Abyses 13: Onto Gracklstugh

## Regal Royal Reven and his Rampant Racist Rants

* The boys, including Kesser who was there the entire time, do you have any idea how crazy you sound?, talked with King Reven about race, magic, meditation, necromancy, what exactly Reven is, how life on the surface has changed since he’s seen it, his future plans, and many other things, but mostly race.
* King Reven began to sense that Demetrius and Gavin were uncomfortable with his beliefs about Human superiority and began, somewhat unsuccessfully, trying to avoid the subject.
* While camping Reven said that Gavin had a glow about him that he could only see due to his current Kuo-Toa body. He described it as a thin veil of mist or flame moving about Gavin’s body. Reven asked Gavin if he had any close connections to any spirits, to which Gavin responded that he was very close with a spirit that he used to know in life. Reven warned him that it could be another undead posing as someone Gavin knew.
* Demetrius then asked Gavin to try Turning Undead, to which Reven asked that he refrain. Reven then admitted plainly that he was undead, and apologized to Demetrius for his lie of omission and said he wanted to avoid a hostile overreaction.

## Faxin' Gavin

* Gavin then told the party that he had the ability to send messages over great distances:
* Demetrius asked Gavin to ask someone on the surface to send a rescue party, but Gavin and Darank didn’t want to leave before rescuing their lost family. The issue of funding such an expedition also arose.
* Gavin said that he would spend the next few nights reconnecting with family and friends, and then he would be open to taking suggestions or requests.
* Gavin then asked the party if they thought it would be wise to send a message to The Demogorgon, this question was mostly targeted at Reven as he seemed to have a thorough knowledge of both the arcane and the occult.
* Reven advised strong caution, and that Gavin only do it if it is absolutely necessary.
* Gavin then asked Reven if he thought sending daily messages could either convince the Demogoron to become friends or annoy the Demogoron to the point of insanity, to which Reven denied as even the slightest possibility.
* Gavin spent his first couple of sendings reaching out to his lost daughter. He learned that she was being kept in a small box with bright white walls, and was taken there by “scary” elves, dwarves, and gnomes who didn’t talk.
* The next day Reven reached the spot where he and the party needed to split ways and, despite a very compelling argument from Demetrius, proceeded towards his next outpost. Before he left Gavin asked if he could message Reven, and Reven replied that he wasn’t sure if it would work but he certainly wouldn’t mind the conversation.
* Gavin messaged Dreg letting him know that the party was alive and headed to Gracklstugh, and heard “Oh fuck” in response
* Next he tried to reach out to Churg, who managed to make it out of Sloopludop and was on his way to seek refuge in Gracklstugh along with some other Kuo-Toa.

## The Subterranean Sprint

* The party kept towards Gracklstugh at a fast pace, and didn’t run into much that slowed them down. One night while the party was camping near some Faezerness Gavin’s augury turned up Woe, and the party immediately picked up and moved a mile out, which seemed to do the trick as the next augury showed neither weal nor woe.
* Gavin tried messaging Reven, but instead of a coherent response Gavin heard a chorus of Revens talking over each other with different timings and slightly different words, giving Gavin a splitting headache.
* The next two attempts yielded the same result, but on the fifth Gavin managed to make out a reply and successfully exchange pleasantries.
* Over the course of the trip Gavin finely crafted a small statue of Shuushar, Darank studied the odd plantlife of the underdark, Kesser used prestidigitation to add some much needed flavor to the gangs daily diet of rats and mushrooms, and Demetrius found food and kept himself occupied with meditation and dart tricks.

* During the night Gavin was visited by another prophetic dream:

```
You see a massive anvil, currently being used by an unseen black smith. Inside the anvil you see a surface dwarf and a massive beetle, though you can’t make out the distinguishing features of either. You then shift your gaze to another part of the anvil’s interior to see another surface dwarf and another beetle, the dwarf then goes inside the beetle.

```

* On the 9th day of travel the gang is only 8.3 days from Gracklstugh due to their fast pace. This days travel the gang came across more Faezerness, they planned to travel through it for about 7 hours then find an alcove and recover. However about 4 hours in as they rush into a cavern with a pit of lava and four tendrils of magma shoot out from a large stalagmite behind the pit. Darank manages to duck underneath it but they wrap around Gavin, Demetrius, and Kesser.