Quarry Found

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

In short order we encountered a room. The first thing I noticed was a half-orc with its foot placed on a man I surmised to be Floon. He was crying out in pain at his treatment. To his right was another of those ugly floating creatures with the eye stalks and behind them all was something I did not want to see: a mind flayer holding what appeared to be a brain with four legs.

The mind flayer looked to the half-orc and said, “Grum'shar, take care of this rabble,” and then walked to a door and exited the room. At that point the battle began.

I managed to get a shot from my bow off straight away at Grum'shar and killed him with one arrow. Unfortunately he crumpled directly onto Floon. Sorry, Floon.

Shortly after that the quadrupedal brain charged at me and hit me with some very sharp claws. That did not feel good. Then it did something to Ránath after he missed it with his Yklwa. Ránath's eyes glazed over and he just stood there motionless. That's not good either.

Mingnist arrived next to me and made two dagger attacks at the floating thing and killed it with expert strikes. Then I managed to get a solid hit on the brain thing after which Elora hit it with a spray of poison. Revenge felt good.

Whatever it did to Ránath the brain thing also did to Renaer. He suddenly went limp and glassy-eyed and sort of checked out. Then it hit Mingnist hard with its claws. Mingnist wasn't looking too well. That was the last thing I remembered.

Negotiations Gone Bad

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

I proceeded on ahead through what appeared to be living quarters of some sort. I entered a room with six crude beds but was otherwise empty. I listened at the door on the opposite side of the room and could hear a pair of worried sounding voices. One sounded like Krentz. I informed the others and let them know that I was going to proceed into the room to attempt to make a deal.

I opened the door upon another living space to see Krentz and a Duergar frantically stuffing blankets under a door on the other side of the room. I spoke up and said, “Hey, Krentz. What seems to be the problem?” He was rather shocked to see me and asked me to pass some blankets to him. I did but the Duergar did not trust my presence at all.

I once again asked what they were doing and Krentz said there was something in the room behind the door that was apparently disolving some goblins. I had no idea what that was about, but we were here to get Floon so I asked if he was here and that I wanted to make a deal for him. Krentz said that Nihiloor would not make a deal for cash. It sounded like they were looking for information so I offered that I may have another way to get that information.

The Duergar, who turned out to be named Zemk, just wasn't buying what I was selling. The two were whispering to each other trying to decide if they could trust me. Zemk wanted to take me to Grum'shar and led me to another door. I followed along.

Just after passing through the door he asked me how long I'd known Krentz and then just attacked me. What a jerk!

Zemk took a swing at me with a war pick but didn't even come close. I returned with a thrust from my rapier and made a rather solid contact at which point the rest of the party entered the room. Now the fracas was in full swing. In mere moments Zemk was defeated by Renaer and Krentz surrendered to our overwhelming force.

It was conversation time so I invited Renaer over to question Krentz. Renaer asked where Floon was and Krentz said he was with Grum'shar and pointed to the door that I was being led through earlier. Lypher, however, was specifically focused on the door that they were attempting to seal with blankets. Renaer and I insisted that we get Floon.

It was quite tense for a moment but we eventually convinced Lypher that Floon was the important task. Lypher knocked out Krentz with his quarterstaff so we bound him and proceeded toward our quarry.

Follow the Yellow Chalk Road

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

I snuck up behind the nearest creature and struck with my rapier which burst it like a bubble. One down, one to go. Moments later a fire bolt whooshed by and struck the other and also popped it. I looked back to see Mingnist with his hands raised in the direction of the fallen creature. That was the fastest combat I've ever been part of.

Ránath climbed a ladder located at the site of our unbalanced battle. He opened the cover at the top and reported that he discovered a storeroom full of food and drink. Lypher followed up to inspect as well. Ránath indicated that it seemed to be associated with a tavern of some sort. After a few moments the pair returned to the stench of the sewer.

We easily located the next symbol and continued our trek to locate Floon and followed them for approximately twenty more minutes. We found ourselves at a much narrower tunnel that was just as putrid as before. We stealthily progressed forward. Well, we tried. I heard far more noise from behind than I would have preferred. At any rate, we seemed to be in an older section of Waterdeep's sewer system where a room with arrow slits was discovered. I gave a quick search for traps but found nothing at all. Next I cautiously entered the room and peered through one of the slits. I could see the feet of a small sleeping individual.

At that moment Ránath sprinted off down a tunnel to the south. I had no idea where he was going but I looked through the second arrow slit on the opposite side of the room. Inside I noticed two sleeping goblins on the floor. I don't think these guys were fulfilling their duties. At that moment Lypher noticed the next yellow symbol for us to follow.

I listened at the door indicated by the symbol as Elora and Lypher headed off to fetch Ránath from whatever he was getting up to. There were no sounds beyond. Just as I was pondering opening it the three missing party members returned from their mini excursion. Ránath was talking about some rat or something down there. I lost interest before he started to be honest.

I proceeded through the door and into a bendy passage that was also equipped with an arrow slit beyond which I could hear the sleeping goblins once again. The next door opened upon a room full of detritus to my left and the room of the goblins to the right. I suggested that we sneak up on them, restrain them, and question them.

Confrontation

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

The warning from the hidden Kenku triggered an attack from the individual before me. I first yelled at it, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Its only answer was, “Kill! Kill!”

With that response I had little option but to attack. Sadly my first attempt went wild and merely destroyed a nearby crate. A full scale battle erupted when a further four kenku emerged from the shadows of the first storey.

Both sides took a bit of a beating early on but we managed to defeat two of our enemies. Lypher then turned the tide to our favour when he said something that made two of our opponents fall asleep. The remaining two made a dash for the exit but a team effort between Mingnist, Ránath and I prevented them from escaping to raise an alarm.

With that, we bound the two slumbering Kenku and combat was ended.

Trolling the Room

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

What emerged from the portal was a troll along with several stirges. That day was non-stop chaos. The five of us at the table along with Durnan and another person all leapt into action attempting to defend the tavern. Durnan immediately charged at the troll whilst everybody else attacked the stirges. Unfortunately a few of the stirges attacked innocent patrons and a few collapsed from the attackers' bloodlust.

I decided to take some shortbow shots at the troll since all the stirges were being attended to. Whilst dashing around behind the bar for cover I heard an angry comment from a patron whose meal I had interrupted. Way to prioritise, dude. I managed to get a few good shots on the troll as Durnan attacked with a great sword.

Part way through the battle a woman entered into the fray by healing some of the patrons who had been attacked by the stirges. At about the same time Durnan yelled out that somebody should douse the troll in oil. Fortunately I had two flasks of lamp oil in my possession and proceeded to pour one onto the troll before yelling out, “Light the sucker on fire!”

Durnan knocked the troll down with his great sword just as one of the stirges latched onto Mingnist and rendered him unconscious. The troll quickly revived itself before I ran to a nearby fireplace to grab a burning log with which to light it. It took a swing at me but was too slow and missed. I lobbed the burning log at the troll which went up in flames with a woosh. Ránath hopped onto the bar and fired an arrow at the troll which proved to be the blow that finished it off. Durnan and I destroyed the remaining stirges to bring peace back to The Yawning Portal.

Durnan provided us with complimentary drinks and meals for our assistance. What a stand-up guy. Bonnie brought the food to a private booth for us as we celebrated the victory.

Rumble at the Portal

Tarsakh 30, 1493 DR

The fight between Krentz and the half-orc had begun in earnest. There also seemed to be some sort of animated conversation between Mingnist and an elf I'd never seen before. I darted over to Mingnist but everything there seemed to be fine. A half-elf approached me and said she enjoyed my song with Threestrings which was nice of her.

There was no way I was going to get involved in something like this fight so I instead joined the half-elf at a nearby table where we ordered food from Bonnie. I learned that her name was Ketalysen and that this was her first day in Waterdeep. It wasn't exactly the warmest of welcomes here in The Yawning Portal.

Before long Durnan broke up the fight and somehow a small fire was started at a table near the fracas. It looked like the half-orc was a pretty clear victor since Krentz and his buddies staggered out of the inn. Two other people came over to our table who were evidently friends with Ketalysen. The elf I'd seen before introduced himself as Ránath and another half-elf called herself Elora. They both were also new to Waterdeep today. They had arrived with a caravan destined for tomorrow's Greengrass Festival.

Our lovely conversation was rudely interrupted by the corpse of a halfling landing on our table.