You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8500580" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 23: LAND OF THE WILD MOOGLESPC Roster:Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 5             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 2             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 2/paladin 3             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 4/rogue 1             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 5NPC Roster:Calliope, moogle guide             Doc, moogle guide             Kupek, moogle guide             Mogchamp, moogle guide             Moki, moogle guideGame Session Date: 1 January 2022 - - -As was the norm during their nighttime training sessions in the Dreamlands, as each member of the five-person band fell asleep and had their consciousness make the automatic transition to the Realm of Dreams, they were each met by their particular moogle guide: Calliope meeting up with the dwarven priestess Alewyth Putterpye; the goateed moogle Doc greeting the human Thurloe Pulver, who was versed in arcane magics as well as handy with a bastard sword; Kupek approaching Wakuren as the half-orc cleric-paladin entered the Dreamlands; Mogchamp leading the human bard-rogue Xandro Silverstrings to their normal meeting place; and Moki doing likewise with the elven sorcerer Zander Quilson.  However, while normally the moogles would bring their respective charges together to be taught the nightly dreamwalking lessons by the head moogle, Mogo, this time they hung around with the dream versions of the five mortals in the service of the Queen of Dreams."Tonight we're going to do something different, kupo!" Mogo remarked once the five dreamwalkers were gathered together with their moogle guides.  "Twice now you've come up against dreams that resisted your best efforts to rescue the dreamer, kupo.  With any luck, the dreamstones you left on the dreamers' foreheads will charge up, allowing you to go back later on and have better luck - but we can't count on that, kupo!  So we're going to try going into the heart of the Dreamlands, kupo!"Mogo explained that the heart of the Dreamlands lie past the vast ocean of dream-bubbles representing individual dreams of individual dreamers and was a land of fairly stable geography that resisted the reshaping efforts of those entering the land - unlike individual dreams, which could be altered by a sufficiently trained dreamwalker, the heart of the Dreamlands was immutable.  Some said this was due to it actually being the dream of a sleeping god, someone much more powerful than the moogles or their trained visitors from the Material Plane.  But Mogo hoped the stable nature of the area would work to their benefit, for there was a place there in the heart of the Dreamlands where any individual dream could be called up and analyzed; with luck, by observing the two dreams of giant monsters - a three-headed gorynych in one and a massive gorilla in the other - they might learn how best to overcome the dreams and free the two people trapped by them."But because the heart of the Dreamlands is so stable, there's a change I need to make here before you embark on your journey, kupo!" declared Mogo, waving a kittenish paw before the bodies of the five dreamwalkers.  As he did so, their bodies changed, altering from their normal mortal frames and taking on the appearances of moogles themselves.  Each now sported a humanoid body covered in downy fur, with a pair of batlike wings growing from their shoulders and a single pom-pom dangling at the end of an antenna growing out of their foreheads.  They were each now about half their normal height, but with enough wing-flapping they could maintain an aerial position where their eyes were about where they'd have been before their transformations.  They found wing-flapping to grow easily tiring, however, and thus frequently dropped to the ground for a rest before trying it again.  Their moogle guides all seemed to have no trouble maintaining their altitudes, so apparently with enough training the polymorphed mortals would pick up the hang of it."You're going to the land of the wild moogles, kupo!" Mogo informed the group at large.  "They're not as smart as we are, but they know enough not to attack a fellow moogle so they should all leave you alone, kupo!  But you'll need to be careful, because not everyone in the heart of the Dreamlands is a fan of moogles, kupo!""Interesting," observed Xandro, giving his new wings a try.  He was glad to see his equipment was all the same; despite now wearing the form of a moogle he still had his Dardolian Lute strapped to his back and his sword belted at his hip.  He looked over at the others and saw the same held true for them as well; despite their new forms the bard knew he'd have no trouble telling them apart."It'll take forever to go through the oceans of dream-bubbles, so we'll take the shortcut, kupo!" announced Mogo, leading the group of ten other moogles to the Corridor of Dreams.  This was a maze of door-filled hallways but the primary moogle instructor had no trouble finding the exact door he sought.  He opened it and it led not to a dream but to a set of stairs going down.  "It's much quicker if we go through the basement, kupo!"The basement level was another set of seemingly endless corridors, but Mogo led the group to a dead-end hallway that sported a thick, wooden door looking much older than the others and somehow even a bit weather-beaten.  He opened it and flew to one side.  "I won't be going with you, kupo - I have too many other duties here - but your guides know the way, kupo!  I'll expect you to report back what you find upon your return, kupo!"  And with that he ushered the ten moogles through the open doorway, closing it behind them once they had all passed through.On the other side of the door was an ancient city now in ruins.  The ten moogles were at street level among a vast array of crumbling walls and fallen pillars, all of it covered in tangling vines and thick growths of ivy and weeds.  The buildings around them were all of a single level; in the distance a few structures of two or even three stories could be seen."We need to head toward the mountains, kupo!" said Calliope, leading the way forward through the ruins of the fallen city."Hang on," said Zander.  "I want to cast a few spells before we go any further.""Kupo!" cried Moki in a stern voice.Zander was taken aback.  "What?" he asked.  "Isn't spellcasting allowed here?""KUPO!" echoed all five of the moogle guides.  "Remember to say 'kupo' at the end of your sentences, kupo!  There's no point in disguising you as a moogle if you're just going to give yourself away, kupo!" chided Moki, before answering his assigned mortal's question.  "But yes, you can cast spells here, kupo."Zander hurriedly cast a mage armor spell upon himself.  Xandro cast a tongues spell on himself, not certain what types of creatures they might find in the land of the wild moogles and deciding it would be nice to be able to communicate with whoever they might encounter.  Thurloe tried casting a shield spell but fumbled it; he was still getting used to being able to cast arcane spells while wearing armor and this wasn't the first time he'd messed up this same spell.  He cursed quietly to himself, then remembered to add a "kupo" at the end.  Then the group moved on, the five moogle guides remaining airborne on their tiny little wings and the other five alternately flying and walking in fits and bursts as their wings gave out.  Collectively, they decided it would be best if they didn't try to fly too high off the ground until they got the hang of it a little better.As the ten moogles ambled down the silent streets of the long-dead city, a form strode into the intersection ahead of them.  It was simian in shape, maybe a foot and a half or two feet long, and when it turned its head in their direction they saw it looked somewhat like that of a mole with stubby, dangling tentacles hanging from its mouth area.  Unlike a mole, its eyes were rather large and they glowed fiercely as the creature gazed at the ten moogles - and then it charged."Uh oh - it's a zoog, kupo!" called out Calliope, flying up higher out of reach of the furry creature.  It bit Thurloe on the leg and the fighter-wizard in moogle form felt the zoog's unseen teeth dig deep into his flesh - the creature wasn't all that big, but its bite certainly hurt!  He kicked the creature away and felt a trail of blood oozing down his leg from the bite wound.  He brought his bastard sword out and down upon the zoog's head, cutting it deeply and dealing it much more damage than it had managed to inflict upon him, he felt.  But the thing was still in the fight, hissing fiercely.  Beside Thurloe, Doc followed Calliope's lead in flying straight up, but he continued on whereas the female moogle had just wanted to avoid the zoog's reach; Doc wanted a good aerial view of the area to make sure there weren't any other threats converging on them.  For Doc well knew where there was one zoog there were quite often others around....Zander cast a magic missile from his wand and slew the zoog before it had a chance to do any further damage.  He moved up beside Thurloe, who was reaching down to feel the bite wound on his leg.  "Damn thing's still bleeding...kupo," he added at the last moment."Might be something in the saliva, kupo," Alewyth added, moving closer to look at Thurloe's wound.  Wakuren flew up and landed on the fighter's other side, while his moogle guide Kupek joined Doc in scanning the local area from a high vantage point.  Xandro stayed in the back but pulled out his Dardolian Lute and began strumming the opening chords to his song of inspirational courage, for Mogchamp had warned the bard there were probably more of the zoogs around, waiting to strike.And sure enough there were: eight of the little creatures spilled out of an L-shaped building to the group's left front while another half-dozen came rushing out of a gap in the wall of the crumbling building to their right.  They swarmed over Thurloe, five of them biting at him with teeth hidden by their stubbly little facial tentacles while two other pairs bit at Wakuren and Zander, those snapping at the elf fortunately missing entirely.  Thurloe's sword stabbed at one of the pests attacking him then took a step back, temporarily out of range.  He now had three or four new wounds to add to his original one, blood from all of them flowing freely.Zander also took a step back and tossed a tanglefoot bag at two of the zoogs, hoping to pin them in place.  But the zoogs were quick little buggers and they avoided the bag; it exploded around them and some sticky particles got caught up in their fur, causing them only the minor inconvenience of not being able to move quite as rapidly as before.  Alewyth brought Sjondra down on the head of one of the ones biting at Thurloe and it squeaked in pain and irritation."I've got a sound burst spell ready if you all step back, kupo!" called out Wakuren, looking around him and worrying that were he to cast his spell right then, in order to affect the maximum number of zoogs he'd have to include quite a few of his friends in the spell's area of effect.  In the meantime, he swung the edge of his shield at one of the little pests, striking it a glancing blow.Xandro continued his song as Thurloe hit another zoog and backed up out of range.  Alewyth did likewise, conking a zoog with her warhammer before retreating beside Thurloe.  Zander cast an expeditious retreat spell on himself and darted away through a rent in the wall of a building on the other side of the street, putting a stone wall between himself and Wakuren's intended spell-effect area.  Then Wakuren cast his spell, the sonic wave blasting through the bodies of all but the two zoogs the farthest away and stunning over half of them - quite effective for a rather low-level spell, the half-orc thought to himself.Doc and Kupek, however, saw another figure in a street one block over.  It was a human girl dressed in rags, looking to be only about six or seven years old.  Fearing she might hear the commotion and wander into danger, Kupek flew over her way and landed on the street before her.  "Be careful kupo--" he started to say but the sudden appearance of the moogle apparently frightened the girl, who gave a little shriek and then turned and bolted back the way she had come, dodging into a small building through a rent in its wall.Xandro rushed forward, his frost short sword in hand, and skewered one of the stunned zoogs, killing it.  He got bitten for his trouble by another zoog, as a few of those not stunned by Wakuren's sound burst spell likewise snapped at Alewyth, Thurloe, and Wakuren.  Now all but Zander Quilson sported bleeding wounds, the nimble elf having managed not to even have gotten bitten once yet.  But he sped through the building in which he'd been hiding, popping out of a northern entrance and catching six zoogs in a burning hands spell, frying them all to a crisp.  Thurloe and Alewyth each killed another with their respective weapons, as did Wakuren and Xandro a moment later.  Then Alewyth and Wakuren backed off, allowing the others to slay the remaining zoogs while they cast healing spells on those who needed them, for zoog bites didn't deal a whole lot of damage at first but the continued blood loss - from each individual wound - certainly started adding up in no time at all.Kupek reported to the others what he'd seen of the little girl and led the rest of the moogles to the building she'd ducked into.  "She went in there, kupo," he said, pointing with a kittenish paw.  The building was partially in ruins, with three entrances in all.  The moogles spilt up and covered each of the entrances.  "Are you okay in there, kupo?" called Thurloe into the darkness within.  "We're not going to hurt you - we just want to make sure you're okay, kupo!"  There was no answer.Doc peeked his head inside the ruined structure and didn't see any little girl - but he did spot a spider on the ceiling along the north wall and quickly told the others.  Wakuren poked his own head inside and saw the aranea just fine with his darkvision.  Using his paladin training to check her aura for evil, he found none.  "We'll leave you alone, kupo," Wakuren said.  "If you've a taste for zoogs, there's over a dozen dead ones a block or so to the southwest, kupo."  And with that, the group continued on their trek.They made it through the rest of the ruined city without incident, reaching at last the base of the mountains.  It would have been an arduous climb ahead of them had it not been for the set of wide stairs carved into the side of the mountain.  "It's up this way, kupo!" said Calliope, leading the way.Of course, even a nice, 20-foot-wide set of stairs started becoming a bit arduous after the first half mile or so.  Each of the five adventurers started giving their moogle wings a good workout, if only because the steps had been built at a scale more comfortable for their mortal forms, not these half-sized moogle bodies they were currently inhabiting.  Little moogle legs got pretty tired climbing step after step after step.  There were statues on alternating sides every 40 feet or so, but these had been subject to the effects of time, for some were missing a head or an arm and others had had their features weathered away over the centuries.  There were spaces where the stairs had worn away or had otherwise been broken, making for the occasional patches of somewhat problematic terrain.  But that's where moogle wings came in handy."Uh oh - look there, kupo!" called out Mogchamp, pointing off to the open air to the right of their position - the mountain they were laboriously climbing stood to their left - where five flying figures could be seen.  They were headed straight for the group of moogles."What are they, kupo?" asked Zander."Nightgaunts, kupo!" answered Moki.  As the figures got closer, the group could see they looked somewhat like slender gargoyles - only gargoyles without any facial features whatsoever, their faces as smooth as some of the wind-scoured statues on the steps they'd passed.  Each also sported a lengthy tail as black as the rest of the smooth-skinned creature."Are they normally found around here, kupo?" asked Alewyth as Thurloe frantically cast an expeditious retreat spell upon himself, wanting the extra mobility and not trusting his little moogle wings to reliably provide it."Not until recently, kupo!" Calliope answered, and then there was no more time for further discussion as the five nightgaunts barreled in to the attack.There were twice as many moogles as there were nightgaunts but despite having no visible sensory organs the nightgaunts seemed to have no trouble at all differentiating which of the moogles before them were real and which were impostors.  Without exception, each of the black-skinned gargoyles made a bee-line for the five dreamwalkers in temporary moogle disguise.  Each struck out with a clawed hand ending in fearsome talons.  Those attacking Alewyth and Xandro managed to scoop their victims into a tight embrace, leaving them all but helpless to attack and unlikely to break free from the much-stronger nightgaunts.  Thurloe, Zander, and Wakuren managed to avoid being swept up, but not all avoided the initial talon-swipe that drew first blood in this sudden melee.Zander managed to stagger to the side away from his attacker and cast a scorching ray spell into it, blasting it in a gout of flame.  Thurloe attacked his with his bastard sword, drawing blood but no indication of pain on the nightgaunt's part - without facial features it didn't wince or grimace at the wound inflicted upon it by the fighter's blade.  Alewyth and Xandro tried unsuccessfully to wrest free of their abductors' grasp, while Wakuren took a moment to examine the auras of the nightgaunts.  Seeing them devoid of the taint of evil, he called out to them, "Can you communicate with us?"  He had forgotten to add the "kupo" but at this point it was fairly evident they could tell true moogle from fake in any case.  He got no response but when he saw the two embracing Alewyth and Xandro take back off the way they had come, the half-orc realized there would be no point in fighting off the remaining three - best they all stayed together.  As a result, he lowered his shield to his side and stood rigid, telling the nightgaunt, "There's no need for us to fight.  We surrender.  Go ahead and take us where you will."  He allowed the nightgaunt to wrap its arms around him and fly off, headed in the same direction as the other two.Zander looked over at Thurloe, not sure if he liked this idea.  "Are we doing this?" he asked.Thurloe estimated the speed at which the nightgaunts were flying and determined it was faster than the moogles could fly - and he didn't trust either his or Zander's ability to stay aloft for very long in any case, plus it was a long way down to the ground from this altitude.  He sighed and sheathed his sword.  "Yeah, I guess we are," he said, allowing the nightgaunt to gather him up and fly away with him.  Zander did likewise and the nightgaunt he'd burned with his spell wrapped his arms around the sorcerer and flew off with him.  The five moogle guides followed at their best speed, and after a little while it became apparent the nightgaunts had slowed their own speed to allow the moogles to catch up with them.After a brief flight, which the adventurers spent with their faces crushed to the chests of their nightgaunt captors, they were deposited on a ledge overlooking a mountaintop.  The five moogles fluttered to a halt beside them as the nightgaunts flapped their leathery wings and took to the air again, their mission complete.  They soon disappeared behind another mountain peak, lost to view."Hey, wait a minute, kupo!" cried Calliope, looking around.  "This is where we were headed in any case, kupo!  The dream-viewing pillars are inside that cave there, kupo!"  She pointed at a cave opening at the other side of the ledge, a full 15 feet wide and about 10 feet tall, leading into darkness.And then a figure stepped out of the darkness of the cave opening.  As he advanced into the sunlight, all five moogle guides gave a unified gasp of surprise and disbelief.  The figure stood a good eight feet tall, with crooked antlers spreading out like a crown of tree limbs around his vaguely bull-like head.  He wore metal armor around his massive chest, while the lower part of his body was obscured by cloth robes that reached to his cloven-hooved feet."The Nightmare King, kupo!" gasped Calliope.The antlered figure ignored this outburst, looking over at the five interlopers to the Dreamlands.  He waved his hand in the same manner as Mogo had earlier and the moogle disguises were rent asunder; each adventurer now stood looking like they did back on the Mortal Plane.  "You work for the Queen," snarled the Nightmare King, a sneer of contempt on his black lips.  "Your efforts will prove ineffectual against me," he warned.  "But by all means, go inside and see for yourselves.  You will at least learn something of what you're up against, for all the good it will do you."  And then he crossed his arms against his barrellike chest and faded from view, leaving only a hearty laugh behind which echoed for a moment and then was silent."So who's this Nightmare King?" demanded Thurloe."He's...we thought he was only a legend, kupo," admitted Doc, gulping nervously.  "Every so often, a herd of nightmares - those black horses with the flaming manes and hooves - goes racing through the ocean of dream-bubbles, turning the dreams into frightful, menacing nightmares for the dreamers involved, kupo.  There's always been talk that there was a Nightmare King behind it all, but the Queen of Dreams has always believed it to be just that, a legend and nothing more, kupo.""We'll have to let her know it's more than a legend, kupo," pointed out Moki."Definitely, kupo," confirmed Mogchamp."Well, let's go see what's in the cave," decided Thurloe.  "If we're going to report back to her, it might as well be a full report."  He took a step towards the cave and stopped at the entrance, allowing his eyes to adjust to the gloom.  Without being asked, Doc cast a dancing lights spell over the fighter's head, causing little balls of illumination to circle in place above his head like a halo.  The other four moogles did likewise for their own counterpart dreamwalkers.Thurloe stepped into the cave, his bastard sword back in hand.  Off to his right was a pile of well-chewed bones, while straight ahead the floor dipped in a series of natural flowing steps, leading further down into darkness.  "Be carful, kupo," warned Doc, following his mortal partner.  Then, his innate darkvision allowing him to see farther into the cave than could Thurloe's human eyes, he called out, "Two wild moogles, kupo!""Where?" demanded Thurloe, who couldn't see them in the darkness at the back of the cave."There and there, kupo!" answered Doc, pointing with his kittenish paws.  "They won't attack us, but you five no longer look like moogles, kupo!"Zander moved up beside Thurloe, Moki hovering right behind him.  The elven sorcerer cast a bear's endurance spell upon himself, anticipating a near-future need.  He squinted into the cave, struggling to use his innate elven low-light vision to see further into the cavern than Thurloe could.  He could make out some sort of feline form - and then it was upon him!The two wild moogles - a mated pair - rushed forward, charging into Thurloe and Zander.  Each was about the size of a black panther, albeit one sporting a pair of batlike wings and a single pom-pom from a thin antenna sprouting from the forehead.  Unlike the kittenish moogle guides, these seemed to be of no more than animal intelligence - and hungry animals at that.  Sharp claws ripped across the two dreamwalkers' chests. those ripping through Zander's robes dealing more damage than those scraping across Thurloe's heavier armor.Alewyth and Wakuren reacted immediately with the same response and a pair of spiritual weapons manifested in the air in front of them and then raced to attack the two feline foes, the warhammer from Alewyth striking the male attacking Thurloe and the heavy mace from Wakuren swinging (and missing) the female attacking Zander.  Seeing the somewhat cramped fighting space along the natural stone steps leading down into the larger cavern, Xandro started his song of inspirational courage on his Dardolian lute.Thurloe's bastard sword swung into the male wild moogle's shoulder, eliciting a yowl of pain from the winged panther.  Zander had cried out in a yowl of pain himself from the female's attack with her claws; dropping the figurine of wondrous power at his feet and barking out the command word, he stepped back as the jade cooshee grew instantly to life and protected his elven master.The male, angered at the sword-slice he had received, batted its claws at Thurloe and bit at him with the impressive set of fangs in its wide mouth.  The female did likewise to the cooshee before it, drawing parallel grooves of blood across the elven dog's back and side and clamping down on its neck with its wicked teeth.  In a matter of mere seconds the cooshee was already on its last legs.Alewyth's spiritual warhammer dipped down and struck at the male wild moogle, just barely missing.  The dwarven priestess opted to add another spell to the combat, casting a summon nature's ally III spell that brought a celestial black bear into being directly behind the female currently savaging the poor cooshee.  The bear swiped its claws against the female wild moogle's flank, causing it to howl in surprise and pain.Wakuren slipped past the wild moogles, accepting a strike from the female's claws as the price for him to get where he wanted to be: namely, directly behind them.  Then, positioned where he figured it would do the most good, he cast an obscuring mist spell, enveloping both wild moogles on the edges of the spell's area of effect.  That, he figured, would make it more difficult for the winged felines to see their intended prey.  In the meantime the half-orc's spiritual heavy mace swung and missed the female wild moogle for a second time.Xandro brought out his light crossbow and sighted a shot at the male wild moogle, catching it in the shoulder.  Thurloe compounded its pain with another well-placed strike with his bastard sword, then stepped back, forcing the wild moogle to come to him to continue his own attacks with tooth and claw.  Zander cast a scorching ray spell at the female who had clawed him up, while his loyal cooshee pressed on with his own attacks despite his terrible wounds.  But the elven dog's attacks were his last, as the wild moogle ripped his throat out a moment later and he collapsed back into his jade cooshee form.Alewyth's spiritual warhammer clonked the male wild moogle but good on the head while she cast a bless spell on the assembled group.  "You guys are doing great, kupo!" called out Calliope from the back ranks where the five moogle guides had assembled, staying well out of range of the combat.  They, after all, were mere dream guides, not used to having to fight for their lives.The celestial bear attacked the female wild moogle again, causing her to leap fully out of the area of obscuring mist and whatever unknown creature lived within there.  She focused her attacks upon Alewyth, who now stood before her.  Wakuren took a moment to heal himself with a cure light wounds spell enhanced by the power of his ring, then dismissed his obscuring mist spell which wasn't quite the impediment he had hoped it to be.  With the mist dissolved and his own dancing lights spell orbiting above his head, he could see a pool of clear water off to his right.  Thurloe by this time had taken an incredible amount of damage from the wild moogle's teeth and claws and Xandro stepped forward, casting a healing spell though his Dardolian Lute to seal up the worst of the fighter's wounds.  Thurloe stepped further back and cast a magic missile spell at the wild moogle while he caught his breath.Another scorching ray flashed out from Zander's fingertips, hitting the male wild moogle this time.  The celestial bear stepped forward, continuing its attacks upon the female wild moogle.  Wakuren activated his ring of invisibility and tried slipping past the wild moogles again, hopefully to set himself up for a flanking maneuver with one of his friends.  It was then he learned that wild moogles have quite excellent senses, for despite his invisibility the female was able to discern his exact location and claw him along his side as he moved past into position.  His spiritual heavy mace swung and missed for a final time before winking out, causing the half-orc to swear at its complete uselessness during this particular casting of the spell.His healing successfully completed, Xandro stepped back and grabbed up his crossbow again, shooting another bolt into the male wild moogle.  Thurloe then struck the killing blow with his bastard sword, glad to have finally seen the end of the vile beast.  Zander cast a magic missile spell at the remaining wild moogle while her focus was still on Alewyth, who was now facing the snarling beast with Sjondra while her spiritual warhammer got in a final blow before winking out as well, its duration having expired.  Wakuren popped back into visibility as he brought his shield crashing down on the female wild moogle, even as the celestial bear clawed her from the other side.  Xandro shot a bolt into her side and then Thurloe once again gave the killing blow, his bastard sword cutting deep into her flesh.  She crashed to the stone floor of the cavern as the celestial bear vanished from sight, returning to whatever heavenly plane it had come from in answer to Alewyth's summons."Great job, kupo!" enthused Moki as Alewyth and Wakuren cast healing spells upon the wounded.  Calliope led the moogles into the lower cavern, where a small opening on the far side of the pool of water led to the cave they sought.  Wakuren caused his rope of climbing to attach from a stalagmite next to the pool of water with one end to a hanging stalagmite in the far cave with the other, providing a means of entry for those not currently sporting moogle wings.  Alewyth, not trusting herself climbing along a rope, guzzled down a potion of gaseous form, drifting across the pool and sliding through the opening to enter the far cave.Thurloe and Doc were the first ones into the cave and the moogle gave out a cry of disbelief.  "It's been shattered, kupo!"  Sure enough, the back half of the cave was covered in shards of broken rock and there were two flat-topped ovals showing where the dream-viewing pillars had once stood.  A pair of sheared-off projections from the ceiling directly overhead showed where the pillars once connected.  "The Nightmare King made sure we couldn't use the pillars to affect those two dreams, kupo!"  Anguish was clearly noticeable in the elderly moogle guide's voice.And then as Thurloe stepped fully into the cave and Wakuren came in, invisibly, behind him, Doc called out a much quieter warning: "I saw something moving over behind the ruins of the farthest pillar, kupo!"  Thurloe looked to where the moogle had indicated and saw the shape of a reptilian head glide to the side.  As it slithered forward and raised its head, Doc called out, "It's a hypnalis viper, kupo!"  Knowing these to be of mere animal-level intellect as well, Doc used a speak with animals spell to communicate with the serpent.  "Why are you here, kupo?" he asked."I am the reception committee of the Nightmare King," replied the serpent.  "I am here to give the Queen's interlopers the reception they deserve."  And then the serpent lashed out, striking forward with such speed it almost seemed to float across the room, snapping its venom-dripping fangs at Thurloe, who only managed to barely avoid the creature's bite.By then Zander had climbed into the cave and cast a magic missile spell at the serpent.  Wakuren leaped forward and brought the bottom edge of his shield crashing down upon the serpent's back, returning himself to visibility as he did so.  Xandro entered the cave behind the elf and took up his song of inspirational courage, hoping to boost the combat prowess of those already involved in fighting off the massive snake.Thurloe felt the bard's magic aim his strike as he brought the blade of his bastard sword slicing through the serpent's scales.  But then the snake was upon him, biting his neck and sending its venom coursing through the fighter's blood.  Worse yet, it kept its hold on Thurloe's neck and wrapped him up in the coils of its sinuous body, squeezing the very life out of him in the manner of a constrictor snake.Zander cast a ray of enfeeblement spell at the hypnalis viper, hoping to weaken its grip upon Thurloe, but the ray missed the writhing snake altogether.  Alewyth maneuvered her cloudlike body directly over the snake and released the gaseous form spell effect, returning her to solid matter and allowing gravity to boost her swing of Sjondra at the snake's head.  It was a good thought, but the warhammer also missed its mark as the serpent thrashed around with its prey.Wakuren slammed his shield into the snake again and Xandro stepped up to the fight with his frost short sword before the snake's prey simply...wasn't there any more.  Pinned tightly by coils of muscle he knew he couldn't overcome, Thurloe had used his magical anklet of translocation to dimension door himself 10 feet away from the serpent.  But the serpent wasn't particularly picky about its targets and randomly chose Xandro as its next victim.  It struck at the bard with the quickness of a cobra, injecting venom into his neck as it wrapped the coils of its body around the bard and started squeezing the breath from Xandro's body.  While part of Xandro's mind was reminding him this was all just happening in the Dreamlands and if he was "killed" here he'd likely just wake back up on the Mortal Plane, it was one thing to know that dispassionately and another thing entirely not to want to panic at the inexorable crushing of the hypnalis viper's sinuous coils....Zander cast another magic missile at the serpent, falling back on a spell he knew he couldn't accidentally miss with.  Alewyth hit it with Sjondra as Wakuren bashed it with the edge of his shield and Thurloe applied his own weapon to the fight.  And eventually their combined efforts were successful and the hypnalis viper lay dead before them, its muscles relaxing in death to the extent Xandro was able to pull himself free.  He held a hand to the wounds at his neck, where the viper had bitten him and injected him with its venom.  "Let me look at that, kupo," said Mogchamp, frowning at Xandro's wounds.The moogle guides spent a lot of time examining the viper's fangs (and the drops of venom dripping from them), as well as Xandro and Thurloe's wounds, to the point they had Alewyth and Wakuren hold off casting healing spells on the two until their examinations were complete.  "What's the concern?' asked Thurloe, frowning in puzzlement."This isn't good, kupo," replied Doc.  "This isn't good at all, kupo."Calliope pulled the snake's mouth back so the others could get a good look at its fangs.  "Do you have something we can put some of the venom in, kupo?" she asked and Alewyth unpacked an empty glass vial that had once held a magical potion.  As the two women busied themselves extracting venom for further study, Moki picked up the discourse.  "You know how dreamstones are found on the Mortal Plane but can affect things here in the Dreamlands, kupo?  Well, it seems the Nightmare King has found a way to create a creature whose venom, here in the Dreamlands, can affect people in the Mortal World, kupo.""You mean--?" broke off Xandro, holding a hand to his neck wounds."I mean, kupo, that if that venom had run its course there's a very good chance you'd have ended up in a dream coma like the other victims you've been rescuing, kupo," replied Mogchamp."Then heal me!" cried Xandro, and at Calliope's nodded acceptance Alewyth cast a healing spell on the bard's wounds.  Wakuren meanwhile did likewise to Thurloe's wounds.  Then, no longer bearing any puncture wounds on their necks and hoping the injected venom had done all it was going to do - Xandro felt a little woozy but not all that much the worse for wear - they decided they'd seen all they needed to see here.  It was time to return back to the Queen of Dreams and report back what they'd seen."She's not going to believe this, kupo," Kupek said."We all saw what we saw, kupo," Moki replied.  "She'll believe us, kupo.""And at least we now know what's causing the dream sickness," Alewyth added.  "But what's the Nightmare King getting from all of this?  And how do we stop him?"Those were good questions, but nobody had any answers for now. - - -This turned out to be a good adventure to run on New Year's Day, as it gave some answers to what's been going on in the first quarter of the campaign.  And it was different enough - an adventure taking place entirely in the Dreamlands - that running it on our traditional New Year's Day session made it kind of special.  I printed out NPC stats for the five moogle guides, so for this adventure each player ran their normal PC as well as their own moogle guides.  And I made up special initiative cards for this adventure, too, incorporating the PCs' heads cropped onto a moogle body.The zoogs were a lot more fun than I had anticipated, for despite their bite only dealing 1 point of damage (1d3-2), they continued to bleed for 1 point per round until healed and each wound added separate damage.  Thurloe took the record by having a condition of "bleed 6" at one point, so it became necessary to break off combat for a round to apply healing to those who might otherwise bleed out - that was a fun aspect that hasn't really come into play before.And after we were done playing through the adventure and packing up, we headed upstairs to our living room and did our Christmas gift exchange, as has been our ritual for the past dozen years or so.  (Dan and Vicki and family usually spend Christmas with various out-of-state relatives.)  So all in all it was a good session, although we got the worst snow of the winter thus far and needed to shovel the driveway so Dan, Vicki, and Joe could head on home afterwards.) - - -T-shirt worn: My Einstein shirt, which has him blowing colored smoke from a pipe which forms galaxies above his head  - it's my "go to" shirt to represent the Dreamlands.</blockquote>

Verification