Abyses 24 Recap: Slave Tycoon

## TL;DR

* Gang bought some goons from Clan Rabblerouser
* Chagae must return alive to give Ylsa confirmation the Skaven quest was complete
* Fergus ran into some duergar slavers selling someone he knew from his time as a Drow slave
* Fergus spilled all the beans he knew about the drow [See Drow Dictionary]
* Gang met Reven and Bop
* Rat King and Reven hate each other
* Reven wants to recover his friend’s bodies, and can offer some info about the demons the Skaven have been working with
* Bop wants to recover his master’s tome

## Handouts

Gracklstugh Glossary

Drow Dictionary

## Taking Ylsa’s Suggestion (aka the boys commit atrocities)

* When The Acquaintances said they’d like to embark on the Skaven extermination quest Ylsa again stressed the sheer number of ratmen that occupied the den, and suggested they buy some sturdy slaves or at least hire some mercenaries.
* The party decided on the former and tried using Fergus’s previous connection to Clan Rabblerouser to buy some gladiatorial slaves.
* Fegus was concerned he might have soured his relationship with the clan when he ghosted them but Oundrock greeted him with open arms.
* Oundrock was concerned about Fergus’s disappearance. Especially after he learned he was wrapped up with the Keepers of the Flame when a Keeper told him Fergus would no longer be working at the arena. And super duper concerned when a drow came by asking for him.
* Oundrock was caught off guard by the Acquaintance's request to purchase some of the competitors, but was more than willing to play salesmen after getting the go ahead from the clan leader Sondrock.
* Rat King was, characteristically, interested in obtaining a ratman servant. He was especially keen on purchasing the Skaven hunter who he had bested in the arena the day the Acquaintances first met.
* Ivis requested to see the most capable fighters the arena had in stock. Oundrock explained that the best of the best are typically volunteers, but brought out two Kuo-Toa. One was the same Kuo-Toa monitor who Bernhol fought in the arena and just barely managed to beat with Fergus’ subtle assistance. The monitor looked even more threatening since the last time the gang saw him. The other was unimpressive looking in comparison but Fergus knew from watching him in the ring that he was actually a Wereshark. However, at 1500gp and 2000gp respectively, they were outside of the Acquaintances budget.
* Oundrock said that if they were hoping to get power for cheap they may want to take a look at the beasts. The gang agreed and Oundrock rolled out a Peryton, a Cave Bear, and a Giralon. They were priced at 250 geo, 200 geo, and 1200 geo respectively.
* Oundrock also stipulated that they could only purchase 1 humanoid, as they tended to be the ones best at drawing in a crowd.
* After some discussion the gang bought the Skaven hunter, newly dubbed Sir Knight; the cave bear, fittingly named Feast; and the Peryton, that poor bastard.
* The Acquaintances also bought some traveling supplies from Stinky in the Blade Bazaar, who cut them some fair prices after seeing Rat King’s writ.

## Don’t Get Sick, and Listen to your Sitter

* With the party now at an unmanageable size, the Acquaintances returned to Ylsa’s for their final briefing before departing.
* She warned of the many awful diseases within the Skaven den and advised preparing restoration magic, which Fergus already had covered. She also had some rather expensive elixirs for sale but the gang put their trust in Fergus.
* Finally she introduced Chagae, an uncharacteristically lithe Duergar who was incapable of enlarging but could turn invisible for up to 8 hours per short rest.
* He would inspect the den once the gang had cleared it out and confirm for Ylsa that it was safe for passage.
* Ylsa stated that if Chagae either did not make it back, or did not give the all clear, the Acquaintances would not be getting a reward.

## One More Purchase

* The Underdark was its same miserable self, but traveling was made somewhat less stressful with the confident Rat King guiding the way and the ever perceptive Fergus staying aware of any threats
* Chagae was incredibly easy to forget about, as he was nearly always invisible and rarely spoke
* About halfway through the day's journey Fergus spotted some Duergar slavers leading a chain gang on striderback. This wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary except Fergus recognized one of them, a meek deep gnome named Turvy.
* Fergus and Turvy were both slaves at the same Drow outpost, though they weren’t especially close as Turvy was extremely quiet and timid.
* Fergus bought Turvy in order to spare him from whatever fate awaited him in Gracklstugh, as well as to hopefully learn more about the Drow.
* Unfortunately Turvy was neither talkative nor knowledgeable. But he did inform Fergus that he was sold to a clan Mizzrym outpost, and that he escaped during its destruction. However he soon found himself with different masters.
* Having just been a prisoner, Turvy was unarmed, though he didn’t appear to have much of a fighting spirit anyway. His sole possession aside from the tattered clothes on his back was an iron ring that had the side profile of a rat carved into the outside of it.
* Despite the apparent relevance to the current quest, Rat King confirmed that the ring was not of skaven origin, as they’d never waste good metal making anything that wasn’t used to hurt people.
* When Fergus asked Turvy about the ring he said his sister Topsy had given it to him before they were separated, and that she had one just like it. However he dodged any further questions about the topic.

## MiniFeats, Talk, and Treats

* As the crew wound down Turvy ravenously devoured the rations Fergus gave him
* Despite the party more than doubling over night, they had little to worry about in terms of food. Rat King had accumulated enough food to last for weeks, and could always carve the occasional giant spider for more
* Using their ample ingredients, Ivis and Riff Raff both decided to brush up on their cooking skills. Though Riff Raff had considerable trouble wielding the cooking utensils that were nearly as big as he was.
* Bernhol spent time training his odd new pet who shan’t be named
* Rat King worked on fostering a lasting loyalty within his new subject, so that he would eventually serve of his own will
* Fergus worked on improving his already impressive perception, reflecting on the structures he had seen and the cracks and crevices where the creepy crawlies who had pestered them throughout the day sprung out of.

## Bath Time

* The next day of travel was even more grueling than the last, the zombies and giant spiders prevalent throughout the Underdark seemed to be pestering the Acquaintances in shifts to make sure they never got more than a moment of peace
* With the way the day had been going it wasn’t very surprising when the gang ran into some more fog after traveling for 8 hours
* Though luckily it was not faezerness, but instead steam coming from a natural hot springs
* Though unluckily the hot springs were currently occupied by Sumonsters, the psychically enhanced primates native to the Underdark’s Zurkhwood forests
* Ivis sent out Feast, who was able to scare off the primitive psycho-simians despite being severely out matched.

## The Naked Truth

* Having his past thrown in his face, Fergus decided it was high time he told the Acquaintances about his experience with the Drow and everything he had learned about them [Drow Dictionary]
* Turvy mentioned that he escaped from House Mizzrym when one of their outposts were attacked
* The psionic House Obolodra rung a bell with Ivis, who recalled groups of drow matching their description antagonizing his village

## Birds of a Feather

* As the gang approached their unsavory destination Fergus spotted two avian creatures having a silent chat
* One was a raven with no eyes and a crown of moving beaks around its head
* The other was a birdlike humanoid who resembled a hybrid of a snow owl and a dwarf
* After observing them for a moment he gathered that they were not hostile and approached them
* Rat King and the raven, who identified himself as Reven, exchanged unkind words. It seemed that there was something of a war going on between the Underdark’s ravens and rats
* Despite this Rat King begrudgingly agreed to let Reven help with the Skaven den, after the rest of the party convinced him that Reven’s knowledge on the demons the Skaven had been contracting with would be worth letting him tag along
* Reven said that two of his friends had died in the den and he wanted to recover their bodies
* The man owl introduced himself as Bop, and said that his master’s tome was deep within the den and he needed help retrieving it
* Bop said that he had been in the den once before, when he was smaller. He was hesitant to elaborate

## Chaaaaaaaarge!

* Rat King drew a some imposing subjects from his magic crown
* He had the Giant Rat stay back to guard Turvy and Chagae and sent the two others to charge in ahead of the party
* Once they heard hostilities the rest of the party immediately fell in