Chapter 3: The Darklake

Even just a glance outside lets you see that Demogorgon is only attacking structures. Some kuo-toa get in the way, but they seem to be incidental at this stage. If you run straight back the way you came and head just a bit south, you'll hit some docks that weren't destroyed.

You all make the run, darting in between pods of fighting kuo-toa to get to the docks. When you look at the keelboats tied up at their moors, you notice they only have space for 6 people each. As you look among yourselves, you realize you have 9 in your entourage. You'll need to either leave people here or take 2 boats.

The choice, as they say, is yours. Each boat will need 2 rowers to move it at any point in time.

Provided that there are no issues with Fang's suggestion, we can hand-wave a bit of the RP of who sits where. Given that, here's some of the changes for the next phase of our adventures through the Underdark:

Waterborne Travel - You're travelling in a pair Keelboats. They have a pair of oars to help move you along when there is no current. If you choose to row WITH the current, you move at a "Fast" pace. If you row AGAINST a current, you move at a "Slow" place. If you just allow the current to carry you OR row without a current, you move at a "Normal" pace.

Unlike travelling across land, moving through the water doesn't prevent you from foraging. Additionally, foraging will not require anyone to forgo other activities.

Travel Times - We're going to continue in the vein of the river trip. You'll all specify how many days in a row you guys want to attempt to travel and I'll let you know the outcome. There are chances that you'll encounter weird terrain things (like an island or something) or possibly other creatures. This has existed as a possibility for all of your travel thus far, you've just not encountered many of them. If during your trip you DO encounter them, we'll play it like we did with the traders where we drop into "regular" speed from the fast forwarding, play out your encounters, and then resume our zippy travel handwaving (unless you really want daily posts of "we row, we sleep, we row").

The Boats - The two keelboats you are aboard are the Sea Mother's Grace and the Gaze through the Dark. They each have 100 hit points, a damage threshold of 10, and an AC of 15. The Damage Threshold shows how much damage the boat must sustain to suffer any hit point damage. So if it takes 9 points, it takes none. If it takes 11 points, it takes all 11. You can, with proper tools, repair boat damage by taking 1 day and 20 gp worth of materials PER hit point restored. The boat must be berthed to repair.

[ +- ] General Look Of the Boats

All sleeping is done in the singular cabin. Inside, there are four hammocks strung up like bunk beds near the aft of the ship and two proper beds near the fore of the ship. A single small table is built into the foreward bulkhead. There's also a small window in both the fore and aft bulkheads that allow you to see before and behind you.

Boat Handling - You may run into nasty water hazards (underground rocks, low hanging issues, rapids, etc.). In those situations, each boat needs to make a Group Dexterity check. Basically this means all of you on each boat makes a Dex save. If at least half of you make it, the boat makes the save. I'll leave it up to you guys how you want me to manage it. We can either have you all roll the saves on your own or I can tell you that you encounter a hazard and roll all the saves on my own to keep the pace flowing. I don't care either way.

In order to row, you must have 2 people engaged at rowing. This involves kneeling on either the foredeck or aftdeck areas and using the long pole-like oars to help propel you. When you are under oars, that's all that's required to maneuver properly. If you are just riding the current, there is a tiller in the back that must be used to move side to side in the water. If you choose to have a "tillerman" during your rowing times, you will get advantage on any dex saves to maneuver the boat around hazards.

If you are all attempting to sleep at the same time in a current, you have to find some way to secure the boats (they have no anchors), or else you face increased risk of crashing. If you are in still water, this risk doesn't exist.

Hopefully this all makes sense and we can get under weigh!

Neither of the two are roused, regardless of your machinations. If it weren't for the steady rise and fall of their chests, you would think they were dead.

As you all board the keelboats, you find the mooring lines easily and cast off into the Darklake. WIth a few minutes of searching, you find an unlocked chest with a large collection of rolled charts tattooed onto scraped animal hides. Water beads up and rolls off without interfering with the ink.

For each craft, please give me a Survival check (Bildaweer for one, Fang for the other). The presence of the charts and your knowledge of the Underdark allow you to make your check at whatever your regular Survival skill is.