Into the Darkness

Sergeant Ollo was quite pleased with the squad's resolution to the incident at the Dragonfly Pagoda, and learning of the suspicions about the corrupt labor leader, Jeremin Hoff. Hoff resides in an elite social club called the House of the Planes, an exclusive Underworld place in the Undercity ruins. The Kobold mage had told the squad of a secret back door that Hoff used to bring her in for the initial meeting.  

"Speaking to Hoff at the House of the Planes is probably the best way to proceed - but we don't have enough probable cause to go down there in uniform; you folk will need to go down undercover. We can provide you with costumes and disguises, we have an entire Wardrobe department of such things."

"Or we can just take off our tabards..." suggested Valcos. 

"...or that..." agreed the Sergeant.

 The Undercity was a subterranean labyrinth of villainy and criminal activity, but Valcos was only familiar with them by reputation; as a smuggler and con man, Valcos found it easier to operate as a lone wolf rather than part of a gang or criminal organization.  Mulligan’s, a dive bar was the fortified main entrance, but was not suitable for this foray; rather, they would use a concealed entrance in the Raptor's Rest graveyard. 

The squad found the entryway that the Kobold Mage had mentioned, a particular sarcophagus containing a stairway down into the depths.   This led down to a landing area, which had two tunnels, one which ran west and one north. They went west, but the tunnel swiftly turned north, meeting up with the other tunnel.  The floor of this broad cavern appears strangely clean and polished. There was a crumbling building to the west. To the north, a crevasse opened and ran under the northern wall.  There was a small pile of armor and weapons in the middle of the northeast tunnel.

Grimwald stepped forward to examine the pile and found himself engulfed in a large, corrosive cube of slime. His skin burned as the acid tried to digest him.  Pumpelly launched a salvo of Magic Missiles while Valcos and Simi used their rapiers. Eventually, the cube lost cohesion under the squad's relentless assault.

The pile consisted of plate armor, a tower shield, and a mace, all emblazoned with the holy symbol of the demon lord Asmodeus. 

Up ahead the long crevasse cut through the center of a large cavern. The crevasse was spanned by a crude stone bridge. At the western side, a barricade had been made from detritus, and the barricade was under attack by three ghouls.

Longbow, javelin, and crossbow took the ghouls from behind, and the squad defended the bridge as the ghouls attacked. The ghouls fell, and the squad approached the barricade. The barricade had been built by a pair of Rat-folk named Kekker and Gref, who turned out to have been fleeing a narcotics deal gone bad. After separating lies from the truth in their story (the ratfolk were horrible liars), the squad had crude directions to the back door of The House of the Planes.

Vargouille Creature

The squad descended the stairs, where they were attacked by a pair of rogues. The squad pushed them back but were surprised when a pair of vargouilles joined the attack. 

The creatures were disgusting, and were destroyed after their defeat; there was no way for the squad to take them prisoner, and there was no way the squad was going to release them.

The rogues had ten doses of a recreational drug known as Grolna, which were taken. They might be useful to explain why the squad was here, given Valcos' criminal record and infamy. 

The squad located the landmark pond as they neared the back door, but were attacked by a grick. 

The Grick

After the grick was defeated, the squad recovered a bloated, half-eaten corpse of a wizard from the pool. The squad took the rotting leather bracers and an Everburning Torch, which Grimwald attached to his shield.  

Around the corner from the pool was the sought-for door of iron-banded wood set in a frame of white brick. It was locked, but Valcos had no difficulty (natural 20) in unlocking it.