"Hooooo-ooold it. This is too weird; there has to be an illusion involved." Altai picks up a vegepygmy limb and tosses it at Stiggy.
*flap*
it schmecks right into Stiggy's face, who chortles and spits a little; says........"ruuuuuuuuuuuuuum," reaches an arm up to his face, an arm with four golden tubes seemingly connected into it, rubs his eye a bit, and continues snoring.
Tenser trots up cautiously; stops five feet shy. Sniffs.
Looks back at Altai;
"rells rike Riggy..."
"Looks like him, too. And the "rum" mumblings are a dead giveaway." Altai squints as the odd sight. "So, we have found Stigwold, but he has tubes attached to him and sits in front of... a giant mirror? Odd..."
The mirror's magic; one way viewing portal.
The lotus is magic as all getout. Conjuration stuff.
The highest mitichlorion count your device has ever seen.
Four golden tubes seem to insert into each of Stiggy's arms, in veins. They throb and pulse gently, as if alive.
“Who would do this? I mean, dressing a dwarf in only a loincloth? We’re dealing with a sick mind here.”
*goik*
I control teh lightning's. ;)
“Who would do this? I mean, dressing a dwarf in only a loincloth? We’re dealing with a sick mind here.”
"The water.....don't touch it muchly, dwarf. I think it trickles down to the River Styx. It has properties that can make one forgetful."
The riverlet flows out of the small cavern opposite the way you came in.
<Stiggy rows over to the riverlet.>
“Who would do this? I mean, dressing a dwarf in only a loincloth? We’re dealing with a sick mind here.”
"Indeed. And the people who did it are most probably watching him through that mirror over there. Crazy peepers."
"Gittik - you've got an adamantine weapon and can still fly. Could you smash the mirror, please?"
<Stiggy rows over to the riverlet.>"The water.....don't touch it muchly, dwarf. I think it trickles down to the River Styx. It has properties that can make one forgetful."
The riverlet flows out of the small cavern opposite the way you came in.
Stiggy.......sees a giant disembodied dog's head erupt from the water.
It starts licking him and saying, "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.....CHEEEEEEECH!!!"over and over again.
Stiggy sputters a bit, and is awakened by Tenser's fervent greeting...
The last thing he hears is the redhead shrieking, "NO!!!! WHERE YOU GOING!!!! NO!!!!!! DON'T LEAVE ME ALL ALONE!!!!!"
WTF?
Tensor looks at Stiggy sitting on the lotus.
"Rhat rou ralking 'rout, Rillis?"
"Whit in th' nam ay Moradin's feckin' nutsack is gonnae oan?"
WTF?
You're awake now.
In the same room you initially fought the troll and what not in, sitting in zazen on a golden lotus blossom doohickey.Tenser's licking your face. All your friends are there.
"Whit in th' nam ay Moradin's feckin' nutsack is gonnae oan?"
"Tenser, am Ah ever glad tae see ye, loon. Hoo in th' nam ay buck did Ah gie haur, an' whaur in th' nam ay buck am Ah, an' whit th' buck is thes in mah buckin' arms?"
<Looks around.>
"An' whaur in Moradin's crease is mah rum?"
"We think the mind flayers took it. You wouldn't know where your kit is, would you?"
"Oh, and be somewhat careful when you pull out those lines into your arms. You know, just in case."
<Stig rather brutally rips the tubes out of his arms.>
"Min' flayers? Hoo 'en dae Ah ken 'at y'ur real?"
It hurts to do so; not too bad as they were peripheral veins.
Stiggy's kit is right next to the lotus, laid out rather in a rather obsessive compulsive manner; all lined up and neatly folded as if for a military inspection. Mindflayers are a kooky lot.
<Stig rather brutally rips the tubes out of his arms.>
"Min' flayers? Hoo 'en dae Ah ken 'at y'ur real?"
This could all just be a gaggle of 16 y o's around a table, pretending to be us for some bizarre game....
“Well I’m real.” Beldan pinches himself on the arm to prove it.
“Soooo, Stig. Hi. Big night?”
"Min' flayers? Hoo 'en dae Ah ken 'at y'ur real?"
"Well, we could get into a discussion on whether anything is truly real or not - however, that would be tedious, so we won't. I could remind you that I enchanted your armour in the swamper camp after dilly-dallying around in the weird gnomish mansion, but I could know that by reading your memories through using sinister magic. We could go get the mind flayer's head, but that could be an illusion... It is hard to prove that something's real, Stig. You may just want to take my word for it, at least for now"
"Now, did the mind flayers put you in one of those black sacs?"
I gotta crash.....
"Now, did the mind flayers put you in one of those black sacs?"
"Weel, Ah was skitin' some rum in th' hauld an' 'en Ah woke up in a ceel an' punched th' buck't ay a goblin 'en killed some trolls an' a bampot drow 'en rode aroond in a boat wi' another drow in a weddin' frock an' mit an undeid bard. Ah dunnae kinn hoo a min' flayer figures intae 'at but rum seems tae hae played a raither integral part ay th' whole debacle."
“Well I’m real.” Beldan pinches himself on the arm to prove it.
“Soooo, Stig. Hi. Big night?”
"Aye. An then a few Ah reckon."
Oso channels healing twice to help everyone.
ELgan does his beast to calm down the excited hound, but is unable to prevent him from slobber-attacking Stiggy on the golden lotus. When Stig awakes and rejoins the group, the elf looks as relieved as the dog.
"Now, did the mind flayers put you in one of those black sacs?"
"Weel, Ah was skitin' some rum in th' hauld an' 'en Ah woke up in a ceel an' punched th' buck't ay a goblin 'en killed some trolls an' a bampot drow 'en rode aroond in a boat wi' another drow in a weddin' frock an' mit an undeid bard. Ah dunnae kinn hoo a min' flayer figures intae 'at but rum seems tae hae played a raither integral part ay th' whole debacle."
What is reality?
I'm just glad I ran a trippy dream sequence that didn't entirely suck.
Gittik's able to fly up there and shatter the mirror....behind there is a small seating section. Stiggy recognizes the headmistress of the drow from his dream sequence.....though she's in pretty bad state now; the back of her skull and all of her brain is missing...
She's swagless; there's a door to the east, that Stiggy's been through in his dream.
De. swaggified.
Un swagged.
Swagfree.
Indeswaggifable.
…
Kidding!
I made a wil save there. It was difficult for me.
Back in a bit.....kids on spring break; took the day off; went to Six Flags.
Now second oldest has a fever.
Must stock up on what-have-you's; back in an hour or so.
<Grunts, gets up and waddles around a bit to stretch out.>
"Ah wonder whit they pit inside ay me. Cannae be guid."
"ROOOOOWRWRWRRR RIGGY!"
"Yoo've chipped a tooth thaur hoond. We'll hae tae gie ye tae some gauld fur 'at."
They had a guy in a Scooby Doo costume; I forgot to get a picture with him....
The next room.....there's the same stairway up to a door out on the east; the tent that was there in Stiggy's dream, however, is gone.
The tent pegs, a few of the ropes are still there though, as if the whole thing was trundled up in a hurry.
Elgan seems as happy at the hounds happiness as he is at having actually found Stiggy. He prowls about the edges of the group as they move forward, senses alert, obviously distrustful of anything and everything they see.
The next room.....there's the same stairway up to a door out on the east; the tent that was there in Stiggy's dream, however, is gone.
The tent pegs, a few of the ropes are still there though, as if the whole thing was trundled up in a hurry.
Something dragged the tent up the stairway, through a door.....Stiggy recognizes it as leading to the sea cave he was in previously.
"Let's go take a look, shall we?"
There's a long hallway; Stiggy recognizes it as leading to the seacave. As you reach the entrance to the hallway, you can definitely hear murmurings in at least one unknown language......one definitely sounds Vudran; one sounds brutish and choppy.