Post by hubertbartels on Jul 20, 2019 16:05:39 GMT -5
In the morning, the party woke from their rest and decided to explore Binox’s Cave. While their batteries were recharging, they examined the display and readout studded walls of their hideout. Behind a dummy panel, Amelina found a small safe. Astrovel used his electronic lock pick to open it.
Inside were several EMP grenades, other high technology weapons and a pair of translators – Androffan to Common and back again. One set, Eramus kept – the other, they gave to Isuma since she spoke only Androffan.
Leaving Binox’s caves, the party set off toward the Dominion drop ship. They paused long enough for Obin to perform his Commune with Nature ritual. Obin gathered that there were multiple injuries to nature. He indicated where they might be. After a half-mile hiking, they came a spot where the canyon widened. The creek split into a northerly and a southerly branch and to their right, a broad side canyon opened up. In the triangle of sand left by the two branches of the creek, the party spotted a neat camp – campfire, pup tent and gear hung from trees to keep it safe.
The camp belonged to Hysek Caio, a tiefling bounty hunter in search of information. Hyrsek was hired by Captain Ghartone to find the whereabouts of a wizard named Therace Holiyard. Therace had been tasked with entering the Scar of the Spider with a expedition to search for new technology. Becoming suspicious of the fact that he had not heard anything from Therace, Ghartone sent Hyrsek to find out what had happened to his expedition.
But Hyrsek was not prepared for the things he found in the canyon – so he offered to join the party in an effort to uncover the truth.
As he and the party were talking, Amelina saw several insect-like beings heading towards the camp. One of them was carrying a strange canister with a glass top. A quick spell from Istovar left two of them circling the camp. One turned immediately and flew off to the side canyon. The third began its attack on the party. And was forced to retreat. The other two couldn’t break Istovar’s compulsion. The party soon dropped them all. Astrovel knew enough to identify them as being a very alien race known as Mi-go. And Mi-go were known to collect brains.
The party went up the side canyon after the fleeing Mi-go, They found a cave complex, overgrown with fungus and mold. Hyrsek and Isuma decided to stay outside and guard the party’s retreat. When the party entered the caves, they immediately were attacked by three shambling mounds, hidden in the piles of rotting fungus.
Clearing away the shambling mounds, they continued down the poorly illuminated caves to a ‘T’ intersection. Checking for tracks, Istovar found large, two-toed claw footprints headed west. They followed the footprints into a long high chamber where more Mi-go ambushed them. Again, the party cut them down and discovered that they explode into a cloud of poisoned spores when killed.
In a further chamber, drier than the corridors they had been slogging through – they discovered who were making those two toed footprints. There were two Gugs, a deep underground aberration. Istovar banished one of them while the party took care of the other one. On a ledge, the party found money, gem stones and a ring and a wand. Astrovel identified them as a Ring of Spell Storing and a Wand of Lightning Bolts.
A hidden exit from the chamber brought the party into a vivisection laboratory. Several Mi-go were gathered over a strange metal-fungal table where an aurumvox was slowly dying. Other similar tables held the remains of creatures and humans. When the Mi-go turned to face the party, Astrovel dropped a fireball on them. The party then finished them off. In the room were several empty brain canisters and a bracer of defense still on its skeletal forearm.
Exploring the rest of this side of the cave complex – the party came across a pair of Mi-go guarding a dark opening at the end of a long dank chamber. Clearing away the two fungal beings, the party stepped through the fungal hanging to find themselves in a chamber featuring a tree-like structure. The tree, lit by the glow of mold growing on the walls and the ceiling, was like nothing the party had seen before. The chamber itself, was decorated with crude depictions of three goat-like heads, their horns arranged like a circle. Eramus identified them as sigils to Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of a Thousand Young and we were standing in a shrine to the Chaos being.
The tree heaved, the branches full of fungal hangings thrashed and from an gash in the tree, a voice spoke. “You intrude, fleshings but the Black Goat welcomes you – join her, serve her, become her!”
At the same time, three flesh pods split open, revealing Chaos Beasts of Shub-Niggurath. Istovar quickly banished one and Obin and Amelina chopped at the other two, finally killing them.
Returning to the ‘T’ intersection, the party traveled east instead. They entered a long chamber given over to the display of hundred of bones. There was a single Gug here which Eramus hurriedly charmed into helping us.
The final chamber was occupied by two more Mi-go and the head priestess, a Mi-go named Lrrech. She was wielding the Staff of the Dark Tapestry. The two Mi-go tried to protect their leader but she move to attack the party with her claws and staff. Obin took a beating. But every time she cast Confusion through her staff, Istovar counter-spelled it. Lrrech and her two guards soon met their ends.
In the chamber, among the empty brain canisters, there was one loaded. Eramus opened it and was hit by a blast of psychic damage. The bard was able to calm the brain inside down and promised to try and find a way to return him to a body. Therace agreed to help the party in turn. He was a lieutenant in the Technic League and knew a bit what was going on in Silver Mount. The party also found a bunch of stuff including Therace’s spellbooks.
Back outside, Hyrsek and Isuma were standing over four more Mi-go bodies they had killed. Hyrsek wanted to know if the party had found anything. Istovar and Eramus confronted him about working for the Technic League and instead of the 150 gp that Hyrsek was getting, the party would sell that information themselves. On a pasteboard card, Hyrsek gave the name of his contact in Silver Mount, Captain Ghartone, to Istovar. Istovar gave the bounty hunter 150 sp and told him to be on his way.
From their vantage point high over the creek running through the canyon, the party could see far into the southern branch of the creek. A swash of deep greenry marked the location of the swamp – but it appeared that something was killed everything in the area – a circle at the far edge was ashen grey with blighted tree nearby. Obin’s earlier Commune with Nature ritual had indicated that there was something seriously wrong in the area. A flash of oddly scintillating color confirmed it – there was a Color out of Space in the dead area.
The party decided to return the Binox’s caves and rest. Tomorrow, they would deal with the problems in the swamp and head up the creek after the Dominion.
Inside were several EMP grenades, other high technology weapons and a pair of translators – Androffan to Common and back again. One set, Eramus kept – the other, they gave to Isuma since she spoke only Androffan.
Leaving Binox’s caves, the party set off toward the Dominion drop ship. They paused long enough for Obin to perform his Commune with Nature ritual. Obin gathered that there were multiple injuries to nature. He indicated where they might be. After a half-mile hiking, they came a spot where the canyon widened. The creek split into a northerly and a southerly branch and to their right, a broad side canyon opened up. In the triangle of sand left by the two branches of the creek, the party spotted a neat camp – campfire, pup tent and gear hung from trees to keep it safe.
The camp belonged to Hysek Caio, a tiefling bounty hunter in search of information. Hyrsek was hired by Captain Ghartone to find the whereabouts of a wizard named Therace Holiyard. Therace had been tasked with entering the Scar of the Spider with a expedition to search for new technology. Becoming suspicious of the fact that he had not heard anything from Therace, Ghartone sent Hyrsek to find out what had happened to his expedition.
But Hyrsek was not prepared for the things he found in the canyon – so he offered to join the party in an effort to uncover the truth.
As he and the party were talking, Amelina saw several insect-like beings heading towards the camp. One of them was carrying a strange canister with a glass top. A quick spell from Istovar left two of them circling the camp. One turned immediately and flew off to the side canyon. The third began its attack on the party. And was forced to retreat. The other two couldn’t break Istovar’s compulsion. The party soon dropped them all. Astrovel knew enough to identify them as being a very alien race known as Mi-go. And Mi-go were known to collect brains.
The party went up the side canyon after the fleeing Mi-go, They found a cave complex, overgrown with fungus and mold. Hyrsek and Isuma decided to stay outside and guard the party’s retreat. When the party entered the caves, they immediately were attacked by three shambling mounds, hidden in the piles of rotting fungus.
Clearing away the shambling mounds, they continued down the poorly illuminated caves to a ‘T’ intersection. Checking for tracks, Istovar found large, two-toed claw footprints headed west. They followed the footprints into a long high chamber where more Mi-go ambushed them. Again, the party cut them down and discovered that they explode into a cloud of poisoned spores when killed.
In a further chamber, drier than the corridors they had been slogging through – they discovered who were making those two toed footprints. There were two Gugs, a deep underground aberration. Istovar banished one of them while the party took care of the other one. On a ledge, the party found money, gem stones and a ring and a wand. Astrovel identified them as a Ring of Spell Storing and a Wand of Lightning Bolts.
A hidden exit from the chamber brought the party into a vivisection laboratory. Several Mi-go were gathered over a strange metal-fungal table where an aurumvox was slowly dying. Other similar tables held the remains of creatures and humans. When the Mi-go turned to face the party, Astrovel dropped a fireball on them. The party then finished them off. In the room were several empty brain canisters and a bracer of defense still on its skeletal forearm.
Exploring the rest of this side of the cave complex – the party came across a pair of Mi-go guarding a dark opening at the end of a long dank chamber. Clearing away the two fungal beings, the party stepped through the fungal hanging to find themselves in a chamber featuring a tree-like structure. The tree, lit by the glow of mold growing on the walls and the ceiling, was like nothing the party had seen before. The chamber itself, was decorated with crude depictions of three goat-like heads, their horns arranged like a circle. Eramus identified them as sigils to Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of a Thousand Young and we were standing in a shrine to the Chaos being.
The tree heaved, the branches full of fungal hangings thrashed and from an gash in the tree, a voice spoke. “You intrude, fleshings but the Black Goat welcomes you – join her, serve her, become her!”
At the same time, three flesh pods split open, revealing Chaos Beasts of Shub-Niggurath. Istovar quickly banished one and Obin and Amelina chopped at the other two, finally killing them.
Returning to the ‘T’ intersection, the party traveled east instead. They entered a long chamber given over to the display of hundred of bones. There was a single Gug here which Eramus hurriedly charmed into helping us.
The final chamber was occupied by two more Mi-go and the head priestess, a Mi-go named Lrrech. She was wielding the Staff of the Dark Tapestry. The two Mi-go tried to protect their leader but she move to attack the party with her claws and staff. Obin took a beating. But every time she cast Confusion through her staff, Istovar counter-spelled it. Lrrech and her two guards soon met their ends.
In the chamber, among the empty brain canisters, there was one loaded. Eramus opened it and was hit by a blast of psychic damage. The bard was able to calm the brain inside down and promised to try and find a way to return him to a body. Therace agreed to help the party in turn. He was a lieutenant in the Technic League and knew a bit what was going on in Silver Mount. The party also found a bunch of stuff including Therace’s spellbooks.
Back outside, Hyrsek and Isuma were standing over four more Mi-go bodies they had killed. Hyrsek wanted to know if the party had found anything. Istovar and Eramus confronted him about working for the Technic League and instead of the 150 gp that Hyrsek was getting, the party would sell that information themselves. On a pasteboard card, Hyrsek gave the name of his contact in Silver Mount, Captain Ghartone, to Istovar. Istovar gave the bounty hunter 150 sp and told him to be on his way.
From their vantage point high over the creek running through the canyon, the party could see far into the southern branch of the creek. A swash of deep greenry marked the location of the swamp – but it appeared that something was killed everything in the area – a circle at the far edge was ashen grey with blighted tree nearby. Obin’s earlier Commune with Nature ritual had indicated that there was something seriously wrong in the area. A flash of oddly scintillating color confirmed it – there was a Color out of Space in the dead area.
The party decided to return the Binox’s caves and rest. Tomorrow, they would deal with the problems in the swamp and head up the creek after the Dominion.