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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7831680" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 66: UNCLE WIGGLY</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 18</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> MARCI, humanoid construct</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Voopie Meadowclover, gnome commoner 3</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 12 October 2019</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>Binkadink waved a farewell to the castle page who had delivered the sealed parchment to the little gnome. Then, walking through the open portcullis of Battershield Keep, he wandered back into his own room in the front tower to open it in privacy. Halfway expecting it to be some sort of prank from his cousin Jinkadoodle, he popped a thumb through the sealing wax and unfolded the sheet of stiff paper. He then read the short letter silently to himself:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A smile burst across the little gnome's face at the thought of visiting the pretty young castle maid. He mused for a brief moment on whether it might be best to alert the others of the missing gnome but the thought was quickly banished away; he'd much rather spend the time with Voopie alone than bring along the gang of adventurers he hung out with - especially Gilbert Fung, who had been particularly vocal about his belief that Voopie had intentionally poisoned the Queen in the brief days before her coronation. He'd bring Obvious with them but that was it - he could always send his jackalope back to fetch the others if it turned out they were needed.</p><p></p><p>That decision made, Binkadink spent the better part of the rest of the day thinking about Voopie and how nice it would be to see her again.</p><p></p><p>Thus the next day, Obvious hippity-hopped across town to the small dwelling of Voopie's mother, where the gnomish maid stayed when she wasn't working at the castle. Binkadink dismounted from his trusty steed, clad in his red dragonhide full plate armor - which he had shined to a bright polish for the occasion. He approached the door, knocked loudly, and was pleased to see it opened almost immediately by Voopie herself - she had obviously been waiting for his arrival. Giving him a big smile, she stepped outside with a small picnic basket in hand and said, "Thank you so much for coming, Mister Dundernoggin - it means so much to me."</p><p></p><p>"Please, call me Binkadink," said the little gnome, returning her smile with one of his own. "And this is Obvious. That's his name, that is - Obvious is his name, I mean." Binkadink frowned momentarily at his sudden tripping over his own words - he'd faced down devils and dragons; surely he was capable of talking intelligently to a lovely young gnome?</p><p></p><p>"Very pleased to meet you, Obvious," she said, stroking the jackalope's muzzle.</p><p></p><p>"The pleasure's all mine. Ooh, right there - that's good!"</p><p></p><p>Voopie gasped in surprise. "You can talk!" she said.</p><p></p><p>"I can?" Obvious gasped in return, his eyes goggling in shock. "It's--its true! When did <em>that</em> happen?"</p><p></p><p>"One of my friends cast an <em>awaken</em> spell on him - several months back, in fact," Binkadink said, scowling at his jackalope mount for trying to trick Voopie. "Ignore his attempts at humor. But he's a trusty mount." The fighter pulled himself up into the saddle and reached down for Voopie, taking the picnic basket in one hand and pulling the young gnome up in front of him. Then she settled into the saddle, holding the basket in her hands while Binkadink's arms wrapped around her while holding the reins. "Nice and steady now," he advised Obvious. ""Voopie doesn't want a lot of bouncing up and down and jostling around."</p><p></p><p>"You got it," Obvious promised and settled into a gentle lope. Voopie gave directions and the trio soon found themselves entering the Vesve Forest by means of a wide path.</p><p></p><p>The trip wasn't a lengthy one - not nearly long enough for Binkadink's tastes in any case, for he enjoyed having Voopie in his arms - and they soon saw a little cottage up ahead. "There it is," Voopie said, pointing to a ramshackle wooden building surrounded by trees. "I hope Uncle Wiggly's okay."</p><p></p><p>The two gnomes dismounted and Obvious took up a guard post just outside the front porch of the cottage. "Uh-oh," said Voopie, upon climbing the three short steps to the front door. "This isn't good."</p><p></p><p>"What?" asked Binkadink, his gnomish glaive held at the ready in his left hand as he followed behind Voopie, ready for any potential danger.</p><p></p><p>Voopie pointed to a small spider sitting in its web up by the ceiling of the overhanging roof of the porch, just before the front door. "There's a spider web in front of the door," she pointed out. "That means he hasn't opened the door since the spider built the web - and who knows how long that has been?"</p><p></p><p>Binkadink opened the door - it was unlocked; apparently Uncle Wiggly wasn't overly concerned about surprise visitors - pushing the spider's web aside as he did so. They stepped inside and Binkadink closed the door behind him. "Uncle Wiggly?" Voopie called. "It's me, Voopie - are you here?" There was no answer.</p><p></p><p>A quick search through the cottage revealed it to be empty, although Voopie found a few things that worried her. He had a plate and a glass on a drying rack in the kitchen; Voopie explained Uncle Wiggly always ate his meal, washed his dishes, and placed them in the drying rack, then put them back in the cupboard when they were dry - even though he'd invariably use the exact same plate and glass at his next meal. The fact they were still in the drying rack told her he had disappeared after washing his plate and glass but before they'd had time to dry. In his bedroom, Voopie pointed out Uncle Wiggly's felt cap was missing from the bed knob - he always wore that cap when awake, taking it off only when retiring for the night: further evidence he had disappeared during the daylight hours.</p><p></p><p>But it was Binkadink who found the most intriguing clue about Uncle Wiggly's disappearance; he kept a diary in the front-room and the latest entry read:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Opening the back door of the cabin, Binkadink saw a clearing just ahead - with a massive clump of dark-barked trees growing together towards the back of the clearing, like multiple trees intertwining or one very thick tree sending roots down into the ground from much higher up than did most trees. "That wasn't here before!" Voopie gasped upon seeing the massive tree. Branches sprouted high above, only to hang down as if from their own great weight. The leaves were almost as dark as the bark on the trunk and the ground beneath the thick branches stood cloaked in shadows.</p><p></p><p>"I wonder...." mused Binkadink. "That might be some sort of treant. In any case, your uncle went out there to check it out and was never seen again - I don't think we should go near it without backup."</p><p></p><p>"Your friends?" Voopie asked.</p><p></p><p>"I'll send Obvious," Binkadink confirmed. "We'll stay here and keep an eye on that 'overnight tree' in the meantime."</p><p></p><p>In less than an hour there was a commotion at the front of the small cabin and the two gnomes opened the front door to check it out. Aithanar pulled the reins from the driver's seat on the Vistani wagon and brought the draft horses Castor and Pollux to a halt before the cottage, the elven druidess Malrin astride Obvious having led the way to the cabin. Finoula dismounted from her pony Daisy beside the wagon, her timber wolf loping by her side, followed by Malrin's dire fox Taihar and Grumps Junior, the dire bear cub Darrien had taken in as a pet of sorts. Darrien himself dropped down from the roof of the wagon, while the door in the back opened up and out trundled Gilbert Fung, his earth elemental familiar Mudpie, and MARCI, the humanoid construct dedicated to medical care. Hagan followed the heavyset mage out the wagon's door, his weasel familiar Wezhley sitting in his comfortable perch upon the half-orc's shoulder. The assembled group approached the two gnomes waiting on the porch, leaving Aithanar to tend to the horses and wagon.</p><p></p><p>"What this all about, Bink?" demanded Gilbert Fung. "And what the deal with jackalope talking all of a sudden?"</p><p></p><p>"That was definitely unexpected - and a little creepy," Finoula admitted.</p><p></p><p>"I thought it was another one of the pranks you and your cousin get up to," added Darrien, looking over at Obvious - but the jackalope's attention was firmly on some root he'd dug up from along the side of the dirt road leading to Uncle Wiggly's cottage.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, sorry about that - we were hoping to spring it on you in some kind of prank or something, but then this popped up." Binkadink briefed the others on what they'd discovered so far and their belief that the "overnight tree" had something to do with Uncle Wiggly's disappearance.</p><p></p><p>"We check it out," Gilbert promised. Looking over to Voopie, he said, "You stay here where it safe. We run into any problem, better we don't have to worry about you."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, sir," Voopie replied in a quiet voice, looking down - she didn't want to do anything to upset the powerfully-built wizard who, she knew, had a distrusting nature and was quick to cast accusations around. She watched as some of the adventurers went through the hallway in the cottage while those with larger animals led them around the side of the building. The two groups met up at the back of the dwelling, in the clearing, staring intently at the many-trunked tree before them.</p><p></p><p>"Any idea what that is?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"It looks like a banyan," replied Finoula, "but they're not normally native to this area."</p><p></p><p>"Don't like it," admitted Gilbert. "Okay, everybody - gear up like we going into battle, because maybe we are." He cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself and Mudpie, while nearby Hagan did the same for himself and Wezhley and then cast another such spell upon Obvious. Malrin, Darrien, and Finoula cast their normal <em>barkskin</em> spells, then Darrien gathered the animals up and cast an <em>animal growth</em> upon them, increasing the size of Obvious, Grumps Junior, Taihar, and Wrath. Malrin pulled an acorn from a pocket and cast a <em>fire seed</em> spell upon it, set it down on the ground before her, wildshaped into an owl, and picked the acorn back up in a talon. Gilbert cast a <em>resist fire</em> spell upon himself and his familiar, then pulled out a scroll and cast a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell upon the assembled group - all of the adventurers as well as Obvious. Darrien opted to grant himself the benefit of a <em>longstrider</em> spell, then on a whim added <em>delay poison</em> as well. "That about it?" Gilbert asked the group.</p><p></p><p>"One more," Finoula responded, casting a <em>speak with plants</em> spell and kneeling down in the clearing. "Has a gnome been by here recently?" she asked the surrounding grass.</p><p></p><p>"Gnome?" answered the grass; Finoula got the idea that a patch of grass probably didn't differentiate a whole lot between intelligent races. "Has anyone been by here recently?" she amended her question.</p><p></p><p>"No. Not for many days."</p><p></p><p>Darrien, in the meantime, had been examining the ground for tracks but a recent rain had all but taken care of that possible avenue of approach. Wrath and Grumps weren't having any luck picking up any scents, either, although there was a worn path between the back door of the cottage and a nearby outhouse, as well as another worn path to where Uncle Wiggly had a stack of firewood stored against the cottage's back wall.</p><p></p><p>"Well, let's go check it out," said Binkadink, leaping up into the saddle and sending Obvious forward to the banyan tree. Finoula and Wrath crept closer, Taihar trailing them. The elven ranger wanted to talk to the dark tree but was a bit intimidated by its size and...well, <em>scariness</em>. If ever a tree could be said to look haunted, this was it. Gilbert stayed behind, flipping through the pages of his <em>Omnibook</em>, looking up extraplanar flora - he was fairly certain this dark tree wasn't native to the Material Plane and likely hailed from the Plane of Shadows.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink peered intently at the tree's trunks as he approached on Obvious, curious to see if there were any runes or glyphs or other magical markings on it. When he reported back over the link he didn't see anything of that nature, Gilbert instinctive cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell, then chided himself for casting it when he was far out of range for him to get any readings on the tree. Grumbling to himself, he slowly approached the tree, Mudpie and MARCI moving up with him.</p><p></p><p>And then the tree struck. From among the overhanging branches, thick vines or tendrils dropped down, waving rapidly about and trying to get a grip around Binkadink and Obvious. One managed to get a grip on the jackalope, wrapping around the mount's neck and upper chest area. Then it stiffened as if about to try to pull its prey up into the branches. <It's got Obvious!> Binkadink cried over the link.</p><p></p><p>Darrien, alerted to the danger, shot up at the tree's branches with his <em>Arachnibow</em>, firing arrow after arrow into the dark wood. Grumps ambled up and raked his sharp claws against the bark of the nearest truck-shoot; Taihar did likewise to another trunk, although the dire fox's claws weren't nearly as big as the dire bear cub's.</p><p></p><p><Uncle Wiggly might be up in the upper branches of the tree!> theorized Malrin, flying up to use her owlish vision to try to find the little gnome - or his body, at least - among the upper branches. She also took the opportunity to hurl her <em>fire seed</em> acorn at the umbral banyan, where it exploded into a gout of flame.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink, still in the saddle as his riding mount was being pulled upwards, used the blade of his glaive to cut through the thick tendril strangling Obvious. The jackalope fell gratefully back to the ground while the gnome used his weapon to cut deep grooves into the tree's trunk and overhanging branches. Obvious showed his disdain for strangling trees by biting a deep chunk out of the nearest trunk with his enormous rabbit-incisors.</p><p></p><p>From the back of the clearing, Hagan cast a <em>polar ray</em> at the top of the umbral banyan while moving forward. The spell frosted over the entire top of the dark-leaved tree, bringing a layer of white to a plant seemingly made up only of deep grays and black. "You might be able to find Uncle Wiggly's body if it's up in the higher branches," suggested the half-orc to his familiar. Wezhley scampered down from his master's shoulder and raced over to the tree, ready to climb up its trunk and begin his exploration.</p><p></p><p>"What do you want?" Finoula asked the tree, her <em>speak with plants</em> spell still active.</p><p></p><p>"Hungry. So hungry," replied the tree.</p><p></p><p>"Where do you come from?" Finoula persisted.</p><p></p><p>"The Dark Place." Finoula relayed the tree's answers to the others over the link ("I knew it!" replied Gilbert with satisfaction, slamming his <em>Omnibook</em> closed) and then pulled out her <em>elemental gem</em>. She cracked it open with the pommel of her longsword <em>Tahlmalaera</em> and a 16-foot-tall air elemental formed before her. "Attack!" she called to the elemental, pointing to the massive tree before her. The air elemental obeyed at once, flying over and sending a wind-whipped fist crashing into the tree's upper branches.</p><p></p><p>More tendrils dropped down from the tree, swinging at Binkadink, Obvious, Grumps, and Taihar; of the bunch, only the one entangling the dire bear cub met with any success. Grumps Junior was pulled up a few feet from the ground, growling in anger at the imposition.</p><p></p><p>And then, at least one meager meal attained, the dying umbral banyan activated its <em>plane shift</em> ability, leaving the Material Plane behind for the soothing shadows of its native realm. From the clearing, it was as if a blast of dark energy erupted from the tree in all directions - and then the tree was gone...but it took with it not only Grumps Junior, who had been entwined in the tendrils of the tree, but those within 20 feet of the tree's trunks: Binkadink, Obvious, Taihar, Wezhley, and the air elemental from Finoula's magic gem.</p><p></p><p>"Wait--what?" squawked Gilbert Fung as he realized Binkadink and Obvious had just dropped off the <em>Rary's telepathic bind</em> spell. <Everybody gather up on me!> he called to the others in the clearing. <We gonna have to go after them!> As one, those left behind in the clearing sped over to the portly mage and Gilbert cast a <em>plane shift</em> spell of his own, shunting everyone onto a random location on the Plane of Shadow. Now on the same plane again, the others could sense Binkadink and Obvious's presence on the mental link - but they could also sense that their minds weren't entirely normal at the moment.</p><p></p><p>The umbral banyan was now back on its home plane, a world of deep shadow - but while the general layout of the local area was very similar to the same area back on the Material Plane, there were several differences. Scattered nearby were four deep pits, their rims made of a thick, mottled and pitted surface similar to coral, with a fungal growth near each. And perched between these pits, upon a ring of tentacles along its outer surface, sat a massive structure shaped like a hollow egg with solid, coral-like structures winding about it.</p><p></p><p>The zygomind had sent out a telepathic signal, immediately catching the attention of all of the newcomers but Grumps Junior, too busy focusing on chewing his way through the thick tendril entangling him to notice, and the air elemental, still bashing away at the umbral banyan's upper branches and apparently immune to the effect. But to Binkadink, Obvious, Taihar, and Wezhley, the telepathic summons was a source of fascination that couldn't be ignored; as one, they wandered in a dreamlike sleep towards the coral-like structure.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert got the general gist that the others were under some sort of mind control as he cast a <em>teleport</em> spell that would rejoin the two separated parties; fortunately, given the Plane of Shadow's propensity for conforming to the general layout of the Material Plane, it was easy enough for the wizard to envision Uncle Wiggly's backyard clearing to get him where he wanted to go on this plane of darkness. They appeared at the front of the clearing, near where the gnome's cottage had been, from where they could see all of what was going on before them. Grumps had managed to chew his way through the tendril entangling him and had landed to the ground but was now transfixed in the same way as the others. The umbral banyan gave a half-hearted attempt to recapture those who had evaded its grasp thus far (or worse yet, been caught and then subsequently escaped) but between the fire-based and cold-based spells that had been thrown its way and the air elemental's ruthless attacks, the umbral banyan was near to death and its tendrils did little more than lightly brush against those it would have liked to capture and devour.</p><p></p><p>Finoula was the first to react to the scene. Holding up her <em>lightning amulet</em> and activating it, she transformed herself into a bolt of electricity that went crashing through one of the shadowy violet fungi beside a coral pit and then through the coral body of the zygomind. She remanifested in her normal elven form on the other side of the zygomind, noting she'd killed the violet fungus but had apparently had no effect at all upon the egg-shaped structure; still, it had had no effect upon her, either, for whatever mental pull it was having on Binkadink and the others was not affecting her in the least.</p><p></p><p><I think it can't affect us if we already know it coming!> theorized Gilbert over the link. <It have to take you unaware!></p><p></p><p>A mighty crashing of limbs presaged the air elemental's slaying of the umbral banyan; as branches came tumbling to the ground around the tree's many trunks, Finoula redeployed the elemental to attack the zygomind. It flew nimbly through one of the many openings in the structure's outer surface, attacking the coral struts from inside the hollow being's egg-shaped form.</p><p></p><p>Darrien sent a bevy of arrows at the zygomind, each striking but plinking harmlessly off the thing's coral armor. <Piercing weapons are no good against that thing!> he advised the others. Beside him, Malrin wildshaped out of her owl form, but instead of resuming her elven body she grew many times her own size and stood upon the Plane of Shadow as a mighty tyrannosaur. But despite her huge size, she was still dwarfed by the zygomind towering before her.</p><p></p><p>The zygomind shambled forward, its nearest tentacles striking Binkadink, Obvious, and Taihar - all it could bring to bear at the moment. But the touch had its desired effect: now infected with spores, the three figures were asleep on their feet; the zygomind need no longer bring them in to it with its fascination effect but could simply plant a single command into their unconscious forms. <em>Go to the nearest transformation pit</em>, it commanded and the three shuffled off to do as bid.</p><p></p><p>Hagan cast a <em>meteor swarm</em> up at the top of the zygomind and was disappointed to see his most powerful spell didn't even activate upon impact; apparently the zygomind had a way to protect itself from spells. He desolately passed this unwelcome nugget of information to the others over the mental link.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert wanted to cast a <em>wall of force</em> spell to prevent the sleepwalkers from getting too close to the zygomind but it was already too late for that. Instead, he cast a <em>spectral hand</em> spell and sent it over by Grumps, planning to then cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> upon the dire bear cub, which he hoped would snap the others out from their trances. In the meantime, he ordered MARCI to go pull them away from the zygomind, certain the construct would be immune to any poisons the zygomind might be exuding.</p><p></p><p>Then a sudden motion caught his eye. From two of the coral-lined pits rose up a pair of humanoid figures, their slender limbs giving them an almost skeletal appearance. But as they approached, the group could see the hundreds of thin needles poking out of their taut skin. And this feature was also present upon the other two creatures climbing out of the larger coral pits: from one, a full-sized dire bear; from the other, an even larger monstrous scorpion. </p><p></p><p>This, Gilbert decided, was a good time to use that <em>quickened wall of force</em> spell he had at the ready. An invisible barrier rose up, separating the two needle-covered monsters from the cluster of heroes who had <em>teleported</em> into the area. Both the needlefolk dire bear and the needlefolk scorpion crashed into the unseen barrier, unable to attack the heroes as intended.</p><p></p><p>Finoula pulled a jar of <em>Keoghtom's ointment</em> out of a belt pouch and stuck a dab of the magic substance into her mouth as she approached Taihar on an intercept course; she didn't want whatever poison was affecting these animals (and Binkadink) to affect her as well! She looked momentarily up at the zygomind to track her air elemental's progress and was pleased to see it causing some of the coral structure to crack under the force of its blows. Chips and flakes of coral rained down like dandruff with each slam of the elemental's fists.</p><p></p><p>Darrien shot an arrow at the pit from which the needlefolk scorpion had crawled, using one of the new-found powers of his <em>Arachnibow</em> to cause the arrow to form a magic <em>web</em> across the opening. Hopefully, that would prevent anything else from coming up out of the pit.</p><p></p><p>Malrin bent low and touched Binkadink on the shoulder with one of her relatively tiny tyrannosaur front claws, channeling a <em>neutralize poison</em> spell through it. Blinking awake, the gnome fighter looked all around him in confusion, but then got a firm grip on the glaive in his hands and marched forward into combat with the most dangerous foe in the battle: the zygomind itself. But before he could even swing his glaive the zygomind slapped at him with a massive tentacle, slamming him to the ground and holding him there, pinned. It also caught up MARCI in a grappling hold, from which the medical construct was unable to wriggle free.</p><p></p><p>But Binkadink didn't mind attacking the zygomind from his current position; his glaive was, after all, expandable. Extending it to its longest configuration, he brought everything he had to bear in a series of powerful blows, the enchanted blade slicing deep into the coral structure of the alien creature. Not far away, though, Obvious was still shambling toward a transformation pit, deep asleep but following the zygomind's last orders nonetheless.</p><p></p><p>Hagan cast a <em>chain lightning</em> spell, completely frying to death one of the humanoid needlefolk as his primary target and sending arcs of electricity to hit the needlefolk dire bear zygominion and the zygomind itself (this last proving to be as resistant to this spell as it had been to Hagan's previously-cast spell). But by now Wezhley had shambled up to the zygomind and while the weasel was apparently too small for the alien creature to target with a tentacle, nothing prevented Wezhley from leaping onto the nearest such appendage and cover himself in spores in that fashion. Immediately asleep on his feet, Wezhley started heading over to the nearest transformation pit.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert finally got that <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell channeled onto Grumps Junior though his <em>spectral hand</em> but all it seemed to free from the fascination effect was the bear cub himself. Frowning, he sent the incorporeal hand over to the top of the zygomind while he planned out his next strategy. Grumps, however, knew exactly what he wanted to do: get away from all of these weird monsters as quickly as possible! However, in fleeing from the zygomind he came to the attention of the needlefolk dire bear zygominion, who rushed over. Grumps Junior instinctively recognized the creatures' basic shape at once, not noticing the needles sprouting from between the shaggy fur until it was too late. The zygominion's claws raked across Grumps' side and contaminating spores did the rest, causing the baby bruin to fall over, fast asleep. The only good thing about the attack was this was simply a soporific effect; Grumps had no mental compulsion to head over to the nearest transformation pit to become a zygominion himself, although if there were zygominions still around at the end of this battle they would surely drag him into a pit to replenish their own ranks.</p><p></p><p>MARCI activated a shocking field around her metal body, hoping to get the zygomind tentacle to release her. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any effect. A flurry of flying needles hit Malrin's tyrannosaur body, flung there by the remaining humanoid needlefolk zygominion, but the dinosaur hide was too thick for the needles to have much effect.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert cast a <em>quickened cone of cold</em> upon the needlefolk scorpion once it started skittering long the <em>wall of force</em> and heading his way; the wizard's spell slew it at once.</p><p></p><p>Finoula repositioned herself to best effect and used her <em>lightning amulet</em> again, blasting through two more shadow violet fungi and the zygomind; as before, the zygomind was unaffected but the fungi were both destroyed. <em>But at least my air elemental's having an effect,</em> the ranger thought, seeing it continuing its pummeling of the zygomind's coral structure. The ranger was now the closest target to the needlefolk dire bear who had knocked out Grumps and she fully expected it to attack her, but before it could Darrien plunked a flurry of arrows into it, causing the spiny bruin to fall to the ground beside the sleeping cub - only this one, Darrien was pleased to see, was dead.</p><p></p><p>Across the clearing, Malrin wildshaped back to her elven form and rushed over to Taihar, using her <em>staff of healing</em> to reawaken him from his somnambulistic wanderings. And just in time, too, for another pair of humanoid needlefolk zygominions and a second needlefolk dire bear zygominion scrambled out of three of the transformation pits, eager to send their flying darts into those who would defy the zygomind. A second needlefolk scorpion could be seen trying to exit the largest pit but Darrien's <em>web</em> was foiling its efforts.</p><p></p><p>For its part, the zygomind shifted forward again, keeping Binkadink and MARCI pinned and trying to grab a few others in its reaching tentacles. But Binkadink continued striking its exterior with his glaive while the air elemental attacked it from within its hollow shell. In the meantime, Hagan had more success with a <em>meteor swarm</em> cast directly at one the newest humanoid needlefolk - the spell blasted it into oblivion, while the fiery explosion that followed dealt a significant amount of damage not only to the dire bear zygominion but to the zygomind itself. Gilbert channeled a <em>maximized vampiric touch</em> spell through his <em>spectral hand</em>, absorbing some of the zygomind's life force energy and vitality directly into himself.</p><p></p><p>Unable to extract herself from the imprisoning tentacle, MARCI opted to make the best of a bad situation. Scanning the tentacle with her red eye-ray, she extruded a slender needle from a finger and injected it into the appendage, extracting a sample of the spores the tentacle contained. She then began a analysis routine on the spore sample she'd taken. If it were possible for a construct to look contented under those conditions MARCI did so, ignoring her horizontal position or the great weight of the alien monster keeping her pinned in place.</p><p></p><p>Darrien swung his <em>Arachnibow</em> over to cover the new needlefolk dire bear climbing out of the pit, sending arrow after arrow to stick into its face and shoulders, as Malrin used her magic staff to free Obvious from his sleepwalking. The jackalope sneezed, shook his head, and looked around for Binkadink, spotting him at last carving up the zygomind while pinned beneath one of its tentacles. He headed over at once to see if he could help the gnome. But by the time the jackalope had gotten there the zygomind had already been slain, a combination of slashes from Binkadink's glaive and the air elemental's furious, wind-driven punches having taken their toll on the alien monstrosity.</p><p></p><p>Another of Hagan's <em>chain lightning</em> spells took out the second dire bear zygominion, the last of the violet fungi, and the needlefolk scorpion zygominion - <em>Now</em> that's <em>more like it!</em> the half-orc sorcerer thought to himself. But then another needlefolk zygominion crawled from the farthest pit, this one humanoid in build as well but significantly smaller than the others of its kind. It was only when Hagan saw the felt cap perched on the creature's hat - with numerous needles piercing the covering and holding it firmly in place - that he realized why that was. <It's Uncle Wiggly!> Hagan cried. <It's too late! He's been transformed!></p><p></p><p><We not likely to have rescued him alive,> pointed out Gilbert. <No telling how long ago he end up here - weeks, likely.> But, knowing this was the gnome they had been sent to find and despite having half a dozen spells at hand that could slay him at once, Gilbert cast an <em>Otiluke's resilient sphere</em> around the needlefolk gnome instead, imprisoning him in a sphere of energy from which he couldn't easily escape.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink and MARCI extracted themselves from beneath the zygomind's tentacles, a much easier process now that the zygomind wasn't actively resisting their efforts. Using the information she'd gained from the spore analysis, MARCI's internal systems had generated an antidote, which she administered to Grumps Junior, waking him back up at once. The dire bear cub chuffed once and ambled off to go find Darrien. The medical construct then administered a much smaller dosage to Wezhley, who likewise scampered away to go find his own master.</p><p></p><p>The air elemental took it upon itself to go look into the pits to ensure there weren't any other zygominions ready to spring forth, but other than the webbed-up one holding the needlefolk scorpion they were clear.</p><p></p><p>Wrath suddenly started growling and backed off over to Finoula, his tail between his legs. Finoula could see nothing that would have her timber wolf so fearful, even in this unusually gloomy environment, but then she detected slight vibrations through the soles of her boots. <Something's coming - from underground!> she warned the others. No sooner had she gotten out the warning than a glistening, pitch-black head erupted from the ground, its mouth ringed by a circle of long, pointed teeth. Gilbert's magically-enhanced eyesight identified the creature at once as undead, which was all it took for his own studies to identify the thing as a nightcrawler, an undead version of the purple worm.</p><p></p><p>Darrien ran at once to Gilbert's side, fully expecting the wizard to <em>plane shift</em> or <em>teleport</em> them away, for they had accomplished what they had set out to do (even if rescuing Uncle Wiggly hadn't been possible they at least knew what had become of him) and there was nothing to be gained by fighting an undead creature of this size and power. Grumps, almost to Darrien by this time, saw the nightcrawler climbing up out of its hole and spun about, running away in the opposite direction, away from Darrien; there was no way he could know there was an invisible <em>wall of force</em> providing at least partial protection to Gilbert and Darrien from the nightcrawler.</p><p></p><p>Malrin jumped onto Taihar's back - a much easier proposition at the dire fox's current doubled size - and pulled Binkadink up behind her as they raced past. Obvious, seeing the others were heading for Gilbert, assumed that was the plan and followed suit. Hagan dared to race to within striking distance of the nightcrawler to scoop Wezhley into his arms and head back the way he'd come, circling around the <em>wall of force</em> again, although he knew the nightcrawler was long enough it could crawl right over the wall's 10-foot height and get to them in no time - or burrow beneath it, for that matter. Everyone crowded expectantly around Gilbert, who had to shrug away from them and cross around to the other side of the <em>wall of force</em>. The nightcrawler's length extended out of the hole as Gilbert stared it down, casting the words to a <em>sunburst</em> spell. <Close eyes!> he warned the others as the last syllable of the spell left his lips.</p><p></p><p>A blinding burst of light spilled across the open area of the clearing, causing patterns to form on the insides of the heroes' closed eyelids. When they opened their eyes again, the nightcrawler was gone.</p><p></p><p>"Is it dead? Just like that?" gasped Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Some undead especially susceptible to bright light," Gilbert explained. "<em>Sunburst</em> spell take care of them good."</p><p></p><p>The group now went over to where Uncle Wiggly was imprisoned inside the spherical ball of energy. Upon a close examination, they could see he was no longer a gnome: he not only had thin needles sticking out from every direction, but even in the wan light of the Plane of Shadow they could see his waxy skin was greenish in tone. "He a plant," Gilbert explained.</p><p></p><p>"Is there any way to cure him?" asked Binkadink, hating the thought of bringing this version of Voopie's uncle back home to meet her.</p><p></p><p>"Sure: kill him, <em>resurrect</em> him," Gilbert replied. "Beyond that, doubt it."</p><p></p><p>"Okay, then," said Binkadink with a sigh. "Release the spell, Gilbert, I'll take care of it." The heavyset mage did as asked and Binkadink skewered the thing that had been Voopie's Uncle Wiggly with a quick blow from his glaive. "Okay, let's get out of here," said the weary gnome.</p><p></p><p>"Uh, about that..." started Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"What?" asked Hagan.</p><p></p><p>"Have to wait until tomorrow for <em>plane shift</em> spell. I cast only one prepared to get rest of us here."</p><p></p><p>"We have to stay <em>here?</em>" asked Finoula, looking around. "This place gives me the creeps!" But it wasn't s bad as the ranger had feared, for she'd forgotten they had in their possession a <em>Daern's instant fortress</em>, and while it still smelled damp from its long-term soak underwater, it was better than camping outside and being at the mercy of any other nightcrawlers who might happen by.</p><p></p><p>"Tomorrow I cast <em>plane shift</em> and <em>teleport</em> spells to get us back," Gilbert promised. But Binkadink had pulled out his own chest of coins from the group's <em>portable hole</em> and was counting up the funds he had on hand. "How much does a <em>resurrection</em> spell cost?" he asked the group at large.</p><p></p><p>"I'll spot you any amount you're short," offered Finoula. "It's for a good cause." She was pleased to see the gnome fighter wanting to do something good for Voopie Meadowclover; the two looked like they'd make a good couple.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>I wrote this adventure entirely around the zygomind, which I found in one of the <em>Pathfinder Bestiaries</em> while seeking out high-level monsters; now that the PCs are 18th level it's getting harder to find them things to fight besides the standard demons, devils, and dragons that clutter up the high-level CRs. Of course, as I often do, I changed the zygomind considerably, not liking some of the aspects of the creature as written and wanting to incorporate needlefolk into the adventure. (I've wanted to use needlefolk for awhile now but they're way too low-level to pose any kind of a threat to PCs of my group's current level.)</p><p></p><p>Given the zygomind's simple form, I decided to create my own "miniature" using "wiggling" (rather appropriate for this adventure's title) strips of pink construction paper glued together into an egg shape with eight tentacles ringing the bottom. A red Sharpie allowed me to draw the pits and pockmarks that made it look more like coral. The players definitely were intrigued when I plunked it down on the table once Binkadink and the animals had been shunted to the Plane of Shadow, as I knew none of them had ever experienced a zygomind before. (And now I have a pink construction paper zygomind sitting on my bookshelf that will doubtfully see any further use - after all, how many zygominds can you use over the course of a campaign or two?)</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: My Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" T-shirt, standing in for the Plane of Shadow. (And, I'm just now noticing, the "Pink" in the band's name matches up with the color of the zygomind.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7831680, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 66: UNCLE WIGGLY[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Darrien, half-elf ranger 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Gilbert Fung, human wizard 18[/INDENT] [INDENT] Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 18[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 12[/INDENT] [INDENT] MARCI, humanoid construct[/INDENT] [INDENT] Voopie Meadowclover, gnome commoner 3[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 12 October 2019 - - - Binkadink waved a farewell to the castle page who had delivered the sealed parchment to the little gnome. Then, walking through the open portcullis of Battershield Keep, he wandered back into his own room in the front tower to open it in privacy. Halfway expecting it to be some sort of prank from his cousin Jinkadoodle, he popped a thumb through the sealing wax and unfolded the sheet of stiff paper. He then read the short letter silently to himself: A smile burst across the little gnome's face at the thought of visiting the pretty young castle maid. He mused for a brief moment on whether it might be best to alert the others of the missing gnome but the thought was quickly banished away; he'd much rather spend the time with Voopie alone than bring along the gang of adventurers he hung out with - especially Gilbert Fung, who had been particularly vocal about his belief that Voopie had intentionally poisoned the Queen in the brief days before her coronation. He'd bring Obvious with them but that was it - he could always send his jackalope back to fetch the others if it turned out they were needed. That decision made, Binkadink spent the better part of the rest of the day thinking about Voopie and how nice it would be to see her again. Thus the next day, Obvious hippity-hopped across town to the small dwelling of Voopie's mother, where the gnomish maid stayed when she wasn't working at the castle. Binkadink dismounted from his trusty steed, clad in his red dragonhide full plate armor - which he had shined to a bright polish for the occasion. He approached the door, knocked loudly, and was pleased to see it opened almost immediately by Voopie herself - she had obviously been waiting for his arrival. Giving him a big smile, she stepped outside with a small picnic basket in hand and said, "Thank you so much for coming, Mister Dundernoggin - it means so much to me." "Please, call me Binkadink," said the little gnome, returning her smile with one of his own. "And this is Obvious. That's his name, that is - Obvious is his name, I mean." Binkadink frowned momentarily at his sudden tripping over his own words - he'd faced down devils and dragons; surely he was capable of talking intelligently to a lovely young gnome? "Very pleased to meet you, Obvious," she said, stroking the jackalope's muzzle. "The pleasure's all mine. Ooh, right there - that's good!" Voopie gasped in surprise. "You can talk!" she said. "I can?" Obvious gasped in return, his eyes goggling in shock. "It's--its true! When did [I]that[/I] happen?" "One of my friends cast an [I]awaken[/I] spell on him - several months back, in fact," Binkadink said, scowling at his jackalope mount for trying to trick Voopie. "Ignore his attempts at humor. But he's a trusty mount." The fighter pulled himself up into the saddle and reached down for Voopie, taking the picnic basket in one hand and pulling the young gnome up in front of him. Then she settled into the saddle, holding the basket in her hands while Binkadink's arms wrapped around her while holding the reins. "Nice and steady now," he advised Obvious. ""Voopie doesn't want a lot of bouncing up and down and jostling around." "You got it," Obvious promised and settled into a gentle lope. Voopie gave directions and the trio soon found themselves entering the Vesve Forest by means of a wide path. The trip wasn't a lengthy one - not nearly long enough for Binkadink's tastes in any case, for he enjoyed having Voopie in his arms - and they soon saw a little cottage up ahead. "There it is," Voopie said, pointing to a ramshackle wooden building surrounded by trees. "I hope Uncle Wiggly's okay." The two gnomes dismounted and Obvious took up a guard post just outside the front porch of the cottage. "Uh-oh," said Voopie, upon climbing the three short steps to the front door. "This isn't good." "What?" asked Binkadink, his gnomish glaive held at the ready in his left hand as he followed behind Voopie, ready for any potential danger. Voopie pointed to a small spider sitting in its web up by the ceiling of the overhanging roof of the porch, just before the front door. "There's a spider web in front of the door," she pointed out. "That means he hasn't opened the door since the spider built the web - and who knows how long that has been?" Binkadink opened the door - it was unlocked; apparently Uncle Wiggly wasn't overly concerned about surprise visitors - pushing the spider's web aside as he did so. They stepped inside and Binkadink closed the door behind him. "Uncle Wiggly?" Voopie called. "It's me, Voopie - are you here?" There was no answer. A quick search through the cottage revealed it to be empty, although Voopie found a few things that worried her. He had a plate and a glass on a drying rack in the kitchen; Voopie explained Uncle Wiggly always ate his meal, washed his dishes, and placed them in the drying rack, then put them back in the cupboard when they were dry - even though he'd invariably use the exact same plate and glass at his next meal. The fact they were still in the drying rack told her he had disappeared after washing his plate and glass but before they'd had time to dry. In his bedroom, Voopie pointed out Uncle Wiggly's felt cap was missing from the bed knob - he always wore that cap when awake, taking it off only when retiring for the night: further evidence he had disappeared during the daylight hours. But it was Binkadink who found the most intriguing clue about Uncle Wiggly's disappearance; he kept a diary in the front-room and the latest entry read: Opening the back door of the cabin, Binkadink saw a clearing just ahead - with a massive clump of dark-barked trees growing together towards the back of the clearing, like multiple trees intertwining or one very thick tree sending roots down into the ground from much higher up than did most trees. "That wasn't here before!" Voopie gasped upon seeing the massive tree. Branches sprouted high above, only to hang down as if from their own great weight. The leaves were almost as dark as the bark on the trunk and the ground beneath the thick branches stood cloaked in shadows. "I wonder...." mused Binkadink. "That might be some sort of treant. In any case, your uncle went out there to check it out and was never seen again - I don't think we should go near it without backup." "Your friends?" Voopie asked. "I'll send Obvious," Binkadink confirmed. "We'll stay here and keep an eye on that 'overnight tree' in the meantime." In less than an hour there was a commotion at the front of the small cabin and the two gnomes opened the front door to check it out. Aithanar pulled the reins from the driver's seat on the Vistani wagon and brought the draft horses Castor and Pollux to a halt before the cottage, the elven druidess Malrin astride Obvious having led the way to the cabin. Finoula dismounted from her pony Daisy beside the wagon, her timber wolf loping by her side, followed by Malrin's dire fox Taihar and Grumps Junior, the dire bear cub Darrien had taken in as a pet of sorts. Darrien himself dropped down from the roof of the wagon, while the door in the back opened up and out trundled Gilbert Fung, his earth elemental familiar Mudpie, and MARCI, the humanoid construct dedicated to medical care. Hagan followed the heavyset mage out the wagon's door, his weasel familiar Wezhley sitting in his comfortable perch upon the half-orc's shoulder. The assembled group approached the two gnomes waiting on the porch, leaving Aithanar to tend to the horses and wagon. "What this all about, Bink?" demanded Gilbert Fung. "And what the deal with jackalope talking all of a sudden?" "That was definitely unexpected - and a little creepy," Finoula admitted. "I thought it was another one of the pranks you and your cousin get up to," added Darrien, looking over at Obvious - but the jackalope's attention was firmly on some root he'd dug up from along the side of the dirt road leading to Uncle Wiggly's cottage. "Yeah, sorry about that - we were hoping to spring it on you in some kind of prank or something, but then this popped up." Binkadink briefed the others on what they'd discovered so far and their belief that the "overnight tree" had something to do with Uncle Wiggly's disappearance. "We check it out," Gilbert promised. Looking over to Voopie, he said, "You stay here where it safe. We run into any problem, better we don't have to worry about you." "Yes, sir," Voopie replied in a quiet voice, looking down - she didn't want to do anything to upset the powerfully-built wizard who, she knew, had a distrusting nature and was quick to cast accusations around. She watched as some of the adventurers went through the hallway in the cottage while those with larger animals led them around the side of the building. The two groups met up at the back of the dwelling, in the clearing, staring intently at the many-trunked tree before them. "Any idea what that is?" asked Darrien. "It looks like a banyan," replied Finoula, "but they're not normally native to this area." "Don't like it," admitted Gilbert. "Okay, everybody - gear up like we going into battle, because maybe we are." He cast a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell upon himself and Mudpie, while nearby Hagan did the same for himself and Wezhley and then cast another such spell upon Obvious. Malrin, Darrien, and Finoula cast their normal [I]barkskin[/I] spells, then Darrien gathered the animals up and cast an [I]animal growth[/I] upon them, increasing the size of Obvious, Grumps Junior, Taihar, and Wrath. Malrin pulled an acorn from a pocket and cast a [I]fire seed[/I] spell upon it, set it down on the ground before her, wildshaped into an owl, and picked the acorn back up in a talon. Gilbert cast a [I]resist fire[/I] spell upon himself and his familiar, then pulled out a scroll and cast a [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell upon the assembled group - all of the adventurers as well as Obvious. Darrien opted to grant himself the benefit of a [I]longstrider[/I] spell, then on a whim added [I]delay poison[/I] as well. "That about it?" Gilbert asked the group. "One more," Finoula responded, casting a [I]speak with plants[/I] spell and kneeling down in the clearing. "Has a gnome been by here recently?" she asked the surrounding grass. "Gnome?" answered the grass; Finoula got the idea that a patch of grass probably didn't differentiate a whole lot between intelligent races. "Has anyone been by here recently?" she amended her question. "No. Not for many days." Darrien, in the meantime, had been examining the ground for tracks but a recent rain had all but taken care of that possible avenue of approach. Wrath and Grumps weren't having any luck picking up any scents, either, although there was a worn path between the back door of the cottage and a nearby outhouse, as well as another worn path to where Uncle Wiggly had a stack of firewood stored against the cottage's back wall. "Well, let's go check it out," said Binkadink, leaping up into the saddle and sending Obvious forward to the banyan tree. Finoula and Wrath crept closer, Taihar trailing them. The elven ranger wanted to talk to the dark tree but was a bit intimidated by its size and...well, [I]scariness[/I]. If ever a tree could be said to look haunted, this was it. Gilbert stayed behind, flipping through the pages of his [I]Omnibook[/I], looking up extraplanar flora - he was fairly certain this dark tree wasn't native to the Material Plane and likely hailed from the Plane of Shadows. Binkadink peered intently at the tree's trunks as he approached on Obvious, curious to see if there were any runes or glyphs or other magical markings on it. When he reported back over the link he didn't see anything of that nature, Gilbert instinctive cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell, then chided himself for casting it when he was far out of range for him to get any readings on the tree. Grumbling to himself, he slowly approached the tree, Mudpie and MARCI moving up with him. And then the tree struck. From among the overhanging branches, thick vines or tendrils dropped down, waving rapidly about and trying to get a grip around Binkadink and Obvious. One managed to get a grip on the jackalope, wrapping around the mount's neck and upper chest area. Then it stiffened as if about to try to pull its prey up into the branches. <It's got Obvious!> Binkadink cried over the link. Darrien, alerted to the danger, shot up at the tree's branches with his [I]Arachnibow[/I], firing arrow after arrow into the dark wood. Grumps ambled up and raked his sharp claws against the bark of the nearest truck-shoot; Taihar did likewise to another trunk, although the dire fox's claws weren't nearly as big as the dire bear cub's. <Uncle Wiggly might be up in the upper branches of the tree!> theorized Malrin, flying up to use her owlish vision to try to find the little gnome - or his body, at least - among the upper branches. She also took the opportunity to hurl her [I]fire seed[/I] acorn at the umbral banyan, where it exploded into a gout of flame. Binkadink, still in the saddle as his riding mount was being pulled upwards, used the blade of his glaive to cut through the thick tendril strangling Obvious. The jackalope fell gratefully back to the ground while the gnome used his weapon to cut deep grooves into the tree's trunk and overhanging branches. Obvious showed his disdain for strangling trees by biting a deep chunk out of the nearest trunk with his enormous rabbit-incisors. From the back of the clearing, Hagan cast a [I]polar ray[/I] at the top of the umbral banyan while moving forward. The spell frosted over the entire top of the dark-leaved tree, bringing a layer of white to a plant seemingly made up only of deep grays and black. "You might be able to find Uncle Wiggly's body if it's up in the higher branches," suggested the half-orc to his familiar. Wezhley scampered down from his master's shoulder and raced over to the tree, ready to climb up its trunk and begin his exploration. "What do you want?" Finoula asked the tree, her [I]speak with plants[/I] spell still active. "Hungry. So hungry," replied the tree. "Where do you come from?" Finoula persisted. "The Dark Place." Finoula relayed the tree's answers to the others over the link ("I knew it!" replied Gilbert with satisfaction, slamming his [I]Omnibook[/I] closed) and then pulled out her [I]elemental gem[/I]. She cracked it open with the pommel of her longsword [I]Tahlmalaera[/I] and a 16-foot-tall air elemental formed before her. "Attack!" she called to the elemental, pointing to the massive tree before her. The air elemental obeyed at once, flying over and sending a wind-whipped fist crashing into the tree's upper branches. More tendrils dropped down from the tree, swinging at Binkadink, Obvious, Grumps, and Taihar; of the bunch, only the one entangling the dire bear cub met with any success. Grumps Junior was pulled up a few feet from the ground, growling in anger at the imposition. And then, at least one meager meal attained, the dying umbral banyan activated its [I]plane shift[/I] ability, leaving the Material Plane behind for the soothing shadows of its native realm. From the clearing, it was as if a blast of dark energy erupted from the tree in all directions - and then the tree was gone...but it took with it not only Grumps Junior, who had been entwined in the tendrils of the tree, but those within 20 feet of the tree's trunks: Binkadink, Obvious, Taihar, Wezhley, and the air elemental from Finoula's magic gem. "Wait--what?" squawked Gilbert Fung as he realized Binkadink and Obvious had just dropped off the [I]Rary's telepathic bind[/I] spell. <Everybody gather up on me!> he called to the others in the clearing. <We gonna have to go after them!> As one, those left behind in the clearing sped over to the portly mage and Gilbert cast a [I]plane shift[/I] spell of his own, shunting everyone onto a random location on the Plane of Shadow. Now on the same plane again, the others could sense Binkadink and Obvious's presence on the mental link - but they could also sense that their minds weren't entirely normal at the moment. The umbral banyan was now back on its home plane, a world of deep shadow - but while the general layout of the local area was very similar to the same area back on the Material Plane, there were several differences. Scattered nearby were four deep pits, their rims made of a thick, mottled and pitted surface similar to coral, with a fungal growth near each. And perched between these pits, upon a ring of tentacles along its outer surface, sat a massive structure shaped like a hollow egg with solid, coral-like structures winding about it. The zygomind had sent out a telepathic signal, immediately catching the attention of all of the newcomers but Grumps Junior, too busy focusing on chewing his way through the thick tendril entangling him to notice, and the air elemental, still bashing away at the umbral banyan's upper branches and apparently immune to the effect. But to Binkadink, Obvious, Taihar, and Wezhley, the telepathic summons was a source of fascination that couldn't be ignored; as one, they wandered in a dreamlike sleep towards the coral-like structure. Gilbert got the general gist that the others were under some sort of mind control as he cast a [I]teleport[/I] spell that would rejoin the two separated parties; fortunately, given the Plane of Shadow's propensity for conforming to the general layout of the Material Plane, it was easy enough for the wizard to envision Uncle Wiggly's backyard clearing to get him where he wanted to go on this plane of darkness. They appeared at the front of the clearing, near where the gnome's cottage had been, from where they could see all of what was going on before them. Grumps had managed to chew his way through the tendril entangling him and had landed to the ground but was now transfixed in the same way as the others. The umbral banyan gave a half-hearted attempt to recapture those who had evaded its grasp thus far (or worse yet, been caught and then subsequently escaped) but between the fire-based and cold-based spells that had been thrown its way and the air elemental's ruthless attacks, the umbral banyan was near to death and its tendrils did little more than lightly brush against those it would have liked to capture and devour. Finoula was the first to react to the scene. Holding up her [I]lightning amulet[/I] and activating it, she transformed herself into a bolt of electricity that went crashing through one of the shadowy violet fungi beside a coral pit and then through the coral body of the zygomind. She remanifested in her normal elven form on the other side of the zygomind, noting she'd killed the violet fungus but had apparently had no effect at all upon the egg-shaped structure; still, it had had no effect upon her, either, for whatever mental pull it was having on Binkadink and the others was not affecting her in the least. <I think it can't affect us if we already know it coming!> theorized Gilbert over the link. <It have to take you unaware!> A mighty crashing of limbs presaged the air elemental's slaying of the umbral banyan; as branches came tumbling to the ground around the tree's many trunks, Finoula redeployed the elemental to attack the zygomind. It flew nimbly through one of the many openings in the structure's outer surface, attacking the coral struts from inside the hollow being's egg-shaped form. Darrien sent a bevy of arrows at the zygomind, each striking but plinking harmlessly off the thing's coral armor. <Piercing weapons are no good against that thing!> he advised the others. Beside him, Malrin wildshaped out of her owl form, but instead of resuming her elven body she grew many times her own size and stood upon the Plane of Shadow as a mighty tyrannosaur. But despite her huge size, she was still dwarfed by the zygomind towering before her. The zygomind shambled forward, its nearest tentacles striking Binkadink, Obvious, and Taihar - all it could bring to bear at the moment. But the touch had its desired effect: now infected with spores, the three figures were asleep on their feet; the zygomind need no longer bring them in to it with its fascination effect but could simply plant a single command into their unconscious forms. [I]Go to the nearest transformation pit[/I], it commanded and the three shuffled off to do as bid. Hagan cast a [I]meteor swarm[/I] up at the top of the zygomind and was disappointed to see his most powerful spell didn't even activate upon impact; apparently the zygomind had a way to protect itself from spells. He desolately passed this unwelcome nugget of information to the others over the mental link. Gilbert wanted to cast a [I]wall of force[/I] spell to prevent the sleepwalkers from getting too close to the zygomind but it was already too late for that. Instead, he cast a [I]spectral hand[/I] spell and sent it over by Grumps, planning to then cast a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] upon the dire bear cub, which he hoped would snap the others out from their trances. In the meantime, he ordered MARCI to go pull them away from the zygomind, certain the construct would be immune to any poisons the zygomind might be exuding. Then a sudden motion caught his eye. From two of the coral-lined pits rose up a pair of humanoid figures, their slender limbs giving them an almost skeletal appearance. But as they approached, the group could see the hundreds of thin needles poking out of their taut skin. And this feature was also present upon the other two creatures climbing out of the larger coral pits: from one, a full-sized dire bear; from the other, an even larger monstrous scorpion. This, Gilbert decided, was a good time to use that [I]quickened wall of force[/I] spell he had at the ready. An invisible barrier rose up, separating the two needle-covered monsters from the cluster of heroes who had [I]teleported[/I] into the area. Both the needlefolk dire bear and the needlefolk scorpion crashed into the unseen barrier, unable to attack the heroes as intended. Finoula pulled a jar of [I]Keoghtom's ointment[/I] out of a belt pouch and stuck a dab of the magic substance into her mouth as she approached Taihar on an intercept course; she didn't want whatever poison was affecting these animals (and Binkadink) to affect her as well! She looked momentarily up at the zygomind to track her air elemental's progress and was pleased to see it causing some of the coral structure to crack under the force of its blows. Chips and flakes of coral rained down like dandruff with each slam of the elemental's fists. Darrien shot an arrow at the pit from which the needlefolk scorpion had crawled, using one of the new-found powers of his [I]Arachnibow[/I] to cause the arrow to form a magic [I]web[/I] across the opening. Hopefully, that would prevent anything else from coming up out of the pit. Malrin bent low and touched Binkadink on the shoulder with one of her relatively tiny tyrannosaur front claws, channeling a [I]neutralize poison[/I] spell through it. Blinking awake, the gnome fighter looked all around him in confusion, but then got a firm grip on the glaive in his hands and marched forward into combat with the most dangerous foe in the battle: the zygomind itself. But before he could even swing his glaive the zygomind slapped at him with a massive tentacle, slamming him to the ground and holding him there, pinned. It also caught up MARCI in a grappling hold, from which the medical construct was unable to wriggle free. But Binkadink didn't mind attacking the zygomind from his current position; his glaive was, after all, expandable. Extending it to its longest configuration, he brought everything he had to bear in a series of powerful blows, the enchanted blade slicing deep into the coral structure of the alien creature. Not far away, though, Obvious was still shambling toward a transformation pit, deep asleep but following the zygomind's last orders nonetheless. Hagan cast a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell, completely frying to death one of the humanoid needlefolk as his primary target and sending arcs of electricity to hit the needlefolk dire bear zygominion and the zygomind itself (this last proving to be as resistant to this spell as it had been to Hagan's previously-cast spell). But by now Wezhley had shambled up to the zygomind and while the weasel was apparently too small for the alien creature to target with a tentacle, nothing prevented Wezhley from leaping onto the nearest such appendage and cover himself in spores in that fashion. Immediately asleep on his feet, Wezhley started heading over to the nearest transformation pit. Gilbert finally got that [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell channeled onto Grumps Junior though his [I]spectral hand[/I] but all it seemed to free from the fascination effect was the bear cub himself. Frowning, he sent the incorporeal hand over to the top of the zygomind while he planned out his next strategy. Grumps, however, knew exactly what he wanted to do: get away from all of these weird monsters as quickly as possible! However, in fleeing from the zygomind he came to the attention of the needlefolk dire bear zygominion, who rushed over. Grumps Junior instinctively recognized the creatures' basic shape at once, not noticing the needles sprouting from between the shaggy fur until it was too late. The zygominion's claws raked across Grumps' side and contaminating spores did the rest, causing the baby bruin to fall over, fast asleep. The only good thing about the attack was this was simply a soporific effect; Grumps had no mental compulsion to head over to the nearest transformation pit to become a zygominion himself, although if there were zygominions still around at the end of this battle they would surely drag him into a pit to replenish their own ranks. MARCI activated a shocking field around her metal body, hoping to get the zygomind tentacle to release her. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any effect. A flurry of flying needles hit Malrin's tyrannosaur body, flung there by the remaining humanoid needlefolk zygominion, but the dinosaur hide was too thick for the needles to have much effect. Gilbert cast a [I]quickened cone of cold[/I] upon the needlefolk scorpion once it started skittering long the [I]wall of force[/I] and heading his way; the wizard's spell slew it at once. Finoula repositioned herself to best effect and used her [I]lightning amulet[/I] again, blasting through two more shadow violet fungi and the zygomind; as before, the zygomind was unaffected but the fungi were both destroyed. [I]But at least my air elemental's having an effect,[/I] the ranger thought, seeing it continuing its pummeling of the zygomind's coral structure. The ranger was now the closest target to the needlefolk dire bear who had knocked out Grumps and she fully expected it to attack her, but before it could Darrien plunked a flurry of arrows into it, causing the spiny bruin to fall to the ground beside the sleeping cub - only this one, Darrien was pleased to see, was dead. Across the clearing, Malrin wildshaped back to her elven form and rushed over to Taihar, using her [I]staff of healing[/I] to reawaken him from his somnambulistic wanderings. And just in time, too, for another pair of humanoid needlefolk zygominions and a second needlefolk dire bear zygominion scrambled out of three of the transformation pits, eager to send their flying darts into those who would defy the zygomind. A second needlefolk scorpion could be seen trying to exit the largest pit but Darrien's [I]web[/I] was foiling its efforts. For its part, the zygomind shifted forward again, keeping Binkadink and MARCI pinned and trying to grab a few others in its reaching tentacles. But Binkadink continued striking its exterior with his glaive while the air elemental attacked it from within its hollow shell. In the meantime, Hagan had more success with a [I]meteor swarm[/I] cast directly at one the newest humanoid needlefolk - the spell blasted it into oblivion, while the fiery explosion that followed dealt a significant amount of damage not only to the dire bear zygominion but to the zygomind itself. Gilbert channeled a [I]maximized vampiric touch[/I] spell through his [I]spectral hand[/I], absorbing some of the zygomind's life force energy and vitality directly into himself. Unable to extract herself from the imprisoning tentacle, MARCI opted to make the best of a bad situation. Scanning the tentacle with her red eye-ray, she extruded a slender needle from a finger and injected it into the appendage, extracting a sample of the spores the tentacle contained. She then began a analysis routine on the spore sample she'd taken. If it were possible for a construct to look contented under those conditions MARCI did so, ignoring her horizontal position or the great weight of the alien monster keeping her pinned in place. Darrien swung his [I]Arachnibow[/I] over to cover the new needlefolk dire bear climbing out of the pit, sending arrow after arrow to stick into its face and shoulders, as Malrin used her magic staff to free Obvious from his sleepwalking. The jackalope sneezed, shook his head, and looked around for Binkadink, spotting him at last carving up the zygomind while pinned beneath one of its tentacles. He headed over at once to see if he could help the gnome. But by the time the jackalope had gotten there the zygomind had already been slain, a combination of slashes from Binkadink's glaive and the air elemental's furious, wind-driven punches having taken their toll on the alien monstrosity. Another of Hagan's [I]chain lightning[/I] spells took out the second dire bear zygominion, the last of the violet fungi, and the needlefolk scorpion zygominion - [I]Now[/I] that's [I]more like it![/I] the half-orc sorcerer thought to himself. But then another needlefolk zygominion crawled from the farthest pit, this one humanoid in build as well but significantly smaller than the others of its kind. It was only when Hagan saw the felt cap perched on the creature's hat - with numerous needles piercing the covering and holding it firmly in place - that he realized why that was. <It's Uncle Wiggly!> Hagan cried. <It's too late! He's been transformed!> <We not likely to have rescued him alive,> pointed out Gilbert. <No telling how long ago he end up here - weeks, likely.> But, knowing this was the gnome they had been sent to find and despite having half a dozen spells at hand that could slay him at once, Gilbert cast an [I]Otiluke's resilient sphere[/I] around the needlefolk gnome instead, imprisoning him in a sphere of energy from which he couldn't easily escape. Binkadink and MARCI extracted themselves from beneath the zygomind's tentacles, a much easier process now that the zygomind wasn't actively resisting their efforts. Using the information she'd gained from the spore analysis, MARCI's internal systems had generated an antidote, which she administered to Grumps Junior, waking him back up at once. The dire bear cub chuffed once and ambled off to go find Darrien. The medical construct then administered a much smaller dosage to Wezhley, who likewise scampered away to go find his own master. The air elemental took it upon itself to go look into the pits to ensure there weren't any other zygominions ready to spring forth, but other than the webbed-up one holding the needlefolk scorpion they were clear. Wrath suddenly started growling and backed off over to Finoula, his tail between his legs. Finoula could see nothing that would have her timber wolf so fearful, even in this unusually gloomy environment, but then she detected slight vibrations through the soles of her boots. <Something's coming - from underground!> she warned the others. No sooner had she gotten out the warning than a glistening, pitch-black head erupted from the ground, its mouth ringed by a circle of long, pointed teeth. Gilbert's magically-enhanced eyesight identified the creature at once as undead, which was all it took for his own studies to identify the thing as a nightcrawler, an undead version of the purple worm. Darrien ran at once to Gilbert's side, fully expecting the wizard to [I]plane shift[/I] or [I]teleport[/I] them away, for they had accomplished what they had set out to do (even if rescuing Uncle Wiggly hadn't been possible they at least knew what had become of him) and there was nothing to be gained by fighting an undead creature of this size and power. Grumps, almost to Darrien by this time, saw the nightcrawler climbing up out of its hole and spun about, running away in the opposite direction, away from Darrien; there was no way he could know there was an invisible [I]wall of force[/I] providing at least partial protection to Gilbert and Darrien from the nightcrawler. Malrin jumped onto Taihar's back - a much easier proposition at the dire fox's current doubled size - and pulled Binkadink up behind her as they raced past. Obvious, seeing the others were heading for Gilbert, assumed that was the plan and followed suit. Hagan dared to race to within striking distance of the nightcrawler to scoop Wezhley into his arms and head back the way he'd come, circling around the [I]wall of force[/I] again, although he knew the nightcrawler was long enough it could crawl right over the wall's 10-foot height and get to them in no time - or burrow beneath it, for that matter. Everyone crowded expectantly around Gilbert, who had to shrug away from them and cross around to the other side of the [I]wall of force[/I]. The nightcrawler's length extended out of the hole as Gilbert stared it down, casting the words to a [I]sunburst[/I] spell. <Close eyes!> he warned the others as the last syllable of the spell left his lips. A blinding burst of light spilled across the open area of the clearing, causing patterns to form on the insides of the heroes' closed eyelids. When they opened their eyes again, the nightcrawler was gone. "Is it dead? Just like that?" gasped Finoula. "Some undead especially susceptible to bright light," Gilbert explained. "[I]Sunburst[/I] spell take care of them good." The group now went over to where Uncle Wiggly was imprisoned inside the spherical ball of energy. Upon a close examination, they could see he was no longer a gnome: he not only had thin needles sticking out from every direction, but even in the wan light of the Plane of Shadow they could see his waxy skin was greenish in tone. "He a plant," Gilbert explained. "Is there any way to cure him?" asked Binkadink, hating the thought of bringing this version of Voopie's uncle back home to meet her. "Sure: kill him, [I]resurrect[/I] him," Gilbert replied. "Beyond that, doubt it." "Okay, then," said Binkadink with a sigh. "Release the spell, Gilbert, I'll take care of it." The heavyset mage did as asked and Binkadink skewered the thing that had been Voopie's Uncle Wiggly with a quick blow from his glaive. "Okay, let's get out of here," said the weary gnome. "Uh, about that..." started Gilbert. "What?" asked Hagan. "Have to wait until tomorrow for [I]plane shift[/I] spell. I cast only one prepared to get rest of us here." "We have to stay [I]here?[/I]" asked Finoula, looking around. "This place gives me the creeps!" But it wasn't s bad as the ranger had feared, for she'd forgotten they had in their possession a [I]Daern's instant fortress[/I], and while it still smelled damp from its long-term soak underwater, it was better than camping outside and being at the mercy of any other nightcrawlers who might happen by. "Tomorrow I cast [I]plane shift[/I] and [I]teleport[/I] spells to get us back," Gilbert promised. But Binkadink had pulled out his own chest of coins from the group's [I]portable hole[/I] and was counting up the funds he had on hand. "How much does a [I]resurrection[/I] spell cost?" he asked the group at large. "I'll spot you any amount you're short," offered Finoula. "It's for a good cause." She was pleased to see the gnome fighter wanting to do something good for Voopie Meadowclover; the two looked like they'd make a good couple. - - - I wrote this adventure entirely around the zygomind, which I found in one of the [I]Pathfinder Bestiaries[/I] while seeking out high-level monsters; now that the PCs are 18th level it's getting harder to find them things to fight besides the standard demons, devils, and dragons that clutter up the high-level CRs. Of course, as I often do, I changed the zygomind considerably, not liking some of the aspects of the creature as written and wanting to incorporate needlefolk into the adventure. (I've wanted to use needlefolk for awhile now but they're way too low-level to pose any kind of a threat to PCs of my group's current level.) Given the zygomind's simple form, I decided to create my own "miniature" using "wiggling" (rather appropriate for this adventure's title) strips of pink construction paper glued together into an egg shape with eight tentacles ringing the bottom. A red Sharpie allowed me to draw the pits and pockmarks that made it look more like coral. The players definitely were intrigued when I plunked it down on the table once Binkadink and the animals had been shunted to the Plane of Shadow, as I knew none of them had ever experienced a zygomind before. (And now I have a pink construction paper zygomind sitting on my bookshelf that will doubtfully see any further use - after all, how many zygominds can you use over the course of a campaign or two?) - - - T-shirt worn: My Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" T-shirt, standing in for the Plane of Shadow. (And, I'm just now noticing, the "Pink" in the band's name matches up with the color of the zygomind.) [/QUOTE]
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