D&D Session #38: It's a Hard Dretch Life

After the party rested in the safety of the tunnel, they continued through, knowing that at the other end was safety.

What would have been an arduous and dangerous trek through hundreds of miles of tunnel for anyone else was simply a boring, easy trek for the party. It still took three weeks to traverse, though, so the characters found ways to amuse themselves along the way.
Ere'sat used her divine magic to provide light, food, and water during the trip, allowing them to subsist indefinitely and walk safely through the dank, dark, woody tunnel for 8 hours at a time. With no sun above and no titans on their heels, the party was content to take their time.

Along the way were pits in the floor, leading down into the dark, unknown depths of the world. There were long, unprotected planks across the gaps, which turned out to be easy to traverse: The party had a single Immovable Rod with them, which they used as a sort of safety railing to cross the plank without much need for balance. They tied a rope around the rod, which the group waiting to cross held onto. From there, it was a simple matter of crossing, pulling the rod back across, and letting the next person cross. Taken one at a time, the pits posed no threat.

There were also "dead ends" occasionally, where people were supposed to climb a treacherous wall to reach a surface above. This might have posed a problem for the group, but John Freeman happened to just learn the spell Spider Climb, which allowed the party to fearlessly tackle each wall.

With the hunger, thirst, pits, and walls each made harmless, the tunnel proved no challenge whatsoever. Except for boredom, and the occasional nightmare suffered by Tyriron and John Freeman.

So, the party occupied itself along the way by crafting things from the various parts of the tyrant they had killed earlier, including masks and gloves for the people with tattoos on their faces and hands, and a jacket for Buck. In the end, they kind of looked punk rock stone age.

They also kept summoning a special "friend" of theirs: a hapless dretch, which is sort of a sad sack of a demon. They only had less than a minute with the awful little creature each day, and they used that minute to inquire about things like its love life and to make it dance for their enjoyment.

After 21 days of these tunnels, the party found an exit to the surface. After letting their eyes adjust to the sunlight, they emerged and found that they had not truly escaped the titans at all: a nearby road was packed with people heading south, away from the distant pillars of smoke that marked their towns and cities.

Ere'Sat used a new spell of hers, Sending, to get a message to Kirtan, letting him know that they were in danger and lost. A return message informed the party that Kirtan was waiting for them at the Elven kingdom.

The party made it to the ferry crossing, where they met up with a tired and haggard-looking Yotsu, Sonny, Robert, Zelda, and Webdings. There was no sign of any of the other orcs, nor of Arial Black.

As Sonny explained, the group was attacked along the way several times by the titans. Most of the orcs didn't make it, and neither did Arial Black. Ere'Sat mourned her lost spider, but was happy that Webdings, at least, made it out alright.

The ferry crossing was far more crowded than it had been before, as refugees flooded the area, waiting for a ferry that was certainly too small to hold them all. The party had no intention of waiting around, as Ere'Sat had prepared for the river with the spell Water Walk.

She could only cast it on seven people, so she chose herself, Buck, John Freeman, Akito, Robert, Zelda, and Webdings. Yotsu and Sonny rode on Webdings, and Tyriron rode on Buck. Ere'Sat had little interest in bringing Robert and Zelda along, but Sonny and Zelda had apparently hit it off while the party was away (as it turns out, Robert and Zelda are not married and, in fact, are siblings who use the marriage as a ruse), so the elf was unwilling to leave Zelda behind.

As the party ran across the water with the power of divine magic, they heard screams from behind as the titans were spotted. Knowing there was nothing they could do to save those people, the party gritted their teeth and carried on.

As the session came to a close, the party had continued to run on the other side of the river. The elven city was in sight, though there were no longer fireworks going off above the house of the Quarks...

MVP for this session was Ere-Sat for several reasons:

1. Kept the party alive during the trek through the tunnels (food, water)
2. Produced the light that allowed most of the party to see during that trek
3. Contacted Kirtan upon leaving the tunnels
4. Summoned the dretch for "entertainment purposes"
5. Allowed the party to walk on water to escape the titans at the ferry crossing