ThunderMatt

03-21-2020: Game Twenty-Five: ThunderMatt
 
There was magic in this world once, but they stole it all away.
 
The brothers assembled on their interdimensional steeds, it was quite a spectacle, although Korrics steed was near-sighted and needed corrective eyewear in order to move without crashing into things.
 
Travel through the mystical interdimensional woods was not eventful, and the brothers found themselves upon the Eastern Coast. Tage mentioned his dislike of children, a non-sequitur, but hardly unexpected. Once the brothers dismounted from their almost illusionary steeds, they faded into mist. John produced the gleaming horn, and gave it a mighty blow.
 
The sound echoed across the waters of the sea: the turbulent surf being pounded with fury as a single-sailed black ship rapidly closed in on the beach. It awaited the brothers, and they waded out into the boat. Quickly they explained the situation: Though the boat appeared crewless, the boat quickly exited the shore and streamed into the fog. John took the helm, while Korric assured tage that though he was the king of the world he’d never let go.
 
The strength of generations held the boat on a route straight to the Isle of dreams. Over the rough and rowdy seas the boat moved on and on along the dreaming sea; until finally they closed on the isle of dreams.
 
Cast into a wild world of water and manically white-capped seas, the thunderous noise pounded the senses. The salt air of the ocean made every breath a painful task: The travel was not pleasant, though their boat remained afloat they struggled not to fall overboard. The greatest fears of the brothers came about them, striking fears into their hearts and projected for all to see:
 
Korric saw Dwarves in mechanical suits crushing his people, breaking their will and condemning them into bondage once more.
 
John Jean-Jon saw the strength of generations fade away as his muscles withered, his alchemical formulae failing. The wisdom and strength he had cultivated faded from his mind and he was useless.
 
Thy’lek saw himself as a boor; poorly dressed, rude, uncouth, and more orc than man after all.
 
Tage saw himself with a halo, helping children across the street instead of kicking them into the gutter for their candy. Or was it that he feared he was truly evil after all: his dark dealings leading him further and further from the light he had once thought himself to walk under.
 
Yuttosk found that he was in fact not a survivor of the death of magic. He had been carved up for placemats at the trio of extraplanar beings leisure to better place their delicious breakfasts upon. He had been living his own actual hell since then, completely unaware: until now.
 
The brothers confronted their greatest fears, and Korric was the only one who failed this test of mettle. What would the consequences be? Time would tell. Eventually the brothers had defeated their psychic tests, and no-one had been hurled into the briney deep.
 
With exceptional speed, the boat hurtled through the seas towards a speck in the distance. The white light of the island grew as they approached. The twig of the banshee gave them confidence as they approached.
 
To say “The island was not very hospitable” is putting it quite kindly. The rigid cliffs and bluffs were constantly pounded by the violent seas. The brothers started ascending the cliffs towards the bridge.
 
They all managed to disembark without plunging into the icy waters. The climb was brutal, though they were quite careful. They found themselves in snow and cold: not at all the sort of weather they were prepared for. John quickly brewed a pot of tea, offering some endurance against the elements to his brothers in its hot steamy liquid.
 
A rickety rope bridge was the only way forward across a ravine, jagged rocks awaiting below. The forty foot chasm was quite foreboding.
 
In a sensible moment, Korric suggested the old yo-yo method, tying a rope to the person crossing and anchoring them. Tage leapt across the chasm with his shadow walking, Thy’lek was the first to have a rope tied to his waist and wander across the treacherous chasm. His slippery shoes were made for dancing, not walking a tight rope. He fell into the chasm, but John strained to catch him, ultimately jumping across the chasm and pulling the quarter orc up much like a yo-yo.
 
Korric tossed a grappling hook at John, who once again tied a rope around his waist.
 
He slowly crept across, and John threw a rope back to Yuttosk. Yuttosk gritted his teeth and closed his eyes for the entire duration of his crossing, but ultimately successfully crossed. The brothers looked upwards towards the castle, which did not seem too much closer despite the trials that they had overcome thus far.
 
The open gate of the smallish castle was flanked by a pair of towers. As it turned out, not only the gate but the entire castle was made of iron. Heavy, valuable iron. John took a moment to test the mettle of the metal, and Tage noticed that there were some inhabitants of the castle who quickly walked out of view. Interestingly, a pile of treasure was clearly visible as well.
 
The brothers knew a trap when they saw one, but the allure of treasure as well as curiosity of what was within were too great to resist.
 
“Denizens of the Iron Keep, the Bandolier brothers have come to pay a visit!”
 
Several minutes of uneventful trap-searching later, the brothers walked into the area. Six hulking figures emerged from the shadows to greet them. A brief attempt at diplomacy was unsuccessful: their thirst for immediate treasure outweighed their desire for greater future treasures gained via recruitment under the Bandolier Brother Umbrella.
 
Yuttosk leapt forward, piercing one of the misty creatures. Shortly after, two of them closed in large swords in hand. The others moved towards the rest of the brothers, Korric had readied a counter charge which cut the attacker down.
 
John tossed a healing potion at Yuttosk, staunching his bleeding injury from an unlucky mist creature hit. Thy’lek drifted up, stabbing with his rapier unsuccessfully. Tage launched a flurry of stabs, one of which connected. He followed up with a lunge through the shadows at one which Yuttosk had previously injured: it too faded into mist.
 
Korric leapt at one, hurting but not killing it. Yuttosk missed the one he was dueling. The three remaining mist-men did not manage to land any hits on the brothers. John knocked down two of them with a vicious series of blows, leaving a single mist-man ‘standing’ (on his non-legs) and the one Yuttosk was dueling. Thy’lek dashed in, rapier forward. Tage leapt in to finish it off.
 
Korric cut the last mist-man down, and when he had fallen the iron castle faded into nothingness leaving only the treasure. As the last ‘Dream Warrior’ fell, the brothers learned his story before the brothers looted the various piles, casks, chests, and boxes of treasure for later enjoyment.
 
The Dream warriors were servants of an evil dream god who created this island in the sea of dreams. Occasionally they make forays into the prime planes to harvest fun, and treasure; though some of the loot is from previous visitors as well. Since it’s the first island on the way to where we’re going, most presumed it was in fact the isle of dreams itself. It was not.
 
The brothers returned to the beach and boat. The return trip was uneventful, after the treacherous passage upwards.
 
The passage to the actual island they were seeking was smoother sailing than it had been. The boat came to rest a few yards from shore: A few yards from warm sandy beaches. The beach stretched across the whole coast, followed by forest. Not far from the landing point lay a trail leading into the woods on the fabled Isle of Blight.
 
The brothers followed the path into the forest, noting that the trees were hardwood with blue-green leaves and reached heights of 80 feet. The leaves were given their color by blue-green veins. John took a moment of time to harvest some acorns and samples for further study.
 
Further into the woods the brothers found themselves with a question: follow the obvious path to the Inn of the Three tears, or go exploring in the woods? Their choice was obvious, as Thy’lek rushed off the trail after a birdsong he thought he remembered from his childhood. They soon found themselves in a clearing. . . a family of chimeras awaited them. John’s cry of horror could be heard for miles, as he remembered the experiments of a certain former colleague.
 
The chimera were hungry and not willing to negotiate. John launched himself at the closest Chimera, his punishing fists crushing it into pulp.
 
Korric leapt at a different one, his sword a blur.
 
Thy’lek inspected the chimeras looking for a lady to whoo.
 
The Chimeras lunged forward, blasting the brothers with their breath weapons to tenderize them. Thy’lek moved up aiming to convince the chimera to be his new mount. He was successful. She was wooed. He offered a glass, and a bowl of champagne.
 
Tage and Yuttosk laid into one of the other chimeras, while John picked up the remnants of his chimera and ‘combined’ them into the one Korric had been attacking. The result was a bit of a mess.
 
Korric leapt on the last hostile chimera, cutting and tearing it into bits.
 
John quickly cut into the flesh of the beasts harvesting some choice organs and fluids before they moved on.
 
Sadly, Thy’leks new love interest was dismayed at the things done to her family so she shyly flew off. The brothers returned to the path, and headed towards the inn of three tears.