At night, Seraphiel, Theros Bronzewood, Barrister Alemen, Beldroth, and Atherton Flameborn kept watch outside the upper entrance of the former Lizardmen lair, now held by the Sahuagin. Their lizardmen and Saltmarsh allies stayed back while the party looked for a way to reconnoiter the stronghold without committing to a full assault.
When the bronze-blocked doorway opened from within and two sahuagin stepped out to stand guard, the party took its chance. Barrister coordinated a silent breach, Beldroth dropped from above and killed one sentry cleanly, and Atherton finished the second before it could cry out.
With the entrance secured, Seraphiel led the vanguard inside with Beldroth and Oceanus while the rest followed behind.
Just inside, they found a guard chamber with three sahuagin, an inner gate, and a gong set ready for an alarm. The party struck fast and nearly cleared the room in a single burst. Two guards died before they could properly react, but one wounded sahuagin reached the gong and hammered out the warning. That changed the mission at once. Beldroth and Oceanus killed the last guard, Oceanus found the inner gate unlocked, and Seraphiel called the rear troops forward because stealth was no longer possible.
Barrister pushed into the next hall and found sahuagin reinforcements already rushing in from multiple directions, including crossbow bearers.
The fight turned into a contested stand in the halls beyond the entrance.
Barrister and Theros cut down one close defender while Seraphiel and Lizard Man Squad A pressed the eastern and southern approaches. Theros held the center as more sahuagin poured in from deeper passages and took wounds in the process. Then the defenders triggered a hidden trap.
A sahuagin pulled a concealed wall lever, and a heavy barbed net dropped across the gate approach, pinning Atherton Flameorn and Lizard Man Squad B while Beldroth slipped clear.
Rather than stopping to cut the net immediately, Beldroth went after the trap-setter to keep the pressure off the trapped allies. Around them, the melee stayed tight and dangerous. One lizard warrior from Squad A fell in the counterattack, and Theros took more minor wounds while the line struggled to hold.
The turning point came when the allies finally regained momentum. The Saltmarsh squad abandoned corpse cleanup and hacked Atherton free, and Atherton rejoined the fight on foot. For the first time since the gong sounded, no new sahuagin reinforcements appeared. Theros directed Lizard Man Squad B onto one target while Atherton sent the Saltmarsh squad to Seraphiel’s flank. That charge broke the remaining defense. The Saltmarsh squad killed two sahuagin outright, Oceanus helped cut down another as it tried to flee, and the last holdouts failed to break Barrister or Theros.
The final defenders in earshot of the alarm were then swarmed and killed, leaving the upper section quiet again and giving the party control of the immediate area inside the fortress.
Once the battle ended, Atherton matched their position to the old lizard man map and confirmed they were in a polished section that had been heavily rebuilt by the sahuagin. The party chose a cautious room by room sweep, with the lizardmen screening ahead.
They cleared a western chamber that held tools and an empty planting bed, then advanced into a large sterile area lined with rows of empty coffers and identical side rooms, likely new quarters or barracks under construction.
When they tested a southern passage the old map had marked as a dead end, they discovered an uncharted corridor descending deeper into the stronghold, proof that the map was incomplete. They also found an armory stocked with javelins, spears, tridents, hooked nets, and daggers, and Theros and Barrister each took six daggers.
Before moving on, Seraphiel examined the polished floor and found many varied humanoid footprints mixed with the sahuagin tracks. That suggested the fortress expansion had involved numerous non-sahuagin laborers, slaves, or captives, and it gave the party a new question waiting deeper in the stronghold.
