S13: Here’s to Making New Friends

Time passes differently here. The crew finds themselves with more questions than answers as they sit in a cold dank cell behind a thick steel door, and beside Gruddy, Cleet, and a man named Gravy. Alora poses the question to Fey to have her mousey friend try to help. Immediately Gerald jumps into action scurrying out of the cell. Victim after victim our heroes watch unwitting townsfolk tell their life stories on a stage of death. Try after try they attempt to warn these victims with words and rocks with no success. Fey was the first to notice a visual disturbance in the room -- items and people would randomly be in different positions and places without movement -- then people would disappear from the cell altogether (including Gruddy), or a new prisoner would materialize. Fey also notices a distant sound of moving earth in the northern wall. With a call to Gerald, he materializes on Fey’s shoulder with a rusty nail (good try Gerald… I guess). Glug and Fey attempt an acid/pick lock combo to no avail. Mokon, not accepting the idea of a real steel door forcefully throws their newest cellmate to his death -- with the promise of revivification -- which he later ignores. The northern scratches grow louder as Glug begins to find areas of weakness in the cell -- he is soon surprised with a friendly eye and a mumbling voice of “Shit-Farmer” who has come to the rescue (briefly mentioning he had to work up the gumption to save them over the last month and who clearly has ignored his new nickname). Seconds later the once small hole is Nom sized and the crew climbs through, but not before Nom loots the wannabe corpses of their few possessions. Alora sheds tears for a young child not strong enough to survive this place as she carries her body and her small doll through Shit’s Hole and Mokon succumbs to Alora and agrees to drag a barely-alive Cleet along for the ride.

Trading freedom for disgust, a new room is found complete with a death pit (or “loot pit” as some call it). Gruddy rests motionless on top of many, many corpses. Mr. Farmer is much pushier than the group remembers continually telling them to hurry as he clearly understands the danger they are in. The group takes his recommendations with a grain of salt and instead discuss the pros and cons of trying to save a potentially partially alive Gruddy. Alora, being the only one with empathy for the old woman cannot convince the group to help and they leave Gruddy for whatever may come. With tears in her eyes for a second time, Alora leaves a motherly figure to escape as our fecal agronomist morphs into a much larger and aggressive version of his former self. As the werebear tears into support beams of the mine, the ground begins to shake and rocks fall from above. The crew escapes (with a little digging) to fresh air and physical freedom if not from the freedom of past deeds.

A familiar pain is felt in the shape of Savi’ir’s brand followed by a somewhat apologetic voice of past outbursts, the annoyance of non-answered calls for a month, and an invitation to his new venue overlooking the Maw. The group is exhausted and wants to sleep -- Fey reminds them of the amorphous pink blob that can easily traverse through even the smallest of holes -- they opt to head toward Pillory with Cleet in tow, but not before Alora buries the young girl in a shallow grave.

A short hike later Pillory comes into view, as does an ambush of a group called Oleander’s Peace. Their Dragonborn leader orders our exhausted adventurers into a nearby tumbleweed wagon. The group isn’t too interested in going into yet another cell, but before anyone can react Nom lets her sword-spear fly, narrowly missing its target. Enraged the Dragonborn he calls forth two ravens from above which morph into magic-wielding monks who instantly give most of the party the rest they wanted. Except for Alora and Fey who need to enter a restful state a bit more… bluntly.

Alora is the first to wake to a peaceful quiet. Everyone, except for Alora, is down. A huge hole in the cell faces her. And Glug lies 20 feet away. Once Glug is revived he melts the lock on the cell as Alora approaches the dragonesque leader finding him dead. One by one the group is woken, the crew takes time to loot the bodies finding extraordinary clean armor and weapons all adorned with the insignia of a maned dragon. Nom also finds a note referring to the crew as the “Butchers of Pillory”. Nom answers the note by meticulously “murdering” each soldier (you know, to make sure the name doesn’t stick). Then, Mokon and Nom play toss-the-dead-into-a-small-pond (a game more fun in concept than reality). 

Unsure of their current location the group travels upward into the mountains finding a perfect place to rest, on a perfect day -- each taking time to find their own way to cope. A warm wind blows past as do the muffled cries of Alora.