Insighting the Wizard - July 23, 2021

 - Almost everyone has dinner at the table. It was one of those weeks.

- The next morning, Osiris and Theophania head to the boarding house and stop at Groundswallow Carpentry on the way to get some turpentine

- Theophania goes to find traces of the fuzzy purple fungus to test the turpentine on with the fancy compressed-air spritzer she made last night

- Osiris goes inside to see if the other people want sweep the sewers again since there's a whole new problem

- The turpentine causes the purple fungus to turn green and not poof out spores

- On the way to the sewer entry point, the report the plant and fungus attack to a guard named Fred.

- He does not have sewer keys, so they wish him sell on his report, and T picks the lock.

- Osiris goes straight in, Rusty follows her, then Raiàn, then Lyrielle, and Theophania takes up the rear because she was digging for the map she drew of this area of the sewer

- There's a sticky spot on the ground, and Osiris ask T to spray it with her spritzer, and when she does so it foams and fizzes and emits some kind of gas. It smell very noxious.

- T then douses the foam with water to try to dilute it, but the water just runs off

- She pokes it with a lock pick and it's still sticky

- Theophania scrapes up the mix into a jar and put it in her bag for proper disposal later.

- They find a sewer grate with the wall coated in the sticky substance

- Osiris peaks out of the grate, and yup, there's Callie Curlywit's boarding house.

- They do a sweep looking for remnants of the fungus. T collects samples of the plant's roots for analysis.

- They head back to the surface and the boarding house to talk to Magnus.

- Big jerk-y poo pants. - Hey, that's not in character!

- Prestidigitation showers

- They go to Magnus's rooms and Callie answers the door looking disheveled. 

- Callie tries to give excuses and Theophania refuses to hear them saying that she'll meet Magnus in his lab next door.

- Magnus doesn't know what the substance is, but he looks like he's being evasive.

- Rusty notices that his eyes keep darting to a collection of empty jars

- Rusty examines the empty jars while Theophania is nagging him about using the barrel she got him, and he doesn't think they are the same as what they've been finding.

- Magnus finally admits he dumped what he thought would be hair growth potions and vegetable enlargement potions down the sewer grate

- The "potion" that created the slimes was an attempted flying potion along with some fertilizer intended to accelerate the growth of yeast for a brewery

- Magnus had tried Divination magics before he got into alchemy, but it did not go well. He had told Mrs. Grayfeather she would have a long happy marriage, and then she walked in on Mr. Grayfeather with the milk girl.

- His reputation suffered after that.

- Osiris goes back to the temple to tell Birel that they found the source of the sewer problem.

- Rusty gets officially hired as security at the boarding house

- She offers him an old storage room that she hasn't really used in years as his personal space since he doesn't really sleep

- Theophania helps Rusty clear out his room.

- They find a tiny minotaur figurine and when she hands it to him his eyes glow purple, then orange, then back to matte black.

- Theophania makes a harness with a loop out of some wire in her pack for the minotaur figurine and threads it onto a leather cord and then put it on him like a necklace.

- Meanwhile back at the Temple (to Mishakal), Osiris tells Birel that they discovered that Magnus Severon was the source of the issues in the sewer.

- Seraphina Butterbeer bursts into the boarding house looking for Theophania because "Calvin is in a state"

- T agrees to go with her and Rusty follows to the Butterbeer Brewery

- His brewing assistant Walter "Wally" Wallytrop's body is floating in one of the large brewing vats.

- He doesn't want to go to the guards because they tend to be prejudiced against halflings and will just think he did it for some reason.

- Rusty hops into the vat to unclog the drain so they can drain out the contaminated beer and then climbs back out with Wally's body.

- The body is missing both of its hands.

- 360 XP ea for 1,400 XP total ea.

Lab Safety 101 #ItCameFomTheSewers - July 16, 2021

 - Theophania collect samples of the slime on the nearby sewer grates.

- She says she wants to take the samples to Magnus for him to analyze since he has better arcane equipment for chemical analysis than the temple, since the temple is all about divine magic and all.

- Osiris says that she also wants to talk to Magnus, and the other three all live at the boarding house, so they head to Callie's

- A few hours later after walking across the whole dang city, they arrive at the boarding house.

- Theophania barges in and asks if Magnus is in, then she dashes up the stairs to his room

- He's busy, but she cheekily assumes her way into getting his help

- Before they analyze the substances, she helps him with the experiment he's currently running

- Mage Hand is very useful in this experiment

- After almost an hour, there's an explosion outside

- They all dash to the window that looks over the street, and they see something glittering on the ground near one of the storm drains

- Everyone rushes outside and pushes their way to the front of the crowd, and the ground around the drain grate is covered in purple fuzz.

- Theophania starts scraping up samples, and is narrowly missed by a vine whipping out of the grate 

- T yells out for the crowd to run, and slowly starts to back up

BATTLE

- Theophania casts Faerie Fire on the vine and backs up 30'

- The Vines whips themselves at Osiris and hits for 9 bludgeoning dmg and she is Grappled and Restrained and it pulls her towards the gate

- Lyrielle gives a quick glance to the purple fuzz and thinks it looks like a fungus, so she steps onto it and up to the Vine and hits it with her staff for 8 bludgeoning dmg and then she Disengages with a ki point and jumps back away from the Vines

- Raiàn casts Acid Splash at the Vines for 4 acid dmg

- The Purple Fuzz shoots spores at Osiris and misses twice, then hits her for 4 necrotic dmg and then hits her again for 7 necrotic dmg

- Osiris casts Guiding Bolt on the Vines for 14 radiant dmg

- The Purple Fuzz misses Lyrielle three times

- Rusty moves up to the Vines where they come out of the grate and swings his greatsword at them for 11 slashing dmg

- Theophania moves to where she can get a clear shot and shoots the Vine for 15 piercing dmg

- The Vines constrict and Osiris is unconscious from 15 poison dmg

- Lyrielle moves in and attacks with her quarterstaff for 5 bludgeoning dmg then she kicks it for 5 bludgeoning dmg

- Raiàn shoots the Vines with a Firebolt for 7 fire dmg (not as effective)

- The Purple Fuzz misses Rusty twice then hits him for 2 necrotic dmg

- Osiris succeeds on her first ever Death ST

- The Purple Fuzz hits Lyrielle for 3 necrotic dmg

- Rusty interposes his body between Osiris's unconscious one and the grate and then slices it for 11 slashing dmg

- Theophania runs up to Osiris and casts Cure Wounds on her for 6 HP then she runs back 10'

- The Vines deal 19 poison dmg to Osiris and she's unconscious again

- Lyrielle hits the Vines with her quarterstaff for 11 bludgeoning dmg and she wraps her staff around the thickest Vine and then rips it away from the rest of the plant and the Vines go limp

END BATTLE

- Theophania runs up to Osiris and stabilizes her with a medicine check

- Rusty attempts to use his crowbar to open the grate, and while he breaks a couple of the bars, it doesn't open it enough for even Theophania to fit through the hole

- Osiris wakes up and casts Cure Wounds on herself then she walks over to Magnus who is standing in the doorway of Callie's Boardinghouse and asks him pointblank what he poured into the sewer

- He says that everyone disposes of things in the sewer

- Theophania asks if he dumps out his experiments in the sewer and asks him not to anymore

- Osiris can see that he's being evasive and doing his best to avoid admitting any guilt in this situation or the slime situation

- Theophania promises to help him dispose of his magical experiments in a way by getting him a barrel to put sand and water in it and then can swing by once a week or so to Purify the water for him

- They turn to go look at the sewer grate and there are some curious halflings who have wandered into the Purple Fuzz and one is laying on the ground being attacked with spores

- Theophania directs Rusty to pull the prone halfling out of the area while Osiris directs the other halflings to back away from the area and for Raiàn to set fire to the fungus

- Purple smoke fills the area and all the commoners and Raiàn takes one level of Exhaustion

- Once the smoke and fuzz have cleared Theophania puts on her goggles and looks into the broken sewer grate and sees the stump of the Vines rooted in the sewer muck and the sewer walls coated in the purple fuzz, so she calls Raiàn over to casts some more Firebolts after they clear the townsfolk further away this time

- The purple fuzz catches fire and after just a few minutes there's smoke coming not only from this sewer grate, but also from the two nearest on the same line, so Osiris runs to check and finds one more halfling who has fallen unconscious from smoke inhalation

- Theophania and Rusty head to the Groundswallow General Store to get a barrel for Magnus

- By the time they get there the store is closed, so T takes R around to the house entrance

- They say hi to her mom Nellie, but her dad and brother aren't home

- T runs upstairs to say hi to Vera and give her niece a little thing she made with some buttons, then they get the barrel with the damaged lid that doesn't quite seal any more and they get some sand and water from the river on their way back

- Back at the temple library, Osiris is looking for books on disposal of magical waste and on bad things that happen when magic is mishandled

- She finds a book on alchemy that talks about the problems that can be caused when you mix things that shouldn't be mixed, and also goes through what things you can mix with what to neutralize things before diluting and disposing of them. She notes the title for Theophania so she can copy the neutralization tables for Magnus later.

- 320 XP ea for 1,040 XP total ea. - LEVEL 3!

Follow Your Nose - July 2, 2021

- Previously during the week between the two slime deaths, Theophania poked a bit of the slime that ate the halfling in front of her and has determined that they are somehow magically unstable.

- Everyone arrives at the Hall of Justice early. Theophania isn't sure why they needed to be there SO early...

- They miss Shawn Andertree going into the building, so they just go in and get direction from Matilda at the front desk and run into Shawn in the hallway

- They go into Public Works (Shawn works in Transport) and convince Sara to show them some sewer maps, even though she's not supposed to.

- They head to the access point closest to the docks since that was the most recent attack and then plan to work their way back up north towards the nearest nexus.

- When Theophania can't pick the lock on the access point Raiàn tries breathing on it, but the lightning breath does nothing, so Osiris calls for the Guidance of Mishakal and she finally manages to pick it open.

- The smell is vile.

- Osiris goes first since she has the best night vision, and Theophania is behind her giving directions, then comes Lyrielle, then Raiàn, and then Rusty covering the rear.

- The sewer is only 4' tall, so only Theophania is the only one not encumbered by this issue.

- They head towards the nearest nexus.

- They pass the storm drain near the Crusty Barnacle, and Rusty notices there is a substance of some kind dripping down the wall from that opening.

- The dripping stuff looks slimy and wet.

- It reacts similarly to the stuff Tiff studied, so it's probably related.

- Theophania clicks a few lenses through on her goggles and thinks that they have been heading in the correct direction.

- They walk a bit longer until they get to the nexus area with multiple tubes coming into it, so Theophania makes a plan for everyone to inspect the many tunnels by going clockwise around all the openings, and Lyrielle find a smudge next to a slightly smaller tunnel than the one they came through.

- The next tunnel is only 42" H.

- Raiàn and Rusty have to crawl at this point.

- Just as Osiris is passing another grate when someone pours something down the storm drain opening as she's passing it, but she manages to dodge just out of the way.

- Eventually, Osiris sees up ahead a puddle of acidic slime, so she throws a pebble into the slime puddle, and it makes a bloop sound.

- They wait a minute and nothing happens so they keep going.

- Theophania goes to walk past it, but slips and then all the things in her myriad of vials start immediately reacting, and she gets some acid burns on her arms. (2 acid dmg)

- Lyrielle gets by fine, but then Raiàn tries to freeze the puddle so she can skate over it, but it doesn't freeze solid, so she just plops right into it.

- Rusty tries to spider walk over it, but he ends up breaking some bricks on the side of the wall and he face-plants right into the remnants of the puddle.

- Not too much longer after that, there is another clear spot where there's a slime trail coming down from a drain. 

- They try calling up to the surface again, but this time no answers, so they can't get input on the above-ground landmarks, and all they can see is an ally, but Osiris can smell lavender on the air since she is used to ignoring bad smells working with dead bodies as her usual job. 

- Theophania tucks a vial covered in a weird crusty substance after its contents reacted with the slime puddle next to the sewer drain where they can find it again.

- They head to the nearest access point and it is of course locked with no lock on the inside, so Rusty breaks it open with his crowbar.

- He holds it back into place and Theophania Mends the broken hinges.

- They head back in the direction the pipe came from until Osiris smells lavender again.

- Rusty and Raiàn find the vial, and Theophania notices that there's a slimy film over the outside of the grate, but there's no sign of the slime on the pavement.

- The woman in the house with the giant lavender bush answers the door and says she did see someone pouring something into the storm drain the previous day, and he hand on robes and maybe crazy hair, but people pour waste into the drains all the time, so it wasn't that suspicious.

- 120 XP ea for 720 XP total ea.

I don't think I'm a teakettle - June 11, 2021

 - A few mornings after the blob attack, Osiris is attending to her normal duties in the temple and another acolyte, Jacoby, and asks about the person who had been eaten by the slime thing and asked if she had heard about the other ones.

- The other slime mold came from the docks

- Osiris finishes her duties for the morning, then she examines the body (a burly dockworker, Joey) of the second slime attack, and sees that he's been partially dissolved and anything that was metal has dissolved. 

- The she goes to the boarding house to find Lyrielle, who she invites with her to go to the docks to check it out

- When they get to the docks, there are a bunch of people unloading a boat and there is a lot of activity

- They approach the guy yelling orders at everyone and ask about the attack

- A couple of the guys came out of the Crusty Barnacle and saw Joey laying in a ditch with a slimy thing on top of him

- Roy is one of the ones who found him

- He says he saw Joey laying in the ditch with the slimy thing on top of his, and he kicked it a few times, then it lunged at him before he kicked it again and it slid back down into the sewer

- They let Roy get back to hefting heavy things

- Lyrielle heads to the Crusty Barnacle to talk to the barkeep and listen to gossip in case there's information to be gathered

- Osiris heads back to the temple to talk to Birel and basically get permission to investigate this problem

- Birel suggests that she talk to Theophania to see if she knows how to fight the corrosive properties of the slimes bodies

- Osiris finds T in the apothecary muttering to herself over a pile of aquatic plants

- O tells T that she is going down to the sewers to investigate and asks if she wants to come, and T agrees

- O & T get to Callie Curlywit's boarding house and find Raiàn talking to a little old lady who is trying to get R to tell her fortune for some reason and maybe some sort of potion

- O interrupts their conversation to ask if she wants to come down the sewers with them, but when R doesn't answer quickly enough, O turns and goes inside the boarding house without saying another work

- Rusty is in the corridor standing and watching people because he needs to learn how to people

- O asks him if he wants to come with them as well, and he says yes.

- T is very enthusiastic about talking to Rusty about his inner workings, and O tries to subtly separate them, but T doesn't even notice.

- The four of them head to the Crusty Barnacle to see what Lyrielle has found out if anything

- By the time they get there after running around town all day, it's early evening and the pub is HOPPIN with all the dockworkers and sailors who just got off their shift

-  O pokes her head in the door and doesn't really want to go in, but T marches right in and starts looking for people to talk to

- One drunk sailor asks "When did they start letting littl'uns in here?" To which T responds, "Hey, we're allowed to go wherever we want in this city!" Very emphatically. He is taken aback and his friends give him a hard time.

- Rusty and Raiàn walk in and everybody goes quiet

- Raiàn instructs Rusty on how to buy a drink really quickly, and so Rusty goes over to the bar and has his first drink

- He asks T if he is capable of drinking, and she just shrugs at him

- He opens his metal mouth and pours the whole mug of dark, brown ale into his metal gullet and then everyone waits to see what happens.

- He says there is a warm feeling in his midsection.

- This bar does not sell Butterbeer's ales and says it's mostly for halflings. T is going to tell her cousin never to sell to this bar

- Raiàn gets a stronger liquor, which is so strong she exhale-coughs sparks (lightning breath!)

-  A drunk stumbles into O and she gives him the advice to "Drink less" then turns him around gives him a gentle push and he immediately begins vomiting in the gutter.

- O walks over to the storm drain in the street not where the sailor is vomiting and tries to lift the debris bars 

- When she can't lift it, she heads to Town Hall to find out where the sewer's people entrances are

- The barkeeper mentions that some of the dockworkers saw several of them wandering around town, so Rusty and T ask the entire bar who had seen a slime monster

- One guys says he'll tell them if they buy him a drink (they get him one of what Raiàn had), and he says he came out of the bar and saw a lump of something that lunged at him then we he kicked it away and stumbled back from it he saw Joey in the ditch with another of the things on him, and then he saw a third one slip into the sewer grate across from X business up the street.

- He says one of the Black Bloods might know. (A crime syndicate, and the rumor is that their leader is a ghost because no one has ever met him, but he somehow manages to run this organization.)

- Raiàn asks too many questions about the BBs and the sailor scarpers off and away from them

- As O is walking towards Town Hall she spies the familiar tall, skinny figure of Magnus Severon, he is wearing a hooded cloak

- MS seems jittery and is almost insulted or angry when she asks him if he knows how to get into the sewers

- He is carrying an empty jar for the purposes of "collecting stuff"

- O gets to city hall and it's closed. Half-way back to the bar she sees a place where you can get into the sewer

- She returns to the pub and her friends

- T is practically in Rusty's lap with her ear pressed against his abdomen listening to liquids sloshing about as he gently wiggles

- A rough looking dude buys O a drink when she arrives, which she politely declines

- Rusty asks the dude if he is a Black Blood. He is not.

- He also asks if he wanted to have sex with O, to which the answer was yes, but she was not interested.

- T also does not want to have sex with him either.

- Everyone finally leaves the bar to go to sleep, and they will meet at city hall in the morning to talk to Theophania's sister-in-law's cousin who works there.

- Lyrielle had gotten bored hours ago and left to wander the streets to see if she could find signs of slimes, but she didn't find anything useful or conclusive in her wanderings

120 XP ea for 600 XP total ea.

New Campaign, who dis? - June 4, 2021

 - Raiàn is followed to Mistverge by a mechanical being with large, noticeable weapons and no clothing

RET-CON - He walked along the bottom of the river to follow her and then walked out of the river past the city walls when she went into Mistverge and found her somehow. He may become Mistverge urban legend someday.

- It is mid-afternoon at Callie Curlywit's and Theophania and Osiris have come for tea 

- There's a parlor (sitting room /lounge) there's a couple of human reading some kind of pamphlet and large, blue-ish / purple dragon-looking creature sitting there

- T walks right up to R and starts asking every question that pops into her head, which is all of them

- Raiàn came UNDER the mountains through some tunnels they found until they came to the river

- Magnus Severon (Callie's longest-term boarder who is a wizard) comes in (he's tall and thin) and Theophania's got a question for him about a locking spell she's trying to invent

- A man made of metal shows up in the doorway

- Osiris approaches the metal man and asks what they can help him with

- Callie exclaims "Paladine protect us!"

- He asks to talk to Raiàn. He says he woke up because of her footsteps.

- Raiàn is very confused because she doesn't remember him at all.

- He's having trouble remembering much of anything so he just followed Raiàn for weeks.

- Theophania calls for Magnus who might know things.

- Magnus does not know things.

- Theophania believes he's a people because he thinks he wants to be a people

- They are still talking about whether or not this unnamed thing is a people or not when there is a scream in the street

- They all flood out of the boarding house and see what looks like a large blob of black-ish mucus enveloping a person

- Theophania starts running towards the person and Lyrielle blows right past her.

BLOB BATTLE

- Lyrielle (who hasn't spoken or introduced herself yet) runs out and punches the blob

- Raiàn pops out of Callie's door and immediately shoots it with three Magic Missiles

- The BLOB attacks Lyrielle but misses then it misses again then hits her for 3 bludgeoning dmg and 4 acid damage

- Theophania runs towards Lyrielle and then shots the BLOB with her repeating crossbow for 8 piercing dmg

- The Metal Man Dashes up to the BLOB

- Osiris moves where she can see around MM and casts Guiding Bolt on the BLOB

- The BLOB attacks Lyrielle again for 2 bludgeoning dmg and 7 acid damage, and Lyrielle drops unconscious

- L is not doing great.

- R shots the BLOB with Ray of Sickness for poison dmg

- The BLOB attacks MM for 5 bludgeoning and 10 acid dmg and then misses 

- T moves up to L and casts Cure Wounds on her for 8 HP. Theophania thinks this is like an ooze or a gelatinous cube, but this one is lumpier and smells like sewer

- MM plunges an arm into the BLOB to try to grab the halfling and grabs something, but he just has a leg. Just a leg. His eyes turn red (RAGE)

- Osiris Channels the Divine and gives temporary HP to everyone

- The BLOB misses the prone Lyrielle

- Lyrielle stands up moves to flank with MM and smacks it with her staff for 9 bludgeoning dmg and then she Disengages and moves back 20'

- Raiàn casts Firebolt on it, but the fire dmg kind of fizzles

- The BLOB attacks MM and misses

- Theophania shoots the BLOB with her crossbow for 10 piercing dmg

- MM misses with his greatsword

- Osiris casts Guiding Bolt on the BLOB for 15 radiant dmg then darts back behind a bush

- The BLOB misses MM

- Lyrielle darts in again and smacks it for 7 bludgeoning dmg and then she Disengages again and back flips away

- Raiàn casts Chromatic Orb on the BLOB for 8 cold damage freezing the thing solid and then it crumbles into a bunch of pieces

- Osiris gathers up the remains of the halfling and takes them to the temple and Lyrielle follows

- Theophania starts poking the shards of the BLOB

- Two town guards finally show up and T gives a brief summary of what happens then her legs turn to jelly and she sort of collapses where she's standing

- Callie takes her inside and MM and Raiàn follow to get more tea

- MM picks the name Rusty since his protocols need to be updated also he's a reddish-colored metal.

Meanwhile on the walk to the Temple

- Lyrielle introduces herself to Osiris

- Osiris asks her if she's a monk of Mishakal, but she's more a devotee of Branchala

- They get to the temple and Osiris takes the body to the death rites area and Birel gives her a look

- Lyrielle get directions to the library

- She asks the librarian if they know anything about blobs or oozes or slimes

- The librarian doesn't know anything, so she goes into another part of the temple to ask around 

- Osiris goes to the library to ask about men made of metal, but the librarian has never heard of anything like that either

- Osiris then heads back to Callie's to check on Theophania

- 180 XP each for 480 XP total ea.