Of Sound Mind the Halfling Way

[the Jester]

7/4/369 O.L.G., 10 a.m., the town of Sritivara, Dyshim

Amat’ha, the local cleric, was amenable to a meeting with Ezeekiel. Now they greet each other warmly and sit down together at a table to talk.

“What can I do for you?” the cleric asks curiously.

“I’d like to ask for your help,” Ezeekiel says solemnly.

“I figured as much. In what way?”

“In helping the community to hold together. You’re a respected public figure; I’m sure that the people will listen to you as a voice of reason in these hard times. The people need a voice of reason right now. Several of them, in fact, and I think you could really help. Without any kind of government, we just need someone respected to call for order until elections can be arranged.”

Amat’ha cocks an eyebrow. “An election?”

“Yes.” Ezeekiel nods. “All the people will vote, and they will choose a leader.”

“What a strange idea!” exclaims Amat’ha. “But how do we ensure that we don’t elect a tyrant?”

“Well, we could write down the community’s values, and make them swear an oath to uphold those values,” suggests Ezeekiel.

“But how do we know that the people will make good choices? What if they elect fools and idiots?”

“Well, frankly, it can’t be worse than the government we just overthrew. And it has to be better than anarchy- I don’t think that will do anyone any good.”

“You may have a point there.” Amat’ha sighs. “Very well, I will help you.”

***

1:30 p.m.

“All right, let’s go!”

The party sets off, the blind Beau and Jawbreaker being led by the others. They grumble unhappily, but it is for them that the party undertakes this journey. South down the coast, hoping to skirt around the long reach of Sriti’s Jungle- plainly marked on their map- and avoid any further jungle misadventures. But as they keep looking at the map and seeing how much extra distance going around adds to their journey, both Martini and Ezeekiel start arguing for moving through it instead.

“The jungle is dangerous,” quivers Federico. “It’s scary in there!”

There is danger along the beach side as well, however. A murder of blood hawks swoops in, trying to take a pound of flesh from our heroes, but they are driven off. Ezeekiel shows a new ability when he summons forth a riding dog mount from the celestial realms.

Three days into their journey, our heroes make the deadly turn into the jungle.

“I can remove disease,” Zeke points out. That is the argument that finally persuades them. Bright and early, they break into the canopied heat and humidity of the jungle. The warmth, the smells, the thick moist air. The jungle.

Next Time: What trouble will our heroes find in the jungle this time??

 

[the Jester]

The Deadly Serpent Folk of Sriti's Jungle

7/7/369 O.L.G., 2 p.m., in Sriti’s Jungle

Oh dear. Oh my. Didn’t they learn?

Our heroes return to the jungle. Two of them, Jawbreaker and Beau, are already blind. Ezeekiel insists that he can prevent any further serious illnesses, especially with the aid of Hortense. Her training in the healing arts in extensive, to put it mildly. She aspires to become a healer.*

As the party pushes through the thick foliage the heady smell of the jungle permeates their nostrils, a weird mix of flowers and rot and thick rich soil. Strange large squirrels leap from tree to tree above our heroes’ heads. Brightly colored birds and huge bugs are everywhere.

For several hours our heroes move into the jungle unmolested. Then, as they march through a thinner area of growth, they hear voices hissing in an unfamiliar tongue beyond a screen of bushes, and suddenly a group of what at first appear to be humans bursts into view.

A second glance reveals something is wrong with this picture.

There are a pair of slim humans, but the other four appear to be some kind of half-snake folk. One has the head of a snake, its long forked tongue flicking out to taste the air. The second has a snake’s tail emerging from his back, behind and between his legs. The third has no legs at all; her entire body below the waste is a serpentine tail. The last of these terrible abominations has snakes where he should have arms.

Then it goes dark, and the grass grabs our heroes, entangling them. Ezeekiel, outside of the sphere of darkness that just came into effect, feels a wave of fear wash off of him, but he is a paladin. He knows what fear is intellectually, and he understands it emotionally. But in his guts? He cannot comprehend it. He does not feel it. He struggles against the grass and vines holding him in place, but he cannot break free!

Meanwhile, Achtung, who has managed to twist free of the entangle, flies straight up and out of the darkness. Suddenly he can see again! Down below, Martini is trading shots with one of the humans, while the other human tries to charm him! Meanwhile, both the serpent headed and the serpent torsoed creatures suggest to Martini that he surrender, and the halfling archer casts down his bow. Uh-oh, thinks Achtung. Drawing his own bow, he launches an arrow at the snake-armed creature.

It glares up at him. “Come down,” it calls, and the urd can’t for the life of him think why he shouldn’t comply.

A full-fledged desperate combat has broken out. Those trapped by the combination of entangle and darkness struggle furiously, several gradually breaking out. Naomi, entangled but not in the darkness, doesn’t bother. She just strikes mentally at the snake-folk again and again, battering at their defenses. She has reasonable success, but the monsters are definitely resistant to psionics, at least to some extent.

Nevertheless, she has also made Beau effective in battle by establishing a sight link with him. Now he can see through her eyes, letting him step up with a shocking grasp. He shocks one of the humans, and the man shrieks. His hair all stands on end. He falls to the ground, blasted to death by Beau’s touch. Then the sorcerer grins and casts another one. Swinging wildly, he touches the snake head creature, but to his chagrin it resists the power of his magic! Then, naturally, it turns on him and begins taking its displeasure out on him with its blade and envenomed fangs! When Jawbreaker finally emerges from the entangle and darkness she sight links with him too, shouting to explain what she’s doing so as not to confuse the barbarian.

The battle draws desperate. Achtung manages to duel with his adversary for a few moments before breaking the suggestion and flying out of reach to switch back to arrow fire. Martini, too, eventually breaks his suggestion, and begins firing again. The battle is tight; Portnoy, Federico’s dog, does a good job of tying up one of the snake-things. Still, all of them are formidable adversaries, and the battle stretches on. Finally, Martini drops the snake-armed creature with an arrow to the head, and everyone is severely wounded. The snake-headed creature turns and sprints into the jungle, abandoning his fellows to their fate, and this turns the tide. Quickly, now, our heroes finish the remaining villains. Then, exhausted, they slump down on the ground while Zeke and Hortense hurry from one of them to the next, using what healing magic they have.

“We need to rest,” groans Beau. Even after the healing, he is badly wounded, and so is the dog Portnoy.

“Agreed,” says Martini, “but not here. We should move on. Remember, at least one of them got away. There may be others.”

The group moves several miles along before making camp. Their rest is unmolested, and in the morning, Hortense and Ezeekiel apply more healing that brings our heroes up to good health. The party moves along, with Beau moaning about how dangerous the jungle is. “You’re right,” admits Ezeekiel, “but we’re already this far in... and besides, you’re the one we’re trying to help!”

Next Time: Unseen monsters in the dark!

*Healer is one of my first homebrewed prestige classes, created long ago for the character Scrilla. Ah, Scrilla.

 

[Brain]

It's kind of cool to have a more active role in what the Halflings do. Timothy was very naive and only got insistent when it came to treating people nicely. Ezeekiel is a political activist and very strong-minded. It's been interesting to experience the group dynamic from a different perspective. Hortense is also fun to roleplay, especially yet to be told bits with her and Naomi.

 

[hippiejedi2]

An Act of Desperation

The fight with the snake men was much more dire, for Beau anyway, than the Jester let on. Initially the snake men won initiative and entangled the party, ie were we stood, so retreat was not a viable option. Next they cast darkness on the edge of the entanglement, hence partitioning the party. Since Naomi put up a sense link Beau stuck with her because he was able to see albeit through her eyes. Naomi and Beau were on one side of the partition, the rest of the party on the other but most of the snake men happened to fall on the side of the partition with Naomi and the blind Beau. The sorceror Beau fought three maybe more villians single handed in melee for a majority of the fight and the villians had SR which added insult to blindness. Beau was on his last leg (reduced to only a few hp) when he made the desperate act of tumbling back into the darkness in order to save his life. Beau had to willingly choose the dark and blindness for self preservation thus becoming doubley blinded. At this point he called for help and the party on the other partition were finishing up with their respective villians, and were able to lend a hand. That is why Beau required more healing than the rest of the party.

 

[the Jester]

Curing Peoples' Blindness... Sort Of!

7/10/369 O.L.G., 10:30 a.m., the edge of Sriti’s Jungle

Almost immediately upon setting out in the morning, our heroes burst out of the jungle. The feet of the mountains called Dhali’s Fists are in evidence not far away. Consulting their map, our heroes conclude they are not far from the healing springs they need to bathe their concoction in to heal the blind Beau and Jawbreaker. Heartened, they move on until they come to a small hut built near a large pit. The elf who lives in the hut is the self-proclaimed guardian of the healing springs. Named Thyllimsisa, she demands 250 gp to let the party into the pit.

“Highway robbery,” gripes Federico.

“By whose authority are you here?” demands Ezeekiel. “What gives you the right to demand a toll?”

“I’m a licensed business!” she proclaims. “Besides, I provide a valuable public service- I warn you of the dangers of going in there.”

Zeke scowls. “Well, that may be true for now, but there’s a new order coming, so you better watch out that you’re not trying to oppress anyone!”

The party pays, then enters the pit. The pit descends directly into the ground. It is a natural limestone opening in the ground where a section of a previous cave collapsed after being worn away by water, leaving a tumbled shaft pierced by a narrow chimney that drops 30’ before becoming more slippery for the remaining 60’. When it drops into a chamber, the party finds themselves along one wall, 20’ above the rubble-choked ground. The group secures ropes, then clambers down to the bottom. The large cave they are in is full of a strange mineral smell and a surprising warmth. In one part of the chamber a large mossy stone hisses and burbles as water springs from it, forming a pool around it on the floor. A large tunnel leads out of the eastern side of the huge cave.

“The druid’s instructions said to steep it in the first spring for a full day. That looks like the first spring to me,” says Federico.

**

8 p.m., the pit of the healing springs

The pungent smell, of course, attracts attention.

They come invisible out of the darkness, flailing at Ezeekiel. Unseen, they are hard to hit; but Zeke and Martini manage to defeat them anyway. The ranger sprinkles enough dirt on them to outline them, and declares that they were phantom fungi. “They’re weird subterranean monsters,” he explains, “invisible plants. Kind of weird.”

Federico immediately seizes upon the comic opportunities and begins thinking of phantom fungus jokes.

***

7/11/369 O.L.G., 11 a.m.

“Ugh! Stuff tastes like moose piss!” exclaims Jawbreaker, making a horrible face as he drinks his infusion. Beau gags and almost loses his, but he misses his vision so much that he pinches his nose and manages to choke it down.

Our heroes wait a minute. Finally, Naomi demands, “Well, can you see?”

Jawbreaker squints in her direction.

“Not really.”*

After some discussion, our heroes decide to wait a while and see if there is any improvement. “We could explore down here,” suggests Federico. “That elementalist up above told us that there were different springs with different properties.”

“But do we want to stay down here, or go back up while we wait to see if their vision clears?” Thelonious asks.

“If we go back up, she’s just going to charge us to come back down again,” remarks Zeke. This meets a general grumbling agreement from the others.

“All right, then, we’ll stay down here.”

***

7/12/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m.

“Any improvement?”

Beau squints. “A little.”** He sighs. “It’s better than nothing.”

The group discusses whether to explore or wait a few more days. “How much food do we have?” Naomi asks pointedly, and everyone gradually realizes that they can only last a short while down here.

“Unless we find some edible stuff down here,” Naomi points out, nibbling on a sausage.

“Besides, maybe one of the other pools can help you,” Hortense adds.

Our heroes begin exploring, heading through wet, dripping caves. Small rivulets of water run down the floor all over. More pools are in evidence; almost immediately our heroes find one, as the wide tunnel leading away from the entrance branches into three different thick fingers about 10’ to 15’ wide.

Our heroes start on the right (because it is closest) and head down. Ezeekiel’s axe glows warmly and Naomi holds a torch. The passage widens, and a longer, fungus-choked chamber branches off to their left. “Let’s check that one out later,” Martini says, “after we check for any obvious dangers around here. That might take some time to search.”

The others agree, and the party moves past the offshoot, following the same tunnel to what appears to be a dead end.

Appearances can be deceiving.

From a hidden tunnel to the north, a blazing worm of fire and rock hurtles forth! Most of our heroes see it coming and strike at it, but it slams into Beau with fierce, burning force, knocking him from his feet and leaving him stunned. He shakes his head and hits it with a scorching ray, but it has no effect on the fiery creature!

Unfortunately for the flame-worm, our heroes are quick to respond to its offensive. Between Naomi’s telepathic attack, the arrows of Martini and Thelonious and the spear of Achtung, the monster is torn to bits in seconds.

As it slowly cools and stops glowing, Naomi frowns. “Doesn’t look edible. Damn.”

The party searches but the monster had no treasure that they can find. The group returns to the fungus-choked chamber and starts searching it; and although it is empty of threats, there is another exit out the back side of the chamber. Moving through it, our heroes find themselves in another chamber with a pool in it, this one steaming with a very different mineral smell. As they move forward to investigate, however, a puff of spores from a weird growth bursts out and almost chokes them to death! Coughing and gagging, our heroes retreat. Both Achtung and Naomi are almost killed!

“You know, the problem with this path is that we didn’t go left at the first intersection,” remarks Naomi. Our heroes return to said intersection and take the left passage- which, remarkably enough, soon leads them to a wish.

Next Time: One of our heroes gets a wish!

*At this point, they had a -20 to any Spot or Search checks, and all enemies had total concealment. Not quite as bad as total blindness.

**Aha, now it’s only -19! I told them that enemies would have only partial concealment (20% miss chance) once they reached a -15, and no concealment at -5 iirc.

 

[Technik4]

Hah, I got caught up on this one. Chief Jawbreaker reminds me of Cpt Clambake And Naomi going Psion/Elementalist reminds me of that Wiz/Sor who rose to some prominence (wasn't he a mayor?). Arrr! Ezekial is cool, I'm sure the party dynamics will be interesting as once again Good and Evil strive to get along (at some point anyway).

Also, could you post the Healer and Jester PrCs in your Cydra-stuff thread? I'd also like to see the Urd race (ECL +1 or +2? The urd fighter only has 2 levels??)/

Keep up the rockin' updates Jester!

Technik

 

[the Jester]

Posted the Healer and the Jester in the other thread.

If anyone's interested in the full Cydran prc document, you can get it from my Yahoo Cydra group. You have to join the group to get access, but ain't no thing, that just lets you vote on my polls and stuff as well.

 

[Technik4]

Thanks! Just dled all the Cydra .docs off the group! I can't believe no one wants to play a Tabaxi! Those guys are cool and it seems like a race with ECL and HD adjustments that are worth giving up the levels (at a glance). Anway, keep up the great work updating this badass story.

Oh, and I wanted to vote Trumps as my favorite part of your story hour, but they were all regions? Isle of Gloom baby! Arrrr!

Technik

 

[the Jester]

The Party Gets a Wish

Our heroes quietly pad through the wet tunnels around them. The caves beneath the Pit of the Healing Springs vary in thickness, but all appear natural, with none of them showing any signs of being worked or braced. Water drips everywhere. The cave is unusually warm, for a cave; Martini credits the thermal actions that keeps the springs hot down here. As the group retraces its steps to the chamber that they didn’t take a left out of, the smells of strange salts and minerals tickle their collective noses.

Down the left passage, then, in the hopes that it will lead them to a more... instant... cure for the impaired vision that both Beau and Jawbreaker are suffering. Will their eyes heal on their own? It seems likely, yet it seems equally likely that it will take weeks or more.*

After a short connecting passage, our heroes find themselves at the top of a slope that seems to have a series of natural steps in it. It is smoothed and moistened by water, and it is very obvious to our heroes that a lack of caution could lead to a deadly fall. Balancing carefully, our heroes descend about 30’, until a more level side passage extrudes from the natural stair to their left.

”It’s left,” remarks Beau, and the group exits the stair and starts moving down the level cave. Water dribbles down on them here and there. Small shallow pools have formed on the floor in the lower spots over the eons. The passage curves around sharply to the left (“A good sign,” Beau observes), then splits in a T. Without even pausing our heroes head left, and soon another, wider passage leads off on the right side. Martini glances down it, then draws back in surprise. He motions the party to a halt.

“I think there’s something down there,” he whispers. He slinks ahead of the group and starts moving just outside the edge of their light, with them following a few dozen feet behind him, but the ‘something’ he saw proves to be, though intriguing, not dangerous.

“A campsite,” Naomi says in surprise.

”Who the hell is down here?” wonders Achtung.

“We are,” comments Martini, “but... did the elf up above mention anyone else having gone down here?”

”Yeah, but she didn’t say anything about someone not coming back,” Beau replies.

“She did say it was dangerous down here,” Martini muses, but Jawbreaker, examining the camp, calls out.

”Campsite old. Years old.”

Our heroes make a thorough search of it. There is a long-abandoned tent, brittle but still standing. It appears to have been set up on a small elevated shelf along the right hand wall. The remains of a fire pit, long cold but undisturbed for decades, are near it. A few rotten bits of wood mark the remains of some sort of table or something, and a pile of corroded iron spikes lies near the tent’s entrance. Finally, a long coil of mildewy, rotten rope is coiled in the midst of the rotten wood fragments. After comparing notes, Martini and Jawbreaker declare that the campsite has lain undisturbed for perhaps a century or thereabouts.

“Interesting,” grunts Naomi, gnawing on a sausage. “I wonder what happened to whoever it was that was down here.”

”I wonder if we’ll ever know,” Martini says. “But whoever it was, he or she wasn’t a halfling. Look at the size of the bedding and the tent.” He gestures. “More like a dwarf, or a human.”

Unable to discern more about the old campsite at this time, our heroes continue past the chamber, for the tunnel they entered via continues out the other side of the chamber. Soon it splits into two passages radiating in a Y shape. Naturally, the party continues to the left, and after about a 30’ walk they enter another cave.

Their light spills across the chamber. They can see that it is about 40’ across to the opposite wall, but to the left the cavern fades into darkness. To their right, however, they are surprised to see a small wall of stones, obviously put together artificially. Behind it is a steaming spring, its water glistening in the torchlight; and before it is a crude altar set with a strange rune.

Beau casts a spell, and after a moment, he reports that the spring is magical.

“Does anyone recognize the symbol?” wonders Sandy, and Ezeekiel speaks up.

”It’s the symbol of Cyldon, the god of mysteries.”

Meanwhile, at the end of the chamber opposite the pool, Jawbreaker and Achtung find another exit. “Passage,” Chief Jawbreaker calls. Our heroes form up and head down the passage, which opens into a very large chamber with several exits. It is lit by the large fire elemental within the room, which stands next to both an earth and a water elemental.

“Eek,” exclaims Thelonious, and the party retreats. The elementals have not reacted to their presence in the slightest.

“Well, we don’t want to go in there,” comments Naomi.

“Where should we go back to?” wonders Thelonious. “There are a lot of other passages.”

A debate begins to break out, so Naomi hastily interjects, “Well, if we’re going to sit here and talk about it, let’s at least eat while we do it.” She proceeds to stew some vegetables in the magic spring. As the place is wet and there is no firewood, it proves impossible to build a fire; but the spring is hot enough to serve as a crude cook pot.

After a satisfying meal, Achtung decides to bathe in the spring. He finds it soothing and relaxing. Slowly the tension leaves the urd’s shoulders as the mystical properties of the spring seep into him. His old scales slough off, and he rubs himself against the jagged rocks, scratching all his hard-to-reach areas.

And, in the best tradition of magical pools, he gains a wish.**

He mulls it over for a while, basking in the pool. Then he sighs, “I wish I was more like the god-progenitor of all kobolds.”

He feels his claws toughen. He feels his snout elongate and his body shift a little. When he emerges from the bath, he is changed. Better than ever!

“Wow, check him out,” says Naomi. “That pool made you look good!” She wipes drool off her chin, and then starts munching on a sausage.

Naomi and Beau both bathe as well. When she emerges, Naomi realizes that she can see a flickering golden aura around Thelonious, Ezeekiel, Hortense, Jawbreaker and Federico. She frowns. It’s very strange, and it fades when she stops focusing on it. She feels a strange fatigue-like sensation, but she’s pretty sure she can do it again once enough time has passed. Similarly, Beau perceives a flickering aura around Jawbreaker and himself.

Achtung jumps back in and takes another bath, and in the best tradition of magical pools, getting greedy leaves him sadly lessened. Although his physique has changed to be more like his deity’s, his mind now dulls.***

The party moves in, taking the other branch of the Y, which is now to their left since they are traveling back. They follow it to another pool, in which the same three bathe. To their surprise, it makes them feel full, as if they’d just had a big meal. Naomi stays in it for a long time- so long that she surreptitiously pees in the pool.

No other exits lead out of this chamber, so our heroes return to the last other branching they have not explored, at the T. That leads to a chamber with a gradual slope downward to the right. At the bottom, a steaming pool of water has gathered, and a substantial number of stalagmites and stalactites is clustered there.

Our heroes start searching the area. Jawbreaker probes the water and discovers that it is scaldingly hot. He moves to the walls, and Hortense moves up near the pool, peering across it. “Hey, I think the passage continues beyond it!” she exclaims. “I don’t know how we could get across, though- it has to be twenty-five, maybe thirty feet... Fensor’s shield!”

Something horrible is coming, sloshing heedless through the near-boiling water. Hortense screams aloud, a piercing shriek, and tries to turn the horrible monster, to no avail.

The horrible creature stinks of the grave. Its grey flesh hangs from the frame of what looks like some kind of human-sized goblinoid, except for the two pale tentacles that writhe beneath its arms. Oozing sores cover it, weeping a white liquid.

”I come to drink your bones,” it croaks, its tentacles writhing at our heroes.

Next Time: Our heroes battle the bonedrinker!


*Remember, a week is nine days long in Cydra.

**He had to roll a d12 to determine what happened and he rolled a 12. Yay Achtung!

***-2 to int, wis and cha. Ouch, he rolled a -1 (yeah, there’s a penalty for getting greedy.)

 

[hippiejedi2]

Martini also bathed in the "wish" pool and his sight improved, he got +'s to spot & search. (or something like that)