Harren Smoulder, Raptor rider, friend of the gnolls, and hero to all of mankind. My legend was shaped today in ways I could have never imagined. Today is the reason why the journal exists, why I write it all down.
Thug woke me while making preparations for a danger filled excursion. Few was right there beside her. She'd gotten up in the middle of the night feeling like new. Ever since she'd been trying to be useful to Thug, even making breakfast in bed for her. I wish she'd done something like that for the rest of us who had helped her, it's not as if she just had the flower on hand.
Ceila took me aside to tell me about the gnoll's leader, Yagreth. He is a strong leader. His wits and instincts have brought his tribe through dark days in the past. He expects nothing but the best from everyone. He and Surlag, his trusted mount, are almost never apart. He seemed like the type to be immortalized in towering works of art. Why he would choose to keep his people in the Abyss is beyond me.
Annie stood by while we talked. Clearly she meant to tell us something but she didn't interrupt. When she could she told us that the others had already started towards the volcano. We rushed to catch up but were waylaid by a strange small creature. It looked like a pointed hat with feet was scurrying around a field. It stowed a small box in a fallen log and ran off. Ceila rolled her eyes when I snuck over to the log. It was only a minute of distraction and inside was a beautifully carved drinking mug. A scene of a festival wrapped around with a pewter lid engraved with flowers. I've whittled my fair share of little wooden statuettes, some of which I'd say were quite good, but I doubt I'd ever be capable of making something like this mug. I stowed the box away and we picked up their trail. We found them huddled under a plant's broad leaves looking towards a smoking mountain top.
We sat there observing the creatures shambling from the pores of the volcano like sweat from the earth's runny nose. These were Viktor's Illithids, directed it seemed to form a defensive line to each side. Viktor must have known the gnolls were coming but not from where. It looked as though it was the only reason we even had a chance to break through and infiltrate. If their full force was directed properly our plan would never have succeeded.
From behind us a reptile poked out for its own look at the soon to be battlefield. Its head level with my own, we all froze. It hadn't even known we were there. Slowly and deliberately I put myself in its view. Gently I stroked its neck while digging in my pack, producing the magical shackles. I held them up and the over-sized lizard took the center of the chain connecting them into its mouth. I excitedly climbed onto its back. Pulling on either end I directed it. It galloped quickly, but all the bobbing up and down made for a rough ride. I struck a pose atop my new steed, tamed and broken in in a matter of minutes thanks to my skill and the enchanted reigns, until I heard someone clear their throat from slightly above me.
A Gnoll adorned in armor made from rattling bones strode into our group on an even larger reptile. One of his eyes was a milky white, the other black. His red fur had begun to turn grey but it made him look more like a wise seer than a general. He looked directly at me, addressing me and the animal I was riding were his first priority. He said his name was Yagreth, leader of the tribe of gnolls from the second layer. He said that he'd only ever seen a gnoll ride a raptor before. I felt like I'd maybe crossed a line but he chuckled right after. He told me how to care for it and moved on to other more pressing business. I think I impressed him. I've named the raptor I now own “Wee”.
The number of gnolls that came with Yagreth was surprisingly small, less than fifty. They all rode their own raptors and carried many crude throwing spears tipped with obsidian heads. Yagreth told his plan of attack to Ceila who told the rest of us. The other gnolls would break the enemy line to allow us to slip through. Each of us would ride along on a raptor with a gnoll, dismount at a specific entrance that would lead us to Viktor the fastest, and take care of him. Since I had my own raptor now it freed up a gnoll to help with breaking the line. When I questioned just how effective this would be with so few gnolls I was told a ridiculous tale of how more had been done with less before. Outnumbered twenty to one and all the usual militaristic huff and puff.
Their plan was a success though. I feel bad for ever having any doubts. As soon as Surlag whistled a haunting few notes the entire army rushed down to bowl over their invaders. Purple blood drenched the ground. Puddles of it splashed when we rode past and up the slope. Yagreth lead us safely between noxious vents and slow moving molten rock. When we reached the opening Wee was more than a little afraid to approach. All the other raptors aside from Surlag shared his apprehension about entering. Though I tried to calm him enough to ride in he would have none of it. I forgive him though, we'd only just met after all. We continued on foot down into the dimly glowing halls of the gnolls.
When the path forked Yagreth ordered us to separate into two groups. Both paths would take us to Viktor in the same time but it would be better in case one path had been blocked. We “Turtle Puppets” took one person with us. Diedre flipped a coin and said she was coming with us. Before anyone could protest Yagreth was satisfied leading Ceila, Thug, and Annie down their route.
As we walked through the ever hotter tunnels we'd see glass tubes about as big around as my arms together running along the tunnel. Inside one I saw the footed hat again. Diedre had seen it aswell, but while I practiced focus and self control, she used brute force and smashed the line. When she did the broken pieces of glass flew out in gust of wind. She was injured but undeterred by the small cuts. Her hand and face were splattered with a silver liquid.
When Eric tried to take a closer look at the cuts on her face his hand wouldn't let go. When she tried to pry his hand off of her face her hand wouldn't let go. Whatever this substance is it was keeping the two of them together. Zanvar was able to keep his hand when he tried to pull them apart, it seems metal is unaffected. Eric instructed him to find a small vial in his pack and to pour the contents wherever the liquid was. When he did the two separated and the silver rolled off them falling to the ground. The pure alcohol in Eric's medical pouch works to remove the silver liquid from the what it sticks to, but he only had the one vial of it. The pair of them trying to walk together was only made more hilarious by the difference in height.
We came to a few rooms built into the wall constructed from ramshackle wood. Between each closed door was a round beam from floor to ceiling. All were empty aside from one. Inside was an unsettlingly big insect. It was dead, slumped over in a chair sitting as if it were a man. Its head was hard and round like a soldier's helmet and it had no feet, only stumps presumably wide enough for it to balance on. A spear rest on its shoulder, but not one made by the gnolls. This spear looked to have been made out of the same material as the rest of its carapace. While I would have loved to know more there simply wasn't anything else. We left it and continued.
The next cavity was wide open. Bits of broken planks were stacked up next to something I'd have never expected to find here. It was the perfectly intact captain's quarters of a small vessel. On this level of the Abyss, with no large bodies of water, inside a cave, inside a volcano. The how and why of it must be a story in and of itself. As soon as I opened the door to peek inside the hat with feet attacked me. It screamed and kicked a pebble at me before jumping into a barrel. The pebble bounced off of me and landed on the ground harmlessly. Before I could laugh at the pitiful attempt the pebble glowed bright yellow and exploded throwing me back. It was painful but I was still well. Few chased it to the barrel but the only thing inside was a little pouch with more pebbles inside. They each had the same rune carved into them. Eric recognized it as the dwarven rune for “Force”. He was familiar with them. When someone slid their finger across the rune the magic would activate, leaving a few seconds before exploding. He held onto them for safe keeping and we quickened out pace to catch up to the others, all these little distractions were starting to add up.
A section of our path was flooded. Whether it was Viktor's doing or just how it should be it was blocking our path. It smelled like gone off eggs, a tell tale sign of sulfur in the water according to Few. Zanvar once again demonstrated his disregard for smells and water by walking through. He returned to us saying it was short enough to swim or he could shuttle us each to the other side. Taking each of us individually would take too long so Few took the place inside of him while the rest of us swam. The water was scalding hot. Simply not screaming out while underwater was difficult, pushing yourself to swim through the pain was even worse. Eric, Zanvar, and I all resurfaced ahead of Diedre, but after a minute of waiting Zanvar took Few back under to drag Diedre out of the water. She had significant troubles swimming and had to be resuscitated. If there was more of the silver liquid Eric would have found himself in a more compromising position than the last time he touched her. She said she was fine and lead us on, none of us were about to argue with her about it.
This chamber looked to have been constructed by Viktor for his experimentation. Stone catwalks criss crossed over a vat of lava with giant pillars jutting out of it. There were two ways to cross the vat to where we thought Viktor would be. We could try to hop across the pillars just like we'd done in the first layer, but falling would mean certain and horrifically painful death. Along one wall there was a raised platform running from one end to the other, it would be simple to walk across but first we'd have to scale a sheer cliff. Eric tossed his grappling hook up and gave it a yank. Shattered glass fell on him and he was covered head to toe in more silver liquid. He stumbled around and stuck himself to me and Few. Diedre came to our rescue with her own medical kit. After trying again and hooking onto something more solid we climbed up.
Up on this walk way were thousands of brains in lines of three sitting it open glass containers filled with silver liquid. As we went further along the brains began to change. Little tentacles at first, then misshaped tumors. Elongated brains with longer and longer tentacles was the end result. We wanted to bring one to Mr. Skelebones for further study but couldn't simply take it. My trusty cooking pot was filled with the same liquid as one of the tanks and one of the furthest along brains was plopped in. For safety's sake Zanvar did all of the work and is carrying it inside of himself. We spotted the other group ahead. They had been waiting for a few minutes, watching Viktor pace back and forth trying to create Illithids as fast as he can.
A wide arch opened to a rectangular room with a pool in the middle. Staircases curved in to form a platform above the pool with dozens of bodies ready to be dumped in. The process of bringing an illithid into being seems rather simple. One weird tentacle brain and one body mix in the blue water and when it turns purple a shambling mindless servant will drag itself out. Several of them were milling about until Viktor out of nowhere started laughing. He pointed directly to Ceila through the wall and screamed a single word, attack.
Everyone but me and Few rushed in while we rained our furry down. Shot after shot from my bow hit the mark, but Illithids have a rather annoying defense mechanism. It seems that when a foreign object enters its body it will violently remove it, flinging it directly back to where it came. It would have been a pain to retrieve all my magical arrows but it was more pain for them to come back to me. I felt the sting of my own arrows being used against me, but it meant I always had ammunition. They would attempt to grab someone and latch onto their head with a mouth full of fangs. They never attacked to wound, always to break the skull. Zanvar and Yagreth were especially effective, together killing more than the rest of us combined. During the fight Viktor had been enchanting his minions with speed and resistances while making his way to the edge of the pool. When the last one had fallen Ceila tried to read out a list of crimes he had committed. Before she could finish the first he flung himself into the pool holding bottles of violet ichor.
He burst out, more hideous and mutated than any of the Illithids. Three tentacles held him above the pool, his legs dangling like they were vestigial. He shouted but his mouth was unable to make words with the extra tongue. When he finished speaking Yagreth, Annie, Thug, Diedre, and Ceila were all stopped in their tacks. They swayed back and forth, hypnotized by his words. It was up to me and my close allies to prevent this evil menace from gaining any sort of foothold, and send it on to its final cosmic punishment.
The tentacles each acted on their own while Viktor cackled and slobbered all over himself. One fired beams of energy so hot they would start the clothes on your back ablaze. Another would slash at you with the speed and precision of a nobleman fencing. The last was the most dangerous, a gigantic eyeball on the end of a stalk that turned those who looked into it to stone. We fought tooth and nail. Few exhausted herself with progressively more powerful spells. It left her vulnerable, and the same hypnosis that had taken hold over our friends took her. She pulled a small knife from her belt and walked over to Ceila.
While this was happening I was ascending the stairs. It was a good vantage point and I did my part in the fight. The razor sharp tentacle was fell by my arrow, but the other two focused on me after it was clear I was the biggest threat. The beam it me square in the chest. Thrown against the railing I was unable to avoid looking into the eye. First my hands and feet locked up, and then they felt so dry. The feeling ran up me until all of my body was encased. I could still see, and I was looking to Few. I could see her eyes as she pressed the knife against Ceila's neck. Those beautiful burning stars were dim and distant. She couldn't stop herself, but in her eyes I could still see her spark. Just like me she could see but was powerless to do anything.
Eric and Zanvar were fighting like mad to release us from Viktor's grasp. Ceila's blood ran down Few's hand while she dug the knife deeper. Eric shoved his hand into the bag of pebbles and activated them all. He threw every one of them into the water beneath Viktor. I couldn't tell how long it had been but I felt my knees release before I heard the explosion. I ended up falling over the railing, breaking free of the rest of my bonds. Everyone hypnotized snapped back to reality. Few was overwhelmed. Ceila told her they'd talk after we were all safe.
Eric's gambit had killed Viktor, but whatever magic was in the pool was destabilized. Its effect could be felt through out the volcano. An eruption was inevitable. Yagrith hoisted Ceila onto Surlag and together they lead us out as fast as we could. When we were out we could see lava dribbling out of fissures. Wee came through for me when we were separated from the others. He leaped across a river of fire and saved us. We were almost back to the tree home when were heard the most violent explosion. A plume of smoke larger than any I've ever seen rose from the peak. Soon after we were in our shelter a shower of little hole filled rocks fell. They are still falling while I write.
Few and Ceila have been off on their own. Her neck has been bandaged and she'll be fine but Few isn't going to forget about this any time soon. I hear her crying. I don't know how to help her, but I have my own troubles. If I want to bring Wee along, and I most certainly do, I need to find a proper saddle. The bouncing back and forth is only going to wear on my patience and my behind. Tomorrow Thug is going to show us the way to the third layer. Her and Annie are excited to see the people down there, it's been a while since their last visitors and that want to show us around. It will be a better day than the one we just had.
Both pieces of art by Jack Kaiser, a clearly talented fantasy artist. http://www.jackkaiser.info/
We're leaving behind the semi-original bits of this campaign. Moving forward everything will have been made by the DM for us to play through. Things get a little wild, a little risque, and a lot more goofy. I'll enjoy putting it all into words.