Blingdenstone, the City of Speaking Stones Part 5:
The Goldwhiskers
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
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
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
Seluna, the Moon Elf Drow Totem Warrior Circle of the Moon Druid and Silverstar of Selûne
Seluna, the Moon Elf Drow Totem Warrior Circle of the Moon Druid and Silverstar of Selûne
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- 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- 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
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Wererat Assassin who can't sneak- got stoned and kissed a pretty Medusa
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
Lay Vort to rest
Friendly fire overall: 143
Party members killed: 22
Overall party members lost: 28
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 5, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
The day after we returned to the civilized part of Blingdenstone, I went to the Caves of Clattering to see if Dwarvenforge had finished my new hand yet. It was a thing of beauty, made mostly of mithril with adamantine joints, and a spell gem in the palm, with a slot for another one on the back. After an hour, it began working as if it were my flesh and blood hand- I could even feel through it! I loved it. I'd have to be careful not to touch Tali with my left hand, I don't want to risk hurting my friend on accident.
We also got Rosebud's shoes removed- they were loud and would likely be a liability when traveling the Wilds of the Underdark. Thecker of course reminded me of Dawnbringer, but she was quiet, just really fucking bright. Once we were done making Rosebud's hooves quieter, we decided to head out to the Stoneheart Enclave to bring Nomi the samples and tell her the good news about Ogremoch's Bane.
The twins were staying behind in Blingdenstone, they had some preparations to make before we went to deal with the wererats. Lily also elected to stay behind, but her reasoning wasn't entirely clear as to why.
The first leg of this trip to the Enclave was blessedly peaceful.
***** Eleint 6
As we continued to head toward the Enclave, we heard a roar coming from up ahead, followed by some shouts and growls- probably demons again, I'm getting so tired of fighting demons. After getting a little closer, Thecker decided to sneak forward to scout out the situation. There was a silvery light coming from the chamber up ahead, and a huge roar rang out through the tunnels- the roar sounded like a large hunting cat of some kind- then we heard a demonic scream of pain that was suddenly silenced. Interesting...
There was a bar-lgura (ape demons) in the chamber, with a jaguar on top of it- guess that explains the feline roar. Another bar-lgura was nearby, poised to charge the cat. It began punching the cat, but it didn't seem to do as much to it as it should have- this was definitely not an ordinary feline. Two large arrows seemed to come from nowhere and slam into Rosebud, though that seemed to just piss him off. Then another pair of them came from a different direction and slammed into Thecker. I fucking hate archers. Mezzem heard words in Abyssal in her head, then became stunned as an arrow plunged into her flesh.
Tali seemed to have spotted the damn archers and began returning fire, and Thecker followed suit at the bar-lgura on the cat. I watched the cat charge one of the archers, leap onto the ledge it was perched on, and ride it to the ground- it was ripping into the archer, but I didn't see any blood until it hit the ground... interesting. Rosebud charged the bar-lgura and began beating the demon with his hammer, making it turn around and return the blows.
I saw Thecker crumble to the ground from another arrow, but before I could get to her a glabrezu with a huge, black bastard sword flew down from above and struck me. It fucking hurt. Tali began hitting it with arrows to defend me, while I slapped my automail hand on it and unleashed the necrotic spell that Mezzem had cast into it. Since the bastard was still up, I used the battleaxe feature on my Rod and began hacking at it. Tali followed up my attack with another arrow, and the demon was looking bad. It looked like we didn't need much more to finish it off.
The cat ran straight up the nearest wall and pounced on the bar-lgura that Rosebud was exchanging blows with. Rosebud continued pounding on the ape demon, as an arrow went streaking past him and right into the cat, throwing it backward. It howled with pain and rage, and then became an elven woman. Of course the cat was a druid.
Mezzem got her wits about her, and seeing Claire fighting the glabrezu, unleashed a guiding bolt at it. It seemed to know its time had come and began flying back up to the ceiling of the cavern. Tali shot it as it flew, and it immediately plummeted back to the ground, and was impaled on a very sharp stalagmite.
The bar-lgura crumbled to the ground from a final blow from the druid, so Rosebud was free to help Thecker. Of course the odd little centaur was now being shot at, but he didn't seem to care since his friend was in trouble. I felt warmth course through me as Mezzem released a healing burst from Bahamut, and Thecker stirred. I rushed forward and hurled my javelin at one of the archers, then shot it with my crossbow to follow up. Thecker rose and shot the other archer, dropping it- the noise from the gun made poor Rosebud's ears ring for the next few minutes.
A pebble went flying at the final archer, and just before reaching it, it turned into a boulder, splatting it. The elf's name was Seluna, and she was also heading to the Stoneheart Enclave. Since there's strength in numbers, and she's fucking bad ass, we invited her to travel with us. As we spoke to her, she realized the demons had come from the direction of the Enclave, so we halted conversation and hurried to aid them.
The tunnel was littered with the corpses of demons, there had certainly been a large battle here. When we reached the Enclave, there were a lot more elementals milling about, but it seemed completely untouched. Nomi told us there had been an increase of demon attacks lately, but no one was sure of why. She was overjoyed by the news that we had banished Ogremoch's Bane, and was very pleased by the samples we gave her. We decided to stay in the Enclave for the night.
***** Eleint 7
The next morning when we prepared to return to Blingdenstone, Seluna said she would like to join us, since she had business there too. Our travels today were thankfully peaceful.
***** Eleint 8
As we neared Blingdenstone, we began seeing signs of demonic activity again. We figured the city itself would be fine, it is well fortified, and when we finally arrived we discovered that it was.
When we got back to Thecker's place, we found an envoy from the Diggermattocks passed out, with Lily telling them stories. We knew the Diggermattocks probably wanted an update on what we had been up to, so we just left the envoy with Lily and headed to meet them.
We told them about defeating Ogremoch's Bane, cleansing the Steadfast Stone, and slaying the medusa. Our plan was to speak to the Goldwhiskers next, but that would wait until tomorrow- we wanted to hit the shops first.
None of us found what we were looking for in the market, though Rosebud got a Deck of Illusions- it'll be interesting to see what he does with that. We visited Dwarvenforge next, and I gave him all of our drow equipment and the enormous bastard sword from the glabrezu to make me a really bad ass shield. Tali requested an awesome bow too, and gave him one of the ones from the demons.
That night at the tavern we learned that Thecker had purchased it, we attempted to make a plan. Thecker showed us her ring that lets her shift into a little rat, the twins and Mezzem also had those. When Thecker shifted into a tiny rat, on the table, Rosebud flipped the fuck out. He yelled at the rat to stay away from Thecker's food, and grabbed her and stuffed her in a bag. He means well, but damn. Mezzem attempted to calm Rosebud by shifting into a rat too, and the odd little centaur lunged at her. Turvy, being the over possessive ass that he is, stabbed Rosebud for looking at Mezzem; then he accidentally stabbed Mezzem himself...
We eventually calmed Rosebud and made him understand that the rat was Thecker. He pulled her out of his bag, apologized, and dropped her onto her plate of food. Having this kid around is going to be interesting.
***** Eleint 9
Rosebud pulled out the deck of cards he had bought at the market yesterday, and with them he summoned two mages... The fuck? He ordered them to attack his enemies, and for some reason they turned on me. What Claire doesn't understand is that the illusions from the deck can only hurt you if you believe they're real; both Claire and Rosebud thought they were real, and so they attacked the only person they could- Claire. A fireball was launched in my direction by them, but I was able to get behind my shield quickly. Rosebud then told them I wasn't an enemy and they needed to go attack the wererats. They walked through the door, presumably toward the wererat warren. Rosebud proudly declared himself a powerful summoner.
Mezzem decided to be, kind of mean really, and asked Rosebud if she could borrow his deck to study it. She obviously didn't want him summoning random things, but hey, I say let the boy have his fun, so long as they don't attack me again.
Seluna and Lily stayed behind when we left to take care of the wererats, and we decided to just go for the direct route to the Goldwhiskers this time. The tunnel was still collapsed, so we decided to use some elementals to help us. We took that horn we had found in Rockblight, and summoned six gargoyles... who promptly attacked us. Turns out we hadn't gotten that cleansed at the Enclave.
Thecker opened fire on them, badly injuring one of them right away. Rosebud charged one and smashed it. Thecker shot at another one as Mezzem unleashed a bolt of radiant energy at one. Tali finished one off with some arrows, and Topsy hurled her boomerang at another. Turvy killed one, and when he moved in to hit another one, he stabbed Rosebud instead... he's really good at that. Rosebud smashed the last one, and that was the end of those elementals. Topsy said the horn was cursed and we couldn't use it until it had been cleansed.
Mezzem's elemental gem had been cleansed, and so she summoned that elemental to clear the stupid tunnel for us.
The twins and Mezzem shifted into normal sized rats and scouted ahead of us. They did a fucking fantastic job of noticing the pressure plates that we all ended up stepping on... Topsy told Thecker through the ring, since it allows telepathic communication, that the wererats knew the party was there. Thecker booked it, running past the traps, setting most of them off along the way, though she seemed to dodge them. Tali started forward and got hit by a bunch of darts. Rosebud pulled out his bagpipes and began to play them as he ran through the traps, getting hit by some of them. I followed suit and ran though, somehow dodging the stupid darts.
Thecker ran straight to the group of rats waiting at the end of the tunnel for us, and shifted into a wererat, calling out "My friends! Parley!" I came up behind her, but stayed human. I'm not fond of being in rat form. Tali finally made it through the tunnel of traps, and looked seriously beat up from it. "A small crowd has gathered here. Most of the assembled creatures are deep gnomes, but some have ratlike features- including a fat specimen standing in front of the others, smiling at us with jagged buckteeth. 'Peace,' the big wererat says. He took a step forward, arms extended and hands open. 'Chipgrin's the name. I'm the chief of the Goldwhiskers clan. Shall we talk?'"* I counted about five or so dozen wererats in the crowd around us, and we agreed to go somewhere Chipgrin claimed was more comfortable to speak.
Chipgrin led us to a small plateau that he claimed was his personal retreat- I think we're off to a decent start with him. Of course Thecker and I both being wererats helps- I didn't shift, but they could tell. "Stairs led to the top of the rise, where the floor is covered with a soft and well-manufactured carpet of green moss. The wererat chief sat on a stone chair flanked by two giant rats. Draped over the chair's back is a cave badger pelt.
"'Let's get down to the brass hobnails, then. You were sent by the Diggermattocks 'cause they want us out, right? Right?! Well, they might get their wish soon enough, but in a way they ain't likely to cheer about.'"* He told us that they have been under constant attacks by oozes as of late, and were close to fleeing the settlement, which would leave the rest of the svirfneblin to fend for themselves. He said he had some information that would likely make the Diggermattocks more willing to broker peace, it had to do with the oozes- but didn't want to tell us what just yet.
We arranged to make a peaceful meeting the next day between him and the Diggermattocks, in the Steadfast Stone since that was neutral territory. Once that had been agreed upon, Chipgrin was willing to share his information with us. He said there was a mysterious figure that seemed to be controlling the oozes, "'I remember him from when he worked in the tunnels, and my kin saw him when he returned. I know who he is, what he's doing, and- most of all- where he can be found! If you and the Diggermattocks want, I can take you straight to him- he what calls himself the Pudding King.'"* He said that the oozes were in the northwest quadrant of the city, but that didn't give us much to go on.
Thecker told them we have an ace in the hole, something that can give us a lot of leverage, I was confused, but growing up in Cormyr has taught me to just pretend I know what's happening even when I don't. After some circular talking about our aces, she told the twins to shift- Chipgrin hadn't noticed the small rats perched on the arms of his chair. Topsy shifted first, and Chipgrin looked at her like he'd seen a ghost- he called her Snipsy; when Turvy shifted he called him Snapsy, and appeared to be having a heart attack. Mezzem quickly shifted into her hybrid form- since a kobold randomly appearing would have made things get ugly- and assisted the chief.
Once Chipgrin was settled, but completely catatonic, his advisor, Yornik Greenpaw stepped in to speak with us. The twins were completely confused by what had just happened, They said that Snipsy was their mother's name, but they didn't remember much of her, she died when they were very young- they did look related to Chipgrin. Yornik told us that Snipsy was Chipgrin's daughter, and about twenty years ago she was exiled for becoming pregnant by her twin brother, Snapsy. Snapsy had received a much rougher punishment- he was executed. According to Yornik, the twins are pretty much identical to their parents, which is why Chipgrin reacted like he'd seen ghosts- he basically had. Well, this changed things quite a bit. With Chipgrin completely catatonic, Topsy stepped in as leader, since she was technically next of kin; she loved it.
Thecker called for food and booze while we all sat down and hashed everything out about the oozes, the impending peace talks, and the twins new role in life. We decided we would go scout the damn oozes, and possibly take them out on our own- which would greatly help the Goldwhiskers in the talks. Yornik began doing everything he could to begin preparing the twins to lead this conversation in their grandfather's stead.
We decided to update the Diggermattocks on what was happening, and Rosebud instantly took off at a full run... I sent Tali after him to properly explain what Rosebud was about to tell them. Rosebud burst into the Diggermattock's hall, and blurted out everything that had been discussed in about 15 seconds, so of course it didn't make much sense. Tali got there just as Rosebud was running out, and smoothed things over. The Diggermattocks agreed to meet the Goldwhiskers in two hours, and neutral party would mediate the conversation.
Once Rosebud and Tali were back, we left to scout the oozes. Seluna had joined us by this point, since she would be one of the mediators at the meeting. The druid warded us against the oozes, making so they wouldn't hurt us quite as badly. Yornik showed us the locations of the traps between us and the oozes, so that we wouldn't get hit by them.
As we moved through the tunnels, Mezzem spotted a rune in a disgusting refuse pile, that marked the place as Sajin's ancestral home. I doubled over laughing. Of course the asshole's ancestral home, that he had hoped to claim, was in a stinky pile of refuse. Eew.
We came across several bodies that had been partially digested by oozes- we knew the signs thanks to Glabbagool; having him here would have been nice, he could have spied on them for us. In the tunnel ahead was a blackish-red ooze that was leaving a smoldering trail behind it, as if it were lava. That's not fucking good. There was also a black drip coming from the ceiling. Somehow Thecker could not see them at all, even though they were right in front of us- she asked for one of us to point them out. Rosebud began to charge in, then apparently remembered that Lily had told him to wear goggles against the oozes, and turned around to get some from Mezzem.
After handing Rosebud some goggles, Mezzem released a bolt of divine radiance at the red one. Tali launched several arrows into the ooze. The black one had reached the ground and it collided with the red one, it caught flame and began to grow... Not good. Rosebud, now wearing his eye protection, charged out once more and attacked the black ooze- his sword got stuck in it and he had to strain hard to get the weapon free. Thecker used her ice gun on the red ooze, and it froze instantly. I popped off a shot at the black one that was still advancing toward us.
Suddenly, a piece of marble that had looked like wall, detached and turned into a fucking ooze- it swiped at me and thankfully missed. Seluna shifted into a panther and tore into the black ooze, yet she somehow left no marks- interesting ability. Mezzem and Tali both directed their attacks at the marble pudding attacking me, while the black one advanced on Rosebud- and his shield got stuck... Thecker shot it with her ice gun and it melted. All that seemed to be left was the marble attacking me.
I stabbed the marble with my Rod's spear function, and the damned thing split. I thought that they only split from slashing blades. Shit. I stumbled as it split and got stuck to the fucking wall, then one of the marbles decided to make me even more stuck by hardening around me. Seluna torn into one of the marbles and killed it, and Tali took care of the second one. I managed to get myself free of the stupid wall. We moved on to find the Pudding King.
The Pudding King's court was housed in what used to be the heart of Blingdenstone's government. "The walls of the great cavern were covered in slime- dripping, sickening green slime. Echoes of dripping water also fill the cave, in the center of which is a large spherical structure is held up off the floor by stone pillars. Around these pillars crawl dozens of living oozes, heaving forward while reaching out with grasping pseudopods. The sphere's surface, like the cave walls, is covered with slime. Black slime swirls with yellow and gray slime in a disgusting soup, the unearthly patterns in the movement of the slime straining our eyes and tugging at our minds.
"A disembodied voices filled the cave. 'What's this, what's this? Visitors? Now? Not yet! We're not ready! Go away, pests! I will call upon thee and all of Blingdenstone to announce our glad tidings of the Faceless Lord to come at the proper time! Begone!'"*
Watching the slime soup tugged at Rosebud's sanity, and for the next hour his personality is only what he consumes. Since their last meal was cave badger, he believed himself to be a badger. This place was fucking disgusting. The oozes began slowly moving toward us, and we knew we'd need backup to fight this, but since we'd seen how bad it is, we had good intel for the meeting- that should help us broker peace.
Mezzem prayed for Bahamut's aid in this, but she sensed he wanted to help but couldn't. Apparently this Faceless One is a demon lord. We asked Lily about it and apparently she knows pretty much everything about it:
"Called the Faceless Lord and the Oozing Hunger in ancient grimoires, Juiblex is a demon lord of slime and ooze, a noxious creature that doesn't care about the plots and schemes of others of its kind. It exists only to consume, digesting and transforming living matter into more of itself.
"A true horror, Juiblex is a mass of bubbling slime, swirling black and green, with glaring red eyes floating and shifting within it. It can rise up like a 20-foot hill, lashing out with dripping pseudopods to drag victims into its bulk. Those consumed by Juiblex are obliterated.
"Only the truly insane worship Juiblex and tend to its slimes and oozes. Those who offer themselves up to the demon lord are engulfed by it and become vaguely humanoid, sentient oozes. The bodies of these former flesh-and-blood creatures for Juiblex's extended physical body, while the demon lord slowly digests and savors their identities over time."*
Well, that doesn't sound good. Shit...
Sajin Silvertongue, the Deep Gnome Wererat Assassin who can't sneak- got stoned and kissed a pretty Medusa
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
Lay Vort to rest
Friendly fire overall: 143
Party members killed: 22
Overall party members lost: 28
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 5, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)
The day after we returned to the civilized part of Blingdenstone, I went to the Caves of Clattering to see if Dwarvenforge had finished my new hand yet. It was a thing of beauty, made mostly of mithril with adamantine joints, and a spell gem in the palm, with a slot for another one on the back. After an hour, it began working as if it were my flesh and blood hand- I could even feel through it! I loved it. I'd have to be careful not to touch Tali with my left hand, I don't want to risk hurting my friend on accident.
We also got Rosebud's shoes removed- they were loud and would likely be a liability when traveling the Wilds of the Underdark. Thecker of course reminded me of Dawnbringer, but she was quiet, just really fucking bright. Once we were done making Rosebud's hooves quieter, we decided to head out to the Stoneheart Enclave to bring Nomi the samples and tell her the good news about Ogremoch's Bane.
The twins were staying behind in Blingdenstone, they had some preparations to make before we went to deal with the wererats. Lily also elected to stay behind, but her reasoning wasn't entirely clear as to why.
The first leg of this trip to the Enclave was blessedly peaceful.
***** Eleint 6
As we continued to head toward the Enclave, we heard a roar coming from up ahead, followed by some shouts and growls- probably demons again, I'm getting so tired of fighting demons. After getting a little closer, Thecker decided to sneak forward to scout out the situation. There was a silvery light coming from the chamber up ahead, and a huge roar rang out through the tunnels- the roar sounded like a large hunting cat of some kind- then we heard a demonic scream of pain that was suddenly silenced. Interesting...
There was a bar-lgura (ape demons) in the chamber, with a jaguar on top of it- guess that explains the feline roar. Another bar-lgura was nearby, poised to charge the cat. It began punching the cat, but it didn't seem to do as much to it as it should have- this was definitely not an ordinary feline. Two large arrows seemed to come from nowhere and slam into Rosebud, though that seemed to just piss him off. Then another pair of them came from a different direction and slammed into Thecker. I fucking hate archers. Mezzem heard words in Abyssal in her head, then became stunned as an arrow plunged into her flesh.
Tali seemed to have spotted the damn archers and began returning fire, and Thecker followed suit at the bar-lgura on the cat. I watched the cat charge one of the archers, leap onto the ledge it was perched on, and ride it to the ground- it was ripping into the archer, but I didn't see any blood until it hit the ground... interesting. Rosebud charged the bar-lgura and began beating the demon with his hammer, making it turn around and return the blows.
I saw Thecker crumble to the ground from another arrow, but before I could get to her a glabrezu with a huge, black bastard sword flew down from above and struck me. It fucking hurt. Tali began hitting it with arrows to defend me, while I slapped my automail hand on it and unleashed the necrotic spell that Mezzem had cast into it. Since the bastard was still up, I used the battleaxe feature on my Rod and began hacking at it. Tali followed up my attack with another arrow, and the demon was looking bad. It looked like we didn't need much more to finish it off.
The cat ran straight up the nearest wall and pounced on the bar-lgura that Rosebud was exchanging blows with. Rosebud continued pounding on the ape demon, as an arrow went streaking past him and right into the cat, throwing it backward. It howled with pain and rage, and then became an elven woman. Of course the cat was a druid.
Mezzem got her wits about her, and seeing Claire fighting the glabrezu, unleashed a guiding bolt at it. It seemed to know its time had come and began flying back up to the ceiling of the cavern. Tali shot it as it flew, and it immediately plummeted back to the ground, and was impaled on a very sharp stalagmite.
The bar-lgura crumbled to the ground from a final blow from the druid, so Rosebud was free to help Thecker. Of course the odd little centaur was now being shot at, but he didn't seem to care since his friend was in trouble. I felt warmth course through me as Mezzem released a healing burst from Bahamut, and Thecker stirred. I rushed forward and hurled my javelin at one of the archers, then shot it with my crossbow to follow up. Thecker rose and shot the other archer, dropping it- the noise from the gun made poor Rosebud's ears ring for the next few minutes.
A pebble went flying at the final archer, and just before reaching it, it turned into a boulder, splatting it. The elf's name was Seluna, and she was also heading to the Stoneheart Enclave. Since there's strength in numbers, and she's fucking bad ass, we invited her to travel with us. As we spoke to her, she realized the demons had come from the direction of the Enclave, so we halted conversation and hurried to aid them.
The tunnel was littered with the corpses of demons, there had certainly been a large battle here. When we reached the Enclave, there were a lot more elementals milling about, but it seemed completely untouched. Nomi told us there had been an increase of demon attacks lately, but no one was sure of why. She was overjoyed by the news that we had banished Ogremoch's Bane, and was very pleased by the samples we gave her. We decided to stay in the Enclave for the night.
***** Eleint 7
The next morning when we prepared to return to Blingdenstone, Seluna said she would like to join us, since she had business there too. Our travels today were thankfully peaceful.
***** Eleint 8
As we neared Blingdenstone, we began seeing signs of demonic activity again. We figured the city itself would be fine, it is well fortified, and when we finally arrived we discovered that it was.
When we got back to Thecker's place, we found an envoy from the Diggermattocks passed out, with Lily telling them stories. We knew the Diggermattocks probably wanted an update on what we had been up to, so we just left the envoy with Lily and headed to meet them.
We told them about defeating Ogremoch's Bane, cleansing the Steadfast Stone, and slaying the medusa. Our plan was to speak to the Goldwhiskers next, but that would wait until tomorrow- we wanted to hit the shops first.
None of us found what we were looking for in the market, though Rosebud got a Deck of Illusions- it'll be interesting to see what he does with that. We visited Dwarvenforge next, and I gave him all of our drow equipment and the enormous bastard sword from the glabrezu to make me a really bad ass shield. Tali requested an awesome bow too, and gave him one of the ones from the demons.
That night at the tavern we learned that Thecker had purchased it, we attempted to make a plan. Thecker showed us her ring that lets her shift into a little rat, the twins and Mezzem also had those. When Thecker shifted into a tiny rat, on the table, Rosebud flipped the fuck out. He yelled at the rat to stay away from Thecker's food, and grabbed her and stuffed her in a bag. He means well, but damn. Mezzem attempted to calm Rosebud by shifting into a rat too, and the odd little centaur lunged at her. Turvy, being the over possessive ass that he is, stabbed Rosebud for looking at Mezzem; then he accidentally stabbed Mezzem himself...
We eventually calmed Rosebud and made him understand that the rat was Thecker. He pulled her out of his bag, apologized, and dropped her onto her plate of food. Having this kid around is going to be interesting.
***** Eleint 9
Rosebud pulled out the deck of cards he had bought at the market yesterday, and with them he summoned two mages... The fuck? He ordered them to attack his enemies, and for some reason they turned on me. What Claire doesn't understand is that the illusions from the deck can only hurt you if you believe they're real; both Claire and Rosebud thought they were real, and so they attacked the only person they could- Claire. A fireball was launched in my direction by them, but I was able to get behind my shield quickly. Rosebud then told them I wasn't an enemy and they needed to go attack the wererats. They walked through the door, presumably toward the wererat warren. Rosebud proudly declared himself a powerful summoner.
Mezzem decided to be, kind of mean really, and asked Rosebud if she could borrow his deck to study it. She obviously didn't want him summoning random things, but hey, I say let the boy have his fun, so long as they don't attack me again.
Seluna and Lily stayed behind when we left to take care of the wererats, and we decided to just go for the direct route to the Goldwhiskers this time. The tunnel was still collapsed, so we decided to use some elementals to help us. We took that horn we had found in Rockblight, and summoned six gargoyles... who promptly attacked us. Turns out we hadn't gotten that cleansed at the Enclave.
Thecker opened fire on them, badly injuring one of them right away. Rosebud charged one and smashed it. Thecker shot at another one as Mezzem unleashed a bolt of radiant energy at one. Tali finished one off with some arrows, and Topsy hurled her boomerang at another. Turvy killed one, and when he moved in to hit another one, he stabbed Rosebud instead... he's really good at that. Rosebud smashed the last one, and that was the end of those elementals. Topsy said the horn was cursed and we couldn't use it until it had been cleansed.
Mezzem's elemental gem had been cleansed, and so she summoned that elemental to clear the stupid tunnel for us.
The twins and Mezzem shifted into normal sized rats and scouted ahead of us. They did a fucking fantastic job of noticing the pressure plates that we all ended up stepping on... Topsy told Thecker through the ring, since it allows telepathic communication, that the wererats knew the party was there. Thecker booked it, running past the traps, setting most of them off along the way, though she seemed to dodge them. Tali started forward and got hit by a bunch of darts. Rosebud pulled out his bagpipes and began to play them as he ran through the traps, getting hit by some of them. I followed suit and ran though, somehow dodging the stupid darts.
Thecker ran straight to the group of rats waiting at the end of the tunnel for us, and shifted into a wererat, calling out "My friends! Parley!" I came up behind her, but stayed human. I'm not fond of being in rat form. Tali finally made it through the tunnel of traps, and looked seriously beat up from it. "A small crowd has gathered here. Most of the assembled creatures are deep gnomes, but some have ratlike features- including a fat specimen standing in front of the others, smiling at us with jagged buckteeth. 'Peace,' the big wererat says. He took a step forward, arms extended and hands open. 'Chipgrin's the name. I'm the chief of the Goldwhiskers clan. Shall we talk?'"* I counted about five or so dozen wererats in the crowd around us, and we agreed to go somewhere Chipgrin claimed was more comfortable to speak.
Chipgrin led us to a small plateau that he claimed was his personal retreat- I think we're off to a decent start with him. Of course Thecker and I both being wererats helps- I didn't shift, but they could tell. "Stairs led to the top of the rise, where the floor is covered with a soft and well-manufactured carpet of green moss. The wererat chief sat on a stone chair flanked by two giant rats. Draped over the chair's back is a cave badger pelt.
"'Let's get down to the brass hobnails, then. You were sent by the Diggermattocks 'cause they want us out, right? Right?! Well, they might get their wish soon enough, but in a way they ain't likely to cheer about.'"* He told us that they have been under constant attacks by oozes as of late, and were close to fleeing the settlement, which would leave the rest of the svirfneblin to fend for themselves. He said he had some information that would likely make the Diggermattocks more willing to broker peace, it had to do with the oozes- but didn't want to tell us what just yet.
We arranged to make a peaceful meeting the next day between him and the Diggermattocks, in the Steadfast Stone since that was neutral territory. Once that had been agreed upon, Chipgrin was willing to share his information with us. He said there was a mysterious figure that seemed to be controlling the oozes, "'I remember him from when he worked in the tunnels, and my kin saw him when he returned. I know who he is, what he's doing, and- most of all- where he can be found! If you and the Diggermattocks want, I can take you straight to him- he what calls himself the Pudding King.'"* He said that the oozes were in the northwest quadrant of the city, but that didn't give us much to go on.
Thecker told them we have an ace in the hole, something that can give us a lot of leverage, I was confused, but growing up in Cormyr has taught me to just pretend I know what's happening even when I don't. After some circular talking about our aces, she told the twins to shift- Chipgrin hadn't noticed the small rats perched on the arms of his chair. Topsy shifted first, and Chipgrin looked at her like he'd seen a ghost- he called her Snipsy; when Turvy shifted he called him Snapsy, and appeared to be having a heart attack. Mezzem quickly shifted into her hybrid form- since a kobold randomly appearing would have made things get ugly- and assisted the chief.
Once Chipgrin was settled, but completely catatonic, his advisor, Yornik Greenpaw stepped in to speak with us. The twins were completely confused by what had just happened, They said that Snipsy was their mother's name, but they didn't remember much of her, she died when they were very young- they did look related to Chipgrin. Yornik told us that Snipsy was Chipgrin's daughter, and about twenty years ago she was exiled for becoming pregnant by her twin brother, Snapsy. Snapsy had received a much rougher punishment- he was executed. According to Yornik, the twins are pretty much identical to their parents, which is why Chipgrin reacted like he'd seen ghosts- he basically had. Well, this changed things quite a bit. With Chipgrin completely catatonic, Topsy stepped in as leader, since she was technically next of kin; she loved it.
Thecker called for food and booze while we all sat down and hashed everything out about the oozes, the impending peace talks, and the twins new role in life. We decided we would go scout the damn oozes, and possibly take them out on our own- which would greatly help the Goldwhiskers in the talks. Yornik began doing everything he could to begin preparing the twins to lead this conversation in their grandfather's stead.
We decided to update the Diggermattocks on what was happening, and Rosebud instantly took off at a full run... I sent Tali after him to properly explain what Rosebud was about to tell them. Rosebud burst into the Diggermattock's hall, and blurted out everything that had been discussed in about 15 seconds, so of course it didn't make much sense. Tali got there just as Rosebud was running out, and smoothed things over. The Diggermattocks agreed to meet the Goldwhiskers in two hours, and neutral party would mediate the conversation.
Once Rosebud and Tali were back, we left to scout the oozes. Seluna had joined us by this point, since she would be one of the mediators at the meeting. The druid warded us against the oozes, making so they wouldn't hurt us quite as badly. Yornik showed us the locations of the traps between us and the oozes, so that we wouldn't get hit by them.
As we moved through the tunnels, Mezzem spotted a rune in a disgusting refuse pile, that marked the place as Sajin's ancestral home. I doubled over laughing. Of course the asshole's ancestral home, that he had hoped to claim, was in a stinky pile of refuse. Eew.
We came across several bodies that had been partially digested by oozes- we knew the signs thanks to Glabbagool; having him here would have been nice, he could have spied on them for us. In the tunnel ahead was a blackish-red ooze that was leaving a smoldering trail behind it, as if it were lava. That's not fucking good. There was also a black drip coming from the ceiling. Somehow Thecker could not see them at all, even though they were right in front of us- she asked for one of us to point them out. Rosebud began to charge in, then apparently remembered that Lily had told him to wear goggles against the oozes, and turned around to get some from Mezzem.
After handing Rosebud some goggles, Mezzem released a bolt of divine radiance at the red one. Tali launched several arrows into the ooze. The black one had reached the ground and it collided with the red one, it caught flame and began to grow... Not good. Rosebud, now wearing his eye protection, charged out once more and attacked the black ooze- his sword got stuck in it and he had to strain hard to get the weapon free. Thecker used her ice gun on the red ooze, and it froze instantly. I popped off a shot at the black one that was still advancing toward us.
Suddenly, a piece of marble that had looked like wall, detached and turned into a fucking ooze- it swiped at me and thankfully missed. Seluna shifted into a panther and tore into the black ooze, yet she somehow left no marks- interesting ability. Mezzem and Tali both directed their attacks at the marble pudding attacking me, while the black one advanced on Rosebud- and his shield got stuck... Thecker shot it with her ice gun and it melted. All that seemed to be left was the marble attacking me.
I stabbed the marble with my Rod's spear function, and the damned thing split. I thought that they only split from slashing blades. Shit. I stumbled as it split and got stuck to the fucking wall, then one of the marbles decided to make me even more stuck by hardening around me. Seluna torn into one of the marbles and killed it, and Tali took care of the second one. I managed to get myself free of the stupid wall. We moved on to find the Pudding King.
The Pudding King's court was housed in what used to be the heart of Blingdenstone's government. "The walls of the great cavern were covered in slime- dripping, sickening green slime. Echoes of dripping water also fill the cave, in the center of which is a large spherical structure is held up off the floor by stone pillars. Around these pillars crawl dozens of living oozes, heaving forward while reaching out with grasping pseudopods. The sphere's surface, like the cave walls, is covered with slime. Black slime swirls with yellow and gray slime in a disgusting soup, the unearthly patterns in the movement of the slime straining our eyes and tugging at our minds.
"A disembodied voices filled the cave. 'What's this, what's this? Visitors? Now? Not yet! We're not ready! Go away, pests! I will call upon thee and all of Blingdenstone to announce our glad tidings of the Faceless Lord to come at the proper time! Begone!'"*
Watching the slime soup tugged at Rosebud's sanity, and for the next hour his personality is only what he consumes. Since their last meal was cave badger, he believed himself to be a badger. This place was fucking disgusting. The oozes began slowly moving toward us, and we knew we'd need backup to fight this, but since we'd seen how bad it is, we had good intel for the meeting- that should help us broker peace.
Mezzem prayed for Bahamut's aid in this, but she sensed he wanted to help but couldn't. Apparently this Faceless One is a demon lord. We asked Lily about it and apparently she knows pretty much everything about it:
"Called the Faceless Lord and the Oozing Hunger in ancient grimoires, Juiblex is a demon lord of slime and ooze, a noxious creature that doesn't care about the plots and schemes of others of its kind. It exists only to consume, digesting and transforming living matter into more of itself.
"A true horror, Juiblex is a mass of bubbling slime, swirling black and green, with glaring red eyes floating and shifting within it. It can rise up like a 20-foot hill, lashing out with dripping pseudopods to drag victims into its bulk. Those consumed by Juiblex are obliterated.
"Only the truly insane worship Juiblex and tend to its slimes and oozes. Those who offer themselves up to the demon lord are engulfed by it and become vaguely humanoid, sentient oozes. The bodies of these former flesh-and-blood creatures for Juiblex's extended physical body, while the demon lord slowly digests and savors their identities over time."*
Well, that doesn't sound good. Shit...
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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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