Session 167
General Summary
- The party manage to solve the letter puzzle by convincing it to spell "OPEN".
- The next room had two chains in it. Dwardazik broke the first one, hurling him through the portal back to the eye with Theran following close behind. Dazki undid the second, and he and Marvin ran to regroup.
- The eye now having been disabled, the party took a long rest and followed an illusory message to a portal in the back of Tequila's tavern.
- The next room was completely full of water, but the party quickly unclogged the pipes in the room, allowing them to proceed.
- They went through a tunnel to a room with a cult chanting to an unfamiliar beast, then doubled back to enter down a pipe leading to "The Doctor's Nook".
Full Recap
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Crystal Clearing
Marvin shoots one of the eggs in the room with his hand crossbow, impaling it and destroying what's inside: something approximating a fetal squirrel. Dazki dips a hand into the slime; nothing unexpected happens, so he investigates the eggs themselves. (Investigation 22) the eggs are weird. Not all of them contain animals: some contain trinkets, yet they still appear to be "fetal". Dazki wonders aloud if the party should even care about any of this, or if it's "just some random thing that will waste our time". Theran uses "Spooky Action at a Distance" to place the squirrel onto the crystal in the room. Nothing changes. Dazki pulls the rabbit away from the crystal. The rabbit tries to run away scared, but Dazki holds onto it and drags it away from the crystal. The crystal and the rabbit begin to heal themselves. He sets down the rabbit, and it runs away down the stairs. A short time later, the number "5" lights up on the ground. They go downstairs to investigate. Downstairs is a maze-like room that has a similar shape to the room upstairs. They find the rabbit resting on a spot that suspiciously seems like it could be directly below the "5" tile of the room above. Dwardazik runs upstairs, and they do some quick tests. They find that "B", "N", "U", and "Y" all stay lit even as the rabbit is moved around, but picking up the rabbit makes the "5" go dim again. The party stays split up and traverses the maze, finding other small creatures on other tiles that (they figure) must correspond to "B", "N", "U", and "Y". There are also strange creatures throughout the maze made out of worm-like tentacles that wriggle around, mostly harmlessly at first. A large inert crystal blocks passage beyond the room, and there is another familiar crystal that lights up when Marvin gets close to it. "Jahdzan"'s voice echoes from below the stairs beyond the impassible crystal:I think there must've been something in that sparkling water, Argon. In some cruel twist of irony, my vision is blurred. Things... they swim, in and out. I can hardly see. Wait, was that opening there before? I don't remember seeing an opening before, or these... are these song lyrics? I don't remember seeing these either.Dwardazik, frustrated, just attacks the crystal at the end. This causes several worms to start coming through the walls, similar to the worm-like tentacles from the strange creatures. They all retreat rather than fighting, grabbing the animals and bringing them upstairs as they do. They try placing the animals down on the tiles upstairs, but nothing seems to happen. Dwardazik drags an animal downstairs with him and places it down on a random spot. The door slams and locks behind him, and the word "bye" (from "good bye") lights up. Dazki carries another animal downstairs and handily picks the lock to help. Eventually, they get "O", "P", "E", and "N" lit up by placing animals onto their letters, choosing to slash a couple of the extra eggs throughout the maze to get more creatures at their disposal. When they check on the crystal again, it's gone, and the way is open. They call back up to Theran and Marvin to come down, which they do.
Poisoning the Unwell
Immediately down from the maze room is a room filled with noxious gas, causing Dwardazik to start hacking and coughing. There are two chains in here. Dazki flies over to one of them; he (Intelligence 7) tries to describe the shapes of the dwarven runes on them, and Dwardazik (Intelligence 1) completely misinterprets what he's saying as something offensive. Marvin, still under the effects of Comprehend Languages, hops on Theran's broom and flies over to see what it is, as Dazki scans a mostly dissolved body in the acid to see if there's an equipment that survived it. (Perception 22) There is: a ring that is eventually revealed to be a Ring of the Ram. Marvin calls out the runes on the chain: "CONSTITUTION". It's a real problem, with fire burning at the end and acid making it dangerous to work with. Dwardazik holds onto the chain tightly, and he swings at the weakest point with his war pick. He's able to brave through the worst of the acid, but when the chain snaps and starts zooming through the portal, (Acrobatics 4) he can't get himself to safely let go of the chain to jump onto Theran's broom before he is whisked through the portal along with it. Theran follows closely behind him, managing to barely zip through the portal before it closes. The final chain says "DEXTERITY", with an intricate set of interlocking links set up. Dazki (Thieves' Tools 25) handily disassembles the chain, and then he and Marvin move quickly back through the rooms to regroup with Dwardazik and Theran in the eyeball chamber.Eye Pad
Dwardazik lands on the eye in the center. He bounces, and it blasts him again. Theran successfully distracts the eye with a few blasts of "Shooty Blam-Blam", but it turns out not to be necessary: Dazki has now undone the last chain, and it comes zipping through its portal. Dwardazik jumps, prepared for the eyelids to snap shut now that they are no longer being held open, but that's not what happens. Instead, the eye rolls back in its socket, and a pool of water slides around from the other side. The party finally regroups, and Marvin chats with the worms on his shoulder (now three of them, though shorter than before). Only Marvin can hear their responses.Marvin: When did you multiply? Did you split yourself in pieces? Tequila: Is that rude? Marvin: I'm just makin' sure... Tequila: Quite frankly, I'm surprised you haven't yet! Marvin: That would be nice... well, I think this is where our journey ends, worm colony hive-mind. Tequila: Yeah, I mean, I'm not allowed any further down in here anyway. So, I mean, I did say I would try to answer some of your questions? Marvin: What was this eye? Tequila: That's Mother's eye. She's always watching! Marvin: Mother? "Mother Girth"? Tequila: I don't know... I guess? Is that what you call it? Marvin: Oh boy. How big is the "Mother"? Tequila: I don't know, but if the eyes are that big, then I mean... who knows, right? Marvin: Who knows... Tequila: Then again, I have three butts, so I don't... Marvin: Didn't need to know that! Dwardazik: This whole area might as well be "Mother Girth". Tequila: Do you plan on infecting any further down? Marvin: Do we plan on going any further down? We have to. Tequila: Well, you did pretend to help. And that usually lets people further down. Only certain parasites are allowed further down, and I'm not one of them. Marvin: Why aren't you? As in, are you physically unable, or do you not have permission? Tequila: Mother lets a bunch of people and children infect her, but you don't want to infect a place you're not supposed to be. That makes Mother angry. She gives so much to us! Marvin: Can you give an example? Tequila: Well, I mean, I've been able to lay eggs all over this place since coming with you! I'm sure I'll be able to have this whole chamber to myself! Marvin: ...that's not what I expected. Dwardazik: What did you not expect? Marvin: I didn't think this worm was poopin' out eggs as we were walkin' around! I never noticed! Dwardazik: Huh? You sure the eggs aren't inside you? Marvin: I think I'd know if it penetrated me, Dwardazik. He checks himself, and Dwardazik helps. (Medicine 20) He doesn't seem to be infected by any parasitic diseases at the moment. Marvin: Well, Tequila, if you're not allowed down there, then I think we should just part ways at this point. I hope you've had a nice little adventure. Tequila: Oh, I'm so happy to have expanded as far as I've gotten! I don't think I'm clever enough to trick myself any further down, so, um, I'm not the parasite you need anymore. You've gone beyond me! Before you let me go, though, I've gotta ask... are you sure you don't want to eat some of me? Marvin: I don't have much of an appetite after seeing the things I've seen today. Tequila: Did you ask your friends? Maybe they want to eat just a little bit? Marvin: OK, I will, but if they say no, then that's the end of that line of conversation, all right? Tequila: OK, but you gotta really sell it! And I'll answer any questions that you have, man! Marvin: Before I ask them that, though, does Mother Girth have a weakness? Tequila: Um. I mean, I don't really know? I know she gives so much for her children, and she wants more friends. Marvin: "wants more friends"? OK, she's lonely? Tequila: Yeah, that's why she makes so many children! Marvin, turning to the party: OK. Guys. Tequila wants me to ask you guys... are any of you interested in eating one of the Tequila worms?Theran and Dazki politely decline. Dwardazik asks to hold one, and Marvin gives him one. Both Dwardazik and Marvin can now hear what she says.
Tequila: Oh, hey, it's a dwarf! I understand how to do dwarves! Are you thirsty? I have a tavern. It's got lots of ale! Dwardazik: You say you're a hive mind, right? You're in contact with your sisters and brothers, and everyone else from your — Tequila: Well, only the "me" parts. Dwardazik: And how many of those are there? Tequila: Oh, I think we're almost at 800. I have to wait for all the eggs to hatch, though. Dwardazik: Hmm. Well, go ahead and send this message to Mother Girth, all right? (He crushes the worm in his hand and throws it over the side. He can no longer hear Tequila's responses.) Tequila: I mean, Mother's just overworked, you know? Sometimes she just gives so much! With the aunts and the uncles, they ask so much of her. Plus, you know, all of her children are parasites, and then those parasites have other parasites, and then you guys are parasites too! And it's just kind of a lot, you have to forgive her. Marvin: We'll work on that, but I appreciate the time. (He tosses the remaining worms over the ledge as well.)
Theran: You know, it occurs to me that "Mother Girth" is quite often described as "giving" so much, whereas for Riley, there's a lot of language of her being upset that all she can do is "take". Makes me wonder if the Manifestations of the Mirage are all in pairs or something? Maybe we can get some insight into "Fogwalker" by figuring out who his pair was. Or it might just be random circumstance... Dwardazik: Well, then who's the pair for Baxton or Vicra? Theran: If Pendel was the guy dealing with "time", then maybe "Fogwalker" could be the one who deals with "space". I don't know if it makes sense that Baxton and Vicra would be opposites? Dazki: Yes, actually. Dwardazik and I were the only ones who saw this, but... remember the Turmoil fetus that Baxton was trying to create? "Life" and "death".They muse about this a little, Dazki scavenges some materials from around the room, and they take a long rest.
A Little Shut-Eye
Overall, the "night" passes without any interference from their surroundings. It's almost eerily quiet, in fact.- During Dazki's and Dwardazik's shared watch, they talk about some tactics for escaping, and then Dazki reinforces that he wants to try to talk "Mother Girth" down peacefully, instead of only trying to fight. He thinks back to Riley, noting that they were able to deal with her nonviolently. Dwardazik's kneejerk reaction is to just start thinking about all the different ways that it can go wrong.
- Dazki passes Theran a Spell Gem (Bloodstone) that he found in the chamber with the Stigmatatisms, and he goes to rest.
- Marvin tries to identify the glass dagger; (Arcana 6) it's at least a +1 dagger, and there's some sort of Turmoil-based thread in the middle of it. It has some sort of dangerous property to it... though he can't tell if it would be dangerous to its target or to its wielder.
Portal in a Storm
In the morning, they walk across the surface of the eye to examine the pool in the center. Dwardazik jumps right in, and... (Constitution Save 26) nothing happens. The water makes waves of its own accord. Dwardazik swims to shore, as Theran openly questions whether or not it's an illusion. Dwardazik is about to throw Theran into it to see for himself, but (Turmoil 17) Dazki speaks up, noting that small (or invisible) creatures in the water are causing it to flow in a spiral-like pattern. (Perception 28) Dazki also sees a reflection (of sorts) of something that must have happened in the past: it's "Jahdzan" again, splashing the water on his face, which disrupts the reflection and stops Dazki from seeing any further. Dwardazik tries to walk into his own reflection, (Constitution Save 15) but nothing happens. Frustrated, he splashes around and drinks some of the water. He is now affected by "eyemebas" that distort his vision and limit it to just a few feet around him, but otherwise he can see a new word that appears on the ground. More words lead along a line, forming a sentence as he follows it: "I miss you. You are the only one that cared. Deeper, come deeper. Be with us forever. I'll forgive you for killing her. Do you forgive me?". The line of words leads into Tequila's tavern, where there's an illusory portal that leads to the next zone.Water We Gonna Do Now?
The other side of the portal is a water-filled chamber. Theran immediately cures Dwardazik's "eyemebas". They see some eel-like worms scattered about, but most notable is another illusion of "Jahdzan" and "Argon" walking along the bottom, seemingly unaffected by the water.Well, Argon, I believe this is deeper down than man has ever been. Even the manliest of miners! ...the most able of athletes! ...the most daring of dwarves! Air, never touched by dwarven lungs! Ah, I'm breathless just thinking about it! I hope I can find the right words. Will words even be enough to explain it? ... ... ...I'm starting to panic. OK... Just gotta calm my breath. Just continue forward. Come on, Argon.The pair walk straight through the wall at a particular spot in the north. The party notice that there seems to be a current leading towards a specific pipe in the room. Looking through the pipe, it is completely clogged with the worms. They generally make their way in that direction. When Dwardazik gets there, he ties some rope around his shoulders and waist, clearly with some sort of plan in mind. The others defer to him, curious to see what his plan is. He ties the other end of the rope around the pipe, anchoring him in place as best he can; he then takes out his Skin of Endless Ale and unleashes a jet of ale. This clears the pipe, allowing the water in the room to drain down to its level. Marvin swims down to another pipe and likewise uses his Pyroconverger to clear it. Theran follows suit on the last pipe, using his "Shooty Blam-Blam" to clear it. When the water lowers to this level, a cave opens up in the wall where "Jahdzan" walked through. They follow.
???
The next chamber is difficult to describe. It "oozes between these large crusty patches", and there's a horrible smell.Dwardazik: This smell... is it coming from this wound? And what's that over there, further on? Marvin: That implies this whole thing is a living creature? I guess, considering the size of the eye... Theran: You know, it makes sense for this entire dungeon to be a mimic. Dwardazik: Don't say that shit! Theran: But we haven't seen mimics!Weighing their options, the party proceed through the tunnel across the room, starting to hear some chanting.
