Month: February 2019

Chapter 10 – The Battle for Firefinger

On By Ducks and HighwaysLeave a comment

[Long before he was the grandfatherly author renowned across Faerûn, Kanye played a pivotal role in the history and shaping of the land of Chult. What follows in an excerpt from his most recent work, How the Rainforest Was Won: The Autobiography by Kanye the Wizened.]

The party huddled in clumps and packed into the crannies of the short cave. Leathery wing flutter and cackling voices carried inside. A reptilian voice called into the cave, “Skree!” Elgard stepped forward under the magical mantle of his scaly disguise. Iridor went at his side, slipping the broken restraints over his tiny, tiny hands again.

“Hello, can I help you?” He arranged illusory wings to match the posture of the creature perched in the cave entrance. Elgard pushed Iridor forward. “Did y’all change your minds? Are we gonna eat this little one now?”

They ignored the baby. “Where is Skree?” the first one asked.

The question demanded and answer and Elgard would provide one: “He’s at the store.”

Both pterafolks cocked their heads, looking at him with one eye, then the other. They asked at once, “Is he with the Elders?”

“Yes.” Elgard was happy for the cue. “That’s what he said.”

The first pterafolk dropped his beak and stepped into the cave. Immediately Kulu loosed a bolt from her place in the shadows. It plunged through the center of the head between the long beak and the long crest, trailing blood and grey matter into the sky behind it. The creature collapsed into a heap of wing and talon. Iridor unslipped his bonds while Kanye pushed off the stone and charged. Iridor unleashed his captive furry bringing his fists up again and again under the pterasaur’s beak. It flailed its wings and screamed until Kanye brought his stone hammer down. The limp reptile lay on the cliff face. Kanye shouldered his weapon and took a wing in each hand, holding them at the base near the creature’s shoulders. He planted his foot on its back and undid the thing. Zyldi was delighted to see the stumps he carried into the cave. She took the flaccid wings to the cliff face and unfurled them over the party.

From over their heads, a prehistoric crow call descended. Azaka could bear it no longer. She felt her skin crawl; every hair on her body prickled and thickened. “All of you run!” She meant not to leave. Kanye offered the free end of his rope. She nodded and tied it to her belt. They turned to the chimney and climbed. Galliard and Dragly followed, unaware that escape lay behind them. Seraphina watched them climb out of sight and turned to the others, gathering up under Zyldi’s tent-like amputations. Under her guarding wings, they scrambled around the corner. Seraphina steeled herself and turned to the chimney.

Zyldi guided the small ones along the cliff face and around the corner. She looked up long enough to see a flock of pterosaurs spiraling for them. The dismembered wings flailed in her hands and caught the wind. Would they be enough to fool the lizard brains?

In the chimney, Azaka climbed at a feline pace. Tied in behind her, Kayne struggled to move his ponderous body at the same speed. Javelins whistled down on them. One sank into Azaka’s chest. Seeing this, Kayne braced to catch her, but she did not fall. A second volley rained down, and Azaka caught one in her fist, turned the blade and heaved it upward.

Galliard looked past the climbers and cast a pyrotechnic spell, blinding the attacking reptiles. As the fireworks faded, Azaka burst out of chimney and clove her sword through the thin neck of the first pterafolk. Its two parts fell backwards over the tower’s edge and fell silently to the forest floor shrieking as they sped past Zyldi and the others.

Zyldi got the halfings through the second level of the tower. As they exited the caves, javelins rattled down on the stone around them. Zyldi used her magic, masking their retreat with a dark fog. The descending flock disappeared into it. She uttered a quick thank you to nature that Elgard’s troubles in ascending Firefinger had not afflicted him in the descent.

On the tower’s pinnacle, Azaka let the cat out of the bag on her secret, morphing into a tigerwoman as the others poured from the chimney and took positions at her sides. The five of them stood back to back in the nest of the pterafolk as the verminous beaked animals descended on them from all sides. The flapping clawing horde swirled around them batlike. Azaka was a whirlwind of fur and claw, shredding wing and beak alike. The sharp stakes of wood over Kanye’s shoulders impaled many of the beasts before they reached him, nevertheless he felt talons close around his shoulders. Over his head, quetzalcoatl wings churned the air, lifting Kanye off his feet. Azaka, still tied to him was pulled behind. Around them Galliard and Dragly and Seraphina were also carried skyward.

Galliard unleashed his signature spell: thunder shook the tower’s peak. The shockwave ripped the wings of his foes like canister shot. His lightning reflexes prevented his friends from being carried over the edge but Galliard himself hung over empty space, clinging by one hand to a scaly talon as it shed altitude. To get ground back under his feet, he summoned a magical dragon at a high rate of speed which collided with the pterafolk and knocked Galliard safely to the ground next to his friends. The pterafolk that dropped him freaked out and died.

The tables were turned. Seraphina, freed by Galliard’s spell, fell to the ground and smote ruin on many saurians. In the midst of this, she stopped to pray to, nay boldly argue with, her god, “Listen punk! It says second level…what do you mean I don’t have second level spells?…Fine. Then I lose the smallest dice.” Kanye and Azaka and Seraphina moved through the flying lizards, clawing and cutting and crushing them. With each foe felled, they hurled the bodies from the cliffs. The cascade of shattered corpses heartened Zyldi and their halfing friends on the descent.

The Elder alone remained aloft raining javelins down into the melee as his people dactyl-walked for safety from the ravening warriors. Galliard mocked him viciously calling attention to his pansy, pansy wings. At this goading, the Elder landed among them to fight to the death. The tower shook and the sky flashed as Zyldi reached the ground with the halfings. On the ground at last, they knelt to catch their breath. Just as they did so, the red, diaphanous hulk of the Elder crashed down before them like a circus tent. Firefinger was freed. Iridor looked skyward with bitter regret at having fled the tower while his new friends fought with honor at its peak.

Epilogue: Galliard spoke with the bird man as he prepared to leave Firefinger. “Where will you go now?”

“To my home. You are welcome to join me. We will—Achoo!”

“You farted!”

“Uh, that came from my mouth.”

“I’m sorry, cloacas [sic] are confusing.”

Chapter 9 – Floors and Falling

On By Ducks and HighwaysLeave a comment

Party Present: Galliard, Rahn, Kilgore, Kulu, Seraphina, Elgard, Kanye, Zyldi, Nor

Party Missing: None

Level 2 – Firefinger Spire

The party all enters the second level of Firefinger Spire.  The room is empty save for a corpse in the corner. Kulu searches the corpse and gains some goodies.  She sees a glimpse of something on the ceiling, but is too distracted by the shiny objects on the corpse to pay much attention.  Nor calls across the room for Kanye, and the party quickly learns what was lying in wait from above.


Sturge

ENCOUNTER – 9 Sturges

  • The sturges sink their disgusting proboscus into some of the party members: 2 on Kulu, 2 on Galliard, 2 on Kanye, 3 floating in the air
  • Galliard goes unconscious from the sturge attack
  • Rahn quickly cleaves the two struges on Galliard
  • Kilgore kills one of the sturges on Kanye
  • Kulu murders one of the ones on her chest – piercing it with her dagger
  • Seraphina rids Kulu of her final sturge
  • Elgard casts Minor Illusion to look like the wall of the cave to prevent being blood sucked
  • Kanye runs into the wall chest first, smashing the sturge still on him
  • Zyldi goes to Galliard and casts healing word, she back away
  • Nor readies an action in case a sturge tries to attack Kanye; he doesn’t wait long as as sturge immediately lunges for Kanye.  Nor murders the bug beast
  • Galliard rallies and attacks the sturge that has sunk into Seraphina.  
  • Dragle kills the final sturge

The party decides to send Kanye and his tied troupe out first to navigate the precarious edge of the spire.  Galliard assists by casting a crosswind to counter the wind whistling around the tower. As they go, Zyldi decides to turn into a spider with wild shape.  She climbs swiftly to the 3rd floor to scout. She sees 4 pterafolk sitting hunched around a fire and 2 figures bound as prisoners.

Zyldi quickly scurries back to the party and spins a web that spells out: “Kanye” as she wants to speak with him without changing out of her spider shape.  After much debate, we realize that Rahn can also speak with animals, and she tells him what she saw on the 3rd floor.

Level 3 – Firefinger Spire

2hrs later….the party has made a plan on how to infiltrate the 3rd floor.  First, Kulu will go in and assassinate as many of the pterafolk that she can.  There is no need to tell any further of the plan as Kulu ASSASSINATES ALL FOUR PTERAFOLKS in about 30seconds.  

Now the rest of the party ascends to the 3rd floor.  This is largely uneventful save for Elgard. The wizard manages to get halfway up the ladder, loses his footing, and falls.  Nor quickly reaches out an arm and swings the wizard back onto the ladder below himself. Elgard is probably appreciative, but you wouldn’t know it as he promptly loses his footing yet again.  Rahn half-heartedly puts out an arm to see if Elgard will land it in. He doesn’t. Rahn shrugs. Seraphina, still on the ledge, sees what is happening and swiftly snatches Elgard from what would be guaranteed death.  They decide instead to tie a rope to Elgard, and they haul him up.

While everyone was climbing the ladder, Kanye and Kulu release the prisoners. They are a Halfing Monk and a Birdman.  Kanye: “We found a baby halfing, and it is really smart!” The Birdman is named Nephyr who was captured while out on patrol.  The Halfling is Eridor Redknuckles. He and several of his friends had been captured by the pterafolk while out one day and were forced to work the mines as slaves.  Recently, they managed to escape but were once more captured and brought to this tower.

Eridor is worried about the fate of his other friends.  He wants to quickly get to the 4th floor to see whether they are still alive and need help.  Zyldi heads up to the 4th floor to scout. There are 3 pterafolk out on patrol, and 6-8 others milling about. There is not much room at the top.  She also sees a chest in the room where the flame shoots out from the top of the spire. She brings this news to the party. They make a plan to distract the pterafolk, steal the contents of the chest that hopefully contain the mask, and then flee.

Level 4 – Firefinger Spire

Elgard, Eridor, and Galliard are the main players of this plan.  Elgard casts Minor Illusion to look like one of the Pterafolk. He takes Eridor and starts to make a show of throwing the prisoner off the top of the spire. While he is drawing attention, Galliard sneaks to the top and steals the contents of the chest.  He victoriously returns to the rest of the party.

Elgard sees Galliard’s success and starts to backpeddle with the crowd.  He had managed to stave off the opposition from “the boss”, but is now trying to say maybe the bossman was right, and it is best to wait to eat the Halfing.  “The Boss” suggests they eat the birdman instead. Elgard disagrees: “I don’t know about y’all but I don’t like eatin’ dem featers.” He is slowly backing away through all this to get himself and Eridor back to the chute that they came up.  Boss: “Why don’t you fly him back?” Elgard jumps down the chute with Eridor.

While that is going on, Galliard hands to mask to Azaka.  She is grateful.

The pterafolk are suspicious of the Elgard character and three of them decide to come check it out.  They are swiftly and quietly disposed of by Kanye, Eridor, and Seraphina. The parties escape plan is still undecided

Bard and Aspiring Necromancer

On By Ducks and HighwaysLeave a comment

Galliard Mazurka the Magnificent

Taken in as an orphan by Zelda the matriarch witch of a troupe of performing Gypsies, Galliard Mazurka the Magnificent (also named by gypsies) is the front performer of the Dazzling Traveling Thespians of Thestia. The troupe treats him like a precious gem, ignoring his Tiefling heritage and teaching him all the expertise of the gypsy life, including disguising his horns. Performing in every town they come across the colourful group of misfits have seen every country and kingdom imaginable. Galliard specializes in wowing the audience with music and magical comedy. Juggling Dazzling lights and using invisible servants to perform amazing and comedic tricks. His whole job is to keep the audience distracted while the troupe’s thieves comb the onlookers for anything they can slip out of an unwary pocket.

Galliard has trained and honed his skills as a thief and comic musician for his entire life. Always wanting to keep the troupe happy and fed. Looking for ways to use his abilities to make a quick silver here or there. Although he relishes the roar and laughter of the crowd, Galliard longs for something else, something beyond the grinning masses that hear his playful tunes and cheerful ditties. Dancing, joking, performing, and smiling as wide as the crowd that watches him. Behind his broad grin and gleaming eyes Galliard longs for Darkness. He secretly studies the dark arts and Necromancy in his own time, musing about the day he can finally attain his dreams. Creating a Hardcore Deathmetal Band, complete with skeletal musicians and a truly unique musical quality that will sweep the lands with its dark awesomeness.

Madame Zelda Seeing that Galliard was unhappy, decided it was time for him to travel the world on his own for a while. Hoping he would sow his wild oats and come back to the stable business of fraud, smuggling, and thievery she gave him her blessing to leave but scolded him for making her have to hire five people to replace his act. Galliard was half eager and half anxious to be away from the troupe of crazy characters that raised him and poured their worldly knowledge into him. But he decided that was indeed his time to see the world alone and create his dream.

Smiling like he did in front of the throngs Galliard set out on his own. Traveling the roads in search of ancient dark knowledge and plying his gypsy art to make a living. Hoping to mix ancient necromantic arcana with new age flair and flourish. Someday he will attain his dreams and throw off the world of rainbow coloured cloaks with pink bows and ribbons. He will don the guise of a Supreme Musical Necromancer and usher in a new Genre and a new age of true musical art through Death Metal.

Always in touch with his less than law abiding family. Someday he will have to advertise and sell his musical brand, and for that Madame Zelda says they will need to start a business empire or even take over a city. Balancing everything while keeping his sights set on Black Necromantic dreams and remembering the happy thieves and crazy carnies that raised him is a difficult path to tread but Galliard Mazurka the Magnificent is up for the challenge!