Monday, August 7, 2023

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Trolling the Troglodytes

We picked up the story with the adventurers going back to Vlonvelw and getting their just reward.[1] She then offered up another job: do what you do best and kill almost everything on the level below, but for a reward. House Auvryndar wished to enslave the troglodytes living below, but was thwarted by enchanted trolls, some other type of huge monster, as well as a rival drow house. The party accepted, and headed down after a long rest[2].

Trissa lead them down to the first Auvryndar guard post. The captain there showed the first couple of caverns to the adventurers, including a cleared warren, with lots of chained troglodytes. They were held by the threat applied to their young, chained up in another room. The drow contemplated killing the young after taking away their parents, and asked for the adventurers' opinions, to gauge their disposition. The party proposed several solutions to spare and use the beasties, which the drow captain kept misunderstanding and interpreting as ever more horrifying methods of execution. Ireth conjured goodberries to feed the prisoners, a fight immediately erupting with the strong oppressing the weak, again to the horrified expression of the players.[3] In the end, Brienne proposed to buy the young troglodytes, and the drow captain accepted the down payment.

The adventurers carried on into a cavern full of drow bodies ripped apart in horrifying fashion. A deep gnome was feeding on the corpses. The party tried to communicate in all known languages, to almost no effect.[4] They gave up and left the gnome to its meal.

In the next cavern, several troll body parts lay around in pools of blood. At the approach of the adventurers, the body parts animated and attacked, but were swiftly burned.

In another cleared warren, a troll was browsing troglodyte remains for anything to eat. Spoiling for a fight, the adventurers attacked and killed it.

The party also discovered and opened two portals, leading to upper levels of the dungeon.

[1] The permanent resurrection of Brienne.
[2] Perhaps Groin will not be happy at the expired potion effect.
[3] I had fun.
[4] A greeting in infernal had the gnome choking on the insides of a corpse, but Antrius performed the heimlich maneuver to save it.

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