8/17/26, 7-9pm

the Party

Arda, lvl2 halfling wizard apprentice, banished, lawful follower of Madeera (Kim)

Hiralia, lvl2 elvish seeker-priest of the Lost, neutral, wanted (Sophia)

Zeb, lvl2 goblin initiate-priest of Memnon, chaotic churgeon (Dan)

Yuri, lvl2 human wizard apprentice, noble, lawful follower of Ord (Stuart)

TL;DR

• Yuri recovers from his rate bite with Zeb's help, but still needs a couple solid days of R&R. By this time, the Golden Castle burn site has been cleared of debris. The work crews have largely remained the same and the basement remains accessible to the party.

The Plan

• Hiralia stays aboveground and lures a handful of cats that will be pressed into service against the rats in the Stump Below.
• Belowground, Arda, Zeb, and Yuri set and bait a net trap (courtesy of Qriszt, Arda's lizardfolk trapper friend) at the entrance of the left tunnel. Pol lures (but does not subdue) a clutch of rats with song onto the net trap. Yuri hauls up the rats, netting them.
• The commotion draws a group of Deep Ones, large-eyed bipedal semi-aquatic humanoids armed with barbed spears and razor teeth, from a flooded section of root tunnels.

END

• As the Deep Ones charge forward, Arda puts the hostile fishfolk to sleep. From above, Hiralia and her new cat friends peek out from the opening.

Reflections & Observations

• As the days pass, conditions at the Golden Castle burn site change, as the owners clearly seek to rebuild--whether a second iteration of their original storefront or a new operation remains to be seen.
• Pol Symon is willing to follow Yuri and Zeb, but is, in fact, only a talented bard that has the lay of the land and big affection for baby animals. What charms his music has are strictly non-magical.
• The Stump Below has an ecosystem that includes more than just rats. Flooded root chambers are host to hostile creatures that thrive in darkness. Though the highest concentration of rat activity is down the left tunnel, the Stump Below denizens circulate freely throughout the calcified root system as they live their lives and hoard resources.