- The party left off at the Hydra
- Dravencoles took its heart
- Momeline took a tooth
- Ferinthria took a scale
- The party was deciding what to do next.
- Aside: they remembered that in the previous session sent message to Lyrian
- They went throughout the city to see the Hydra’s damage.
- The Hydra destroyed Rusty’s Tavern and the blacksmith.
- Rusty Ironbelly was distraught, but the party tried to encourage him saying they would rebuild.
- The party followed the damage out beyond the eastern wall, where they met up with Talan and Velara
- Landor told them they had lost 20% of their soldiers in the fight against the bandits. Leaving their forces at ~130.
- Velara told them not to be so obvious about her relationship with Lyrian, noting that her father (Elrin) would not approve of her being with a half-elf from Lusteris.
- The party made their way to Blacktide Swamp following the hydra tracks
- At the edge of the swamp, they ran into Edwin the Smuggler. He was hiding but Momeline noticed him. Lirielle and Ferinthria both tried to get him to come out, but he wouldn’t. It wasn’t until Dravencoles demanded he reveal himself that he stepped out.
- They questioned why he was beyond the wall, and he gave convincing answers (he was scouting, just like Gareth Voss and Harlan Drexel and was going back to Southaven). It wasn’t until he refused the party’s escort that they became suspicious. When they confronted him with their suspicions, he tried to run. Momeline reacted quickly and tackled him, then Lirielle used Hold Person to keep him still and forced truth serum down his throat. He refused to speak at first, but upon Dravencoles demand (the party started to think Edwin might be sexist because he only seems to be intimidated by Dravencoles). Finally they got it out of him that he was smuggling people out of Southaven and that he is a member of the Duskrunners thieves guild. He also revealed that he knew the entrances to the secret tunnels under Southaven. One entrance is in Rusty’s Tavern (Rusty doesn’t know about them). He gave them the sequence of stones to tap to get in. One entrance is in the Southaven keep, but he doesn’t know how to access. And one entrance is in Mira Threadwick’s shop. She is a secret member of the Duskrunners. They let him go and told him not to show his face in Southaven for 24 hours. He agreed and left.
- The party decided to go back to Southaven to explore the tunnels.
- On their way back, they noticed a woman in a cage at the blockade on the Tradeway south of Southaven and felt like they couldn’t not intervene. So they approached and Ferinthria turned Momeline invisible. Momeline snuck up and saw it was Lena Alwin, Gareth Voss’s girlfriend, in the cage. Momeline picked the lock silently but told her to stay still. Then she went to get into position to attack the apparent bandit in charge (Marta The Knife). Lirielle, keeping track of her footprints and clues of Momeline’s intentions, saw what she was about to do and cast a huge fireball into the bandits guarding the barricade, killing them all and burning the barricade up.
- Momeline started with a devastating sneak attack on Marta and Dravencoles took out two more of the bandits.
- Ferinthria hit Marta with a Lighting Bolt attack and the party brought her down.
- Lena revealed that Marta was Gareth’s Highschool sweetheart and left to join the Gilded Jackals bandit guild a few years back. Clearly she was still bitter.
- The party headed back to Southaven and towards Rusty’s. On the way, though, they spotted Edwin in an alley. Dravencoles caught up to him and demanded he explain why he disobeyed their orders. He said he had a job that was paying too much for him to ignore. As he was talking, a head poked out from behind a corner, momeline noticed and went and tacked the person (who they suspected was the client) without looking. She felt a lick on her face and recognized Beefy, Vanessa Tywin, and Elen Tywin. Elen was very rude with Momeline and the party decided to arrest her, asking a nearby guard to take her in to Elrin and accusing her of trying to escape Southaven during the lockdown.
- The party moved on to Rusty’s tavern and started down the secret tunnels. Brenlan caught up to them and asked to go with them. Despite Velara’s disapproval, the party agreed and he joined them. He noted that he has been training to be a Cleric.
- They followed the winding tunnel for about an hour and then came to a sealed door on their left with snake symbols.
- They took the snake creature out of Lirielle’s component pouch and asked her to read the door. After some aggression and Dravencoles using Zone of Truth, they were able to force her to reveal the riddle written on the door: “I have a head and a tail but no body, but am not a snake. What am I?” Momeline guessed wind and tried blowing on the door, but nothing happened. Dravencoles guessed “coin” and then Ferinthria noticed a coin shaped depression in the door. They searched the snake creature’s items for a coin and found one with a snake head on one side and tail on the other. They placed the coin into the depression and the snakes in the relief on the door started slithering out of place so that the door could open.
- Now the party must face whatever is on the other side.