PW6 - Gullet Diving Practice

General Summary

After defeating the bone devils, you tracked the Deviltongue Brutes to a ruined dwarvish castle on a nearby hill. You entered a cave below the castle, where you encountered a group of Grippli warped by the magic of a strange subterranean tree.

First Chamber

Pemma Harrody attempted to capture Tana, but began to negotiate once she realized how outnumbered she was. She said she escaped from the Deviltongue Brutes when they moved deeper into the cave. Her green dress matched the one Gwynnestri saw through her familiar, so her story of being with the Brutes as they fled seemed to check out. The Leonin Priest who ran into the cave stole her prosthetic arm, and she agreed to give you information in return for getting it back. Pemma acted suspiciously when you mention your camp almost being flooded out.

Middle Chambers

You assigned Bloodletter to guard Pemma and crossed a bridge over a subterranean stream. Tana led you into the next chamber, which contained a dead tree with a mercenary's shrunken corpse below it. As you fought the giant bats that were sleeping in the room, those of you who stepped into the chamber either shrank or grew a size due to the tree, and your mind was also affected.

Back Chamber

Tana stepped into the larger rear chamber in an attempt to stop the tree's magical influence on her but instead stumbled into an ambush. While Tikvah, Sandy, and Andy destroyed the tree, You fought nine Grippli, including a lance-wielding one mounted on a giant frog, as well as a froghemoth. Destroying the tree freed you and the mercenary corpses from its magic, though not the Frogfolk. During the fight, the froghemoth nearly ate Gwynnestri, who was saved when Nyssa heroically jumped into the monstrosity's still-open maw to heal her. Late in the combat, Sandy was pulled into the water by an unknown aquatic monster while trying to run across the stream. He escaped easily but was unable to see what it was. The back chamber contained the dead bodies of half a dozen more mercenaries.