Tales from Toril- The Adventures of Critical Bumbersnoot: the Odd Company: Book One, Chapter Thirteen

Incognito Caravan

Dramatis Personae:

Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer Wizard

"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct
Dunderbittles, Winry's Clockwork Ladybug familiar

Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin

Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk

Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue

Gill O'Darby, the Human Ranger

Bex Thriceorphaned, the Goliath Juggernaut Barbarian Circle of the Crescent Druid
Trip Hazard, Bex's Golden Cat animal companion

Comrades we have lost:
Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Revenant Werewolf Sea Sorceress- turned into a vampire, then killed by the party, then risen as a revenant, and killed again by the party

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Mirtul 7, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Luskan

       In the morning I suggested we change the girl's hair again to blend them in better. All three of them lightened their hair with lemon, and Amara hacked her hair off beforehand, giving Oskar the hair as a fake beard for him. I decided to dye my hair aqua, and decided to find a hat of disguise for Bumbersnoot, making him look like a flesh and blood dog would help blend us in better. Jak stumbled in while we were working on this, and we gave him spots, since that's really all we could do to disguise him.

       We wandered downstairs for breakfast, and One-Eyed Jax was at his usual post at the bar. He asked us exactly what happened to us, and Oskar told him the entire story. Oskar also paid him to never mention we came back here, since eventually those hunting the girls may come looking here for us again. Jax offered to set us up on a caravan to Mirabar, taking a roundabout way to Waterdeep was our best shot, we knew the hunters would be watching the ports. He gave us $100,000 to deliver a crate of goods- which included some of our random magic items- to a warehouse in Mirabar, and gave us directions to a discreet merchant we could go to for supplies and disguise materials.

       Jak, Sylvia, Gill, and I went shopping, while Oskar, Carmina, and Amara stayed behind to talk to Bex. I left Bumbersnoot with her to keep an eye on her for us. I hated going anywhere without my dog, but without him being disguised, anyone looking for us could recognize us with Bumbersnoot in tow. He also made a good guard against Bex.

       When we got back from shopping, Oskar set up a zone of truth so we could all speak honestly; I guess their talk with Bex went well, since she was included in this. Amara told us it was time she tell us who she truly is and why we're helping her. She's Talina Neverember, Carmina is her cousin, and Sylvia is her handmaiden. They ran from her father because he wanted to force her to marry someone to amass his power and become King of Neverwinter. The man they'd claimed was their father when we met them was actually the man Amara loved and had run away with to marry. Amara's mother was a prominent figure in Waterdeep, making a good chunk of the Sword Coast very unsafe for them. The girls wanted to get far enough south that they could live in peace, without fear of her father finding them. Now that we all knew the truth about them, Amara wanted to give us the option to back out of helping them. Of course we all agreed- surprisingly enough, so did Bex, I didn't think she would since she's convinced that Jak ripped her face off.

       After our conversation we checked in with Jax, who told us he'd found a caravan for us to Mirabar that leaves tomorrow. Apparently they needed bigger numbers in the caravan because of the barbarians we'd fought on our journey here the first time.

       Now that Bumbersnoot and I were disguised we went out shopping again, but didn't find anything useful. As we were leaving a golden cat tripped Bex, and seemed to want her to follow it; she came back later that night and said it was her new cat, which she'd named Trip Hazard. That's such a boring name for a pet, she so should have let me name it.

***** Mirtul 8, Luskan

       In the morning Bex was a man. Apparently she'd put on this girdle she randomly found, and it's cursed with sex change. None of us were mature enough to handle the conversation that ensued about removing the girdle to turn her back into a woman. Finally, after several minutes of utter ridiculousness, Oskar threw his hammer at her nuts and turned her back into a woman.

       We headed for the caravan midday; we were the rear guard in the 24 cart procession.

***** Mirtul 18, Mirabar

       We delivered Jax's goods to a very grumpy dwarf at a warehouse. He said he could get us on a caravan south, and he had tons of dwarven ale and elven flower cheese we could sell. That was perfect, so the others went to check when the next caravan would be leaving.

       The next caravan wasn't for another nine days, and we couldn't risk staying in Mirabar that long, so we decided to form our own caravan. Jak, Oskar, Carmina, and Amara went to get that ball rolling. They wouldn't let me go with them, because apparently I'm too conspicuous, even though Bumbersnoot looks like a flesh and blood dog and my hair is aqua blue instead of its natural bubblegum pink.

       They set up our caravan for two days from now, to let the word get out so we could gather enough wagons. While they were out working on it they were approached by a union representative for caravan guards- apparently it's a thing. He had a contract we needed to sign, so Jak ran it to me. It was a pretty standard contract, though the hazard pay would dick us over if we had to pay it out.

***** Mirtul 21, Mirabar

       We had a decent amount of carts in the caravan, and we set out today, heading for Waterdeep by way of Longsaddle. We had goods to sell along the way, that we should make a decent amount of money off of.

***** Mirtul 27, Longsaddle

       Our journey thus far had been largely uneventful, though I did finally crack the code on wizardry and finished my new Mechanimal, a Clockwork Ladybug named Dunderbittles! She's adorable.

       We took the ale and cheese to the Harper's, and sold off some of our goods. We also bought some experimental gadgets from the human there that were household goods designed to make people's lives easier. They're interesting, if they actually work.

***** Mirtul 28, Longsaddle

       We set out in the morning for Waterdeep. We'd be hitting Triboar and Red Larch next.

***** Mirtul 30, on the road

       It started getting stormy today, and our travel was set back for at least a day.

***** Kythorn 1, on the road

       Ra'zhi, the tabaxi Oskar had hired, told us that there was a situation up ahead of us. There were some giants on the road up ahead, and they looked like storm giants. He suggested we set an ambush, since there was the perfect spot for one right up the road for one. It was in a little valley, with some hill on either side. Ra'zhi had suggested that his crew- which consisted of Ra'zhi, who was a bard or something, Remington, a wizard, Korth, a fighter of some sort, and Ssivi, a cleric or something- go up to the top and we take the valley, between all of us we should be able to take the giants.

        Fog rolled in and we could just make out the silhouettes of three giants approaching. I cast a spell that made the path in front of them greasy, hoping it might help us. A lightning bolt struck me, Bumbersnoot, Dunderbittles, Bex, and Trip Hazard, and poor Dunderbittles went down instantly. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to make her harder to drop. Then all three of the girls dropped. Gill ran away in terror, and Jak did too. This wasn't a good way to start this fight. I hurried to revive Dunderbittles while Bex pulled Sylvia out of the line of fire.

       Up ahead Oskar was throwing his hammer at the giants, and two of them vanished after the hammer went through them. That was hella weird. Maybe it was a mirror image or something. I suddenly felt a pinch and my body went rigid. I was awake, but paralyzed. At least I couldn't fall off of Bumbersnoot, who instantly began doing his distress howl to alert Oskar. As I was bounced around on my dog, I caught snippets of the fight, since I couldn't see everything or participate until Oskar helped me.

       Bumbersnoot moved up to the unconscious Amara and Carmina, since he knows to go to Oskar if I need help, and Oskar would be going to the girls first. Bex drug them out of harm's way now, and a few moments later, Bex cried out in pain. Jak and Bumbersnoot went to her aid, and began an assault on the lizardfolk who had appeared out of nowhere. We'd later learn this was Korth, he'd just disguised himself as a dragonborn when we met him. Critical Bumbersnoot was shredding into Korth, keeping him prone for the most part, with Dunderbittles getting in poison bites, and Bex and Jak pounding the Hells out of him.

       Up above us, Ssivi had been exchanging spells with Oskar, so he put a silence spell on her to keep her from casting anything for at least a few breaths. He called out we'd been betrayed by the adventurers. Someone ended Oskar's silence quickly, and Ssivi hurt Bex hella bad. Gill had made his way over to the girls that Bumbersnoot, Dunderbittles, and Bex were fighting Korth over, and called out Sylvia had been poisoned. Right after that he went down again.

       Ssivi said something, and all of a sudden their entire group and the girls turned into mist. Oskar snarled in rage and dispelled it. Since they'd been stopped, My Mechanimals and Bex were still pounding on Korth, and he was dishing it out hard against Bex in return. The fight raged on, and I was still being bounced around on Bumbersnoot's back. Oskar hadn't been able to get to me yet.

       Eventually Korth dropped Bex, and turned to Bumbersnoot. I don't think he was expecting a mouthful of metal when he bit my puppy. Then Korth turned into an egg... apparently Ssivi had done so above us too. Jak called out that Ssivi wasn't in the egg, and Bumbersnoot discovered Korth wasn't in his. Jak found an invisible Remington trying to flee, and literally pounded his head in. Ra'zhi escaped in the chaos.

       Oskar was a seething ball of dwarven rage, and he angrily stuffed Remington's body into his bag of holding. The ring of mind shielding the mage had been wearing was also snatched by Oskar, he wanted to make sure Remington didn't come back to life ever. He was hella scary right now. That dwarf is homicidally protective of those girls.

Tales from Toril- The Adventures of Critical Bumbersnoot: the Odd Company: Book One, Chapter Twelve

A Bloody Escape

Dramatis Personae:

Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer

"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct

Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin

Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue

Gill O'Darby, the Human Ranger

Bex Thriceorphaned, the Goliath Juggernaut Barbarian Circle of the Crescent Druid

Comrades we have lost:
Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress- turned into a vampire, then killed by the party

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Mirtul 6, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Somewhere in the Sea of Swords

       Before settling down to rest, Oskar set up the ritual to attempt to bring Quinn back to life. Jak and I had to aid him with the ritual, and we had to make offerings to Moradin. Oskar put forth a bunch of money and used Steve as a focus. I put Steve's ink on Quinn's Neptunian Trident, and told a story about our adventures- before Wave. Then it was Jak's turn, and he started speaking in a vile language that turned the warm, mithril light of Moradin that was shining on us in the circle, red. When he was done, Quinn was nothing but a smoking corpse. Oskar burned her body, and we all went to rest. I spent the rest of our time repairing Bumbersnoot to bring my poor puppy back.

        Considering how useless I'd been in that battle, I've come to the conclusion that I should begin studying wizardry. That way if I'm ever stuck without my stuff and my dog again, I'll have spells that can actually hurt people. I can even make the clockwork ladybug I'd been designing, and make it my familiar.

       Jak's twisting of the ritual turned Quinn into a revenant. She was brought back to "life" at the end of the party's rest, and awoke confused. 

       We were sitting around the breakfast table, when we heard a voice call out. Gill was the only one not at the table, but it didn't sound quite right to him. When the owner of the voice came around the corner, it was Quinn. Jak charged her instantly, began beating on her, and broke his hand on the wall. I thought she might be a revenant, but she'd gone feral while Jak was pummeling her, so we had to knock her out again. I wondered if I could use a stunning shot with NATAS, instead of one that may kill, and she instantly confirmed that I could. I shot her, then Bumbersnoot bit and tripped her. Quinn savagely ripped into Jak's leg with her teeth; then Oskar began throwing hammers at her. Carmina beat the shit out of her, and then Jak dropped her; then he started speaking in tongues again, and his wounds closed. I told Oskar I thought she was a revenant, so we should revive her, and he yelled "undead is undead" at me. There was no reasoning with him right now.

       Oskar performed last rites for Quinn, and when he pulled Steve out for them, Steve was undead too! We killed the octopus quickly, and added him to the pyre. Before leaving we gathered Quinn's things and divvied them as needed. We left her bag of devouring in the mansion with her, since Oskar did not want it. When we stepped out, Jak closed the mansion, which I wish he hadn't done, it would give us a place to fall back to later if need be. At least this time I have my dog and my stuff, so I'll be effective in this battle/rescue mission. Finding Sylvia was our sole objective and priority. Though Oskar really wanted to kill Ctenmiir too.

       Outside of the mansion was pure darkness, and it was cold. Oskar tried to dispel the darkness, but he was unable to. We began deliberating- something we should have done in the safety of the mansion, but the undead genasi interrupted that. Jak and Gill decided to sneak into the coffin room to stake as many vampires as they could before the sun went down in a couple of hours. As we discussed this a cackle rang out through the cavern, echoing on the walls and making it impossible for us to figure out where it came from.

       We were almost to the doors at that point, and then Jak called that he saw movement up ahead. I shot at it with NATAS and managed to hit whatever the Hells it was. Oskar called out "hold your" and then began spewing blood. It was hella gross. Jak charged the figures as more shapes appeared in the darkness to the right of Bumbersnoot and I. Two of them hit me, so Bumbersnoot bit and tripped one, and then together we finished it off.

       I saw Oskar's hammer go whizzing behind Bumbersnoot and I, followed by a flash of radiant light, as he hit one that was approaching us from behind. I could just make out Jak moving through the people attacking us, so I think he was doing okay at keeping the attackers at bay. I wasn't sure what was after us, since it was daylight out. Another guy hit me, so Bumbersnoot killed it, only for another to take its place. Something attempted to charm me, I barely shook it off. I had Bumbersnoot use his lightning breath on our attackers- that breath is hella cool. I'm so glad the Coldfire Initiative gave it to me. I felt a spell try to take hold of me as a single tear of blood rolled down my cheek, making me cringe; it was hella gross.

       Among the human thralls that were attacking the party, was Bex. She was near the back, holding a rusty greataxe, when suddenly her mind cleared, and she shook off the vampire's charm that had made her a thrall. She had no memory of her time as a thrall, so unclear of her surroundings, she asked those near her what was going on; but none could answer her. 

       The vampire swung at me, and got its arm caught on Bumbersnoot, he bit it, but I missed. The vamp grabbed me and bit into my neck. Bumbersnoot bit at him, and I shot him with my Daring Sir, but I couldn't break out, I just wasn't strong enough. It took another bite of me, and Bumbersnoot bit it again, I hoped he'd get it off of me, but he wasn't able to break its hold on him. I could just make out Carmina and Oskar trying to help, but the vamp had a hard grip on me. Then some woman appeared and grabbed Oskar, and they both vanished.

       Then a hella enormous woman appeared in rags and holding a rusty greataxe, I thought she was a thrall until she hit the vampire. Jak rushed the vampire after that, and then the vampire fucking bit me again to replenish itself, or because it's a douche. Could be either one really. When its teeth sunk deeper into my flesh, Bumbersnoot bit it again, tripping it, and it ran away. A thrall came up behind me and hit me, so Bumbersnoot and I killed it.

       Amara yelled for Oskar to get his ass back here, and he suddenly reappeared. He tried to mime something to us, since he was still spewing blood, but we couldn't really tell what he was trying to say. With all of the thralls dead, we just had to wait for Oskar to regain speech. The enormous woman began bleeding from her eyes, and the Gill and Jak started getting pelted with magic missiles. Oskar finally regained speech, and Gill began swinging his ax around blindly, smashing a table. Jak went to break the cauldron in the blood room, since we figured that was what had been making everyone bleed.

       Gill suddenly went limp, and we could just make out a figure holding onto him. Bex- the enormous woman- got a good grip on the shadow before it could run away, thankfully. I revived Gill and used Bumbersnoot's new lantern eyes to look at the hallway- the fucking doors were shut again. The vampire hadn't gone through the door, it grabbed Gill as soon as healed him, and bolted. Bumbersnoot and I followed, but I missed my shot with NATAS. Gill went limp again, but Amara revived him. The vampire started dragging the conscious and struggling boy away, so Bumbersnoot and I tried to grab Gill, but we weren't able to get him fast enough. Oskar joined our pursuit of Gill, just as Gill unloaded every charge of his frost ax into the vampire. As Bumbersnoot and I caught up to them again, I heard the vampire tell Gill to quit struggling. Bumbersnoot's teeth snapped closed on the air, and NATAS malfunctioned again.

       Gill went limp again, and Oskar began speaking gibberish; but he stopped as soon as Amara told him to. She's good at that. The vampire took off with Gill again, and it made it through the doors again. When Bumbersnoot and I saw that, I had him lower his head and bust down the doors. His forehead was a little dented, but those doors wouldn't be getting shut again anytime soon. Oskar went barreling down the hall after the vampire, and I knew someone with a clear head needed to follow him, so I went after him, calling to the girls to go get Jak, he'd been gone for a while now. Bex went after him instead. 

       When I caught up to Oskar he told me to go down the hall to the left, and that fucking vampire dropped down on top of me. Amara- having ignored me- yelled at me to break free, and I struggled harder, but still couldn't do it. The damned vampire bit me- I was getting hella fed up with being bitten- and Bumbersnoot twisted around and ripped it off of me. I dropped an acid beetle on the vampire and hit it with my quickrazor. Carmina stabbed it and it turned into mist; Amara called to Oskar to do something, so he cast daylight and the vampire turned into ash.

       We went into the room the vampire had been guarding, and it was filled with sarcophagi, we hoped Gill was in here. I pushed open one and it was completely empty. Carmina and Amara shoved open another one so hard the lid flew across the room. Inside was a body wrapped in a burial shroud- it was Sylvia! Now we just had to find Gill. The next one I opened had another body in it... it was a fucking vampire spawn that grabbed me and attempted to bite me. I managed to wriggle free, and Oskar and Bumbersnoot killed it. The next one Oskar opened had a spawn in it too- we killed it quickly. Oskar found Gill after that. Now we could get the Hells out of here.

       While Oskar and the girls tended to Gill and Sylvia, I went to find Jak. He appeared dead, and was wearing Bex's face... Bex herself didn't have a face, and was unconscious. I revived her, and she immediately jumped up and ripped her face off of Jak. It wriggled free of her grasp and flew right back to Jak. It was at that moment Oskar walked in. He didn't have the magical energy to revive Jak, so I suggested he funnel what he could of his magical energy through my ring of spell storing. I dumped the mirror image spell Quinn had never used, to make sure Oskar had room. It worked!

       Then Bex's face began molding to Jak's, so he quickly ripped it off and handed it to her. Oskar was able to heal her enough that her skin regrew- and she not had a horribly misshapen sack of skin that was her old face. Bex was convinced Jak had done that to her, which was not even a little possible. Jak said it was a witch, which made perfect sense.

       We needed to find a place to hole up, so Oskar took that book of Jak's and tried to make a deal with it... it somehow made Oskar banish it. I quickly flipped through the magic books I'd found, and found one of them was a portfolio of scrolls. It had teleportation circle in it, but I didn't recognize the symbols listed for the cities there- they definitely were not Baldur's Gate or Friendly Arm Inn. I asked the others which one to choose, so Oskar ripped the scroll out of my hand and cast it.

       After a moment, we found ourselves back in Luskan. Unfortunately our travels moved us to much closer to sunset. We only had a few minutes to get Sylvia to a temple. I boosted Jak's speed and shrunk Oskar so he could fit on Jak, and they went running with the unconscious Sylvia to the temple. Oskar was able to get Sylvia resurrected just before the sun sank over the hills, saving her from turning.

Tales from Toril- The Adventures of Critical Bumbersnoot: the Odd Company: A Yawning Portal Novella (Book One), Chapter Eleven

When Good Genasi Go Bad

Dramatis Personae:

Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer

"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct

Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress

Steve, Quinn's Octopus familiar

Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin

Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk
Carmina, the Human Knight
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Rogue

Gill O'Darby, the Human Ranger

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Mirtul 6, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Somewhere in the Sea of Swords

       Oskar told us that we were in cavern near the sea, we were just above sea level, he could just make out the sound of waves hitting the cavern. We were trying to figure out how exactly to escape, but since we were pretty badly wounded, we needed to rest before we could do anything.

       After several hours, a group of figures appeared outside of our cell, and told us that their lord had requested the presence of some of us. They took three of the crewmen, Oskar, and Sylvia.

       Oskar's group was led to a throne room, and a pale female sea elf was perched on it, flanked by giants. Oskar and Sylvia were stopped at the throne, but they crewmen were taken to a separate area, where there were already several crewmen being held. The woman told Oskar that the group had been caught in her waters, and that Ctenmiir- the dwarf who had been guarding Whelm in White Plume Mountain- had told her that Oskar had stolen Whelm from him, and he wanted to know where Oskar had hidden it. 

       She would be letting Ctenmiir deal with Oskar, and if he cooperated they might let him live. The ship and crew were hers now. Oskar asked what they wanted in Sylvia, and the elf told him that Sylvia's father was looking for her, and was very unhappy that she'd been kidnapped- implying that the party had kidnapped her. Oskar told the elf that they had already buried her father, but the elf said that the man wasn't actually their father, Lord Neverember was and he has a bounty out for Sylvia. 

       Oskar said he hadn't kidnapped Sylvia, he'd just been taking care of her, which Sylvia readily confirmed. The elf said that she would make sure Sylvia was returned to her father safely. Oskar attempted to explain that he goes where she goes, and was told if he survived Ctenmiir, they might permit that. 

       Oskar saw one of the crew members being drug into another room, and heard chanting and screaming, before he emerged as a skeleton. After that Oskar and Sylvia were taken back to the cell, and Oskar was warned to behave, or something would happen to Amara and Carmina.

       While Oskar and Sylvia were gone, Jak worked on getting himself free of the shackles. I tried to get myself free, or at least to grind enough powdered iron off mine that I could cast an enlargement spell. I hadn't been put in the shackles that prevented spell casting- I'd been unconscious for the majority of the battle, and since I've got weapons, I think they thought I was a fighter type. When I tried to grind the powdered iron off, I was reminded of my lack of physical strength, that was Bumbersnoot's department. I gave up before I hurt myself and hoped Jak would be more successful than I was- which, he was.

       By the time Oskar and Sylvia were brought back to us- without the crew members who'd been taken with them- Jak had broken free. The great thing was, as soon as they got back, Sylvia started picking the locks on our cuffs. We had nothing we could do except bide our time, we were all still drained from the earlier battle.

       After several hours, the hall outside our cell got hazy for a moment, like when looking through a hot desert, and a dwarf appeared, wearing all of Oskar's gear. He demanded Oskar tell him where Whelm is, and he simply could not believe that Oskar would get rid of that ax. Oskar tried to explain to him that we'd been hired to find it for the Coldfire Initiative, and that he'd given it to our employers, but this dude didn't believe him. He told Oskar to come out and talk to him, and Oskar's demeanor changed- then he was shrouded in darkness, and we heard the door open and close. Not only was Oskar gone, but so was Sylvia.

       With both of them gone we needed to get out of here, so I grabbed lockpicks from Bumbersnoot's hidden compartment, and started working on the door... and I broke my fucking lockpick off in the stupid door. Since my air forge spell doesn't require any materials, I cast it on the door to the cell, heating the metal so we could get it open. There was a second door down a short hallway, which we'd heard squeak before, so I got some oil from Bumbersnoot's alchemy jug to lubricate the door before heating it up. Unfortunately the skeleton guards noticed, so Quinn hit both of them with ice bolts.

       I wasn't much use in combat without my dog or my stuff, so I had to stay mostly out of combat range, just using what little healing I was capable of to keep people up. At first it seemed like the fight was going okayish, since we had a lot of people on our side. But then Quinn blinked.

       Ctenmiir had charmed Oskar to get him to talk, but Moradin broke the charm, allowing Oskar to attack the vampire. Things would have gone well if Sylvia hadn't decided to follow Oskar. Ctenmiir caught her just as she reached for a dagger on his belt, and put her in front of him as a shield, and vanished. Oskar went after the now invisible Ctenmiir, but Weston- the ship's mage- hit him with Tasha's hideous laughter, and got between Oskar and Ctenmiir, slowing down the infuriated holy man once he'd shaken free of the spell.

       Quinn reappeared in hybrid form and attacked the nearest crew member, killing him before vanishing again. Quinn had been turned into vampire spawn after the party had been taken captive, and had been put in place as a sleeper agent. Once she'd blinked, a hag had activated her, allowing her to begin working against the crew. After another few seconds, Jak called out that Quinn had gone feral, so now we'd have to put her down. Temporarily anyway. One of the crew crumpled at my feet, so I was able to revive him. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do much of this, I have hella limited magic energy, and what little I'd already done was quickly draining me.

       When Quinn next appeared she did a thunderwave at the crew. Apparently she can still do magic when she's feral, which I didn't think was possible. As much as I loathe cowardice, I tried to keep hidden in the hallway that leads to our cell, it seemed the only safe place for me. I cursed at myself for not learning more combative magic. When Quinn next appeared, she hit me, Amara, Gill, and a crew member with her ice bolts. Apparently she'd decided to go for easier targets, instead of those who were actually doing things in the battle. I thought that being feral made you a savage beast, incapable of higher thought, which should make you unable to cast spells. Something was off about Quinn being feral.

       I used the last of my magical energy healing Carmina, and ducked around a corner. Glimmering spots had begun dancing in my vision, and my head was pounding. I hoped this fight ended soon. I was a sitting duck now. Quinn's next appearance made her seem even more feral. She didn't seem to be able to cast magic after that, and was instead mauling what few crew members we had left alive with her razor-sharp claws.

       After what felt like forever, we were finally down to a single skeleton and Quinn, who was trading blows with Jak. The skeleton dropped Gill, so I braved going out in the open to stabilize him. He didn't need it though, he was just unconscious. I called to Carmina to get him out of sight, and in doing so, drew attention to myself. I got shot by a crossbow for my efforts. There was a pretty clear shot to the other doors in the room though, and I had a feeling my stuff was behind one of them. Carmina came out and shattered the final skeleton.

       Jak was still beating on Quinn, and he now gripped her in a Bigby's Hand. She broke out, but he managed to grab her again. Quinn broke out again, and went to run, Jak grabbed at her and stumbled, she punched him, and he went down. Carmina dropped her as she ran for the doors, then checked her pulse and announced that Quinn was dead. I was having some trouble stabilizing Jak, but after a moment I got it.

       Then Quinn got back up and ran smack into Oskar. Carmina yelled out in surprise, since Quinn had definitely been dead when she checked her pulse, chased her and finished her off. With all of our visible enemies- and Quinn- down, I focused on the silvery dots on my hand that lined up with NATAS, focused on them, and tried to call to her. After a few seconds, I sensed where she was. As Carmina barricaded the doors, I went to collect our belongings; though neither Oskar's or Quinn's gear was in the pile.

       After our items were found, Oskar removed the barricade, and said he and Jak would go look for Sylvia; then somehow, they decided it would be Jak and Gill, since he's stealthier than Oskar. They found several pools of blood, and a chest that contained Oskar's stuff- except for his armor and shield, which Ctenmiir had been using. Then Jak and Oskar went to check on the vampire's thralls, and Jak woke up the sleeping vampires... We had to rapidly barricade the doors again.

       Jak and I inspected the huge bookcase behind the remains of the throne, and he found a bunch of books in Abyssal, one of which made him start speaking Abyssal, and suddenly the opening to a magic mansion appeared before us. We drug our wounded bodies, along with Bumbersnoot and Quinn's bodies, into the mansion to sleep securely.

Tales from Toril- The Adventures of Critical Bumbersnoot: the Odd Company: A Yawning Portal Novella (Book One), Chapter Ten

The Storm

Dramatis Personae:

Winry Steamgear, the Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificer

"Critical" Bumbersnoot, Winry's Dachshund Mechanimal Construct

Mara Quinn, the Water Genasi Werewolf Sea Sorceress

Steve, Quinn's Octopus familiar

Oskar Heartforge, the Shield Dwarf Werewolf Priest of Moradin

Jak Foostus, the Minotaur Monk
Carmina, the Human Woman-at-arms
Amara, the Human Noble
Sylvia, the Human Handmaiden
Gil, the Human Farm Boy

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Winry's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the artificer can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Tarsakh 28, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess), Luskan

       Before heading to our ship in the morning, we decided to hit the shops really quick. I grabbed a ton of brass, bronze, and copper for an experiment I had in mind- I think I may be able to create a healing potion for Bumbersnoot, using the metals he's made of and the magic I use to repair him. It was expensive, but hella worth it.

       Quinn decided she needed a bigger bag of holding for Steve, and beat me to the only shop that had one. I was annoyed at first, but it turns out she had a bag of devouring instead. Steve got sucked into it, and she got sucked in right after, but Jak pulled her out. Quinn frantically turned the bag inside out, sending a mini wave splashing out, right in the middle of the street. Much to her relief, the octopus hadn't been sucked into the bag yet. Quinn tossed it onto the street and Oskar whacked it with his hammer.

       A bit after that, we headed to the ship and set sail for Waterdeep. Quinn bunked with the crew, and the rest of us bunked together in a state room. My hammer of warning didn't go off in the middle of the night, but at the time that it was supposed to go off, we heard commotion in another part of the ship- Wave had still gone off. Oskar confronted Quinn, but she had no idea what about her would be doing it. Wave was quiet after that night, he didn't raise alarm again during our journey.

***** Greengrass Holiday, Sea of Swords

       Quinn started having nightmares, and wasn't getting any rest while she slept- she ended up spending the entire day asleep. I wonder if whatever was setting our weapons of warning off was what was doing it to her.

***** Mirtul 1, Sea of Swords

       A heavy rain began to fall today, it looked like a storm was starting up. Quinn's nightmares persisted.

***** Mirtul 2, Sea of Swords

       The storm got worse today, and two crewmen actually went overboard. Oskar spotted a storm giant playing in the distance, but it didn't come near us, thankfully.

       I finished my experiment on making a healing potion for Bumbersnoot! Now I have a way of healing my baby during battle!

***** Mirtul, 3, Sea of Swords

       Oskar said that the storm giant seemed closer to us today, as the storm raged on. But it never engaged us, thankfully.

       Jak was itching to punch things, he'd gone too long without killing anything. Weston, the ship's mage, let Jak kill his familiar, which made Jak happy, even though it didn't curve his lust for violence.

***** Mirtul 4, Sea of Swords

       The storm intensified, it was nearly a hurricane now. I couldn't even work on my projects, with as rocky as it was. It was also colder now, it had been a humid storm up until now.

       Quinn was a mess. She hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in several days now. Oskar gave her a dose of drow sleep poison to knock her out and prevent her from dreaming. That kinda backfired. She ended up practically comatose, and didn't wake up at all today.

***** Mirtul 5, Sea of Swords

       The storm was a full blown hurricane today.

       Oskar managed to clear up Quinn's nightmares, and she finally got some sleep. She awoke at the right time too.

       We were sailing in the rocky waters, when suddenly the water calmed completely. The storm was gone, the sky was clear, and there was no movement of the water or wind. There was a fog swirling around the ship, and one of the crew called out that he could see another ship in the distance. That didn't fucking sound good.

       Oskar and Jak decided to go investigate, Jak swam and Oskar flew. We could hear splashes around us, but we couldn't see what they were doing, or make out any real details of the ship. When the ships finally got close enough for us to see what was on them, we discovered the ships were full of undead; there were two ships, moving to flank us.

       A voice rang out as the ships moved into position that if we them the "fish sticker" and the crew, they'd consider letting us live. I had a feeling Wave was the fish sticker they were referring to- that stupid trident has brought us nothing but trouble.

       Oskar dropped a fuckton of skeletons on one of the ships right away, and I blew up the hag on the other ship with NATAS' charged plasma shot. Quinn was dropped instantly by another hag. Then a vampire grabbed me, and though Bumbersnoot tried to yank him off of me, it didn't work. The vampire quickly drained me and I slipped into unconsciousness.

       The others told me bits and pieces of what happened during the fight after that:

       The ship's crew began dropping slowly, one by one. Bumbersnoot ran around our ship, taking out undead as he went, and trying to get me to Oskar. Bumbersnoot spent a lot of the fight with the girls, helping them take out the undead that approached them.

       As the fight raged on, a much larger ship arrived which Oskar said was an ice giant great ship, and it looked like it had been sunk... it was full of fucking undead giants. In a few moments, they grappled our ship.

       Quinn had been revived at some point during the fight, and she was charmed by a vampire to give it Wave. The giant ship managed to knock over our mast somehow, and it fell on Quinn, dropping her again. Weston tried to create a current for us to get away, but with no mast or wind, and being grappled by the enormous ship, it didn't work as well as he'd hoped. Weston kept at it though, hoping it would work and free us before we all died.

       Jak had gotten in the water, and found himself swarmed by vampiranhas- vampire piranhas. I thought they were fucking with me when they told me that, but Jak insisted he was quite serious. An explosion on one of the smaller ships broke us free of that one, but we were still grappled by the big one. The skeletons were approaching quickly- so the group decided to go below deck to get some cover and bottle neck the invaders on the stairs. They heard some gears and whooshing- it sounded like they'd taken our entire ship on board of the giant ship. 

       Oskar revived me just before a red mist began seeping down into the hold where we were. The rest of the group who was still alive began falling unconscious from the red mist. Within seconds everyone except Oskar, Jak, Bumbersnoot, and I were down. I helped us find some secret compartments to stash our people in, and just as we were finishing, I succumbed to the mist.

       Oskar began throwing insults out at their unseen foes, and his mouth filled with blood- he couldn't speak for one minute. Jak was grappled by drenched hair, so all three of them attacked the woman who the hair was attached to. Critical Bumbersnoot took a big chunk out of the woman, and Oskar and Jak got some good hits in as well. 

       The hag peeled off half of Jak's face, and it floated to her, attaching itself to her face. It now looked like there were two Jaks. Oskar and Bumbersnoot went for her again- the mechanimal was confused about who to attack, so he followed Oskar's lead. The hag did something that made fluids begin leaking from everyone- including Bumbersnoot; so Bumbersnoot tripped her. 

       The scuffle continued for a few more seconds, with Jak going down, then Bumbersnoot, and finally Oskar. 

***** Sometime later...

       I came to in my small clothes, in a large cell with everyone, apparently none of the crew or group were dead. We were all shackled to the walls, and Bumbersnoot was inactive in a heap in the corner of the cell.

       We could hear someone shouting in dwarvish that Whelm was his, and he wanted to torture Oskar until he told him where it was. That didn't sound fucking good.