The Acts of the Lords of Rannick, LXXV

I have entirely forgotten what the party agreed they were planning on doing next. I asked specifically because I don’t do well without prepping and there are so many ways to die places to explore in Xin-Shalast. I’m pretty certain you were scoping out the Abomina-Dome, which sounds a lot like a stadium that you might find in Blood Bowl. Anyway, the Abominable Dome that is home to the tribe of Yeti that have recently sworn loyalty to Karzoug: that, I believe, is where we are headed on Thursday.

Meanwhile, back in the sub-glacial ruins, the party was hip deep in tentacles and discussions about latin vs greek endings (hint: don’t ask for either one in a massage parlour). The combination of Halvard and a summoned Bralani chased one Vampire Skulk Thrall off down one passage way while the combination of another summoned Bralani and Kerplak’s unbelievably slow rate of fire now that he doesn’t have a repeating crossbow chased the other Vampire Skulk Thrall down the other passageway.

Albedon’s massive hit with the Disintegrate spell had severely weakened the Decapus and after it disappeared and reappeared in a burst of Scorching Rays; Halvard was on fire, both figuratively and literally.

He had cast True Seeing, which allowed him to see the Decapus turn invisible, change into a gas, hide and then reform before becoming visible again. Halvard brought the S(p)earing Light down, royally messing up the Undead Vampiric Decapus Sorceror. After wasting that initial Heal spell, Halvard took a few rounds to adjust to fighting undead, but he’s a Cleric and we all forget that Clerics are great against undead, because you haven’t met any for frickin’ ages.

With the Decapus Master Vampire dead, the thralls  were suddenly in control of themselves, albeit uncontrollably terrified of the party. They fled, escaping deep into the Hypogeum’s darkest recesses where they will either come back as recurring villains or more likely be hunted down and awkwardly murdered by the usually-peaceable-but-kind-of-done-with-being-enslaved-Spared.

After a brief discussion about what to do, the party decided that a good litmus test as to the end of the Hidden Beast’s reign over the Spared was to go back to the controlled guards who they had carefully avoided in getting in here. That was a sensible idea, well done whoever thought of that. They also looted the body of the Decapus, such as it had. It is really just an angry face with tentacles, which made everyone think of Squidbillies at the time, but makes me think of Warlord Krang now.

They found two rings on him. The first was a handy dandy Ring of Invisibility, which has certainly proved to be great for Kerplak. The second was altogether more of a grab bag of stuff. It was a ring version of the Sihedron medallion that Arradin wears, although this had all sorts of Cold and Altitude mitigating features.

After divvying those up (I think Ron took the RoI and Kerplak took the Sihedron Ring) they went to find those Litmus Guards and found that they had indeed abandoned their posts, strongly suggesting that the Decapus control had dropped.

The Spared were tentatively overjoyed. Their prophecies quite clearly lead them to believe that they will never be enslaved again and that the party are the divine instruments of their liberation. The party aren’t quite so optimistic; Halvard gifted them a greatsword and greataxe with which to learn the ways of recklessly disembowelling defending themselves. And Dagfinn presented them with a Wand of Produce Flame, which was another Burnt Offerings magic item, I believe.

In return, the grateful tribal elder waddled in to present them with a Bag of Holding full of some pretty nice healing items. Scrolls of Heal and True Resurrection, potions, staffs. Very nice it all was and the bag was complimentary too. The other gift the Spared granted the party is more intangible: wide ranging escorts through the city and a watchful eye kept on the party to prevent ambushes. When they are in danger, the Spared escorts will alert them with their hooting cries, before they run like hell from that danger.

They chatted a bit more with Morgiv as they rested and plotted a path through the city. The Spared are leery of heading to close to the Citadel via the glacier since the upper glacier covers the wide streets of the entertainment district, rather than the warren-like alleys of the slave district which they call home. Also, there is a queer abundance of plant life in the entertainment district that seems a bit dangerous. The party decided that queer plant life was preferable to being out in the open, however and sought to traverse the city under cover of the glacier.

They set out the next day, spending a great deal of time winding through the subterranean and sub-glacial passages and alleys of the Hypogeum before arriving near the entertainment district. Eventually they ran into some Russet Mold, a deadly and prolific mold that causes Vegepygmies to grow inside the swollen carcasses of its victims. Yeah, you heard me.

Anyway, there was some skillful avoidance of the plant problems in this part of the entertainment  district, but rather than pressing on to the Large Unusually Shaped Building A or the Large Unusually Shaped Building B, they cut west and found a vine-choked tower that offered a good view of the Abomina-Dome. Kerplak spotted some Yeti patrolling the dome’s arcade walls. They were on the verge of deciding what to do next when a chorus of Skulk hoots filled the air… something was inbound and dangerous.

We’ll find out what it was on Thursday… because I haven’t decided yet.