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: 2844585" data-attributes="member: 1210">The robed kobolds are all seemingly identical.  It is... unnerving.  They all appear to recognize the halfling heroes, but the party recognizes them not at all.  All of the kobolds they meet, at first, seem to be called Brother Yip*; but then, they are shown to the one who will, apparently, answer their questions: Master Yip.Master Yip looks much like the other kobolds, though a little older and more worn.  He regards our heroes with an expression of great sadness as they approach.  “You remember nothing, eh?” he asks without preamble.“No, we don’t,” Naomi grumbles.  “Who are you?  What happened to us?”“One of the other kobolds mentioned something about a revolution,” Nara adds.“Where are we, anyway, buddy?” Erasmuz inquires.Tron’s eyes dart around shiftily, as if looking for anything of value that is not nailed down.  Unfortunately, the chamber is so sparse as to be Spartan in its furnishings.“Jawbreaker hungry,” grumbles the chief.  Though he has the bag of food, he is hoping that the kobolds will have something different and exciting to try out.“And can you do anything to help the other halflings we had to leave behind?” Martini asks.Master Yip raises a hand.  “Please,” the kobold begs, “one thing at a time.  I have much to tell you.  But first... what is the last thing you remember?”Erasmuz frowns.  “I remember the false promised land, and there was this book...”Master Yip nods knowingly at the mention of the false promised land.Naomi adds, “Yeah, the next thing we knew we were underground, in some kind of mind flayer place...”“But,” Master Yip asks pensively, “nothing between then and now.”“No,” admits Erasmuz.“Look,” Naomi snaps, “I think it’s about time you told us what’s going on!”  She glowers at the Yip.“Peace, my friends,” sighs Master Yip.  “I will try to answer your questions.”  He looks thoughtfully at Chief Jawbreaker.  “I will have some food sent in.”  The Chief grins hugely.  The party gathers around, trying to make themselves comfortable, and the kobold mulls his words.  “You came here seeking our help some months ago,” Master Yip begins.“We came here?” Nara interrupts.  “Seeking your help with what?”“The revolution,” Master Yip declares solemnly.  “You had begun a fairly successful insurrection against Governor Stackler, and things were heating up.  You had carried several battles against him and rallied a fair amount of support against his regime.  But- and I must emphasize, we only know this because you told us about it- he was a puppet, being manipulated from behind the scenes.”“Manipulated!” exclaims Erasmuz.  “By whom?”“By a combination of things,” the Yip replies.  “By a faction of mind flayers- and by their ally.”  His eyes bore into our heroes’.  “By Lord Obliviax.”“Lord Obliviax?  Who- or what- is that?” demands Naomi.It is at this point that a pair of kobold monks enter the chamber, bearing a steaming pot of plain white race.  Jawbreaker’s face fills with dismay at the sight: this is neither exotic, nor flavorful, nor even particularly appealing!  Surely the monks cannot actually live on such fare??  The ricebearers depart without delay, and the Chief looks like he is about to cry.“Lord Obliviax is...”  Master Yip trails off thoughtfully.  “Do you know of obliviax?” he asks.  The halflings shake their heads.  “Obliviax, also called memory moss, is a magical form of plant life.  It is known for stealing the last day’s memories from a person.  It can even steal a person’s spells.  Normally, it is mindless, but when it steals the memories from a person it might retain a brief semblance of intelligence.”“Lots of things can take your memory away,” Tron pipes up suddenly.  “Hey, you want to buy some mind flayer underwear?”Before Master Yip can reply, Naomi interrupts, “So Lord Obliviax is a moss?”“Not exactly,” Master Yip replies.  “He appears to be a communal mind that has animated several colonies and joined them into one mobile form.  Normally, you see, obliviax is immobile.”“But why are they allied with mind flayers?” wonders Nara.“It makes sense,” Erasmuz points out.  “Lord Obliviax eats their memories, and then the mind flayers eat their brains.”“What about our other friends?” asks Naomi.  “Were any of them with us when we came to you?  What happened to them?”“Ahh, of course, you don’t remember,” the kobold answers.  “Federico is here- but sorely wounded.”  He rises gravely.  “Now that you have returned, perhaps you can help him.  Come, I will lead you to him.”Our heroes follow Master Yip out of the chamber.Next Time: Well, there’s Federico!  Where’s everyone else?  Our heroes find at least one more of their friends- at the mercy of the obliviax!!*The basic concept of the Yips is blatantly stolen from another story hour (or two) around here. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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