October 25, 2014

At Home to Visitors

Five days after dealing with the deepspawn and returning from the Isle of Dread, the Motley Crew spends the morning dealing with administrative business. Vashti reports that ships bearing the dragon hoard have arrived. This is the hoard that they won fighting with Baron Karzda, the treasure that was meant to pay for the construction of their castle. With them are more ships carrying the builders and architects from Baron Karzda. Once they are settled, the workers will begin design and construction of the capital.

Next, the Motley Crew is inundated by a string of visitors. The first is Havoc Company. With them are the hafling mage Qikko, their companion in the Battle of South Luka, and Thydor, their former teammate. Thydor, looking pale and thin, does nothing but stare blankly. Captain Dokari explains why they've come. While searching for a piece of Cervantes' Sword in a region south of here, they encountered a group of mind flayers. When the mind flayers fled, they dropped a bundle that turned out to be Thydor. Qikko, having left the South Lukan Mages Guild to join up with Havoc Company, recognized Thydor as one of the Crew's companions, so Havoc Company brought him to Gelfini. They were forced to sedate him because he kept screaming things like "It's rising! It will devour us all!". Hopefully, with rest, Thydor will recover.

Piecing together what they can from Thydor's rants, Captain Dokari believes the mind flayers are attempting to resurrect the Elder Gods. Havoc Company plans on entering the Underdark to thwart this attempt. Malouf volunteers to join them. Lieralyn decides to go with them as well, ostensibly to watch over Malouf, but more importantly, to keep an eye on Havoc Company. Flerm instructs Thrain to accompany the group for the same reason.

While these discussions are being carried out, Qikko can be seen hopping excitedly from one foot to the other, just barely able to contain a very happy cry of "Brecaryn!" escaping from his lips every few minutes. Adarra sidles up to Qikko.

Adarra: Hi!

Qikko: Hello!

Adarra: You're shiny!

It's decided that Havoc Company and their companions will depart on the morrow. In the meantime, they head to the inn while Vashti has rooms prepared for them. Adarra follows, chattering excitedly with Qikko.

The next visitors are three dwarves. Two of them are familiar to the group - Bolin Braveaxe (who forged magickal weapons for Flerm, Lieralyn, Josy, and Alana using Mimir's Furnace) and Gindi Slatehand (who, like Qikko, fought beside them in South Luka against the Oblivion King's army). The third dwarf is introduced as Rorko Goblinkiller.

They've come to let the Crew know that the dwarves of Rockholme are offended the they were not asked to build the Crew's stronghold. Flerm explains his grand plans to have a military capital built into the Hessiac Mountains.

Flerm: We need you to build us a castle by the mountains. A much larger one. Something the people can look up to as a symbol of hope.

Everyone in the room looks at Flerm as if he's grown a second head.

Flerm: What?

Appeased, Gindi and Rorko agree to take their message back to Rockholme and send architects and builders to begin work. Flerm asks them to stop at Wayfoodle's to pick up his completed spiked collar. And, if they should happen to come across Wunderbar, to also get the armor the gnome had been commissioned to make for the now deceased Oliver Green. Seeing as Flerm lent Oliver the money to pay for the armor, Flerm feels it rightfully belongs to him now.

Bolin, thirsting for adventure ever since the end of the war with the Oblivion King, asks to join the party. Reminded again that Bolin was the dwarf who forged magick weapons for them, Alana and Flerm enthusiastically welcome him to the group.

Vashti nervously brings in the last group of visitors. The reason for his agitation is obvious. The visitors appear human and yet are nine feet tall. One is clothed in a white robe, his features completely hidden by the hood. The other sports a red beard and a fusty attitude as he asks for Brecaryn. They are looking for Beeblebrox and were told his apprentice might be able to help.

Upon seeing them, Brecaryn suspects these are the visitors she and Malouf spotted leaving Beeblebrox's tower on her last visit. She offers to aid them herself. Red Beard at first refuses, wishing to speak only to Beeblebrox. When Brecaryn relays that Beeblebrox has left her instructions not to look for him, he looks at his robed companion who nods.

Regan: Very well. Macros thinks you are up to the job. I am Regan the Explorer. This is Macros the Black. You may have heard of us.

Flerm: Nope. Perhaps you've heard of us. The Motley Crew.

Regan: Oh yes. Brecaryn and her Motley Crew.

Flerm: Brecaryn's Motley Crew!

Regan: (ignoring the outburst) The land to the south of here is called Chumera. This is because the land was once ruled by a wizard named Chumley. But Chumley's reign was overthrown by a demon called Hutijin, although some knew him as The Great Pumpkin. We were Chumley's original agents in the rebellion against Hutijin. But when we were weakened, that role was taken on by a group led by Lord Phantar, which included your Beeblebrox.

            Lord Phantar's party was nearly destroyed when the group traveled too deep into the Underdark. It isn't known exactly what happened that day. But the group split up and they were never the same. The legend is that Lord Phantar alone led a contingent of knights in the final battle against the Great Pumpkin. We happen to know that Beeblebrox played an equally crucial role in that battle, but it's true that he did so from afar, and the group never worked together again.

            It was during an earlier battle with Hutijin that the entire world was shrunken.

Everyone: Shrunken?!?

Regan: Macros and I fought him and some creatures from the Underdark. Their plan was to shrink the entire world down to the size where Hutijin could crush it in his tendrils. We stopped him before it shrunk too much, but we had to step outside the world to do it, and that is why we appear larger than you. All the world has shrunk except us.

            We now have reason to believe that the Underdark creatures that helped Hutijin are planning to shrink the world again.

Regan offers to stay in Gelfini with Macros to watch over the town while the Crew are away dealing with the Underdark. Not everyone is thrilled with these strangers taking it upon themselves to run their city, but the problems in the Underdark take precedent, so leaving Vashti in charge and hoping for the best, the group prepares to leave on another lengthy quest.

No, Really. They're My Prisoners...Just Let Us In

Knowing there is an entrance to the Underdark in the kobold cave where they had previously rescued three merchants, the Motley Crew travels there the next day. Alana scouts ahead. At the entrance to the cave are two kobold archers and two elite kobold guards monitoring the light traffic of kobold workers moving in and out of the lair. After a short discussion, it's decided that Flerm will try to bluff his way into the cave pretending the rest of the group are his prisoners.

The kobolds are hesitant to allow Flerm into their lair with a group of armed "prisoners" and send someone to consult their king. A third elite guard arrives with a kobold shaman. Suspicious of the group, the guard tells one of the archers to summon help if anything goes wrong. Examining Flerm's prisoners, the shaman detects that they are not under any spell. He cries out a warning and then surrounds Bolin, Alana, and Josy with a stinking cloud.

The archer turns to get help as instructed. Snow leaps over her teammates and splatters the kobold with a flying kick before he can take more than a step. The rest of the party engage the kobolds (except Alana, who smacks herself with her own sword), killing them all.

Hearing the commotion, a kobold sticks his head around the corner yipping in the kobold tongue. Bolin, the only one able to understand the kobold, replies less than convincingly. More kobolds come running out of the cave.

Two archers split up and go down two side corridors, presumably to wrangle more help. Flerm follows one while Snow and Josy go after the other.

With his infravision, Flerm is able to detect a battalion of kobolds in the room ahead. Relying on the kobolds' natural deference to Drow, Flerm attempts a second ruse.

Flerm: (catching up to the fleeing archer) Coward! How dare you run from battle! (killing the archer in one blow, he addresses the battalion) The rest of you, prepare for battle. Do not leave this room until I give the command.

The kobolds, eager to defend their home unhappily obey Flerm's orders to stay in the room.

Meanwhile, Snow trips over her own feet and is unable to catch the second kobold archer before he makes it down the corridor. Josy, seeing a large gong in the room, quickly casts Silence around it. The spell takes effect as a winged urd begins fruitlessly banging the gong.

Following closely behind, Brecaryn and Alana take down the urd and kobolds in the room. They rejoin the others just in time to see Bolin casually stroll by the corridor Flerm had gone down. Flerm glares at Bolin in exasperation as the sight of a dwarf in their home agitates the kobolds behind him.

Flerm: Charge the front! There are more invaders! I'm going to go after the dwarf.

Hissing to his companions, Flerm instructs them to fall down dead as he pretends to kill them while the kobolds all run to the cave entrance.

Once the kobolds have passed, the Crew quickly gets up and rushes to the corridor leading to the Underdark. Peering into it, Bolin is filled with terror and quickly backs away, turning his helm around so that he can avoid looking at the corridor.

Snow moves in front of him and takes a look for herself. She sees a cute little duck in a well-lit room. The group sees her stride down the corridor and out of sight. A moment later, they hear a loud quack before Snow returns and waves them in.

On the floor of the well-lit room is a dead duck. The sense of terror is gone. At the end of the corridor they find a flight of stairs leading down. Giving the duck corpse a wide berth, the Crew descends to the next level.

Down into the Kobold Cavern

The darkness seems to swallow the light from their torches. While the air smells stale to the humans and elves and barely tolerable to the halfling and dwarf, for the first time in a long while, Flerm feels completely at ease.

Lining the hallway are statues of mind flayers and twisted creatures. As they walk past them, they hear whispers.

That one will die.

That one will betray his companions.

That one is being watched by something awful.

The group ignores the disturbing whispers and opens the door at the end of the hall. Sitting on the other side are two extra large ogres. Flerm kills both with a minimum of fuss.

Beyond the ogres is a narrow, twisty corridor that ends in a T. As soon as Flerm steps into the intersection, a large mouth appears in the stone wall.

You do not belong here.

(louder) You do not belong here.

(even louder) You do not belong here.

Josy hastily casts another Silence spell on the area, but not before the wall's warning is heard. Kobolds and weasel-bearing urds come charging down from both sides of the corridor. Flerm prepares to engage them.

The urds toss the giant weasels into the narrow hallway where most of the party are standing. Josy swings her mace wildly at the large weasel suddenly in front of her. Missing the weasel, momentum causes Josy to smack herself in the head. The magickal knockback effect of her mace sends the poor halfling bouncing between the walls before falling to the ground stunned.

Snow, at the end of the line, sees Theodore Dobbins move as if dodging an attack. Running across the walls past her companions, she lands next to Flerm, noticing all ambient sound abruptly cut off thanks to Josy's spell. Signaling to each other, Flerm and Snow each turn to face the oncoming opponents from either side.

As she's chasing down an urd, Snow encounters two green, hobgoblin-like creatures herding two kobolds. She attacks them but becomes paralyzed when the hobgoblin creature touches her. Flerm rushes off to assist her. Bolin, seeing what he's fighting, runs after Flerm, shouting something no one can hear until he exits the sphere of the Silence spell.

Bolin: ...kill these smelly thouls! Make sure you use fire. And don't let them touch you. It'll paralyze you.

While Bolin, Flerm, and Alana finish off the thouls and kobolds, the rest of the group are still in the narrow corridor. Josy is just starting to recover from her imitation of a bouncing ball when Theodore hears a noise to his left. Startled, he turns.

Theodore Dobbins: What was that?

He sees a panel slide open on wall next to him and an 8-foot tall mushroom man emerge. Running, he points behind him, shouting "Giant mushroom!".

Brecaryn calmly shatters the mushroom creature with a lightning bolt. Peering through the doorway, she sees a room lit with an eery blue light. The room is filled with 6-8 feet high mushrooms. Brecaryn slides the door closed and ushers her teammates away from the door, assuring them they do not want to go in there.

Rejoining the others, they see Bolin hacking away at an obviously dead thoul.

Bolin: Not dead...*thwack*...thouls...*whack*...they regenerate...*brwack*...

Alana and Theodore set the thoul corpses on fire so that they can move on. Along the way, they encounter more ogres and thouls. Snow leaps head first into a wall, rolls down a flight of stairs into a refuse pit, and discovers an otyugh. Brecaryn gets smushed dead by a log-wielding ogre. Luckily, after a panicked search for her remaining resurrection scrolls, Josy is able to bring her back to life, so they carry on.

I'm Just Saying, If I Had a Water Wyrd Under My Command, I'd Tell It to Do Things

Rounding the corner and heading west, they come to a room with a 6-foot statue of a giant bat sporting a comical grin. Bolin climbs onto the statue, sticking his head into its mouth.

Bolin: Help me! Help me! It's eating me! *guffaw*

As he rides the statue, it starts to sway. Noticing this, Bolin vigorously rocks the statue until it topples. Beneath the statue is a pit full of sapphires. Bolin enthusiastically tosses them up into the air, sticking two into his beard and pocketing a few more. While the group is splitting the sapphires, a group of kobolds and more weasel-bearing urds round the corner at the end of the hallway to the west. A kobold shaman directs the rest as they set up ballistae aimed at the group.

The party members begin debating whether they should continue forward or double back the other way in hopes the corridor will loop around. Deciding it was foolish to discuss "strategy" when the enemy had obviously seen them and were moving to attack, Snow runs ahead to engage the elite guards. Killing one, she drops back to stand to the side of the doorway.

The rest of the Crew move forward to join her. Alana hits two elite guards with arrows tipped in Medusa blood. The kobolds die instantly. Bolin disrupts the urds with an exploding bolt. Flerm stands in the doorway ready to attack as soon as the kobolds are in range.

Brecaryn, reluctant to endanger herself so soon after she had just been dead, checks the room for secret doors. Theodore Dobbins inspects the well in the center of the room. He drops a sapphire into it. The water begins to bubble and rises in the shape of a serpent, swaying in front of him as if waiting for instructions.

Theodore Dobbins: Hello.

When the water wyrd doesn't respond, Theodore shifts his focus to the battle. The urds toss weasels into the room. The weasels immediately attack and latch on to a few of the party members. The kobolds fire missiles from the ballistae. Flerm stands firm, shrugging off the ballista bolts.

Around the corner, past the ballistae, a particularly agile kobold runs along the walls, firing two arrows at the group. They explode into nets, ensnaring half of the party. Flerm teleports out of the snare and critically injures the awesome kobold (known amongst his friends and family as "Deadeye Klerp").

Undeterred, the kobold grins at Flerm before unleashing four arrows into the drow. Acid bursts from their heads upon impact, quickly melting Flerm's armor.

Having freed herself from the net, Snow rushes forward to attack the shaman standing near the ballistae. Before she can reach him, a large blur crosses her path, blocking her approach. It's the monk elephant she'd fought the time they'd rescued the merchants.

Nodding, the monk elephant engages Snow in a test of skill, their attacks and counterattacks designed to subdue, not kill. The battle is a blur, moving up and down the corridor until at last Snow lands the winning blow. The elephant bows to her before leaping away down the hall.

Flerm takes care of the kobold shaman before he can cast any spells on him. Deadeye Klerp makes the deadly mistake of stealing Alana's bow with one of his trick arrows. Bolin, with a weasel attached to his backside, tackles Deadeye, pinning him down while Alana retrieves her bow and smashes the kobold's skull in. She then proceeds to strip his corpse of all his trick arrows.

With that taken care of, Bolin runs over to the well, sitting on it, drowning the weasel still attached to his backside. Taking it as an offering, the water wyrd pulls both the weasel and the dwarf into the well. Brecaryn, Theodore Dobbins, and Alana try several times to pull him out, but even with their combined strength, they do not match the strength of the watery snake. Brecaryn finally gets the inspiration to throw another sapphire offering into the well. The serpentine water spirit immediately rises out of the well again, releasing Bolin. Again, the serpent sways in front of Brecaryn as if awaiting instructions. Brecaryn ignores it.

Snow looks down the corridor from which the monk elephant had first emerged. The weird fungus-y construct that was with the elephant last time is there, as well as another large hammer-tailed lizard. Behind them are another kobold shaman and a large, heavily armored kobold. To the back of the room sits a throne. The large kobold must be their king. Bypassing the construct, Snow touches the ankylosaur, telling it she has no wish to fight him, before continuing on to the kobold king. She engages with him for a few blows and then retreats to update the group.

The kobold king drinks a potion, almost completely healing himself, while the ankylosaur guards the doorway and the shaman and construct attack Snow. Snow takes a few swings at the shaman, managing to miss him twice, before heading to the king. Having better luck with this opponent, she kills the kobold king. By this time, Josy and Flerm have joined her. Flerm decapitates the shaman.

The noise from the battle has alerted more kobolds to their presence. Several kobolds come up behind the party from the east. Theodore Dobbins summons a swarm of giant wasps to harry the attackers. The wasps do more than just slow the kobolds down. The venom from their stingers kills every one of them.

From behind the throne, a secret door opens. A human woman emerges, a thoul behind her holding a knife to her throat.

Thoul: I get out. She lives.

Snow, banking on her speed to get her there before the thoul can react, springs forward. Unfortunately, the thoul is faster than she expected. He carries out his threat, slitting the woman's throat. Snow grabs the woman and carries her back to Josy. The halfling cleric is able to save the woman's life. With icy command, Snow instructs Flerm to kill the thoul, which he does easily.

Hammer Tail: (to Snow) We were honor bound to fight, but he is dead. We will not fight if you will not.

Snow agrees. The ankylosaur moves towards the construct, gently nudging it from behind. The construct, grinning, moves forward a few paces with each nudge until they are out of sight.

The woman, recovering from her ordeal, tells them that she was part of a merchant caravan traveling from Rowan Dee to Armynth. They were attacked by kobolds and brought here. She presumes her companions have all been killed by now and has no idea why they were kept prisoner. Knowing they cannot bring her with them as the dangers will grow the further into the Underdark they travel, the Crew gives her an invisibility potion, a dagger, and a map showing her the way out. Escorting her to the narrow, winding corridor from whence they entered, the Crew wishes her good luck and sends her off.

Another "Very Powerful Enemy"? Get in Line.

Clearing out the rest of the remaining kobolds in the cavern, they find a room with a large, iron statue of a bull-man holding a large key positioned near the door and a picture of a lock painted on the floor near the back wall. Bolin touches the statue. It comes to life and punches the dwarf in the nose, knocking him into a wall. Brecaryn hastily steps back, hoping to avoid getting attacked, too.

The statue turns towards her, takes one step forward, and freezes. Brecaryn uses the opportunity to move herself off to the farthest corner of the room. Flerm gets the statue onto the spot where the lock is painted on the floor by repeatedly touching the statue to awaken it and teleporting himself to the back of the room, causing the statue to move towards him. With each touch, the statue moves forward an additional step. Bolin's touch caused it to take one step, Flerm's first touch caused it to take two more, and with his second touch it took three. Thanks to Flerm's timing, the statue's final step lands it on the painted lock.

Once the statue is situated on the lock, the ceiling opens up, dropping a slew of coins, potions, scrolls, and wands plus a rope ladder. Bolin starts filling his bags with coins while the rest of the party look up at the opening and discuss whether or not they should follow the ladder.

Bolin: I don't feel like climbing so high with such a heavy load.

Flerm: Then stop taking so many coins!

Bolin: Shush shush. *waves hand at Flerm*

Exasperated, Flerm quickly ascends the rope, using his magic sword to teleport up in stages instead of actually climbing. Reaching the top some 200 feet later, Flerm finds himself in a chasm. It seems very familiar. He quickly explores the surrounding area and realizes he is in Erintrah's abandoned lair. As he's doing this, Josy, Brecaryn, and Theodore Dobbins go through the dropped magick items and split them as appropriate.

By the time Flerm returns, he discovers that Alana, tired of waiting, has followed the corridor west, past the entrance. There, she's stopped by the sight of rust monsters and carrion crawlers working on something unrecognizable on the floor. Before she can react, an ogre appears in the doorway across from her.

Ogre:What did you do? (walking into the room, waving his club at the scavengers) Scat! Scat! I'm gonna get in so much trouble for this. I'm not takin' the fall!

The response he receives is a fireball from Brecaryn that kills him, a rust monster, and a carrion crawler. The armored members of the party turn to look at one another, each jostling for a position at the back of the line, hoping the remaining rust monster will not smell the metal on them first.

Josy drops her mace in the corridor and accompanies Snow into the room, brandishing her wooden boomerang. Snow whips her cloak off and snaps it into a spear-like weapon. Together, they kill the last rust monster. With the safety of their armor ensured, Bolin tackles the carrion crawler, holding it down for Flerm to kill.

Just then, they hear voices coming down the hall.

Voice #1: Ha ha! Verily, my friend!

Voice #2: Wa--ait...I smell something up ahead. Yes. I've smelled it before. Come, come.

A frost giant and a vampire walk into the room. Oddly, the two greet the Crew very cheerfully before moving on. Shrugging, the party continues west.

As they are walking, they hear a clinking sound up ahead. Passing a hallway to the south, they come to a door. Bolin, using a falsetto, calls through the door in kobold, hobgoblin, and Under Common until he gets a response.

A human wizard testily opens the door.

Wizard: Who are you? I was told I wouldn't be disturbed.

Bolin: I'm the new landlord. I'm here to collect the rent.

Wizard: I'm all paid up. Go away!

And with that, he slams the door. Unsure what to do but certain a wizard "renting space" under a kobold lair can't be a good thing, Snow opens the door.

Wizard: This is intolerable!

Pulling something out of a pouch, he throws it down on the floor. A blue hydra appears.

Wizard: One? Really?

Bolin: Look, sir, we're only here to collect the rent. As you can see, my very able servant is capable of beating you up.

So saying, the dwarf runs away, leaving Flerm, Josy, and Snow staring at a cryo-hydra and an irate wizard. The hydra hits them with a stream of cold.

Snow goes after the wizard, bashing into a workbench instead. Alana, Theodore Dobbins, and Brecaryn pick off several of the hydra's heads with a combination of acid arrows and fire.

Wizard: This is ridiculous.

Pulling another item from his pouch, he throws it on the ground and three shambling mounds appear.

Wizard: That's better. *smirk* You've made a very powerful enemy today...Snow...Josy...Flerm.

With a blink, the wizard is gone. By the time they take care of the cryo-hydra and the shambling mounds, the laboratory is a mess. Brecaryn is able to look through what's left and piece together that the wizard was attempting to interbreed rust monsters with bulettes. Upon hearing this, all of the fighters in the party are horrified. They make sure to destroy every bit of equipment and research in the hopes that losing his notes will at least set the wizard back.

Backtracking to the southern corridor they had bypassed earlier, they discover it leads to a kobold store room.

Flerm: Ok, guys. I'm going to take us into the Underdark. (walks to back wall) Lolth.

A secret door opens. Flerm steps in and the rest follow. He leads them through a narrow, winding tunnel. Flerm signals them to stop as he listens. Someone is coming towards them. They get ready to defend themselves when they see...

Captain Dokari: Good timing.

The two groups update each other on what has happened so far. Flerm and Alana leave with Havoc Company for the Drow city of T'lindhet. Lieralyn and Malouf rejoin the Motley Crew so that they can track down the oversized mind flayer. Adarra gives each member of the Crew a kiss and instructions to stay "not dead" before skipping off with Qikko and Havoc Company.

Back to the bulletpoints

Thanks for doing this to my character. If you say I cannot play because I can't stay until 1am just leave my character out of the game. You don't have to abuse him.

Scott, sorry you didn't like what happened with Thydor. He will be fine. This is just a way to keep him in the story while moving the plot forward so that when we're ready to play in larger groups again your character doesn't just mysteriously reappear. Not meant as any offense.