"What do you think we'll find ont he next level?" Rethan asks.  "Zombies?  Dragons?  Evil wizards?"

The worst part of DotMM on a forum like this is having to make a decision about which direction people will go at every intersection. And there are a LOT of intersections. Sometimes I might railroad the party in one direction to keep from heading toward a dead-end in the maze. But if you would rather explore the maze in full, et me know.

The path to the east leads to a series of dwarven catacombs. Iconography of Dumathoin decorate the tombs here. Further on they encounter a temple of Dumathoin. four dead quaggoths lay strewn about the room alongside a dead drow. In the adjacent room, a dead giant side and four troglodytes litter the area. Further on, a series of chambers containing more dead drow. Everything of value appears to have been stripped from all of these chambers.

The path of dead bodies comes to an end, however, and so the party turns to backtrack to the beginning. Heading due south from the entrance leads the party through an abandoned cavern. This 30-foot-high cavern contains part of an ancient dwarven settlement. Crumbling, single-story buildings stand empty, their roofs caved in and their insides picked clean. Sections of the cavern ceiling show signs of collapse, with rocks scattered across the floor.

Further south, they find the path splits into two directions, to the east and to the south...

‘Well the goblins of the last level seemed nice enough.” Sarlayssa says.  She follows along, a little unnerved by the dead bodies left scattered here and there, but moves along with the others.  When they come to the split in the passage she waits to see what the ohters think.

When the group hits level 2, Morph uses Unseen Servant again, to summon Joy so she can help paint the line, while the group navigates the level.

As the group reaches the stairs down to level 3, Morph responds to Rethan.

"I'm not sure, so far we have had goblinoids with an occasional monster, for spice, I wouldn't mind a change of flavour."

Morph gives Rethan a wink.

Morph replies to Sarlayssa,

"Yes, it is unlike the first floor, the goblins where much more aggressive there."

As the group finds the various bodies on level 3, Morph gives them a cursory check to determine the cause of death, but otherwise leaves them be.

When the group hits the junction, Morph looks at Rethan,

"Should we send Lucy and Midnight down separate paths to do a quick check, see what way we want to go?"

Morph summons his spider familiar to his shoulder as he says this.

"Or we could head down one path, while the pair search the other. If we find that our way is better, we can just remote dismiss them, what do you think?"

Titus stoically passes by the bodies strewn across the floor of the maze, having hardly any reaction the the carnage they saw there. Though he does take a moment to note how long they’ve been decomposing and how recent the fight would have been. “Seems like we’re on the right track.” He says dryly.

He speculates a loud at Rethan question, “I don’t see how you could fit a dragon all the way down here... but who knows. My money is on evil wizards. I think we’ll see even more powerful magic as we go deeper into this place.”

He nods at Morphs suggestion “Yes, may as well scout ahead. No sense spending time wandering down a dead end.”

Morph nods,

"Ok, I'll send Lucy east, if you want to send Midnight south?"

Morph lowers Lucy to the floor and sits down crossed legged himself, so he can send his senses with Lucy.

Morph's eyes go completely white as he connects with his familiar and Lucy starts heading down the east passage.

(Is it safe/okay to assume I did another find familiar spell to change Midnight back to a bat again before we came, remembering that th ecat was less usefulw ithout darkvision?)

Rethan nods and takes his own spot sitting against the wall so that he can share his senses with Midnight.

(I also can't recall if we spoke about Saralyssa's owl familiar or not.  She has an owl familiar, if we had not discussed earlier.)

"I can add my owl to the mix if you wish, but can also just have it stay close to us, so not to mess up what you have that you have done previously." Saralyssa informs the others.

Titus takes advantage of the time the others spend scouting the passages by looking around and examining the carnage in the adjacent room. He investigates their remains, and looks to see how recently they've departed the mortal realm and examines the Drow particularly closely to look for anything that might identify him. 

Investigation: 16

OOC: Every time someone tells me that cats don't have dark vision, I don't believe them. So I check, and every time it proves true that in cats in fact do not have dark vision. That advantage on smell checks is worth something though I suppose. *rolls eyes*

Quote from VanderLegion>>

(Is it safe/okay to assume I did another find familiar spell to change Midnight back to a bat again before we came, remembering that th ecat was less usefulw ithout darkvision?)

(Yes, safe to assume that.)

The passage to the east opens up into a sizeable cavern. A large pile of treasure sits in the center of the room. Atop it rests a chimera. It spies the owls and bat but does not lift its head. Still, its tail begins to flick in irritation. It is difficult to see into the dark crevices to the north and south but it seems unlikely that this room has any exit.

Quote from Paradox42 >>

I thought we where going in different directions and Lucy, Morph's spider, went east?

I can modify my post if you like and have Lucy head south instead, so Midnight and Saralyssa's owl (do they have a name, DragonDenn?) can have gone east instead.

 

(You are the only one who specified a direction! I interpreted creatively.)

...

Morph comes out of his connection with his familiar and turns to Titus and Lanial.

"There appears to be a chimera and it looks to be guarding a treasure pile."

"Do we want to see if we can liberate the treasure?"

Morph grins at the idea, as he stands back up and waits to see if Rethan or Saralyssa come out of their connections, so the group can discus a course of action.

Saralyssa comes out of her link with Sabastian and glances to the others.  “I am fine if you want to claim the treasure, do we have a way to carry it all though?”

Rethan returns to his own senses to plan witht he group.

Morph grins at Saralyssa's question.

"I have this beauty."

Morph pats the satchel bag at his hip. The bag doesn't look like it could carry more than a dinners plate worth of the treasure.

Smiling, Morph pulls the bag around to his front and opens the flap.

Morph starts to reach inside the bag, going deeper and deeper, until it is very obvious that his hand should have come out the bottom of the bag by now.

"It's bigger on the inside."

Morph winks at Saralyssa and pulls his arm back out of the bag.

"It was a lucky find. I had already searched every shop that I could find that might sell such an item and come up empty."

"But only days later, while searching for spells for my Medic's Manual, the shop owner gave me a big smile and brought it out from the back of his shop."

"He remembered I had been looking and put it aside for me, just in case."

"Someone was definitely looking out for me I think."

Morph looks up, like he is looking though the ground all the way to the sky and beyond.

"Anyway, we can carry a good amount with us, so we should be able to handle it, or at least most of it."

Morph's smile turns a little sour at a thought.

"That is if its all real. You never know with a place like Undermountain."

Morph whispers,

"The madness of its maker seems to have rubbed off on the whole place."

"Anyway, are we up for trying our strength against the chimera?"

Morph looks around at each of his friends, to see what they think.

(Time lord science!)

Rethan shrugs.  "Why not?  Sound fun."

Titus bristles a bit at the talk of the treasure. “We aren’t here in the Undermountain to seek our fortune. We have plenty of gold and it’s not likely to do us much good down here anyway. We will slay this Chimera if we must, but’s not forget the task at hand. Every moment spend here the Black Blades and Krennic move closer to their goal. If we can bypass this treasure and this fight I think we should.”