Enough with the chocolate stuff - time to prepare for the teleportation dungeon! Tittlin gives the group a little refresher on the teleporters - red random, purple one or two-way (no way to tell). Lute Pluck confirms that he’s ready to go, and we then go and consult the council in the fief regarding the amount of teleportation goop that we’ll need to collect. Several barrels seems like an appropriate amount, and we debate the logistics for a little while (bags of holding, Tensor’s floating disc, etc.) before eventually deciding that we can simply roll the barrels out once loading them up with goo. I forgot just how dependent Tittlin is on the contents of his bag of holding with those skinny little arms…
I reattune to the Crystal Greatsword before heading off to bed. We set off at a reasonable time to buy several barrels from the local general store, pick up Lute Pluck, and make our way to Surra. Entering the longhouse, I go to chat with the Retriever to get some tips on good sources for large quantities of the teleportation goop in the dungeon. He mentions that the first floor has a pool with a decent quantity that replenishes very slowly, while the third floor has some more regularly flowing streams. Third sounds like what we’re looking for - Tittlin also asks if anybody has useful maps of the teleporter network, but the Retriever says that they’re quite hit and miss and not worth the money. We thank him and begin heading towards the dungeon, but Lute Pluck stops us and indicates that he wants to visit the cemetery. We come upon a monument to Ealdwig, a large statue with some runes for protective magics on the breastplate. Lute Pluck provides a number of items as offerings to the statue, including fruits, wine, and other goods, and he plays what seems to be a pre-recorded message telling us about the history of Ealdwig.
We discuss this for a bit and eventually decide to ask Lute Pluck to attempt to depetrify the statue. While nothing happens to the figure itself, the breastplate does turn from stone to metal! We unbuckle it from the statue and debate what to do with it, eventually deciding on stashing it in Momen’s bag of holding since it doesn’t make sense for any of us to wear it right now. Finally, into the dungeon!
Upon entering the dungeon, I remind everyone of the teleporter colour-coding and pass Momen my signal whistle in case he needs to let us know of his position. He begins scrawling out a map as we begin to move forward, encountering a choldrith and some quaggoths. I take a few swings at the choldrith but manage to lose my balance as the quaggoth grabs me from behind and trips me into a red portal, sending me into an all-too-familiar enclosed room with a drider, chest, and purple portal. This is all starting to feel way too familiar - I sprint through a few portals, remembering too late that a rug I step on has a red portal under it. Thankfully, I manage to make it into a safe enclosed room with a single purple portal. I relay some information to everyone else while they deal with their own teleporting issues and combat. Leaving safety, I head through the purple portal and find myself back in the room near the entrance. Now knowing where I am, I decide to regroup with Tittlin and Lute Pluck to clear out one of the previous rooms that I passed through. I charge in and slash at a quaggoth, overpowering another one that attempts to grab me which then gets turned into a fine red mist by what I assume to be an arrow from Tittlin.
Momen suddenly appears in our room and immediately begins grappling with a quaggoth, resisting being pushed into the red portal behind him. We deal with the remaining creatures in the room and Lute Pluck cuts Tittlin out of a web that the choldrith cast on him. Lute Pluck makes an error noise at us and we all freeze in place as he detects magic, finding a second red portal underneath the rug.
We make our way into the purple portal in that room, finding that it takes us to the goop room I was in! Great news - I pull out my barrel and fill it up about halfway with teleportation goop, emptying the basin which doesn’t seem to be have a source to replenish it. We take it back into the other room, leaving it there while we investigate more of the first floor.
Going down a winding hallway, we come upon a room that contains a ceremonial altar and a number of vessels. Quickly crushing a quaggoth in the corner, we briefly inspect the altar and the earns before hopping through the portal, which once again takes us back to an earlier room. Being a bit aloof while recalling bits of the map, I get separated from the group and step onto the wrong purple portal which takes me to a room with another choldrith. I quickly run past it and come across three purple portals, choosing to take the north one.
I find myself in yet another small completely enclosed room, standing on a regular purple portal with another one in front of me, glowing brighter than all the rest. The second floor awaits!