The group headed back to the paladin sanctuary, ready for a night of rest after a very busy day. They made it back without incident and found Thera, Katana and their troll hounds practicing their fighting after exploring the sanctuary. Kaylord chose to mediate in the Shrine of Rightenousness in order to increase his damage when battling. The others rested and prepared for the next day of exploration. After everyone finished their rations and prepared for the night, all went to sleep, with Coravel keeping a first watch.
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For all who slept, they dreamed, as described here. When they awoke, they quickly found out that everyone had the same dream. For the first dream, they felt that the paladins wanted to be reunited in death as they had been in life. The group agreed they would approach the Lady Tablusk and ask for permission to bring her father's body to be reinterred in his old sanctuary.
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The second dream was thought to be a warning, perhaps from the paladins, of danger they might encounter as they moved forward in their exploration. For this creature, they agreed that they weren't strong enough yet to tackle the creature and that they should wait to fight against this creature. After discussion, Coravel slept and also had the same dream but otherwise the night was uneventful.
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The next morning, the group prepared to continue their exploring as they still wanted to find their way down to the main slave operarations. Before going back down the river, they decided to go up and check a river branch they had skipped the day before. Coravel also wanted to see if he could get more poison for his arrows. As the group approached the beach, they were fired upon by several duergar. The arrows were poisoned but the arrows either missed or the people hit were able to shake off the effects. However, once they made it to the beach, they made quick work of the duergar. They then went to visit Vulgaris, only to find that she had sold all of the rest of her poison to some duergar. She would need duergar blood or derro blood to feed her mushrooms in order to produce the poison more quickly than normal. Kaylord drug back one of the duergar bodies, which she took off to her back room. The group did find out what other items she would sell and decided to come back and get more of the poison later. They were wary since she had mentioned 7 duergar and they had only killed 3.
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They floated back down the river, not finding anything down the other branch and finally making it past the tunnel of the day before. They found a sandy beach, with stairs going up. Aramil had given Coravel and himself dark vision so they could be stealthy as they approached. Aramil flew up with Quis'Ari while Kaylord made shore and planned to go up the natural stairs.
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Aramil dropped Quis'Ari on the beach and then flew into the area above. As he did so, two duergar popped in and fired crossbows at him. One of the bolts hit him and the poison caused him to go unconscious and drift to the ground. Kaylord then tried to move up the stairs and found that they had been greased. He slipped and warned the others. Quis'Ari came over to help Kaylord up while Coravel moved up the stairs. As Coravel made it up the stairs another duergar appeared and charged him.
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Meanwhile, another humanoid was flying and was wreathed in what appeared to be blue flames around his body. He flew forward, then disappeared. Kaylord made it up the stairs, with Quis'Ari behind him. Quis'Ari cast Blessings of Fervor while Kaylord went to stand over and protect Aramil. At this time, a fireball erupted around the group, damaging them with fire. Fortunately, Aramil had found the will to become conscious and was able to dodge some of the fire. The flying humanoid continued casting spells while the Strangers took after the duergar on the ground. Coravel's arrows helped to removed some of the opposition as the duergar succumbed to the poison.
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While Aramil was fighting the flyer, two more duergar showed up and starting shooting at the Strangers. However, the tide had turned and the flyer was running out of spells. With Kaylords slice and dice, along wiht Coravel's jab and stab attacks, the duergar on the ground were taken out, while Quis'Ari helped to support the fighter. Aramil took care of the flyer, who was knocked unconscious to the ground, bleeding out.
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The group decided to take the flyer captive and bound him, tightly, They also realized that he was not a duergar like the others. They searched the two tents and found some valuable items hidden away. They also found a tunnel leading further down, that might lead to the salve operations. The river continued past the area they were in, and resembled the section of river they had seen in their dream of the night before. After taking the loot and the captive, the session stopped here.
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