Wild:47 Blood and Ooze

Starring: Bo, Fuelwen, Brilla, and TskTsk
Guest Starring: Marenien (elderly elf)
Challenge: Blood amniote, bloodmote cloud
Location: Giant island, Celestian dungeon
Date Played: 06 Oct 2010

Traveling the Milding

TskTsk: As we travel the Milding with Marenien the elderly elf, he discusses that there is a powerful cycloptic dragon far to the north. This interests me on two levels, first, we could get more information as dragons as renowned for being long-lived, and secondly, if he doesn't cooperate we could get practice in slaying a dragon.

Marenien also talked about the demon cataclysm that comes from across the ocean every thousand years or so. The recent attacks by devils don't count. I believe that Brilla is concerned that she was the one who released these devils. She's probably right.

Fuelwen: I thought that this great island would bring answers to many mysteries. It hints, so tantalizingly. I've been noting not just the local geography, but also the arrangement of local pocket climates.

I also wonder, by releasing devils into this world, what balance we may have upset. We are due for an assault of demons against this great island, but instead we get devils. This is significant, I think, although I don't know how.

Brilla: Our travels with Marenien were relatively event-less. We had some nice conversation and learned a bit more about the Milding. I took note of the cycloplian dragon to the north. I have a feeling we will have to travel there and I believe we may stumble across the creature. Chances are it is relative to the aggressive giants and will need to be dealt with. I feel as though I am losing some of my optimism while on this island.

Elk statue

TskTsk: Ahead of us is a salt plain surrounded by swamp and Marenien tells us that the entrance lies ahead. I sneak forward, invisible to the world in the shadows and discover an exquisitely crafted statue of an elk. After a moment of reflection I gasp at the realization that IT IS NO STATUE. Venturing closer to the entrance I hear clucking sounds and that means one thing—basilisks!

We fight the "domesticated" basilisks, which I'm told are actually cockatrices, who were apparently farmed by what we believe are goblins.

Fuelwen: The entrance to the dungeon is guarded by cockatrix. Marenien is shocked that new creatures have moved into the dungeon- it is as if he is unused to things changing on a time-scale shorter than a thousand years. The dungeon is also populated by goblins, but we save them for later.

Brilla: Our scouting report of the entrance found a statue of an elk. It appeared well crafted and upon closer inspection it appeared to be a real elk. We went through a list of creatures that could do this and decided to end speculation and scout further.

We found that there was a constructed coup of cockatrices guarding the entrance. I gained the help of a vestige that was not great for my self esteem but put me on the front lines for my immunity to being turned to stone. The battle was one where mobility won and we left without anyone getting a stony fate.

Watch your step, there is blood everywhere

TskTsk: Completely out of place, a giant door with celestian sigils fills the wall. Brilla strides to the front and completes the puzzle that Marenien is so proud that we solved, then BANG! The door opens without trouble. Inside is a room where the walls are bleeding and eight pools of blood have collected.

Brilla discovers that there are creatures in two of the pools and sneaks through to a pool that has a portal in it. Recklessly she dives inside.

We wait and she doesn't return soon enough so we rush in after her and end up fighting a Blood amniote and bloodmote cloud. The combat was tough but fortunately the monsters were dispatched before any of us died.

Fuelwen: We delved the dungeon and find the locked door, marked with the sign of Celestian. It opens without difficulty. Beyond, we find bleeding walls, puddles of blood, and undead. We dispatch the undead with little difficulty- the first creature died in a single blow. The swarm was more challenging, but it too fell quickly.

Brilla revealed that the base of the one pool of blood was a link to the quasi-elemental plane of ooze. I make a note to gather some further samples, but first- we continue exploring.

Brilla: We found some goblin tracks at the entrance but dismissed them as they led in a direction counter to our goal.

We eventually found the puzzle door that spit lightning when a wrong answer was given. With my current immunity to lightning I opened the door and peered inside. Immediately my ability to sense undead pinged strongly in my head and I told the group to hang back. I activated my invisibility to undead and strode in.

I eventually came across a portal in the bottom of a blood pool. When I fell through I was in a viscous fluid that led me to believe I was in the para-elemental plane of ooze. Quickly searching for an escape I found an amoeba that had a portal in it. I couldn't be sure it was the one back home but I went for it anyway.

When I came back I found the group in the middle of a fight. I swear, they have no patience. They still did very well without me.

That wall is fake

TskTsk: Once the blood creatures are defeated the wall stops flowing. It continues to collect in pools on the ground but at least it's not fresh. (Is that really better?) Exploring the room it is determined that one of the walls is an illusion.

Walking through the wall we enter a Celestian temple. Here and there the stone is scarred from a battle that appears to have raged on long before the grandfather of our elven companion was born. There are weird characters written EVERYWHERE and Fuelwen takes a rubbing of them. Apparently they are in abyssal and likely written by Slaad.

Searching we discover a bag with a chess set of only pawns. There are two extra pawns for the white side and the whole mess radiates conjuration magic. While in the room, we realize that we are beginning to regain the use of common. We realize this because we read "Canceri" above a gate. Another gate has a sign that reads "Elysium". The portal labeled "Limbo" causes the key that Brilla carries to glow.

Fuelwen: This is a place of power. This is a place from which one can control the world. This Celestian temple is home to many doorways and portals. It's obvious that I'm not the only one that thinks this way- there was a battle here, long ago. We explore this region, cautiously, and I gather what scant information I can about the area, including rubbings of some of the carvings on the wall.

Brilla: After the battle I was able to point out that one of the walls was illusionary. Behind this wall there was a temple to Celestian. These have been appearing everywhere.

The language on the walls was foreign to us but we were eventually able to piece together it was written in slaad. The most interesting thing, though, is that a portal to Limbo set the key to glow. I feel as though I solved the mystery of the key for Nathaniel and I will now send the key and information back to his mummy master on Storybook island to help finish his tale. I'm glad to have brought him closure.

Clockwork Centaur

TskTsk: As we ponder the meaning of the glowing key a clockwork centaur sneaks up on us. While not friendly, it is also not hostile, and we have a conversation. He is an enemy of the Celestians, who have caused all the problems in the world by moving the stars.

There was once a great war against the Celestians because the god granted too much power to his followers. Cyclops are part of a ritual to move portals and shards. (Whatever shards are.)

The centaur is trapped and hunting another entity that is trapped. This entity is a former Celestian priest who transformed into an Entropic Slaughterer.

Fuelwen: An Inevitable stalks these halls. He meets us, and reveals that he is locked in mortal combat with an Entropic Slaughterer that also stalks these halls. They can never meet, however. That is interesting, but even more interesting is why he was here- he and his allies were sent to kill the Celestians that built this place.

As I said, it was a place of power. And these mechanical beings sought to deny us this power. That's neither here nor there, at the moment. Through their experiments, the Celestians changed the very nature of this plane- the Inevitable thought that this plane would tear asunder, but some other force has been holding it together.

Unfortunately, the Inevitable cuts the conversation short before I can gather all the details I would like- the Entropic Slaughterer draws near.

Brilla: We ran into a centaur made of gears and steam in the hallway. It was an inevitable. These creatures come from Mechanis and are focused on order and law. The creature and its allies goals were to stop the Celestians and their experiments.

The inevitable told us that the Celestians were doing experiments with portals to other planes and the stars to shift around the islands. It also confirmed for us that what the Celestians did was becoming undone because the islands were coming back together as a super-island.

There are more questions to be had, but a creature known as an entropic slaughterer is hunting the halls. The draws ever nearer and the inevitable seems worried. Further questions can wait.

Rewards

• Unseen Servant chess set
• Wiki recap reward: TskTsk: 1 use each: Grave Strike, Golem Strike, Vine Strike