Erik Soong's Call of the Netherdeep

"Burn them with fire!"

"Sacred Flame!"

Well she would say that, but it isn't her turn.

Sky shakes his head and says quietly to the werevulture, "I cannot accept your surrender.  We are not here to parley, nor can we trust you to not pose an ongoing threat to innocents."

He holds up his halberd.  "Stand and fight me, or the others will dispatch you."

Before it has the chance to take advantage of the opportunity to die with dignity, as a warrior, the others collectively attack it. The werevulture's body cannot withstand such a coordinated assault and with little more than a squawk, it liquefies before the party before it even falls to the ground, much less attempt to flee. 

Meanwhile Morgan's bat has a difficult time keeping up. The succubus rapidly pulls away and soon, the familiar looses track of it (flight of 120ft vs 60ft). Quickly, the bat reaches the limits of its ability to telepathically communicate with Morgan. It stops short of the edge of that tether, awaiting instruction. 

Sky looks at the others.  "What's next? Anyone poisoned?" He's obviously ready to keep fighting.

Morgan calls his familiar back.
"You did your best, buddy. Tomorrow, we'll both start working on our cardio... assuming we survive today."

Then he turns to the others.
"The element of surprise, if we ever had it, is gone. I suggest we move quickly, give them less time to reorganize. Same formation? Same formation. Let's go!"

He begins to move (slowly) eastward, then lets himself be overtaken and returns to his original position (rear guard).

“Hey Morgan, which way do we go?”

Ylis puffs out a relieved breath. She looks around to see if anybody is super bloody.

Quote from Erik_Soong >>

This silly kid actually thinks I'm going to tell him where she is? Must have mercury lining the inside of that hat. The moment I can convince them to let me out of here, I am going to give him a Syngorian necktie (translated: Columbian necktie). Alright, time to try to convince him to lead me out of here. 

The orc urgently mumbles through the gag again, trying to make it seem like he really needs to tell you something important. 

Morgan dives deeper (the orc failed the save). He can see the most direct path to take to get a message to Spireling Desu and where it leads... down below, where she was last seen overseeing some demonic ritual that the orc tries to not think about because of how unsettling it was to witness. His thoughts immediately turn to rage at having had his mind violated. His struggle against his bindings suddenly becomes more incensed and real.

You little rat! You’re dead!

DM: Below is what Morgan can see in his mind's eye.

Level 1

Level 2

 

Morgan uses again Minor Illusion to slideshow what he saw in the cutthroat’s mind.

"If I got this right… we head east first, then south. There should be some stairs leading down to the next level."

He points along the imagined path.

"From there, we go west, pass through a few rooms… and eventually we’ll run into this Spireling Desu. Looked like they were preparing some kind of… disgusting demonic ritual."

He shrugs lightly.

"At least, that’s what the cutthroat believed."

Quote from Tybard >>

 

...

Nivi looks out the door to where the succubus had fled and Jacaranda seems to be readying herself.  Then warily at the dissolving demon corpses.

"And since fighting more of these fools looks to be in our future, anyone got a plan to stop 'em from standing back up as demons after they're down?"

"Let's roll, then.  Like I was asking, though, anyone got an idea on how to stop these bastards from coming back as demons soon as we kill 'em?  Cause if we can't stop that from happening, not gonna lie, I don't like our chances."

"Yup yup let's go."

"This reminds me of the time we went hunting for Skaven..."

Ylis moves with a bounce in her step. Taking out bad guys cheers her up!

Quote from Tybard >>

"Let's roll, then.  Like I was asking, though, anyone got an idea on how to stop these bastards from coming back as demons soon as we kill 'em?  Cause if we can't stop that from happening, not gonna lie, I don't like our chances."

"I'm afraid I don't have any ideas," Sky says quietly.

Randa follows Ylis, " Hunting who?"

She gave Frekor and Morgan a quick visual inspection for damage, decided they were fine and hurried on.

"Rat folk," she cups her hands near her head  and sniffs "terrible things. Demon worshipers and poison experts."

Ylis keeps the lights on and her eyes open for shenanigans. 

Quote from Tybard >>

"Let's roll, then.  Like I was asking, though, anyone got an idea on how to stop these bastards from coming back as demons soon as we kill 'em?  Cause if we can't stop that from happening, not gonna lie, I don't like our chances."

 Frekor shrugs.

-I don't know. Maybe holy water, but I'm not sure. Either way, we can't back down.- answers the ranger before starting to walk to leave the room.

-If you're feeling tired, I can heal you a little. I'm no cleric, but it's better than nothing.- adds while leaving the room and geting to the front of the group ready to move east as Morgan mentioned.

"I'm afraid I don't have any ideas," Sky says quietly.

"Me and you both, Tiny, sad to say."  Nivi favors the goliath with a sincere grin of appreciation for answering her.  "Was hoping we could just put them in the dirt and they'd stay down, you know, the easy way.  But well... looks like there's only the hard way..."

[Frekor]:  "I don't know. Maybe holy water, but I'm not sure. Either way, we can't back down."

"Holy water?  We have holy water?"  Nivi chews her lip as she moves to take a lead scouting position in the direction Morgan had indicated.  "Not that I know holy water from dishwater.  Only those bloody Aurora Watchmen kept flicking it at me..."

She pauses and shrugs.  "Maybe we try both.  Burn the Clasp corpses with fire like Killer Bunny said and splash holy water on the ashes.  Can't hurt."

With that, Nivi mutters a word in Elvish to cast Blade Ward on herself once more and, this time without Shiv, lopes out into the darkness of the sewer.

Nivi's Stealth:  27
Nivi's Passive Perception with -5 from disadvantage to look into darkness with darkvision:  19 -5 = 14 (OOC:  let me know if an active roll is needed.)

Quote from Tybard>>

"Holy water?  We have holy water?"  Nivi chews her lip as she moves to take a lead scouting position in the direction Morgan had indicated.  "Not that I know holy water from dishwater.  Only those bloody Aurora Watchmen kept flicking it at me..."

"Oh yeah, we got a lot. Here have some" Ylis hands her her waterskin full of holy water.

Quote from Tybard>>

"I'm afraid I don't have any ideas," Sky says quietly.

"Me and you both, Tiny, sad to say."  Nivi favors the goliath with a sincere grin of appreciation for answering her.  "Was hoping we could just put them in the dirt and they'd stay down, you know, the easy way.  But well... looks like there's only the hard way..."

Sky thinks for a moment, obviously weighing something, before he speaks up.  "I am sure you mean the nicknames in a friendly way, but my name is Sky, not Tiny."  He's not angry, and in fact his face and tone appear as impassive as they often are, but there's no wiggle room in the statement.

Quote from AngelesPaladin >>

Quote from Tybard>>

"I'm afraid I don't have any ideas," Sky says quietly.

"Me and you both, Tiny, sad to say."  Nivi favors the goliath with a sincere grin of appreciation for answering her.  "Was hoping we could just put them in the dirt and they'd stay down, you know, the easy way.  But well... looks like there's only the hard way..."

Sky thinks for a moment, obviously weighing something, before he speaks up.  "I am sure you mean the nicknames in a friendly way, but my name is Sky, not Tiny."  He's not angry, and in fact his face and tone appear as impassive as they often are, but there's no wiggle room in the statement.

Nivi's grin of appreciation for answering her question fades, and her pale green eyes become expressionless once more, gazing up to study the goliath.  When she speaks, her voice still carries a Tal'Dorei lilt, yet refined.  Akin to the accent of an elven noblewoman.

"More's the pity, Sky."

She accepts the waterskin, allegedly full of holy water, from Ylis and turns to trot away into the darkness without a further word.

Morgan’s bat returns quickly and without issue.

The party moves forward as a quick, but careful pace. Not quite a jog, but a hurried walk. They give plenty of space for Nivi, who slinks ahead in the darkness. There are not sconces lit here and without the radiant weapons carried by Sky and Ylis, the party would be covered in darkness.

DM: Marching order I have is:

Morgan
Frekor/Randa
Sky/Ylis

Nivi

The tunnels are empty along this route. Strangely empty actually. In fact, the specifics of that last room they entered seemed strange too, if one thought about it. Huh.

Anyway, four of the six heroes have Passive Perception high enough to make mundane traps laughably obvious, and the party seems to encounter a couple—easily avoided with a sidestep or disarming. These seem like they are meant to be found. Or maybe they are meant to catch low-skilled Aurora Watch who found the will to brave the sewers. Either way, nothing leaps from the shadows as they move down the corridor and reach the stairs.

Down they go. The flight brings them to some strange hallway 20ft long and 15ft across. Four discs line the center of the room, leading to the next flight of stairs. On the walls are murals of very hungry-looking people looking longingly out into the room. 

OOC: Is there light coming from the far stairway?

Ylis will flick a ball bearing at the farthest floor circle.

Dex roll 3

Jacaranda examines the murals.....are they painted on or are they the trapped souls of those who went before....

Perception- 15