S66: Lost Souls (by N. Crosby)

The group lay and wait for Black Pearl to speak, as Kruss lay bodiless on the ground, clothes scattered about. Souls hover and swarm around the remain. Distant ethereal voices of gratitude can be heard all around. Alora watches as a single soul stops and hovers. It then then begins to transform into the face of Gruddy. “I only have a moment dear. I will soon be with my precious Orti once more. Be kind. Be good. Do not feel sad for me.” She touches Alora’s face as another bright white freckle appears on her cheek. She watches as Gruddy fades away. 

Black Pearl begins to speak. Krom jumps at the opportunity to introduce himself to the beautiful woman. She seems uninterested. Dorus, always ready to one up his best bro, introduces himself, and again, Black Pearl seems uninterested. She speaks to Alora and asks her about her new party members. Alora introduces them, and the group asks her what she knows about Adeline Gumnibbler. The Black Pearl goes on to tell the group that Adeline had many ideas, some that a lot of people liked, and others that did not trust her. She also informs the group how very wrong Kruss was and how is not to be trusted, and a promise not to be put into that position again.

Then she switches her attention to Nom. She seems very interested. Dorus explains about Nom and her debt to Momon and how the debt increased drastically after Nom’s disservice to him. The Black Pearl knows Mommon, and seems to want to help. Dorus slowly unzips his fanny pack, as Krom, and mainly Alora, stare intently at his sack. They are able to subdue Nom, thanks to Krom’s sharp claws. The beautiful woman then reaches into her bag and pulls out some pretty pink pearls. Nom is very interested in them. She gobbles them up as Pearl tells her they will help with her… transition. After Nom digests the pearls, she begins to grow, larger, and larger, until she is nearly 3 feet by 3 feet and her skin turns to an ashy crust. Through the crust, you can see liquid and something moving. 

“I feel obligated to help you even though I would have made my way free eventually. Here.” She tosses a coin to Alora. “If you find yourself in a bind… see what a little twist of fate can do.” The black pearl dismisses herself in a plume of black smoke.

Dorus and Krom try to convince Alora to leave Nom. ‘She is a devil, afterall’, Dorus explains. He seems uninterested in bringing a demon/devil/fiend into his holy passions. Krom doesn’t like thieves, and although he has no money, he doesn’t appreciate Nom’s distractions in times of peril. Alora just can’t do it, she urges the group to keep Nom with them, the group listens to Alora, but tell her that she’s her problem now. Alora hands Dorus all of her gold, 69 pieces, to be exact. Dorus asks Alora if she knows what the square root of 69 is, she doesn’t. ‘Ate Some’ Dorus explains, as he and Krom and even Nom burst into a small laugh. Alora rolls her eyes and begins to poke at the outer crust of Nom’s cocoon. ‘Nom, is that you in there?’. The thing inside gets active, moving around inside the egg like form. ‘See it is Nom!’ Alora exclaims. Dorus yells out, ‘Hey devil spawn!’, and the creature stirs again. ‘Exactly as I thought’ says Dorus. Alora is ready to move on. She pokes hard into the crust, going much deeper than she probably needed to. Her finger begins to sting badly as she jerks her hand away. The group then notices some strange looking fingers climbing from the egg. ‘Hey Guys! Hi, hi, hi, hi!’ It’s Nom! She can speak again. The group is happy to see Nom, but reluctant to trust her again. Dorus tosses a piece of gold in her direction, she gobbles it up. A collective sigh comes from the group. Nom explains that she is trying to diet a bit, and is working on not just gobbling up every piece of gold the group has to offer. Dorus tempts her with a few other pieces of gold, she refuses. The group decides this is sufficient. Before moving on, Mokon picks up the armor that was stripped from him by Kruss. The group talks about next moves, and they decide it's probably best to check in on Sweets and see if they can get her back to Milbin’s where the majority of souls are. Before transporting, Alora, Krom, and Dorus speak about the souls, and who might belong to who. Dorus does not seem to fully believe Malaak is lying. He thinks there is a possibility Jeb may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. As Dorus brings up the many times Jeb has had an opportunity to help us, and has taken his sweet time to do it, or not helped at all. Alora rebuts with the fact that Malaak has not really predicted future items to us, and that she is probably just lying about being a future seer. The group decides that either way, we must get them all together and figure this out so that they may go back in time and prevent Yeenoghu from ever entering their plane. The group mirrors back to Huther’s secret lair, as that is the last place they knew she was. Alora creates a mirror, and Krom touches the necklace to it, allowing them to pass through the mirror realm again, as they’ve done many times before. They say hello to Kloci, and he’s digging Nom’s new look. Nom had transformed into a bird to rest on Aloras shoulder prior to entering the realms. Some pleasantries are exchanged, and Kloci lets them know there is no mirror there, as previously discovered at a different mirror jump. The group thinks for a moment, and decide to just get close, and want to portal to Huther’s bar. They enter the bar, and it is very empty. Tables have been overturned, things seem dirty, and uninhabited. Dorus shows Krom where he carved his and a girl's initials into a table when he was younger. Nom scurries around finding random pieces of gold along the floor. The group looks at the necklace and realizes it's not pointing to where they had expected. The necklace is pointing in a direction slightly off from where the lair was located. The group thinks it's best to follow the necklace. 

As they walk, townfolk come up to them and greet them, and ask if they are here to save them, or feed them. The group offers what they can to the townsfolk, and continue their journey. As they walk, Krom hunts and gets some rabbits, and Alora gathers some berries. The group discusses Sweets, and begin talking themselves out of following the necklace blindly, as it may just be pointing to Sweet’s dream version. They aren’t sure how it works, entirely, but think it may be best to at least visit the lair prior to embarking on a larger adventure, in case Sweets is sleeping there. As they make their way back through the town, they give the rabbits and berries to townsfolk they encounter. They get to the lair and Dorus yells out for Red, but Smalls shows up. Smalls knows Alora and Mokon, and has seen Dorus and Krom around town, so he isn’t very nervous of them. He asks the group if they know where Sweets is, and the group explains they were going to ask him the same thing. The group inquires how her dream world works, and Smalls isn’t entirely sure, either. The group tells him that they will try to bring them food, when they can, and they head out again. This time, the group ‘remembers’ their balloon is at Milbin’s, and think maybe it would be better if they traveled there first, then to Sweets. The SOG once again pass through an Alora mirror, and greet a bored and disgruntled Kloci. ‘That was fast’, he says, as he hooks Krom up to the giant tentacle that drives into his brain allowing for safe passage through mirrors. He helps the group into the mirror that leads them to Milbins. As the group comes out, they greet everyone that is there. They speak to Jeb and he kind of bumbles around asking how things have been. Dorus wants him to come assist them with Malaak, hopefully uncovering who may be the ‘evil’ one. Jeb declines as he explains Yuke’s knees are bad, and he is not sure he’d be up for the task. Huther than comes from around a corner, “HEY GUYS, how’s it going?” About half the group is happy to see him, the others still hold distaste for the large plant like creature. They ask him if he has any ideas on how to get Malek back here, and he says just kill her. The group explains we need her soul, and Huther thinks maybe just almost killing her may work. The group is unsure, and asks him to keep thinking about it. Torin comes from up the stairs. And is instantly disgusted at the sight of Alora. He greets the group, and they are happy to see him! They all chat and joke for a bit, and Dorus asks how things with the ladies have been, if he’s been in touch with Vortex. He sadly replies, ‘no’, but is hoping to meet up with her soon. Dorus asks for some magic cheese, and Torin says Milbin does not allow magic from Torin in the lab. Dorus agrees, this may be best, but he does love that little guy’s magic! Alora flirts with Torin a bit, but Torin isn't’ having it, she seems like an old bitch at this point, and is saggy in all the wrong places. Alora is NOT impressed with that and decides to storm out, but not before playing slap and tickle with Huther’s members that are extruding from his head. The group soon follows suit, and they are off to the balloon to find Sweets.