New faces

After half a mile of trudging along the side of the underground river, the adventurers found a grill across the flow of water and some steps leading up into a cave. Or cavern because once up the steps they could see in the distance (maybe 600-700 yards) the lights of a small village of Etzlimende across a calm lake. There was no way of determining the limits of the water as in every other direction was darkness.

On the wall nearby was a gong which was soon rung. After a short wait, the sound of a small boat could be heard and soon a small coracle came into view. A short, hooded figure with skeletal limbs (albeit through the application of white paint) indicated that the journey to the other side was not free and, one by one, the party made the slow journey to the village lights. Although the scout was sure they were being watched by aquatic ogres, or merrow, they managed to reach safety unchallenged.

The village started several yards back from the shore and stretched away into an side cave roughly 250 yards by 350 yards (about 10 football pitches). The resident population seemed to be almost entirely goblinoid, possibly 150-200 in number with a smattering of visitors from many backgrounds.

The main industry of the village appears to be the preparation and selling of food, a foul-smelling mix of blind white crustaceans and fish ('Etzlimende' means "Lake of Stinky Fish" in goblin). Market stalls cluster together selling provisions for those travelling from the surrounding underground world. Some accommodation was also available although of a poor standard - all the buildings are created with ropes and sheets made from cloth or skins.

Some of the party decided to have a break here in the market village, leaving the remainder to be recruited by a small group of travellers (a mech, a tiefling scout and a wizard) in search of rumoured mausoleums.

The wizard's familiar was sent off clutching a sunrod to check out the limits of the lake and, on its return, the new party soon had a rough sketch of the cavern. The irregularly shaped lake was maybe a mile from end to end with a couple of waterfalls and a river feeding in fresh water.

Jajij the boatman indicated that the merrow did indeed have a mausoleum on the far side of the lake and would be prepared to arrange for a large boat for a 'reasonable' fee. Instead the party relied on the magical summoning of a huge swan boat, maybe 15ft by 25 ft, to get them across the water.

The depth of the water varied across the lake, usually 10-15ft deep, but half-way across the tiefling's darkvision failed to find the bottom of a particularly gloomy hole beneath them.

Moving on, the sound of waterfalls was soon very loud and the party decided to see if there was a concealed cave behind one of them but without luck. As they did so, three merrow rose out of underwater tunnels and tried to board the swan boat. The adventurers defended valiantly and soon the trio were feeding the fishes, their blood clouding the water.

[[3 merrow - 250 xp per boat member]]

And back underground to the marooned party

A shimmer in the air and all was different although still the same. The swashbuckler and paladin exchanged confused glances. Had the follower of Wee Jas always been a gnome? Didn't the scout wear different clothes? Wasn't the mage a penniless traveller before? But nothing in their combined memories could help them rationalise the mechanoid.... nothing.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the furnace

The monk braced himself in front of the large stone chest and strained to lift the heavy lid. Painful twinges shot through his frame and he switched position. As he tried again, the lift rose a few inches but so did the floor, dropping the monk down a shaft that opened out into sunshine and a long fall to Escona far below. Luckily the rest of the party were holding tightly onto the rope attached to him and he quickly climbed back to safety.

Inside the chest was a censor and a box of incense, no doubt for magically summoning air elementals.

[[Pit trap - 400 xp for the monk, 200 xp for the rest]]

A faint rhythmic vibration could be felt through the ground as far away an alarm hammer went into action...

The adventurers moved on to the area under the entrance to the furnace room. Heat blasted down into the tunnel, evidence of hot environment the fire giants thrived in.

Adriana, invisible and flying, rose up into the room above. The hundred degree heat had no effect, being nullified by the dragon shaman's aura which stretched up high enough to provide protection.

The flying wizard was surprised, though, to realise that there were four armed and armoured fire giants clustered around the hole in wait. The creatures realised that something was amiss and blindly swung their greatswords through the air as a shape disturbed the already turbulent heat haze.

Retreating to the tunnel, Adriana recruited Parry to bring down icy destruction on their opponents. Although the heat was intense and turned the hail to steam, enough ice and cold got through to batter the giants. Strangely not a sound issued from the room as if all noise was magically suppressed.

Benedict, the half-dragon paladin magically grew in size and flew up the hole into the room above, carrying the monk and dragon shaman into the frontline. At the same time, Adriana carried Cherry aloft.

The giants jostled for position and quickly started hacking away at the little people in front of them.

Adriana began tying a rope to the top of the crane and dropped the free end to the party below. Unfortunately, within moments the rope started to smoulder and smoke due to the intense heat.

The paladin cut wickedly into the giants and soon one hit the ground but it was not enough and he soon joined his victim. Desperately other members of the party poured magical healing into him in an effort to keep him alive.

Banaar jumped down to safety and one of the fire giants followed him into the tunnel below to start hacking away at Princess who responded with seering light. The giant shrugged off psionic attacks from Squick and stunning attempts from the monk but eventually succumbed.

Back in the furnace room, the dragon shaman fell to the ground dead and the protective aura faded with her life energy. The full fury of the boiling air blasted the remaining combatant, Cherry, who Featherfalled to the cooler tunnel below. The paladin, left behind on the furnace room floor, could no longer hold out against the heat and died.

Adriana grabbed Parry and teleported far away to safety in Snowcastle, leaving the survivors to fend for themselves.

The monk had to be physically dragged away towards the shaft leading to the balloon, so intent was he on not being on the losing side. The remaining giants peered down from the furnace room as the remaining adventurers retreated.

[[Fire Giants combat - Paladin/Adriana/Monk/Dragon Shaman/Hobbit - 1,400 xp each; 1,000 xp each for the rest]]

"Clang ,clang, clang went the trolley"

From out of the gloom bounded a pack of hell hounds, breathing fire upon the party members standing in the tunnel. The dragon shaman's protective aura made this ineffectual and soon the hounds were slain.

[[Hell Hounds (CR5) - 85 xp between the four in the tunnel]]

A little later, laughing and grinding could be heard further down the tunnel. Soon a huge trolley being pushed by a troll and ettin rolled into view. Unless stopped, the trolley would hit the party and cause massive damage.

The monk jumped onto the trolley and attacked the ettin. Immediately afterwards, Benedict the paladin stepped back and summoned a wall of ice across the tunnel. The trolley hit the wall and smashed part way through before coming to a very quick halt. The troll and ettin managed to brace themselves and keep their balance.

The samurai used dragon breath to get through the wall while the paladin hacked a hole instead. All passing through the access holes took freezing damage from being so close to the magically summoned wall.

Meanwhile the monk had stunned the fiendish ettin long enough for the rest of the party to take it down.

[[Fiendish Ettin (CR8) - 225 xp each]]

The troll couldn't regenerate the shaman's dragon breath or Squick's transfer of damage so was soon knocked to the floor by the paladin. The samurai then took ages to burnt the last bit of life from the giant. Clouds of pungent, acrid troll fumes filled the passageways.

[[Troll (CR5) - 85 xp each]]

Adriana summoned an arcane eye to explore the area. Above the tunnel she found a dormitory with six of the ten beds occupied with sleeping giants and an infirmary with two giants behind glass walls (one asleep, one shaking from side to side) and a raptoran chained to a perch.

Other rooms included a furnace room for melting glass, a large store room for raw materials and wood, and a smaller store room for supplies (food, equipment, etc). Behind a curtain in the last room was a statue of Surtur.

Two giants were awake and on guard at a barricade on the far side of the living area, watching the Underdark for threats.

Back in the tunnel system, a large stone chest was discovered set into an alcove at the junction of some passages.

[[Arcane eye - 100 xp]]