.jpg){kind=small}
Bastard Son of the great-grandchild of the sister's gibbon's friend of the nephew of the Campaign that Would Not Die, now in 3.75e
Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster
Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster
|
|
Bastard Son of the great-grandchild of the sister's gibbon's friend of the nephew of the Campaign that Would Not Die, now in 3.75e Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster |
 |
4. On the far side was another cavern, lit by a fire-pit and a selection of lanterns and dribbly candles spread around. A bench, strewn with alembics, flasks, bowls, mortars and pestles and bubbling, smoking retorts stood against the SW wall. A small bedroll lay in the NW corner, and a black slab of stone, looking like some kind of shrine or altar, occupied a niche to the NE; a chest of some kind was partially visible behind it. A large telescope stood on a tripod to the SE, and a stuffed alligator hung over the workbench. No-one was visible in the room. A flight of steps leading down were visible in the W wall.
Ruby told Meepo to stay back in the previous cave and care for the children, while they moved in, Calvis being gently urged forward to go first. Rolling his eyes, he started exploring the workbench, discovering two more spyglasses, one normal-sized and the other about half sized. Borax walked across towards the exit, and just had time to catch a glimpse of a flash of movement as a spell was cast - and everything went black.
Darkness again!
Ruby jammed the monocle into her eyesocket, and was rewarded with soft auras of magic giving a rough location of the chest, the altar, Calvis and Borax, and the workbench. Borax, relying on his memory of the layout, stepped cautiously across to the wall E of the bedroll and put his back to it, igniting the Hammer of Vengeance as he did so. It showed his immediate vicinity, but no further. As he did so, he heard the same voice begin another spell. Again trusting to his memory of where the stairs were, he set off at a jog towards them and the voice. Ruby cautiously stepped into the dark, heading for the same sound, followed by Calvis and Meepo, the former casting his usual Bless as he went. Neithar, discovering for himself that Meepo was actually a very failed animal keeper, had replaced him in charge of the now wailing children and sent him forward, playing them a jaunty nursery rhyme and calming them down.
 |
5. The light of the hammer was just enough to show Borax the steps and prevent him coming a pearler, and he erupted from the demisphere of Darkness to see the same ratty sorceress standing unarmed amidst half-a-dozen rat warriors, frantically trying to get to the end of her Web spell. A cage similar to the one in the guard-room contained another ratty berserker. Carrying on his trajectory, he jogged over and got right up in her face, bristling with wrath. Her desperately held concentration burst like a soap bubble and the spell fizzled. Borax struck with the Hammer and sent her staggering. He stepped between her and one of the warriors, flanking himself but giving him multiple targets to choose from should he have the chance to Cleave.
Behind them, out at the far side of the Darkness, Neithar correctly deduced that combat had started, and began his battle-song, boosting their muscles and reactions.
Dwaliden the Sorceress jabbed at Borax with her right hand, which he couldn't help noticing was trailing an unhealthy green glow, but he batted her arm away with the Hammer amid the crack of a broken minor bone; she shrieked in fury as Ruby emerged from the Darkness and stepped in to flank the rat attacking Borax from behind, killing it easily.
 |
Across the far side, one rat was lurking next to the cage, trying to release the now screaming and frothing Foamer. At that point, Meepo and Calvis made it to the fight. Meepo picked a random rat warrior and hit her with a Magic Missile cluster, while Calvis threw his new Hold Person spell at Dwaliden, who froze in place in front of the delighted Borax, who promptly caved her furry head in. Unfortunately, his cleave missed its target. Ruby moved through to the rat trying to open the cage, placing herself against the bars to hold it shut as the rat scrabbled the bolt open; this inattention to the fight proved fatal as Ruby splattered her across the bars before knocking the bolt back, further infuriating the Foamer inside. It thrashed and hacked at the latch with a greataxe, while its tail lifted rather disquietingly over its' head, clutching a dagger.
Meepo used his Daze [the spell of "I came into this room for something and now I can't remember what, so familiar to us all!] to briefly bewilder the rat now fighting Calvis, and enboldened by its inactivity stepped around it to flank it. Calvis failed to take advantage of this, his rapier darting ineffectually; Borax was also having trouble on the other side. Sliding Stormspike through the bars, Ruby jabbed the Foamer inside, winding its fury even higher as it couldn't respond; a greatxae won't fit through narrow gaps. It battered at the latch instead.
Calvis and Meepo continued to fence with their opponent; the little kobold simply wasn't a melee fighter, even the shortspear being too heavy for him to use effectively. Borax, on the other hand, had downed his foe and moved to support Ruby, distracting their foe enough that she could kill it as well. He then went across to where Meepo and Calvis were struggling to lay a blade on their opponent and wounded it. At this, one of the last two left broke and ran off down the SE passage, which they knew joined on to the steps Borax had looked at and thence to the exit.
With a crash, the Foamer smashed through the gate and shoved Ruby backwards, following up and unleashing a terrible strike with its' axe [a Critical!]. The dreadful wound staggered Ruby, splashing her blood across the cave floor. Recovering, she struck back, noticing an odd look in its' eyes as the blow went home. Calvis finally got a strike in and killed the rat he and Meepo had been fighting. Freed from that fight, Borax whirled, stepped closer and returned the favour [also a Critical] and killed the berserk Foamer. As it died, Ruby realized that her strike had killed it, but it had been to crazed to notice...
As they started checking their foes were all dead, the Darkness expired and Neithar emerged, leading the now calmed children into the workshop.
4. Lootable items were gathered from the sorceress and her warriors, and from her workshop, after which they retreated to the workroom and barricaded its two exits. The altar worried them - as it should, black blodstained and with a candle-topped skull on top - so Ruby and Borax lugged it through the guardroom and wedged it in the stairs leading from 1 to 5. The chest behind contained a fair number of potions, evidently one of Dwaliden's talents.
The six children opened up a bit, soothed by Neithar's gentle touch and Borax' rough but kindly protectiveness. The human pair, it turned out, were Dragahisa's children abducted from Sterling; his five-year-old son Thusler and three-year-old daughter Kwin. Ruby and Borax glanced at each other over the childrens' heads; they'd found no trace of their father - unless his bones were among the ones at the bottom of the hydra's pool, or rotting in the Curst forest among the black squirrels. The dwarvish pair, Belkran and Dolsun, had been the children of a travelling smith, killed when his cart was raided by the slitheren. Da'raev and Zaknadol, the scorpion elf children, were too young to understand much, but Neithar believed they had, like him, been escapees from the Empire and captured when either the rats or the elves wiped their adults out.
Someone in Sterling would surely take in Thusler and Kwin if they had no kin, and Borax had noted some dwarves living there, again the children would probably be welcome given the rarity of dwarf births. The two dark elves, however, might be a problem... for another day.
During the night, three small snakes wriggled up the steps into the west cavern. Borax waved his torch at them, and they fled; normal animals then, probably after normal-sized rats.
 |
8. The next day, rested and healed by Calvis' restored magic, they set out to explore the unmapped portions of the caves. Heading down the N passage, they were forced into single file by the narrow walls, climbing steps up to a raised area that curved around. At the midpoint, a loud twanging noise announced the triggering of a trap! Ruby, in the lead, was hit by several hurtling darts. Pulling them out, she discovered the points were discoloured - poisoned - but she felt no effects; maybe it didn't work on Hobgoblins. Borax had been completely shielded from them by Ruby's larger bulk, and he helped her gather the eight that had missed and were still poisoned.
9. At the end of the passage, they peered cautiously out into a large cave. It was largely empty, but dominated by four uncaged Foamers, sitting or loafing against the walls, huge axes close to hand. Directly opposite the entrance were several large sacks, clearly filled with coin. These looked naggingly familiar; after a moment, they remembered identical-looking sacks in the crypt under the Valley of Eagles. Brasshelm's words came back to them; I wonder where they were shipping it out to.
With enormous care, they backed out of the passage and returned to the room they'd fought Dwaliden in. A tactical discussion followed, with various means of fighting four free Foamers discussed. Ruby still winced at the memory of the terrible wound she'd sustained from just one strike of one of those massive weapons, and opined that they'd never take them in an open fight. A bottleneck plan seemed the best ploy.
 |
The idea of sneaking in and stealing their axes came up, and Ruby and Borax discussed which of them should go, shielded by Meepo's Invisibility and granted speed by Expeditious Retreat. This, however, did not allow for any noise they might make with their armour and weapons. Calvis stood looking at them for a long moment, then raised his eyes heavenward. "Oh, Lady, look after your fool of a Coin," he prayed briefly. "I'm the obvious choice," he said reluctantly. I can be quiet, and I can definitely run."
Ruby lent him the Bag of Holding, and he set off, cloaked in magic and stealthy in his soft boots. One of the potions from Dwaliden's workroom had been of Sneaking, an ancient mixture now no longer found [ie an OP 3.0 potion included by accident!], and so he ghosted down the corridor like a whisper of deceit. Reaching the cave, he cautiously approached the least-alert looking monster ratman, and deftly lifted its axe and slid it into the Bag. As he reached the next, the first made a puzzled noise and started looking around, clearly wondering where its axe had gone. Speeding up, Calvis gathered the rest and slipped back out of the cave as the first Foamer started yelling at its immediate neighbor and the other two watched with interest. As he turned the corner, a fist-fight had broken out, the first Foamer so enraged with the 'thief' that he was unable to notice that his target also was suddenly unarmed.
 |
Scattering caltrops behind him, Calvis retreated, allowing Neithar - also empowered by Expeditious Retreat - to take his place, and play a taunting, insolent little melody at the monsters. The unoccupied two instantly charged after him as he appeared to simply vanish, so great was his speed, leaving the punch-up continuing behind them. Bolting into the guard room, he stepped into place in the planned formation and swung his lyre forward, ready to sing. Calvis brought up the Blessing of Lynien.
5. As the first Foamer came into view, still wincing from having trodden on the caltrops, Borax lifted his wand and dropped an Entangle onto the midpoint of the passage. Tendrils of moss and vastly engorged fungal mycelia erupted from the walls and floor of the cave, engulfing the two Foamers. The first one managed to evade the worst of it and keep moving, but - unseen around the corner - the second was ensnared and halted. Gleefully, Meepo smacked it with a Melf's Acid Arrow to open the proceedings. Borax shot a crossbow bolt at it before switching back to the Hammer and Ruby hurled two of the trap's darts at it. From the wince on its' face as they struck home, the poison had done something, but rather disappointingly it wasn't instant death.
Unbeknownst to the party, the original two Foamers continued their grudge match, pounding each other with their fists, the second one still (trying and failing) to convince his associate that there was something more important for them to be doing.
Encouraged by his success with Melf's, Meepo turned to a new spell he'd been hoping to try; Scorching Ray. The beam of magical heat burned across the battle - and smacked into the cave wall, cracking free chips and flakes of stone. Great spell, but his accuracy needed work... Calvis had equal success trying to Hold Person on the Foamer, which shrugged the spell off without even noticing. The second Foamer was now visible to those on the right of the formation, so Borax hurled a couple of the darts at him, producing roughly similar results. Ruby braced herself ready as the front one managed to tear through the tendrils, and struck it two massive blows. The damage looked surely fatal, but the snarling, frothing rat-thing hefted its axe ready to attack. Calvis chose this moment to successfully Hold it, and Borax killed it before calmly reloading his crossbow.
Ruby, still ready to strike when the second one emerged, rolled her eyes as it got stuck again and didn't make it. Meepo, despite a sitting-duck entangled target, managed to miss again with Scorching Ray, while Calvis put a Protection from Evil on Borax, who buried a crossbow bolt in the Foamer and picked up the Hammer once more. It remained stuck, so Ruby switched to her bow; her luck was no better than Meepo's and she missed the target.
Back in the treasure cave, the first-robbed Foamer had battered his more sensible comrade into unconsciousness and belatedly realized he could hear a fight going on back towards the guard-room. He hurried down the passage, only to run straight into the Entangle and get stuck.
Finally, Meepo got to grips with his new spell and smacked their foe with Scorching Ray, before dancing in a little ecstatic circle squeaking "Yes! Yes!" Behind him, Calvis loosed a [Critical] crossbow bolt [which would have killed it without the Rage]. Borax leaned in and taunted it nastily before settling the matter with his own crossbow. Neithar threw his abuse at the last Foamer as it struggled around the corner, but it was so infuriated it didn't even hear him; it got stuck again.
Everyone paused, waiting for it to come properly into view, after which Borax hit it with two more darts and Ruby shot it with her bow. Meepo had quietly planned to keep his last 2nd level slot for Invisibility in case it all went claws-up and he had to run away, but drunk with power he threw another Scorcher. Back to form; it missed. Calvis kept cranking out bolts, while Borax and Ruby prepared themselves for when the Foamer did arrive. By the time it did, it was so bloodied that Borax was able to take it down with one blow.
 |
Session Date: 29th June 2026 |
 |