A Stroll in the Hole

Modokus

Monana

Ena

Minty Pineapple

Leora

The party placed all of their loot from the fallen Thri-kreen in Monana’s cart, and after some short deliberation, Edric decided to go back to his workshop on Luracia to get a critical component for his homunculus. Eero asked him if he knew how to get in contact with the Oracle’s Guild, and unfortunately, Edric informed him that the oracles charged extraordinary prices for their services and that they were run by one of the 12 most powerful people in Luracia, so even Edric wouldn’t be able to influence them to change their policy.

Edric quickly returned to Luracia and informed the nobles waiting to go down that ‘big ants’ were the reason for the delay, causing a murmur to travel through the crowd. He retrieved the homunculus heart without incident and returned to the party.

After some brief discussion, the group decided to head to see House Faust for their reward and supplies.

Upon arriving they saw the Faust manor was new, with its house colors, black and blue shown clearly in the guard’s uniforms and their manor’s decor. Upon entering they were informed the Lady of the house was in a meeting. A few minutes later, Three men emerged from the lady’s office. All three of them wore black and red armor, and bore the sigil of the god of War and Strength, Be’Torn. Their leader was a tiefling who wielded a red crystal staff that ended in a hand shape. Another was a hobgoblin, and the last was a race Minty Pineapple and Edric recognized as a gith, creatures native to Limbo and the Astral plane.

Edric greeted the men and found out the leader with the staff was named Rothnar Lodroc, and their gith member was named Lykus Trodas. They revealed that Lykus had been on Relden since he was ten years old. Edric told these men that he harbored no ill will towards them. They were not warm, but they did seem to appreciate the sentiment before taking their leave.

Lady Ylva Faust, a fire genasi in her late twenties, beckoned them into her office. She thanked them for their service in the square and asked what she could do for them. Edric volunteered to help get rid of the Thri-kreen threat, and Lady Faust readily agreed to his offer, offering the group medical support, a place to stay, and any tunnel exploring supplies they should need.

She also mentioned that there were four holes that had sprouted up across the city. One in the main square, which our party took care of. One in Dimulti square, which the Be’Torn worshipers took care of, one in the Sweetsong tavern which two yet unidentified knights defeated, and one in a warehouse, which the soldiers of house Faust rallied and managed to defeat.

When Monana spoke, Lady Faust recognized her as a princess and immediately dropped to a knee. Monana was a bit uncomfortable with it and Lady Faust resumed her original demeanor. Lady Faust’s aging scholar arrived with several books he had found with information on the Thri-kreen before showing the party to their chambers.

Edric, Minty Pineapple, and Ena all traveled to the south to meet with House Fairchild, as the city watch was technically under their command. They arrived as the leader of the Fairchild guard, Sir Brenos, was having a heated debate with Lysander Brantley. Edric calmed Sir Branos, who was upset Luracia wasn’t going to send any reinforcements to clear the holes of any remaining Thri-kreen, but that Luracia was demanding the holes be cleared before they would allow their nobles to enter the city and trade.

Edric offered his help and Sir Branos changed his tone. Sir Branos accepted the offered help and said he would share any intelligence his men have. Sir Branos also pledged seven of his men to help in the expedition. Edric spoke with Lysander as they left the hall and Lysander thanked Edric for smoothing things over, and Edric asked Lysander to join the expedition underground, which Lysander agreed to.

Everyone but Ena returned to the Faust manor. Ena went south to check out the Sweetsong tavern and found the hole there. The nameless knights who had defended it were long gone, but three massive ants, the size of horses were being pulled from the building, two with strong lacerations, and one shriveled. Satisfied with her search, Ena returned and everyone took a long rest.

In the night, Eero had another dream. He dreamt he was in the same woods, but this time Luracia was far away. He approached the crystal in the woods, but found it shrouded by The Mist. He reached out and touched the mist and realized it wasn’t his own mist, but another mist user who had sent the shroud. He could tell it wasn’t sent by Zahir, the leader of the Arafel Coup. A moment later he felt a sharp pain in the back of his mind, like claws digging into his brain, but he fought off the attack. He touched the crystal to try to move it, but was unable to, and the ants touched it first.

#### 17 August

Everyone awoke before the sun rose as they had returned rather early in the day. They found Lady Faust’s supplies had been prepared for them, and they all headed to the main square entrance to the tunnels. Without any delay, all of them ate a hasty breakfast and headed straight for the entrance. When they arrived they found a blue mage from Luracia, Oscar Roynar, was now in charge of watching the pit, and a large mana cannon had been put in place pointed directly down the hole.

After some discussion, Edric revealed his homunculus, CARL, a tiny floating replica of Luracia, which could be used to create light. Eero suggested he take the lead, followed by Ena as they could see in the dark and scout ahead.

The group traveled down into the tunnels, and after finding one of the other entrances, proceeded down deeper until the approached a large natural cave. Once inside, Edric used CARL To light the room as Modokus and Eero climbed down into the cavern. Edric followed, but his descent was much less graceful. Eero discovered soft egg shells which Minty and Edric identified. As soon as the cavern was lit up, the group noticed dozens and dozens of eggs next to a natural stream running through, and Modokus found two separate trip wires.

Modokus spotted a hole in the ceiling where a Thri-kreen archer with an unnaturally reflective carapace was hiding, watching the group silently. Then, suddenly the ground began to vibrate, and the Thri-kreen attacked.

The flying Thri-kreen drone dashed in and began shooting arrows, while massive ants and smaller acid ants began to crawl from the ceiling as well. The group took defensive formations and fought back, but an Ankheg burst through the tunnel wall at the entrance and attacked as well. It was a close fight, but Eero managed the killing blow on the powerful drone, and Minty Peppermint managed to use a fey step to keep many of the acid ants at bay, despite being knocked unconscious midway through the fight. Eventually, the group stood victorious but wounded, and decided it was time to return to the surface.

## Loot

2 Longbows

20 Bone arrows

1 Ankheg Mandible