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Last time our heroes recovered the fabled Metacarpus of Oomega. This time, they explore more of buried apeman castle and plunge down Shaheduzzaman's wet and wild slide.
Picking through dust-choked corridors, the group uncovers a once-lavish room with moth-eaten chaise lounges circling an ornate hookah. Draxx, Martin, and Vox decide to smoke. Draxx and Martin merely mellow out, but Vox slips into a kaleidoscopic vision of tiny figures leaping from the tattered tapestries — grinning, creeping, pinching him, unbuckling his pack, and even tooting on his pan flute.
When Vox accompanies the flute with his bagpipes, the room blooms with ghostly simian revelers smoking, swilling wine, and swirling through fantastic dance steps. As soon as Vox stops playing, the phantoms wink out.
The party, deciding the satyr hermit should experience this, packs up the hookah and carries it away.
They labor loudly with chisels and hammers to enlarge the bricked opening.
Attracted by the demolition noise, a colossal snail slides into the chamber.
With the threat eliminated, Draxx claims the big, luminous seed.
Exploring onward, the party locates a pesticide storeroom stocked with sprayers and gas canisters.
Next door, a partially collapsed chamber contained volcanic fumes and charred skeletons. Draxx steps inside, fails his Constitution saving throw catastrophically, and collapses.
Vox lassos Draxx’s limp body and hauls him to safety. After recovering, Draxx mage hands the only gleaming object in the scorched room, which he'd spotted as the fumes overcame him: a (possibly magic but not yet identified) key.
After navigating the magic airlock and ascending through the underground lake via a control water spell from Vox, the party presents the satyr hermit with the ancient hookah before returning to Shaheduzzaman’s lair.
Descending the spiral stairs, the group discovers a water slide ending in a slowly whirling pool. Vox plunges down the slide and vanishes beneath water. Smudge ties a rope to himself and follows. The rope goes slack. Martin tries to dive after them, but his magic fishscale armor keeps him buoyant. He strips off, dives in, and sinks out of sight too.
After a brief interval of darkness, each adventurer splashes into a transparent bubble-chamber deep underwater, walls curved like a shark tunnel. Circular passages with transparent walls curve east and west, possibly forming a large torus.
Only the scattered stars of shimmering lures angler fish illuminate the deeps. Other shadows swim in the murk, including a large sphere that with eye stalks and dangling crab claws. Countless briny eyes track the party as they creep through the transparent air tunnel.
The party follows the east passage to another circular bubble room where a sailing dingy rests on its keel. A large bronze bell is mounted conspicuously near the boat's bow. Draxx notices that the boat is too large to fit through the passages that lead into the room.
Enemies defeated: giant snail
Treasure: a large glowing seed, a shiny (magic?) key
