10/15/23 - Wyrms, Leeches and Skum. Oh My!

General Summary

Our heroes regrouped and recouped after their intense fight with the glow wyrm and its guard drakes. Discussions began about what could be crafted from the body. Immediately, simplistic items such as arrows from its teeth were crafted by Slayer and a set of dragon scale armor was stitched together by Aglizzy . However these items faintly hold the magic that once coursed through the glow wyrm’s veins. More expertise was required for more advanced arcane objects. From there, the discussion progressed to who would be the most helpful in crafting items and logistically who could arrive to do the former in a timely manner. Firstly, they talked with their traveling party. The dwarves they traveled with however are mostly laborers. And while basic dwarven smithing is nothing to turn your nose at, they lack the finesse for what Welcome Tasks has in mind.
The next closest geographically would be The Tabaxi Sisters. While they have a deep liking of draconic magic and are only a day’s travel, they have potential. This idea intrigued Melkor and Saepe in particular as they discussed the idea of bolstering Melkor ’s own draconic traits with wyrm organs. The down side, and a large one at that, is that fey are hard to trust and have already double crossed Welcome Tasks before. It has potential, but other less risky paths were discussed as well.
Continuing to look at options in closest distance order, Lo-Kag and Lilly were mentioned. The rune carver has potential with his old form of magic, but the party knows the least about the Dvarapala including where the nomads are currently located. As for the priestess of Mystra, she is located back in Fallmouth. She has helped out the party greatly before and is more trustworthy than The Tabaxi Sisters, but it would take her at least a week to venture out to Vorua Pleaura. In the end, no decision was made but at least options were laid out.
Saepe to the time to cast spare the dying on the creature to a least preserve it. Much debate was had on whether the spell would work since in order to draw upon the arcane leylines, at least two copper coins must be placed on each of the corpse’s eyes. The wyrm, being completely blind, has no eyes but Saepe felt that placing the coins where eyes are normally located would be satisfactory. With the glow wyrm preserved and ideas discussed, it was time to enter Vorua Pleaura proper.
Inside the old dwarven settlement, it was much the same as Welcome Tasks had left it. The great hall was still abandoned, the Vorua temple to the north still had Yuan-ti graffiti on its walls, and to the south the room leading to mines still had two dwarven statues guarding the entrance way. As was the case before, any dwarf could pass through to the mine unharassed but all others were kept at bay. Saepe tried his best to communicate with the statues in their native tongue and eventually was able to grant passage for Aglizzy and Gimble . Melkor however did not feel it was necessary to talk with the statues and found himself alone in the great hall as the others inspected the mine.
The southern room has an underground river that crests into a waterfall crashing into the iron veins below. The ancient scaffolding was usable enough for Saepe, Gimble , and Aglizzy but the dwarves’ first order of business was to allow for high traffic use of the descending structure. At the bottom of the flooded mine, memories of the clash with the aberration and its skum gave Saepe an uneasy feeling. Not wanting to be caught flat footed, he channeled the divine grace of The Callipygian Woman and sensed the presence of several aberrant creatures lurking beneath the murky water.
Meanwhile, Melkor was happy to be on his own. He had never been to Vorua Pleaura before and began to do some exploration. The abandoned structure is still quite dreary with signs of battle, decaying furniture and many slain dwarves and yuan-ti lying where they were struck down. The Tiefling meandered and hoped to find an alternate path into the mine. He felt that he was making good progress, however he also felt that he was being followed.
Getting the drop on the vile creatures, Saepe and his companions proceeded to attack the skums. It was most fortunate that Saepe took the vanguard as the skum attacked with vicious claws and psionic strikes. The shoreline of the mine was colored crimson with Welcome Tasks ’ blood and at times it seemed like the tides of battle might sweep away the party. Melkor not being present was certainly felt.
Simultaneously, Melkor could not shake the feeling that he was in danger. While exploring a narrow hallway he looked back to see a corpse was shambling along towards him. Undead are nothing new to Melkor and he prepared himself for what he hoped would be a simple fight. Things took a twist as the undead got closer. Melkor could see that the corpse itself was infested with hundreds of small leeches whichever seemed to be moving the corpse itself rather than being passively carried by it. Sensing that this was a larger threat, Melkor summoned his hellhound to buffer himself from the nightmare. It was wizened thinking as the first thing the corpse did was fling a leech at Melkor , landing on his arm. He quickly removed the creature before it tried to burrow inside of him. Even with his hound blocking the creature’s path, Melkor needed to draw upon several spells to keep his distance. Hopefully one of his friends will assist him soon.
Down below, eldritch blasts echoed, shelagh struck true and the blessings of The Callipygian Woman were used to their limit. In the end, the creatures were finally slayed but not until after Gimble was knocked unconscious by one of the skum’s psionic strikes. While victorious, the battle had taken much of their resources and the hoped Melkor was having a better time.
It became clear to Melkor that he was on his own for this fight. He successfully cast slow on the creature, making kiting it with magic missile and dodging flung leeches much easier. The undead was eventually dealt with but at the cost of many arcane resources. Melkor made sure to deal with any loose leaches when the corpse was destroyed and now can continue his venture to hopefully meet up with the rest of the party.
It would seem that Vorua Pleaura is not completely secure, but with the skum removed mining operations should be able to commence soon. Time is starting to get stretched thin as the days until the library is clear of fog draws near. Welcome Tasks will need to be tactical about their travel plans if they hope to get there in time.

Report Date

29 Nov 2023

Primary Location

Vorua Pleaura