Gracklstugh, the City of Blades Part 5:
The Whorlstone Tunnels: The Obelisk
The Whorlstone Tunnels: The Obelisk
Dramatis Personae:
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies (the blue one)
Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor who thinks he's a myconid and everyone is out to get him (the foolish one)
Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon (the fuzzy one)
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto (the red one)
Kyri, the Minotaur Scout and former slave of the duergar who thinks she's the greatest at everything
Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Gunslinger (the mouthy one)
Kyri, the Minotaur Scout and former slave of the duergar who thinks she's the greatest at everything
Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Gunslinger (the mouthy one)
Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins (the matching ones)
Stool, the Myconid Child
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube
Ol' Sparky, the "blind" Derro Beggar with a magic cane (master)
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
Ol' Sparky, the "blind" Derro Beggar with a magic cane (master)
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
Contacts in Gracklstugh:
Ylsa Henstak, duergar merchant
Errde Blackskull, the captain of the Stone Guard
Gartokkar Xundorn, the leader of the Keepers of the Flame
Themberchaud the Wyrmsmith, the adult red dragon who keeps the forges burning
Comrades we have lost:
Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent
Buppido, the Derro- smashed by Orvald
Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape
Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress- swept away
Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard- skull caved in by rock thrown by Fidget, then finished off by black pudding
Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout- drowned
Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric- in a seemingly irreversible coma, left in Hemeth's care
Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome- eaten by grell
Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth- killed by sea troll
Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa- turned into shuushi by sea troll
Hemeth, the Duergar Arms Dealer- parted with group in Gracklstugh
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian- turned into dog food
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian- became a squeaky toy
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee who has another presence in her head- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife- abandoned the party because Orvald died
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian- turned into dog food
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian- became a squeaky toy
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee who has another presence in her head- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife- abandoned the party because Orvald died
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Quests in Gracklstugh:
Find out how the derro are getting surface coin and jewelry for Ylsa in exchange for directions to Blingdenstone.
Meet with Errde as soon as business with the Keepers of the Flame is concluded.
Comply with whatever the Keepers of the Flame ask, but report everything to Themberchaud first.
Find the Gray Ghosts, confirm their involvement in the disturbance, and bring their magic to Gartokkar.
Friendly fire overall: 67
Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 22
Party members killed: 13
Overall party members lost: 16
Derro killed: 51
Derro killed: 51
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kyri's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the scout can't be everywhere at once.
Also, Kyri doesn't refer to many people by their names, but instead gives them designations. The terms in parenthesis next to the character's names are what the minotaur calls them. She also doesn't understand gender, frequently getting the pronouns backwards, and calling people "it."
Also, Kyri doesn't refer to many people by their names, but instead gives them designations. The terms in parenthesis next to the character's names are what the minotaur calls them. She also doesn't understand gender, frequently getting the pronouns backwards, and calling people "it."
***** Kythorn 14, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
The next morning master decided to attempt to heal the foolish one's mind, since she was obviously insane. Before he could do so, master changed his appearance into what he called a deep hobbit, in order to look more clerical. Sparky shifted himself into a halfling with skin coloring akin to a deep gnome. I'm not sure why what he looked like mattered, but I do not question my master. He waved his cane at the foolish one, and suddenly she was in a sphere, and began spinning wildly down the hall. It was hilarious. I would have just watched and enjoyed the show if master hadn't ordered me to catch the sphere and stop his wild spin. Once he was out of the sphere, the red one and the fuzzy one examined it, and neither of them could figure out what was wrong with it. Of course they couldn't, if master couldn't solve it, I don't know why they thought they could.
Thecker ventured out before morningfeast and found a poster with a bounty for the group, including the recently deceased. The mouthy one brought us a parchment with drawings of the others listed on it, and said he would turn them in- though I think it was joking. Not that it matters, master wasn't on their list.
The others said they needed to go to the Blade Bazaar to buy supplies before they could return to the tunnels where my former masters lived. Thecker decided to pop in to the local Bounty Hunter Guild, and ask if they knew of any other entrances to the Whorlstone Tunnels; her inquiries ended up alerting the Gray Ghosts to the party's plans.
Once the others decided they were done buying things, they said we were to return to the tunnels and finish their business. Master ordered me to carry the myconids, meaning of course Stool and Rumpadump, not the foolish one; but the foolish one began climbing me, all the while calling me mooshroom. I will enjoy eating him.
We went to the Bounty Hunter Guild, the mouthy one said he knew a way into the tunnels through there. When we arrived, we found the entire building completely cleared out, and heard the sloshing of oozes in the back- the cleanup crew arriving. They thought it might be their friend, Glabbagool, but it was just some of the regular mindless servants.
Unsuccessful in finding an entrance, they decided we were to return to the hatch we had exited from last night. My former masters had returned, and removed the ladder to get down. We all managed to climb down, except for the fuzzy one, who hurt himself badly in the fall. The foolish one offered master coins to open the door from the other side, and of course master agreed- he can do anything. After master vanished to open it, the door exploded, and I felt myself falling. Kyri, Stool, and Rumpadump all fell unconscious and began bleeding to death form the explosion.
Thecker sensed something up ahead of them in the tunnel, as duergar began appearing and attacking them. Aura and Fidget both went down quickly- after which they demanded the party surrender. Thecker's response was to shoot them. Sparky put up a wall of water between them and the group, so they could take a moment to revive the fallen before the battle escalated- he then vanished. I came to with the red one standing over me, she had healed me; I charged the first of the former masters I saw and speared it on my horns, killing it instantly.
Aura managed to recover on her own, and threw a thunder wave out toward the duergar- hitting Thecker in the process. The genasi took damage and fell again right away. I took to corpse that was speared on my horns and threw it at another enemy, then I impaled it and punched it in the gut. Something came over me and I suddenly started laughing, I laughed so hard I couldn't move, couldn't fight. I don't know what was happening to me, but I didn't like it. As I laughed helplessly, the others finished off those who were around us, and decided to wait for the wall of water to go away before moving on; thankfully I recovered from that laughing fit before the water went away.
Thecker moved ahead of the group to scout, and found a duergar making lunch for the group. Sparky had dominated it. This was the head of the Gray Ghosts, and Kyri's main master. When we got to the room my former masters dwelled in, one of them was cooking, apparently master had used his skills to make it serve. Then master decided to transfer ownership of me to the foolish one, along with master Stool and master Rumpadump. I had no issue with belonging to masters Stool and Rumpadump, but the foolish one was too much. I couldn't eat it if he owned me. Once my former master finished cooking, the foolish one ordered me to kill it; I got to eat my former master, and he was delicious. Then the foolish one climbed me again, calling me a demon and a mooshroom again. Someday I will flay her.
After lunch they decided to go into the deep forest the masters never permitted me to go into, I couldn't help them with what to except, nor could I scout because the foolish one was making me carry it again. We spotted some movement up ahead, but thanks to the foolish one, I could not go see what it was, so the blue one checked for us. Aura found some two-headed grimlocks up ahead, and since the genasi was bad at sneaking, they saw her and began screaming- raising an alarm.
At the sound of screams, I gently set Master Stool and Master Rumpadump down, dropped the foolish one, and ran ahead- pummeling one and killing it instantly. While I turned to kill another, the blue one sent out that loud booming spell thing again, killing two more. The blue one is quite powerful, she would be a good warrior to fight beside, even if he can't hide well. The mouthy one and the red one were close behind us, and they each killed one- finishing off the grimlocks.
We continued on, and found a carrion crawler, which the others decided to avoid. I didn't care much, since they didn't taste good and had a habit of fouling the tasty meats. We reached a T in the tunnel, and heard some murmuring coming from the left, so the mouthy one and I scouted ahead. I reveled in being free of the foolish one. Former master and the matching ones followed us, but none of us could see anything in the cavern that was making the noise. We all headed back to the group and went to the right.
Up ahead we heard some skittering, so I again dropped the foolish one, and moved ahead with the mouthy one. I hoped I would drop the foolish one enough to kill it, but I had no such luck yet. The noise we had heard was a carrion crawler, which spotted us. The mouthy one pulled out its boom stick thing, and hit it with a loud bang, while I charged it. It was dead instantly.
After a few more minutes we reached the mushroom forest that the mouthy one had escaped me in, and the others found a chest covered in the yellow spore things that make me ill. They burned away the powder stuff to open it, but treasure is not my concern, so I didn't pay much attention to what was inside it. When they were done with that we continued on until we reached a dead end. The mouthy one and I searched the area and found a set of double doors made from zurkhwood that were hidden by the surrounding fungi. I backed up and charged the door, but the damned thing was strong and stars swam in my vision. The others looked for more ways while I got my wits about me, and once I'd recovered I made them move while I charged it again- this time the doors flew open.
"After a steady upward climb, the tunnel opened into a huge, well-lit chamber. The glow of faerzress and bioluminescent fungi complete with shafts of white light that fall upon naturally formed shelves along the walls as well as a rocky mesa at the center of the cavern. Crudely formed ramps connect the different levels of the mesa up to the height of its two topmost tiers, which are linked by a sturdy bridge. Atop one of those tiers sits a large red egg. Atop the other stands a 50-foot-tall obelisk made of smooth black metal with a few noticeable imperfections, as though small parts of it were somehow chipped away.
"A female derro stands close to the obelisk, gently patting and stroking its surface. The obelisk flashes once, the glow of faerzress around the cavern flaring in response. The derro squeals with glee as she snatches an object up from the ground, then writes something down in a small notebook."*
The derro saw us and giggled madly before vanishing, her laughs still echoing wildly around the cavern. It reappeared and threw a diamond of energy at the blue one, which made him fall. At the sight of this I became overcome with laughter again, sitting down to giggle with glee. A spectator floated into the room and attacked the mouthy one, while the blue one recovered and cast a bolt of energy at both of the attackers.
Fidget became paralyzed by the spectator, while the derro vanished again. I saw the foolish one go rigid and fall over, I hoped that meant it was dead. The red one killed the spectator while the derro reappeared at threw acid at the fuzzy one. The spectator rose again, somehow undead- it was too funny. The mouthy one shot a grapple at the derro, but was unable to pull it to him. In between breaths I saw the foolish one move- dammit, I wanted it to be dead. That made me start laughing harder. The spectator fell again for absolutely no reason. The mouthy one was trying to climb the derro, and somehow the derro fell on top of it instead; the fuzzy one finished the derro off.
As my wits returned to me, the others examined the egg, and determined it was a red dragon egg. This egg was stolen from the Keepers of the Flame by the Gray Ghosts; it was intended to be Themberchaud's replacement, when he got too powerful for them to control. My former master began levitating the egg.
The fuzzy one said the obelisk looked like it was made from the same stuff as a chunk they pulled off of something called Droki. He got the chunk out of the blue one's bag to compare them, but before he could, the blue one touched the obelisk, and channeled magic into it.
We found ourselves in a completely different cavern, and saw the glow of torches up ahead of us. The notebook we had seen the derro writing in, and the coin he had gotten from the obelisk were on the ground next to us. The fuzzy one said the coin was elvish, and the notes were a list of items, all in different handwriting, with the last entry mentioning the miraculous appearance of the coin. After looking over those, they decided we should head toward the torches. We soon realized we were coming up to Gracklstugh's gates- somehow the blue one had transported us there.
Once we were in the city we began making our way to Themberchaud to deliver the egg. I had the feeling we were being watched as we picked our way through the city. As we drew closer to the Wyrmsmith's lair, former master vanished, and the egg dropped to the ground. The egg, which had been too hot to touch in the previous cavern, was now cool to the touch, so I carried it the rest of the way,
The sight of the enormous red dragon was overwhelming for me, and I began laughing again. It snatched the egg out of my arms with its tail, hurting me badly in the process. Kyri fell unconscious from the tail lash, and Themberchaud destroyed the egg, calling it an abomination. He gave the party a potion of vitality, which Fidget greedily downed, curing everything except his myconid madness.
The fuzzy one revived me as they left to speak to Gartokkar, one of the leaders of the Keepers. They gave him a note found in the lab of my old masters, which it told us to take to the guard. The note read: "I don't need your poison anymore. I'll deal with Werz Saltbaron myself. Bring me an elf blade, one with the swirlies carved on the steel, and I'll forget you failed me. And I don't want to see any of your goons near my post. The captain is poking around, and I could use a scapegoat. -Gorglak"* The party didn't know that Werz Saltbaron was the duergar Orvald had saved from assassins when they first arrived in the City of Blades; nor did they know that Gorglak was a member of the city guard.
First they went to the Blade Bazaar to bring the coin and notebook they found to someone named Ylsa. In return it gave them maps with route advice to Blingdenstone, then, seeing my collar, it tried to buy me. The mouthy one bought Master Stool and Master Rumpadump's ownership of me, making him the majority owner, vetoing selling me to Ylsa. They all began arguing over who owned me, and somehow I bought myself from them. Which made no sense to me, since I couldn't very well own myself. I pledged my life to Masters Stool and Rumpadump, they needed protection, and I was pleased to provide it- plus it gave me masters again.
After that confusion was over with, they took the note to the head of the Stone Guards, Errde. They gave him the note, and were rewarded with supplies for the journey to Blingdenstone- though I said we needed to go to Neverlight Grove first to take Master Stool and Master Rumpadump home.
We left the guard and as we headed back to the inn, a deep gnome merchant named Ariana, and her earth elemental body guard, approached us. Ariana believed the group to be smugglers, and was looking to unload her items on them, since she couldn't find the duergar she was supposed to sell them to; that merchant had recently been executed for selling stolen jewelry. The merchant showed us a bunch of sparkly garnets that were as beautiful as freshly spilled blood. I would have enjoyed them, but gems were not made for someone like me; the others weren't interested in them.
***** Kythorn 15
The others decided we were to spend one last day in Gracklstugh shopping before we left for Neverlight Grove. All day we felt like we were being watched, but no one approached us. I didn't get an opportunity to eat the foolish one.
***** Kythorn 16
We left the city shortly after morningfeast, picking up our supplies from the Stone Guard on the way out. Fidget had arranged to have Glabbagool meet the party outside of the city, but didn't bother to tell the newcomers about the cube. A cube with a weird drum looking thing inside it was waiting for us outside the city. The mouthy one flipped out and shot it, which didn't do much to it. It asked us where someone called Orvald was, and upon learning of its death, and that it didn't even get to eat the remains, was very sad and refused to speak to the foolish one.
The foolish one spent the day riding inside the barrel in the cube, and as we got away from Gracklstugh, former master reappeared.
At camp that night we still felt like we were being watched, but nothing ever came out to attack.
***** Kythorn 17
The foolish one rode in the thing in Glabbagool again during travel, apparently it is so lazy it won't even travel for itself. Everything inside the barrel had been torn up in the night, undoing all the work it had supposedly done the day before. The previous night was during the full moon, so the twins hid in there for their moon madness rampage.
We again felt like we were being watched that night, but still nothing popped out.
***** Kythorn 21
We heard some weird screaming and moaning noises from up ahead in the tunnel, and they were horribly disturbing. The noises distressed Kyri so much that her mind fractured, and she now believes herself to be the best, brightest, strongest, prettiest, etc. person. Fidget's sanity broke into even smaller pieces, and he believed everyone was judging him and out to get him because he's a mushroom. I wasn't frightened of the horrible noises, since I knew I could handle anything.
The foolish one started throwing a fit about everyone judging him and being out to get him because he's a mushroom- which really made me want to eat him even more. I don't want to eat him alive yet though, he hasn't aggravated me enough for that kind of punishment. The idiot hid in Glabbagool for the rest of the day. Thecker decided to put Fidget out of his misery, but couldn't get to him since he was hiding in the apparatus.
That night I slipped some poison into the foolish one's meal. It would taint the meat a little, but it would also help me rid myself of him once and for all- he had stopped calling me a demon and a mooshroom, but I still despised the fool. The others saw me trying and called me out on it- assholes. The foolish one shot at me with acid, and I charged her. Before I could rip her to pieces, the mouthy one used her boom stick to distract me, and the fool slipped back into his stupid barrel thing.
Topsy and Turvy took offense to Kyri's attempts to murder Fidget, and they slipped poison in her dinner- it didn't kill the minotaur though, she was just mildly ill for the night. All night they still felt eyes on them.
***** Kythorn 22
As we traveled we felt a thud and the cavern began vibrating, the dust moving. Suddenly a massive explosion came from below us, and we were surrounded in fire- then I felt myself falling, though I knew it couldn't hurt me much, I am too strong to be hurt by a fall; I landed with a jolting crash on the rocks below. Coming from the darkness up ahead was a mad giggling, and I saw something glinting turn a corner- of course I went after it, I knew I could catch it- a mass of furry limbs came into view, gnolls.
The apparatus had gotten stuck in the rocks, so Glabbagool left it there, with Fidget still trapped inside. The mad inventor decided to use one of his bombs to blast himself free, and it worked- without hurting anyone else in the process.
A gnoll rushed the mouthy one and hit him, so she responded with her boom stick, and I charged it, knowing I could finish it off. It died laughing wildly, perhaps it had the same ailment I was stricken with after chasing the mouthy one. More of the beasts emerged from the shadows, swarming toward us. The blue one hit herself with an ice spell, I don't think she intended that, but not everyone is as great as me. If I had cast that spell it would have killed all of the enemies. While I slayed another of the gnolls, one of them jumped on top of the barrel thing.
The twins had seen something hidden in the tunnel, and told Glabbagool to get Thecker. A bolt of flame struck one of the beasts as I slammed into it, killing it of course. The foolish one trapped one of the in a net, and it escaped before I got to it. It took off running, so of course I chased it; ran up to a large gate with a bunch of gnoll archers, who began slamming arrows into me- I think I fell. Fidget and Zarrus decided to hide in the apparatus instead of helping with the battle. I felt warmth pulse through me as some of my flesh began to knit shut, the fuzzy one must have healed me, and then he yelled at me to retreat. I got up to run, and was shot with more arrows. I felt myself tumbling back to the ground. The next thing I knew was a burning pain as my flesh began to knit together again- the red one had healed me- I was able to retreat.
They did not realize as they retreated that both Sparky and Zarrus were missing.
*****Quests in Gracklstugh:
Find out how the derro are getting surface coin and jewelry for Ylsa in exchange for directions to Blingdenstone. They believe it was tied to the obelisk, and gave Ylsa the notes and coin they got off the derro.
Meet with Errde as soon as business with the Keepers of the Flame is concluded. Errde was going to ask them to get information from Droki, but they had already killed him. She was also going to ask the party to find proof of corruption within the guard, which they had found on their own, and gave to her.
Comply with whatever the Keepers of the Flame ask, but report everything to Themberchaud first. They found the red dragon egg that was intended to be Themberchaud's replacement, and brought it to him instead of the Keepers.
Find the Gray Ghosts, confirm their involvement in the disturbance, and bring their magic to Gartokkar. They were unable to find what Gartokkar wanted, even though they recovered the stolen dragon egg that they didn't know he wanted. The Gray Ghosts are not the cause of the disturbance he's feeling.
Find Pelek's hand and lay it to rest in Blingdenstone. Thecker found Pelek's hand and destroyed it, not knowing about the quest.
*Author's note: Many of the events, locations and characters that occur in this story are from the Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast. Anything with an asterisk next to it is a quote from the book.
The next morning master decided to attempt to heal the foolish one's mind, since she was obviously insane. Before he could do so, master changed his appearance into what he called a deep hobbit, in order to look more clerical. Sparky shifted himself into a halfling with skin coloring akin to a deep gnome. I'm not sure why what he looked like mattered, but I do not question my master. He waved his cane at the foolish one, and suddenly she was in a sphere, and began spinning wildly down the hall. It was hilarious. I would have just watched and enjoyed the show if master hadn't ordered me to catch the sphere and stop his wild spin. Once he was out of the sphere, the red one and the fuzzy one examined it, and neither of them could figure out what was wrong with it. Of course they couldn't, if master couldn't solve it, I don't know why they thought they could.
Thecker ventured out before morningfeast and found a poster with a bounty for the group, including the recently deceased. The mouthy one brought us a parchment with drawings of the others listed on it, and said he would turn them in- though I think it was joking. Not that it matters, master wasn't on their list.
The others said they needed to go to the Blade Bazaar to buy supplies before they could return to the tunnels where my former masters lived. Thecker decided to pop in to the local Bounty Hunter Guild, and ask if they knew of any other entrances to the Whorlstone Tunnels; her inquiries ended up alerting the Gray Ghosts to the party's plans.
Once the others decided they were done buying things, they said we were to return to the tunnels and finish their business. Master ordered me to carry the myconids, meaning of course Stool and Rumpadump, not the foolish one; but the foolish one began climbing me, all the while calling me mooshroom. I will enjoy eating him.
We went to the Bounty Hunter Guild, the mouthy one said he knew a way into the tunnels through there. When we arrived, we found the entire building completely cleared out, and heard the sloshing of oozes in the back- the cleanup crew arriving. They thought it might be their friend, Glabbagool, but it was just some of the regular mindless servants.
Unsuccessful in finding an entrance, they decided we were to return to the hatch we had exited from last night. My former masters had returned, and removed the ladder to get down. We all managed to climb down, except for the fuzzy one, who hurt himself badly in the fall. The foolish one offered master coins to open the door from the other side, and of course master agreed- he can do anything. After master vanished to open it, the door exploded, and I felt myself falling. Kyri, Stool, and Rumpadump all fell unconscious and began bleeding to death form the explosion.
Thecker sensed something up ahead of them in the tunnel, as duergar began appearing and attacking them. Aura and Fidget both went down quickly- after which they demanded the party surrender. Thecker's response was to shoot them. Sparky put up a wall of water between them and the group, so they could take a moment to revive the fallen before the battle escalated- he then vanished. I came to with the red one standing over me, she had healed me; I charged the first of the former masters I saw and speared it on my horns, killing it instantly.
Aura managed to recover on her own, and threw a thunder wave out toward the duergar- hitting Thecker in the process. The genasi took damage and fell again right away. I took to corpse that was speared on my horns and threw it at another enemy, then I impaled it and punched it in the gut. Something came over me and I suddenly started laughing, I laughed so hard I couldn't move, couldn't fight. I don't know what was happening to me, but I didn't like it. As I laughed helplessly, the others finished off those who were around us, and decided to wait for the wall of water to go away before moving on; thankfully I recovered from that laughing fit before the water went away.
Thecker moved ahead of the group to scout, and found a duergar making lunch for the group. Sparky had dominated it. This was the head of the Gray Ghosts, and Kyri's main master. When we got to the room my former masters dwelled in, one of them was cooking, apparently master had used his skills to make it serve. Then master decided to transfer ownership of me to the foolish one, along with master Stool and master Rumpadump. I had no issue with belonging to masters Stool and Rumpadump, but the foolish one was too much. I couldn't eat it if he owned me. Once my former master finished cooking, the foolish one ordered me to kill it; I got to eat my former master, and he was delicious. Then the foolish one climbed me again, calling me a demon and a mooshroom again. Someday I will flay her.
After lunch they decided to go into the deep forest the masters never permitted me to go into, I couldn't help them with what to except, nor could I scout because the foolish one was making me carry it again. We spotted some movement up ahead, but thanks to the foolish one, I could not go see what it was, so the blue one checked for us. Aura found some two-headed grimlocks up ahead, and since the genasi was bad at sneaking, they saw her and began screaming- raising an alarm.
At the sound of screams, I gently set Master Stool and Master Rumpadump down, dropped the foolish one, and ran ahead- pummeling one and killing it instantly. While I turned to kill another, the blue one sent out that loud booming spell thing again, killing two more. The blue one is quite powerful, she would be a good warrior to fight beside, even if he can't hide well. The mouthy one and the red one were close behind us, and they each killed one- finishing off the grimlocks.
We continued on, and found a carrion crawler, which the others decided to avoid. I didn't care much, since they didn't taste good and had a habit of fouling the tasty meats. We reached a T in the tunnel, and heard some murmuring coming from the left, so the mouthy one and I scouted ahead. I reveled in being free of the foolish one. Former master and the matching ones followed us, but none of us could see anything in the cavern that was making the noise. We all headed back to the group and went to the right.
Up ahead we heard some skittering, so I again dropped the foolish one, and moved ahead with the mouthy one. I hoped I would drop the foolish one enough to kill it, but I had no such luck yet. The noise we had heard was a carrion crawler, which spotted us. The mouthy one pulled out its boom stick thing, and hit it with a loud bang, while I charged it. It was dead instantly.
After a few more minutes we reached the mushroom forest that the mouthy one had escaped me in, and the others found a chest covered in the yellow spore things that make me ill. They burned away the powder stuff to open it, but treasure is not my concern, so I didn't pay much attention to what was inside it. When they were done with that we continued on until we reached a dead end. The mouthy one and I searched the area and found a set of double doors made from zurkhwood that were hidden by the surrounding fungi. I backed up and charged the door, but the damned thing was strong and stars swam in my vision. The others looked for more ways while I got my wits about me, and once I'd recovered I made them move while I charged it again- this time the doors flew open.
"After a steady upward climb, the tunnel opened into a huge, well-lit chamber. The glow of faerzress and bioluminescent fungi complete with shafts of white light that fall upon naturally formed shelves along the walls as well as a rocky mesa at the center of the cavern. Crudely formed ramps connect the different levels of the mesa up to the height of its two topmost tiers, which are linked by a sturdy bridge. Atop one of those tiers sits a large red egg. Atop the other stands a 50-foot-tall obelisk made of smooth black metal with a few noticeable imperfections, as though small parts of it were somehow chipped away.
"A female derro stands close to the obelisk, gently patting and stroking its surface. The obelisk flashes once, the glow of faerzress around the cavern flaring in response. The derro squeals with glee as she snatches an object up from the ground, then writes something down in a small notebook."*
The derro saw us and giggled madly before vanishing, her laughs still echoing wildly around the cavern. It reappeared and threw a diamond of energy at the blue one, which made him fall. At the sight of this I became overcome with laughter again, sitting down to giggle with glee. A spectator floated into the room and attacked the mouthy one, while the blue one recovered and cast a bolt of energy at both of the attackers.
Fidget became paralyzed by the spectator, while the derro vanished again. I saw the foolish one go rigid and fall over, I hoped that meant it was dead. The red one killed the spectator while the derro reappeared at threw acid at the fuzzy one. The spectator rose again, somehow undead- it was too funny. The mouthy one shot a grapple at the derro, but was unable to pull it to him. In between breaths I saw the foolish one move- dammit, I wanted it to be dead. That made me start laughing harder. The spectator fell again for absolutely no reason. The mouthy one was trying to climb the derro, and somehow the derro fell on top of it instead; the fuzzy one finished the derro off.
As my wits returned to me, the others examined the egg, and determined it was a red dragon egg. This egg was stolen from the Keepers of the Flame by the Gray Ghosts; it was intended to be Themberchaud's replacement, when he got too powerful for them to control. My former master began levitating the egg.
The fuzzy one said the obelisk looked like it was made from the same stuff as a chunk they pulled off of something called Droki. He got the chunk out of the blue one's bag to compare them, but before he could, the blue one touched the obelisk, and channeled magic into it.
We found ourselves in a completely different cavern, and saw the glow of torches up ahead of us. The notebook we had seen the derro writing in, and the coin he had gotten from the obelisk were on the ground next to us. The fuzzy one said the coin was elvish, and the notes were a list of items, all in different handwriting, with the last entry mentioning the miraculous appearance of the coin. After looking over those, they decided we should head toward the torches. We soon realized we were coming up to Gracklstugh's gates- somehow the blue one had transported us there.
Once we were in the city we began making our way to Themberchaud to deliver the egg. I had the feeling we were being watched as we picked our way through the city. As we drew closer to the Wyrmsmith's lair, former master vanished, and the egg dropped to the ground. The egg, which had been too hot to touch in the previous cavern, was now cool to the touch, so I carried it the rest of the way,
The sight of the enormous red dragon was overwhelming for me, and I began laughing again. It snatched the egg out of my arms with its tail, hurting me badly in the process. Kyri fell unconscious from the tail lash, and Themberchaud destroyed the egg, calling it an abomination. He gave the party a potion of vitality, which Fidget greedily downed, curing everything except his myconid madness.
The fuzzy one revived me as they left to speak to Gartokkar, one of the leaders of the Keepers. They gave him a note found in the lab of my old masters, which it told us to take to the guard. The note read: "I don't need your poison anymore. I'll deal with Werz Saltbaron myself. Bring me an elf blade, one with the swirlies carved on the steel, and I'll forget you failed me. And I don't want to see any of your goons near my post. The captain is poking around, and I could use a scapegoat. -Gorglak"* The party didn't know that Werz Saltbaron was the duergar Orvald had saved from assassins when they first arrived in the City of Blades; nor did they know that Gorglak was a member of the city guard.
First they went to the Blade Bazaar to bring the coin and notebook they found to someone named Ylsa. In return it gave them maps with route advice to Blingdenstone, then, seeing my collar, it tried to buy me. The mouthy one bought Master Stool and Master Rumpadump's ownership of me, making him the majority owner, vetoing selling me to Ylsa. They all began arguing over who owned me, and somehow I bought myself from them. Which made no sense to me, since I couldn't very well own myself. I pledged my life to Masters Stool and Rumpadump, they needed protection, and I was pleased to provide it- plus it gave me masters again.
After that confusion was over with, they took the note to the head of the Stone Guards, Errde. They gave him the note, and were rewarded with supplies for the journey to Blingdenstone- though I said we needed to go to Neverlight Grove first to take Master Stool and Master Rumpadump home.
We left the guard and as we headed back to the inn, a deep gnome merchant named Ariana, and her earth elemental body guard, approached us. Ariana believed the group to be smugglers, and was looking to unload her items on them, since she couldn't find the duergar she was supposed to sell them to; that merchant had recently been executed for selling stolen jewelry. The merchant showed us a bunch of sparkly garnets that were as beautiful as freshly spilled blood. I would have enjoyed them, but gems were not made for someone like me; the others weren't interested in them.
***** Kythorn 15
The others decided we were to spend one last day in Gracklstugh shopping before we left for Neverlight Grove. All day we felt like we were being watched, but no one approached us. I didn't get an opportunity to eat the foolish one.
***** Kythorn 16
We left the city shortly after morningfeast, picking up our supplies from the Stone Guard on the way out. Fidget had arranged to have Glabbagool meet the party outside of the city, but didn't bother to tell the newcomers about the cube. A cube with a weird drum looking thing inside it was waiting for us outside the city. The mouthy one flipped out and shot it, which didn't do much to it. It asked us where someone called Orvald was, and upon learning of its death, and that it didn't even get to eat the remains, was very sad and refused to speak to the foolish one.
The foolish one spent the day riding inside the barrel in the cube, and as we got away from Gracklstugh, former master reappeared.
At camp that night we still felt like we were being watched, but nothing ever came out to attack.
***** Kythorn 17
The foolish one rode in the thing in Glabbagool again during travel, apparently it is so lazy it won't even travel for itself. Everything inside the barrel had been torn up in the night, undoing all the work it had supposedly done the day before. The previous night was during the full moon, so the twins hid in there for their moon madness rampage.
We again felt like we were being watched that night, but still nothing popped out.
***** Kythorn 21
We heard some weird screaming and moaning noises from up ahead in the tunnel, and they were horribly disturbing. The noises distressed Kyri so much that her mind fractured, and she now believes herself to be the best, brightest, strongest, prettiest, etc. person. Fidget's sanity broke into even smaller pieces, and he believed everyone was judging him and out to get him because he's a mushroom. I wasn't frightened of the horrible noises, since I knew I could handle anything.
The foolish one started throwing a fit about everyone judging him and being out to get him because he's a mushroom- which really made me want to eat him even more. I don't want to eat him alive yet though, he hasn't aggravated me enough for that kind of punishment. The idiot hid in Glabbagool for the rest of the day. Thecker decided to put Fidget out of his misery, but couldn't get to him since he was hiding in the apparatus.
That night I slipped some poison into the foolish one's meal. It would taint the meat a little, but it would also help me rid myself of him once and for all- he had stopped calling me a demon and a mooshroom, but I still despised the fool. The others saw me trying and called me out on it- assholes. The foolish one shot at me with acid, and I charged her. Before I could rip her to pieces, the mouthy one used her boom stick to distract me, and the fool slipped back into his stupid barrel thing.
Topsy and Turvy took offense to Kyri's attempts to murder Fidget, and they slipped poison in her dinner- it didn't kill the minotaur though, she was just mildly ill for the night. All night they still felt eyes on them.
***** Kythorn 22
As we traveled we felt a thud and the cavern began vibrating, the dust moving. Suddenly a massive explosion came from below us, and we were surrounded in fire- then I felt myself falling, though I knew it couldn't hurt me much, I am too strong to be hurt by a fall; I landed with a jolting crash on the rocks below. Coming from the darkness up ahead was a mad giggling, and I saw something glinting turn a corner- of course I went after it, I knew I could catch it- a mass of furry limbs came into view, gnolls.
The apparatus had gotten stuck in the rocks, so Glabbagool left it there, with Fidget still trapped inside. The mad inventor decided to use one of his bombs to blast himself free, and it worked- without hurting anyone else in the process.
A gnoll rushed the mouthy one and hit him, so she responded with her boom stick, and I charged it, knowing I could finish it off. It died laughing wildly, perhaps it had the same ailment I was stricken with after chasing the mouthy one. More of the beasts emerged from the shadows, swarming toward us. The blue one hit herself with an ice spell, I don't think she intended that, but not everyone is as great as me. If I had cast that spell it would have killed all of the enemies. While I slayed another of the gnolls, one of them jumped on top of the barrel thing.
The twins had seen something hidden in the tunnel, and told Glabbagool to get Thecker. A bolt of flame struck one of the beasts as I slammed into it, killing it of course. The foolish one trapped one of the in a net, and it escaped before I got to it. It took off running, so of course I chased it; ran up to a large gate with a bunch of gnoll archers, who began slamming arrows into me- I think I fell. Fidget and Zarrus decided to hide in the apparatus instead of helping with the battle. I felt warmth pulse through me as some of my flesh began to knit shut, the fuzzy one must have healed me, and then he yelled at me to retreat. I got up to run, and was shot with more arrows. I felt myself tumbling back to the ground. The next thing I knew was a burning pain as my flesh began to knit together again- the red one had healed me- I was able to retreat.
They did not realize as they retreated that both Sparky and Zarrus were missing.
*****Quests in Gracklstugh:
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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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| Shaming the D20 of Aura's player for misbehaving. |
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