Feverborne
We spoke with Bryce and Tristan, getting directions to the place their friend went missing. I took the opportunity to buy a bullseye lantern and oil, hoping that the longer range would help our explorations, and the ability to close the lantern to shut off the light would help us avoid notice.
We descended into the sewers, following the directions given to us by the guild of sewermen. A slippery path downwards led to a long passageway north. A semicircular pool area preceded a porticullis blocking the way, but a lever set into the wall released a wave of water and lifted the porticullis. Shortly after that we were attacked by giant rats from the south. Somehow, they had gotten behind us. Verminbane made short work of the first, cleaving the rat in half in a single blow. Death to vermin!
Morin killed the other before it could flee. I searched the bodies for treasure or clues to the fate or the missing man, but found nothing.
We continued north past the porticullis, finding a rubble-strewn passageway leading to a strange chamber supported by six pillars, each carved with scenes of the ocean. Strange for a city that has been landlocked for its whole history. Furthermore, bloody drag marks led from west to east through a passageway. We investigated a door in the south wall first, findingt another long passageway parallel to the entrance. A door in the east wall led to an ancient wine cellar. Most of the contents were ruined, but we did find a bottle of ancient wine, perfectly (and probably magically) preserved. Further south, a crossroads, and more drag marks. Our map suggested a secret door to the east, which we spent quite a lot of time looking for and eventually found. It led back to the semicircular pool next to the lever.
To the east from the crossroads the drag marks led down a short staircase into an octaganal room. A scaly creature was buried under a rubble pile; for exits, another passageway led north and a door to the east. We uncovered the corpse and found no treasure, but the form was familiar: trogolodyte. I fingered the faint magical ring that protected me from their stench, and advised the rest of the group to find a way to protect themselves. We managed to make crude noseplugs from corks in the wine cellar, and Pusha offered up scarves to use as face masks. Perhaps those would be enough.
The stench was strongest to the south, so we went in that direction. A small, oddly shaped room had a broken area that descended further down, perhaps another feeding pit as the drag marks led up to the edge. A ladder was leaning against the wall nearby. There were also four sleeping pads, hopefully meaning no more than four trogolodytes, and a passage leading briefly west then north. We turned the beam of the lantern north in that passageway, and it revealed thick spiderwebs filling the corridor about 50 feet away. Perhaps we can burn the webs out before we check further down that passageway; there can’t be too much there, as the layout suggests there just isn’t space for more than one small room.
That was when the trogolodytes came out of hiding and attacked.
