Session 54: Hunters Hunting

General Summary

The party start getting up out of bed with Archi & Arne being the first. They decide to prank Magnar, with Archi dressing up as Annabelle. Arne starts banging on Magnar's door and when he answers, Archi teleports behind Magnar scaring the latter. Unfortunately Archi can't remove the make-up and stuck with it until it wears off.

They make their way to the Eschbach Shields where they run into Timble who is eating a chicken (Reolus' bitemarks and all). Timble seems confused as to what to make of Archi's appearance. They have to explain to him why.

While sitting there, they find that Josef van Richten & Alcuin van Helsing have made it back. The two explain they found some papers in the cave where the vampires were. Part of the reason the vampires where there to try to find a way into the Underdark. There is a cult there that were given 2 ancient magic items by a seer to use while worshipping. They are hoping the party would investigate and report back. No need to get into combat or trouble.

Baldwin, from behind the bar, recounts a story told to him by a couple of Svart Alves that were travelling through a while ago. They were recounting old stories they were told when young. They mentioned a cult that seems to have shrank in size or disappeared in this region of the Underdark. They mentioned that the cult were given the items by a strange traveller but no-one has encountered them in decades maybe centuries, being exceptionally old and the cult worshipped Deep Ones.

Archi's curiosity is piqued and wants to take a look at these items. He also gives Timble a fancy cloak with autumnal leaf colours and with fox designs. Timble decides to accompany Archi, and they persuade the others to go and look at these items. They go to leave and pick up Keller on the way.

They travel to the old tower base, with NINE's Library.

When they enter they are greeted by NINE and he opens the stairway down. Accompanying them down here they are told people had told him that there was a burning smell coming up through at one stage a couple of days ago.

Timble looks around and everyone notices it still has a little smell of a fire at one stage. They all shimmy along the outcrop along the edge of the pit on the other side of the crack and land on the edge of the volcanic tunnel. When doing this, Keller shows off doing cartwheels on the ledge and landing in a flourish.

They notice there is ash everywhere here, and Arne notices there is no glow from the other end of the tunnel.

Timble travels down the tunnel first, and notices the amount of ash on the ground near the end of it. The rest join him and they work out how to get down the 50 or 60 feet from the entrance to the huge cavern floor. Arne, Archi and Magnar notice that the mushroom forest that was in the cavern has been burned down.

Getting down using magic / magic items, they end up ankle deep in ash made from the burned down mushrooms.

Going to the centre where there used to be an Amber Sarcophagus used to stand, they realise that it has been moved and likely dragged off after their previous encounter with Svart Alves in the cavern.

Archi notices that after the mushrooms are removed he can see a couple of landmarks. Facing the far wall, to his left slightly higher up is a way out if needed. To the right on the ground level, there is two carved pillars with something at the top of each.

They work out in the meantime that something like a fireball had took out the mushrooms.

Going and examining the pillars, they are at the entrance of a tunnel. Each is carved from the surrounding rock. Both are 7 feet tall or slightly higher. Both are topped with a carved bulbous head with a tentacle at the top corner of the mouth, and one at the middle bottom lip.

The tunnel has a slight light far off in the distance.

The group goes down it with Magnar at the front. Eventually they reach the end and see an ancient roadway, with pillars running down it with glowing balls at the top. At this end of the tunnel, there is the same style of pillars.

One each side of the road at this end is 3 three storey plain buildings with the top floors being ruined, and the middle ones heavily damaged. A strange growth is on them in clumps. These appear like fleshy tissue with what looks like throbbing circulatory systems. These appear reddish along with parts appearing blackish along with brownish & metallic highlights.

About 20 people wearing ragged clothing and hoods of very ancient design. Three males approach and seem to be twisted and distorted in appearance. All three seem to be in their late teens or early twenties. All three have a small fish eye growing between their eyebrows at the top of the bridge of the nose.

They leave and go back to the others.

An older male seems to come forward followed by a female.

They all appear to speak an unknown language.

The older male speaks to them and then tries Elvish. A couple of the party speaks it too and translates.

He says they are outsiders and want to know why they are there. The party tells them they are there as explorers and seeking to explore the area.

He them beckons them to follow him. He takes them into a building on the left, introducing him as Orion and his wife Obi. He warns them not to go to the other two floors in the buildings as these are haunted by the ancestors, and asks them if they came to worship with the Cult of the Deep Ones. They reiterate they are not.

He also warns them that to go down the road further they will encounter the cult leaders and their two buildings. Beyond that is the cult place of worship. He also states they are enemies of the Black Elves, and that the latter is one of the younger races. Their own is part of the First Men and been throughout the world before the others came and fully moving below the earth to the Underdark.

They have been around for millennia before the other races came and the world split up. Also they worship the Ancient Ones and their religion has contact with the Seer. They explain that the creatures some of the party fought before in mushroom cavern were another branch of the First Men. With the Mushroom Forest gone, a major food source has gone.

This is told to the party in a room off the main communal living space, while being given food and drink.

They are also told that the items they use for worship where given millennia ago by a Seer.

Timble manages to link this Seer with the Seer that attacked his burrows.

Archi tries using his staff to grow more mushrooms for the people here. It grows but also manages to change many of them to Myconids in the process. Orion looks at some weapons in a corner and states when there's enough Myconids are there, with mushrooms, they may go on a hunt for food.

The party start trying to work out what to do going forward, and while they are doing this, Keller hears something happening outside. He goes to investigate, quickly followed by Orion who tells him to not go out in case something happens. Keller quickly sticks his head out to look and sees a crowd gathered. In the middle is a tall slender being in a long midnight blue cloak that is well cared for. It seems to be of greyish colour, carrying a long staff made of coral and a light trapped in coral growths at the tip. The hand of the creature has a thumb and two fingers. It's other hand is being placed on the heads of the crowd blessing them. Again this hand has a thumb and two fingers. It's face seems to have four tentacles one at each corner of it's mouth, one at the top corner, and one below. A bit of skin runs between the tentacles and around the mouth.

Timble takes a look and gets an impression that it is related to the carvings on top of the pillars.

The party is now left with decisions & a cliff-hanger.