Down the Tubes

Place of Peace

The goblins motion to invite this polite group to follow them, and away from the wall of scales, curving ever-inward tunnels (small, forcing the group to hunch and Derendil to crawl) open up in a cavern with a shrine-like fountain at its center. This fountain bubbles up sweet and carbonated water that is a refreshing delight (particularly for Dex). There are otter-like humanoids in heroic poses and frolicking among the flow of the water.

The goblin troop residing here wear clothing resembling Shuushar's and share his calming peace of mind in their manners and the look in their eyes. They speak only what is minimally necessary, in Undercommon, or Goblin tongue with each other.

The party is exhausted and stressed and this place of peace urges a much-needed long rest (of course with carefully set watches!)

Following the duress of surviving, pushing hard ahead of their pursuers, and the nerve-pinching sensation of the Faerzress, this place offers an overwhelming serenity by contrast. Sarith Kzekarit, in particular, drops into a deep deep trance, released from the strains against which he has been struggling.

A full day unfolds, with the wizards gaining new spells, using supplies provided by their hosts. Runi watchfully practices her maneuvers, and Vaxz meditates by the fountain, continuing to tend to Sarith in his deepened trance.

Gnostic Goblins

These ever-calm, mostly-silent, and generous hosts seem to be a sect of those who follow the teachings of The Society of Brilliance, first mentioned back in the prison cells by the radically pacifist Kuo-Toa fish-man Shuushar. The goblins have chosen to have no names among themselves, only symbols - as had their mentor, a derro (like Buppido), of the symbol "Y". and seem centered on the path to enlightenment being the absence of information, as they are frustratingly unhelpful. They enjoy the simplicity of this existence and the entertaining dreams of the "playful gods" of the fountain.

This location and the ways of these followers of enlightenment prove to be powerfully calming - particularly Sarith and Derendil. Sarith himself observes this clarity of thought has not been felt since his treatments by Shuushar, causing no shortage of regret at having abandoned the strange mystic who might have been crucial to surviving the madness.

It is during one of Sarith's deep trances that the party discovers that Sarith has kept a journal, written in a language or perhaps even a code that only he can read -- until Alyks Askaria learns Comprehend Languages out of the spellbook found on the body of a dead drow. What follows is Alyks' reading into those entries after Dex has distracted the dark elf. These are his scrambled thoughts on the events and also the thinking going on in his sometimes-splotchy head.

Drow Journal

The journal is written with ever-decreasing neatness and grammatical sense, tracking a mind whose sharpness is fading.

The Party

Vaxz is the only one entrusted with his fears and distant hope of recovery, otherwise he has mostly given up.
Runi is a threat to the One Who Speaks in his mind. Sometimes this makes him want to end her, sometimes sees her as hope.
Alyks is avoided, he fears her and senses her powers of fiery wrath, waiting beneath a focused and studious surface.
Dex is believed by most to be Tiefling, like Alyks, but he is dark fey and this pleases the One Who Speaks he may be fed lies to be lured into joining in the infestation. But then his seemingly genuine fondness leaves pangs of guilt and regret.
His racial disdain for dwarvenkind place both Buppido and Eldeth beneath contempt and notice as more than servants.
Derendil is hated, he feels the beast is mocking his own forgetfulness and descent into madness. He should know his place as a servant.
Jimjar is an incessant gambler, but also a great scavenger of helpful items. It is strange how nobody else seems to notice how often his wagers end with others winning from him items so beneficial to escape and survival.
Ront is hated even more than Derendil and he has added poisons to Vaxz's treatments to make the orc more mellow and subdued.

Himself

He found the journal, pen and ink in the boneyard after the battle with the human and minotaur skeletons. He gives a bit of the normal background on himself (see Sarith Kzekarit).
He once had such a skill for remembering things, and this fading is terrifying, so he is writing down what he can remember as it all gets worse, so he can try to keep up with his past and not fade away.
He is angry with his foolishness and greed at the work he did for that sweaty client in being bribed to hide Neverlight Grove from the maps.
He was paid in jewels from which he had to scrub off moldy gunk. He is certain this is how he became infected (infested?)
He does his best to keep the fungal growths on his skin (mostly his head) from showing, but Vaxz noticed and he begged him to help (but in secret).
He did not even know Nulnida Fae Tlabbar, the drow woman he was accused of murdering, but his memory is honestly missing from that time, so he is unsure. The Fae Tlabbar of this region are merchants - would seek slaves rather than sacrifices to Lolth.
The Mizzrym House (which includes Ilvara of Velkenvelve) is a fierce rival of House Faen Tlabbar - and the Mizzrym were angry with him for suffering a terrible ambush due to one of his "omissions" he had been paid to make on a map.
The interrogations in Velkenvelve involved pushing him toward believing the murder story and extracting information that might help them find this lost princeling Nezznar Baenre, "The Black Spider" to gain the rewards and favor from his powerful House.
The only reason these prize captives had not been sent immediately for sacrifice is the entire region is on top alert for this missing princeling. Once he (or his fate) is found, the transfer to the Drow High Priestesses will be swift!
It seems this spores infesting his body and mind are first devouring his loyalties to Lolth and the Drow. Those are now entirely absent - his only remaining loyalties are to his friends in those spare moments that his entire being serves the One Who Speaks.
The memory losses seem to be side-effects of the loyalty-feeding, and a fading identity as separate from the One Who Speaks, for whom his mind is on track to serving without question. Only Shuushar's assistance had helped push that back, and he is now far away.
Shuushar had revered a group calling themselves The Society of Brilliance as his spiritual guides and mentors. They may offer some relief from the infestation's effects, but how would they be located? The only place Shuushar mentioned was a settlement called Sloobludop on the shores of the Darklake.

The Escape

Choosing a destination was complicated, but appealing to sympathy toward Stool, Sarith was able to coax the party toward Neverlight Grove - a month's travel by way of upper passages that would be safer than exposure on the Darklake. This serves the direction of the One Who Speaks in Sarith's mind. Though some places would have been closer, he lied to the party, saying they were all about a month away.

Shuushar had wanted to return to Sloobludop on the Darklake (only 8 days from Velkenvelve).
Buppido had wanted to go to the Duergar (Grey Dwarf) city of Gracklstugh (technically on the way to Neverlight Grove, but below given the plan to use upper tunnels.)
Jimjar suggested Blingdenstone, home of the Desconhecido (a month away, in other direction than Neverlight Grove).

Derendil, Ront, Vaxz, Runi, Dex, and Alyks felt no place in the Underdark - so other than helping Stool, were supportive of any hasty escape - so signed on to the plan to head for Neverlight Grove.

In the prison cell, he kept a careful distance, knowing everyone hated him but Shuushar. When all left on the serving duties, Shuushar was helping quell the voice of the One Who Speaks, and her voice was furious. That voice has been unchecked after leaving him behind. He had nothing to lose escaping - just as for most of the prisoners, who were soon to be sent to Menzoberranzan as sacrifices to the Demon Queen of Spiders, Lolth.

As the travels continue after the battle in the boneyard, Sarith notes there is something different about the Faerzress. The energies are darkening - not in the dim light they radiate, but in the sensations of being in their presence. Something has given them a sort of hunger, an anger, a viciousness toward destruction. This is surely connected to whatever is driving the nightmares and the madness that has come upon his fellow travelers, and perhaps many more - maybe everyone? exposed in these depths.

These upper regions of the Underdark change more often than the depths, and this leads to difficulties encountered - like the pressure-plate traps, set to unleash a furnace's heat upon the careless traveler. These are defeated with careful use of hammered pitons and Entangle-vines from Vaxz. The cliff intended to throw pursuit, the place he senses his own death, is this time a victory - paid dearly in grave wounds to the party, and a wicked death visited upon the orc Ront, suffering the effects of a dread necromantic enchantment cast by Dex. But it would have been very naïve to not expect casualties along the way.

In contrast to her prior eager-and-courageous self, with the target of her vengeance gone, Eldeth became more dour and withdrawn. A twisting passage slick with wet lime and howling currents of airflow was the last seen of the dwarf. Visibility and sounds above the winds were sketchy at best - and precautions should have been taken to tie a line between the party. But that tactic was employed too late, after the dwarf slipped down a steep side tunnel into a dark abyss (taking one of the precious packs of supplies with her). Buppido noted the accident, gaining suspicion from the entire party - but there being none witnessing anything.

Sarith becomes more confused with his sketchy memory and moving further and further from where he had expertise. He reports growing frustration as he and Buppido argue over the paths to take. The disturbed and murderous Derro now in his home territory as the party approached the regions above the Duergar city of Gracklstugh.

While in the zones of the Faerzress energies, magic seems to take on dangerously unpredictable side-effects, leading both Alyks and Dex to cause concern. One casting from the Tiefling opened clarity in the mind of Buppido, who later threw himself down a steep hole, suddenly gone.

After nearly leading the party down a corridor filled with explosive gas, the significant loss of time backtracking led the party to discover (only by pure luck) the ruined temple where Alyks and Dex helped Runi and Vaxz work out a riddle and mystical puzzle, resulting in the druid gaining four small carved totems helpful in communicating while in beast form and the knight gaining a round shield with the face and glow of the moon. The unburning light of this shield allowed returning to the chamber with the explosive gas, putting the party back on track.

(The journal is then read following the looting of the drow, which gains Alyks the Comprehend Languages spell.)

Eldeth Ethereal

Jimjar returns from a routine patrol, urging others to join him to see something. Traveling outside what must be a protective and secreting enchantment of the shrine, a ghostly shape can be sensed - but only of the corner of the eye, and only in complete darkness. The shape speaks in a painfully quiet voice, lost in even heavy breathing (Derendil thankfully chose not to crawl through and join). This figure is what is left of the will and faded lifeforce of Eldeth Feldrun.

Her fate was to become a wraith, like the one announced by Buppido as Kantharos back in the prison cell. But her hate and darkness was peeled away as she approached this place, and she is fading now - soon to find a sort of peace. She warns that the murderous derro very much pushed her down that chute and had ritually prepared her for this fate, somehow. That he is not at all dead, for this is the area whose passages he knows very well, and he will most certainly be coming for any who did not provide offerings.

She was chosen because of her bottled hatred and want of vengeance on the orc Ront, building and building in the corrupted faerzress - and now without any way to release after Ront's demise atop the cliff. When Eldeth fell to her death, that slippery passage emptied into the vast cavern above the Darklake. She fell thousands of feet, crushed in the shallows. But there are other passages that wind downward, toward the lake's shores, or even to spirals down great ancient pillars of stalactite-stalagmite piercing the surface of the lake. She had tried to catch one of these, but it too was slick with calcite, a network of great slippery slides.

As the party recalls the numerous dreams of the Otterfolk, their heads turn to the fountain - the dwarf squints, apparently straining to make out physical things, then raises a hazy eyebrow, bringing hand to chin in thought. She then reports what she thinks may assist in this thinking - the passages through the porous ceiling of darklake do seem to often wind, the threat is the ones straight down, obviously, but even these will not dive into the deep depths, as the surface of the lake will limit the descent. She estimates the group is perhaps 8 miles above the lake's surface.

Her form begins to struggle to remain, her fading words: Dark powers have touched the dark elf and the quaggoth. Your escape now relies on your mind even more than your location. Do not become lost in the touch of this place even if you do reach the surface - Dex is already exposed. It would seem my destiny was delivering lore rather than deed. She bows and fades.

Feather and Fang

The first of these frames the discussions about Sarith, while the second suggests considering Stool.

Where to?

Free of the nightmares and enjoying the tranquility, the party debates what to do in light of what has been learned and taking inventory of who is left:

Stool, the myconid sprout, homesick and lonely - but now apprehensive and less lonely,
Sarith, the infested dark elf ranger, holding on to his identity and mind with all his will,
Prince Derendil, the (maybe-cursed-elf-in-the-body-of-a?) quaggoth - a fearsome beast in battle,
Jimjar, a Desconhecido gambler, scout and rogue, persistently and subtly helpful,
Vaxz, a wood elf druid, rapidly mastering shapeshifting, doing his best to tend to the party,
Runi, a human knight, burying her mourning for her father in her dedication to helping escape,
Alyks, the precocious tiefling scholar-wizard, pragmatic but hungry for all she can learn, and
Dex, temperamental and forcefully opinionated necromancer-in-training, of odd blood origin.

Recalling Shuushar's mentions of the Kuo-toa fishfolk settlement "Sloobludop" creates the only tax upon the dark elf's mind. He expresses pride in the achievement of having successfully traveled so close to their original destination of Neverlight Grove, the home of the young sprout, and that the party's travel so far has been specifically to avoid (by way of traveling over the top of) the underground Darklake, where Sloobludop is now on the far shore (and may be two tendays travel turning back toward Velkevelve! - perhaps right into drow search parties?! Or, perhaps exactly what their hunter do not expect!?)

Jimjar agrees concerning the dangers of moving forward, noting in his last scouting sweep that the outer patrols of Gracklstugh’s Duergar were heard discussing an offer of bounty for the party’s capture. Adding to this, he is concerned about their safety with Buppido, a psychotically murderous and talented assassin, now on his home turf, and all too familiar with the party's weaknesses, modes of travel, and destination. He assures if the group can get to his home of Blingdenstone, he can get them to the surface. But the way there from here also required re-orienting at the Darklake.

The debates grew very heated, as the surface-folk were reaching the end of their tolerance for this world of darkness. Desperate for the most expedient way out, the thought of going back, let alone back down were troubling to say the least. Sarith confesses that there is certainly no path from Neverlight Grove to the surface, light damages the myconid fungus-folk, and that Gracklstugh's passages upward are unknown to him, and will likely be very challenging to get from the Duergar, particularly with the bounty and Ilvara in the region.

Vaxz's meditations by the fountain have led him to discover time passes more quickly outside than inside this place, and it is likely their pursuers have caught up or even passed their position. He has also become aware that soaking in the fountain's waters can temporarily lend the power of the Otterglide. The Faerzress will likely extend how long this effect will be retained, so long as they keep moving through fields of the energy.

In the end, concern over the warnings of Feather and Fang concerning the direction of Neverlight Grove, the Darklake becomes the next objective, perhaps gaining passage on a merchant craft to the north end of the lake and on to Blingdenstone. If Sloobludop presents itself as a way point, then perhaps Sarith can yet be saved.

Down and Down

The Otterglide proves both a delight and terrifying. The momentum, the darkness, the randomness of the twists and turns and drops, and difference in party skills quickly separates the party members into different channels. Eventually, each of the group finally falls through the ceiling above the Darklake.

Runi spirals nearly to the bottom of a hundreds-of-feet tall column, splashing into the water, but surviving. Beyond the spare illumination of the moonshield lies utter darkness - a wall of black. Alyks and Vaxz (the druid as a giant otter, with Stool lashed to his back) have managed to stick together, spiraling down well over a thousand feet on a similar pillar, where far at the top, the druid spotted a phosphorescent-fungus-lit island nearby - which is curiously absent on reaching the lake's surface.

Lacking such a pillar-path, Dex falls and falls and falls to loudly splash into the frigid dark waters. His muscles begin to tense up, as he struggles to swim, or even float, and attempt at putting forth a beacon of Light to be found even fails. The water begins to take him under - when a scaly arm scoops him from the water and gently places him on a Zurkhwood barge. The young necromancer looks up, hoping to see his rescuer as Sarith or similarly heroic figure, to find instead the wide-eyed fish face of a Kuo-Toan fisherman, like Shuushar (how ironic!)

The simple fisherman (party-named "Timmy-Tom") poles his barge toward the dim light of Runi, allowing her to board, then eventually, perhaps an hour later, does the same on locating Vaxz (, Stool,) and Alyks, similarly marooned at another column's base. The rapport spores from Stool help bridge the communication gap with Timmy-Tom, and the fisherman is convinced to travel in the direction Vaxz indicates for the mysteriously-disappearing island. The fisherman, intimately familiar with this region, is indeed curious, aware of very old legends of such a place, but never having heard any finding it.

Fallen Tomb

The navigation calls for some trial-and-error directionally, but suddenly after a shimmering, the glow of the enormous fungi bring the island into view. Timmy-Tom docks the barge, and the (once more intensely-arguing) party take to shore. Each party member now seems to be holding to their own strong opinion, almost a stalemate of any action, when it is the Kuo-Toa that notes the Faerzress on this island is intense. The wizards quickly note the truth of that observation and suggest tempering emotions - which these energies are seeming to greatly amplify.

Vaxz reluctantly shares he is hearing a voice in his mind. He assumes it is just a lure to a trap, but wondered if anyone else could hear it.

Hello? Is someone there? Oh please, I need your help!
I have been trapped in the dark for so long… so very long.
Please, won’t you help free me?

Dex has also had an impression of something, a temptation like a sweet, but a thing, not to eat. On the merest of hunches, Alyks uses the Wand of Secrets, and indeed - it indicates a hidden door downward beneath the muck covering this island.

Digging then follows, through an eon of debris and decomposition - mud and moss are cleared until the diggers (Runi and Dex) tumble into a room of expertly hewn stone. Dex shouts up to his fellow wizard, reporting a carving on the wall of what appears to depict The Netheril, the ancient and most powerful sorcerers the world has known, and an obsessive interest of the tiefling's. Alyks confirms the carving and even the writing. Leaving Timmy-Tom up top, Runi joins below and the party descends down stairs into what is a shrine-like room with two doors. This room has been heavily torn, deep scratches making the carvings and writings undecipherable. Later, it is realized this damage is actually quite recent, though it is obvious this place has been buried under the muck for at least a thousand years.

The first door leads to a mock-tomb, no doubt crafted to fool grave robbers, its sarcophagus bearing a curse to which Alyks is seemingly most vulnerable, hearing for the first time the spoken language of Loross - Netherese, which she has only seen in writing. The next room is filled with clay pots containing mummified organs and four sarcophagi, which on touch exposes the source of the scratches, as a wildly angry specter emerges from each. These undead deal devastating wounds upon Dex, Runi, and Vaxz, with the party quickly turning to defensive measures - Dex Vortex Warp-ing Vaxz away, Runi charging in with Taarakian Blood-Sword in hand and shield raised. The magics of Dex and Alyks trigger the intense Faerzress of this place, with echo-effects of their casting manifesting in unpredictable ways.

The party is made invisible, fog clouds appear, multiplying Magic Missiles, and finally Vaxz's castings cause similar channeling - ultimately saving the party, when his body itself becomes infused with brilliant light. (On later reflection, it is very good Stool stayed up to with Timmy-Tom!) As these creatures' attacks come to an end, the party wisely elects to take a long rest and recover, as half the party are nearly mortally drained.

Before exiting, Vaxz hears the voice again, pleading, "Don't leave! I'm here - below! Keep looking!"

Alyks' studies conclude this was once the floating tomb of some powerful (and apparently with blood of a giant) sorceress of Netheril - a sky tomb, such things are almost unknown, for when the magic (temporarily) ended, crashing the sky-cities to the ground, such tombs fell as well. This one must have fallen from such height and be made of such durability it penetrated deep deep into the earth to lie here for nearly two millennia. It is certainly worth exploring further! She is also certain whatever has recently happened with the Faerzress must have caused sudden changes on this island - explaining the scratchings in the shrine, and perhaps more danger further below.

The rolling sarcophagus Dex had found, which awakened the specters, indeed drops into a hidden tomb with a gilded and ornate giant-sized sarcophagus. The once masterfully-carved top is cracked and hangs at odd angles. With the impossibly curious temptation of the fey (cats have nothing on them!) Dex approaches and on slightest touch awakens the Desconhecido of Brysis of Khaem. This creature, pulsing with dark power, causes the wizard to cower in a corner as it approaches, gloating, "I have waited so so long for the energy to steal to secure my release! You shall all be consumed!"

And this is when Vaxz hears the urgent voice once more:

In the sarcophagus! I can help! Not the broken one!

He takes the form of a Giant Badger and leaps into the room, hastily clawing at the lid to expose the inner contents. The enormous body holds across its chest two hooked staves (one handed for it). One is made of a dark wood, a lump of burnt coal within the space beneath a curved metal blade, like a scythe. The other is made of a light wood and delicately inlayed with gold, light shines from a mote - like a tiny sun within its curved end. As the wraith, seemingly unstoppable, begins to drain Dex, Vaxz shifts to wood elf form, grasps the golden staff, who identifies herself as Dawnbringer and immediately ignites a burst of light, incinerating Brysis of Khaem fueled by power the creature itself imbued in the weapon long, long ago. With the end of the wraith, so too the end of the curse upon Alyks, and the entire Tomb of Khaem made quiet.

The sickle-staff of dark wood is claimed by the necromancer (this is Sickle-Staff of Darkness), and Alyks, intensely curious on learning all she can, also finds a chest hidden by invisibility - and an enchantment nullifying magic! Within the chest a number of gems and jewels and ancient coins - as well as a necklace and two potions she Identifies as a Necklace of Fireballs, a Philter of Love, and a Potion of Greater Healing.

Departing the island, Timmy-Tom insists he is obligated to report this island to the Lake Witch - and if he does not, there will be such trouble they would never leave the region. The party, both exhausted and curious, reluctantly agree.

(Next: The Witch's Crew)