I'm Not Quite Ready to be Eaten Yet - July 21, 2023

 - The Fellowship of Penguins

- Theophania invites Jinora to sit down with coffee and a bit of breakfast and while they are waiting for everyone else to show up Tiff start listing out all the information they have on the situation 

- Jinora confirms that both Gerard and she are dragons. She's a blue (she high fives Raiàn with a crackle of lightning)

- Rusty tells the story of how the scout-bot found him and he uploaded the information about the dragon it saw underground

- Next they take Jinora to see the tunnel

- As they are heading down to the catacombs to show her the tunnel, they pass some storage rooms and there's a loud crash and screaming and then more crashes

- Osiris gets there first and opens the door and inside is pandemonium

- One of the walls has partially collapsed inward, there is a large creature menacing two temple staff. One of them is a young initiate running to the door for his life and the other is Norman who is halfway in the thing's mouth being eaten.

- The large creature looks like a large worm with Tremors flaps and thick scales

 

WORM BATTLE

- Rusty runs in, Raging, straight up the the Worm Thing and misses with both his attacks, but he gains the its attention

- Lyrielle runs in next to Rusty, but her first attack with the staff misses, and then she manages to smack it for 22 bludgeoning dmg then she kicks it for 11 bludgeoning again

- Raiàn casts Wither and Bloom on the WT and Norman for 7 necrotic dmg to the WT and Norman regains 5 HP. He starts screaming again.

- WT spits Norman out and bites Rusty for 37 (18) piercing dmg and Rusty is swallowed (Blinded and Restrained, Total Cover against attacks and outside affects) then it moves away from Lyrielle towards the group at the door (taking 10 bludgeoning dmg from her as he does). It's movement causes the ground to tremor making Osiris and Theophania to fall over and take 13 bludgeoning dmg

- Theophania stands up and casts Reduce on the WT, but the spell bounces off its scales somehow, then she moves back 10' along the wall and she asks for Jinora to help

- Osiris stands up casts Aura of Vitality giving Rusty 11 HP to Rusty and threatens the WT with her warhammer. She notices that Norman might be dying.

- Rusty manages to dig the corner of his axe into the WT's stomach for 17 slashing dmg, but then he can't get it back out.

- Lyrielle runs up to flank with Osiris and smacks it for 10 bludgeoning dmg and then she misses with her second then she punches it for 12 bludgeoning dmg and knocks it onto its back and then kicks it for 9 bludgeoning dmg

- Raiàn casts a Chromatic Orb (5th level) on the WT for 31 lightning dmg 

- WT "stands" up while it digests Rusty for 16 (8) acid dmg, then it tries to eat Osiris but she dodges and it slides around her a little and Lyrielle manages to smash it for 7 bludgeoning and as they're falling over Raiàn gestures at it for 4 force dmg and it gets pushed back 10'.

- Tiff stand up edging towards the door then she casts Healing Word on Norman for 10 HP, then she shoots a crossbow bolt into it's jaw for 3 piercing dmg

- Osiris stands up and casts Summon Celestial bringing in a Defender to heal Norman and get him out. The Celestial gives Norman 15 HP then picks him up and moves him away from the WT into the doorway. Then she runs back up to the WT and threatens it with her warhammer again.

- Rusty slices the WT for 13 slashing and then 11 slashing dmg

- Lyrielle stands up moves to flank with Osiris again and then smacks it for 8 bludgeoning dmg then again for 9 bludgeoning dmg and then punches it for 6 bludgeoning dmg and then kicks it for 9 bludgeoning dmg. It is not stunned.

- Raiàn casts Chromatic Orb (4th level) at the WT for 41 lightning dmg and the WT sort of explodes spreading guts everywhere.

END OF BATTLE

 

- Tiff tries to get the angel to lower Norman enough for her to check his vitals and do first aid or whatever, but the angel does not listen to her until Osiris tells it to let Tiff check on Norman. Norman seems physically okay, but definitely seems like he's in shock.

- Osiris checks on Rusty and he's doing pretty well actually.

- Osiris then has the celestial carry Norman to the hospital wing causing a bit of a stir because there's an actual angel in the temple.

- Jinora says that these sort of creatures are probably fleeing the black dragon so this sort of thing will probably keep happening.

- Rusty has named his new pet drone robot Connie (for Construct). 

- Norman is turned over to Marta's care in the hospital wing and Osiris brings the the celestial back downstairs.

- Osiris while walking back asks the celestial if he knows Thessalie Groundswallow, but he does not.

- Theophania asks Jinora so many questions. It comes out that Jinora was raised by humans. Humans who were certifiable crazy.

- They arrive at the tunnel.

- The celestial has no skill with digging, but it takes the small collapsible shovel Tiff hands and sulkily starts digging.

- Osiris takes pity on the angel and dismisses him.

- They decide to head back up topside and go to Callie's boardinghouse and tea room for tea and a planning session.

- On the way out Osiris makes sure that there's a plan to fix the storage room.

- Jinora suspects that the black dragon who has moved under their city might be the one who calls himself Agonir who is known to collect souls. The cleric immediately starts squeaking. She collects information about famous dragons.

- The necromancer was either a very happy accident for Agonir or the reason he is here in the first place because of the death they caused. He would be attracted by the death and then his presence would cause the problems would get worse.

- One the way back to the temple Tiff sends to Lord McNabb, "Urgent news! Forget the investment thing for now. Can you be at the temple for a meeting at 6 PM? New problem could destroy the city."

- Lord McNabb returns, "I'll be there. Always happy to do what I can to preserve the city."

- Then she Sends to Captain Swinson, "Urgent news! Come to the temple at 6 PM for meeting and explanation. Uptick in fighting and deaths have cause. Need to save the city. Again."

- Capt Swinson responds, "I don't see how all the fights and crimes are related, but I am willing to hear your theory."

- Then because she has time and she's in a mood she tries Sending to Aunt Thessalie again, "Hi, Auntie. Update: there may be a subterranean black dragon causing the ground water to be poisoned. Gerrard sent a young dragon to help. Miss you."

- After a few heartbeats Tiff feels a sense of concern, then one of reassurance and a feeling of a hug, then she hears the actual words, "Miss you too."

- 3,000 XP ea for 85,000 XP total ea.

Unsolvable problems? Help is on the way! - July 14, 2023

 - The next morning they are walking to the Beard and Barrel to figure out what kind of poison is in the beer.

- While they are walking, Tiff casts Sending to Calvin to confirm that he is not actually poisoning the beer at the B&B. Calvin is irate at the mere suggestion that he would ruin beer.

- They talk to Tallian the cook and order four meat-cakes on bread and then he goes to do that and also get Gerald.

- While they are waiting, Tiff gets a sudden bought of inspiration to ask Gerrard about dragons since he might be one and all.

- She Sends, "Hello, sir. My name is Theophania. You knew my great-aunt Thessalie in Mistverge. Possible black dragon under Mistverge. Can you share information about them? Thanks!"

- He Sends back, "Happy to do what I can to help. Unfortunately, this isn't my area of expertise. I will send someone who might be able to help."

- Gerald shows up, but they already flushed all the bad beer, so they ask to investigate the drain in the workshop instead.

- Osiris casts Detect Poison and Disease and both the sample of the new beer and the pitcher of non-beer drink Tallian brought with the meat-cakes on bread is poison, and so is the water in the mop bucket, and everything containing water in the back room, and so is the well from which all this water was pulled. (It is a natural form of poison, but she doesn't know its name.) She warns Gerald that his well is poison, and then runs from the river and recasts. The fog on the river is not poisonous and neither is the river's water.

- The well here is only used by the brewery, but the nearby Docks Market well is also poisonous.

- Osiris Sends to, "Marta, multiple wells in the city are poisoned. The river's fine. Pull all the water from the river. We're working on it."

- From Marta, "Is EVERY well in the city compromised?!"

- Osiris Sends again, "Beard and Barrel's well is poisoned, so is the Docks Market well. Checking every well in the city would take a week."

- "Okay, we'll have to get the city guard to shut everything down. This could be a catastrophe. Check as many wells as you can."

- Osiris and Tiff work out a system where Tiff will cart Osiris around on the broom checking wells while she concentrates on the detection spell. Tiff mixes up some dye for her sprayer and she'll quickly mark any contaminated wells so they can move on to the next one. The first time they have to stop to ritually cast the detection spell again, Tiff Sends to Marta, "Osiris and I checking wells around the city. I will put a reddish-brown mark on all the wells with poison. Let the city guard know."

- "Understood. Thank you for letting me know. You do the best work." 

- They spend the rest of the day checking every well in the city. The wells at the Temple are clean. The wells north of the Temple are clean. The docks area and the poor area south of the Docks district is not great. The middle-class area south of the Hall of Justice is infected. The farther east, the less poison. The neighborhood just across the river on the south part of town is also infected, but the rest of the samples were okay. 

- Raiàn, Lyrielle, and Rusty know the plan and head out to let more of the local city guard stations know about the contaminated wells and the marks on them. The plan is to meet back at the Curlywit boarding house that evening.

- Magnus has been trying to transmute water into wine, and they test his experiments and they are not poisonous. The wine tastes stale and oxidized and somehow like garlic. Tiff Purifies his waste bucket before they leave.

- Raiàn and Lyrielle stay at the boarding house to rest / sleep while Osiris, Rusty, and Tiff head back to the Temple to talk to a robot.

- The robot can be submerged in water, but it cannot swim, it just sinks. 

- The next morning, the group meets up at the well at the Docks Market and bring the Robot Friend who they tie to a Rope of Climbing and lower into the well, and then it skitters back up. The well is just a hole in the ground with a 25' (ish) bulb of space at the bottom.

- As a test, they send Osiris (Water Breathing and Protection from Poison cast on her) and she casts Locate Creature (dragon) and finds nothing. They do another test on the eastern most edge of the poisoned area and also find nothing. They also test a well on the western most edge of the poisoned area and also nothing.

- While they are standing around ruminating on what to do next, Tiff Sends to Gerrard, "Not your expertise, but could black dragon poison ground water? Also who is your expert and when will they be here? Hope to see you soon."

- She receives, "Black dragon could absolutely poison water. The expert is a dragon historian of sorts. Should be there in the morning. I'll try to visit soon."

- The next morning Tiff has a visitor who is a young-looking woman who blonde hair cut short on the sides, but longer bit on the top has a blue-streak. She introduces herself as Jinora. 

- 3,000 XP ea for 82,000 XP total ea.