Day 10: Grotto of the Ape-Men, - First Incursion

Content Notice: Blood & Gore, Death, Desecrated Bodies, Monsters that Eat Human Flesh, Implied Torture; R-Rated in the vein of a slasher flick.

Hex 037: Grotto of the Ape-Men

Day 10, First Watch

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The locals knew the grotto well, it was a place that no sane man went, deeper into the canyons scored into the cliffs. The path to it was easy, but lightless, the sky choked out by dense purple foliage. They needed to burn a torch just to reach the entrance to the cave, a yawning hole in the earth that exhaled a foul, reptilian smell in gusts with a sound like the rasping of a wretched and dying old man.

Neela went first, keeping low with her lantern shuttered until it provided only enough light to  see where she put her feet. The path was wide and ragged. The roof of the cave disappeared into the gloom. The only sounds the scuffing of her allies behind her, and the wet death-rattle that became from the cage each time the breeze picked up.

When the walls opened up to her sides it was into a black void.

Grotto of the Ape-Men, Room 22

Day 10, First Watch

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Turns 1-2

The damp and f breath of the cave plastered her hair to her face. She took a deep, slow breath, and then decided to risk opening her lantern. 

Little by little the entrance chamber to the cave resolved itself. The walls were of marbled purple and green stone, and places encrusted with salt and rust from the dull blocks of iron that occasionally jutted from the surface. 

In places, low heaps of guano sat between decapitated stalagmites, bearing bloated black mushrooms.  A glimpse upwards revealed colonies of eyeless white bats with serpentine tails 

As more of the cave revealed itself, Neela could make out a stone alcove carved with obscene images she chose not to let her eyes linger on. They reminded her of artwork from Golmore's spell book perhaps a little too well.

She could feel her allies had stopped just a couple of arm's lengths behind her she gestured for them to wait.

She opened the lantern a little further. She could see the walls now of this auditorium-sized chamber. And passages  ahead and off to the right. She could see paths to both where the guano had been cleared.

And then the I human screaming began. The all too familiar mult-itonal howl of a shrieker split the air. She's spig a curse and drew her new baelsard, making room so that her allies could form up around her. In seconds there was a shield wall, the massive back of Mord, a comfort in front of her. Jonas braced with a gravity rod to her side. It felt good to have that weapon still on hand.

Day 9: Preparing for War

Content Note: Slavery and Jerk behavior, PG-13 today. 

Hex 037: Broken Cliff

Day 9, Third Watch

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Tarrant surveyed the new hires with satisfaction. Neela had been so clever securing goods and barter for just a few of the gems they had collected in the crashed starship, that there was plenty to offer hirelings for this operation. They would do nicely.

Anfrald Drank on his left a man who was cheerful enough once he was certain that the team was truly and fully human. He'd had uncomfortable doubts on when he'd first seen Holden. Once the ginger-haired Mercenary had heard the story of how a vortex had swallowed the Monk and spat him back out, it was good enough for him, he became gregarious, cracking jokes and recommending reliable recruits. He now cracked a series of cheerfully rude jokes about dwarves to anyone willing to laugh. He brought his own crossbow, but did not say no when the team offered him a cutlass and simple shield to go with, fresh from the market. 

Much of the laughing was coming from the tall, amber-eyed and auburn-haired soldier Aeged, who had enthusiastically signed up when he saw Anfrald was in. He claimed to be looking forward to "Taking a break from piracy." 

Ealhbun was a hard, steely-eyed woman. It was clear she'd been on the Islands long enough to have developed a hard, no-nonsense air as a matter of self-defense. Her choice of wine over beer, her words, and her bearing all attested to a highborn lady, and the way she hefted her gear. The mark of a knight-errant of the Western Kingdoms. She intrigued Tarrant... 

Those three would be their extra men-at-arms in the caves. Extra shields and blades had seemed the wisest plan.

Then there were the other two. Mila, a porter HD a broad face, wide shoulders, and mannish hands.  A quirky smile and casual references to her job as a Smuggler and gambler. For today she was content to serve as a porter and push the cart. Hopefully, she'd not be carting bodies. 

The final new addition to their contingent was Lava, an ex-slave of a pirate who had recently drowned after a night of hard drinking. She was no concubine. Her rough Grey skin, upturned piggish nose, and the tiny tusk that protruded from her lower lip marked her as half-orc. Silver hair and rich amber eyes, suggested a touch of the elfin in her, too. Her body was cris-crossed with scars and tattoos, not to mention the faded signs of burns and other cruelties visited on her by her recently-dead master. The marks of a drudge, at best. She had been a free woman for only a few days and desperate for coin. Tarrant was going to turn her down for the job of torchbearer, but Neela had taken an instant liking to her 

Even now, she, Neela, and Wene sat conspiratorially at another table speaking in hushed, amiable tones.

Perhaps, Tarrant thought, a hand offered in friendship was worth more than the coin itself...

Behind the Screen: This is where I spare you the agony of a "shopping episode." Neela exchanged gems for credit at several consortia of tradesmen and bought Mord some new gear, a handful of Purple Islands Crystals, and the party interviewed and hired a fistful of hirelings.

There are mechanics for the interview process when hiring hirelings in BECMI that are fast and simple. Anfrald and Lava both came in with boosted morales, and aided in hiring the others. I generated them all with Donjon's randomized AD&D NPC generator.

The only real plot development here is that Neela has acquired one of the two crystals she needs to heal her daughter. The other still seems to elude her.

Day 7-8: Fists and Knives in Broken Cliff

Content Note: Violence, Alcohol, Threats of Sexual Violence, Themes of Slavery; It'd still have been Rated R in the 90s...

Hex 037

Day 7, First Watch

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They were all halfway to starved. When they woke up, having not eaten for over a day, the party had set upon their food, eating a day's worth and then some. When they had realized that Holden's pack was gone, and with it much of the remainder of their supplies, they'd all become worried it was only Korl telling them that they should only have to miss one meal after taking stock that brightened to their spirits.

Or at least those who could be brightened. Holden had come back a changed man. He had experienced something worse than death, and it had warped his body and mind in ways he did not yet fully understand much of the knowledge that had crawled into his skull in his contact with the antimatter entity was gone.

His flesh, much like Benne's, had been stained purple. Although in his case, it was all over his body and none were certain it would fade.. His eyes had been replaced by a pair of twin black star fields. When asked if he could still see, is only reply had been "I see too much."

Mord's joke, asking him if he could see through clothing, then, at least it caused him to crack a smile in spite of himself. That joke seem to draw him back to Earth far better than anything else they had tried.

As they walked, sand dunes, then craggy bluffs rose up on their left. The beach became narrow and Rocky, scattered with thin trees with ragged bark that none of them could name.

The trees look sickly, and swarmed with fish flies, choking the air with their stench. Because of the diseased appearance, they thought nothing of the huge amber colored nodule growing on the side of one until Neela stepped next to it and it exploded. She screamed as acidic sludge sprayed all over her, searing her neck, ear, the left side of her jaw, and bleaching her armor in patches. Jamart was quick to grab some unguents from the small alchemy kit of his he'd managed to retrieve from the Athumns' cart, and splashed it on her, causing the acid to become a foul smelling chartreuse foam that he swiftly wiped off, before rinsing the wound with seawater."

I have never seen these nodules before," Korl said. "They are not part of the tree that I know of. We must be careful and look for more nodules like it."