Moon Madness
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 is the only thing she trusts and has an imaginary personality in addition to the real one, and who compulsively collects trophies from slain foes
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
Mezzem, the Kobold Priestess of Bahamut
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights and wielder of Dawnbringer who is the only thing she trusts and has an imaginary personality in addition to the real one, and who compulsively collects trophies from slain foes
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
Mezzem, the Kobold Priestess of Bahamut
Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins
Stool, the Myconid Child
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
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 last seen in Bahamutsville under Zin-carla
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter-abandoned the party because Orvald died last seen in Bahamutsville
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
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
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian-
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter-
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
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- 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
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube and a great warrior- stayed with the kobolds
Friendly fire overall: 112
Party members killed: 18
Overall party members lost: 24
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.
***** Eleasias 9, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
As we neared the end of our travels today, the twins reported a weird sign in the tunnel ahead of us. They thought it was written in drow, but none of us understood drow s we had no way to translate it. Unfortunately there was no other way for us to go in this tunnel at the moment, so we had no choice but to press forward and hope the sign wasn't warning of a trap or something.
A few minutes later, Thecker said she heard some yips, howls, and grunts coming from up ahead in the tunnel, and decided to go investigate. Of course we wouldn't let Thecker go alone, so we left Kara with the lizards and myconids, and went to investigate.
We walked into a cavern that was unnaturally dark, but Thecker insisted we use her puny light spell before I activated Dawnbringer. We saw some shadows move briefly before the light dimmed- then I got to activate my friend, bathing the cavern in her brilliant sunlight. Thecker spotted a shadow demon and opened fire on it, while another one swiped its arm through me- my mind screamed out in pain. The demon Thecker was shooting possessed her. As I sliced through the demon in front of me, making it cry out in pain as pieces of it fell off in a puff of steam, I realized the yipping was getting closer- whatever it was, it was likely attracted by Thecker's gunfire.
Mezzem's spirit blade appeared before me and hacked out more chunks of the demon, while Thecker turned her gun on Topsy- shit, another damned possession. Four dretches came barreling into the cavern, and Sajin turned to attack them. I saw a billow of shadow erupt from Thecker as she kicked the demon out of her body. The shadow in front of me rushed towards me, likely intent on possessing me, and I cleaved through it with Dawnbringer, it vanished in a cloud of steam and howl of rage.
I heard a buzzing noise from above me, it made my mind foggy, and I couldn't think. Claire and Sajin fell unconscious from the buzzing emitted by hellwasps. One of the wasps dove toward Mezzem, and missed her completely. The demon Thecker had expelled turned and attacked her as soon as it was out, while another hellwasp dove toward the gunslinger. Mezzem hurled a bolt of radiant light at the wasp, hurting it, but not nearly as bad as she had hoped to. Topsy began ripping into the wasp that had dove at Thecker while Thecker finished off the shadow demon.
Turvy began climbing the wasp that was attacking Mezzem, while the priestess reached out and grabbed it, using the same necrotic spell that she had used to slay behir with. Topsy shot the wasp on her and Thecker with her crossbow, and Thecker's bullets finished it off. The one on Mezzem stabbed into her with its stinger, and the kobold cried out in pain.
A quasit appeared and attacked Thecker, Topsy responded by decapitating the demon. Thecker drew her sword to stab one of the dretches, and stabbed Sajin in the leg instead... the assassin awoke to Thecker's blade in him. Sajin got up and killed the dretch Thecker had been aiming for.
Turvy stabbed his blade into the hellwasps eye, and rode it down to the ground, cleaving its brain in two. Thecker decapitated the final dretch, eliminating the last of the foes. Sajin got sick from the stench of the dretches, and vomited all over the ground; Thecker shoved the assassin into his own sick as soon as he finished.
I awoke to Thecker and Topsy standing over me; they said the battle was over and it was time to keep traveling. I hate missing fights, but at least everyone made it out in one piece. We traveled for another hour before finding an excellent campsite.
**** Eleasias 11
Thecker had gotten some weird amulet from the beholder's stash that did random things when she said "Pandemonium." This morning it started making an obnoxious buzzing noise, so naturally Thecker decided to chase Sajin with it; this lasted for about an hour, and it was kind of surprising that Sajin didn't go mad because of it. When she was done tormenting Sajin we packed up and hit the road again.
As we traveled we heard the familiar yipping of dretches behind us, I hoped we were far enough ahead of that that the demons wouldn't catch up. It was around that time that we realized we had no idea where the Hells we were on the map again. While we consulted it, the yipping began to fade away, as the demons moved farther away from us; within an hour there was nothing but the eerie silence of the Underdark surrounding us again.
At camp that night the twins figured out where exactly we were on the stupid map again.
***** Eleasias 12
All day we heard dretches yipping in the tunnels behind us, but we always seemed to be moving away from us. By the time we stopped to make camp the sounds were gone again.
At camp Turvy and Mezzem were sparring, when she used a spell that put the rock on his feet, holding him in place. He had been flirting with Mezzem and attempting to woo her for some time now, and once she had him stuck, he asked what she would do with him now that she caught him. To my surprise, the priestess responded by throwing herself at him. Turvy had finally succeeded in wooing Mezzem.
***** Eleasias 13
We didn't hear the dretches at all today, which was a welcome change from feeling like we needed to be constantly looking over our shoulders for the demons.
As we traveled, enjoying the peace, Thecker and I spotted some movement up ahead, just before everything went black. I activated Dawnbringer, but she was unable to penetrate the darkness, it was as if the darkness was reflecting back at her blade- odd. Thecker heard something slosh past her just as Mezzem dispelled the darkness around herself, Thecker, and Claire. The darkness surrounding me seemed to evaporate, not just blink out like normal darkness spells do. A large slimy thing was in front of me, it kind of looked like an octopus, it was coming straight at Thecker- I stepped up and slashed it with Dawnbringer. It was two giant rocktopi attacking the party.
I realized that darkness still surrounded the others, as Thecker pulled out a wand and killed the rocktopus with a barrage of magic missiles. Within the other ball of darkness the rocktopus grabbed Sajin with its tentacles. Mezzem removed the other darkness, and we saw another rocktopus lurking behind it, one tentacle gripping Sajin... of course it was Sajin that it had captured. I cut the jackass free with Dawnbringer while Thecker finished it off.
We decided it was close enough to camp time for us to just stay where the rocktopi had ambushed us, plus that allowed us to cut them up and fry them for dinner. The calamari that they produce is just as good as what the octopi on the surface do.
Mezzem realized she had a scroll that had been a parting gift from Kibbik that she had never opened. It was a fucking map of the region. She had been carrying around a fucking map this entire time we had been lost. Wow... just, wow...
***** Eleasias 14
The next morning Mezzem was woken up to a chromatic orb from Topsy, a revenge prank for having a fucking map the entire damned time. She threatened to do it to Sajin too, but apparently the jackass was already awake.
Around the middle of the day I began feeling sluggish and feverish, and I soon learned that the others did too. The calamari must not have been as good as we thought. About an hour later we began hearing the stupid dretches again, and I hoped they wouldn't catch up to us until we felt a bit better; I didn't want to face them feeling this crummy.
The twins found us a lovely cave that was up on a ledge to camp in, and we hoped that we would be high enough up that the stupid dretches would just pass by- if they caught up to us at all. We all felt steadily crummier as the day progressed- except for Kara for some reason. I guess the half-valkyrie has a more hardened stomach than the rest of us.
When my watch ended that night, I always take first watch since I'm fucking old now, as I went to wake Sajin for his turn, I suddenly felt light-headed, and everything went black.
***** Eleasias 15
I woke up super itchy this morning, but it seemed my fever had broken. The others said they were itchy too, except Kara, who felt completely fine. The last thing I remembered was going to wake up Sajin, and somehow I had ended up out of my armor and tucked into my bedroll. Topsy insisted that everyone had their watch last night, but I was the only one who remembered doing one- and Thecker only remembered mine too. She had gotten something from the beholder that made it so she didn't have to sleep anymore, so Thecker was on all the watches now.
Sajin, being the coward that he is, insisted we stay in the cave today instead of traveling, in case the dretches came back. Since we were all feeling fine, other than being itchy, we ignored his idea and packed up to keep moving forward.
About halfway through our travel we reached a cavern that was a hub where several tunnels intersected. Two of the paths had X's written on them in chalk, meaning the twins had gone down them, and found they weren't the way we were supposed to go. We had absolutely no idea which tunnel they were currently scouting down. Sajin began insisting we do some scouting of our own, so he went ahead with Thecker, while Mezzem, Kara, and I stayed behind with the myconids and lizards.
While we waited, I began hearing dretches yipping again, and with so many tunnels intersecting here, there was no way we could tell where they were coming from. Sajin and Thecker emerged from the tunnel they had checked out, just as Topsy came barreling out of one yelling "demons!" Dretches poured out of the tunnel behind her.
Mezzem, Sajin, and I dropped one each with ease as they emerged. We all worked methodically, clearing out all of them fairly quickly, except for one stubborn one, who managed to poison Sajin and I- though Dawnbringer could fix that for me quickly enough. The dretch dropped Sajin before we could kill it. Kara finished it off.
I heard that annoying buzzing sound again, as a hellwasp came out of the tunnel and went straight for Thecker, hurting her badly. She reciprocated the attack, beating the hell out of it with her blade. As she sliced it, suddenly Thecker turned into a humanoid rat... looking just like how the twins do when they shift... What the hell was happening now? The change seemed to give Thecker renewed strength, and she finished the wasp off. Topsy had changed Thecker during sex- it was intentional.
Mezzem was laying unconscious, though it didn't look like she'd been hurt- probably the stupid wasp's doing. A large six-armed, beautiful snake-woman emerged from the tunnel, yelling that we had killed her demons and would be their replacements in death. She took up what appeared to be a defensive stance right in front of me. This was a marilith.
I saw Thecker- still a rat- revive Sajin, as Turvy emerged from a different tunnel. In my head the woman's voice rang out "so you want to cross blades with the master; very well," as she turned and attacked Kara and I- then she scooped Sajin up with her tail. Shit.
Thecker opened fire on the marilith, while Kara, Sajin, and I began slashing at her with our blades. The bitch teleported to the other side of the room and opened a portal, another marilith emerged from it. The new marilith went right for Kara, I was able to disrupt one blow from hitting her with my shield, but the other five connected before she grabbed the champion with her tail. Thecker unleashed a barrage of magic missiles at the first one, while she turned to attack our unconscious cleric. The strike woke Mezzem up, and the demon turned and began cutting into Kara- they really didn't like her. She attempted to grab me, but my feet danced away from her grasp.
The other marilith knocked out Sajin's lizard, but Mezzem stabilized the poor thing before it died completely. One blow from the first one landed on Kara, and I saw her go limp, just as the sword struck me. With Claire and Kara out of the way, the marilith advanced on Topsy and Thecker. Mezzem used a spell that made her voice boom loud enough to heal and revive all of her fallen allies. Sajin, freshly healed, ran away from the marilith.
I stood up and slashed at the snake woman with Dawnbringer, Kara rose and joined me in the attack- the marilith was looking bad. Thecker landed a perfect shot on the marilith and she collapsed, death. As it died, Thecker heard in her head that the marilith would be back for her someday. The other marilith vanished as soon as her comrade was down. At least we had killed one of them. I claimed her rattle, I thought it would be an interesting trophy to bring home.
We realized that the twins had turned all of us, except Kara, into wererats, and confronted them about it. Topsy said that there might be things in Blingdenstone that she would need our loyalty on, and this was her way of ensuring she'd get it. I would have helped her regardless because she is my friend, but I suppose it doesn't matter now. Perhaps I can go to a temple when I get back home to get this removed. Mezzem seemed to take this the hardest, and she went off on Turvy. Apparently she saw it as a major betrayal to their relationship.
Kara decided she wanted to be a wererat, and asked Topsy to bite her. I suppose we'll find out soon if it worked.
Once we were done arguing, we resumed our travels, and after a couple of hours we came upon some ruins- the outskirts of old Blingdenstone. We found a fairly sturdy building to camp in for the night.
That night, as my watch ended, I felt lightheaded again, and something pressed on my mind- I resisted it. Topsy and Turvy had tried to dominate the party, to keep them from going feral, but were unsuccessful with Claire, Kara, and Mezzem. The feral kobold went straight for her lizard, and Kara went for poor Rumpadump. I was so hungry and there was a delicious looking lizard in front of me, I had to eat it. Topsy failed her second attempt to dominate Kara. Thecker and Sajin had kept their heads, and jumped in to help. Thecker shot Kara, and Sajin jumped in to help, while I continued to advance upon the tasty lizard in front of me.
Turvy failed his next try at dominating Mezzem, it seems she's more strong willed than he. Kara knocked Rumpadump unconscious, and the sprout began dying. I wailed on the lizard in front of me, when suddenly I felt something press against my mind, and it cleared; I realized I was attacking poor Clover- my lizard. The boom of Thecker's gun went off, and I saw her shooting Kara, who was standing menacingly over Rumpadump. Sajin smacked her and the half-valkyrie went down. Turvy, desperate to stop Mezzem, managed to bring her to her senses with a kiss. Thecker bent over Rumpadump and revived the poor lad.
***** Eleasias 16
We decided it would be best to stay here for the final night of the full moon, so that we could easily contain ourselves. We found a mostly intact building, and put together a secure corral for the lizards and myconids, in hopes that putting them in a secure building would protect them from us if we went feral again tonight.
As my watch ended, I felt the now familiar sensation of going light headed, right before my bones shifted. I kept my head though this time. Claire was the only one who didn't go feral upon shifting that night.
Thecker, Sajin, Mezzem, and Kara all bolted out of the hut we were in, going straight for the one we'd put the innocents in. Shit. Kara went straight for Clover, and Thecker attacked Mezzem's lizard. I caught up to Sajin, and managed to knock his ass out, I continued on to the hut. Claire had managed to hurt Sajin enough, even though she hadn't been attempting lethal damage, that the Angel of Death appeared before him. He lost the fight with it and began dying.
Turvy managed to dominate Mezzem much quicker this night, and Topsy brought Thecker to her senses right away. Kara, on the other hand, dealt a lethal blow to Clover. Mezzem headed toward the corral, and stopped when she realized Sajin wasn't breathing. All of the components she needed were locked in the corral. I tossed a couple vials of Kazul's acid on the door to the hut, dissolving the damned thing so I could gain entrance. Even in death my chérie was still helping me. I miss her so much.
I saw Kara standing over Clover's unconscious body, and went straight for her, intent on knocking her out. Thecker came up behind Kara and grabbed on to her, holding her still so I could hit her better- it was odd watching the gnome hold on to the half-valkyrie that was twice her size. Mezzem came running in, grabbed something, stabilized Clover, and bolted back out of the hut. Kara wrenched herself free of Thecker's grasp, but I struck her again before she could do anything more; Thecker began punching her until she fell unconscious.
Mezzem revived Sajin just in time, had she been a couple of seconds later he would have bled out.
Kazul, the Copper Dragonborn Shadow Monk of Bahamut- skull caved in by another rock from Fidget
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube and a great warrior- stayed with the kobolds
Friendly fire overall: 112
Party members killed: 18
Overall party members lost: 24
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.
***** Eleasias 9, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
As we neared the end of our travels today, the twins reported a weird sign in the tunnel ahead of us. They thought it was written in drow, but none of us understood drow s we had no way to translate it. Unfortunately there was no other way for us to go in this tunnel at the moment, so we had no choice but to press forward and hope the sign wasn't warning of a trap or something.
A few minutes later, Thecker said she heard some yips, howls, and grunts coming from up ahead in the tunnel, and decided to go investigate. Of course we wouldn't let Thecker go alone, so we left Kara with the lizards and myconids, and went to investigate.
We walked into a cavern that was unnaturally dark, but Thecker insisted we use her puny light spell before I activated Dawnbringer. We saw some shadows move briefly before the light dimmed- then I got to activate my friend, bathing the cavern in her brilliant sunlight. Thecker spotted a shadow demon and opened fire on it, while another one swiped its arm through me- my mind screamed out in pain. The demon Thecker was shooting possessed her. As I sliced through the demon in front of me, making it cry out in pain as pieces of it fell off in a puff of steam, I realized the yipping was getting closer- whatever it was, it was likely attracted by Thecker's gunfire.
Mezzem's spirit blade appeared before me and hacked out more chunks of the demon, while Thecker turned her gun on Topsy- shit, another damned possession. Four dretches came barreling into the cavern, and Sajin turned to attack them. I saw a billow of shadow erupt from Thecker as she kicked the demon out of her body. The shadow in front of me rushed towards me, likely intent on possessing me, and I cleaved through it with Dawnbringer, it vanished in a cloud of steam and howl of rage.
I heard a buzzing noise from above me, it made my mind foggy, and I couldn't think. Claire and Sajin fell unconscious from the buzzing emitted by hellwasps. One of the wasps dove toward Mezzem, and missed her completely. The demon Thecker had expelled turned and attacked her as soon as it was out, while another hellwasp dove toward the gunslinger. Mezzem hurled a bolt of radiant light at the wasp, hurting it, but not nearly as bad as she had hoped to. Topsy began ripping into the wasp that had dove at Thecker while Thecker finished off the shadow demon.
Turvy began climbing the wasp that was attacking Mezzem, while the priestess reached out and grabbed it, using the same necrotic spell that she had used to slay behir with. Topsy shot the wasp on her and Thecker with her crossbow, and Thecker's bullets finished it off. The one on Mezzem stabbed into her with its stinger, and the kobold cried out in pain.
A quasit appeared and attacked Thecker, Topsy responded by decapitating the demon. Thecker drew her sword to stab one of the dretches, and stabbed Sajin in the leg instead... the assassin awoke to Thecker's blade in him. Sajin got up and killed the dretch Thecker had been aiming for.
Turvy stabbed his blade into the hellwasps eye, and rode it down to the ground, cleaving its brain in two. Thecker decapitated the final dretch, eliminating the last of the foes. Sajin got sick from the stench of the dretches, and vomited all over the ground; Thecker shoved the assassin into his own sick as soon as he finished.
I awoke to Thecker and Topsy standing over me; they said the battle was over and it was time to keep traveling. I hate missing fights, but at least everyone made it out in one piece. We traveled for another hour before finding an excellent campsite.
**** Eleasias 11
Thecker had gotten some weird amulet from the beholder's stash that did random things when she said "Pandemonium." This morning it started making an obnoxious buzzing noise, so naturally Thecker decided to chase Sajin with it; this lasted for about an hour, and it was kind of surprising that Sajin didn't go mad because of it. When she was done tormenting Sajin we packed up and hit the road again.
As we traveled we heard the familiar yipping of dretches behind us, I hoped we were far enough ahead of that that the demons wouldn't catch up. It was around that time that we realized we had no idea where the Hells we were on the map again. While we consulted it, the yipping began to fade away, as the demons moved farther away from us; within an hour there was nothing but the eerie silence of the Underdark surrounding us again.
At camp that night the twins figured out where exactly we were on the stupid map again.
***** Eleasias 12
All day we heard dretches yipping in the tunnels behind us, but we always seemed to be moving away from us. By the time we stopped to make camp the sounds were gone again.
At camp Turvy and Mezzem were sparring, when she used a spell that put the rock on his feet, holding him in place. He had been flirting with Mezzem and attempting to woo her for some time now, and once she had him stuck, he asked what she would do with him now that she caught him. To my surprise, the priestess responded by throwing herself at him. Turvy had finally succeeded in wooing Mezzem.
***** Eleasias 13
We didn't hear the dretches at all today, which was a welcome change from feeling like we needed to be constantly looking over our shoulders for the demons.
As we traveled, enjoying the peace, Thecker and I spotted some movement up ahead, just before everything went black. I activated Dawnbringer, but she was unable to penetrate the darkness, it was as if the darkness was reflecting back at her blade- odd. Thecker heard something slosh past her just as Mezzem dispelled the darkness around herself, Thecker, and Claire. The darkness surrounding me seemed to evaporate, not just blink out like normal darkness spells do. A large slimy thing was in front of me, it kind of looked like an octopus, it was coming straight at Thecker- I stepped up and slashed it with Dawnbringer. It was two giant rocktopi attacking the party.
I realized that darkness still surrounded the others, as Thecker pulled out a wand and killed the rocktopus with a barrage of magic missiles. Within the other ball of darkness the rocktopus grabbed Sajin with its tentacles. Mezzem removed the other darkness, and we saw another rocktopus lurking behind it, one tentacle gripping Sajin... of course it was Sajin that it had captured. I cut the jackass free with Dawnbringer while Thecker finished it off.
We decided it was close enough to camp time for us to just stay where the rocktopi had ambushed us, plus that allowed us to cut them up and fry them for dinner. The calamari that they produce is just as good as what the octopi on the surface do.
Mezzem realized she had a scroll that had been a parting gift from Kibbik that she had never opened. It was a fucking map of the region. She had been carrying around a fucking map this entire time we had been lost. Wow... just, wow...
***** Eleasias 14
The next morning Mezzem was woken up to a chromatic orb from Topsy, a revenge prank for having a fucking map the entire damned time. She threatened to do it to Sajin too, but apparently the jackass was already awake.
Around the middle of the day I began feeling sluggish and feverish, and I soon learned that the others did too. The calamari must not have been as good as we thought. About an hour later we began hearing the stupid dretches again, and I hoped they wouldn't catch up to us until we felt a bit better; I didn't want to face them feeling this crummy.
The twins found us a lovely cave that was up on a ledge to camp in, and we hoped that we would be high enough up that the stupid dretches would just pass by- if they caught up to us at all. We all felt steadily crummier as the day progressed- except for Kara for some reason. I guess the half-valkyrie has a more hardened stomach than the rest of us.
When my watch ended that night, I always take first watch since I'm fucking old now, as I went to wake Sajin for his turn, I suddenly felt light-headed, and everything went black.
***** Eleasias 15
I woke up super itchy this morning, but it seemed my fever had broken. The others said they were itchy too, except Kara, who felt completely fine. The last thing I remembered was going to wake up Sajin, and somehow I had ended up out of my armor and tucked into my bedroll. Topsy insisted that everyone had their watch last night, but I was the only one who remembered doing one- and Thecker only remembered mine too. She had gotten something from the beholder that made it so she didn't have to sleep anymore, so Thecker was on all the watches now.
Sajin, being the coward that he is, insisted we stay in the cave today instead of traveling, in case the dretches came back. Since we were all feeling fine, other than being itchy, we ignored his idea and packed up to keep moving forward.
About halfway through our travel we reached a cavern that was a hub where several tunnels intersected. Two of the paths had X's written on them in chalk, meaning the twins had gone down them, and found they weren't the way we were supposed to go. We had absolutely no idea which tunnel they were currently scouting down. Sajin began insisting we do some scouting of our own, so he went ahead with Thecker, while Mezzem, Kara, and I stayed behind with the myconids and lizards.
While we waited, I began hearing dretches yipping again, and with so many tunnels intersecting here, there was no way we could tell where they were coming from. Sajin and Thecker emerged from the tunnel they had checked out, just as Topsy came barreling out of one yelling "demons!" Dretches poured out of the tunnel behind her.
Mezzem, Sajin, and I dropped one each with ease as they emerged. We all worked methodically, clearing out all of them fairly quickly, except for one stubborn one, who managed to poison Sajin and I- though Dawnbringer could fix that for me quickly enough. The dretch dropped Sajin before we could kill it. Kara finished it off.
I heard that annoying buzzing sound again, as a hellwasp came out of the tunnel and went straight for Thecker, hurting her badly. She reciprocated the attack, beating the hell out of it with her blade. As she sliced it, suddenly Thecker turned into a humanoid rat... looking just like how the twins do when they shift... What the hell was happening now? The change seemed to give Thecker renewed strength, and she finished the wasp off. Topsy had changed Thecker during sex- it was intentional.
Mezzem was laying unconscious, though it didn't look like she'd been hurt- probably the stupid wasp's doing. A large six-armed, beautiful snake-woman emerged from the tunnel, yelling that we had killed her demons and would be their replacements in death. She took up what appeared to be a defensive stance right in front of me. This was a marilith.
I saw Thecker- still a rat- revive Sajin, as Turvy emerged from a different tunnel. In my head the woman's voice rang out "so you want to cross blades with the master; very well," as she turned and attacked Kara and I- then she scooped Sajin up with her tail. Shit.
Thecker opened fire on the marilith, while Kara, Sajin, and I began slashing at her with our blades. The bitch teleported to the other side of the room and opened a portal, another marilith emerged from it. The new marilith went right for Kara, I was able to disrupt one blow from hitting her with my shield, but the other five connected before she grabbed the champion with her tail. Thecker unleashed a barrage of magic missiles at the first one, while she turned to attack our unconscious cleric. The strike woke Mezzem up, and the demon turned and began cutting into Kara- they really didn't like her. She attempted to grab me, but my feet danced away from her grasp.
The other marilith knocked out Sajin's lizard, but Mezzem stabilized the poor thing before it died completely. One blow from the first one landed on Kara, and I saw her go limp, just as the sword struck me. With Claire and Kara out of the way, the marilith advanced on Topsy and Thecker. Mezzem used a spell that made her voice boom loud enough to heal and revive all of her fallen allies. Sajin, freshly healed, ran away from the marilith.
I stood up and slashed at the snake woman with Dawnbringer, Kara rose and joined me in the attack- the marilith was looking bad. Thecker landed a perfect shot on the marilith and she collapsed, death. As it died, Thecker heard in her head that the marilith would be back for her someday. The other marilith vanished as soon as her comrade was down. At least we had killed one of them. I claimed her rattle, I thought it would be an interesting trophy to bring home.
We realized that the twins had turned all of us, except Kara, into wererats, and confronted them about it. Topsy said that there might be things in Blingdenstone that she would need our loyalty on, and this was her way of ensuring she'd get it. I would have helped her regardless because she is my friend, but I suppose it doesn't matter now. Perhaps I can go to a temple when I get back home to get this removed. Mezzem seemed to take this the hardest, and she went off on Turvy. Apparently she saw it as a major betrayal to their relationship.
Kara decided she wanted to be a wererat, and asked Topsy to bite her. I suppose we'll find out soon if it worked.
Once we were done arguing, we resumed our travels, and after a couple of hours we came upon some ruins- the outskirts of old Blingdenstone. We found a fairly sturdy building to camp in for the night.
That night, as my watch ended, I felt lightheaded again, and something pressed on my mind- I resisted it. Topsy and Turvy had tried to dominate the party, to keep them from going feral, but were unsuccessful with Claire, Kara, and Mezzem. The feral kobold went straight for her lizard, and Kara went for poor Rumpadump. I was so hungry and there was a delicious looking lizard in front of me, I had to eat it. Topsy failed her second attempt to dominate Kara. Thecker and Sajin had kept their heads, and jumped in to help. Thecker shot Kara, and Sajin jumped in to help, while I continued to advance upon the tasty lizard in front of me.
Turvy failed his next try at dominating Mezzem, it seems she's more strong willed than he. Kara knocked Rumpadump unconscious, and the sprout began dying. I wailed on the lizard in front of me, when suddenly I felt something press against my mind, and it cleared; I realized I was attacking poor Clover- my lizard. The boom of Thecker's gun went off, and I saw her shooting Kara, who was standing menacingly over Rumpadump. Sajin smacked her and the half-valkyrie went down. Turvy, desperate to stop Mezzem, managed to bring her to her senses with a kiss. Thecker bent over Rumpadump and revived the poor lad.
***** Eleasias 16
We decided it would be best to stay here for the final night of the full moon, so that we could easily contain ourselves. We found a mostly intact building, and put together a secure corral for the lizards and myconids, in hopes that putting them in a secure building would protect them from us if we went feral again tonight.
As my watch ended, I felt the now familiar sensation of going light headed, right before my bones shifted. I kept my head though this time. Claire was the only one who didn't go feral upon shifting that night.
Thecker, Sajin, Mezzem, and Kara all bolted out of the hut we were in, going straight for the one we'd put the innocents in. Shit. Kara went straight for Clover, and Thecker attacked Mezzem's lizard. I caught up to Sajin, and managed to knock his ass out, I continued on to the hut. Claire had managed to hurt Sajin enough, even though she hadn't been attempting lethal damage, that the Angel of Death appeared before him. He lost the fight with it and began dying.
Turvy managed to dominate Mezzem much quicker this night, and Topsy brought Thecker to her senses right away. Kara, on the other hand, dealt a lethal blow to Clover. Mezzem headed toward the corral, and stopped when she realized Sajin wasn't breathing. All of the components she needed were locked in the corral. I tossed a couple vials of Kazul's acid on the door to the hut, dissolving the damned thing so I could gain entrance. Even in death my chérie was still helping me. I miss her so much.
I saw Kara standing over Clover's unconscious body, and went straight for her, intent on knocking her out. Thecker came up behind Kara and grabbed on to her, holding her still so I could hit her better- it was odd watching the gnome hold on to the half-valkyrie that was twice her size. Mezzem came running in, grabbed something, stabilized Clover, and bolted back out of the hut. Kara wrenched herself free of Thecker's grasp, but I struck her again before she could do anything more; Thecker began punching her until she fell unconscious.
Mezzem revived Sajin just in time, had she been a couple of seconds later he would have bled out.
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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.
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