#73 The Worms and the Fish-men

 (Note: I have edited the prior post to change references to "the halfling" to now say "the wood elf", as Stan's new character race changed.)

Exhausted from the battle with the Drider patrol, the party rested in the tunnel.  

The wood elf monk regains his strength and tells his story to the party.  He spent quite some time imprisoned in the ancient city, and learned a lot while he was there.

• Spent all his time in a tower prison.  He could observe the city from there.
• The top tiers of the tower are an anti-magic zone for prisoners with magical abilities that might pose a threat
• Ancient city is ruled by a roque illithid who calls himself “The Thinker of Thoughts”
• Some prisoners are simply food for the Thinker, who eats brains.  Other prisoners are considered to be “strategic” for some reason.  People who the Thinker believes he might be able to persuade to join his cause, or otherwise leverage to increase his power.
• City has a diverse population of underdark creatures loyal to the Thinker.  He observed that the population grew over the time he was there.

o Kuo-Toa

o Dwarves who can shape shift into giant form

o Thri-Kreen

o Grimlocks

o Driders

o Enslaved Ogres and Trolls

• The city has been in ruins for centuries.  Much of it was buried under sediment.  In addition to raising a military force, the Thinker also dedicates resources excavating the ruined parts of the city.  Progress on this is slow, but he seems to want to restore the city to its original glory.
• The lake to the south-west of the city extends under it.  Water from this reservoir is hauled up to provide for the citizens.  

During the rest, he inspected his pack and found a note.

Greetings Traveller,

You have not met me, but I aided your escape from the Illithid’s prison.  I’ve infiltrated the prison and I made contact with Sihirbaz several weeks ago.  I smuggled in the components he needed to craft the scroll.  It was I who hid the scroll and your equipment.

Sihirbaz is hopeful that the rescue party that has been sent is formidable.  Indeed to survive this journey you would have to be.  Your goal may be only to rescue the wizard and kill the Illithid.  I will assist you in that effort if you wish.  But I’d like to try to persuade you to join me on a larger mission.  I will explain if we are fortunate enough to meet. 

As you get nearer to the city, you will likely encounter purple worms.  There are many of them in this area.  I must warn you that the bite of the worm can be deadly to even the strongest warrior.  Avoid being swallowed.  If a member of your party is swallowed, you must extract them quickly at all costs or they will die in the acid stomach of the worm.  Should this happen, the key is to inflict as much damage to the creature as you can.  Pain can cause it to regurgitate. 

 Trilos Dath

As the party gathered their things together and prepared to continue their journey, they felt the earth share around them.  They were attacked by a Purple Worm.  They dispatched it quite quickly, though Whisper barely escaped being swallowed.  

A second Purple Worm emerged soon after the first one expired, but it too was defeated quickly.

The party continued their journey.  The found the end of the river tunnel.  The exited at the mouth of a lake, to the southwest of the ancient city, just as the wood elf had described.  

They debated about how to cross the lake and enter the city.  After some time they decided to cross the lake using the boat they had found in the tunnel.  Half-way across the lake, they were confronted by a Kuo-Toa patrol.  4 purple fish-men, 2 with giant gray-fish mounts, and 1 riding a giant crocodile.  They defeated the patrol and moved on to a space on the lake beneath the city.  There they found the entrance to the city where water is retrieved from above.  The key they had recovered from dragons fit the lock here.