We started in the teen hang-out. The lady in charge gave us some drinks and food for our help in getting her food booth ready for the upcoming Founders Day celebration. She was grateful but seemed to be worried about something. Evidently, someone or something had been stealing fish from her basement. We were asked to investigate it. We were stopped by her Orc cook, Zug, however, he just wanted someone to taste his latest stew. TerStegen said it was quite tasty. Xeelie slipped by him and headed down, however, the rest of us were not far behind. Down a level, she could see that barrels of salted fish had been broken into and some had spilled out. It looked like animals rather than thieves. There was also a hole in the cavern wall where a recent collapse had opened it up. Oakwood went past that area and into a shelved storeroom. The rest piled in and made some rolls. At the top of the round, the giant rats attacked.
TerStegen was hit a couple of times but Clarissia was hit and then crit and dropped. Oakwood took out that rat but missed his First Aid roll. A tough DC 17 for a 1st level character. The rest were dispatched. Briscoe managed to stabilize her. Next, he tried a Treat Wounds with Oakwood aiding. But there was some debate as to where to do it. Briscoe was hoping to increase his odds by moving her upstairs into a room or a bed but did not realize this was a converted warehouse and not an inn. We argued in the kitchen. The owner was concerned but also didn’t want an unconscious and bleeding girl in her eatery so the roll was made there. Oakwood made his 20 roll to aid which was only worth a +1 and then Briscoe made a tough roll to give her 2d8. With another hour of treatment, she could get another 2d8. During that time, he treated SerStegen as well. This is the equivalent of a short rest in PE2? Xeelie ran home to get her bow during this time. Unfortunately, the town Cleric showed up and ordered us not to continue down the hole. We’re just kids, after all. SerStegen managed a diplomacy roll to allow us to take care of it since the guards were all busy with the Founders Day preparations but she refused to allow Clarissa to go. She took her to her house to rest. However, Xeelie busted her out and we prepared to head down.
It was a natural cavern but the walls were smooth as if melted or consumed? It had a downward slope but there was a 10-foot drop to be navigated. The Athletics roll was easy, if you had athletics. Briscoe missed his roll but was saved by a rope. He missed the next roll and took a point of damage. Oakwood simply carried the small Clarissa down. Down there were some mushrooms that Xeelie said were edible. Oakwood grabbed some on the off chance we might spend the next two years down here. The next chamber had spider webs and a giant spider appeared soon enough. It shot web balls but kept missing. We fared no better. With the difficult terrain from the webs and the fact that it was on the ceiling coupled with its high Dex and AC, it was hard to get to. We were first level but it didn’t help that no one could roll over a 10. After a couple of rounds of chasing it around, it fled into the next room. We decided to stop there. More dungeon crawling next time.
GM's Summary:
Our fine heroes stuffed their faces with non-alcoholic beverages and Deep-Fried-Everything, a specialty of Xug the Orc cook at the Otari Fishery. All this was courtesy of Tammily, the owner of the Otari Fishery (the town's nighttime teen hangout). Tammily was repaying the group for helping prepare her Fish-N-Fry booth for the upcoming festival. Tammily told the teens of her new predicament. She was expecting a large shipment of fish to be sold during the upcoming festival.
However, some person or a group of people were raiding her fish storage downstairs. Coming off of the high of beating their rivals, the teens quickly agreed to help Tammily. Tammily continued serving patrons during the busy Friday night while the group of teens headed to the basement to investigate. They stopped momentarily in the kitchen to sample a delicious mystery seafood chowder, courtesy of Xug. The teen Orc, Ter'Stegen, despite being of average intelligence seemed surprised to meet another Orc resident. Perhaps Ter'Stegen has a mental block in recalling beings with names of 1 or 2 syllables and/or names which are comprised mostly of U's and H's like almost every other Orc in existence.
In the basement, a quick cursory inspection found a new large hole in the basement wall. From the darkness came chittering followed by 4 dog-sized rats. Despite some initial confusion, the group of intrepid teens bravely stood their ground. They quickly cut, clubbed, and skewered the overly aggressive vermin. During the tussle, Clarisa was grievously wounded. The chittering was not encountered again after slaying the dog-sized rats, thus it was concluded that this was simply a noise being made by the dog-sized rats.
A distraught Briscoe tried to insist the group carry Clarrisa upstairs and into the dining area so Clarisa's lifeless body could be dumped on a presumably occupied table in the busy eatery for all the patrons to view. Clarisa was instead carried upstairs by a much calmer Oakwood who opted to keep things more controlled and put Clarisa down in the Kitchen (perhaps Oakwood is indeed redeemable and only disappointing to his stepfather). Xug quickly pulled in Tammily. Noting the state of the group and the unconscious Clarisa, the Fishery's owner sent for Vandy Bander, a High Priestess of Serenrae and the town healer. While awaiting help, the teens were able to rouse Clarisa. Vandy arrived and noted the state of Clarisa, the daughter of an employee. She insisted on escorting Clarisa home and having a word with Lux, Clarisa's mom. Clarisa was instructed to rest in her room for the remainder of the evening.
Back at the Fishery, it was discovered that not only was Clarisa taken away, but Xeeli had mysteriously disappeared. The teens waited to see if either Xeeli or Clarisa would return and took a brief rest at their regular table. Ter'Stegen offered the carcasses of the dog-sized rats to Xug. Using a popular Orc ethnic recipe, Half-Burnt'N'Half-Raw Rodents on a Stick, Xug again impressed the group with his cooking prowess. Connecting with his ancestry, Ter'Stegen was the only one able to stomach this very spicy Orc delight.
Meanwhile, Xeeli freed Clarisa from her confinement at home and, despite Clarisa stumbling and slamming the wall with her mom on the opposite side, the duo snuck away unnoticed. The group reunited to continue investigating the basement and the mysterious hole. Perhaps this was one of the many tunnels left behind by the kobolds that briefly occupied the town many, many years ago. With hopes high, the group continued their search. It was discovered that the hole seemed to have been recently made. While the hole in the wall was obviously not natural in origin, the cavern on the other side of the hole seemed to be natural. Shadowy stalactites above obscured the ceiling, possibly hiding enemies above.
Down the tunnel was a cliff plunging into darkness. Naturally, the group went over the edge. While descent seemed easy, surely later ascent would be slower and more difficult... especially if the group had to exit quickly...like perhaps due to needing to escape a fire, but how could a fire happen for no reason. Spontaneous combustion? Bah! The floor here was soft and covered by mushrooms. The ceiling above was obscured by webs connecting the sparse stalactites, the tunnel continued down towards an opening. A natural cavern ahead was further clogged with webs that extended all the way to the ground. Completely disregarding her life or the lives of her companions, Xeeli attempted to end them all by lighting the webs on fire. It was extremely lucky that the webs were non-flammable. Despite this stroke of extreme good fortune, Xeeli was still mildly infuriated that the webs didn't burst into a conflagration immediately.
A large but extremely quick spider darted out of the strangely fire-proof webs and attempted to add the teens to the spider larder. However, the spider was inexperienced and failed to injure let alone capture a single teen. On the other hand, while the teens were also young and clumsy, they managed to drive the extremely large and agile spider from the webs and out of the cavern. Perhaps now that they aren't being harassed by a dextrous spider, Xeeli can find an alternate way to kill herself and her friends.
