Castle Whiterock 11 April 2022: Sushi!

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

Thrognar, half-orc holy warrior

Stonemaul, half-orc holy warrior

What they did

My eyes bug out when I see them come. "First I hear talking sharks and now Thrognar and Stonemaul show up?" But I touch them, and they're real, so either I did mushrooms that I didn't realize I did or they're here, down in the dungeon with us, thanks to Justicia's Grace. Bleu casts Water Breathing and Swim on them. Stonemaul heals Bleu, and we're all good.

Garreth points at me, then past the plants. So, I pull Logan away from eating the pike (Garreth shares some sushi with the rest of us before Logan eats it all), put on my invisibility ring, then start down the passage. After going a little ways, I see that seven tiny, almost invisible young ladies with fishy hands and watery hair are aiming tiny crossbows at me. I grab Logan by the scruff and start backing up. One yells at me in Aquan, "Stop, intruder!" They keep pace with me stepping back.

I hold up my hands. "Hey, I'm not trying to cause trouble, ladies!"

The nixie yells back, "Stop or we shoot! Why are you Invisible if you'er not up to no good?"

I pull off my invisibility ring. "I wear it to avoid trouble."

One nixie yells out, "The Princess's ring!"

The lead nixie says, "Speak! How did you get that?"

I look around. "We helped a merfolk escape a giant crawfish and he gave it to us! I can return it to her, if I see her!"

The lead nixie says, "Princess Nemoura is a NIXIE! A Female Nixie!"

Another nixie says, "She said it was a big green ugly guy."

I grin. "Yeah, he wasn't as sexy as I. Neither was the crawfish."

I ask and find out that Nemoura is too small for any trysts, and Garreth and Thrognar wander up to us. After the nixies first say Garreth is an iron golem, Thrognar takes off his helmet, and one recognizes him as Garreth. I ask, "How do you know Garreth?" Garreth blinks then nods and points at himself, and takes off his helmet. I gesture to Garreth that the pixies somehow know him.

One pixie says, "The mighty yet ugly green warrior Garreth saved Princess Nemoura from the giant crayfish. In honor of this we will not kill and eat you."

I'm not going to take my best mate being called ugly like this. "Hey, he's pretty studly for a half-orc, you know? He's just loaning me the ring and all."

One of the pixies gushes, "Ooh, he is kinda studly in a huge sort of way, maybe I should Charm him and take him home." Garreth can't understand them, so he keeps eating his sushi.

I hastily tell them, "Oh, ah, he has friends back in town who need to see him. So, how is Princess Nemoura doing, anyways?"

The pixie says, "She and Princess Caendril are over in our base," and points behind her.

I ask, "Oh, how tall is Princess Caendril?"

The pixie says, "Really tall! Six-and-a-half inches!"

Another chimes in, "Even taller in heels"

I look down and think. "Uh, that's going to be awkward …"

The pixie says, "Of course, she would order you all killed. she doesn't like surface dwellers. Perhaps she would deign to acknowledge your right to existence if you are diplomatic and bring gifts, considering you rescued her sister and slew the dire crawfish."

Another adds, "Do not mention the incident with the trawler."

According to the nixies, Princess Caendril likes gold and silver and chocolate and wine. Garreth wanders back to get some sushi and cut it into nixie-sized meals, and one nixie ways, "HEY! The legendary Garreth sings, yes?" Garreth comes back and starts passing out sushi to everyone, including the nixies. They eat up the fish like tiny piranhas.

I say, "Yeah, he does."

The nixie says, "Maybe Garreth can sing, but not wearing armor. That is SO not court attire." Garreth smiles and munches along.

A nixie says, "OK, we have decided not to kill you. Bask in our generosity, if you want come to our base to seek audience with the princesses! BYE!" They swim off, vanishing into the water. Garreth waves at the little creatures.

I yell back, "Hey! Say hi to the princesses for us!" Then I pull Bleu aside and signal, "I'll hand the ring off to Garreth, and you can drop Breathe Water on him and cast it on me." After a near smack, she gets it on the second try. So, after a few seconds, I give Garreth the ring and Bleu casts Breath Water on me.

Garreth puts on the ring and swims towards where I first saw the nixies. I'm bored, so start hitting on Bleu, though it comes off as nothing but "Glug glug, gluggity glug glug blub blub."

I clearly can hear a groan from Garreth: "Gluggggggggg." Trouble.

Castle Whiterock 4 April 2022: Psycho sharks (dum-dum, dum-dum)

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

What they did

Back in Cillamar, Stonemaul refreshes my Bless with a lecture about going Super Saiyan and killing all the lacedons rightly. Blah, blah, blah. I also make sure to buy a Greater Healing Potion to have in my belt for mid-fight use, have Shatterproof cast on my knife, and do nothing as Garreth trains.

And of course, we both drink.

Anyways, after a week, we go back to Castle Whiterock, and make it to the same spot: a bleak corner of a courtyard with the crumbling wreck of a stone wall. Garreth gestures beyond where those lacedons were, and we see some stairs. I point to the stairs and crouch towards Logan. "Do you smell whiskey, boy?" Garreth bubbles something at me, then peers down the stairs.

We instead go the other way, and see the wreck of a big while wall that once went around this courtyard. We make it to a field of tall plants. Polly makes some weird moves with pointing below her belly button, some wiggling of her hand, some frightened looks, and some chomping … ah, that's right! The old wizard guy wants these plants, and they have acid bladders and want to eat us. Logan growls at them, and they wave their fronds at him. Garreth pulls out Scalemar thinks. After a few seconds, he points to the plants, and starts to zoom.

Logan bites at a plant twice, and pulls away two fronds as the others miss him. I grab my knife and sai, and start towards the plants. Garreth drops his sword and pulls out his knife, and buzzsaws the plant apart in a hail of foliage. Logan pulls off two more fronds and spits them out, ending its threat.

I swim nearer the plants, and spot a large pike eyeing Garreth hungrily. I point to it as ten fronds feebly swat at Garreth. As Garreth charges a plant, the pike rushes at Garreth, catching him in its maw. He misses it with his knife, but screams at it, and the bubbly sound stuns it. Logan bites off another frond as the other fronds miss him, while I swim a little forward and give the pike two slashes. Both Polly and I get out of the way of some fronds while Polly chops up a plant. Garreth slips out of the pike's jaw then cuts it up, felling it. Logan and Polly keep making a salad while easily getting out of the way of the fronds.

I catch Bleu spinning and burbling as she casts a spell, looking at something behind her. I turn around and spot the outline of five sharks in the water and … I can hear them talk in Aquan, and understand! They find Bleu's Magery to be tasty and me to be bland. I yell to Bleu that the sharks are coming for her. Three of them bite at her and one hits, while the other two shoot lightning bolts at me and miss.

Garreth swims towards the sharks, leaving Logan and Polly to finish off the plants. He makes it to one and slashes one before yelling at it to stun it. He gives it one last slash and it goes belly up. I get to another shark and stab at it, making it go belly up as well. The other sharks keep trying to eat Bleu, but Garreth parries them, letting him and me easily turn the sharks into sushi.