Tunnel Rats Explore the Bonepass

The party learns that the Changeling King who rules Bonepass Hold and serves Demogorgon plots against the city of Nera. They set off to find out what happened to the tunnel rats who disappeared a week ago and take out the Changeling King before he can strike them.

Laralove has posted a Dragonne outside the Bonepass gate with orders not to let anything in or out alive. G'Kar drugs the Dragonne with poisoned wine, and the creature crawls off to the stables where it eats some horses and falls asleep. The party slips inside. In the underground river shores they find the tunnel rats dead, their bodies torn and eaten. A balhannoth and several gricks attack and they retreat.

By the time they get back down the Bonepass to the gate Laralove has been summoned and meets them in the tunnel. She scolds the party and tells them they must guard the Bonepass as the tunnel rats and to report back next week. She locks them into the tunnel magically.

As the party camps outside the gate to wait a week rather than fight the Balhannoth, the thing and its hangers one come in the night. The party fights of the beasts, but Artemis is killed by a grick in the battle. Several days later another wander monster called a cloaker comes to attack the party and swallows G'kar but he manages to escape and they drive the beast off.

Hearing their screams, a dwarf named Beldine who guards the door defies Laralove and opens the gate. When Laralove learns that Artemis has died she expresses sincere remorse. The party tells her what they know about Demogorgon and the Changeling King and she gives them a holy avenger and sets them off on their quest to take him out.

Artemis' body is sent upriver with Aelor, who had been guarding the border with the wardens, and who just got back from escorting Prince Eagleheart to set sail with a small fleet to rescue his father in Zaarnath. The rest of the party heads back into the Bonepass, along with their new companion the dwarf guard named Beldine

At a chasm bridge, they fight a mighty battle against a dire bear and seven strong orc warriors. The monk blunders into an ambush as he scouts ahead, but the rest of the party quickly rushes up to his aid, and after a furious battle they are victorious.

They rest and scout ahead, moving to the Stone King's territory. The stone king turns out to be a stone giant who deserted Laralove's army on patrol and now rules a large band of norkers (very tough underdark goblins). The norkers offer tribute to the party and pay them gold to move along without interfering with their territory or affairs. The party accepts their offer.

At Bonepass Hold they find that it has been abandoned, or the residents have hidden themselves well amidst the ruins of the old dwarf hold. The doors are open and they find a horrible scene of carnage in the main hall. Bodies of all manner of creatures have been dismembered, dissected, and hung from chains all over the place in a gruesome tribute to Demogorgon. Among the bodies they find Prince Eaglehearts personal effects, and it appears that they have been in the gore for at least several weeks (sometime between when they went with the prince to the clocktower, and when he sailed for Zaarnath). Apart from the bodies, no creatures challenge them and they return to Nera with grim news.

Shadows Under Nera

At the request of Ser Eagleheart's squire, the party investigates his recent death. This leads the into the sewers by the ruined clocktower. As they pursue the shadowy figure they encountered in Bonepass last adventure, G'kar intimidates his way past a throng of foulspawn that block their path.

They find their way into a labyrinth where they are lost for several days. They fight an abberrant creature sent to hunt them by the foulspawn and bypass several traps to find their way into an old thieve's guild.

They unravel the mystery of the Exarch and learn that he was deposed almost a thousand years ago by the theieves guild who now has replaced him as symbolic leader of the city (though they allow all the nobles to make important decisions). The theives guild was overrun by doppelgangers who picked them off one by one until only the head of the guild remained and he fled but was captured by the tunnel rats (until his escape last adventure when the party distracted his captors).

The party joins the theives guild of Nera and the guildmaster resumes his leadership as Exarch. The imposter Exarch escapes with some of the Exarch's treasured items including a magical mask, sword, and flute, though the guildmaster still has the Exarch's signate ring used to seal all official documents.

The Exarch has the party reassigned to his temple guard. Laralove Dewshining accepts the transfer. When the party returns she is about to punish the squire harshly for missing three days of duty, but they manage to get him off the hook with only a slap on the wrist. The squire returns to duty as Dewshining's personal attendant.