The staircase down into the earth was coated in slick mud, and trickles of water could be seen running down it. Karrank tied a rope to one of their wagons and the party used it to stay steady as they descended into the darkness.
At the base of the stairs, in a dim and unlit room, were four guardsmen. Bask immediately started to bite down on one, though one took the opportunity to run and call for help. Karrank managed to bring him down with a crossbow bolt to the back while Kurt took care of the other two guardsmen without issue. Other than the one Karrank had shot, all the guards were just knocked out and tied up for later as they were just unfortunate people who had been charmed by the Naga.
There were three passages leading out of the room, and Sylvester quickly led them down the right one. The walls and ceiling were muddy dirt, shoddily supported by wooden beams that were swollen with water and rot. Every step down the hallway came with a tiny squelch as the mud sucked on their boots.
Soon, they came across a wooden door in their way. Water had obviously seeped into it, causing it swell in place and jam shut. Sylvester and Kurt managed to easily break the soggy door with some solid kicks, opening the way to the next room. It was large, and partially flooded with at least two feet of water, which only partially concealed the thick mud underneath it. Further, there were two killer frogs in the center of the room which began hopping their way toward the party as soon as the door was kicked open.
Bask quickly began to petrify one and spent the rest of the fight munching on it as it finished turning to stone. Sylvester and Kurt managed to take care of the other frog without issue. Unfortunately for Neil, the water and Mud came well up to his chest, making it extremely difficult for him to move, as he discovered when he tried to help. In the end, he got to ride on Bask while everyone else forced their way through the water and mud.
As they began making their way to the exit to the room, Thyellaphos suddenly spoke up.
“Wait, there is something hidden here.”
From the censer, several glowing embers floated out and outlined a circular shape on one of the room’s walls.
“Nice!” Karrank cheered. “I bet there is something good back there!”
“There are two chests full of treasure back there.” Sylvester acknowledged.
“And we are walking past them because?”
“Because one of those chests is literally too heavy for us to move at the moment. My plan is to kill the Naga and get the prisoners here to help us move the treasure.” Sylvester explained, still heading for the room’s exit.
“That seems a little exploitative…” Kurt pointed out.
“I plan to give them the heaviest bits to keep.” Sylvester admitted.
This satisfied everyone’s curiosity and they continued through the dungeon, Thyellaphos lighting the way. Sylvester led them down a hallway, turned at a collapsed hall, turned at a junction, and stopped at a bend in the hallway.
“There is another hidden door here.” Thyellaphos declared, outlining it with shining embers once again. Karrank easily found the handle and pried the door opening, revealing a decently sized rowboat on the shore of what looked like a small pond.
“Who even needs an underground lake?” He complained about the tackiness while Sylvester and Kurt rowed them across.
“I think partially it is just bad drainage.” Kurt pointed out.
“They had to make a home for their pet crocodiles somewhere.” Sylvester continued.
“Wait, these waters are croc infested?” Karrank suddenly sat upright, scanning the water for suspicious shapes.
“They have been trained not to attack the boat or anyone in it.” Sylvester reassured him.
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The trip across the pond was short, and they were soon disembarking on the other side. Sylvester led them down one side of a four-way intersection and they soon came across another swollen door blocking the way forward. He stopped Kurt from kicking the door down directly.
“Wait. There are several troglodytes on the other side, and the door is barred. If we want to take them by surprise, we can’t break down the door.”
“Well, how should we approach this then? Dig through the walls?” Kurt asked.
“That isn’t too far out, these dirt walls don’t exactly look sturdy.” Neil stated, taking a closer look at the walls and the rivulets of muddy water running down them.
“We just knock, and they should open the door for us.” Sylvester explained.
“Well… I mean… I guess?” Kurt was taken aback by Sylvester’s solution.
Once everyone was in position for their ambush, Sylvester firmly knocked on the door. There were a few moments of silence before the sounds of the door being unblocked could be heard. As the door opened to reveal a troglodyte, the party launched their attacks.
Sylvester slammed the unfortunate troglodyte into the doorway, audibly breaking a couple ribs, and opened the way for the rest of the party. Karrank finished it off as he moved past, and the others all went for the remaining troglodyte.
Unfortunately for all of them, the troglodyte began to run for the other door while releasing an overpowering stench. Karrank, Kurt, and Neil nearly stopped their attacks to retch, but they managed to push through it. Unfortunately, this was enough, and the troglodyte managed to make it to the other door where it began frantically pounding.
Bask finally made it into the room and began to petrify the lone troglodyte just as the door opened, revealing four more ready to fight. Sylvester killed the petrifying troglodyte while Kurt and Neil took down another. As the bodies began to fall, one of the newcomers started having second thoughts and began to back away from the fight. Unfortunately for it, this attracted Bask’s attention, causing it to fixate its gaze and begin to petrify the poor troglodyte. The other two attacked ferociously, easily swinging their heavy stone axes. Karrank finished one of them off, leaving the last one for the rest of the party. Bask just watched the fight as it munched on its most recently petrified meal.
Sylvester ended up finishing it off, and they all took the opportunity to go back into the hallway for some fresh air. When they finally felt ready, they went back in and quickly started checking the troglodytes for money. There was a large spread of money, all of which got put into the treasure sack.
When they were done checking over the bodies, they formed back into their line and began to descend the muddy stairs down to the next level of the dungeon. The floor, unlike the floor above, was much less well put together. While the other had flat walls and regular supports, this one looked more like a warren of tunnels and caves, sloping together and occasionally crossing each-other. Further, the thin trickle of water that the party had followed down the stairs continued making its way deeper into the darkness of the dungeon.
Not even out of sight of the stairs, they came across a stretch of tunnels which seemed to be entirely filled with thick mud, except for some steppingstones which barely poked out above it. Sylvester led them across without hesitation, taking a right when the path split, and ending back on more solid ground without any issue. The rest of the party soon followed.
Sylvester continued to lead them right, even turning away from a door in one wall, to reach what appeared to be a dead end into another underground pool.
“There is a hidden door here.” Thyellaphos declared, outlining it with embers from the censer.
“You know, the ability to find hidden passages and such would be a lot handier if we didn’t already know they were there.” Karrank joked while working on getting it open.
“Well, we don’t know they are there.” Neil said gesturing to Karrank, himself, and Kurt.
“Well, I was just thinking that the ability to open secret stuff that is pointed out is a bit of a handier magical ability.” Karrank said while revealing the hidden area. “Looks like we have a boat here, I take it there is something useful somewhere across this pool?”
“A couple treasure chests full of loot. They are too heavy to take both at once, so we will need two trips.” Sylvester explained. “And we can stash them in here with the boat for, to pick up on the way out.”
“Sounds good,” Kurt nodded while stepping into the boat. “Neil, hand me the lantern.”
Neil handed it over, and Kurt set off in the tiny boat. He returned in only a few minutes with a chest. Sylvester and Karrank pulled it out and stashed it while he went back for the second. That one, and the boat, got stashed as well and the hidden area was resealed once more.
With their future treasure secured, the party backtracked to the door they had passed on the way. Kurt and Sylvester easily kicked the swollen and rotting door from its hinges, revealing a larger room. Thyellaphos’s light barely reach the walls on the side but did manage to illuminate the room’s central pillar.
Stepping out from behind the pillar, however, was a single zombie. It was actually a Coffer Corpse, which could only be killed with magical means, unlike normal zombies. Of course, the party had plenty of that and Sylvester managed to activate his medallion of warding before the corpse reached the party. It stood at the edge of the protective aura, futilely swiping at them. The process of beating it with their magical weapons until it stopped getting up was slightly tedious, but probably the safest battle they had had so far.
The door leading out of the room was neither locked nor stuck this time and opened without issue. Sylvester directed the group past a door to their immediate left to continue down the dark hallway.
“That door leads to the prison cells. Its where they keep the people the Naga failed to charm.” Sylvester explained.
“Wait, shouldn’t we be freeing them?” Kurt pointed out, already moving to check the door.
“We will, but we need to take care of the Naga first. My plan is to take them with us on the trip out and have them help carry some of the treasure with us.” Sylvester stopped him.
“That still seems exploitative.” Neil argued.
“Like I said earlier, we are going to give them a good chunk of the treasure in return." Sylvester defended his plan again.
“The heaviest bits.” Kurt remembered, before eventually sighing. "Fine, let's get going then and come back as quick as we can."
The party, in agreement once more, began to continue. They moved through a smaller room, filled with wooden benches that looked to be caked in dried blood. There was a short passage from the lab that ended at a door. Kurt began moving to kick it down, but Sylvester shook his head. He pushed, and the door easily swung open.
Before them was a long room, with walls covered in wooden panels and a raised wooden dais at the far end lit with candles. All of this illuminated a large stone sculpture of the Naga, a serpent with a human face, which acted as the centerpiece. Standing before the altar, facing the party, was a man in robes. Another figure, partially hidden by shadows from the candles, stood only a few feet away.
“Ah, I have been expecting you,” the man declared as the party entered the room. “My name is Gareth Primo, and I would like to congratulate you on defeating my Coffer Corpse. You will be of great help to my master!”