Sessions 19 and 20: Mounded

The next morning, Remi returned from scouting the rest of the village. He found nothing, but the Bartknockers, feeling stronger with their magus back decided that they would take on the protean again and make sure the town had nothing to fear. Perhaps due to Remi's help, or perhaps with the knowledge they had gained from their first encounter, the battle went far more easily than the first round, and the Naunet fell beneath their blades. The next day, they used Remi's expertise more productively, and found a scroll of comprehend languages on the black market. They had thought they might just pay a caster, but reasoned that requiring a translation of an abyssal tome would raise questions they would rather not deal with. In the diary, they found a wealth of information, including the location of the slime base in the Rhenish fens, just north of Perrin. 

Gnick saw immediately that there were two paths into the swamp -- a high road to the east, and a low road that ran closer to the water. The party decided on the low road, and they proceeded into the swamp. After about an hour, Barth spotted a glint of gold on one of the hillocks scattered along their damp path. Seeing only bloodseekers flying around it, the group clambered onto the mound and dealt swiftly with the bloodsuckers. However, as Barth moved forward to claim the treasure, the mound lashed out with a pseduopod and slammed at the dwarf! The party began to get nervous after their first few attacks did not have the desired effect, but they soon feel into a rhythm and the shambler died alone.

The Diary of Fabala Martinix

[Ed. Note: The diary has been abridged to include only relevant entries]

May 1st, AC 142

The Assez family are the worst sort of Capitalist! They claim to love their workers, but do they set them free? Do they treat them as equals? No! I've tried to explain how the Assez's are getting rich on their surplus labor, but the peasants don't care as long as they are being fed. Some more radical action needs to be done!

January 7th, AC 144

I received a message from someone who calls himself "a friend". Apparently he's been working on a plan to free this land from the nobles and hand the means of production over to the workers and serfs, and I am key to this plan! I need to lay the groundwork, and he will send his servant here when the time is right. The nobles will fall!

September 14th, AC 148

My son was born today. We named him Remi to remind us that the oars of justice are always pulling us closer to a day when all are equal. The world Remi inherits may be a chaotic one, but it will lead to a brighter dawn.

March 15th, AC 158

At long last, the Great Master has sent his servant to us, the slime-that-walks-like-a-man. He calls himself Equanimious Slurp, and is planning on setting up a base in the Rhenish Fens north of here. His plan is odd -- he wants to use small slimes to steal things from townspeople, believing that this will increase mutual suspicion. He has a medallion that greatly increases his summoning ability, which he will use to increase his forces.

I don't see how this will help us liquidate the Assez's, much less the rest of the noble caste, but my orders from the Great Master are very clear that I am to support Slurp. I will have to try to convince him that if we can eliminate the Assez family, we will be well placed to take over and use the resources of this province to move against nobles in other areas.

September 12th, AC 161

Word has come from the Grand Master -- we must move against the Assez's soon. The medallion the disgusting creature Slurp had been using to summon slimes has to be sent back, to be used in a different plot the Great Master has in mind. I am nervous about my son Remi and his friends -- they are clearly inexperienced and no great threat, but even the weakest adventurers can find a way to foil the march of destiny.

September 23rd, AC 161

Oh joy! The local druids have taken exception to the Assez family's despoliation of the natural environment in the name of capital. Strange bedfellows, but it's distracted Remi and his bunch. Slurp is ready to move once I give him the signal.

October 15th, AC 161

That dwarf is so obnoxious, but at least they are headed south -- into Dôle, apparently. Once they are gone, it will be time to take over the manor and make sure that the Assez's do not live to lord it over the rest of us any longer! Slurp says he used the medallion before he sent it back to the Great Master to bring a powerful outsider here to help us take over the manor.

November 11th, AC 161

The day is here. We've barricaded ourselves in our room as Slurp and his slimes devastate the estate. They will take the workers downstairs and sacrifice them to create a powerful ally. Unfortunately, but necessary for the aid of workers everywhere! Once the manor is secure, we will come out and lead the slime army in glorious revolution! But wait, what is that noise at the door?

Session 18: Under Assez Manor

The party enters the last room, a circular chamber sixty feet across with a golden statue on a pedestal in the center. The statue depicts the lady of beasts, a heretical version of Ryanna with the head of a lioness, ears of a donkey, and the legs of a goat. As they enter, the statue transforms into a Naunet before their eyes. Guy springs into combat faster than the foe can react and knifes it in the gut. Unfortunately, the usual organs seems to be missing and the creature barely notices. Barth charges forward to hold it in place while Clooney hits it with a touch of idiocy. Naunet strikes back with its tail, grabbing and squeezing Clooney in its tight grip. Gnick charges in to rescue him, casting Scatterscree to pelt the weird unnatural creature with stones. Ash also advances, and enchants Barth's weapon. Guy moves around to the other side of the beast, but cannot land a blow. Barth's attacks are also repelled by the creature's strangely repellent hide, but Clooney does manage to use the distraction to change into a spice weasel and --- BAM --- escape. 

The creature pounds Ash with its tentacles, but Ash holds his ground, and it bites at Barth in frustration. Gnick heals, and Ash shoots it with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Guy stabs it again, while Barth is finally able to land a solid blow, enhanced by Ash's magic. Clooney gives it an intimidating glare, but the creature is able to land a tail strike on Guy, grabbing him while he lands a tremendous bite on Barth. Gnick tries to remember where he's heard about this sort of creature before, but can't come up with anything. He then wraps up Ash's wounds, helping him somewhat. Ash begins charging up his chakra, while Guy wriggles free, though Guy's trip attempt does not succeed. The Naunet charges forward to attack Barth, landing a blow that Barth is able to shrug off. Ash kamehameha's the creature, giving it pause as the rest of the party prepares to flee. 

Guy moves up to assist their flight, trying to trip it again. The minion of Chaos grabs Barth with its tail and drives him into unconsciousness with the tightness of his squeeze. In response, Gnick moves back up to regenerate his comrades with divine energy. Guy steps up to help Barth escape from the creature's tail, and Barth retreats back. Clooney creates an illusion to slow it down, but the illusion only slows it down, and it's bite incapacitates Guy. Ash is able to let out another torrent of inner radiance. Gnick treats Guy, and Guy scatters caltrops in an attempt to cover the Barthknockers' escape. Meanwhile, Clooney fires off some magic missiles to slow it down. The protean however charges through the caltrops, knocking Clooney unconscious. Gnick heals Clooney, then continues his retreat. Clooney casts another phantom cloud, and Guy grabs weasel-form Clooney to run.

Session 17: Secrets

So, without warning, the swarm of rats attacked! Gnick threw up a swarm of rocks at them, but the rocks went wide, narrowly missing Guy. But a poison cloud from Clooney dazed the rodents, and Barth was able to kill a truly amazing number with just one swing of his axe. The remaining rats scurried up in his armor, biting and clawing the unfortunate dwarf. In response, Gnick summoned a swarm of insects, which killed the remainder of the rats, but left Barth with a lingering itch. After the fight, the Bartknockers are divided about what to do next. Barth wanted to go underground, but Ash was worried about some enemy burning down the building around them. Baby Bear wanted to finish exploring the first floor, so the party followed the bear.

Around the corner from the ballroom, the group found the winemaker's quarters, where Remi's parents lived. The room was much neater than the rest of the house, with a map of the vineyards on the wall and a bare desk in the corner. The desk is locked and trapped, but Guy is able to untrap it, and Barth, showing more skill than he had with the wagon, sawed off the lock to open the drawer. Inside there was a diary along with 100 gp in jewelry. The diary is in a language no one can read, but Gnick is able to recognize it as abyssal, the language of the demons.

Exploring further, the Bartknockers find the kitchen set up with extra tables and chairs, presumably to serve as a sort of ersatz dining room. Ash went to investigate the dumbwaiter in the corner, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Finishing up their search of the ground floor, the group went into the parlor. There the walls were decorated with the heads of animals, and there was a full-sized stuffed bear in the corner. Ash threw a sheet over the bear to spare Baby Bear's tender feelings. On the far wall was a fireplace and in the fireplace was the head of lynx. On entering the room, Clooney noticed it quiver, but couldn't tell what had caused it, so Gnick went in to investigate. Upon getting close, a grayish ooze reached out from the fireplace with a pseudopod, grabbing Gnick and squeezing him tight. 

Baby Bear slashed and Bart dealt a mighty blow to the slime, but it held tight and continued to squeeze Gnick. However, Gnick was able to reverse the hold, and Clooney ended the ooze's life with a well-place ball of flame. Barth searched the room, and found a pair of rubies in the head of the lynx. The group went up to the second floor next. In the master bedroom, they found a skeleton with a silver mirror held up over its thin hair and a four-poster bed with three posts missing. The dumbwaiter terminated in this room behind a pair of shutters. Barth walked up behind the skeleton as quietly as a well-armored dwarf can manage, only to find it a true skeleton, held together with wires. Frustrated, he searched the room, and tore the fourth bedpost off the bed, but he found nothing. However, they did find a pair of Boots of Elvenkind behind the desk.

Finally, the group followed the ramp in the ballroom down into the cellar. It led into a small, well-appointed tasting room, and from there into the barrel room. The barrel room still contained dozens of barrels of wine, but Guy warned that if they opened them improperly, they risked vinegaring the wine, and indeed it appeared that many of the barrels had been improperly opened. Behind the barrel room were rooms for gathering and crushing the grapes. Deeper in, the cellar turned into a natural cave, and as the Bartknockers entered this area, they were accosted by 10 zombies covered in an olive slime! Unfortuntely for the undead, they were no match for the party, and Barth's native constitution was enough to throw off the effects of the slime.

Going further down, the party entered a larger cave that seemed to be designed to serve as some sort of amphitheater. The floor was cut roughly into tiers as it descended towards a square platform 30 feet on a side, covered with arcane symbols and a dark script written in a brownish red ink. On the stage stood a gigantic bowl with long rusty chains hanging above it. The Bartknockers skirted the edge of the room and continued downwards.

Session 16: To Assez Manor!

 

Continuing on to Perrin, the group found a town under siege. It was nearing nightfall, but the streets were too quiet. The houses were shuttered, and while there was light peeking out from under the shades, the voices were muted. Guy scouted out the town, but found no one stirring, so the team moved immediately to Assez Manor. There, the walls were starting to crumble for lack of maintenance, and the proud iron gate that bore their words "Assez Bon" was rusting, and one of the doors was off its hinges. The grounds inside walls were in bad shape, the small family vineyard severely overgrown, and not a sound came from the cooperage or the barn. The party moved up to the manor house, and started towards the large, battered oak doors when Barth noticed something on the roof. Two of the gargoyles, gargoyles Remi had assured them were decorative, were moving to attack.

Barth stood in front of the party at guard, but the gargoyles showed a marked preference for gnome flesh, swooping towards Gnick and staying out of the reach of the dwarf's axes. Gnick found it difficult to retaliate, but Clooney was able to hurt the beasts with magic missiles, and Ash threw flames when he wasn't healing Gnick. Barth moved to guard Gnick more closely, and was able to land some opportunistic strikes, and the party eventually felled the beasts and moved into the manor. 

The foyer had been the scene of a battle, with bloodstains and broken weapons littering the red-carpeted floor. The door leading out were intact, but open, and the party went into the ballroom to the west, leaving the spiral staircase for later. The ballroom still showed some of its old charm, with marble walls and and elegantly carved wooden frieze above the fireplace depicting the Assez family. But the floor was littered with broken furniture, apparently cannibalized to barricade the windows of the room. Ash examined the fireplace and the frieze, but found nothing. Barth searched the floor and found a menuki, but also disturbed some rats that had been sleeping peacefully. Annoyed at having their slumber disturbed, the rats immediately attacked!

Session 15: A New Threat Arises

After the fight with the vampires, the party sorely needed rest, and so they holed up in the Proud Home for the rest of the winter. The next spring, after the roads had cleared sufficiently to allow for travel, they left for the Inn of Bonne Jouissance. There, they met the Rain Scribe, who fills them in on what's been going on. Equanimious Slurp has goons wandering the whole area collecting taxes and generally making life miserable for the people of Perrin. No one knows where he is staying, but he has a minion who somehow took over Assez manor without a big fight. Most of his servants are at least part slime now, and it seems like his end goal might be to convert the whole town to oozemorphs. The group thanks him, and sets off for Perrin the next day.

On the way to Perrin, the gang encounters four men in the road. They
demand cash for "taxes," and turn belligerent when the gold is not forthcoming. As the party readies for attack, their foes transform their arms into weapons and start attacking. Their initial attacks are surprisingly effective, even on Barth, but the party's greater tactical abilities are sufficient to put them down and end the fight. Afterwards, it's clear that their foes had been infused with ooze, making them harder to damage precisely and enabling them to transform their arms into weapons. 

Session 14: On the Road Again

After escaping the circus, the Players found an isolated spot just off the road where they managed to free Mario and send him towards Peaches. They thought that perhaps they could convert the circus wagon to something closer to a normal cart, but unfortunately, this proved beyond their skills at the moment. Despite the late hour, the group decided to head off towards the Proud Home. They had heard rumors in Tervel that the slime lord Equanimious Slurp was now acting in the open, and Remi wanted to return and defend his erstwhile home.

Unfortunately for the party, the road proved to be more dangerous at night than it had during the day. At a turn in the path, just after forest trees began to cover the dim moon, a pack of vampire spawn ambushed them! Half of the rogues swept down the path towards Bart, while the other half climbed nimbly over some large boulders on the side of the road to flank the group. The battle proved difficult, with Gnick in particular taking the brunt of the blood-suckers attacks. However, they were able to lie one of the fiends low, and after that the other members of the group started to withdraw, especially those who had already fed. Two more fell, but two escaped. The Players managed to drag Gnick to the Proud Home, where they spent a week recuperating.

Session 13: Welcome to the Funhouse

As the sun set over Tervel, the party continued to investigate the circus. Guy focused on the funhouse, believing that there children being held inside based on the rumors he had heard at the Proud Home. However, an obstinate gnome manned (gnomed?) the entrance, and refused to let Guy in, insisting it was being remodeled. Bart tried to see if there was somewhere in the back that could be crowbarred, but the fun house was surprisingly sturdy, and with the tight construction, there was no where to place the tool. Ash insisted that they couldn't just punch out a guard without more evidence, and so Guy made a note to return to the circus at a later date when they knew more about whether there were in fact missing children.

Bart had been exploring the east side of the circus before investigating the funhouse. In the center of the campus, he found a calliope. The organist, a human named Grimaldi, was happy to play a little tune for Bart on his instrument. Remi meanwhile continued to explore the sideshow tents before they met up near the cages to try and come up with a plan.

Clooney finally managed to pick the lock of his cage, but found the lock of Mario's cage too difficult, and with the prying eyes of the animal's overseer, they didn't want to tempt fate by trying too many times. Guy came over to try his hand, but likewise found it beyond his abilities. Together with Ash, they decided they should steal the wagon imprisoning Mario. Ash would distract the circus people by driving away their horses with fire, and Clooney, Guy, and Remi would hook the wagon cage to their own horses and drive off. Meanwhile, Gnick explained the plan to Mario. Surprisingly, the plan went off without a hitch! (Well, technically, one hitch). Once they were away from the circus, they had the time to free Mario, and give him directions as to where to find Peaches.

Session 12: Slavering Beast (Courtesy of Ash)

 

As Captain Rapacion turned into a slavering beast, again nude, I couldn't help but wonder if cornering us was his way of asking to be killed. As he was one wolfman versus a now moderately oiled force, the fight was mercifully short. Bart absorbed the majority of the blows as is his wont, while most of us took turns igniting the erstwhile Captain's fur on fire.

We rested once more, and there were some interesting rumors, but after some discussion, we decided that for now, the circus in Tervel was the most important destination to free Mario.

Happy to turn my back on Leene, we headed to the circus. I was reminded of my early years in Lyonia, making a living traveling from town to town, telling fortunes and warming beds. How many bastards are out there, and how many will inherit my curse? My only solace is hoping my little trouser eggs are poached by that self-same curse and the flames that surround me at times, so the answer is none.

Awaking from my reverie, we pulled up to Tervel and found that this circus that had employed Gnick was far larger and less transient than I had been picturing. Given that no performances were scheduled for the day, I began reconnoitering. I did not see the need for guile or disguise, as a person like myself would be a natural fit and this might be one of the few places where I didn't raise an eyebrow or two. I wasn't able to find the unicorns, but did talk to some of the workmen about the owners. I will meet up with the others around sundown to compare notes and decide what to do next.