- Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
- Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
- Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
- Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
- MARMALADING: Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
- MARMALADING: Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
- Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
- Kippy Hunt. Human Male Barbarian of the Central Plains – Ian
- Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl
Bleeding Jack
"What was that thing?" indeed.
Ezme gave a choked cry, and collapsed as only a buxom wench can. She lay on the ground, drooling marmalade.
All that was left of the sewer expeditionary force, conscious, was now Cody and Tom.
Kippy and Munch were watching the pods on the docks, else watching the party's new barge. Fat Willow was in the Druids' Grove. Rock Hammer and Ardern were still suffering Chronic Marmalade tucked in safely in the inn.
"I suggest we execute a tactical withdraw," voiced Cody. Tom readily agreed.
Tom hefted the unconscious Jack - his ears still bleeding - onto his massive shoulders. Cody busied himself bundling up the marmalading Ezme so that she could be carried (Marmaladers were now almost weightless. This was a recent side-effect that the group discovered, so it made the hapless droolers easy to move.)
Tom and Cody made their way out of the sewers, and onto a street in a quiet part of town. It was 4 be'light, [3am] so the streets were empty.
There were three bodies on the street near the exit manhole, dead, with a white fungus around their mouths.
"The Porn City Militia can handle these," Cody said.
Around the next corner, the four stumbled into a group of Militia. [ failed luck roll ]
"Halt!" came the cry from the Sergeant.
Cody clutched the limp Ezme in a lover's embrace, copping a good feel, and getting a good feed of marmalade from her open mouth. Tom stumbled about, dragging the bleeding Jack, as if drunk from a night of reveling.
"Evenin' officer," slurred Tom. "Jus..jus.. headin' home with me mates."
"Good eve-able cuntsta-ning" slurred Cody, his mouth spattered with Ezme's marmalade.
[Tom made a 1 Persuade roll - good success!]
The soldiers saluted. "On your way, citizens."
The four returned to the barge after an hour. Kippy and Munch had been left on watch while the others were down in the sewers. But the barge was unoccupied. There were signs of a fight: knocked over boxes, and a broken oar on the deck.
Munch returned - he had been on watch over the pod/egg storage. He reported that one of them had been lifted by derrick cranes and loaded into a barge. The barge then vanished into the mist, and Munch couldn't even tell if it went upstream (up the Porn river), or out to sea. The barges were not really ocean-going barges, so we suspected it was upstream.
Still no sign of Kippy.
At light, fat Willow arrived. His curing magic manages to fix Jack. Jack's last memory was when the creature screamed.
Tom got cured too.
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| Lois Price |
Cody, rather low on magic, then went to the WG to get recharged. He connected with the patron, Julius McKraken who demanded a meeting.
"I have my Niece. Lois Price," said McKraken. "She is young and naive and I'd like her to join your group."
Cody looked the 28-year-old up and down. "Yeah, sure, sir."
So Lois joined the group. [This was Ian's new character to replace Kippy. ]
Sojourn Back to the Sewers
Jack wanted the group to return to the sewers. Tom was worried that he couldn't do anything with his non-magical club. However, Cody could cast the level 4 Enchant Weapon spell. It would make Tom's club into a +2 weapon, for five minutes. That was enough to satisfy Tom.
Jack also collected some wax intending to pour it into his ears to silence the scream, but Lois insisted she could case a Silence spell which would work better.
As the group was heading back to the last spot where Cody and Tom exited the sewers, Munch relayed some rumour he'd heard from his scaly Thieves' Guild mates. One of them claimed that the "Walls could sing".
Down on Level three, Willow turned into a (fat) rat and went scurrying off to explore. When in Rome, etc.
His druid ability lasts an hour, so when he was approaching the 20 minute mark and about to return, he smelt something nasty and strongly metallic. There was a big hole in the floor and the metal smell came from there. Plus his little rat ears could hear soft singing.
He returned and turned back into fat Willow, then told them all what he smelt and heard.
The Hole
Willow lead the group to the hole, while Cody mapped. As the group approach, some of the members could hear faint singing. It got louder and louder as they approached the hole.
Down here, they could all smell the metallic odour. Not blood, but metal.
This was not a recent hole. It was decades old. Maybe centuries. But it was ragged and hand-dug.
Shining lights down showed a large rubbery grey carcass of a humanoid creature, 10ft tall, lying face down. It was the same size as the one they fought a few nights ago, but this one was very old. Decades of dust. But it hadn't rotted.
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| Grey |
It was a big chamber with four exits and the carcass was lying in the centre.
Suddenly, Tom coughed and gasped, and collapsed.
So, brave Jack, the Aquamarina Temple Fighter, an expert at holding his breath, went down with a spare rope. Even holding his breath, Jack could smell metallic. And the singing got louder.
He tied a Deadman's knot around Tom, and then clambered up Munch's magic rope. All of the group hauling together was enough to bring Tom up.
Tom was deathly pale. The walls singing seemed to match Tom's pallour. The paler he got, the louder the singing.
So, Jack cast a Slow Poison on Tom. That worked. The sound dropped.
Then fat Willow cast Neutralize Poison and that woke him up.
Wizards' Guild Shenanigans
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| Julius McCraken |
He told them that 60-70 years ago, another creature, as they described, was seen emerge from an egg. And he'd also heard the singing walls rumour.
"Why didn't you tell us this two days ago, you prick?" snapped Cody.
"I didn't think it was relevant."
"Well, are there any more of these non-relevant rumours we should know?" Cody put heavy air-quotes on the "non-relevant"
Julius just scowled but had some more information.
"It seems that the barge that took the egg was not a Throak barge. I want you to find out about that, who did it, and where has it gone. Secondly the Throaks have instructed the WG to take the rest of the eggs into protective custody - the Guild storage."
"Who is behind that?" asked Cody.
"Cushla, head of the Guild."
"If Cushla speaks for the Guild, why are we listening to YOU?" asked Cody, irritated.
"Because you do."
"So. We are not actually working for the Wizards' Guild? We are working for YOU, a minor functionary who has his own little agenda?"
"If you must simplify it, then YES."
Cody stared straight at him.
"I want you to ONE find out where the barge went," said the demanding Julius again. "TWO find out where the live creature is, and THREE I want a piece of the broken egg."
Lois said they would do it and ushered the angry Cody out.
Wizards' Guild collect the Eggs
Cody and Lois returned to the group at the Willow Jean Prime inn, and updated this new information.
They think we can get a sample of a piece of egg from the docks. When the egg hatched or broke it fell into many pieces. Maybe one had fallen down between the planks of the wharf.
The group staked out the docks as close as they could get to the secure area.
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| WG move the eggs |
Derrick cranes loaded the eggs, two per wagon, and the group returned the way they came.
Cody and Lois followed the wagons. Munch, Jack, Willow and Tom stayed behind to watch the docks. The wagons headed to the WG warehouses near the Throak walled keep.
As soon as the eggs were gone, the magical mist started to dissipate, and by dark, the docks cordon was gone, plus all the temporary tents, gazebos and pavilions.
Jack went down under the wharves and Tom and Munch stayed up top. Sure enough, wedged in a crack between boards, were pieces of the egg.
Tom worked on it, and it slipped out and fell onto Jack's head. It was hardened leather with little scales.
Jack wrapped it in cloth and picked it up. then returned to the others, just as Cody and Lois returned. Then, well away from the docks, Detect Magic was cast on the egg piece, with no result. But Detect Evil gave a hit. O dear.
Jack started to get a rash on his head. So he headed to the Aquamarina temple and the head priestess fixed his rash with a Cure Disease.
On the way back from the temple, Jack heard screaming. A dock-worker's whole chest had been ripped open, as if something exploded out of the poor man. Jack didn't want to get involved, so scurried off.
Lois and Cody headed to the WG, and sought out Julius. They gave him the egg piece and warned him that it was "Evil and poisonous". He was delighted.
Hunting the Barge
One down, two to go. Next, the Barge and the Creature.
The group found a new base. The Drunken Canary, mid-way between the Throak keep and the Wizards' Guild tower,
They suspected the barge went up the river. As mentioned earlier, it was not an ocean-going barge and the towns along the Wild Coast are too small to have cranes on their wharves. Those eggs looked very heavy.
So, they poled their barge up the river for the whole day, keeping eyes open for anything suspicious.
Munch returned to the Thieves' Guild to see if any of his leads had borne fruit.
Why, yes. There had been some rumours from the Poncho and Cat: three nights ago, of a barge was going up the river with a big load on it. The bargeman was unsteady, and banged into things. Those on the shore yelled out to him, and he replied in a foreign language. Then the barge went upriver, out of town.
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