Umberlee’s Temple

Sea ghosts are really scary! They killed Orange right away when he rushed down to fight them. I grabbed him, though, and got him back to the Big Guy. We all fight them off and get inside as quickly as we can. It’s a really strange tower with really dark stone stuff. Nevi says it’s not natural.

Red leads us down and around until there’s a weird demonic bust at the end of the tunnel. He went up to it and got zapped real hard. He zips over to it and pops its eyes out. Then leads us on and to the right. There’s pictures of the sea goddess down this way. And a door that’s not a door. No one can figure out how to open it. Nevi says the water holds it closed. So, back we go.

There’s a weird statue of a lady here. She looks real scared, and Red says the stone feels weird at the top. Nevi takes a look and says its got an awful lot of magic on it. There are a couple matching magics on the wall, too. Some kind of secret door. Big Guy dispels the magic on the lady, while I stand by with a water breathing potion. She doesn’t need it though, she relaxes and then withers and dies. I guess she had been there a long time.

The door opens to a big round room. There’s a big drain hole in the center of the room. The water tastes like blood in here. Fish people and sharks come swarming up the hole and our Dragon Friend breathes on all of them. The room is a lot bloodier now, so we quickly swim through and down the hole. Red keeps us from tripping traps as we go. One of the tubes was all full of them.

The next big room is full of seaweeds and other plants. The water is warm and salty in here. It’s like a fish tank inside the temple. Some fish people swim over and they warn us against going any further. They aren’t going to stop us, though. There are other creatures here, though, creepy weird looking fish people that do try. Sharks and sea spawn, except the sharks weren’t really, they were hags. But it didn’t matter, we smashed them all. The nice fish people came back then, saying they’re leaving the temple, but to beware the Guardian of the temple. Orange talks to them about gods and the Wall, and they head out. We start taking bets on what the guardian is. Kraken, Dragon Turtle (Orange says that’s not real), or something else.

Deeper and warmer paths lead us down to a big ugly face of a door with a portcullis. We slip into a massive dark chamber. Big voice comes to all of us, calling us juicy morsels. Says we’re not the first. I don’t like this big voice or this darkness. But light comes then, brightening up the room and showing more pictures of the Umberlee goddess. There’s a huge pile of treasure below us, and it’s moving.

Red was right, a Dragon Turtle it is! That thing is HUGE! And its breath hurts an awful lot. And its shell is so hard. I spent a lot of time unconscious in the water, which is extra frightening. But Catbard called her genie and Dragon Friend was really helpful. Eventually, I wake up and it’s cracked all apart. We loot really quickly, but it’s getting awfully hot in here. The genie takes most of us away to the Air plane, but Dragon Friend and Red stay behind for more loot and get away together.

Next day we meet back up outside the city and divide up the loot. Red tells Dragon Friend to stay away from the water. The Sea Queen has already sent raging storms to Waterdeep. The storms last a really long time, but we got lots of money and some really pretty items. I got a new staff and belt. Catbard got a new ring she seemed really happy about. Now we have to lay low until the storm blows over.

The Flint Forge Gang

One of my contacts gets me information on the contract on Catbard, but not sure how to tell Red. He seemed to get the same, or similar information, though, so maybe I don’t have to. He wants to check out the hideout of the Flint Forge gang. Says they’re down below Skullport, in Undermountain. That sounds like scary fun. We go investigate the people first. They have some assassins, a war cleric, a druid, and lots of goblins and animals to defend them.

So, we go for a sneak. They have a really cool base. It’s built right into the stone wall. It’s made of dark iron and obsidian. It’s three stories tall and has no windows, just a couple doors. One of them is way up high. There’s goblins, bats, and even a cyclops out front. We meet some fire lizards on the way out and Red gives them food to leave us alone.

The gang figured out we were looking for them and sent Red a note, asking for a meeting. I get him to take Orange along so we don’t get outnumbered too badly. He says if a fight breaks out, I’m supposed to run. I’m good at running, but there’s no way Orange would run. Fortunately, they don’t want a fight. They offer to replace our puppies, saying the dead learned their lesson. They offer Red a few flying spider eggs. This sounds awful to me, but it’s Red’s business, and he agrees.

We spend the rest of the month getting ready for our temple raid in the Bay. I get a bunch of diamond necklaces for folks because Red said that’s how you save people. Nevi makes me a ring for swimming, and cloaks for most everybody else, but I really like my cloak.

Out on the Bay, Dragon Friend makes us all able to breathe water, and then makes us a big Feast. Right there in our boat. Says it’ll make us more Heroic. Then we all dive in and start the swim down to Umberlee’s Temple.

The Lady, The Basilisk, and The Dragon

The Cabaret was attacked! And Red’s pups were killed! Oh dear, oh dear. Shouldn’t be staying so far away. Gotta keep them safe. Flock is family and Family sticks together. Master always said so. Xanathar’s folk are still after Catbard. Red and I are going to find who killed our pups, though. Unacceptable!

Catbard comes with us to the Restaurant, though. Keep her close. Then up to the Temple of Helm to set the Lady Gondafrey free. He’s really nice and gives her lots of her gold back. She insists on repaying me, but I don’t even know how much I gave her. Not debt, we’re family. But I take it, I’ll just buy her something pretty later.

We grab Orange next, to head to talk to the Blackstaff. Gotta get her permission to bring Blinky up to guard Catbard. He’s a good boy and he’ll keep her safe. Blackstaff is not very keen on the idea of a basilisk in the city, and makes Orange promise to kill it if it hurts any civilians who aren’t attacking us.

Then we head down to the Bay to talk to the pretty Bronze Dragon. He’s getting bigger, pretty dragon. He says that Umberlee’s cache is vulnerable at a certain time of year. He can make us all breathe, but it will still be dangerous. Lots of monsters guarding it, and we’ll never be able to sail the seas again. We’ve got some time, though.

Time enough to deal with some pup killers. Just gotta find them.

Plants, Dragons, and Plans

Trolltide is super fun, and sweet rolls are delicious. No one’s gonna egg our Restaurant.

A bird flew right into the Restaurant! It seemed to know where it was going, so I just followed it to the kitchens. Then Falla’s voice came out of it. They’re really nice and they want to talk to Red. He Petie’s are ready, too. So, after lunch, we head up home to talk to her. She’s got Five Petie plants, but Red says they can live with her until he needs one. Falla needs help with a rare plant over in the Moonshea Isles, a hawksthorn, to pollinate something special. Red says yes, if she’ll help spruce up our groceries for a year, and she agrees. He promises to smooth things over with the Green Grocers.

We all get together that night, and Orange says he talked to the dragon in the bay! The dragon wants help getting into Umberlee’s Trove. Says he has a way in, but needs some brave adventurers. Red shares Falla’s request and we wonder if the Dragon can get us to the Isles quickly, and then we can do the underwater job after. We’re going to talk to him in the morning and figure out if he’s willing and how many he can take. The plant job should be fairly easy. Then red and I head back down for the night. Blinky is adorable.

Oh! And now we have stones to talk to each other! Nevi says they can only be used ten times each day, but we can talk to everyone if we want to. I feel like someone should have said goodnight, I wonder if they’re okay…