Session 5: The Overflow Chapel¶

Deeper into the Sluiceweave, the party found themselves navigating ancient machinery they barely understood -- and then stumbled into something far worse than rusted gears.

The tunnels beneath Nicodranas grew older and stranger as the party pressed deeper. They came upon a subterranean sewer crossing fitted with three massive wheels, each marked with clock-face numerals. The wheels controlled the direction, magnitude, and frequency of the water flowing through the system. After some deliberation, they turned the dials -- redirecting the flow downward, low and slow. The machinery groaned in response, ancient valves shifting for the first time in years. What effect their adjustments would have on the city above, none of them could say.

Further in, they entered a tall hexagonal chamber where four iron catwalks converged on a central pressure gate above a deep sump pool. Bioluminescent algae painted the water below in pale green light, and a rhythmic boom -- like a heartbeat -- echoed through the metal bones of the room. Four balance valves had to be harmonized with the pulse of the engine before the gate would open. It was delicate, nerve-wracking work, the catwalks vibrating beneath their feet with every misstep.

Beyond the gate, the party discovered a nest. Kuo-Toa -- the fish-folk they had glimpsed near the docks weeks ago -- had made a chapel of the overflow chamber. An archpriest led them, flanked by guards and lesser priests, all gathered around something the party couldn’t quite make out. The fight was vicious and close-quartered, echoing off wet stone. The party cut through the bulk of the Kuo-Toa, but not all of them. A guard and two priests broke and fled into the dark tunnels, and one of the priests snatched up a strange stone before disappearing into a passage too narrow to follow.

The chapel fell quiet, the bioluminescent glow casting long shadows over the aftermath. The party had won, but the fleeing Kuo-Toa had taken something with them -- and whatever they had been doing down here, it was clearly not finished.