Into the Sewers

"Into the Sewers" is episode 11 of SuperQuest Saga. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian are chased into the sewers of Sableside by the Dreadstar Gang, but they aren't the only ones stalking these vine ridden corridors...

Introduction

 * Will Stark will be the foreboding dungeon master of this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal the firbolg druid.
 * Brian is playing Carter Huttenburg, level 4 human warlock.

Recap
Last time the party was all over the city. They hunted down plant hints, had run-ins with The Dreadstar gang, followed leads to the Bullock Brothers, got ice cream that Primina hated. They learned of the Jiankoto Scarab, a super predator, and discovered flowers growing in the sewers of Sableside. Yuma informed Percy via text that the plant is a dangerous species that requires a lot of water called the Nymphae Collossus. It is contraband level 4 out of 4.

You've Activated My Trap Card
Sebastian drops the manhole cover back over the sewer. Persephone asks Yuma if she has information about the Jiankoto Scarab. Yuma has heard of it, it is an alpha predator from the same planet as the Nymphae Collossus, and it lives primarily in the water. She hopes that the party has not found one. Primina tells the party they have a problem and she points down the street at ten Dreadstars led by the hobgoblin. As they look around there are ten more to the right, ten more to the left, and ten behind them. They’re surrounded.

The hobgoblin tells the party they have fallen into his trap. He said they’d be back and in greater numbers. The party sees the human Dreadstar who gave them the tip about the Bullock Brothers and he waves at them. The hobgoblin tells the party not to fight, he’s been asked by his employer to bring them in alive. Carter says there is something important The Dreadstars should see in the manhole and gestures for Sebastian to open it up. Persephone casts Guidance to help Carter persuade the hobgoblin, and the hobgoblin lets them open it with no problems. As soon as the cover is off, Carter grabs Primina and bails. Persephone, Sebastian, and Vander follow while The Dreadstars open fire.

They splash down into 3-ft. deep water about 20-ft. below the manhole opening. Persephone takes a quick look at the flowering vines to see if she can tell where the growth is coming from and determines they should head south. Primina and Vander run like the wind. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian run quickly as well but Carter trips. Persephone turns back to help him and she sees four Dreadstars jump down into the sewers.

Sewer Escape
Sebastian uses his BFG to shoot at the pursuing Dreadstars to impede their progress, sending all of them diving into the water. Carter gets up and sees that they cowered. He tries to intimidate them by shouting in his loudest, most booming voice “If you pursue us you’ll die! You’ll never kill us!” The Dreadstars look at each other and hesitantly get up, delaying them even further. Persephone uses her athletic ability to stride ahead, leading the way towards the plant. The Dreadstars, though they are 50-ish ft. behind, begin to pursue because they will be in trouble if they return to the surface so quickly.

The sewers are now dark. Sebastian launches a stun grenade behind him and they see a flash and hear screams as The Dreadstars are hit. Carter throws a grenade behind him as well but it was a dud and does nothing. Persephone tries to find a place for them to hide from their pursuers but it is dark and she can’t find a good spot.

Sebastian leaps up, grabs a whole armful of vines and yanks them down to cover the tunnel. The party is able to make it to a fork in the tunnel up ahead so by the time The Dreadstars get through that last obstacle they will not know which way to go.

I Didn't See You Roll Any Dice
They continue running for a few minutes until they can no longer hear their pursuers. Carter pulls up a map on his bracer jack to try to figure out their location. The biggest location in their vicinity is the Municipal Water Plant directly to the south. Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian agree that looks like a likely place the plant would be.

As they look at the blooms trying to determine which way to go Carter and Sebastian start feeling fuzzy in the head and a little dizzy. It is hard to focus. Vander isn’t feeling well either. Carter casts Dancing Lights to see if a little extra light helps him, but it doesn’t. Primina suspects it’s the plant messing with their minds. Persephone asks if she will have to fight them freaking out both Sebastian and herself.

Carter is mad and casts Eldritch Blast at the plants on the wall. As the spell hits the plant he gets a piercing feeling like someone punched him in the head. He is still upset and grabs some vines to cast Shocking Grasp. He damages the plant and does not take damage. Persephone and Sebastian yell for him to stop. Carter casts Shocking Grasp one more time and takes more damage as the plant lashes out psychically. Sebastian rushes forward to pull him back and Carter lets go, muttering about something being in his mind.

Primina states she feels fine and asks Percy if she is okay as well. Persephone feels great and she leads the way, keeping an eye on the water for the scarab. Carter and Sebastian start to feel less fuzzy as they just follow Percy. After about fifteen minutes Persephone is hit by an incredible dizziness, her eyes blur and completely lose focus. She can’t see and she asks the guys if this is what they felt. Sebastian tells her to sit down. Carter casts Eldritch Blast at the vines again and does not take damage when his spell hits. Persephone also notices her headache lessens a bit when the plant takes damage, but after a few moments the pain strengthens again. Primina offers to try since she is the only one who has not been affected by the plant.

As Primina begins to take the lead, Carter hears a weird clicking sound coming down the tunnel. He instructs the others to hide and investigates for a place to take cover. Seeing nothing, he warns the others to get ready for a fight. Primina steps behind the rest of the group and pulls out a pistol. Sebastian uses his Lay on Hands ability to heal himself a little bit. Persephone moves to the front of the group. Carter casts Armor of Agathys on himself. They hear the clicking sound get louder and louder but are unable to avoid the ambush as this giant beetle leaps from the water and slices at Persephone with its blade arms, hitting her once.

Fuck You, You Big Bug!
Carter casts Phantasmal Force but it has no effect on the scarab. Carter backs up. Sebastian sees Persephone got hit pretty hard so he runs up with his axe to get its attention, but his attack misses. Primina takes two shots with her custom pistol and hits one, drawing first blood. Vander is hiding. Persephone grabs her wound and asks if the party wants to see something cool. She casts Faerie Fire on the water; she pulls violet-blue flame from her staff and blows it onto the water over the scarab. Then she backflips into the water and Wild Shapes into the Mizu Fox. The Jiankoto Scarab looks like a giant, armored, alien Kabutops with serrated blades for arms. It has spines down its back that can be used as some sort of weapon. It turns its back to Sebastian and fires its spines at him, causing paralysis.

Carter casts Vicious Mockery and psychically insults the beetle’s mother, dealing some damage and imposing disadvantage. Sebastian tries to overcome the poison that is paralyzing him but fails. Primina shoots two more times and hits once. The scarab doesn’t look phased. Persephone shoots a jet of water at the beetle and pushes it back 10 ft. The scarab charges Sebastian and takes two swipes with its blade arms. The attacks glance off Sebastian’s armor and the beetle looks confused.

Carter snaps and fires Eldritch Blast but the energy beam misses. Sebastian shakes off the poison and is no longer paralyzed. Primina hits the beetle again with her pistol. Persephone fires another water gun and pushes it back 10 ft. more. The scarab runs past Sebastian to get to Persephone, Sebastian hits its side as it runs by, and it hits her twice with its blade arms. Primina screams as the blades go towards the cute fox monster.

Carter hits the beetle with his Eldritch Blast, the energy tearing a hole in the beetle’s shoulder and bloodying it. Sebastian runs at it from behind and hits it with his axe, using Divine Smite to deal extra damage. Primina hits it twice with her pistol and the scarab starts to look like a bloody mess. Persephone uses the Mizu Fox’s Water Absorb ability to regain some hit points and critically hits it with Water Gun. The Jiankoto attacks Carter but takes cold damage when it hits the Armor of Agathys and shards of ice strike it. The scarab falls over into the water, dead.

The Municipal Water Plant
Persephone doggy-paddles around in the water. Carter says that it felt good to kill again. Sebastian takes one of the spines from the scarab’s body. Primina says that was terrifying. Carter wants to take a break so the party takes a short rest while keeping an eye out for The Dreadstars. About halfway through their hour-long rest everyone but Prim starts to feel dizzy and it becomes difficult to focus. Persephone asks what everyone thought of her new form. Carter finds it disappointing she doesn’t know Ice Beam. Primina thinks it is much cuter than Toasty.

They still feel unfocused after their rest but Primina volunteers to lead the way. Carter tries to steel his mind as they follow her. Another thirty minutes passes and Carter and Sebastian start to feel better but Percy and Vander still have headaches. Persephone puts her hand on Primina’s shoulder as she just follows along. After about fifteen minutes they can see light at the end of the tunnel.

When they reach the end of the tunnel the sewer appears to spill out into a huge reservoir lake. Looking to their right and left they can see other sewer tunnels and from the lake they see vines growing into all the other tunnels. Across the lake is an island area with a huge building surrounded by fencing on it connected to a five-sided concrete structure in the water. Persephone sees a small dock with boats and a couple figures moving around. Any lack of focus or headache goes away as soon as they are outside the tunnel.

Persephone points out the figures on the dock and suggests they go talk to them. Primina asks if they are going to swim to get there. Carter searches for another access point and figures there is an entry to the restricted area from the land on the other side, but with the weird stuff going on it seems like a risky maneuver. The group decides to send Persephone in Mizu Fox form to swim out to get a boat. She swims underwater until she reaches the dock and she finds three boats, all big enough to carry the party. Persephone tried to surface in a spot where the figures on the dock would not see her but they had moved and she surfaced in their direct line of sight. Two dragonborn in security guard outfits with glazed over eyes turn in unison to look at her and start lumbering towards her in a threatening way.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A level 4 half-orc paladin. Excellent at sewer escape skill challenges.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A level 4 firbolg druid. Watch her sick flips.
 * Carter Huttenburg: A level 4 human warlock. Easily upset by plants.

NPCS

 * Yuma: A female wilden. Percy's mentor and plant/animal identification specialist.
 * Primina: A young woman of mysterious origins. The MacGuffin. Confidently not affected by weird plants.
 * Hobgoblin Dreadstar: A hobgoblin member of The Dreadstar gang. They keep running into him and still haven't asked his name.
 * Jeffrey: A human member of The Dreadstars. Led the party into a trap.
 * Vander: A halfling man. A father on a search for his daughter.
 * Jiankoto Scarab: A rare alpha predator illegally brought to Outlaw's Horizon. Dead now.
 * Dragonborn Security: Workers at the municipal water plant. Much zombie, minus the undead part.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

Out of Character

 * Everyone has a small flashlight on their bracer jack.
 * The escape from The Dreadstars in the sewer was a skill challenge.

Nat 20's (4 total)

 * Freeland (Initiative)
 * Will (Jiankoto Intelligence Save)
 * Special Guest Jake (Water Gun Attack)
 * Brian (Investigation)

Nat 1's (2 total)

 * Will (Jiankoto Initiative)
 * Freeland (Perception)