# [[033_20220104 He who hates freshwater and black-and-white stripes]] ## Session Summary > [!abstract] [[033_20220104 He who hates freshwater and black-and-white stripes]] > Reya and I scouted ahead, and saw a makeshift wooden bridge leading to a plateau, on which a lot of other kuo-toa were dancing, frolicking, drinking, and making a lot of noise. I heard swirling water coming from the left side. We went back and told the others, and after some debate, Lug-Eee said that he could talk to the Bun-Gulp followers. After a short rest, we followed him. > > I cast Invisibility on myself and stealthed up ahead, and realized there were A LOT of kuo-toa-- too many to actually attack. While I thought of tactical advantages, Wally talked to Bun-Gulp and managed to convince him that peace was the better option. Bun-Gulp admitted that there was a problem: the water level in the swamp was decreasing. He was sure that the people living on the stilt houses were responsible, and asked us to kill them. Wally said that we would do our best to help, and the kuo-toa said that they trusted us (especially Lug-Eee). > > We each took our potions of water breathing, Xenia altered himself, and we got flushed down the plug-hole and found ourselves back on the other side of the lake, closer to the village of Berleben. We found a dead halfling who had a key that unlocked some sort of shady culvert that was obviously used in smuggling operations. We decided to camp there for the night, and took a much-awaited long rest under the Tiny Hut that Sehanine provided. > > I had a conversation with the tiefling about where she came from. She doesn't seem to know any other tieflings. ^summary ## Recap of last session ![[032_20211228 The god-maker helps us kill a god he made#^summary]] --- ## Log Thunderwave twice a day for Wally, and they don't use spell slots. We are in a tunnel and we hear noises up ahead: disco lights and tuba ![[bun_gulp_plateau.png]] Plateau 30 feet above the water. Series of wooden bridges going up towards the plateau. There is a creature that is strobing brightly and some kuo-toa are dancing. There is a waterfall or something draining into the water. There are about 20 kuo-toa on the right side. There is a bigger humanoid figure clad in a robe with a crab claw on its left arm. It has a crayfish head and is sitting motionless. There is swirling water in the left. Lug-Eee says that the way to Zadash is by the plug hole. We take a short rest. I cast Invisibility on myself as Lug-Eee takes us to talk to some of the followers of [[Bun-Gulp]]. They are having some sort of discussion about gods. [[Blibdoolpoolp]] is not moving at all. She's totally dead. There are two dead kuo-toa. They have red strips of clothing. I see Bun-Gulp and a high priest there. I see a large bubbling cauldron that they're all sipping from. About 50 kuo-toa that are dancing, drinking, and generally messing around. Bun-Gulp is sitting on a conch shell. Bun-Gulp is not too happy with Wally, especially since others are saying he's a god. But he is asking for help with the swamp problem-- he says the level of water is going down, and the people in the stilt houses are making the level of water go down. The two dead kuo-toa look like they speared each other. We still haven't seen evidence that Bun-Gulp is bad. We agree to do what we can to solve the swamp problem for them, and they let us through. We take our potions of water breathing and we go down the plug hole! We get flushed back onto the lake. We can't really resist the current (because we all rolled pretty badly). It's now nighttime, and we see the moon(s) in the sky. 10 meters in front of us is a shore and a marshy swampland. ![[labenda-swamp-02.png]] We don't see any houses on stilts. We do see a boat though. We see a small, halfling-sized corpse lying next to the boat. It's about 10 pm. The dead halfing corpse is investigated by Xenia. 24 gp and ? sp, tobacco. He has tattoos that look like gang symbols. They're not the cultist tattoos. He also has an iron key around his neck. It looks like he has been speared several times. There's a corner on the boat, on the hull of it, that is a bit raised. There is a metal hatch with a handle that is locked. Xenia gives Wally the key from the halfling. It unlocks! Reya checks for tracks and doesn't find any. It's just a black hole. [[Smugglers' Cove]] We throw a coin with Light on it down the hole. There is stone floor, and then it goes out with a slight noise that sounds like a splash. Reya and the tiefling jump down. They smell dampness and hear the sound of rushing water. There's a creaking sound. They see two rowing boats tied up to an iron ring, and a crate. The tiefling sees numbers on the wall, like they're calculating something. (12... 14... 16... 42) The floor is scuffed like people have been loading and unloading stuff here. There are tobacco ends, wax food wrappers, general litter. The crate itself is empty. There's an underground river. We are close to Berleben: ![[Berleben.png]] We close the trapdoor behind us and attempt a long rest underneath, with a Tiny Hut. I have a weird conversation with the tiefling about where she comes from. She says that she is from the north, somewhere called [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Palebank Village]]. This is her first time in the Empire and she thinks it's weird that Sehanine is not allowed to be worshipped. I ask her if all tieflings come from the same place, and she says they come from the Nine Hells originally! But somehow she still thinks she is good. She asks about the pink tiefling and I panic!! I went through Nihana's books: - Some people think [[Sehanine]] might be the daughter or wife of [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Corellon|Corellon]], the Arch-Heart. Pre-Calamity: [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Torog|Torog]], the Crawling King, tunneled beneath [[The Cyrios Mountains]] (beneath elves that worshipped Sehanine). They sapped life and colors from the place, creating [[The Pallid Grove]]. I remember this from my teachings as well. - We retreated underground initially, and eventually wandered out. - Sehanine and [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Moradin|Moradin]] built a King's Cage as a trap for Torog. It banished him as a Betrayer God - [[Pelor]] and [[Raei]] lured Torog above ground and Pelor pierced his body with 10,000 lances ? - Torog's tears carved pathways underground and his followers fled on there. - Saranrae (another name for [[Raei]]) banished him to the deepest depths underground Xenia studies [[The Demonic Fragments of Perilleo]] book. Wally asks the tiefling for the explosives? ![[tiny_hut.png]] ```ad-info title: Pensamientos de Scura No sé que debo pensar sobre los kuo-toa. Por un lado, están engañados por este Bun-Gulp, que es un dios muy malo, por lo que nos han dicho. No merecen estar esclavados por ningún dios. Por el otro, ellos han elegido y aún han CREADO Bun-Gulp, y Xenia tiene razon en decir que ellos van a crear otros dioses malos. Los elfos pálidos son personas buenas, y pienso que yo soy buena también. Estaba engañado en una manera por Selussa, por sus ideas de una diosa mucho más estricta que era en realidad. Y han sido solo en nuestros mentes. Al igual que los kuo-toa tiene sus dioses en sus mentes. ¿Significa que los dioses no son reales? Seguramente no. Porque sus dioses malos aún son dioses. Tienen poderes. Tienen leyes. El triunfo sería convencer a los kuo-toa como crear dioses que sean dignos de ser dioses. ```