KC's Age of Worms

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

"Uhh, okay. The six-armed thing was apparently a lich. Still, lichdom is a long way off from ascension to godhood. It must have been like, an interpreter or something."

"Are you for real, Eben? I've never had one rooting around in my brain but I can't imagine it'd be tolerable in the slightest. How are you even contemplating putting one in your head intentionally?" Astraden asks.

"I'm not putting any worms in my head..." Cuetzpalli agrees.

"I'm not saying it would be ideal, but if it's the only way to lean Kyuss's secrets, it's an option on the table." Eben counters. "I'm not even sure how you'd do it, though. I mean, a normal worm will crawl through your body towards your brain. Maybe these would too. Or maybe you have to (ew) stick them in your ear?"

Don't fall for the Yeerk's trick bro!

I just had an Animorphs flashback...

Carina shivers at the mention of worms being used as 'books'. "Eugh... no thanks. Blackwall Keep was enough for me--I'm not interested in sticking worms into me on purpose."

See, I was thinking more like the mind control ear bug thingys from Wrath of Khan, but sure, go ahead and make me fell like an old man by using more modern references...

"Well... like I said, only going to do that if we have to. And only if I'm not making a crazy guess. Carina, can you take a look at this book and tell me if I'm totally off in space on this one?"

Pretty sure Carina's the only one that can make the K:Arcana check. Eben will toss some magical inspiration her way as needed.

"As for the rest of the books and scrolls here, I don't think they're much use right now, unless we have anything we want to research overnight. But before we teleport back to Magepoint we should gather them up for Manzorian. He'll probably make better use of them than us."

"And then Astraden's right. I think we're way too messed up after those two fights to head down into the pit today. I'm all for laying back and resting."

I.E., I think we should save all those wand charges for the time being.

Carina swallows nervously and takes a look at the book Eben offers...

Knowledge (Arcana)? *Good Hope*: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 14 + 2 = 26

And Eben gallant inspirations that if necessary, adding 2d4 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5 to the roll.

EDIT: actually, scratch the 'if necessary' part of that, since Knowledge checks are usually a sliding scale of success instead of a binary pass/fail, may as well get the best possible result. Eben casts it.

See, I was thinking more like the mind control ear bug thingys from Wrath of Khan, but sure, go ahead and make me fell like an old man by using more modern references...

It turns out there are lots of parasitic bugs out there controlling minds. Abbreviated list: "the headcrabs of the Half-Life series, the Yeerks of the Animorphs series, The Flood from Halo, the brain slugs of Futurama, and the neural parasites of Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Astraden nods. "I'll use some spells instead, then."

Still using that channel earlier, so [1/6]. Disregard earlier wand rolls. Healing on individuals below:
Converted death ward on Eben: 4d8 + 10 ⇒ (3, 6, 2, 6) + 10 = 27
Converted searing light on Farrukh: 3d8 + 10 ⇒ (5, 2, 5) + 10 = 22
Converted prayer on Cuetzpalli: 3d8 + 10 ⇒ (6, 3, 8) + 10 = 27

"What book is that, Eben?"

Don't forget the best ones, the sea slugs from Runescape. Hail Mother Mallum!

"Um... well, Eben's right. These worms can expand a person's knowledge if you stick 'em in your ear." Carina shudders and closes the book. "You're not really at risk of dying from them unless your immune system is really weak--that is, if you're really prone to sickness."

"It's barely noticeable once it's fully bonded to you. It's the first time one is introduced to you that's the painful bit."

"Yeah, I'm not sticking any worms in my ear, blind or otherwise. There's got to be a spell or something that can accomplish the same thing. Maybe back in that wizard's big library."

I'm thinking we should avoid any more major exploration until we can hit the whole party with deathwards. Those invocations were seriously nasty.

"Then Eben should probably put them all in his ears. He seems to like knowing things, and it was his idea."

"Fully bonded to you?" Astraden asks Carina. "What, like, we're supposed to leave them in there forever?"

"Okay, let's entertain the idea for just a second that we let Eben put something in his ear. We are not doing it here, right?" she asks. "We have a whole exploration to finish. The worms have waited here for who knows how long, and they can wait a bit longer."

The priestess moves towards the door. "Tanith, shovel all that shit in your pack. Let's head back to camp. Tomorrow, it's death pit time."

"Fully bonded to you?" Astraden asks Carina. "What, like, we're supposed to leave them in there forever?"

"More or less. I'm assuming that the worm imparts knowledge, and removing it would cause that knowledge to be forgotten."

She nods in agreement when the subject of returning to camp is brought up. "I need to reorganize my extracts, as well. I'm not sure I'll be of as much help as Astraden, but I can at least prep some extracts that'll help with the negative energy around here."

"Yeah... if and I mean IF I stick a worm in my ear, it's when Astraden has a bunch of spells on tap to cure me if things go wrong. (Although the one we found in the hullathoin's lair isn't labeled. Makes me kind of curious to see what's on it...)"

Hmm. Here's the thing. While Eben might be willing to wormify himself, that +4 bonus doesn't do him as much good as it would one of the people who actually have ranks in assorted knowledge skills.

Also, Tanith, there's basically no way for death ward to be cast on all of us as things currently stand. If Astraden burned out her 4th level slots (which seems a questionable use of resources to start the day) she could cast it four times, leaving two people open. But even that would only last for ten minutes worth of exploration. Realistically, I don't think we can expect the kind of coverage you're looking for, without teleporting back to Magepoint and buying a wand.

Bah. Well we need a plan. I burned a bunch of resources to just survive that last encounter. If we encounter a similar bunch of enemies someone is going to die for sure.

This might be a natural consequence of our being a couple levels below what this adventure is intended.

"Alright. Honestly, we could probably wait to go back to Magepoint to try it. I'd like to have like fifty adventurers and an archmage at our backs before we start meddling with this knowledge," Astraden says as she walks out of the ziggurat.

In camp, and later that night, she burns move of her spells and her channel to heal people.

Channel energy: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 2, 4, 4, 6) = 22
Breath of life on Cuetzpalli: 5d8 + 10 ⇒ (6, 5, 4, 7, 3) + 10 = 35
Converted bear's endurance on Tanith: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (7, 6) + 10 = 23
Converted spiritual weapon on Cuetzpalli: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (8, 5) + 10 = 23

Cuetzpalli feels much better after Astraden's ministrations. "Thanks, A. I needed that. Those things were quite nasty."

The warrior busies himself cleaning his armor and weapons, as well as doing a long stretching routine he learned in the afterlife. After everyone has settled in (as much as possible anyway), he broaches the morrow. "What do you guys think is down the pit? I'm kinda scared. I don't really want to die again. It's a horrible experience."

Also, Tanith, there's basically no way for death ward to be cast on all of us as things currently stand. If Astraden burned out her 4th level slots (which seems a questionable use of resources to start the day) she could cast it four times, leaving two people open. But even that would only last for ten minutes worth of exploration. Realistically, I don't think we can expect the kind of coverage you're looking for, without teleporting back to Magepoint and buying a wand.

Well, good thing I took Death Ward as an extract during my level-ups. :)

"Probably beasties that are even worse than the worm-knights that almost killed us, if I had to guess." Carina says with a great deal of resignation, looking up from her formula book. Her pen is scratching formulae down almost nonstop.

"Thanks. I'll sleep the rest off." Farrukh says, settling into his comfy healing armor.

Farrukh were you including the previous channel energy in your hp?

Astraden frowns. "I don't know about the pit. But what if the six-armed lich is still here? It's the only thing I can think of that would be flitting around in the shadows constantly."

Okay, time for the spells update. As requested, I'm filling up on death ward as much as possible, but need one slot for Carina's sending. Word of recall is the best dimension door/gtfo we can get so I'm taking it, even though it will only save five of us. The recall point will be our current campsite.

She spends the rest of the night attempting to tend to Cuetzpalli's intelligence damage, quizzing him on the party's travels since his resurrection and on other topics.

Heal for long-term care (how the heck do you flavor it, though??): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Tanith and Carina can help with the deathward burden.

I wasn't, but it's not particularly relevant. Given a few minutes I'd be at full HP (Fast healing 1).

"You wanna talk to your mom, now? Twenty-five words, so make 'em last."

Carina wanders over, looking a bit bleary-eyed and tired. Her hands have some ink stains on them. "Oh... thanks, Astraden."

She clears her throat.

"Hi Mom. It's Carina--sorry if it's inconvenient. How are you doing? I miss you a lot. Killing Kyuss beasties in jungle spire. Love you."

Astraden casts the spell and relays the message.

After a long pause, the reply arrives.

"Hey. Just departed Alhaster; Edgar says hi. Raknian vanished. Vecnans leaking rumored involvement: Raknian "dealt with", Triad meddling "intolerable". Illithids sighted near Alhaster. Love you."

Carina breathes a sigh of relief, but the news of illithids near someplace called 'Alhaster' worries her. "Oh, thank Fharlanghn & Olidammara. She's doing alright."

"Astraden, is it silly of me to worry about her at a time like this? I know we've got this whole spire to deal with, but..."

Farrukh's eye twitches.

"If she kills Zyrxog before I get a chance too, I'm going to be mad."

"I'm a bit more concerned about whether she can even go up against Zyrxog without help, Farrukh."

"I believe in her. She was a successful explorer since before you were born, wasn't she?"

"And she's smart. She'll stay out of the way of those things if they're out of her league."

"I know, but still..." Carina sniffs. "...it's weird. I feel like I need to watch out for her now, especially when she did so much for me before."

"Look, C. If the worst happens we can always bring her back if that's what she wants. Unless we all die, we're some of the strongest folks around. We're gonna end all this madness and then you can go be with her."

"Carina's concern is legitimate, though. There's a new Age approaching, and a lot more scary things running around than before. If she does get out of her league, hopefully she does want to come back." Astraden takes a bite of roasted jungle goat. "Speaking of which, what about you all? You want me to raise you if you die? I'm . . . I'm guessing you want to be brought back, right, Cuetzpalli?"

"Besides..." Eben chimes in helpfully, "If Zyrxog did encounter her, he'd most likely just take over her mind, break her free will, and use her as a puppet to lure us into a trap. So I'm sure she's safe regardless!"

"I still haven't decided. Cuetz made the afterlife seem pretty cool. I mean, assuming we all get one tailored to stuff we like to do."

"On the other hand, I've always wondered what it would be like to be a different race."

"Yeah, I'm in this until the end. I can rest when it's all done."

"Besides..." Eben chimes in helpfully, "If Zyrxog did encounter her, he'd most likely just take over her mind, break her free will, and use her as a puppet to lure us into a trap. So I'm sure she's safe regardless!"

Carina responds with a glare. "I'm glad you find this so amusing. I don't."

"Speaking of which, what about you all? You want me to raise you if you die? I'm... I'm guessing you want to be brought back, right, Cuetzpalli?"

"...I do want to come back. I'm just hoping it won't be necessary." She pokes at the syringe filled with golden fluid in her belt. "That's why I've got this little number."

"You might consider giving one of those to Eben or Tanith or something. That way if you go down, and Astraden goes down or is too far away, somebody else can pick you back up with it."

"...that'd probably be a good idea." Carina groans and looks at her extracts. "Thing is, I already had a couple of protective extracts prepared..."

"Well, that's good to know. And yeah that extract you used on me earlier today - incredible! With one of those in the party, and my spells, we should be quite safe." Astraden listens to Farrukh's suggestion. "It only really works if she makes more than one of them, right? Which uses up a lot of her energy. Even with just two we're pretty good at averting death, and if Carina dies and we can't use the extract or my spell in time, I should still be able to raise her with a more expensive spell. It's shit like undead spawning that is most likely to prevent us from coming back, not missing our window on retroactive healing. The best prevention from being turned into a shadow or whatever is a protective extract."

The priestess retires for the night a while later, positioning her bedroll next to Cuetzpalli's. She sleeps with one arm lightly around his chest, but even that contact is somewhat uncomfortable in the stifling heat.

Cuetzpalli twists and turns in his sleep, wracked by dreams of strength and chaos. He doesn't push Astraden away though.

In the morning, when he wakes, the others in the group notice that his eyes have changed. They are now the roiling kaleidoscope of chaotic rainbow energy that previously only appeared in his bloodrage. He doesn't seem to notice.

18th of Reaping (July), Year 595 — Day 114 of the campaign.

Carina yawns and stretches, pulling herself off of Tanith's chest and reaching for her clothes.

Once she's had a chance to make herself proper she glances over at Cuetzpalli--and blinks her eyes several times. She rubs her eyes to clear them too.

"Uh... Cuetzpalli? Is something wrong with your eyes?"