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Session 19 into session 20 –(recap)
Welcome back everyone! – Here’s what happened in our previous session.
When we last met – Ophi’s Bodyguards were just taking a short rest within the maggot lair, after entering the next level down, and dealing with a rather unfortunate chest incident, wherein Scarlett tried to open it up, and triggered a trap, which injured her and destroyed some of the equipment in the process.
The party were once again ready to break their rest, and move forward, with Rhyker leading the party, they headed further into the cold and dark passage, but Krell was taking his time at the rear of the party, which wasn’t like him, but he was examining his weapons for signs of wear… Satisfied with the condition of his equipment, and with a gentle nudge from Ophi as she moved past him, Krell took one step, and from out of nowhere, a mysterious portal opened up on his heels.
Skeletal hands gripped his body at the shoulder, and wrapped around his waist, and as much as Krell tried to resist them, he was overpowered, and dragged backwards into the portal.
Ophi saw what happened, but was unable to help him, it all happened so fast, as she explained to the rest of them that Krell was gone, whilst she dealt with her own feelings of shock and bewilderment.
In a desperate bid to find Krell, the rest of the party took a moment to scour the area, and looked for him, but to no avail.
Eventually, the search was called off, and agreeing that they would likely see him later, they all pushed forwards, and it wasn’t too long before battle found them once more.
Black Locusts awaited them in the next room along, and Rhyker was happy to oblige them.
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Scarlett launched her attacks from behind the safety of the front line, scoring hits on the swarms with the flames that surrounded her arrows, as she watched them ignite as the arrow passed through the middle of them.
Rhyker finished the rest of them off quickly, using his aura of holy flame, but not before he suffered a strike from one of the groups of flies, biting at his skin where they could reach, around the neck and torso area, as they did so, they inflicted him with Fatigue… which made Rhyker even slower than he already was.
After the minor conflict here, the party searched the area quickly and decided to move on, further along the passageway which twisted and turned in many directions – until at last they came to the end of it, which opened out into a larger room-like area, with a large nest with some of the indestructible eggs, and a few maggots guarding it.
Battle was once again inevitable here, but the fight was again another easy one, with the party breezing through it, searching the area, and claiming some of the large eggs left behind.
Once ready, they took the next tunnel from the room which led down to the third floor, and the heart of the hive itself.
No sooner had the party emerged from the tunnel down into the next floor, and turned their first corner, they were set upon as they headed down a thin passage which connected to the Maggot Queen’s lair, and awaiting them in her nest, there she was… the Maggot Queen herself… and she was NOT happy to see them at all.
At a quick glance, the party were able to see a very important looking chest next to the queen’s nest area, and either side of her were a couple of Sand Maggots, that were ready to dash forwards on command, and fight off the attackers… in non-preferred close combat.
Battle for the Hive kicked off as the Maggot Queen launched her acidic venom at Rhyker,, who had taken point, and though the damage wasn’t that strong, the effect of the acid eroded his equipment within mere seconds.
Ophi responded first, with her witch bolt, aimed at one of the Maggot guards, now standing blocking the passage way, between the party members, and their Queen.
Blackened bolts of energy surged forwards, connecting and scorching their target, as they remained firmly in place… forming a wall.
At some point in the fight, Ophi sent a devastatingly powerful Firebolt, at the Queen, and in retaliation to this, the Queen covered Ophi in her acidic ichor, which she could accurately deliver at a distance.
Immediately, Ophi’s equipment broke whilst she wore it, and then she broke too…. Ophi was taken down by the immense damage and pain she suffered from this sickly green liquid spit, she was totally covered in.
Instinctively, Scarlett ran to Ophi’s side, and tried her best to help her friend.
Scarlett healed Ophi, and attempted to lift and drag her out of harm’s way, but she couldn’t muster enough strength required for the task, no matter what she did… Or how many times she tried.
Soon, she realized that the plan was not working, and so Scarlett bravely stepped forward, placing herself in the firing line instead of Ophi… Acting as a human shield standing between her friend, and the Queen and her guards.
The battle from there raged on for some time, both sides landing hits, and taking them… And whilst the guards didn’t really do much in the way of damage, their bodies were very large, and durable, and hard to move out the way.
That said, eventually, the party did get the upper hand at one stage, and the Queen and her guards soon lay slain on the blood stained hive floor.
However, that wasn’t all… As the Queen had a little surprise in store.
As she took her final moments alive on Sanctuary, her body swelled and pulsated with a strange light emanating from inside her.
As she reached the highest capacity to expand, the Queens body burst open, sending acidic poison ichor and hard chunks of maggot flesh, across the entire area – instantly covering Ophi once more before she could move out the way, and once again it was too much for her to bare, and she went down hard and was close to dying at that point.
Rhyker, dropped everything he was doing, as much as he was tempted to search the Queens remains, and her nest, he opted to go and be a hero, and saved Ophi from her fate once again with a rejuvenation potion.
With the threat of combat, and dying, now averted… The party did search the room, they found inside of the locked chest a VERY elaborate and intricately designed looking staff… The quest to find the Horadric Staff had come to its end finally.
On top of this, they noticed a few crystalline ore, located around the rear of the nest, which held easily removable gems of various colours and sizes.
Rhyker claims the gems for the time being, whilst Ophi and Scarlett went about setting up a town portal, for them all to use, and once they were ready to leave, they took the route back safely, back to the city, via their handy portal scroll.
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Once back inside the high walls of Lut Gholein, the party immediately set about doing various tasks they wanted to get done, and agreed to meet up later inside Atma’s tavern… However, they didn’t see Krell when they finally arrived there, or anywhere else around the city for that matter.
So – The party have now finished any of their downtime activities, and in the process have spoken to any of the merchants around town, including Elzix, who was all too happy to take the mutant giant eggs off the hands of everyone.
Moving on from there, the party have all met back within Atma’s tavern, having just finished their long rest in their hired room for the afternoon. It’s now around 8pm, and they come down to the ground floor.
At this time of evening there’s several patrons here now, just arriving for a good night of… drinking, gambling, relaxing, singing, dancing, or anything else they may have in mind.
The area that the party sits usually, is situated off to one of the quieter sides of the bar area, and so they can easily avoid the goings on around them, and talk among themselves.
However, there’s some new faces in the tavern…
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