[D&D 5e] The Wild Bunch in Galyria

[Jeremy]

12/4/21​

Gribitz dodges away from the baby wyvern as Rhoseth steps in together with Grath to try and grab it. Rho pins it to the ground while Grath calls back for rope. Veldra provides it immediately but even as she does so she questions the others what exactly they plan to do with it. If they kill its mother, it won't survive so tying it up to starve slowly doesn't seem any kind of plan.

Grath and Veldra debate back and forth while Rho nervously watches the sky. Eventually he interrupts them and asks that they take this discussion inside. Inside however, the party finds that the walls are covered in Draconic runes. Rho and Grath both speak the language and relay that it reads like a journal, and it appears to be written by the wyvern itself, detailing its reconnaissance of the human city, its contact with another wyvern, and even mentions raising its clutch.

Not only can the adult wyvern write, but the baby wyvern is able to speak with Rho. Rho swears the party will not harm the child while the angry, bound wyvern screeches promises it will kill every one of us. When Grath's flumph associate drifts in, the priest asks it to hide outside and warn them of the mother's return. Meanwhile Rho, Grath, and Gribitz argue over the intelligence of the wyvern, the implications of that, and why it is doing what it is doing. Gribitz in particular struggles with why there is a sudden change from coming here to kill the thing just because it can write. Eventually the goblin hears enough detailed and philosophical explanations that declares his new found understanding (while still comprehending nothing).

Rho and Grath decide that conversing with the wyvern is the only recourse, though Gribitz wonders out loud how well that will go with her brood captured and bound. Grath begins setting up a dome of protection while Gribitz begins excavating goblin-sized hidey holes about the lair. At some point in the preparations while Grath and Rho are arguing over who should do the talking a second entrance in the roof of the lair is discovered. Grath is adamant it has to be Rho and Rhoseth is reticent to give words to why such a plan unnerves him so. The discussion is interrupted by the cheerful telepathic chime of Mr. Flumph announcing he has both good and bad news.

As Grath requests the good news and Veldra simulaneously requests the bad news the Flumph answers both with, "You won't have to search for the wyvern!"

Veldra and Grath retreat to Grath's tiny hut while Gribitz picks one of his dugouts deeper into the lair. Rhoseth reluctantly marches to the front of the cave to have words with the returning wyvern. When the wyvern dives down in front of the dragonborn the alarm of the large creature is swiftly overtaken by its supreme arrogance. Rhoseth tries to humbly but convincingly explain why the wyvern should take its clutch and relocate further from the human city.

The wyvern guffaws at this with utter disdain and details the easy pickings and weak defenses of these lands. Mr. Flumph relays some of what is going on to Grath who then tries to provide helpful advice for Rho but things get tense when wyvern moves from gloating and insulting the humans in general to Rhoseth in particular. The dragonborn does get his back up but eventually yields and steps aside for the wyvern allowing the goading to pass just like the pompous wyrmkin. The presence of the others within had come up during the discussion and not escaped the wyverns senses but it roared as it entered its lair and spread its wings wide, daring the party to do anything.

When they did nothing, the wyvern ambled over to its young, snapped the bindings off it and curled up in its lair with a superior expression, both taunting the party and inviting them to slink away in shame and awe. The party exits the monster's lair and discusses what can be done.

With negotiations failed, no one is able to come up with a convincing enough argument to let the wyvern continue its pillaging and so they resolve to slay the beast. This turns out to be easier said than done as despite powerful necromancy from Grath rotting the strength and life away from it, precise attacks from Veldra wearing it down, the savagery of the beast is more than a match for the party and for Rho in particular who completely loses himself during the fight. At one point the wyvern impales the dragonborn straight through with its stinger but Rho stubbornly refuses to die and with horrifying brutality beats the mother wyvern to death with the corpse of its own young.

While the party had seen Rhoseth's eyes go completely black and hints of smoke of unknown origin begin to drift from him they had never seen it get so bad and it had always ended when the heat of battle passed. This time however it did not and the dragonborn roared and proceeded to gorge himself on the corpses of his fallen foes while the rest of the party kept their distance and tried to call out in worry to their friend and ally.

Gribitz tries healing Rho's wounds as sometimes it seems it is the pain of his injuries that drives him so mad but Rho only picks up speed. As he is consuming the lifesblood of the wyvern Veldra tries to reach out and gently at first but increasingly firmly pull him away from his grisly feast. Rhoseth hurls her back and turns on the party, picking up his maul once more as we all raise our hands placatingly. Rho's breath comes heavy and fast as he grips his weapon but eventually it slows and his eyes begin to clear, as they do a heavy weariness falls on him followed by confusion and shame.

He reads the terror on Gribitz's face, the resolve on Veldra's, and the suspicion on Grath's and is crushed by a combination of fears imagined and realized. Veldra is the first to approach him again asking if he's back with them again, but Rho doesn't have answers anyone would like so merely hangs his head and remains slouched against the remains where he fell. Grath is next asking carefully for an explanation.

Rhoseth is still dazed by the extent of what happened and what almost happened and continues to not answer. Veldra waits, giving him time while Grath bides his time. After enough time passes it is Rho who asks what happened. Grath and Veldra take turns detailing what they saw and the dragonborn's body language winces at the monster he became. When Grath directly asks if this is going to be a problem the hopeless answer he receives from Rho is, "I don't know."

Grath promises that this will be discussed further as the party collects themselves and begins to leave the lair. Rho is the last to move with Veldra lingering near the exit watching over him. She sees him kneel over the corpses and take a claw from one while whispering something she can't make out but she again gives him his space.

On the way back to town Gribitz slowly gathers the courage to approach the bloody dragonborn and timidly offer him a Goodberry in tribute or to appease him but Rhoseth darkly responds that he has eaten his fill.

The party washes the signs of battle from themselves and their equipment before returning to the surrounding farmlands. When Grath tells the commonfolk that the beast has been slain he decides not to correct their impression that it was a dragon. When the priest's momentary hesitation is met by the comment, "What? You want a hug or something?" Grath's features harden somewhat and excuses the party to return wearily home.

Back at the manor the party eats, rests, and the next day discusses what should be done. Grath's Flumph acquaintance attends and reveals that he doesn't really have any particular home per se and offers to watch over the rather nice home of the party in their absence should they need to travel again. Grath says that there are still preparations he wishes to complete for the consecration of the shrine to Ilmater in the basement while Gribitz brings up the ritual exorcism that the priests in Lake's Nest performed on their friend Flint when he fell afoul of the evil of the goblin's phobia---books. When he suggests that maybe if the cleansing worked for Flint, it would work for Rhoseth as well.

The dragonborn explains that he doesn't believe it is the same thing prompting another round of questions from the party about what he DOES believe it is. Eventually Rho capitulates and begins to explain the vision quest his tribe enters into as their rite of passage. He tells of the dark violence of his vision and the sense that some powerful force had laid claim to his soul and one way or another would use him as the vessel for great destruction.

During Rhoseth's haunted confession of the past he is ashamed of and the exile he imposed on himself to protect his kinsmen Grath quietly whispered to Veldra how none of this was a good sign. However, he the words he whispered were in Celestial and when she processed this she startled like he had splashed her in the face with cold water. Veldra makes no response as her own aasimar heritage is not up for discussion and especially not now. Her eyes narrow at Grath as he has already turned back to Rho and mentions the priest of the Platinum Dragon he had spoken with at the Temple of Faiths.

Rhoseth doesn't seem to recognize the title and asks how this would help while Veldra comes to the dragonborn's defense stating we only need to go if Rho is up to it and if he even wants to. She states in no uncertain terms to Grath that it is up to Rho.

While Grath agrees he also says that eventually he will need to face his past. Rho considers for a time before blowing out a long sigh and hesitantly agreeing that perhaps more knowledge would be helpful. It is hard to determine if he is relieved or uneasy to have the help of his friends or others on this intensely personal wound he has carried so long.

 

[Jeremy]

12/18/21​

Gribitz is awoken in the night by the sole survivor of the snake swarms that escaped the Yuan-Ti lair. It seeks guidance from his dark master. Gribitz hasn’t the foggiest idea what to advise and stalls, making coffee for them both. An odd sight. Afterwards he tells him to go eat and be fruitful and multiply. In the morning Grath awakens and rolls his eyes at Gribitz story, but is interrupted before getting down to business with Rho by a knock at the door as the famous alchemist Thromshfulsk Gnovhir has tracked us down with a business opportunity.

Grath has some difficulty remembering the difference between purple worms and wyverns but eventually reaches an agreement of 225 platinum pieces in return for as many of the reagents collected from some of the dangerous creatures the party has slain. Grath runs upstairs to check on Rho and get the materials. Rho shoves the bag of holding out the door and is not in the mood to talk after the events of yesterday. Grath returns to the alchemist who proudly shows off his large mobile shop and closes the deal.

Gribitz demands to know how the shifty salesman found the party. Thromshfulsk reports that he overheard talk of our purple worm haul at a local tavern and tracked us down from that. After business is concluded, Grath goes back to check on Rho. Rho still isn’t in the mood to talk, and only gives the priest a patient stare through his cracked door. Grath tries to fling the door open with magic but Rho is too heavy and holds both the door and his glare. Grath gestures in frustration and imperiously decrees Rho should make his bed and join the rest of us downstairs.

Breakfast is interrupted by a messenger pigeon delivering notice that the Bishop has made time in his schedule to consecrate the shrine Grath has been working on. The window of time given is in three days which gives Grath pause but after thinking for a moment he scrawls a hasty reply of acknowledgement.

There is some discussion about calling in favors from Clorox, the Rat King, or others to gather information about Rho’s tribe and even Laz pipes in wanting to help. Grath pushes hard for resolution and with the worsening of Rho’s condition is even willing to reveal Rho’s secret to the tribe he fled from to seek advice. Gribitz feels bad for Rho and climbs up in his lap to hug him as Grath stubbornly reiterates that the need to find a cure being more important than any pain or shame Rho feels and advocates pushing through it.

Veldra asks if the tribe will even want to speak to Rho. Grath asks if maybe there are other tribes that can be asked but Rho doesn’t know of any aside from his own and doesn't want to answer Veldra's question. Gribitz asks Rho if his tribe would welcome his return, when Rho answers probably yes, Gribitz starts crying.

The party heads to the Temple of Faiths in uncomfortable silence. Upon arriving, Grath tracks down Zenir, the cleric of Bahamut after his mid-morning prayers. Rho is forced to introduce himself, but Zenir doesn’t recognize the name of Durvallah or have any particularly useful information regarding Rho's tribe. The tribe he DOES know of trades with a desert town in the south, Arvenfall, but he doesn’t know the name of that tribe. Rho asks about Zenir’s faith. Zenir confirms he follows the Platinum Dragon but bears no ill will against those of Rho’s heritage.

As the party is walking back through town Veldra asks about the differences between Zenir and Rho's people. Rho reveals that his tribe reveres 10 great ancestor wyrms they believe they are descended from. This is the first Rho has heard of some great Platinum Dragon. Gribitz asks what Rho’s ancestor is named but he tells the goblin that it is too long of a name and they just refer to them by their colors and titles.

While wandering, Grath hears the distinctive cries of Thromshfulsk hawking his wares and heads over to the crowd around his stall. Grath buys some antitoxins, potions of regeneration, sunblock, and some chicken nuggets for Gribitz paying for it all from what the merchant had already paid him. Back at the manor, Gribitz plants Stick in the front yard for some nutrient time. Stick rapidly grows into a large tree and gets to spread his branches and roots across the grounds. Rho immediately retreats to his room to get away from all the attention and questions he’s been put through today. Grath checks on his shrine only to find Stick's roots breaking into the cellar. He grumbles and hunkers down over a bowl of water to seek omens.

Afterwards, Grath teases Veldra some in Celestial making her head spin. That night Rho’s sleep is interrupted by the bag man re-emerging from the bag of holding and making another attempt on his life. Rho awakes in a fury and smashes his room to kindling bashing furniture and the bag man around and smashing holes in the floor, ceiling, and walls. While everyone rushes to his aid, Grath arrives and banishes the creature, sending it back to whatever dimension it comes from.

Gribitz tries to poke fun at Rho for wrecking his room while Grath heals the damage and tries to check if Rho is ok as the dragonborn growls low in his throat at Gribitz who beats a hasty retreat with a lame excuse. Not even Veldra is able to really get through to Rho in his state and as everyone retreats to their rooms the last thing they hear is Rho dragging his mattress off the ruined frame of his bed to go back to sleep on the floor.

In the morning, Gribitz is awoken again by the snake survivor who has found more followers and he anoints and passes his blessing onto the snake to be the new dark master if only to absolve himself of the responsibility.

Laz is Lazandrias, at this point in the story the party knows him as the talking spellbook and sometimes advisor of their former ally Flint who after his exorcism in Lake's Nest decided his love of books was greater than his love of constantly being in mortal danger and constantly on the wrong side of the law. Flint, not Laz. Laz elected to continue with the party on to the capital. As for the bagman that attacked Rho in the night, this is the second time it has emerged from our bag of holding which is why it is typically carried by Rho. How it keeps coming back or why, we don't know.

 

[Jeremy]

1/1/22​

The rest of the party awakens to the sounds of the festival. Gribitz rushes out to party. There are people mostly discussing parties later that night but some are getting their pregame on and dancing in the streets. Gribitz does what he can to get sloshed dancing along with them.

There is a banging on the mansion door and an announcement of an impatient visitor. Grath opens the door to see the shapeshifting Gingor in his persona as the proprietor of the Fresh Food Inn. His expression is sour. He offers to pay the group to save his business. He reports that snakes have been overrunning his business for the last couple weeks and now an unusually large snake has evicted him. He wants the snakes gone! Grath is tired of snakes. Apparently the largest snake defenestrated Gingor.

As a downpayment Gingor offers ten gold pieces. Grath promises we’ll look into it later today. Gingor shifts form into a woman and begrudgingly wanders off to find enjoyment in the festival. The party decides to take care of the business and first retrieves Gribitz who just wants to keep partying. After Veldra scoops him up, the party heads to the Fresh Food inn.

Inside the giant constrictor that had been guarding the cultist mausoleum is perched up on the counter devouring other snakes. Grath asks if Gribitz can ask the snakes to leave, else they will be exterminated.

Gribitz and the snake hiss back and forth at each other. Negotiations reach an impasse as the snake would prefer to eat us rather than leave. Veldra casually slices a couple of the snakes on the way to the biggest one while Gribitz entangles a few more in vines that burst through the floorboards. One of the snakes manages to put his fangs into Grath’s arms but he rolls his eyes and reiterates how tired of snakes he is, barely noticing its venom.

Rho stomps across the bar and slams his great maul down where the snake was, shattering the counter top. Grath’s creepy disembodied hands float around the bar punching snakes while he makes others rot away to dust with his necromancy. Not to be undone, blackness begins to overtake Rho’s eyes slightly and smashes the head of the giant snake so hard that it atomizes into a fine red mist that necrotizes as it dissipates.

The Fresh Food Inn is saved. Mostly. It's a little beat up. Grath tries to clean up some of the property damage, Rho investigates for a cellar that allowed the snakes in. Gribitz drinks up stale ale from various tankards around and dances with his vines until they fall limp. Eventually the party declares this place is clean and returns across the district to the haunted manse they have made their home.

Grath sets about cleaning the mansion top to bottom even though the bishop will only be consecrating the shrine in the wine cellar. Rho enters his shattered bedroom with a disappointed sigh and settles down on his mattress on the floor. The Bishop Lathier arrives promptly to Grath in full priestly vestments. Grath details the exorcism of the manor while Rho peaks out of his room at the two in their funny clothes and hats walking through the foyer.

The two clergymen head downstairs and perform the rites and rituals to cleanse and consecrate the shrine, blessing it to the martyr of suffering. After the work is finished Bishop Lathier complements Grath on the work he has been performing and the word that has reached him. The shadow of doubt crosses Grath’s soul and he studies the Bishop suspiciously. It’s probably the natural reaction of a necromancer to a holy man.

The Bishop provides Grath a scroll that describes a holy relic lost to their order that he believes will aid Grath in his crusade. Grath gets a little teared up and escorts the Bishop on his way after gratefully accepting the scroll. After collecting some coffee, Grath sits down to study the scroll. It describes an area south of the capital and east of Honeywood. Grath wonders if he can convince the party to search the area on the way to Arvenfall.

Rhoseth is down for anything that delays his arrival back in dragonborn lands. Gingor shows up to pay for services rendered but Grath returns ten gold for damages. Gribitz is excited to go on a treasure hunt though Grath insists LOUDLY that is NOT what this is. The party heads out, Mr. Flumph provides Grath a slice of blueberry pie as a farewell gift that he shares with Gribitz (after he pleads).

On the road south to Honeywood the party passes Thromshfulsk the salesman who calls out to them. He mentions he is heading south too. Gribitz says the guy looks suspicious but Rho reminds him he just accepted chicken nuggets from him a couple days ago. The party bids him good journey and heads south along the main road.

The first day passes uneventfully. But the second day a pack of goblins riding wild boars come across our path that turn out to be the TuskTakers. The renamed remnants of a warband the party had defeated and Gribitz had accidentally given new purpose. The little shaman greets them warmly and wishes them well reminding them that must humans don't have tusks to take. By nightfall of the second day, the party reaches Honeywood and are rather surprised to see some dryads wandering the town. While the party had previously negotiated a peace between the forest spirits and the town which makes its trade by (responsibly now) collecting the sweet sap from the trees.

Gribitz visits Talion the young noble scion and his pet Mr. Fluffles the al-miraj, happy to have the chance to see them. Afterwards he tries to bluff his way into Kruk’s kitchen but he tries the same exact lie as their last visit and it doesn’t work this time either. Grath is NOT amused when Gribitz is plopped down by Kruk next to him and swears by Ilmater’s broken body to banish Gribitz to another plane if he makes any more trouble.

Veldra asks Kruk if anything new has been going on in Honeywood. He tells her about the Fall’s Harvest festival and how neat it was to have the creatures of the forest participate. Rho asks about the other end of the bargain, Kruk admits having to limit their quotas of lumber and honey is an adjustment but Grath points out it is better than having workers kidnapped and killed.

With Gribitz cowed, Grath enjoys a peaceful meal and nights sleep without having to police the troublesome goblin. In the morning Veldra watches Rho’s morning ritual of unwrapping and rewrapping the colored strips that form the grip of his maul. Gribitz emerges for some breakfast and is later joined by Thromshfulsk at the bar. Gribitz eyes him sideways. Throm asks if we’re leaving town soon and Gribitz accuses him of trying to horn in on our treasure hunt.

Throm effects astonishment that the party is seeking treasure too as says he claims to be on his own treasure hunt. However, he produces a map and points to an X on it where he says a tower inhabited by creatures that could be valuable components for him. He offers to share the location of the tower and whatever valuables might be within in return for someone to clear out the place so he can collect the remains of its guardian beasts. He offers ten platinum a piece for the mercs that will do the work.

He believes the creatures inside the tower include a chimera specifically that he wants the poison and blood of. Additionally some gricks that he wants to grind up the beaks of. Also he shows a doodle of an intellect devourer he claims can be rendered for potions that gift psychic powers. Finally he asks if the party is interested. Gribitz, being a moron, nods enthusiastically.

Grath goes to get the others to discuss while Gribitz argues for half up front and gets it much to Kith’s delight. Gribitz asks if they can take anything they find in the tower so long as they leave the corpses for Throm to harvest. He agrees to that and the party makes ready to raid the wizard’s tower. Rho quietly counts his blessings for yet another distraction delaying his inevitable homecoming.

Grath is a Twilight Cleric of Ilmater. While he imagines himself as a beacon of righteousness and humility his frequent use of spells that cause necrotic damage or interact with the dead has led to a running joke that he is a necromancer which he vehemently denies and repeatedly admonishes the party, or at least Gribitz, to not say out loud.

 

[Jeremy]

1/8/22​

South of town the ruins of the tower rise on the other side of a river that crosses a clearing. The tower is in poor repair with fallen pillars about and the upper structure of the tower is nowhere to be found. Only the stairs leading up to the foundation remain to tell of the tower's previous location. While looking across at the ruins several monstrous worms emerge from around them and their heads split into terrifying tentacles and reveal hooked beaks as they charge us.

Veldra and Rho spring into action, cutting the abominations down. Grath piles the bodies together for Throm and Gribitz sticks his head into one of the tunnels the gricks burrowed out of. No one is able to tell what is down there but the tunnel is about grick sized so the druid collapses it.

The party crosses the shallow river and looks up at the ruins but doesn’t see any clues. Grath takes some time and anoints his eyes revealing a flat cylinder of illusion magic. Atop the foundation is a circle broken in the stone. While examining it, wing beats draw the party’s eyes to the sky where a huge multiheaded creature swoops down and strafes the front line with an inferno.

The chimera thunders down to the stone and people circle around to fight it. Magical script in draconic appears in the air as Ratty and Veldra cross the illusion spell. Grath reaches out and curses it and spectral hands appear all over it, restraining it, blinding it, deafening it, and trying to prevent it from fighting back. The three heads of the chimera speak independently with the lion promising to devour Gribitz, the dragon lusting after the treasures of the party, and the goat calling out obscenities as one does.

With the three heads distracted by different targets, its attacks aren’t very effective at first so it settles down to focus on the priest cursing it. Grath retreats under the assault and summons up more hands to pummel the monstrosity. Rho roars to get its attention and slams into the beast recklessly.

All six eyes of the chimera spin around in wild panic and it tries to flee but covered in hands and surrounded it is cut down as it attempts to flee. Rho and Grath watch it begin to rapidly deteriorate and Grath springs into action to try to collect some vials of chimera blood and milk its buttsnake4thhead for venom.

Grath is particularly wounded after the fight and requests an obscene amount of goodberries and through sheer force of willpower masticates and chokes them all down. The words floating in draconic are quickly deciphered by Grath who reads them backwards in Draconic causing the stone to melt away and a stair spiraling into darkness to be revealed. Grath plunges into the darkness relying on his faith to buoy him as the sun’s light is unable to reach into the depths.

There are multiple 20 feet tall steel doors below engraved with the image of whispering cloaked figures, the image of a sword stabbing a heart, and the final door has a very detailed anatomical rendering of a heart. There are humanoid bones strewn around the bottom of the stone floor and the stairs above seal themselves closing the party in pitch dark. Grath spots a magical fake wall to the north that leads to a tunnel with a large wooden chest. When Ratty heads towards the chest, a horrid spiked pit trap opens up that nearly destroys it. Veldra manifests her echo on the other side of the trap and opens the chest before getting stabbed by a spear tipped with a message.

The message is a thick rolled up scroll that purports to be a map of the wizard’s dungeon. On the map the door with the detailed heart is a dead end, the whispering figures appears to lead to a dead end but it is connected to a tunnel which comes near the largest room on the map. The sword stabbing the heart door appears to be the main branching tunnels. Veldra is in favor of going to the dead end first. Rho agrees since it is a small area and quick to check off. All of the doors appear to have been undisturbed for centuries.

The door opens easily enough for Grath revealing a wall with many small holes in it. Grath closes the door rather than enter into the trap. Moving on to the whispering figures door, Grath opens the door and sees a short hallway with a glowing blue crystal at the end of it, a strong aura of evocation magic, and black and white blocks in the wall with one red one. The crystal launches out with powerful lightning, frying Ratty, but afterwards Grath is able to get to the red block and touch it whereupon it crumbles away to dust.

Rho wakes up Kith and warns her about the many traps down here. There are many narrow tunnels with red blocks that crumble and eventually one leads to a large feeding chamber with a large alpha grick. Ratty flees back into the narrow tunnels forcing the monsters to smash themselves into tight spaces where the party lines up javelins and spells and smashes them one by one on Veldra’s shield. Rho locks in behind her with the oni’s glaive and finishes off the alpha.

Once the party emerges into the large room Kith finally deigns to join us and start looking around for traps and treasure. Gribitz performs a ritual and calls several spirits of air, water, earth, and fire that vanish and go flitting about scouting the various narrow tunnels and shafts.

 

[Jeremy]

1/15/22​

While the little fey spirits go scouting, the party searches the immediate area. Veldra searches a cabinet while Grath excavates a copper piece. Veldra finds a bunch of crumbling paper and a metal scroll case. Grath opens the scroll case and identifies a scroll of Raise Dead. When the spirits return, Gribitz tries to draw on the floor what the girls describe. Rho goes through some barrels of glassware and finds six intact potions. One of them is labeled Potion of Labors and the others are labeled Greater Healing. There’s the rotting body of a goblin in another barrel.

After discussing the drawing the party picks a path and heads into the tunnels. One of the doors looks suspicious and when questioned by Gribitz why it looks so odd it replies somewhat offended that it is not odd, just hungry. Gribitz commiserates as he too is always hungry and offers a goodberry he promises will fill him up for the day. The "door" is surprisingly helpful afterwards, warning of several spike traps and pressure plates ahead that trigger various deadly traps. The party and the "door" make conversation for a while about the mimic's earliest memories of this underground tower, what it has seen, and why it has never left. Apparently the traps are effective in providing a steady supply of food for the mimic, usually out of some of the goblin tribes that have infested this particular level.

Grath asks what Gribitz thinks they should do about the goblins but the shaman just shrugs. The first goblin the party encounters isn't even awake. Gribitz loudly demands to know what its name is. The other goblin sputters awake startled and doesn't even seem to comprehend that it should have a name, it insists that only the boss has a name before going off on a tangent and asking suspiciously if the party has come from the demonic downstairs. Gribitz immediatley answers that they indeed have which terrifies the sleepy sentry. Gribitz just waves dismissively and tells it that it doesn’t have enough meat on its bones to justify eating it before ordering it to get out of the way so it doesn’t get squished.

At the next branching fork the party opts for the northern tunnel and comes to a locked door. Gribitz pops the lock on a door and sees some magically embiggened mushrooms much to his delight. He is distracted however when something in a barrel starts talking telepathically to him. As the voice explains that it too is a mushroom Gribitz excitedly wants to know if he is a tasty mushroom. Grath is aghast and apologizes as the entire party is suddenly able to communicate with just their thoughts. Grath immediately turns to scolding Gribitz for wanting to eat mushroom people.

Gribitz complains, “But it’s a mushroom!”

“No, mushroom PEOPLE. People FIRST.” Grath forcefully declares. But Gribitz just snorts and says, “Nuh uh, he said MUSHROOM first!”

Rho carefully opens several of the barrels looking for the talking mushroom. The one he finds actually has legs and can move were it not in a sealed barrel. It is very weak, and Rho carefully scoops it out of the barrel. Gribitz helps and waters it a little. Surprisingly the mushroom knows next to nothing about anything outside of the barrel. After some frustrating conversation it seems the little creature might have become aware only recently. Gribitz warns that as a fellow small, weak, uneducated creature everything it meets will want to kill it so it needs to make friends quickly with a big creature and stay near it if it wants to survive.

Kith finds a magic blue book and Grath flips through it but it’s all in riddles and he can’t make sense of it. Gribitz suggests the name Brain for the myconid because it talks in their brains. He offers it a goodberry which it consumes and likes and even grows from eating. Gribitz asks if he can eat Brain in return if he dies. Brain doesn't see any issue with eating the dead and agrees affably.

Further discussion is interrupted by the sleepy goblin sentry racing past the party's hallway exclaiming that it is time. The party backtracks a bit and follows the tunnel the goblin had raced down with a couple of the remaining fey spirits flitting about invisibly above and enjoying the chaos. As the party follows, goblins converge from any number of other tunnels they pass, all similarly excited that "It's time!" and all racing the same direction. Some of the tunnels the swarm of goblins pour out of and funnel through were hidden but their small forms rushing through them make them easy enough to spot in hindsight. Eventually the mass arrives at a large chamber with a crystal in the middle and a pile of rubble with a goblin that must stand five feet tall presiding from the garbage heap.

Inside the chamber Grath spots an odd chest with three humanoid skulls in it, when the priest shoves them into the bag of holding Rho in particular looks at the priest in disgust. Meanwhile the goblins swarm and dance around heap and their boss as the arcane crystal atop it begins to glow brightly. Gribitz's fey spirits get wrapped up in the commotion adding dancing lights all over the ceiling to the delight of the massed goblins who figure it is part of the ritual. As the goblin ritual reaches its apex the party watches and the glowing blue crystal turns purple. This appears to frighten the goblins who are silenced by their chieftain who starts to investigate the crystal. Gribitz shouts out from the back distractingly claiming that its purple because the big demon dragon came up from downstairs. As the goblin is lying through his teeth he goads Rho to bellowing out a roar.

Gribitz jokes that Rho can’t REALLY roar without incinerating the lot of them and which the goblin masses cower away from. The chieftain however descends from his garbage heap and immediately challenges Rho. Gribitz continues to play the court jester and ridicules the tall goblin for challenging a demon dragon. The chieftain answers by unleashing what he understands of the crystal’s magic at Gribitz who is slightly stunned. But Rho answers back with a blistering gout of fire that incinerates multiple goblins in its path but also strikes the glowing purple crystal. All color fades briefly from the arcane crystal before it switches to a blinding red color and returns Rho's dragon blast with interest incinerating more goblins on the return trip. Rho bathes in the flame and flexes his bulging muscles at Gribitz's urging to the shock and awe of the surviving goblin masses. They turn to see what their chieftains retort will be only to find that he too was incinerated in the crystal's blast. With the chief and so many other goblins charred to a crisp, the remaining goblins follow Gribitz’s urging to pay homage to the demon dragon Rho.

Veldra is dryly amused at this charade while Grath is disgusted and turns to searching for any worthwhile salvage among the goblin "treasure". The only things he finds that seem to hold any power are a magical runed platinum coin and a magical evocation necklace of small beads around the chieftain’s corpse. The arcane crystal in the center of the room and the necklace both glow blue in sync when Grath picks up the necklace. Veldra tries drawing upon her celestial heritage to cast Light on the crystal to see if it will echo her but it only flashes for a moment before going back to the pulsing blue. When Grath puts on the necklace he feels like he has the power to cast forth Magic Missiles. The magic words speak to him and he says them without hesitating but the magic missiles issue instead from the crystal striking targets indiscriminately around the room. This is too much for the remaining goblins who scatter down as many tunnels as they arrived through.

 

[Jeremy]

1/22/22​

There are various tunnels and secret passages sprawling through the dungeon that the party sets about once again exploring. In one of the rooms Gribitz finds a beating heart in a chest which he promptly picks up to investigate by licking it. When he experimentally sticks a finger in one of the valves the heart struggles and turns to dust. There is a wailing that echoes through all the tunnels followed swiftly by Grath yelling Gribitz's name. Gribitz puts his hands behind his back mutters “Oops,” and slinks backwards before He then tries to play it off as nothing bad happening and runs away.

Grath correctly reads Gribitz’s guilty behavior and demands to know what he did before recalling Gribitz’s own advice on how to get information out of a goblin by picking them up and shaking them until they talk.

Meanwhile Kith opens some chests with various shortswords, axes, and scraps of broken weapons in a room with 3 stone doors. The first two chests are untouched by time, the last one is rusted and pitted. The stone doors have swords on them. Rho tries the first door and it opens to reveal a spear trap that attacks him and nothing beyond it. Veldra tries another door but it is locked and when Gribitz tries to quietly work at it he gets nowhere.

After digging through the chest of shortswords for a while Rho finds one that is different. The sword is inscribed with Grung’s Favorite. After inspecting the sword for a bit, a secret compartment in the hilt is revealed that contains a nonsensical note that reads, “You left the key with Steve.” Grath can’t find anything magical about it or anything else in the room to give a clue. One of the spear traps in the room seems poorly maintained and seizes up, so everything may be mechanical.

The party backtracks and heads down the hallways to another room with an ornate door. A ghostly apparition invites the party to play a game. Grath interrupts him several times confirming only to find that that the door is Steve and has does in fact have a key. Steve is adamant however that he will not cough it up until someone plays a game with him. He offers a game of dice or cards. Apparently his friends in the library room started a stupid argument about owlbears and eggs and they don’t play games with Steve anymore, preferring their endless arguing and leaving Steve bored in his room for years. Gribitz sits down to play dice with Steve without any real sense of what the rules or stakes are. It is difficult to tell which of them is more delighted by the nonsense game.

Grung is one of the master’s pets according to Steve. He loves chewing swords and shields. Hearing this Veldra and Rho both shudder with apprehension. Apparently Master left the key with Steve. Gribitz says the party should leave Laz with Steve to keep him company but Grath gives the goblin a stern look. Steve continues to lament his friends arguing because it keeps them from playing with him so Grath brokers a deal wherein the party will resolve the argument so that Steve’s friend’s play with him again in return for the key. After a tug at Grath's sleeve he also stipulates the return of the copper coins Gribitz lost in his dice wagers.

Heading further down the tunnels to the secret tunnel Steve described reveals a library with 5 ghosts insulting each other and arguing. They’ve been arguing for hundreds of years. The basis of their argument is that the young of an owlbear should be called a cub, while others argue it’s a chick. Rho and Gribitz (the idiots) point out that the name is Owlet. In thanks for this service they start levitating books and scrolls into the room, terrifying Gribitz who flees in terror from the absolute horror that is flying books.

Among the treasures they offer Grath is a Tome of Understanding and a scroll of Feather Fall. When the party returns with the ghostly researches in tow, Steve happily tosses the key and won copper to the party before shifting forms and heading off to his ghostly council. He pops his head back through a wall and tells the party to head down the southern hall first because we’ll find things that will help us with Grung.

Kith carefully scouts the southern hall avoiding various traps and disabling others until she leads the party to a small room with a stone pool in it. The water glows softly and inscribed in the stone all around it are depictions of swords, crossbows, axes, and other armaments. There are multiple exits but all are sealed except for the one the party entered via. There is also a lever and the walls are patterned in a diamond grid of inch diameter holes. Veldra cautiously dips her spear into the water and there is a reaction of light. Glowing runes appear on her spear and the level of the water in the pool lowers significantly.

Gribitz and Grath take some of the water in potion vials and waterskins hoping to profit or use it later. The goblin offers a dip to Stick but he says he can’t drink it, it is too thick, though it tastes of raspberry. Gribitz licks some too though nothing happens. Grath begins a ritual to anoint his eyes with magical sight and gather more clues but In the ten minutes it takes Grath to perform his ritual the doors to the room close. The doors do not appear to have any way to open them from inside the room. Gribitz now trapped is fearful of the holes in all the walls, so Grath starts another familiar ritual to erects a force dome to shelter the party. Once it is complete he throws the lever on the floor only for a magical chime to sound and numbers in elven are slowly spoken aloud counting down from 20. As the numbers get lower there are increasingly ominous sounds of gears grinding and turning and the whole room begins to shake. Gribitz panics and rushes to pull the lever back again. Grath tries to stop him but Gribitz wiggles by and throws the lever. Everything becomes deathly still.

After a bit Rho tries to imbue his weapon with additional magic, but nothing seems to happen to his dragon-headed maul. He sets out trying to force open any of the chamber's doors or smash through them but they resist the mighty dragonborn. Grath shrugs and imbues his normal dagger and warhammer with magic before turning to Gribitz and telling him to have faith. Grath throws the lever once more and the countdown starts over. As the rumbles and booms crescendo and the countdown reaches its climax the room takes on a dark red light and the remaining water of the pool vanishes (along with all the liquid captured in skins and vials). Surprisingly all the remaining wounds of the party are healed and all the doors open including one the party hadn't noticed.

Grath comforts the hyperventilating Gribitz and the party heads into the secret tunnel to a room with 3 seemingly normal chests. Grath throws rocks and knives at the chests suspecting a trap, illusion, or even more mimics. However, there is no reaction, so Grath begins to open them but a putrid smoke begins to pour forth and asks “What is the true gift of death?”

"Not having to smell your smelly smell!" Gribitz shouts rudely as he's clutching his large nose at the rotting stench. This is apparently not the answer the specter was looking for as it responds, "I shall teach you." It then drifts through the horrid smoke to feast upon the party.

Veldra moves forward to test that theory and slashes through the ghostly form with her magic sword that tears and shreds away at its misty body only for two other wraiths to emerge from the smoke. When Rho destroys one of the specters, one of the chests in the room disintegrates to nothing. Grath fills the room with his own spirits of the faithful of Ilmater that beat the specters into wispy nothingness. There is an unfamiliar cackling that fills the dome as the last of the specters disappear. Grath finds a silver ring with runes engraved on it in the dust remains of the chests.

Eventually having exhausted all the branches of the southern hall, the party doubles back to Steve's chamber before using his key to open the east hall. On the way through the hallway there are various pitted and rusted weapons warning but no corpses. The hall opens to a wider section with multiple skittering small insects with feathered antenna, they appear to be rapidly rusting any metal they come in contact with before feeding on the powered remains. The party backs away before Rho returns with one of the chests of assorted shortswords which he scatters across the floor on one side of the hall. The creatures flock to the feast, allowing the party to slip by and down a winding stair.

Descending the winding stair, the air turns damp and moss begins to cling to the walls, growing thicker with every step into the depths. Eventually the party comes to a room with three identical steel doors. Gribitz looks around for clues but doesn’t come to any useful conclusions. Veldra tries lighting the long extinguished torch sconces. Gribitz finds some rubble from a section of caved in wall and tries to tunnels through it. Rho just opens the northwest door even as Veldra's echo opens the southwest door. Rho's door has a short tunnel with a spike trap before a sharp turn and a seemingly dead end. Gribitz notices movement at the bottom of the trap and converses with some rats feeding on rotting remains. They warn of all kinds of dangers like bats and brains with beaks and tentacles. Gribitz doesn't know what to make of this and neither does the party as the goblin makes a mess of the translation.

The party heads back to Veldra's door as Grath wagers it will be a brain monster they find next, Gribitz takes this bet as Veldra rolls her eyes. Gribitz shouts excitedly as a massive sparkling shiny rainbow-shelled snail comes into view with spiked antennae flailing about. As with many other snails, it is not particularly fast so the party just keeps away from it marvelling at its appearance and trying to figure out how its shell got so shiny. Grath and Gribitz come to the boneheaded conclusion that it must eat lots of shiny rocks. When it reaches the door out of its chamber it becomes apparent that the snail's shell is too big for it to make it through.

 

[Jeremy]

2/5/22​

Speaking with snails had always taxed Gribitz's limited attention span but the trapped nature of the huge creature awakens his shepherd instincts and he can't resist the tug. He asks the snail how long it has been down here, how long it has been trapped, if it has any friends, or if it wants him to try help him escape. The painfully slow response eventually comes that it doesn’t particularly care. About any of that. The rebuff rolls right off Gribitz's shoulders and he just moves on to much more fun things to talk to. He summons up the girls from the Feywild again to have a look about but as they zip off and return they don’t see any trouble initially. Beyond one of the nearest doors comes the sound of slithering, Gribitz suggests it could be more gricks. Veldra opens the door and confirms that it is a few of them, dispatching the first. Rho roasts a few and some of the fey spirits decide to get in on the fun and confuse a few of the others which begin infighting to the titters and giggles of the tiny fey.

With little effort expended, the gricks are efficiently dispatched. Beyond are more hallways and tunnels and rooms and doors. The flail snail calls out and asks if it can have any of the boulders it saw in the grick room while also happily devouring one of the gricks that had fled into its reach. The party and their fey scouts investigate the various paths. One of the rooms has a knightly statue that is bedecked with several rings. There is a desk with some disintegrating parchment describing a ritual and a recipe and carvings and something about giving life. The statue has rings on every finger except one, Grath puts the ring from the previous floor on the one empty finger, animating it as a stone golem. Gritibz insists he is the master of the golem and it insists he is not. Gribitz persists as does the apparently unintelligent golem for ten minutes while the others try to piece together clues from the drawings and schematics.

The golem speaks with Rho and Veldra about feeling the presence of its master nearby but he doesn’t know where. They ply the golem with other questions but the simple automaton doesn't know what his name is, what his master's name is, how long ago he was created, or how long he has been dormant. During the discussion the final ring slips off again and it resumes a resting state. As the golem would not accept any commands from any but its master and as it didn't seem to have any standing instructions, the party leaves it as is for now.

The party surprises another sleeping goblin and Gribitz falls back into his role as the herald/crony of the terrible dragon/demon Rho. The goblin exile is panicked and rapidly babbles that the goblins above were traitors and that the boss still lives down here. Gribitz lies and convinces him Rho already killed that boss too and is the new boss of the whole tower. The party pumps the goblin for information about the various creatures ("new thralls") on this level. It relays that some of the goblins have had their brains eaten and are puppetted by brain things. There are small green things that babble words and have paralyzing eyes, also floating tentacle brains that float down in ambush from above, and finally things that sound like the gelatinous cubes that Flint had previously fought with the rug of smothering. Rho is very uncomfortable with being the center of all these lies but Gribitz manipulates the goblin into heading around and disarming traps it knows of. Unfortunately it dies in the first trap it tries to disarm.

The girls find a little gazer babbling, “Why did Ocelot leave me? Where are you?” over and over. Gribitz roasts it when it comes into view with overwhelming bluster that just confuses the little abberation more. Moving past the addled beholderkin the party finds the remains of some former group of explorers' camp site. Among the abandoned belongings is a locket with the image of a man and woman within. In a large trunk are the remains of food and the remains of people, at least two of them. The party is various levels of appalled ranging from Grath's horror, to Veldra's distant look, to Rho's stoicism, to Gribitz's casual goblin opinion that everything is always only seconds away from a gruesome end.

In the next room there is a barrel of preserved blood going bad and beyond that a large bed that Gribitz unwisely climbs into revealing another large mimic that tries to eat him. Rho however is very experienced in wrecking furniture and between him and Veldra they quickly free Gribitz before he’s too roughed up. Gribitz just claims this reinforces his point.

Kith pockets some gold from a chest and bribes Gribitz when she gets called out on it. Brain pipes up that it detects the spores of its own kind somewhere nearby unfortunately when it hops down to waddle that way it goes right into the loving embrace of a gelatinous cube. Gribitz swiftly pulls Brain free with supernatural (and completely uncharacteristic) strength just before Rho spews jets of fire all over the gelatinous creature.

After the giant ooze is dispatched the party finds a whole section of the tower tunnels that have been colonized by myconids. The fungus have apparently been fighting duergar as several of the dark dwarves' corpses have been animated as guardians by the myconid spores. The myconids are grateful for Brain being added to their number and offer to introduce us to their patriarch that can answer the questions of the party. Their colony is fairly sizeable and the patriarch is massive. He offers to let us rest in safety among his people and Gribitz is ecstatic to stay there. He moves around tending to the mushroom farms and enriching them with a combination of his druidic magic and his own goblin love of tending to mushrooms. The myconids are even more appreciative of the enthusiastic work of the shaman enriching their home with years of growth in but hours of work.

 

[Jeremy]

2/12/22​

In the morning Brain and his new big brother, Shroom, speak with Gribitz briefly and mention that the patriarch wishes to speak with them. Gribitz is in no hurry to leave and takes his time getting ready. Grath too spends his morning in prayer and asks about the nature of the master of the tower but receives the cryptic answer of “A friend.” There is some consternation and puzzling over this with some hand waving and others having a sense of dread.

Eventually the party assembles before the patriarch of the myconid colony. He warns of a purple creature that sends his minions to take over the minds of others. A squid faced creature in robes with spindly hands that is incredibly close by. Gribitz asks if the myconid are part of the Green. They aren’t sure, but they live in harmony with living things. They have been here for five of their generations of seventy years but the patriarch has persisted from the beginning. Gribitz asks if the squid creature is killed if his immortality will persist.

Over fifty years ago some other humanoids came down here for plunder and spoke with the myconids. At the mention of their books Gribitz goes off on an unhinged diatribe on the nature of books how they are the flayed corpses of trees and plants tortured and scarred with dark markings until they give way to portals to the Far Realms in their pain. This is somewhat founded in the goblin's experience with the possessed cultist writings that functioned as portals to madness that consumed the eyes of their brainwashed devotees but Gribitz almost never provides any context. The patriarch is disturbed by this tangent but Gribitz reassures him that he has come down here to rid this place of all the book monsters. The patriarch acknowledges the spirit with which the promises are made and gifts the party 4 healing toadstools that heal 1d4 HP each.

Gribitz asks about how the myconid spores work and the Patriarch explains as best he can. Veldra is creeped out knowing that the reason she can hear the thoughts of the mushrooms is that their spores are infiltrating her brain. Gribitz is kinda excited by their connection to the Green and tries to inhale as many spores as possible to Grath’s horror who clamps his mouth shut and tells him he’ll give him a bath if he keeps this up.

The party resumes their exploration of the subterranean sections of the wizard tower. Gribitz comes across some empty bookshelves that he sets on fire. The group continues to discuss the ramifications of the tentacle monster the patriarch had describe possibly being a friend with much confusion and indecision. Grath opens a door to find two mind controlled creatures, a goblin and a duergar. They are completely unresponsive as if ensorcelled but are still breathing. Grath studies them to see if they are living creatures that are being controlled or if they are animated corpses. None of his theories bring him any comfort so he closes the door and asks for suggestions.

Grath suggests waiting for them to come to us, Gribitz suggests Rho holding the door while the others blast the horrid puppets from the safety of the hall. Veldra sends in her dimensional echo and decapitates the first of the sentries only for a four-clawed brain monster to burst out of its skull like hatching from an egg and work its way to its slimy feet. While the duergar meat puppet dispatches the echo, the brain creature leaps up and flings itself up at the disgusted and surprised Veldra who can’t get her shield up in time.

It begins vibrating in place and tries to take over Veldra’s mind. Veldra’s face squints with pain as blood begins to trickle from her nose and ears, her eyes go bloodshot, but with a hint of angelic halo behind her, she fights off the invasion of horrible aberration. Kith shoots it off her and it falls dead and twitching to the ground. Rho dispatches the second guard but again a horrible creature brain monster emerges from its cranium however this time Grath reacts swiftly and puts it into a magical slumber.

After pondering what to do for entirely too long for Gribitz’s liking, Rho finally smashes its sleeping form like an overripe melon. Rho scoops up the one Kith shot and places it into his bag for the mad alchemist while Gribitz incinerates the remains of the smashed one along with the horrible bookshelf beyond it [[at the cost of a magical scroll that was supposed to be treasure]]. The door to the north is locked but Grath searches the sentrys' bodies for the keys to their master’s chambers. Beyond is a long eerily silent hallway. The hallway comes to a closed door with the sounds of scratching feet, gurgling speech, and turning pages.

Grath suggests Banishing the master while the rest of us deal with the minions to grim nods all around. Grath prays and the light around him dims to twilight as he goes to open the door. But the mindflayer beyond has been forewarned by his eyes and ears throughout his demesne and when Grath opens the door he is greeted by a horrifying psionic scream that scrambles the brains of Ratty, Grath, and Rho.

Gribitz scoots up and sees the horrid monstrosities beyond and calls out to the Green to devour these horrid aberrations from beyond and roots and vines burst forth from the ground to hold the brain creatures fast. One of them manages to wiggle free eventually but Veldra rushes in to manifest her echo and unleashes her incarnation to slash magically at the twisted body of the illithid. She wounds it repeatedly over and over but the creature does not fall.

Urdullak gathers itself and unleashes another horrible mind blast that rocks everyone but Veldra who holds strong. Gribitz tries to help his friends and burn the mindflayer down as the minions of the illithid begin tearing at the mental defenses of Veldra, trying to worm their way into her mind.

Grath struggles free of his haze as Veldra begins to falter, unable to hold back the unending psychic onslaughts just as Rho finally regains his senses and roars into the room. His fiery breath incinerates the remaining minions. Grath summons all of his holy power and unleashes an enormous beam of radiant light but Urdullak’s form twists away from it and vanishes from sight as he turns briefly invisible.

Veldra rushes around the remaining tangle of roots and vines searching for the weakened illithid before her echo manifests itself and severs the illithid’s head from its shoulders. Grath comes into the room, chugging potions but seeing no sign of the “Friend” his divine oracle spoke of. He gestures and touches his eyes, peering into the ethereal plane but doesn’t spy any other lurking creatures.

Gribitz moves to set the library ablaze before its books can infect and unleash more monsters from beyond the natural, the goblin is convinced all these brain and alien creatures are the result of so many books being left to do as they wish. Rho however gently takes Gribitz's hands and closes them, shaking his head and bidding him wait until Grath can find more answers. Grath uncovers a modron in a crate which he doesn’t recognize and motions Veldra over, but her head is still splitting from all the psychic assaults she endured.

Veldra locates a potion of regeneration. Gribitz and Rho sit down at a table to recover and Gribitz dumps out some of his pockets for him. Grath starts going through the books that Urdullak was working on, most of them are arcane, some of them deal with physiology and anatomy, and finally a few are alchemical in subject matter. Grath dives into them with a vengeance and notices Urdullak’s notes and journal where he was working though it is oddly marked as owned by someone abbreviated only as A. Grath starts at the beginning and reads of the wizard who founded the tower, he pockets the journal much to Gribitz’s fear.

Gribitz recounts again the necromancers and wizards and cultists they have repeatedly witnessed being taken over by books but Rho points out that that requires a magical book. Grath insists the journal he pocketed was not magical and Gribitz believes him.

The twitching headless corpse of the mind flayer on the floor has a tome chained to his hip, a spellbook. Grath begins to suspect that Urdullak was attempting to study the former master of the tower’s arcane writings and copy his spells into his own formulae. As things are wrapping up, Gribitz asks again to torch the remaining books. But Grath defends them as learned treatises that are non-magical and burning them would be wrong.

Grath learns that the unnamed wizard trained Steve and the other now dead sages we encountered earlier. Grath suggests that he believes the wizard still exists in some form somewhere in the structure. Gribitz suggests asking the "golem" (the modron the priest had unconvered). It introduces itself as Manasdras. Grath asks it if it knows where its master is or if it can lead us to where he was. The modron leads off to the wizard’s bedchamber. The bed there radiates evocation magic but Grath cannot figure out what for.

In the first chest in the bedchamber is a pouch and a slab of iron. Gribitz asks Manasdras what his master’s name was and he explodes. Disappointed, the party continues on. The slab of iron has runes on the bottom similar to the golem ring. There is a small golden key in the pouch. One of the other chests is locked, the key unlocks it and crumbles away. Inside is an old leather tome. The other half of A.’s writing.

Gribitz rolls his eyes and mutters that this is going to take a while and hops up on the bed only to be electrocuted. He flies off the bed and cursing closes himself in one of the chests instead. Grath reads on and finds that the bed is trapped and the runed iron is the protection against it. He smugly points out to Gribitz that books are useful. Gribitz opens the chest just enough to flip Grath off before closing the chest again.

As the journal continues, the handwriting deteriorates as does his tone of frustration with his apprentices. He switches to golem assistants and begins digging his subfloors. By the end of the memoir A. turns to complaining about running out of room and needing a third volume. Finally Veldra and Grath discuss how A. would access these chambers quickly and begin exploring again.

They find a room with two shattered pots and three goblins. The room is filled with mist.

 

[Jeremy]

2/19/22​

The goblins claim to serve the great mother, they are the ones that shattered the pots and that made all the mist. They claim the great mother birthed all goblins. As the mist doesn't seem to be doing anything, Gribitz feeds and talks with the goblins for a while. Grath searches a bookshelf and examines the remains of the pots. The pots and mist all give off Conjuration auras. Grath finds and takes an unbroken pot. He also finds a scroll of magic missile amidst the mostly eaten and crumbling books, the books look gnawed on as if the starving goblins were trying to eat them.

There are some other hallways and crystals and even a statue that radiates magic of school Grath doesn't recognize. Written in draconic at its base is: “Those who come near may come with open arms, those who go away may not trust their backs.” Grath approaches with arms wide and gives it a hug before shuffling out without turning his back. Gribitz repeats, Veldra and Rho only give it a pat on the shoulder. Kith hugs it enthusiastically. The party passes the statue without incident with Grath confident it is because of his precautions and the others wondering if someone is playing them for fools.

In one of the rooms are a nest of stirges that are stirred to activity when their door opens, Gribitz immediately slams the door and runs away, having no desire to be a juice box. Several of the giant mosquitos slam into the door but are unable to get it open again. The party heads another other way and closes another door between them and the bloodsuckers. Gribitz finds and climbs into a wine cask that is half full. He manages to drink a good deal of it before Grath realizes what is happening and drags the goblin out. There is a locked door that Gribitz is too drunk and Kith is too distracted to open.

In a box, Gribitz finds dust and a small rust monster he scrambles back from. Grath, thinking quickly scoops up the box and places it before the locked metal door. The door is big enough that by the time the little guy dusts enough of it to fall, it is already stuffed and curls up to nap. As the party continues to explore a discussion about how the goblins get past the stirges comes to no convincing conclusions. Especially since the party exhausts their directions that don't go through stirge territory. When Grath heads back to the door there are several stirge stuck in it by their proboscis. He counts nine left in the chamber beyond as he peeks through a crack in the door. With the tolling of a dolorous bell Grath rots one of them away one by one with his necromantic power as Rho makes sure the door opens not an inch past what the priest needs to see.

When there are only a few left Rho barbecues all but the last one which flees at top speed. Gribitz enjoys the crunchy fried morsels, gnawing on a leg and sucking the hot grease off his fingers. Seeing the gusto with which the goblin enjoys the snack, Rho suggests bringing some additional charred shells as tribute to the goblin broodmother. He piles some into his bag of holding carefully avoiding the ones rotted by Grath's necromancy.

Gribitz checks one hall but it takes him a while to mark all the traps. Grath wanders away to explore while the goblin works only to stumble into a coven of grell, though he does notice them just before they can ambush him. He defensively summons up his spirit guardians and braces for their assault. They wrap their tentacles around him, poisoning and paralyzing him. The grell swarm over him, trying to peel him out of his armor when Rho charges into the room and slams into them. Veldra runs in right behind, her echo manifesting ahead of them both and slashing tentacles from the paralyzed priest. Gribitz also comes running but his short little legs barely bring him to the edge of combat in time to see Grath shake off his poison.

Rho and Veldra successfully cut Grath free only to be wrapped up themselves as the horrid brain creatures try to feed on the nearest warm bodies. The poison works its way into Rho’s system, paralyzing him. Ratty bursts from the earth to try to leap on the one eating Rho to eat it. Grath shakes free of the remaining dead tentacles entangling him and hurriedly casts spell after spell trying to save Rho in turn who had just saved him.

Grath is distraught to find all of that his side tunnel only lead back to where the party had already been. Gribitz catches a whiff of weakness and taunts the priest mercilessly before running away down another tunnel when he reaches the limits of the priest's patience. Through a secret passage the party finds tool chests full of levers, gears, spikes, and trap making supplies. There is a note saying “Alexander will never find this place, he has gone mad. I hope he doesn’t find the others.” As Grath muses over the name, Laz chimes in about it. Grath for once actually takes up a conversation with the transformed wizard. The intelligent spellbook normally talks so far above the party's comprehension that they had fallen into a habit of shouting "Shut up Laz!" nearly everytime the disembodied voice began speaking up. This time however, Laz feels like he’s met or known of Alexander at some point. The confusion of the book and his vulnerability in not knowing something combined with lamenting being constantly banished to the Bag of Holding pulls at Grath's conscience, so he offers to keep him out and in his own backpack if he can avoid drawing attention to the party.

Gribitz finds a room with rotten bags of dirt that potatoes are growing out of. There is also a acidic smelling pool of at the back that lashes out with a pseudopod at Gribitz. Gribitz is hopping mad at filth that fights back and repeatedly throws fire bolt after fire bolt after fire bolt while scrambling out of reach until the dark mass bubbles and collapses in on itself. Checking around further there is another insane and confused gazer, some torturer implements, and barrels of horrible moving, living flesh that screams when it is set it on fire by the goblin who declares this is the mad work of books.

The disturbed party continues onward and finds a spiked cage imprisoning another mound of flesh that Gribitz similarly sets aflame but this one forms into a screaming mass of mouths and eyes and starts rolling towards and through its bars. Rho and Veldra begin slashing at it the horrid mass but its gibbering madness overcomes Rho’s mind. Thankfully Kith kills it before Rho can do much more than stare dazedly off into space as dark whispers of destruction argue with nonsensical chaos inside his stunned mind.

There are more doors and chests and even more seemingly abandoned goblins to free and feed. There is some discussion about what is to be gained by talking to the gobin broodmother with the concession that she probably at least knows about her domain. The party begins following a goblin who calls himself Grok that promises to make a fine offering of the party. In return they are shown the way around more traps (and treasures), doing their best to survive the mad world they have been trapped in for so long now. Gribitz is hopeful the goblin mother will have some answers though the others have reservations that will soon prove wise.

 

[Jeremy]

2/26/22​

Grok leads the party around to a large room with two knightly statues and a crystal ball. Even though the goblin continues through the door to the south the crystal ball draws the attention of the party. Grath investigates the crystal ball and its pedestal, but once he spots a language he can't identify he decides it safest to leave the orb untouched. The party hurries after Grok.

Kith helpfully points out that we forgot the orb which she holds aloft to Grath's horror. He slaps it out of her hands where it shatters on the ground with a crash followed by an accusatory voice demanding an explanation and some loud sound from the previous chamber where the twin statutes were. Grath hurriedly closes the door behind us and shoos everyone away to the south.

Gribitz tries to pick up the trail behind Grok but the stone of the tower doesn't leave many clues. The fact that the available paths split and multiply 6 times and more doesn't help. There are more flail snails, pots (one of which is filled with water that Gribitz decides to magically dunk on Grath as he seems so mad), and finally Grok himself, utterly oblivious that he had lost the party for a time. Grok points the party past more traps and doors. However the party gets distracted again by a parchment wall behind which they find a hidden leather scroll case. Some of the writings in the scrolls talk about a large central chamber Alexander was very invested in protecting. This time however, Gribitz keeps an eye on Grok and the party manages to catch up again without incident. Grath keeps reading about summoning rituals and daily life for Alexander as Veldra shepherds him along and watches out for him.

Eventually the party arrives at a huge room filled with debris and rocks and goblins including a massive obese goblin. Rho gets out the barbecued stirge and offers them up to the broodmother as an offering. Seemingly appeased by the tasty offering, the burbling blob of a goblin speaks for a time about the blue creatures with weapons and armor that come through the wall and attack the goblins. Gribitz is enchanted by the majesty of the broodmother and is drawn closer and closer. As he reaches her side she casually scoops the tiny goblin up, opens her massive maw, and casually begins eating the shaman, feet first without ceasing her conversation. Gribitz screams in pain, snapping out of his fascination as the party suddenly reacts as well and rushes in, slashing and stabbing their way through any goblins that move to block the path to their queen.

The broodmother is too large to be much of a combatant, but her massive girth also shields her from many of the thrusts an stabs of the party trying to slay her, and her wretched howls of pain rapidly draw more and more goblin reinforcements from the labyrinthine tunnels. By the time she gurgles out her death scream, the caverns rumble with the footsteps of answering hordes of goblins that all rush to the defense of their mother. Gribitz channels the Green through Stick and terrifying dense growths of thorn vines erupt all through the hallways, skewering the charging goblins but no matter how many fall to the wall of thorns, their crazed fascination only draws more through the spines and vines. The horror only escalates as a baby goblin chews its way out of the corpse of the broodmother and soon expires. In the end the halls fall silent and the party stands around staring at each other. Except for Gribitz who searches around for goblin treasure and declares the greatest of it is a golden femur he holds aloft proudly.

One side effect of the massive flood of goblins converging on the broodmother's chamber is the vast number of doors and side tunnels that all stand open now, along with a fair number of recklessly sprung traps that are now revealed and avoidable. With so many directions to explore, Gribitz once more chants his summoning spell until he is surrounded by a faerie circle of mushrooms that explodes into little colored sprites that giggle and vanish in every direction before coming back and excitedly telling of thwa they saw. However, none of them found any exit to the complex. Grath decides that the best course is to continue seeking answers in writings and heads for the large well appointed room of bookshelves, desks, and ornate stone pools filled with a yellow fluid the pixies describe.

When they arrive Grath begins to read the increasingly paranoid ramblings of a rapidly declining Alexander journaling his descent into madness. Gribitz warns about the dangers of the books, the madness they always cause, and the pool of yellow liquid that is sure to come alive and attack them like the gray pool had earlier. Before the goblin's crazed theories can be dismissed the pool indeed animates and attacks. Gribitz sings “I told you!” as the party dispatches the abberant oozes with relative ease.

As the party resumes their searching of side tunnels there is a sound of screeching glass coming from Grath's bags. When he investigates he finds the glass orb from earlier reforming itself. Once it is whole an imperious disembodied voice begins immediately disparaging the manners and intellect of the foul ruffians that abducted, sullied, and clumsily shattered it. The orb refers to itself as the Orb of Fates. It promises swift retribution on the party in the form of its stone guardians any moment now. As the party already has a talking inanimate object, Lazandrias leaps to the party's defense and he and the Orb of Fates really do not get along at all.

When he can get a word in, Grath asks the Orb about Alexander. The Orb would much rather argue with the more intelligent Lazandrias than the clumsy cretins that dropped it but it does at least acknowledge that Alexander is dead and controls the exit from the tower. When polite or aggrieved questions fail to make progress, Gribitz resorts to increasingly rude and crude insults, manipulations, and suggestions about the Orb's limited faculties and knowledge until the Orb becomes so offended it disintegrates to powder. When the party eventually comes across the orb's chamber again, the golems immediately animate and attack but it is revealed they are actually illusions.

Suspicious, Gribitz checks to see if the orb is still actually on the pedestal under illusion and indeed finds it. The Orb is somewhat different in personality having been caught, even laughing somewhat nervously at the jokes and threats of the party. It is certainly more forthcoming with answers. As it is questioned it reveals the location of a hidden door covered in skulls behind which is a terrible monster that will try to devour the heads of any that come near it. He also reiterates that while Alexander is deceased, he can still be conversed with via a spell and that only with his assistance will the party be able to leave his tower.

The party agrees to take the Orb with it for now (to the harrumphing of Laz), and it guides them to a large red door covered in chains and skulls. Following the Orb's instructions the door is opened revealing a large writhing mass of tentacles and teeth within.