Back to the Battle
Following the events of WoW C3.S4.10 Fight Night! (Part 1), we found our adventurers locked in mortal combat with the The Overseer in his underground Lair
At some point during the battle an alarm began sounding over the lair’s magical speaker system. A voice shouted: “Alert! Intruders in the arena chamber, some heading west into the gallery!” Additional Kuo-Toa guards charged into the arena chamber from the adjacent prisoner cell block and cast a protection spell on the Overseer before beginning to attack TMM05
It was now clear that Nar'l Xibrindas, the Overseer’s lead advisor, had betrayed his master. He had helped orchestrate the attack by his fellow drow, providing them crucial intelligence on the timing of the arena battle and the lair’s layout. Knowing the The Overseer would soon piece this all together, Narl took aim and launched a cloud of deadly gas at the beholder. The cloud hovered around him, both about 15 feet in the air.
Between hacking and retching, Xanathar screamed: “Narl you snivelling traitor!” and shot him with a ray of destructive energy from one of his eyestalks, vaporizing him instantly.
Metatronia heard Jarlaxle speak to her through the necklace he had given her, saying: “Metatronia, its JB. I need a bit more time. Hold the big guy there as long as you can.”
The remaining Zhentarim fighters were attempting to flee via a passage to the north, but were intercepted by a suit of animated armor that began to batter them with its fists. Their leader Vevette Blackwater was snatched up by the Grell’s tentacles, paralyzing her, and it killed her not long thereafter.
Meanwhile, the purple wurm suddenly recoiled and regurgitated a mass of acid, mucus, and debris onto the arena floor. Crawling out of the mess came Ahmaergo, the Overseer’s top lieutenant, who the worm had swallowed. He wiped the mucus from his face and beard to reveal a look of white hot fury before he leapt back into the battle. He tore into both the worm and the female drow Moondancers who had previously controlled it with his greataxe. The drow attempted to regain control of the worm via a spell, but failed.
The Overseer’s Secret Escape Route
Next, Bartholomew Glockenspiel hurled a mote of fire that exploded with concussive force near the Overseer (Fireball). The Overseer took serious damage, and the explosion also disbursed the cloud of deadly gas that had been hovering around him.
The explosion also disrupted illusion magic that had been concealing a secret passageway entrance 20 feet up into the wall of the arena chamber. The floating Overseer let out an audible toot which propelled him toward his secret escape route.
Thankfully beholders are not very fast, and Vonna intervened. She vanished in a puff of mist before reappearing directly in the path of the beholder.
The Overseer was not amused and blasted Vonna with a magical ray from his tentacle eyestalks, causing her to be paralyzed in a state of pure terror. The Overseer also hit Bruce and Fearonuh with sleep and paralysis rays, successfully holding back two of the party’s best warriors. Despite her terror, Vonna was able to channel Tyr who leant her courage and she smote the beholder with her maul as he floated by her, illuminating the dark passage with a flash of radiant light. Xanathar retaliated, blasting her with yet another ray of necrotic energy which instantly drained all the vitality from her body. She was knocked her unconscious and her skill was visibly pale and sallow.
Bartholomew Glockenspiel saw Vonna fall and took action to protect his friend, teleporting himself up into the hidden passage with misty step. He sprayed the Overseer with a jet of poison, before turning to stabilize Vonna. Metatronia followed shortly thereafter, traversing the 20 foot wall with a series of superhuman parkour maneuvers.
Meanwhile Back in the Other Chambers
TMM05, Bruce, Pyper, and Fearonuh continued to battle in the main arena chamber, fighting against the Kuo-Toa, Grell, and Ahmaergo with the help of the Moondancers. At one point Pyper donned her cape of billowing, grabbed hold of her crystal, and took off into the air using the spell fly.
Meanwhile, in the chamber to the west, Jarlaxle and his men had cast spells of magical darkness to keep the other guards at bay. As the guards emerged on the other side of the pool of darkness, they were met by gunfire from the drow gunslingers. Jarlaxle, still invisible, scampered along the ceiling using the spell of levitate. He eventually made it to an area of the ceiling with a round carved relief. There he detonated a satchel full of smokepowder which caused a section of the ceiling to fall away, revealing a passageway above. This was the Overseer’s secret escape route that connected the arena chamber to his inner sanctum.
The Last Moments for Xanathar
Next, the Overseer used his magic to turn himself invisible once again and moved up his escape tunnel away from Vonna, Bartholomew, and Metatronia. He also used his magic to impart all of the surfaces in his lair with a coating of slippery slime. Ten feet into the tunnel was a deep round hole that was ten feet wide, now a dangerous hazard due to the slippery conditions.
Even though she was unconscious, Vonna could feel the importance of this pivotal moment. In her dream state she called out to her god saying: “Tyr, I don’t know if you can hear me right now, but I could sure use your help. Lend me your strength so justice can be served.” To her surprise she heard a voice respond saying “Vonna, you have been tested, and your tests will continue. But today you will rise and smite this wretch in the name of our holy cause!” Vonna regained consciousness and took stock of the situation. She summoned just enough strength to stand up and cast the spell of Detect Magic, hoping to aid her in sensing the location of the invisible beholder. She was able to confirm that the Overseer had proceeded up the tunnel away from them, and not down the pit in front of them.
With this information from Vonna, Bartholomew Glockenspiel used his last remaining fireball at a spot in the tunnel where it began to curve out of sight, hoping to hit the invisible beholder. His hunch was right, and they heard the Overseer scream in anguish after the shockwave of the explosion hit them, blowing their hair back with a blast of hot wind.
At this point the The Overseer knew that his invisibility magic had been compromised, and in desperation became visible as he blasted his pursuers with his eye rays. Bart, Vonna, and Metatronia were each hit by a ray, but thanks in part to Vonna’s holy aura, all of them were able to resist the magical effects and avoid harm. The frustrated Overseer moved around the corner, just out of sight from the group.
Metatronia knew their window of opportunity to kill Xanathar was closing, and in a daring selfless act, leapt across the ten foot wide pit in front of her. Even though the stone floor was slippery with slime, she was able to keep her footing and avoid falling to her death. As she rounded the corner she drew an arrow of moonlight out of thin air and notched the Crescent Moonbow, before loosing the arrow at the beholder. Her aim was true, and the arrow sunk deep into the Overseer’s stoney body. She saw his skin begin to crack and rays of light began to shine through before his body exploded with radiant energy. The Overseer had been vanquished!
Metatronia heard the sound of something small and metal ring as it hit the ground. When her vision readjusted to the darkness, Metatronia found two rings on the floor where the beholder had been. She watched with alarm as an eerie cloud of dark energy was siphoned into one of the rings. She carefully pocketed both rings, but only told her allies about the one that had absorbed the dark energy.
Escaping the Lair
Meanwhile, about 200 feet down the passage, Jarlaxle had reached the Overseer’s inner sanctum and secured the eye of the Stone of Golorr that was the focus of the heist. Jarlaxle then ran down the passage to Metatronia and said “You’ve bested the beast! Excellent work. How about we blow this popsicle stand?” Metatronia told him about the portal key that Pyper had in her bag, and that the portal itself was not far from the cell block. They agreed this was their best option for an escape route.
Back in the main arena chamber Ahmaergo, the purple worm, grell, and Kuo-Toa had all been slain (or so they thought). Fearonuh bent down to loot Ahmaergo’s corpse, but to her surprise, he held up his axe with a glare in his eyes. He spoke an arcane phrase and suddenly a feeling of terror froze everyone in the room. Ahmaergo limped over to the hole in the arena floor, dropped down into the darkness and escaped.
Before more reinforcements could arrive, the remaining party members and their allies all clambered up into the secret passage using a combination of rope and Pyper 's ability to fly.
From there, Jarlaxle led the group up the passage and they found themselves looking down into the hole he had blown in the ceiling of the western chamber. Jarlaxle tipped his hat to Metatronia, and with a wink and a wry smile he conjured an illusion, taking the form of Ahmaergo. He dropped down to the floor and ordered the onlookers “The Overseer has been killed, we must avenge him! All able bodied fighters to the arena chamber immediately, we can’t let the Lost and Found crew get away!”
After waiting a few moments, the party made a break for the cell block. Part of the group set up a perimeter by the portal while the rest took out the remaining guard in the cell block and grabbed the party’s belongings that had been taken. Without any further harm, the group was able to escape through the portal to the sewer hideout they had first located in session 2: WoW C1.S2.02 Warehouse Warfare, Sewer Stronghold
TO BE CONTINUED