Bardic Lure
Contents
About the Saga
The Dark City adventurers continue their search for the terrifying -- and elusive -- Scarecrow lurking in the sewers.
Timeframe
- Greyhawk Date: Harvester 21, CY 591
- Real World Date: September 2, 2005
- Read other Dark City Sagas
Cast of Characters
- Prug, the half-orc monk on a mission of peaceful charity
- Kerth Greenfield, the divine follower of Pelor
- Corash, the Celene elf seeking arcane knowledge in human lands
- Thom Silverbow, the bard who's terrified of scarecrows
- "Dirty" Salsar, the unshakeable mercenary
Notable Quotes
" I would have thought the weird tick head things would have been more aggressive" -- Prug
What Has Come Before
No adventure summary available.
The Saga
Harvester 21, CY 591
A New Patron
At dawn, the Blue Thieves were hung for their crimes against the city. Repairmen drop off a glass window to Fire-Eaters were Kerth and Thom are staying, while Corash is at the Black Quill and Largo and his bodyguard, Salsar, stay at the Bouncing Elf.
Corash meets up with those at Fire-Eaters, and explains that Maurgiir, a mage, seeks the party's assistance in exploring the sewers, possibly in search of the pumpkin man, its minions, and the various plants in the sewers for 75 gp each.
Decide to go meet him (Prug decides to miss the meeting, and instead goes to speak with his fellow clerics in the Temple of Zodal). He explains that he wants to explore the hole party discovered near the Postern Guard Gate, which leads down to a sea cove, and possibly to a lower level of the sewers.
Thom tries to explain how big a threat the pumpkin man is, saying he's the biggest threat the city has ever seen … eventually talked down into saying he's in the top 20. After explaining the danger, Thom is able to talk Maurgiir into paying 100 gp.
The adventurers are desperate for more help, so Kerth goes off and asks the Temple to protect Largo so that Salsar can aid them
Corash buys feather fall in anticipation of falling through the hole; Thom gets a grappling hook and gives it to Salsar so they're prepared (Salsar already having a hook and 200 ft. of rope from the ill-fated Sidewinder Pass expedition).
Into the Watery Depths
Then head down to Dark Dweomer End, Decide that Prug will go first; finds a large v-shaped cave, with a ledge at the edges of the cave, with waves crushing against the walls. Prug begins swinging in an attempt to get over to the cliff. Meanwhile Corash jumps into the hole, begins to feather fall down and is horrified to see that there's only ocean below him.
Prug manages to reach out and grab elf, and then they both start swinging, terrifying Kersh, who'd just started down the rope himself, and was suddenly paralyzed with fear. Prug then swings over to the ledge, and nails his landing.
The elf tries the same, swinging into position, jumps toward the ledge, but misses, falling into the cliff then dropping into the water, where he's pounded by the surf. He's then knocked unconscious by the waves. Kerth sees this, let's go, and jumps down into the water. He gets to the elf, grabs him, and tries to tie them both to the rope he brought with them, but fails.
Prug jumps in as well, tumbles badly, lands with a huge splash, and finds himself tossed about in the waves. Prug, badly winded, fills himself with divine energy by casting a cure spell.
They all try to work their way toward the cliff, Prug scampering up it, carrying the elf with him, soon followed by the cleric. Prug then heals Corash, getting everyone back on their feet. Salsar then slides down the rope, with some help from Thom, who inspires competence by singing and allows the fighter to find his footing. Maurgiir then makes his way down, followed by a surprisingly deft Thom.
After pausing to catch their breath and heal their wounds, the party heads out again. Prug takes the lead, walking down a narrow ledge with a rope tied to him. The monk advances, sees a cave filled with glowy orange plants.
The Cranial Insisters
Prug, Salzar and Corash move out along the ledge, see a huge cave filled strange orange glow and four tick-like creatures with tentacles and human faces squirming on their back. The creatures are gathered around a large rock jutting from the cave bottom. Prug and Salsar work to secure the rope and send Corash to tie down the other end.
Meanwhile, the faces scream, howl, and writh in agony, deeply disturbing Prug and Salsar. Seeing them, Maurgiir identifies them as cranial insisters, strange parasites that attach themselves to a victim and then devour their very souls.
Discuss tactics, decide to position Salsar in the lead, with the mage ready to drop a burning sphere in the corridor to prevent the monsters from rushing in, then magic missile them, then send an ice ball from his necklace of missiles among their midst.
He summons the fireball, and gets no response. Salsar fires an arrow, which misses, bouncing off the plinth. The head crabs scurry under the rock. Surprised, Prug says "I would have thought the weird tick head things would have been more aggressive."
Korash throws an ice orb in, hoping to damage the creatures, but misses and only hits two of them. Prug and Salsar advance slowly, catching sight of them, but can't get a clean shot. Thom advances as well, ready to throw a dagger. Corash sends in his flaming sphere, looking to burn out the creatures from under the plinth. He succeeds and they come running out from under the pilth, where one leaps up, latches on to Thom's face, and implants a desire to turn and jump off the cliff into the sea.
Prug, seeing this, turns and pummels the tick-thing, killing it with a flurry of blows. Thom turns to walk away, prompting Prug to attempt to smack some sense into him, but misses. The bard, looking dazed, wanders away from the fight, and falls into the drink. A bug leaps at Salsar as well, latching on, and implanting an suicidal impulse into his mind. Despairing, Prug attempts to smack him, but fails and the fighter wanders off to the surf.
The mage Maurgiir true strikes one of the ticks, killing it. Once in the waves, Thom comes to, the death urge passing, and realizes he's in a world of hurt. He tries to climb out, fails, and starts to get pulled out to sea by the riptide after he fails to grab onto the wail.
Corash casts magic missile, killing the creature latched to Salsar's face, but not in time to defeat Salsar's murderous impulse. The fighter proceeded to jump into the water, and promptly sank beneath the water in his heavy armor. Thom desperately attempts to tread water but fails, slipping beneath the waves.
Prug, not believing what he's seeing, tosses one end of a rope to Kerth, says "hold on to this rope!" and runs off the ledge, diving into surf. Meanwhile Maurgiir summons three fiendish crocodiles, two of which latch on to Thom and Salsar and drag them to the surface. Thom is about to flip out and stab the creature when Maurgiir says "don't struggle!"
Prug throws the rope to Thom, who grabs it and gratefully climbs out of the wave. Meanwhile, Salsar's death impulse fades, and he's able to climb out on his own.
After the Horror
The party moves into the cave, with Kerth and Prug healing the wounded while Maurgiir and Corash examine the plith. Maurgiir says he recognizes the writing, and starts sketching it in a notepad. He then gathers some of the orange substance, which seems to be similar to what's normally inside a pumpkin. Kerth then heads out and checks out two sewer entrances, finding them empty.
Maurgiir explains that the room appears to be tainted by exposure to a rift with to the Far Realm, leaving behind the strange orange substance. Explains that the breach can be explored, heading into the periphery, but in order to cross over, must pass through a focus.
He says that he thinks that when the Tower teleported away, its magics may have accidentally created the rift. Leave the cavern, continue to explore the sewers, find that the scarecrow has left, and taken the odd plant growth in the sewers with it. But perhaps it will return … on Patchwall 18.
Party decides to tell the Sewermen's Guild to notify them if they find vines growing anywhere in the sewers, they should notify the church of pelor. They dismiss it, not expecting to find anything.
Experience
900 xp each
