RQG 7 - Squelch

## Summary

The party head down into the sewers and recover parts of The Simulacrum.

## Synopsis

The rest of the party follow Sasha into the maintenance tunnel; Bertie takes a step forward and just completely drops the 10 feet into the maintenance tunnel. Zolf follows, with Bertie perfectly catching Zolf with his finger on Zolf's peg leg like a ballerina. *[Meta note: ice cream truck music plays the second after James says this]*

Sasha checks for traps around the manhole, finding a tripwire attached to a flask across the exposed hole, which she disarms and pockets (along with a thunderstone). She lets people know that there was a trap, and Zolf thanks her. As the rest of the party gets into the corridor, Sasha sneaks down the manhole into the sewer. The sewer is extraordinarily clean for something designed to transport waste. It stretches off to both sides; up ahead of her is a T-junction, with a ‘waterfall’ off to the side. Sasha can only hear the flow of the water and nothing else. She moves out of the way to let the rest of the party join her in the sewer. Bertie has to remove his armour to get down the manhole, and as Zolf joins, he makes prolonged eye contact with the armour.

They continue to head down to a T-junction where water is flowing into a large plunge pool, with either side leading to other service tunnels. There are stairs that lead down from the walkway on both sides, connecting with a lower level. They scout off to the left; Bertie puts his armour back on. Hamid and Sasha continue on for a while, but don’t find much apart from another manhole cover. They return to the party to explain, and Hamid wonders how the Simulacrum managed to fit down the hole. Zolf asks if it could be a decoy, and if there was another way out, but the corridor that they entered into was a dead end apart from the manhole cover. Sasha mentions that she doesn’t know where the Simulacrum went, and Bertie suggests that the person she was following was a decoy while they got the Simulacrum out.

The party scout off to the right and come across an open door, most likely having been blown off. Bertie notices something in the pool of sewage, poking at it with his sword. As he connects, there’s a metallic clang; the object isn’t moving on it’s own. It’s also not easily accessible, so Zolf takes his armour off, creates a stepping stone, and fishes out the item. It is large, metal, cylindrical, and quite heavy; it’s also difficult to discern what it is underneath all the muck. Bertie pulls Zolf’s leg and the floating disc bobs back to the pathway. Zolf gets off the disc, and Hamid casts prestidigitation to clean the metal object, discovering it's the Simulacrum's forearm, having been ripped off halfway up the forearm. There are strands of gold and mithril hanging from the forearm, and a large amount of precious metal inside. Hamid wonders if the entire thing has been dropped into the pool, and Zolf thinks that they discarded it bit by bit.

He notices Sasha is acting a bit strange, and her eyes are lighting up as she looks at the forearm. Zolf puts his hand on the forearm and tells Sasha that the mercenary guild will gut them if they take anything. Hamid asks how they’ll find more of it, if it did all end up in the sewers, and Zolf sighs and starts taking his pack and armour off again. They try to find a different way to get any parts of the simulacrum, but it seems like they’re only going to be able to get it if Zolf jumps in. He, casting detect magic, sees a magical item, similar to the forearm, in the pool. Hamid also checks, recognising elements of the enchantment school, the illusion school, the transmutation school, and some elemental arcane schools. Zolf dives in before the party can react, but as he tries to swim to the magical item he gets caught in an undercurrent. He is able to grab the item, which is wedged quite firmly where it is. Sasha absentmindedly wonders if he’s okay, but Bertie reassures her that he’s probably fine. However, Zolf is sucked into a hole at the bottom of the pool, which is draining it.

Sasha panics a bit, saying that she doesn’t know how to swim, and Hamid ties a rope to himself, handing it to Bertie and telling him to pull him back up when he tugs. He leaps down after Zolf who still has the magical item. Zolf gets spat out of the pipe and lands in another pool, and Hamid follows, sliding down the tube and then eventually carefully picking his way down.

Bertie and Sasha argue about tugging strength, unable to decide what is a tug and what isn’t a tug. Sasha thinks there’s been a tug, but Bertie doesn’t, and then he tugs Sasha’s arm to show what he means. Sasha tugs him back, and Bertie calls it a rubbish tug. They continue arguing about this as it pans to Zolf, who’s ended up in a holding tank that’s about 30 feet across. He starts to swim to the left, where there is a little walkway. He creates a stepping stone underneath him, which helps him get balanced, and then paddles over to the walkway. Bertie and Sasha continue to argue about tugging, and then it cuts to Hamid. He slides down the pipe and finds a room with a walkway around the edge, and Zolf in a pool of sewage in a processing room. There are some tunnels that lead out into the distance, and a large vaulted ceiling. Hamid calls out for Zolf, and Zolf says that he’s fine and that he has the thing. He asks Hamid to try and find a ladder, but they can’t see a way out. He goes back to get more rope to help Zolf, but the climb is difficult. Sasha and Bertie start to tug him up, and Hamid makes it to the top while Zolf makes it to the walkway, finally.

Hamid explains what’s happened; he stinks of poo, and Sasha and Bertie stand a bit farther away from him. Hamid casts prestidigitation to clean himself up. Sasha asks if there was more of the Simulacrum, but Hamid says that he didn’t see anything else. Bertie says that they either need to get Zolf out or follow him down, and Hamid offers to go down with a second rope to grab Zolf. Sasha thanks him for volunteering, and Bertie agrees, both of them happy to let Hamid be the one to go back into the sewage pipe. He says that he’ll do a triple tug this time, and Sasha and Bertie start arguing about tugs again. Hamid sighs, grabs the rope, and heads back to the sewage pipe while they bicker.

Zolf is waiting on the walkway as Hamid returns. Instead of pulling himself up, he ties the rope to the Simulacrum piece and gets Hamid to pull that up first. Hamid drops it over the side to Bertie to Sasha, and then returns to get Zolf. Bertie and Sasha encourage him from the sidelines. After Zolf is successfully pulled up and climbs out of the basin, he asks for Hamid to clean him up.

## Quotes

**James**: "I catch Zolf the falling dwarf with—on a single upturned finger, and it connects – the balance is absolutely perfect – on your peg leg, and I hold him like that, like you’re a twirling ballerina in a music box (*pause; distant tinkly music of an ice-cream truck*)"
**Ben**: "Is that my *tune*? Oh, is that my tune? (*wild laughter*) That was perfect!"
**Bryn**: "(*laughing*) WHO ARRANGED *THAT*?"
**James**: "I am—that—"
**Bryn**: "*WIZARDS!* (*laughter continues*)"
**James**: "That is the perfect 20 of ambient noise."
―Bertie catches Zolf as he jumps into the sewer

**Ben**: "Can I be a Sewagebeard dwarf?"
**James**: "Save against cholera."
―Jokes after Zolf jumps into the sewage.

"So I flow over there like...ball bearings...that have fallen out of a blown-up ball bearing factory that was built on a slight slope."
―**Lydia, about Sasha.**
## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Bertie rolls a Reflex save to catch Zolf: nat 20
* Sasha rolls a Perception check to check for traps: 17
* Sasha rolls Disable Device to disable the trap: 21
* Hamid rolls a Perception check: 22
* Hamid and Sasha roll Perception checks: Sasha gets 13, Hamid gets 9
* Zolf and Bertie roll Perception checks: Bertie gets 15, Zolf gets 3
* Zolf creates a stepping stone (cleric spell-like ability) for Bertie to use
* Hamid casts prestidigitation to clean the Simulacrum gauntlet
* Sasha rolls an Appraise check on the gauntlet: 24
* Zolf rolls an Appraise check on the gauntlet to assist: 13
* Bertie rolls a Perception check, looking for something: 13
* Zolf casts detect magic; first on the gauntlet, then noticing something in the pool
* Hamid also casts detect magic on the gauntlet
* Hamid rolls a Knowledge (arcana) check on the gauntlet: 13
* Zolf rolls a Swim check: 4
* Zolf rolls a Strength check to dislodge the stuck piece of Simulacrum: 17
* Zolf rolls a Reflex save: 14
* Zolf rolls another Strength check to keep hold of the piece of Simulacrum: 19
* Zolf rolls a Swim check: 12
* Zolf creates a stepping stone beneath him
* Hamid rolls a Climb check: 20
* Bertie rolls a Strength check to pull Hamid out: 6
* Hamid casts prestidigitation on himself
* The party take 10 in order to pull the piece of Simulacrum out—Zolf having used his Profession (sailor) skill for the knotwork
* The party take another 10 to pull Zolf out