Category The Tormentors

The Tormites want the group to return to Baytown and oversee a will reading of one of the more infamous folk to die at the hands of the assassins in the sewers. The antiquities dealer has long been rumored to have shady associates and have trafficked in less-than-reputable goods. To expedite travel, one of the church mages opens a teleportation circle and off the group goes.
They arrive and make their way to the site of the reading, a large feasthall on the western bank of the river. The cleric, paladin and plucky elf watch from the balcony while Lad, Bababobo and the Malformed One scan the crowd from the rear of the place.
The executor and guards arrive, carrying sealed chests and once everyone is in position the reading begins...

As the party prepares to deploy the folding boat and pursue the dragon into the inky darkness, the elf (or the ghost that inhabits him?) starts to spout paranoid ideas about the dragon being a sneaky mofo and raises the idea that this is all a distraction. Well, one way to find out is to give the bat wings to the ranger and have him do a flyover of the underground cistern.

Sure enough, the dragon surfaces and snatches the flapping ranger out of the air and under the water. HFS! The group springs into action. The mage deploys water breathing spells for the party and they all jump in the boat while the water walking cleric tows them out to the middle of the cistern. The elf drops his breastplate, grabs his sword and dives overboard to attack the dragon and hopefully save the ranger...

Deciding to investigate the sewers a bit more in hopes of discovering more information about the mysterious golem assassins, the group deploys the folding boat in the early morning hours and sculls upstream. They find a partially covered entrance to an overflow pipe and enter.

Though old, the sewers are in relatively good repair, except in places where they have collapsed. The group searches about and finds that upstream seems less recently traveled than the directions that lead back towards Baytown.

Eventually, the group leaves the sewer area and enters the section of the underground complex dealing with fresh water, culminating in a large underground cistern that measures hundreds of feet across...

With the departure of the druid, the group ponders their course of sction. To return to the Rotting Man, to seek the Vessel of Souls, or something different? In the interim, the church would like to set the group on a local matter of some concern. A string of seemingly unconnected killings in and about Baytown has raised concerns. There are apparently few details that can be corroborated, but the inability of the various thieves guilds to protect their high level members speaks to a well organized foe.
The group arrives after a short trek and tries to obtain some information...

The group charges to do battle with the golem, but it vanishes and two hulking stone monsters uncloak and menace the party. The Lad unloads on the first one, pulping its head and slaying it with a single blow. With a whoop, the party piles on the other one and despite a few unlucky mishaps, they slay the beast in a matter of seconds.

At this point the golem teleports into their midst and begins blasting scalding gouts of steam and applying golem-sized beatdown to all within reach. The severe pummeling scatters the party as they try to regroup and counter the assault. Eventually they manage to win through the stout defenses and manage to slay it a second time...