Episode 38 - Bloodspores and Boomsticks

Vaceren’s disintegrate spell found its mark across the breastplate of Gunter Hasselbeck who was not quick enough to break his monologue and move out of the way. His ornate armor seemed to absorb the spells energy and leave its wearer completely unharmed, but upon closer investigation Vaceren determined that the damage done by the spell was being redistributed to the Slaadi who guarded the mysterious pirate. As it turned out, the spell was just strong enough to end the life of the weakest Slaad, who came tumbling out of the rafters and landing with a crunchy splat on the polished marble floor. The fight then began in earnest. Klork took advantage of the gravitational mechanics of the Astral to leap into the rafters and swiftly kill the second Slaad. Gunter drew his Astral blade and quicky fired off three Eldritch blasts which were snuffed out by Vaceren’s counterspell. Moxt and Adonthir rushed in to attack Gunter who had cleverly placed Armor of Agathys on himself dealing out 25 points of damage for every hit that they landed. Seeing now that the most obvious strategy was to systematically remove each of the Slaad defenders before focusing on Gunter, the party opted to do something completely different. Vaceren cast Hold Person on Gunter who failed his save because divination wizards can do whatever they want. The party then surrounded the now held Gunter and waylaid him with several melee attacks taking on severe levels of cold damage in the process. Nonetheless the damage dealt by the party was impressive, with Adonthir managing to sever Gunters leg, causing him to immediately fall like a broken statue. Eventually the damage became too much for the remaining Slaadi defenders who collapsed onto the temple floor.
After that, the fight ended quickly with Klork throwing several attacks making sure to get blood all over the entire party save for Vaceren. Before Klork could land the killing blow Gunter’s nearly dead body vanished in a cloud of black particulates. A quiet female voice whispered that although her chosen had been defeated, she was happy because now she would always be with them. At the conclusion of the fight, Klork ran to the fountain of streaming water which Adonthir had called the tears of the Caprine and began to bathe in it, hoping to rid himself of the chaosphage that he had acquired from one of the Slaad in the earlier jungle fight. While the water did not cleanse the sickness from Klork, it also gave unnaturally rapid growth to the fungal spores that had attached to his body through Gunter’s blood. As the spores bloomed into a miniature grove on Klork’s carapace he began to succumb to a strange eldritch influence that encouraged him to kill his entire party. As Klork attacked, the party was unable to clear off the growing fungi which they rightly assumed was causing his madness. Thinking quickly, Adonthir determined that the best solution was to kill the rot with fire. As he relayed this information to the party, Klork sloughed an excess of the water onto Adonthir’s body, causing him to succumb to the same madness and attack the party alongside Klork. Now facing two former members, the rest of the party heeded Adonthir’s advice and applied whatever sources of fire they could muster. Before he could be completely beaten, Klork shook off the blight that had infected him and returned to his normal self. He did toss Vaceren across the room one final time just for funsies.

When the internal fight had ended, Adonthir opened a secret hatch at the base of the altar to reveal a staircase leading into a subterranean cavern that collected the holy water from the streams. When he had entered, he noticed that the sacred pool had been dried up and replaced with two large collection tanks connected to external piping. A makeshift jail cell had also been created housing all of the clerics of the Caprine within, including his friend Baird. Upon seeing Adonthir enter, Baird became very emotional and plead for forgiveness. He explained that he had begun hearing a voice instructing him to aid the newcomers in the collection of the water which he had mistaken for the voice of their goddess. By the time that he realized the deception it was too late. Realizing the extent of Baird’s treachery Adonthir removed him from the cell and instructed him by point of sword to enter the water tank to prove his purity from the fungal spores. Rather than hear himself be called a traitor, Baird grabbed the blade of Adonthir's sword and thrust it through his own heart. He fell backward into the tank and the spores began to bloom on his corpse.

To test the remaining clerics, Adonthir summoned the party down into the sanctuary so that Vaceren could use shape water to sprinkle the contents of the tank over the crowd. The clerics all rejoiced at being baptized in the holy Tears of the Caprine and not one of them transformed. Well, one did but he was dispatched quickly as the cleric's curb stomped his ass into the ground. At once the guards surrounding the temple began to march inside. Moxt and Klork quickly held shut the doors to keep them from entering the sanctum as Adonthir freed the prisoners. Out of the crowd emerged a pale young girl with glowing golden animalistic eyes. At once, Adonthir recognized her as an avatar of the Caprine and knelt before her, Vaceren followed suit. The goddess used powerful magic to seal the doors to the subteranean culver, allowing Klork and Moxt to descend. She spoke to each party member and bestowed a blessing on them all. She then told them to remind Mr. Anpose that Darla misses him. Upon hearing Darla’s name, Moxt gave the Goddess an acorn that he had retrieve from Darla's ashes, the Obad Hai's Heart. She accepted it gladly and then threw it into the tank, causing a giant oak tree to burst out of the water restoring the sacred pool and bursting through the cave ceiling into the sky above. Vaceren asked the Goddess to remove his condition but she told him that it was beyond even her capacity to fully remove the curse. But she could give him a boon that allowed him to see visions of happiness as well as tragedy. Klork made the final request to allow them to cleanse the temple of the Slaadi blight. Rather than granting Klorks request she bestowed each of her clerics with Holy weapons and opened the doors as they raged onto the temple floor, slaughtering the infidels blaspheming their sacred isle.

The Caprine transported the party back onto the deck of the Queens Pyre which was totally empty. The search for Salty Rick ended in the galley where Rick was discovered lying barely alive in a pool of his own blood next to the body of a red Slaad. Rick informed the party that he had been infected with a Slaadi tadpole and that he would not be able to leave the Astral lest it grow and burst from his chest. Leaving the matter of healing Rick for later, the party brought him to the bow of the ship and sailed away from the Shattered Isle. The party took a different path back to the material portal that involved relaying off of two void storms. The first relay went perfectly but at the second void storm they met with a blockade of Gunter’s fleet with Gunter himself, newly healed by his patron at the helm of his massive flagship. The Queen’s Pyre fought bravely against the onslaught but looked briefly as if they would be overcome. At the last moment other ships appeared on the horizon. One flew the colors of the githzerai Zarik Tarl and the other two bore the seal of the Caprine. Newly reinforced, the ship made a line for the void storm when a low roar came from an unknown distance. Rick immediately recognized the sound as the call of an Astral Howler, a legendary monster capable of consuming entire ships. The beast burst forth over the horizon generating a massive psychic wind that pushed the ship off its course. Upon seeing the abberant creature, the githzerai ship fled along with much of Gunter’s fleet, but the Caprine knights of courage remained to escort the party to the relay. By drawing the howler toward Gunter's ship, the team was able to evade the worst of its wrath and narrowly made it to the relay. Moxt skillfully guided the ship around the void storm and flung them into the Astral ether. As the Queens Pyre passed Gunter’s ship at blistering speed, Rick fired a single shot off the starboard cannon which landed precisely in the ship’s weapons cache. The next thing the party heard was Gunter loudly cursing the name of Arnon’s Bane followed by a massive explosion.

The ship landed neatly at the portal leading back to the material plane. Before leaving Moxt tried to surgically remove the tadpole from Rick’s chest. As Rick bit hard on a rolled up shirt Moxt skillfully extracted the larva and crushed it in his hand. Rick then kicked open the beacon and went through the portal. The party found themselves back on the deck of the material ship, with their material bodies hidden inside large crates. They escaped their containers and went to the bow of the ship where they found Kyle smoking one of Rick’s cigars. The party happily sailed back to trade city where a bountiful feast awaited them at the Salty Pirate. What adventures await our heroes next? What is being done with the tears of the Caprine that were smuggled out of the Astral? How deep does Arnon's influence go if she is able to reach into the Astral? Where in the gods' forsaken planes is Davwyn? Find out now!