NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2310300" data-attributes="member: 1210">Arthur lays out the situation for Nara, Aristoclese and Erazmuz.  He explains that his friends had assaulted a group of serpent-folk within the cave, and after the fight several had stayed behind.  “The wizard had gone through a door and they were waiting for her to” –he belches- “come back out.  But none of them have come out yet!”  Arthur pleads with them for his aid.Of course, Nara, Erazmuz and Ari aren’t about to leave some of their halfling brethren in danger.  The four of them advance to the mouth of the cave of death (as Arthur is now thinking of it as he stumbles forward).* The ground is muddy from the flood the afternoon before.  They advance through it until they reach the smashed in door at the end of the cave.  With growing trepidation, Arthur mounts the stairs and the four of them end at the door behind which Lundey had blinked.Taking a deep breath, Arthur opens the door. ***The party’s campsiteAs Naomi cooks breakfast, Martini starts to become concerned at the absence of Arthur.  Nobody has seen him in almost an hour.  After the group feasts on steaming sausages- Naomi may be a hideous bitch, but she can cook, Martini admits to himself- the ranger sighs and starts tracking their drunken friend.  As he follows the impressions Arthur left in the ground, Martini also worries over his other missing friends.Arthur’s tracks wander fairly wildly and for some distance before ending at a small creek that trickles along through the jungle.  Across the creek Martini finds the remains of a campsite- three small humanoids, one halfling sized and two gnome-sized, thinks Martini.  Arthur emerged from the creek here and met them, then they went off together.  What were you thinking, Arthur?  Who were they?  Martini draws his bow and nocks an arrow.  The tracks lead him in a staggeringly irregular direction; it seems Arthur must have been in the lead.  They gradually curve around, until- “Oh, Arthur, you fool,” murmurs Martini to himself.  The trail leads right back into the cave of death.***Inside the caveThe serpent folk monk, wearing a living garter snake around his throat as some sort of weird necklace, springs forward at Arthur but his foot scrapes the wall and he stumbles, giving Arthur (who is holding a torch) a chance to shove his burning brand at the monk’s face.  The monk jerks back, then kicks Arthur in the wrist with crushing force, knocking the brand from his hand.  It rolls down several of the steps.  Grinning in the shadows, the monk snarls, “Fools!  We shall feed you to our god Meershaulk!”Arthur tumbles back and partway down the stairs, screaming, “I don’t want a milkshake!”Behind him, a huge serpent’s head made of green stone gapes, and a twitching, shuddering thing lies in the great idol’s mouth.The other creature resembles a large serpent, save for its pair of arms.  It slithers forward and slashes at Greased Lightning (Ari’s boar).  The boar dances back, squealing, and the blow misses, but then both serpent folk are pressing in on Arthur again.  Erazmuz fortifies himself with a series of powers and spells, keeping well back as he does.  As Arthur tries to get away, the shaved head little deep halfling cries, “Come back, buddy!”  He draws out his rapier.  Ari, meanwhile, moves into position and summons a trio of dire wolves.  Then he calls up some dire badgers.  It takes time, though- precious time.  By the time he’s got them, the serpent folk have retreated into their room, having pressed all the halflings out, and shut the door behind them.“Don’t let ‘em get away, buddy!” cries Erazmuz.  He moves up, initiating a force screen.Ari, casting speak with animals, commands his dire badgers to tear through the door.  In mere moments, they do so and the fight continues.  The delay has given both sides a few moments to drink potions of healing and such, and the battle’s fury is immense now that everyone is spoiling for a fight.  Arthur hollers as he staggers drunkenly forward, having used the delay to take a shot or two.  That guy sure can drink like a demon!  The summoned wolves bound into the room, barking and tearing, and take down the monk!  He cries out as they rip at him, and he falls to the ground.  They tear out his throat- and also nearly slay the garter snake.  They are about to finish it off when they vanish back from whence they came.  The dire badgers start rushing at the more serpentine one, but it hisses and sways and they stumble to a halt.  It seems that they have somehow become entranced.  Arthur tumbles in next to the serpent creature and it holds up a jug of slimy yellow fluid, similar to that surrounding the thing in the idol’s mouth.“Drink this,” suggests the serpent.“Eat thish!” replies Arthur, landing a stunning blow on the serpent’s nose!  Nara touches it with an inflict critical wounds and blood pours from its body.  The serpent hisses angrily and tries to cast defensively, but it is surrounded and shaken by the fierce halfling onslaught.  He can’t pull it together!  He starts to panic when Nara swipes at him again, this time with an inflict serious wounds, but fortunately she misses.  Erazmuz, still reasonably distant from harm, loads his crossbow and fires.  The bolt flies true, sinking feather-deep in the serpent’s neck.  A fleeting look of agony passes over it, and then it sinks graciously to the ground and stops moving. Arthur stumbles to the serpent idol, staring in horror.  “No,” he gasps.  “Sandy?”“Wow- it’s a good thing you didn’t drink that stuff,” remarks Nara with a wrinkle of her nose.  She kicks the jug over, spilling the foul contents.  Ari nods agreement.  “I’ve heard stories, told in druidic circles, about the serpent folk.  They feed you a nasty potion to turn you into some kind of half-snake slave.  Anything other than a human dies a horrible death.”Arthur stares down at the form in the snake’s mouth.  Surrounded by thick yellow fluid and cast off skin, the form is wearing the tattered remains of Sandy’s garb, torn and stretched, for whatever the creature is that is in the mouth now, it is nearly 6’ tall.  Its misshapen limbs and deformed face bear only the slightest resemblance to Sandy- but the resemblance is there. Out of mercy, Arthur breaks his neck.  Then they burn the body, taking only his wand of cure moderate wounds.There is no sign at all of Lundey or Beau.When they search for loot, they find the remains of a magic fluid smashed in the fight in one of the cabinets.  In addition there are a few potions on the serpent-folk and a scimitar that is too big for our heroes to use.  The monk wore a jade room carved into a serpent (that is not magical).  Perhaps oddest of all, the little garter snake that the wolves savaged is magic as well.  Erazmuz puts this in a box.  Finally, there is a map that appears to show the location of a monastery deep in the jungle.Suddenly they note a light coming up from below, and Martini and Naomi enter the scene.  ”Halflings!” exclaims Martini.  “I thought they were gnomes.”“Hey, who are you, buddies?” asks Erazmuz, and introductions are soon made all around, with Arthur as the center point between them, albeit one that is busy vomiting and then passing out in the corner.  Soon the Underdark halflings have explained the sad fate of Sandy, and after some speculation about the others the group decides they must have been sacrificed.  There is a massive amount of blood within the mouth of the serpent.  A search by Martini and Naomi finds that one of the serpent head’s teeth pivots.  When it is pivoted, a secret panel in the back of the snake’s mouth opens, and Martini crawls through and finds a chest.  He shoves it back out and the party bashes it open.  It holds more monkish robes and several more of the jade rings. Martini and Naomi explain that they got into this mess following a war wagon that had been stolen.  “It’s right outside,” remarks Naomi.  They all troop out and look it over.  The group easily identifies two main issues with getting it moving: the broken wheel and the lack of a team.  The wheel, claim both Ari and Nara, is easy.  But the team...“How were we going to get it out of here anyway?” wonders Martini.  He frowns.Erazmuz has a riding lizard; Ari has Greased Lightning.  “I have a dog,” Naomi offers doubtfully.“I can push from behind as a bear,” offers Ari.“All right, we need to rest first, and tomorrow when I renew my spells I’ll be sure to pack a make whole.  Then we’ll see how it goes.”  Nara smiles.  “It just takes a little time.”Next Time: Our heroes attempt to move the war wagon!  What trouble and mishaps will befall them?  Will the snake-people make an attempt to retrieve the wagon?  Who will keep it?  Will our (remaining) heroes survive??*The pcs were referring to it as the cave of death by this time in the game notes they were taking, and when referring to it ooc.</blockquote>

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