Into the Depths

[Dungeon Master]

Date : Ches the 19th, Year of the the Rogue Dragons (1373 D.R.)
Location: Docks of Waterdeep
Time : Midday
Weather: Raining[/u]

The adventurers approached the front of the Yawning Portal, one of the most iconic building in all of the Realms, the only known entrance to Undermountain. A Dungeon, that Elminister once called "the biggest mass grave in all of Faerun ". The location of the Inn, is rumoured to be built on the foundations of a wizards tower, though the rumours say that the wiozard sill lives, slowly going mad in the halls of Undermountain. The sign hanging over the door, simply declares "The Yawning Portal"

The group enter the tap room of the Yawning Portal Inn and immediatly notice the large tap room. The tap room is dominated by a large 40 feet in diameter well, over which is a large man powered winch. Surrounding the well are numerous tables and chairs, many of them occupied by a number of patrons. The tap room itself is noisy, and a number of members of staff taking orders from tables. As you enter a young serving wench just says, almost rhetorically
"Are you one of the Called?",before disapearing off further into the room.

Looking around the room, reveals a number of notable patrons. Behind the bar are three servers; a burly older man, a woman and a younger lady. The man appears to in charge barking orders. Though they appear to be a family, given their general demeanor. A number of other notable patrons are scattered around the tap room.
An Elven Wizard, an elderly priest of Tymora without his left leg, a young female wizard, an eastern man and a female gnome all stick out amongst the throng.

The most startling thing was the young 15 year old theif, Garri, who shouts across the tap room.
"By all thats Holy! Its Zeric and Cath, over here come on the first drinks on me" as he jumped around like a little puppy dog. At his side sat a stunning blonde dressed in armour.



TREASURE

Coins:
Copper 110
Silver 1197
Gold 946
Platinum 1

Gems
3 cut black stones, Jet
2 green stones with red flecks, Bloodstone
4 cut pink translucent, Star Quartz
black and white gemstone Onyx
ziose (100gold gem according to Bregl)


Carried

Zeric
A false hand, solid and unjointed, made of silver, with crescents of ivory as nails
A scroll tube,carved in ivory with gold-plated metal end caps, empty/
A black ebony wood wand inlaid with gold leaf design
A Quaterstaff made of ash topped with a skull

Cath
Medium shield made of metal = Gileans Shield
a small bag of black powder
A heavy stone hammer with a rare sunwood handle and its grip wrapped with remoharz leather

Dace
A longsword with eagle design
2 hand crossbow and 40 bolts in two quivers (drow design)
Suit of chainmail in black

Unclaimed
2 hand crossbows (drow Design)
silver hammer for gem working
Shiny Scale mail = Areanas Armour

[Zeric]

Zeric strode over to the young man, grabbing him in an uncharacteristic bear hug, released him and them patted his belt where his purse hung with a sly smile.

"Well Met, Garri," the young sorceror smiled, "I trust the day finds you well? What news of... things?"

[Cathmhaol]

Cathmhaol eyed the blonde woman speculatively before turning to the young thief. "Ye're doing well f' yersel' lad, I wouldnae ha' thought she's in yer league," he grinned. "Now yet the drinks in an' ye can fill us in on what ye've been up t'".

[Rumbleskin Ironeater]

At the mention of a drink, Rumbleskin's face splits into a grin as he walks to the table with Cath and Zeric.

Pumping the young thiefs hand with great entheusiasm, Rummbleskin barks: "Lad, I be Rumbleskin Ironeater o' clan Ironeater and anyone who starts a conversation with a drink is good by me."

Rumbleskin then moves to inflict the same greeting on the armoured blonde before sitting himself at the table...

OOC: I'm really sorry for the lack of posts up to now folks... I think I'm back on track now.

[Dace]

Dace and Maylene walked in with the others, the younger man squinting from within his hood as he took in the occupants. Seeing Zeric hug the other man he realised this was someone he could most likely trust, or if not trust then at least not be concerned about.

Watching the proceedings, Dace waited for an opportunity before nodding at the youth and his companion. "Dace," he smiled at the youth, "I have heard all about you. Only the good things, of course." His smile said it was perfunctory but not intended to cause offence, unhappy as he was in social situations. "And this is Maylene." he said, gesturing to his own companion.

[Cathmhaol]

"Good things?" said Cathmhaol, "Ye can be sure that was a short conversation." He grinned at the young thief.

"We'll be wantin' food as well, seein' as ye's are goin' t' the bar," he said.

[Dungeon Master]

OOC- Exposition, Exposition

"Sit down sit down, everyones welcome. " he nodded to all the party. He waved a serving girl over whispered in her ear with an impish grin and she scuttled off giggling worse than a 5 year old girl.

"Well before I start the whole story of what happened to the rest of the Daggers, I thought I should ask about Vane? Where is the smelly priest I was looking forward to seeing him?" He asked looking at Zeric and Cathmhaol. Without waiting for an answer he continued

"The day you three left, to investigate the missing merchants was the worst day of my short life." his face turned dark.
"you all left and then Throgbur took charge, you know he was lovely but he wasn a leader he would never have been able to hold out against what came against is that day. He just didnt have the wit to do it, even before that moment" his face became sad.

"So it was in the afternoon, after lunch, I had headed out to the fields with some of the younger boys. Closest to Daggerford, practicing with spears and swords. It was bright and sunny, but the sky clouded over quickly. It then got cold very cold, then it struck. A dragon black as the darkest night sky, flew from the swamp, spraying acid from its breath destroying building, children, anyone in its way. Bodies turned to bone by its dread acid. Then they came, I now know that they are called Khasta's. Warrior lizard men, tougher than anything Id ever seen. Wearing metal armour, carrying polearms and long bows. Better equiped than anything. They came to the village, a whole company of them, up to a hundred, leading a mass of crazed lizard men. They over ran the rest of the adventuring group, I saw it all from that hill. I saw them all die every one of them." he took a drink of the wine in a glass on the table

"First to die was Kirdan, he fought like a man possessed. Killing lizards left and right, I saw him there, then a large Khasta went and fought him toe to toe. He killed the monster, but then 10, 20 lizard men swamped him. It was like a hoard of ants all over him, he couldnt cope. He got dragged under, he disapeared. Kally, Perrin, Myr launched an assualt from the Dukes house, trying to get to Kirdan, but they werent fighters. They were cut down, by the Lizard men over ran. It looked to me until that Sssakathka had a point to prove. He wasnt leaving anything to chance. The three left, Throgbur, Bellandona and Sir Kendrick were captured, I stood there watching.

Then I saw him, sat astride that black dragon a mighty lizard man. 10 feet tall, the world became a dark and cold place. Hes nearly 10 feet tall, and almost as wide carrying a sword of black metal. Hes massive, utterly massive. There was only the Daggers and the Baroness left. He spoke, I could hear him in my head. It rang out, I wanted to go to him but I fought the urge. I just stood and watched, he spoke, he told Throg to kill Bellada and he did. He just raised the axe and it fell. Chopped her in half, Sir Kendrick begged for his life, he was always such a wimp. He begged and begged I jut wanted him to stop. But Sssakathka told Throgbur to hold him and then the Lizard punched into the Sir Kendircks chest, pulled out his still beating heart. Holding it to lips he sucked the blood out of it, then he handed it to Throg who sucked it as well. By Helm, it was awful! Then as if the Lizard Men and the Khasta's werent enough, they slithered forward. Yaun-Ti, he has Yaun-ti! They control magic and worship old gods, Cath? They worship fearful old gods! There was at least a dozen of them, but I ran fast. I hid and ran. Eventually getting to the Helms Hold, a few days later. Thats where I met Xand" he pointed to the woman at his right shoulder

"We then rode to Daggerford and met the Duke, he told me of the Sword. The sword that his ancestor carried, the Sword of the Sun, the only weapon thats ever hurt the Lizard King. That was over a month ago, its here in Undermountain. We have to find it and kill Sssakathka. " He just stated his voice running like a galloping horse, almost out of breath

[Zeric]

Zeric listened intently to the young man's tale, absorbing the details as was his way. His face only darkened at the question of Vane and at the mention of Throgbur.

"I will tell our tale as I told it in Neverwinter to Rumbleskin and add the details of what has transpired since then," he said. "Then you can comment when the tale is told, Garri."

"As you know, The Hold had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a merchant caravan and therefore, we decided to travel south and see what had become of them. In the vicinity of Liam's Hold, we heard rumour that the 'van had been likely taken by bandits which inhabited those parts of late. So, we set out to seek the truth. There was myself, Cath and Vane, along with an elven maiden we'd encountered in Liam's tavern. We had taken her for a Harper and foolishly put our trust in her... since that organisation famously serves the common good."

Zeric twisted his mouth in a rueful expression, "Anyway, we found the remains of a caravan and our friend Dace here, some miles south of Liam's Hold. Dace had been acting as a guard to the caravan and had been incapacitated in the fight. A tale of attack by wolfriders was told and a trail leading off the road, led us to the caverns which turned out to be Clan Ironeater's Halls. There we freed a maiden, Delora, who's father's caravan it had been and lost good friends in the fight. She elected to stay in Neverwinter in an effort to restore her father's business holdings."

Zeric regarded them each in turn, "We were betrayed by the bitch, Nimen who had been, at least according to her, tasked to lead us into a trap... A trap that cost us the life of our comrade, Vane."

"As far as we can determine, she is on her way here and to Undermountain and it is here we must thwart her plans. Now this information was imparted to us by a Naga, who had no reason to lie, as he thought he had us defeated and ready to be executed on the spot... "

Zeric paused for a moment, "It was during our escape from the Drow-infested halls of his people, that we encountered Rumbleskin, floating in some manner of stasis-magic field. Using my not inconsiderable skills at sorcery, I released him from his eternal bondage."

Zeric took another sip and said, "Well, by means of cunning, we escaped from the halls of his clan, which in the three hundred years since his imprisonment, had turned into a drow-infested warren and then ended up far north of our starting point, from there we encountered another traveller, he nodded acknowledgement at Eneval, "and were taken to Neverwinter, following a close encounter in Melgaunt with a Shade.""

His face darkened, a cold fire burned for a second in his eyes. With visible effort, he fought it down and continued, "Anyway, that aside; for it is a story for another time, we were taken before Lord Nasher of Neverwinter and to cut a long story short, we were tasked to meet you here and thwart Nimen and Throgbur's scheme - whatever it may be."

"We took ship for Waterdeep and arrived today," he said, "I encountered a traveller in the last inn we were at who said he travelled with Throgbur and Nimen - or two meeting their descriptions, anyway. They had stated their intention to enter The Underdark from this very taproom..."

He leaned in conspiratorially, "Now, I suggest we try to subtly find out the composition of the last couple of parties to venture into thon well. T'would give us some idea of what we might be up 'gainst."

[Dungeon Master]

"Ive done some of the work for this, the last four groups who went into Undermountain are as follows," Garri opened a scroll and laid it out on the table.

"The Company of the Iron Fist, entered three days ago, they normally operate out of Cormyr. Entering as part of this band were two wizards, a priest of Tymora and a priest of Lathander, two fighters and a professional locksmith!" he chuckled at the reference,
"They haven't as yet returned"

"Followed by Banar's Band, who came from Silverymoon. A mixed band led by a priest of Sylvanus called Banar. They consisted of two elven rangers, an Orc fighter, a wizard and a druid. The two elven rangers appeared a day later, the rest of the band wiped out in a fungus forest by a troll on the first level." Garri raised his eyebrows in surprise

"Next to enter was the Blue Blades, they are a collection of noble children from Waterdeep and seemed to be after the Axe, Azzureedge. Their leader was the cavalier Erik Eagleshield; they also had Irliar Wands, a wizard; Myrthan Jardeth, a priest of Siamorphe; Myridith Tharn, a warrior; Yarn Thunderstaff, a wizard. They too have not returned yet.

This morning The Company of the Green Dragonscale, entered. They were led by a Mither Windstorm, a Paladin of Torm. With two priests of Torm, a dwarf fighter, a wizard and an elf arcane archer." Garri sighed,

"Not much similarity, really"

[Cathmhaol]

"Hmmm," mused Cathmhaol, "Perhaps we need t' think o' what faces us below, rather than worry about who want afore us."

He looked around at his companions, "So, who knows what we'll face below, eh? Whatever gossip or rumour - let's have 'em all."

[Zeric]

Zeric listened for the answers, eager to assess the threats, or rumours of threats that awaited them below. Also, he relished the prospect of what might await him... it felt strangely right, like destiny was calling him into the well.

[Dungeon Master]

OOC- Exposition, Exposition

Garri sighed,
"You forgotten about Undermountain, Cath? Its infamous, thought youd know something about it being a local, but let me explain for everyone." he pointed at the others
"the elf, the dwarf, Zeric, Dace and his missus" Garri smiled at the faces

"Undermountain was a former dwarf hold that was taken over by the Mad Mage" he said
"They dont say his name around here" he whispered, before continuing
"The Mad Mage, uses spells and wizardry to populate the Halls with monsters. These monsters are gated in and out at random, which has happened now for a few hundred years. The Mad mage doesnt affect Waterdeep, so they in turn leave him alone. Except maybe to send adventurers down there, but I guess they never really reach the mage himself" he continued on

"Anyway, I have found a few things out. Heres he list, firstly Azzureedge, the Blue Blade. An axe of some power has resurfaced in Undermountain, its mean to be in the hands of an Ithilid. The watch are offering a cash reward for it. Secondly, as I said earlier there is a fungal forest on the first level, there seems to be a number of trolls occupying that area. Thirdly, there is talk of at least one dragon on the upper levels. Im not sure which level. But it seems to have been spotted by more than one group. Fourthly, there is talk of the Cult of the Dragon, the Red Wizards and the Zhentarim all having bases within Undermountain. Finally, the sword of the sun is located near to Skullport which is on level 3. In the hands of a trader called Mytheril Moonspun. Any questions?" he asks

[Zeric]

Zeric listened to Garri's description of what he knew of the perils of Undermountain. From what the young man said, it seemed it would be as hard a challenge as it was runoured to be - probably more so...

"We need to see about bolstering our band before contemplating any undertaking below," the young sorceror cut right to the crux of the matter without any embellishment. "A priest and another magic user at the very least and a couple of extra blades. Question is, do we recruit new members of The Daggers, offering shares in any treasure we gain, or seek out mercenaries and offer cash money for their particular talents? I'd be happier with the former. A man who has a vested interest would perhaps be more inclined towards loyalty."

He looked at the others in turn, Dace, Cathmhaol, Eneval, Rumbleskin and finally, Garrion the Quick, "We should hear all of your opinions on the matter before coming to a decision..."

He cut off suddenly, before announcing suddenly, "We should, in fact, make our arrangement formal and, more importantly, given our current location, legal and sign up Dace, Rumbleskin and Eneval to the Daggers officially - have their names added tot he Charter... Cath? Garri? What say you? We do not wish to incur the disfavour of The Lords of Waterdeep, do we?"

[Dungeon Master]

"If you vouch for them Zeric, then thats good enough for me. I would like Xand here to join as well. A priest of Helm on the books cant be so bad, can it?" replied Garri

"There are plenty for hire around here, so hiring isnt itself a problem. Its getting someone you trust, I wouldnt like to go in with just anyone. Theyd as soon stab you in the back in the Halls."

[Cathmhaol]

"Aye, we fallen foul o' that afore," muttered Cathmhaol. "I'd as soon as get people under charter, but it's tellin' who ye can trust an' who's goin' t' stick a knife in yer back, that's the trouble."
He mused for a moment, then said, "Zeric, do ye know o' ways t' tell if'n someone's goin' t' betray ye?"