Erik Soong's Call of the Netherdeep

" I'm more worried about all four of us dying horribly......we're outnumbered and I don't have much if any experience with fiends except those smaller things before who almost ate me.", Randa whispered.

" But if you wanna do this just nod and I'll try and banish the big one...."

"Nope. Maybe tomorrow or next week, but not today." whispers Ylis. She is scraping the bottom of her magic pool and the numbers do not look favorable. Certainly need to report the sewer invasion when they get out.

Randa sighed, " We go.  They still haven't seen me so I'll being up the rear."

The imp is only 20ft away in a tunnel that amplifies sound.

The imp nods to Ylis. “Don’t come back… without… an army.”

The figures in the rear fade into the darkness as the group approaches. Eventually, the party finds their way back to the still open door. Now the small room under the fountain is flush with Aurora Watch soldiers, nearly shoulder to shoulder. They squeeze together to make space for the Fellowship once they arrive. 

"What did you see?" The orcish guard asks when he sees them approaching. 

Frekor retreats with the rest. He isn't happy that the drow seems to have gotten away, but he understands that they were outnumbered and their energy was low.

-We saw demon, an imp and a group of people that might be cultists. We need to make a guardpost while we get more soldiers to eliminate the threat and investigate this secret passage. Be careful.- says to the guard before leaning to the wall oposed to the entrance and letting himself fall to the ground mentally and emotionally exhausted.

-Do we wait here while one of the guards goes for more soldiers or do we go instead?- Frekor asks to the group.

"I think we leave it to the authorities." Yis mumbles, Her natural state of overconfidence is  little shook

"Hey you!", she calls to a random group of guardsmen, "go tell the Taskhand that there are demons infesting the sewers!"

With a shiver she starts to make her way out of the pump room. The party has a trinket to deliver and a priest to see. Hopefully those little jobs will be more uplifting.

“You can tell me yourself.” Taskhand Thelyss says as he begins walking down the steps. He is followed by a looming figure in chain mail armor and a cloak of fine quality. A young man. Goliath. He wears an amulet of Ilmater around his neck, has black hair, and light gray skin with matching gray eyes. Curiously for one clad in heavy armor, is that he wears no boots or footwear of any kind.

As they reach the bottom of the stairs, Thelyss motions for the goliath to the body of the cleric, who is now draped in a bloodstained white sheet. The Taskhand pulls the sheet back from the corpses face, so that the goliath can identify the body. “I’m sorry.” Taskhand Thelyss says with practiced concern. His attention is drawn from the goliath to the Fellowship. 

"These are the people who found your friend," Thelyss says. "Frekor, Jacaranda, Morgan, and Ylis, this is Sky. He was traveling with Father Fon for some time before arriving in Bazzoxan. They were companions?" The Taskhand asks, apparently a little fuzzy on the details. 

DM: Sky, please introduce yourself and describe anything that I am leaving out! 

((OOC: quick change re: his hair which I will include here!))

"Yes, traveling companions," the goliath says in a higher-pitched voice than one would expect to come out of someone who was well over seven feet tall.  "Father Fon was a good man.  Kind.  He used his power and his knowledge to help people.  It's hard to find people like that these days." This last sentence is said more sadly than the rest.  

The armored goliath stands up to his full height after replacing the sheet covering the late Father.  He is quite tall; more so than even the grumpy orcish guard.  His armor is a shiny gold in small places here and there, but typical steel colored elsewhere.  A turquoise cloak is fastened on one shoulder, coming down to roughly the small of his back -- more for fashion than for dealing with the weather.  He's currently not wearing a helm, revealing his hair to be a flattened down fauxhawk that is almost sky blue in color; it doesn't look dyed.  Aside from his hairdo and a couple of sartorial niceties, there's not much indication that the man spends a great deal of time with his looks. 

He looks at the members of the Fellowship, about whom he isn't very knowledgeable.  "What can you tell me about the person who killed him? Does he still live?" His face sets into a grim look: resolve, maybe? There's nothing bloodthirsty about it as he says solemnly, "If he does, I suppose I should do something to rectify that."

You almost miss it: he gulps.

"Hi, Sky. We're not exactly at our… best splendor," Morgan admits, a bat perched awkwardly on his head, nestled in his tousled red hair.
The smell and grime are only part of his frustration and disappointment with himself. 

"I'm sorry for your loss. We were too late. We only ended up here by chance… following a trail of blood."
His gaze lingers for a moment on the polished armor, then shifts to the taskmaster.
"But maybe, with a bit more strength and preparation... something can still be done! I don’t know much about strategy... or the bigger picture here." He shrugs faintly. "But if there are fiends right under your nose, killing your clerics and cutting off your supply of holy water…"

His voice tightens slightly.
"That sounds like an emergency of the highest order to me."

He had spent the last battle paralyzed like a statue, lucky enough to be saved by the others. If his pride had been wounded, there was an upside to it all. His arcane energies were virtually intact. He gulps visibly. 
"If you need me... I'm ready to go even now..." he forces a smile, trying to lighten the mood "...while my nose is still accustomed to that smell."

Jacaranda became visible once again and did some quick calculations, then looked to Ylis, " With this Sky and....", she raised her voice, " ....a couple of other brave souls.....we should be ok to head back in."

" What do you think? Your almost tapped out, you can sit this one out.", she said with concern laying a hand on Ylis shoulder.

"I think it's a dumb idea to go back in there right now even if we have tall, grey, and handsome over here with us. The battle field is THEIR home turf. We got surrounded by them before we knew they were there. We will be forced to stand in a line with no wiggle room. Think about that. And when you all get hurt I can only heal you twice."

Ylis pauses, "Look, obviously they didn't show up today, and they will be there tomorrow or the next day. But you know whatever. If you really want to go into that death trap, then I'm going with you. Even though it's foolish."

She stands with her arms crossed looking pouty.

"OKOKOKOK How about this. We deliver the trinket - like we promised, we visit Foghome - like we said we would, we take a short rest, then come back here in the middle of the night into the stink ass sewers and kill stuff."

Jacaranda folded almost immediately as her guilt for what she had put Ylis through previously washed over her again.

" Ok, ok."

" I'm alright with that. Frekor? Anyone else?"

The elf ranger had his brown hair was unkempt after the fight he had alone and all the search he did for the drow and Aloysia. Noticing the arrival of Taskhand and the goliath, he stood up and fixed his hair a bit allowing the wolf cut hair of his to be clearer to see.

-We were following a drow that killed a man and it lead us here. We found this secret passage were there are some demons and maybe some cultists further inside.- said Frekor in a pitch akin to his looks but with a deeper tone (signifying a harsh background) while pointing at the secret entrance. He then gets closer to Tashand and speaks almost as a whisper.

-Aloysia was moving south before the killing happened. I'm sorry, I couldn't let the guy kill the wife of the man they killed. She also tried to pay us for our services to help her find "a prayer site inside Betrayer's Rise", I hope this can help someway.- adds with a noticeable shame for not getting the job done.

Frekor then looks at Jaracanda and Ylis.

-I think that would be a good idea.- answers while trying to see if Ylis is upset or just giving an idea without much emotion put into it. (Insight check: 21,  16+5.)

He then realizes that he hasn't acknowledged the goliath.

-Right! I'm Frekor. I'm sorry for your loss.- says genuinely.

Somewhere in the assembled Aurora Watch in this tight, cramped space, Morgan can hear a guard dry heave at the sight of a bat awkwardly perching on the young sorcerer’s head. "Ohmahgods," that someone says deep within the ranks. 

Taskhand Thelyss looks deeply tired. “You pursued a murderer and discovered something far worse in the bowels of my city.” He sighs deeply. “We won’t be getting a new shipment of soldiers for another fortnight. In the meantime, we have to guard a new vulnerability. If they are using our sewer system with potentially countless secret doors, who knows how compromised we are. I hate to ask this of you, since you have only just arrived, but I need those demons rooted out. I need those cultists dealt with. I don’t have the manpower to do it with those under my command. What will it take for you to help us with this problem? You need a rest, clearly," he says, looking at Frekor, who just scrambled to his feet. "What else will you need?" He says, making it very clear that he is asking both Sky and the Fellowship. 

"Depending on how much methane is trapped down there a good fireball or two could clear out any humanoid co-conspirators.", Jacaranda ventured.

" Though........those people I saw could have been captives.......or food...."

" I'm already committed to helping as are the kids.......though if you wanna throw in a massage, foot rub and a couple of good bottles of whatever's handy I won't object."

" Also any enchanted arrows you might happen to have.....though I know pickings are fairly sparse."

" Can you hold til midnight?"

" Frekors an excellent tracker, and I'm a fair hand, we'll find your friends."

(OOC: just a little detail, Frekor stood up after noticing Taskhand and Sky's arrival.)

-As for me, I only need some time to not forget the way we went in the sewers so we don't get lost.- says before going to a corner and starts to mutter to himself the directions they took.

-It was: right, then left, then the trap. We followed the blood and when it stopped we found the demons.- says muttering. (Do I have to make a check to remember the path? Because after the trap you didn't mention intersections, but there could've been some that weren't mentioned for flare on the paragraph.)

"A guard pass. THAT guy slowed us down," Ylis grumbles and points to the Ork. "We might have caught the murderer if he didn't give us a hard time. We don't need that kind of thing going on with the rest of your troops." 

Then she lets out a long breath. "We just need rest. That's all."

DM: You posted three minutes before I did. I corrected it an hour ago lol. 

I am going to assume you know your way back, being a heroic level expert on anything that is survivalist-related.

Morgan nods thoughtfully.
"Ok, let's do the few commissions Ylis suggested that are still on our to-do list. Then we come back here tomorrow at dawn, better prepared."

He turns to the Taskhand.
"Anything that helps seeing in the darkness would be appreciated. If it keeps our hands free, even better. Otherwise, simple torches will do."

Then he looks at Sky.
"Are you coming with us? Do you have a place to stay? We could take this little night stroll as a chance to get to know each other better. Tomorrow, we're going to put our lives in each other's hands."

Quote from FrekorSummers >>

 

He then realizes that he hasn't acknowledged the goliath.

-Right! I'm Frekor. I'm sorry for your loss.- says genuinely.

 
Sky smiles a small, sad smile and nods to Frekor.  "Thanks."