July 13, 2013

Buck Buck

Thydor returns alone from the kobold cave looking shaken and dehydrated. He hands Flerm a piece of parchment on which he has drawn a map of the cave, but is unable to speak. Josy puts him to bed while Flerm shows the map to their kobold captive-turned-conscript Kelyari.

Kelyari is only able to tell them that the cave is where his king lives and leads to "the masters" (presumably the drow).

At this point, the Motley Crew's advisor Vashti arrives carrying a foul-smelling sack addressed to Malouf. Inside is the head of a frost giant shaman warrior, his teeth carved with runes and sharpened to points. It is a "gift" from Malouf's brother Malain. Malouf is strictly prohibited from keeping it in the house. Or near the house. Or anywhere upwind.

Wishing to wait until Thydor has rested and is able to talk before moving forward with rescuing the merchants, the Crew looks over the list of other issues awaiting their attention. Seeing that orcs have been raiding villages and traveling merchants, they decide to go and parlay with the orcs until they see reason.

In case of another monster attack, Flerm and Snow stay behind overseeing repairs. The rest enter the Mirror of Thought so that Lieralyn can carry them on her horse, She-Tan, to the orc village.

On the outskirts of the village, Lieralyn signals the group to exit the Mirror. They hear tribal drumming and see smoke rising from the village. Malouf investigates and reports seeing approximately fifty orcs dancing orgiastically around a bonfire.

Alana suggests disguising the trees as deer to lure the orcs out (what?!). She is overruled. Instead Brecaryn and Lieralyn ride She-Tan closer to the village, attracting their attention by dropping a fireball in the middle of the dancing orcs.

Unexpectedly, only two orcs on wargs pursue them. The rest of the orcs continue dancing around the bonfire, seemingly oblivious to those injured by Brecaryn's fireball. The orcs and wargs do not stand a chance as Adarra causes spiked vegetation to grow up around them while Alana's snares and arrows bring them down.

Since the orcs will not come to them, the group goes to the orcs. They enter the village warily, but it proves unnecessary as the orcs ignore them and continue to dance. Free to move around the village, they investigate the tents. Pulling back the flap on one of the largest tents, Alana is shocked to find herself face-to-face with a giant chicken. A hush falls over the village as the drumming and dancing abruptly stops.

Malouf: What happened to the music? (sees chicken) That would be a great thing to send to my brother!

The chicken recovers from its surprise first, knocking Alana down, pecking and clawing at her. The orcs resume their dancing, but instead of ignoring the group, they converge on them, weapons swinging.

A larger male orc exits from a tent in the rear, accompanied by two female orcs in cloaks.

Orc Champion: There'll be no more of that.

The orc priestesses begin chanting. Josy starts counter-chanting. The ground around the bonfire opens up as zombie orcs climb their way out of the ground. Josy conjures a wall of blades right above them, turning any orcs in the area, both alive and undead, to mincemeat. Score: Josy - 10; orc priestess - 0.

Adarra: Close your eyes...um...soon!

A few seconds later flashes of light explode in the air, blinding several more orcs.

Alana and the giant chicken continue their grudge match. Furious at being stepped on, Alana shoves the chicken off, ripping a claw off in the process, brandishing it like a dagger.

The chicken pushes past Alana to get into the open and starts dancing. Thrain, Adarra, and Lieralyn are enthralled by its majestic flapping and begin dancing, too.

Malouf grapples with the giant poultry, trying to push it into the barrier of blades.

Malouf: Back, foul fowl!

Pulling out his soul-sucking axe, Malouf buries the blade in the creature's heart. It falls to the ground. The remaining zombies also drop, a misty, chicken-y essence floating out of their bodies.

Malouf: I am now your god! Tell them to worship me!

Without waiting for a response to his ludicrous request, Malouf proceeds to tie the chicken carcass up to send to Malain.

The remaining orcs drop to their knees, cowering in fear. Approaching the large orc leader, Brecaryn tells him that their lives now belong to the Motley Crew. She commands him to travel to Gelfini in a fortnight to discuss their fate.

Before they leave the village, they search the remaining tents. Inside the tent where Alana found the chicken god Xiaxitox is a large chicken egg. Malouf takes it for Snow to evaluate. Another tent houses warg pups. Unable to resist their warg-y cuteness, Adarra and Alana each take one.

How to Make Polite Conversation

Riding out of the orc village back towards Gelfini, Lieralyn (the Mirror of Thought secured behind her and holding the rest of the party) is hailed by a wild looking man covered in leaves, sporting wooden armor.

Wild man: I am Oakfriend, priest of Uller. You have done a great thing for the land.

Lieralyn: Yeah, sure. We kill things all the time.

Oakfriend: (looking surprised and unsure) You clearly do not wish to speak. So I will leave you now.

Lieralyn: (shrugs)

Lieralyn continues on to Gelfini giving the stranger no more thought than a sliver of pity at his poor fashion sense.

A Short Stop in Gelfini Before Heading Back Out Again

Back in town, Alana shoves the warg pup at Flerm immediately upon spotting him.

Alana: This is an evil creature, so I thought you'd like to have it in your quest to become good. (nods excitedly)

Vashti, their advisor, is less than enthusiastic when he hears that the Crew have recruited yet more monsters instead of ridding the land of them, but he refrains from objecting outright.

The next morning, Thydor is able to give more details of his attempt to rescue the merchants.

Thydor: I'm sorry I failed. When I got to the cave, it wasn't entirely empty, and I couldn't risk trying to free the prisoners. There is something in those caves. (pales as he chokes out his words) Whatever's there...it's...it's terrible.

Deciding that rescuing the merchants might prove particularly difficult, Snow and Flerm join the team for this mission. Flerm tasks Thrain with staying behind and keeping an eye on Kelyari. Adarra remains to train (play with) the wargs.

On the way to the kobold cave, they once again pass near the orc village. Hearing sounds of battle, they move closer to investigate.

Oakfriend is attacking the orcs and screaming "Where is it?". The group manages to calm him down long enough to explain that they have the demon chicken egg in their safekeeping. According to Oakfriend, the chicken god will hatch from the egg unless they destroy it in an "angelic furnace".

Seeing as they have no idea where to get access to such a thing and the clock is ticking on saving those merchants, Snow tells Oakfriend to try locating an angelic furnace and get back to them.

Girl, You Said He Was a Man, But He Was an Monkephant

Once at the kobold cave, the Crew kills the guards and sneaks through the tunnels to find the merchants. Thanks to Thydor's map, they are able to avoid any traps. At one point, Snow senses the presence of some unknown horror dwelling in the corridor to her left. She signals to the group to refrain from even looking in that direction, thus saving them from sharing Thydor's horrific experience.

They kill two more guards before locating the prisoners, four in all. Signalling for quiet, the Crew blindfolds the merchants before Brecaryn shunts them into the Mirror with her. Just as they near the entrance to the cave and make good their escape, they hear a bloodcurdling scream from behind. Whatever Snow warned them not to look at is now after them.

Abandoning stealth for speed, they charge through the cave opening. Snow yanks on one of the candlestick levers on the wall near the entrance causing a door to slam shut on the thing chasing them.

However, their escape is halted a few steps later by a welcoming party consisting of a shaman, an elephant man, and an enormous hammer-tailed lizard. The elephant man engages Snow immediately, using a fighting style similar to her own. The armored lizard charges forward, bowling over Josy and Flerm.

Lieralyn braces herself and puts her arms up, stopping the creature cold as it slams into her. Alana blinds the creature in its unarmored eyes, making it easy work for Lieralyn and Flerm to finish it off.

Meanwhile, Snow's battle with the elephant monk is a moving blur. Sensing her opponent beginning to weaken, she knocks him down with a resounding blow. Hopping back up to his feet, he bows to Snow, acknowledging her greater skill, before flipping into the air and flying off.

Malouf slashes at the shaman. Instead of encountering magickal defenses, the shaman's body melts to the ground, spraying goo all over Malouf. It's a poison trap! Malouf manages to get the goo off before the toxin can harm him, but it leaves his skin tinged blue. Brecaryn takes a sample from the shaman construct and determines it's of fungal origin. Flerm looks over her shoulder and helpfully adds that it's not of the edible variety.

Without further encounters, the Crew makes it safely back to Gelfini with the merchants. Letting them out one-by-one, the group interviews each one alone before sending them off to recover from their ordeal.

When the Wolfbane Blooms

Balfool, Neese, and Drembla are business partners. On their return trip from Rowan Dee, they spotted Zargyble at a bar. Recognizing him as a criminal with a bounty on his head, the three drugged him, intending to bring him back to Armynth for justice. They claim that in an attempt to escape, Zargyble conjured a demon that killed a couple of their guards, tearing them to shreds.

Zargyble denies any wrong-doing. His "crime" in Armynth is one of practicing magick. He was on his way to Chumera in the hopes of seeking amnesty when the merchants caught him. As for the night the guards were murdered, he admits to trying to escape but denies having anything to do with demons or the guards' deaths.

After the interviews, the group discusses what they've heard. Flerm's intelligent sword Keagon tells him it has a bad feeling about Drembla. They decide to keep the merchants in Gelfini until they can discover what Drembla is hiding. As for Zargyble, if he is indeed innocent of murder and guilty of nothing more than using magick, he would be granted the amnesty he sought.

Malouf and Flerm join the merchants for drinks in order to glean some information (and to drink). Malouf wins them over immediately with his charm.

Malouf: (to Drembla) Your two friends seem to be very successful. (holding his arms out in reference to their girth) What about you? You're a rail!

Drembla: *snarls* I do good in my job! (looks out window) Will we be let go soon?

It's explained to the merchants that for their own safety, they will have to stay inside the town of Gelfini until Armynth sends someone to escort them home. The merchants protest this, especially Drembla, but Flerm and Malouf are unmoved.

Malouf distracts them with the offer of more food and drink (Drembla is especially keen to get more meat) and the remainder of the evening passes uneventfully.

The next morning, Malouf, Snow, Brecaryn, and Josy visit the merchants. Managing to convince Neese to accept healing from Josy, they use this to disguise the lie detection spell Josy casts on Drembla. When questioned again about the guards who were murdered, it's clear to Josy that Drembla is lying.

Privately, the Crew hypothesizes that Drembla may be a werewolf. Having encountered werewolves before, they note behavior exhibited by Drembla coincides with someone afflicted with lycanthropy. The full moon will be rising that night, so in preparation, Lieralyn coats her sword in silver while Alana checks her silver-tipped arrows. Flerm tells Keagon they will be slaying a werewolf. Keagon exhibits exceptional glee at the prospect, vowing not to kill anything else until the werewolf is dead.

Knowing Balfool and Neese would not believe their partner was a werewolf unless they saw it for themselves, the Crew invites all three to a late dinner, ensuring they will be present during Drembla's transformation.

At dinner, Drembla is visibly agitated, angry that the Crew will not let him leave.

Drembla: (angrily approaching Snow) I'm telling you, you need to let me go.

Snow: (quietly) Are you threatening us?

Drembla: I'm telling you facts.

Snow: (raising an eyebrow) Are you afraid of what you will become?

Drembla: (stills as realization dawns on his face) You're playing dangerous game.

Snow: (shrugs)

Drembla: *snarls* You've made your choice.

Neese and Balfool are confused by this exchange. They try to smooth things over, not understanding the reason for the tension. But their expressions quickly change to one of horror as Drembla begins to transform. The group moves in to attack, making sure to keep Balfool and Neese behind them.

Keagon: Yeah! Slice him up!

After suffering several blows from silver-tipped weapons, Drembla leaps towards Balfool, trying to get in an easy kill. Taking his attention off his attackers proves to be a fatal mistake as Flerm, Snow, Malouf, and Lieralyn take advantage of his distraction. In death, Drembla transforms back into a human.

Neese and Balfool are understandably shaken. They see now that Drembla was responsible for murdering their guards. They thank the Crew, realizing if they had left with Drembla as he had wanted, they likely would have been killed. The next morning, the Crew sends them off to Armynth, allowing Zargyble to stay in Gelfini under their protection.

Back to the bulletpoints