Present
- 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
- MARMALADING: 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
- Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
- Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl
by Darryl
As light suddenly flicked on and the land was bathed in the light of the day, our intrepid adventurers can be found, hidden down a little creek, well camouflaged, off the main stream of the Porn river (that flows down to Porn City) and about one hour down-river from Greybank, the little town where strange and dangerous looking experiments are being undertaken on one of the mysterious large black eggs.
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| Lois: "He will just send us back to destroy it." |
"Well, there seems no point going back and asking uncle what to do when most likely he will just send us back here to destroy it." replied Lois.
A general muttering and scraping of jowls and distance stares could be seen through the rest of the group as the usual quandary then raised it's ugly head, leered at the group and sneered at compromise and wise counsel.
"Um should we go and destroy the egg then?" asked Munch.
"Sure thing" replied Cody.
"We could sneak up to the house..." said Tom.
"And?" asked another member of the group.
The usual back and forth then did it's usual thing, talk around and around and eventually the group put together a highly detailed plan of action, known from past activities as plan A. The general plan, walk up to the estate, hide until dark, go into the stable where the egg was placed last night and then chop it into little pieces.
So the group then with this great plan set forth a few hours before dark and began walking the approximate one hour distance to the estate. After a short while, the group came across an elderly country estate type gentleman and his dog, who was rather indignant and suspicious of the group in the first instance, but after initial questioning and believing the group was on their way to Greybank, simply told them to make sure they shut all gates as they tramped onward.
The group made pretty good progress with Munch and his ability to find his way through wild and rural areas leading the way. Dark fell with its normal precision, but Munch's night-sight was still able to lead the group forward. About 30 minutes before arriving at the house and stable, Cody hears noise ahead and with this warning the group was able to hide themselves in a hedgerow near the path they were on.
As they quietly waited, the noise of people and dogs grew slowly louder. After a few moments two men and some dogs walked past with the men quietly talking to each other. The dogs were in good order and the men very-well-armed with hand weapons and crossbows. Cody's warning had been quite important as the group had just entered into the Shi estate's grounds and the feeling was that these were estate guards being sent down to watch the borders of the estate. They moved off and soon the group was once again on their own.
The group became more cautious at this point and moved off again but this time more slowly and listening and looking around with greater attention. Lights were seen moving ahead of the group and moving towards them, and so once again the group moved off the track and silently hid in the bushes three well-armed men passed the group by and now all were fully aware of the dangers and difficulties ahead.
Moving even more carefully the group proceeded forward and after a short time, a small pale glow could be seen in the distance.
"Hide here you guys, I will go and check things out." says Munch, who disappears off into the darkness.
He sneaks forward, very badly, and realizes the glow is coming from the copse behind the main estate house and that the egg is already in place here and not in the stable as the group had hoped. He sneaks a little closer, climbs a tree and looks down on what is happening. Tonight, there is a series of rocks placed in a circle around the egg and there is a white fungus looking dusting over the rocks. A large black man, who Munch recognizes from last night’s foray, is here, and another older man that he has not seen before.
Suddenly, the branch Munch is leaning on cracks breaks and Munch falls to the ground. The men are deep in conversation and seem to not be worried by the sound, thanks to Munch's beating heart and puckering sphincter. He quickly scurried back to the group and fills them all in.
"I also saw a group of men and dogs wandering about so will go and check out that nearby copse of trees, to see if it might have more guards in it, whilst you buggers figure out what to do next." whispers Munch as he hurries off.
The group quickly and quietly discuss potential plans of action, all involving screaming charging and waving about great big weapons. In the mean time, Munch ensures that the nearby copse is empty and has another quick look at the egg. The two men have gone and the stones seem to have even more of a white coating than he first saw. quickly he returns to the group.
"Right all clear." says Munch. "what's the plan, and me orders?"
The group quickly and quietly moves towards the egg, munch climbs the tree the egg is hanging from and cuts the rope so the egg falls onto the ground. It rolls a little to the side, but is still inside the ring of rocks. A couple of the group walk in grab the cut rope and haul the egg out of the circle. Jack pulls out is magic weapon and begins attacking it. His weapon bounces and flays around, he is making no impression at all. A piercing scream begins in his head but he is able to shake it off.
"Oops, that didn't work" mumbles Cody.
Fat Willow works quickly and uses two Major Healing spells get Tom up who then carries Lois, and a second on Munch as without his skills the group would be lost in the dark. The luck of the group holds and they are able to slowly work their way back to the barge over the next few hours. After arriving back Cody has the bright idea of casting a (4th level) Wizard Eye which because he has been to the place, he is able to do and he does the spell so that he can see the copse where the egg is. In his mind’s eye he sees the egg being retied up from the tree and eight occultists standing around and chanting (Wizard Eye yields no sound). The white fungus material is now coating the rocks even more, and there are also a group of guards and their dogs standing around watching outwards and guarding whilst the occultists sway wave their arms and appear to chant. From the noses of the guards can be seen white wisps of fungi dripping out of their noses. A white light begins emanating from the egg and the large black man can be seen observing from the side. After some time the group seems to stop what they are doing and leave.
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| Cultists and egg |
Cody continues to watch on for an hour more but now there is just the guards and all else is quiet. He concludes that the activity is finished for the night and switches off his Wizard Eye.
The next day, in their well-hidden position, the group rests and heals and it is decided that it is too dangerous and pointless to return to the Shi Estate, instead they will simply wait on their barge and allow Cody to keep everyone abreast of what happens via his Wizard Eye.
That night the group waits awhile and Cody fires off his spell and recounts what he sees.
Once again the copse is dimly lit, guards and their dogs stand outside of the circle but look ready for trouble. At about 9pm a man with a glow between his hands and the black man arrive wave their arms about and depart. Nothing happens for the next three hours but around midnight the occultists return form a circle and begin their chanting being watch on by the black man. A white light begins emanating from the egg and the cracks in it seem to grow larger and larger. Suddenly the egg cracks open and a large bipedal creature with tentacles all over it's head steps out.
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| Priest Horatio has a bad day |
It grabs one of the chanters and rips his head off. The creature begins attacking all around it. some of the chanters fall to the floor with their hands over their ears whilst others scatter and run as fast as they can. during the melee, the creature grabs Methuselah priest Horatio and rips him apart before it finally runs away into the dark.
The white fungi like material had been spreading from the rocks and was right through the circle of stones, but Cody as he continues to look on, notices it retreating back towards the rocks and disappearing. As he continues watching and about 20 minutes after the attack the black man, now in full chain mail, Marjorie and her magic staff, and some guards appear within Cody's vision. They pick up the wounded and disappear from view. He watches on for another hour but nothing further happens and so he decides that nothing more is worth watching for and turns off his Wizard Eye for the night.
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| Web snot |
At first light after a short amount of sleep, the group rises and begins to discuss what the next step is. As they do so it is noticed that Tom, Jack and Lois have a fine white powdery material coming from their noses. On closer inspection it is not a powder or fungus but a whispery web like material.
"Don't get too close to me you buggers." says Munch and Cody, almost in unison. "I don't want no web snot. They is dying of that back in Porn City"
Jack tries a Detect Evil on Tom, nothing. But all three of them have a sort of humming in their heads, almost as if something or someone is trying to communicate with them. Willow tries a Neutralize Poison on one of them and this too fails.
With nothing more to be gained at this stage and the concern of the web snot on some of the members, the group decide to head back to Porn City, travelling downstream with no issues, and even giving back the horse they had hired to a more than surprised farmer, who thought he had seen the last of it quite a few days ago.
On arriving back in Porn City, the web snot issue was gaining traction as something important for the group to sort out, and so as soon as docked Tom, Jack and Lois head off to the Aquamarina temple. One of the priests there tries a Remove Curse but this does not work either.
In the meantime Cody and Lois head to the Wizards' Guild to see Julius McKraken, and Lois fills him in on what has happened. He then says that quite a number of years ago something similar happened, though the writings are vague and incomplete. But there is some writing about a similar sort of creature, web snot and the background humming that eventually just died away and has not been seen since. The Throak family and Wizards guild deny any connection or knowledge about what is going on. He says the group should take down one of these creatures and that this should be our next step. When Cody asks him to explain more about the web snot he says not to worry unless one is infected, because it is quite safe unless one is, in which case at some point one dies.
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| Mace, staff and bracelet |
Lois is able to negotiate the use of some magical equipment, after she explains that only magic works against it, and that it is very dangerous and powerful and that much healing is going to be needed. Cody and Lois return to the group carrying some items
- a magical mace
- a bracelet of protection +2
- a staff of Major Heals
Nothing more is needed for the group to move on to the next step in their adventures other than very big hankies.
