Editing Game-Summaries:3/10/2018 Recollections (section)

==Recollections by Tallulah==

Tracking Down Hune Part II 3.10.346

After my last encounter with [[Hune]] I decided I wanted to be a part of the group that brought him down.  He seemed incredibly dangerous and his ability to open and close portals to the Underdark was a serious threat to Solace.  I spent some time informing the local farmers about the drow with the fungal growths and checked in with them daily until someone spotted an infected looking drow.  The farmer was able to give me a general direction from which it came. From there I was able to track several locations that Hune had open and closed portals and, based on the tracks, brought drow from the Underdark.  There was a pattern to the locations he had chosen for his portals so I was fairly certain I knew where he would show up next.

My companions on this mission would be [[Loco]], [[Sarya]], [[Ci]] and [[Sakura]].  In the weeks leading up to it, the five of us got together to discuss our plan in the hopes we could lay a trap for an unsuspecting Hune.  Ci acquired the Stone of Hallowing and Slippers of Spider Climbing from the vault as they seemed like we could put them to good use against Hune.

The hillock I estimated Hune would travel to next was 25 miles Southeast of Solace.  It took us most of the day to get to the hillock but as I had learned, all of Hune’s movements happened after nightfall so we had sufficient time to prepare our trap.  There was a cavern inside the hillock that Hune would likely use as cover for his portal.  I would scout at the top of the hillock, Loco set an alarm near me that I would activate when I spotted Hune giving my companions notice.  Sakura would then make Ci and Sarya invisible and Ci would attempt to use the Stone of Hallowing against Hune as early in battle as possible while the rest of the party was hiding deeper in the cavern.  The goal would be to draw Hune into the largest room of the cavern and fight him there.

Feeling as ready as we could be Wethril and I left our friends and took our post at the top of the hillock scouting for the enemy.  When I spotted Hune in the distance he was not alone.  Walking approximately 100' in front of him was a large spider.  Not wanting everyone in the cavern to be caught unaware and seeing that Hune and the spider were moving slowly I scurried down to the cavern to inform the team.  When I returned to the top of the hill with Wethril we were shocked to find the large spider only 100' away—its eyes were glowing white and when it saw me it seemed to recognize me in a really unsettling way.  Then, suddenly, its eyes returned to black spidery eyes and it simply walked away, disappearing from view.  Startled and unnerved by the spider’s human-like reaction to me I sent Wethril out to scout for signs of Hune or the spider and moved to a rock next to the mouth of the cavern.

Feeling anxious about our plan falling to pieces I summoned Wethril from the North to be close to me when seconds later I felt an unfortunately familiar searing pain tear through me and heard a solid thump.  Once again my partner was down and I had to get to him.  I charged up the hill toward Wethril when out of nowhere I was blindsided by a blast of immense powerful force knocking me off my feet—Hune.  There he was once again standing near Wethril’s fallen body, wearing the same helmet and smug grin he had worn the last time we had met.

Ci—still invisible—made it to the top of the hill and struck Hune square in the chest with both of his arrows.  A fiery chasm burst from Hune’s chest where the had arrows landed injuring Ci.  I took no time to fire with my longbow striking Hune with great force.  Just as it had last time...Hune’s head split in two as he opened a glowing portal in front of him.  From the portal emerged an angry and unpleasant looking fiend with glowing red eyes.  Hune approached the [[Draegloth]] and whispered something to it.  Its rage subsided but the calm and focus that followed was even more upsetting.

Ci continued toward Hune attacking with his short sword but each blow more damaging fire erupted from our enemy.  I launched an arrow at the Draegloth which found purchase in its elbow.  At this point my companions had reached the hillock and joined in the fighting and Wethril awoke from unconsciousness.  Sarya, in a barbarian rage, attacked the Draegloth, Sakura cast a powerful firebolt and Loco sent a thunder cannon towards Hune’s first head in a final blow that would be the end of Hune, but not before his second head could utter an arcane spell in Undercommon.  Although I heard him clearly, I could not understand most of what he said with the exception of the word "[[Ley line]]".  A bright blue glow burst from the ground and through Hune’s body exploding flames knocking out myself and Wethril and bringing Ci close to death.

When I came to after being revived the Stone of Hallowing had been activated against the Draegloth but to our surprise, the Draegloth stepped out of the light produced by the stone and requested we stop firing.  Sarya spoke to the Draegloth instead of continuing to attack.  From him we learned that he comes to our world in peace and did not wish us harm.  Against his will he is bound to serve an individual who calls him by his name which Hune had used to control him.  For this reason he would not give us his name but agreed to allow us to call him Draegy.

Draegy explained that Lolth has abandoned and cursed his people—they are unable to cast divine spells and are seeking refuge in a new land.  Draegy’s mistress (and mother) is called [[Halisstra]].  He described Halisstra as a kind and generous leader although the example he gave of her generous nature was that Halisstra chose to cast out a servant for improperly made tea rather than killing them.  It would seem Draegy has a different definition of kind and generous than most.

Draegy requested that he send an emissary to Solace from the Underdark within two 10-days to discuss terms and the possibility of housing millions of drow refugees in an underground dwelling in our world.  Each realm they have investigated thus far has rejected them.  We gave Draegy the key phrase "Hune’s head on a spike" to relay to his emissary so we would be able to identify him when he arrived to Solace.  After our conversation and agreement Draegy left us heading South/Southeast to presumably return to the Underdark.

We took inventory of the things that Hune had left behind: an grotesque yet ornate scepter resembling a dead and decayed arm fashioned into a staff—"[[Dyrr's Staff of Withering|Staff of Withering]]"; the helmet turned out to be a "[[Helm of Teleportation]]"; as well as "[[Bracers of Defense]]."  With nothing left of Hune save some bloody, gooey bits, Loco collected what he could into an empty [[Kaylorr's Kwik-Aid]] bottle to return to Leroy.  Sakura bonded with the helmet while we slept and in the morning we used it to transport, in nearly an instant, to just outside the Solace walls.

When we made it to the Magistery we found Grandmaster Aetheres tending to the crows and ravens at the top of the Magistery tower.  Sakura reported our conversation with Draegy and the Grandmaster informed us that the Magistery has already sent an emissary to the Underdark who has not yet returned and that a party of Magistery representatives was being sent to the Underdark to investigate further.  Overall, he seemed skeptical that Draegy had been honest with us but interested that he called his mistress Hallisstra instead of Danifae.  When we told him of the death spell Hune had used he mentioned we might have had a ley mage on our hands.  We consulted him about the staff we had recovered from Hune.  The Grandmaster told us that the staff is intelligent, sentient and dangerous.  He recommended we destroy it or study it which Sakura decided to do in his downtime to gain more information.

Nothing about this mission went the way I expected it to, although I suppose I should be accustomed to unpredictability by now.  Despite Grandmaster Aetheres’ warnings I believe that Draegy was being honest and that his people need help.  I hope that if and when the emissary does arrive from the Underdark that the Magistery is open to talks.

Also, I have decided that I want to be a member of the party that travels to the Underdark.  I need to see for myself what is going on and discover what my role in this whole thing is.  So on that note, Wethril and I have some training to do...