Dimir's Out of the Abyss

None of you are quite sure what that was. You assume it was some sort of demon. Maybe a demon lord.

Jimjar volunteers for third watch and Eldeth for fourth.

Everyone settles down in this strange fungal forest, the ringing of distant gongs and buzzing of insects lull you to into unsettling dreams filled with nightmarish entities destroying cities.

Everyone wakes up hours later. A quick look around reveals a Kuo-toa sitting on a mushroom about thirty feet away watching the group. Eldeth says, "Don't worry, he's nice."

Aimon jumps up, reaching for Dawnbringer, but calms down when he hears Eldeth.

In an exaggerated bow, Aimon sweeps his arms out in greeting.

"I'm Aimon, and you are?" he asks. "Did you come from Sloobludop?"

(Just realized I never made a check to recognize the demon. My modifier is the same for all three skills: 4)

Caelynn tenses at the sight of the kuo-toa, hands resting on her weapons but not drawing them just yet. "How do you know?" She asks Eldeth.

Oak sits up lazily, his bovine eyes blinking slowly, and also sparkling a little, like a cat’s eyes in the dark.

He just sits there with a dopey, serene look on his face, basking on this peaceful island, with it’s ever present gentle gong accompaniment.

If he wasn’t stuck in the haunted underdark while it slowly fills with demon lords he’d find this place a real delight...

He sees Aimon engaging with just one Kao Toa too many for his tastes, and lays back down... just five more minutes before he has to deal with that!...

Trill comes to wakefulness, easing back cautiously from the kuatoa, cocking her head to the side as she watches him. 

She begins ritual casting comprehend languages as unobtrusively as possible.

Everyone gains the effects of a long rest. I'm addition, the peaceful gongs give everyone advantage on their next roll.

Eldeth says, "We've been chatting for about half and hour. He seems alright."

Kuo-toa stands and says in resonant common, "Greetings, I am called Shushar. I live here in the Grove of Naristu'shutae."

 He stands almost six feet tall, very tall for a Kuo-toa. He wears flowing, simple robes of gray fabric. His large eyes are peaceful instead of holding the usual mania of the Kuo-toa. When he moves, he almost seems to glide across the ground. 

He continues, "Not many of the residents of the Underdark find this place welcoming for whatever reason. What brings you here?"

 Jimjar is still in the process of waking. Topsy is in the process of trying to teach Stool a game that involves twigs, but he has a hard time grasping the concept. It might be due to the fact that he has no arms.

Caelynn, you too don't know what you fought. You feel like you should, but the notion escapes you.

Aimon moves over and sits down by Eldeth and Shushar.

”What doesn’t bring us here?” he says. “Short story is we’re trying to get the little walking mushroom over there home to his people, same with Topsy, Jimjar and Eldeth here. Then the rest of us were trying to find away back up top. But,” he looks over at Caelynn, “we might try and find time to take care of the odd unwanted demon or two along the way.”

He then gestures around the grove they’re in.

”What is this place? It seems a bit out of place down here.”

When he speaks in Common, Trill throws up her hands and stops her ritual.

"This place was home to an order of monks who practiced peace. Their ruined monastery is just over there." He gestures off into the mushrooms. "Drow came in and destroyed them hundreds of years ago. Their clerics wove a spell to protect them from the gongs. I found this place 2 years ago and stumbled across their teachings. I embraced them, and am striving for enlightenment," he says with religious fervor .

Hearing common, and realising the Kao Toa is friendly, Oak sits back up again and takes a few deep breaths, a slight dopey smile on his face.

”Nice grove you’ve got here! ...very peaceful!”, he calls over to Shushar. “What are all the ‘gong’ things around here? What do they do?? They sound so nice..... do you have any spares we could have? ...as a souvenir of our stay??!....”, he asks, looking round, a little sheepishly...

He says in a dreamy voice as he listens to them, "They are made by the monks. Sadly, the break when removed from their holdings."

Aimon's curiosity starts to take hold.

"Has anyone else been here in the two years this place has been your home?" he asks Shushar.

Aimon looks over in the direction Shushar indicated.

"Can you show us the ruins?"

“Hmm... yes, makes sense. Well the do sound lovely!” Oak replies. Then he snorts and asks, “bBRrrrughh...... Where are all the monks? Are you a monk?...”.

He says, "There have been few that have passed through, not many. The last person to come through was a Drow noble of some kind with a fancy broach that acted as clasp for his cloak. He was in a hurry and didn't linger long. As for the monks, they're all long dead."

 "As for me, I'm not a monk. I haven't the body for it." He gestures to his flabby frame. " I am, however, a priest of Sea Mother. I have seen what she truly embodies. My brethren worship an aspect of her, but not the whole. Are any of you injured or sick? "

Oak replies, "No, not sick........ Uh? Me? Oh, I'm just a little exhausted!!........ we've come a long way, and been through many trials to get here!...... If I could just kick this damned exhaustion once and for all, I'd be right as rain!........ I think my body clock just doesn't like this perpetual dark!!"

"I think I might take it easier today!.. Ha!". He chuckles a little to himself, and looks around at the grove smiling.

"We've been through a lot during these past few days, but for the most part we're fine. If you could do something to help Oak here, though, that would be greatly appreciated." Caelynn smiles, thankful to have met somebody who doesn't want to kill them for once. Suddenly, an idea springs to mind. She's still disappointed at the loss of a potential guide from earlier, but this kuo-toa might be able to help them out some. "Shushar, are you familiar with the tunnels down here? Would you happen to know of any routes to the surface? Or how to get to the Neverlight Grove?"

“Oh!...” says Oak, remembering... “if you’re a healer, do you have any healing ‘salves’? The kind you might find in a healer’s kit?... I’m trying to pull together a healer’s kit, like the ones I used to have as a soldier, and it’s the one thing I can’t get hold of!... ...Or, for that matter, do you have any potions of healing, or anything that might help us if we get into trouble further down the road!?”.

He says, "Sadly, I don't know how to get to the surface, but I do know how to get to the Neverlight Grove and Gracklestug."

At Oak's words, he approaches you. At your side, he begins a prayer in Celestial as he pulls out a glittering diamond from his robes. He places it on your declining chest, and it shatters into sparkling dust that freezes in the air. He says more words, and the dust forms into tendrils and threads that weave into your body. As they fuse with your being, you feel a light expand in your chest that pushes out your fatigue and replaces it with warmth. He casts greater restoration. After the spell is completed, he steps back and says, "That should help." 

 It is then that he sees Trill. He ignores Oak's previous questions and says to Trill, "Does your name happen to be Trill?"

"Trill..." she says in Oak's voice, bobbing her head warily.

While the rest talk with Shushar, Aimon moves closer to the large mushrooms the kuo-toa pointed at when he mentioned the ruins of the monastery. This guys seems on the up and up, Aimon thinks to himself, but this could also be some sort of weird kuo-toa religious thing where he's nursing them back to health to be used in another sacrifice ritual to something worse than the last creature.

Without getting too far away from everyone he looks to see if he can make out any ruins through the mushrooms.