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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7095398" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 33: SLAVE-PIRATES OF THE NEOGI, PART 1</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Chik'tak, rastipede sorcerer 2/expert 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 10 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 25 March 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>I wasn't going to break up the adventure write-ups for this campaign, but we started the first part of this adventure during our last gaming session and now it looks like we'll be heading into May before we get around to finishing it. (Jacob, now in college, has finals to prepare for.) So here's as far as we got, and I'll write up the rest of the adventure after we actually finish going through it.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The heroes were taken over to the <em>Apex Predator</em> either under their own power for those who had been <em>dominated</em> or dragged over by others for those who had been knocked unconscious by the power of the agony gems embedded in their foreheads. Those who had lost unconsciousness were roughly slapped awake. The captured prisoners then crawled through a hole on the floor in which a strange thing occurred: the gravity plane "flipped over" on the other side, such that they were now walking on the ceiling of the lower deck although from their vantage point it seemed as if they were still right-side up.</p><p></p><p>Regardless, the heroes were stripped of all armor, weapons, and personal possessions save their clothes; a pair of neogi gathered up their cast-off possessions and stored them away in a cargo hold, save for the <em>everburning torches</em> from Binkadink's helmet - these, a pair of neogi held onto for the benefit of the slaves, as the deathspider vessel had no internal illumination at all. Apparently neogi and umber hulks had darkvision and could see as well in perfect darkness as could Ingebold. Then another, older-looking neogi approached. This one had a sour expression on its eel-like face; it was apparently used to sitting perched upon the shoulder of an umber hulk slave and seemed put out that it now had to do its own walking.</p><p></p><p>"You are now slaves of the neogi," the spider-eel hissed. "I am <strong>Slavemaster Skrotish</strong>. Let me explain how your new life will work. You will obey the commands of any neogi, instantly and without fail. You will not remove the agony gems on your foreheads, nor will you remove the agony gems from any of the other slaves, nor will you ask anyone else to remove them. You will not attempt to escape from this vessel, nor will you attempt to communicate with anyone outside this vessel. You will dedicate yourselves to the protection of the neogi, sacrificing your lives if necessary to save the life of a neogi. If you can cast spells, you will refrain from doing so unless directed to cast them by one of your neogi masters. Failure to obey these strictures will result in immediate punishment."</p><p></p><p>As if to demonstrate, Slavemaster Skrotish called out a few words in the neogi language, and Castillan screamed aloud and fell to his knees, his hands instinctively covering the agony gem on his forehead, the source of his sudden, excruciating pain.</p><p></p><p>"Line up!" commanded Slavemaster Skrotish, and the new slaves hurried to comply.</p><p></p><p>"You all no doubt have names," said the neogi slavemaster. "I do not care what they are. Each of your agony gems has a number, carved in the neogi numeral system. I will tell you each your numbers - it's in your best interests to memorize them immediately." He then went down the line, giving each slave a number in the neogi language. The corresponding numbers were as follows:</p><p></p><ul style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 2: Finoula Cloudshadow</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 3: Darrien</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 4: Ingebold Battershield</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 5: Chik'tak</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 6: Binkadink Dundernoggin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slave 7: Castillan Ivenheart</li> </ul><p></p><p>The numbers meant nothing to the heroes, as they'd never heard the neogi language spoken before today. But upon Slavemaster Skrotish's orders, they lined up in numerical sequence and marched off down a curving corridor, into the prison ward. This was a series of 10 cells and the personal quarters of the slavemaster. Each of the heroes was placed in a separate cell; due to his larger size, Chik'tak was given one of the end cells, which was a bit bigger than the others. Each cell had a narrow wooden bed-board folding down from the wall and a waste bucket beneath it. Once each slave had been locked up in his or her cell - Slavemaster Skrotish carried the keys around his eel-like neck - the <em>everburning torches</em> were taken away and stored back in the slave hold with their other gear, leaving the slaves in pitch blackness.</p><p></p><p>Once Slavemaster Skrotish had returned to his own chamber and closed the door, the heroes dared to whisper among themselves. "Did anyone see what happened to...G.F.?" asked Binkadink, afraid to draw attention to Gilbert Fung's absence when the neogi seemed not to have noticed that they were one slave short.</p><p></p><p>"I am thinking there was being a cloud of gas on deck before the ship was of the tipping," advised Chik'tak. "That could have been being that of which you are the speaking."</p><p></p><p>"Gas: that sounds like G.F.," remarked Castillan, eliciting a snort of dark humor from Finoula. The group was in desperate straits - they could probably use any humor they could get in the days to follow.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Gilbert Fung was still in his <em>gaseous form</em> beneath the beetleship, now held in a four-legged grip on the underside of the <em>Apex Predator</em>. As the spell finally expired and the wizard returned to his human form, he was amazed to see that from his point of view - standing upside-down on the bottom of a spelljamming ship shaped like a scarab beetle - it appeared as if the ship were sailing upside-down along a multicolored sea, with the stars that had previously been blocked by the rainbow-hued phlogiston when they had been standing on deck now visible. There was no way around it: phlogiston was <em>weird!</em></p><p></p><p>Cautiously, Gilbert crawled over the side of the <em>Star Beetle</em>, experiencing a dizzying sensation as he crossed the gravity plane and once again the phlogiston sea seemed to switch sides - it was now in its original orientation, still "below" the beetleship and the neogi deathspider above it. Getting back on deck - after ensuring he was alone there - Gilbert noted that all of the ship's provisions had been removed, no doubt taken aboard the deathspider as spoils of war. This was disturbing to Gilbert; he might have to remain hidden on board the <em>Star Beetle</em> for some time, and there was nothing to eat!</p><p></p><p><em>Well then</em>, thought the wizard, <em>I'll have to try a different tactic.</em> He spoke the words to a <em>polymorph</em> spell, taking on the form of a neogi. Having noted they had manipulative appendages up front that served as arms and hands, neogi-Gilbert tried casting an inconsequential spell, one of his weakest and one not likely to be actually needed, and was pleased to see it spring into being as easily as it would have had he been in his true form.</p><p></p><p><em>Okay then</em>, thought Gilbert. <em>Now we're getting somewhere!</em> Opting to use his neogi disguise as a last resort, he cast a <em>darkvision</em> spell followed by a <em>gaseous form</em> spell upon himself - and now he looked like a vaguely neogi-shaped cloud of nebulous gas. In this new form - one he hoped wouldn't be noticed by the crew of the deathspider - he drifted over to the monstrous-looking ship. He approached the ship from the top surface, the battle deck that sported the ballistae and a backward-facing catapult. There were no neogi at the weapons stations; apparently they had other duties to attend to when they weren't actively attacking other spelljamming vessels. Pleased with his success thus far, Gilbert slid his amorphous body down a ramp to the middle deck and looked around.</p><p></p><p>Several neogi were skittering around at the front of the vessel, heading from one room to another off a long central corridor. Not wanting to have to deal with the bulk of the ship's crew at first, Gilbert glided back to the bottom of the ramp and deactivated his <em>gaseous form</em> spell. Now wearing the shape of a neogi, he could cast spells - and he cast a simple <em>ghost sound</em> at the top of the ramp, making a cacophonous racket that sounded like pots and pans falling off a shelf. Four neogi skittered out of an upper level room to investigate, and Gilbert caught them up in an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell which quickly squeezed the life out of them.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert moved on. Still opting to stay away from the front of the vessel - where, undoubtedly, there would be a greater concentration of enemies, and possibly tougher foes like the ship's captain and bodyguards - he found a hexagonal hole in the floor at the back of the ship and decided to check it out. Passing through the hole caused him to flip over to the other side of the gravity plane - always a disturbing experience! - but then he was on the lower deck. He found a cargo hold containing, among other things, his friends' equipment and the foodstock taken from the <em>Star Beetle</em>. Although tempted to take a quick snack break, Gilbert realized he had a time limit running on his <em>polymorph</em> spell and he'd be better served in helping free his friends.</p><p></p><p>Passing down a curving passageway, Gilbert opened a door at the end and found the slave quarters: five jails on either side of a short corridor going crosswise along the ship's width. The side walls of the cells were solid, with only the barred fronts allowing him to see who was inside each cell. Fortunately, there was no sign of any guards (Slavemaster Skrotish was inside his room with the door closed), so Gilbert strolled boldly down the corridor. Of the captives, only Ingebold had darkvision, so she saw the neogi enter the corridor, but Binkadink and Castillan had heard the slight squeak of the door being opened in the pitch blackness. They strained their ears to listen who might be there.</p><p></p><p>"Hey gnome," said a familiar voice from the darkness, "you ever hear neogi speak with Kozakuran accent?"</p><p></p><p>"Gilbert?" asked Binkadink, voice raised in surprise. "Is that you?"</p><p></p><p>"That me all right. How about we leave here?"</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, Slavemaster Skrotish had heard the commotion and popped his head out of his quarters, before slamming the door shut again and activating some kind of alarm. Warning sirens started blaring in the ship, with some kind of hissing message that the group assumed was neogi for "Intruder alert!" Above the sounds of the alarms they group could hear the sounds of doors being swung open and the skittering of spidery legs running down the corridor leading to the slave pen.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert popped open the door to the corridor and cast a quick <em>ghost sound</em> spell of running feet further down the corridor, hoping to trick any security forces into thinking the slaves had already escaped and were heading further back to the aft section of the ship. Then he shut the door to the slave pen, raced back over to Binkadink (having already assessed the little gnome as their best bet when it came to dealing damage to enemies with makeshift weapons), and cast his only prepared <em>knock</em> spell to open the door to his cell. The wizard then deactivated his <em>polymorph</em> spell, regaining his normal form but more importantly all of the gear he'd been holding when he had first assumed the shape of a neogi. Gilbert then cast a <em>light</em> spell on the tip of his quarterstaff and passed it over to the gnome. "You take this," said Gilbert. "We need to find guy with keys!"</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the door opened from the curving corridor outside and several neogi threw glass bottles inside the slave quarters before slamming the door shut again. The bottles broke upon hitting the floor, sending noxious-smelling gas billowing up in large, green clouds.</p><p></p><p>Holding his breath as best he could to avoid breathing in the fumes, Gilbert cast a <em>solid fog</em> spell in the short slave corridor between the cells, expecting neogi to come rushing in as soon as the gas had a chance to take effect - maybe that would slow them down, but it should at least hamper their darkvision. But then Gilbert heard several <em>thunks</em> from inside the cells; Chik'tak had already been overcome by the fumes and fallen to the floor, and Finoula, Castillan, and Darrien soon followed suit. From their coughing, Gilbert could tell that Binkadink and Ingebold were still up and on their feet.</p><p></p><p>But now Gilbert himself was feeling woozy and about to pass out. He briefly contemplated casting his last <em>gaseous form</em> spell upon himself in an effort to escape and try again later, but then unforeseen events took over. Slavemaster Skrotish popped his head out of his room, holding a cloth over his nostrils and mouth. "Slave!" he hissed, not bothering even to address the gnome by the neogi number carved into his agony gem. "Attack that intruder!"</p><p></p><p>Gilbert, coughing and sputtering, turned behind him - just in time to see his own quarterstaff come crashing down onto his head.</p><p></p><p>The world went black for awhile, and when Gilbert awoke he was without any of his possessions, sitting alone in a cell. Binkadink had likewise been returned to his own cell and Gilbert's glowing staff removed and placed in the cargo hold with their other equipment.</p><p></p><p>Out of the blackness came a voice. "It was being of the noble attempt," reassured Chik'tak.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: I was still wearing my Einstein/galaxy shirt from the last adventure, since this took place immediately afterward.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7095398, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 33: SLAVE-PIRATES OF THE NEOGI, PART 1[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10 Darrien, half-elf ranger 10 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Chik'tak, rastipede sorcerer 2/expert 4 Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 10 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 25 March 2017 - - - I wasn't going to break up the adventure write-ups for this campaign, but we started the first part of this adventure during our last gaming session and now it looks like we'll be heading into May before we get around to finishing it. (Jacob, now in college, has finals to prepare for.) So here's as far as we got, and I'll write up the rest of the adventure after we actually finish going through it. - - - The heroes were taken over to the [i]Apex Predator[/i] either under their own power for those who had been [i]dominated[/i] or dragged over by others for those who had been knocked unconscious by the power of the agony gems embedded in their foreheads. Those who had lost unconsciousness were roughly slapped awake. The captured prisoners then crawled through a hole on the floor in which a strange thing occurred: the gravity plane "flipped over" on the other side, such that they were now walking on the ceiling of the lower deck although from their vantage point it seemed as if they were still right-side up. Regardless, the heroes were stripped of all armor, weapons, and personal possessions save their clothes; a pair of neogi gathered up their cast-off possessions and stored them away in a cargo hold, save for the [i]everburning torches[/i] from Binkadink's helmet - these, a pair of neogi held onto for the benefit of the slaves, as the deathspider vessel had no internal illumination at all. Apparently neogi and umber hulks had darkvision and could see as well in perfect darkness as could Ingebold. Then another, older-looking neogi approached. This one had a sour expression on its eel-like face; it was apparently used to sitting perched upon the shoulder of an umber hulk slave and seemed put out that it now had to do its own walking. "You are now slaves of the neogi," the spider-eel hissed. "I am [b]Slavemaster Skrotish[/b]. Let me explain how your new life will work. You will obey the commands of any neogi, instantly and without fail. You will not remove the agony gems on your foreheads, nor will you remove the agony gems from any of the other slaves, nor will you ask anyone else to remove them. You will not attempt to escape from this vessel, nor will you attempt to communicate with anyone outside this vessel. You will dedicate yourselves to the protection of the neogi, sacrificing your lives if necessary to save the life of a neogi. If you can cast spells, you will refrain from doing so unless directed to cast them by one of your neogi masters. Failure to obey these strictures will result in immediate punishment." As if to demonstrate, Slavemaster Skrotish called out a few words in the neogi language, and Castillan screamed aloud and fell to his knees, his hands instinctively covering the agony gem on his forehead, the source of his sudden, excruciating pain. "Line up!" commanded Slavemaster Skrotish, and the new slaves hurried to comply. "You all no doubt have names," said the neogi slavemaster. "I do not care what they are. Each of your agony gems has a number, carved in the neogi numeral system. I will tell you each your numbers - it's in your best interests to memorize them immediately." He then went down the line, giving each slave a number in the neogi language. The corresponding numbers were as follows: [INDENT][LIST][*]Slave 2: Finoula Cloudshadow [*]Slave 3: Darrien [*]Slave 4: Ingebold Battershield [*]Slave 5: Chik'tak [*]Slave 6: Binkadink Dundernoggin [*]Slave 7: Castillan Ivenheart[/LIST][/INDENT] The numbers meant nothing to the heroes, as they'd never heard the neogi language spoken before today. But upon Slavemaster Skrotish's orders, they lined up in numerical sequence and marched off down a curving corridor, into the prison ward. This was a series of 10 cells and the personal quarters of the slavemaster. Each of the heroes was placed in a separate cell; due to his larger size, Chik'tak was given one of the end cells, which was a bit bigger than the others. Each cell had a narrow wooden bed-board folding down from the wall and a waste bucket beneath it. Once each slave had been locked up in his or her cell - Slavemaster Skrotish carried the keys around his eel-like neck - the [i]everburning torches[/i] were taken away and stored back in the slave hold with their other gear, leaving the slaves in pitch blackness. Once Slavemaster Skrotish had returned to his own chamber and closed the door, the heroes dared to whisper among themselves. "Did anyone see what happened to...G.F.?" asked Binkadink, afraid to draw attention to Gilbert Fung's absence when the neogi seemed not to have noticed that they were one slave short. "I am thinking there was being a cloud of gas on deck before the ship was of the tipping," advised Chik'tak. "That could have been being that of which you are the speaking." "Gas: that sounds like G.F.," remarked Castillan, eliciting a snort of dark humor from Finoula. The group was in desperate straits - they could probably use any humor they could get in the days to follow. In the meantime, Gilbert Fung was still in his [i]gaseous form[/i] beneath the beetleship, now held in a four-legged grip on the underside of the [i]Apex Predator[/i]. As the spell finally expired and the wizard returned to his human form, he was amazed to see that from his point of view - standing upside-down on the bottom of a spelljamming ship shaped like a scarab beetle - it appeared as if the ship were sailing upside-down along a multicolored sea, with the stars that had previously been blocked by the rainbow-hued phlogiston when they had been standing on deck now visible. There was no way around it: phlogiston was [i]weird![/i] Cautiously, Gilbert crawled over the side of the [i]Star Beetle[/i], experiencing a dizzying sensation as he crossed the gravity plane and once again the phlogiston sea seemed to switch sides - it was now in its original orientation, still "below" the beetleship and the neogi deathspider above it. Getting back on deck - after ensuring he was alone there - Gilbert noted that all of the ship's provisions had been removed, no doubt taken aboard the deathspider as spoils of war. This was disturbing to Gilbert; he might have to remain hidden on board the [i]Star Beetle[/i] for some time, and there was nothing to eat! [i]Well then[/i], thought the wizard, [i]I'll have to try a different tactic.[/i] He spoke the words to a [i]polymorph[/i] spell, taking on the form of a neogi. Having noted they had manipulative appendages up front that served as arms and hands, neogi-Gilbert tried casting an inconsequential spell, one of his weakest and one not likely to be actually needed, and was pleased to see it spring into being as easily as it would have had he been in his true form. [i]Okay then[/i], thought Gilbert. [i]Now we're getting somewhere![/i] Opting to use his neogi disguise as a last resort, he cast a [i]darkvision[/i] spell followed by a [i]gaseous form[/i] spell upon himself - and now he looked like a vaguely neogi-shaped cloud of nebulous gas. In this new form - one he hoped wouldn't be noticed by the crew of the deathspider - he drifted over to the monstrous-looking ship. He approached the ship from the top surface, the battle deck that sported the ballistae and a backward-facing catapult. There were no neogi at the weapons stations; apparently they had other duties to attend to when they weren't actively attacking other spelljamming vessels. Pleased with his success thus far, Gilbert slid his amorphous body down a ramp to the middle deck and looked around. Several neogi were skittering around at the front of the vessel, heading from one room to another off a long central corridor. Not wanting to have to deal with the bulk of the ship's crew at first, Gilbert glided back to the bottom of the ramp and deactivated his [i]gaseous form[/i] spell. Now wearing the shape of a neogi, he could cast spells - and he cast a simple [i]ghost sound[/i] at the top of the ramp, making a cacophonous racket that sounded like pots and pans falling off a shelf. Four neogi skittered out of an upper level room to investigate, and Gilbert caught them up in an [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell which quickly squeezed the life out of them. Gilbert moved on. Still opting to stay away from the front of the vessel - where, undoubtedly, there would be a greater concentration of enemies, and possibly tougher foes like the ship's captain and bodyguards - he found a hexagonal hole in the floor at the back of the ship and decided to check it out. Passing through the hole caused him to flip over to the other side of the gravity plane - always a disturbing experience! - but then he was on the lower deck. He found a cargo hold containing, among other things, his friends' equipment and the foodstock taken from the [i]Star Beetle[/i]. Although tempted to take a quick snack break, Gilbert realized he had a time limit running on his [i]polymorph[/i] spell and he'd be better served in helping free his friends. Passing down a curving passageway, Gilbert opened a door at the end and found the slave quarters: five jails on either side of a short corridor going crosswise along the ship's width. The side walls of the cells were solid, with only the barred fronts allowing him to see who was inside each cell. Fortunately, there was no sign of any guards (Slavemaster Skrotish was inside his room with the door closed), so Gilbert strolled boldly down the corridor. Of the captives, only Ingebold had darkvision, so she saw the neogi enter the corridor, but Binkadink and Castillan had heard the slight squeak of the door being opened in the pitch blackness. They strained their ears to listen who might be there. "Hey gnome," said a familiar voice from the darkness, "you ever hear neogi speak with Kozakuran accent?" "Gilbert?" asked Binkadink, voice raised in surprise. "Is that you?" "That me all right. How about we leave here?" Unfortunately, Slavemaster Skrotish had heard the commotion and popped his head out of his quarters, before slamming the door shut again and activating some kind of alarm. Warning sirens started blaring in the ship, with some kind of hissing message that the group assumed was neogi for "Intruder alert!" Above the sounds of the alarms they group could hear the sounds of doors being swung open and the skittering of spidery legs running down the corridor leading to the slave pen. Gilbert popped open the door to the corridor and cast a quick [i]ghost sound[/i] spell of running feet further down the corridor, hoping to trick any security forces into thinking the slaves had already escaped and were heading further back to the aft section of the ship. Then he shut the door to the slave pen, raced back over to Binkadink (having already assessed the little gnome as their best bet when it came to dealing damage to enemies with makeshift weapons), and cast his only prepared [i]knock[/i] spell to open the door to his cell. The wizard then deactivated his [i]polymorph[/i] spell, regaining his normal form but more importantly all of the gear he'd been holding when he had first assumed the shape of a neogi. Gilbert then cast a [i]light[/i] spell on the tip of his quarterstaff and passed it over to the gnome. "You take this," said Gilbert. "We need to find guy with keys!" Suddenly, the door opened from the curving corridor outside and several neogi threw glass bottles inside the slave quarters before slamming the door shut again. The bottles broke upon hitting the floor, sending noxious-smelling gas billowing up in large, green clouds. Holding his breath as best he could to avoid breathing in the fumes, Gilbert cast a [i]solid fog[/i] spell in the short slave corridor between the cells, expecting neogi to come rushing in as soon as the gas had a chance to take effect - maybe that would slow them down, but it should at least hamper their darkvision. But then Gilbert heard several [i]thunks[/i] from inside the cells; Chik'tak had already been overcome by the fumes and fallen to the floor, and Finoula, Castillan, and Darrien soon followed suit. From their coughing, Gilbert could tell that Binkadink and Ingebold were still up and on their feet. But now Gilbert himself was feeling woozy and about to pass out. He briefly contemplated casting his last [i]gaseous form[/i] spell upon himself in an effort to escape and try again later, but then unforeseen events took over. Slavemaster Skrotish popped his head out of his room, holding a cloth over his nostrils and mouth. "Slave!" he hissed, not bothering even to address the gnome by the neogi number carved into his agony gem. "Attack that intruder!" Gilbert, coughing and sputtering, turned behind him - just in time to see his own quarterstaff come crashing down onto his head. The world went black for awhile, and when Gilbert awoke he was without any of his possessions, sitting alone in a cell. Binkadink had likewise been returned to his own cell and Gilbert's glowing staff removed and placed in the cargo hold with their other equipment. Out of the blackness came a voice. "It was being of the noble attempt," reassured Chik'tak. - - - T-Shirt Worn: I was still wearing my Einstein/galaxy shirt from the last adventure, since this took place immediately afterward. [/QUOTE]
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