OotA: Ep. 3: Welcome to the Darklake

Last time, we left our two friends and their throng of NPC buddies right in the middle of the Oozing Temple dungeon. They had just decided to head into the main chamber after having discovered the water source that was slowly filling the dungeon.

Shuushar, the gentle fishman

The main chamber held what had once been a presumably beautiful fountain, with only the pool bit and half a statue left. Four indistinguishably shaped sculptures grazed as many alcoves. 

The characters decided to search the chamber and found a magical drow dagger and some coins under the dark water of the fountain pool. Victor's rogue, Schnicktick, decided to steal one of the sculptures, eagerly cheered on by Jimjar. He had just touched one of them when they all came to life and took new indistinguishable shapes as yet more Oozes!

After a short but intense battle that left some scarred equipment in need of mending and a party member in need of resting, the characters realized that there were no obvious ways out of the temple. They rested for a spell in the little watery cave and passed the time poking around at things. As the water began to rise around their feet, they felt the urgency to explore the cracks in the ceiling and after some athletic checks, they managed to poke a big enough hole for the water to flood the cave. They swam out, one after the other, and soon found themselves caught by the torrent of an underground river.

The river led them forward a bit, until they hit a rocky shore. Shuushar, the fishman, recognized the surroundings. “Hooom… We are not at all near Blingdenstone”, he said. “This is the way to my people. Sloobludop is not far from here!”. He then proceeded to cut down a sizable mushroom cap, large enough to snuggly fit all the characters. They turned it up-side-down and used it as a boat in order to continue down the river.

Kuo-Toa, a.k.a. fishypods.

After having evaded low-hanging cliffs and a trip around a maelstrom, the party hit shore again. A large sandbank protruded from the wall in a huge cave and seemed to lead further on. There were footprints in the sand and Shuushar soon warned the party that they were not alone here. Suddenly, ten or so fishmen jumped right out of the darkwater sea and ambushed the party!

A bloody battle ensued where David’s fighter got caught in a net and almost beaten to death by a large fishman with fists made of lightning bolts. Other groups skirmished around the party and tried to throw their nets and poked with their spears. Jimjar and Victor’s rogue had a field day with the hand crossbows they had nicked from the drow earlier. The party emerged damaged from the battle, only to watch yet another band of fishmen upon a nearby sand dune, this time with an adorned hero amongst them!

Will our refugees survive yet another battle in the darklake? Check back next time, when things go south in Sloobludop.