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Original character art by Jimmy McClure.
Music by Kevin MacLeod.
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Previously on Call from the Deep

Starring:
Gotwald Ironhorn, level 11 minotaur Rune Knight Fighter
Mac, level 11 tortle Drakewarden Ranger/Rogue
Savra Akkedis, level 11 lizardfolk School of Necromancy Wizard
Torrel, level 11 kenku Fathomless Warlock Pact of the Amulet/Fighter

Descending down a lengthy hallway, the party reaches a T-intersection. The brainscanner says their next Augmenter Brain is about 100 feet north, and a little east. But their attention is drawn to the western room, where dozens of colorful jellyfish swim in an overgrown kelp forest.

After interacting with the docile but stinging jellyfish, Torrel uses a scroll of gust of wind to part the jellies, revealing a path to the north. He swims through the vortex and the door, but sees only a hallway leading down and east. On his return trip, the vortex of water flings a jellyfish at Gotwald, but the minotaur ducks out of the way.

Heading east the party swims through an empty forum, with circular tiered setting, and through a door to the north.

The next room is much larger, and two stories, featuring an overhanging bridge that runs north to south over a once grand hall. The only thing remaining are elven statues in the corners. A hallway runs to the west at the lowest level, meeting up with the hall Torrel found earlier.

The only way forward is north. When Torrel swims through a doorway, he feels an odd tingling sensation.

But when Gotwald follows behind, a trap is activated!

Black, inky water surges from the north end of the 10-ft wide corridor, rapidly flowing downward. Torrel would be swept away, but the enlarged Gotwald plants his feet and grabs the kenku.

The minotaur fights back against the raging current, but his careful swimming brings him to another trap — metal spikes embedded in alcoves along the wall that jut out and stab both of them for 30+ damage. Ouch!

Meanwhile Savra and Mac aren’t keen on entering this raging, black-water death trap. They have no visibility, and Mac tries to fix that by coaxing the colorful jellyfish along the curved hallway, using a combination of speak with animals, thaumaturgy, and Cheese’s firebreath to warm the waters.

It’s a noble effort, but the jellyfish want nothing to do with the deathtrap, either.

Torrel is able to swim north beyond the waters and reach a door on the western side. The door is more modern and alien in design — clearly added more recently by the mind flayers. 

While Torrel works on decoding the alien locks, Gotwald makes his way out of the deathtrap, and have a moment, the surging waters recede.

When Torrel unlocks and opens the door, Gotwald sees the water jet holes in the walls close up. Trap disarmed!

The rest of the party catches up as they enter a noble resting place. The sarcophagus of the Ascarle Elven Queen lies here, along with a preserved tapestry of the ancient city in its heyday.

Embedded in the sarcophagus is the third Augmenter Brain!

A bloodied Gotwald remembers the psychic blasts those things give off, and quickly exits the room. He and Mac stay back and let the spellcasters deal with the brain. In this case, it’s Torrel blasting it again and again with eldritch blasts, and making the INT save against its reactionary mind blast.

When the brain is destroyed, the lid of the tomb bursts open, and Vestress the alhoon (illithid lich) emerges!

Vestress isn’t hostile, however, though she’s quite pissed at being defeated by Shava and sealed in Shava’s old tomb. 

She explains that she is an exile of the Colony of Zellix’Phor for her pursuit of arcane knowledge. She struck a bargain with the kraken when she arrived, running this domain as his regent while she attained lichdom.

But when the Colony of mind flayers arrived here, they tracked her down. They were able to conquer Ascarle, stun the kraken, and graft the Elder Brain onto his body, gaining untold power. They raised the Elven Queen, Shava, as the new regent, and sealed Vestress away using one of the Augmenter Brains to keep her locked in psychic stasis.

Vestress is angry and wants to destroy Shava, free Slarkrethel, and wipe out the colony.

Which is exactly what the party wants as well!

Well, they also need a long rest. Turns out, Vestress is the answer. 

She activates the magical tapestry in the room, which leads them to a permanent version of Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion, a nice beach house overlooking Ascarle as it once was, as if frozen in time.

The party finally gets a much-need long rest, and a level up!

MVPC – Torrel

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