Sunday, October 21, 2012

A Clockwork Ooze, Is It Tasty?

When last we left the heroes they had just assisted in burning down a town. Good for them I suppose, even if arson it not the solution to all of life's problems it was to this one. They then had no idea what to do, so decided to camp out in the mushroom fields, because hell they were tired and had nothing better to do. Nope, nothing better to do, no kobolds who might need help or anything. When they wake up in the morning they find that their plan actually went fine, the town has completely surrendered and a good portion of it lies burned, especially south of the river. In the middle of town there is a gathering of kobolds.

Now the kobold bard in the party decides he needs to go to the leader and discuss with him alone. He had lied about the payment the party would receive and knew they would be pissed if he came out with nothing, so decided that negotiating was far and away the best option. Of course his negotiation skills are the not the best, as he is cocky and believes himself invincible. He manages to convince the leader of the kobolds to talk to him alone in a separate tent, though the leader is not so stupid and brings along two guards. Once they arrive in the tent the bard recieves his payment, a portable trap, and they think business is done.

The bard however thinks otherwise and tries to stab the leader, maybe to take his place, maybe because he was just stupid. Either way he missed, and was in a terrible situation. He managed to live through it, but just barely, as he was thrown to the ground by grease and stabbed by a huge number of kobolds. Upon surrendering though the leader was generous. He realized that the kobold city would not be accepted and would be under constant assault, and they would need adventurers on their side to stay alive.

He offered the party a job, he knew of a recently excavated tavern out in the dessert which was said to have a decent amount of riches, and sent them after it, hoping that riches would be enough of a driving force to keep them coming back. The rogue on hearing this gets out very quickly and tries to find the place himself. The party shugenja however has other ideas and wants to get his dog trained by the kobolds. They do this for the period of a week actually, while the sorcerer learns a new spell from the wizard outside of town.

While this is going on the clueless rogue is slowly starving and dying of dehydration in the middle of the desert, knowing the coordinates of the tavern, but not how to actually get there. Luckily just before he dies he finds a source of food and water and manages to get to the tavern while not dying. Immediately upon entering he finds two orc corpses and is assaulted by a fearsome monster.

This monster is a little clockwork spider that can barely damage him. In the end they have an incredibly long fight with him not able to damage the creature at all, but it unable to deal more than scratches to the rogue. In the end he wrestles it into a barrel after lassoing it and tying it up. He is afraid what it might do however, and sits on top of the barrel for days to ensure that it doesn't escape. He has nothing really to eat though, and is forced to resort to eating one of the orc's arms. He is very careful not to mention this to the party when  they arrive.

Once the party arrives however the sorcerer wants to befriend the spider, and after a little while training it and a little bit of acid splashed all around he does manage to tame it. Now he has a pet, though it does not have a name yet. It can't do much, but the sorcerer greatly enjoys it, despite the rest of the party developing a small hatred for it, especially the rogue who spent minutes wrestling it under control. Undaunted the party continues into the rest of the tavern and finds three strange purple creatures on the ceiling. These are oozes, and they have acid which dissolves metal.

This terrifies the barbarian, who is scared of losing his sword. He fights with a plank of a barrel for the remainder of the dungeon. They deal with these three creatures with some speed, though they have a large amount of health for such a small creature and can deal some decent damage. Next they travel further into the tavern, discovering an enormous pit descending far into somewhere. Guarding this pit is two clockwork spiders, which are both dispatched in one hit due to the bard's fiery music.

Around the pit there is a doorway which the party knocks on, and discovers one remaining orc. He tells them how the rest of his company was killed by the spiders and oozes, and how he is the only one remaining because he hid in a room. They then immediately go to sleep in the room, though get distracted by a secret panel. In the panel is a safe, but upon opening the safe four of the oozes pop out, having devoured everything inside of it. What ensues is a chaotic battle where everyone grows close to dying, but just manages to hang on.

After a full rest the party sets out again and descends down the pit, though the shugenja stays at the top because his dog can't descend ladders and he doesn't want to leave him. The pit is lined with tunnels which look like they've been dug hastily then abandoned, as if they were looking for something. Descending more ladders and seeing more pits eventually the party comes upon a giant sand pit at the very bottom. They know this is a trap, but still go into it after some moments of discussion.

The barbarian goes first and sinks to the bottom and is subsequently nommed on by an antlion, who he begins stabbing with his dagger, the only weapon he can use while grabbed. Luckily the bard's flaming music again allows the party to triumph, though not before the ladder up is knocked down and the barbarian falls to unconsciousness, and the sorcerer is left at the bottom of the pit with no way up. After much debate and attempted training of the spider the sorcerer creates a tree with a token gained before, and uses mage hand to lift a rope and secure it to the remaining ladder allowing the shugneja to come down and heal the barbarian.

The party then looks around for loot, finds some dead orcs and steals their stuff. They then decide they need to rest again given how low the sorcerer and shugneja are on spells, and settle in for a restless night.

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