Blingdenstone, the City of Speaking Stones Part 4:
Rockblight District: Medusa's Lair
Dramatis Personae:
Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Wererat Gunslinger and Inquisitor of Bahamut
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Wererat Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights
Hans, Claire's Basalt Wolf Figurine
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Wererat Assassin who can't sneak
Mezzem, the Kobold Wererat Priestess of Bahamut
Natali, the Tiger Therinthrope Beastmaster
Yklwa, Tali's Deinonychus animal companion
Rosebud Goldenrod Petunia, the Halfling/Shetland Pony "Centaur" Berserker; who sees magic where there is none
Lily Trillium Petunia, the Green Dragonborn Lore Bard, and Rosebud's "Momma"
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Wererat Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights
Hans, Claire's Basalt Wolf Figurine
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Wererat Assassin who can't sneak
Mezzem, the Kobold Wererat Priestess of Bahamut
Natali, the Tiger Therinthrope Beastmaster
Yklwa, Tali's Deinonychus animal companion
Rosebud Goldenrod Petunia, the Halfling/Shetland Pony "Centaur" Berserker; who sees magic where there is none
Lily Trillium Petunia, the Green Dragonborn Lore Bard, and Rosebud's "Momma"
Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins
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- stayed with the kobolds
Kara Reginleif, the Half-Valkyrie Wererat Champion from the Zhentarim who compulsively keeps everything she finds- vorpaled to pieces by demon Easter bunnies
Kazul, the Copper Dragonborn Shadow Monk of Bahamut- skull caved in by another rock from Fidget
Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube- stayed with the kobolds
Kara Reginleif, the Half-Valkyrie Wererat Champion from the Zhentarim who compulsively keeps everything she finds- vorpaled to pieces by demon Easter bunnies
Stool, the Myconid Child- unwilling dance partner to drunk stone giant
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child- frozen by demon Easter bunny
Friendly fire overall: 140
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.
***** Eleint 3, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
Before we could go after medusa we had to clear out the cave in in the tunnel out, which would likely alert her that we were coming; but we had already long since lost the element of surprise with her. First Thecker made the cave in worse, and so it took a little longer than it should have to get everything cleared away. When we finally emerged from the tunnel, Vort's statue was gone... not good.
We went to the chamber that Vort had told us the medusa was in, and it was not what I had expected. "The adornments in this chamber would be more at home in a drow city. Spider-themed tapestries, fine zurkhwood furniture, and racks of expensive clothing filled the area."* There were two wererat statues flanking the doorway to this chamber, along with two drider statues and Vort... that answered that question. "At the center of the chamber, a female drow sat upon a zurkhwood throne. She stood, eyes closed and arms crossed as if in meditation or prayer. The her white hair writhed, and I could see it is formed of pale, hissing snakes."* Her hair wasn't the only snake feature upon her, her cloak was made of snakes and she held a scourge with snakes on it. This was just fucking wonderful. Of course it was a drow medusa. She saw us and began gliding toward us, as the statues began to animate. Loyal Torm, this was going to be a difficult fight.
Thecker attempted to use her judgement on the medusa, an ability Bahamut granted her that never works, and began turning to stone for her efforts. Medusa then sank into the ground and appeared right in front of me, but I resisted her attempt to stone me. Instead, the bitch's hair attacked me, and she followed up with her scourge. I swung back at her and missed. Oy, this was going to be difficult, especially since these stupid crystal goggles are obscuring my vision. The driders swarmed Sajin, and Vort attacked Mezzem- Turvy crumbled him, since nobody ever gets to hurt Mezzem. Topsy used something that freed Thecker from the stone that was beginning to harden on her flesh.
I was locked in battle with the medusa, her serpents pursuing me as I frantically sliced back at them, Shoving her with my shield wasn't doing much, since those damned snakes kept hitting me as she moved. I saw a couple of arrows sink into the bitch's flesh- Tali had my back. As Thecker smashed one of the drow statues, the stairwell went dark, and I was hit with a flurry of bites from the fucking snakes. Mezzem heard in the darkness a healing prayer being whispered by the medusa. I activated my driftglobe to get rid of the stupid darkness- I wish Dawnbringer were here, she would have prevented the spell from even happening- and discovered medusa was gone. Dammit. Turvy cried out that he couldn't see... oops
I felt a warm light wash over me as my flesh began to knit together- Mezzem was healing us. A drider and a drow surrounded Thecker and began hitting her pretty hard, so Topsy went after the drow. The other drider fell upon Sajin and started wailing on him. Medusa reappeared and I heard a voice telling me to remove my eye ware and look at her, but I was able to resist. Tali and Mezzem were also hit with them same compulsion, and Mezzem was the only one who removed her eye ware, but she didn't turn to stone. Angrily, medusa turned to Tali and fucked her up really badly- my friend was paralyzed, but seemed to break the hold right away. I hurled my javelin at the bitch, and I think it did some damage to her.
The driders kept beating on Thecker, and there didn't seem to be any avenue for escape for her. Topsy finished off the final drow statue, and I felt a pain in my side- Turvy had accidentally stabbed me- he was still blind. Thecker opened fire on the the drider, taking a few chunks off of it. Medusa tried again to get Mezzem, Tali, and I to take off our eye ware and look at her- thankfully we were all able to shrug that command off. Enraged by her inability to control us, medusa lashed out at Tali, hurting her badly, before vanishing again. I charged the drider and sliced a good chunk of it off with my Flame Tongue. Tali restored Turvy's sight, and Mezzem cast something at the drider that didn't even touch it- as if it was immune to magic.
Sajin went down from one of the driders as I dusted the one who had been focused on Thecker. Thecker turned and began shooting at the drider who was standing over the unconscious Sajin. Medusa appeared right behind Thecker, and I whirled on her, once again stabbing into her ancient flesh. Tali shot at medusa while Mezzem let out another burst of healing magic at us. The drider apparently really didn't like Sajin, and it kept pounding on him even though he was down. Medusa vanished again- that was getting really annoying.
We all converged on the drider that was beating Sajin to a bloody pulp, since medusa was nowhere to be seen. A wererat statue animated and turned on Tali, as a spell came out of nowhere and badly injured Mezzem. The damned drider kept on Sajin, even though it was surrounded by the rest of us. Shit. A snake spat at Mezzem and she collapsed with a grunt of pain- the scales it touched turned blackened and looked burned; Tali rushed to her side and revived her. As Mezzem rose a burst of healing washed over all of us, but she was too late to help Sajin- he was dead and turning to stone. I heard the grinding of stone and saw that Turvy was also turning. Shit. Mezzem had already used the magical energy required to undo that fixing Sajin's stupid ribs.
Medusa appeared out of nowhere, right next to Thecker, swiping at her, but missing. I instantly moved up to attack medusa, I was determined to keep her from hurting anymore of my friends. Tali and Mezzem kept working at the drider, while Thecker and I worked at the bitch. Medusa's snakes lashed out at me and missed, then the bitch stepped into the fucking wall, reappearing right in front of me and looking right into my eyes. I had removed the stupid crystal goggles because they were making it hard for me to hit anything, so I decided to just take the damn risk. A decision I was now regretting as I felt my body go rigid.
Snakes lashed out at Mezzem and the priestess went down again... this wasn't going very well. As I shook off the paralysis that would have stoned me, Tali rushed to Mezzem's side and revived her again. The drider turned to Thecker and I responded in turn with a slash of my own. Topsy slipped in and finished it off, all that remained was the damn medusa. Tali began turning to stone as medusa bent over the statue of Sajin and kissed him... what in the Nine Hells? Sajin then rose- fuck, now we're going to have to kill him.
The snakes lashed out at Turvy, while Sajin started for Topsy. I felt myself turning to stone again, as Thecker stepped up to medusa's flank and attacked her- the bitch vanished again. Thecker suddenly crumbled to the ground- medusa must be hiding in the stone again. I shook off the stone again and Tali and I went for Formerly Sajin- since he was moving toward our unconscious Thecker and I had to protect her. Mezzem rushed the Thecker's aid, and discovered her healing abilities weren't working on Thecker- medusa may have done something beyond what Bahamut normally grants Mezzem for healing.
Sajin's soul left his body, and as he soared away he could see his friends still fighting the medusa, as well as fighting the statue his body had become.
Sajin slashed at me, missing, and I made sure to keep myself between him and Thecker. I slashed at him and shoved him with my shield, hoping to just keep him at bay- but I accidentally smashed him instead. Oops? Behind me Thecker turned to stone too, I really hoped she didn't get animated. Mezzem swiped at medusa with her blade as the bitch pressed her lips to Thecker. As Formerly Thecker rose, Mezzem called upon the power of Bahamut and planted a kiss of her own on Thecker. She was still animated, but she wasn't under the medusa's control, and that's what mattered. I whirled around and cleaved medusa's head and part of her shoulder off. We had succeeded, but at a loss. I quickly scooped up her head and shoved it in a bag.
Both twins and Thecker had been turned to stone, so Mezzem dropped at Turvy's feet- again- and passed out to regain the magical energy she'd used fixing stupid Sajin's ribs. The rest of us explored the chamber while she was out, and in the process Tali's arm turned gray and yucky. When Mezzem rose eight hours later to revive Turvy we had her heal Tali's arm too. She then went back to sleep to gain the energy to revived Topsy. During that eight hours, my arm got yucky like Tali's had, so after Mezzem fixed Topsy, we had her fix me.
***** Eleint 4
Mezzem rose again to revive Thecker, who announced she was retiring once we were done here. Apparently spending almost an entire day as a gollem was the last straw for her. Since we were down a man, we decided it would be best for Mezzem to revive one of the other victims on display in the chamber. We were all very curious about this quasi-centaur guy, who had a magic cock ring and breasts with nipple rings. He looked like a cross between a shaggy pony and a halfling... fucking weird. Down Mezzem went again to get us one more man.
When this guy was revived, he was exuberant little boy named Rosebud, who had been turned by the medusa over 100 years ago. We removed his fake breasts, but the nipple rings stayed behind in his actual nipples, when we tried to remove them they caused him too much pain. We knocked him out with a bottle of Gresyl wine to remove the cock ring and piercings, so that he could actually do something. Once Rosebud had been sorted out, he asked us to revive his Momma, a dragonborn statue that was also in the room. We didn't think we should wait any longer to take care of the Steadfast Stone, so we told him if he helped us, Mezzem would revive his Momma afterwards.
We were right about not having much time, the ground began to rumble and a blue glow emanated from the temple. We had to get it cleansed now. Gurnik had told us there would be three guardians we had to defeat in order to cleanse it, I hoped that odd centaur would be useful to our cause. Muttering a quick prayer to Lord Fury, I raced into the temple with my friends.
"The floor of this cavern is worn smooth, but the walls are rough. A great menhir carved from a stalagmite stands in the center of the chamber, pockmarked with dozens of empty sockets that might have once held gems."* Cracks were forming in the floor, and the glow seemed to be coming from those. Mezzem rushed to the altar and activated the ruby that would cleanse the site. Rosebud cried "for Momma!" and began a vicious assault on one of the cracks in the floor... "As the ruby began to glow against the menhir, the walls began to rumble. Part of one wall shifted, detached, and charged toward"* Mezzem.
It was a madhouse, Thecker opened fire on it, Rosebud used his peculiar battle cry and charged it, I ran up to it and stabbed, and Tali's arrows dusted it. Another elemental appeared, and Mezzem summoned her spirit blade, which didn't seem to do anything to it- the elemental looked different, perhaps this was the one we just beat, only cleansed.
The second guardian appeared and charged us, Rosebud and I took up positions on opposite sides of it. The other one was still not moving- I think my theory about it is right. Thecker began shooting the one who was fighting us, while Rosebud and I began hacking away at it. Turvy slipped in and landed the killing blow- another smaller elemental appeared near the altar.
The final guardian appeared next to Tali, she slashed at it and missed, but it hit back, much harder. I ran at it and sliced with my Rod, and nothing happened. It hit Tali and I and went straight for the altar, likely intending to stop the hallow ritual. Thecker called on her abilities from Bahamut and judged the elemental- and it actually worked! While Tali and I made our way over to the group, the twins and Thecker ripped into the guardian, and finished it off before we got there.
A white light poured from the altar as the cracks in the ground closed, and we could feel the insidious presence of Ogremoch's Bane being blown away. The temple now felt peaceful.
We returned to the medusa's chamber so Mezzem could rest and revive Rosebud's Momma. Lily was a peculiar dragonborn, but I haven't spent much time around them, so he could be perfectly normal, and just strange to me because he's so different from my beloved. We invited them to join us, Rosebud had been very helpful, and Lily really just wanted more stories.
When we arrived back at the gates, they opened right away, and there was an elemental nearby. We gave Sark the medusa's head, and he told us Gurnik had been looking for us. Gurnik thanked us for banishing Ogremoch's Bane, and handed each of us a diamond to hold to our foreheads. He chanted a prayer and we were all blessed by Smoothhands. Sajin was offered the chance to return to life, but instead decided to have the twins and Thecker officially recognized as members of the Silvertongue family, giving them noble rank.
Quests in Blingdenstone:
Discover where the ooze infestation is coming from
Parley with, or exterminate, the Goldwhiskers
Discover where the ooze infestation is coming from
Parley with, or exterminate, the Goldwhiskers
Cleanse the Steadfast Stone, a temple that has been corrupted by Ogremoch's Bane
Kill medusa and bring Sark her head
tell Yanthal Coaxrock the location of Entemoch's Boon told Nomi since Yanthal was absent
destroy Vazuk they took him out right away
recover Udhask's remains gathered his remains, still need to lay Udhask to rest in the catacombs
Harvest samples of elementals corrupted by Ogremoch's Bane and return them to Nomi
Try to banish Ogremoch's Bane Banished
Friendly fire overall: 140
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.
***** Eleint 3, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
Before we could go after medusa we had to clear out the cave in in the tunnel out, which would likely alert her that we were coming; but we had already long since lost the element of surprise with her. First Thecker made the cave in worse, and so it took a little longer than it should have to get everything cleared away. When we finally emerged from the tunnel, Vort's statue was gone... not good.
We went to the chamber that Vort had told us the medusa was in, and it was not what I had expected. "The adornments in this chamber would be more at home in a drow city. Spider-themed tapestries, fine zurkhwood furniture, and racks of expensive clothing filled the area."* There were two wererat statues flanking the doorway to this chamber, along with two drider statues and Vort... that answered that question. "At the center of the chamber, a female drow sat upon a zurkhwood throne. She stood, eyes closed and arms crossed as if in meditation or prayer. The her white hair writhed, and I could see it is formed of pale, hissing snakes."* Her hair wasn't the only snake feature upon her, her cloak was made of snakes and she held a scourge with snakes on it. This was just fucking wonderful. Of course it was a drow medusa. She saw us and began gliding toward us, as the statues began to animate. Loyal Torm, this was going to be a difficult fight.
Thecker attempted to use her judgement on the medusa, an ability Bahamut granted her that never works, and began turning to stone for her efforts. Medusa then sank into the ground and appeared right in front of me, but I resisted her attempt to stone me. Instead, the bitch's hair attacked me, and she followed up with her scourge. I swung back at her and missed. Oy, this was going to be difficult, especially since these stupid crystal goggles are obscuring my vision. The driders swarmed Sajin, and Vort attacked Mezzem- Turvy crumbled him, since nobody ever gets to hurt Mezzem. Topsy used something that freed Thecker from the stone that was beginning to harden on her flesh.
I was locked in battle with the medusa, her serpents pursuing me as I frantically sliced back at them, Shoving her with my shield wasn't doing much, since those damned snakes kept hitting me as she moved. I saw a couple of arrows sink into the bitch's flesh- Tali had my back. As Thecker smashed one of the drow statues, the stairwell went dark, and I was hit with a flurry of bites from the fucking snakes. Mezzem heard in the darkness a healing prayer being whispered by the medusa. I activated my driftglobe to get rid of the stupid darkness- I wish Dawnbringer were here, she would have prevented the spell from even happening- and discovered medusa was gone. Dammit. Turvy cried out that he couldn't see... oops
I felt a warm light wash over me as my flesh began to knit together- Mezzem was healing us. A drider and a drow surrounded Thecker and began hitting her pretty hard, so Topsy went after the drow. The other drider fell upon Sajin and started wailing on him. Medusa reappeared and I heard a voice telling me to remove my eye ware and look at her, but I was able to resist. Tali and Mezzem were also hit with them same compulsion, and Mezzem was the only one who removed her eye ware, but she didn't turn to stone. Angrily, medusa turned to Tali and fucked her up really badly- my friend was paralyzed, but seemed to break the hold right away. I hurled my javelin at the bitch, and I think it did some damage to her.
The driders kept beating on Thecker, and there didn't seem to be any avenue for escape for her. Topsy finished off the final drow statue, and I felt a pain in my side- Turvy had accidentally stabbed me- he was still blind. Thecker opened fire on the the drider, taking a few chunks off of it. Medusa tried again to get Mezzem, Tali, and I to take off our eye ware and look at her- thankfully we were all able to shrug that command off. Enraged by her inability to control us, medusa lashed out at Tali, hurting her badly, before vanishing again. I charged the drider and sliced a good chunk of it off with my Flame Tongue. Tali restored Turvy's sight, and Mezzem cast something at the drider that didn't even touch it- as if it was immune to magic.
Sajin went down from one of the driders as I dusted the one who had been focused on Thecker. Thecker turned and began shooting at the drider who was standing over the unconscious Sajin. Medusa appeared right behind Thecker, and I whirled on her, once again stabbing into her ancient flesh. Tali shot at medusa while Mezzem let out another burst of healing magic at us. The drider apparently really didn't like Sajin, and it kept pounding on him even though he was down. Medusa vanished again- that was getting really annoying.
We all converged on the drider that was beating Sajin to a bloody pulp, since medusa was nowhere to be seen. A wererat statue animated and turned on Tali, as a spell came out of nowhere and badly injured Mezzem. The damned drider kept on Sajin, even though it was surrounded by the rest of us. Shit. A snake spat at Mezzem and she collapsed with a grunt of pain- the scales it touched turned blackened and looked burned; Tali rushed to her side and revived her. As Mezzem rose a burst of healing washed over all of us, but she was too late to help Sajin- he was dead and turning to stone. I heard the grinding of stone and saw that Turvy was also turning. Shit. Mezzem had already used the magical energy required to undo that fixing Sajin's stupid ribs.
Medusa appeared out of nowhere, right next to Thecker, swiping at her, but missing. I instantly moved up to attack medusa, I was determined to keep her from hurting anymore of my friends. Tali and Mezzem kept working at the drider, while Thecker and I worked at the bitch. Medusa's snakes lashed out at me and missed, then the bitch stepped into the fucking wall, reappearing right in front of me and looking right into my eyes. I had removed the stupid crystal goggles because they were making it hard for me to hit anything, so I decided to just take the damn risk. A decision I was now regretting as I felt my body go rigid.
Snakes lashed out at Mezzem and the priestess went down again... this wasn't going very well. As I shook off the paralysis that would have stoned me, Tali rushed to Mezzem's side and revived her again. The drider turned to Thecker and I responded in turn with a slash of my own. Topsy slipped in and finished it off, all that remained was the damn medusa. Tali began turning to stone as medusa bent over the statue of Sajin and kissed him... what in the Nine Hells? Sajin then rose- fuck, now we're going to have to kill him.
The snakes lashed out at Turvy, while Sajin started for Topsy. I felt myself turning to stone again, as Thecker stepped up to medusa's flank and attacked her- the bitch vanished again. Thecker suddenly crumbled to the ground- medusa must be hiding in the stone again. I shook off the stone again and Tali and I went for Formerly Sajin- since he was moving toward our unconscious Thecker and I had to protect her. Mezzem rushed the Thecker's aid, and discovered her healing abilities weren't working on Thecker- medusa may have done something beyond what Bahamut normally grants Mezzem for healing.
Sajin's soul left his body, and as he soared away he could see his friends still fighting the medusa, as well as fighting the statue his body had become.
Sajin slashed at me, missing, and I made sure to keep myself between him and Thecker. I slashed at him and shoved him with my shield, hoping to just keep him at bay- but I accidentally smashed him instead. Oops? Behind me Thecker turned to stone too, I really hoped she didn't get animated. Mezzem swiped at medusa with her blade as the bitch pressed her lips to Thecker. As Formerly Thecker rose, Mezzem called upon the power of Bahamut and planted a kiss of her own on Thecker. She was still animated, but she wasn't under the medusa's control, and that's what mattered. I whirled around and cleaved medusa's head and part of her shoulder off. We had succeeded, but at a loss. I quickly scooped up her head and shoved it in a bag.
Both twins and Thecker had been turned to stone, so Mezzem dropped at Turvy's feet- again- and passed out to regain the magical energy she'd used fixing stupid Sajin's ribs. The rest of us explored the chamber while she was out, and in the process Tali's arm turned gray and yucky. When Mezzem rose eight hours later to revive Turvy we had her heal Tali's arm too. She then went back to sleep to gain the energy to revived Topsy. During that eight hours, my arm got yucky like Tali's had, so after Mezzem fixed Topsy, we had her fix me.
***** Eleint 4
Mezzem rose again to revive Thecker, who announced she was retiring once we were done here. Apparently spending almost an entire day as a gollem was the last straw for her. Since we were down a man, we decided it would be best for Mezzem to revive one of the other victims on display in the chamber. We were all very curious about this quasi-centaur guy, who had a magic cock ring and breasts with nipple rings. He looked like a cross between a shaggy pony and a halfling... fucking weird. Down Mezzem went again to get us one more man.
When this guy was revived, he was exuberant little boy named Rosebud, who had been turned by the medusa over 100 years ago. We removed his fake breasts, but the nipple rings stayed behind in his actual nipples, when we tried to remove them they caused him too much pain. We knocked him out with a bottle of Gresyl wine to remove the cock ring and piercings, so that he could actually do something. Once Rosebud had been sorted out, he asked us to revive his Momma, a dragonborn statue that was also in the room. We didn't think we should wait any longer to take care of the Steadfast Stone, so we told him if he helped us, Mezzem would revive his Momma afterwards.
We were right about not having much time, the ground began to rumble and a blue glow emanated from the temple. We had to get it cleansed now. Gurnik had told us there would be three guardians we had to defeat in order to cleanse it, I hoped that odd centaur would be useful to our cause. Muttering a quick prayer to Lord Fury, I raced into the temple with my friends.
"The floor of this cavern is worn smooth, but the walls are rough. A great menhir carved from a stalagmite stands in the center of the chamber, pockmarked with dozens of empty sockets that might have once held gems."* Cracks were forming in the floor, and the glow seemed to be coming from those. Mezzem rushed to the altar and activated the ruby that would cleanse the site. Rosebud cried "for Momma!" and began a vicious assault on one of the cracks in the floor... "As the ruby began to glow against the menhir, the walls began to rumble. Part of one wall shifted, detached, and charged toward"* Mezzem.
It was a madhouse, Thecker opened fire on it, Rosebud used his peculiar battle cry and charged it, I ran up to it and stabbed, and Tali's arrows dusted it. Another elemental appeared, and Mezzem summoned her spirit blade, which didn't seem to do anything to it- the elemental looked different, perhaps this was the one we just beat, only cleansed.
The second guardian appeared and charged us, Rosebud and I took up positions on opposite sides of it. The other one was still not moving- I think my theory about it is right. Thecker began shooting the one who was fighting us, while Rosebud and I began hacking away at it. Turvy slipped in and landed the killing blow- another smaller elemental appeared near the altar.
The final guardian appeared next to Tali, she slashed at it and missed, but it hit back, much harder. I ran at it and sliced with my Rod, and nothing happened. It hit Tali and I and went straight for the altar, likely intending to stop the hallow ritual. Thecker called on her abilities from Bahamut and judged the elemental- and it actually worked! While Tali and I made our way over to the group, the twins and Thecker ripped into the guardian, and finished it off before we got there.
A white light poured from the altar as the cracks in the ground closed, and we could feel the insidious presence of Ogremoch's Bane being blown away. The temple now felt peaceful.
We returned to the medusa's chamber so Mezzem could rest and revive Rosebud's Momma. Lily was a peculiar dragonborn, but I haven't spent much time around them, so he could be perfectly normal, and just strange to me because he's so different from my beloved. We invited them to join us, Rosebud had been very helpful, and Lily really just wanted more stories.
When we arrived back at the gates, they opened right away, and there was an elemental nearby. We gave Sark the medusa's head, and he told us Gurnik had been looking for us. Gurnik thanked us for banishing Ogremoch's Bane, and handed each of us a diamond to hold to our foreheads. He chanted a prayer and we were all blessed by Smoothhands. Sajin was offered the chance to return to life, but instead decided to have the twins and Thecker officially recognized as members of the Silvertongue family, giving them noble rank.
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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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