Hester rounds a corner and immediately spies a pair of of guard drakes, their emerald scales glittering evilly in the gloom. Reyna fades back into the shadows, and creeps back, unnoticed by the dragonoids. She decides it might be best to rejoin her friends.
⚔
Titania, in bat form, flits through the caverns following the call of the locket that Squid carries, thanks to their ongoing Locate Object spell. They passes over the heads of several kobolds and a troll who are headed down the tunnel towards Reyna. But Titania isn’t distracted from their goal: to save Squid, their child.
⚔
Reyna, has tucked herself back into the tunnels that return to the room with the effigies. She can hear the slow sloshing of enormous feet. This is accompanied by the high-pitched chittering in draconian. Kobolds. She creeps closer to see if she can spy the creatures, and is surprised by an enormous, slimy hand that gropes toward her in the darkness. It claws at her, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her into the large, domed space of the drainage basin. Reyna struggles fiercely in the creature’s crushing grip, but she is unable to free herself.
⚔
To the south, KFC is exploring another space that contains only the mummified carcasses of giant rats. She can hear Reyna shouting over the flow of the foul water. Throwing herself onto her broom, KFC sets off down an unexplored sluiceway that heads off in what she hopes is the right direction. She flies hunched over so as not to strike any of the hanging pipes and conduits that empty into the sewer channel.
She pops out into a drainage basin, finding a struggling Reyna dangling from the claws of a troll. KFC makes pass, striking the creature with her great club. The troll bellow and clutches at its elbow, dropping Reyna into the vile water.
The troll then regenerates, his wounds closing. Yikes.
Alarmed, Reyna scuttles backward and draws out the Wand of Wonder without thinking. She flicks it at the troll., but the Mirror Image spell explodes around her hand that clutches the wand.
Suddenly there are five Reynas, and the troll is stymied to find which is the Reyna he might actually injure. KFC continues her assault on the troll with her great club. The troll , confused by too many Reyna’s, wheels and instead attacks KFC.
Reyna again flicks the Wand of Wonder. This spell engulfs the troll, which begins moving in double time. Cursing, Reyna apologies to KFC. She uses the wand yet again, and a Tenser’s Floating Disk appears next to the troll. Reyna shakes the wand, frustrated.
⚔
Hester can hear the distant sound of combat, but must try again to get past the gazer. The creature becomes aware of her, and she casts an Expeditious Retreat spell upon herself. The gazer’s eye bean shoots an ice spell down the tunnel, ricocheting off the wall that Hester passes at a rapid clip. From her study of giants at Strixhaven, the owlin realizes that fire-based spells will prevent the troll from regenerating. She begins to fling Fire Bolt spells at the troll. Although a low level spell, many will add up to devastating damage, if she and her hexmates can last. She alternates it with Burning Hands.
Reyna tries with the final charge of the Wand of Wonder. yet again she is engulfed in a pale light. When it fades, two more Reynas, clones, stand with the five that already.
Startled, the troll falls backward over the floating disk. It flails, seemingly unable to rise.
⚔
In a distant corridor of the sewers, the bat, who has avoided the stones flung at it by kobolds with slings, Titania resumes their usual form. The Locate Object spell has lead them to this locked door. Behind it, they can hear a gruff voice shouting, “Where are you, boy?”
Irritated at this misgendering of their child, Titania casts a Frostbite spell to try to break the lock, which shatters and pops open. Inside, the furious face of Murgaxor rises out of the dim light, glaring at her. From deeper in the room, Titania can hear the piping voice of Squid calling their name.
Titania shouts, “Murgaxor, return you me my child!” then summons a fey spirit. Shimmering into existence behind Murgaxor, the spirit sports a whimsical smirk on its bark-like face. It snaps its woody fingers and magical darkness descends upon the small room.
⚔
The army of Reynas, followed by Debbie, marches out to see if they can help Titania, whose voice can be heard in the distance.
