Session 02: The Lake Escape

Elora’s keen eyes gazed into the yawning darkness below, her druidic senses sharpening to unnatural clarity as she surveyed the sheer cavern wall descending toward an unknown, watery fate. In owl-form, she glided silently, feathers whispering against the stagnant subterranean air. Far above, Thorn, Maledurk, and Tempest waited anxiously, their fate now tethered to the subtle movements of her wings. The party’s narrow escape from Velkynvelve’s shadowy confines had left them drained, anxious, and desperate for respite.

Below stretched an expanse of cold, silent water whose surface barely rippled beneath unseen currents. Elora noted no welcoming ledge, no hidden alcove; the wall offered only a steep, treacherous descent. Swiftly returning to her companions, she landed gracefully upon Maledurk’s broad, scaled shoulder, communicating her findings in soft, careful tones.

“We have no choice but to risk the descent,” Thorn spoke first, resolve steeling his voice despite the faint tremor betraying his uncertainty.

Maledurk’s golden eyes sparked, remembering the enchanted vessel concealed within his belongings. “I have the boat,” he rumbled thoughtfully, “but the water’s far below. And climbing down this rock face… It’ll be tricky.”

“Tricky, but not impossible,” Thorn said, already evaluating the cliff with calculating eyes, mentally preparing himself for the perilous descent. “With the enchanted rope, I can manage. But landing straight in the water without a foothold—”

“Allow me,” Maledurk interrupted, embers flaring gently along the edges of his scales. In a swift, brilliant motion, he unfolded fiery wings that illuminated the darkness, banishing shadows across the cavern’s high walls. “I’ll bring the boat below. Hold tight.”

Maledurk plunged downward, the enchanted boat grasped firmly, his fiery form descending like a comet through the gloom. Tempest, moved by his courage, mirrored his gesture, azure wings of chaotic magic bursting forth as she gracefully followed, laughter mingling with the echoes of her flight.

Thorn secured the magical rope, the enchanted length obediently anchoring itself as he began the careful climb, hands gripping tightly against slick, weathered stone. The chill of the cavern bit through his gloves, but he forced his focus downward to Maledurk, whose blazing silhouette stood below, unfolding the boat upon the black water’s calm surface.

The boat unfurled dramatically into a sturdy vessel, larger than expected, nearly filling the narrow waterway below. Maledurk steadied it, his draconic strength tested by the craft’s heft. Thorn leapt down from the rope’s end, landing neatly inside the gently rocking craft. Moments later, Tempest descended, her carefree spirit momentarily tempered by the gravity of their escape.

With companions safely aboard, Elora perched at the boat’s prow, watchful and alert as they began drifting northeastward along the subterranean stream, away from their drow pursuers.

Yet the silence of their escape did not last. As the waterway narrowed and their boat scraped softly against the shore, distant sounds of shouting and hurried footsteps reached their ears. The drow had discovered their flight.

“Hurry,” Thorn whispered urgently. “We must move.”

Abandoning the craft momentarily, they sprinted through winding, cramped corridors hewn naturally from the stone, pursued relentlessly by unseen enemies. Elora’s owl form flitted anxiously ahead, scouting twists and forks, the faint glow of her companions’ hurried steps far behind. The tunnel walls pressed in, claustrophobic, damp with condensation, until at last the adventurers stumbled breathlessly into a cavern teeming with luminescent fungi, each glowing cluster casting pools of dim, spectral light upon the stone floor.

Pausing only briefly, Thorn surveyed their surroundings. Wagon tracks—deep grooves carved into the earth—led northward into another passageway. But another path sloped downward, curving intriguingly out of sight, and carried with it the unmistakable murmur of waves.

“The water again,” Maledurk muttered thoughtfully, nostrils flaring. “Could be an escape.”

Thorn nodded decisively. “Toward the waves. If there’s even a chance it leads us upward or outward, we must take it.”

They darted down the chosen passage, moving swiftly toward the growing sound. The tunnel widened dramatically into a vast cavern, its ceiling impossibly high, arching upward into darkness. Before them stretched the Darklake—its immense, still surface occasionally disturbed by gentle, unearthly waves.

Without hesitation, Maledurk drew forth the magical boat once more. This time, its size fit perfectly within the grandeur of the subterranean sea. Launching into the placid water, the party quickly propelled themselves far from shore, hearts beating in tense unison as their pursuers emerged too late, frustrated shadows fading into insignificance behind them.

Adrift in the Darklake’s solemn embrace, the adventurers shared a weary silence, the gravity of their near-capture settling upon each heart differently. Tempest, ever mercurial, soon succumbed to sleep’s embrace, her breathing rhythmic and untroubled. Thorn maintained vigil at the prow, thoughts churning in quiet contemplation, strategizing for the trials yet to come. Maledurk, tireless protector, gazed out across the dark water, flames subsiding to a comforting glow around his scales.

Elora resumed her elven form, allowing herself a rare moment of relief. She closed her eyes, sensing the faint whispers of natural magic, even here, in this forgotten subterranean realm. Her companions were safe—at least for now—and in that moment, beneath the unfeeling stone and the indifferent stars hidden far above, she found hope rekindling within her.

Together, beneath the solemn expanse of rock and silence, the Nefarious Do-Gooders rested—each adventurer quietly aware that their respite was fleeting, but precious. Whatever awaited them next, they would face it united, their resolve tempered stronger than ever by the shadows they had escaped and the darkness yet awaiting them on the uncertain path home.