Getting to the bottom!

New party motto courtesy of Ezme

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
• 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 Jeff

We all huddled together around Cody’s light in the sewer tunnel and discussed our current predicament. The creature was back in the chamber, presumably to recover the remaining eggs from the Throak warehouse located directly above. It could potentially break through at any time using its vibration powers, but our own power was significantly diminished. 

And it was tough, bloody tough. 

Its piercing scream had toppled Lois instantly, and its first blow had immediately smashed Tom to the ground.

We were in need of rest and healing! But where?

“It’s much more efficient to rest up comfortably in the guild” stated Cody.

“But what if that thing gets the eggs, and we aren’t even here? "countered Willow.

“So what if it gets the eggs?” pondered Ezme, “Maybe we should just help it get them, and then it’ll leave everyone alone”

“Yeah right; and what about our web-snot infections?” countered Lois, “That’s potentially going to kill me. Not to mention Jack, Tom, and all those other town folk”

“Anyway, it’s gone now” interjected Munch, who had been keeping an eye on the creature back in the chamber.  “The vibrations of the chamber ceiling just died out, the creature stared angrily at the ceiling in there for a few minutes, then retreated back down the spiral shaft”

"See Willow" crowed Cody, "back to the guild will be fine!"

So, we followed Willow to the nearest manhole exit to the city, cracked the manhole lid slightly to check where we were and to make sure no one was around, and exited the sewers. First stop was to view the Throak warehouse to see if there were any obvious signs as to why the creature had stopped his vibration attack, but it looked just the same as last time we were there.

Then we split up for our well-deserved rest. The wizards made their way to the Wizard's Guild; the priests made their way to their respective Temples (Jack decided not to try and sneak in through the cordon to the Aqua Marina Temple and joined the rest of the non-magic folk); and the non-magic folk made their way to a nearby Inn.

"let's just test something on the way" declared Ezme.

Ezme figured that if fire and lightning were helping the creature, then perhaps ice would not. A small experiment with a bucket of ice and a sample of the web-snot appeared to show that cold "burnt" away the snot, success! At least, success until about 15 minutes after the ice melted and dried out, at which point the web-snot slowly grew back to its former extent.

"But not larger!" noted Ezme hopefully, "This is brilliant. Let's try acid too"

But no one could locate any acid, so this additional experiment was put on hold.

Rest and recovery was performed, with spell points and hit points somewhat restored.

In the wizard's guild, Julius turned up at Lois's door.

"Why didn't you report straight to me yesterday?" he demanded grumpily, "And what have you discovered?"

Lois gave a report of the party's efforts and discoveries, to which Julius only had more questions.

"What is the cause of this strange vibration effect?"
"Where is the creature now?"
"Why did it stop trying to recover the eggs?"

"Don't worry, we are onto it immediately" Lois stated, "But could you perhaps check with the Throak's if anything happened in the egg storage warehouse yesterday"

Julius confirmed he would try and find out, and Lois and Cody returned to meet up with the rest of the party and prepare for their next sojourn down to the depths of the sewers below Porn City.

"First, let's test out the acid theory" suggested Ezme.
"And I'll try Healing" added Cody.

Acid didn't work; in fact, it accelerated the web-snot growth by 100%.
Healing did work, albeit temporarily, and was deemed a potential measure against the creature.

"What's the opposite of acid?" wondered Ezme, "Do you think urine would work?"
Despite being pretty keen to watch Ezme produce some urine for a test, Jack confirmed that urine was acidic, and as such would probably not be a good idea.

"Baking soda you losers" muttered Munch, "That'll mix up to a weak alkaline"

Willow leads the way

Then it was back through the manhole into the sewers. Willow led the party back towards the chamber where we had found the creature yesterday, and once we were close, Cody and Munch crept down the final length of tunnel to see if there was anything there. There wasn't.

"Now what?" wondered Jack.
"Down that spiral tunnel, or back to the metallic smelling pit" noted Cody.
"The spiral tunnel" suggested Lois.
"I'm not going down there!" stated Tom.
"Back to the metallic smelling pit" countered Munch.
"I'm definitely not going down there!" stated Tom.

[Tom's character fault is "Stubborn", once he has made a decision, he sticks to it. After Tom had climbed down into the metallic smelling pit and immediately fallen unconscious, he had decided that the metallic smell was unable to be fought and so he wouldn't be going anywhere near it] 

"Well maybe it isn't too smelly down the spiral tunnel" suggested Willow, "I'll go first"

Turning himself into a fat rat, Willow slid off down the spiral tunnel, and the rest of the party followed after 10 or so minutes.

Tom stays and stands guard

"I'll keep guard here" stated Tom, settling himself down near the top of the spiral shaft.

After about 30 minutes, Munch popped back up from the tunnel.

"Willow found increasing numbers of dead rats down there, and although the metallic smell got stronger and stronger, Cody's magic totally eliminates the smell and any of its effects. You'll be fine and won't even notice any metallic smells"

"No" said Tom.

"Oh, come on" pleaded Munch, "We really need you. You are our best fighter; you have the best chance of overcoming the creature's horrible scream; and have the magic club!" argued Munch.

Eventually, after a lot of cajoling and promises, Tom reluctantly agreed to follow.

Cody had successfully cast an Airy Water spell, creating a large bubble of fresh air that the whole party could crowd into. Proceeding slowly and cautiously, they continued forward along the smooth tunnel, which had flattened out and was heading towards the location of the metallic smelling shaft. 

"I think we are deeper though" noted Willow, who never forgets anything.

Passing a scattering of dead rats on the floor of the tunnel, they approached a vertical shaft that cut down in front of them. It looked like the horizontal tunnel they were walking in T-ed off the side of the vertical shaft, both about 3m in diameter, with the vertical shaft extending up and down ahead.

The strange "singing" effects previously observed near the metallic smelling pit could be heard clearly here, and Tom, Jack, and Lois all noticed that the web-snot infection could be felt thickening up through their respiratory systems.

Peering into the vertical shaft, Cody noticed a bulbous mass blocking off the shaft about 5m above, and an odd domed surface blocking off the shaft about 5m below. It appeared to be metallic, quite smooth, and was vibrating at a high frequency! And there was another odd blur of motion from the centre of the raised dome below.

"Watch ou..." Cody yelled, jerking backwards.

The fight begins ...

A horrendous squealing screech rang out from down the shaft, just before the creature leapt up out of the shaft and landed on the tunnel floor in front of us, tentacles flailing wildly towards Tom and Jack. Munch crumpled to the floor, overcome by the squealing noise that penetrated right into his brain. [Failed his saving throw against Arcane magics, and fortunately the only one who did]

The tunnel was relatively confined, so only Tom and Jack with their one-handed weapons could engage. Ezme had drawn her double handed sword but wasn't able to get in a swing without potentially striking the others by accident. Cody also let loose a Magic Missile, confident that it would damage the creature. "It did the last time we fought it" he reasoned.

Tom and Jack made successful hits, as the creature's tentacles swung harmlessly over their heads. But as Cody's magic missile struck the creature, the magic was somehow absorbed, and the fresh cut from Jack's strike immediately closed back up. "Bugger" muttered Cody, as he backed up from the combat zone, as Tom and Jack went in for another round, both striking again, and Willow wielded the magic wand of Cure Major Wounds on Munch.

 Tom managed to hit again on his backswing [Tom has the Heavy Hitter talent and is able to make an additional damage roll if expending 2 points of Luck] but the creature's arm (its secondary but heavier attack) struck Tom across the side of the head and sent him reeling backwards [The creature dealt 3D6 + 6 damage with this secondary attack, and Tom wisely expended another 3 Luck to reduce the inflicted damage by D6. Tom was still conscious but was on very low hit points. Another strike like that would likely take him right out!]

Jack gulped, stepped up, and prepared to take the creature. Ezme boldly leapt past Tom to join the fracas, and it was all on again. Jack's sword cut through the tentacles, slicing sections off, and hit the creature in the chest. Ezme's sword swung nimbly over Jack's shoulder, also clipping off a few tentacles, and smacked the creature soundly in the head. The creature's eyes glazed over, and it began to topple backward. Unfortunately, its arm strike slipped past Jack's sword and thudded into his face. Staggering back, Jack groaned, slumped down onto the floor, and watched the creature tumble back into the shaft.

"One hit" boasted Ezme.
"Heelllpppp" slurred Jack, saliva frothing out from his mouth and his limbs writhing uncontrollably.
"Oh shit" called Willow, "Looks like poison. Stand back"

[It was indeed some sort of poison. After the strike, Jack failed his saving throw against Poison and was suffering a D6 of damage each round]

As Jack slumped into an unconscious state, Willow immediately cast a Slow Poison spell to halt the ongoing damage effects, then attempted to cast Neutralise Poison. That was unsuccessful (i.e. he failed to get the spell off, not that the spell wasn't effective against the poison). Ezme uncorked her flask of alkaline baking soda slop and dribbled it over Jack's wound. It fizzed and bubbled but Jack himself did not respond. Willow then managed to successfully cast his second attempt at Neutralise Poison, phew.

Cody and Munch (conscious again but with only half his original hit points) peered over the edge of the shaft to see the creature sprawled across the top of the dome below. Both the dome and the body were vibrating up and down. Munch turned towards Cody.

"Is it dead?" Munch asked.
"Looks like it" noted Cody.
"Could the magic dome thing down there regenerate it?" Munch asked.
"Looks like it" noted Cody.
"Shall we go down there and make sure?" Munch asked.
"Definitely" noted Cody.
"Will your breathing spell thing still cover everyone?" Munch asked.
"Definitely not" noted Cody.
"Bugger" muttered Munch.

The party hastily retreated back down the tunnel to where the air was clear, leaving Munch, Willow, Lois, and Ezme there, while Cody and his Airy Water spell hastened back to the shaft with Tom and Jack. They jumped together down the shaft onto the top of the dome, hacked off the creature's head, and looked down at the surface of the dome.

"Zumding wong" mumbled Tom, his throat closing up with active web-snot.
"Eeling ick" mumbled Jack, his breathing laboured.

Cody realised that both Tom and Jack were suffering from enhanced respiratory ill-effects from their web-snot infections, somehow accelerated in the presence of the strong vibrations generated by the strange metal dome beneath their feet.

"Climb" commanded Cody, sending Tom back up first, himself following, and Jack at the rear. They all hurried back down the tunnel to meet up with the others, where Willow treated them to a large dose of the baking soda slop. That seemed to help immensely, with both Tom's and Jack's breathing returning almost to normal.

"Can I look at that dome now?" asked Munch.

Cody, Ezme, and Munch returned back to the dome to investigate further, leaving the web-snot infected with Willow.

Back at the vibrating dome, Cody, Ezme, and Munch went through the usual investigation tricks.

"I'm picking up good vibrations" hummed Munch.
"I'm hearing the rock walls sing" commented Ezme.
"The metal surface of the dome is cold, and hollow" noted Cody, "And its riveted together".
"Stand back a sec" commanded Ezme, lifting her two-handed sword.

Ezme's Accidental Lightning

"WAIT" yelled Cody, but it was too late.
"THUD" went Ezme's magic sword against the metal surface of the dome.
"BOOM" echoed the huge electrical discharge from the dome's surface.

[3D6 lightning damage, save against Arcane magic for half. Cody saved and took 3 points of damage, but Munch and Ezme both failed and took the full 7]

"Oops" stammered Ezme, immediately casting a Cure on herself. And then on Munch.
Cody cast a Detect Magic spell, but nothing obvious was revealed.

Munch spotted a small circular disk shape on the top of the dome and peered closer.

"Look" he called, "This has writing stuff on it"

Ezme tried to push, pull, and twist the small disk, while Munch tried to copy down the symbols. Nothing happened for Ezme, and Munch made a mess of the symbols.

"Dolt" laughed Cody, "Those are runes, but not in any language I recognise"

Cody then cast the Comprehend Languages spell and read off a series of numbers.

"1, 3, 4, 7, 2, 8" Cody recited. Nothing happened.

Munch then noticed [Having made a Spot Hidden roll] that there were nine faint raised "buttons" on the disk, arranged in a three-by-three grid.

"There" suggested Cody, "It's a lock. Starting with 1 at the top left, push down on those buttons in the sequence 1, 3, 4, 7, 2, 8"
"Why top left?" asked Munch.
"It's always top left with magic" replied Cody smugly.
"You do it then" said Munch, backing off.
"Pussy" huffed Cody, bending down to push the buttons.

"BOOM" crackled the massive lightning discharge, throwing everyone back and down the sides of the dome shaped seal.

"Oops" squeaked Cody from one side of the dome, "Maybe not magic then"
"You presumptuous git" muttered Munch, picking himself up from the other side of the dome.

Nothing from Ezme though, she was unconscious, having failed her saving throw and taking the full 13 points of electrical damage.

"How are we going to lift her?" wondered Munch aloud, "She'll be 70kg if she's a pound"
"Can't leave her to get help either" mused Cody, "She would die from that bad metallic air"
"What about that magic floaty thing?" asked Munch, "Make it under her and lift her up"
"Yes, but 'up' being the issue with that plan" grumbled Cody, "Good thing I have a Healing potion"

The Healing potion was trickled into Ezme's open mouth and proved sufficient to raise her to consciousness. Then they all climbed up Munch's magic rope and beat a hasty retreat back to the rest of the party.

"Don't tell them" whispered Cody.
"Nope"

Gathering up the rest of the party as they passed, they all retreated to the surface, the creature's decapitated head wrapped in Ezme's cloak, where Lois and Cody went off to the Wizard's Guild to report their amazing discoveries to Julius.

"Verry interesting" replied Julius, after getting a full briefing from Lois.
"And I found out that the Throaks moved the eggs out of the warehouse after they noticed the floor vibrating" Julius continued.

"Why didn't you tell us that earlier" grumbled Cody, "You dick"

"PZZZFF", and Cody made his saving roll against Arcane magics and Julius's spell spluttered out.

"Know your place boy" Julius glowered, "You're just ugly, incompetent, and offensive"

"Cunt" muttered Cody under his breath.

"PZZZFF", again Cody made his saving roll against Arcane magics and Julius's spell spluttered out.

"And lucky" Julius concluded, "Now go and crack that code!"

Sewer Crawl

Present

Lois Price

• 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
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Ian

After recovering in town after the river trip, we find our group of scholars, recently rejoined by Esme, in the Porn City general library.

Esme stumbled across a dusty old tome with the auspicious title of 'Ye Olde Porn city'.

The book had a reference section that dated 60-70 years ago. A log of events that covered:

• Two giant eggs dredged from the Porn City River
• The Throak (pronounced "throck") family quickly whisked the eggs away from public eye (pun intended).
• One egg hatched and a large creature appeared.
• Soon after, a disease spread across localized parts of the city and went down the sewers.
• The sewers started to 'sing'.
• The Throak militia sent a unit into the sewers to investigate and no one returned and none were recovered.
• The singing eventually stopped and the spreading disease went away.

Back out in the city and around the docks the cordon is being toughened. Many of the side alleys are now blocked entirely. Escapees that try to make a break are being cut down. Workers are out sealing up the sewer covers. There seems to be more web snot around. 

Lois and Cody return to Julius to get an update on the web snot testing.

"Hello Lois!" He was a lot less abusive to Lois than Cody. "Nice to see you back. Yes, we have a few initial findings:

1. It is not plant based
2. It is not fungus
3. It is not magic, evil or poison
4. More like a web
5. Grows with the song
6. Seems that with enough song, the web will invade the victims lungs and body and eventually explode out.

Bring the creature back so we can investigate fully".

"Certainly" replies Lois, "That is exactly what we want to do."

To the Sewers

The party stock up with Continual Lights on croquet balls, rope and all manner of dungeon-crawl gear.

Before light, they head to a sewer cap in a street outside of the cordon, close to the perimeter.

The party enter the empty, damp sewer system and start carefully moving toward the docks (under the cordon), via the first level of underground sewer. The intention is to descend to lower levels 2 or 3 to locate the monster and eliminate, returning the body to Julius. 

The lower sewers are in a grid pattern, Lefts, rights and straight a-heads. Progress is reasonable as the party navigate the slimy corridors and tunnels.

As they near a down-sink, they hear noises from ahead. Not scary, monster slishing and slashing, but rather a team of workers. 

work team

Munch sneaks forward and confirms that there is a five man work crew sealing the down-hole with a metal grid. Essentially stopping any potential cordon escapees from climbing out the shaft. 

The party select a different path, retreating - changing paths and advancing back toward the docks. 

They eventually approach a different down-shaft that had a splattering of web snot surrounding the opening. This hole appears to have been 'ripped outward' from below. 

Everyone stops at the edge of the web snot and ponders how to proceed, while not touching the slime nor closing near to the hole opening. 

Lois tries an experiment of using a burning torch on the web snot and the web like filaments do indeed burn away! Success? Not quite... turns out that the remaining web snot uses the fire as a life source and GROWS as a result. Fire is no good. Lois and Jack (infected last session) also note that their own web snot tingles and activates. Everyone hears the singing. 

The hole is two paces in diameter. Lois considers that she is already infected so walks to the edge and confirms that the hole drops to the next level down. 

Munch climbs from the outside walls to the middle of the ceiling. After a nervous slip, locates a climb rope anchor point directly above the centre of the hole and lowers his magic rope. 

Anyone standing on the edge of the hole (like Lois) can simply reach to the rope and climb down. However, anyone that does not want to step on the snot, has to make a dexterous roll to not fall 3m down to the solid bottom.

Jack walks to the edge and easily climbs down into the lower room. While there is plenty of web snot, it can be easily avoided for those that do not want to touch it. Lois and Munch join Jack. Tom rouses from marmalading in time to decide on how he wants to get to the lower level. He decides to jump also.

• 

  Esme falls

  Esme takes strong steps, gracefully jumps and misses the rope entirely. Falls a storey to the room floor. Whump! Lands in a little bit of web snot but that does not seem to cause any trouble. 
• Fat Willow launches his immense bulk, flies toward the rope - misses and falls to the floor. Whump! 
• Cody takes a gangly run of all arms and legs, jumps and grabs the rope! He climbs down without any issue.
• Tom launches, scrambles to grab the rope and descends.

The fallers take various amounts of falling damage and significant wounds to their pride, but after picking themselves up, dusting off and resetting, all are ready to head forward on level 2. 

The party get to a collapsed tunnel on their direct path that the smaller people could get through, however the likes of fat Willow and the monster would never fit - so they retreat a little and find a different way. 

Where the party are in this part of the sewers, there is no sign of the web snot or any other signs of the creature they are hunting. 

Eventually, another down-shaft appears in the floor of a sewer room. Again one storey down, however this time the way is clear with no web snot in the way for the fearful paranoid party members.

Ropes deployed and everyone lowers to Level 3. There is a pile of old sewer worker shovels and gear with long dead skeletons with dusty worker fatigues. Nothing worthy of more than cursory inspection or retrieval. 

From this level 3 room there are four ways out and no web snot. 

Taking the exit that leads to the docks, the party eventually get to an outlet to the river. However, there is a new, strong grill on the exit. 

The party retreat to the down shaft room, climb back to level 2 and navigate to where they think they are above the grill and there is no exit there.

Recovering Old Ground

At a bit of a loss as to where to head and at a lose end, they decide to head to the 70 year old dead monster. Fat Willow knows exactly where that is within the sewers and they trudge off.

As the old carcass nears, the walls start singing louder and louder. Lois, Jack and Tom hear the humming and their noses run with web snot.

Lois decides to perform another experiment and places her hand on the vibrating wall. She immediately is overwhelmed by the vibration and her web snot expands dramatically. She collapses on the floor choking, coughing and spluttering. Lesson learned for all, and in particular those that are infected, the web snot can quickly overwhelm.

Cody sneaks off

Cody sneaks off to investigate. Passing the corpse, he carries on for 20 mins, tracking the web snot. He eventually stumbles upon a large cavern that is somewhat different to the sewer system. 

A massive, wonderfully finished and ornate chamber which he carefully sneaks in to observe.

A number of notable findings:

• There are no direct exits from the room (well, except the one Cody is standing by and one that will be described shortly). Shall we say, one typical exit.
• The ceiling is vibrating madly.
• There are various clumps of snot, again easy enough to avoid if wanted. 
• There IS a hole in the centre of the room

But most importantly, there in the middle of the room - obsessively staring at the ceiling, is the tentacle headed creature. Cody freezes and silently withdraws back down the tunnel and to the group.

The Assault - Plan A

The party proceed to the chamber Cody found and form a plan. The creature is still there and the ceiling vibrating away. Cracks forming and dust falling.

A Silence spell will be cast up to the edge of the tunnel door and entrance to the room, so the less sneaky (like Lois) can get to the front, step outside the silence and cast spells.

Lois and Cody want to blast the creature with Lightning Bolt. Esme seriously questions the wisdom of this, considering the web snot grows with fire and, days ago the up-river egg did not get hurt when it was shot with the same bolts.

"Nahhhh, it will be fine. Magic Missile hurt it last time" Cody confirms with authority.

"Yes!!! Two Lightning Bolts will HAVE to hurt it, and this is totally different to the egg" Lois chimes in with confidence.

Plan is for Lois and Cody to blast with a surprise attack, then Cody will use a Web spell to cover the hole in the floor to stop the creature escaping that way. The fighters will then rush in and cut down what little is left of the monster. Should be very little to do after the magnificence of the bolt hits.

BLAM!!! [Lois spends luck to ensure a hit] Cody blasts away. Two magnificent direct hits!!!

A direct hit

The powerful electrical bolts cross the room instantly with a crack. They encircle the monster. The power forms a bright blue and white sparking shell, which the creature absorbs with a pop. The monster visibly grows bigger but is otherwise unscathed. It SCREAMS its well-known, predictable first-defence action.

Lois drops to the ground immediately. Out cold. For the others; due to a large amount of good fortune and the lavish application of luck, magics and protections, the rest of the crew are all up and ready to go.

Cody steps to the side of the tunnel entrance and Tom and Esme wade in and quickly cross the floor. Tom hits, Esme hits. However one of the tentacles lashes Tom (critical hit at a really unfortunate time). A big chunk of Tom's heath disappears and he saves vs poison (makes it). Esme does slash at the monster and the monster loses some flesh and bleeds.

Jack and Munch enter the room.

As the creature won the attack, it makes a direct jump for the hole in the floor. At the same time, Cody casts Web. The creature has just enough head start that it gets past Cody's web and down the hole, and is gone.... It seems that the creature has no desire to stay and fight, and will retreat to safety as soon as it can. It did not try another scream so it either can't and waiting for a cooldown, or would rather run.

Aftermath

Fat Willow gives Lois a Major Heal via Julius's wand [8 charges down to 7] which fixes her unconsciousness, and performs a number of mundane Cures on Tom.

Lois licks her wounds, brushes herself off - notes the need to buy a new adventuring outfit. This one is ruined. After the wound to her pride and the embarrassment of making such a bad decision subsides, She thinks maybe helping the group will restore a little respect from the others? Spending her last remaining luck point, Lois considers where they are underground and how they all got there and concludes, with confidence, that this chamber would be directly under the Throak warehouse that houses the remaining eggs! No wonder the creature is here trying to collapse the ceiling.

Willow is overwhelmed and falls with a crash, marmalading.

They investigate the hole the creature escaped down and it is a very smooth downslope (rather than vertical hole) that descends in a curve, at about 45deg. The hole is three paces in diameter.

Munch fearlessly sets a rope and descends carefully down the hole. It spirals downward and back under itself, eventually flattening out to a straight line toward the river, well below water level. More than likely past the old corpse. Munch thinks this is about level 4 or 5 of the sewers.

He gets a strong metallic taste and smell and quickly retreats back to the room.

A close inspection of the hole reveals many scratch and scrapes on the hole and tunnel wall, as if something heavy had graunched past.

Something hard, spiky and just under three-paces in diameter. Hmmmm.....

Cody decides its time for an experiment and casts Cone of Cold on a large patch of web snot. This time the snot seems to have been frozen and NOT grow in size, nor activate vibration, nor activate the web snot away from the area of effect. Hmmm, this is worth knowing and seems to work.

While the crew are watching the frost thaw, pondering life choices and working out what to do next, a slithery set of steps is heard approaching from deep down the hole.

"Bloody hell, that damn thing is coming back already..."

The party retreat to the tunnel and leave a couple of quiet, expert observers in Munch and Cody. 

The monster reappears and sits itself to one side of the hole again. It stares intently at the ceiling and the roof vibrations start again. It seems that it has returned to its original size from before the attack. Its behaviour is simple, its defences are horrific and it is terrifying to attack.

Hopefully Willow wakes soon and we can think of a plan B.

 

Web Snot

 

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.

Lois: "He will just send us
back to destroy it."

"Well, we done all asked of us by Julius McKraken our great patron has asked of us, we knows whose got the egg and what they are doing so do we goes back and tells him all this or do we just sit here like namby pambies?" Cody asked the group.

"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. 

"Leave this to the professionals." says Cody as he rolls back his sleeves points his hands towards the egg and wiggles his fingers. The usual effect of a lightning bolt is a large flash and the crack of thunder. Instead a fizz, pop and the light sizzles scatters across the egg and seems to be absorbed by it. Piercing screams suddenly are heard in the heads of  Tom, Munch and Lois who all fall to the ground unconscious.

"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.  

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. 

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.

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.

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.