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.