Desnova 8, 1423.
After battling and defeating several cave fishers in the natural cavern, our heroes decide to go up past the red door, which leads into a humble hovel in the Drenches ward, seemingly abandoned, but there is some mildewy furniture and they find a lose brick in the unlit hearth. Behind that, there is some sort of prisoner manifest, with many names listed and crossed off, but on the right column there is surely the name of Condor, as well as some others: Meriam Smelt-Heart, Kvister Rabovich and Sludd. As it's dark and rainy outside, they get their bearings before returning down into the flooded cellars.
Desnova 9, 1423.
They backtrack to the subterranean river and decide to ford it back in the opposite direction, finding numerous rocky outcroppings that contain multicolored phosphorescent mushrooms, which Nebol'shoy is quick to claim, as well as a wooden hand and a rusted key bearing the name of a ship long lost to sea, known as the Saltgrinder. Some lore-thinking connects the key to the wooden hand, which might have belonged to the amputee-captain Rajana Stassov. But what is it doing here? They find a muddy landing off the river which they haven't searched, and then some mudded slopes which lead to a large area, and as it turns out, the prison they have sought! Several shapes, alive and dead are chained in shallow pools of water surrounded by the rubble of collapsed walls, and several of the PCs sneak along to see if Condor is among them.
This alerts the prison guards, a gang of shifty wererats, large frog-like abilities with the ability to step through shadows, and a watery hag, which all join the melee to protect their charges. A brutal combat ensues, one which the PCs emerge from victorious thanks to some lethal spell-work and keeping the enemy divided. After searching their corpses, they do indeed discover Condor, who is disoriented but happy to see them, as well as another trio of prisoners which still draw breath. They try to mend the prisoners, some of whom are quite insane with pain or grief, and then having a last look around at a vine-choked smaller chamber, they slowly bring the quartet back to the natural cavern and up into the domicile beyond the red dwarf.
Rest is needed, so the group spreads out over the moldy furniture and a watch is set. A shifting, sliding sound is heard nearby the hovel, and they spy what appears to be the loose flesh of Turtle, some sort of undead conjuring from Csunori that invites the PCs to Old Bloodwalls within a weeks time where they can hash out their differences, the necromantic message is particularly targeted at Rucia and Nebol'shoy, openly revealing that the gnome has some connection to the villains! The dragonborn paladin wants answers and grabs up the druid to have them!
PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia
NPCs:
Sludd the Advantageous (d'vryn male): A lanky man of some 30-40 summers with an unkempt beard and raggedy hair the consistency of straw. His fingerless hands are wrapped in soggy bandages and he's clearly feverish.
