PREVIOUSLY ON… “Escape from Hallow Gate!”

Clarkson the Barbarian (gravelly, heroic, dramatic):

Tonight…

Torr negotiates with vermin,

Immeral invents a new spell called Stomp The Rat,

Kaylen fights a chest and wins,

And something rises from the depths to say hello.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue (excited, slightly panicked):

Our story begins with Torr, who decided that the best way to free two magically-suppressed cellmates…
…was to have a conversation with a rat.

A rat named Cecil.
Who, as it turns out, is better at prison breaks than half the Neverwinter Watch.

May the Druid (calm, academic, faintly disappointed in everyone):

Yes, Torr used Speak With Animals to rally Cecil and his furry friends into gnawing through the bindings of Immeral and Harlan.

What Torr did not account for…

…was that Immeral reacts to unexpected rodents the way most people react to falling off a cliff.

He panicked.

Waved his arms.

And then—

(deadpan)

—accidentally stepped on one.

Clarkson the Barbarian:

And this, unsurprisingly, upset the rats.

Who immediately declared holy war on both wizards in the cell.

It would have been the shortest D&D campaign in history…

…if Thalen Wren hadn’t saved the day by drumming soothing rhythms on his bodhrán.

A magical moment.

And a lesson learned:

Always bring a bard.

Especially to pest control.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue:

Meanwhile, Guard Steve was asleep, Sergeant Drosk was drunk,

and Constable Vosk — patron saint of “I hate this job” — quietly slipped two lockpicks to Thalen,

essentially becoming the first honest ally the party ever had.

May the Druid:

Thalen shared one lockpick with Torr.

And then Torr, for reasons only known to mountain men…

rolled so well that he unlocked every door in the hallway

and timed each latch click perfectly with cracks of thunder outside.

It was like watching a symphony of crime.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue (offended):

Hey! I CAN do it better.

It’s literally my job!

Anyway...

Clarkson the Barbarian:

Inside the evidence room they recovered their gear… mostly.

At first glance, it looked like some of it was missing.

But then Immeral poked a unsuspicious-looking bag and discovered—

dramatic pause

—a Bag of Holding!

Suddenly nothing was missing.

It was simply… in the bag.

As Bags of Holding tend to do.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue:

They also found a stash belonging to the corrupt guards:

Two hundred silver pieces,

An encoded ledger

three rings,
and a necklace.

Probably stolen.
Definitely shiny.
Now liberated.

May the Druid:

ith the guards drunk upstairs and the storm pounding the roof,

the party made their way to the solitary cell.

Using a rope, they opened the rusty drainage grate.

And then — like rats themselves — crawled into the pipe just as voices echoed on the stairs above.

Their absence would soon be noticed.

Very soon.

Clarkson the Barbarian:

In the sewers, they found old dwarven machinery —
a control room for the drainage system.
With an engineer’s notes explaining how to lower the water levels.

May the Druid:

Then, near the old engineer’s chamber, I—I mean, Kaylen—

noticed a loose stone wall.

Behind it:

a skeleton of a long-lost adventurer

and a chest of unknown provenance.

Kaylen attempted the rogue’s method: lockpicking.

And immediately broke the tool.

So he switched to the monks’s method:

Smashing it with righteous force.

The chest shattered.

Loot was obtained.

Balance was restored to nature.

Clarkson the Barbarian

In the main sewer pool Kaylen opened the valve.

The party celebrated as the water receded,
believing they finally had the upper hand.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue:

But then Immeral noticed slime on the walls.
Weird slime.
Bad slime.
Sewer-creature-adjacent slime.

And before he could say, “Chaps, I don’t think we’re alone…”

the water began to bubble.

Clarkson the Barbarian (roaring):

AND THE DM SAID—

“ROLL!! FOR!! INITIATIVE!!”

May the Druid:

We are absolutely going to die.

Hammond the Halfling Rogue:

Not if we run faster than Clarkson!

Clarkson the Barbarian (snorts):

NO ONE runs faster than Clarkson the Barbarian.

Except rats.

Maybe.

All Three:

And on that bombshell, it was tome to end session 2.