Session 25

Leaving Dol'Sulrich
We begin down the tunnels from Dol'Sulrich indicated by the Kobold Sorcerer Brork. The tunnel initially seems natural, but we later notice pick marks where it has clearly been dug out. That tunnel then opens up into a broader cave (but not a tall one) containing an underground lake. Knot suspects that this is a natural aquifer.

We circle the underground lake clockwise. It is loosely oval. We find an offshoot but continue circling the lake until we reach a dead end and have to turn back. We take the offshoot rather than circling all the way back around the lake to check the counter-clockwise direction.

Down that tunnel, Beans notices a torchlight ahead! We attempt to sneak, then realize our torches are still lit. After putting out the torches, we resume sneaking. We find a disheveled, malnourished man with a looong beard gesticulating wildly at the wall in front of him. Suleiman speculates that this is the missing student.

We approach. He initially assumes that we're figments of his imagination. Upon inquiry, he informs us that his name is Cayden he "used to be at the Academy," appearing to confirm Suleiman's guess. His gesticulations are attempting to convince his "Professor" (the wall) that the ruins down here are real.

We try and fail to convince him that we're real. Suleiman attempts to convince him by putting out his fire, which also fails to convince him. He does confirm that the ruins he's talking about are those of Dol'Sulrich. We convince him to come with us (having nothing better to do). Xanie inquires about his chair. It is carved from the "wood" that grows down here aka mushrooms.

The mushrooms grow in the direction we're going, which he says is a dead end but does confirm that there is a hole there that water seeps out of that may be a way out.

We find the dead end with the mushrooms, and the hole. We can see a brick wall through the hole, and Cayden speculates that its a well from a farm. Knot tries to cut off a piece of a mushroom, and gets a face full of spores. That's the last of that.

Suleiman tries to widen the hole with the end of his glaive, but accomplishes little more than damaging his weapon. We grab Cayden (literally) and head back to the Dwarven city to search for some mining equipment. On the way, he falls asleep in Suleiman's arms. We easily find some in the Forge of Moradin and return to the cave to dig out the hole. We eventually succeed, causing some water to gush into the cave---we have indeed broken into a well.

Beans and Knot climb up and discover that the well is located at an abandoned farmstead to the South of Korvosa. Knot strongly suspects that there will be soldiers patrolling up there, so we wait until dark to head out.

In the meantime, we wake Cayden up and ask about the Walk of Kings. He says it used to be a part of the coronation of a new Dwarven king where they would visit each Dwarven city in turn. He mentions that Dol'Sulrich used to be the Dwarven capitol, and that there was only one Dwarven city left so the Walk of Kings would be mostly ceremonial these days. The fact that we found that tower would be big news. We also ask him what year it was when he got lost down here---it's been 7 years.

Knot periodically goes up to check the top of the well. One of the times in the evening, he hears the sounds of heavy boots and quietly returns without poking his head out. We wait for nightfall, then sneak out with Cayden. There's a dirt road that appears heavily trafficked (for a dirt road). There are bootprints, but we can't tell anything about the frequency or number.

We're about 2 miles South-South-East of Korvosa. The farmhouse nearby is a two-story structure that has been abandoned for some time. We start to head back to the Silver Lions camp.

The Silver Lions' Camp (Again)
We make it back to camp and explain the results to the Guard Captain, Jaxon Galloway, and he agrees to pay us not only the agreed upon amount (400 gp per person) but also to provide Scrolls of Knock and Dispel Magic. Xanie immediately hands back the money to purchase reagents to inscribe Knock and Dispel Magic in her spellbook.

Suleiman inquires about buying a Bag of Holding, only to hear that they do have one but it would cost 5,000 gp. We get some large linen sacks instead.

THE PLAN
We're going back for the gold. Each sack can hold about 50 lbs of coinage, and each pound is about 50 gp of value. We are going to try to use Dispel Magic on the enchantment or to disable the guard golems. Failing that, brute force will be attempted. Upon success, we are going to carry as much as we can out of the caves the way we originally left Korvosa after the siege. If that fails, we will stash it in the skeleton area under the thieves' guild.