A Frogman and a Scholar

## Logline

Deep at the bottom of Zonot 4, the adventurers learn the scale of destruction in the depths of the well. As they rise up out of the depths, new horrors begin to come to light.

## Synopsis

The party regroups after their encounter with the adaptable krasis. Lennox heals Fikarra with Cure Wounds and slaps her awake. Fikarra attempts to count the members of the party where Zenia lets Fikarra know that Brevin died in the detached laboratory alongside the adaptable krasis, having to leave him behind to escape the krasis, lest put everyone else in danger. Fikarra berates the party for leaving Brevin behind, but Lorzatch ensures her that it was the best way of doing so.

The party stumble through the zonot, not entirely sure where to find the exit back to the top of the zonot. Eventually, they find a door sealed shut. Loraztch finds a console with a note in Elvish saying the area is under lockdown. Fikarra and Lennox open the door together, where a wave of water hits the party. They are able to push through into the lab where they see the room is littered with bodies, with only three people left alive in the room, including two Simic sentries and a tall vedalken with bioluminescent skin. The vedalken, Parax, levels a spell to the party and demands them to identify themselves and to reveal if they are corrupted. Lorzatch notices the bodies on the floor have black tendrils on them and the bodies have either drowned due to not being able to breathe underwater, or have been killed in combat. One of the bodies is of Elazia, whom Zenia notes was under a medical procedure that was quickly interrupted. Parax mentions that he was asked to perform the procedure on Elazia where, at some point, members of the lab who were also with Parax at the time began to turn, becoming corrupted with the black tendrils. One of the turned researchers closed the doors to the lab to not let anyone else out. Parax and the sentries were forced to fight until they had to flood the room and drown everyone inside except for Parax and the sentries. Lorzatch notes that the corruption might not have come from Elazia specifically, but might have been a result of the metal orb's influence. Parax says he has no choice but to trust the party as they head back up to the upper floors of the Zonot.

Once the party arrives up on the upper floors, they see the members of the zonot are frantically trying to gather information on the situation in the lower levels. Vezara notices Parax and the party and moves over to them. The sentries are sent away for medical examination as Vezara lets the party into her offices, where she collapses under the pressure and asks what happened. Parax recaps having to drown out the corrupted when commencing with the procedure on Elazia, as Lorzatch mentions having to detach the lab holding the adaptable krasis. Vezara asks about the krasis and its adaptations, to which Lorzatch recaps. Though the first adaptation seemed normal to Vezara, as Lorzatch described the black tendrils of the krasis's final adaptation, she becomes frightened, since the creature is now in the water supply. She asks the party to go to the pump stations and shut off the pumps until they are able to weed out the krasis. She mutters words into a toad and hands it over to the party, telling them to relay the message to the pump operator immediately.

The party makes a mad dash to the pump stations where Fikarra is able to push their way through the workers. Zenia points out the pump operator, a female vedalken, who demands to know what is going on.

## Characters

* Lorzatch Rotspeaker
* Lennox Brightburn
* Fikarra Ordruun
* Zenia
* Parax
* Vezara
* Malfus Reid
* Zavi
* Yadira

## Links

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