Session 34

General Summary

17th (and 18th) of Wealsun, year 595 level 13
The party continued to face off with the giant, horrific wormlike creature. Hit with a wave of psionic force, Toby was able to quickly determine that the creature was particularly dangerous with psionic abilities, but they bravely decided to face the challenge while their captured Bullywug escaped his bonds and ran away in a panic, disappearing to wherever the rest had gone. It struck most of the party with a highly dangerous blast of acid, and Irina responded with a fireball -- though that ignited the top layer of vegetation in the area. And everyone continued to attack with weapons and spells despite the fact it seemed to do little to it. In one psionic attack, it nearly enfeebled Toby, turning his mind into mush, but Wally's bardic inspiration saved him by a sliver.
Eventually, they were able to wear the creature down, but not before one of its final attacks knocked Malex unconscious and then swallowed him whole. And when the remaining party, using divine smites and eldritch blasts, finally killed the creature, it fell 40 feet into the hole it sprung from, taking Malex with it. Though all of the party jumped after to recover their fallen comrade, saving him in time.
Regrouping, they examined their new predicament, locked in a slimy pit, closed off by a heavy gate, and discovering the worm creature had been chained to the wall with monstrous hooks. Irina sensed something was unusual with the floor, but not enough to investigate further, before a wench was discovered outside the gate. Wally attempted to get his pet fire beetle to try spinning it, but to no avail. Irina turned gaseous and passed between the bars. But when she spun the wheel, she did not notice there was a separate mechanism that needed to be engaged, and so she in fact caused the slimy floor below her companions to pitch them into a pit of spikes designed to kill a creatures such as the terrible worm they had just fought. Fortunately, only Wally was unlucky enough to be wounded by the huge spikes.
Although now the party had 2 kuo-toa attacking them from an elevated position! But in a moment of shocking luck, both creatures broke their bow strings on their first shot, allowing Irina the opportunity to adjust the wench and raise the portcullis. They managed to quickly dispatch one of the creatures but the other ran quickly along the slippery cavern into the darkness.
Taking a moment to look around, they discovered a subterranean waterfall about 30 feet above them, the water a brackish but drinkable naturally-filtered sea water. Moving on through the cavern, they came upon an alcove filled with varieties of fungus, and also what appeared to be a body and a glowing sword. Although, using magic detection, and Irina's keen sight, they discover there is no magic around and the sword's glow seemed to come from some painted on affect. Toby was also able to identify some items known as "violet fungus" that are capable of moving and attacking en masse. Wally once again attempted to use a lesser creature and tried to get a summoned rat to explore for them, but it ran away.
Though a different tiny creature was discovered to be "watching" them from the shadows. Some small, blob creature with partially-formed bones and skull lurked at the edge of their light, but when discovered, attempted to ooze away, to no avail. Not long after, another one was spotted, and it too "ran away" when discovered. The party, in a show of mercy, decided not to chase after.
And that's when they encountered a section of the caverns littered with crumbled stone and broken stalactites, as well as a slight sulfurous scent. A tired voice called from the end of the corridor, warning the party that only one person can cross at a time, that the area was trapped, and begged for a healer to come help his companions. He said his name was Jerripson, and when questioned, revealed that they had arrived by boat, from a place called "Thunderisle," and they have been stranded here, beyond the trap, for some unknown time. He seemed too frightened to come very far down the corridor, and when pressed on more information, he revealed he believed the source of the trap was likely some runes carved on the wall, and if they could remove them, the trap would be disabled. This seemed to be confirmed, at least somewhat, by Irina who appeared to trigger a falling rock trap when she opened a secret door below the runes. Wally, from as far as he dared, cast a spell to disable the runes.
Finally, after some uncertain back and forth, instead of just one member of the party coming back to the shadows to help Jerripson and his other companions, the entire party came forward to where some bodies could be seen in the shadows -- and forced the "hand" of a large gelatinous creature that was evidently creating the appearance and sound of the trapped people. It immediately attacked Toby, and while its pseudopods were unable to touch him, its psionic ability to devour memories hit Toby full-on, wracking him with psychic damage and leaving him utterly bereft of any memory.
In a full-on assault, the party quickly did enough damage to the ooze to cause it to flee, making its way through the secret door that, apparently, it could not go through nor past while the magical runes were active. Irina quickly caught up to it, and entrapped it in an encircling wall of fire. The creature, using what it had just taken from Toby, then took on the voice of Toby and called Irina by name and pleaded to be let go. Irina refused, and the creature quickly succumbed to the flames, withering away in a cacophony of stolen voices. As well as triggering the piercing shrieks of shrieking fungus beyond the secret door.
The party discovered Toby's plight, and attempted to assuage his fears at being in an unknown location with unknown and clearly dangerous people, while discussing what possible means they might have to restore their companion's memories. Eventually, the decided to take the risk on a long rest, but before a trial of spells was cast to see what would work, they discovered a period of sleep was all that was needed for Toby to recover his memory.

Report Date

21 Jul 2020