The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]Time for another of these, I think.  A full cast of characters can be found in the first post.[/ooc] [ic=The Story So Far]Our hero, the goblin Kraashgar, finds himself a pawn in some unfathomable game of chess, played by shadowy (and tentacled) opponents, the sinister masters of the Great Below.  After fleeing from the remnants of his decimated home-cavern '" his entire tribe slaughtered by four adventurers '" our hero made his way to the cosmopolitan troglodyte-run town of Ool-Nacha (a former duergar outpost); on his way he snuck through a kobold fungal village, evaded trolls and grimlock slavers, and hitched a ride with an ettercap named Ysshera in exchange for a kuo-toan holy symbol he discovered in an abandoned shrine.  

Wounded, Kraashgar sought aid at a temple of Dagon, solving their stirge problem in exchange for healing.  He then set about making some money and better equipping himself, betting at the local fighting pits (run by the troglodyte boss Rancid) and eventually staggering into the Blind Beholder tavern, a seedy establishment run by a roper named Shub.  Here he attracted the attention of a tiefling called Alastor, after killing a drunken derro in a knife-fight.  Alastor recommended that Kraashgar look for work with an Ogre Mage, Obraxus, and so after a meal and a rest our hero sought out the orc Grognash, Obraxus' recruiter.  While in Ool-Nacha Kraashgar also caught a glimpse of an aboleth, pulled in a massive aquarium-like tank by a troop of Skum towards the slave-markets.

Hired by Grognash (after slaying a svirfneblin zombie as a practical test), Kraashgar was escorted via Mazinkor's Shaft to the dungeon lair of Obraxus by the barghest Veth, encountering magmins en route.  He discovered that the dungeon is close to the surface, a former stronghold of the Gearehad Clan of dwarves, built over a series of old mithril mines run by mind flayers, one of the most powerful factions of the Underdark.

After being introduced to his new boss, Obraxus, and a few of the other dungeon denizens Kraashgar was quickly put to work resetting the traps on the first level, which have all been activated after a messy adventurer incursion.  Resetting the traps required a great deal of legwork and ingenuity, and during the process Kraashgar was forced to get a wand of Detect Magic recharged by a Gray Slaad named Thollom, who sublets a laboratory from Obarxus.  The Slaad has Kraashgar seek out an escaped experiment '" a cyborg grig '" that fled to the ventilation shafts of the dungeon.  Kraashgar captured the grig and overheard an interesting conversation while doing so, between Obraxus and a beholder called Chalsecze who rents the bottom levels of the stronghold, just below Obraxus.  He also learned that a surface town called Gloamwood has been hiring adventuring parties to slay Obraxus and clean out the dungeon.

Our hero finished resetting the traps '" and just in time.  A party of adventurers (Tul, Kenneth, and Cal) stormed the dungeon.  Their rogue, Tul, was squashed by a crushing room trap, but their sorcerer, Kenneth, cast Charm Person on Kraashgar and had the goblin lead them deeper into the dungeon.  Fortunately the drow wizardess Casutic, Obraxus' second in command, destroyed the remaining two party members with a maximized Acid Fog spell.

After being debriefed Kraashgar is sent to clean out the fifth level fountains, which have been befouled by their use as a bathing pool by the dungeon's gnolls.  While cleaning the fountains Kraashgar met Chalsezce (and his servant Nhazgar the duergar) in person, who gave our hero a small ring of protection as a (very generous) tip for cleaning the fountain: a small, gold ring set with a gemstone that looks like a staring eye.

On his next shift Kraashgar was summoned to the front hall of the dungeon.  To redeem himself for nearly helping the adventurers deeper into the dungeon he is sent on a surface raid targeting a caravan bringing dwarf-made firearms (manufactured by the Gearhead Clan, who still want to get their stronghold back from Obraxus and the mind flayers).  Led by a neogi called Zetch and his Umber Hulk bodyguard and slave, Mr. Pincer, Kraashgar and a band of other raiders, including the gnoll Wrask and the troglodyte Xug, successfully ambushed the caravan, fighting dwarf ghouls and forest gnomes on the way.  They also took captive a dwarf named Brogg, to interrogate about Gearhead plans and defenses.

On their way back to the dungeon a worg, Svaroch, leapt onto a forest path and seized Brogg.  The worg was injured by Kraashgar (with a newly acquired flintlock pistol) but disappeared into the undergrowth.  Wrask was able to track the worg by scent, and it has also left a blood-trail; the raiders track it to its den, a burrow.  Only Kraashgar was small enough to get inside, so the goblin scrambled down and quickly discovered Brogg (still tied up) '" and Svaroch.  The worg explained that a local human huntsman killed the rest of his pack, and agreed to give up Brogg in exchange for the man's corpse.  The raiders obliged (Kraashgar himself slitting the man's throat in his sleep, in a cabin not far from the den) and Brogg was delivered.  Back in the dungeon, Kraashgar shaved part of the dwarf's beard off in way of vengeance.

Back in the dungeon, Kraashgar was given a new task: exorcising a ghost haunting level two.  After doing another favor for Thollom (gathering parts for an experiment of the Slaad's by using a wand of Reduce on dwarven zombies that lurk in the warded-off crypts of the dungeon) Kraashgar acquired goggles that allowed him to see into the Ethereal Plane and was lent the use of Yoggy, the Gray Slaad's Ethereal Marauder.  It was at this time that our hero first noticed that Thollom was shedding scales, as well.

Kraashgar eventually tracked down the ghost, which turned out to be that of a dwarf named Ulfgar whose grave had been violated.  To lay the spirit to rest Kraashgar sought out the goblin rogue who looted Ulfgar's tomb, a fellow denizen named Skabrat who directed our hero to Kurlok the weaponmaster to retrieve the first item missing from Ulfgar's tomb, a dwarven warhammer.  Kurlok sent Kraashgar to an orc, Morbog, who now wielded the hammer; Kraashgar intimidated the orc into surrendering the weapon by promising that Caustic, a notorious hard-ass, would punish Morbog if he failed to aid in exorcising the ghost.

The other two items were acquired through stealth and subtlety.  Ulfgar's helm was won by a gnoll (killed during the surface raid) in a card-game with Skabrat; Kraashgar convinced the goblin rogue to help him secure the helm from the gnoll's bunk-chest in a lower level barracks.  The third item, a ring, Kraashgar won in a game of chess with a snooty drow dungeon guard, Szor, much to the merriment of the dark elf's usual chess partner, the ogre Cromn.  Kraashgar dispersed the ghost successfully.

A short while later our hero and the rest of the dungeon residents was summoned by Obraxus to the central hall, where the Ogre Mage declared that they were launching a raid on Gloamwood.  They traveled by night to the town and find the gate unlocked and the night guards killed, courtesy of Alastor the tiefling.  Kraashgar, Cromn, Skabrat, Szor, Xug, and Wrask formed a group and loot the town's armory before running amok in the town.  On their way back to the gates they encountered a band of adventurers '" the same four that destroyed Kraashgar's village.  The adventurers killed several of the raiders, including Wrask, who was slain by the gray elf wizard Lucian; the adventuring party lost their fighter, Magnus, to Obraxus himself.  The adventurers escaped via Dimension Door and the raiders returned to the dungeon; Kraashgar recovered Wrask's head, all that was left of the gnoll after the battle.

Upon their return to the dungeon the raiders found the stronghold full of Gearhead dwarves.  Caustic, holed up in a guard-room, was one of the few surviving members of the skeleton guard.  She explained that the dwarves had attacked by surprise.  Kraashgar was sent to check on the dwarf prisoner Brogg and slew him and another dwarf during their escape attempt.  He also gave Wrask's head to Thollom, who was shedding even more scales, revealing darker ones beneath'¦

The dwarves driven out, the dungeon denizens began reinforcing their defenses.  Slaves taken in the Gloamwood raid were sold, and Kraashgar was given the task of sapping the purple worm tunnels that the dwarves used to infiltrate the dungeon.  He was then sent with Cromn to recruit a band of hill giants on the surface to serve as guards for the third level entrance.  After being rescued from a krenshar attack by Svaroch the worg Kraashgar and Cromn helped the creature clean out a nest of redcaps that had been terrorizing the woods; in return, Svaroch showed them the way to the hill giants' hidden camp.  Kraashgar convinced the hill giants to work as guards for Obraxus, earning their trust by retrieving the bone fingerpick of their banjo-playing bard, Klet, from the caves of harpies; he was flown to the caves via the spider-eater pet of the giants, kept by their druid Borl, encountering both hippogriffs and a wyvern en route before returning with the pick.

Now, after feeding the chuul that lurks below an illusory-floor trap on the fourth floor, Kraashgar has overheard a sinister conversation between the beholder Chalsecze and the Gray Slaad Thollom, conducted through fountain water (which Kraashgar himself unwittingly made clear enough to scry through).  It seems that the two beings have been in cahoots for some time, and that many of the events of previous days and weeks have been manipulated to aid their plans.  Chalsezce and Thollom are in league with none other than Caustic's sister and nemesis, the drider Mordant, a necromancer and mercenary servant of the aboleths of the Primal Empire, ancient enemies of the mind flayers with whom Obraxus is allied '" the illithids that still run the mithril mines below the dungeon.  Chalsezce activates a disused portal in the dungeon so that Mordant and her undead minions can enter '" an army composed principally of zombies that were once the inhabitants of Gloamwood, the very slaves taken during Obraxus' raid.  While Chalsezce flees the portal to the aboleth city of Phagn'Yath Mordant and her undead swarm into the dungeon on level five, while Thollom unleashes his fiendish creations on level two; the two forces will converge on level three, where Obraxus and the bulk of the remaining denizens sit unaware.  Kraashgar, having witnessed all of this without being detected, must now warn his boss and the rest of the dungeon of the impending incursion, before it is too late'¦[/ic]

[ic=Episode 42: Emergency Protocols]Kraashgar has seen enough.  Still invisible, our hero rushes from the portal room and through level four, up to the third level.  He bursts into the map room; Caustic is the only one present.

'Caustic!  Caustic!  It's me, Kraashgar!  The dungeon's under attack!'

'What?'  The drow woman frowns, then casts Faerie Fire to outline Kraashgar, followed swiftly by Dispel Magic.   'What are you talking about?  The entrances are guarded; we'd know if we had any adventurers or dwarves incoming.

'Not dwarves, or adventurers!  Undead, on the fifth level, and Thollom's creations on the fourth '" Chalsezce has betrayed us, he's sold us out, now there's an army of undead rampaging through the Lair!'

'Slow down!  Chalsecze, undead, Thollom, what in the Nine Hells are you babbling about?'

'I heard Chalsezce talking to Thollm using the fountain somehow, and then he activated the portal on the fifth level and brought over these undead, being led by some sort of spider-drow woman, and '"'

'Wait, stop '" what was that about a spider-drow?  Did you see a drider?  What was her name?!'

'Mordant, her name was Mordant.'

Caustic utters a curse in Drow.

'We must inform Obraxus, now.  Come with me.'

They head into the hallway outside the map room and come face to face with a mohrg '" one of the grotesque skeletal horrors that had stepped through the portal.  It lashes out with its tongue, striking Kraashgar and dripping a slimy mucus onto his flesh; he feels a numbing sensation but shakes it off and fires his pistol at the thing's torso, where a purple, parasitic organism is coiled like entrails.  He produces a burst of black ichor and begins to reload while Caustic invokes a spell, a thin green ray that strikes the mohrg and reduces it to a pile of cinders.

The two rush through dungeon passages towards Obraxus' conjury and burst in through the doors.  Caustic has Kraashgar swiftly relate everything he heard while she activates the dungeon's alarm systems.  Obraxus snarls in fury.

'Kraashgar, get up to level one and bring everyone down here,' the Ogre Mage bellows.  'Caustic, gather some minions and go take care of that insufferable sister of yours.'

Caustic's eyes narrow.

'I will pluck the legs from her body one by one.'[/ic]

It's getting exciting woo (though I noticed a few spelling errors in your post).

I think I fixed them.  This part was fairly intense - and one of the few sequences I'd had in mind for quite some time (had to improvise how it eventually pans out, which leads to a whole new phase of the campaign).

Right now I'm 5 episodes behind, with only a little over a week left to play before I'm off to the other side of the country for an extended period.  I'm going to squeeze in a little more here and there to try and finish things off somewhat, even if it's not perfectly tidy; I might resume the campaign later, or play by post, or something, but I'll be busy after the summer so any updates would be sporadic at best.  But in the meantime, much more Goblin to come...

Looking forward to more updates!

Think I spotted a typo too: "Now dwarves, or adventurers!" should begin with not instead of now.

EDIT: I see you fixed it already :D

[ic=Episode 43: Abominations]Kraashgar hurls himself up the stairs towards the first level.  Dungeon denizens are stumbling out of their barracks and the mess hall, frowning and looking about for trouble.

'Get to level three,' our hero shrieks.  'Undead!  Lots of them!'

The goblin dashes into the second floor guard room and finds it in a shambles.  Bodies litter the floor.  Standing in the center of the room is a bizarre, reptilian humanoid with four arms, three of them clutching serrated blades, the fourth holding up the shredded remnants of the troglodyte Morkoth '" one of Obraxus' minions.  Kraashgar thinks he remembers seeing this creature in one of Thollom's eerie vats.  He aims his pistol and fires, hitting the horror in the chest; the thing drops Morkoth's corpse and leaps forwards, brandishing its knives.  Our hero dodges back and ducks under the blows, but one slahes him across the arm.  He rolls, whipping out his heavy mace and bringing it down on the creature's skull, dazing it.  While it stumbles back he reloads his pistol and fires a second time.

The monster hisses in pain and begins to fade away, presumably into the Ethereal.  Kraashgar yelps and runs forward, swiping with his mace, but the thing is too incorporeal to hit.

Panting, Kraashgar runs up to the first level guard-room just above to find Skabrat and Xug contending with yet another of Thollom's pets '" a surreal beast with a huge maw, a single foot, and a plethora of grasping limbs.  Even as our hero arrives the red reptile-thing he fought moments ago materializes again, dealing Xug a wound with its dagger.

Together the minions battle the extradimensional monstrosities.  Xug manages to land a blow with his spear in the paler, single-footed creature, while Skabrat and Kraashgar flank the four-armed reptile and finish it off.

'What's going on?!'  Skabrat demands, wiping blood from his short sword.

'Undead.  And these things '" they're from Thollom's lab.  Come on, we have to get everyone from the first level down to level three.'

Skabrat goes to release his pet carrion crawler down the hall while Xug and Kraashgar head to the first level barracks to gather more minions.  They meet Zetch & Mr. Pincer, the kobold weaponmaster Kurlok (his prized masterwork katana in hand) and the ogre Cromn.  Kraashgar rapidly explains the situation.  He is getting tired of repeating himself to everyone he meets.  Kurlok hands him a second pistol and plenty of ammunition '" 'Emergency protocols,' the kobold explains.

'Right, let's move out,' Zetch proclaims, directing Mr. Pincer forwards.  The group heads down the corridor back towards level two '" only to be met by a swarm of zombies and skeletons, accompanied by another mohrg and an even stranger creature: a stitched-together abomination, tattooed with eldritch glyphs.  The flesh golem '" as Zetch identifies it '" has two heads: one of a dwarf, one of a gnoll.  Kraashgar recognizes Wrask and Brogg.  The creature (Brosk?  Wragg?) shambles towards the group, undead scuttling before it.

The battle is brutal.  Mr. Pincer is swarmed by zombies, the human undead weighing him down with sheer numbers.  Kurlok wades in with his blade gleaming, hewing limbs and decapitating undead with clinical efficiency.  Kraashgar and Cromn face off against the mohrg, which lashes out with its tongue and claws.  Briefly Kraashgar finds himself paralyzed by one of its attacks, before Xug revives him with a Remove Paralysis spell.

Halfway through the battle Skabrat reappears, his pet in tow.  The carrion crawler, attracted by the stench of rotting flesh, advances eagerly upon the zombies.  Though its tentacles have no effect on the undead it attracts their attention, freeing up the rest of the combatants.

Cromn destroys the mohrg with a final blow from his greatclub while Kraashgar turns his attention to the flesh golem.  He puts a bullet through the Brogg-head of the creature and a second in the construct's chest '" a pastiche of orc, drow, and dwarf parts stitched haphazardly together.  Kurlok is still hacking at zombies, but between him and the carrion crawler Mr. Pincer has freed himself from the clawing undead swarm.  The Umber Hulk lurches forwards towards the flesh golem, reaching out with a huge, simian hand.  He fastens his paw on the golem's gnoll-head and rips, pulling it free.  The golem still dances about, confused but intact, until it is overwhelmed by Kraashgar, Cromn, and Skabrat.

Thoughtfully, Kraashgar hides Wrask's head in a side-room, in case he gets a chance to raise the gnoll at a later date.

The undead and abominations dispatched, the group heads down towards the third level'¦[/ic]

[ic=Episode 44: Endgame?]The group of dungeon denizens passes down to the second level, making their way towards the third.  They are about to descend a flight of steps when a voice behind them makes them turn.

Thollom the Slaad darkens the passage behind them, but he is no longer gray '" he is black.

'And just where do you think you're going?'  Thollom asks.

'He's metamorphosed,' Zetch says.  'He's become a Death Slaad!  I never trusted that slimy newt'¦'

Thollom grins '" an eerie sight.  The Slaad utters a guttural syllable and a bolt of black energy hurtles towards the group.  It connects with the neogi Zetch and the creature twitches, its legs curling inwards, like a dying spider.  Zetch falls from Mr. Pincer's head, lifeless.

Mr. Pincer screams in rage.  Even freed from its psychic enslavement the creature retains loyalty to its master: long years of servitude have taught it nothing else.  It barrels towards the Death Slaad, mandibles clacking.  Kraashgar, Xug, Cromn, Skabrat, and Kurlok watch as the two plough into one another, Thollom already speaking a second spell.  There is a blast of red light, then the sound of the ceiling collapsing.  Dust billows down the hall.  When it clears, our heroes can see that the entire corridor has collapsed: they are cut off from the Overworld.  Whether Mr. Pincer or Thollom survived the collapse they cannot be certain.

'Let's move forward,' Kraashgar proclaims grimly.  They pass down into lower halls.

In the second level main hall they find Caustic and her sister Mordant dueling, backed up by a few dungeon minions '" including Morbog and one of the hill giants '" and a pack of undead, respectively.  The sisters fling spells at one another while cursing in Drow; most of their efforts are deflected through counterspells or spell resistance.  Kraashgar aims a shot at Mordant and fires: his bullet hits her ear, tearing part of it away.  Momentarily distracted the drider breaks off her concentration, giving Caustic enough time to loose a spell properly.  A cloud of acid congeals around Mordant, eating away at her flesh.

'Get down to Obraxus,' Caustic commands in Undercommon.  'I can take Mordant!'

Obligingly our heroes skirt the battle in the hall, firing off shots as they go.  Kurlok, equipped with Gearhead-made explosives, lobs a bomb into a horde of zombies, destroying half a dozen in a single blast.

They pass down through the dungeon corridors, towards the lower entrance hall.  Down a side passage Kraashgar spots a mind flayer and a pair of grimlocks from the lower level mines fighting off undead.  Remnants of battles between the invaders and the dungeon denizens are everywhere in evidence.  Though there are at least four or five zombies or skeletons dead for each dungeon inhabitant killed the intruders seem to have numbers on their side, and the Lair residents are taking heavy losses.

At last the group arrives in the lower hall.  Obraxus and three of the remaining hill giants, including Klet and Borl, face off against the bulk of the undead horde.  In a corner, zombies feast on the flesh of a slain giant, and a second lies face-down in a huge pool of blood.  Obraxus is laying waste to the massed undead ranks with his massive black greatsword and the giants are likewise holding their own, but a gang of mohrgs are proving resilient.

Our hero leaps into the fray, his companions close behind.  Kurlok is a whirlwind of scaly, silvery death; Xug is exhausting every spell in his repertoire; Cromn batters undead away with his massive club; Skabrat slashes at zombies with his blades.  Kraashgar, toting two pistols, fires his weapons intermittently.  Together the ragtag band begins to whittle away at the marauding horde.

And then something darkens the entranceway.  A huge shape enters the hall, cadaverous and menacing, as large as one of the hill giants.  Strands of embalmed flesh hang from its bones, and its ribcage gapes hideously open.  Trapped within is a tiny figure which Kraashgar recognizes as Skelus, the dungeon trapsmith.  The kobold squirms to and fro, its undead captor's ribs holding it in like prison bars.

'A devourer!'  Xug exclaims, with a mixture of fear and awe.

Kraashgar fires off a shot as this new horror and hits it in the chest.  The devourer laughs deeply, and a spectral hand materializes before it.  The clawed hand seeks out one of the hill giants and crushes him; the giant groans in pain as his flesh blisters and his life essence is leeched from his body.

Mordant now scuttles into view; there is no sign of Caustic, but the drider's face is badly scarred, pocked from acid spells.  She exhibits a perverse expression of cruelty, anger, and immense satisfaction, then losses a spell at Obraxus.

The spell never connects.  The Ogre Mage, roaring wordlessly, transmutes himself into a cloud of bluish gas, which drifts up to the ceiling and into an arrow slit in one of the archer's galleries.  Mordant swears violently and presses forward.

'Uh, Kraashgar '" ' Skabrat says, as the undead begin to press close against them.  Our heroes are surrounded by the horde.  'What are we going to do?'

Kurlok and Cromn are holding back the oncoming horde while Xug frantically heals and casts augmentation spells, but things look grim.  Behind them, the door beckons.  They might be able to fight their way to the doors and out into the Great Below.  After all, Obraxus fled'¦

But something has awakened in Kraashgar: a spirit of true heroism, perhaps.  Defiance flickers in his red eyes, and a mindless courage fills his heart.

'Not this time,' the goblin's companions hear him say.  'No more running and hiding!'

Our hero empties his pistols into the undead horde, then draws his mace.  With a leap that belies his small stature Kraashgar jumps atop the zombies, using them like stepping stones.  The undead groan and claw at him, but he evades their grasping hands and makes a final jump, proplling himself through the air towards the drider, Mordant, mace raised in both hands.  A goblin battle-cry on his lips, he lands the blow, smashing Mordant in the face.  She shrieks in pain and utters a spell; Kraashgar is suddenly unable to move, held in place by an unseen force.

Mordant begins to laugh.  Her hand is contorted into a claw: she holds Kraashgar at a distance.  The goblin flails furiously, swinging his mace back and forth in futility.

'What remarkable spirit,' the drider says.  'You are an uncommonly courageously goblin.  Perhaps my employers will find a suitable use for you.'

She hurls the goblin into a swarm of the remaining mohrgs.  In a moment Kraashgar is on his feet, bashing with his mace at the nearest undead, but their tongues flicker out.  There are too many to resist.  Our hero succumbs to their paralyzing secretions, and everything goes black'¦[/ic][ooc]Plenty of stuff to come.

I ruled that Kraashgar's display of suicidal bravery was sufficient for him to qualify for "true heroism," so he took his first PC level (a level of fighter) at the beginning of the next session.[/ooc]

[ic=Episode 45: Fetters]Kraashgar awakes in chains.  He is in a dank, slimy chamber, lightless, along with bedraggled group of his comrades.  The room is quite large and round, with no exits save for a round hole in the floor, filled with water.  He and the rest '" which include Kurlok, Cromn, Szor, Skabrat, and Xug '" are perched on a kind of shelf surrounding this pit; other individuals, likewise shackled, are evident in the room as well.

A sudden grinding sound can be heard from the pit, and moments later four powerfully built humanoids with membranous skin rise out of the water.  They stand on an elevator, which eventually fits flush with the floor.  One of the creatures croaks something in a hideous-sounding tongue, and the other three move forward, rounding up the prisoners.  Kraashgar, Kurlok, Cromn, and a bugbear are selected and herded onto the elevator; when Cromn tries to resist one of the humanoids thumps him hard with a spear-shaft and prods him onwards.  The ogre, his arms manacled together and his legs fettered, cannot fight back properly; the gaolors have sharp claws and teeth, and weapons.

The four prisoners and the humanoids step onto the elevator, where one of the gaolors activates a glyph on a console.  The elevator descends down a shaft '" no water rushes in to fill it.  Eventually the lift comes to a stop, and the prisoners are herded out into a huge chamber with slime-covered, glyph-etched walls, dominated by a massive glass cylinder.  A hideous fish-like creature of enormous size is suspended in the cylinder: it has three glossy eyes and several long tentacles.  It looks as if the cylinder has exits in its ceiling and floor.

Kraashgar thinks back to Ool-Nacha: he aw one of these creatures before, being drawn in a massive glass aquarium through the markets by the same web-footed humanoids.  He remembers an enormous weight on his mind, a questing presence.  Abruptly he feels a similar presence again.

The massive, fish-like horror swims before our hero, gazing down with three bulbous eyes.  Kraashagr feels the massive presence enter his mind, rasping at the inside of hisskull.  A voice fills the room '" though whether it is in his head or in the air, he does not know.  The voice resonates with authority and impossible age.

'I am Holsuth Phagn'Neysugg, Second Stage Savant, Consul of the Primal Empire,' the voice says.  'Know then that I am your Master.  You shall obey me in all respects.  You shall not question my orders.  You shall not attempt to escape.  You shall serve me with complete and utter loyalty.

'Know that I am generous to those that serve me well and unforgiving to those that rebel.  The obedient may be granted the gift of Union.  The disobedient will be used for Incubation.'

The thing in the glass cylinder moves subtly and a cloud of thick, yellowish gas is released from orifices along its body.  The sallow vapor is sucked by hidden machines from the water and then slowly pumped into the air around you.  It smells disgusting, like rotten fish.

'Now.  Inhale the mucus gas.  Breathe in the yellow fume.  Let it fill your lungs.  Do not resist.'

Kraashgar finds the order impossible to resist.  He inhales and begins to cough and choke.  He feels the gas inside his lungs, and suddenly he cannot breath.  As he splutters, one of the membranous humanoids activates a glyph on another console, and circular sluices in the ceiling and walls dilate.  Water begins filling the room.  When it rises above our hero's head he finds he can breathe again.  Prsently, the fish-thing continues to speak.

'Out of water, those of my ilk will die.  To save ourselves, we enter a process of suspended animation, succumbing to a state called The Long Dreaming.

'During The Long Dreaming our skin forms a tough, hardened membrane to seal in moisture while our minds become sluggish and inactive.  Aboleths in this state are helpless.  If the membrane is pierced, the moisture within leaks out, and the aboleth within will die.

 'One of my kindred, Rhan'Taikol, First Stage Savant, was beached in a cavern not far from Phagn'Yath. We received our last telepathic message from Rhan seven hours ago.

'We suspect that Rhan'Taikol has entered the Long Dreaming.  Your task will be to retrieve him.  My Skum servitor Ithilax will be your Overseer.  He speaks with my Voice.  You will obey him.'

One of the Skum moves forwards.  Kraashgar's fetters are removed, and the chain is removed from his manacles.  Glyphs on the manacles that were previously inert glow with green light, and our hero feels suddenly strong '" much, much stronger than normal.  He also realizes that he cannot disobey the thing's commands, as much as he might like to.  The sensation is quite different than being Charmed: where a Charm made Kraashgar the friend of the half-elf sorcerer Kenneth and thus amenable to his suggestions, he still possessed free will.  In contrast, the aboleth Holsuth's psychic domination is overwhelming.  He finds his horror, disgust, and hatred for the being no less intense than before his domination, but he cannot bring himself to disobey the commands he has been given.  He will not escape: he cannot.

Another of the Skum enters the chamber and hands all the slaves a barbed shortspear.

'This way,' Ithilax proclaims, pointing to a round door halfway up one smooth, slimy wall.  Kraashgar and the rest of his team swim up towards the door, and out into the city of Phagn'Yath.[/ic][ooc]I used a free online text-->voice program and sound editing software to replicate as best I could the creepy voice of the Guild Navigator (about 4:20 into the video) from David Lynch's Dune.  I was trying to evoke the navigator and the Advisors from HL2 for the aboleth.[/ooc]

QuoteI ruled that Kraashgar's display of suicidal bravery was sufficient for him to qualify for "true heroism," so he took his first PC level (a level of fighter) at the beginning of the next session.

Oh no! He's sold out! :o

Note: Catching up reading.

Yeah, the warrior thing was fun, but he's not a minion per se anymore, and the campaign is entering its final phase (about 15 more episodes, I estimate), so I decided to give him a power boost.  Group fights will start to be more fun now, since Kraashgar can really pull his weight instead of fighting low-level opponents while his burlier companions do most of the work.

[ic=Episode 46: Blood Frenzy]The aboleth city is a thing from a nightmare.  Coiled spires and pillars thrust upwards from the dim, greenish murk below; huge gantries and bulbous, cyclopean domes erupt in grotesque, towering profusion, like tumorous growths on the ocean floor.  Aboleths, Skum, kuo-toans, slaves, and small, biomechanical submersibles flit to and fro, passing under massive arches and in and out of the hideous, palatial structures.

Kraashgar notices a glyph tattoo on his arm is glowing, and also that he is not freezing.  He is aware that the water is incredibly cold, but somehow the temperature does not affect him.

'This way,' Ithilax gurgles.  The command is irresistible: since Holsuth Phagn'Neysugg ordered Kraashgar and his companions to obey the Skum's orders he is powerless to disobey.  The servitor swims through the city, slaves in tow.  They weave in and out of the city, passing through surreal thoroughfares clotted with marine traffic and seaweed, till eventually a huge cliff appears out of the murk '" the outer edge of Phagn-Yath.  Ithilax directs them to a small tunnel set in the cliff's surface.

'Rhan'Taikol was beached somewhere in this cave complex,' the overseer says.  'We will find our way to the surface, then split into two groups to investigate.  For now we shall stay together.  Come.'

They enter the cave.  The tunnel slopes upwards, still filled with water.  Ithilax guides them deeper into the underwater warren.  They have ascended through several sets of tunnels when the Skum tastes the water with his tongue.

'Something up ahead '" careful.'  His suspicions are confirmed when a javelin hurtles out of the darkness, towards the group; it passes harmlessly by, but four dark shapes appear shortly after.  The creatures are scaled, greenish humanoids with rows of sharp teeth and bulbous fish-eyes: not dissimilar to Skum or kuo-toans, but more reptilian.  Where the aboleths' creations and the frogfolk resemble amphibians, these creatures are fish-like.

'Sahuagin!'  Ithilax proclaims, as the fish-things attack.  "Destroy them - the sea devils must not be permitted to escape!"

Each slave takes a sahuagin, while Ithilax lingers in the rear.  Kraashgar aims a swipe with his shortspear and draws blood, but receives a nasty bite in return.  The water is stained red as both combatants blood billows into the air.  The sahuagin becomes frenetic as the blood swirls around them.  It launches itself into a frenzy, clawing at our hero and wounding him badly with its razor-sharp claws and teeth.  Kraashgar yells in pain, bubbles escaping from his mouth, and jabs again with his spear.  This time he thrsust with enough vigor to impale the sahuagin, killing it instantly as his spearhead penetrates its heart.  He turns and hurls his spear at the nearest sahuagin, finishing off one that Kurlok was dealing with.  Cromn and the bugbear seem to have handled their own opponents, though all of the slaves have taken wounds: without armor almost any blow is an injury.

'Onwards!'  Ithilax orders, himself untouched.  The group swims upwards, deeper into the caves.[/ic]

Very Minor comments:

In the Redcap issue:

>>'Very well. I will lead you to their camp, though I can accompany you no further '" the giants would skin me alive.'

*I cannot

QuoteOur investigates the top floor but finds it empty and desolate, strewn with rubble and crumbling statuary. He heads down to the bottom floor, accompanied by Svaroch and Cromn, and with an effort hefts the trapdoor back. He descends a ladder into a cellar below, pistol in hand, loaded now with a normal bullet. He is perilously low on ammunition, and curses himself for not picking up more from Kurlok.

Dust and cobwebs are thick in the cellar. Kraashgar sees large wooden kegs and shelves with old wine-bottles, as well as a large wooden chest, slowly gathering dust, padlocked. He hears a chittering sound and looks up, is horrified by a massive spider crouched in a huge web on the ceiling. He aims a shot and blows the giant arachnid's head apart; it falls to the ground, legs twitching and contracting.

Kraashgar puts a couple of wine bottles in his satchel, then heads over to the chest. After a couple of tries he busts the rusty padlock off with his morningstar. Inside the chest he finds a heavy iron mace and a weight book written in Common and scrawled with notes and pictures of faerie creatures. Our hero takes both these items and returns to the first level.

*Our hero investigates (instead of "our investigates")
*Weighty (not weight) book

Quote from: Steerpike!A week ago, they stole the one called Klet's fingerpick for his banjo.'

Kraashgar notice the banjo in question: a huge instrument of wood and raw hides. It leans against a log, unused.

'The giants have tried to retrieve the fingerpick, but the harpies are cunning.

This is hilarious. :)
Hillbilly Giants!

Quote from: Light Dragon>>'Very well. I will lead you to their camp, though I can accompany you no further '" the giants would skin me alive.'

*I cannot

Wouldn't that make it a double negative?

QuoteKraashgar awakes in chains. He is in a dank, slimy chamber, lightless, along with bedraggled group of his comrades. The room is quite large and round, with no exits save for a round hole in the floor, filled with water. He and the rest '" which include Kurlok, Cromn, Szor, Skabrat, and Xug '" are perched on a kind of shelf surrounding this pit; other individuals, likewise shackled, are evident in the room as well.

Reminds me of the scene in Baldur's Gate.

How long did you have the raid planned out before you started it? I noticed the shedding of the slaadi scales some time back.

---
Ghostman- You are correct... I did not notice the subsequent "no".
Sorry Steerpike.