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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2827848" data-attributes="member: 1210">1 p.m., Shire Role, the Glen LandsChakar belches appreciatively.  They may be frivolous, he sighs to himself, but halflings sure can cook!  Indeed, the food is better here than he has ever consistently had.  Between Alcar’s magical confections and the halfling cuisine, he figures he is eating better than any other dwarf ever has.  He picks up another cracker smeared with spicey cheese and prepares to take a bite.But, as peaceful a day as this cannot last.  His reverie is interrupted by a cry from outside.“WORMS!”Our heroes spring up, disengaging from their gentle attempts at persuading the halflings to emigrate to Dorhaus.  Worms!  The cry sends a chill down our heroes’ spines.  They have dealt with many worms since the giant Fnogghi Chaos-Hand invoked the Prophecy of the Worms, and they have many more to deal with before all is said and done.  There are many portals to be destroyed or shut down or redirected, and until they can all be attended to, the worms that spew forth from them must be fended off.  “We must defend my people!” cries Gerontius, and the party hurries outside, where they see a small group of halflings running towards shelter.“Where are they?” demands Alcar, and one of the halflings waves wildly behind him before vanishing indoors.  The cries of the locals ring out here and there as doors are shut and locked and windows are shuttered.  Our heroes gaze in the indicated direction.  Worms.The party springs into action, moving rapidly towards the oncoming worms.  In but a few moments Lillamere has graced those who need it with fly spells, and our heroes speed through the air at the onrushing monsters.  Looking down at them, the heroes see four immense worms dripping slime.  They are the color of pale human flesh, and look disturbingly similar to it, even having small hair-like follicles that sprout from them.  They are enormous, stretching out almost 60’.Haven’t we seen these things before? wonders Sybele over the telepathic link, but nobody else recognizes them immediately.Then the party is smashing into them.  In just a few seconds, they deal telling blows to one of the worms.  But, as Alcar’s fire storm burns into it, the worm splits in two!“It’s dividing!” shouts Hyliss, casting far strike on his longsword.  The party pounds the worms for a few moments, but all they succeed in doing is worsening the odds.  The worms divide and divide again; worse yet, their damage is healing very rapidly.  In less than a minute, the party has gone from facing four opponents to facing ten humungous worms!“This isn’t working too well,” comments Sonja.  He blasts the worms with a fire storm.  Flames seem to be the most effective weapon against the creatures, and our heroes rapidly switch tactics.  Inoke backs off, having created several enemies in his initial charge, and Alcar and Sonja take the lead in dishing out flames to the enemies.  Baron Lillamere shape changes into a red dragon and uses his scorching breath to burn some of the worm infestation away.  Sybele manifests breath of the black dragon and gleefully ascertains that acid, too, will inflict real damage on the worms.  To the party’s chagrin, Hyliss tries a chain lightning only to split another worm off.  He curses vehemently, but by this time the party has turned the tide of what could have been a very ugly battle.  Chakar manages to pin one of the last worms to the ground (!), and Sonja and Alcar, both of them out of fire storms, begin erecting walls of fire to finish the last couple of worms off.  Sybele actually ends the battle when she vomits up another spray of acid, eating through the last fleshy worm.“I know we’ve seen these things before,” Sybele grumbles, “but I can’t recall where!”*“You see?” Gerontius rants.  “We should close the worm gate nearest the Glen Lands.  My people are not safe until we do!”“You may be right,” Lillamere admits.“Helping your folk is a worthy cause,” Chakar agrees.“I’m all for it.  It’s better than attacking the Bastion of Law.”  Inoke shakes his head.  “You guys are crazy for even thinking about doing that!”Baron Lillamere sighs.  “That’s a discussion for another time,” he says.  “For now, it seems like we’re in agreement: we should take out this portal first.”“I’m low on spells,” Alcar notes.  “We should rest first.”Sonja nods.  “I agree.  I’ve used up most of my fire spells.  If we meet more of these things, we need to be prepared for them.”“There might be slaadi at the gate instead,” Sybele says.  “Or both.”“So we rest, and then we attack ze worms!” Gerontius insists.  The others see no real problem with this approach to the remainder of the day; after all, the halflings are most hospitable.  Only Sybele and Dorn Wankerman have second thoughts, and only because of their large size.  They will have to sleep outside- but both of them are hardy adventurers, used to far worse accomodations than the gentle grassy ground of the Glen Lands.  “It’s settled, then,” Inoke says.***8/12/371 O.L.G., 9 a.m.The party is eating breakfast when the sending reaches Baron Lillmere.  It is from Prayzose, Emperor of Forinthia and High Priest of the Light.  It is a simple message, but one that complicates things immeasurably for our heroes.The Warlord of Orokeuse is under my protection.Lillamere swears aloud as he replies.  The halflings are under our protection.  It was never our intention to engage the high orc.  We tried diplomacy; that failed.  Let us talk.“What’s wrong?” asks Chakar.“Prayzose,” Lillamere answers, “is sending us a message...”Another sending arrives just a moment later.  Any other leader for them would be far worse.  Leave well enough alone and do not destabilize things.  Be mindful of the precedent you are setting.Lillamere sighs and responds again.  Prayzose, I respect you and will leave well enough alone- we all will.  But I wish we could talk this out.  I urge you to- Lillamere mutters to himself.  He is out of words.  Quickly he details the back and forth messages for the others.  Horbin says, “I think I’d better issue a sending of my own to the Bishop of Valonia.  He probably isn’t very happy with... recent events here.”  And he proceeds to do so: Our flocks have clashed.  Halfligns are under my protection.  Let us talk- work it out, before Prayzose if necessary.A reply is almost instant.  The warlord is the best choice of a bad bunch.  He must be preserved, lest things grow even worse on Valonia.Horbin frowns to himself and casts the spell again.  No dispute with leadership.  Halflings have right to live unmolested.  Guide your orcs to higher light.  When/where can we meet?Again, the reply comes immediately.  Orcs need much shepherding.  We will meet three days hence at your confirmation hearings.  We can discuss this then.Horbin groans.  “This whole affair may affect my chances of being appointed Bishop.”Lillamere shakes his head.  “Prayzose is behind you.  I don’t think he’s going to let you fail- I imagine some of his prestige rides on your appointment.” The cleric nods hesitantly.  “I hope you’re right,” he replies.Next Time: Judge Alito’s- er, I mean, Horbin the MFKG Holy’s- confirmation hearings!  A messenger from the Warlord of Orokeuse!  And the halfling worm portal!*Any of you Gentle Readers pinpoint the earlier encounter in question? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification