DIDx6

TL;DR

The highlights of the session were:

• The party witnessed a woman emerge from the grotto claiming to have been attacked by Deepfolk, but Scarf was certain it was an act. Scarf managed to pick pocket a Sending Stone from the woman while Zero distracted her. They later overheard an unknown third party instructing the owner of the Sending Stone to report back to headquarters before they would be sent to Panebrenthen Crevice, the location of the next planned attack according to the auctioneer's note.
• The group questioned Siran the Guild Warden at the Delver's Guild about the names on the Delver tags they found in Obscurus and learned that their files had been scrubbed, apparently to cover up the tracks of the wrongdoers, suggesting a mole or a break-in.
• The group went to Panebrenthen Crevice where they witnessed a group sneaking up on some novice adventurers, killing one of them before the party intervened and killed the majority. However, as one escaped, the novice adventurers joined them in pursuing her where they tracked her to a cavern of glowing mushrooms where a Fomorian threw her against a wall, killing her, before charging at the party.
• (Scarf had an action readied upon seeing the Fomorian grab the unknown woman)

Full Recap

As the group returned to the surface to resupply in Dolenna, they emerged into the daylight and cringed as their eyes readjusted to the bright environment. Taking in the sounds and scents of the city, overwhelming their senses after the isolation of the Deephollow, they explored the street briefly, seeing a stall selling Plomatin, a local favorite, and Scarf went to buy one. As they contemplated what to do first, they heard a sudden screaming coming from the entrance to the Grotto. Hurrying over to the source of the sound, they saw a Human woman hysterical, calling for the Marshals. Listening in on the scene, the woman seemed to spin a story of encountering a group of Deepfolk upon emerging from Obscurus with her companions and being ambushed, telling how their sorcerer was shot through the throat and their paladin had his armor super heated, cooking him alive. As a nearby Marshal spoke to her and asked for more details, Scarf couldn't help but notice that it seemed like an act. She moved closer to get a better look, and noticed the woman wearing what appeared to be a Delver tag. Taking Scarf's cue, Zero approached the woman and distracted her with questions while Scarf circled around to get a look at her tag; identifying her as someone named "Rava". Scarf took the opportunity to pick the woman's pocket, where he found some sort of stone carved to look like a face. Zero, in his questioning of the woman, asked if the woman's companions had Delver tags, showing the bag of tags they recovered from Obscurus. At this, Scarf noticed that as the woman noticed the tags, she seemed to pale, appearing nervous. Zero implored the Marshal to investigate the site of the attack, but he seemed to not be in a rush about it, saying that he needed to bring her in to give her report first.

Meanwhile, over at the Delver's Guild, Shein and Rainer had gone with Toban to report in to the Guild Warden and maybe get the answers to some questions regarding the tags they found. Rainer briefly had a thought, hoping Zero wouldn't mention them to anyone, and Toban suggested that they exercise caution in who they told about them in case the wrong people overheard, but suggested talking to Siran, the Guild Warden who had given them their first contract, saying that he trusted her. As Zero and Scarf caught up with the others in the guild, Zero told Toban about the encounter with "Rava" outside, and even saw fit to mention showing off the bag of Delver tags, earning groans from the rest of the group. Rainer spent a moment lecturing Zero for recklessness and teaching him how to use "fucking" in a sentence, to comical results. Rainer tried to explain discretion to Zero, but he seemed to not understand. Scarf showed Rainer the "face stone" he lifted off of Rava, which he immediately recognized as a Sending Stone. As he tried to explain its purpose to Scarf, the face on the stone lit up and they heard a voice instructing "Rava" to return to headquarters if she was done, and that she was to be sent to Panebrenthen Crevice, the very location the note they found on the dead auctioneer mentioned as the site of the next planned attack. Rainer moved to respond to the stone, with Zero "helping" by punching him in the crotch to make his voice more high-pitched, which surprisingly worked fairly well, with him giving a decent impersonation. Rainer then went to talk to Siran at the counter, telling her of the party that was killed by the Troglodytes and then asking about some of the names on the tags they found. Siran was suspicious, but with assurance from Toban, she went to check her files. Pulling out the paperwork for several of the given names, she found that their files had been destroyed, with vital paperwork missing, including their registration papers. Out of curiosity, she checked the files of the party, and found that they had not yet been destroyed, alleviating their paranoia. Even the files of the ones found near the Troglodytes had been wiped clean, suggesting that perhaps it was not the Troglodytes that did them in. This greatly disturbed Siran, and she promised to investigate, telling the party to check back in after a few days.

Proceeding outside, the group saw a crier peddling the latest edition of The Commonwealth's version of the Chronicle, a method of distributing news of current events throughout the world originating from Arak's Synodical Republic. Taking a quick look at the headlines, Zero read out a story to Scarf about a naked Dwarf arrested in Artus for drunkenly challenging a statue to a duel and beating his hands bloody on it before being dragged away. Chuckling, the group took some time to explore Dolenna and restock on vital equipment. Scarf went to an arcanist to identify the daggers he had found, discovering that one had the ability to be called back to his hand like a boomerang, while the other seemed to repel water. Rainer then decided to investigate how much it would cost to procure some raw Petrasteel, which the Deepfolk in Rikhevlovir had requested. After gathering the supplies they needed, they rendezvous'd at the entrance to Ludranna Grotto to make their way to Panebrenthen Crevice, a six hour journey. Arriving at Panebrenthen Crevice, they made their way through the crevice itself, which narrowed to an uncomfortable amount requiring them to squeeze themselves through, until they heard some loud rushing water ahead. Coming out to a widening passage, they eventually emerged into a large cavern with a hole leading down to a pool with a stream flowing from a nearby rock facing into a waterfall into the pool.

Down below, they could see a group of adventurers gathered across a bridge spanning the gap between platforms, apparently trying to discern the best way to make their way down to the lower portion of the cavern. After a moment, Zero noticed a woman slowly creeping up behind the group with a weapon drawn. Zero tried making noise to warn them, but quickly figured out that the roar of the waterfall was too loud for the adventurers to hear him. He watched helplessly as the woman snuck up behind the leader of the other adventuring group, a young Human man, and kicked him over the ledge, sending him flying down to the pools below, where he was impaled unceremoniously on a stalagmite protruding from the water. The group then noticed a large forge of hostiles approaching from the ridge above the adventurers. Not willing to waste any more time, Zero began to fly and grabbed Shein to cross the gap between them and the hostile forces. While everyone scrambled down the vines on the rock facings to get across the cavern, Shein picked off the hostiles on the ridge one at a time. The other adventuring group put up a decent fight, but were far outclassed, with the unknown woman gutting the Letheni archer among them and kicking her to the ground, repeatedly kicking her on the ground. Zero dropped Shein down to the platform near the woman, who he began to focus fire on, alerting her to their presence. The woman, noticing that the party were more seasoned than their chosen victims, decided to flee, diving off the nearby ledge into the pools far below. As the group slowly picked off the rest of the hostiles on the ridge and checked on the other adventurers, healing the gutted Letheni woman; Zero had a brilliant thought and used the Locate Object spell to track the unique weapon the woman was wielding. Getting a ping from down below, she pointing her out to the group just as the woman emerged from the water and began to sprint toward a nearby passage, out of sight. The group checked on the other adventurers, suggesting they go back to the surface, but the adventurers wouldn't have it, and demanded to come along to get revenge for their fallen comrade.

After climbing down to the ground below and tracking the woman down the passage she fled into, the party eventually squeezed their way through another tight passage before emerging into a glowing cavern filled with a variety of otherworldly mushrooms, with one taller than a tree reminiscent of the one they had seen in Rikhevlovir. The group could hear whispering ahead, and Zero's tracking spell indicated that it was the woman they were pursuing. Sneaking up on her, they could hear her calling for backup from an unknown third party. However, as they moved forward to confront the woman, she was startled by something behind her and stood to peer around the corner, briefly screaming before a giant hand reached forth to grab her. The group heard the snapping of bones and the woman's screams cut short as the hand threw her toward a nearby wall, where she splatted and crumpled to the ground. The form the arm was attached to emerged from around the corner, revealing a giant hunch-backed Fomorian, which looked over at the party briefly, before roaring and charging toward them, shoulder ready to ram into them.