Laniel gives his strikes everything he has and the second blow cracks the crawler open, spilling entrails to the floor.

(Combat has ended!)

Joy begins painting again and needs to be refreshed after only a few minutes. After 104 minutes, the party hears the sounds of goblins echoing from further down the corridor...

Titus takes a few lumbering steps towards the goblins and firmly plants himself at the center of the hallway, ten feet in front of the party and Joy, he braces himself for battle. He starts to clank his axe against his shield slowly as the noise from the approaching goblins grows louder. 

Two goblins round the corner clearly in an argument. Neither appears to be brandishing a weapon and are focused entirely on the other. Until the hear Titus clang on his shield, that is. Both goblins freeze, eyes wide.

"Now wait a second." Atuan calls out in undercommon. "Let's think about this."

The goblins stare back in utter bewilderment.

“Nothing to see here, please move along and do not disturb the painter. Just go about your business and leave us be.”

Morph is ready to take action if needed, but is otherwise amused to think what the goblins think of the floating paint can and animated paint brush, methodically painting a line along the floor near the wall.

DM shield:

Detecting no immediate threat, the goblins nevertheless back away slowly and run the opposite way they came.

Joy continues to paint, refreshed every time she disappears as the party trudges along beside her. After 96 minutes the party arrives back at the beginning.

Seeing the low level of paint remaining, Laniel says, "Good thing we didn't have to paint the whole dungeon. Well...should we test it?"

"Test the really fun magic teleporting line? Yes, yes I think we should."

Morph gives Laniel and big smile and a wink.

"I definitely don't want to leave without testing it. That would be a missed opportunity for some great magical fun."

"So, do we want to all try it together at the same time? That way we all end up in the same place, no matter which end it takes us to?"

Morph collects the paint can and brush, putting them away in his bag of holding and then places one of his feet on the line.

Morph looks up at the other expectantly, smiling.

"Right, I'm ready when you all are."

Laniel touches the paint and says the command word. He disappears, as if sucked into the wall. Each follows his example, appearing next to him at the room with the stairs down to the next level.

"Incredible," Laniel says.

He touches the line again and says the command word. As each person follows, they end up...in a hallway that seems familiar but is definitely not the place below the Yawning Portal.

(Ending points described above are marked on the map in red.)

Morph slaps his hand on his forehead,

"Dam, I forgot to use the acid to break the other line, when we connected back up."

"This must be the further from the stairs, than the exit up."

"We'll have to walk back to the junction, so I can fix it."

"Sorry everyone."

Morph begins following the line back to where it joins with the main line the group is trying to create.

"The sooner we can get some respite from this place the better. Who knows what other bizarre horrors there are in the lower levels." Titus steps to to it and proceeds in the direction of the Yawning Portal, his steps a bit heavier as he grows weary from their travels. 

With no more acid, the party is left to scratch away at the resilient paint and create a break in the line at the hidden door in the bas relief room. A quick test by Laniel reveals it is working right, although he notes that cutting the line is far too easy. It could be abused by the residents of the dungeon...

The party emerges from the Yawning Portal to a hearty cheer. A round of drinks for the tale results in some pats on the back at their (apparent) lack of success in mining the dungeon for good treasure. Naturally they say nothing about their true objective. A short time later, they are back home in Trollskull manor, filling in Mal on their adventure in Undermountain. A string of messengers arranges a meeting for mid-morning the next day and the tired party retreats to their quarters for the night.

After breakfast, the party finds Mirt, Vajra, and Jaelester arriving at short intervals for a report. "That is generally good news," Mirt says.

"It doesn't lessen the danger," Jaelester says. "In fact, it poses new ones. I can think of a dozen ways to abuse this to unsuspecting dungeon divers."

"It is imperfect, it is true," Mirt says. "But maybe it is enough to give us a foothold. I will talk to my mages about the test. You have all done well. Take some time for yourselves. We will be in touch again soon."

(Every levels up! This includes the counterpart party, who is going to be up in the next chapter. More on them later. Take a couple of days to post here selling any treasure and getting items identified, etc. Feel free to RP leveling up as well.)

Morph heads out and shops around until he has found and purchased a bunch of spell scrolls to transcribe into his Combat Medics Manual.

Once he has also acquired the necessary spell inks and material components, Morph heads back to the Manor to spend the necessary time to transcribe the spells into his Manual for use in the groups future adventures.

Once Morph has completed the transcriptions, he starts making use of Skywrite each day, before the sun goes down in the evening.

He uses it to advertise Trollskull Manor, writing things like: Come to Trollskull Manor, for fine food and drink! and Trollskull Manor, the best place to be! and other short messages.

Chapter 2: Familiar Territory

Two ten-days earlier:

Krennic hands the map back. "I had assumed you had explored more of this level." His tone is curt but the disappointment shows through. "We need to find a safe place for me to camp on this level, preferably near the stairs down. I have a task for you on the surface once I am secured somewhere."

Statue, the iron golem, plods behind Krennic holding the large crate. The golem was of no help, as Krennic promised, on the level above. Krennic, though, that man held his own. Several times it seemed like the Blackblades were there only for emotional support. He was clearly formidable. But, more importantly, he paid well.

Martus Krennic and his golem step to the side to let the Blackblades pass by. "Lead on," he says.

The Blackblades' map of level 2:

Note: The mad mage changes things in the dungeon frequently. Maps have a short lifespan for Undermountain. The Blackblades are confident theirs will still be useful, considering it hasn't been that long since they were last down here.

Shift leans over Zinn's shoulder to look at the map.

"Oh come on! That's a great map! At least we found the stairs down."

Shift pats Zinn on the should, encouragement for his map making skills.

Shift looks down the long passage.

"Should we check in with the market before we continue, or do we need to avoid highly populated areas?"

Shift starts to amble down the passage, not getting too far from the others, half waiting for them to start following.

As he walks, Shift runs his, now clawed, hand along the wall, leaving acid burned scratches in his wake.

As with his previous visits to Undermountain, Shift finds that the dungeon walls are immune to his defacing efforts. Only a slight discoloration remains where he drags his claws along the stone.

Shift lets out a sigh, the same as last time he tried to indiscriminately deface the dungeon.

Ever hopeful that next time he might find some part of the dungeon that will take his vandalism.

Shift mumbles to himself.

"Maybe I should get some paint..."