Session 54, The Sewer Puzzle
Paldegora
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Session 54 – 2025-06-14
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Summary
After surviving a grueling battle with a black pudding, Company Clandestine regrouped in a knee-deep sewer, weary but resolute. Eryn, battered from the fight, received healing from Angelique. Cal scanned a narrow eastern tunnel but saw nothing significant, while Symon’s attempt to peer north was blocked. X’or, frustrated, lamented his destroyed sword, which had robbed him of specialized attacks, prompting the group to jest that the dungeon master owed him a new blade. They pressed on despite their setbacks.
The party trudged through the sludge to a sturdy door with holes allowing sewer muck to flow through. Eryn listened but heard nothing, checked for traps, and found none. The locked door yielded to her lockpicking, revealing a haggard man, Jorin, barely alive on a raised walkway. Jorin, claiming to be an escaped prisoner, accepted jerky from Eryn and revealed that others were trapped further down the hall, all fleeing slavery and desperate for rescue. The group, moved by his plight, decided to follow his directions to investigate the trapped prisoners.
Cautiously advancing, they rounded a corner only to be ambushed by three humanoid rat creatures, with Jorin transforming into a forth wererat. Eryn was caught off-guard but Cal wasn't. Cal engaged with Jorin and killed him while X'or joined Eryn with the three. X’or dealt 10 damage to one rat, which Eryn finished with another 10. Angelique struggled to aim her bow in the dark, but Cassandra’s candle stone illuminated the area, revealing another wererat south of Jorin's position. The group’s combined efforts—Cal’s 15 damage, Angelique’s seven, and Cassandra’s three—felled it. The wererats reverted to human forms upon death, confirming their nature.
Searching the bodies, Cal found only a few gold and copper pieces and rusty, worthless swords. The group explored further, checking a dead end for secret doors but finding none, despite Cal’s detection skills. They reaching a grate. X’or failed to bend its bars, but Cal succeeded, though deeper water beyond deterred them from proceeding. Instead, they backtracked, wary of further threats lurking in the sewer’s shadows.
An arrow from a wererat archer narrowly missed Eryn, prompting X’or to charge followed by Cal, both delivering enough damage to kill the beast. Eryn spotted a second wererat around a corner and dispatched it swiftly. The group’s quick response neutralized the threat, but the sewer’s dangers remained ever-present, urging them to stay vigilant as they pressed deeper into the labyrinth.
In a small room with two walkways, Cal found a worn trail leading east but couldn’t identify its source. The group checked an empty chamber at the hallway’s end, finding no secret doors. Two northern paths converged at a locked iron-bound oak door, which Eryn unlocked after four attempts, only to find it stuck. Symon’s Knock spell finally opened it, revealing stairs leading up to the sounds of city streets. Eryn scouted the grate at the top, spotting a sign for Grim’s Tinkery and Apothecary, a landmark the would be able to use to relocate the exit from the outside. They continued their search.
Backtracking to the bent bars, X’or carried Eryn across deeper sewage to a dry platform, where a roper’s tentacle lashed out, missing X’or. Eryn held her ground, ready to strike should the creature approach, while Cal and Angelique fired, hitting the creature. X’or charged, and Cassandra waded in to help, with Eryn firing from a side walkway. Their coordinated assault defeated the roper, clearing another obstacle in their path through the treacherous sewer.
In a dry room filled with bones and rubble, a statue stood in the northeast corner, and a door bore symbols—a crescent moon, a blood-tipped dagger, and the sigil of the god Sahn—along with a riddle.
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By moon’s occlusion, weave a shroud of night.
On dagger's steel, etch traces of life’s flight.
Through the vile god’s sigil, voice the final toll.
To pass, create, provide, and speak Sahn’s three gifts of old.
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As they approached, a troll with a glowing red collar charged Eryn, followed by two more. The group quickly dispatched them, but the trolls regenerated, forcing Symon to burn their bodies with the Burning Hands spell to prevent further revival. The collars, marked with Sahn’s sigil, were discarded into deep sewage to avoid misuse.
The riddle demanded darkness, blood, and a spoken word. Extinguishing their lights, Eryn smeared blood on the dagger carving and said, “Darkness, cold, hate,” but the door remained shut, and the statue animated as a stone guardian. Eryn took a major hit but managed to stay standing. The group fought fiercely, with Cal dealing 30 damage, Eryn 13, and Symon 12 via magic missiles. Angelique’s Bless spell aided Eryn, and X’or landed the killing blow, shattering the guardian. Undeterred, they faced the riddle again.
Realizing the correct word was likely “Murder,” X’or smeared blood on the dagger in darkness and spoke it. The door clicked open, revealing faint light beyond. Soaked in sewer muck, battered but triumphant, Company Clandestine paused, steeling themselves for whatever awaited. Their journey through the sewer had tested their resilience, but their determination to rescue the trapped prisoners and thwart Umbridge's plans remained unbroken.
That is where the session ended.
Please start the recorder!
Exp: 2427 + 243 = 2670
Detail
After their grueling battle with the black pudding, Company Clandestine found themselves in a dank, knee-deep sewer, catching their breath. Eryn, nursing some wounds, requested healing. Angelique obliged, restoring six points of health, then eight more to bring Eryn back to fighting shape. Cal peered down a narrow eastern tunnel but saw nothing of note. Symon tried to look north but found his view blocked. X’or, frustrated, grumbled about his destroyed sword, which had stripped him of his specialized attacks, slowing his attacks. The group agreed the dungeon master owed him a new blade.
They slogged through the muck to a sturdy door with holes at the bottom, allowing the sewer sludge to flow through. Eryn listened at the door but heard nothing. She checked for traps, finding none. The door was locked. She picked the lock successfully and cracked the door open. Inside, they found a haggard man, barely alive, lying on a raised walkway. He introduced himself as Jorin, a prisoner who had escaped. Starving, he accepted jerky from Eryn and explained that others were trapped further down the hall. Jorin told them that they had escaped slavery and were worn out and starving. They needed to get out. The group decided to investigate.
Moving cautiously, they followed Jorin’s directions. As they rounded a corner, two humanoid rat creatures charged from the darkness. Cal wasn’t surprised when Jorin turned into one of these creatures and attacked, but Eryn was caught off-guard. They rolled for initiative. Symon, oblivious to the danger, sloshed through the sewer, while Cal and X’or engaged the rats. Cal landed two hits, dealing significant damage, and X’or struck one rat for 10 damage. Eryn hit the same rat for another 10, dropping it. Angelique, hearing the commotion, tried to fire her bow but couldn’t see the targets in the dark. Cassandra moved up, lighting a candle stone to illuminate the area. Another rat appeared, charging at the group, but their combined efforts—Cal’s 15 damage, Angelique’s seven, and Cassandra’s three—brought it down. The defeated rats reverted to human forms, confirming they were wererats.
Searching the bodies, Cal found a few gold and copper pieces and rusty swords, which he deemed worthless. They continued exploring, checking for secret doors at a dead end but finding nothing, even with Cal’s one-in-two chance for secret doors and one-in-three for concealed ones. They backtracked, avoiding a deep pool of sewer water that reached waist-high, and headed north. They reached a grate. X'or tried to bend the bars to create an opening but was unable to. Cal managed to bend the bars. The sewer water on the other side of the bars was much deeper so they decided to go a different direction instead.
As they progressed, an arrow whizzed past Eryn from a wererat archer. X’or charged the rat, landing a hit for nine damage, while Cal followed, striking twice for 24 damage, killing the archer. A second wererat was up there, around a corner. Eryn spotted it as she rounded a corner and killed it.
The group pressed on, finding a small room with two walkways, one leading east and another leading north. There was another passageway in the middle of the room which also went north. They stayed back letting Cal check the room for tracks. He determined that there was a path leading across the boards going east. It was more like a worn trail. He couldn't tell what made the tracks. They checked the end of the hallway and found a small empty chamber. Eryn checked it for secret doors and found none. They discovered the other two paths converged further north. There was a locked iron-bound oak door there. Eryn struggled through four attempts to pick the lock but finally succeeded, only to find the door wouldn't budge. She searched for a reason but couldn't find any. Symon casually cast a Knock spell which finally opened it.
On the other side, they found stairs leading up and they could hear city street sounds. The sounds of people moving and talking. There was light at the top. Eryn snuck up there and looked out, trying to get her bearings. She'd not been anywhere in this town before so she doubted she would be able to pinpoint the position of this opening to this sewer. While looking out, she saw the sign for Grim's Tinkery and Apothecary. Now she knew she would be able to find it again. She snuck back down and they continued on.
They backtracked to the bent bars and the room with the deeper sewage. X’or carried Eryn to a dry platform, but as they moved across it, a tentacle shot out from the muck, targeting X’or. The creature, a roper, missed, and the group sprang into action. Eryn held her ground, ready to strike if it approached, assuming it would. Cal and Angelique fired on it, hitting it. X'or charged the creature. Cassandra waded into the muck to help finish it off. Eryn made her way to a side walkway and fired from there. The creature was finally defeated.
Cal searched for tracks and found no clear signs of passage. They reached a dry room with bones, rubble, and a statue in the northeast corner. There was a door with symbols and writing on it. As they started into the room, a troll with a glowing red collar charged Eryn. Two more trolls followed, and the group fought back. It didn't take long to finish them off. While they examined the door again, they were able to move closer and read the writing and see the symbols more clearly. The symbols were a crescent moon, a dagger with blood on the tip, and a sigil of the god Sahn. The inscription read as follows:
= = = = = = = = = =
By moon’s occlusion, weave a shroud of night.
On dagger's steel, etch traces of life’s flight.
Through the vile god’s sigil, voice the final toll.
To pass, create, provide, and speak Sahn’s three gifts of old.
= = = = = = = = = =
They began to contemplate the riddle when they were attacked by the Trolls again. Yes, those trolls. They had been dead but live again. They quickly put them down again. This time Symon thought it would be better to burn the bodies so they could no longer rise. The group piled their bodies and Symon burned them with a Burning Hands spell,. This destroyed them permanently. They examined the collars, noting a faint glow and the god’s sigil. They decided the collars probably aloud Umbridges men to move freely past the trolls. They decided to toss the collars into a deep point in the sewer to avoid anyone finding them.
Returning to the door, they deduced the riddle required darkness, blood, and a spoken word. They extinguished all lighting, creating the darkness. Eryn pricked her finger to smear blood on the dagger carving, and said, “Darkness, cold, hate.” Nothing happened. Well, nothing happened with the door, but the statue came to life.
In the darkness they heard movement and saw the red eyes of the stone guardian as it moved towards Symon. Cal, Eryn, and X'or moved to engage the giant and get Symon away from it. The stone guardian hit Eryn for a great deal of damage. The group retaliated, with Cal dealing 30 damage, Eryn 13, and Symon 12 via magic missiles. Angelique cast a Bless spell on Eryn, temporarily healing some of her damage and making it easier for her to hit the creature. Cassandra couldn't get to the creature and had no way to impact it. After a brutal exchange, X’or landed the final hit and shattered the guardian.
Undeterred, they tried the riddle again. They figured out the last word was likely “Murder”. They killed the light again, X'or, now taking the lead, pricked his finger and smeared some blood on the daggers tip, and said, “Murder”. The door clicked open, revealing a faint light from within. The group paused, ready to face whatever lay beyond, as they stood in the dark, sewer-soaked but so far, triumphant.
That is where the session ended.
Please start the recorder!
Exp: 2427 + 243 = 2670