Turn, Turn, Turn. . .
session #35 (part II)
Jeremy landed with a thud and slid skipped painfully down the snow-covered rock-strewn path. Ratchis ran over to him, as he saw Beorth and the other moving forward after having heard Jeremy cry out.
“Nephthys!” Ratchis cried out, grabbing hold of the belt of scored and broken chain links about his waist, while laying his other hand on Jeremy. “Bless this man with your healing embrace so that he may rejoin this battle against evil!
Jeremy stirred.
“What the hell was that?” Martin asked.
“I think the cave is occupied,” Beorth said, flatly. Though he had lost his memory, he had not lost his dead-pan delivery of what others often wondered might be attempts at extremely dry humor.
“Augh… It’s a bear’s lair!” Jeremy moaned, and then looked right at Ratchis angrily. “You chose a bear’s lair!”
He stood and brushed himself off wincing from a sudden pain. He shook it off.
“Did it make noise?” Beorth asked.
“It came up suddenly. It was jus there! It must be very fast. It could have made a sound, not sure,” Jeremy checked his weapons and armor. “It doesn’t seem to be climbing down, and Martin seems to think it cannot fly. So we are safe for the moment.”
“If it is a real owlbear,” Beorth said.
“Either way, we’ll go the long way around the hill and come from the other side,” Ratchis said. “It looks like there maybe a path down to it from above.”
“In this weather, who can tell?” Jana mumbled.
Helrahd grunted.
The party made their way off the hill and out of the vale and around to the other side of the hill.. This side had a more gradual slope and was covered with trees. In the spring it was probably covered with tall wild grass, but now it was covered in snow and ascending it was exhausting.
Ratchis led the way, as usual, but Kazrack was close behind him. Helrahd took the rear
“When we get there I will go down first and draw the beast from it cave so that you and the others may take it by surprise, suing missile weapons,” Kazrack said to the half-orc.
“Put your armor on and I’ll let you go along with your plan,” Ratchis said. He had noticed much earlier during the march that Kazrack merely carried his armor, and would not put it on.
“D’nar, I must do what must be done,” Kazrack said, mysteriously.
Ratchis grunted.
They were moving among the trees now, and so the top of the hill was obscured. Martin plodded along with Beorth behind him, and Jana in front. As the Watch-mage pushed a tree branch out of the way something big and hard tumbled down on him heavily.
“Oof!” Martin cried out and then screamed when he saw what it was. A human torso, head and shoulders removed from the rest of the body. The arms looked like they had been twisted and pulled off and the lower half chopped perhaps with an axe. The face was frozen in a look of horror.
Kazrack dropped his pack to run over to investigate the screaming, and it began to slide and then roll down the hill. He hesitated for half a second and then ran towards the scream anyway. Jeremy was able to get in its way and stop it.
Kazrack arrived right behind Ratchis.
“Food for gnolls,” Ratchis said when he saw the torso. “They love the winter.”
“I knew him,” Martin said, having turned away. “His name was Reginar. He was one of the boys who joined up to come to Derome-Delem. He was in my group.” (166)
“We will bury him after we have dealt with this creature and acquired shelter from the storm,” Beorth said.
Martin nodded, wiping his mouth.
Jeremy and Helrahd finally made it over.
“We could use that as bait to lure out the owlbear,” Jeremy said, pointing to the torso,
Beorth and Martin glared at him.
“Uh, I was only kidding?’
Martin sighed.
“Do not even joke of such things,” Beorth admonished.
Ratchis found several gnoll encampments; low wooden shelters built about a tree’s base to be camouflaged.
“These are meant to hold four gnolls,” Ratchis explained. “They huddle there for warmth when the sleep, or to burst out on prey or enemies.”
Helrahd found a human head stored in one of the small circular tents.
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They came to the top of the hill and the wind was so strong that they could feel it threatening to whip them right off the top. They crouched down.
Ratchis went down first to check the path. The snow was now falling so hard that he had not gone fifteen feet and he had all but disappeared. Ratchis found the path was narrow, but not too slippery, and since the wind was blowing against the hill face as they went down, it would be less likely to shear someone off. Unfortunately, not sixty feet from the plateau that he knew was above the one that held the cave the path became particularly narrow, icy and treacherous. He knew the others would have trouble.
Eventually, after much debate the whole party was huddled on the edge of the icy section, and would loop the rope around a person’s waist and then it would be held on either end and they would be let across very slowly.
Ratchis went across first with the rope tied about his waist, and then he pulled the rope as Kazrack came across.
Beorth was next, but a wind shear drove him off the path and only the raw strength of his companions holding the ropes on either side kept him from tumbling down the harsh hillside to his probable death. They all yanked with all their strength jerking the paladin back onto the path. He remained frozen there for a moment and then began to stir.
“Beorth! GO VERY SLOWLY!” Ratchis bellowed to be heard above the wind.
Beorth got up to his knees and began to slowly crawl. It was unbelievably icy and never very sure-footed, he could feel his knees slipping out from under him as well. There was another wind shear and he half-tumbled off the path, hanging there pathetically, bobbing back and forth.
“He’s gonna fall! He’s gonna fall!” Thomas chittered excitedly to Martin. The watch-mage closed his eyes and held the rope with the little might he had, but he used it all.
Kazrack and Ratchis yanked with so much of their might that Jeremy was nearly pulled from his place on the other side of the rope, but he let go, and Beorth was pulled to safety.
Martin and Jana made it across with little trouble, followed by Helrahd. Jeremy was last.
“Jeremy! Tie the rope around your waist!” Ratchis called.
“What?” Jeremy exaggerated not being able to hear and place a hand behind his ear. “What is that you’re saying? Throw the rope away?” He made as if to chuck the rope off the hill, but wrapped it about his waist instead, chuckling.
Ratchis grunted disapprovingly.
Soon, they all stood upon the small plateau that overlooked the cave. The tall fir tree stood like a natural means to get down to the cave level. The tree was like an old man dressed in green crouched against the wall to hide from the wind.
“I’ll go down and lure it out,’ Kazrack said.
“No!” Ratchis and Jana said simultaneously.
“Maybe Martin could use an illusion to draw it out?” Beorth suggested.
“You don’t have a plan?” Helrahd grunted incredulously. “I thought you had a plan. You told me you had a plan.”
“It may not smell it and sense it is not real,” Martin said.
“There is a plan, I am going to lure it out,” Kazrack said, moving to climb down the tree.
“Not even if I have to do such a stupid thing myself to keep you from doing it,” Ratchis said, and with that he leapt past the dwarf and grabbing on to the tree lowered himself down. Kazrack followed.
“I’m not going down there,” Helrahd said.
Beorth stepped off the ledge and made to grab the tree, but did not compensate for the winds gusts. In a moment he was tumbling down the tree painfully, landing stunned at Ratchis’ feet.
Jeremy swung off the edge of the ledge and merely jumped down to the lower plateau, while Jana made her way very carefully down the tree.
Meanwhile, Martin cast his minor image spell, creating a goat that bleated loudly. Jeremy crept behind the goat.
“Stay back by the tree, Jana” Jeremy said, gesturing her back.
Kazrack began marching toward the cave mouth, so Ratchis left the reeling Beorth and hurried ahead of him
“Does Kazrack have a death wish?” Jeremy asked Jana. The young witch shrugged her shoulders.
Ratchis roared into the cave. Everyone tensed up waiting a reaction.
“This is your plan?” Helrahd commented from above.
“Come down,” Beorth called. “It looks like we have to go in.”
“Helrahd, after you,” Martin gestured towards the tree.
“I don’t want to go down there without a plan,” Helrahd said.
Martin shrugged his shoulders and leapt onto the tree as if he had learned from watching Thomas (167), and prayed to Isis all the way down.
Jana cast light on her club. The snow was growing deep and was falling faster still.
Helrahd finally came down as the party prepared to enter the cave, but slipping, he fell halfway down.
The entrance was narrow, so that even though two could walk abreast their shoulders would touch.
Kazrack and Ratchis led the way, followed by Jeremy and Beorth; Jana and Martin were being trailed by Helrahd, who had strung his bow. The cave was damp, and seemed to have been formed by both flowing water and perhaps an earthquake, for the narrow opening gave way to a larger chamber that had a slanted ceiling (six feet high on the right to 18 feet high on the left) made of one solid piece of flat igneous rock.
Even as Ratchis noticed the beast rise and lope towards them on all fours, he knew something was wrong. There were no bones. No smell of rotting meat or droppings. Something was wrong.
The owlbear reared up and opened its beak as if to squawk or roar, but no sound emerged. It stood just over eight feet tall, and had dark brown fur of a bear, but feathers shrouded its shoulders and arms, the latter of which ended big bear claws. Its head was that of a huge bird, with a nasty hooked beak and big eyes that seemed to move independently of each other.
Only Kazrack and Ratchis could see, but the others could hear the scuffle. Jana was carrying the light and she was too far back. Jeremy moved around Kazrack’s left and into the chamber, squinting to see the monster in the light’s edge.
Martin stepped forward and touched Kazrack’s unarmored shoulder casting his blur spell on him. “Jana, we need light up here!” he added on to the end of his arcane words.
Ratchis charged at the monster and struck it hard with his warhammer. The shock of the blow traveled up his arms, and he could see where the blow hit that the owlbear’s hide was stretching back over itself of it own accord, crackling as it moved.
Ratchis was taken aback, and thus reacted too slowly. The owlbear reached out and pulled the hulking half-orc towards itself like an over-enthusiastic uncle does to a sickly nephew. Ratchis could feel the bear’s claws rake him and cringed as the beak came down to pierce his shoulder. Blood poured down the half-orc’s body. He struggled to free himself, but even his great strength was not enough to pull him free.
Jana came forward with the light and now the situation was clear. “Kavitas!” She cried out her arcane word for the blindness spell and she felt the energy go off, but the creature did not seem effected. It puzzled her.
Helrahd moved to the entrance of the chamber and readied his bow for a clear shot.
Kazrack charged at the beast, “Krauchaar, guide my blade!” The creature wheeled around, but the blow cut deep. The owlbear’s haunch seemed to snap open and then grow back together again, but more slowly than Ratchis’ blow.
“This is the creature we seek!” Kazrack called to the others.
“Anubis, Guardian of the Dead and defender of the living, please imbue my blade with your divine power so I may help defeat this foe!” Beorth called to his god, infusing one end of his quarterstaff with magic.
Jeremy ran up to the owlbear, swinging his longsword, but held the blow at the last minute as the thing whirled around, almost as if it meant to use Ratchis as a shield. The half-orc continued to struggle, but his face was buried in the feathers and fur and he could feel the air leaking from his squeezed chest.
“Kill it!” Ratchis croaked. The owlbear replied by driving it beak deeper into Ratchis’ wounded shoulder.
“Stupore! Martin tied his Daze spell, but the creature did not seem effected.
Jana attempted to use her spell to cause fear, but again the spell did not seem to effect this thing.
Kazrack held his halberd back over his head and brought it down with all his might, moving to a place where he could flank it, but it whirled around and the pole arm blade sunk into Ratchis’ exposed left side.
“Arrgh!” Ratchis cried out, and then went limp.
Beorth hit it from the other side, and there was a resounding crack in its shoulder, that its body echoed, as that arm dropped down and then the muscles and sinews seemed to crawl back up to place, sounding like loud chewing.
Martin cast his colored sand at the creature and a last of multi-colored twirling lights erupted from his hand and cascaded over the creature. It shook its head back and forth and stepped backward, dropping Ratchis to the cold hard floor.
Both Kazrack and Jeremy tried to take the opening left by the withdrawing monster, but the dwarf over-extended himself and nearly tossed away his polearm. Jeremy had to turn his blade at an odd angle and it bounced off with no effect. They stuck close with the beast and it beat away their blows.
There was a chitinous tendril emerging from the creature’s leg and it was connected to Ratchis’ thigh. It oozed and cracked and ungulated.
Helrahd moved forward, but as he fell to one knee and fired, he tripped and twisted his ankle badly. The arrow skated on the stone floor. (168)
“You work on the tendril, and I’ll try to finish it off,” Jeremy called to Kazrack, as Beorth moved to his side.
Martin waved his open hand before him and cast his shield spell. The owlbear opened its beak to make its natural sounds, but no sound emerged. It clawed Jeremy deeply, even as it reached over and slammed Beorth with its beak.
Ratchis moaned in his unconsciousness.
Jeremy felt his long sword slice into the owlbear’s side, and he felt the thick muscle give way to the pudding-like essence beneath.
Jana ran forward and swung her bugbear-made spiked club, but her blow fell too short and she only hit the floor instead.
Kazrack thrust his halberd at the thing, but it knocked the blow away easily. Beorth moved over to Ratchis and went to lay his hand upon the servant of Nephthys.
Helrahd waited for a chance with another arrow, but when he took it, the arrow arced too high.
Martin moved over to Jeremy and began to poke at the beast to distract it a bit to allow Jeremy a better chance to strike it (169). The poking seemed to annoy it, and it continued to swat at the staff. But noticing Jeremy’s approach, it thrust its sharp hooked beak forward and made a deep gash across the Neergaardian’s handsome face. And it pulled Beorth into its deadly embrace.
Jeremy hacked at the tendril connected to Ratchis, but it seemed to be covered in an insect-like shell, and did not want to break. Kazrack followed suit, but still the tendril seems to drain life from Ratchis.
Jana scraped the thing with her club, and it swatted at her as well, allowing Beorth the leverage he need to break free, but it would only be momentary. The creature threw its head to the ceiling in frustration and knocked Jeremy aside easily. The blonde warrior lay on the cave floor, bleeding out. And then the thing snatched Beorth again, holding him even tighter this time.
Kazrack ran beneath the thing’s gaze to snatch up Jeremy’s short sword. He though that since it was magical it might prove more effective against the creature, but this left him open to a vicious blow from the thing’s beak.
Beorth struggled to free himself again, but there was no luck this time.
Jana attacked it fruitlessly with her club, while Helrahd, dropped his bow and pulled out the axes he carried. He ran forward and chopped one down on the tendril. It resisted the blow.
Martin reached in his magical red leather bag and pulled out a ball of black fur, which he tossed in the direction of the false owlbear, as he withdrew. The ball grew as it spun through the air and landed before the beast as a black bear! It clawed at the owlbear at Martin’s commands, but managed to claw Beorth instead.
The thing dropped Beorth’s limp form as well, and it retreated some more. A second tentacle now emerged from its body, and this one was connected to Beorth. It then rushed forward and grabbing the black bear from Martin’s magical bag, it squeezed the smaller bear in its arms. The bear bellowed in pain as it thrashed around to free itself.
Kazrack and Helrahd were both chopping on the tendril that held Ratchis, while the former’s axes could not cut through, the tendril began to whip back and forth to avoid blows from Kazrack’s use of Jeremy’s elfin blade.
The bear and the owlbear seemed to involved in some violent dance. The owlbear swung around and squeezed more life from the black bear, while the animal clamped down its jaws on the thing’s upper arm. The flesh in the mouth squirmed and cracked.
Finally, Kazrack cut through the tentacle that seemed to be draining the life of Ratchis. He let out a grunt of satisfaction, as Helrahd, moved to hit the owlbear itself with his axes. The thing spun around and the dwarf’s axes buried themselves in the bear’s back. It let out a pathetic scream and then disappeared. The owlbear opened its arms up in surprise. (170)
“Oops,” said Helrahd under his breath.
Martin and Jana stood to either side of Kazrack, to try to distract the false-owlbear as the dwarf cut at the tendril attached to Beorth.
The owlbear fell down on all fours and took a swipe at Kazrack; for a second it seemed like it had hit, but then Martin realized, the blur spell had done its job.
Uninterrupted, Kazrack was able to cut Beorth free, as Helrahd continued to fail to do any harm to the strange monster.
“The fastest way to kill a tree is not by chopping its branches!” Helrahd cried to his fellow dwarf, as he dodged blows from the irritated creature.
The monster withdrew once again, and suddenly its entire body convulsed. Suddenly, each of its clawed arms began to grow and stretch, and then cracked open, the sound of cartilage and flesh re-shaping itself, as the dried outer carcass began to fall away. There was a disgusting sound of something forcing its way through flesh, as a long bony tail tipped with a stinger burst out of the base of the thing’s back. It fell on its stomach, and from its sides exploded insectoid legs. It clattered across the cold stone floor, as the majority of its body broken open and then was reabsorbed, as it changed itself into an enormous scorpion, its claws opening and closing with obvious great strength, and its tail swinging over its body menacingly. As it changed the sound of tearing flesh echoed in the cave.
“What manner of abomination…?” Helrahd said, as he stepped backward.
Martin reached into his magical bag again, and this time the ball of fur turned into a badger, that landed on the scorpion’s back and began to claw at it.
“Helrahd! Take up Beorth’s staff! It is enchanted!” Martin instructed the dwarf.
It reached out with its claws and grabbed both Kazrack and Jana, trying to hold them fast, but Kazrack leapt back, while Jana was able to get her club between her and the claw and use that as leverage to escape, even though she could feel a black bruise begin to develop across her mid-section.
Helrahd felt the sting of the tail as it pierced his shoulder. He waited for the feeling of poison going through his system.
“Jana! How injured are D’nar and Beorth?” Kazrack called to the young witch who most often served as healer. “You must see to them.”
Jana nodded and turned to move to Ratchis, but felt the scorpion’s claw clamp down on her painfully, and even though she pumped her legs to run, she made no progress, as she was being held above the ground.
“This had better work,” Helrahd cursed, dropping his axes and picking up Beorth’s staff. Of course, he did not know that only one end of the staff was enchanted. (171)
Martin looked at Jana flailing in the claw, as she desperately tried to pry it open. The monstrous scorpion advanced, so the watch-mage withdrew and grabbing Ratchis by the shoulders risked pulling him back out of the way of the melee (172).
As the badger made slow progress through the scorpion’s shell, the thing moved to sting Kazrack, but again missed due to the blur spell. Jana tried one last time to escape, but the thing squeezed her more tightly and in a moment, she hung limp in the claw.
“Jana!” Kazrack cried. “Natan-ahb, guide me. There must be worse causes to suffer for!”
Kazrack stabbed at the thing, but it knocked the blow out of alignment with its free claw.
Helrahd, wielding the staff as a double-weapon, slammed both ends into the scorpion’s face. There was a satisfying crunch as one did considerable damage to the thing and it reeled.
Martin began to bind Ratchis’ wounds; trying his best to remember all the things he had ever seen Jana do.
The scorpion backed up and turned to flee. The badger was tossed off it back, but not before leaving a trail of squirming ichor down its back from its teeth and claws. Kazrack thrust the Right Bade of Arofel into its side and cut a huge gash that squirmed and sprouted tendrils that flailed at each other, but did not seem to be able to re-connect.
Jana was still being tossed about with every move of the scorpion, as it held her high above its head as it fled into the darkness in the rear of the cave.
Kazrack charged at it, but it flicked its tail and his charge was broken, the sword thrust was way too short.
Helrahd made to run after as well, even as the badger go to its feet and gave chase as well, but spying the dying paladin, he dropped to his knees beside him as well, to do his best to staunch his bleeding.
The rear of the cave narrowed again, and curved to the left. The scorpion moved very quickly, and could easily outrun the dwarf and the badger. Kazrack could see that the rear of its form was quavering as a whole, and tendrils burst from under its shell and waved back and forth wildly.
The narrow passage made a sharp curve in on itself and as Kazrack came around he stopped short of smacking into the wall. There was not where to go – but up. The scorpion was walking up the sheer wall, and up a vertical passage that went at least 60 feet up (as far as Kazrack could see with his darkvision).
Kazrack dropped the short sword and began to load his crossbow, as the badger tried to clamber up the wall unsuccessfully.
Kazrack fired straight up, but the bolt clattered against the tubular passage. He grabbed at another bolt and began to load again, but looking up to keep an eye on its progress he saw it disappear out of his range of vision.
The last thing Kazrack saw was the top half of Jana’s body fused with the scorpion claw, her legs were already absorbed into it, and her head and arms waved around limply as if she were an immense finger-puppet.
And then she was gone.
End of Session #35
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Notes
(166) Like the original members of the group, Martin too came to Gothanius with a troop of young men recruited to hunt the dragon. Members of his group, included: Simon, Peter, James and Maria.
(167) DM’s Note: Squirrels grant their masters a +2 bonus to climbing checks.
(168) DM’s Note: Helrahd’s player rolled a fumble: 41-45: Twist ankle. Half speed for 10 rounds.
(169) DM’s Note: He was using the aid other combat option.
(170) DM’s Note: The reason those being “bear-hugged/grappled” were hit so often by their companions is because the person being held provided the creature with 50% cover.
(171) DM’s Note: Since double-weapons need to be doubly enchanted to be magical weapons, I have ruled that the use of the Magic Weapon spell on a double weapons requires the caster to choose and end to enchant.
(172) DM’s Note: Any time someone is at negative hit points it is very easy to kill them by pulling their wounds open. The chance depends on how fast they are moved. They must make a FORT save (DC 10 + 1 / 10 feet moved in the round) or die. If the person doing the moving makes a healing check against DC 10 they can grant a +2 circumstance bonus to the saving throw.
), though you were definetely running the thing with a great, yet brutal knack for changing into forms that give it the advantage.
