"Tencednil, sorcerer." Clerics who can use their spells while in actual armor are so lucky. She appreciates how deep her mine of spells is, but she certainly sees the appeal of the alternative methods.

Navarro walks in and nods. "Good, we're all here. Right. What spells do you have today, Chosen Shadi? and how many channels?"

"My domains are Knowledge and Water. At first circle I have two bless, one protection from evil, and one obscuring mist. I have defending bone, burst of radiance, and detect thoughts at second. You can expect five channels, if we need them."

"A decent selection." He faces the rest of them. "Our goal today is to figure out what's causing the problems in the sewers of Old Korvosa. Undead have started leaking from the Vaults and something is upsetting the otyugh. I have a map of the local underground region and some locations marked out for us to check. We will cover the area under Bridgefront, and the other squad will cover Garrison Hill. Any questions?"

"Is there anything specific I should be watching for, or is this mainly exploratory?" The shadow will be the main one watching, in practice, but close enough.

"Mainly exploratory at this stage, I think. There's a lot of deadly beasts down there. We want to avoid the violet fungus. They look like walking purple mushrooms, but with hidden tentacles that rot flesh."

Nod. "All I have circled for plants is Ray of Enfeeblement, and I don't believe it works on the undead, which leaves me just Acid Splashing them. I'll be of more use against things with eyes to see my Spray and minds to break with it." Better to overestimate the danger of undead than to underestimate it around a Pharasman. They like talking about how dangerous the undead are.

"Well, we best get going. The other squad is ready."

They leave Citadel Volshyenek and travel up through Midland, cutting across North Point, and cross the bridge into Old Korvosa. The second squad leaves them there, walking west up to Garrison Hill. Tencednil's squad heads east to Bridgefront.

"Now, this is... not the best area of town, but I don't expect anyone to bother us. Garril tends to intimidate."

Garril chuckles.

Soon after they enter Old Korvosa, they reach a sewer entrance in an alley. The Shingles rise five stories above them, shadowing the squad.

"Here we go. Masks up, everyone!" Navarro pulls up a circular metal grate, and begins climbing down a ladder into the sewers.

Shadi pulls a large bone out of her backpack and casts a spell. It begins to float around her body.

She actually does have a decent-quality mask this time. Having some spending money means she no longer has to make do with Prestidigitation. Once that's on, she follows him down the ladder, trying her best to keep an eye out in the dark. The Light source is behind her on the way down this time, so her eyes will reach quite a bit farther ahead than the humans can see.

The sewers in Old Korvosa are different than down in south Midland. For one, they're older. It took quite a bit of distance for the walls to begin cracking on Tencednil's trek down to Matei's lair, but they've already broken apart here. The smell is just as bad.

Navarro leads them down to a cylindrical room with a small waterfall and a ladder. It looks very similar to the one Tencednil has climbed down before. Sixty feet down, black water ripples.

He speaks quietly. "There should be one of them down here. The otyugh. There's an access tunnel near the bottom, we'll follow it upstream."

"As you say. It will see us coming before we it, with this light. Are you to be our diplomat?"

"I've talked with them before. I don't think we'll need to do much beyond letting them know we're here. According to an earlier report, they know something is wrong but not what."

Presumably he can speak whatever language the otyughs do, then. That could be Taldane, but it could be any number of other things, so it's good she doesn't have to deal with it.

"With luck, then, they will know more now." And once more, time to follow him into the maze which is the Korvosan sewer system.

They climb down the ladder and past a tunnel without entering it. Once they're almost touching the water, Navarro steps off onto a small platform. A tunnel extends out into the darkness; Tencednil cannot see the end.

Navarro shouts at the water. "Hello! We're with the guard! We'd like to speak with you, otyugh!"

The sound echoes off the walls.

Something large swims along the surface of the water.

The mouth of a terrible beast emerges. "Hi! You tunnel man?"

"Yes. Some of you have been having problems recently, as I hear it?"

It takes a while to respond. "Think so! Long swim away, down the left. Others worried."