Daggerdale: Part 2

As the party sleeps, Thraback finds himself in a fitful dream. Laying on his bed, before him appears the figure of a female half-orc, naked with hair as dark as night. He is fixed to the bed as she moves towards him, sitting on his chest. She begins to laugh, her face twists into a hideous purple visage. Horns grow from her head – the Night Hag. Now all Thraback sees is horror. His friends dying around him, their screams filling his ears and it is all his fault… She whispers to him, “Sweet dreams.” At this, he wakes up in a cold sweat with all being as it was before and yet the door to his room lies open swinging in the morning breeze. Agrippiana wakes from her slumber and her eyes are drawn to the mirror in her room. Upon it is the word “vengeance” written in blood… When the party go downstairs Giles has prepared a hearty breakfast and provided rations for the journey. He sets us on our way, we stand on a large metal plate in the lower room as Giles lowers us down, wishing us luck. As the party are lowered deeper, the stonework begins to change and a faint glow from the fungi on the walls provides some dim lighting. Vandal is tense, sensing liken forms fairly close by. As the party reach the bottom, they make their way along the stone corridor, finding traps and hidden entrances along the way. Upon finding an apparently empty room, Zenos senses there is something there. From previous ventures, the party identify a gelatinous cube in the room, likely the thing keeping this place relatively clean. Vorn sneaks past it attempting to open the door on the other side, however, the water around his feet give him away, and as a sticky substance on the handle fastens him there, he is forced to act quickly, turning into gaseous form and slipping through the metal bars of the door. The group quickly begin their assault as the cube moves ever closer to Vorn and defeat it with ranged attacks. The group are wary of passing over the defeated cube, Lukas even using more fire on it, to be safe. Agrippiana walks over the creature, however, she sets off a trap, setting off an electrical current through the water at their feet, injuring Adus and Mushu. Feeling guilty, she casts Aid on them, restoring their health. As the party move through the door and further into the sewers, the stonework is different. Towards the floor, the stonework appears ancient and completely different from the one on top of it. As we reach a further door, Adus beings a ritual spell to detect any magic in the area. Vorn finds a secret passageway in the wall, he and Vandal pulling it open to show 3 skeletons. Agrippiana takes a look, telling the party that these are three men in Solamnian attire. Their clothes suggest they were high ranking officials. It appears they have been subjected to the blood eagle ritual… One of the skeletons is holding a scroll which she reads aloud to the group. It talks of travelling to meet a friend to deliver a message. We recall the information from Lot Dod, of how the three messengers were missing… She gives the scroll to Vandal. At this, Shimmer Gloom begins to glow. When Adus’s ritual shows no magic, Vorn goes through the main door, finding himself in a dimly lit corridor with 4 doors ahead of him. Two on his left and two on his right. However, voices echo along the corridor, he gets low to the water attempting to reach the first door before they see him. A lantern swings across the water, getting ever closer to Vorn, he hears the voices say, “I smell… dwarf…”

Until next week!