MAL Ep. 37

The party's journey overland has gone mostly successfully...

1) The PCs argued for a while about whether to take a longer route to Ellenun to look for Red's missing staff. A vote was taken, and the party agreed to fetch the staff over Jon's misgivings.

2) Red used druidic magic to transform the party into Darkland bats, giving them echolocation and the ability to fly much faster than the party could walk.

3) The party flew most of the way to the area Red's spells had suggested the staff is in, before being interrupted by the breath weapons of juvenile dragons out hunting bats. After some fighting, the party managed to get the young dragons to back down, in the process inadvertantly convincing them that surfacers use fish as material components XD

4) Continuing on foot, the party came across a curious fountain of glowing green fluid powered by a large Archimedes screw and manned by three genies. Jon insisted that the party not stop to talk to the genies, but Aler and Zadkiel did anyway, learning that these genies belong to the same clan that was stranded in the Underdark due to the destruction of House Vel'sharren. The party learned that the genies could be freed by the "highest-ranking living member of House Vel'sharren" speaking aloud a formula of dissolution. Aler admitted being a survivor from the House, but expressed concern that the other drow would realize he was still alive if all the genies suddenly disappeared. The foreman, a blue-haired genasi woman named Tylini, suggested her clan could swear an oath not to return to the Auran plane till after Aler had left the Underdark and informed them so. She would not agree to committing her clan to doing an unspecified service for the party, but did agree to attend the anti-Invasion summit on their behalf, and also agreed not to speak of Aler to any but the other genies of her clan (who number 144 in total.) She put these promises into writing and gave them to Aler.

5) Aler spoke the formula of dissolution, but nothing happened. Tylini was disappointed and didn't understand what could have gone wrong, wondering if perhaps there might be another, higher-ranking member of the House who could have survived as well. Bay asked how rank worked in drow houses and Aler admitted he didn't know. He believes his mother was the matriarch and he doesn't remember having any siblings. However, he doesn't know whether there might have been succession issues such as another relative taking command after his mother's death, a cleric of Lolth being higher-ranking than a matriarch's child, his mother having declared someone else her successor in order to protect him, etc. Aler left the Underdark when he was a young child and there is little he actually knows about drow ways.

6) Tylini asked him to keep the papers she signed and if he was able to either establish himself as highest-ranking living member of the House or convince whoever is to agree to release the genies, that she would abide by her end of the bargain; until then, she will keep their meeting with Aler a secret.

7) At that point Angara leapt into the mana fountain, emerging dripping with mana and carrying another amulet of the House Vel'sharren just like Aler's. The genies didn't know whose it might be or when it was put there. Zadkiel said after next they slept, he would cast a powerful divination spell on it to try and locate its last owner.

8) Angara felt light-headed and underwent a transformation to her Dire Tiger form, though she also passed out and is now suffering some ill-effects to her saving throws.

9) Zadkiel noticed an Arcane Eye whizzing off to the north and the party took off in pursuit, worrying about who might have been spying on them and what they might have seen or heard. They found a satyr named Bandi reclining on the porch of a peculiar wooden house. Zadkiel asked him if he had cast the Arcane Eye and he said he did. The party parlayed with him a bit longer, learning that he came from the fey lands a few years ago to study the natural mana flows in this area (the party had noticed some bubbling green pools earlier, in addition to the mana drill.) Zadkiel pushed Jon to ask Bandi what he had seen at the well, worrying that he might have overheard Aler's deal with the genies, but he talked only about seeing their interactions, not hearing them, mentioning Angara's leap into the fountain. Jon pressed him about the amulet Angara had found in the fountain, Bandi asked to see it, Jon fibbed and said the party no longer had it, and though he thinks Bandi was aware he was not telling the truth, Bandi let the matter drop. He also spoke highly of the Guild of Magic in Ellenun, recommending a drow druid named Essenal to Red, and though he did not appear to know anything about House Vel'sharren he did appear to see through Aler's disguise (first time that's happened in the Underdark so far), warning Bay that drow, while not necessarily evil, could never be trusted and would always eventually discard people who were no longer of use to them. Aler ignored him. Awk-ward.

10) Continuing on, the party found the phosphorescent mushroom grotto where Red had seen a flash image of her staff sinking into dark waters. Aishek the lizardman guide earned his keep here, providing the party with information about several types of mushrooms and the local trees (which apparently soak in light through their leafy roots, which grow beneath the bioluminescent mushrooms.)

11) The PCs fanned out and proceeded cautiously around the murky lake in the near-darkness, using an animal messenger, a scry spell, and an unseen servant to peer into the lake while Aler searched for tracks or any sign of the illithid skyship landing in this area. He found none.

12) The link to the animal messenger was abruptly broken (by inference, it was eaten as it swam across the lake) and Jon kept rolling really bad search rolls. Eventually Aler spotted the staff half-submerged in the muck. Red began to pull it out with her mage hand.

13) Aler stepped under a giant anenome-like plant of some sort and was seized by its sticky fronds. He successfully resisted poison, but Khirg was unable to tear him free. Zadkiel transposed with him and used free action to escape, then Adriel defended Zadkiel and Khirg from attacks of opportunity while they retreated.

14) Meanwhile, Red had recovered the snake staff. She tested it and found that it still worked, though the magical snake was at low health after apparently having been damaged by the illithids. Aler was still able to find no sign of recent footprints in the area, much less a ship landing site. Of course, it's possible that the illithids have some way of passing without a trace, but it's also possible they never landed here at all.

15) Finally, Aler spied a building on a hill just north of the mushroom grotto. It appears to be a worn-looking shrine of some sort. Jon vociferously argued the party should ignore it and go straight to Ellenun, while Aler and Adriel argued just as strongly that the party should at least case the place out.

And there we broke for the day, with the shrine currently both containing and not containing a cat, as it were. Next episode, we will find out if the party goes to take a look at it or not, and then... onward to Ellenun!

Game on,

Laura