The Oozing Temple
Dramatis Personae:
Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress
Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard
Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian
Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto
Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee
Stool, the Myconid Child
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife
Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth who thinks he's an elven prince under a polymorph curse
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian
Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Rogue Twins
Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout
Jimjar, the Deep Gnome
Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube
Comrades we have lost:
Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent
Buppido, the Derro- left with duergar merchants
Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape
Friendly fire overall: 4
Party members killed: 2
Overall party members lost: 3
NOTE: Things are mostly from Hera's point of view, switching to Lythana's point of view later, anything in italics is from a third party, since they can't be everywhere at once.
***** Mirtul 13, 1489 DR
We decided to leave Stool, Zenit, Derendil, Shuushar, and Phil in the mushroom grove while the rest of us went after the twins. After about two hours of tracking the little brats we began to feel a rumbling, like the beginnings of an earthquake, and small rocks began trickling down the cavern walls. As the rumble quickened, we began running, in hopes of avoiding being trapped in a collapsed tunnel; it was unavoidable though, and the damned tunnel collapsed. As we picked ourselves out of the rubble, we heard someone calling for help- Orvald and Luna went to investigate, and found a svirfneblin buried in the rubble.
After freeing him, we learned his name was Fidget Stonegear, and he was some crazy inventor who had been separated from the caravan he was traveling with when the tunnel collapsed. We allowed him to join us since the Underdark is much safer in numbers. A little while later Orvald began hearing a voice in his head, that he was calling Glabbagool. The deranged little mouse decided to follow the direction the voice in his head was coming from- though it shouldn't work that way. Further down the tunnel, some gray goop started dripping onto Orvald- it was a gray ooze, which we took out quickly. Another ooze was stupid enough to attack Pwent, and that one went down even faster- that dwarf is frightening.
We entered a tunnel that was completely smooth, as if it had been made, and was much clearer than it should have been. Right around the corner there was a skeleton that at first glance appeared to be suspended in the middle of the tunnel. It was actually encased in a gelatinous cube, which we learned was Glabbagool- the voice in Orvald's head. He didn't try to attack us, but instead wanted to be our friend; not wanting to anger the ooze we agreed to be his friend. Glabbagool had a beautiful ruby in him that he was using as an "eye" to make us more comfortable talking to him, which he claimed had a friend inside it that needed freeing. He spat the gem out at Orvald, but the mouse couldn't break it, so the ooze then spat out a flaming mace- which worked. Before us was a tiefling, an infernal tiefling, who had been trapped in there for 200 years; who decided to come with us, cause we totally need a fucking Devil Child traveling with us. You can't trust the Infernals with anything, and I definitely didn't want one watching my back.
Orvald invited Glabbagool to come with us, and none of us wanted to argue with the damn ooze or the crazed mouse, so we agreed. As we moved down the tunnel, something hit Orvald and caused him to fall unconscious; it was another fucking ooze. Another one popped up further down the tunnel, Glabbagool called it Bloop, but it wasn't as friendly as him. We filed into a little room to kill the ooze, and during the combat my wand started glowing and did not cease for the next hour; wild magic is funny like that sometimes. After the fight we decided to take a brief rest, and for some reason we decided to trust Glabbagool to keep watch, though the ooze seemed more trustworthy and friendly than the infernal.
While we rested Aura heard water, and Glabbagool told her that was new; the quake must have broken loose an underground river or something. The insane mouse decided to go down the corridor to investigate- of course- while the genasi took a different route, and fell through the floor. The Devil Child attempted to follow her, only to make more of the floor cave in- though he didn't fall in, pity. A black pudding began to envelope Aura, and in her attempts to defend herself, she split the pudding into two puddings, both of which were now attacking her... she fell unconscious quickly. I took care of the pudding that assaulted me quickly enough, while Fidget dropped a bomb on another one. Orvald thought he smelled soup burning, though the burn he smelled was Aura's flesh being sizzled by pudding. The mousefolk was able to free the genasi and revive her just in time.
Luna went up to a pit, and got attacked by another pudding, while Fidget threw a rock at it; the rock partially caved in Luna's skull. We were never able to tell if the svirfneblin killed her, or if the pudding did. Pwent wrenched the wizard's body from the pudding and finished it off, while Orvald took down the largest one. The Infernal was dropped to unconsciousness by the final pudding, but the stupid gnome freed and revived him; pity, it would have been nice to get rid of the devil that quickly. Aura went down another corridor, crumbling it and freeing more black pudding- apparently we needed to avoid the small corridors in this room.
I noticed water seeping out from under Glabbagool, the water we had heard earlier. We asked the cube to stop the water- or at least slow it down, and he attempted to plug the leak with himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pwent go down, the distraction cost me though, another pudding got me and I fell into unconsciousness. The others were able to stabilize Hera and Pwent quickly enough, but couldn't heal them to wake them yet.
With the puddings finally finished off, the party continued their investigation of the temple, and came upon a door. They found two wererats on the other side, who were wearing similar gear to Topsy and Turvy; the twins had left in the night because of the full moon. The twins screeched in surprise, accidentally activating the statues in the room; the statues were gray oozes, and the party made quick work of them. In the room the party found healing potions and were able to revive their unconscious members.
After I was woken up, we decided to swim out of the temple, since we couldn't go back the way we had come. In an attempt to get over one of the pits we had created, Fidget tried to jump- Orvald attempted to catch him, and both idiots fell into the pit... After we got them out of the damn pit, Orvald swam out; Glabbagool moved away from the door the water was seeping into, allowing the water to surge in. We tried to grab hold of things to prevent us from getting swept away, but I lost my grip- as did Fidget and Sarith. The devil caught the svirfneblin, but Sarith and I were swept away, I landed in one of the damn pits that was in the midst of flooding. The water also allowed another damn ooze to emerge, which followed the drow; until Glabbagool blocked it to protect him.
Orvald realized that the others needed help, and attempted to go back for the rest of the party, everyone except him and the twins were having trouble swimming out. Sarith and I were having a horrible time trying to swim out, and the drow suggested we wait until the water got a bit higher, thinking it could help us get up to the dry ledge. By this point everyone else was out or almost out of the water except for us. I asked Glabbagool to help us, and he pulled us through his gelatinous body- which was a very disconcerting sensation- and shot us out toward land. Neither of us made it, and instead got caught up in an undercurrent going the opposite way.
Sarith drowned moments later. I saw a bank in the water, and attempted to swim toward it; instead I got caught in a fucking web. I cut myself free, and was swept further down river- though I swam back toward safety and briefly made some progress- until I got caught in the web again. I used a spell that made daggers whirl around me, cutting me free again; I was swept back down river. As the insidious cold of the river seeped into my marrow, I knew my life was forfeit; yes, I could breathe underwater, but exhaustion prevented me from swimming. I slipped into unconsciousness, and then into death.
The rest of the party found an exit and began heading back to the grove with the rest of the group. They reached them the next morning.
***** Mirtul 14- Lythana
Elle and I were sitting in camp, only two days into our tenday expedition into the Underdark to kill shit. I wanted to continue my mission to purge Toril of evil, and Elle needed to prove herself as a capable leader before she could officially become Alpha of her pack. While we sat in front of our fire, enjoying a pot of tea, we heard a weird clanging sound from the cavern below the cliff we were atop of. Elle shifted into her wolf form, and I drew my scimitars.
The rest of the party arrived at a cliff that was about eighty feet tall, the twins climbed up it as if it was nothing, and Zenit levitated up with Orvald. They were bringing climbing gear up to the top to make it easier for the rest of the group to get up the cliff.
Two wererats scampered up the side of the cliff, and a Lolthite appeared with another, smaller wererat in between her breasts. I knew the Dark Maiden's word decrees that I should slay all were creatures on sight, but I was curious, especially since it sounded like there were more people coming up from below. We had a bit of a standoff with this odd group, and decided to sit down and talk while waiting for the rest of them to come up; they had a gelatinous cube with them that they had to bring up with a pulley system; it took forever. Eventually we learned that they were trying to get to Dark Lake, and were hopelessly lost, so Elle and I agreed to help them- there should be plenty of shit to kill on the way to the lake, and onward to the Neverlight Grove to take Stool home.
*Author's note: Many of the events and characters that take place in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast.
Friendly fire overall: 4
Party members killed: 2
Overall party members lost: 3
NOTE: Things are mostly from Hera's point of view, switching to Lythana's point of view later, anything in italics is from a third party, since they can't be everywhere at once.
***** Mirtul 13, 1489 DR
We decided to leave Stool, Zenit, Derendil, Shuushar, and Phil in the mushroom grove while the rest of us went after the twins. After about two hours of tracking the little brats we began to feel a rumbling, like the beginnings of an earthquake, and small rocks began trickling down the cavern walls. As the rumble quickened, we began running, in hopes of avoiding being trapped in a collapsed tunnel; it was unavoidable though, and the damned tunnel collapsed. As we picked ourselves out of the rubble, we heard someone calling for help- Orvald and Luna went to investigate, and found a svirfneblin buried in the rubble.
After freeing him, we learned his name was Fidget Stonegear, and he was some crazy inventor who had been separated from the caravan he was traveling with when the tunnel collapsed. We allowed him to join us since the Underdark is much safer in numbers. A little while later Orvald began hearing a voice in his head, that he was calling Glabbagool. The deranged little mouse decided to follow the direction the voice in his head was coming from- though it shouldn't work that way. Further down the tunnel, some gray goop started dripping onto Orvald- it was a gray ooze, which we took out quickly. Another ooze was stupid enough to attack Pwent, and that one went down even faster- that dwarf is frightening.
We entered a tunnel that was completely smooth, as if it had been made, and was much clearer than it should have been. Right around the corner there was a skeleton that at first glance appeared to be suspended in the middle of the tunnel. It was actually encased in a gelatinous cube, which we learned was Glabbagool- the voice in Orvald's head. He didn't try to attack us, but instead wanted to be our friend; not wanting to anger the ooze we agreed to be his friend. Glabbagool had a beautiful ruby in him that he was using as an "eye" to make us more comfortable talking to him, which he claimed had a friend inside it that needed freeing. He spat the gem out at Orvald, but the mouse couldn't break it, so the ooze then spat out a flaming mace- which worked. Before us was a tiefling, an infernal tiefling, who had been trapped in there for 200 years; who decided to come with us, cause we totally need a fucking Devil Child traveling with us. You can't trust the Infernals with anything, and I definitely didn't want one watching my back.
Orvald invited Glabbagool to come with us, and none of us wanted to argue with the damn ooze or the crazed mouse, so we agreed. As we moved down the tunnel, something hit Orvald and caused him to fall unconscious; it was another fucking ooze. Another one popped up further down the tunnel, Glabbagool called it Bloop, but it wasn't as friendly as him. We filed into a little room to kill the ooze, and during the combat my wand started glowing and did not cease for the next hour; wild magic is funny like that sometimes. After the fight we decided to take a brief rest, and for some reason we decided to trust Glabbagool to keep watch, though the ooze seemed more trustworthy and friendly than the infernal.
While we rested Aura heard water, and Glabbagool told her that was new; the quake must have broken loose an underground river or something. The insane mouse decided to go down the corridor to investigate- of course- while the genasi took a different route, and fell through the floor. The Devil Child attempted to follow her, only to make more of the floor cave in- though he didn't fall in, pity. A black pudding began to envelope Aura, and in her attempts to defend herself, she split the pudding into two puddings, both of which were now attacking her... she fell unconscious quickly. I took care of the pudding that assaulted me quickly enough, while Fidget dropped a bomb on another one. Orvald thought he smelled soup burning, though the burn he smelled was Aura's flesh being sizzled by pudding. The mousefolk was able to free the genasi and revive her just in time.
Luna went up to a pit, and got attacked by another pudding, while Fidget threw a rock at it; the rock partially caved in Luna's skull. We were never able to tell if the svirfneblin killed her, or if the pudding did. Pwent wrenched the wizard's body from the pudding and finished it off, while Orvald took down the largest one. The Infernal was dropped to unconsciousness by the final pudding, but the stupid gnome freed and revived him; pity, it would have been nice to get rid of the devil that quickly. Aura went down another corridor, crumbling it and freeing more black pudding- apparently we needed to avoid the small corridors in this room.
I noticed water seeping out from under Glabbagool, the water we had heard earlier. We asked the cube to stop the water- or at least slow it down, and he attempted to plug the leak with himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pwent go down, the distraction cost me though, another pudding got me and I fell into unconsciousness. The others were able to stabilize Hera and Pwent quickly enough, but couldn't heal them to wake them yet.
With the puddings finally finished off, the party continued their investigation of the temple, and came upon a door. They found two wererats on the other side, who were wearing similar gear to Topsy and Turvy; the twins had left in the night because of the full moon. The twins screeched in surprise, accidentally activating the statues in the room; the statues were gray oozes, and the party made quick work of them. In the room the party found healing potions and were able to revive their unconscious members.
After I was woken up, we decided to swim out of the temple, since we couldn't go back the way we had come. In an attempt to get over one of the pits we had created, Fidget tried to jump- Orvald attempted to catch him, and both idiots fell into the pit... After we got them out of the damn pit, Orvald swam out; Glabbagool moved away from the door the water was seeping into, allowing the water to surge in. We tried to grab hold of things to prevent us from getting swept away, but I lost my grip- as did Fidget and Sarith. The devil caught the svirfneblin, but Sarith and I were swept away, I landed in one of the damn pits that was in the midst of flooding. The water also allowed another damn ooze to emerge, which followed the drow; until Glabbagool blocked it to protect him.
Orvald realized that the others needed help, and attempted to go back for the rest of the party, everyone except him and the twins were having trouble swimming out. Sarith and I were having a horrible time trying to swim out, and the drow suggested we wait until the water got a bit higher, thinking it could help us get up to the dry ledge. By this point everyone else was out or almost out of the water except for us. I asked Glabbagool to help us, and he pulled us through his gelatinous body- which was a very disconcerting sensation- and shot us out toward land. Neither of us made it, and instead got caught up in an undercurrent going the opposite way.
Sarith drowned moments later. I saw a bank in the water, and attempted to swim toward it; instead I got caught in a fucking web. I cut myself free, and was swept further down river- though I swam back toward safety and briefly made some progress- until I got caught in the web again. I used a spell that made daggers whirl around me, cutting me free again; I was swept back down river. As the insidious cold of the river seeped into my marrow, I knew my life was forfeit; yes, I could breathe underwater, but exhaustion prevented me from swimming. I slipped into unconsciousness, and then into death.
The rest of the party found an exit and began heading back to the grove with the rest of the group. They reached them the next morning.
***** Mirtul 14- Lythana
Elle and I were sitting in camp, only two days into our tenday expedition into the Underdark to kill shit. I wanted to continue my mission to purge Toril of evil, and Elle needed to prove herself as a capable leader before she could officially become Alpha of her pack. While we sat in front of our fire, enjoying a pot of tea, we heard a weird clanging sound from the cavern below the cliff we were atop of. Elle shifted into her wolf form, and I drew my scimitars.
The rest of the party arrived at a cliff that was about eighty feet tall, the twins climbed up it as if it was nothing, and Zenit levitated up with Orvald. They were bringing climbing gear up to the top to make it easier for the rest of the group to get up the cliff.
Two wererats scampered up the side of the cliff, and a Lolthite appeared with another, smaller wererat in between her breasts. I knew the Dark Maiden's word decrees that I should slay all were creatures on sight, but I was curious, especially since it sounded like there were more people coming up from below. We had a bit of a standoff with this odd group, and decided to sit down and talk while waiting for the rest of them to come up; they had a gelatinous cube with them that they had to bring up with a pulley system; it took forever. Eventually we learned that they were trying to get to Dark Lake, and were hopelessly lost, so Elle and I agreed to help them- there should be plenty of shit to kill on the way to the lake, and onward to the Neverlight Grove to take Stool home.
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| Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast |
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| Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast |
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