Bloody Behirs
Dramatis Personae:
Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Gunslinger and Inquisitor of Bahamut
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights and wielder of Dawnbringer, who compulsively collects trophies from slain foes and has an imaginary version of Dawnbringer that only she can see and it's the only thing she can trust
Hans, Claire's Basalt Wolf Figurine
Kara Reginleif, the Half-Valkyrie Champion from the Zhentarim who compulsively keeps everything she finds
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Assassin who can't sneak
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights and wielder of Dawnbringer, who compulsively collects trophies from slain foes and has an imaginary version of Dawnbringer that only she can see and it's the only thing she can trust
Hans, Claire's Basalt Wolf Figurine
Kara Reginleif, the Half-Valkyrie Champion from the Zhentarim who compulsively keeps everything she finds
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Assassin who can't sneak
Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins
Stool, the Myconid Child
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube and a great warrior
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
The residents of Bahamutsville: 115 kobolds with party
Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Bahamut and leader of the kobolds
Sillis, the Kobold Bard
Vevvev, the Kobold Gunslinger
Cyrryc, the Kobold Gunslinger
Renner, the Kobold Rogue
Xiccix, the Kobold Weapon Master
Mezzem, the Kobold Priestess of Bahamut
Gabtar, the Goblin Inquisitor and Kibbik's squire
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
The residents of Bahamutsville: 115 kobolds with party
Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Bahamut and leader of the kobolds
Sillis, the Kobold Bard
Vevvev, the Kobold Gunslinger
Cyrryc, the Kobold Gunslinger
Renner, the Kobold Rogue
Xiccix, the Kobold Weapon Master
Mezzem, the Kobold Priestess of Bahamut
Gabtar, the Goblin Inquisitor and Kibbik's squire
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
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian-became a squeaky toy last seen in Bahamutsville under Zin-carla
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter-abandoned the party because Orvald died last seen in Bahamutsville
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto- vanished during gnoll fight
Ol' Sparky, the Deep Dragon- last seen thrown into a portal to the Abyss by a glabrezu
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress- accidental self-vaporization (bitch blew herself up)
Kyri, the Minotaur Scout- vaporized by a jackass
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian- turned into dog food
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian-
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter-
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto- vanished during gnoll fight
Ol' Sparky, the Deep Dragon- last seen thrown into a portal to the Abyss by a glabrezu
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress- accidental self-vaporization (bitch blew herself up)
Kyri, the Minotaur Scout- vaporized by a jackass
Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor who thinks he's a myconid and everyone is out to get him, and thinks like a kobold- big badda boom
Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon- bigger badda boom
Kazul, the Copper Dragonborn Shadow Monk of Bahamut- skull caved in by another rock from Fidget
Friendly fire overall: 80
Party members killed: 18
Overall party members lost: 23
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Claire's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the knight can't be everywhere at once.
***** Flamerule 3, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
In the morning we were all set up to leave the kobold's sanctuary outside of Bahamutsville, there ended up being about 115 of them all together; this was going to make travel difficult, though I missed Kazul so much I didn't really care much. We sent the twins and Renner to scout ahead, while Mezzem, Thecker, and I took the vanguard, and Kibbik's troop took rearguard. The other able-bodied kobolds were scattered throughout the group to protect the infirm, which there were a lot of.
After traveling for a while we came upon a well traveled intersection, and once we had selected the path to take, the others decided we needed to blow up the tunnel we had come from. Sajin Silvertongue heard the explosion, and spent the rest of the day tailing the group. That night he snuck up to the camp while Claire was on duty, and the Purple Dragon didn't see his approach.
Kara Reginleif was prepared to return to the surface, her business in the Underdark concluded. She used the item that would allow her to teleport, but something went wrong. As I was patrolling camp during my watch, chatting with Dawnbringer, a faerzress crystal nearby exploded, and a winged figure appeared before me. Another voice cried out in surprise, and I saw the figure of a gnome near the winged figure.
Thecker recognized the voice as someone she knew in Blingdenstone, a bounty hunter/assassin named Sajin Silvertongue. He claimed he was looking for Fidget, apparently the insane inventor had been missing for some time. Thecker handed the assassin a bag of ashes and declared that was all that remained of Fidget.
The winged figure was an aasimar considered to be half-valkyrie, named Kara. She said she was a mercenary from Waterdeep, but was unwilling to say which company she was with. I don't know why, but that bothered me for some reason, and I wasn't sure we could trust her. She told us that she was skilled with her blades and would gladly help us get the kobolds to safety before venturing on to the surface.
With the excitement over, I resumed my watch and everything was quiet for the rest of the night. While Kara and Sajin slept, the twins and Renner went through all of their gear; they didn't steal anything, they just wanted to investigate these newcomers.
***** Flamerule 4
Before we broke camp this morning, I pulled Kibbik and Thecker aside and expressed my concerns about Kara. I just didn't trust her, especially since when I again inquired about her mercenary company, she said the Bull's Chargers, which I know is not real; Sillis said that company is in chapbooks called the Age of Dragons, or something like that. Gabtar put Kara in a zone of truth and we asked again- this time she said something I'd never heard of, but at least we knew she was being honest.
A couple of hours into our travels, we reached a cliff that was about a bow shot high. We had no choice but to climb the damned thing, so Mezzem, Thecker, and I pulled out climbing gear, with the plan to set things up to get the kobolds up. When Kara was about to take flight, Sajin demanded she carry him up the cliff, as if she was a carriage driver. I was surprised she agreed.
We found ourselves in a faerzress filled cavern, and as we looked around, Thecker announced she saw movement up ahead. and suddenly lightning streaked out, hitting me square in the chest, paralyzing me. Kara was knocked unconscious from the lightning blast. We were in a behir's lair. I heard Thecker open fire on the beast, as Mezzem touched my arm and I was filled with Bahamut's light; I could move again.
The beast grabbed hold of Mezzem and swallowed her; at the sight of that I leapt to my feet and plunged Dawnbringer into the behir. It was mostly on a ledge above us, but its serpentine body allowed it to stretch itself down to the level we were on. I saw Sajin attempt to jump onto the ledge, which wasn't very tall, and he ran face-first into the wall instead... Inside the behir Mezzem cast a nasty spell that caused major necrotic damage to the beast. I saw it heave, and vomit Mezzem out- she was alive.
I heard Thecker shoot it again, and it shrunk! Thecker had been experimenting with the growth and shrinking mushrooms applying them to her bullets; with Vevvev and Cyrryc's help, the trio came up with a new type of bullet. Realizing what had just happened to it, the behir turned and slunk back into its precious den; I pursued it and felt electricity pulse through me as I ran into a trap.
Outside, Mezzem woke up Kara, while Thecker climbed the ledge and opened fire at the behir. The svirfneblin then charged a trap, making a faerzress crystal explode, but that didn't phase her, she instead shot the crystal, destroying the trap. When Thecker destroyed its trap, it snarled in rage and shot us with more of its lightning breath. White-hot pain lanced through my body, and it felt like every nerve was on fire- Claire fell and began bleeding to death, the right side of her chest was covered in burns.
Kara shot at the behir, while Mezzem revived Claire and shot it with a guiding bolt; the radiance of Bahamut was enough to slay the beast. I came to with the pain of the lightning beginning to recede, replaced by the warmth of Bahamut. Thecker was standing at the mouth of the den shooting the last of the trapped crystals so we could search it. We butchered the beast and cooked it up for evenfeast, and I took one of its teeth as a prize; it was so cool I couldn't not, this was an enemy I could be proud to have helped slay.
Once we got everyone up the cliff, we continued on for a couple more hours before settling down for the night. During Sajin's watch that night, an army of demons was walking near the camp; the assassin awoke the rest of the party. There were far too many of the demons for us to fight, if we tried we'd surely lose some of the kobolds. They couldn't see us, and they shambled past us to the cavern the behir had been in. We could hear them, but were unmolested by the demons.
***** Flamerule 6
As we traveled this day, Thecker announced she heard something coming from the tunnel up ahead; it was small and running toward us. It was the twins and Renner, they'd seen quaggoths in the cavern we were heading to. We left the kobolds behind and crept ahead to deal with them without having the innocents in reach.
We entered a cavern full of stalagmites and found six quaggoths milling about. Thecker opened fire on them, while Kara and I moved forward- killing one each on our blades. Two of the quaggoths went for Kara, while the other two came at me; they struck Kara, but completely missed me. Thecker and Sajin went to Kara's aid, and Mezzem cast a blast of holy light at one of the quaggoths on me, knocking it unconscious.
Kara slashed at one of the quaggoths, and her blade went flying; apparently she can't keep hold of her weapon. Sajin took a nasty claw to the face, I'm sure that will leave a mark, while I killed the remaining one on me. Thecker killed one on her and shot at the other one, while Mezzem attempted to finish off the snoring quaggoth at me feet- somehow she missed. I easily decapitated it with Dawnbringer.
Thecker heard a whisper near her that there were "lots more quaggoths," one of the twins, invisible. As Thecker killed the last one she announced there were a lot more quaggoths coming. Of course. Kara went after her flung sword, which had gone off a short ledge in the cavern, and the additional quaggoths we were warned about pounced on the half-valkyrie.
One of the quaggoths pointed a finger at me and Dawnbringer's hilt suddenly turned as hot as a forge. More of the beasts beat Kara, and she went down, but Mezzem's healing capabilities revived the champion right away; she flew back up the ledge the rest of us were on. They began jumping up to attack us, I knocked one away with my shield while another knocked Thecker on the ground. Sajin was tossed off the ledge by one, and another one grew in size to hit me; Thecker blew its head off. Down below, I saw Sajin get up and run away.
Mezzem dropped one with her holy gifts, while I got grabbed and yanked off the ledge. Thecker pulled out a pouch of yellow mold and threw it at the quaggoths surrounding her, but they were immune to the poisonous spores. Even though it seemed like there were tons of quaggoths, the party had slain almost all of them. The few that had climbed up the ledge began pummeling Thecker.
Sajin, unseen, killed the one that was attacking Claire, and Mezzem made one of them explode in a spray of ichor and viscera. We made short work of the last couple of quaggoths, and were quickly able to resume our travels.
***** Flamerule 7
After a blessedly peaceful day of travel, we arrived in a huge mushroom forest cavern. There were signs that something had been through here, but it didn't appear to have been recently. Faerzress crystals illuminated the cavern, and pulsed in time with the luminescent fungi scattered throughout the place. It was a little eerie.
We scouted through the place a little before setting up camp, and Mezzem and I came across a nug, which we apparently startled. It completely flipped out and shrieked in terror- so Mezzem shot it. Sajin came in behind her and stabbed the poor creature, and the moment he retraced his blade, another one came out of nowhere and attacked him. Apparently the bunny-pig didn't like the assassin killing its buddy. We decided it was safe enough to set up camp here for the night.
The twins gave Sajin a mushroom shaped similar to a human tongue, and after eating it the svirfneblin spent the next hour saying everything he was thinking- it was fucking weird. Sajin began hitting on Topsy, really creepily. At first I wondered if that was just how deep gnomes flirt, but she seemed as weirded out by it as I was. Gabtar cast his truth spell on the assassin, and that made him even creepier, and a bit more amusing
After we had settled down for the night we saw some flashes of blue/white lights, followed by screams from the kobolds. Mezzem was in the first group to be attacked- it was another behir. It grabbed Kara and swallowed her whole, then attempted to hide- Thecker saw it. Mezzem turned around and injured it badly, which made it respond by popping the kobold in its mouth.
Once I realized that nothing was attacking the kobolds in my section, I began making my way towards where I heard the sounds of combat. Unfortunately this was a thick forest, so it felt like it was taking me forever.
Since it had saved Mezzem from the last behir, she unleashed another inflict wounds spell while in its toothy maw. It gave out a roar of pain as the front half of it melted, saving Mezzem and Kara's lives. I got there as the beast was dying, and even though I hadn't killed the damned thing, I took one of its claws as a trophy- it was cool and would make a great story in the barracks back home. Kara said she was going to try to find its lair, and a couple minutes later, shit began raining down from up above- it was fucking disgusting.
Kara spent twenty minutes literally digging through shit in the behir's lair before she found something. The champion found a small box with some gems and a bag of magic beans in it. After claiming her prize she dove straight into the small pond to wash the shit off. She didn't say she found anything, but after rummaging through shit, I would have been inclined to let her keep whatever she found anyways.
***** Flamerule 8
The next morning we decided to spend the morning foraging before we left; the twins and Renner went to scout a path out while the rest of us worked. We loaded up on food and managed to harvest a barrelstalk in such a way that it stayed full. This would give us a bunch of extra water, which was always in short supply. Our scouts returned and told us they had found an exit from the Labyrinth- apparently we'd been roaming it for the last few days now.
After some time we came upon a staircase, and at the top of it was a tunnel that appeared to well maintained- I think we were getting closer to a city finally. We left the kobolds to get up the stairs, since getting everyone up them would take a while, and we went to check out this tunnel. Up ahead we saw a drow caravan, and Thecker instantly killed one of the drow; Sajin killed one the second later.
Thecker and Sajin were suddenly enveloped in a globe of darkness, and a sickly looking greenish-yellow mist was rolling through it. I extended Dawnbringer's light- I typically keep her on the lowest lighting, so not to call too much attention to us- and charged into the darkness and mist; I knew her light would expel the darkness the drow created. I felt a chill run through my spine as I entered the darkness... Claire was possessed by a shadow demon.
Mezzem dispelled the mist, as the demon inside Claire turned and attacked her; once the priestess was injured, the demon turned off Dawnbringer and threw her into the darkness. The sword went mad and retreated into her own mind for the next several days; she couldn't be used at all. I used a force of will to expel the darkness that was suppressing me, just as something stung my shoulder and I felt myself falling asleep...
Another bolt from the drow knocked Mezzem out, and Thecker dove to revive the cleric. Tentacles emerged from the ground and began grabbing at everyone. I came to with Thecker smacking me awake, and tentacles walloping around me. I got away from the tentacles right away, and was relieved to see Dawnbringer attached to my belt. The Dawnbringer Claire saw wasn't real, her mind fractured during the fight and created a second Dawnbringer, and that one is the only thing she can trust. Losing Kazul broke her heart, and being separated from Dawnbringer broke her mind.
Kara tossed a magic bean at the drow, and found herself inside a pyramid of mummies. A fucking pyramid appeared in the middle of the tunnel, what the hell were the drow doing? All but one of the drow- a mage- died the moment the pyramid appeared, since it dropped on top of them. One of the drow- the only one apparently- approached us and offered a truce while we dealt with whatever was in the pyramid; Kara was nowhere to be seen. Sajin used the boots that gave him extra speed to run back to Kibbik to tell him about the pyramid, which surely held mummies; I wasn't worried about mummies though, I knew Dawnbringer would kill them easily. Once the svirfneblin was back, saying Kibbik was on the way, we began to climb the pyramid.
Inside the pyramid, a mummy offered Kara a "gift" while reaching for her; it grabbed her and blinded the half-valkyrie, giving her mummy rot. We dropped a ladder down into a small, dark room, it was so dark that I had to climb partway into it to see anything; apparently Dawnbringer couldn't completely penetrate the magic of whatever brought that thing here. Once I got down there some dust swirled in my face, and suddenly I couldn't see. I knew Dawnbringer could heal me though.
Thecker and Mezzem followed Claire down, but Sajin stayed at the top of the pyramid so he wouldn't get hurt. Thecker shot one of the four sarcophagi in the room and threw a vial of alchemist fire at it. Since Sajin was refusing to come down, the drow shoved Sajin in, then promptly cut the rope, and vanished.
There was a grinding sound as the lids opened, and four mummy lords emerged; Kara appeared as one of them. Thecker shattered one of the illusory mummies, while Mezzem set one aflame. Kara realized the party thought she was a mummy, and took a couple of steps back from the group, in hopes she could walk out of the illusion.
Dawnbringer restored my sight, and I saw two mummy lords in front of me. I stabbed one, and the beast stared me down, terrifying me to my core. Claire had only punched the mummy, she only believed Dawnbringer was in her hand; and she had overcome the blindness on her own, it just coincided that she used her "sword" to do it at the same time she overcame it. Mezzem began moving her hands to cast something, and cried out in pain- I guess it didn't like whatever she was doing- but the little kobold grit her teeth and fought through the pain, hitting it with her spell. Insects poured from its mouth in response- scarab beetles, which proceeded to attack us.
Thecker hit another mummy and it cracked as the illusion fell apart. The bug bites badly injured Kara, and the champion fell unconscious and started to bleed out. I stabbed the mummy in front of me again, and this time it shattered- apparently it was an illusion too- and Kara was passed out behind it, bleeding profusely. With only one mummy left, I knew it had to be the real one. It pointed one bony finger at Thecker, and she turned pale; it had drained away the bulk of Thecker's life force, nearly killing the svirfneblin outright. She responded by setting the fucker on fire, and it exploded in a cloud of dust, with a cry of rage echoing in the chamber.
She then searched the tomb for its organs, since destroying those was the only way to permanently kill a mummy- she found and destroyed them quickly. Among the organs she found a hilt that looked exactly like Dawnbringer's, but that couldn't be, since she was in my hand. I took the hilt anyways, so I could try to figure that puzzle out later.
Kazul, the Copper Dragonborn Shadow Monk of Bahamut- skull caved in by another rock from Fidget
Friendly fire overall: 80
Party members killed: 18
Overall party members lost: 23
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Claire's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the knight can't be everywhere at once.
***** Flamerule 3, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
In the morning we were all set up to leave the kobold's sanctuary outside of Bahamutsville, there ended up being about 115 of them all together; this was going to make travel difficult, though I missed Kazul so much I didn't really care much. We sent the twins and Renner to scout ahead, while Mezzem, Thecker, and I took the vanguard, and Kibbik's troop took rearguard. The other able-bodied kobolds were scattered throughout the group to protect the infirm, which there were a lot of.
After traveling for a while we came upon a well traveled intersection, and once we had selected the path to take, the others decided we needed to blow up the tunnel we had come from. Sajin Silvertongue heard the explosion, and spent the rest of the day tailing the group. That night he snuck up to the camp while Claire was on duty, and the Purple Dragon didn't see his approach.
Kara Reginleif was prepared to return to the surface, her business in the Underdark concluded. She used the item that would allow her to teleport, but something went wrong. As I was patrolling camp during my watch, chatting with Dawnbringer, a faerzress crystal nearby exploded, and a winged figure appeared before me. Another voice cried out in surprise, and I saw the figure of a gnome near the winged figure.
Thecker recognized the voice as someone she knew in Blingdenstone, a bounty hunter/assassin named Sajin Silvertongue. He claimed he was looking for Fidget, apparently the insane inventor had been missing for some time. Thecker handed the assassin a bag of ashes and declared that was all that remained of Fidget.
The winged figure was an aasimar considered to be half-valkyrie, named Kara. She said she was a mercenary from Waterdeep, but was unwilling to say which company she was with. I don't know why, but that bothered me for some reason, and I wasn't sure we could trust her. She told us that she was skilled with her blades and would gladly help us get the kobolds to safety before venturing on to the surface.
With the excitement over, I resumed my watch and everything was quiet for the rest of the night. While Kara and Sajin slept, the twins and Renner went through all of their gear; they didn't steal anything, they just wanted to investigate these newcomers.
***** Flamerule 4
Before we broke camp this morning, I pulled Kibbik and Thecker aside and expressed my concerns about Kara. I just didn't trust her, especially since when I again inquired about her mercenary company, she said the Bull's Chargers, which I know is not real; Sillis said that company is in chapbooks called the Age of Dragons, or something like that. Gabtar put Kara in a zone of truth and we asked again- this time she said something I'd never heard of, but at least we knew she was being honest.
A couple of hours into our travels, we reached a cliff that was about a bow shot high. We had no choice but to climb the damned thing, so Mezzem, Thecker, and I pulled out climbing gear, with the plan to set things up to get the kobolds up. When Kara was about to take flight, Sajin demanded she carry him up the cliff, as if she was a carriage driver. I was surprised she agreed.
We found ourselves in a faerzress filled cavern, and as we looked around, Thecker announced she saw movement up ahead. and suddenly lightning streaked out, hitting me square in the chest, paralyzing me. Kara was knocked unconscious from the lightning blast. We were in a behir's lair. I heard Thecker open fire on the beast, as Mezzem touched my arm and I was filled with Bahamut's light; I could move again.
The beast grabbed hold of Mezzem and swallowed her; at the sight of that I leapt to my feet and plunged Dawnbringer into the behir. It was mostly on a ledge above us, but its serpentine body allowed it to stretch itself down to the level we were on. I saw Sajin attempt to jump onto the ledge, which wasn't very tall, and he ran face-first into the wall instead... Inside the behir Mezzem cast a nasty spell that caused major necrotic damage to the beast. I saw it heave, and vomit Mezzem out- she was alive.
I heard Thecker shoot it again, and it shrunk! Thecker had been experimenting with the growth and shrinking mushrooms applying them to her bullets; with Vevvev and Cyrryc's help, the trio came up with a new type of bullet. Realizing what had just happened to it, the behir turned and slunk back into its precious den; I pursued it and felt electricity pulse through me as I ran into a trap.
Outside, Mezzem woke up Kara, while Thecker climbed the ledge and opened fire at the behir. The svirfneblin then charged a trap, making a faerzress crystal explode, but that didn't phase her, she instead shot the crystal, destroying the trap. When Thecker destroyed its trap, it snarled in rage and shot us with more of its lightning breath. White-hot pain lanced through my body, and it felt like every nerve was on fire- Claire fell and began bleeding to death, the right side of her chest was covered in burns.
Kara shot at the behir, while Mezzem revived Claire and shot it with a guiding bolt; the radiance of Bahamut was enough to slay the beast. I came to with the pain of the lightning beginning to recede, replaced by the warmth of Bahamut. Thecker was standing at the mouth of the den shooting the last of the trapped crystals so we could search it. We butchered the beast and cooked it up for evenfeast, and I took one of its teeth as a prize; it was so cool I couldn't not, this was an enemy I could be proud to have helped slay.
Once we got everyone up the cliff, we continued on for a couple more hours before settling down for the night. During Sajin's watch that night, an army of demons was walking near the camp; the assassin awoke the rest of the party. There were far too many of the demons for us to fight, if we tried we'd surely lose some of the kobolds. They couldn't see us, and they shambled past us to the cavern the behir had been in. We could hear them, but were unmolested by the demons.
***** Flamerule 6
As we traveled this day, Thecker announced she heard something coming from the tunnel up ahead; it was small and running toward us. It was the twins and Renner, they'd seen quaggoths in the cavern we were heading to. We left the kobolds behind and crept ahead to deal with them without having the innocents in reach.
We entered a cavern full of stalagmites and found six quaggoths milling about. Thecker opened fire on them, while Kara and I moved forward- killing one each on our blades. Two of the quaggoths went for Kara, while the other two came at me; they struck Kara, but completely missed me. Thecker and Sajin went to Kara's aid, and Mezzem cast a blast of holy light at one of the quaggoths on me, knocking it unconscious.
Kara slashed at one of the quaggoths, and her blade went flying; apparently she can't keep hold of her weapon. Sajin took a nasty claw to the face, I'm sure that will leave a mark, while I killed the remaining one on me. Thecker killed one on her and shot at the other one, while Mezzem attempted to finish off the snoring quaggoth at me feet- somehow she missed. I easily decapitated it with Dawnbringer.
Thecker heard a whisper near her that there were "lots more quaggoths," one of the twins, invisible. As Thecker killed the last one she announced there were a lot more quaggoths coming. Of course. Kara went after her flung sword, which had gone off a short ledge in the cavern, and the additional quaggoths we were warned about pounced on the half-valkyrie.
One of the quaggoths pointed a finger at me and Dawnbringer's hilt suddenly turned as hot as a forge. More of the beasts beat Kara, and she went down, but Mezzem's healing capabilities revived the champion right away; she flew back up the ledge the rest of us were on. They began jumping up to attack us, I knocked one away with my shield while another knocked Thecker on the ground. Sajin was tossed off the ledge by one, and another one grew in size to hit me; Thecker blew its head off. Down below, I saw Sajin get up and run away.
Mezzem dropped one with her holy gifts, while I got grabbed and yanked off the ledge. Thecker pulled out a pouch of yellow mold and threw it at the quaggoths surrounding her, but they were immune to the poisonous spores. Even though it seemed like there were tons of quaggoths, the party had slain almost all of them. The few that had climbed up the ledge began pummeling Thecker.
Sajin, unseen, killed the one that was attacking Claire, and Mezzem made one of them explode in a spray of ichor and viscera. We made short work of the last couple of quaggoths, and were quickly able to resume our travels.
***** Flamerule 7
After a blessedly peaceful day of travel, we arrived in a huge mushroom forest cavern. There were signs that something had been through here, but it didn't appear to have been recently. Faerzress crystals illuminated the cavern, and pulsed in time with the luminescent fungi scattered throughout the place. It was a little eerie.
We scouted through the place a little before setting up camp, and Mezzem and I came across a nug, which we apparently startled. It completely flipped out and shrieked in terror- so Mezzem shot it. Sajin came in behind her and stabbed the poor creature, and the moment he retraced his blade, another one came out of nowhere and attacked him. Apparently the bunny-pig didn't like the assassin killing its buddy. We decided it was safe enough to set up camp here for the night.
The twins gave Sajin a mushroom shaped similar to a human tongue, and after eating it the svirfneblin spent the next hour saying everything he was thinking- it was fucking weird. Sajin began hitting on Topsy, really creepily. At first I wondered if that was just how deep gnomes flirt, but she seemed as weirded out by it as I was. Gabtar cast his truth spell on the assassin, and that made him even creepier, and a bit more amusing
After we had settled down for the night we saw some flashes of blue/white lights, followed by screams from the kobolds. Mezzem was in the first group to be attacked- it was another behir. It grabbed Kara and swallowed her whole, then attempted to hide- Thecker saw it. Mezzem turned around and injured it badly, which made it respond by popping the kobold in its mouth.
Once I realized that nothing was attacking the kobolds in my section, I began making my way towards where I heard the sounds of combat. Unfortunately this was a thick forest, so it felt like it was taking me forever.
Since it had saved Mezzem from the last behir, she unleashed another inflict wounds spell while in its toothy maw. It gave out a roar of pain as the front half of it melted, saving Mezzem and Kara's lives. I got there as the beast was dying, and even though I hadn't killed the damned thing, I took one of its claws as a trophy- it was cool and would make a great story in the barracks back home. Kara said she was going to try to find its lair, and a couple minutes later, shit began raining down from up above- it was fucking disgusting.
Kara spent twenty minutes literally digging through shit in the behir's lair before she found something. The champion found a small box with some gems and a bag of magic beans in it. After claiming her prize she dove straight into the small pond to wash the shit off. She didn't say she found anything, but after rummaging through shit, I would have been inclined to let her keep whatever she found anyways.
***** Flamerule 8
The next morning we decided to spend the morning foraging before we left; the twins and Renner went to scout a path out while the rest of us worked. We loaded up on food and managed to harvest a barrelstalk in such a way that it stayed full. This would give us a bunch of extra water, which was always in short supply. Our scouts returned and told us they had found an exit from the Labyrinth- apparently we'd been roaming it for the last few days now.
After some time we came upon a staircase, and at the top of it was a tunnel that appeared to well maintained- I think we were getting closer to a city finally. We left the kobolds to get up the stairs, since getting everyone up them would take a while, and we went to check out this tunnel. Up ahead we saw a drow caravan, and Thecker instantly killed one of the drow; Sajin killed one the second later.
Thecker and Sajin were suddenly enveloped in a globe of darkness, and a sickly looking greenish-yellow mist was rolling through it. I extended Dawnbringer's light- I typically keep her on the lowest lighting, so not to call too much attention to us- and charged into the darkness and mist; I knew her light would expel the darkness the drow created. I felt a chill run through my spine as I entered the darkness... Claire was possessed by a shadow demon.
Mezzem dispelled the mist, as the demon inside Claire turned and attacked her; once the priestess was injured, the demon turned off Dawnbringer and threw her into the darkness. The sword went mad and retreated into her own mind for the next several days; she couldn't be used at all. I used a force of will to expel the darkness that was suppressing me, just as something stung my shoulder and I felt myself falling asleep...
Another bolt from the drow knocked Mezzem out, and Thecker dove to revive the cleric. Tentacles emerged from the ground and began grabbing at everyone. I came to with Thecker smacking me awake, and tentacles walloping around me. I got away from the tentacles right away, and was relieved to see Dawnbringer attached to my belt. The Dawnbringer Claire saw wasn't real, her mind fractured during the fight and created a second Dawnbringer, and that one is the only thing she can trust. Losing Kazul broke her heart, and being separated from Dawnbringer broke her mind.
Kara tossed a magic bean at the drow, and found herself inside a pyramid of mummies. A fucking pyramid appeared in the middle of the tunnel, what the hell were the drow doing? All but one of the drow- a mage- died the moment the pyramid appeared, since it dropped on top of them. One of the drow- the only one apparently- approached us and offered a truce while we dealt with whatever was in the pyramid; Kara was nowhere to be seen. Sajin used the boots that gave him extra speed to run back to Kibbik to tell him about the pyramid, which surely held mummies; I wasn't worried about mummies though, I knew Dawnbringer would kill them easily. Once the svirfneblin was back, saying Kibbik was on the way, we began to climb the pyramid.
Inside the pyramid, a mummy offered Kara a "gift" while reaching for her; it grabbed her and blinded the half-valkyrie, giving her mummy rot. We dropped a ladder down into a small, dark room, it was so dark that I had to climb partway into it to see anything; apparently Dawnbringer couldn't completely penetrate the magic of whatever brought that thing here. Once I got down there some dust swirled in my face, and suddenly I couldn't see. I knew Dawnbringer could heal me though.
Thecker and Mezzem followed Claire down, but Sajin stayed at the top of the pyramid so he wouldn't get hurt. Thecker shot one of the four sarcophagi in the room and threw a vial of alchemist fire at it. Since Sajin was refusing to come down, the drow shoved Sajin in, then promptly cut the rope, and vanished.
There was a grinding sound as the lids opened, and four mummy lords emerged; Kara appeared as one of them. Thecker shattered one of the illusory mummies, while Mezzem set one aflame. Kara realized the party thought she was a mummy, and took a couple of steps back from the group, in hopes she could walk out of the illusion.
Dawnbringer restored my sight, and I saw two mummy lords in front of me. I stabbed one, and the beast stared me down, terrifying me to my core. Claire had only punched the mummy, she only believed Dawnbringer was in her hand; and she had overcome the blindness on her own, it just coincided that she used her "sword" to do it at the same time she overcame it. Mezzem began moving her hands to cast something, and cried out in pain- I guess it didn't like whatever she was doing- but the little kobold grit her teeth and fought through the pain, hitting it with her spell. Insects poured from its mouth in response- scarab beetles, which proceeded to attack us.
Thecker hit another mummy and it cracked as the illusion fell apart. The bug bites badly injured Kara, and the champion fell unconscious and started to bleed out. I stabbed the mummy in front of me again, and this time it shattered- apparently it was an illusion too- and Kara was passed out behind it, bleeding profusely. With only one mummy left, I knew it had to be the real one. It pointed one bony finger at Thecker, and she turned pale; it had drained away the bulk of Thecker's life force, nearly killing the svirfneblin outright. She responded by setting the fucker on fire, and it exploded in a cloud of dust, with a cry of rage echoing in the chamber.
She then searched the tomb for its organs, since destroying those was the only way to permanently kill a mummy- she found and destroyed them quickly. Among the organs she found a hilt that looked exactly like Dawnbringer's, but that couldn't be, since she was in my hand. I took the hilt anyways, so I could try to figure that puzzle out later.
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| Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast
*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.
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