Session 161

General Summary

• The party continued up the river in their boat. The flow got more chaotic, causing them to crash into the side a little, but they recovered and patched up the damage.
• Dazki and Marvin scouted ahead to the site, and the party formulated a plan of attack after they returned.
• Fully prepared, they sprung the trap that the worms had laid. This time, the purple worm expelled its parasitic host ("Brother Girth") and the two attacked in unison.
• The party took advantage of a very heavy crane in the area that had gotten entangled with the purple worm, pushing it down a giant pit.
• This took the purple worm down with it, leaving them to deal with only Brother Girth, who was defeated very quickly without its former host as backup.
• Dazki got the killing blow on Brother Girth.
• With Dazki's confirmation that the bottom of the pit was a little less than 200 feet down, Dwardazik secured a line of rope to a sturdy rock and unrolled it down the pit for a safe getaway, using 150 feet of his own and 100 feet of the party's rope from the Bag of Holding.
• Everyone then flew down to the bottom, seeing the large purple worm's corpse at the bottom... and the corpse of a much larger purple worm that the dwarves seem to have built wooden structures on top and inside of.

Full Recap

The party awaken in the early morning to a scene still devoid of the ambient sounds of wildlife. Dazki confronts Dwardazik to ask about the conversation he had out loud with Gemineye the night before. Dwardazik seems confused, as he didn't realize that it was all out loud.   They tear down camp and start heading back upriver towards their destination. Along the way, they encounter some debris in the river: wood, as if a raft had hit a rock. Not too much further, the water of the river greatly increases in speed and ferocity. (Wisdom 6) Dwardazik can't quite keep full control over the boat, and it slams hard into one of the crystal outcroppings responsible for the rapids. The boat cracks and begins to spring a leak. Dazki tries to take control of the situation and get everybody to look in their packs to see if there's anything he can use for a makeshift repair, but Theran casts a "Super-WaterSlide" spell to freeze the water as it enters critical areas of the boat — taking care not to overdo it, as water expands when it freezes into ice. They recognize that this is a temporary solution, so Marvin recommends going ashore and applying a patch to the outside of the boat so that the streams will be working in their favor.   They park and immediately notice a pristine-looking chest, undamaged by whatever else happened here. (Investigation 27) It's actually a deceased mimic. Opening it up (Constitution Save 7), the smell is overwhelming, but it somehow does have enough parts to repair the boat, complete with an entire set of Carpenter's Tools, which Marvin takes and uses on his own. (Dexterity 17) he repairs the boat just fine, enough for them to make it to their destination and dock the boat alongside the shore.

A Job for Professionals

Marvin and Dazki quietly explore. They find the area and report back, drawing a rough map. They plan their attack and group up to reach the area. Seeing it in-person, they decide to try attaching some chain to the rope on the large crane by the pit and lowering it down the hole. They manage to get it some of the way down, but it suddenly goes taut as a purple worm emerges, their chain having gotten entangled around one of its teeth. This is the same purple worm that was seen attacking Axecut before.

Combat Summary

• The plan is to push the extremely heavy crane down the shaft, which could drag the worm down with it.
• This time, the purple worm immediately expelled the smaller worm ("Brother Girth"), which mainly attacked on its own outside of its "shell".
• Some nice hits from fire damage caused Brother Girth to try to flee, but Dwardazik stopped it in its tracks.
• The purple worm dug around through tunnels to pop up seemingly anywhere on the battlefield.
• After enough hits from Dazki, Dwardazik, Theran, and Theran's summoned fire elemental, the crane toppled into the pit, dragging the purple worm with it.
• Focusing attention onto Brother Girth, a well-timed hit caused a sheet of ice to form below the worm.
• Through a few more rounds of battle, Marvin used his Pyroconverger a second time, and it backfired on him.
• Dazki got the killing blow on Brother Girth.

They burn what's left of the corpse and decide to swiftly head down the pit themselves, as Dwardazik is certain that "Mother Girth" can feel Brother Girth's death. Dazki (Acrobatics 20) flies down without issue, using his Driftglobe to illuminate the way down. He sees it goes down about 180 ft, so he messages the others. Dwardazik ties 150 ft of his own rope to a sturdy rock as an anchor, lengthens it using another 100ft of rope from the Bag of Holding, and wraps the end around a small rock to weight it. He lowers that down, allowing it to hit the bottom. Then, the party use various flying spells and implements to follow Dazki down. The wind that's somehow blowing up through the pit makes it difficult to fly down, and (Acrobatics 6, 11) Theran and Dwardazik bump into the side on their way down, taking a bit of damage. Marvin (Acrobatics 16) is fine.   At the bottom is the corpse of the purple worm that they killed at the top, next to a much larger purple worm that has also been deceased for a while. The area around the larger worm is cluttered with mining equipment, crates, bits of wood, and even some steps that lead up the side of its face and jaw. (Survival 15) the purple worm itself is normal, except for its size. It's like it is mummified.