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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7156693" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 35: HOMEWARD BOUND</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 11</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 11 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 24 June 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Aboard their dragonfly spelljamming vessel, the group watched as the <em>Star Skunk</em> battled the <em>Apex Predator</em>. It wasn't a long fight; the neogi had started with their standard maneuver, shooting ballista bolts connected to chains at their enemy vessel to link the two together so their prey couldn't flee. This time, however, their prey had no intention of fleeing. Almost immediately, skeletal pirates led by Captain Skunkbeard swarmed from the <em>Star Skunk</em> and climbed the chains, bringing the fight to the neogi deathspider. And since the Kordovians had already killed off the ship's umber hulks and much of their neogi fighting force, plus rid the ship of their current contingent of slaves, there were only the standard neogi crewmen to defend the ship. Against Captain Skunkbeard and his skeletal legions, they didn't stand much of a chance. Before long, the skeletal pirates were climbing back along the grappling-chains to the <em>Star Skunk</em>, this time loaded down with loot from their captured vessel.</p><p></p><p>"See?" said Gilbert Fung, sitting at the helm of the dragonfly ship. "I told you they no need our help."</p><p></p><p>The group watched as the neogi deathspider - their prison for the past several weeks - suddenly started burning from several locations. At long last, Captain Skunkbeard returned to his own vessel, giving orders for the grappling-chains to be removed from his ship. He laughed heartily as the neogi deathspider was consumed by flames.</p><p></p><p>"So now what?" asked Ingebold. "Are we still gonna just follow th' ship for th' next day, so we c'n try ta raise Chik'tak back t' life before we approach the vessel?"</p><p></p><p>"No choice," repeated Gilbert. "We can't let them out of our sight - they the only ones know the way home."</p><p></p><p>"Problem," pointed out Castillan.</p><p></p><p>"What problem? No problem!" retorted Gilbert. "It simple plan!"</p><p></p><p>"Problem," repeated Castillan, pointing out the window - one of the "eyes" at the front of the dragonfly-shaped ship. "The <em>Star Skunk</em>'s headed our way."</p><p></p><p>It was true. Upon being released from the chains binding it to the burning deathspider, the pirate vessel had turned and was now heading directly toward the dragonfly vessel, currently half-hiding behind the planetoid holding the umber hulk breeding colony.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, problem," admitted Gilbert. "If we try to run, we look guilty. Plus, not sure how fast we go, or how fast they go - maybe we too slow to run." He rubbed a hand over his bearded chin for a moment, then made a decision. "We go meet them," he said, concentrating on moving the dragonfly ship forward.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink and Finoula had been standing on top of the ship when they noticed they were moving toward the <em>Star Skunk</em> - with its crew of animated skeletons. "I hope Gilbert knows what he's doing!" Finoula said.</p><p></p><p>"Me too!" agreed Binkadink. "But where's Castillan? He should be up here - otherwise, we're stuck being the ambassadors!"</p><p></p><p>He was correct. "Um, hello!" he called out as the ships got within hailing distance, close enough for their respective air envelopes to overlap and merge - bringing with it a foul odor. "Captain Skunkbeard, I presume? We read your notes back at the receiving station - they were very helpful!"</p><p></p><p>"I knew it!" called out the pirate Captain. "You're part of the crew that got teleported from Oerth when you got tangled up in my trap, trying to take my riches!" Fortunately, the captain's tone was more jovial than accusatory. "Where's Chik'tak? We've been tracking him, and indications are he's aboard your vessel."</p><p></p><p>"He is," confirmed Binkadink. "That is...his body is. I'm afraid he was slain, down on the planetoid below. I'm terribly sorry."</p><p></p><p>"Nothing that can't be fixed!" scoffed Skunkbeard. "Come aboard - we have much to talk over!"</p><p></p><p>Finoula went to fetch the others, only to find them already traipsing up the stairs to the upper deck. One at a time, they stepped over to the <em>Star Skunk</em>, where they were met by one of the few still-living members of Captain Skunkbeard's crew, a buxom young thing named <strong>Melony Sal</strong>. She had a pouch at her belt, from which she pulled out and distributed nose plugs to the guests. "The captain won't be offended," she said. "His stench is a great asset on the battlefield, but he makes provisions for the few times he has social engagements." She went on to explain how he had been injured early in life, completely shutting off his sense of smell, and how he had stopped bathing immediately thereafter. Furthermore, he had two skunks on board, which he used to douse himself in skunk-spray right before combat. The captain generally fought with an advantage, as all of his living foes were trying not to retch from the stench while he - and his undead crew - were completely unaffected.</p><p></p><p>"And those of you still alive?" asked Finoula, waving off the proffered nose plugs, not knowing up whose nostrils they might have been previously. She willed herself to ignore the stench, a vile mixture of skunk-spray and accumulated years of body odor.</p><p></p><p>"Tend to ignore it, after awhile," replied Melony Sal. "One gets used to anything, over time."</p><p></p><p>Binkadink, Darrien, Ingebold, and Castillan had accepted the nose plugs and were putting them in place, the elven bounder taking his time accepting them from the good-looking first mate, flashing her his best smile. Gilbert, the last in line, opted to do without nose plugs when his enhanced vision, magically altered to allow him to detect undead at will, helped him pierce through the illusion covering Melony Sal and revealing her true form: the ship's mate might once have looked like the others were likely perceiving her, but she was now pretty much just a skeleton herself - although she had apparently taken steps to ensure her breasts remained as firm and round as they had been in life. "I be fine," he told her, waving away the nose plugs, his face impassive but his mind wanting to explode in panic as the adventurers were literally surrounded by undead forces.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert allowed Castillan, their most charismatic member, to do most of the explaining of what had befallen the group since their arrival at the wildspace receiving station months ago. Captain Skunkbeard listened impassively, although Melony Sal interrupted several times when the bounder got to the most recent bit, especially when describing the ulgurstasta. She wanted to know how it had been created, whether there were any more in the planetoid below, and whether the necromancers had left any books or tomes behind describing the creation process. They <em>had</em> left such a tome behind, but Gilbert Fung had already transferred its contents into his <em>Omnibook</em>, choosing to do so in a manner that removed the writing from the original book rather than just copying it. After all, the original tome had a cover made of human flesh - no sense in leaving that around for others to put to no good use.</p><p></p><p>"They destroyed, along with necromancers who created it," Gilbert supplied, the first he'd spoken since Castillan began the tale of their exploits in wildspace.</p><p></p><p>"That's a great pity," Melony Sal said, pouting. "I would have been interested in seeing the process."</p><p></p><p>"There's still a magic circle carved in the caverns below," offered up Castillan, eager to please the good-looking woman, and still oblivious to the fact she was a lich. Gilbert just winced, not at all eager to pass on any information that might help Melony Sal - a necromancer, no doubt - to recreate the process of creating ulgurstastas.</p><p></p><p>Once Castillan's tale caught up to the meeting of the two ships, Ingebold unfolded her <em>portable hole</em> and some of the others helped her drag Chik'tak's corpse out. "Aw," said Captain Skunkbeard, looking down at the body of one of his most loyal crewmen. He looked over to Melony Sal. "What do you think?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>Melony Sal looked down at the rastipede corpse. "You say he was killed by the ulgurstasta's necromantic fluid, and automatically animated as a skeleton?" she asked. "Or, in his case, exoskeleton?" Upon hearing confirmation by the heroes, she shook her head sadly. "I can <em>raise</em> him," she proffered to her captain, "but he'll never be the same. He won't have his intellect, that's for sure - he'd just be a mindless undead."</p><p></p><p>"Aw, that's a damn shame," said Skunkbeard, scratching his two-tone beard in thought. "Well, I suppose he can guard the hold," he decided.</p><p></p><p>"Aye," agreed Melony Sal. "I suppose he could at that. I'll see about it in the morning."</p><p></p><p>"So, that leads us to you folks," said Captain Skunkbeard, looking at the heroes. "I suppose I should be angered by your attempts to plunder my treasure back on Oerth" - and all six heroes' faces instantly froze up, nobody wanting to give away the fact that they hadn't so much <em>attempted</em> to plunder his loot as <em>successfully plundered</em> seven of eight treasure chests, activating the teleport trap that sent them to wildspace only after all of that loot had been poured into the <em>portable hole</em> Ingebold was just now rolling back up to stow into her belt - "but I can't really hold that against you. Hell, I'd do the same myself. And although that loot was originally intended to be my retirement fund, as it were, I currently have no intentions of ever returning to Oerth, so it's not likely I'd ever go back for that money anyway. No, I've found I prefer life out here in wildspace more than life back on Oerth.</p><p></p><p>"Back in my pirating days," he continued, "it was all about the gold - who had it and how I could get it. That was pretty much it; a pirate's life is a pretty simple one, I suppose. But out here, in wildspace, there's so much more to my life! Sure, there's still plenty of looting and plunder to be had, but I also have the opportunity to take on scum like those neogi slavers when they cross my path. And I've you to thank for that, by the way - so I figure we're even on that score. But there are always new systems to explore, new races to meet up with, new enemies to fight. My life has expanded so much since my days traveling the oceans of Oerth. I'd like to offer the same life to you. So, what do you say? Would you like to join my crew?"</p><p></p><p>Castillan looked over to the others before answering. "Captain Skunkbeard," he said, "we thank you for your generous offer, but we have obligations back on Oerth and would really prefer getting back there as soon as possible. If you could possibly show us the way back home, we'd be eternally grateful."</p><p></p><p>The captain stared at the bounder for a moment before answering. "Well, so be it!" he replied. "Melony Sal, show these folks the way back home, if you'd be so kind!"</p><p></p><p>"Aye-aye, captain," she said, looking at the heroes. "Shall we?" she asked, waving a hand in the direction of their vessel. Gilbert, for one, made a beeline to the dragonfly ship, eager to be off the ship crewed by undead monstrosities.</p><p></p><p>One of the two main rooms in the dragonfly vessel - both of which doubled as crew quarters - contained various star charts, but so far the Kordovians had not been able to make head nor tail of them. Not only were they written in a language unknown to them, but the heroes were unfamiliar with even the most basic notations common to the field of astronavigation. Gilbert doubted the lich would be able to sufficiently explain how they worked in less than a day.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, she had no intention of trying to explain how astronavigation worked to a bunch of "breathers" who had barely even taken the first few steps away from their own planet. Flipping through the charts, she finally said, Ah!" and circled one particular star with an ink pen. "Here it is. And here's your present location." Gilbert looked at the two annotations, frowning as he tried imagining the vast distances involved.</p><p></p><p>Melony Sal pointed at a star through one of the dragonfly's "eyes." "See that bright star, just below the three arranged in an arc above it? That's where you want to go. Just aim for that star and you'll be fine."</p><p></p><p>"That all there is to it?" Gilbert asked.</p><p></p><p>"Well, I can try to get into the finer points of the phlogiston flows, and stellar drift, but I really think it's best if you just point your ship at the right star and keep going. After all, you're just planning on getting back to this Oerth of yours and then using your dragonfly ship to flit about the planet, aren't you? Yes? Well, then there's no point in going over a bunch of stiff that will just confuse you. Any questions?"</p><p></p><p>"I have one," said Castillan, stepping up to the attractive woman. "Your name is rather unusual. What are its origins?"</p><p></p><p>"I've been 'Sal' - short for 'Sally' - since I was born," she said, smiling at the handsome elf. "And I've been 'melony' since I was about fourteen." Her smile brightened as Castillan caught on, and as she caught him taking a quick peek at her ample cleavage. She arched her back to give him a better view; unnoticed, Gilbert winced even harder.</p><p></p><p>"I have question," added Gilbert, his voice somewhat accusatory. "You the one responsible for the skeletons and zombies on board your ship?"</p><p></p><p>"I am indeed," replied Melony Sal. "I raised them to their present state."</p><p></p><p>"Raised?" squeaked Gilbert. "Lowered them, you mean."</p><p></p><p>"No, I generally say exactly what I mean," corrected Melony Sal. "Why? Do you have a problem with free-willed undead?"</p><p></p><p>"Are they free-willed?" asked Finoula. "Not mindless?"</p><p></p><p>"Absolutely. Each of them agreed to the transformation ahead of time. And the Captain knows each of them by name. They were part of his crew when they were alive, and they continue on now that they're undead."</p><p></p><p>"That terrible!" retorted Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Not at all!" countered Melony Sal. "As undead, they offer many advantages. They don't breathe, so they don't use up the air in the ship's envelope. They don't eat, so we only need to store provisions for the few living members of the crew. They don't need sleep, so they can be on duty at all times. They're not discomfited by the Captain's rank odor. And they're living the lives they want, that they themselves chose."</p><p></p><p>"That not living!" countered Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"They may not be technically alive, but they're certainly living!" countered Melony Sal. "And they will continue on living their undead lives long after fools like you - who spurn the very thought of undeath - lie in their graves! Face it, Gilbert: free-willed undeath is the next logical step for those of mortal flesh - to deny it is to be a caterpillar disparaging the existence of butterflies!"</p><p></p><p>"Ye've certainly given us somethin' t' think upon," put in Ingebold, not swayed in the least by the lich's arguments but somewhat appeased at the thought that these particular skeletons and zombies - if Melony Sal was to be believed - had at least signed up for their fate. Plus, she wanted to separate the first mate and Gilbert before they came to blows.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, well, I certainly recommend it for those willing to take the step," Melony Sal said, heading back up to the top deck of the ship so she could return to the <em>Star Skunk</em>. "Look me up if you ever change your minds - I'd be more than happy to give you a helping hand into undeath." Then, getting back to the business at hand, she said, "You can follow us out of this crystal sphere if you like - it'll take about two days. Then we'll be in the phlogiston, and we'll go our separate ways. It should take about a week's travel for you to get to where you're going."</p><p></p><p>"Fair enough," said Gilbert, plopping himself into the ship's helm and calming his mind, expanding his senses to encompass all directions around the dragonfly vessel as Melony Sal returned to the pirate vessel. As soon as he saw the <em>Star Skunk</em> heading off, he hurried to send his own ship in its wake.</p><p></p><p>True to her word, the trip to the edge of the crystal sphere took about two days, and it was another week of sailing through the phlogiston before their destination crystal sphere loomed ahead of them. Gilbert did some maneuvering to find a tunnel entrance into the crystal sphere, and then they were out of the phlogiston flow and once more into the more comfortable embrace of wildspace.</p><p></p><p>But some thing seemed wrong almost immediately. Ahead of them was a vast expanse of tumbling rocks, an asteroid field that encompassed the entire system. It was at this point in time that a pair of wooden lips extended from the wall between the dragonfly's two "eye" portals and began speaking in a most recognizable voice.</p><p></p><p>"Well, Gilbert," said the voice of Melony Sal, "Good luck finding your way home, because this system surely isn't it. I figured I'd give you a <em>good</em> reason to hate undead." and after fashioning into a mocking smirk, the lips faded back into the wood of the ship's wall.</p><p></p><p>"That bitch!" cried Gilbert. "I kill her!"</p><p></p><p>"That was a <em>magic mouth</em> spell," observed Binkadink, not at all helpfully. "My stupid cousin Jinkadoodle uses those all the time."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well, you probably never see him again! We have no idea which way home now!"</p><p></p><p>"Maybe there's a clue in the star charts?" suggested Finoula. Gilbert turned his attention to the elven ranger to berate her idea when his attention was suddenly diverted. "Another ship!" he cried, sensing a foreign vessel at the edge of his magically-enhanced awareness. Mentally, he maneuvered the dragonfly ship to face this new threat.</p><p></p><p>But it turned out to be no threat at all. Rather, it was a most unusual vessel: there was what looked to be a small sailing ship somewhere at the center of it, but there were numerous add-ons, like the bathtub mounted to the rear, the gigantic hamster wheel on the left side (currently occupied by what looked like nothing so much as a horse-sized hamster), and what could only be a pipe organ off to one side. An oversized umbrella served as the vessel's only attempt at any sort of a roof.</p><p></p><p>"Ahoy there!" cried a voice form the ship, and popping up over the side of the hodgepodge vessel was the ruddy face of a gnome. "Good day to you all! I wonder if you could provide a wee bit of assistance to a fellow traveler in need?"</p><p></p><p>The gnome introduced himself as <strong>Pendiculous Tatterjammies</strong>, but insisted his friends all called him <strong>"Captain Frothy"</strong>. The problem lie in his ship's propulsion unit: a metal slat had broken off the hamster wheel, causing his giant space hamster, <strong>Space Admiral Cheekiweeks</strong>, to sprain a paw. The creature's paw was healed by means of a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell on the part of Ingebold, and a few moments of rummaging around in the dragonfly vessel's cargo holds unearthed a suitable replacement for the missing slat. Within minutes, Captain Frothy's sidewinder vessel, the <em>Gold Standard</em> (for he was prospecting among the asteroids for standard gold) was back to full working order.</p><p></p><p>In return for their help, Captain Frothy led them to a trading post covering a decent-sized asteroid, where the group was amazed to see all manners of beings walking about - humans, elves, and dwarves, to be sure, but also stranger creatures like humanoid hippos, intelligent apes with glider wings, and human-sized, elaborately-tattooed praying mantises, to say nothing of beholders and mind flayers mingling with the other races as if they did so on a regular basis. Finoula stopped into a magic shop but was appalled at the prices they were charging. Apparently it was a seller's market out here among the asteroids!</p><p></p><p>"We need to find somebody who knows the way to Oerth," said Castillan. "Maybe we can just hire a pilot to fly us home." They had already made such inquiries of Captain Frothy, but while he'd heard stories of Oerth he had no idea where it might be found. He also supplied the rather disappointing news that among the spelljamming races, Oerth was considered a backwater world - a bit far off the major trade routes, and offering nothing of value that couldn't be obtained elsewhere at less expense and trouble.</p><p></p><p>Still, deciding they'd never find their way home if they didn't try to find somebody to help them, the heroes asked around at the docks, the shops, and of various passersby. For the most part, the answers were the same: either "I've never heard of Oerth" or "Why would you want to go all the way there?" There was talk of a hammership - whatever that was - due in about a week or so that would have passed somewhat close by Oerth, but that didn't fill the heroes with much hope.</p><p></p><p>And then they hit paydirt - of a sort. "Oerth?" asked a shopkeeper. "I had a grell in here an hour or so back, picking up for provisions for a trip to Oerth. It sounded like they were planning on leaving fairly soon, though, so you'd best hurry if you're gonna catch them!"</p><p></p><p>Upon getting a good description of a grell - a floating brain with a parrot's beak and ten dangling tentacles - some of the heroes were somewhat hesitant to travel with a bunch of grell. "It not like we have much choice!" pointed out Gilbert Fung. "We find these grell, see if they help us!"</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, the grell were fairly distinctive, even among the many disparate races on the asteroid-sized trading post. With twenty minutes or so Castillan had tracked one down as it was floating out of another shop. Disturbingly, this one had a rune-covered human skull cupped in the end of one tentacle.</p><p></p><p>"Excuse me, sir," began Castillan, unsure of how to properly address a brain/parrot/octopus thing, "we understand you are preparing for a voyage to Oerth?"</p><p></p><p>The grell hovered motionless for a moment, then used the tip of another tentacle to tap a beat on the top of the rune-covered skull. As he did so, the skull's jaw unhinged and it began translating in the Common tongue the Kordovians spoke. "Your statement is correct," said the skull.</p><p></p><p>"Excellent!" replied Castillan. "I was wondering if you would allow us to follow you in our own vessel?"</p><p></p><p>Again, the tapping followed by a skull-provided translation: "Impossible. Our vessel does not travel in the standard fashion. You would be unable to follow."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, I see," replied Castillan. "Could one of your crew maybe pilot our vessel then, maybe, and meet you there?"</p><p></p><p>"Also impossible. We are unable to use helms configured for the humanoid form. However," amended the grell through his translation device, "it would be possible for you to travel with us on our vessel, if we towed your vessel behind us."</p><p></p><p>"Really?" asked the bounder.</p><p></p><p>"You would need to work for your passage. We have available positions in the food service industry. You would need to prepare two meals for us during the voyage."</p><p></p><p>"That's it?" asked Castillan. "That's reasonable!" he said to his friends.</p><p></p><p>"Hold on," interjected Gilbert Fung, always looking for the way someone was trying to screw him over. "How about we just pay you money for passage?"</p><p></p><p>"We have no need of further money," was the skull's reply. "We do have need of cooks."</p><p></p><p>"What exactly we have to cook?" demanded Gilbert. "We not experts in grell cuisine."</p><p></p><p>"Would we be required to kill the animals you'd be eating?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"The menu is simple enough. All will be explained at the appropriate time."</p><p></p><p>"I no like this," asserted Gilbert to his companions. To the grell, he said, "We maybe cook for you, but we prefer not to be on menu!"</p><p></p><p>"Your preferences have been noted," responded the translator skull. "There are further conditions to your signing aboard our vessel, however. You must spend the entirety of the voyage aboard our ship. You must leave all armor, weapons, and personal possessions either aboard your own vessel or aboard ours, stowed away in containers. All of your possessions will be returned to you at the end of the voyage. We will loan each of you a <em>ring of sustenance</em> during the two weeks of travel, as we have learned that is an easier solution than determining individual dietary needs for different races. The rings will be returned to us at the end of the voyage. We guarantee your safe arrival to Oerth, but once we arrive there you will be left to find your own way home. We are familiar only with the section of Oerth that we have dealings with; we are not familiar with your kingdoms or cities."</p><p></p><p>"What do you think, Gilbert?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>The heavyset mage let out a sigh. "I suppose beggars best not choosers," he said.</p><p></p><p>More tapping on the skull resulted in a final statement: "If you agree to these terms, state your name and say, 'I agree to the terms as explained to me.'" Then the grell presented the skull to each of the Kordovians in turn, starting with Binkadink. "I, Binkadink Dundernoggin, agree to the terms as explained to me," he said after looking at the rest of his group and getting nods of agreement. Each hero made his or her similar statement, and then they were instructed to return to their own ship and hover directly above the asteroid, beyond its air envelope. They were to be met by the grell ship, which was described to them as looking like a giant jellyfish.</p><p></p><p>The description was particularly apt, for as Finoula piloted the ship as instructed, an enormous, living jellyfish approached them. Its head section was easily 100 feet in diameter, with dozens - perhaps scores - of tentacles reaching easily 500 feet. One of these tentacles stretched out towards the dragonfly vessel, and along its length floated the grell with the skull translator, followed by five more of his kind.</p><p></p><p>The Kordovians had decided they'd bring all of their gear aboard the grell vessel, so at least it would be close at hand if it was needed. After explaining it to their translator, each hero was grasped in the tentacles of a grell, hoisted into the air, and then floated back toward the jellyfish's head, where they entered the great beast's interior sections. They were lowered back onto the "floor" of a room filled with gauzy, semi-translucent walls made up of the jellyfish's skin. Using the skull translator, the grell instructed Binkadink to remove his armor, weapons, and personal possessions, while the grell used the sharp tip of a tentacle to rip open a slit in the nearest wall. Binkadink removed his helmet and dropped it into the slit, where it fell to the bottom of a bag of sorts. He placed his glaive in there as well, followed by his backpack and armor, piece by piece, including his stilt-boots. Finally, he stood in his under-armor, considering his part completed.</p><p></p><p>Tap-tap-tap went the grell's tentacle on the skull, and the skull replied, "Continue."</p><p></p><p>"What?" asked Binkadink. "You mean this?" He pulled on the undergarment covering his chest and stuck one foot out, waggling it to indicate his sock.</p><p></p><p>"All personal possessions," insisted the grell through its translation device.</p><p></p><p>"Are we really--?" spluttered Binkadink, looking back at the others. They all looked at each other, then at Gilbert, their more-or-less leader. He just shrugged in a "what-are-you-going-to-do?" gesture.</p><p></p><p>"Fine!" snorted Binkadink, removing the rest of his clothing until he stood naked before the grell and his companions. The grell, satisfied, did something to the wall-slit that sealed it back up, then spun in place and indicated Finoula. "Next," it indicated, opening another slit in the wall for her own items.</p><p></p><p>"You really need us to travel naked in your ship?" she asked the grell while she stowed her weapons and removed her armor.</p><p></p><p>"The interior of the gossamer noble is within temperature norms," translated the rune-skull as the grell tapped upon its cranium. "There is no weather present within the creature," it continued. "And grell live their entire lives without 'clothing.' If your species has modesty issues, we can provide a membrane of the gossamer noble's interior skin for you to wrap around you as a blanket." Finoula frowned at the thought of snuggling up to a piece of jellyfish skin for the next two weeks, and declined. "I'll be fine," she said.</p><p></p><p>One by one, the other heroes followed suit. The only concession to their nakedness Ingebold made was to unbraid her hair and let it hang over her chest, while Darrien took the grell up on their offer of a "jellyfish-skin blanket." But once all of their gear had been stored in individual pockets, the heroes were each lifted by a grell and levitated through a hole in the ceiling. They passed through gauzy passageways before being plunked down into a kidney-shaped room whose only entrance was an irising hole in the ceiling, some 25 feet above the spongy floor. The room was at least lit with some sort of murky bio-luminescence, but there was nothing in the way of amenities besides a small side room where the translator grell said any wastes could be collected. An irising hole in the floor apparently served as a simple toilet, although considering that they each had a magic ring to sustain them instead of actually eating and drinking it was unlikely they'd need to use these facilities.</p><p></p><p>"So what are we going to do now?" asked Castillan, plopping himself down onto the soft floor. He gave the walls and ceiling a hard look, frowning at the realization that even his bounding skills wouldn't allow him to run up a gauzy wall with the consistency of a hung blanket, nor would he be able to make it to the hole in the ceiling.</p><p></p><p>"I not sure about you, but I deleting all my prepared spells that need material components," replied Gilbert Fung. Like all of his other possessions, his pouch of material spell components was sealed up in a wall of the gossamer noble several "rooms" away.</p><p></p><p>"And do what?" asked Darrien. "Your <em>Omnibook</em> is up in one of those jellyfish wall-pockets," reminded Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Pfft!" scoffed the heavyset mage. "I have a few spells I prepare without spellbook! I filling up on <em>magic missiles</em>!" </p><p></p><p>"D'ye think it'd be wise t' attack th' grell?" asked Ingebold, sitting by Finoula's side at one side of the kidney-shaped room. By unspoken convention, the men had arranged themselves on one side of the room and the women on the other, and they sat with their backs turned for as much privacy as could be arranged. "They're th' only way we're likely t'be gettin' out of this room, 'less one've ye've learned t' fly."</p><p></p><p>"You never know," replied Gilbert, mentally visualizing the spell energy required for a use of the <em>magic missile</em> spell and filling an empty slot in his spell inventory.</p><p></p><p>The days - and nights, although it was difficult to tell the difference between them in the belly of a gossamer noble flitting in and out of wildspace - passed slowly. But five days after their entry into the kidney-shaped room, the iris on the ceiling opened and six grell floated down into the room. One of them carried the rune-skull, and through it the grell announced that it was time for the passengers to earn their keep by preparing the first of the two meals required during the voyage.</p><p></p><p>"Sure!" enthused Castillan. After five days with nothing but talking to amuse themselves - the grell hadn't even let the bounder bring a deck of cards into the room with him - the thought of something as mundane as food preparation would be a welcome change of pace.</p><p></p><p>The grell hung motionlessly in the air, talking telepathically among themselves. Then, by an unspoken signal, each of them sped to one of the heroes and wrapped them up in a barbed-tentacle embrace. The barbs injected a paralytic poison into the veins of the heroes, but the hungry grell didn't wait for it to take effect - as one, they each levitated to the top of the chamber with their meals and began eating. Sharp parrot beaks bit into the flesh of an arm here, a leg there; Binkadink's belly was torn open and his intestines gobbled up like a string of sausages. A few of the grell passed their paralyzed victims among each other, sampling the differences between soft female elf flesh and the hardened muscles of a battle-hardened male gnome. At the end of their feast, they dropped their chewed-over victims to the floor of the chamber, where over the course of the next several minutes torn flesh knitted back together, devoured organs regrew in place, and the heroes' bodies were restored to their original forms. By the time the paralyzation wore off, the blood and viscera that had dripped from their bodies in mid-air had already been reabsorbed through the floor of the chamber, the gossamer noble making do with these cast-off fluids.</p><p></p><p>"What...what the Hell?" asked Castillan once he could talk again.</p><p></p><p>"The rings," answered Gilbert Fung. "They not just <em>rings of sustenance</em>, they <em>rings of regeneration</em> as well."</p><p></p><p>"Why didn't you attack them with your <em>magic missiles</em>?" demanded Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"That a fight we not win," replied the mage. "And they our only way home."</p><p></p><p>"So we just put up with it?" demanded Finoula, incensed at the betrayal. "We said we'd cook food for them, but that we wouldn't be on the menu! You specifically said that!"</p><p></p><p>"I said, 'We prefer not to be on menu,'" replied Gilbert, belatedly realizing his mistake. "They took me at my word - that just a preference, not a demand."</p><p></p><p>"The worst part," said Binkadink, "is that we still have to go through that one more time before getting home." As he spoke, he tried unsuccessfully to rub off the dried blood from his body, since the rings did nothing to clean up the wounds, merely healed them up. Eventually, he used his innate ability of <em>prestidigitation</em> to clean himself up, then looked guiltily at the others after realizing he couldn't do the same for them.</p><p></p><p>"We get through it now, we get through it then," replied Gilbert. "For now, maybe we get some sleep." But sleep didn't come easily to the heroes, and when it did it was frequently broken by nightmares.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Over a week later, days after the second grell feast had occurred, six grell appeared once again before the Kordovians. They each gripped one of the heroes, but this time instead of biting into their flesh they returned them to the entry area where their gear had been stored. Using the translator skull, the grell spokesman informed the passengers that the gossamer noble was in orbit around Oerth and they could depart. The heroes were asked for their loaned rings, and then, still naked, they were flown along an outstretched tentacle back to the dragonfly vessel, where they were deposited on the upper deck. There on the floor before them was all of their gear; apparently the grell weren't willing to provide the humanoids with their armor and weapons on the gossamer noble, where they could do a considerable bit of damage.</p><p></p><p>"The agreed-upon contracts have been fulfilled," announced the rune-skull in the lead grell's tentacles. "You have been returned safely to your home planet, and you in turn have provided the two required meals during the voyage. You are free to go about your business, as we go about ours."</p><p></p><p>"And just what your business?" asked Gilbert Fung.</p><p></p><p>"We will pick up the young that have hatched in the decade since our last visit and enter them into grell society," replied the grell spokesman. "Oh, and one final thing," it said, pivoting in mid-air to face Finoula. "[Untranslatable name] asked me to inform you that you were especially delicious." Finoula just grimaced, creeped out by the "compliment," and climbed down the stairs to the lower level of the ship. The others followed her, as the six grell returned to their living gossamer noble ship.</p><p></p><p>The elven ranger sat down in the helm. "Shall we go?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"Just back us up out of range," said Gilbert. "Keep jellyfish in view."</p><p></p><p>"What's up?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"I want to see what they do."</p><p></p><p>After about six minutes of inactivity aboard the giant jellyfish, four grell exited the gossamer noble and began levitating straight down toward the planet. After making sure that these four were the only ones leaving the living ship, Gilbert directed Finoula to pilot their own ship after them. "Stay far back," he commanded. "They blind, but they probably sense things close to them. We stay far enough back they don't sense us, we see where they going - and then we kill them!"</p><p></p><p>"All right!" agreed Finoula, pumping her fist in the air. The others were similarly buoyed by this announcement; even Ingebold, a devout cleric of Moradin who had never originally envisioned a career as an adventurer, seeing herself as a healer above all else, was eager for some payback against these vicious beasts. After all, for all they knew, part of the grell "business" on Oerth was picking up new victims for them to eat on the way back to their homes in wildspace. Having been a grell meal twice now, Ingebold didn't want anyone to ever have to share that fate.</p><p></p><p>The descent was at a graceful speed; nobody really even noticed when the ship's air envelope was encompassed by the planet's normal atmosphere. But the grell knew exactly where they were going; they headed straight for a small island without any hesitation or course adjustments. As they lowered almost to the point where their drooping tentacles could touch the waters of the ocean below them, they curled up these barbed appendages and floated into a cave opening in the side of the cliff face of the small island. Finoula's enhanced ship senses allowed her to spot a flat area at the top of the island where she could park the dragonfly ship, apparently the grell had entered a cave in the rocks beneath them. The heroes emerged from the ship and clambered down the slope, eager to follow their levitating prey.</p><p></p><p>"Wait," said Gilbert as the group waded into the knee-deep water outside the cave. "Need to do something before we go in." Then, raising the necklace he'd taken from the sea hag in Lake Quag, he concentrated on his familiar, still waiting patiently on Skunkbeard's Island - wherever that may be from their present location. <em>Mudpie!</em> the wizard mentally called out. <em>We back! We taking care of some business, then we come get you!</em></p><p></p><p>Gilbert sweated for a few moments of mental silence, before he finally got a response. <em>I've been waiting here, just outside the treasure room</em>, came the mental voice of his earth elemental familiar. <em>I'll be here when you arrive.</em></p><p></p><p>"Okay!" said Gilbert to the rest of the team. "Let's go in, get these buggers!"</p><p></p><p>Finoula was the first to enter the cave opening, followed by Binkadink. It was completely pitch black inside the cave's interior; only the gnome's <em>everburning torches</em> on his antlered helmet provided any illumination. Wading through the water, which rose to her waist, the ranger was surprised when not one but two smooth-shelled creatures rose up from beneath the dark water on either side of her. Each chuul snapped out with a pair of wicked claws and Finoula soon found herself gripped in a two-pincer hold at one shoulder and a single pincer at the other. Neither chuul was willing to give up its prize, and as a result a bizarre tug-of-war over the elf ranger began in earnest. Not surprisingly, the chuul with the two-pincer grip won this brief contest, and it transferred its prize into its wriggling face-tendrils, covered in a paralyzing fluid.</p><p></p><p>Spotting the two spurts of blood rushing down her Battle-Sister's shoulders, Ingebold used her <em>mace of healing</em> to send a curative spell to Finoula which closed up her wounds. In the meantime, Binkadink stumbled up on his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em>, glaive in hand to stab out at the crustacean on the right, which had his friend in its tentacled embrace.</p><p></p><p>Behind the gnome, Castillan ran forward in a burst of speed, vaulted up out of the water, and used the gnome's back as a springboard to tumble over Finoula and her captor, landing with a splash on the other side of the surprised chuul. The bounder stabbed out with his short sword, sinking it to the hilt in the monster's side, the blade slipping between overlapping plates of carapace.</p><p></p><p>Recalling the tactics that had worked so well during their last battle with chuuls, Ingebold cast a <em>freedom of movement</em> spell on Finoula. But the cleric hadn't factored in the fact that the last time they'd done battle with chuuls - in the waters of Lake Quag - the spell had been applied to the heroes <em>before</em> combat, to prevent the snapping pincers from getting a hold on the heroes. This time, Finoula was already paralyzed and in the clutches of the chuul's face-tendrils; once the spell had been cast on her, these gripping appendages lost their hold on the elf and she slipped below the surface of the water, still paralyzed and unable to move. With a gasp of horror, Ingebold realized her attempts to help may well have cost her Battle-Sister her life!</p><p></p><p>Darrien shot several arrows into the rightmost chuul, hoping to bring it down quickly so they could rescue Finoula. His arrows struck true, and the wounded chuul opted to attempt to flee back into the deeper water at the back of the cave network. But to do so it had to pass by both Binkadink and Castillan; each struck with their blades and it was impossible to determine which strike had been the killing blow. Not worrying about the credit, the gnome fighter turned to face the remaining chuul, realizing it would be looking for a new victim. He stepped forward to make himself the obvious choice.</p><p> </p><p>Castillan bent down and grabbed at Finoula, catching her by the arm and pulling her head back up above the water level. Seeing Finoula safe, Ingebold backed away from the current combat between Binkadink and the other chuul, realizing her best offense was her spells, which for the most part could be used at range. The bounder pulled Finoula away from the chuul, then grabbed up a <em>potion of remove paralysis</em> from his belt, unstoppered it, and poured its contents down his fellow elf's throat. Unfortunately, this was a "Winkidew Special," made with numerous cost-saving shortcuts, and as a result an awful stench equivalent to that of a dreaded ghast started emanating from Finoula's pores. Castillan almost dropped her as the stench hit him but he managed to keep her head above water until the potion took effect and she could once again stand on her own two feet.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold cast a <em>flame strike</em> spell down on the chuul, wounding it horrendously and allowing Binkadink's next glaive strike to be the killing blow. Then, seeing no further immediate danger, Ingebold stepped forward and applied healing spells to those in need.</p><p></p><p>There was a small island of sorts ahead, a large rock jutting up from the water in the back of the wide central cave. Trusting in his newly-discovered aquatic elf heritage, Darrien ducked his head under the water and was amazed as the gill-slits at his neck opened up at the touch of the seawater and he found himself breathing effortlessly. Furthermore, although his half-elf heritage allowed him to see better than a human in low-light conditions, he found that his vision was even better underwater. Without surfacing, he swam over to the rock island. Upon arrival he surfaced and climbed up one side, pulling himself up onto the rock's top. Perched on top of the rock was a human skull - this one bleached with age but not covered in runes; it was apparently just some unfortunate person's decapitated skull, not a grell translation device. Failing to look directly above him, Darrien missed the trio of grell hovering near the cavern ceiling, their barbed tentacles still curled up to prevent them from being targets to a snapping chuul's pincers. But he did see the chuul hidden in the water on the other side of the rock island, apparently deciding if it was safe to approach the skull and claim it for its own treasure hoard. The half-elf warned the others of the submerged chuul and gave its general location.</p><p></p><p>Both Finoula and Binkadink came up with a simple solution to fighting aquatic creatures in their home environment; each pulled a <em>potion of water walking</em> from their respective belts and chugged down the contents, immediately bobbing to the top of the water like a pair of corks. Castillan, in the meantime, had waded over to the island and had pulled himself up beside Darrien.</p><p></p><p>As one, the three grell dropped down on the two adventurers, two grappling with Darrien and the other concentrating on Castillan. Gilbert cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell - he had plenty prepared! - at the one menacing Castillan, seeing the bounder as an easier target to free. The spell didn't immediately kill the grell, but Binkadink's glaive did a moment later as he ran across the water and hopped up on the rock island with the others.</p><p></p><p>When Finoula approached, one of the two remaining grell had gotten a good grip on Darrien while the other faced him. The <em>whip of thorns</em> snaked out and struck at this unencumbered grell, slicing deep gashes across its brainlike structure. At his side, Castillan stabbed out at the same grell with his short sword, while at the same time Ingebold cast a <em>searing light</em> spell on both grell. The one that had been wounded fell at the onslaught of her spell, but the other wound its tentacles tighter around Darrien and prepared to levitate him toward the ceiling. And in the meantime, the chuul swam unnoticed around the rock island, approaching the cleric with its pincers ready to strike.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Binkadink could see the chuul's shape in the water and stabbed down at it with his glaive from up on the rock. Then he spun, and in a surprise move slew the grell fighting Darrien, then returned his attention to the chuul and stabbed at it again. His second strike was particularly well-placed, nearly severing the crustacean's armored head from its body. Despite the lack of an actual beheading, the chuul died in the water, blood gushing from its wounds.</p><p></p><p>But all of this slaying was noisy, and it brought the remaining grell - one more from the gossamer noble still in orbit above the planet, who had come down here with the other three pregnant grell to lay their eggs in the recesses of the cave, and the four young adults who had lived in this cave network their whole lives - flying over to investigate. Three came from the northwest, over from the side of the large rock island, while the remaining two came from the southeast. Gilbert, facing the southernmost, divided the missiles from another <em>magic missile</em> spell between those two, the bolts hitting unerringly against the sides of the levitating beasts.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold cast another <em>searing light</em> spell - her last - at two of the grell approaching from the north. Castillan switched weapons, loading his crossbow to hit one of the grell approaching from the north, while Darrien managed to fire four arrows into the side of the same grell, slaying it outright.</p><p></p><p>Not to be outdone, Finoula ran across the water over to the stretch of solid land beneath another of the northernmost grell, lashing out with her <em>whip of thorns</em> to score grooves into the brainlike structure making up its body. Likewise, Binkadink skipped over the water in his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em> to stab at the same grell with his glaive, killing it. Gilbert Fung moved on to a more powerful spell than his numerous <em>magic missiles</em>, firing off a <em>scorching ray</em> that sent four burning streams of fire at the two he had previously hit. That was enough to slay one of the two, its body crashing into the water and sinking.</p><p></p><p>That left only two grell, and neither survived for long. Binkadink stabbed the one remaining to the north, skewering it on his blade like a shish-kabob, while Gilbert took out the one from the south. They were a bit disappointed that the rune-skull-carrying grell was not among their number, for they knew the skull translated what they said into whatever sort of language the grell used among themselves, and Gilbert for one would have loved to taunt the vicious hunters as they lay dying and know his words were understood. But such was not to be; they had to settle merely for the deaths of those who had made it down to the cave network, and those who would never now levitate up to join the remaining grell in the gossamer noble.</p><p></p><p>"What about those still in the jellyfish?" asked Finoula. "We know there has to be at least two more of them up there, since only four came down here."</p><p></p><p>"We have to make do with those we already kill," replied Gilbert Fung. "It not safe to take on giant jellyfish - it easily crush our ship. And it too fragile to enter atmosphere, were its body get crushed. And I doubt other grell come down to see why their buddies not return. I imagine they just pack up and go, once it apparent others not coming back. With any luck, they abandon Oerth colony altogether."</p><p></p><p>"Well, good riddance if they do!" agreed Finoula.</p><p></p><p>A quick search of the cave network revealed the headless body that went with the skull on the rock island, apparently from a pirate who had washed ashore some time ago. He carried a mere 15 gold pieces in a pouch at his belt and a jade carving of a sea turtle that Castillan appraised at several hundred gold pieces. Gathering them up, the heroes returned to the dragonfly vessel at the top of the small island. By then it was starting to get dark, and they opted to camp out in the ship for the evening. Pulling out Delphyne's <em>ring gates</em>, Ingebold wrote a quick note to King Galrich - "We're back from our treasure hunt and should return to Kordovia within the next day or so" - and stuffed it through the magical metal ring, along with half of the treasure they had accumulated from the Skunkbeard's Island treasure hoard.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, Finoula flew the ship high enough for them to spot a continental coastline which they made out to be the eastern edge of Hepmonaland; heading there, they found Thunder Bay easily enough and from there it wasn't too difficult to head out in the same direction and general heading that Captain McGraff had taken them aboard his vessel those many months ago. By zigzagging back and forth as they traveled over the ocean on a rough bearing, they were able to rediscover Skunkbeard's Island without too much trouble. Of course, the <em>Celestial Avatar</em> had long since departed, Captain McGraff not wanting his ship to be sunk by Darrien's father and his band of sea elves; for all they knew the ship had been back at Thunder Bay when they skimmed over that way earlier that morning. But Finoula flew the dragonfly vessel over to the bear cave, where Darrien hunted up the dire bear cub he'd planned on adopting (he named him "Grumps Jr." for reasons that no doubt made sense to him), the group "redified the mirror pool" in accordance with the treasure map instructions, and they made their way back to the underground treasure chamber that had months ago shunted them across the crystal sphere to the wildspace receiving station that had set them on their spelljamming adventures. Mudpie was waiting there to greet his master, and together the group gathered up the contents of the as-yet-untouched ninth chest (gathering up tens of thousands of gold coins' worth of expensive jewelry, half of which Ingebold poured through the <em>ring gate</em> into the castle vault back in Kordovia).</p><p></p><p>Then the group opted to spend the rest of the day on the tropical island, gathering exotic fruits and just unwinding before returning back to Kordovia the following day. Wildspace had worn them out - they figured they deserved a day of relaxation!</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>And thus came to a close our little side excursion using a modified version of the Spelljammer rules. I had done something similar in Logan and Stuart's original 3E campaign and they had enjoyed it, so I thought this group would enjoy it as well. Hopefully, they all got a taste of the Spelljammer universe without it completely altering the flow of our own Kordovia-based campaign. Of course, they're all 11th-level now so we're going into the last half of the campaign, but I figure the dragonfly spelljamming vessel will just be a useful transportation device, getting them quickly from one adventure location to another. I get the feeling the heroes won't have a whole lot of use for their Vistani wagon or Aerik's old mule-driven wagon in future adventures!</p><p></p><p>In real life, Joey had recently found a wounded bird in his back yard (we had a big storm several weeks back) and has been nursing him back to health. He named the bird (a starling, I think Dan said) "Grumps," so the in-game dire bear cub is named in honor of a real-life wounded bird. I'm giving Grumps Jr. the stats of a standard black bear and we're using him as a late-addition ranger's animal companion.</p><p></p><p>As an aside, I usually play music in the background while we play and more times than not it's various episodes of "Music from the Hearts of Space." Since I had them on hand, I started the session with "Spectral Ships" playing (appropriate for while the PCs were dealing with Captain Skunkbeard and his crew of undead minions) and then later segued into the Hearts of Space episodes "A Journey Home," its sequel "A Journey Home 2," and "The Way Home" since they were so thematically appropriate.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: I wore one of my two different TARDIS shirts; since the TARDIS can go anywhere in space and time, I thought it appropriate to demonstrate that the PCs had all of space open to them (and that their home planet could literally be anywhere, in any direction - which became a real problem after Melony Sal's betrayal.) As an added twist, Logan has a shirt covered in jellyfish; I suggested that he should wear that shirt for this session for reasons that would be apparent later. (Of course, he mentally jumped immediately to "space jellyfish" but had no idea how that would play out.) And now, best of all, my other players will no longer know whether the "clue" about the current game session will be hinted at by my T-shirt, Logan's T-shirt, or both.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7156693, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 35: HOMEWARD BOUND[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 11 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 11 Darrien, half-elf ranger 11 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 11 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 11[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 11 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 24 June 2017 - - - Aboard their dragonfly spelljamming vessel, the group watched as the [i]Star Skunk[/i] battled the [i]Apex Predator[/i]. It wasn't a long fight; the neogi had started with their standard maneuver, shooting ballista bolts connected to chains at their enemy vessel to link the two together so their prey couldn't flee. This time, however, their prey had no intention of fleeing. Almost immediately, skeletal pirates led by Captain Skunkbeard swarmed from the [i]Star Skunk[/i] and climbed the chains, bringing the fight to the neogi deathspider. And since the Kordovians had already killed off the ship's umber hulks and much of their neogi fighting force, plus rid the ship of their current contingent of slaves, there were only the standard neogi crewmen to defend the ship. Against Captain Skunkbeard and his skeletal legions, they didn't stand much of a chance. Before long, the skeletal pirates were climbing back along the grappling-chains to the [i]Star Skunk[/i], this time loaded down with loot from their captured vessel. "See?" said Gilbert Fung, sitting at the helm of the dragonfly ship. "I told you they no need our help." The group watched as the neogi deathspider - their prison for the past several weeks - suddenly started burning from several locations. At long last, Captain Skunkbeard returned to his own vessel, giving orders for the grappling-chains to be removed from his ship. He laughed heartily as the neogi deathspider was consumed by flames. "So now what?" asked Ingebold. "Are we still gonna just follow th' ship for th' next day, so we c'n try ta raise Chik'tak back t' life before we approach the vessel?" "No choice," repeated Gilbert. "We can't let them out of our sight - they the only ones know the way home." "Problem," pointed out Castillan. "What problem? No problem!" retorted Gilbert. "It simple plan!" "Problem," repeated Castillan, pointing out the window - one of the "eyes" at the front of the dragonfly-shaped ship. "The [i]Star Skunk[/i]'s headed our way." It was true. Upon being released from the chains binding it to the burning deathspider, the pirate vessel had turned and was now heading directly toward the dragonfly vessel, currently half-hiding behind the planetoid holding the umber hulk breeding colony. "Okay, problem," admitted Gilbert. "If we try to run, we look guilty. Plus, not sure how fast we go, or how fast they go - maybe we too slow to run." He rubbed a hand over his bearded chin for a moment, then made a decision. "We go meet them," he said, concentrating on moving the dragonfly ship forward. Binkadink and Finoula had been standing on top of the ship when they noticed they were moving toward the [i]Star Skunk[/i] - with its crew of animated skeletons. "I hope Gilbert knows what he's doing!" Finoula said. "Me too!" agreed Binkadink. "But where's Castillan? He should be up here - otherwise, we're stuck being the ambassadors!" He was correct. "Um, hello!" he called out as the ships got within hailing distance, close enough for their respective air envelopes to overlap and merge - bringing with it a foul odor. "Captain Skunkbeard, I presume? We read your notes back at the receiving station - they were very helpful!" "I knew it!" called out the pirate Captain. "You're part of the crew that got teleported from Oerth when you got tangled up in my trap, trying to take my riches!" Fortunately, the captain's tone was more jovial than accusatory. "Where's Chik'tak? We've been tracking him, and indications are he's aboard your vessel." "He is," confirmed Binkadink. "That is...his body is. I'm afraid he was slain, down on the planetoid below. I'm terribly sorry." "Nothing that can't be fixed!" scoffed Skunkbeard. "Come aboard - we have much to talk over!" Finoula went to fetch the others, only to find them already traipsing up the stairs to the upper deck. One at a time, they stepped over to the [i]Star Skunk[/i], where they were met by one of the few still-living members of Captain Skunkbeard's crew, a buxom young thing named [b]Melony Sal[/b]. She had a pouch at her belt, from which she pulled out and distributed nose plugs to the guests. "The captain won't be offended," she said. "His stench is a great asset on the battlefield, but he makes provisions for the few times he has social engagements." She went on to explain how he had been injured early in life, completely shutting off his sense of smell, and how he had stopped bathing immediately thereafter. Furthermore, he had two skunks on board, which he used to douse himself in skunk-spray right before combat. The captain generally fought with an advantage, as all of his living foes were trying not to retch from the stench while he - and his undead crew - were completely unaffected. "And those of you still alive?" asked Finoula, waving off the proffered nose plugs, not knowing up whose nostrils they might have been previously. She willed herself to ignore the stench, a vile mixture of skunk-spray and accumulated years of body odor. "Tend to ignore it, after awhile," replied Melony Sal. "One gets used to anything, over time." Binkadink, Darrien, Ingebold, and Castillan had accepted the nose plugs and were putting them in place, the elven bounder taking his time accepting them from the good-looking first mate, flashing her his best smile. Gilbert, the last in line, opted to do without nose plugs when his enhanced vision, magically altered to allow him to detect undead at will, helped him pierce through the illusion covering Melony Sal and revealing her true form: the ship's mate might once have looked like the others were likely perceiving her, but she was now pretty much just a skeleton herself - although she had apparently taken steps to ensure her breasts remained as firm and round as they had been in life. "I be fine," he told her, waving away the nose plugs, his face impassive but his mind wanting to explode in panic as the adventurers were literally surrounded by undead forces. Gilbert allowed Castillan, their most charismatic member, to do most of the explaining of what had befallen the group since their arrival at the wildspace receiving station months ago. Captain Skunkbeard listened impassively, although Melony Sal interrupted several times when the bounder got to the most recent bit, especially when describing the ulgurstasta. She wanted to know how it had been created, whether there were any more in the planetoid below, and whether the necromancers had left any books or tomes behind describing the creation process. They [i]had[/i] left such a tome behind, but Gilbert Fung had already transferred its contents into his [i]Omnibook[/i], choosing to do so in a manner that removed the writing from the original book rather than just copying it. After all, the original tome had a cover made of human flesh - no sense in leaving that around for others to put to no good use. "They destroyed, along with necromancers who created it," Gilbert supplied, the first he'd spoken since Castillan began the tale of their exploits in wildspace. "That's a great pity," Melony Sal said, pouting. "I would have been interested in seeing the process." "There's still a magic circle carved in the caverns below," offered up Castillan, eager to please the good-looking woman, and still oblivious to the fact she was a lich. Gilbert just winced, not at all eager to pass on any information that might help Melony Sal - a necromancer, no doubt - to recreate the process of creating ulgurstastas. Once Castillan's tale caught up to the meeting of the two ships, Ingebold unfolded her [i]portable hole[/i] and some of the others helped her drag Chik'tak's corpse out. "Aw," said Captain Skunkbeard, looking down at the body of one of his most loyal crewmen. He looked over to Melony Sal. "What do you think?" he asked. Melony Sal looked down at the rastipede corpse. "You say he was killed by the ulgurstasta's necromantic fluid, and automatically animated as a skeleton?" she asked. "Or, in his case, exoskeleton?" Upon hearing confirmation by the heroes, she shook her head sadly. "I can [i]raise[/i] him," she proffered to her captain, "but he'll never be the same. He won't have his intellect, that's for sure - he'd just be a mindless undead." "Aw, that's a damn shame," said Skunkbeard, scratching his two-tone beard in thought. "Well, I suppose he can guard the hold," he decided. "Aye," agreed Melony Sal. "I suppose he could at that. I'll see about it in the morning." "So, that leads us to you folks," said Captain Skunkbeard, looking at the heroes. "I suppose I should be angered by your attempts to plunder my treasure back on Oerth" - and all six heroes' faces instantly froze up, nobody wanting to give away the fact that they hadn't so much [i]attempted[/i] to plunder his loot as [i]successfully plundered[/i] seven of eight treasure chests, activating the teleport trap that sent them to wildspace only after all of that loot had been poured into the [i]portable hole[/i] Ingebold was just now rolling back up to stow into her belt - "but I can't really hold that against you. Hell, I'd do the same myself. And although that loot was originally intended to be my retirement fund, as it were, I currently have no intentions of ever returning to Oerth, so it's not likely I'd ever go back for that money anyway. No, I've found I prefer life out here in wildspace more than life back on Oerth. "Back in my pirating days," he continued, "it was all about the gold - who had it and how I could get it. That was pretty much it; a pirate's life is a pretty simple one, I suppose. But out here, in wildspace, there's so much more to my life! Sure, there's still plenty of looting and plunder to be had, but I also have the opportunity to take on scum like those neogi slavers when they cross my path. And I've you to thank for that, by the way - so I figure we're even on that score. But there are always new systems to explore, new races to meet up with, new enemies to fight. My life has expanded so much since my days traveling the oceans of Oerth. I'd like to offer the same life to you. So, what do you say? Would you like to join my crew?" Castillan looked over to the others before answering. "Captain Skunkbeard," he said, "we thank you for your generous offer, but we have obligations back on Oerth and would really prefer getting back there as soon as possible. If you could possibly show us the way back home, we'd be eternally grateful." The captain stared at the bounder for a moment before answering. "Well, so be it!" he replied. "Melony Sal, show these folks the way back home, if you'd be so kind!" "Aye-aye, captain," she said, looking at the heroes. "Shall we?" she asked, waving a hand in the direction of their vessel. Gilbert, for one, made a beeline to the dragonfly ship, eager to be off the ship crewed by undead monstrosities. One of the two main rooms in the dragonfly vessel - both of which doubled as crew quarters - contained various star charts, but so far the Kordovians had not been able to make head nor tail of them. Not only were they written in a language unknown to them, but the heroes were unfamiliar with even the most basic notations common to the field of astronavigation. Gilbert doubted the lich would be able to sufficiently explain how they worked in less than a day. Fortunately, she had no intention of trying to explain how astronavigation worked to a bunch of "breathers" who had barely even taken the first few steps away from their own planet. Flipping through the charts, she finally said, Ah!" and circled one particular star with an ink pen. "Here it is. And here's your present location." Gilbert looked at the two annotations, frowning as he tried imagining the vast distances involved. Melony Sal pointed at a star through one of the dragonfly's "eyes." "See that bright star, just below the three arranged in an arc above it? That's where you want to go. Just aim for that star and you'll be fine." "That all there is to it?" Gilbert asked. "Well, I can try to get into the finer points of the phlogiston flows, and stellar drift, but I really think it's best if you just point your ship at the right star and keep going. After all, you're just planning on getting back to this Oerth of yours and then using your dragonfly ship to flit about the planet, aren't you? Yes? Well, then there's no point in going over a bunch of stiff that will just confuse you. Any questions?" "I have one," said Castillan, stepping up to the attractive woman. "Your name is rather unusual. What are its origins?" "I've been 'Sal' - short for 'Sally' - since I was born," she said, smiling at the handsome elf. "And I've been 'melony' since I was about fourteen." Her smile brightened as Castillan caught on, and as she caught him taking a quick peek at her ample cleavage. She arched her back to give him a better view; unnoticed, Gilbert winced even harder. "I have question," added Gilbert, his voice somewhat accusatory. "You the one responsible for the skeletons and zombies on board your ship?" "I am indeed," replied Melony Sal. "I raised them to their present state." "Raised?" squeaked Gilbert. "Lowered them, you mean." "No, I generally say exactly what I mean," corrected Melony Sal. "Why? Do you have a problem with free-willed undead?" "Are they free-willed?" asked Finoula. "Not mindless?" "Absolutely. Each of them agreed to the transformation ahead of time. And the Captain knows each of them by name. They were part of his crew when they were alive, and they continue on now that they're undead." "That terrible!" retorted Gilbert. "Not at all!" countered Melony Sal. "As undead, they offer many advantages. They don't breathe, so they don't use up the air in the ship's envelope. They don't eat, so we only need to store provisions for the few living members of the crew. They don't need sleep, so they can be on duty at all times. They're not discomfited by the Captain's rank odor. And they're living the lives they want, that they themselves chose." "That not living!" countered Gilbert. "They may not be technically alive, but they're certainly living!" countered Melony Sal. "And they will continue on living their undead lives long after fools like you - who spurn the very thought of undeath - lie in their graves! Face it, Gilbert: free-willed undeath is the next logical step for those of mortal flesh - to deny it is to be a caterpillar disparaging the existence of butterflies!" "Ye've certainly given us somethin' t' think upon," put in Ingebold, not swayed in the least by the lich's arguments but somewhat appeased at the thought that these particular skeletons and zombies - if Melony Sal was to be believed - had at least signed up for their fate. Plus, she wanted to separate the first mate and Gilbert before they came to blows. "Yes, well, I certainly recommend it for those willing to take the step," Melony Sal said, heading back up to the top deck of the ship so she could return to the [i]Star Skunk[/i]. "Look me up if you ever change your minds - I'd be more than happy to give you a helping hand into undeath." Then, getting back to the business at hand, she said, "You can follow us out of this crystal sphere if you like - it'll take about two days. Then we'll be in the phlogiston, and we'll go our separate ways. It should take about a week's travel for you to get to where you're going." "Fair enough," said Gilbert, plopping himself into the ship's helm and calming his mind, expanding his senses to encompass all directions around the dragonfly vessel as Melony Sal returned to the pirate vessel. As soon as he saw the [i]Star Skunk[/i] heading off, he hurried to send his own ship in its wake. True to her word, the trip to the edge of the crystal sphere took about two days, and it was another week of sailing through the phlogiston before their destination crystal sphere loomed ahead of them. Gilbert did some maneuvering to find a tunnel entrance into the crystal sphere, and then they were out of the phlogiston flow and once more into the more comfortable embrace of wildspace. But some thing seemed wrong almost immediately. Ahead of them was a vast expanse of tumbling rocks, an asteroid field that encompassed the entire system. It was at this point in time that a pair of wooden lips extended from the wall between the dragonfly's two "eye" portals and began speaking in a most recognizable voice. "Well, Gilbert," said the voice of Melony Sal, "Good luck finding your way home, because this system surely isn't it. I figured I'd give you a [i]good[/i] reason to hate undead." and after fashioning into a mocking smirk, the lips faded back into the wood of the ship's wall. "That bitch!" cried Gilbert. "I kill her!" "That was a [i]magic mouth[/i] spell," observed Binkadink, not at all helpfully. "My stupid cousin Jinkadoodle uses those all the time." "Yeah, well, you probably never see him again! We have no idea which way home now!" "Maybe there's a clue in the star charts?" suggested Finoula. Gilbert turned his attention to the elven ranger to berate her idea when his attention was suddenly diverted. "Another ship!" he cried, sensing a foreign vessel at the edge of his magically-enhanced awareness. Mentally, he maneuvered the dragonfly ship to face this new threat. But it turned out to be no threat at all. Rather, it was a most unusual vessel: there was what looked to be a small sailing ship somewhere at the center of it, but there were numerous add-ons, like the bathtub mounted to the rear, the gigantic hamster wheel on the left side (currently occupied by what looked like nothing so much as a horse-sized hamster), and what could only be a pipe organ off to one side. An oversized umbrella served as the vessel's only attempt at any sort of a roof. "Ahoy there!" cried a voice form the ship, and popping up over the side of the hodgepodge vessel was the ruddy face of a gnome. "Good day to you all! I wonder if you could provide a wee bit of assistance to a fellow traveler in need?" The gnome introduced himself as [b]Pendiculous Tatterjammies[/b], but insisted his friends all called him [b]"Captain Frothy"[/b]. The problem lie in his ship's propulsion unit: a metal slat had broken off the hamster wheel, causing his giant space hamster, [b]Space Admiral Cheekiweeks[/b], to sprain a paw. The creature's paw was healed by means of a [i]cure light wounds[/i] spell on the part of Ingebold, and a few moments of rummaging around in the dragonfly vessel's cargo holds unearthed a suitable replacement for the missing slat. Within minutes, Captain Frothy's sidewinder vessel, the [i]Gold Standard[/i] (for he was prospecting among the asteroids for standard gold) was back to full working order. In return for their help, Captain Frothy led them to a trading post covering a decent-sized asteroid, where the group was amazed to see all manners of beings walking about - humans, elves, and dwarves, to be sure, but also stranger creatures like humanoid hippos, intelligent apes with glider wings, and human-sized, elaborately-tattooed praying mantises, to say nothing of beholders and mind flayers mingling with the other races as if they did so on a regular basis. Finoula stopped into a magic shop but was appalled at the prices they were charging. Apparently it was a seller's market out here among the asteroids! "We need to find somebody who knows the way to Oerth," said Castillan. "Maybe we can just hire a pilot to fly us home." They had already made such inquiries of Captain Frothy, but while he'd heard stories of Oerth he had no idea where it might be found. He also supplied the rather disappointing news that among the spelljamming races, Oerth was considered a backwater world - a bit far off the major trade routes, and offering nothing of value that couldn't be obtained elsewhere at less expense and trouble. Still, deciding they'd never find their way home if they didn't try to find somebody to help them, the heroes asked around at the docks, the shops, and of various passersby. For the most part, the answers were the same: either "I've never heard of Oerth" or "Why would you want to go all the way there?" There was talk of a hammership - whatever that was - due in about a week or so that would have passed somewhat close by Oerth, but that didn't fill the heroes with much hope. And then they hit paydirt - of a sort. "Oerth?" asked a shopkeeper. "I had a grell in here an hour or so back, picking up for provisions for a trip to Oerth. It sounded like they were planning on leaving fairly soon, though, so you'd best hurry if you're gonna catch them!" Upon getting a good description of a grell - a floating brain with a parrot's beak and ten dangling tentacles - some of the heroes were somewhat hesitant to travel with a bunch of grell. "It not like we have much choice!" pointed out Gilbert Fung. "We find these grell, see if they help us!" Fortunately, the grell were fairly distinctive, even among the many disparate races on the asteroid-sized trading post. With twenty minutes or so Castillan had tracked one down as it was floating out of another shop. Disturbingly, this one had a rune-covered human skull cupped in the end of one tentacle. "Excuse me, sir," began Castillan, unsure of how to properly address a brain/parrot/octopus thing, "we understand you are preparing for a voyage to Oerth?" The grell hovered motionless for a moment, then used the tip of another tentacle to tap a beat on the top of the rune-covered skull. As he did so, the skull's jaw unhinged and it began translating in the Common tongue the Kordovians spoke. "Your statement is correct," said the skull. "Excellent!" replied Castillan. "I was wondering if you would allow us to follow you in our own vessel?" Again, the tapping followed by a skull-provided translation: "Impossible. Our vessel does not travel in the standard fashion. You would be unable to follow." "Oh, I see," replied Castillan. "Could one of your crew maybe pilot our vessel then, maybe, and meet you there?" "Also impossible. We are unable to use helms configured for the humanoid form. However," amended the grell through his translation device, "it would be possible for you to travel with us on our vessel, if we towed your vessel behind us." "Really?" asked the bounder. "You would need to work for your passage. We have available positions in the food service industry. You would need to prepare two meals for us during the voyage." "That's it?" asked Castillan. "That's reasonable!" he said to his friends. "Hold on," interjected Gilbert Fung, always looking for the way someone was trying to screw him over. "How about we just pay you money for passage?" "We have no need of further money," was the skull's reply. "We do have need of cooks." "What exactly we have to cook?" demanded Gilbert. "We not experts in grell cuisine." "Would we be required to kill the animals you'd be eating?" asked Finoula. "The menu is simple enough. All will be explained at the appropriate time." "I no like this," asserted Gilbert to his companions. To the grell, he said, "We maybe cook for you, but we prefer not to be on menu!" "Your preferences have been noted," responded the translator skull. "There are further conditions to your signing aboard our vessel, however. You must spend the entirety of the voyage aboard our ship. You must leave all armor, weapons, and personal possessions either aboard your own vessel or aboard ours, stowed away in containers. All of your possessions will be returned to you at the end of the voyage. We will loan each of you a [i]ring of sustenance[/i] during the two weeks of travel, as we have learned that is an easier solution than determining individual dietary needs for different races. The rings will be returned to us at the end of the voyage. We guarantee your safe arrival to Oerth, but once we arrive there you will be left to find your own way home. We are familiar only with the section of Oerth that we have dealings with; we are not familiar with your kingdoms or cities." "What do you think, Gilbert?" asked Finoula. The heavyset mage let out a sigh. "I suppose beggars best not choosers," he said. More tapping on the skull resulted in a final statement: "If you agree to these terms, state your name and say, 'I agree to the terms as explained to me.'" Then the grell presented the skull to each of the Kordovians in turn, starting with Binkadink. "I, Binkadink Dundernoggin, agree to the terms as explained to me," he said after looking at the rest of his group and getting nods of agreement. Each hero made his or her similar statement, and then they were instructed to return to their own ship and hover directly above the asteroid, beyond its air envelope. They were to be met by the grell ship, which was described to them as looking like a giant jellyfish. The description was particularly apt, for as Finoula piloted the ship as instructed, an enormous, living jellyfish approached them. Its head section was easily 100 feet in diameter, with dozens - perhaps scores - of tentacles reaching easily 500 feet. One of these tentacles stretched out towards the dragonfly vessel, and along its length floated the grell with the skull translator, followed by five more of his kind. The Kordovians had decided they'd bring all of their gear aboard the grell vessel, so at least it would be close at hand if it was needed. After explaining it to their translator, each hero was grasped in the tentacles of a grell, hoisted into the air, and then floated back toward the jellyfish's head, where they entered the great beast's interior sections. They were lowered back onto the "floor" of a room filled with gauzy, semi-translucent walls made up of the jellyfish's skin. Using the skull translator, the grell instructed Binkadink to remove his armor, weapons, and personal possessions, while the grell used the sharp tip of a tentacle to rip open a slit in the nearest wall. Binkadink removed his helmet and dropped it into the slit, where it fell to the bottom of a bag of sorts. He placed his glaive in there as well, followed by his backpack and armor, piece by piece, including his stilt-boots. Finally, he stood in his under-armor, considering his part completed. Tap-tap-tap went the grell's tentacle on the skull, and the skull replied, "Continue." "What?" asked Binkadink. "You mean this?" He pulled on the undergarment covering his chest and stuck one foot out, waggling it to indicate his sock. "All personal possessions," insisted the grell through its translation device. "Are we really--?" spluttered Binkadink, looking back at the others. They all looked at each other, then at Gilbert, their more-or-less leader. He just shrugged in a "what-are-you-going-to-do?" gesture. "Fine!" snorted Binkadink, removing the rest of his clothing until he stood naked before the grell and his companions. The grell, satisfied, did something to the wall-slit that sealed it back up, then spun in place and indicated Finoula. "Next," it indicated, opening another slit in the wall for her own items. "You really need us to travel naked in your ship?" she asked the grell while she stowed her weapons and removed her armor. "The interior of the gossamer noble is within temperature norms," translated the rune-skull as the grell tapped upon its cranium. "There is no weather present within the creature," it continued. "And grell live their entire lives without 'clothing.' If your species has modesty issues, we can provide a membrane of the gossamer noble's interior skin for you to wrap around you as a blanket." Finoula frowned at the thought of snuggling up to a piece of jellyfish skin for the next two weeks, and declined. "I'll be fine," she said. One by one, the other heroes followed suit. The only concession to their nakedness Ingebold made was to unbraid her hair and let it hang over her chest, while Darrien took the grell up on their offer of a "jellyfish-skin blanket." But once all of their gear had been stored in individual pockets, the heroes were each lifted by a grell and levitated through a hole in the ceiling. They passed through gauzy passageways before being plunked down into a kidney-shaped room whose only entrance was an irising hole in the ceiling, some 25 feet above the spongy floor. The room was at least lit with some sort of murky bio-luminescence, but there was nothing in the way of amenities besides a small side room where the translator grell said any wastes could be collected. An irising hole in the floor apparently served as a simple toilet, although considering that they each had a magic ring to sustain them instead of actually eating and drinking it was unlikely they'd need to use these facilities. "So what are we going to do now?" asked Castillan, plopping himself down onto the soft floor. He gave the walls and ceiling a hard look, frowning at the realization that even his bounding skills wouldn't allow him to run up a gauzy wall with the consistency of a hung blanket, nor would he be able to make it to the hole in the ceiling. "I not sure about you, but I deleting all my prepared spells that need material components," replied Gilbert Fung. Like all of his other possessions, his pouch of material spell components was sealed up in a wall of the gossamer noble several "rooms" away. "And do what?" asked Darrien. "Your [i]Omnibook[/i] is up in one of those jellyfish wall-pockets," reminded Darrien. "Pfft!" scoffed the heavyset mage. "I have a few spells I prepare without spellbook! I filling up on [i]magic missiles[/i]!" "D'ye think it'd be wise t' attack th' grell?" asked Ingebold, sitting by Finoula's side at one side of the kidney-shaped room. By unspoken convention, the men had arranged themselves on one side of the room and the women on the other, and they sat with their backs turned for as much privacy as could be arranged. "They're th' only way we're likely t'be gettin' out of this room, 'less one've ye've learned t' fly." "You never know," replied Gilbert, mentally visualizing the spell energy required for a use of the [i]magic missile[/i] spell and filling an empty slot in his spell inventory. The days - and nights, although it was difficult to tell the difference between them in the belly of a gossamer noble flitting in and out of wildspace - passed slowly. But five days after their entry into the kidney-shaped room, the iris on the ceiling opened and six grell floated down into the room. One of them carried the rune-skull, and through it the grell announced that it was time for the passengers to earn their keep by preparing the first of the two meals required during the voyage. "Sure!" enthused Castillan. After five days with nothing but talking to amuse themselves - the grell hadn't even let the bounder bring a deck of cards into the room with him - the thought of something as mundane as food preparation would be a welcome change of pace. The grell hung motionlessly in the air, talking telepathically among themselves. Then, by an unspoken signal, each of them sped to one of the heroes and wrapped them up in a barbed-tentacle embrace. The barbs injected a paralytic poison into the veins of the heroes, but the hungry grell didn't wait for it to take effect - as one, they each levitated to the top of the chamber with their meals and began eating. Sharp parrot beaks bit into the flesh of an arm here, a leg there; Binkadink's belly was torn open and his intestines gobbled up like a string of sausages. A few of the grell passed their paralyzed victims among each other, sampling the differences between soft female elf flesh and the hardened muscles of a battle-hardened male gnome. At the end of their feast, they dropped their chewed-over victims to the floor of the chamber, where over the course of the next several minutes torn flesh knitted back together, devoured organs regrew in place, and the heroes' bodies were restored to their original forms. By the time the paralyzation wore off, the blood and viscera that had dripped from their bodies in mid-air had already been reabsorbed through the floor of the chamber, the gossamer noble making do with these cast-off fluids. "What...what the Hell?" asked Castillan once he could talk again. "The rings," answered Gilbert Fung. "They not just [i]rings of sustenance[/i], they [i]rings of regeneration[/i] as well." "Why didn't you attack them with your [i]magic missiles[/i]?" demanded Darrien. "That a fight we not win," replied the mage. "And they our only way home." "So we just put up with it?" demanded Finoula, incensed at the betrayal. "We said we'd cook food for them, but that we wouldn't be on the menu! You specifically said that!" "I said, 'We prefer not to be on menu,'" replied Gilbert, belatedly realizing his mistake. "They took me at my word - that just a preference, not a demand." "The worst part," said Binkadink, "is that we still have to go through that one more time before getting home." As he spoke, he tried unsuccessfully to rub off the dried blood from his body, since the rings did nothing to clean up the wounds, merely healed them up. Eventually, he used his innate ability of [i]prestidigitation[/i] to clean himself up, then looked guiltily at the others after realizing he couldn't do the same for them. "We get through it now, we get through it then," replied Gilbert. "For now, maybe we get some sleep." But sleep didn't come easily to the heroes, and when it did it was frequently broken by nightmares. - - - Over a week later, days after the second grell feast had occurred, six grell appeared once again before the Kordovians. They each gripped one of the heroes, but this time instead of biting into their flesh they returned them to the entry area where their gear had been stored. Using the translator skull, the grell spokesman informed the passengers that the gossamer noble was in orbit around Oerth and they could depart. The heroes were asked for their loaned rings, and then, still naked, they were flown along an outstretched tentacle back to the dragonfly vessel, where they were deposited on the upper deck. There on the floor before them was all of their gear; apparently the grell weren't willing to provide the humanoids with their armor and weapons on the gossamer noble, where they could do a considerable bit of damage. "The agreed-upon contracts have been fulfilled," announced the rune-skull in the lead grell's tentacles. "You have been returned safely to your home planet, and you in turn have provided the two required meals during the voyage. You are free to go about your business, as we go about ours." "And just what your business?" asked Gilbert Fung. "We will pick up the young that have hatched in the decade since our last visit and enter them into grell society," replied the grell spokesman. "Oh, and one final thing," it said, pivoting in mid-air to face Finoula. "[Untranslatable name] asked me to inform you that you were especially delicious." Finoula just grimaced, creeped out by the "compliment," and climbed down the stairs to the lower level of the ship. The others followed her, as the six grell returned to their living gossamer noble ship. The elven ranger sat down in the helm. "Shall we go?" she asked. "Just back us up out of range," said Gilbert. "Keep jellyfish in view." "What's up?" asked Darrien. "I want to see what they do." After about six minutes of inactivity aboard the giant jellyfish, four grell exited the gossamer noble and began levitating straight down toward the planet. After making sure that these four were the only ones leaving the living ship, Gilbert directed Finoula to pilot their own ship after them. "Stay far back," he commanded. "They blind, but they probably sense things close to them. We stay far enough back they don't sense us, we see where they going - and then we kill them!" "All right!" agreed Finoula, pumping her fist in the air. The others were similarly buoyed by this announcement; even Ingebold, a devout cleric of Moradin who had never originally envisioned a career as an adventurer, seeing herself as a healer above all else, was eager for some payback against these vicious beasts. After all, for all they knew, part of the grell "business" on Oerth was picking up new victims for them to eat on the way back to their homes in wildspace. Having been a grell meal twice now, Ingebold didn't want anyone to ever have to share that fate. The descent was at a graceful speed; nobody really even noticed when the ship's air envelope was encompassed by the planet's normal atmosphere. But the grell knew exactly where they were going; they headed straight for a small island without any hesitation or course adjustments. As they lowered almost to the point where their drooping tentacles could touch the waters of the ocean below them, they curled up these barbed appendages and floated into a cave opening in the side of the cliff face of the small island. Finoula's enhanced ship senses allowed her to spot a flat area at the top of the island where she could park the dragonfly ship, apparently the grell had entered a cave in the rocks beneath them. The heroes emerged from the ship and clambered down the slope, eager to follow their levitating prey. "Wait," said Gilbert as the group waded into the knee-deep water outside the cave. "Need to do something before we go in." Then, raising the necklace he'd taken from the sea hag in Lake Quag, he concentrated on his familiar, still waiting patiently on Skunkbeard's Island - wherever that may be from their present location. [i]Mudpie![/i] the wizard mentally called out. [i]We back! We taking care of some business, then we come get you![/i] Gilbert sweated for a few moments of mental silence, before he finally got a response. [i]I've been waiting here, just outside the treasure room[/i], came the mental voice of his earth elemental familiar. [i]I'll be here when you arrive.[/i] "Okay!" said Gilbert to the rest of the team. "Let's go in, get these buggers!" Finoula was the first to enter the cave opening, followed by Binkadink. It was completely pitch black inside the cave's interior; only the gnome's [i]everburning torches[/i] on his antlered helmet provided any illumination. Wading through the water, which rose to her waist, the ranger was surprised when not one but two smooth-shelled creatures rose up from beneath the dark water on either side of her. Each chuul snapped out with a pair of wicked claws and Finoula soon found herself gripped in a two-pincer hold at one shoulder and a single pincer at the other. Neither chuul was willing to give up its prize, and as a result a bizarre tug-of-war over the elf ranger began in earnest. Not surprisingly, the chuul with the two-pincer grip won this brief contest, and it transferred its prize into its wriggling face-tendrils, covered in a paralyzing fluid. Spotting the two spurts of blood rushing down her Battle-Sister's shoulders, Ingebold used her [i]mace of healing[/i] to send a curative spell to Finoula which closed up her wounds. In the meantime, Binkadink stumbled up on his [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i], glaive in hand to stab out at the crustacean on the right, which had his friend in its tentacled embrace. Behind the gnome, Castillan ran forward in a burst of speed, vaulted up out of the water, and used the gnome's back as a springboard to tumble over Finoula and her captor, landing with a splash on the other side of the surprised chuul. The bounder stabbed out with his short sword, sinking it to the hilt in the monster's side, the blade slipping between overlapping plates of carapace. Recalling the tactics that had worked so well during their last battle with chuuls, Ingebold cast a [i]freedom of movement[/i] spell on Finoula. But the cleric hadn't factored in the fact that the last time they'd done battle with chuuls - in the waters of Lake Quag - the spell had been applied to the heroes [i]before[/i] combat, to prevent the snapping pincers from getting a hold on the heroes. This time, Finoula was already paralyzed and in the clutches of the chuul's face-tendrils; once the spell had been cast on her, these gripping appendages lost their hold on the elf and she slipped below the surface of the water, still paralyzed and unable to move. With a gasp of horror, Ingebold realized her attempts to help may well have cost her Battle-Sister her life! Darrien shot several arrows into the rightmost chuul, hoping to bring it down quickly so they could rescue Finoula. His arrows struck true, and the wounded chuul opted to attempt to flee back into the deeper water at the back of the cave network. But to do so it had to pass by both Binkadink and Castillan; each struck with their blades and it was impossible to determine which strike had been the killing blow. Not worrying about the credit, the gnome fighter turned to face the remaining chuul, realizing it would be looking for a new victim. He stepped forward to make himself the obvious choice. Castillan bent down and grabbed at Finoula, catching her by the arm and pulling her head back up above the water level. Seeing Finoula safe, Ingebold backed away from the current combat between Binkadink and the other chuul, realizing her best offense was her spells, which for the most part could be used at range. The bounder pulled Finoula away from the chuul, then grabbed up a [i]potion of remove paralysis[/i] from his belt, unstoppered it, and poured its contents down his fellow elf's throat. Unfortunately, this was a "Winkidew Special," made with numerous cost-saving shortcuts, and as a result an awful stench equivalent to that of a dreaded ghast started emanating from Finoula's pores. Castillan almost dropped her as the stench hit him but he managed to keep her head above water until the potion took effect and she could once again stand on her own two feet. Ingebold cast a [i]flame strike[/i] spell down on the chuul, wounding it horrendously and allowing Binkadink's next glaive strike to be the killing blow. Then, seeing no further immediate danger, Ingebold stepped forward and applied healing spells to those in need. There was a small island of sorts ahead, a large rock jutting up from the water in the back of the wide central cave. Trusting in his newly-discovered aquatic elf heritage, Darrien ducked his head under the water and was amazed as the gill-slits at his neck opened up at the touch of the seawater and he found himself breathing effortlessly. Furthermore, although his half-elf heritage allowed him to see better than a human in low-light conditions, he found that his vision was even better underwater. Without surfacing, he swam over to the rock island. Upon arrival he surfaced and climbed up one side, pulling himself up onto the rock's top. Perched on top of the rock was a human skull - this one bleached with age but not covered in runes; it was apparently just some unfortunate person's decapitated skull, not a grell translation device. Failing to look directly above him, Darrien missed the trio of grell hovering near the cavern ceiling, their barbed tentacles still curled up to prevent them from being targets to a snapping chuul's pincers. But he did see the chuul hidden in the water on the other side of the rock island, apparently deciding if it was safe to approach the skull and claim it for its own treasure hoard. The half-elf warned the others of the submerged chuul and gave its general location. Both Finoula and Binkadink came up with a simple solution to fighting aquatic creatures in their home environment; each pulled a [i]potion of water walking[/i] from their respective belts and chugged down the contents, immediately bobbing to the top of the water like a pair of corks. Castillan, in the meantime, had waded over to the island and had pulled himself up beside Darrien. As one, the three grell dropped down on the two adventurers, two grappling with Darrien and the other concentrating on Castillan. Gilbert cast a [i]magic missile[/i] spell - he had plenty prepared! - at the one menacing Castillan, seeing the bounder as an easier target to free. The spell didn't immediately kill the grell, but Binkadink's glaive did a moment later as he ran across the water and hopped up on the rock island with the others. When Finoula approached, one of the two remaining grell had gotten a good grip on Darrien while the other faced him. The [i]whip of thorns[/i] snaked out and struck at this unencumbered grell, slicing deep gashes across its brainlike structure. At his side, Castillan stabbed out at the same grell with his short sword, while at the same time Ingebold cast a [i]searing light[/i] spell on both grell. The one that had been wounded fell at the onslaught of her spell, but the other wound its tentacles tighter around Darrien and prepared to levitate him toward the ceiling. And in the meantime, the chuul swam unnoticed around the rock island, approaching the cleric with its pincers ready to strike. Fortunately, Binkadink could see the chuul's shape in the water and stabbed down at it with his glaive from up on the rock. Then he spun, and in a surprise move slew the grell fighting Darrien, then returned his attention to the chuul and stabbed at it again. His second strike was particularly well-placed, nearly severing the crustacean's armored head from its body. Despite the lack of an actual beheading, the chuul died in the water, blood gushing from its wounds. But all of this slaying was noisy, and it brought the remaining grell - one more from the gossamer noble still in orbit above the planet, who had come down here with the other three pregnant grell to lay their eggs in the recesses of the cave, and the four young adults who had lived in this cave network their whole lives - flying over to investigate. Three came from the northwest, over from the side of the large rock island, while the remaining two came from the southeast. Gilbert, facing the southernmost, divided the missiles from another [i]magic missile[/i] spell between those two, the bolts hitting unerringly against the sides of the levitating beasts. Ingebold cast another [i]searing light[/i] spell - her last - at two of the grell approaching from the north. Castillan switched weapons, loading his crossbow to hit one of the grell approaching from the north, while Darrien managed to fire four arrows into the side of the same grell, slaying it outright. Not to be outdone, Finoula ran across the water over to the stretch of solid land beneath another of the northernmost grell, lashing out with her [i]whip of thorns[/i] to score grooves into the brainlike structure making up its body. Likewise, Binkadink skipped over the water in his [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i] to stab at the same grell with his glaive, killing it. Gilbert Fung moved on to a more powerful spell than his numerous [i]magic missiles[/i], firing off a [i]scorching ray[/i] that sent four burning streams of fire at the two he had previously hit. That was enough to slay one of the two, its body crashing into the water and sinking. That left only two grell, and neither survived for long. Binkadink stabbed the one remaining to the north, skewering it on his blade like a shish-kabob, while Gilbert took out the one from the south. They were a bit disappointed that the rune-skull-carrying grell was not among their number, for they knew the skull translated what they said into whatever sort of language the grell used among themselves, and Gilbert for one would have loved to taunt the vicious hunters as they lay dying and know his words were understood. But such was not to be; they had to settle merely for the deaths of those who had made it down to the cave network, and those who would never now levitate up to join the remaining grell in the gossamer noble. "What about those still in the jellyfish?" asked Finoula. "We know there has to be at least two more of them up there, since only four came down here." "We have to make do with those we already kill," replied Gilbert Fung. "It not safe to take on giant jellyfish - it easily crush our ship. And it too fragile to enter atmosphere, were its body get crushed. And I doubt other grell come down to see why their buddies not return. I imagine they just pack up and go, once it apparent others not coming back. With any luck, they abandon Oerth colony altogether." "Well, good riddance if they do!" agreed Finoula. A quick search of the cave network revealed the headless body that went with the skull on the rock island, apparently from a pirate who had washed ashore some time ago. He carried a mere 15 gold pieces in a pouch at his belt and a jade carving of a sea turtle that Castillan appraised at several hundred gold pieces. Gathering them up, the heroes returned to the dragonfly vessel at the top of the small island. By then it was starting to get dark, and they opted to camp out in the ship for the evening. Pulling out Delphyne's [i]ring gates[/i], Ingebold wrote a quick note to King Galrich - "We're back from our treasure hunt and should return to Kordovia within the next day or so" - and stuffed it through the magical metal ring, along with half of the treasure they had accumulated from the Skunkbeard's Island treasure hoard. The next morning, Finoula flew the ship high enough for them to spot a continental coastline which they made out to be the eastern edge of Hepmonaland; heading there, they found Thunder Bay easily enough and from there it wasn't too difficult to head out in the same direction and general heading that Captain McGraff had taken them aboard his vessel those many months ago. By zigzagging back and forth as they traveled over the ocean on a rough bearing, they were able to rediscover Skunkbeard's Island without too much trouble. Of course, the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i] had long since departed, Captain McGraff not wanting his ship to be sunk by Darrien's father and his band of sea elves; for all they knew the ship had been back at Thunder Bay when they skimmed over that way earlier that morning. But Finoula flew the dragonfly vessel over to the bear cave, where Darrien hunted up the dire bear cub he'd planned on adopting (he named him "Grumps Jr." for reasons that no doubt made sense to him), the group "redified the mirror pool" in accordance with the treasure map instructions, and they made their way back to the underground treasure chamber that had months ago shunted them across the crystal sphere to the wildspace receiving station that had set them on their spelljamming adventures. Mudpie was waiting there to greet his master, and together the group gathered up the contents of the as-yet-untouched ninth chest (gathering up tens of thousands of gold coins' worth of expensive jewelry, half of which Ingebold poured through the [i]ring gate[/i] into the castle vault back in Kordovia). Then the group opted to spend the rest of the day on the tropical island, gathering exotic fruits and just unwinding before returning back to Kordovia the following day. Wildspace had worn them out - they figured they deserved a day of relaxation! - - - And thus came to a close our little side excursion using a modified version of the Spelljammer rules. I had done something similar in Logan and Stuart's original 3E campaign and they had enjoyed it, so I thought this group would enjoy it as well. Hopefully, they all got a taste of the Spelljammer universe without it completely altering the flow of our own Kordovia-based campaign. Of course, they're all 11th-level now so we're going into the last half of the campaign, but I figure the dragonfly spelljamming vessel will just be a useful transportation device, getting them quickly from one adventure location to another. I get the feeling the heroes won't have a whole lot of use for their Vistani wagon or Aerik's old mule-driven wagon in future adventures! In real life, Joey had recently found a wounded bird in his back yard (we had a big storm several weeks back) and has been nursing him back to health. He named the bird (a starling, I think Dan said) "Grumps," so the in-game dire bear cub is named in honor of a real-life wounded bird. I'm giving Grumps Jr. the stats of a standard black bear and we're using him as a late-addition ranger's animal companion. As an aside, I usually play music in the background while we play and more times than not it's various episodes of "Music from the Hearts of Space." Since I had them on hand, I started the session with "Spectral Ships" playing (appropriate for while the PCs were dealing with Captain Skunkbeard and his crew of undead minions) and then later segued into the Hearts of Space episodes "A Journey Home," its sequel "A Journey Home 2," and "The Way Home" since they were so thematically appropriate. - - - T-Shirt Worn: I wore one of my two different TARDIS shirts; since the TARDIS can go anywhere in space and time, I thought it appropriate to demonstrate that the PCs had all of space open to them (and that their home planet could literally be anywhere, in any direction - which became a real problem after Melony Sal's betrayal.) As an added twist, Logan has a shirt covered in jellyfish; I suggested that he should wear that shirt for this session for reasons that would be apparent later. (Of course, he mentally jumped immediately to "space jellyfish" but had no idea how that would play out.) And now, best of all, my other players will no longer know whether the "clue" about the current game session will be hinted at by my T-shirt, Logan's T-shirt, or both. [/QUOTE]
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