February 7, 2015

Out with the Old, In with the Sir New

Having slipped past Mad King Snurre, the Motley Crew finds itself on the outskirts of a strange and ominous city, presumably populated by Mind Flayers. Although the party is running out of spell mana, resources, and illusionists, they have no choice but to press on. Unfortunately, they've been forced to take a detour and have lost the trail of the specific Mind Flayers that they were tracking. Going building-by-building through the Mind Flayer city is unthinkable, so it's decided that Malouf will leave the party and stealthily search his way around until he picks up the trail. In the meantime, the rest of the group intend to lay low. Malouf may be gone for sometime.

Things stay quiet for a while. Suddenly, the party is attacked by a group of trolls. Almost immediately after the fight begins, a flaming sword appears and slices the trolls down.

Voice: Oh, hey guys!

It's everybody's favorite bard, Klute, accompanied by a noble but inexperienced looking knight in armor.

Klute: Yeah, I heard some stuff was going down in the Underdark, and I figured it would make for a good new epic, so I came down to check it out. But then I kind of got a little lost, and I'm running low on mana. Then I overheard some Drow talking about a nearby fountain that is supposed to be able to restore all your mana, and I'm on my way there now. Only problem is that I hear it's guarded by some weird albino alligators.

Knowing that Josy and Brecaryn could use some mana restoration as well, the group decides to leave a Magic Mouth message for Malouf and accompany Klute to the fountain. Klute introduces his companion as Sir Gyles.

Klute: *shrugs and grins* I dunno. He said he wanted to tag along.

Soon after they start out, Klute notices a side passage with some markings, pauses for a minute, and turns to the group.

Klute: Hey, do you guys want to make a quick pit stop at a magick shoppe?

After the group (minus Snow) responds in unison with "Do we?!", he leads them down the trail to a cavern. Inside is the same old woman they encountered in Betaya the last time they shopped for illegal magick items. After much lengthy negotiations (involving Lieralyn discovering she'd been carrying a large sack of gems that she never bothered to look at), the shopping is completed.

Drow Down

Moving on from the shop, they come across a male Drow defending himself from rust monsters and carrion crawlers. The Crew rush in to help, killing off the creatures.

Bolin: Sir Gyles, beware, for these are the most feared creatures in all the dwarven realm. (whispers) Rust monsters.

Unfortunately, the Drow's wounds are too great for Josy to heal. Before he dies, he takes the ring off his finger and hands it to Snow.

Drow: She tricked me. Took my bride-to-be. Attacked my caravan. Take my ancestral sword. Kill the queen mother.

A search of the wagon only reveals a dead female Drow and no clue who the "queen mother" may be. Brecaryn determines that the female Drow was killed by some kind of magickal attack. The group buries both bodies before moving on. Coming to a fork, Klute randomly chooses the east corridor. In front of a doorway, they see bones littering the ground. Could it be the alligators? Sir Gyles senses something evil ahead.

Bolin, donning a cloak that enhances his stealth and drinking an invisibility potion, investigates the cavern ahead. Inside, he sees three beholders with their tentacles attached to a dead purple dragon. Filled with terror, Bolin returns to the group.

Bolin: Yeah...No alligators that way. We don't want to go in there. *walks briskly away*

That's Right. Killer Frogs.

Following Bolin and peppering him with questions about what he saw, the Crew retraces its steps to the fork and heads west. The path steadily descends, the air becoming more humid. Snow, leading the group, passes a pit full of water. An albino alligator pops up out of the water and attempts to cast a spell on Snow. Lieralyn dashes forward and decapitates the alligator with a single swing.

Just then, large, green creatures drop down from the ceiling. These merrow resemble tattooed ogres with webbed claws. More albino alligators appear from two pools of water near them, conjuring tentacle monsters to attack the group. Brecaryn retaliates by conjuring killer frogs. The alligators counter with hail and ice. A frog gnaws off an alligator's leg.

One of the merrow jumps into the water behind the alligator. Its tattoos expel black smoke that take the form of a large demon. Snow launches herself into a flying kick towards the merrow. Miscalculating her trajectory, she misses her opponent and falls into the water, knocking herself out.

Shooting exploding arrows in the direction of the merrow, Bolin manages to break the merrow's concentration, causing the smoke demon to dissipate. Lieralyn splits the merrow neatly in half as it tries to escape.

Pulling out his flaming sword, Klute attacks an albino alligator. As his sword makes contact with the magickal barrier the alligator erects, a burst of ice shoots forth, the pain causing Klute to drop his sword. It grabs Klute and pulls him into the water. Luckily, a bolt of lightning flies down from the ceiling, electrifying the water, killing the reptile. Klute pops up, gasping for air, but happy for his Druidic skills.

Nightshade flutters down a side corridor. He's able to warn Brecaryn of the presence of three huge alligators plus a giant skeleton before she loses contact with him. Following the owl, the Crew sees Nightshade has been trapped within the ribcage of the skeleton. Klute transforms himself into a bird and flutters in after Nightshade while the rest of the group attack the alligators and skeleton.

Bolin hacks away at the skeleton's leg. Klute transforms again, this time into a bear, bursting out of the skeleton's chest and finishing it off. Nightshade flutters furiously back to the safety of Brecaryn's cloak.

Lieralyn accidentally smashes her sword into herself and falls, gravely injured. Luckily, there is still one killer frog alive, so the group survives and eventually manages to kill the rest of the alligators.

As it's dying, the last alligator speaks.

Albino alligator: Fools. We have lived here unchanged since you were scurrying little mice.

Snow: Looks like maybe you should think about evolving.

Why the Hell Did We Come Here??

On the wall to one side of the cavern there is a large wheel. Turning it causes the water level in one of the pools to recede, revealing a corridor. Following the now-dry corridor, they see a gate holding back the water, filling the room beyond.

The group has another encounter with more albino alligators. This time, they also have to fight owlbears. Brown, stalkless, beholder creatures appear, spitting flaming skulls from their mouths. Brecaryn and Snow recognize them for the illusions they are, but have a hard time convincing everyone else and getting them to attack just the owlbears and alligators.

Once the last alligator runs away, the party begins their usual lengthy arguments regarding the best strategy for getting to the fountain. Lieralyn reports that beyond the gate are several alligators, both large and normal-sized, merrows, and a very large, upright alligator in armor. That is likely the "queen mother" the Drow referred to.

Klute, Brecaryn, and Josy are nearly out of mana. Everyone is the worse for wear after all the skirmishes with the alligators. They pin their hopes on the fountain restoring all of Brecaryn's mana. If it works, she can fend off the alligators and merrow long enough for Josy to restore everyone to full health.

While they go through their inventory to find anything that will help them survive this gauntlet, the alligators summon an air elemental to attack them. Josy banishes it to the Seventh Heaven with a prayer that the silver and gold bears of that plane will forgive them.

Out of time for further discussion, the Motley Crew does what it does best - charges directly into the fray.

With the last of her mana, Brecaryn shoots chain lightning into the water, killing a few merrow. Lieralyn, wearing the Drow's ring, is able to move through the water as if she is on dry land. Carrying Brecaryn, she heads straight for the fountain in the back of the cavern.

Bolin separates himself from the party to follow a narrow passageway the fleeing alligator used earlier. He finds himself having to wrestle two albino alligators in close quarters.

Josy creates a rainbow bridge that allows Klute and Snow to follow Lieralyn and Brecaryn on foot instead of swimming. Sir Gyles hangs back, on alert to provide support to the rest of the party. Pulling seeds from his pouch, Klute throws them on the bridge. Treants sprout out from the seeds and immediately begin attacking the alligator queen.

Dropping Brecaryn off by the fountain, Lieralyn turns her attention to the alligator queen, as well, brandishing the dead Drow's longsword. Sadly, Lieralyn swings a little too enthusiastically and loses her grip, dropping the sword on the ground. The queen uses this opportunity to slam her large hammer into the elf.

Meanwhile, Brecaryn has taken a cautious sip from the fountain, only to have merely a tiny fraction of her mana restored. She blinks in disbelief before jumping into the fountain to guzzle mouthfuls of water. Nothing happens.

Brecaryn: It's not working!

Everyone: WHAT!!!

They'd gambled everything on the fountain restoring Brecaryn's magickal energy. Now what? Lieralyn is knocked unconscious. Snow is brought down. Bolin is fighting for his life against an alligator opponent that keeps blinking out-of-phase after it attacks. Klute pulls out his flaming in sword, his only remaining weapon, even though he will only injure himself attempting to get past the alligators' cold defenses. Josy backs near Klute with her tentacle mace in hand.

Brecaryn suddenly remembers she has one more wafer that allows her to give Vain orders. Swallowing the wafer, she instructs Vain to kill the albino alligators. Vain bows shallowly before leaping towards the alligator queen, smashing right through her. He effortlessly moves on to destroy the remaining alligators. The few party members still on their feet sink down in relief.

Brecaryn: I can't believe that stupid fountain didn't work!

Klute: It's exactly how the Drow described. *fills flask from fountain* Bottoms up!...Yeah, that sucks.

Josy gives it a try with the same results. Never one to be left out, Bolin takes a swig, as well.

Angry, disappointed, hurt, the Crew collects whatever items in the treasure hoard that appeal to them and leaves. They eventually reconnect with Malouf.

Malouf: What happened? I found the mind flayer's trail. But then walls started talking to me! Hey, you guys look terrible! Everything good?

Snow: Not really.

Malouf: Everyone alive?

Snow: Barely.

Malouf: *pats Snow on the back, grinning* Everything good.

Just then, Josy, Brecaryn, Klute and Bolin bend over in pain, clutching their stomachs. The pain passes just as quickly as it began. The magick users look at each other in wonder. All of their magickal energy has been restored. Bolin is still Bolin.

Brecaryn: It's about time.

And with that, Klute says goodbye.

Klute: Yeah, i've got enough material for my poem at this point so i'm going to take off. Hey, would you mind looking after Gyles for me? Thanksbye!

Back to the bulletpoints

involving Lieralyn discovering she'd been carrying a large sack of gems that she never bothered to look at.

Exactly the type of thing I'd do. :)

I notice you guys run into a fair few of those damn Mind Flayers. They're a nightmare.