Game 4 12/20/19
So at the end of last time, after mapping out the whole sewer system, the only lead we seemed to have left was this chute into which everything in the sewers seemed to be draining. Andy cut short the taking a long rest wrangling by starting at the end of a long rest. So once again we met for breakfast to discuss our options.
By the way, the half-orc was ill and a medicine roll determined he was diseased. (Evidently, the tough half orc was the only one who missed his CON save.) Unfortunately, neither Paladin was in attendance but luckily the Sorcerer could cast lessor restoration and cure him. There were several lines of inquiry to pursue and then all of the logistics on how to get down this chute with some hope of getting back up. One clarifying point was that while the chute dropped quickly at first, it became more gradual. We also learned that this town was built on some cliffs. So put those two together and it seemed likely that this drain fell to sea level and would likely empty out on the shore. The previous description led us to think that it was falling below sea level which would be a whole other thing. We still had a bunch of questions to ask and we decided to start with the Sheriff. At which point Andy circumvented our investigation activities and pointed us to the adventure. Yeah.
The Sheriff had gotten word that the missing rat-catcher had turned up at his hovel outside of town. Evidently he’d been held captive by some dudes with descriptions matching the guys we fought last time. We went over to question him. The rat catcher had found the sewer exit down on the beach and figured that’s how the rats were getting in. However, when he investigated he was attacked by rats who were much more intelligent than normal rats. They were also covered in this green slime. He managed to get away but they pursued him all the way back home.
Once safely home, 2 Eladrin and a Dwarf busted in and held him captive. They promised not to kill him and would only be staying (and eating his food) as long as it took to take care of some troublemakers in town (us). But they left and never came back (because we killed them). They had some others with them but he never got a good look at them. I.e. no useful big-picture information from him. The upshot was that he could show us the cave but he was unwilling to go back in. Evidently he could hear the rat voices in his head and was a bit shaken.
So we headed down, figuring time was of the essence. Our sailors said that this cave would be underwater at high tide but it was accessible now. It was guarded by 2 giant rats. The Rogue cast Friends and tried to bluff her way past these intelligent rats. That did not work and a fight commenced. It was more giant rats and more rat swarms. Other than Andy’s occasional crits, it wasn’t too tough. One rat or swarm ran back into the cave so we gave chase. At some point, the Monk started hearing the rats talking in his head. Maybe it was the slime although cleaning it off later didn’t seem to help.
The drain headed in and up but there were stairs on both sides once you got into the dark. The half-orc went up one of them but when he encountered greenish mist clinging to the floor, he turned around. The Monk was not afraid, figuring we wouldn’t be facing a Cloudkill at 3rd level, and pressed into it. He came to a room with 2 acolytes brewing a big vat of green slime, several guards and more rats. He attempted to fall back a bit but ran out of movement and didn’t get back as far as he would have liked. So it was a big bottleneck with people trying to attack and attack around the Monk. The Wizard managed to get a Shatter shot past and dropped 3 of them. But more came up. The acolytes were back there casting (sanctuary as it turns out) but it was mostly a grind.
Andy managed to crit the Monk and drop him. The late-arriving Paladin moved up to cover him and get the swarm off him. Someone pulled the Monk back and the Sorcerer healed him. Eventually, we managed to get into the room. Despite the sanctuary spells which made targeting complicated, the lack of light which went out when the Monk went out and their numbers, we managed to win without anyone else going out. We took a short rest to heal up. We searched and found some loot. The Monk cast Detect Magic and we found some magic gloves. (We haven’t had time to identify them yet.) We said someone should be watching the other stairs but I don’t think anyone did.
After our rest, we headed that way. A voice called out telling us to leave or face the consequences. They also threatened to start killing people in town. But we LG folks couldn’t stand for that so we pressed ahead. With the Monk in the lead and the half-orc behind him, we head up the stairs. Then a flaming barrel of oil came barreling down. The Monk missed his DEX save and took 2d6 for which Andy rolled 12. The half-orc did not like his chances on a DEX save and chose to use a STR roll to just catch it. He also took 2D6 but Andy rolled less but more importantly, it didn’t continue through the rest of the party. Yeah. The Monk sped forward and managed to keep the next barrel from launching. The half-orc leapt over that grapple to get into the small room as well. The Paladin managed to acrobatically get over the flaming oil and tried to join the fight but ended up on top of a barrel. There just wasn’t enough room.
The casters used Presdigitation to quell the flames on the stairs so that the rest could follow next round. There were two grappler thugs in there. They had advantage when near each other. They had some grappling powers and feats which were complicated but didn’t do much more than tie up someone. But there were more of us than of them so it was a net loss for them. Mainly it was just a lack of room and Andy crits to worry about. When finished them off. There was another stairway up from here. I can’t remember if anyone else threatened us but we assume the guy in charge was that way. Despite 3 fights and only 1 short rest, we’ve got to press on from here. If we go back to town to rest up now, they’ll get away and/or start killing people. So it’ll be a boss battle with a depleted group next time. Should be fun. Next game should be on the 10th.
