GS: The Day After... (Part 1)

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It was actually the evening of the Swagfest when the party put their plan in motion...
Even though I'm the DM, I have to admit, I'm not sure what exactly they were trying to accomplish. They didn't actually try to break the assassin out of jail, but instead tried to distract the guard while Theo sneaked upstairs to steal her confiscated stuff.
Theo got caught in the building on his first attempt, but was successful on the second. Meanwhile, Hunter was talking to Jesswin (the assassin) and mentioned where he was staying at (in front of the guard on duty).

The next day, the guard showed up and not only found Hunter and Theo in the same inn, but also found Arti wearing Jesswin's cloak and gloves... needless to say, all three were rounded up and taken to jail. The party tried telling the guards some story about buying stolen goods, but the tail was a little too unbelievable (given their proximity to the stolen items only the night before when they were in guard custody), and anyway, the goods were stolen and therefore guard property as evidence of a crime. Once the items were begrudgingly returned, everyone was let go. One item the party did manage to keep though was Jesswin's dagger, as it was hidden at the Inn and not on anyone's person when they were arrested.

After that little exchange, the town guard thought it would be a good idea for all three of them to leave town... which the party started to arrange...

As they gathered their gear from the inn, they found that the Tome of the Unspeakable had been stolen from while they were in jail. A gold sword, like the ones the cult members under the warehouse all carried, was left as a calling card. After leaving the Inn, everyone headed over to Browyn the Red's place (he's the mage serving as the mentor for Artierion). While there, Browyn revealed some information he uncovered about the ruined temple the party had recently been exploring (see Out of Bounds part 2 and part 3).

It seems after hearing about their underground adventure, Browyn was able to piece together some disconnected bits of information that lead to an unknown underground path.

With the help of Greybear, a true druid in the area researching local ancient history, the party was able to open up this secret path.

Druids: It should be noted that on Krynn, actual druids (per the PHB) are more rare than clerics... the return of the gods, approximately ten years ago (in game time) also heralded the return of true clerics... by contrast, druids and druidic magic only returned to the realm less than one year ago, with the awakening of an ancient druid who had been in stasis for several centuries. Prior to that, people calling themselves druids were most likely herbalists and healers.
The party, including Greybear and his trusty wolf companion, traveled down a long and craggy path, nothing like the well shaped halls and rooms of the temple of Tep Solath, untill the the path opened into into a series of wider paths and rooms, matching the map fragment that Browyn was able to provide the party with.

As the party stared investigating the areas, they began to encounter all sorts of undead creatures, from human skeletons standing in a hallway, to a bugbear zombie in a cell-like room, to a pair of darkmantles (a magical creature that can look like a stalactite or lump of rock when immobile) that flew tried to smoother one of the party members, and another one that was successful in killing Greybear's wolf compaign.

(the session ended with the players defeating the darkmantles and bugbear zombie and beginning to explore other areas of this lair)

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