[Fenrir and Reinward are in the Dismal Caverns doing a quest on behalf of Xama the Priestess of Ghaunadaur. They are now in the Gauntlet of Zhaeryx. They are accompanied by Brodok, Cartet Murkor and Abriska, a jelly shaped fighter, a jelly shaped druid and a bucket of ooze respectively.]
DAY 678 (10th Hammer)(January) cont ...
Later that morning they moved on to their next cavern and their next challenge. A quick peak inside revealed this large chamber to be ram packed with Giant Purple Worms. I've encountered these things before, and so had Reinward, which was probably why he was nervous about them, knowing that they could easily swallow a person whole.
Which proved to be the case on their first attack. Brodok was eaten alive and Cartet was tossed around by the worms like dogs throwing around a rat. She managed to turn into a crow however, and flew from their grasp, and then summoned more crocodiles to confuse the worms. This worked enough to give
Reinward and Fenrir time to kill off the worms one by one. It took some time, and it was very chaotic but in the end it was done. Brodok even managed to carve his way out of a worm's stomach.
They looted the cave and moved on. The next cavern was home to twelve greater earth elementals. Reinward's daggers just bounded off them - plink, plink, plink!
This time Brodok was slain in the combat. Fenrir was so heavily armoured that the elementals could do no damage, so Reinward held back around the corner while the warlock slowly whittled down the elementals one by one. Waves of crocodiles helped run interference for him, preventing them from catching him in a corner.
After the battle Brodok was put back in his barrel and Reinward gleefully added the following to the mixture:
1. some ooze from a gelatinous cube type creature
2. some greater earth elemental rocks
3. purple worm giblets
4. purple worm teeth
They then rested again for the rest of the day.
DAY 679 (11th Hammer)(January)
Once they were back in business in the morning they moved on to the next chamber. This was home to a Deathmaw. Reinward rushed in with a dagger and then some more daggers. He was very nervous of the creature and kept his distance, throwing a whole cutlery draw full of blades at it.
Fenrir was there too, blasting away. Both were injured in the battle and when it was defeated then went to get their breath back again at their campsite.
The creatures that Ghaunadaur was throwing at them now were seriously powerful. Once they had healed up they moved on to the next, even larger, chamber. This was home to the Ooze Tyrant of Ghaunadaur.
A horrific mass of writhing sludge infused with divine malice, the Ooze Tyrant was a sentient gift of Ghaunadaur. Its gelatinous surface constantly shifted, revealing the half-digested remains of past victims, their faces frozen in silent agony. The creature existed to consume and corrupt in the name of That Which Lurks.
Brodok, as anxious as ever to finally polish himself off, charged in, was quickly killed and absorbed into the Tyrant.
Fenrir started blasting and doing damage. Reinward grabbed Murkor by the hand and ran off with her. He blinked through the wall and flew around the Tyrant. It seemed like they might defeat this horror, but then - calamity! - Fenrir was overcome by a madness, one of the several dastardly effects emanating from the Tyrant.
Insane, he now wandered off at random, then found Murkor in the previous cave and killed her. Reinward, recovering his bravery, soldiered on, throwing well placed daggers as he muttered, 'Just die you fiend!' He too was driven mad, and he wandered in confusion, but in his madness he threw more daggers at the Tyrant and more by luck than strategy this was enough to finally slay the dreaded abomination.
After a while Reinward recovered himself, and shaking his head took stock of the situation. Brodok and Murkor were slain. Abriska was still in his bucket. And Fenrir was somewhere in the earlier caverns, barking, howling and keening. His madness appeared to be more permanent and would require powerful magic to remove.
Reinward sat beside Abriska and put his head in his hands. He had a lot to deal with!
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