Underdark South of Chrysoprase
We enter into the Drow Tunnels, and face the first guard post, which are a pair of Rot Trolls. They hit with necrotic damage. The trolls take Simon down, but he gets back to his feet.
We manage to defeat them, but we are somewhat depleted. The drow are clever in putting some dangerous creatures between us and them.
We progress towards the Driders, according to the xorn’s directions. We encounter 3 of them, Drow grafted onto the body of a spider. They are vicious and fast. Codex is knocked down and near death twice. Their hatred of those that are “false priests” is intense.
We defeat them, but they have depleted about half of our supplies. We risk a short rest, but have to keep moving. If the outpost is on alert, our task will be much harder.
Head deeper into the cave complex, and encounter a Death Kiss, a Beholderkin that is the result of a beholder having a nightmare about losing blood. This thing has a body with a single eye, and several tentacles ending in screaming mouths. It crackles with lightning. It’s lair is filled with exsanguinated bodies, this thing drinks blood.
It grapples us and drains blood, and any piercing or slashing weapons cause a burst of electricity. Bludgeoning damage does not cause that electricity burst. Maude defeats it, after a short and dangerous battle.
In the bodies of the creatures it has drained, we find some magic items, chief among them is the Sentinel Shield. Codex has a new shield!
We enter into the next set of caverns, a large area, and are attacked by Cloakers. They can mirror image themselves, and cover a person and suffocate them. However, they are at a disadvantage in bright light, and cannot maintain their mirror images. After a tough fight, we prevail, but we are very messed up.
We then fight the group of Drow, 5 in all. There is a captain and a wizard with them. It is a dangerous fight, but we barely make it. We recover, but our resources are almost exhausted. But there is no time, we have to take on the central drow Outpost. There should be about 5 Drow remaining, and any other attendant pets (spiders?).
We press on. We’re hurt, we’re low on spells, but we have to move on.
We find a secret door, leading into the main entrance to the Outpost. We use the dust of Disappearance to get into the outpost, through a spider decorated door.
There are three drow and one drider in the Outpost, which is a three level carved structure in the stone, with no ladders… because they have levitation. Initially they are alarmed about the door opening and no one visible, but Codex manages to deceive them to think it is the Drow, pretending to speak in the Wizard’s voice.
We get into position, Berdyn getting to the upper level through his acrobatic skill. He finds the final Drow, the Priestess. And he knocks her out!
The fight commences. The unconscious priestess is rescued by a Drow Captain, and he protects her until Berdyn and Bale defeats him. Meanwhile, we defeat the other two drow and the Drider, appearing out of invisible to take advantage. After a pitched battle, we defeat them, and the drow priestess is manacled. The magic manacles should keep her defeated. We also removed all holy symbols from her, and gagged her. Hopefully that should keep her from using spells on us.
The upper level has an altar to Lloth, and we fear it may be a portal that a Yochol, a demon handmaiden of LLoth, can step through. We spend an uneasy night on the bottom level, resting and recuperating.