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Dreams of Erthe
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9042073" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 52: BY ROYAL COMMAND</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 11</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Princess Caroline, female human aristocrat 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Robin the Balladeer, human bard 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Scarlie Besker, half-orc commoner 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wartimer J. Toad, awakened giant toad</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 3 June 2023</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"Uh, guys," said Thurloe from the back of his horse Horse, "we're being watched."</p><p></p><p>Robin looked at him from the back of the mule-driven wagon, where the two half-orcs were up in the front, Scarlie steering the mules and Wakuren just enjoying the scenery. She looked around her, at both sides of the road, which had a few trees here and there but hardly enough for much in the way of hiding places. "By whom?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"By whoever's at the other end of that scrying sensor," the spellsword replied, jerking a thumb back over his shoulder.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth turned around from the saddle of her dire goat and looked up at where Thurloe had been pointing, squinting to try to see anything. She didn't see anything. She let him know this by stating, "I don't see anything."</p><p></p><p>But Xandro had spotted the sensor, now that he knew what he was looking for, and Zander Quilson chimed in that he saw it, too. "Maybe it's the gnomes," Xandro suggested. "They say they like to keep an eye on their regular customers."</p><p></p><p>"Or maybe it's someone ready to ambush us," countered Thurloe.</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we should just ask," suggested Wakuren, turning around in the wagon and facing the spot everyone was now looking at, although he personally couldn't see anything. "Hey!" he called up to the spot. "We know you're watching us!" Maybe, he thought, the spies would disappear if they knew they had been spotted.</p><p></p><p>"If it's you gnomes, let us know it's you!" Thurloe called up behind him. There was no response; the sensor kept pace just above and behind him as the group and their mounts and wagon continued on down the road.</p><p></p><p>"Well, I for one don't like being spied upon," replied Alewyth. She turned around in her saddle and cast a <em>dispel magic</em> spell at the offending <em>scrying</em> spell effect. Xandro confirmed that the dwarf's spell had done the trick, for he saw it wink out. "Well, that's that," the priestess said, content that her spell had done the trick.</p><p></p><p>And that was indeed that - for about an hour or so. Then, as the group continued on down the road, a force of four riders approached them from the opposite direction. They were all hobgoblins, dressed in matching armor and wearing tabards that showed they worked for the self-appointed King of Armaturia himself. "Halt!" one commanded, riding his heavy warhorse out in front of the others and holding up a hand before him. "Halt in the name of <strong>King Eovard Devlin</strong>."</p><p></p><p>"What's this all about?" demanded Thurloe, grumpy as always - but still bringing Horse to a halt beside the wagon, as the others did likewise.</p><p></p><p>"Are you the ones capable of waking those who have been asleep for weeks at a time?" demanded the lead hobgoblin. Wakuren replied that they were indeed those whom the hobgoblins sought. "Then you will come with us," the armored leader commanded. "The king has immediate need of your services."</p><p></p><p>"Where are you taking us?" asked Alewyth, as the leader spun his horse about and got ready to lead the procession onward in the direction they'd already been heading. The other three hobgoblins, Thurloe couldn't help but notice, moved their steeds to the side of the road so the procession could pass them by, taking up positions in the rear so they could see if anyone tried to break free of the convoy.</p><p></p><p>"We're heading for Mount Resplendia, the location of Castle Devlin," replied the hobgoblin leader. "You'll get all of the details once we get there." And "once we get there," the heroes learned, was a further three days down the road, passing by the next dreamers in line that they had intended to wake up next. The hobgoblins insisted they not take any time dealing with "secondary concerns," and even though Thurloe was pretty sure the heroes could take the four hobgoblins in a fight, even he didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the King of Armaturia - even if the king's claims to ruling the entire continent conveniently left off the elves of the Sylvanholme Forest, where they were left to their own self-rule, and the dwarves living below the Shieldwall Mountains, who likewise had their own local dwarven kings.</p><p></p><p>Not wanting to let the hobgoblins know of the capabilities of <em>Hesperna's lamp</em>, everyone opted to sleep on the ground or in the wagon when they stopped that night, curled up with blankets. (Thurloe was the only one with a one-man tent, which he pitched pretty much just so he could be envied by the others.) The hobgoblins kept a guard rotation throughout the night; feeling they were fairly safe with the king's own men guarding them, the heroes opted not to follow suit.</p><p></p><p>On the second day of travel, they met up with another band of four hobgoblins, bringing the number of escorts up to eight. The hobgoblins were a fairly stoic lot, talking among themselves just to deliver orders and more of less ignoring their charges, as long as they stayed in formation. With those numbers, nobody bothered them during the trip to Mount Resplendia, and on the third day the procession pulled up to the castle gates. There, Scarlie, Robin, and the animals were taken away to be sheltered, while the five dreamwalkers - the hobgoblins seemed to know exactly which members of the team were the ones capable of waking up trapped dreamers - were brought to a room inside the castle, where they were stripped of their weapons before being brought in to meet with King Eovard. Thurloe was not at all pleased at having to leave his weapons behind, but he recognized it was not an unreasonable demand. He did talk to the moogles in the Dreamlands, though, using the dreamstone embedded in his bastard sword <em>Spellslicer</em>, to confirm that there was actually a trapped dreamer here in the castle - he wasn't going to take the chance that this was all some sort of ruse, for Wakuren had determined on first meeting up with the hobgoblins that they all had auras emanating the taint of evil.</p><p></p><p>Five hobgoblins escorted the five heroes into a room, into which shortly thereafter strode the king with his own procession: his adviser, <strong>Judlin Bellweather</strong>; his court wizard, <strong>Chaspertaine</strong>; and the royal jester, <strong>Knobgobble</strong>. All but the gnomish jester were human, like the king.</p><p></p><p>"Good afternoon," began King Eovard. "I understand you are the ones capable of waking those caught up in their dreams. My little sister, <strong>Princess Caroline</strong>, has been asleep now for a week and a half. My court wizard's divinations have shown you to be the ones capable of waking her up. I would have you do so at once. What do you need to be able to awaken her?"</p><p></p><p>"We'll need to be brought by her side, Your Majesty," replied Wakuren, causing some shocked looks that the half-orc not only could speak the Common tongue, but rather fluently. "We'll need to attach a dreamstone to her forehead, then sit around her in a circle and wrest her from the Dreamlands. And Zander here has a <em>jade cooshee</em> that will look over our sleeping bodies as we do so."</p><p></p><p>"No cooshee," replied the king. "My men will provide adequate protection." Here he indicated his armed and armored hobgoblins, each of which wore a longsword at his belt. Wakuren looked suspiciously at the hobgoblins, not liking being watched over by evil hobgoblins, but they were giving him the same look right back, obviously not liking the idea of a half-orc mongrel being allowed inside the princess's bedroom. But nothing was said of either suspicion, and the five dreamwalkers were led into Princess Caroline's bedroom. The sleeping princess proved to be all of six years old, a good two decades younger than her regal brother. She slept in a room filled with garish pink everywhere: the walls, the draperies, her bedding. A stuffed frog held tightly under one arm provided a welcome bit of green into the room.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth positioned the dreamstone around Princess Caroline's head, positioning the stone just right in the middle of her forehead and tying it into place with the leather thongs on either end of the headband. The bed was pulled into the middle of the floor, and the five dreamwalkers took their positions in a five-pointed star around her bed, each one wearing his or her own dreamstone in a leather band upon the forehead. They noticed the five hobgoblins each positioned themselves around the dreamwalkers, each one close enough to cut off their heads if they tried anything. That was not a particularly comforting thought, but if the King - whose aura, Wakuren had surreptitiously determined at a signal from Thurloe as they had approached the princess's bedroom, was devoid of evil - trusted the hobgoblins, then who were they to do less? Still, it took them a bit longer than normal to slow their heartbeats enough to be able to fall into a sleep that sent their dream-selves into the Dreamlands....</p><p></p><p>Once in the Dreamlands, they were each met by their individual moogle dream guides and ushered over to Mogo, who was not in a pleasant mood. He opened a particular door in the Corridor of Dreams and indicated for the five to enter. "Here's the dream that's <em>so important</em> it has to be taken care of before <em>any</em> of the others, kupo!" he grumbled. "Silly mortal king thinks he gets a say in what's <em>clearly</em> the province of the Queen of Dream, kupo!" Not wanting a prolonged conversation with the peeved moogle dream instructor, the five heroes each dashed inside the door.</p><p></p><p>The dreamscape beyond the door was one of tranquility: gently rolling hills of fields and meadows, dotted with flowers and with a slow-moving river just ahead. Princess Caroline stood there by the edge of a river, a step away from the beginning of a wooden pier that extended out over the water. She wore a frilly dress - pink, of course - with white stockings and black shoes and a large pink bow in her hair; incongruously, she held a simple stick in her hand. And, even more incongruously, squatting beside her was an enormous toad. Upon his head was an even-more-incongruous-than-that black top hat.</p><p></p><p>"Are you the security escort?" demanded Princess Caroline. Then, not waiting for an answer, she added, "Good. We need to get going, or Mr. Toad will be late to his own wedding!" Then spinning around, she headed down the dock and carefully stepped onto a wooden raft moored at its end. Mr. Toad followed dutifully; the heroes, looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders, ran to catch up.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren and Alewyth were the first heroes to step onto the raft, and saw a pair of long poles lying diagonally across the floating wooden vehicle. "You two can use the poles," she decided, pointing to where they should each stand, at the front corners of the raft. "We'll let the river propel us - just use the poles to scoot us away from any rocks. The river's too deep in the middle for the poles to reach to the bottom, in any case." Xandro, Thurloe, and Zander stepped onto the raft, making sure Princess Caroline was in the middle, protected on all sides by Mr. Toad and their "security escort."</p><p></p><p>"So, a wedding, huh?" asked Alewyth as Zander released the rope keeping the raft by the pier and the current started whisking them away. "Big day for a big frog."</p><p></p><p>"He's a toad!" corrected Princess Caroline. "His name's <strong>Wartimer J. Toad</strong>" - she pronounced the toad's first name to rhyme with "Mortimer" - but you can call him 'Mr. Toad.'"</p><p></p><p>"The 'J' stands for 'Jumpy'," announced Mr. Toad, surprising the heroes who hadn't suspected he could talk.</p><p></p><p>"Who's the lucky bride?" asked Xandro, getting into the swing of this dream - it was nice having a somewhat pleasant diversion for once.</p><p></p><p>At that, Princess Caroline giggled. "Her name's <strong>Darling Darlene Dumpling</strong>," she said, leaning forward and laughing. "She's really nice."</p><p></p><p>"Uh-oh," interrupted Xandro, sorry to see this dream wasn't going to be just them placidly poling on down the river after all. He pointed to the shore ahead, where a humanoid frog was approaching the shore and then stepping into - no, actually <em>onto</em> - the river. A few yards further down the shore, another stepped up as well. Each was armed with a shortspear. "Bullywugs!"</p><p></p><p>"Frowny frogs!" corrected Princess Caroline. "They want to prevent Mr. Toad from getting to his wedding!" How the six-year-old could possibly know their intentions wasn't a real point of conjecture; this was her dream, after all. She pointed to the opposite shore. "There's more of them over there!"</p><p></p><p>It became apparent the dream's goal was to get Mr. Toad to his wedding, and the six bullywugs - or "frowny frogs" - were an obstacle needing to be overcome in order to wake up Princess Caroline from her dream. But the amphibians all sprinted forward, running on top of the surface of the river, menacing those on the raft with their halfspears as they approached from either bank.</p><p></p><p>Xandro decided he'd beat them at their own game and, using his lucid dream training, gave himself the dream-ability to walk on water himself. But before he could step off the raft, a spear-tip stabbed him in the chest as he was pulling <em>Deathwhisper</em> from its scabbard. Zander was likewise hit, as, tragically, was Mr. Toad. Fortunately, he wore nothing but his black top hat so there was no wedding garb to be stained by the blood dripping down his side.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren called out to the heavens and Nimbus appeared on the water to the side of the raft, a cloud materializing into the shape of a horse. The frowny frog standing immediately before the cleric-paladin of Cal stabbed at him with his shortspear, but it slid harmlessly off the half-orc's armor. Nimbus struck out at the bullywug attacking Mr. Toad, causing him at least to redirect his attention from the future groom to deal with the horse-shaped cloud hovering just over the slow-moving river. Mr. Toad then showed the frowny frog that turning his back on him wasn't that great of an idea either, biting at the bullywug with a mouth only slightly larger than the bullywug's entire head.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe swung his bastard sword at a bullywug at his side, hitting the spear-wielding amphibian and triggering the <em>vampiric touch</em> spell he'd had loaded into his blade. Zander cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell at the two bullywugs at the left front of the raft, accidentally catching Alewyth in its area of effect as well. "Sorry!" he called to the priestess of Aerik.</p><p></p><p>"I'll live!" promised Alewyth, swinging <em>Sjondra</em> into the bullywug just in front of her corner of the raft.</p><p></p><p>"Leave Mr. Toad alone!" demanded Princess Caroline, waving her stick in the general direction of the frowny frog who had stabbed her truest companion - and right before his wedding, no less!</p><p></p><p>Xandro tried dodging an incoming spear-stab as he summoned his dire elk at the back of the raft, but the spear-tip found its mark. Fortunately, the megaloceros manifested just behind the raft, and a swing of his massive rack of antlers caught the offending frowny frog who had stabbed Mr. Toad. But then the bullywugs, throats warbling a combat grunt in unison, all stabbed out with their spears, more striking true than missing. "Hey!" cried Princess Caroline, shielded from the spears by the bodies of her security escort and her best friend ever, as she saw Mr. Toad take another hit from the frowny frog attacking him.</p><p></p><p>Even though this was just a dream, Wakuren's instincts had him detect evil on the auras of the frowny frogs, and when he saw its presence he channeled Cal's smiting energy into his shield, bringing it smashing into the face of the bullywug before him. Nimbus attacked the one focused thus far on Mr. Toad, then positioned himself in such a way as to provide aid to Xandro, who among the heroes had taken the most damage. Mr. Toad bravely bit at his attacker again, determined to fight him off and not let him get to the princess, whom he'd known for her whole six years of life. Thurloe's blade slew the first of the bullywugs, whose body proved not to be able to remain atop the surface of the river once it was dead; with a plop, it sunk below the water, never to be seen again.</p><p></p><p>Zander ignored his own safety and cast a <em>displacement</em> spell on the princess; she might be shielded for now but just in case these frowny frogs made it onto the raft.... He took another hit from a thrusting spear for his efforts, grunting in pain. Beside him, Alewyth struck her own amphibious foe with <em>Sjondra</em> again.</p><p></p><p><em>Deathwhisper</em> suddenly thrust straight out ahead of Xandro's outstretched arm and the bullywug he'd just stabbed between the eyes dropped below the river's surface, dead. At the rear of the raft, his dire elk swung his antlers at the bullywug pressing the attack against Mr. Toad. The giant toad gave it his best, but another stab of the spear by the frowny frog and he fell over on his side, blood staining the wood of the raft. His top hat fell off his head, only to land upon one of the many points on the dire elk's massive rack of antlers.</p><p></p><p>"Mr. Toad! No!" cried Princess Caroline, rushing to her friend's side and whacking the offending frowny frog with her stick, to no great effect. Nimbus attacked the same bullywug with a much greater level of success, slamming a hoof into its back as he bit down upon a shoulder. At the front of the raft, Wakuren continued his attacks with his shield against the bullywug before him, and across the other side of the raft, at its left rear, Thurloe suddenly leaped off to his left and, before he hit the water, sent a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell crashing through the two bullywugs on that side. Both died instantly from the attack, leaving the left side of the raft clear of attackers. Thurloe then cast a <em>fly</em> spell upon himself and flew back to the raft.</p><p></p><p>Zander scrambled over to Mr. Toad, pulling a potion flask from his belt as he did so. He unstoppered it and poured the contents down the giant toad's throat, the healing potion going to work almost immediately. As Mr. Toad pulled himself back upright, his first question was, "Is the princess okay?" and his second was, "Where's my top hat?"</p><p></p><p>Alewyth slew another bullywug with <em>Sjondra</em>, right at about the same time Xandro took out another with <em>Deathwhisper</em>. The dire elk swam to stay close to the raft, swimming over to the right side as there was currently no foe within range of his antlers, the sole remaining bullywug fighter being currently engaged with Wakuren at the front of the raft. It attacked Wakuren again and missed, and then the half-orc polished it off with a final blow from his <em>shield of Cal</em>. And with that, the frowny frog attack was over, although Alewyth noted the dream continued on. Mr. Toad retrieved his top hat, the heroes cast their standard combat spells upon each other and healing spells upon those who needed them, and the raft continued its way on down the river. The dire elk soon blinked out, the time of its summoning having expired, and then Wakuren called Nimbus over to the front of the raft. Tying a length of rope around his flying mount's broad neck at one end and the raft at the other, he soon had his air element warhorse pulling the raft at a greater speed than that of the sluggish current. "We'll make sure the wedding occurs on time," the half-orc informed Princess Caroline, glad to see that she at least gave his orcish appearance not a lick of concern.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the princess pointed to a spot on the other side of the river and told Wakuren to have Nimbus pull the raft up there. There was a gulch not far from the shore, extending as far as the eye could see in both directions parallel to the river, but a well-placed log made a handy bridge by which to cross. On the other side of the gulch, just past the log, stood four hollow tree trunks, each about 10 feet in diameter and nearly that tall.</p><p></p><p>Xandro stepped off of the raft first, pulling the <em>Dardolian Lute</em> from his back and starting his song of inspirational courage, which Princess Caroline and Mr. Toad seemed to enjoy quite a lot, having never heard it before but liking the way it boosted their courage. "Those frowny frogs better not bother us again, if they know what's good for them!" declared Mr. Toad, his fighting spirit buoyed by the song.</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps you'd like to ride on Nimbus's back, princess?" asked Wakuren, and the little girl clapped her hands at the thought. The half-orc stayed behind to help her onto the back of his cloud-steed while the other heroes advanced toward the gulch. Thurloe, <em>fly</em> spell still active, flew over the gulch, noting as he crossed it that it was about 40 feet deep and covered in gloppy mud at the bottom.</p><p></p><p>Then, before anyone else could cross, a strange-looking head popped up from one of the hollow tree trunks. It was easily the size of a hill giant's head, but it was covered in white greasepaint and had red all over its nose and around its lips - this hill giant, it seemed, for whatever reason was wearing clown makeup. It giggled and chuckled as it popped its head back down the tree trunk, only to pop up from another tree trunk, cackling gleefully. Then it ducked down again, only to pop up from a still different tree trunk. The clown seemed to think this was a hilarious game, but Princess Caroline had frozen up as soon as the clown's laughter began. Her face held a terrified expression, despite the effects of the bardic song Xandro was still playing. He advanced cautiously towards the gulch, eager to see what the giant clown would do next.</p><p></p><p>Zander approached the gulch as well, ready to pop a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the clown if it tried anything threatening. Alewyth activated her <em>butterfly brooch</em> and took to the air, fluttering over the gulch and casting a summoning spell that caused a celestial brown bear to manifest in the space between the four tree trunks. If the clown tried anything, she'd let it contend with a grizzly bear from the Celestial Planes and see how it liked that.</p><p></p><p>"Stay here, princess," commanded Wakuren, indicating for Mr. Toad and Nimbus to watch over her, for she was still standing frozen in place, terrified by the clown's evil laughter. Then the half-orc <em>air walked</em> up and over the gulch. He had just hit the far side of the gulch - remaining a few inches above the surface of the ground - when the "hill giant clown" finally struck.</p><p></p><p>Four massive spiders each scrambled out of a hollow tree truck, their clown-face abdomens each rising up behind them and the horrible laughter continuing as they attacked. Two went for Wakuren, but they had a hard time penetrating his heavy armor with their mandibles. The other two went for the celestial bruin and they found it much easier to sink their fangs past the bear's shaggy coat and into its flesh, but they were disappointed to see it shrug off the venom's effects. Zander's readied <em>magic missile</em> spell came shrieking in to strike the clown spider closest to him.</p><p></p><p>"We'll stay back here until it's safe," promised Mr. Toad, stepping to shield the princess from seeing the clown spiders with his own massive, warty body. But Princess Caroline had started shrieking herself, a high-pitched scream of terror fully mastered by frightened six-year-old girls. Nimbus stamped in frustration, not sure how he could help the princess, but it was fairly obvious she wouldn't be climbing up onto his back any time soon.</p><p></p><p>With a flash of magic in its eight arachnid eyes, one of the clown spiders cast a <em>grease</em> spell on the log crossing the chasm. Another one cast a sticky web over Wakuren, pinning him in place just over the ground where he floated. The other two pressed their attacks upon the celestial brown bear.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe gained altitude and looked down at the situation below, frowning. Wakuren, looking up, saw the spellsword's look of concern and guessed his dilemma. "Do it!" Wakuren called up to his companion. "I can take it!"</p><p></p><p>Having been given permission, Thurloe cast a <em>fireball</em> spell down below him, which engulfed all four clown spiders and, regrettably, also Wakuren and the bear - although the spell had the added benefit of burning off the webbing that had ensnared the half-orc. All six survived, but Wakuren and the celestial bear could be healed up, whereas the clown spiders likely had no way to provide healing other than by scampering to safety and letting time heal them up - and the heroes were determined not to give them that option.</p><p></p><p>Zander cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell across the chasm and blasted two of the clown spiders, damaging them even further. Alewyth landed on the side of the gulch with the clown spiders and blasted one with a <em>searing light</em> spell, killing it instantly. The celestial grizzly slashed at one of its attackers with a claw-tipped paw, ripping through its carapace and causing it to drip black ichor from the wound. Wakuren, no longer bound by webbing, slew another clown spider by bringing the bottom edge of his <em>shield of Cal</em> crashing down upon its head.</p><p></p><p>The two remaining clown spiders were the ones in the back attacking the celestial bruin, but their venom was still not having the effect they had anticipated. Thurloe blasted one with a <em>magic missile</em> spell, killing it, and then the sole remaining arachnid was slain by a combined attack consisting of a <em>magic missile</em> spell cast by Zander, a hammer-strike by Alewyth, and followed up by a set of ripping claws by the celestial brown bear before it returned to the heavens. Only after the clown spiders were all dead could they get Princess Caroline to settle down and take her place upon Nimbus's broad back. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just really afraid of clown spiders."</p><p></p><p>Nimbus flew the princess across the gulch, wisely opting not to land until they had passed the carcasses of the four dead clown spiders, their legs still twitching spasmodically. Mr. Toad hopped the gulch easily, and Thurloe flew Zander and Xandro over, one at a time. Then they continued on, entering a forest. "The wedding is this way," Princess Caroline said, back to her old self now that they had passed the freaky arachnids.</p><p></p><p>As a precaution - for none of the dreamwalkers had any idea how many more dangers might beset them in getting Mr. Toad to his wedding ceremony - Zander cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon each of the heroes; after all, this was just a dream and he wasn't <em>really</em> using up any of the expensive diamond dust that casting the spell in the real world required. Thurloe used his lucid dream training to change the appearance of his armor to appropriate wedding garb - if need be, he now had the look of a groomsman, should the need for a last-minute best man arise.</p><p></p><p>The forest path split off into a Y, and although Princess Caroline indicated they needed to go right, Xandro opted to peek down the left path to make sure there were no ambushers waiting to strike from behind after they had passed. He continued playing his song of inspirational courage, which had boosted the princess's spirits considerably. Wakuren took the lead, striding out in front of the rest of the party, and as a result it was he who was struck by the cone of spores spit out of the mouth of a humanoid mushroom that suddenly stepped out from between two trees.</p><p></p><p>"A mucky mushroom!" declared Princess Caroline from the back of Nimbus, and Mr. Toad leaped protectively in front of the cloud-steed to keep the princess out of danger. Wakuren instinctively held his breath at the attack and raised his shield before him, but the mushroom man did nothing but stand expectantly, watching the half-orc who towered above him. Then, laughing at his forgetfulness, Wakuren lowered his shield and removed the <em>headband of Cal</em> he wore, which provided him with an ever-replenishing bubble of air around his head - and which had blocked the spores from reaching him, spores which the half-orc now recalled were a myconid's means of communicating. "Go ahead, try again," he coaxed the little mushroom man.</p><p></p><p>With the headband no longer in place, the myconid's second cloud of rapport spores allowed him to communicate telepathically with the cleric-paladin. <Be careful,> the myconid guard warned, <for the Nightmare King has set a guardian in place to prevent you from getting to the wedding on time. His name is <strong>Older-Boulder</strong>. That's all I know.> And with that, the little mushroom man turned about and went back between the trees into the deeper forest.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren passed the "mucky mushroom's" message to the others, finding it surprising that the Nightmare King was known by those here in little Caroline Devlin's dream. But it was decided that Nimbus, Mr. Toad, and the princess would hang back and allow the security escort to go deal with this Older-Boulder fellow, whoever he might be.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe advanced, flying just above the treetops. From that vantage point, he could see Older-Boulder some way away, lurking along a side path off to the left. Not surprisingly given his name, the guardian was an earth titan, one of the largest and more powerful of the earth elementals. He carried an enormous boulder in one massive hand. The spellsword rose higher and cast a <em>ray of enfeeblement</em> spell at the earth titan, causing him to weaken a little. Zander approached to where he could see Older-Boulder between the trees and cast an <em>enervation</em> spell at him, weakening him even further. Alewyth fired off her <em>ray of frost</em> at the titan, covering a little patch of the stone comprising his massive body in frost.</p><p></p><p>Then Older-Boulder retaliated, tossing his boulder in Thurloe's direction. It completely missed the flying spellsword, but then as it landed Thurloe saw it had arrived directly on target, for the massive stone now blocked the middle of the path the group would be taking to get to Mr. Toad's wedding site.</p><p></p><p>Xandro approached and changed the tune he was playing on his <em>Dardolian Lute</em>, sending a <em>sound burst</em> spell reverberating towards the earth titan. Wakuren tried a new tactic, casting a <em>bestow curse</em> spell on the earth titan. Older-Boulder jerked as the spell went off, indicating it had had some sort of effect. "What did you do?" Thurloe called down to Wakuren, who stood by the earth titan's right ankle.</p><p></p><p>"Cursed him with indecision," Wakuren replied. "There's only a 50/50 chance he'll actually complete any action he thinks about doing!" Thurloe laughed at the curse and backed off, firing a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the weakened and confused earth titan.</p><p></p><p>Zander cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell at the massive elemental, and then Alewyth ran up to it, smirking fiercely. She slapped a hand upon its ankle, just as Wakuren had done, and cast her own <em>bestow curse</em> upon it. "Same deal," she announced to the others. "Now, if it actually manages to try to do anything after avoiding Wakuren's curse, there's a 50/50 chance it will <em>still</em> end up not doing a thing as it faces mine!"</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, Older-Boulder looked down at its many attackers in confusion and did absolutely nothing. Xandro struck it with another <em>sound burst</em>, Wakuren threw a <em>javelin of lightning</em> at it from his <em>gauntlet of Cal</em>, Zander cast another <em>lightning bolt</em> spell, and Alewyth sent a <em>spiritual warhammer</em> flying at its face, and still it stood there, stunned into mobility. Only once did Older-Boulder manage to shrug off the effects of both curses and bring his fists smashing down at Wakuren and Alewyth (both of whom were fortunately protected by Zander's <em>stoneskin</em> spells), but for the rest of the combat it stood there in confusion as the heroes slowly whittled it down. Finally, it fell over backwards and crashed against several trees, bringing them down as the earth titan collapsed, now no longer any more mobile than a statue.</p><p></p><p>"The wedding's supposed to take place in the forest clearing ahead!" announced Princess Caroline eagerly from the back of Wakuren's cloud-steed. Nimbus trotted forward, moving deftly past Older-Boulder's obstruction. The others followed and sure enough, in a clearing ahead stood a slightly smaller giant toad, this one wearing a white wedding veil. But Darling Darlene Dumpling called out for them to flee and save themselves - and it was then Wakuren spotted the massive serpent's head poking out from between a pair of trees behind Mr. Toad's intended bride. Worse, he identified it as a hypnalis viper, a creature in the employ of the Nightmare King - they'd fought one before in the timeless heart of the Dreamlands. Wakuren knew full well a bite from a hypnalis viper in a dreamscape could put the living body of the dreamer into a dream coma, and he drank down a <em>neutralize poison</em> potion as he advanced.</p><p></p><p>Princess Caroline had spotted the viper as well, calling out her term for it: "Sneaky Snake!" Xandro played his inspirational courage song on his magic lute while the half-orc cleric-paladin raced forward to face the hypnalis viper. Thurloe drank down his own <em>potion of neutralize poison</em> and flew behind Wakuren, <em>Spellslicer</em> out and ready to strike.</p><p></p><p>Zander managed to cast a <em>haste</em> spell on the assembled group before Wakuren and Thurloe got out of range, and then the hypnalis viper struck at Wakuren - as did two others who crawled out from between the trees, while a fourth slithered out from off to the side of the clearing and attacked Xandro. Two of the vipers bit Wakuren, but their venom was ineffective against him, as its magic was defeated by the potion he'd just consumed. Xandro had no such protection but gutted it out, ignoring the worst of the venom's effects after the viper attacking him managed to plunge its fangs into his arm.</p><p></p><p>Casting another summoning spell, Alewyth brought forth a fiendish dire wolf behind the serpent attacking Xandro, catching its muscular body in its jaws. This allowed Xandro to whip out <em>Deathwhisper</em> and cleave the head right off the serpent's body as it spun to face the wolf.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren summoned an air element creature behind the three vipers attacking him, the wind-borne beast also taking on the shape of a dire wolf. It bit at a serpent, while Thurloe flew overhead out of range of serpent-strikes and cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell down at one of Wakuren's slithering attackers. Zander caught another two in a <em>lightning bolt</em> spell as they bit at Wakuren again, their fangs pumping in venom that had no effect.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth brought <em>Sjondra</em> down onto the head of a hypnalis viper that crushed its skull and killed it instantly. Alewyth's fiendish dire wolf continued its attacks upon the one it had bitten, and Wakuren slew that one with his <em>shield of Cal</em> when it unwisely directed its attention to the wolf instead of the dreamwalker. Xandro went back to playing his song of inspirational courage, encouraging his friends' follow-on attacks through his tune. While the air element dire wolf snapped at the remaining viper, Thurloe's <em>magic missile</em> spell and Zander's final <em>lightning bolt</em> spell slew it.</p><p></p><p>"Wartimer, my love!" cried Darling Darlene Dumpling, hopping toward her future husband once the four sneaky snakes had been slain. The heroes dragged the serpentine bodies off into the woods and kicked dirt over the bloodstains, making the forest clearing once again presentable for the toad wedding.</p><p></p><p>Princess Caroline presided over the marriage ceremony herself. "Dearly beloved," she began, "we are gathered here to witness the marriage of my bestest friend Wartimer J. Toad to his beloved, Darling Darlene Dumpling." She giggled again over the future Mrs. Toad's name. But as she continued on with the ceremony, the heroes noted she still carried the stick she'd had with her when they'd first met her at the pier, and she made use of it during the ceremony, having the two toads hold hands and then placing the stick - whose end had begun to glow with the unmistakable effect of a spontaneously-cast <em>light</em> spell - over their joined digits like her brother the king beknighting one of his men. "I now pronounce you husband toad and bride toad," Princess Caroline announced at the end, then added, "You guys can kiss now if you want to."</p><p></p><p>They wanted to. And as the two toads kissed passionately in the forest clearing, the trees began to melt away as the dreamscape blurred into nothingness.</p><p></p><p>The heroes stirred from their slumber as Princess Caroline sat up in bed holding her stuffed toad. "We had a wedding!" she boldly announced to her brother.</p><p></p><p>"Astonishing! They did it!" exclaimed Judlin Bellweather.</p><p></p><p>"You know, Your Majesty," began Chaspertaine, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "it might not be a bad idea to have these five dreamwalkers, and their retinue, remain here in the castle on a permanent basis in case they are ever needed again."</p><p></p><p>"But there are others trapped in their dreams!" argued Alewyth. "We're the only ones we know of who can awaken them!"</p><p></p><p>"And we serve the Queen of Dreams," pointed out Thurloe with his usual level of tact.</p><p></p><p>This comment brought a scowl upon King Eovard's face, after having been so glad to see his little sister awake and excitedly regaling him with details about their dream exploits. "Do you mean to say you are beholden to two different sovereigns?" he demanded. As the hereditary leader of what he considered to be the entire continent of Armaturia (the elven and dwarven areas notwithstanding), he found the concept troubling. He, after all, was a true king, not some figment dreamed up in a dream, as this "Queen of Dreams" must surely be.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe caused all four of his companions to gasp aloud when he responded, off the cuff, with, "Actually, Your Majesty, <em>you're</em> beholden to <em>us</em>." Xandro's eyes goggled in amazement at the audacity of the idiot spellsword, while Zander wondered if he could somehow manage to make it back to the Sylvanholme Forest to avoid being hunted by the Devlin family forces forevermore. Alewyth looked as if she wanted to kill him personally, preferably with her hands around his throat until he choked, as that would prevent him from making things even worse with any other poorly-thought-out comments.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, King Eovard was not one to make decisions rashly, nor in the heat of anger. "I think, " he declared, "you will remain here in the castle overnight. I will take your arguments into consideration and give you my answer in the morning." Then, turning back to Princess Caroline and scooping her up into his arms, he said, "Frowny frogs, you say? How many of them?"</p><p></p><p>"Six!" exclaimed Princess Caroline, intent upon her tale.</p><p></p><p>"This way, if you please," announced Judlin Bellweather, taking the heroes down a different corridor from the one the king and princess had taken.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>This was a kind of adventure I had wanted to do at least once in this campaign, realizing there was no reason why a dream couldn't encompass the majority of a gaming session. (Also, I realized I'd be tying up the "dream plague" storyline by around adventure #60, which was fast approaching.) Logan twigged pretty quickly on what the <em>light</em> spell on the end of Princess Caroline's stick meant: she's like they are, with a full recollection of her dreams upon awakening and the ability to spontaneously cast one particular 0-level spell once per day. Given the proper training by a team of dedicated moogles, she could easily become a dreamwalker herself.</p><p></p><p>Everyone was pretty much wanting to kill Dan over Thurloe's last comment to King Eovard, though, which was even stupider than some of the other things he'd had his PC say. (Harry even denoted the move as "Day Fifty of 'Why Do We Even Let Him Hang Around With Us?'") But I told the players not to try to come up with elaborate "escape from the castle" plans just yet, as the next adventure was going to take place that very night, and would start off with them still in the castle. I'll let them decide their next move during the next adventure session.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: My "Evil Clown School - Graduate With Honors" T-shirt with an evilly-grinning clown on it; the PCs at first thought it represented the gnome court jester, but it was really a stand-in for the clown spiders.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 9042073, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 52: BY ROYAL COMMAND[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 11[/INDENT] [INDENT] Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 5/paladin 6[/INDENT] [INDENT] Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 11[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Princess Caroline, female human aristocrat 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Robin the Balladeer, human bard 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Scarlie Besker, half-orc commoner 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wartimer J. Toad, awakened giant toad[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 3 June 2023 - - - "Uh, guys," said Thurloe from the back of his horse Horse, "we're being watched." Robin looked at him from the back of the mule-driven wagon, where the two half-orcs were up in the front, Scarlie steering the mules and Wakuren just enjoying the scenery. She looked around her, at both sides of the road, which had a few trees here and there but hardly enough for much in the way of hiding places. "By whom?" she asked. "By whoever's at the other end of that scrying sensor," the spellsword replied, jerking a thumb back over his shoulder. Alewyth turned around from the saddle of her dire goat and looked up at where Thurloe had been pointing, squinting to try to see anything. She didn't see anything. She let him know this by stating, "I don't see anything." But Xandro had spotted the sensor, now that he knew what he was looking for, and Zander Quilson chimed in that he saw it, too. "Maybe it's the gnomes," Xandro suggested. "They say they like to keep an eye on their regular customers." "Or maybe it's someone ready to ambush us," countered Thurloe. "Maybe we should just ask," suggested Wakuren, turning around in the wagon and facing the spot everyone was now looking at, although he personally couldn't see anything. "Hey!" he called up to the spot. "We know you're watching us!" Maybe, he thought, the spies would disappear if they knew they had been spotted. "If it's you gnomes, let us know it's you!" Thurloe called up behind him. There was no response; the sensor kept pace just above and behind him as the group and their mounts and wagon continued on down the road. "Well, I for one don't like being spied upon," replied Alewyth. She turned around in her saddle and cast a [I]dispel magic[/I] spell at the offending [I]scrying[/I] spell effect. Xandro confirmed that the dwarf's spell had done the trick, for he saw it wink out. "Well, that's that," the priestess said, content that her spell had done the trick. And that was indeed that - for about an hour or so. Then, as the group continued on down the road, a force of four riders approached them from the opposite direction. They were all hobgoblins, dressed in matching armor and wearing tabards that showed they worked for the self-appointed King of Armaturia himself. "Halt!" one commanded, riding his heavy warhorse out in front of the others and holding up a hand before him. "Halt in the name of [B]King Eovard Devlin[/B]." "What's this all about?" demanded Thurloe, grumpy as always - but still bringing Horse to a halt beside the wagon, as the others did likewise. "Are you the ones capable of waking those who have been asleep for weeks at a time?" demanded the lead hobgoblin. Wakuren replied that they were indeed those whom the hobgoblins sought. "Then you will come with us," the armored leader commanded. "The king has immediate need of your services." "Where are you taking us?" asked Alewyth, as the leader spun his horse about and got ready to lead the procession onward in the direction they'd already been heading. The other three hobgoblins, Thurloe couldn't help but notice, moved their steeds to the side of the road so the procession could pass them by, taking up positions in the rear so they could see if anyone tried to break free of the convoy. "We're heading for Mount Resplendia, the location of Castle Devlin," replied the hobgoblin leader. "You'll get all of the details once we get there." And "once we get there," the heroes learned, was a further three days down the road, passing by the next dreamers in line that they had intended to wake up next. The hobgoblins insisted they not take any time dealing with "secondary concerns," and even though Thurloe was pretty sure the heroes could take the four hobgoblins in a fight, even he didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the King of Armaturia - even if the king's claims to ruling the entire continent conveniently left off the elves of the Sylvanholme Forest, where they were left to their own self-rule, and the dwarves living below the Shieldwall Mountains, who likewise had their own local dwarven kings. Not wanting to let the hobgoblins know of the capabilities of [I]Hesperna's lamp[/I], everyone opted to sleep on the ground or in the wagon when they stopped that night, curled up with blankets. (Thurloe was the only one with a one-man tent, which he pitched pretty much just so he could be envied by the others.) The hobgoblins kept a guard rotation throughout the night; feeling they were fairly safe with the king's own men guarding them, the heroes opted not to follow suit. On the second day of travel, they met up with another band of four hobgoblins, bringing the number of escorts up to eight. The hobgoblins were a fairly stoic lot, talking among themselves just to deliver orders and more of less ignoring their charges, as long as they stayed in formation. With those numbers, nobody bothered them during the trip to Mount Resplendia, and on the third day the procession pulled up to the castle gates. There, Scarlie, Robin, and the animals were taken away to be sheltered, while the five dreamwalkers - the hobgoblins seemed to know exactly which members of the team were the ones capable of waking up trapped dreamers - were brought to a room inside the castle, where they were stripped of their weapons before being brought in to meet with King Eovard. Thurloe was not at all pleased at having to leave his weapons behind, but he recognized it was not an unreasonable demand. He did talk to the moogles in the Dreamlands, though, using the dreamstone embedded in his bastard sword [I]Spellslicer[/I], to confirm that there was actually a trapped dreamer here in the castle - he wasn't going to take the chance that this was all some sort of ruse, for Wakuren had determined on first meeting up with the hobgoblins that they all had auras emanating the taint of evil. Five hobgoblins escorted the five heroes into a room, into which shortly thereafter strode the king with his own procession: his adviser, [B]Judlin Bellweather[/B]; his court wizard, [B]Chaspertaine[/B]; and the royal jester, [B]Knobgobble[/B]. All but the gnomish jester were human, like the king. "Good afternoon," began King Eovard. "I understand you are the ones capable of waking those caught up in their dreams. My little sister, [B]Princess Caroline[/B], has been asleep now for a week and a half. My court wizard's divinations have shown you to be the ones capable of waking her up. I would have you do so at once. What do you need to be able to awaken her?" "We'll need to be brought by her side, Your Majesty," replied Wakuren, causing some shocked looks that the half-orc not only could speak the Common tongue, but rather fluently. "We'll need to attach a dreamstone to her forehead, then sit around her in a circle and wrest her from the Dreamlands. And Zander here has a [I]jade cooshee[/I] that will look over our sleeping bodies as we do so." "No cooshee," replied the king. "My men will provide adequate protection." Here he indicated his armed and armored hobgoblins, each of which wore a longsword at his belt. Wakuren looked suspiciously at the hobgoblins, not liking being watched over by evil hobgoblins, but they were giving him the same look right back, obviously not liking the idea of a half-orc mongrel being allowed inside the princess's bedroom. But nothing was said of either suspicion, and the five dreamwalkers were led into Princess Caroline's bedroom. The sleeping princess proved to be all of six years old, a good two decades younger than her regal brother. She slept in a room filled with garish pink everywhere: the walls, the draperies, her bedding. A stuffed frog held tightly under one arm provided a welcome bit of green into the room. Alewyth positioned the dreamstone around Princess Caroline's head, positioning the stone just right in the middle of her forehead and tying it into place with the leather thongs on either end of the headband. The bed was pulled into the middle of the floor, and the five dreamwalkers took their positions in a five-pointed star around her bed, each one wearing his or her own dreamstone in a leather band upon the forehead. They noticed the five hobgoblins each positioned themselves around the dreamwalkers, each one close enough to cut off their heads if they tried anything. That was not a particularly comforting thought, but if the King - whose aura, Wakuren had surreptitiously determined at a signal from Thurloe as they had approached the princess's bedroom, was devoid of evil - trusted the hobgoblins, then who were they to do less? Still, it took them a bit longer than normal to slow their heartbeats enough to be able to fall into a sleep that sent their dream-selves into the Dreamlands.... Once in the Dreamlands, they were each met by their individual moogle dream guides and ushered over to Mogo, who was not in a pleasant mood. He opened a particular door in the Corridor of Dreams and indicated for the five to enter. "Here's the dream that's [I]so important[/I] it has to be taken care of before [I]any[/I] of the others, kupo!" he grumbled. "Silly mortal king thinks he gets a say in what's [I]clearly[/I] the province of the Queen of Dream, kupo!" Not wanting a prolonged conversation with the peeved moogle dream instructor, the five heroes each dashed inside the door. The dreamscape beyond the door was one of tranquility: gently rolling hills of fields and meadows, dotted with flowers and with a slow-moving river just ahead. Princess Caroline stood there by the edge of a river, a step away from the beginning of a wooden pier that extended out over the water. She wore a frilly dress - pink, of course - with white stockings and black shoes and a large pink bow in her hair; incongruously, she held a simple stick in her hand. And, even more incongruously, squatting beside her was an enormous toad. Upon his head was an even-more-incongruous-than-that black top hat. "Are you the security escort?" demanded Princess Caroline. Then, not waiting for an answer, she added, "Good. We need to get going, or Mr. Toad will be late to his own wedding!" Then spinning around, she headed down the dock and carefully stepped onto a wooden raft moored at its end. Mr. Toad followed dutifully; the heroes, looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders, ran to catch up. Wakuren and Alewyth were the first heroes to step onto the raft, and saw a pair of long poles lying diagonally across the floating wooden vehicle. "You two can use the poles," she decided, pointing to where they should each stand, at the front corners of the raft. "We'll let the river propel us - just use the poles to scoot us away from any rocks. The river's too deep in the middle for the poles to reach to the bottom, in any case." Xandro, Thurloe, and Zander stepped onto the raft, making sure Princess Caroline was in the middle, protected on all sides by Mr. Toad and their "security escort." "So, a wedding, huh?" asked Alewyth as Zander released the rope keeping the raft by the pier and the current started whisking them away. "Big day for a big frog." "He's a toad!" corrected Princess Caroline. "His name's [B]Wartimer J. Toad[/B]" - she pronounced the toad's first name to rhyme with "Mortimer" - but you can call him 'Mr. Toad.'" "The 'J' stands for 'Jumpy'," announced Mr. Toad, surprising the heroes who hadn't suspected he could talk. "Who's the lucky bride?" asked Xandro, getting into the swing of this dream - it was nice having a somewhat pleasant diversion for once. At that, Princess Caroline giggled. "Her name's [B]Darling Darlene Dumpling[/B]," she said, leaning forward and laughing. "She's really nice." "Uh-oh," interrupted Xandro, sorry to see this dream wasn't going to be just them placidly poling on down the river after all. He pointed to the shore ahead, where a humanoid frog was approaching the shore and then stepping into - no, actually [I]onto[/I] - the river. A few yards further down the shore, another stepped up as well. Each was armed with a shortspear. "Bullywugs!" "Frowny frogs!" corrected Princess Caroline. "They want to prevent Mr. Toad from getting to his wedding!" How the six-year-old could possibly know their intentions wasn't a real point of conjecture; this was her dream, after all. She pointed to the opposite shore. "There's more of them over there!" It became apparent the dream's goal was to get Mr. Toad to his wedding, and the six bullywugs - or "frowny frogs" - were an obstacle needing to be overcome in order to wake up Princess Caroline from her dream. But the amphibians all sprinted forward, running on top of the surface of the river, menacing those on the raft with their halfspears as they approached from either bank. Xandro decided he'd beat them at their own game and, using his lucid dream training, gave himself the dream-ability to walk on water himself. But before he could step off the raft, a spear-tip stabbed him in the chest as he was pulling [I]Deathwhisper[/I] from its scabbard. Zander was likewise hit, as, tragically, was Mr. Toad. Fortunately, he wore nothing but his black top hat so there was no wedding garb to be stained by the blood dripping down his side. Wakuren called out to the heavens and Nimbus appeared on the water to the side of the raft, a cloud materializing into the shape of a horse. The frowny frog standing immediately before the cleric-paladin of Cal stabbed at him with his shortspear, but it slid harmlessly off the half-orc's armor. Nimbus struck out at the bullywug attacking Mr. Toad, causing him at least to redirect his attention from the future groom to deal with the horse-shaped cloud hovering just over the slow-moving river. Mr. Toad then showed the frowny frog that turning his back on him wasn't that great of an idea either, biting at the bullywug with a mouth only slightly larger than the bullywug's entire head. Thurloe swung his bastard sword at a bullywug at his side, hitting the spear-wielding amphibian and triggering the [I]vampiric touch[/I] spell he'd had loaded into his blade. Zander cast a [I]cone of cold[/I] spell at the two bullywugs at the left front of the raft, accidentally catching Alewyth in its area of effect as well. "Sorry!" he called to the priestess of Aerik. "I'll live!" promised Alewyth, swinging [I]Sjondra[/I] into the bullywug just in front of her corner of the raft. "Leave Mr. Toad alone!" demanded Princess Caroline, waving her stick in the general direction of the frowny frog who had stabbed her truest companion - and right before his wedding, no less! Xandro tried dodging an incoming spear-stab as he summoned his dire elk at the back of the raft, but the spear-tip found its mark. Fortunately, the megaloceros manifested just behind the raft, and a swing of his massive rack of antlers caught the offending frowny frog who had stabbed Mr. Toad. But then the bullywugs, throats warbling a combat grunt in unison, all stabbed out with their spears, more striking true than missing. "Hey!" cried Princess Caroline, shielded from the spears by the bodies of her security escort and her best friend ever, as she saw Mr. Toad take another hit from the frowny frog attacking him. Even though this was just a dream, Wakuren's instincts had him detect evil on the auras of the frowny frogs, and when he saw its presence he channeled Cal's smiting energy into his shield, bringing it smashing into the face of the bullywug before him. Nimbus attacked the one focused thus far on Mr. Toad, then positioned himself in such a way as to provide aid to Xandro, who among the heroes had taken the most damage. Mr. Toad bravely bit at his attacker again, determined to fight him off and not let him get to the princess, whom he'd known for her whole six years of life. Thurloe's blade slew the first of the bullywugs, whose body proved not to be able to remain atop the surface of the river once it was dead; with a plop, it sunk below the water, never to be seen again. Zander ignored his own safety and cast a [I]displacement[/I] spell on the princess; she might be shielded for now but just in case these frowny frogs made it onto the raft.... He took another hit from a thrusting spear for his efforts, grunting in pain. Beside him, Alewyth struck her own amphibious foe with [I]Sjondra[/I] again. [I]Deathwhisper[/I] suddenly thrust straight out ahead of Xandro's outstretched arm and the bullywug he'd just stabbed between the eyes dropped below the river's surface, dead. At the rear of the raft, his dire elk swung his antlers at the bullywug pressing the attack against Mr. Toad. The giant toad gave it his best, but another stab of the spear by the frowny frog and he fell over on his side, blood staining the wood of the raft. His top hat fell off his head, only to land upon one of the many points on the dire elk's massive rack of antlers. "Mr. Toad! No!" cried Princess Caroline, rushing to her friend's side and whacking the offending frowny frog with her stick, to no great effect. Nimbus attacked the same bullywug with a much greater level of success, slamming a hoof into its back as he bit down upon a shoulder. At the front of the raft, Wakuren continued his attacks with his shield against the bullywug before him, and across the other side of the raft, at its left rear, Thurloe suddenly leaped off to his left and, before he hit the water, sent a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell crashing through the two bullywugs on that side. Both died instantly from the attack, leaving the left side of the raft clear of attackers. Thurloe then cast a [I]fly[/I] spell upon himself and flew back to the raft. Zander scrambled over to Mr. Toad, pulling a potion flask from his belt as he did so. He unstoppered it and poured the contents down the giant toad's throat, the healing potion going to work almost immediately. As Mr. Toad pulled himself back upright, his first question was, "Is the princess okay?" and his second was, "Where's my top hat?" Alewyth slew another bullywug with [I]Sjondra[/I], right at about the same time Xandro took out another with [I]Deathwhisper[/I]. The dire elk swam to stay close to the raft, swimming over to the right side as there was currently no foe within range of his antlers, the sole remaining bullywug fighter being currently engaged with Wakuren at the front of the raft. It attacked Wakuren again and missed, and then the half-orc polished it off with a final blow from his [I]shield of Cal[/I]. And with that, the frowny frog attack was over, although Alewyth noted the dream continued on. Mr. Toad retrieved his top hat, the heroes cast their standard combat spells upon each other and healing spells upon those who needed them, and the raft continued its way on down the river. The dire elk soon blinked out, the time of its summoning having expired, and then Wakuren called Nimbus over to the front of the raft. Tying a length of rope around his flying mount's broad neck at one end and the raft at the other, he soon had his air element warhorse pulling the raft at a greater speed than that of the sluggish current. "We'll make sure the wedding occurs on time," the half-orc informed Princess Caroline, glad to see that she at least gave his orcish appearance not a lick of concern. Eventually, the princess pointed to a spot on the other side of the river and told Wakuren to have Nimbus pull the raft up there. There was a gulch not far from the shore, extending as far as the eye could see in both directions parallel to the river, but a well-placed log made a handy bridge by which to cross. On the other side of the gulch, just past the log, stood four hollow tree trunks, each about 10 feet in diameter and nearly that tall. Xandro stepped off of the raft first, pulling the [I]Dardolian Lute[/I] from his back and starting his song of inspirational courage, which Princess Caroline and Mr. Toad seemed to enjoy quite a lot, having never heard it before but liking the way it boosted their courage. "Those frowny frogs better not bother us again, if they know what's good for them!" declared Mr. Toad, his fighting spirit buoyed by the song. "Perhaps you'd like to ride on Nimbus's back, princess?" asked Wakuren, and the little girl clapped her hands at the thought. The half-orc stayed behind to help her onto the back of his cloud-steed while the other heroes advanced toward the gulch. Thurloe, [I]fly[/I] spell still active, flew over the gulch, noting as he crossed it that it was about 40 feet deep and covered in gloppy mud at the bottom. Then, before anyone else could cross, a strange-looking head popped up from one of the hollow tree trunks. It was easily the size of a hill giant's head, but it was covered in white greasepaint and had red all over its nose and around its lips - this hill giant, it seemed, for whatever reason was wearing clown makeup. It giggled and chuckled as it popped its head back down the tree trunk, only to pop up from another tree trunk, cackling gleefully. Then it ducked down again, only to pop up from a still different tree trunk. The clown seemed to think this was a hilarious game, but Princess Caroline had frozen up as soon as the clown's laughter began. Her face held a terrified expression, despite the effects of the bardic song Xandro was still playing. He advanced cautiously towards the gulch, eager to see what the giant clown would do next. Zander approached the gulch as well, ready to pop a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the clown if it tried anything threatening. Alewyth activated her [I]butterfly brooch[/I] and took to the air, fluttering over the gulch and casting a summoning spell that caused a celestial brown bear to manifest in the space between the four tree trunks. If the clown tried anything, she'd let it contend with a grizzly bear from the Celestial Planes and see how it liked that. "Stay here, princess," commanded Wakuren, indicating for Mr. Toad and Nimbus to watch over her, for she was still standing frozen in place, terrified by the clown's evil laughter. Then the half-orc [I]air walked[/I] up and over the gulch. He had just hit the far side of the gulch - remaining a few inches above the surface of the ground - when the "hill giant clown" finally struck. Four massive spiders each scrambled out of a hollow tree truck, their clown-face abdomens each rising up behind them and the horrible laughter continuing as they attacked. Two went for Wakuren, but they had a hard time penetrating his heavy armor with their mandibles. The other two went for the celestial bruin and they found it much easier to sink their fangs past the bear's shaggy coat and into its flesh, but they were disappointed to see it shrug off the venom's effects. Zander's readied [I]magic missile[/I] spell came shrieking in to strike the clown spider closest to him. "We'll stay back here until it's safe," promised Mr. Toad, stepping to shield the princess from seeing the clown spiders with his own massive, warty body. But Princess Caroline had started shrieking herself, a high-pitched scream of terror fully mastered by frightened six-year-old girls. Nimbus stamped in frustration, not sure how he could help the princess, but it was fairly obvious she wouldn't be climbing up onto his back any time soon. With a flash of magic in its eight arachnid eyes, one of the clown spiders cast a [I]grease[/I] spell on the log crossing the chasm. Another one cast a sticky web over Wakuren, pinning him in place just over the ground where he floated. The other two pressed their attacks upon the celestial brown bear. Thurloe gained altitude and looked down at the situation below, frowning. Wakuren, looking up, saw the spellsword's look of concern and guessed his dilemma. "Do it!" Wakuren called up to his companion. "I can take it!" Having been given permission, Thurloe cast a [I]fireball[/I] spell down below him, which engulfed all four clown spiders and, regrettably, also Wakuren and the bear - although the spell had the added benefit of burning off the webbing that had ensnared the half-orc. All six survived, but Wakuren and the celestial bear could be healed up, whereas the clown spiders likely had no way to provide healing other than by scampering to safety and letting time heal them up - and the heroes were determined not to give them that option. Zander cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell across the chasm and blasted two of the clown spiders, damaging them even further. Alewyth landed on the side of the gulch with the clown spiders and blasted one with a [I]searing light[/I] spell, killing it instantly. The celestial grizzly slashed at one of its attackers with a claw-tipped paw, ripping through its carapace and causing it to drip black ichor from the wound. Wakuren, no longer bound by webbing, slew another clown spider by bringing the bottom edge of his [I]shield of Cal[/I] crashing down upon its head. The two remaining clown spiders were the ones in the back attacking the celestial bruin, but their venom was still not having the effect they had anticipated. Thurloe blasted one with a [I]magic missile[/I] spell, killing it, and then the sole remaining arachnid was slain by a combined attack consisting of a [I]magic missile[/I] spell cast by Zander, a hammer-strike by Alewyth, and followed up by a set of ripping claws by the celestial brown bear before it returned to the heavens. Only after the clown spiders were all dead could they get Princess Caroline to settle down and take her place upon Nimbus's broad back. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just really afraid of clown spiders." Nimbus flew the princess across the gulch, wisely opting not to land until they had passed the carcasses of the four dead clown spiders, their legs still twitching spasmodically. Mr. Toad hopped the gulch easily, and Thurloe flew Zander and Xandro over, one at a time. Then they continued on, entering a forest. "The wedding is this way," Princess Caroline said, back to her old self now that they had passed the freaky arachnids. As a precaution - for none of the dreamwalkers had any idea how many more dangers might beset them in getting Mr. Toad to his wedding ceremony - Zander cast a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell upon each of the heroes; after all, this was just a dream and he wasn't [I]really[/I] using up any of the expensive diamond dust that casting the spell in the real world required. Thurloe used his lucid dream training to change the appearance of his armor to appropriate wedding garb - if need be, he now had the look of a groomsman, should the need for a last-minute best man arise. The forest path split off into a Y, and although Princess Caroline indicated they needed to go right, Xandro opted to peek down the left path to make sure there were no ambushers waiting to strike from behind after they had passed. He continued playing his song of inspirational courage, which had boosted the princess's spirits considerably. Wakuren took the lead, striding out in front of the rest of the party, and as a result it was he who was struck by the cone of spores spit out of the mouth of a humanoid mushroom that suddenly stepped out from between two trees. "A mucky mushroom!" declared Princess Caroline from the back of Nimbus, and Mr. Toad leaped protectively in front of the cloud-steed to keep the princess out of danger. Wakuren instinctively held his breath at the attack and raised his shield before him, but the mushroom man did nothing but stand expectantly, watching the half-orc who towered above him. Then, laughing at his forgetfulness, Wakuren lowered his shield and removed the [I]headband of Cal[/I] he wore, which provided him with an ever-replenishing bubble of air around his head - and which had blocked the spores from reaching him, spores which the half-orc now recalled were a myconid's means of communicating. "Go ahead, try again," he coaxed the little mushroom man. With the headband no longer in place, the myconid's second cloud of rapport spores allowed him to communicate telepathically with the cleric-paladin. <Be careful,> the myconid guard warned, <for the Nightmare King has set a guardian in place to prevent you from getting to the wedding on time. His name is [B]Older-Boulder[/B]. That's all I know.> And with that, the little mushroom man turned about and went back between the trees into the deeper forest. Wakuren passed the "mucky mushroom's" message to the others, finding it surprising that the Nightmare King was known by those here in little Caroline Devlin's dream. But it was decided that Nimbus, Mr. Toad, and the princess would hang back and allow the security escort to go deal with this Older-Boulder fellow, whoever he might be. Thurloe advanced, flying just above the treetops. From that vantage point, he could see Older-Boulder some way away, lurking along a side path off to the left. Not surprisingly given his name, the guardian was an earth titan, one of the largest and more powerful of the earth elementals. He carried an enormous boulder in one massive hand. The spellsword rose higher and cast a [I]ray of enfeeblement[/I] spell at the earth titan, causing him to weaken a little. Zander approached to where he could see Older-Boulder between the trees and cast an [I]enervation[/I] spell at him, weakening him even further. Alewyth fired off her [I]ray of frost[/I] at the titan, covering a little patch of the stone comprising his massive body in frost. Then Older-Boulder retaliated, tossing his boulder in Thurloe's direction. It completely missed the flying spellsword, but then as it landed Thurloe saw it had arrived directly on target, for the massive stone now blocked the middle of the path the group would be taking to get to Mr. Toad's wedding site. Xandro approached and changed the tune he was playing on his [I]Dardolian Lute[/I], sending a [I]sound burst[/I] spell reverberating towards the earth titan. Wakuren tried a new tactic, casting a [I]bestow curse[/I] spell on the earth titan. Older-Boulder jerked as the spell went off, indicating it had had some sort of effect. "What did you do?" Thurloe called down to Wakuren, who stood by the earth titan's right ankle. "Cursed him with indecision," Wakuren replied. "There's only a 50/50 chance he'll actually complete any action he thinks about doing!" Thurloe laughed at the curse and backed off, firing a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the weakened and confused earth titan. Zander cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell at the massive elemental, and then Alewyth ran up to it, smirking fiercely. She slapped a hand upon its ankle, just as Wakuren had done, and cast her own [I]bestow curse[/I] upon it. "Same deal," she announced to the others. "Now, if it actually manages to try to do anything after avoiding Wakuren's curse, there's a 50/50 chance it will [I]still[/I] end up not doing a thing as it faces mine!" Sure enough, Older-Boulder looked down at its many attackers in confusion and did absolutely nothing. Xandro struck it with another [I]sound burst[/I], Wakuren threw a [I]javelin of lightning[/I] at it from his [I]gauntlet of Cal[/I], Zander cast another [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell, and Alewyth sent a [I]spiritual warhammer[/I] flying at its face, and still it stood there, stunned into mobility. Only once did Older-Boulder manage to shrug off the effects of both curses and bring his fists smashing down at Wakuren and Alewyth (both of whom were fortunately protected by Zander's [I]stoneskin[/I] spells), but for the rest of the combat it stood there in confusion as the heroes slowly whittled it down. Finally, it fell over backwards and crashed against several trees, bringing them down as the earth titan collapsed, now no longer any more mobile than a statue. "The wedding's supposed to take place in the forest clearing ahead!" announced Princess Caroline eagerly from the back of Wakuren's cloud-steed. Nimbus trotted forward, moving deftly past Older-Boulder's obstruction. The others followed and sure enough, in a clearing ahead stood a slightly smaller giant toad, this one wearing a white wedding veil. But Darling Darlene Dumpling called out for them to flee and save themselves - and it was then Wakuren spotted the massive serpent's head poking out from between a pair of trees behind Mr. Toad's intended bride. Worse, he identified it as a hypnalis viper, a creature in the employ of the Nightmare King - they'd fought one before in the timeless heart of the Dreamlands. Wakuren knew full well a bite from a hypnalis viper in a dreamscape could put the living body of the dreamer into a dream coma, and he drank down a [I]neutralize poison[/I] potion as he advanced. Princess Caroline had spotted the viper as well, calling out her term for it: "Sneaky Snake!" Xandro played his inspirational courage song on his magic lute while the half-orc cleric-paladin raced forward to face the hypnalis viper. Thurloe drank down his own [I]potion of neutralize poison[/I] and flew behind Wakuren, [I]Spellslicer[/I] out and ready to strike. Zander managed to cast a [I]haste[/I] spell on the assembled group before Wakuren and Thurloe got out of range, and then the hypnalis viper struck at Wakuren - as did two others who crawled out from between the trees, while a fourth slithered out from off to the side of the clearing and attacked Xandro. Two of the vipers bit Wakuren, but their venom was ineffective against him, as its magic was defeated by the potion he'd just consumed. Xandro had no such protection but gutted it out, ignoring the worst of the venom's effects after the viper attacking him managed to plunge its fangs into his arm. Casting another summoning spell, Alewyth brought forth a fiendish dire wolf behind the serpent attacking Xandro, catching its muscular body in its jaws. This allowed Xandro to whip out [I]Deathwhisper[/I] and cleave the head right off the serpent's body as it spun to face the wolf. Wakuren summoned an air element creature behind the three vipers attacking him, the wind-borne beast also taking on the shape of a dire wolf. It bit at a serpent, while Thurloe flew overhead out of range of serpent-strikes and cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell down at one of Wakuren's slithering attackers. Zander caught another two in a [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell as they bit at Wakuren again, their fangs pumping in venom that had no effect. Alewyth brought [I]Sjondra[/I] down onto the head of a hypnalis viper that crushed its skull and killed it instantly. Alewyth's fiendish dire wolf continued its attacks upon the one it had bitten, and Wakuren slew that one with his [I]shield of Cal[/I] when it unwisely directed its attention to the wolf instead of the dreamwalker. Xandro went back to playing his song of inspirational courage, encouraging his friends' follow-on attacks through his tune. While the air element dire wolf snapped at the remaining viper, Thurloe's [I]magic missile[/I] spell and Zander's final [I]lightning bolt[/I] spell slew it. "Wartimer, my love!" cried Darling Darlene Dumpling, hopping toward her future husband once the four sneaky snakes had been slain. The heroes dragged the serpentine bodies off into the woods and kicked dirt over the bloodstains, making the forest clearing once again presentable for the toad wedding. Princess Caroline presided over the marriage ceremony herself. "Dearly beloved," she began, "we are gathered here to witness the marriage of my bestest friend Wartimer J. Toad to his beloved, Darling Darlene Dumpling." She giggled again over the future Mrs. Toad's name. But as she continued on with the ceremony, the heroes noted she still carried the stick she'd had with her when they'd first met her at the pier, and she made use of it during the ceremony, having the two toads hold hands and then placing the stick - whose end had begun to glow with the unmistakable effect of a spontaneously-cast [I]light[/I] spell - over their joined digits like her brother the king beknighting one of his men. "I now pronounce you husband toad and bride toad," Princess Caroline announced at the end, then added, "You guys can kiss now if you want to." They wanted to. And as the two toads kissed passionately in the forest clearing, the trees began to melt away as the dreamscape blurred into nothingness. The heroes stirred from their slumber as Princess Caroline sat up in bed holding her stuffed toad. "We had a wedding!" she boldly announced to her brother. "Astonishing! They did it!" exclaimed Judlin Bellweather. "You know, Your Majesty," began Chaspertaine, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "it might not be a bad idea to have these five dreamwalkers, and their retinue, remain here in the castle on a permanent basis in case they are ever needed again." "But there are others trapped in their dreams!" argued Alewyth. "We're the only ones we know of who can awaken them!" "And we serve the Queen of Dreams," pointed out Thurloe with his usual level of tact. This comment brought a scowl upon King Eovard's face, after having been so glad to see his little sister awake and excitedly regaling him with details about their dream exploits. "Do you mean to say you are beholden to two different sovereigns?" he demanded. As the hereditary leader of what he considered to be the entire continent of Armaturia (the elven and dwarven areas notwithstanding), he found the concept troubling. He, after all, was a true king, not some figment dreamed up in a dream, as this "Queen of Dreams" must surely be. Thurloe caused all four of his companions to gasp aloud when he responded, off the cuff, with, "Actually, Your Majesty, [I]you're[/I] beholden to [I]us[/I]." Xandro's eyes goggled in amazement at the audacity of the idiot spellsword, while Zander wondered if he could somehow manage to make it back to the Sylvanholme Forest to avoid being hunted by the Devlin family forces forevermore. Alewyth looked as if she wanted to kill him personally, preferably with her hands around his throat until he choked, as that would prevent him from making things even worse with any other poorly-thought-out comments. Fortunately, King Eovard was not one to make decisions rashly, nor in the heat of anger. "I think, " he declared, "you will remain here in the castle overnight. I will take your arguments into consideration and give you my answer in the morning." Then, turning back to Princess Caroline and scooping her up into his arms, he said, "Frowny frogs, you say? How many of them?" "Six!" exclaimed Princess Caroline, intent upon her tale. "This way, if you please," announced Judlin Bellweather, taking the heroes down a different corridor from the one the king and princess had taken. - - - This was a kind of adventure I had wanted to do at least once in this campaign, realizing there was no reason why a dream couldn't encompass the majority of a gaming session. (Also, I realized I'd be tying up the "dream plague" storyline by around adventure #60, which was fast approaching.) Logan twigged pretty quickly on what the [I]light[/I] spell on the end of Princess Caroline's stick meant: she's like they are, with a full recollection of her dreams upon awakening and the ability to spontaneously cast one particular 0-level spell once per day. Given the proper training by a team of dedicated moogles, she could easily become a dreamwalker herself. Everyone was pretty much wanting to kill Dan over Thurloe's last comment to King Eovard, though, which was even stupider than some of the other things he'd had his PC say. (Harry even denoted the move as "Day Fifty of 'Why Do We Even Let Him Hang Around With Us?'") But I told the players not to try to come up with elaborate "escape from the castle" plans just yet, as the next adventure was going to take place that very night, and would start off with them still in the castle. I'll let them decide their next move during the next adventure session. - - - T-shirt worn: My "Evil Clown School - Graduate With Honors" T-shirt with an evilly-grinning clown on it; the PCs at first thought it represented the gnome court jester, but it was really a stand-in for the clown spiders. [/QUOTE]
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