When last we saw our adventurers, they had just entered Sharn and played Sharn chicken, then encountered a warforged attempting to kill a scholar and get away. Here we have act 2 of Forgotten Forge (converted for Dungeons and Dragons 5e).
Meeting Lady Elaydren Vown d’Cannith
Our players were gifted the use of an apartment in the middle class area of Sharn, courtesy of House Orien for their assistance in saving the lightning rail and its passengers. After a good night’s sleep, someone knocked on the door and asked them to meet with Lady Elaydren, as she was looking for a book they may have found when encountering the warforged and dead scholar. She would meet them in Lower Dura at the Broken Anvil.
The players were suspicious of meeting a wealthy person in one of the poorer areas of the city, but decided to meet here anyway. Before leaving, the warlock created a fake version of the book just in case using an illusion. (they also brought the real book with them) (DM note: one of our players couldn’t make it, so the present players decided that PC stayed behind to guard their loot, and rest)
On the way, the PCs were “greeted” by two gnolls who wanted to know their business with house Cannith. The gnolls accuse them of being part of House Boromar….while the gnolls and PCs were talking, one of the gnolls pulled out a dwarven hand and started gnawing on it. This was too much for our dwarven cleric to take, and he attacked without warning. The gnolls were fairly quickly dispatched, though someone in the crowd that was watching the fight threw 2 daggers at the warlock, missing both times. Xan and the others fail to spot who in the crowd attacked them from hiding, and they move on, but before they do so, they find a House Daask patch sewn inside the pouch that one of the gnolls was carrying. It appears they PCs were caught in a turf war?
They arrive at the bar, and the Lady introduces herself, offering wine, water, ale. The look around the room for allies, and spot someone at the bar that seems to be watching them closely, but don’t know if they are with the Lady, or an enemy or it is just a coincidence. The PCs are told the book is quite old, and it holds the location of a treasure the Lady is looking for. She will pay 800 gold to the PCs if they find that treasure and return it to her, but not to other parts of her House. Zan tries to use the fake book, but the Lady realizes it is fake right away when she moves her ring close to it and nothing happens.
After Zan (the warlock) turns over the real book, she looks at it, then pulls out a map to the Forgotten Forge. It is some 57 (ha, this is from the adventure and seems ridiculous to me on its face, but whatever) levels below the Shan Sewer! Zan negotiates an agreement that Elaydren will provide her some of the information he seeks on wards, and the other PCs learn why Zan is in Sharn.
On the Way to the Forgotten Forge
On the way, the players pass through a goblin marketplace. The people here are quite poor, selling items they have found in the lower portions of the city. The leader agrees to show them the way to the sewer, if the PCs buy some of their stuff. They buy an old perfume bottle, a piece of cloth the glows (the human likes this, as it gives him some light!), and a frayed hemp rope.
They wander down the trail to the sewers, which are inhabited by spiders, rats, and beetles. (DM’s note: We used a variant of Daggerheart initiative that you can read about HERE.)
In the picture above, the PCs came down the stairs where the swarm minis currently sit. The edge of the sewer is narrow and slippery, and one of them almost falls into the sewage. Just after that, a warforged and two wererats attack! The warforged misses its attacks over and over, as does the wererat trying to bite one of the PCs. The wererat sorcerer casts a spell that creates a ball of fire that burns anyone near it. The druid in the party tries to take control of the flame, but the sorcerer manages to keep control of it. While the fight went on, random sewer pipes opened and threw sewage across the narrow ledge, but the pipes only opened near a PC one time (who stayed upright, much to their relief). The sorcerer escaped, and the warforged was knocked unconscious. They tied them up to the bridge, and moved further into the sewers.
They tried to sneak into the next section, but for some reason made more noise than you’d hear at any gladiatorial match! When entering the next section of the sewers, there were mushrooms everywhere. The warlock decided they might be dangerous, so he burned them all away as the party progressed toward them. The walls at the end of the sewer were different than the rest of the area, and Yuri identifies them as ancient goblin construction. There was one mushroom they couldn’t burn, that sat above the drain at the end. They tried eldritch blast, which reflected off the mushroom, but they were able to touch the mushroom with their hand! When they burn a different mushroom close to this one, it glows for a moment.
Eventually, they give up on trying to figure out what the mushroom is, and explore a door. They hear running water, but Branstorm isn’t sure if they should go that way or not. Eventually, Eko decides to go into the sewage to get near the mushroom, and light radiates from the dots on top of it, but again, the PCs give up and decided to move on.
(DM’s note, had they gone on, I would have randomly laid out tiles to create a maze of sewers, have them get lost, and get random encounters).
Zan enters the water to cross the sewage to the other side and contracts a disease (DM’s note: I’m working on a PDF called Fantastic Diseases, and I’m trying to decide which to give the foolish PC). The other players don’t cross the water, and find three doors. Branstorm fails to force the first door open, and gets sprayed by an acid trap opening the second one. Zan, having crossed the water to look a the skeleton locked inside a cage, finds a magical ring (which he puts on without trying to figure out what it is) and a shield. The third door, well, they decide to open if slightly and look in, and spot the trap, which they disarm by cutting the string from the door to the trap.
Zan inspects the final door and uses Eyes of the Rune Keeper to identify what they think are instructions (and the words Danger, Murder, Danger), which they use to open the door, spotting a light in the distance.
Overall, I think this was a good session. There was role playing and combat in equal measure, and there will be lasting effects from finding the ring, shield, and getting a disease. I’m not sure how we’ll explain the sudden appearance of the other player’s PC (though he’s the most curious person around, so I’m guessing he couldn’t take being left behind and followed them somehow).