Raelin comes in while we are just finish up dinner of lamb, new potatoes, spinach with onions and bread.  I fix him a plate as he excitedly tells us that when he was following Snargras he found a unused entrance to the sewers that might be a good spot for us to utilize.  I have been searching for a map of the sewer system under Rel Astra and have found there really isn’t one.  I feel it would be helpful if we had a way in and out of the city so that if we need to leave rather quickly – we have a way. 

Obscura was gone at a noble function that night so we decided we would start mapping it out.  Raelin also said there was a storage shed right next to it and the houses around the entrance were run down and in the poor district. 

Samus wasn’t going  in disguise but the rest of us dressed in rags and soot and put on hats with candles on them to simulate we were sewer workers.  Raelin did not think my strawflower hat was very convincing.

The sewer entrance is off of Calypso street in an alleyway a few blocks from Idlewood.  Raelin was right that this entrance had not seen much traffic lately as it was filled with debris.  In fact the whole alleyway seemed void of life.  We tried the lock using a thick wire Raelin found in my shed but he saw it was trapped.  We did not know what type of trap it was and did not want to cause any noise so we left the shed for another day.

The mason around the bar crumble a bit and Samus is able to pull the bar out.  He tries fitting it back in and it holds – it will be a good entrance for us.  Samus clears the debris away and it is a pipe leading down to something that spells like…well the sewers.   The boys are deciding who should go first when I take hold of the rope and start easing down, but the pipe is slippery than it looked and I fell into sewage up to my neck.  I gag trying to keep my dinner down and decide that next time we come to the sewers not to do it after a meal and have some cloth dipped in lavender oil to help with the stench. 

Samus plucks me out and puts me on the side and then both of us throw up our dinner.  Friz, who also falls in the sewage follows suit.  Only Raelin, by shear determination, keeps his dinner down.  We are in a pipe with two rout iron gates.  There is a large tree branch blocking the gate to the north. Samus starts forward and see bones hung up on the tree branches.  Samus wades into the sewage and retrieves the body.  It is humanoid on the short side and stocky.  It has a messenger bag slung over it’s shoulder. We find the bag is full of gold coins.  The bag does not seem to have deteriorated at all while the bones were picked clean.  We suspect it is magic, but that will have to wait until we are back at Idlewood.

After some more throwing up and feeling the stench,  we get to the far gate and Samus thinks he can break the bar as it is corroded.  He tells me to add to my list of things we need next time we come down here is gloves.

He is able to break the top and Friz’ acid is able to eat through the bottom.  The open is wide enough for us to squeeze through. 

We come to a four-way junction and Samus starts down the one to our left, jumping to the other side.  He is slowly making his way when a dwarf comes running out of the darkness “Run, the crusher is coming.  Run!”

We stand there like frightened rabbits.

“Names Edwina Metamore, how’d you do.” She tries to get around Samus. “To the temple of Moradin, follow me.”  She slips and falls into the sewage.

A huge creature comes out of the darkness glowing with iridescent sewage and it hideous scream echos off the sewer walls.  It attacks Samus, dealing a terrible blow to his side.  Edwina climbs out of the muck and runs around the corner yelling “Run you fools, follow me.”  Friz and Raelin are acting confused as if they don’t know what is going on.

I hit it with lightning from my new rod and yell for the boys to follow the dwarf, and then I find my mind a bit jumbled and unable to concentrate.  When I come back to myself, I am behind the bars and the boys are with me. There is no sign of Edwina but there are a group of dwarfs shooting the creature with arrows.  I get up to the bars and shoot it in the but with lightning.  It whips around and slams into us. 

Suddenly we saw Edwina. “Run to the Temple of Moradin,” she says. She begins to move her hands and utter an incantation…she is a user of magic!  She sends a spell around us and everything is silent around us.  I cannot utter any spells, nor can I hear the boys, but I notice none of us are confused.  

The creature turns on Edwina who runs down the tunnel the creature in pursuit.  The spell flees with her and we do as she says, entering the Temple of Moradin through a doorway in the tunnel Edwina ran down.

We enter a temple honed by dwarven hand.  There is a forge and a powerful dwarf smithing a sword on an anvil.  A handful of dwarves are present.  One dwarf, Forstho, comes forward and welcomes us in a gruff way.  He tells us they worship Moradin in secret.  All the dwarves work above in the city, except Urdin who is the smith and is always in the temple.  He creates magical armor – like this great Chain Mail (+2) – which is only 2,000 gp or a Helm that will protect you.  Right now, Urdin is working on the Blade of Kosogove.  He is able to absorb magic from one item and put it in another object. Sometimes he creates with Edwina who is the priestess of Moradin. 

Apparently, Edwina and the Crusher have an odd relationship and Edwina takes him on merry chases through the sewers. The Crusher is a hated creature because it eats gold – and next to their craftsmanship, dwarves love for gold is well known.

We can also hire a scout as the dwarves have some of the sewers mapped in their heads.  Forstho says there are other denizens in the sewer, some worse than the crusher. They have a scout that could take us outside the city or to the noble district.  Of course, they would like everything paid in gold.

If we want to come down to the temple to deal with Urdin and Edwina we knock at the temple door and say “Moradin gives.”

We say our goodbyes and head back to Idlewood where I identify the messenger bag as magical – a bag of holding that Raelin takes.  We also got 242 gp from the bag – 30 each for the for of us and the rest to the kitty (122 gp)

We decided we would go after Snargras’ imp as our next ingredient.

June 10, 2023

Everybody was over the following week for a late breakfast of eggs, sausage, cheese and bread. We all were very busy that week. 

Samus had more than a few drinks with Sir Clifton Dolittle and asked him about Snargras and found he was liked by none except those of his own ilk…like Cedric Tunney and Cromwell.  He also found out he likes to collect odd creatures – the imp was not the only one.

Obscura was busy watching the guards on the walls and marking down when the guards change, how long it takes to patrol and such…in case we need to sneak over the wall.

Friz was busy making up our healing potions for everyone and creating Molotov cocktails in case we wanted to burn Snargras’ house down.  I thought that might be a little extreme.

Raelin was busy following Snargras and watching his home.  He noticed that his street is well patrolled by Iron Wolves by his front gate, but the back of the house is not patrolled at all.  At night the patrols are not as frequent but still a pack of 4-5 guards.  

I sent a note to Edwina via Mouse the Sparrow to ask if I could buy a scroll of that spell of silence she did when we had last met.  She agreed for 100 gp. It was not a spell of the arcane but I would be able to possible do something to keep those dogs quiet as they were barker.   I had sent Mouse the sparrow to check on the guard dogs and see if she could spot the secret door.  The dogs were not normal guard dogs being in one place and the next moment being in another.  Also the were trained to eat on command – so poisoning them was out of the question.  One of the more disturbing things is that an old beggar suddenly appeared in the yard one day and the three dogs ripped them apart but only ate the remains of the man after Snargras gave the order.  She could not hear what the word or words he spoke to the hounds were.

Obscura was excited about the dogs and thought they could be the dimension hounds we were looking for.  My research had also came up with blink dogs, misty wolves and hell hounds as possibilities.

We decided that we would go disguised and if stopped we would be entertainers who just finished a party for Mamen Neglive estate and were heading back to the University District for an after hours party we were entertaining at.   We also decided that we needed a distraction to bring the dogs to us.  Mouse had noticed that when the beggar was in the yard the dogs raced toward him they did not bark until they surrounded him. Samus was going to dress in the smelly sewer rags from a few nights ago to lure them to him and then I would cast the silence spell and those that needed to speak magic would shoot from the wall.  Samus said he was able to grow in size and would easily be able to help us over the wall. 

We did get stopped by the guards and while we weren’t very good acrobats we were good at pretending we were drunk enough.  They let us pass and we got up on the wall, but my foot slipped…it was a very narrow wall and my feet were bigger than I was used to since I was in human form. Down I went right on my butt, The others are able to balance a bit better while Samus and his smelling rags vault over the wall and the dogs come running.  I cast silence and I am careful to keep it centered on Samus.  I can see the dogs’ mouths snapping and snarling but no sound filters from them.  Obscura calls her harpoon and jumps down next to Samus to keep the dogs in the spell radius.  Raelin takes the other side while Friz and I stay in back weaving our magic.

The dogs are dispatched silently and one of the dogs is dumped in the bag of holding and Friz collects the two vials of blood from one of the other dogs.  Samus, now regular size is able to find the secret door and unfortunately also finds it trapped, an explosive in the face.  Friz patched him up. 

We enter a storeroom full of barrels and crates. Friz finds a pouch of gems and gold Samus is on a mission and heads to the next door and asks Raelin to check for traps,  There is none.

We enter a room where a huge demon is chained within an arcane circle.  He seems pleasant enough as far as demons go and says his name is Rasgalia.  Samus and I also told him our names, we must get better at being clandestine.  He says if we would free him by finding his amulet – a guilded mirror with demons carved in it - he will take care of Snargras for us.  Now, making a deal with a demon, all my research says not the greatest idea, but if it means that he is our escape route…well so be it. 

For a man of science – Friz sometimes is like a child always having to touch something or taste something that he is unfamiliar with.  In the room is an open book that radiates black magic and I tell Friz not to touch it…but he can’t help himself and he does.  His body convulses and he manages to pull his hand away.

We enter into a large room filled will art work and fine furniture – a staircase leading up is to the right of  a fireplace, embers the only light in the room. I give Raelin darkvision and tell Friz to stay close to me. We notice the mirror right away and Samus and Friz move it next to the door in case we need to use it.  Obscura is studying one of the pieces of art of a lady staring off into the distance with a haunted look on her face – The Sad Lady.  Obscura knows of the artist and says it could be worth quite a bit of cash. We take it. While we are putting it in the bag of holding, Friz begins to stomp around, later he says he was looking for trap doors, again – we need to work on our clandestine skills!  A creature, a man of sorts but not a man, appears at the top of the stairs and begins to yell – Intruders, Intruders.

The imp appears in front of Obscura and slashes her, but not before she slashes it as well. Snargras appears at the top of the stairs demanding to know what is going on, while Samus heads toward the man servant who rushes down the stairs to meet him.  Friz and I look at each other, we have no desire to go near that thing.  I send a blast of artic chill at the imp who glares at me and disappears.  Two more pop in attacking Obscura and Raelin.  Samus tries to grapple the servant who instead sends pulsating magic through Samus’ body, and I can see he is hurt, so does Friz.  But instead of running to heal him, Friz grabs the mirror off the table and rushes into the demon room, releasing it from its imprisonment.

It flows into the room and Snargras screams, “What have you done,” then races up the stairs disappearing from site. “Get out now,” the demon bellows. I stand by the door as Obscura, Raelin and Samus run toward me. The demon unleashes a wall of fire and the imp that was remaining bursts apart.  I rush toward the imp and grab its tongue then head out of the room as the demon is yelling Snargras’ name.  I hope the demon kills the bastard.

Samus is waiting for me as I enter the demon room and I see Obscura disappearing into the storage room.  Friz holds up a scroll he found Haste, Misty Step, Fog Cloud, and Darkness.

We wait until the guard has past and we head back to Idlewood.