Part 2: In Mbalenlyeh's Lair

The party awakes in a cell and are brought before Her Beauty; Mbalenlyeh. She is immediately made aware of Illia’s singing skills and adds her to the court band. Mbalenlyeh seems to take a liking to Forrest. She allows herself to be convinced that she needs an advisor/historian. She requires only a glance to deduce Darrack’s gladiatorial aptitude. And she salivates at the prospect of toying with, and subsequently devouring the strange tiefling who calls himself obesity.
The next day, the party comes to in their respective sections of the lair. Darrack finds himself in the gladiatorial barracks and, after a filling breakfast, heads off to the stadium. Obesity awakes in a large, open stable which holds humanoids for consumption. Darrack meagerly fights a pair of merfolk, causing Mbalenlyeh to unleash a shark into the tank. Whist the carnage transpires in the stadium, Illia begins a barrage of questioning, finds the ignorant Obesity, and decides to instigate an uprising. She, against all odds, is able to instill a revolutionary vigor in the hearts of the jackalwere guards who were fabricated for the sole purpose of serving Her Beauty, Mbalenlyeh. Illia then releases the docile humanoids from the pens and her makeshift army is now ~50 strong. Illia and Obesity sweep through the lair, ammassing ranks. They make it to the exit but they will not abandon their partymates. They march back to the throne room and during the march Obesity wanders off. Illia ventures alone into Mbalenlyeh’s room to discover a roughly hewn tunnel and a magically sealed door. She wanders through the tunnel, following the sounds of invigorating music. The tunnel opens into a viewing platform above the gladiatorial stadium. Illia is face to face with Mbalenlyeh. She soars blindly into the stadium where Darrack and a couple other gladiators are fighting a non stop barrage from a powerful treant as punishment for trying to escape. Suddenly, Illia feels the insatiable urge to murder her former friends, she fights the urge and white hot, nearly crippling pain snakes through her mind. As the Treant is defeated more beasts are released into the arena. Obesity wanders through a couple treasure rooms, collecting artifacts and gems. Laden with his newly found treasures he splashes through an adjacent cistern. He is noticed by a gardener collecting water and is captured. He struggles to escape but his magic is useless because of the armour he thoughtlessly donned earlier. He is roughly escorted through the garden, the magical energy emanating from the countless artifacts he carries awaken 4 golems who proceed to attack. His captors/guards hurriedly escort him down a long corridor and arrive at the prison cells. Obesity is awkwardly shoved into a cell. After the guards leave he doffs his armour and, because none of his possessions were confiscated, begins attuning himself to a gilded spear. He very faintly hears the rushing crackle of intense flames but ignores it. A hulking, fiery mad, man with coal black skin storms into the gladiatorial arena, interrupting the battle (killing over half its participants). Mbalenlyeh’s features contort in great fear as the man, ignoring our heros, transforms his lower half into a whirling chaos of fire and ash and he flies up to confront her. He wrenches her from her luxurious seat and drags her out the door through which he entered. Mbalenlyeh makes agonized pleas which fall upon deaf ears. She has no idea why her master is so enraged.
As the flaming figure of Mbalenlyeh and her efreeti master fade down the corridor Darrack and Illia, broken from Mbalenlyeh’s spell, dash back to the throne room where the majority of Illia’s loyal guards are stationed. They arrive to see the floor strewn with smoldering piles of ash. They press on. Frenziedly searching for Obesity who is the only person who can free Forrest from her magically sealed chamber. They get to the cistern, dodge past the imposing golems, and find their way to Obesity. Obesity, broken from his trance, is hurriedly wrenched from his cell and informed of the recent occurrence. Our heros hurry through smoke choked corridors as they search for the throne room. Most routes are cut off by walls of flame. They go back the way they came, briefly fight the golems, and discover that the only viable route is choked with deadly smoke. They cover their faces with cloth and dive into the oven-like hall. They stumble, badly burned, into a charred bedroom. Obesity uses sleet storm to douse the flames. Darrack peers through the flame wall blocking the opposite doorway and can just make out the figures of their tormentor and her master. Illia, ignoring the terrifying figures in the other room, calls out for Forrest’s wolf, Chicken. The party’s ears are greeted by a frenzied yelping from behind a nearby wall. Obesity and Darrack burst through the crumbling wall; freeing Forrest, Chicken, a guard who got on Mbalenlyeh’s bad side, and an imprisoned druid. The party then flees the lair. They take flight into Ginorpetua, setting up camp as night falls. They are free again.

Plot type

Part

Parent Plot

Tales From Ginorpetua

Related Characters

• Mbalenlyeh
• Obesity

Related Locations

• Ginorpetua