Adventurers
- Koko (Fighter 5) and Umphred (Cleric 1)
- Knuckles (Thief 2) and Juttery Jangles (Thief 1)
- Mandras (Dwarf 5)
- Rarder (Fighter 6) and Konrad Claver (Dwarf 4)
The party returned once more to the cliffs and roped their way into the little opening above the small waterfall they'd explored last time. Approaching the wall with the two buttons Mandras had discovered, Konrad pressed both to slide the wall away and reveal an alcove and a corridor. The alcove sported a chest whose disintegration over the years had resulted in the flakes of brass and verdigris which had caught the party's attention before.
Knuckles carried out the standard lock-checking precautions and discovered a trap mechanism. This was carefully dealt with and two poisoned darts shot harmlessly against the wall. Inside the party found a scroll case, a fine spear and a load of coins. They closed it again and ferried it out and up the cliff face for their hired soldiers and retainers to guard while they made their way through the secret corridor.
Anticipating that their target, the former pirate Gaspard du Nord, was roughly to the south east, they duly made their way through rooms and corridors with walls featuring various sea monsters and the constantly appearing motif of a trident rising through a crown.
Warily they poked their heads around corners. Several went to investigate what looked to be a ruined guard room while Konrad and Knuckles poked around an apparent dead end. The dwarf soon joined the others in their room while the thief continued looking for secret doors. The rest of the party heard a quick cry cut off by a splash.
They dashed to find the floor had opened up and peered down to see Knuckles floundering around some 30' below in a large cavern of some kind. Realising where it roughly was in relation to the cave they had explored on a previous visit to the cliffs, they hurriedly flung down a rope for their companion to climb. As he did so the waters beneath him sloshed about wildly and an enormous reptilian head broke the surface. The last thing the party saw of their thieving companion was a gout of flame as his magical leather armour allowed him one futile fire breath into the creature's mouth, before the dragon turtle's jaws snapped shut and left the party holding a much shorter rope.
They scooted back from the opening in case it lingered to spew anything up at them, but all was silent. Numbly, they gathered the frayed rope up, silently patted the shoulder of another thief, Juttery Jangles, who had clearly been part of the group the whole time, and continued their search.
Settling down in another sea monster-engraved room to listen at some doors, they were set upon by a horde of enormous spiders. They were mostly able to fight them off without an issue, their armour protecting them from the arachnids' attacks, but Umphred staggered back ashen-faced when one managed to bite his wrist. The superficial damage appeared minimal, but he soon felt the limb going numb and turning a worrying non-fleshy colour. Wasting little time, Konrad forced him to the floor and lopped the offending limb off, just managing to catch it above the rising poison line without dealing a fatal blow to the young cleric. Not yet worthy of prayer spells, he was still able to wield the party's healing staff to keep him going.
Wary after the loss of a companion and an arm, the adventurers explored just a little further, finding some abstractly-illustrated underwater hunters carved into some doors. They noted the location for a future delve, and hurried back to the entrance. Fortunately their journey was uninterrupted, and they were able to ride back to Vyones, count up and deposit their coins, and start planning their next venture.