Waterday - 5 Sunsebb - Morning
Previously, the try-hard misfits scouted the western edge of the bottom level of the fortress evading contact until they encountered several Shell Sharks in a storage room. After defeating the sharks, Karia explored a hidden room and was temporarily isolated as the rest of the party dug her free.
The try-hard misfits leave the store room behind and head toward the intersection of hallways just south of the torture room. Along the way, Kyra complains, "We've been most inefficient in our exploration here. I can feel time slipping away. We need to speed up or we'll be discovered."
"Should we split up?" asks Karia?
Nar volunteers, "I could scout south while Karia scouts north?"
Kyra responds, "Maybe, but even though I could turn you both invisible, Nar would still be seen by the light she carries. Maybe it's best for us to stick together and just be cognizant of our time."
By now, the party's exploring the eastern branch of the hallway and reach a t-junction where the hallways go north and south. The party turns northward following the hallway north, east, and north again before turning back west toward a room opening beyond. They nudge forward until Karia
peeks into the room where large coffers lining the north and west walls draw her eyes before then identifying several groups of sahuagin spread throughout the large room that extends beyond her sight, including a twisted one at the bottom of stairs leading upward.
Suddenly, the champion, who's surrounded by coral smasher sahuagins, alerts the room as he swims toward the party. Nar leads the attack as the party pushes into the room. The coral smashers try blocking the entrance as Fysh and Kysh engage while the champion flanks them and then is flanked by Jane.
Two larger sahuagin move to a protective stance in front of the sahuagin with a twisted body that flees up the stairs. Morgana swims into melee with her two short swords before slashing the sharkfolk. As the party spreads deeper into the room, the sahuagins lose their advantage and quickly succumb to the overwhelming numbers of the party. The larger sahuagin move defensively, but Nar and Karia are able to engage them as Kyra and Adlia toll their bells from the edge of the room. Finally, the battle ends as the final deep diver sahuagin dies.
Knowing the escaped sahuagin will return with reinforcements, Karia and Nar quickly open a few coffers pulling out a harness and few coins while Kyra has Jane, Adlia, Borgas, and Kysh stack sahuagin corpses at the foot of the stairwell.
No sooner are the bodies stacked up, then a sahuagin patrol starts to descend the stairwell. Kyra unleashes her arcane energies animating four of the newly deceased sahuagin bodies while ordering Steve, Bill, Stanley, and Jeff to engage their former compatriots at the top of the stairs. These zombies immediately advance up the stairs
and fill the ten foot tall passageway while striking at the closest sahuagin enemies there. Invoking her Manta Ray cloak, Nar quickly joins the zombies and, with a quick flip of her rapier, kills a sahuagin before gliding back downstairs. With this wall of protection, the rest of the party hunkers at the bottom of the stairwell and efficiently destroy the incoming raiding party from afar.
As the last of the sahuagin sinks softly to the ground, Karia and Nar resume emptying the thirty six coffers along the walls. The party then opens the door in the southwest corner and discover another chache of weapons. Leaving nothing behind, the party then retraces back to the intersection and proceed south wending east and west within the fortress before passing another entrance to the arena and continuing southward.
Finally, they reach in another t-junction runing east-west. Looking to the east, the hallway goes through an archway and then turns northward. The western hallway ends at another t-junction. Heading east, the hall turns northward before expanding into a room where guttural growls and grunts echoes into the hallway and indicate a sizable group of sahuagin there.
Kyra spends a few minutes disguising herself to appear more sharklike and then inches toward the room where she identifies about two dozen sahuagin of various types before easing back out in the hallway. Quietly she relays the information and the party heads westward toward another t-junction. Reaching it, the north passage leads into the arena and the southern passage leads to a guardroom where several sahuagin and a couple of champions are idly relaxing.
Kyra grins as she sends the remaining zombies, Bill, Stanley, and Jeff into the room standing close to one of the larger sahuagin. Then Nar uses her cloak to glide up to a sahuagin unleashing the surprise attack. The zombies claw at their opponents as the rest of the party engages from the corridor. Claws and swords ring out as the two forces clash together, but within seconds the sahuagin lie lifeless on the stony ground as the party explores the room.
The eastern edge of the room has a passage leading onward blocked by closed metal gate. She tracing the gears to the mecanism on the northern wall and then notices a net rigged in the ceiling of the hallway. Nar fumbles with the knot tying the net as Kyra reaches above her and slashes it, allowing the net to fall harmlessly in the hallway.
The party considers the noise the gate will make, then pauses as Karia listens at the gateway. From beyond, she hears a low constant hum of growls and grunts that indicates a large group of sahuagin lie beyond. This likely matches to their map of a large room opening out toward the Azure Sea. Deciding they have enough information, the party decides to leave the gate in place and head back northward.
