Here it is. Somewhere in these depths lies the beast that I’ve been searching for. I’m a bit nervous heading in, as from what I’ve head from the rest of the group, dragon’s are downright deadly.
We start sneaking into the cave, forgoing any light to avoid giving any warning to the creature’s inside. We barely make it 15 feet in before we find our first body, lying face down in a patch of strange fungus in the corner. Not wanting to deal with whatever spores it spreads, we give it a wide berth as we travel deeper.
We come to a branch in the cavern and after a moment of debate decide to take the right branch, as it looks like it heads deeper. Before we get around the next bend, Spesof stops and holds out his hand. There are chuuls up ahead. At Spesof’s insistence, we head back and take the other branch.
This time, we see light around the corner and hear the crackling of an unattended forge fire and an unnerving skittering sound. Peeking around the corner, we see a giant centipede illuminated in the light of a forge. It has it’s back turned to us, and has cornered a deep gnome, with only a spiked barricade separating it. As Spesof and Tittlin start debating what to do, I remind them we should worry more about saving the gnome, as it’s uncertain how much longer he has.
After briefly debating the danger of the creature’s bite, we decide to just run in and whale on it. Rittlin phases through the wall and stabs it before it can react. As it turns and bites him, Spesof rushes in and unleashes a hurricane of blows, during which Shifty tries and fails to bite through the tough carapace. As my Toll the Dead washes over it ineffectually, Rittlin squirms his way to a good angle and stabs it through an eye, slaying it. It drops down to the ground and writhes for a moment before curling up dead. We help the deep gnome out of his fortifications, and although we can’t find any language in common he offers a mithril ingot as a statement of gratitude. Perhaps I should have studied Undercommon.
With no further passages from here, we back to the first passage to take on the chuuls. I try to surprise them with Evard’s Black Tentacles, but they manage to slip out of them in spite of their size. Rittlin and Spesof both start attacking but are quickly snatched up by the chuul’s pincers. Toll the Dead finishes off the first chuul, freeing Spesof as I move up to get behind the second one. In the brief moment that it turns to look at me, Rittlin jabs his blade in a crack in its shell. It screaches before thrusting its mouth tentacles in his face. This is the last it can do, as Spesof and I make quick work of it.
We get up and help Rittlin up, giving him a celebratory pat on the back before we realize he’s not moving. He’s breathing, but not responding to any of our calls or slaps to the face. Panicking, we bring him to the gnome, hoping he knows something of how to deal with the other creatures that he shares a cave with. Spesof tries to mime out the chuul encounter, but it doesn’t make any sense to the deep gnome. Eventually the gnome sees Rittlin clearly enough to see what’s happened and pulls out a jar of a dark, pungent ointment. Scooping some out with two fingers, he immediately jams them up Rittlin’s nose, awakening him with a shuddering jolt. We pay him a platinum piece in thanks and take an hour to rest, binding our lacerations as Rittlin desperately tries to clear the ointment from his nose.
Heading back into the chuul cavern, we find a chest in the back. I provide Rittlin some light with Greenflame Blade as he checks it for traps, allowing us to quickly pocket the silver within.
One passage further and Spesof stops us again. The dragon is right ahead. Before I can so much as open my mouth Rittlin dashes through the wall, with Spesof charging in to join him. By the time I realize what’s happened and run around the corner, they’ve already slain it. I stare, unbelieving both that something that’s been so much trouble could be killed so easily and that I didn’t even get to see it. Picking my jaw off the floor, I examine the wounds, making sure that none will pose a difficulty to moving it. With help from Spesof, we gently lower it into the portable hole before the three of us quickly split up the juvenile treasure pile. Happily, I find a spell scroll for my troubles, although I’m not certain what use magic mouth will be.
Feeling unease at how easy this turned out to be, we decide to leave quickly, not willing to tempt fate or discover if there is a bigger dragon lying in wait. Exiting the cave, we jog all the way back to the warforged camp to spend the night in safety.
As we’re there, 5-0-13 shows me an invention he’s created. A magical device that can duplicate spell scrolls! He provides me with a copy of teleportation circle as a demonstration along with his known destinations. As we settle down for the night, I realize I have a great deal of scribing ahead of me.