Heading Deeper Underneath the Ramshackle Smith

**Story Arcs**

###### **EARLY MORNING DRIZZLE**

Ashes wakes up to the feeling of water dripping onto his face. Wiping away the moisture and rubbing away sand from his eyes, Ashes comes to and notices the leaky roof and wet floor in his room. Heading out, he notices that the roof damage extends throughout the building and that the floors are spattered with puddles from the cloudy drizzle of early morning rain.

Ashes begins to head down the steps of the Ramshackle Smith only to have one of the steps give way and nearly cause injury, narrowly avoiding it by grabbing onto the railing. He proceeds down and heads outside to do his daily prayer towards Lathander. Despite not being able to see the Sun, Ashes knew that it lay just behind the rainclouds.

Turning around to prepare to head back inside, Ashes is bumped into by a running passerby who seemed to be in quite a hurry, dashing in a mad sprint. Colliding with Ashes, the goliath loses grip on his Holy Symbol of Lathander and it slips into the open grating of the sewer that he and his party explored a few days prior. Ashes decides to let it go for the time being, and heads back inside to have a word with his friend, Bogladin.

###### **'MONK'Y BUSINESS**

Ashes goes up the stairs and enters the room Bogladin chose for himself. He sees the monk soaked with rain but seemingly unaware or uncaring of the circumstances, is still asleep. Ashes shakes Bogladin awake and the two have a short conversation.

Ashes brings up the leaky roof situation and asks Bogladin if he could look around for a carpenter to hire. He accepts the task, but tells Bogladin that he will head to the Haven & Hearth inn to get some "real" food, as Ashes scarfs down a dried ration.

Ashes heads down soon after swallowing his meal, and looking around notices that Bogladin had already quickly made his way towards the inn, avoiding the broken step with no issue or sound.

###### **SEARCHING THE DARKNESS FOR LIGHT**

Ashes heads outside the Ramshackle Smith and begins to make his way to the familiar sewer grate. He squats and easily lifts it up, despite earning strange looks from the glaring crowd Ashes smiles back.

He makes his way down the 40ft ladder that leads into the welcoming stench of the Jaskir Sewers, in an effort to locate and reaquire his lost Holy Symbol of Lathander.

##### 🕳️**THE UNDERBELLY OF JASKIR - CHAPTER 4**

###### **THE MORNINGLORD'S PREMONITION**

Ashes lights a torch and begins to attempt to look for his holy symbol, sifting his hands through the filthy ankle high sewage water. He spends a good thirty minutes looking around, and comes up empty handed. He notices the water slowly drain into a small open sewer pipe and fears that it may have been swept up by the current, and perhaps permanantly lost to him at this point.

Ashes takes this as a sign from Lathander that there is something in this sewer that needs his attention, aside from his personal desire to reunite with his holy symbol. He presses on, keenly aware that he will still be able to still rely on the might of his deity through his other equipment brandished with his symbol, such as his shield and hammer.

Ashes pushes on, and progresses further into the sewer to discover what his god wants him to see by bringing him here.

###### **PRECARIOUS PREDICAMENT**

Ashes heads deeper in, poking his head into the emptied Hermit's Hideout. It's devoid of everything; save for the built in fireplace and the untouched ashes of the cremated dwarf. Ashes decides to don the Helm of the Third Eye in favor of carrying a torch in his offhand. Equipping the helm instantly grants the goliath with darkvision, as well as heightened perception.

Moving ahead Ashes finds a large dark pit with the sound of rushing water below. He takes out a copper coin and doing some basic tests on the floor nearby he tests how long it takes for the coin to drop 5ft, then he calculates some basic math in his head. He drops a coin into the abyss in front of him and listens.

It drops for seemingly 40-50ft and lands on something solid, before rolling off into a source of water with a audible 'plop'. He takes out a few more coins and attempts to guage the remaining void with a few more coin tosses. After two more tests Ashes begins to come up with a plan to potentially cross the 20ft gap that spans this pit.

Ashes pulls out an extending ladder out from his bag of holding, and with it extended he is able to lay it flat across the pit creating a makeshift ladder bridge. Ashes feels like his personal physique, combined with his equipment, would surely collapse the bridge if he attempted to cross it; so he doffs his equipment and strips down to the barest essentials.

###### **CROSSING THE CHASM**

Ashes, wearing nothing but his clothes, the Helm of the Third Eye, and his Bag of Holding (carrying the rest of his gear), still feels a bit uneasy about crossing over the gap without some sort of extra support. He pulls out the Ancient Spear he found in the Ashen Ossuary and attempts to stab it into the stone floor as a makeshift piton. It takes him around 30 minutes to bash down the stone enough to be able to start digging into the earth below. He shoves the spear around 2-3ft into the earth from its total 7ft length, and ties his hempen rope onto it, and then around his torso.

Ashes lays prone and slowly begins to crawl his way across the ladder bridge. As he gets halfway, the bridge begins to bend precariously. He breaths out and presses forward, eventually making it across to the other side. He takes a sacrificial looking dagger out from his Bag of Holding and with almost no effort is able to easily slide it into a gap between the stonework floor.

He attempts to pull it out and is surprised by how easy it was to insert as well as how sturdy it seemed to stay. Kicking it a few more times down for good measure, he unties the rope off his body and ties it off on the dagger's hilt.

Ashes dons his gear once more, and heads further forward.

###### **DISPLACED WAGON**

Ashes immediately notices a strange sight; a trade wagon seeingly lodged in the middle of the sewer. It looks as if it was teleported here from the way the wagon seems to 'clip' into the stone walls. The goliath spots a open crate with a red velvet coffer.

Opening up the coffer he is greeted with the sight of four bottles in the shape of a dragon filled with a golden liquid. He takes the coffer and all four potions. He crosses over the wagon and as he does, takes notice to the age of the wood. Being very familiar with wood from his Amertian background, Ashes can tell that this wagon has been here for at least 100 years.

Crossing over, he notices another crate and coffer. Opening up this coffer he notices 3 broken bottles and 1 intact bottle. Similar dragon design, but filled with a white liquid instead of gold. He takes the potion and leaves behind the coffer.

###### **THREE PATHS**

Ashes progresses further down this path which leads him into a crossroads that leads into three different directions. Before making his choice, he takes a moment to look around for any signs of humanoid activity around this area.

Ashes is able to locate a empty potion bottle to his West, so he decides to check out this route first. As he heads down this path it seems to be home to many different fungi growing across the floors and walls, different from the occasional smatterings of glowing mushrooms, these look much different. He heads further and notices a shining light from the surface, perhaps a sign that the rain has let up a bit. He spots some coins on the floor and scoops it up before progressing down another path.

Ashes heads down the South path, and nearly steps on a puddle of acid as he grazes it just barely. He leaps across the puddle, and continues forward. As he begins to approach a turn he hears disgusting animalistic noises around the bend. He presses up against the wall, and activates his Ironleaf Plate's ability to cast Pass Without Trace; which covers him in similar looking non-illuminated mushrooms, as well as further padding his feet with moss to staunch the sound more.

Peeking around the corner he spots two giant dog sized rats mawing away at some rotten looking carcass, writhing with what looks to be a swarm of centipedes. He takes this moment to ambush the creatures, but misses his initial swing. Combat ensues, and a rat is killed

In a act of seeming desperation, the second rat digs away at the eaten carcass and causes the centipedes to swarm out. Ashes kills the second rat and the swarm begins to climb on him but he swats them off. A few moments later, the swarm is pulped by his golden hammer, and Ashes progresses onwards.

###### **WATER HAZARD**

Ashes presses forward on this route which leads him to a slightly sloped portion that seems to be filled with water. At first the water is only ankle deep, but slowly gets deeper and deeper until its almost past his shoulders.

As Ashes attempts to focus on fording through this water, he accidentally steps on a rusty sewer grate in the water and his foot slips through, causing him to slip under the surface of the water. In the surprise Ashes is not able to catch a full breath of air and is at about half lung capacity.

He attempts to pull his leg free, and fails. Tries again, and fails once more. In a desperate final measure, he pulls out a Potion of Waterbreathing from his Bag of Holding and attempts to drink it in this drowning state. He is able to swallow the potion, and as he fades from consciousness a fresh burst of air fills his breath, giving him a second wind.

Now given ample time to take care of this issue, Ashes uses his raw strength to pull the grate off and then chucks it away after removing it from his foot, progressing ahead. The water level begins to lower as he moves on, and it leads him to another interesting sight.

###### **ORCS & LADDERS**

Ashes spots a oil like separation of water split by a small piece of collapsed stone rubble, a 'spring' of slimy water within a natural looking cave, not a part of this sewer system. He opts to move on and spots two things, a closed off grate that leads to a drop of ten feet into the deeper part of the sewer, and a ladder to the West that climbs up for 40ft.

Ashes climbs and it leads him to the initial three lane split he found the empty potion bottle at, as well as a 'submarine' like hatch that leads to a ladder that heads down around 50ft. Ashes climbs down and immediately notices a orc slumbering against a wall, seemingly asleep on a guard shift.

Ashes continues forward as normal, opting to not sneak around. He gets close to the edge of the orcs darkvision before his movement wakes the orc up, but in his grogginess is unable to detect Ashes as he slips further into the darkness and out of sight.

Until he bumps immediately into an active orc guard, armed with a shortbow he draws it on Ashes and demands him to identify himself, and threatens him with violence if he Ashes decides to stick around.

Ashes tells the orc that he came here in search of a man (Draven Barlow), and the orc says he doesn't care and that he needs to leave "their territory". Ashes says that this is Jaskir's territory, and the orc rebuffs the goliath by saying "Jaskir Shmaskir" uncaringly. The orc looses a warning shot right next to Ashes' head and nocks another arrow ready, telling him that the next shot wont miss.

Ashes threatens him with a taunt. It works and the orc withdraws into the entrance of a cloth door covered base to get his "boys". Ashes takes this moment to push on, and heads further East, and then turns to the South. He finds a large collapsed section of the major sewer network and since it is on a slope, is easily able to use the rubble to cross to the other side.

As Ashes crosses, he spots the orc with the bow come out with another as they both glare daggers at Ashes, keen on the goliath leaving them alone. Ashes heads further East and towards a section of the sewer that radiates with exterior light.

###### **UNDER THE UPPER CRUST OF SOCIETY**

Ashes leaves the sewer using this newly discovered exit which leads him to a familiar location. He is immediately greeted with the sight of Stowen Manor, the home of Lawretta Stowen.

Using this landmark, he quickly realizes that he crossed all the way from the Lower Common's to the Noble's District through his journey through the sewer system. He looks around and notices a book left on this stone dock.

As Ashes picks up the tome its obscure text shifts to his most familiar language, Common. After opening the book and looking through its pages he finds a brief recount of his history up from when Bogladin begun his journey.

He looks around and finds a ladder leading up to the familiar stone walkways, but it is across a small break in the stone dock floor. Ashes makes a jump and easily catches the ladder, climbing up. As he does he takes notice to one of the many stone statues littered around Jaskir depicting **Einer Jaskir**, a stone statue gilded with gold.

Ashes decides to go to the Flyin' Griffin to get a few items identified as well as perhaps a few questions answered.

**Story Arcs**