Session 7-B: Sarith's Strategy (Act I)

Key Plot Developments
Sarith, Pix, Tremble, Bogtooth, and Stool sail away from the destroyed town of Sloobludop (in the opposite direction from Trix and Shuushar). Stool, recently targeted by the Demogorgon, is nonresponsive. Sarith, mewling and shaking, slips in and out of consciousness.

The three goblins resolve to look after each other and find their way back to the rest of the party. They sail onward. After some time, Sarith emerges from his stupor. The drow supplies them with directions and assures him of his bona fides as a navigator; if they're able to get back to land, he says, he can get them to the Neverlight Grove, where he hopes to return Stool. He surmises that whatever malady has afflicted Stool can be cured when he is returned to his fellow myconids.

The goblins trust in Sarith. As they sail through the caverns of the Darklake, they discover an open area populated by hanging stalactites and protruding stalagmites. Eager to rest their tired arms, they prop up the boat next to a stalagmite. They are taken by surprise when the stone produces tendrils, a hideous eye, and a gaping maw. Drawn into combat, most of their attacks are deflected by the creature's stony carapace. Sarith tries to cast spells to thwart it, but is grappled by the tendrils and repeatedly slammed into the lake. Stool is taken by a tendril and brutally bitten. Before the mushroom's body can be digested, the goblins enter a frenzied state of pure rage, screaming as they dig, bite, shoot, claw, and blast their way into the roper. Finally, Sarith induces a state of magical sleep, and the heroes destroy the monster.

Pix braves the water around the roper, discovering discarded treasure from (presumably) its previous victims. She finds a dragon-headed quarterstaff, which she names Rotgut (in honor of her uncle). Sarith, waterlogged and tired, urges the goblins to keep rowing until they find land.

Finally, the group leaves their boat behind and enters a cavern (they carry Stool, whose body has been pierced and battered by the roper). They stop short of tripping over a wire and hear the sounds of an argument in draconic. Based on the goblins' experiences in the sunless citadel, they assume that they're in kobold territory. As they sneak through the cavern, they encounter an eccentric kobold at a chaotic work station. Pix attempts to parley with him, but Sarith preemptively executes him, causing the odd creature (whose skin seems to excrete greenish ichor) to explode into acid. The party rifles through his workstation, discovering strange notes about alchemy and a being called The Faceless Lord, who Sarith identifies as the dreaded demon lord of oozes: Juiblex.

Memorable Quotations
Sarith (spitting up water): All according to plan. It's called strategy.

Sarith (coughing in pain after getting doused in acid): This, too, is called strategy.