ADVENTURE 72: POWER PLANT
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Game Session Date: 27 April 2024
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"Not them again!" moaned one of the drow warriors to his two companions. They had just seen the arrival of the heroes from Armaturia who had rescued them from the orcs after they had had the misfortune of getting captured. It was bad enough that they had needed the assistance of strangers to break free from the orcs, but now, when they were finally about to bring down prey so they could return to their tribe in triumph and honor, here come the powerful adventurers from another continent entirely, full of strange and wondrous magic the likes of which the tribesmen had never seen before.
"Hey guys," called out Zander Quilson from his perch upon his pachycephalosaurus mount, Pachy. "I thought that was you!"
The tribesmen, as one, made "shushing" noises and gestures at the light-skinned elf (whose skin was growing darker by the day after constant exposure to the tropical sun). He pulled his mount up close enough that they could talk in low voices, and his companions did likewise - all, that is, but Wakuren, who remained mounted upon his air element warhorse Nimbus and hovered directly above Zander like a cloud.
Looking beyond the tribesmen, the assembled heroes - and Beetle, their halfling guide across the continent of Talonia - could see a half-dozen of the flightless birds known as axebeaks. They were scattered among several clumps of thick, tall bushes, each nearing or exceeding 10 feet in height, and covered in large berries the size of a man's fist. They ignored the nearness of the three drow who had stalked them and were, as they explained to Zander, in the process of trying to pick one off without the others noticing. "Hopefully, one will remain behind if the others move on to other bushes," the leader of the three explained.
"Do you want us to lend a hand?" the elf offered.
"No!" came the triple response in unison. "We must do this ourselves," the leader explained, "to restore our honor before the tribe."
"So what's the holdup?" Zander asked.
"Those berries they're eating - they're guzzleberries," the drow leader explained, as if that was sufficient. At Zander's clueless expression, he added, "Guzzleberries are safe to eat when ripe, but when they get overripe, they become extremely alcoholic. Those eating them become drunken quickly, become easy to rise to anger and fury."
"Ah, got it," replied Zander. "Well, how about of we help seal off a few from the rest, so they can't come interfere with the one you want to kill on your own?" Talking among themselves, the drow decided this would be acceptable - in part because they wished to get this hunt over with and return to the tribe. "The slain axebeak cannot have any sign of magic upon its corpse," the drow leader warned. He wanted only the wounds from the points of their spears to be present on the slain prey when they presented it before their chieftain.
"Will do," Zander replied, casting a wall of force spell diagonally between a pair of guzzleberry bushes. It left only three axebeaks on the closer side of the wall; the other three, should they be aroused to combat, wouldn't be able to approach any closer until they found one of the two edges of the invisible barrier, and the elf sorcerer extended the wall for as far as possible in both directions. Then he called his friends over and explained the situation.
Robin began playing the song of inspirational courage on her lute, hanging back from the action with Beetle and his fastieth mount Yellow-Belly. Thurloe prodded his own pachycephalosaurus mount, Boney, forward, his enchanted bastard sword Spellslicer out and ready, but to be used defensively only. Petey flew from his master's shoulder and stabbed the closest axebeak - the one the drow were closing on themselves - and pumped sleep venom into the creature's neck, but it barely even noticed the pseudodragon's stinger at all, instead focusing its attention on plucking another fermented guzzleberry from the shrub before it and gulping it down. Xandro advanced upon his own "bonehead" mount, Ceph, casting a heroism spell upon himself as he did so as a precaution. Alewyth cast a bless spell upon the assembled heroes and the three drow hunters, the better to aim their weapon-strikes.
Creeping silently forward, the three drow advanced upon their chosen prey and the two on the edges held their spears in defensive postures to ward off any attacks from the other axebeaks while the middle one went in for the kill, stabbing the point of his spear deep into the back of the axebeak's narrow but powerful neck. It squawked in alert, the wound being much deeper than the one caused by Petey's stinger, and the other axebeaks in the area all swiveled their heads in their direction. Predictably, the three behind the wall of force all crashed into the invisible barrier and bounced off, wobbling to stay on their feet. One of the other two axebeaks on the closer side of the invisible wall spun in place to go attack the drow, but that was too much movement for it, and it collapsed drunkenly in a heap on the ground where it stood.
And then it became apparent that there were more than the six axebeaks present, as avian bodies stumbled around from the backs of the scattered guzzleberry bushes; Wakuren had Nimbus fly even higher, to the point where he could see over the bushes to the other sides, and did a quick estimation that there were about two dozen of the flightless birds in the area - a whole flock. Worse yet, among his feathered charges was a hulking brute with a thick, grayish hide like that of a rhino, sporting six insectoid eyes on its forward-thrusting head. Zander had heard of such creatures: gray renders, they were called, and they had a habit of bonding with a group of similar creatures and seeing to their personal safety. It apparently hadn't been joining its charges in their alcoholic feast, and seemed quite steady on its feet as it lumbered forward into battle. Worse, it was off to the far right of the edge of Zander's wall of force spell, so it wouldn't be impeded at all by the unseen barrier.
Wakuren had Nimbus drop to the ground and he leapt off the cloud-steed's back, shield of Cal up in a defensive position to keep the gray render from getting past him, for he was blocking the way between two guzzleberry bushes. The gray render moved up to attack and the half-orc gave him a slam with the edge of his shield, as Thurloe dismounted from Boney and slashed at the massive bodyguard with his bastard sword. "We got the big guy, you worry about slaying your axebeak!" he called to the drow, forgetting that they couldn't understand a word he said.
Zander cast an Elobar's black tentacles on an empty patch of ground at the far right of the guzzleberry bush formation, blocking that way as an access point as well. That left only a narrow funnel-point where the gray render stood fighting off the two heroes for any of the other axebeaks to join the fray. Petey, no longer interested in attacking axebeaks now that they were aware of his presence, flew back to his master's shoulder, but Zander sent him high up over the battlefield to act as reconnaissance, to warn them if any other combatants appeared. With a flap of his reddish bat-wings, the little lizard was off on his new mission.
Xandro rode Ceph up to the axebeak that had fallen to the ground in a drunken stupor and put it out of its misery with the blade of his rapier. Alewyth cast a hold monster spell at the gray render and was pleased to see it take immediate effect, freezing the brute up in mid-swipe of its sharp, black claws. At the same time, the three drow managed to slay their intended prey, only to have the second axebeak - the only one capable of reaching them - dart in and bite at the closest of the warriors with his snapping beak. The other axebeaks floundered about, running head-first into the wall of force or lining up behind the gray render, unable to advance past their protector and the nearby guzzleberry bushes, shielded as they were by numerous thorns.
Wakuren and Thurloe continued their attacks upon the helpless gray render, neither feeling the slightest remorse about hitting an opponent who couldn't (at the moment, at least), fight back. Xandro dismounted from Ceph so he could get close enough to join in the action as well. Zander, looking past the hulking brute, saw five or six axebeaks clustered up behind it and cast a second Elobar's black tentacles spell that caught them all up in the rubbery embrace of dozens of flailing appendages growing suddenly up from the ground at their feet. Their panicked squawking almost blocked out the sounds of Robin's courageous tune of inspiration, as Alewyth targeted another three she could see through the wall of force and brought a flame strike spell down upon, singeing the trio instantly with holy fire.
Fighting together as one, the drow downed the axebeak attacking them and then left it, concentrating on the first one they'd slain. Binding it to two of their spears, two of the drow lifted it up between them and started hustling back east, to the jungle drow tribe the heroes had left behind that morning, once they had completed their standard spellcasting of the new day (a heroes feast and several endure elements spells, plus Zander's traditional mage armor).
With the gray render still immobile, Wakuren raised his gauntlet of Cal and summoned forth a javelin of lightning, tossing it in such a way that it blasted through the gray render and hit four axebeaks all lined up in a row behind it, entangled by the ebon tentacles. Once Xandro and Thurloe slew the gray render where it stood, the others deemed it safe to mount back up and take the long way around the guzzleberry bushes, leaving the drunken axebeaks to flounder about until Zander's ongoing spell effects ran their course. By then, the heroes were back on their way, headed east.
Several hours later, the group found themselves traveling beside a slow-moving stream. At Beetle's suggestion, they all took the opportunity to allow their mounts to drink their fill. Wakuren, whose air element mount didn't need to eat or drink, remained in Nimbus's saddle and kept an eye out. As such, he was the first to see the half-dozen lizardfolk amble over their way. They didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, nor did they look like they were angered by the heroes' presence; nonetheless, as one, they each raised the javelin they held up into an attack position and started running towards the adventurers and their mounts. Wakuren sensed evil coming from their direction, which he realized was abnormal for lizardfolk; even the tribe from which they'd ended up taking their "bonehead" mounts had only had a single member whose aura was contaminated by the presence of evil, and that only after he'd succumbed to the curse of lycanthropy brought on by the bite of a flying pterosaur. Nonetheless, he called out, "They're evil!" to his friends below so they'd have no hesitation in defending themselves properly.
And they didn't. Robin took up her lute and began the song of inspirational courage for the second time that day, as Thurloe leapt from Boney's saddle once again and pulled out Spellslicer from its scabbard across the spellsword's broad back, slapping his mount's flank with his other hand to encourage it to back away from the approaching, stone-faced lizardfolk. But then Zander rode Pachy forward and cast a prismatic spray spell at the six attackers.
The effects were instantaneous. Caught up by differently-colored strands of the spell, two were enveloped by a flash of electricity and burned instantly to a crisp, leaving behind smoking husks of crumbling ash. Two others fell into temporary rifts to other entirely different planes of existence, swallowed up in an instant and dropped unceremoniously into their new realities. The other two were each struck by a deluge of splashing acid, burning away at their scales and causing a sizzling sound as parts of their outer bodies were eaten away. Of the six, these last two were the only ones to survive the sorcerer's powerful spell, and their faces held no expressions of pain or even mild discomfort; they just continued on with their approach, moving with as much animation as automatons or zombies.
Xandro spurred Ceph forward and leaned to the side to cut deep into the chest of one of the two remaining lizardfolk, Deathwhisper's blade sinking in to the hilt. Beetle and Yellow-Belly made their traditional "move to the back of the formation" maneuver, which wasn't so much cowardly as it was acknowledging the reality that the heroes needed him to stay alive to guide them to as close to the Forbidden Lands as he'd dare escort Mistress Andrea Jandoval. Alewyth, heeding Wakuren's warning, cast a magic circle against evil spell upon herself as she urged her bonehead Lapis forward. The dwarf's enchanted warhammer Sjondra was in hand and ready to be put to good use.
And then, heralded solely by a buzzing sound caused by their rapidly-beating wings, three giant dragonflies came winging over a hill to the north to come attack the heroes. One went straight for Thurloe, grabbing him up in all six of its legs to help bring its powerful bite to bear, and the spellsword felt the insect's mandibles dig deep into the back of his neck, just above the collar of his celestial armor. Another made a play for the unmounted Boney, while the third attacked Alewyth, astride her own mount. Boney took a hit but was too big to carry off; Thurloe managed to wriggle free from his attacker before he could be lifted aloft; and Alewyth had had enough warning to be able to avoid her own attacker's bite altogether.
Both lizardfolk surged forward to attack Xandro, and both javelins got past his guard to stab at the young hero, one in the thigh and one in the opposite side of his chest. Nimbus landed beside them and Wakuren came leaping to the ground, shield of Cal swinging into the side of the nearest lizardfolk. Thurloe. in the meantime, was putting Spellslicer to good use in keeping his flying attacker at bay. Alewyth slew her dragonfly with a swing of Sjondra crashing down upon the insect's head, while Zander took out the others by maneuvering Pachy into position to cast a single lightning bolt spell that slew both remaining giant bugs. Then Xandro slew one lizardfolk with his rapier and Alewyth downed the other with Sjondra, leaving the heroes once again without any enemies for the moment.
Panting from the vigorous exercise, Wakuren looked down at the lizardfolk corpses and noted something unusual: despite the fact that they each sported patches where Zander's prismatic spray spell had coated them in burning acid, the skin underneath the scales - to include the muscles exposed beneath as well - were all a uniform green, not the red Wakuren would have expected. Taking a closer look, the half-orc realized this was for one simple reason: these "lizardfolk" were made entirely of plant fiber!
Showing the others his discovery, Alewyth felt a chill creep up her spine. "It's that plant, from the sweat lodge vision," she said. "It gobbled these lizardfolk up, like we saw it do to me, and spit them back out once they'd been turned into plants!" The concept wasn't all that different from another plant they'd encountered, much earlier in their adventuring careers: a yellow musk creeper, whose poisonous spores slew its human victims and turned them into plant-based zombies dedicated to protecting the parent plant.
"It's likely not too far from here," hazarded Xandro. "We'd best keep an eye out for it."
"Yeah, good idea," agreed Thurloe, remounting his bonehead. Following the stream west, the group eventually passed a clump of trees and saw the massive, carnivorous plant they'd last seen in the shared vision in the jungle drow tribe's wise woman's sweat lodge: an enormous stalk, with fat pods along its base and four tendrils, with a mouthlike "head" like that of a Venus flytrap. The plant stood within a circle of close-set stone plinths, effectively boxing the plant in place, for its trunk was too large to fit between the gaps between the upright stones.
The plant stood not too far away from a low hill, and the heroes could see a cave opening in the side of the hill some 20 feet wide and about that tall. A semicircle of sharp spikes, made from tree trunks and the bones and tusks of very large animals, ringed the area before the cave opening, with the massive plant breaking up the protective ring along the northeastern side; apparently whoever lived in the cave felt the carnivorous plant provided just as much protection as a series of outward-thrust spikes, which were clearly designed to ward off large predators like a tyrannosaur or allosaurus. There was also a wooden gate along the northern section of spikes, allowing the cave dwellers access to their home and front yard.
Robin immediately began picking up the tune of inspirational courage - magical courage greatly in need by the heroes who had marveled at watching Alewyth get devoured by this plant in their shared sweat lodge vision. Thurloe advanced his mount Boney to a point about 60 feet away from the plant, after having estimating its tendrils were likely to reach no farther than about 40 feet or so. He cast a fire shield spell upon himself, choosing the "hot" option instead of the "cold" one. Zander urged Pachy up beside Boney and decided to try to take the plant out at range, using his metamagic rod to channel a maximized chain lightning spell at the moving vegetable-monster. The blast of electricity hit the bodythief plant full-on, causing it to writhe about in vegetable pain.
Xandro pulled Ceph up beside Pachy as well, on the other side of the bonehead from Boney. He then reached over and cast a heroism spell on Zander, figuring the frail elf could use every combat advantage available. Beetle, as usual, moved back beside Robin on her mount Alosaurus, while Alewyth urged Lapis forward to stop beside Thurloe. From that vantage point, she cast a summoning spell that brought forth a greater earth elemental rising up from the ground behind the bodythief plant. It stood to its full height and brought a massive, boulderlike fist crashing down at the plant.
But the plant had already reasoned out the most dangerous of the four heroes lined up outside its ability to reach with its tendrils, and had prepared to attack Zander with its corrosive spittle. A line of acid came streaking out from between its fibrous "jaws" to strike the elf in the chest and face, its caustic makeup causing him to cry out in pain. Wakuren instantly retaliated by casting a chain lightning spell of his own, targeting the main trunk and hoping to arc the electrical attack off to hit the pods at its base, in case any of them were already growing future soldiers for its defense. The blast struck the trunk but failed to arc down to the pods, leaving the half-orc to determine the pods must be mere organs of the same creature, and not separate entities as he had at first believed.
Thurloe cast a shield spell upon himself with his wand, watching as another massive creature stepped out onto the open area before the cave opening. This was a styracosaurus, built very much like the triceratops the heroes had encountered earlier before the army ant swarms invaded, only this creature had a frill of sharp horns flanking its shieldlike crest at the back of its head. It lowed in irritation at the commotion outside, reminding Thurloe very much of a dog barking at a trespasser on its master's front lawn.
Zander, not wanting a repeat of the acid bath he'd been given, concentrated on ignoring the pain of the first attack long enough to cast a wall of force spell. This one, he made 30 feet wide and 50 feet tall, covering the area immediately before Xandro, himself, Thurloe, and Alewyth. Now, any lines of acid shot their way would drip harmlessly down the invisible field of force he'd just erected. Xandro held Deathwhisper at the ready, to slice at any tendril that tried probing around the wall of force.
Just then, another figure stepped out of the cave. This one had the proportions of a human, but his skin was a pale yellow, he had green hair, and his arms and chest were covered in painted tattoos. He carried a longbow proportional to his body - and he must have stood a good 18 feet tall. He called out, in the Giant tongue (which of the heroes, only Zander could understand), "Attack, Jubak!" while pointing at the earth elemental clobbering their first line of defense, before nocking a spear-sized arrow into his bow and shooting it at the giant, humanoid figure made of earth and stone. The styracosaurus lowered its frilled head and prepared to charge.
There was more motion at the cave entrance and a female jungle giant emerged, also wielding a longbow and dressed much like her male counterpart, in a brief loincloth made of the skins of mammals. She also shot an arrow at the greater earth elemental.
Alewyth cast an empowered flame strike spell at the two jungle giants and their styracosaurus draft animal, catching all three unawares. The frillhorn dinosaur collapsed in a heap where he stood, his body burned to a crisp by the supernatural fire. The jungle giants had a better time of it, but it was apparent they'd been concentrating on the earth elemental to the exclusion of even noticing the heroes lined up on the far side of the bodythief plant, who was still getting pounded by the elemental's stony fists. But then a pair of tendrils lashed out at the elemental, as another two went flying in the direction of Xandro and Zander, these last two only to fall short of their intended prey.
Wakuren summoned a celestial polar bear just outside the ring of stone imprisoning the bodythief plant - apparently the jungle giants, realizing the advantages of an intelligent plant creating vegetable slaves dedicated to keeping it alive as a "lair guardian," had penned it in with stones too large for it to be able to lift or push aside - and it lashed out at the carnivorous plant with its sharp-clawed paw, reaching in between the stone slabs to do so. Thurloe sent Boney riding off to the north, the dinosaur wading through the stream as the spellsword cast a displacement spell upon himself, making it look like he was ducking and dodging this way and that upon Boney's saddle. Zander got in on the summoning action by calling forth a huge elemental made of burning flames; it appeared inside the giants' compound on the other side of the bodythief from the earth elemental.
The male jungle giant, Torpol, saw Thurloe (in fact, his attention was drawn to him by the way he seemed to not sit still in the saddle), and fired a trio of arrows his way in a rapid-shot sequence. To his disappointment, neither of the arrows hit the flickering human who continued riding along the stream on his bonehead.
Xandro unpacked the Dardolian Lute and, using the dire elk pick given to him by the elf queen Zarabelia, played the special tune that summoned forth a megaloceras. It appeared at the side of the celestial polar bear, and it swung its broad antlers over the tops of the upright stones to slice into the bodythief's vegetable stalk, causing it to ooze a colorless sap that had to be the creature's equivalent to blood.
The jungle giant female, Gruzelva, switched targets to fire her arrows at the fire elemental, as Alewyth cast a searing light spell at the plant, dealing it a small amount of additional damage to that being handed out in full force by the summoned stand-ins to the other heroes. But as the greater earth elemental got in another blow, the bodythief whipped its tendrils about, slaying the dire elk and lashing the celestial polar bear and the earth elemental. (It knew better than to lash out at a being composed of living flame.) Then it opened its spined jaws wide, bent its upper part over the stones, and devoured the bruin whole. The polar bear was dropped down its "throat" to land in its stomach cavity, where it was not only drenched in caustic acids but also subjected to a magical attack that ate away at its physical structure, readying the bodythief to grow a plant equivalent of the great bruin it had swallowed alive. The celestial polar bear tried its best to crawl back up the plant's esophagus and gain its way back to freedom, but to no avail.
Wakuren flew off to the side of the unseen wall of force and cast a thunder strike spell at the giants, and was puzzled when the spell failed to do a single thing to either. But that was because they had seen the half-orc casting the spell and had anticipated it; each absorbed the spell and would be able to cast it themselves at any time in the next minute or so.
Thurloe rode Boney up out of the stream and over to the gate, seeing it had a simple latching mechanism and no lock - no doubt, it was just used to keep the styracosaurus from wandering off. He pushed open the latch with his bastard sword and pulled the gate forward, opening a path inside to the jungle giants' cave opening.
From behind the wall of force, Zander cast a mislead spell on himself and told Petey to stay with the illusory elf, still riding Pachy, while the now-invisible Zander crept quietly towards the opened gate, hoping to escape the bodythief's attention. But that soon turned out to be a non-issue, as the fire elemental's flaming fists started the plant's fibrous body ablaze, killing it where it stood. That earned the elemental a furious flurry of arrows from Torpol's bow, but Xandro took the opportunity to charge Ceph through the open gate and stab at the jungle giant with Deathwhisper before Torpol could even recognize the threat; he toppled over onto his back, unconscious and bleeding out from the wound Xandro had opened in his belly. Thurloe finished him off with Spellslicer as he rode Boney into the giants' encampment. He continued on into the entry cave, which was apparently where the styracosaurus lived, given the piles of dried straw and grasses strewn about and the saddlebags propped over into a corner.
Gruzelva continued firing arrows at the blazing elemental (stopping only long enough to unleash her captured thunder strike spell at it), until Alewyth cast another searing light spell her way, blinding her enough to not be able to dodge the earth elemental's rugged fists. Then the fire elemental stepped forward and slammed her with its blazing fists, dropping her off into unconsciousness as well. "I'll finish her!" Xandro volunteered, a little miffed that the spellsword had robbed him of his kill in taking out the male giant.
The polar bear was still being dissolved by stomach acids even though the magical body absorption had stopped with the bodythief's death. Wakuren released the bruin from service, sending it back to its home in the Upper Realms, then cast a shield of faith spell upon himself as he rode Nimbus over to the cave entrance. Zander cast a haste spell on himself as he continued his way invisibly towards the gate, then backtracked and opted to go remount Pachy now that their foes all seemed to have been slain.
Alewyth rode Lapis through a gap in the stone plinths, over the bodythief's corpse, and into the courtyard. Upon her directions, the greater earth elemental stepped into the cave network and began exploring. The cave past the frillhorn's den was apparently where the jungle giants slept, as there was bedding made of piled grasses and a wooden flute as wide around as a human thigh propped up against a wall. There was an opening into a lower cave along the south wall, through which the reflections of pinpoints of light could be seen.
Wakuren rode Nimbus into the giant's den and looked into the lower cave, where his darkvision allowed him to see hundreds - no, thousands - of glittering gemstones embedded in the walls of the lower cavern. Of a more pressing concern, a vaguely humanoid creature stood in the back of the gemstone cavern, the being seemingly made of crystal and standing a good 11 or 12 feet tall.
Thurloe dismounted from Boney and followed Wakuren into the den. The fire elemental followed, and the light from its form set the gemstones blazing enough for the spellsword to see the gem-encrusted walls and the crystallis standing alone in the cavern below. Alewyth entered the cavern complex next, while Xandro busied himself outside ensuring Gruzelva wouldn't be getting back up again. The dwarf had the earth elemental glide through the solid rock and attack the crystalline being from behind; the elemental did so but its blows didn't seem to discomfit the crystallis in the least, as if it were immune to attacks from an earth-based source.
"Maybe we should try talking to it," Wakuren suggested, as Zander entered the giants' sleeping quarters. Acting as a living interpreter thanks to his permanent tongues spell, he asked the crystallis where it came from.
"The lands of earth and stone, gems and ores," it replied. So - the Elemental Plane of Earth, then, Alewyth realized as Zander translated its answer.
"Why are you here?" the elf asked next.
"Trying to find a way home," it answered. "This place reminds me of home."
"I have a dismissal spell prepared," Alewyth informed Zander, and he told the crystallis they could get it back to its home with a spell, but only if the crystalline being didn't fight off the effects. Once he was certain the creature understood, he had Alewyth cast her spell, and a rift opened up under its feet, dropping it through the planes to its elemental home.
"Now, as for you," Alewyth said, looking up at the greater earth elemental she had summoned. "Gather up those gemstones for us, would you?" That was a ridiculously easy task for an earth elemental; it just earth glided it hands through the solid rock and came back with handfuls of gemstones, as easily as if had been scooping pebbles out of a pond. Within moments, a large pile of glittering stones stood at its feet. Xandro's quick appraisal put their haul somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 pieces of gold.
Even Beetle couldn't complain about taking the time to harvest the gemstones and store them away in Hesperna's lamp. After all, they weren't too far from the Great Rift that ran north and south across the continent, on the other side of which stood the numerous cities of the drow, and the halfling knew the "civilized" drow used coins and gems as barter-stones for goods and services. It wasn't the way his halfling tribe worked, but he was familiar with the concept and knew these shining gems would have quite a bit of purchasing power among the drow they'd no doubt be encountering on the second half of their trip to the Forbidden Lands. He busied himself refilling water skins from the stream - and nibbling on a guzzleberry he'd surreptitiously grabbed in passing when they left the axebeaks earlier that morning.
- - -
This adventure took us about four hours to run through. I threw in the axebeak encounter up front partly because, having made 24 axebeak standup counters for an earlier adventure, I wanted to use them more than once. And we got some closure with the three jungle drow hunters from Ilyraena's tribe.
I had put in the "sweat lodge vision" of the bodythief as a warning of just what the plant creature could do (it was from a Pathfinder Bestiary and thus nothing any of my players had ever encountered before), but I think all I really did was make them paranoid about how powerful it was, because they spent most of their time hiding behind a wall of force and throwing summoned creatures at it. As my son Logan and I are watching our way through an "Ultraseven" DVD set - in which the lead character has a set of "capsule monsters" he can summon to fight kaiju on his behalf when needed; it was the concept that gave the Pokemon creator his initial idea) - I think he saw that as a logical approach to follow. And I can't fault him, because it worked. But I wonder if the bodythief encounter would have been a bit more exciting if I hadn't given them the "sweat lodge vision" warning ahead of time.
- - -
T-shirt worn: My green dragon T-shirt, because I didn't have anything more appropriate. But I figured the bodythief plant was big and green, just like the dragon on my shirt, so that was as close a connection as I could devise.
PC Roster:
Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 15
Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 9
Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 7/paladin 8
Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 9
Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 15
Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 9
Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 7/paladin 8
Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 9
Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 15
NPC Roster:
Beetle Darkcloud, halfling ranger 5
Robin the Balladeer, human bard 5
Robin the Balladeer, human bard 5
Game Session Date: 27 April 2024
- - -
"Not them again!" moaned one of the drow warriors to his two companions. They had just seen the arrival of the heroes from Armaturia who had rescued them from the orcs after they had had the misfortune of getting captured. It was bad enough that they had needed the assistance of strangers to break free from the orcs, but now, when they were finally about to bring down prey so they could return to their tribe in triumph and honor, here come the powerful adventurers from another continent entirely, full of strange and wondrous magic the likes of which the tribesmen had never seen before.
"Hey guys," called out Zander Quilson from his perch upon his pachycephalosaurus mount, Pachy. "I thought that was you!"
The tribesmen, as one, made "shushing" noises and gestures at the light-skinned elf (whose skin was growing darker by the day after constant exposure to the tropical sun). He pulled his mount up close enough that they could talk in low voices, and his companions did likewise - all, that is, but Wakuren, who remained mounted upon his air element warhorse Nimbus and hovered directly above Zander like a cloud.
Looking beyond the tribesmen, the assembled heroes - and Beetle, their halfling guide across the continent of Talonia - could see a half-dozen of the flightless birds known as axebeaks. They were scattered among several clumps of thick, tall bushes, each nearing or exceeding 10 feet in height, and covered in large berries the size of a man's fist. They ignored the nearness of the three drow who had stalked them and were, as they explained to Zander, in the process of trying to pick one off without the others noticing. "Hopefully, one will remain behind if the others move on to other bushes," the leader of the three explained.
"Do you want us to lend a hand?" the elf offered.
"No!" came the triple response in unison. "We must do this ourselves," the leader explained, "to restore our honor before the tribe."
"So what's the holdup?" Zander asked.
"Those berries they're eating - they're guzzleberries," the drow leader explained, as if that was sufficient. At Zander's clueless expression, he added, "Guzzleberries are safe to eat when ripe, but when they get overripe, they become extremely alcoholic. Those eating them become drunken quickly, become easy to rise to anger and fury."
"Ah, got it," replied Zander. "Well, how about of we help seal off a few from the rest, so they can't come interfere with the one you want to kill on your own?" Talking among themselves, the drow decided this would be acceptable - in part because they wished to get this hunt over with and return to the tribe. "The slain axebeak cannot have any sign of magic upon its corpse," the drow leader warned. He wanted only the wounds from the points of their spears to be present on the slain prey when they presented it before their chieftain.
"Will do," Zander replied, casting a wall of force spell diagonally between a pair of guzzleberry bushes. It left only three axebeaks on the closer side of the wall; the other three, should they be aroused to combat, wouldn't be able to approach any closer until they found one of the two edges of the invisible barrier, and the elf sorcerer extended the wall for as far as possible in both directions. Then he called his friends over and explained the situation.
Robin began playing the song of inspirational courage on her lute, hanging back from the action with Beetle and his fastieth mount Yellow-Belly. Thurloe prodded his own pachycephalosaurus mount, Boney, forward, his enchanted bastard sword Spellslicer out and ready, but to be used defensively only. Petey flew from his master's shoulder and stabbed the closest axebeak - the one the drow were closing on themselves - and pumped sleep venom into the creature's neck, but it barely even noticed the pseudodragon's stinger at all, instead focusing its attention on plucking another fermented guzzleberry from the shrub before it and gulping it down. Xandro advanced upon his own "bonehead" mount, Ceph, casting a heroism spell upon himself as he did so as a precaution. Alewyth cast a bless spell upon the assembled heroes and the three drow hunters, the better to aim their weapon-strikes.
Creeping silently forward, the three drow advanced upon their chosen prey and the two on the edges held their spears in defensive postures to ward off any attacks from the other axebeaks while the middle one went in for the kill, stabbing the point of his spear deep into the back of the axebeak's narrow but powerful neck. It squawked in alert, the wound being much deeper than the one caused by Petey's stinger, and the other axebeaks in the area all swiveled their heads in their direction. Predictably, the three behind the wall of force all crashed into the invisible barrier and bounced off, wobbling to stay on their feet. One of the other two axebeaks on the closer side of the invisible wall spun in place to go attack the drow, but that was too much movement for it, and it collapsed drunkenly in a heap on the ground where it stood.
And then it became apparent that there were more than the six axebeaks present, as avian bodies stumbled around from the backs of the scattered guzzleberry bushes; Wakuren had Nimbus fly even higher, to the point where he could see over the bushes to the other sides, and did a quick estimation that there were about two dozen of the flightless birds in the area - a whole flock. Worse yet, among his feathered charges was a hulking brute with a thick, grayish hide like that of a rhino, sporting six insectoid eyes on its forward-thrusting head. Zander had heard of such creatures: gray renders, they were called, and they had a habit of bonding with a group of similar creatures and seeing to their personal safety. It apparently hadn't been joining its charges in their alcoholic feast, and seemed quite steady on its feet as it lumbered forward into battle. Worse, it was off to the far right of the edge of Zander's wall of force spell, so it wouldn't be impeded at all by the unseen barrier.
Wakuren had Nimbus drop to the ground and he leapt off the cloud-steed's back, shield of Cal up in a defensive position to keep the gray render from getting past him, for he was blocking the way between two guzzleberry bushes. The gray render moved up to attack and the half-orc gave him a slam with the edge of his shield, as Thurloe dismounted from Boney and slashed at the massive bodyguard with his bastard sword. "We got the big guy, you worry about slaying your axebeak!" he called to the drow, forgetting that they couldn't understand a word he said.
Zander cast an Elobar's black tentacles on an empty patch of ground at the far right of the guzzleberry bush formation, blocking that way as an access point as well. That left only a narrow funnel-point where the gray render stood fighting off the two heroes for any of the other axebeaks to join the fray. Petey, no longer interested in attacking axebeaks now that they were aware of his presence, flew back to his master's shoulder, but Zander sent him high up over the battlefield to act as reconnaissance, to warn them if any other combatants appeared. With a flap of his reddish bat-wings, the little lizard was off on his new mission.
Xandro rode Ceph up to the axebeak that had fallen to the ground in a drunken stupor and put it out of its misery with the blade of his rapier. Alewyth cast a hold monster spell at the gray render and was pleased to see it take immediate effect, freezing the brute up in mid-swipe of its sharp, black claws. At the same time, the three drow managed to slay their intended prey, only to have the second axebeak - the only one capable of reaching them - dart in and bite at the closest of the warriors with his snapping beak. The other axebeaks floundered about, running head-first into the wall of force or lining up behind the gray render, unable to advance past their protector and the nearby guzzleberry bushes, shielded as they were by numerous thorns.
Wakuren and Thurloe continued their attacks upon the helpless gray render, neither feeling the slightest remorse about hitting an opponent who couldn't (at the moment, at least), fight back. Xandro dismounted from Ceph so he could get close enough to join in the action as well. Zander, looking past the hulking brute, saw five or six axebeaks clustered up behind it and cast a second Elobar's black tentacles spell that caught them all up in the rubbery embrace of dozens of flailing appendages growing suddenly up from the ground at their feet. Their panicked squawking almost blocked out the sounds of Robin's courageous tune of inspiration, as Alewyth targeted another three she could see through the wall of force and brought a flame strike spell down upon, singeing the trio instantly with holy fire.
Fighting together as one, the drow downed the axebeak attacking them and then left it, concentrating on the first one they'd slain. Binding it to two of their spears, two of the drow lifted it up between them and started hustling back east, to the jungle drow tribe the heroes had left behind that morning, once they had completed their standard spellcasting of the new day (a heroes feast and several endure elements spells, plus Zander's traditional mage armor).
With the gray render still immobile, Wakuren raised his gauntlet of Cal and summoned forth a javelin of lightning, tossing it in such a way that it blasted through the gray render and hit four axebeaks all lined up in a row behind it, entangled by the ebon tentacles. Once Xandro and Thurloe slew the gray render where it stood, the others deemed it safe to mount back up and take the long way around the guzzleberry bushes, leaving the drunken axebeaks to flounder about until Zander's ongoing spell effects ran their course. By then, the heroes were back on their way, headed east.
Several hours later, the group found themselves traveling beside a slow-moving stream. At Beetle's suggestion, they all took the opportunity to allow their mounts to drink their fill. Wakuren, whose air element mount didn't need to eat or drink, remained in Nimbus's saddle and kept an eye out. As such, he was the first to see the half-dozen lizardfolk amble over their way. They didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, nor did they look like they were angered by the heroes' presence; nonetheless, as one, they each raised the javelin they held up into an attack position and started running towards the adventurers and their mounts. Wakuren sensed evil coming from their direction, which he realized was abnormal for lizardfolk; even the tribe from which they'd ended up taking their "bonehead" mounts had only had a single member whose aura was contaminated by the presence of evil, and that only after he'd succumbed to the curse of lycanthropy brought on by the bite of a flying pterosaur. Nonetheless, he called out, "They're evil!" to his friends below so they'd have no hesitation in defending themselves properly.
And they didn't. Robin took up her lute and began the song of inspirational courage for the second time that day, as Thurloe leapt from Boney's saddle once again and pulled out Spellslicer from its scabbard across the spellsword's broad back, slapping his mount's flank with his other hand to encourage it to back away from the approaching, stone-faced lizardfolk. But then Zander rode Pachy forward and cast a prismatic spray spell at the six attackers.
The effects were instantaneous. Caught up by differently-colored strands of the spell, two were enveloped by a flash of electricity and burned instantly to a crisp, leaving behind smoking husks of crumbling ash. Two others fell into temporary rifts to other entirely different planes of existence, swallowed up in an instant and dropped unceremoniously into their new realities. The other two were each struck by a deluge of splashing acid, burning away at their scales and causing a sizzling sound as parts of their outer bodies were eaten away. Of the six, these last two were the only ones to survive the sorcerer's powerful spell, and their faces held no expressions of pain or even mild discomfort; they just continued on with their approach, moving with as much animation as automatons or zombies.
Xandro spurred Ceph forward and leaned to the side to cut deep into the chest of one of the two remaining lizardfolk, Deathwhisper's blade sinking in to the hilt. Beetle and Yellow-Belly made their traditional "move to the back of the formation" maneuver, which wasn't so much cowardly as it was acknowledging the reality that the heroes needed him to stay alive to guide them to as close to the Forbidden Lands as he'd dare escort Mistress Andrea Jandoval. Alewyth, heeding Wakuren's warning, cast a magic circle against evil spell upon herself as she urged her bonehead Lapis forward. The dwarf's enchanted warhammer Sjondra was in hand and ready to be put to good use.
And then, heralded solely by a buzzing sound caused by their rapidly-beating wings, three giant dragonflies came winging over a hill to the north to come attack the heroes. One went straight for Thurloe, grabbing him up in all six of its legs to help bring its powerful bite to bear, and the spellsword felt the insect's mandibles dig deep into the back of his neck, just above the collar of his celestial armor. Another made a play for the unmounted Boney, while the third attacked Alewyth, astride her own mount. Boney took a hit but was too big to carry off; Thurloe managed to wriggle free from his attacker before he could be lifted aloft; and Alewyth had had enough warning to be able to avoid her own attacker's bite altogether.
Both lizardfolk surged forward to attack Xandro, and both javelins got past his guard to stab at the young hero, one in the thigh and one in the opposite side of his chest. Nimbus landed beside them and Wakuren came leaping to the ground, shield of Cal swinging into the side of the nearest lizardfolk. Thurloe. in the meantime, was putting Spellslicer to good use in keeping his flying attacker at bay. Alewyth slew her dragonfly with a swing of Sjondra crashing down upon the insect's head, while Zander took out the others by maneuvering Pachy into position to cast a single lightning bolt spell that slew both remaining giant bugs. Then Xandro slew one lizardfolk with his rapier and Alewyth downed the other with Sjondra, leaving the heroes once again without any enemies for the moment.
Panting from the vigorous exercise, Wakuren looked down at the lizardfolk corpses and noted something unusual: despite the fact that they each sported patches where Zander's prismatic spray spell had coated them in burning acid, the skin underneath the scales - to include the muscles exposed beneath as well - were all a uniform green, not the red Wakuren would have expected. Taking a closer look, the half-orc realized this was for one simple reason: these "lizardfolk" were made entirely of plant fiber!
Showing the others his discovery, Alewyth felt a chill creep up her spine. "It's that plant, from the sweat lodge vision," she said. "It gobbled these lizardfolk up, like we saw it do to me, and spit them back out once they'd been turned into plants!" The concept wasn't all that different from another plant they'd encountered, much earlier in their adventuring careers: a yellow musk creeper, whose poisonous spores slew its human victims and turned them into plant-based zombies dedicated to protecting the parent plant.
"It's likely not too far from here," hazarded Xandro. "We'd best keep an eye out for it."
"Yeah, good idea," agreed Thurloe, remounting his bonehead. Following the stream west, the group eventually passed a clump of trees and saw the massive, carnivorous plant they'd last seen in the shared vision in the jungle drow tribe's wise woman's sweat lodge: an enormous stalk, with fat pods along its base and four tendrils, with a mouthlike "head" like that of a Venus flytrap. The plant stood within a circle of close-set stone plinths, effectively boxing the plant in place, for its trunk was too large to fit between the gaps between the upright stones.
The plant stood not too far away from a low hill, and the heroes could see a cave opening in the side of the hill some 20 feet wide and about that tall. A semicircle of sharp spikes, made from tree trunks and the bones and tusks of very large animals, ringed the area before the cave opening, with the massive plant breaking up the protective ring along the northeastern side; apparently whoever lived in the cave felt the carnivorous plant provided just as much protection as a series of outward-thrust spikes, which were clearly designed to ward off large predators like a tyrannosaur or allosaurus. There was also a wooden gate along the northern section of spikes, allowing the cave dwellers access to their home and front yard.
Robin immediately began picking up the tune of inspirational courage - magical courage greatly in need by the heroes who had marveled at watching Alewyth get devoured by this plant in their shared sweat lodge vision. Thurloe advanced his mount Boney to a point about 60 feet away from the plant, after having estimating its tendrils were likely to reach no farther than about 40 feet or so. He cast a fire shield spell upon himself, choosing the "hot" option instead of the "cold" one. Zander urged Pachy up beside Boney and decided to try to take the plant out at range, using his metamagic rod to channel a maximized chain lightning spell at the moving vegetable-monster. The blast of electricity hit the bodythief plant full-on, causing it to writhe about in vegetable pain.
Xandro pulled Ceph up beside Pachy as well, on the other side of the bonehead from Boney. He then reached over and cast a heroism spell on Zander, figuring the frail elf could use every combat advantage available. Beetle, as usual, moved back beside Robin on her mount Alosaurus, while Alewyth urged Lapis forward to stop beside Thurloe. From that vantage point, she cast a summoning spell that brought forth a greater earth elemental rising up from the ground behind the bodythief plant. It stood to its full height and brought a massive, boulderlike fist crashing down at the plant.
But the plant had already reasoned out the most dangerous of the four heroes lined up outside its ability to reach with its tendrils, and had prepared to attack Zander with its corrosive spittle. A line of acid came streaking out from between its fibrous "jaws" to strike the elf in the chest and face, its caustic makeup causing him to cry out in pain. Wakuren instantly retaliated by casting a chain lightning spell of his own, targeting the main trunk and hoping to arc the electrical attack off to hit the pods at its base, in case any of them were already growing future soldiers for its defense. The blast struck the trunk but failed to arc down to the pods, leaving the half-orc to determine the pods must be mere organs of the same creature, and not separate entities as he had at first believed.
Thurloe cast a shield spell upon himself with his wand, watching as another massive creature stepped out onto the open area before the cave opening. This was a styracosaurus, built very much like the triceratops the heroes had encountered earlier before the army ant swarms invaded, only this creature had a frill of sharp horns flanking its shieldlike crest at the back of its head. It lowed in irritation at the commotion outside, reminding Thurloe very much of a dog barking at a trespasser on its master's front lawn.
Zander, not wanting a repeat of the acid bath he'd been given, concentrated on ignoring the pain of the first attack long enough to cast a wall of force spell. This one, he made 30 feet wide and 50 feet tall, covering the area immediately before Xandro, himself, Thurloe, and Alewyth. Now, any lines of acid shot their way would drip harmlessly down the invisible field of force he'd just erected. Xandro held Deathwhisper at the ready, to slice at any tendril that tried probing around the wall of force.
Just then, another figure stepped out of the cave. This one had the proportions of a human, but his skin was a pale yellow, he had green hair, and his arms and chest were covered in painted tattoos. He carried a longbow proportional to his body - and he must have stood a good 18 feet tall. He called out, in the Giant tongue (which of the heroes, only Zander could understand), "Attack, Jubak!" while pointing at the earth elemental clobbering their first line of defense, before nocking a spear-sized arrow into his bow and shooting it at the giant, humanoid figure made of earth and stone. The styracosaurus lowered its frilled head and prepared to charge.
There was more motion at the cave entrance and a female jungle giant emerged, also wielding a longbow and dressed much like her male counterpart, in a brief loincloth made of the skins of mammals. She also shot an arrow at the greater earth elemental.
Alewyth cast an empowered flame strike spell at the two jungle giants and their styracosaurus draft animal, catching all three unawares. The frillhorn dinosaur collapsed in a heap where he stood, his body burned to a crisp by the supernatural fire. The jungle giants had a better time of it, but it was apparent they'd been concentrating on the earth elemental to the exclusion of even noticing the heroes lined up on the far side of the bodythief plant, who was still getting pounded by the elemental's stony fists. But then a pair of tendrils lashed out at the elemental, as another two went flying in the direction of Xandro and Zander, these last two only to fall short of their intended prey.
Wakuren summoned a celestial polar bear just outside the ring of stone imprisoning the bodythief plant - apparently the jungle giants, realizing the advantages of an intelligent plant creating vegetable slaves dedicated to keeping it alive as a "lair guardian," had penned it in with stones too large for it to be able to lift or push aside - and it lashed out at the carnivorous plant with its sharp-clawed paw, reaching in between the stone slabs to do so. Thurloe sent Boney riding off to the north, the dinosaur wading through the stream as the spellsword cast a displacement spell upon himself, making it look like he was ducking and dodging this way and that upon Boney's saddle. Zander got in on the summoning action by calling forth a huge elemental made of burning flames; it appeared inside the giants' compound on the other side of the bodythief from the earth elemental.
The male jungle giant, Torpol, saw Thurloe (in fact, his attention was drawn to him by the way he seemed to not sit still in the saddle), and fired a trio of arrows his way in a rapid-shot sequence. To his disappointment, neither of the arrows hit the flickering human who continued riding along the stream on his bonehead.
Xandro unpacked the Dardolian Lute and, using the dire elk pick given to him by the elf queen Zarabelia, played the special tune that summoned forth a megaloceras. It appeared at the side of the celestial polar bear, and it swung its broad antlers over the tops of the upright stones to slice into the bodythief's vegetable stalk, causing it to ooze a colorless sap that had to be the creature's equivalent to blood.
The jungle giant female, Gruzelva, switched targets to fire her arrows at the fire elemental, as Alewyth cast a searing light spell at the plant, dealing it a small amount of additional damage to that being handed out in full force by the summoned stand-ins to the other heroes. But as the greater earth elemental got in another blow, the bodythief whipped its tendrils about, slaying the dire elk and lashing the celestial polar bear and the earth elemental. (It knew better than to lash out at a being composed of living flame.) Then it opened its spined jaws wide, bent its upper part over the stones, and devoured the bruin whole. The polar bear was dropped down its "throat" to land in its stomach cavity, where it was not only drenched in caustic acids but also subjected to a magical attack that ate away at its physical structure, readying the bodythief to grow a plant equivalent of the great bruin it had swallowed alive. The celestial polar bear tried its best to crawl back up the plant's esophagus and gain its way back to freedom, but to no avail.
Wakuren flew off to the side of the unseen wall of force and cast a thunder strike spell at the giants, and was puzzled when the spell failed to do a single thing to either. But that was because they had seen the half-orc casting the spell and had anticipated it; each absorbed the spell and would be able to cast it themselves at any time in the next minute or so.
Thurloe rode Boney up out of the stream and over to the gate, seeing it had a simple latching mechanism and no lock - no doubt, it was just used to keep the styracosaurus from wandering off. He pushed open the latch with his bastard sword and pulled the gate forward, opening a path inside to the jungle giants' cave opening.
From behind the wall of force, Zander cast a mislead spell on himself and told Petey to stay with the illusory elf, still riding Pachy, while the now-invisible Zander crept quietly towards the opened gate, hoping to escape the bodythief's attention. But that soon turned out to be a non-issue, as the fire elemental's flaming fists started the plant's fibrous body ablaze, killing it where it stood. That earned the elemental a furious flurry of arrows from Torpol's bow, but Xandro took the opportunity to charge Ceph through the open gate and stab at the jungle giant with Deathwhisper before Torpol could even recognize the threat; he toppled over onto his back, unconscious and bleeding out from the wound Xandro had opened in his belly. Thurloe finished him off with Spellslicer as he rode Boney into the giants' encampment. He continued on into the entry cave, which was apparently where the styracosaurus lived, given the piles of dried straw and grasses strewn about and the saddlebags propped over into a corner.
Gruzelva continued firing arrows at the blazing elemental (stopping only long enough to unleash her captured thunder strike spell at it), until Alewyth cast another searing light spell her way, blinding her enough to not be able to dodge the earth elemental's rugged fists. Then the fire elemental stepped forward and slammed her with its blazing fists, dropping her off into unconsciousness as well. "I'll finish her!" Xandro volunteered, a little miffed that the spellsword had robbed him of his kill in taking out the male giant.
The polar bear was still being dissolved by stomach acids even though the magical body absorption had stopped with the bodythief's death. Wakuren released the bruin from service, sending it back to its home in the Upper Realms, then cast a shield of faith spell upon himself as he rode Nimbus over to the cave entrance. Zander cast a haste spell on himself as he continued his way invisibly towards the gate, then backtracked and opted to go remount Pachy now that their foes all seemed to have been slain.
Alewyth rode Lapis through a gap in the stone plinths, over the bodythief's corpse, and into the courtyard. Upon her directions, the greater earth elemental stepped into the cave network and began exploring. The cave past the frillhorn's den was apparently where the jungle giants slept, as there was bedding made of piled grasses and a wooden flute as wide around as a human thigh propped up against a wall. There was an opening into a lower cave along the south wall, through which the reflections of pinpoints of light could be seen.
Wakuren rode Nimbus into the giant's den and looked into the lower cave, where his darkvision allowed him to see hundreds - no, thousands - of glittering gemstones embedded in the walls of the lower cavern. Of a more pressing concern, a vaguely humanoid creature stood in the back of the gemstone cavern, the being seemingly made of crystal and standing a good 11 or 12 feet tall.
Thurloe dismounted from Boney and followed Wakuren into the den. The fire elemental followed, and the light from its form set the gemstones blazing enough for the spellsword to see the gem-encrusted walls and the crystallis standing alone in the cavern below. Alewyth entered the cavern complex next, while Xandro busied himself outside ensuring Gruzelva wouldn't be getting back up again. The dwarf had the earth elemental glide through the solid rock and attack the crystalline being from behind; the elemental did so but its blows didn't seem to discomfit the crystallis in the least, as if it were immune to attacks from an earth-based source.
"Maybe we should try talking to it," Wakuren suggested, as Zander entered the giants' sleeping quarters. Acting as a living interpreter thanks to his permanent tongues spell, he asked the crystallis where it came from.
"The lands of earth and stone, gems and ores," it replied. So - the Elemental Plane of Earth, then, Alewyth realized as Zander translated its answer.
"Why are you here?" the elf asked next.
"Trying to find a way home," it answered. "This place reminds me of home."
"I have a dismissal spell prepared," Alewyth informed Zander, and he told the crystallis they could get it back to its home with a spell, but only if the crystalline being didn't fight off the effects. Once he was certain the creature understood, he had Alewyth cast her spell, and a rift opened up under its feet, dropping it through the planes to its elemental home.
"Now, as for you," Alewyth said, looking up at the greater earth elemental she had summoned. "Gather up those gemstones for us, would you?" That was a ridiculously easy task for an earth elemental; it just earth glided it hands through the solid rock and came back with handfuls of gemstones, as easily as if had been scooping pebbles out of a pond. Within moments, a large pile of glittering stones stood at its feet. Xandro's quick appraisal put their haul somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 pieces of gold.
Even Beetle couldn't complain about taking the time to harvest the gemstones and store them away in Hesperna's lamp. After all, they weren't too far from the Great Rift that ran north and south across the continent, on the other side of which stood the numerous cities of the drow, and the halfling knew the "civilized" drow used coins and gems as barter-stones for goods and services. It wasn't the way his halfling tribe worked, but he was familiar with the concept and knew these shining gems would have quite a bit of purchasing power among the drow they'd no doubt be encountering on the second half of their trip to the Forbidden Lands. He busied himself refilling water skins from the stream - and nibbling on a guzzleberry he'd surreptitiously grabbed in passing when they left the axebeaks earlier that morning.
- - -
This adventure took us about four hours to run through. I threw in the axebeak encounter up front partly because, having made 24 axebeak standup counters for an earlier adventure, I wanted to use them more than once. And we got some closure with the three jungle drow hunters from Ilyraena's tribe.
I had put in the "sweat lodge vision" of the bodythief as a warning of just what the plant creature could do (it was from a Pathfinder Bestiary and thus nothing any of my players had ever encountered before), but I think all I really did was make them paranoid about how powerful it was, because they spent most of their time hiding behind a wall of force and throwing summoned creatures at it. As my son Logan and I are watching our way through an "Ultraseven" DVD set - in which the lead character has a set of "capsule monsters" he can summon to fight kaiju on his behalf when needed; it was the concept that gave the Pokemon creator his initial idea) - I think he saw that as a logical approach to follow. And I can't fault him, because it worked. But I wonder if the bodythief encounter would have been a bit more exciting if I hadn't given them the "sweat lodge vision" warning ahead of time.
- - -
T-shirt worn: My green dragon T-shirt, because I didn't have anything more appropriate. But I figured the bodythief plant was big and green, just like the dragon on my shirt, so that was as close a connection as I could devise.
