September 20, 2014

Kurtis Returns

After the Motley Crew defeated the demons guarding the angelic furnace and destroyed the chicken god egg, two silver and gold bears appeared to return the furnace, a part of Seventh Heaven, to its proper dimension. With a pop, the furnace disappears. In its place are Alana, Flerm, Kurtis, and a large, unknown human bearing two large bundles on his back. They all appear a bit disoriented.

Kurtis remembers Leento pushing him through a portal back to the lizardman temple. There, his companion Sri Boa was in the middle of a purification ritual. Theodore Dobbins (the hulking human next to him) was moving forward to greet Kurtis. Just as Sri Boa completed the ritual, Alana and Flerm appeared shouting something about eggs. Before he could decipher their warning, Kurtis was overcome with a feeling best described as "heaven entering the temple". The next thing Kurtis knew, he and Theodore were here in this cave.

Alana tells the group that she and Flerm were armor shopping in Gelfini when Leento showed up via the Mirror of Thoughts. A bounder egg somehow ended up in Kurtis' bag while he was on the Isle of Dread with Leento. Leento came to send Alana and Flerm to Kurtis' dimension to destroy the egg before it could hatch.

Before Malouf can explain what they're doing in a volcano, a bounder leaps out of Kurtis' backpack, jumps on Theodore Dobbins, and bites him. The bounder vibrates and a second bounder pops out of its body, running down the corridor. Malouf, still giant-sized from their recent demon fight, gives chase. Theodore gets bitten again and a third bounder goes running off. Lieralyn, also huge, goes after this one. Flerm kills the bounder snacking on Theodore, preventing any more bounders from being created.

Checking his bag, Kurtis is devastated to discover the bounder had eaten all of his mushrooms.

Mixed Up Minds

With the bounders dispatched, the current situation is explained to Flerm and the rest. Agreeing to continue north down the corridor, they come to a door. Malouf checks it for traps. Finding none, he opens it confidently. A poisoned dart shoots out, barely missing the agile barbarian. Inside, Malouf finds an empty room. Entering, he feels a sense of calm. It seems like a good place for the spellcasters to rest.

Malouf: (to Brecaryn) How's this room feel to you?

As the rest of the group move into the room to discuss the possibility of camping here, the door shuts and four naked mind flayers appear in each corner.

The Crew immediately engages their enemies. Josy casts an Entangle spell on one (a spell heretofore associated with druids, not clerics) and vines grow out of the ground to trap the mind flayer. In turn, the mind flayer mind blasts Josy, stunning her.

Alana attacks a different mind flayer. Oddly, it shouts angrily at her, surprised to be attacked. It scolds Alana some more before turning to face off against one of its own. It stares at its companion for a moment, appearing confused when nothing happens. It looks down at its own body, registering surprise, before decidedly walking up to its companion and launching a punch. The attack fails to make contact and the unharmed mind flayer floats up out of reach.

Malouf and Brecaryn attack...each other?

Malouf: Accept this reward from your servant.

Malouf stares at Brecaryn and she staggers, holding her head as if she's been attacked.

Brecaryn: Help me, Cthulhu!

With a gesture of her hand, Malouf goes flying into a wall.

Flerm takes out his bow, shooting at the mind flayers in range.

Lieralyn: (to Flerm) Am I in bizarro world right now? Don't you think something's wrong? Aren't you curious why Brecaryn and Malouf are attacking each other?

Flerm ignores Lieralyn and continues firing arrows, becoming increasing frustrated with the speed of his movements, expecting to be able to fire off twice as many arrows.

Theodore turns to Lieralyn, pushing his face into hers, shouting about the glory of Cthulu. Kurtis looks at Alana and the next thing she knows, she's flying into a wall. Kurtis then turns his attention to Theodore. Theodore feels a force tightening around his neck, choking him, distracting him from attacking Lieralyn with his chin.

Adarra rushes up to the mind flayer Josy entangled.

Adarra: Have at thee, foul fiend!

Bringing her mace back, Adarra swings wildly, missing the trapped mind flayer completely, the momentum causing her to spin around. Confused, but undeterred, she swings again and misses.

Frustrated, she shouts,

Adarra: What foul spell is this?

before she is thrown across the room by the mind flayer's telekinesis. Expecting to land expertly on her feet, Adarra is shocked to find herself gracelessly falling to the floor. Getting up and dusting herself off, she notices for the first time that Brecaryn and Malouf are fighting each other.

To add to the confusion of allies fighting allies, the mind flayer that had scolded Alana earlier waves at Adarra before offering throw her up to attack the mind flayer floating above. Shrugging, Adarra launches herself off the mind flayer's proffered hands, ready to cleave the hovering mind flayer. Her flight is sadly interrupted by gravity and the ground.

With Theodore no longer invading her space, Lieralyn moves in on the fourth mind flayer. Instead of fighting back, the mind flayer waves its hands at her in a placating manner. It tries to speak to Lieralyn, but only incomprehensible guttural noises emerge. Trying another tact, it points at Adarra and then back at itself. Lieralyn pauses in her attacks to consider what this mind flayer is trying to communicate.

Taking advantage of Lieralyn's hesitation, the placating mind flayer charges at the entangled mind flayer, knocking it to the ground and proceeding to throttle it. Lifting the beaten mind flayer off the ground, the enraged one shouts in its guttural language while gripping its captive firmly with its hands and tentacles.

Kurtis, releasing a nearly unconscious Theodore from his mental chokehold, turns his gaze on Lieralyn.

Kurtis: Cthulhu thinks this one will serve.

Lieralyn stiffens and stands immobile.

Kurtis: Slay the surface dwellers, but try not to damage the bodies. We can make use of them.

Turning to the nearest non-mind flayer, Lieralyn downs Theodore with a mighty blow, killing him instantly. Lieralyn really doesn't like having her personal space invaded.

Flerm tries to take Kurtis out without killing him. Instead, to his amazement, the bowstring snaps.

Flerm: How did this break? Why am I so low on arrows? I'm totally picking up all my arrows after this fight.

Alana, thinking a spell might be the reason everyone is acting out of character, asks Josy to attempt dispelling it. Josy, having used up all of her mystical energies in the previous encounters, draws on her physical strength to cast Dispel Magick. The effort visibly weakens her. Unfortunately, her sacrifice changes nothing. Josy senses magick is not the cause for everyone's behavior.

She suggests Alana subdue one of the mind flayers and force it to undo whatever it is. Alana likes the suggestion and runs up to the mind flayer that had been scolding her earlier. Forgetting the part about getting the mind flayer to fix the mixed up personalities, Alana instead punches the mind flayer until it is unconscious. Just before it passes out, Alana sees an expression on the mind flayer's face that bears an uncanny resemblance to an exasperated Flerm.

The floating mind flayer assesses the situation and decides to leave. The two remaining mind flayers have a lengthy discussion, one still holding the other firmly by the throat. After a few minutes of back and forth, everyone is suddenly back in their own body.

Adarra: I promised we would let them go if they returned our minds to our bodies.

The mind flayers refuse to answer any questions, only saying they had to "return to the master". Adarra suggests that the agreement to let them live could be renegotiated in order to encourage greater cooperation from the mind flayers. Flerm is horrified at the suggestion and is adamant that the agreement to let them go be honored.

The mind flayers exit the room leaving the Crew to assess the damage. Josy is able to resurrect Theodore using one of her scrolls. Theodore appears shaken and weak from his ordeal.

Flerm: Hey, everybody in the group dies at least once! Don't worry about it. Guess how many times I've died! Look! See this symbol on my forehead? [pointing at his ankh] Ha!

Oddly, Theodore isn't cheered by Flerm's assurances.

Next Time, Let Someone Sturdier Go First

The group decides to follow the mind flayers. The "master" that the mind flayers referred to must be the deepspawn and that is what they are here to kill. As soon as the party leaves the room, they are attacked by the deepspawn's snake-like tentacles bursting through the wall. The deepspawn must be nearby!

Successfully warding off this attack, Malouf opens the door at the end of the corridor. Suddenly, Flerm feels Keagon pulling him forward.

Keagon: This way! Quick!

Flerm doesn't need to demand that his lycanthrope-hating talking sword Keagon explain what it's doing when they all hear a wolf howl coming from the room ahead. It is answered by a second howl from behind.

Malouf, Flerm, Lieralyn, Alana, and Josy go to face the werewolves ahead while Adarra, Brecaryn, Kurtis, and Theodore backtrack to head off the second group of werewolves.

Malouf's party takes care of their six werewolves easily. Working together, Kurtis, Theodore, and Adarra are able to forestall the three werewolves in the second group until Flerm and Lieralyn return to assist.

The deepspawn, realizing the Crew is closing in on its location, uses its tentacles to collapse the ceiling, sealing off one of the two doors in this room. The rubble can't be moved without risking a full collapse of the roof.

Hoping there's another way to get to the deepspawn, they try the remaining door. Within the corridor, they encounter a troll carrying a box of rust monsters. Luckily, Brecaryn, Theodore, and Malouf kill the rust monsters before they are able to eat anyone's armor. Lieralyn takes care of the troll.

The corridor opens up into a bigger room. From their current position, they can see a large furnace in the room. Adarra senses this is the cause for the imbalance she's felt since arriving on the island.

She moves forward cautiously to get a closer look at the furnace. Before exiting the corridor, she peeks her head around the corner into the room. She registers a blur before something crashes into her head, pulling her body along, and smashing her into a wall. Adarra has been splattered by a bulette.

Malouf rushes forward to avenge his comrade. Brecaryn and Flerm assist, but they are having a difficult time penetrating the bulette's armored body.

While thus engaged, two doors in the room open to reveal more trolls bearing rust monsters. Josy slams into the rust monsters with her mace, smashing them into a wall.

Theodore takes out a scroll and reads from it. As he utters the last words, a red dragon appears in the middle of the room, facing off with the bulette. The bulette charges the dragon. Theodore commands his illusion to fly up so that it looks like the bulette missed its target. Sadly, the bulette didn't miss smashing Lieralyn into a wall and killing her.

Eventually, the group's combined efforts pay off when the bulette finally dies from an electrical attack by Brecaryn.

The trolls are terrified. Two of them leave. The third is not so lucky. Theodore turns his dragon on the troll, engulfing it in an illusory breath of fire. The troll, believing the dragon fire to be real, dies instantly. The anti-regeneration sword is used on its corpse to ensure it doesn't come back to life. Josy takes out two more resurrection scrolls and brings both Adarra and Lieralyn back.

Oh, Hey, I Just Remembered Something We Could Try

Seeing Alana and Flerm dissecting the bulette, Theodore joins in to pry out a tooth for himself. Alana nods in approval.

As Flerm and Alana try to remember which gnome it was who could make things out of bulette armor, yet another door opens. This time its trolls using goblins and derro as missile weapons, lobbing them at the party. The Crew dispatches them quickly.

Free of murderous bulettes and flying goblins, Adarra is finally able to examine the furnace. Brecaryn joins her and surmises that the furnace was probably built to harvest the power of the volcano by the same people who built these caverns. If they destroy it, the tunnels would likely refill with lava. They would have to kill the deepspawn first.

Unfortunately, the party is running low on resources and the deepspawn has ensured the most direct route to its lair is blocked. Doubtless, it is even now fabricating more monsters for the group to fight.

After a few moments spent considering their options, Adarra remembers she has a stone shaping spell. She offers to attempt making a doorway through the rubble, hopefully without bringing the ceiling down on them.

Carefully, Adarra shapes a narrow doorway through the rubble. The Crew follows closely behind her. Inside the room is the deepspawn disgorging more goblins. To one side is a red dragon standing guard. In the back corner sits a glowing, floating orb - the Orb of Dragon Control.

Malouf, Flerm, and Lieralyn head straight for the deepspawn knowing it is only susceptible to physical attacks. Adarra transforms herself into a bear and lumbers after them. Brecaryn takes on the red dragon. Theodore casts a hypnotic spell to keep the goblins from attacking. Kurtis tries to help Brecaryn with the dragon but injures himself instead. Josy and Alana hang back to provide support for anyone who might need it.

Timing her spell perfectly, as the red dragon breathes out a stream of fire, Brecaryn casts Cold Flame, turning the dragon's breath weapon back upon it, freezing its jaw. She follows with a Cone of Cold. The frozen dragon shatters into a pile of icy bits.

Meanwhile, the deepspawn is able to slip both of Flerm's swords out of his grasp, something that is normally impossible to achieve what with the curse on Keagon and Flerm's Glove of Grasping. It attacks Flerm with his anti-insect sword. Unfortunately for the deepspawn, Keagon retains control and forces the deepspawn to attack itself.

Adarra grabs the deepspawn in a bear hug as her companions whittle away at its tentacles.

Deepspawn: (in their heads) Mercy! Mercy! Bargain! Bargain!

Trolls come in from another door, rushing forward to protect its master. Alana shoots the water arrow she took from the Tomb of Vasquez. One troll melts into a puddle. Alana picks off the other with more arrows.

Knowing how dangerous and cunning the deepspawn can be, it cannot be left alive. Killing it and its remaining creations, they take the orb and go back to dismantle the furnace.

Holding the orb, Brecaryn can feel ethereal chains leading from the orb to the red dragons above. The Dragonkin Queen tries to take over so that she can destroy the orb and free the dragons, but Brecaryn is able to fight her off.

Knowing the destruction of the furnace will result in lava filling the caverns, they prepare to move quickly. Brecaryn casts Cold Flame on the furnace. As soon as the furnace goes out, lava begins seeping through the walls and floor.

They run.

As they reach the red dragons, Brecaryn can feel them fighting her. She urges her companions to hurry. Adarra follows closely on her heels. The other members of the party, not distracted with mentally fighting dragons for control, take this unique opportunity to try and quickly grab something for themselves from the dragon's hoard.

Once they are back on the shore at the foot of the volcano, Lieralyn calls Flappy, the plesiosaurs that Leento lent them, with the horn Leento provided. He arrives quickly and takes them away from Irate Volcano Island.

Brecaryn destroys the orb while they are still within sight of the island. They hear a great roar as the dragons are freed. Having an instinctual hate of their own kind, the dragons immediately turn on one another, leaving the party free to continue to the Isle of Dread.

Like a Bad Penny

Back on the Isle of Dread, Leento is none to happy with seeing Kurtis back in this dimension. Not only that, he brought a friend! After he hears the circumstances leading to Kurtis' and Theodore's appearance in the volcano, Leento realizes that when the piece of Seventh Heaven (the angelic furnace) was removed from this dimension, an equal amount of mass was shunted in from another dimension. However, Kurtis and Theodore cannot account for all the mass that would be necessary to create an equilibrium. Somewhere in the world there must be others who were pulled in accidentally.

Seeing as there is nothing to be done about this problem for now, the Crew takes their leave of Leento and returns to Gelfini.

Oakfriend is delighted to see them and to hear the chicken god egg has been taken care of. Vashti updates them with the recent goings-on. Baron Karzda has sent a message that the hoard from the dragon they killed together has been tallied and is being shipped to Gelfini. Also, Karzda has men ready to begin construction on their castle and only awaits their word.

Zargyble reports to Brecaryn with the translated text of the derro letter she found in Erintrah's prison playground. It talks of a war in the Underdark. The first target is the city Flerm comes from. He is surprisingly sanguine about this piece of intelligence.

Mention of the Underdark jogs something in Brecaryn's memory from when the mind flayer had control of her body - something about the "masters" using the deepspawn to populate the Underdark with an army.

It seems they can put it off no longer. The Motley Crew's next mission would be to go to the Underdark and stop any schemes that could endanger the surface world.

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