Session 28: Wave Echo Lake

When the group awoke they met with Gundren and made plans to visit the island in the Wave Echo Lake.

Gundren returned Turenim's old armor and shield, which they had left there, and filled them in on the latest threat, which had come a couple weeks ago when they sent out explorers to find where the flaming skull may have been coming from. He recruited some adventuring bands to explore the lake. The explorers found an underground island, but no group has returned and everyone is on edge.

Gundren was grateful the Lost Minds could be reached and were able to assist, given all their success in the past.

They were soon headed to the lake where a 20 by 30 foot raft was waiting for them, with plenty of paddles. They were told the island was a few hours away.

As they paddled away from Wave Echo Cavern, the light from the lanterns hanging there grew smaller and more faint in the distance. The lake was dark outside of their own radiating light sources, and the crashes of waves faded as the silence of the lake grew.

After they had been paddling for 2-3 hours, when they spotted another light in the distance. Similar to a lighthouse, the intermittent flashes seemed to be coming from the base of a giant stone column that formed something like an island in the lake. From the distance they thought the lights may have been coming from a campfire.

As they adjusted their bearings to head for the light source, the boat knocked into something. Six frog-like people jumped up from the giant crocodile they had been riding, and began boarding their raft.

The jolt from the crocodile's tail knocked Albrecht prone, briefly. Pippin dashed forward and finished one of the kuo-toa off immediately, while Moula and Lee landed heavy hits on a larger kuo-toa with a long man-catcher. Atilius finished it off with a lightning bolt. Turenim had swung Lightbringer at it, but he fell off the raft and into the cold lake. The giant crocodile snapped up Turenim in its jaws. Meanwhile the rest of the kuo-toa tried to trap Lee, Moula, Albrecht, and Atilius in their nets.

While the battle was fought on the raft, and Albrecht was struggling to free himself from one of the kuo-toa's nets, Turenim cast waterwalk on himself, but was still caught in the crocodile's jaws, while its tail smashed repeatedly into the raft. Atilius blasted the crocodile with scorching ray. Pippin flipped off the raft onto the crocodile, stabbing it with Yig and Yag. Lee also slashed into it with Talon. Turenim finished the crocodile with spiritual weapon. Lee fell of the raft, but plopped on to the surface of the lake, as Turenim had cast water walk on all of them.

Just as they were finishing the last of the kuo-toa, they spotted another giant crocodile approaching them in the lake. Atilius cast a fireball on them, scorching them all, and dropping five of them. Still within a net, Albrecht blasted the giant reptile with the wand of magic missiles Atilius had given him. The crocodile and its lone rider began to retreat, but Lee dropped the rider with his longbow and Atilius finished the crocodile with a scorching ray.

Able to walk on water, they all got off the raft and pushed it to the island.

The light they had been following led to a giant stone column in the middle of the lake over 100 feet across. Around the base, the water has eroded roughly 20-30 feet, forming a beach of sorts. Giant mushrooms grew all over the area forming a strange thicket.

A signal fire had been built along the top of one of the mushrooms, and they saw a humanoid waving a torch as they come closer. It appeared to be a large man motioning them to the far side of the island, indicating a possible landing away from the waves.

Landing the boat was fairly easy, and a small stalagmite provided a place to tie off the raft. They disembarked and saw that the man was well muscled, wearing wolf hides and carrying a sword and an ax. He introduced himself as Moriarty, and explained that he and his small tribe and had been traveling along the northern edge of the Sword Mountains when they were overrun by hundreds of orcs. The next thing he knew he was with a group of four adventurers, headed to Wave Echo Cavern. They explained that they had found him left for dead, the only survivor of the orcs that had passed through days earlier. They were on a mission to explorer the island for Gundren, and were bringing him to the safety of the cavern. With nowhere else to turn, he accompanied the adventurers. They were also attacked by frog people and fought them off, but just barely. Not wanting to wait around, they entered the doors leading into the island's giant stone column. Inside, they found a large demon that looked like a boar with giant tusks and clawed hands, standing inside a circle engraved on the floor. They engaged it and things took a turn for the worst very quickly, and the largest of the adventurers, a more experienced warrior than Moriarty, commanded him to bolt the door so the demon could not escape. He assumed that they were killed. Moriarty was eager to avenge the deaths of his saviors.

As they approached the double doors, they saw that two more groups of kuo-toa had landed on the island, and were approaching fast with one giant crocodile following behind.

Atilius hit them with a fireball before they could engage, dropping a couple of them in their tracks. The rest charged on through the charred mushroom stalks. Lee, Pippin, and Moula finished off the largest, man-catcher wielding kuo-toa, and Moula ran on to kick another that was wielding an amphibian topped scepter. Moriarty charged ahead to engage the giant crocodile.

The scepter wielding kuo-toa cast mass cure wounds, reviving all its injured toadies. Most of the kuo-toa engaged Lee, Pippin, Moula, and Albrecht, alternating between trying to ensnare them in their nets and stabbing them with spears.

Turenim cast spiritual weapon, dropping one of the kuo-toa, cast bless on Lee, Moula, Atilius. Lee swung Talon into the kuo-toa archpriest, and Atilius hit it with witch bolt, but it kept casting, this time freezing Pippin with hold person. Lee was restrained in a net, but was able to free himself quickly. Meanwhile, the crocodile bit Moriarty, savagely, and he countered with his sword.

Lee cast silence on the archpriest, but it soon moved out of the spell's range. Again the kuo-toa archpriest revived the toadies that had fallen to Pippin, Moula, and Albrecht with mass cure wounds. Albrecht's rapier got stuck on one of the kuo-toa's shields, and Moula struggled in one of their nets. Turenim used his spiritual weapon on the kuo-toa archpriest, and cast cure wounds on Moriarty.

Albrecht and Moula were both struggling on the nets, and getting stabbed with spears. Turenim cast cure wounds on Albrecht. The archpriest summoned fiendish spirit guardians to defend him. The crocodile bit Moriarty again. From within the net, Albrecht used the wand of magic missiles on the archpriest. Lee finished the archpriest with his longbow. Atilius dropped the man-catcher wielding kuo-toa for the last time with a firebolt.

While they finished of the rest of the kuo-toa, Moriarty fell multiple times to the crocodile. Each time, Turenim revived him, this time with healing spirit. Atilius cast firebolt on the crocodile, and Lee and Pippin rushed over to assist. Lee bashed its scales with Talon, and Pippin jumped onto its back, just behind the head and stuck Yig and Yag into its eyes, killing it.

With the latest threat eliminated Turenim used healing spirit again on Moriarty, and then Moula and Albrecht.

Returning to the double doors and examining them up close, they saw that they had a huge bar keeping them closed from the outside, and that they must have once had writing carved on them, but it had been carved away and left illegible.

They decided they needed to rest before confronting the demon. Albrecht cast Leomund's Tiny Hut in a sheltered area of the island, and they rested uninterrupted.

Albrecht awoke with a start and told them he had a nightmare where his father, with blood coming from his eyes, told them that he had to land the killing blow on the demon. Turenim explained that he intended to cast banishment on it. They debated their tactics, with Pippin pointing out that, based on past experience, the odds of Albrecht landing the final blow was slim. It was much more likely that Yig or Yag wound finish the job. Lee agreed. Moriarty chimed in, but Pippin pointed out that this had not been their first demon, and perhaps he should hang back and watch how it's done.

Eventually they removed the bar from the door and peered inside. The double doors opened to a 20 by 30 foot long room with a 15 by 20 foot section off the left. Two small statues flanked the recessed section, which was dominated by a magic circle engraved on the floor. The walls were decorated with carvings of magical wards that appeared to be inlaid with silver. Several gems appeared to have been inset along the walls in strategic locations.

The large, boar-looking demon on the opposite side of the room stood on its clawed hooves. It towered over the partially devoured bodies of four adventurers. In their minds, they heard a guttural laugh coming from the beast, which Atilius recognized in Abyssal as, “I have been waiting for more meat.”

Moula recognized the torn and partially eaten bodies as their companions from the Battle of Phandalin, known as The Wolves.

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