the cell the tentacles demon smashed into the gate and opened the door ... hanging out of its beak is a crushed drow... outside are the sounds of maniacal gibbering and drow fighting off a multitude of demons.
Jimjar: "Let's go!"
Shuushar: "Dying is merely another state of glglglglg ..." he chokes as Jimjar pulls towards the door
Aranala's hands shoot up to his face in a panicky reaction, feeling his eyes, then his beak. For a few seconds the kenku is trapped in the dream.
Vax wakes and takes in the scene. Her skin crawls at the sight of the tentacled demon, the drow a minor detail, she struggles to her feet. "This far up, already? I thought we had... I don't know... This bad. This is really baaaad." She sheds her chains.
Jimjar runs pulling Shuushar along by the neck and pulls a drow spear out of the eye socket of the demon letting ichor pour out onto the ground.
Jimjar: Let's get out of here. Grab this guys' stuff and lets get to the elevator!
Vax searches the body of the drow for anything useful while shouting to Jimjar. "How about you guys ditch the chains first. It's going to get in the way."
Shuushar: "Yes... I have never been fond of any kind of bond. Mortal or otherwise"
The crushed drow has a short crossbow with 24 bolts and a rapier.
Aranala comes to his senses, shedding his chains along with the remnants of that dream. They're in the real nightmare now, so he takes Jimjar's advice and loots the drow. He holds them up for Vax to choose.
Vax will grab the light crossbow saying, "buy me a few seconds" Using the infused neck chain that was around her neck she will infuse the crossbow, then infuse the rapier.
Aranala unlocks Jimjar and Shuushar.
Vax takes the neck chain in one hand and the crossbow in the other. She closes her eyes a s starts to whisper. Her cadence is at first slow as a mystical wind surrounds her. Her cadence increases as the neck chain glows, drops of magic coming to the surface and then peeling off. Likes threads of red glowing gossamer they spindle away from one on to the other, etching themselves into the crossbow like inlaid gold filigree before cooling and then disappearing. She repeats the action with the poo shiv and rapier. She looks at Aran after finishing the rapier. Handing it to him she says "If I had my Goldsmith's tools I could do a better job, but this will have to do."
Outside strange sounds echo and reverberate. Strange heads gibbering on bat-like wings swoop in to attack you. Roll initiative.
INITIATIVE ORDER:
VAX > Vargouilles > ARANALA > JIMJAR
Vax carefully lines up and shoots at the nearest flying head with the crossbow: 14 to hit, hits, 1+1 = 2 damage
The flying heads swoop in to bite... one catches Shuushar with a deep crunch. The other flies at Vax and bites in... 14 to hit, 3 piercing damage and 3 poison damage (total 6 damage)
Schnick schnack Aranala slices at the one near Vax. (23 to hit and 1+4+1=6 dmg) Jabbing at the flapping gibbering face, the rapier strikes deep and leaves the skin on one side hanging below the chin revealing the skull around the eye and chattering jawbone.
Jimjar skewers the one on shuushar and the head for a moment looks like a strange scarecrow before pulling free and swooping around again.
Vax side steps keeping the crossbow between herself and the flying head in an attempt to let Aranala hit it from behind and then fills the air around the vargouille with flame! It fails the save and takes 6 fire damage.
It is badly hurt already, the fire burns and blackens the skin and it screams in pain, but it seems to not be as affected as you would like, the hair on it's head for example doesn't seem to singe like a normal persons' hair would.
The vargouille closest to you turns and takes a bite at aranala but misses, but there's not a lot of space for it to move out of the fire. it rolls a 6 on it's dex save. Roll for fire damage. (8 damage reduced to 4… it’s enough) Smoke billows around it and then only cinders slowly falling remain as it returns to the Abyss. One down.
The other one let's a chaotic undulating shriek, your team all needs to make wisdom saving throws. VAX 13 ARANALA 7
Vax and Shuushar are safe and are immune to further shrieks for an hour. Jimjar and Aranala fail and grow stiff with fright, their bodies locking in place.
Vax's grits her teeth and charges into melee range of the other flying head attempting to limit it's moving options. She closes her left fist, focusing on the head, she puts forward the crossbow but does not fire. Instead it's magical runes flare to life as she casts a bonefire on its location.
It dodges with a 18 Dex save. seeing jimjar frozen in place it flaps up to him and sticks its tongue in his mouth giving him a gross french kiss. Jimjar makes a charisma saving through and rolls a 17, avoiding falling under the curse. The vargouille ends in the fire and rolls 11 on its dex save.
5 toasty goodies of toastiness. (It takes 2)
The flapping head is looking pretty bad now. Having been stunned momentarily, as the vargouille ends its kiss, both jimjar and aranala return from their fear and their muscles relax.
Okay, birdy reluctantly moves 5 feet towards it, and hopes to skewer it dead but swings and misses.
Jimjar rolls an 19 with his spear and does 6 piercing damage pushing the jabby end into its nose and coming out the back of the skull before it vanishes in smoke as it is sent back to the Abyss. With both dead, he spits and shudder and then says,
"Quick, we've got to get to the elevator before the base is overrun and while the drow are distracted... with my luck on our side, I bet nothing will even notice us."
Shuushar: "I hope so. Violence is a tool of oppression, even in the hands of my friends."
You step out into the chaos. Large floating clouds of tentacles with only a beak and other demons that look like mosquitoes the size of a car are assaulting the drow. Bursts of magical energy and poisoned crossbow bolts fill the air. For now it seems no one has a moment left to care about the prisoners. The bridge to the larger platform where the elevator is is clear.
Vax shoots a sharp look at Shuushar. "Up above where there are kings and guards you can expect others to defend you but down in the dark, violence is the only law. Your nonviolence is implicit violence against us. Don't think the gods don't see." She will push past Shuushar in anger as she follows Jimjar.
Shuushar: Interesting perspective. Failure to commit violence as an act of violence. I will need to meditate on this thought.
Jimjar takes the lead and runs across the bridge. You come behind him. On the larger platform now, you can see the main force of drow and their quaggoth servants fighting a battle of life and death. on the opposite end of the space, about 100 yards away is the elevator.
Jimjar takes a moment to look for a clear route throught the chaos.
"This is it. One quick dash and we’re free..."
Aranala whistles sharply to get the group's attention. He then points up ...
Above you there are spider webs on the roof and giant spiders also fighting with various crawly goopy forms between the ginormous stalactites that hang down between the base. looking back at the battle. Jimjar says, "There! Go go go!" and takes off through the chaos. 10 yards... 20... dodging, weaving, 30 ... slimy ichor ... 40... tentacles....
"You! I promised to make you suffer."
Shoor Vandree. Son-of-a-bitch. Standing there in the middle of all this. And he wants you. Two scimitars in hand. blocking your way. He's only about 10 yards away and he's coming at you. Roll initiative.
Jimjar goes first and gets a crit, 12 damage with the spear, but Shoor uses a superiority die to parry 11 of it.
The kenku watches as Jimjar leaps at Shoor, and takes the fight up beside him, slashing with his rapier and then uses Cunning Action to Disengage after his attack. 13 to hit is a miss.
That means Shoor is up... jimjar is the only one in range at the moment... so he swings three times: and gets 9, 9, 13, and then uses an action surge to swing two more times. 21 and 15... jimjar dodges the first two hits but then takes three hits from the scimitars... 5, 8, 7 = 20 damage. jimjar is not looking good, but he's still up.
Vax curses Luck and backs up another 10 feet. She shouts at Shoor as shifts back to face toward him raising the crossbow upward. "Shoor , really?! Pricking slaves while your city falls to chaos?" She casts her fire on him.
DEX Save 17, Jimjar pokes and misses…
Aranala scowls as he is sidestepped and runs out of the drow's immediate periphery. He slides a shiv out into his throwing hand and throws it end-over-end at Shoor. Hits with a 23 for 5 damage.
Just as Shoor raises his weapons to strike again at Jimjar one of the enormous tentacle beasts flies in crashing into shoor and pulling him away as he screams.
Jimjar: "Uhh... wow that was close. I told you I'm lucky! We're clear... To the elevator!"
He starts running again with everything.
Aranala's eyes twinkle as the shiv hits, then sadden as it is carried off along with Shoor.
"Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it," he shrugs as they take off again.
Vax is frozen in place as she watches Shoor get carried away. In her minds eye a memory returns. a sister that never returned from the dark. After a few beats she carries on after Jimjar.
50 yards to elevator... 40... 30... 20... The elevator is a large platform held in the corners by chains. it's currently unoccupied but has several barrels and cloth sacks near the center.
Jimjar yells: everyone get on!
Aranala hops on and abruptly sticks his beak into the nearest container.
It's a large barrel of water.
He drinks his fill of the barrel water, his mouth and chest dripping wet as he finishes.
Jimjar: Lilly! Hurry up!
Shuushar runs behind the pile of supplies and ducks low
Vax runs into the elevator and sinks down next to the barrels. She says nothing but rubs her earlier wound.
Jimjar you notice now hasn't gotten on the elevator. He's at a big contraption with winches and levers. He pulls a lever and the elevator starts to descend.
Jimjar: Someone needs to make sure it goes down in a controlled fashion. I'll climb down the chain after you are safe away.
You sink down 30ft before it really sinks in that he's staying behind.
"wait.. what?!" Vax springs to her feet. "Jimjar!!!"
Aranala frets as they descend, "There's no way of knowing...where they're rowing, or which way the river's flowing!"
Down, down you go into dark nothingness.
Vax shivers at the thought.
Both of you roll perception.
Vax:19 / Aranala: 6
As you descend... Vax you feel it more and see, but something moves in the pile of supplies... what appeared to be a black burlap sack opens two orange eyes... and looks at you...
Vax shivers again as the hairs on the back of her neck go on end. She spins around pointing at the .. whatever it is.. shouting "who's there?"
Pointing the crossbow.
It nearly splits in two, teeth and slobber going everywhere and then sprouts clawed hands and legs. Roll initiative.
Summary of live events:… our brave adventurers fight to the end but are nearly defeated until Shuushar is shocked into action by the falling corpse of a drow. The three flee from the scene taking supplies left by the drow on the elevator including some fortunate pieces of equipment including Eldreth’s belongings…