Sunday, August 29, 2021

Castle Whiterock log 16 August 2021: Cutting short

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Thrognar, half-orc holy warrior
Stonemaul, half-orc holy warrior
Mikal, human holy warrior
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

What they did

I don't know how many times I wake up over the week to Logan licking my face and Garreth laughing about something I did. I mean, that's a common happening for me, but with F'thirya in town, this happens more than my wont. F'thirya sees to it that nobody else gets any work done, either. And unlike everyone else, I'm lucky to have a mustelid with me, and can handle it.

Seven days, fifteen slaps, twelve heaves, six dry heaves, eight kegs, six bottles of wine, five bottles of whiskey, and two projectile vomiting contests later, I find myself in the Slumbering Drake again, sitting with Garreth, Mikal, Thrognar, and Chauntessa. "And now we're on the next level, which is the 'Burning Maze,'" Garreth tells Chauntessa.

I chime in, "Yeah, we want salamander amulets for that."

Chauntessa nods and looks at us. "Please ask Miss Minyad to ship more beer, we seem to be quite low." Garreth and I look at each other and hold back our chuckles, and Chauntessa turns her head to the side. "Why does Ixnay have an egg that's glowing and levitating?"

We all turn and look and sure enough, Ixnay has an egg as big as a chicken's and a glossy golden color, that is also glowing and floating. Ixnay is wrapping his tail around it to keep it from floating off. We look at the egg in wonder. "Seems F'thirya liked Ixnay more than expected," I say. Garreth taps his sword and mumbles to it, then shrugs, saying nothing.

Garreth asks Chauntessa, "Where do we stand on the process to reverse the curse?"

Chauntessa says, "You still need to slay Benthorusra, and look out for info on the Sleep of Ages." She rubs her head. "I perhaps should not have drunk that dwarven vodka or at least stopped after the first keg. Can we discuss this later?"

Garreth nods. "Sure, just thinking ahead."

I buy a bunch of Salamander Amulets for the gang, and we try them out. Thrognar asks what they do, and I tell him to put it on. After he does, I pull down a torch and hold it under his arm. "Feel that?" Mikal makes a sermon about the goodness of Salamander Amulet, and gets one from his church, so we have an extra.

So we go through all the myriad duergar levels, then the Underdark after the duergar level, then past the slain ruins of the wall. The winding staircase draws us deeper into the earth. The heat is fantastic, and gets more intense the further down we go. After descending about one hundred and ten feet, the stairs terminate in a spacious, bow-legged tunnel. The cave structure down here is unlike anything we’ve seen previously. The walls are smooth, almost as if they were worked by spell or skill, but the floor is pockmarked and littered with fused rubble. The ground looks very rough to walk on, but no one is walking. Bleu casts some spells on us after some grumbling, while Polly casts some spells on us with zeal, and we go ahead.

I spot some tracks. Big cat prints lead one way, destrachan prints lead another, and giant boot prints lead a third. The giant boots prints have a short stride for boots so big. Garreth and I talk, and we choose to go after the giants. From ahead, I  make out the flickering light of a torch or small fire. I also hear a deep, basso profundo voice humming to itself. The humming is the popular drinking tune "Bloody Jack's Last Raid." Garreth starts meditating.

Many tunnels come together ahead, making a small opening. A small fire is wedged in a fold of the tunnel wall, and by its light I see a man, almost twelve feet tall, with black skin and a blazing red beard. He tends two strange creatures: hunched-over, hairless, eyeless lizard-monkeys with nasty, black claws and double-lobed ears. This makes me shiver.

One of the monsters looks at me somehow, even though it has no eyes. The giant asks it in Dwarven, "You hear somethin', Cutie?" I float back a bit, still keeping my sight on the giant. However, the beast honks, and the giant gets up, readying his hammer and shield. I fly back.

There, my friends are looking at what seems to be some ivy. Thrognar flies near the ivy and suddenly sinks, as if weight suddenly burdens him. Mikal goes near, and loses his active spells, and suddenly feels hotter. Polly shoots the plant with a cornucopia arrow, and it vanishes before it hits. They back away, and their magic items start working again. Mikal casts Continual Light again to bring back light. Thrognar says, "Seems we want to avoid this way." Garreth says it must be spell ruin ivy.

We await the giant, whom we can hear coming towards us.

Other stuff

We had to quit early as our GM was called away by his work.

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