Wild:39 Hunting

Starring: Bo, Fuelwen, Brilla, TskTsk
Guest Starring: Killibron
Challenge: Corpse Golem
Location: Seas, No Man, Purple Island, Inner Planes cusp
Date Played: 17 June 2010 and 01 July

Island Information

Brilla: The seas are still rough. My maps are also a bit off in some places. I'm not liking the sea in the state it is in.

We have decided to set off to Wild Tentacles to observe the islands from the moon in hopes of a glimpse of what could be causing off of this. Luckily, on the way there we pass by No Man. It will give us a chance to drop off Killibron. I swear, that man has to have some albatross in his blood.

Fuelwen: Of immediate concern is the changes of navigation. Islands are clearly moving, although it's not too dramatic, as they all seem to be moving in the same direction. I suspect that we'll find other island groups moving in different directions. At my first opportunity, I'm going to purchase a high quality astrolabe and transit. I'm not completely familiar with their use, but I think it's becoming increasingly important.

On No Man

Brilla: Pinky One-Horn gave us a sound greeting when we entered the inn and informed us that there was a creature much like Killibron that has taken up residence in the inn. This would could barely take one Killibron, let alone two. The silent looks amongst me and the party said it all; there can only be one.

We set way to the room and gained entry (the Fuelwen way). Much to our relief, the create had multiple arms, but was nothing like Killibron. It was a Thri-kreen named Tsk'Tsk that was looking for us. Evidently he stayed with a few others to fight the blue dragon and was the only to survive. He wishes to travel with us to become a leader of his people.

At this point we begun to see a striking similarity between Tsk'Tsk and Fuelwen. Everything they did seemed to be matched neck and neck. It will be interesting to see where this little competition between these two go. I'll be sure to step in before violence comes about.

During all this commotion, Killibron was able to shift the inn to the small flooding island dimension. I just realized... we really need to name this thing. Anyway, he put Tsk'Tsk to work and had him dig around the areas. Overall it was pretty uneventful. Mostly just a waste of time and a bit of a pain.

Night quickly came over the area and word reached our ears of a deadly creature that has been hunting those that go out at night. The creature is said to be from the plane of shadow. It will be dangerous indeed, but the competition between Fuelwen and Tsk'Tsk is already reaching a rapid boil (as was shown by the hunting feast we were presented), I doubt we can avoid this encounter. In the least, we could save the lives of some of the locals from future attacks. I'll have to make sure I stay hidden, though, as those that look human are not welcome on this island. Even though I come with kindness, I doubt the natives would be so willing to give me a pass even after I help them.

Fuelwen: The inn… I recognize that I am the owner of the inn in title only. Killibron runs the place, but he serves my goals, even if only peripherally. I value him as a scholar, more than I value the Pink Priaprism as a place. That reminds me, I should get him to share his notes with me.

We have a new… associate. The less said about him, the better. I don't think he can be trusted, and I'm certain he'll crumble at the first sign of real combat. Speaking of…

There's a creature lurking on Noman. A large monster of some kind, from the plane of shadow. Since it only comes out at night, I set to tracking it by day. We may be able to beard it in its lair, or more likely, find its spoor and lay an ambush for it.

TskTsk: I was fortunate in my search to find the Pink Priaprism, an establishment owned though seldom operated by the adventurers I sought. Intent to wait months if need be, I was pleasantly surprised when they knocked on my door on evening just a few days after I arrived.

They were cautious, as a clutch should be, but realized that my motives are sincere. I feel a kinship with the tentacled hunter, Fuelwen.

The Beast with Two Backs (and three arms, and one good leg, and...)

Brilla: Tsk'Tsk was able to find a good trail that led us out into the wilderness for a good while. The trail wasn't too hard to follow once we noticed the distinct "peg leg" impression that the creature left behind. We eventually came across a small shack in the distance. The contest seemed to continue between Tsk'Tsk and Fuelwen as they both sent out to collect some more information for us and to display their abilities at stealth. Bo and I hung back, as usual.

After some time they came back telling us that they couldn't find out what it was. It was decided that a direct approach may be preferable. At this, Bo decided to polymoprh himself into a mind flayer to make negotiations go more smoothly. ::facepalm::

Upon knocking on the door, the creature burst it open and cast a volley of magic missiles at us. A few attacks into the melee and we were able to figure out it was some sort of corpse golem that possessed some intelligence. The creature was very resilient, but eventually fell to a good bit of team work. Tsk'Tsk provided Fuelwen some praise; a fuel that his ego is not needing in my opinion.

TskTsk: After gathering a feast with Fuelwen we set our minds to a hunt. A terrifying creature was slaughtering people and we were determined to put an end to it. I deferred to the clutch's usual tracker and was surprised that none of them knew how to follow even the simplest of trails. Perhaps I will teach Fuelwen.

The beast had legs of two different varieties—one humanoid and one appears to be a peg leg. There was much talk of pirates followed by laughter. I followed the trail to a huge building in a village, where the beast appeared to leap onto the roof, so I followed suit.

The roof was littered with body parts. Splat, a luminescent flying ooze, spiraled up to join me. I hid myself, so as to test how keen his senses are. Sharp as a club, that one is.

Backtracking the trail inland led us to a large hovel. Eager to prove myself, I volunteered for recon. As I crept forward I discovered a simple noise trap. To alert the others, as well as to remind myself, I tied flowers around the tripwire. Once at the stone building I climbed the side and listened through the thatch. Something was being brewed and there was only one creature inside.

Returning to the clutch, there was much bickering about strategy. Fuelwen handed me a net so that I might restrict the enemy once the door was opened. We gathered in position outside the door, and apparently so did the beast, as once we knocked the door was thrown wide and two bolts of magic struck the mother and the elder.

I was told the reason I was having difficulty hurting it is because it was a construct, and that constructs require a special material to harm. Adamantine. I will have to get some.

Fuelwen: After the encounter at the hovel, I'm feeling more inclined to count Tsk'Tsk among our school. Mostly because his fangs are duller than mine. In any case, we relied on Tsk'Tsk to track the beast during the day. The path lead into town and we found that the creature had been disposing of bodies on the rooftops- an odd choice, since the odor would carry. Then again, this poor section of town had its own odors. Most important: if it was disposing of waste here, its den had to be farther away.

We reversed our path and tracked back to its den- a hovel in the Wilding. I was tempted to ambush it with overwhelming force, but the others feared that it was home to an innocent, and not our quarry. They were wrong, of course- after much deliberation, we surrendered the element of surprise and it landed first blood.

I landed the last. The battle one, Tsk'Tsk helped me prepare a bier to carry our kill back into town. The custom was ridiculously out of place in this region, but I appreciated Tsk'Tsk's support.

Purple Island

Brilla: With the creature that terrorized No Man gone, we once again set sail to try to get to Wild Tentacles. It appears that the islands are moving together in small groups, though the direction is different for each group. This will make future navigation difficult at best. Fuelwen is doing his best to keep our maps straight, but I'm not even sure how well he can do at this task. Our best bet will most likely be the moon where we can get a good view on the state of thing in the Wilding.

While sailing and island hopping, we came across an unfamiliar island. The sands were purple and it appeared to be deserted. In fact, I could see no vegetation on the island as well. Since this was such a strange sight, we decided to investigate things further. Delconner and Quineus decided to join us as well.

The islands sands were much like any others despite their color. Fuelwen took a taste and said that there was a slightly strange flavor, though nothing he though was out of the ordinary. Bo decided to place a spring on the lifeless island, to what end I don't know.

Our exploration of the island even took us to the steep in the middle of it. There was nothing much up there. Well, except for the second fountain that Bo placed. On our way back down, though, the group was able to spot a cave.

The cave was a bit odd looking. It appeared as if it partially natural, though there are some signs that it was worked on by someone. Once inside the spherical room we decided to pay a close examination to the interior walls. Sadly, we found nothing as to a clue of the history of this island.

As Tsk'Tsk tried to leave, he was teleported away. Great, another portal. The rest of the group entered one-by-one. Delconner and Quineous stayed behind with me. I decided it may be best if we held hands while walking through. My thoughts were that we may have had too much mass for the portal to take us, or at least if it did, I'd be able to augment our gravity more easily than they could since I have some experience with it.

This planning was of no use, though, as we appeared on a platform with subjective gravity. We appeared to be in some sort of bubble that was surrounded by the planes of dust, salt, and negative energy. My earth elemental found that this was indeed correct of dust and salt.

Not being a hospitable place, we really need to work on finding a way out...

TskTsk: Off in the distance we see an island that the clutch has not yet seen, so we approach. The island is barren and universally purple in color. I try to rally some of the crew to go ashore and am told by Fuelwen that they are universally cowards. Kord bless me, I'm going to have to change that.

The purple island's earth is brittle as we travel from the ocean's edge inland. I feel a wave of power overcome me but I resist it. With no enemies in sight I explore my belongings and find a dagger. My companions do not tell me that it's self-aware until the second time it attempts to take me over. It yells frequently and pisses me off, so I throw it as far as I'm able.

I learn that each island is tied to a "plane". The clutch theorizes that this one is tied to either the "plane" of salt or mineral. We barely notice a cavern, with a 3'-4' tunnel leading to a room roughly 15' in diameter. Everyone enters and begins to talk about portals. They are doors that lead to "planes".

The mother says that the exit is likely one of these portals. Everyone begins to debate again so I take action and bolt through what turns out to actually be a portal! On the other side is a wooden platform at the nexus of three "planes". We crowd onto this plank and begin to toy with the three "planes" that surround us.

Fuelwen: The children began bickering not long after we set to sea. Once again, they're clamoring for more varied drills, including grappling drills. This turned into an idea for a tournament. I set Quineas and Connor to work planning the tournament, and we worked out a set of prizes for the victors. They threw themselves into it with abandon, and in retrospect, it will likely be good for morale.

I must admit, I'm slightly intimidated by Connor. He doesn't have much skill or experience, but he seems guided by the gods' own luck.

Plans went on hold when we spied Purple Island. A mysterious new island rose on the horizon, unlike any we've ever seen. It lacks most of the features one would expect; it's nearly perfectly round with a pointed mountain. We closed to investigate and found it utterly barren. The purple regolith was utterly dead, harsh, and salty in flavor. I gathered some to add to my sample collection.

We explored the island, and found little variation- except for a cave at the base of the mountain. The chamber itself was bare and uninteresting, but the gateway, like all too many, was a portal. When we attempted to exit the cave, we found ourselves… elsewhere.

And what an elsewhere! It's a trans-planar sanctum, perhaps a shelter, perhaps an observatory, it's difficult to say. A spherical room, with the planes of Salt, Dust and Negative Energy surrounding it. From here, one can see into all three of them. The boundary is thin; an arrow can pierce into each of the planes, but it seems strong enough to hold the weight of an adult creature- I will likely test my luck against the boundary so that I may investigate more fully.

Unfortunately, there is no obvious exit. The place seems lived in, although no one has been here recently. They aren't here now- which means either there is a way to escape, or the only escape is the release of death, and they threw themselves into one of the surrounding planes. The Negative Energy plane would likely be the briefest. Still, we may as well explore this chamber more- perhaps it will provide a clue to the best escape.

Rewards

Wiki update: Brilla, Fuelwen, TskTsk +1 AP