Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Part 14 - The Starbug and the Rumble in the Jungle


You know, back at the farm, all you had to worry about was being kicked in the head by a horse. Not gods, not wizards, not magical creatures, and certainly not undead. Why can’t things go back to the way they were…?

When we all came back to our senses we argued about what we should do now. Do we go back to Homlett, the third town we’ve contributed in destroying? Do we confront Lupik? Do we go to Araja’s home town? The only likely answer was to go to Lupik’s and deal with the problem, but the rest of the group was blinded by reason and decided we would go to Araja’s home town were we might find some answers. But first, we would help the hidesman and his assistants out of the dwarven ruins, and then see what help we could offer the towns people of Homlett.

Isaac and I volunteer to go down while the rest of the group heads back to Homlett. We find the hidesman and his assistants and teleport them back to the city as the ruins begin to collapse around us. The hidesman alerts Isaac and I that the ruins were part of an ancient volcano that was seemingly reactivated after the destruction of the temple, that was likely channeling power from it. The hidesman unceremoniously dumps the hide in my arms and flee’s town. I quickly take the hide to Barrack so he can get working on my shield.

We prepare to leave for Araja’s home. The town’s people seem to have things under control…Not so long as that volcano continues to erupt…Once we’re ready to leave, Isaac takes us to the atherial plane so we can travel faster. I stay very close to Isaac, not wanting to get lost.

Rekka spots some snake people ahead with human and gnome captives. They were leading them to a tent for sacrifice. The unicorn detects evil and we move to attack! We make short work of them, but one of the prisoners is killed. Rekka helps me free them from their bonds. Suddenly Isaac attacks the ground and about 30 of the unforeseen snake people burst out of the ground and die. Isaac takes us back to the material plane so the prisoners can find their way home. I look at the marauders map and tell the prisoners there are some friendly goblin establishments around where they could seek shelter.

 We go back to the atherial plane, but not before the Luggage swallows up Araja…I hope I don’t need to be concerned about that…Off to the left I see a stone structure. There are humanoids & beasts walking across the walls. We attempt to make a wide birth around the structure. Suddenly a flare shoots from the wall and hovers over us. A cavalry charges toward us. Araja bursts out of the Luggage and proceeds to attack Isaac. Oh, good. She’s alive.

As the riders approach, they detect as neutral alignment. One of the riders shows some concern that we’re out wandering around such a dangerous area. They warn us there’s a dragon ahead and offer us protection inside their mobile fortress.

The idea sounds very alluring, but then, another flare is shot from the fortress, illuminating a dragon. I can’t really tell what color it is, even with my goggles, but it fires a cone of frost on the fortress. Isaac casts haste on us and we run for the fortress. The dragon blasts the fortress again, ice forming on an invisible force field. Eventually the ice weakens the protective barrier.

Before we get to the gates, the dragon sees us and proceeds to land in our path. The dragon growls something at us.

Isaac: “Um, apparently these guys are slave traders.”

The horsemen that surrounded us scatter. We draw our weapons and charge to attack the fortress. I tell my weapon handle we’re going to slay the slave traders. Suddenly I’m propelled forward, the weapon handle nearly flying from my grip!

When we approach the gate, the drow slave traders have the dragon surrounded. Araja casts a fire ball at them, killing most of them. The dragon is fairly wounded. Rekka casts fog around the dragon. The shrouded dragon kills a large group with a frost attack. We keep up the onslaught until they’re all dead.

We tell the dragon what we’ve been doing, and tell him about Lupik. The dragon summons his brothers. They decide to go investigate the goings on with Lupik and possibly destroy him and his followers.

Now that the fortress is ours for the taking, Isaac plays with the controls. After a couple dry fires, we figure out how to control it, and discover its usefulness. We travel a ways in the atherial plane before dropping back into the material plane. The fortress needs a proper name. I can't just keep calling it the fortress, that's just boring. I know, it shall be further known as the Starbug!

Its night time and we’re in a jungle. The sounds of many angry creatures surround us. They sound like their attacking each other! We fly around in the Starbug until we see a clearing where a giant is sleeping. Suddenly the giant begins to wake. Rekka slams the Starbug’s controls into full throttle and we speed away. The giant manages to catch up with us and the Bar Wench starts talking to him! He sounds very unintelligent and I really want to move before we become its play toy.

The giant concludes that we are baby giants, even though babies don’t talk, and insists on getting us some water. He disappears for a moment and comes back carrying a RIVER in his hand! He dumps it on the Starbug, but fortunately the force field deflects the downpour.

Bar Wench tells the Giant we’ve been looking for the city Rehm. The giant tries to help us and grabs the Starbug. Rekka once again slams the controls into full throttle, but the giant amazingly hangs on as we drag him behind. Suddenly the barrier breaks. The giant begins rummaging around the Starbug thinking one of the flying whales we passed by earlier was trapped inside. Amazingly the Starbug seems to put itself back together even after the giant pulls it apart.

While the Giant is busy, Isaac shrinks the Starbug. For now we are safe…Wait, where’s Araja?

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