Post by Dead Greyhawk on Nov 9, 2009 22:00:46 GMT -5
Otto and Hugh take an accounting of the battle. Many of the party are injured or unconscious, and Wendelain has been slain! The vile priests, their undead minion, and the animated statue of their false deity have been laid low, but the naga herself still lies somewhere beyond. Hugh begins the process of healing the injured while Otto organizes the others. "Search the dead," he barks, "and then let's find the mistress and provide her with an introduction of steel!"
The priests' bodies are searched, finding keys, armor, and arms. Adler, Florin, and Pfiffwin are brought conscious again, Florin showing no ill effect from Pfiffwin's illusory lightning bolt. Claude is another story. The touch of the wight has done him great harm. His eyes stare somewhat vacantly, and his sword arm lies slack. While clearly trying to regain his composure, he looks quizzically about, as if trying to recall some long-lost memory. Wendelain, who fared the worst, is doused in holy water, a slight sizzling sound coming off of her corpse as the water cleanses her defiled soul.
With only a few keys and a snake-headed mace to show for their efforts, the party retreats back to Clift and the others. They, of course, are perfectly healthy, with Darren and Mina speaking quietly with one another and Parsons still trying to convince Clift to lead him out of the swamp. Otto explains to the prisoners that the priests are dead, but the Mistress has not been found. He and Otto will lead the others in pursuit of the Mistress through the remaining tunnels of this lizardish pit.
While he and Parsons argue, Pfiffwin stealthily pulls out a wand, intoning a quiet command of "vijandelijke opsporing." The wand, taken from Winthrop, searches out the nearest enemies, and Pfiffwin waits for it to point at the teenagers or Parsons, that they are werewolves or other fell creatures in disguise. It does not, but rather hovers hesitantly at Clift and Frippi, not directly accusing, but strongly implying their interests are not those of Pfiffwin. "I wonder if it would point more strongly at them if Otto was wielding it?" questions Pfiffwin.
Eventually, Otto agrees to take Parsons and the teenagers up to the surface of the Rushmoors. He will leave them in the care of Ledonia, who, if all goes poorly, has the skill to lead them back to Orlane. Otto plans to return with Eats Salmon, whose strength will buoy the current weakness of the party. "Relying on a bear for backup," mutters Otto. "How humiliating."
Otto leads the others back up through the muddy passage, the eerie quiet dripping of the upper levels somewhat unnerving to the teenagers. Cries and moans of rage echo out of the rooms where the other townsfolk, those who have fallen under the Mistresses' control, are being held. When Otto reaches the exit stairs, it is nearly dark outside. Shouting and displaying a glowing stone, Otto draws Ledonia into speaking range and explains the situation to her. With a gimlet eye, she stares at the merchant. "We'll be here until morning," she agrees. Eats Salmon is more difficult to convince. Even with Otto's charms and prayers to Joramy, he has difficulty explaining to Eats Salmon why the bear should come into this underground muck. After many agonizing moments and with the promise of delicious berries and future fish, Otto barely convinces the bear to come below.
He returns to find Hugh having finished tending to the others. Frippi, once sorely injured and nigh onto death, is recovered through Hugh's prayers. The rest of the party is mainly restored through the meanest of Hugh's spells. Not everyone is pleased to be traveling along with a bear underground. Frippi, who would be less than a meal for Eats Salmon, eyes him with some trepidation, and Clift is equally, if not more, put off by the beast's bulk and noxious smell. "That bear is not fit for human company," gripes Clift.
"Gronk!" replies Eats Salmon.
Otto chivvies the others into formation, and the party sets off down the passageway into the muddy areas where the party members fled after facing the strange zombie. Otto leads them all carefully through the muck and mud past where Frippi almost met his doom among the giant bugs. The mud-filled chamber ends in a passageway extending to the right and the left. Otto checks the floor for tracks. A faint scratching sound comes from the right, but the lizard folk tracks go to the left.
"Something coming," hisses Otto, as the scratching sounds get louder. Otto turns squarely to face the corridor when grey-skinned, staggering humanoids with long fangs and talons spring gibberingly into the light. "Ghouls," he grunts, as they slam into his frame. Giantslayer accounts for one of the ghouls, but of the half-dozen-large pack, the others swarm over him. Hugh and Florin quickly join him in the corridor, to staunch the flow of the undead into the party. "Don't frighten them off," cries Otto. "We don't want to have to chase them!"
The ghouls are no match for Otto's strong sword arm, and Hugh wields Flametongue with great dexterity and effect. Only the lightly armored Florin appears in particular danger, and he begins to bleed from a number of small wounds inflicted by the ghouls' dirty, ragged claws. Only his elven nature prevents him from succumbing to the effects of their ghoulish touch. The remaining ghouls swarm over Otto. Otto's armor turns most, but not of all, of their blows, and he infuriatingly stiffens into immobility with two ghouls still before him.
Adler and Claude crowd into the passage to aid in the attack. With Hugh concentrating on one of the ghouls and Florin, Adler, and Claude focusing on the other, the battle is brought to a close. The last ghoul dies again. "I am torn nearly limb from limb!" exclaims Florin, examining his numerous wounds. "Hugh, can you restore my health?"
"I can, but I won't," replies Hugh, as he checks over Otto's inert form. "Your wounds may seem grievous to you, but Trithereon's power flows so strongly through me that they are mere scratches."
"I'll do it," says Adler, invoking the power of Celestian. "I still have much to learn, and your wounds seem grievous enough." Celestian's power flows through Adler and into Florin, sealing the minor wounds puckering his frame.
"Tell me more about your god," suggests Florin. "Elves love the stars, thank you."
Otto slowly returns to mobility and begins looking to the left, where the tracks clearly lead. The left-hand tunnel passes by an empty cave. The walls of the cave drip and glisten with moisture but is clearly empty when the party travels by. Another stretch of mud lies before them.
Sighing, they move forward down the corridor, turning right as the tunnel splits into a Y. The foul stench of the underground grows stronger as they move forwarded towards a large, empty chamber. "Look out!" shouts Otto, as short-tailed lizard folk appear from the walls of the chamber beyond. Heaving camouflaged wicker baskets at the party, the lizard folk attack.
The wicker baskets shatter when they hit the party and the walls near them. Hissing snakes slither forth, angrily striking out at the party members. Florin and Adler cry out in pain as the angry snakes bite deep into their flesh, venom filling their veins. Otto and Eats Salmon charge forward out of the mud, ready to rend and tear at the lizard folk, but Pfiffwin and Hugh have different ideas. Gesticulating and chanting, both of them send magical energies outwards. Hugh attempts to charm the venomous mud vipers into becoming his willing allies, while Pfiffwin invokes the deepest fears of the lizard folk. With a sudden cry, the lizard folk leave off their defense and begin running away from Otto and Eats Salmon. Clift, seeing his opportunity, pulls forth his short bow and sends shafts sailing after the lizard folk.
Otto and Eats Salmon continue to rampage among the lizard folk while Frippi, and Claude strike at the fleeing snakes. Only one of the snakes dances back and forth before Hugh awaiting his hissed order. Hugh looks up past where Otto and Eats Salmon stand to see a group of lizard folk heft leather sacks bulging with goods and flee further into the dark. "Get them!" he shouts. "They're escaping with our stuff!" Pfiffwin, Clift, and Frippi immediately look up and peer for where the stuff is going.
Otto and Eats Salmon begin to chase after the lizard folk. "Perfect!" thinks Clift, as he draws a bead on Eats Salmon's back. "Show him who's boss!" Clift sends a shaft arching straight into the back of Eats Salmon, a perfect shot, rare from Clift whose skill with a bow is barely passing. Eats Salmon spins around as the arrow slams into its flank and lets out a bearish roar. Without batting an eye, he charges Clift. "Mad bear! Mad bear!" shouts Clift as he tries to avoid Eats Salmon's paws and teeth, but it is for nought. Clift goes down, bleeding from a punctured chest.
Otto gives up the beginnings of his chase after the lizard folk to calm Eats Salmon. Chaos consumes the party for a moment, as a third of the party lie poisoned or bleeding. Hugh calls upon Trithereon to restore first Adler and then Florin to health. In the meantime, Frippi keeps Clift from bleeding to death.
"What do we do now?" asks Florin.
"We get out of the mud," replies Otto. Once the party stands on drier ground in the cavern, Hugh and Otto talk with Pfiffwin and Samantha. No one can tell whether Clift's arrow went awry or was intended to hit the bear. Hugh, always ready to free another from bondage of any sort, agrees to restore Clift to strength, though his prayers are becoming scarce. Following Hugh's ministrations, Clift staggers to his feet, a snarling Eats Salmon being restrained by Otto.
Clift looks around for support and sees little, so he totters over to Frippi and sits down. Frippi asks how he is, and Clift glares at him. "I'm fine," he hisses. "That bear is gonna end up a rug though."
"Look at these caves," hisses Florin. "They are full of eggs." Indeed, two caves exit from one wall of the larger cavern, and each one has a series of nests full of eggs. Several thousand eggs are present in the two caves, and, in one of the caves, small snakes marked like the mud vipers that poisoned Florin are visible slithering between the egg casings. "What do we do with all of these?" he asks.
"Trithereon's mark burns bright!" cries Hugh as he begins to pour oil from his flasks into the two caves. The eggs become doused in the oil and pop and sizzle as he lights them aflame. The small snakes writhe in the burning flames and die.
Otto winces a bit at the wanton destruction, but recalls Joramy's fires burn equally as bright when her anger is aroused. "Let's get a move on," he says, beckoning towards the far end of the cavern. "The troglodytes took their treasure out a passage at the end of the cavern. We'll follow them." The party files in behind Otto as he takes the lead. The passage soon branches, with the branch to the right filled with mud and that to the left not.
The lizardfolk have plainly gone down the muddy passage, but the sounds of rustling chains and a heavy pacing come from the left. "Change in plan," mutters Otto as he heads to the left.
The passageway leads into a small chamber with a single exit on the far side of the room. A savage-looking reptile that strongly resembles a miniature Tyrannosaurus rex. A long chain connects one of its legs to the side wall, but it looks free to roam the room. Human bones are scattered about and four jaw bones and part of a skull have been driven into the walls at various heights. The miniature dinosaur snarls, growls, and bellows at the sight of the party, clearly marking the cave as its territory. "Florin, you got this?" asks Otto.
Florin glows with delight at the suggestion of his competence. He draws forth his bow and begins plinking the miniature dinosaur with arrows from the entryway. Clift moves to join him, but Eats Salmon lets out a warning growl and snarls. Frippi, much less than a snack for Eats Salmon, begins to sidle backwards, trying to find a safe place to be. Not wanting to be near the front, he also doesn't want to be in the back, where the lizard folk might come up from the other corridor and attack. Worse, he doesn't want to be in the middle, where Eats Salmon might snap at him or Clift. Frippi paces back and forth, squirming, while the last of the arrows thuds into the now-dead dinosaur.
Otto and Hugh lead the others forward into the tunnel on the far side of the cave. Clift watches the others, especially the bear, go across the cave. "I should have taken the merchant out of the swamp," he thinks. "Then I would have gotten the whole reward for myself! Of course, I might have gotten lost. Or eaten. I hate that bear." Clift decides the others can fight their way to the mistress, and he will happily follow behind. Thirty feet or so behind. Just close enough to call for help.
The tunnel enters into huge cavern lit by a ghostly green glow emanating from eight columns supporting a vaulted ceiling. A large subterranean lake fills the cavern, flowing around the columns. A large flat-bottomed boat is pulled up on shore at the edge of the water. Most of the party walks halfway down the beach-like area to look over the underground lake.
"Foolsssss!" hisses a feminine voice from across the lake. "You come to your doom!" A sizzling orb of fire appears over the lake and sails forward into the party, exploding into a forty foot ball of flame! Most of the party collapses from the fiery inferno, only Pfiffwin, Samantha, Hugh, and Otto remaining conscious. A huge snake with a woman's head floats over the water of the lake, its black and red scales glistening sickly in the greenish light. The Mistress has been found, a look of gloating mockery clearly visible on her distorted face.
That look is quickly wiped from her countenance as Otto moves into the edge of the water, pulling forth his magical hammer. Otto, having prepared for this moment long ago, has doused the hammer's head in a magical oil and wrapped it in loose cloth. Shaking the hammer free from this binding, he swings it around his head once and throws it at the Mistress! With a rolling sound like the thunder that accompanies lightning, the hammer roils the air, the oil slowly picking up color and shedding small droplets like sparks. The hammer smites the Mistress, crushing her side and knocking her back a good ten feet! The hammer, having served its purpose, falls into the water below.
The Mistress is sorely discomfited by events and resorts again to her spells. Thick webbing coats the edge of the shore, ensnaring as well Hugh and Pfiffwin, who have joined Otto at the water's edge. Samantha, knowing that her contribution will need to be later rather than earlier, hangs back at the tunnel mouth, where Clift also skulks.
The three of them struggle in the webbing until Hugh activates Flametongue. His armor sheds the heat of the flames, as it did with the ball of fire, but the others fare less well. One of Otto's rings also protects him from fire, and so he is only the least bit injured. Pfiffwin is less hale than either of the other two, and his burns are sufficient to cause him simply to retreat away from the battle.
"I think it's the one from Castle Crag," shouts Otto, pointing at the markings on the snake. "Same pattern."
"You mean Castle Diego," retorts Hugh.
"Diego, Crago, I don't care," erupts Otto. "It's the one that has Raven ensorcelled still. We need to make sure it's dead!" Otto and Hugh begin to work their way along the side of the chamber, where the water is the least deep, trying to catch up with the Mistress. "I see land to the right!" shouts Otto. As Otto moves through the water, he holds his long bow as high and parallel to the water's surface as he can and peppers the Mistress with arrows. Hugh, on the other hand, simply moves as quickly as he can, using the ring found in the Great Tree to swim like a fish towards the other shore. There, he calls on Trithereon's might to conjure allies in his fight, hoping for some sort of bird. Instead, a small pack of rats clamber from the water's edge and pool at his feet.
The Mistress does not take this threat lightly. Bolts of energy rain down on Otto, filling him full of holes. Otto's magical ring that leaches health from his opponents does not serve him well against such arcane bolts nor when he attacks with missiles rather than his sword. It is a sorely wounded Otto that makes it to the far shore to rejoin Hugh. His arrows have done similar harm to the Mistress, and the two enemies glare at each other from sixty feet away.
In the heat of the battle, Samantha, Pfiffwin, and Clift have been forgotten, as have the unconscious party members. "We must follow them," exhorts Pfiffwin. "We aren't strong enough to fight off even a few of the lizard folk."
Samantha must agree. Part of her mentor's training has been to give her only those magics that are useful, not those that are offensive in nature. As a result, even though she could still cast magics, those magics are not likely to chase off even a mite. Samantha eyes the large flat-bottomed boat. "Let's put them in there and then sail after them," she suggests.
Pfiffwin frowns. "I don't know how to sail, do you?" he asks.
Clift dumps Frippi unceremoniously into the boat and pulls out a long pole from inside it. "I think it's pretty easy," he avers with confidence. Florin, Claude, and Adler are all piled into the boat. Clift heads over to Eats Salmon, fingering his dagger. He pauses and looks around to see both Samantha and Pfiffwin staring straight at him. "Look!" he cries. "More lizard folk!" Neither Samantha nor Pfiffwin spin about to look, so Clift shrugs and heads back towards the boat, leaving the unconscious bear behind.
The three of them pole out into the water, watching the magical bolts and non-magical arrows cross each other in the air. It is quite a spectacle, and Pfiffwin closely monitors the battle. Clift looks down at the unconscious form of Florin. "Maybe Florin wants to go swimming to try and get Otto's hammer?" he mutters to himself. Taking a look at his fellow travelers, he sees Samantha keeping a close watch on him. "Maybe next time, bud," he sighs. More interesting to Clift than the battle is the large pile of coinage that he can see sitting behind Hugh and Otto!
The battered Mistress sends more magical bolts into Otto's form, and Otto has had enough. Down he goes, his strong legs no longer able to take his weight. Hugh is surprised, almost shocked, since Otto so rarely needs to be healed. The Mistress takes the opportunity to heal some of her wounds while Hugh heals some of Otto's.
The battle is definitely not going to the Mistress's advantage. Most of her spells have been cast, and her opponents still stand. She changes tactics. Calling on Merrshaulk, her patron, she attempts to clasp Otto and Hugh in Merrshaulk's coils, freezing them in place. While Hugh resists, Otto does not! Again, for the second time, Otto stiffens into immobility.
The Mistress sails closer, attempting to catch Hugh's eye and entrance him, but Hugh will have nothing to do with that. Hugh finds blocks the great flying snake from Otto's form, waving his flaming sword in her face! The two of them tussle back and forth, the Mistress glowing with an unholy light. Plainly the Mistress has drawn more of Merrshaulk's power into her, and her touch may be as dangerous as her venomous bite.
Relying on his golden scale armor to resist the Mistress's touch, Hugh calls upon Trithereon to free Otto's demonic bonds. He sketches the pursuit rune of Trithereon over Otto's frozen form, and Otto wills himself free of the invisible coils surrounding him. Otto's moving form sends fear into the Mistress's eyes, and she sails for the back of the cave, over the pile of coins that lie collected on the ground. Hovering before the wall, she pushes open a large section of stone, a hidden door, that appeared solid.
"I'll block her from escaping!" shouts Hugh, as he throws himself into a dive under the flying snake. Sliding through the now open door, he finds himself in the temple where they had fought earlier. The altar conveniently blocks his ungainly skidding, and he uses it to pivot and face the fleeing Mistress.
The Mistress rears up, her large form unable to navigate through the narrow door, over the altar, and around Hugh, at any speed. She hisses at Hugh, bites at him, and stares directly into his face. The golden armor again turns her bite, but the cold will of the Mistress falls upon him, seeping into his mind like a black ichor. Hugh stands immobile, caught in her gaze, until suddenly the greenish-golden eyes of the Mistress suffuse with red blood, and Hugh is freed!
"So much for her," pants Otto, his wounds partially healed, as the two parts of the Mistress slam to the floor. Giantslayer in hand, he leans back against the side of the cavern and surveys his work with a grim satisfaction. With a squeaking and squealing, the swarm of rats summoned by Hugh swarming over and gnawing on the corpse.
Samantha and the rest of the party draw up to the shore and join Hugh and Otto in their triumph. While the unconscious are tended to, Clift and Pfiffwin immediately sort through the pile of coins. The pile holds several thousand coins, mixed between platinum, gold, and silver, all of Keoish mint. Strewn among them are small gemstones, mainly agates, and a magnificent emerald bracelet. Clift slides the bracelet up his arm, admiring its glitter, until Otto places a meaty paw on his shoulder. "Don't get too attached to it," mutters the warrior. "Adler, come with me to deal with Eats Salmon." With that, Otto pushes off in the boat for the far shore again.
Under the weight of the coins are two long bone tubes. Clift snatches the first one up and peers at the end of the tube, looking for a cap or a catch. Indeed, the bright white tube has large leafy patterns carved on it, and the leaves can be slid to open the end of the tube. "Aha!" cries Clift, as he slides the first set of leaves over and pops the end of the tube open. A gout of fire erupts out of the tube, playing over Clift and burning him badly. "Aah!" cries Clift, as the red-hot tube sears his hands. Black wisps of paper float out of the bone tube, whatever was inside certainly destroyed.
"Give me that!" hisses Hugh, snatching the other tube from Clifts unresisting hands. Clift shrugs and continues blowing on his scorched fingers. "We should pack these coins up and then check on the townsfolk," continues Hugh. "The cloud that filled my mind when the Mistress met my vision passed when she died. Perhaps the same has happened for them as well." The others seem to think this a reasonable approach.
The party begins packing up the coins and gemstones, Hugh holding onto the bone tube. When the coins have been equitably stowed, the party begins its hike back through the temple to ascend out of the muddy burrow. The townsfolk are not healed of their affliction, but instead stagger about as if dazed. They seem to have vague, dream-like memories of their recent past but are exceptionally confused by events. Those that seem more cognizant of what they have done break regularly into random sobbing or sudden anger. The party, having fought them and herded them into captivity has little patience for the former thralls of the Mistress.
The party regroups with Ledonia and the freed prisoners and takes stock. After strong debate, they agree to take Parsons, the children, and the townfolk back to Orlane. "After all," chortles Clift, "with all the snatching, killing, and eating going on, I'm certain we'll find plenty of young widows who will need consoling!" Clift rubs his hands together with glee while the rest, except perhaps for the halfling, view him with unconcealed disgust.
The priests' bodies are searched, finding keys, armor, and arms. Adler, Florin, and Pfiffwin are brought conscious again, Florin showing no ill effect from Pfiffwin's illusory lightning bolt. Claude is another story. The touch of the wight has done him great harm. His eyes stare somewhat vacantly, and his sword arm lies slack. While clearly trying to regain his composure, he looks quizzically about, as if trying to recall some long-lost memory. Wendelain, who fared the worst, is doused in holy water, a slight sizzling sound coming off of her corpse as the water cleanses her defiled soul.
With only a few keys and a snake-headed mace to show for their efforts, the party retreats back to Clift and the others. They, of course, are perfectly healthy, with Darren and Mina speaking quietly with one another and Parsons still trying to convince Clift to lead him out of the swamp. Otto explains to the prisoners that the priests are dead, but the Mistress has not been found. He and Otto will lead the others in pursuit of the Mistress through the remaining tunnels of this lizardish pit.
While he and Parsons argue, Pfiffwin stealthily pulls out a wand, intoning a quiet command of "vijandelijke opsporing." The wand, taken from Winthrop, searches out the nearest enemies, and Pfiffwin waits for it to point at the teenagers or Parsons, that they are werewolves or other fell creatures in disguise. It does not, but rather hovers hesitantly at Clift and Frippi, not directly accusing, but strongly implying their interests are not those of Pfiffwin. "I wonder if it would point more strongly at them if Otto was wielding it?" questions Pfiffwin.
Eventually, Otto agrees to take Parsons and the teenagers up to the surface of the Rushmoors. He will leave them in the care of Ledonia, who, if all goes poorly, has the skill to lead them back to Orlane. Otto plans to return with Eats Salmon, whose strength will buoy the current weakness of the party. "Relying on a bear for backup," mutters Otto. "How humiliating."
Otto leads the others back up through the muddy passage, the eerie quiet dripping of the upper levels somewhat unnerving to the teenagers. Cries and moans of rage echo out of the rooms where the other townsfolk, those who have fallen under the Mistresses' control, are being held. When Otto reaches the exit stairs, it is nearly dark outside. Shouting and displaying a glowing stone, Otto draws Ledonia into speaking range and explains the situation to her. With a gimlet eye, she stares at the merchant. "We'll be here until morning," she agrees. Eats Salmon is more difficult to convince. Even with Otto's charms and prayers to Joramy, he has difficulty explaining to Eats Salmon why the bear should come into this underground muck. After many agonizing moments and with the promise of delicious berries and future fish, Otto barely convinces the bear to come below.
He returns to find Hugh having finished tending to the others. Frippi, once sorely injured and nigh onto death, is recovered through Hugh's prayers. The rest of the party is mainly restored through the meanest of Hugh's spells. Not everyone is pleased to be traveling along with a bear underground. Frippi, who would be less than a meal for Eats Salmon, eyes him with some trepidation, and Clift is equally, if not more, put off by the beast's bulk and noxious smell. "That bear is not fit for human company," gripes Clift.
"Gronk!" replies Eats Salmon.
Otto chivvies the others into formation, and the party sets off down the passageway into the muddy areas where the party members fled after facing the strange zombie. Otto leads them all carefully through the muck and mud past where Frippi almost met his doom among the giant bugs. The mud-filled chamber ends in a passageway extending to the right and the left. Otto checks the floor for tracks. A faint scratching sound comes from the right, but the lizard folk tracks go to the left.
"Something coming," hisses Otto, as the scratching sounds get louder. Otto turns squarely to face the corridor when grey-skinned, staggering humanoids with long fangs and talons spring gibberingly into the light. "Ghouls," he grunts, as they slam into his frame. Giantslayer accounts for one of the ghouls, but of the half-dozen-large pack, the others swarm over him. Hugh and Florin quickly join him in the corridor, to staunch the flow of the undead into the party. "Don't frighten them off," cries Otto. "We don't want to have to chase them!"
The ghouls are no match for Otto's strong sword arm, and Hugh wields Flametongue with great dexterity and effect. Only the lightly armored Florin appears in particular danger, and he begins to bleed from a number of small wounds inflicted by the ghouls' dirty, ragged claws. Only his elven nature prevents him from succumbing to the effects of their ghoulish touch. The remaining ghouls swarm over Otto. Otto's armor turns most, but not of all, of their blows, and he infuriatingly stiffens into immobility with two ghouls still before him.
Adler and Claude crowd into the passage to aid in the attack. With Hugh concentrating on one of the ghouls and Florin, Adler, and Claude focusing on the other, the battle is brought to a close. The last ghoul dies again. "I am torn nearly limb from limb!" exclaims Florin, examining his numerous wounds. "Hugh, can you restore my health?"
"I can, but I won't," replies Hugh, as he checks over Otto's inert form. "Your wounds may seem grievous to you, but Trithereon's power flows so strongly through me that they are mere scratches."
"I'll do it," says Adler, invoking the power of Celestian. "I still have much to learn, and your wounds seem grievous enough." Celestian's power flows through Adler and into Florin, sealing the minor wounds puckering his frame.
"Tell me more about your god," suggests Florin. "Elves love the stars, thank you."
Otto slowly returns to mobility and begins looking to the left, where the tracks clearly lead. The left-hand tunnel passes by an empty cave. The walls of the cave drip and glisten with moisture but is clearly empty when the party travels by. Another stretch of mud lies before them.
Sighing, they move forward down the corridor, turning right as the tunnel splits into a Y. The foul stench of the underground grows stronger as they move forwarded towards a large, empty chamber. "Look out!" shouts Otto, as short-tailed lizard folk appear from the walls of the chamber beyond. Heaving camouflaged wicker baskets at the party, the lizard folk attack.
The wicker baskets shatter when they hit the party and the walls near them. Hissing snakes slither forth, angrily striking out at the party members. Florin and Adler cry out in pain as the angry snakes bite deep into their flesh, venom filling their veins. Otto and Eats Salmon charge forward out of the mud, ready to rend and tear at the lizard folk, but Pfiffwin and Hugh have different ideas. Gesticulating and chanting, both of them send magical energies outwards. Hugh attempts to charm the venomous mud vipers into becoming his willing allies, while Pfiffwin invokes the deepest fears of the lizard folk. With a sudden cry, the lizard folk leave off their defense and begin running away from Otto and Eats Salmon. Clift, seeing his opportunity, pulls forth his short bow and sends shafts sailing after the lizard folk.
Otto and Eats Salmon continue to rampage among the lizard folk while Frippi, and Claude strike at the fleeing snakes. Only one of the snakes dances back and forth before Hugh awaiting his hissed order. Hugh looks up past where Otto and Eats Salmon stand to see a group of lizard folk heft leather sacks bulging with goods and flee further into the dark. "Get them!" he shouts. "They're escaping with our stuff!" Pfiffwin, Clift, and Frippi immediately look up and peer for where the stuff is going.
Otto and Eats Salmon begin to chase after the lizard folk. "Perfect!" thinks Clift, as he draws a bead on Eats Salmon's back. "Show him who's boss!" Clift sends a shaft arching straight into the back of Eats Salmon, a perfect shot, rare from Clift whose skill with a bow is barely passing. Eats Salmon spins around as the arrow slams into its flank and lets out a bearish roar. Without batting an eye, he charges Clift. "Mad bear! Mad bear!" shouts Clift as he tries to avoid Eats Salmon's paws and teeth, but it is for nought. Clift goes down, bleeding from a punctured chest.
Otto gives up the beginnings of his chase after the lizard folk to calm Eats Salmon. Chaos consumes the party for a moment, as a third of the party lie poisoned or bleeding. Hugh calls upon Trithereon to restore first Adler and then Florin to health. In the meantime, Frippi keeps Clift from bleeding to death.
"What do we do now?" asks Florin.
"We get out of the mud," replies Otto. Once the party stands on drier ground in the cavern, Hugh and Otto talk with Pfiffwin and Samantha. No one can tell whether Clift's arrow went awry or was intended to hit the bear. Hugh, always ready to free another from bondage of any sort, agrees to restore Clift to strength, though his prayers are becoming scarce. Following Hugh's ministrations, Clift staggers to his feet, a snarling Eats Salmon being restrained by Otto.
Clift looks around for support and sees little, so he totters over to Frippi and sits down. Frippi asks how he is, and Clift glares at him. "I'm fine," he hisses. "That bear is gonna end up a rug though."
"Look at these caves," hisses Florin. "They are full of eggs." Indeed, two caves exit from one wall of the larger cavern, and each one has a series of nests full of eggs. Several thousand eggs are present in the two caves, and, in one of the caves, small snakes marked like the mud vipers that poisoned Florin are visible slithering between the egg casings. "What do we do with all of these?" he asks.
"Trithereon's mark burns bright!" cries Hugh as he begins to pour oil from his flasks into the two caves. The eggs become doused in the oil and pop and sizzle as he lights them aflame. The small snakes writhe in the burning flames and die.
Otto winces a bit at the wanton destruction, but recalls Joramy's fires burn equally as bright when her anger is aroused. "Let's get a move on," he says, beckoning towards the far end of the cavern. "The troglodytes took their treasure out a passage at the end of the cavern. We'll follow them." The party files in behind Otto as he takes the lead. The passage soon branches, with the branch to the right filled with mud and that to the left not.
The lizardfolk have plainly gone down the muddy passage, but the sounds of rustling chains and a heavy pacing come from the left. "Change in plan," mutters Otto as he heads to the left.
The passageway leads into a small chamber with a single exit on the far side of the room. A savage-looking reptile that strongly resembles a miniature Tyrannosaurus rex. A long chain connects one of its legs to the side wall, but it looks free to roam the room. Human bones are scattered about and four jaw bones and part of a skull have been driven into the walls at various heights. The miniature dinosaur snarls, growls, and bellows at the sight of the party, clearly marking the cave as its territory. "Florin, you got this?" asks Otto.
Florin glows with delight at the suggestion of his competence. He draws forth his bow and begins plinking the miniature dinosaur with arrows from the entryway. Clift moves to join him, but Eats Salmon lets out a warning growl and snarls. Frippi, much less than a snack for Eats Salmon, begins to sidle backwards, trying to find a safe place to be. Not wanting to be near the front, he also doesn't want to be in the back, where the lizard folk might come up from the other corridor and attack. Worse, he doesn't want to be in the middle, where Eats Salmon might snap at him or Clift. Frippi paces back and forth, squirming, while the last of the arrows thuds into the now-dead dinosaur.
Otto and Hugh lead the others forward into the tunnel on the far side of the cave. Clift watches the others, especially the bear, go across the cave. "I should have taken the merchant out of the swamp," he thinks. "Then I would have gotten the whole reward for myself! Of course, I might have gotten lost. Or eaten. I hate that bear." Clift decides the others can fight their way to the mistress, and he will happily follow behind. Thirty feet or so behind. Just close enough to call for help.
The tunnel enters into huge cavern lit by a ghostly green glow emanating from eight columns supporting a vaulted ceiling. A large subterranean lake fills the cavern, flowing around the columns. A large flat-bottomed boat is pulled up on shore at the edge of the water. Most of the party walks halfway down the beach-like area to look over the underground lake.
"Foolsssss!" hisses a feminine voice from across the lake. "You come to your doom!" A sizzling orb of fire appears over the lake and sails forward into the party, exploding into a forty foot ball of flame! Most of the party collapses from the fiery inferno, only Pfiffwin, Samantha, Hugh, and Otto remaining conscious. A huge snake with a woman's head floats over the water of the lake, its black and red scales glistening sickly in the greenish light. The Mistress has been found, a look of gloating mockery clearly visible on her distorted face.
That look is quickly wiped from her countenance as Otto moves into the edge of the water, pulling forth his magical hammer. Otto, having prepared for this moment long ago, has doused the hammer's head in a magical oil and wrapped it in loose cloth. Shaking the hammer free from this binding, he swings it around his head once and throws it at the Mistress! With a rolling sound like the thunder that accompanies lightning, the hammer roils the air, the oil slowly picking up color and shedding small droplets like sparks. The hammer smites the Mistress, crushing her side and knocking her back a good ten feet! The hammer, having served its purpose, falls into the water below.
The Mistress is sorely discomfited by events and resorts again to her spells. Thick webbing coats the edge of the shore, ensnaring as well Hugh and Pfiffwin, who have joined Otto at the water's edge. Samantha, knowing that her contribution will need to be later rather than earlier, hangs back at the tunnel mouth, where Clift also skulks.
The three of them struggle in the webbing until Hugh activates Flametongue. His armor sheds the heat of the flames, as it did with the ball of fire, but the others fare less well. One of Otto's rings also protects him from fire, and so he is only the least bit injured. Pfiffwin is less hale than either of the other two, and his burns are sufficient to cause him simply to retreat away from the battle.
"I think it's the one from Castle Crag," shouts Otto, pointing at the markings on the snake. "Same pattern."
"You mean Castle Diego," retorts Hugh.
"Diego, Crago, I don't care," erupts Otto. "It's the one that has Raven ensorcelled still. We need to make sure it's dead!" Otto and Hugh begin to work their way along the side of the chamber, where the water is the least deep, trying to catch up with the Mistress. "I see land to the right!" shouts Otto. As Otto moves through the water, he holds his long bow as high and parallel to the water's surface as he can and peppers the Mistress with arrows. Hugh, on the other hand, simply moves as quickly as he can, using the ring found in the Great Tree to swim like a fish towards the other shore. There, he calls on Trithereon's might to conjure allies in his fight, hoping for some sort of bird. Instead, a small pack of rats clamber from the water's edge and pool at his feet.
The Mistress does not take this threat lightly. Bolts of energy rain down on Otto, filling him full of holes. Otto's magical ring that leaches health from his opponents does not serve him well against such arcane bolts nor when he attacks with missiles rather than his sword. It is a sorely wounded Otto that makes it to the far shore to rejoin Hugh. His arrows have done similar harm to the Mistress, and the two enemies glare at each other from sixty feet away.
In the heat of the battle, Samantha, Pfiffwin, and Clift have been forgotten, as have the unconscious party members. "We must follow them," exhorts Pfiffwin. "We aren't strong enough to fight off even a few of the lizard folk."
Samantha must agree. Part of her mentor's training has been to give her only those magics that are useful, not those that are offensive in nature. As a result, even though she could still cast magics, those magics are not likely to chase off even a mite. Samantha eyes the large flat-bottomed boat. "Let's put them in there and then sail after them," she suggests.
Pfiffwin frowns. "I don't know how to sail, do you?" he asks.
Clift dumps Frippi unceremoniously into the boat and pulls out a long pole from inside it. "I think it's pretty easy," he avers with confidence. Florin, Claude, and Adler are all piled into the boat. Clift heads over to Eats Salmon, fingering his dagger. He pauses and looks around to see both Samantha and Pfiffwin staring straight at him. "Look!" he cries. "More lizard folk!" Neither Samantha nor Pfiffwin spin about to look, so Clift shrugs and heads back towards the boat, leaving the unconscious bear behind.
The three of them pole out into the water, watching the magical bolts and non-magical arrows cross each other in the air. It is quite a spectacle, and Pfiffwin closely monitors the battle. Clift looks down at the unconscious form of Florin. "Maybe Florin wants to go swimming to try and get Otto's hammer?" he mutters to himself. Taking a look at his fellow travelers, he sees Samantha keeping a close watch on him. "Maybe next time, bud," he sighs. More interesting to Clift than the battle is the large pile of coinage that he can see sitting behind Hugh and Otto!
The battered Mistress sends more magical bolts into Otto's form, and Otto has had enough. Down he goes, his strong legs no longer able to take his weight. Hugh is surprised, almost shocked, since Otto so rarely needs to be healed. The Mistress takes the opportunity to heal some of her wounds while Hugh heals some of Otto's.
The battle is definitely not going to the Mistress's advantage. Most of her spells have been cast, and her opponents still stand. She changes tactics. Calling on Merrshaulk, her patron, she attempts to clasp Otto and Hugh in Merrshaulk's coils, freezing them in place. While Hugh resists, Otto does not! Again, for the second time, Otto stiffens into immobility.
The Mistress sails closer, attempting to catch Hugh's eye and entrance him, but Hugh will have nothing to do with that. Hugh finds blocks the great flying snake from Otto's form, waving his flaming sword in her face! The two of them tussle back and forth, the Mistress glowing with an unholy light. Plainly the Mistress has drawn more of Merrshaulk's power into her, and her touch may be as dangerous as her venomous bite.
Relying on his golden scale armor to resist the Mistress's touch, Hugh calls upon Trithereon to free Otto's demonic bonds. He sketches the pursuit rune of Trithereon over Otto's frozen form, and Otto wills himself free of the invisible coils surrounding him. Otto's moving form sends fear into the Mistress's eyes, and she sails for the back of the cave, over the pile of coins that lie collected on the ground. Hovering before the wall, she pushes open a large section of stone, a hidden door, that appeared solid.
"I'll block her from escaping!" shouts Hugh, as he throws himself into a dive under the flying snake. Sliding through the now open door, he finds himself in the temple where they had fought earlier. The altar conveniently blocks his ungainly skidding, and he uses it to pivot and face the fleeing Mistress.
The Mistress rears up, her large form unable to navigate through the narrow door, over the altar, and around Hugh, at any speed. She hisses at Hugh, bites at him, and stares directly into his face. The golden armor again turns her bite, but the cold will of the Mistress falls upon him, seeping into his mind like a black ichor. Hugh stands immobile, caught in her gaze, until suddenly the greenish-golden eyes of the Mistress suffuse with red blood, and Hugh is freed!
"So much for her," pants Otto, his wounds partially healed, as the two parts of the Mistress slam to the floor. Giantslayer in hand, he leans back against the side of the cavern and surveys his work with a grim satisfaction. With a squeaking and squealing, the swarm of rats summoned by Hugh swarming over and gnawing on the corpse.
Samantha and the rest of the party draw up to the shore and join Hugh and Otto in their triumph. While the unconscious are tended to, Clift and Pfiffwin immediately sort through the pile of coins. The pile holds several thousand coins, mixed between platinum, gold, and silver, all of Keoish mint. Strewn among them are small gemstones, mainly agates, and a magnificent emerald bracelet. Clift slides the bracelet up his arm, admiring its glitter, until Otto places a meaty paw on his shoulder. "Don't get too attached to it," mutters the warrior. "Adler, come with me to deal with Eats Salmon." With that, Otto pushes off in the boat for the far shore again.
Under the weight of the coins are two long bone tubes. Clift snatches the first one up and peers at the end of the tube, looking for a cap or a catch. Indeed, the bright white tube has large leafy patterns carved on it, and the leaves can be slid to open the end of the tube. "Aha!" cries Clift, as he slides the first set of leaves over and pops the end of the tube open. A gout of fire erupts out of the tube, playing over Clift and burning him badly. "Aah!" cries Clift, as the red-hot tube sears his hands. Black wisps of paper float out of the bone tube, whatever was inside certainly destroyed.
"Give me that!" hisses Hugh, snatching the other tube from Clifts unresisting hands. Clift shrugs and continues blowing on his scorched fingers. "We should pack these coins up and then check on the townsfolk," continues Hugh. "The cloud that filled my mind when the Mistress met my vision passed when she died. Perhaps the same has happened for them as well." The others seem to think this a reasonable approach.
The party begins packing up the coins and gemstones, Hugh holding onto the bone tube. When the coins have been equitably stowed, the party begins its hike back through the temple to ascend out of the muddy burrow. The townsfolk are not healed of their affliction, but instead stagger about as if dazed. They seem to have vague, dream-like memories of their recent past but are exceptionally confused by events. Those that seem more cognizant of what they have done break regularly into random sobbing or sudden anger. The party, having fought them and herded them into captivity has little patience for the former thralls of the Mistress.
The party regroups with Ledonia and the freed prisoners and takes stock. After strong debate, they agree to take Parsons, the children, and the townfolk back to Orlane. "After all," chortles Clift, "with all the snatching, killing, and eating going on, I'm certain we'll find plenty of young widows who will need consoling!" Clift rubs his hands together with glee while the rest, except perhaps for the halfling, view him with unconcealed disgust.