Session Note 5: The Mistress Minions

    The party continued to pick the brain of Chief Boop about what awaited them at the bottom of the Forbidden Way. Were there guards? Was there any other way into the Lair of the Mistress? Where might they expect to find enemies? 

    The bewildered chief answered as best he could. His family had once lived in the palace that was now claimed by the Mistress when he was a child and his father was chief. The Mistress had killed his family and cast him out to live in the Wet Village, but he remembered well the layout of his old home.

    It would possible to enter the Lair of the Mistress through very small, tight, and twisting tunnels at the bottom of the Lev'neck cavern, but they would need a guide. The party discussed this option for some time before deciding to act on it.

    As for their other questions? Cheif Boop had no answers. Anyone who ventured into the Lair of the Mistress had never returned. The old chieften shuddered as he spoke of it.

    "Be not know what happens to theb, but knowinp that the Bistress eats those who displease her, be can guess!" he exclaimed. He offered to send a trusted bodyguard to act as a guide through the tiny passages to the Dank Forest and would speak no more of it. He declared vigorously that his bodyguard would go no further than he had to and that the party was on their own.

    The party returned to report to Tundor and Bianca after this. Tundor was pleased to hear their report. Bianca was nowhere to found.

    "I sent her to collect some of my scholars. The Exhalation Vent over there? The one that Squart insists is cursed?" He gestered in the direction of the breeze. "It is covered in strange writings. We will study it while you deal with the Mistress. I also told Bianca to bring the rest of your team down to help with the sea hag."

    "That will help. Thank you," Garrison said.

    Tundor waved away the thanks. "A sea hag who can control Kuo-toa and Lev'necks is not to be triffled with. You will need every willing hand. And I do not mean to fail in reaching the Temple of Krill'thak."

    Once Alba, Noxen, and Nemean joined the group several hours later, the Chief's bodygaurd had arrived. He was terrified. And when out of the water it was pretty clear that he kept peeing himself whenever the group discussed how they were planning on fighting the Mistress. 

    Once they got in the water, nobody swam right behind the fellow. He got more jittery the closer they came to the Lair of the Lev'necks and the small caves that lead downward.

The Dank Forest

    The bodyguard trembled with fear the entire way through the narrow tunnels. Everytime he turned his baleful, bulbous eyes on them, the trembling grew worse. They could not engage the fellow in conversation at all.

    At the first crack in the rock that was no more than a few feet wide, Uruk paused. That would be a tight fit. He wan't sure if the combination of the tight confines and being underwater would bring on a bought of claustrophobia or not. Bravely, he squeezed into the gap, getting wedged tight for a few moments before wiggling his way through. Proudly the nodded to himself on the other side of the gap. No dishonoring fear seized him.

    The party members spat out their wads of air plant as they ran out and stuffed new bits of the air-producing moss in their mouths as they progressed. Natasha needed some help, but others were careful to ensure she had pleanty of the the stuff. It tasted quite bland. After about 15 minutes of this, Zafirah cast some kind of spell that made the air plants all taste quite good. Many smiles and motions of thanks followed.

    Soon they reached the end of the confines of the tight tunnels. Their guide pointed vaugely in the direction they should go and disappeared in a flash of bubbles and rapidly moving water, looking quite pale and sick.

    They listened intently and peered into the murky depths of the Dank Forest below them. It was aptly named. The glowing lichen that covered the cavern walls was quite thin here and barely gave off any light to the gloom. Massive strands of seaweed and some kind of thin, flat, fungus stretched from the darkness in all directions. They could see furitive movement of large shapes in the tangle, but nothing definate. Whatever was in there, it was keeping out of sight and moving away from them.

    Moving carefully, and slowly, the group swam along the edge of the cavern. Garrison had heard that there were a multitude of undead fish and lobsters in this area and cast his eyes about hopefully and hungrily, but alas! Nothing.

    The found the large cave tunnel that connected the two big chambers and began to swim down. Garrison yipped and grabbed a zombie lobster - turning it into a puff of unclean mist with a blink of green light. He smiled happily.

    "That's nasty," Verdi complained, as he tried to swim. Rushan had to keep pulling him along and pointing him in the right direction.

    "Eating undead?" asked Garrison asked with a tone that implied he was used to that kind of judging opinion.

    "Not that! Eating a lobster? Yuck! It's a big bug! A huge, soggy cockroach! Why would you eat that?"

Scouting the Mistress' Lair

    A glow appeared before them as they progressed down the tunnel. Only in the stygian depths could it be called bright. But realtively-speaking, it was. An extremely thick growth of the glowing fungus covered the roof of this cavern, making it about as bright as an overcast day, lighting the water all the way to the bottom and almost to the far side of the cavern.

    The palace was clearly visible in the distance, a good 250 feet away. It was a bright and pleasent-looking building, made of white and pink shells and coral. The bottom floor was mostly open to the water.

    Beyond and above it, the roiling and bubbling waters at the roof of the cave bubbled their way to the end of the Forbidden Way sinkhole, casting a stream of air upwards. The source of all that air was pushing hard and churning the waters.

    Between the palace and the party was a delightful garden of colorful coral, sea plants, flowers, schools of brilliant fish, and delicate jellyfish. The garden was once well-tended, but looked a bit dilapidated - as if tended by a uncaring or foolish hand for many years.

    There were a group of creatures in front of the palace and near the begining of the garden. None of the party could make them out clearly.

    "We must get closer," Noxen said. "With all these plants, we should be able to close the distance by half, at least, before there is any chance of them seeing us." The rest of the party agreed.

    Very cautiously, the group of adventurers swam through the slightly-overgrown garden towards the movement of the other creatures. Was the Mistress among them? The group they moved towards seemed to be standing almost directly underneath the Forbidden Way.

    When they came to a slight rise, well protected from view by strands of kelp, the group was able to look on the creatures below and see them clearly.

    "What are they doing to those pufferfish?" Zafirah asked indignently.

    Two teams of aquatic Ogres and Ettins were playing some kind of handball game, using two pufferfish. They laughed and challenged each other, their gills flaring.

    "Maybe it's some kind of drinking game?" Ozzy guessed. "I've heard that pufferfish are mildly toxic and can get underwater creatures buzzed."

    "Who cares about that!" panted Garrison, "Look at the gardeners!" They looked. There was a row of about 10 zombie Kuo-toa weeding and tending the garden, poorly.

    "BAD fishes," growled Natasha.

    "You are allowed to bite those ones, dear," Zafirah said.

    "Save some for me," Garrison said hungrily.

    "Twenty-two to twelve," Uruk muttered. "Good odds. Fighting out-numbered is a glorious and honorable action. We are almost certain to perish in battle." He turned to the others. "What is the plan?"

    Rushan cleared his throat. "Um, hey, guys? I have a totally hypothetical question." The group all turned to look at him and he washed all four of his hands nervously.

    "How do you feel about... lycanthropes? It's just a question that I suddenly was wondering about. No reason, you know?"

    "That's not suspicious at all," laughed Verdi.

    Garrison narrowed his eyes. "What kind of were-creatures are we talking about? Because were-wolves are an abomination."

    Zarek and Alba looked at one another then turned smiling to Rushan. Zarek spoke for the pair, "I think that a lychanthrope who has fought bravely at the sides of his companions is just fine. If someone like that were to exsist, of course."

    Min started with a jerk. "Waitaminute! Isn't this a hypothetical question?"

    Rushan swallowed nervously. "Um, yes?"

    "Very convincing," Noxen said with a grin.

    "Any kind of were-bird is, of course, a good omen," Nemean said sagely. "Cass could tell you all about it if she wasn't too glowy and allergic to salt-water to come down here with me. Just ask her when we return to the ship."

    "She can talk? All I've ever heard from her is 'HONK'," Min said with a quirked eyebrow. Nemean seemed to not hear the question.

    "I like you no matter what shape you might take, Rushan," Zafirah said with a smile.

    "Ho-ho!" Ozzy said. He clapped Rushan on the back. "Coming out of the closet are you?"

    Uruk's eyes widened. "You have greater prowess to bring to this battle? Excellent!"

    Rushan blushed furiously. He was embarassed and excited that his new... friends? were being so accepting. He shifted into his hybrid were-octopus form and they ooh-ed and ahh-ed.

    Natahsa swam around him, looking closely at the tentacles mixed with arms on her fishy-scaley-friend. "Do you grow anymore arms or is that it? That seems like a lot of them - don't they bother you?" she asked.

    "No, this is it," Rushan laughed. "How do you guys stand having only two arms? I can barely stand having less than six!"

    Ozzy snapped his fingers. "I wondered why you had six swords. Now it makes sense!"

    "Huh. I just thought they were spares," Garrison said. "Well, not a werewolf? Then it's okay with me. No need to feel shy about it."

    "Don't tell anyone else!" Rushan said in a burst, looking at the group with worry. 

    Uruk nodded. "Do not fear. It's a sea-cret we will keep amoung ourselves. Until you are ready to come out publicly, at least."

The Garden Battle

    They decided to do a sneaky bit of scouting. Ozzy, Verdi, Rushan, Noxen, and Zarek swam down to get closer to the pufferfish-handball playing monsters to see what they could overhear and check out the palace. The rest of the group stayed hidden about 100-feet away, behind the wall of swaying kelp.

    It was a good plan. And they picked their best scouts for the job. All of them were quite stealthy. If only one of the pufferfish hadn't been hit too hard... 

    It landed right on top of the short wall of coral they were hiding behind. The poor fish looked stunned and was breathing hard. It didn't even try to swim away, but just lay there.

    One of the aquatic Ettin's followed it's path and suddenly locked eyes with Rushan. It opened it's mouth to yell.

    Natasha saw the Ettin's reaction and barked loudly; even underwater it travelled well. With a surge of magic, she traded places with the Ettin. Suddenly, there was a very confused two-headed giant surrounded by half the party, 100-feet from where it had been standing

    "Huh?" "What?" the two heads said, looking at one another. 

    "Prepare to die!" cried Uruk. He and the rest of the group stabbed at the creature, quickly bringing it down.

    Meanwhile, to the rest of the pufferfish-handballers, it seemed that one of their players had suddenly transformed into a huge, swimming dog.

    "How you do that, Krinkle-Dof?" one of them asked. In reply, Natasha bit him.

    The battle was joined!

    Those on the other side of the coral wall either swam over it to fight the other handball players, or began shooting from the cover of the barrier.

    The party members on the hill also began to shoot, with less effectiveness due to the range. Some of them began to swim furiously down to help the others in the fight.

    Poor Natasha got swarmed by screaming Ogres and Ettins.

    "Krinkle-Dof go crazy!" 

    "Ow! Me bum! Stop biting!" 

    "Get him! He cursed!" 

    "No - this magic! It an enemy!"

    "Shut up and kill it!" 

    Without armor, Natasha whined as she took many injuries. Blood clouded the water around her. She looked back up the hill and saw Uruk finish the Ettin. With a growl, she magically traded places again. 

    To the Ettins and Ogres that were gleefully beating on the large dog, it seemed that she transformed again - this time into a heavily armored Ogre warrior with bared and bloody swords. They blinked in shock and surprise.

    "I challange you all, supporters of tyranny! Five to one odds? We are well-matched!" Uruk bellowed. He then began to lay waste around him. "How dare you harm our dog!"

    Natasha heard him and despite her hurts, her ears perked up. 'Our dog'? Was she a part of this pack then? How exciting! Wait. Her pack was under attack!? Oh, no. That was so wrong.

    Barking furiously, leaving a trail of bubbles and bits of air plant behind her, Natasha swam as fast as she could right back towards the mass of enemies she had just teleported from.

    Ozzy distracted some of the Ogres and Ettins with a pyrotechnics spell. Many of them blinked and waved at the floating motes of light in surprise.

    Verdi was panicking and trying to swim... badly. He kept shooting toothpick-sized arrows that seemed to do almost nothing. He kept screaming, "Why can't I swim? Why? Why?"

    Noxen fired off eldritch blasts of churning magical energy at the Ogres. One of them blew a hole right through one Ogre that he could see through. Noxen grinned and blew on his smoking fingertips.

    The intel that the scouts were after was still important and Ozzy knew it. Using the distraction he had conjured, Ozzy swam closer to the palace to see what he could hear. After using the coral wall to block some of the sounds of fighting, he heard a chilling sound. There were two of those Lev'necks inside the lower floor of the palace! And... above that... maybe in a dry part of the palace... some other screaming and shouting? He couldn't make out what was being said, but the voices sounded feminine. The Mistress?

    Zarek blasted away with his Vinci-made T-force cannon. The huge rifle fired electrified spikes of steel at his enemies. He missed with some shots, but eventually was rewarded by his preseverance by nailing an aquatic Ettin right through it's spine. The creatures lower body stopped moving and it began to howl that it couldn't feel it's legs.

    Nemean stayed on the far hill and shot into the fray, causeing damage and distractions with every blast. Once he and Zarek hit the same enemy almost at the same time, spinning it in a dance of death. It was beautiful - it looked like a swan dancing. He smiled.

    Alba was also plinking away with her crossbow, trying to take down the injured and distracting those who seem about to strike her friends. She felt annoyed to be so far away and resolved to improve her glass-singing magic soon. If only the scouts hadn't been spotted!

    Rushan was an unmitigated terror with rapiers stabbing and thrusting through enemies in all directions all at once. It's hard to even tell how he was stabbing so many enemies at the same time. But they seem to fall before him in waves.

    Zafirah used fire magic to steam some of the Ogres. The suddenly boiling water and clouds of steam filled the garden with horrid noises and screams. 

    Being zombies, the Kuo-toa gardeners were slow to react. But react they did, barely moving towards the party members.

    Min saw the clumped up group of zombies and chortled with delight. He lobbed multiple concussion bombs at the undead, blasting them into small shreds of rotting flesh and moldering robes.

    Garrison of course was charging the zombies with visible streams of drool (it had a distinctive consistency - even underwater) and slammed into them. He began to Feed - the water around him glowing with a sickly green light.

    Rushan suddenly looked about himself to find that all his foes were dead. All except a howling Ettin, drifting to the ocean floor.

    "Me can no feel me legs!"

    "Me niether! What is happening?"

    A surge of pity welled up inside Rushan. He sheathed his blades and went over to see if he could care for the sufferer. 

    "Ow!"

    "What him doing? Me no can feel it."

    "You lucky! Him have big, clumsy hands! Ow!"

    Rushan huffed. "I do want to become a cleric. In fact, I'm going to be a cleric, as soon as I figure out how."

    The Ettin yelled. "Well, you not one yet!" "Yeah, keep tentacles away from me - you make me feel uncomfortable!"

    Uruk used the forms of combat he was taught by his father and uncles smoothly and with perfection. Enemies fall before him. It was glorious.

    Natasha soon rejoined the fight and was able to gnaw on more enemies - including one Ogre that hurt her bad. 

    "Revenge is a tasty chew-toy!" she barked around a mouthful of the last of the screaming aquatic Ogres.

    Verdi finally reached Ozzy and Noxen, who were close to the edge of the garden, looking at the palace. The sounds of battle fell quiet as the last few zombies were slammed to the ground by Uruk and Rushan.

    "The trick is to use all my limbs to swim - not just soggy wings!" Verdi laughed. "What's in the palace there?"

    "Two Lev'necks. The Mistress. And she has some friends," Ozzy muttered darkly, not removing his eyes from the palace for a second.

     "Awk!" yelped Verdi. "Why am I swimming towards that?" The Pixie began to furiously, and ineffectuallly, start swimming the other way.