Luthael sends a ball of boiling sun flying into the fairy tangling with Ingryd. The searing holy fire blackens rolling flesh and leaves a wide area crispy and smoking. The big fae stumbles back a step giving Ingryd an opening to fall back up the steps.
Scramsax tries to knock some brains into one of the trio again but this time the halflings aim is off and the stone clangs off the nearby Sprinklemaker 2000. The hit rattles the entire contraption finally freeing the logjam of ruby red, emerald green, and bile yellow sprinkles to break free. This is an achievement that has befuddled the goblin workers for nearly three days. If any of them had survived the initial fiery conflagration they would be celebrating the release of the sprinkles and an end to their daily beatings for failure.
A cloud of sprinkles bursts forth with a coughing, phlegmy spew from the nozzle just at the first of the fire crew arrive. Their rubber suits pelted with sticky sprinkles causes a momentary panic as the pair turn on the machine and encase it in a thick spray of plain soy yogurt fire retardant. Within moments the sprinkles cease to flow and once again the Sprinklemaster 2000 sits silent and constipated and the yogurt and sprinkles combine into a near solid mass of adamantium once fully set.
With their foes retreating toward the chocolate whirlpool and sauna, the fairy sisters pick up their fallen third and point the way for the response team while chattering and nattering. One of the crew makes the mistake of noticing then gazing directly at the massive oversized breasts of the third fae dangling free of any confinement whatsoever. The great pendulous glands swing back as forth with every shift and move the fairy makes. The image burns into the hapless creature's mind, his eyes flicking back and forth as if tracking the movement of a fleshy clock weight. Within moments Accident Response Team member 34 collapses into a glassy eyed stupor falling face first into a thick layer of retardant. Eventually the poor fool's oxygen runs out leaving the sight of the fae's naked form the last thing he saw before his screaming soul shuffled off into the next stop along its journey.
Sugar Plump #1: 74/125
Sugar Plump #2: 51/125
Sugar Plump #3: 105/125
"Are we posting up to fight from the tunnel, or do you want me to close off the opening?" asks Gunnar, clearly inclined to the latter course of action.
"I'd say seal it off," Raseri says. A part of her would love to go back and deal with what's left of the goblins and troll-ops, but sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor, and they still have a hag to deal with. Besides, with the amount of damage they'd done to the production lines, she doubts they'll be back up and running soon, if ever.
"Please seal it." Luthael replies hoping that they haven't lost an element of surprise on the hag.
Gunnar nods and casts Wall of Stone, layering it 30 inches thick to block the opening. He uses his stonemasonry expertise to make it appear as much like the rest of the cavern wall as possible.
Scram stood down, saddened that the fart fudge factory would be allowed to exist forever. But, it was more urgent that nothing candy coated entered her mouth...thus she didn't remove the bindings to protest. Soon, her sling was tied back into the neat leather bracelet she always wore, and the icy finger remained concealed on her spine...the thief appeared completely unarmed.
After the tunnel is sealed off, Raseri starts casting to get everyone cleaned up. At Logi's urging, she saves the shield for last.
The flashing lights, raucous alarms, screams, explosions, smell of burnt flesh, batter, and other foul things along with the general chaotic cacophony are cut off in an instant as Gunnar seals the tunnel from the entrance and much of the way back to the still stinky chocolate spa. Although the tainted chocolate pool still simmers, the flow of additional chocolate has stopped, which is fortunate at the exit stream is now completely cut off as well leaving a small reservoir of hardening cocoa pooled at the end of Gunnar's blockade.
Falling back to the original junction and campsite, Raseri manages to clear any residue of the raid on Old Molly Holly's Factorium of Holiday Delights and Delicacies from her companions clothing. All the while Ingryd's shield complains bitterly and loudly about being last in line until eventually it's complaints give way to a sullen silence occasionally broken by sullen mutterings to quiet to really understand.
Darrell looks up from his spot next to the quietly burning fire. With a quick count of heads he nods to himself and returns to the mug of tea he'd been sipping. "So all went well then?"
"Every time I think I've witnessed the worst horrors Midgard has to offer, I find myself surprised," Raseri says as the adrenaline wears off and the gravity of what she's seen begins to set in. To cope, she falls back on an old Northlander tradition, the telling of tales. She relays what they witnessed and what happened to Darrell.
"No that candy was deplorable. Do not recommend" Ingryd says as she looks at Raseri and smiles.
" Thanks that would have taken weeks to get all that out of the deep fur. Though keeping the blood and gore can help in intimidating the enemy" She says with a wink.
Luthael appreciates the cleaning from Raseri but is obviously sullen with engaging the candy factory. His consolation is that the candy deliveries will have a supply chain disruption for awhile.
"Let's take a rest and recover. Then, we've got to find those dragon eggs, right?"
"We do," Raseri says, feeling a little ashamed of herself. Luthael had made it clear that he didn't want to cause a ruckus, and she was willing to do it anyway.
"I guess we should press on quickly then," she mutters before doing what she can to recover from the raid on the candyshop of horrors.
Gunnar also takes a breather, using his Arcane Recovery to get that 5th level spell slot back. He also binds some wounds and rests after taking the requisite concentration time to ensure the wall remains permanent.
"yeah the dragon needs her children"Ingryd says then growls.
"Taking children, if she has eaten any....SHE WILL PAY"Ingryd says as she chokes up on Ennui ready to smash the wort covered face of the wrinkly old hag. Probably repeatedly until all that remained was a puddle of pink chunks and blood.
”We saw no evidence of a dragon egg hatchery that way,” adds Gunnar. After catching his breath and finishing a quick study, he says, ”Shall we continue?”
Raseri looks to Luthael, still feeling guilty about what happened, before answering.
"I think I shall," she answers as she stands and then helps the Prophet of Khors to his feet.
The thief shook her head no. Those plumpers would be yet another dagger in the back, Scramsax' assumed threat lurking in the shadows...like that Ice Hyena similarly left behind in its lair years ago. Before taking a sip of cocoa from henceforth, the nagging, perennial, paranoid question would always arise 'Did somebody fart in it?'
Scrunching in the cozy sand, the tiny feet scouted forth...
...before she could take a step, she glanced down to notice a tiny gumdrop stuck to her chest. A gumdrop with the stolen life essence of a young bean-cursed maid within causing it to pulse with spiritual flatulence. Luckily, with a bit of quick thinking Scram gave it a single finger *flick* sending its ass back to hell where it belonged.
While the rest of the group catch their breath, clean up, and share a bit of the experience with Darrell, Scramsax sets out once again to scout the passages ahead. This time the halfling slips down the main, northeasterly tracking branch with the old smugglers mark.
The roughly ten foot by ten foot chamber is empty except for a few bits of ancient rotting wood. You'd guess the remains of a small pallet or maybe a couple of barrels half buried in a partial cave in along the western wall. Also partially blocked by fallen rubble is another narrow passage leading west. Two other corridors lead north and east.
Now that he knows what to look for, Coin easily spots the smuggler's mark on the northern passage. What the owl also spots is that the opening to the west appears to be newer than the rest of the tunnel network. Taking a closer look, it appears the tunnel is less the creation of natural cracks and movement of the mountain but of something eating away at the rock. The opening and the following passage each show signs of corrosion from acid. Curiously, further up the tunnel, the floor in covered by several patches of small white, yellow, and brown mushrooms.
As coin sits there and scans the area, one of the patches of mushrooms suddenly starts to move. The small thumb-sized fungi scurry and scuttle about ten feet deeper down the town before settling to a stop once again.
The thief returned quickly, finally taking her gag off a moment to report every detail before adding to Ingryd "...yeah, you heard me, barrels. I think this is it! But I didn't get too close...wasn't sure about all that mold and fungus. Can never remember which one likes fire and which likes cold. Let's go."
" So try sometjing like sound or lighting" She says as she then laughs.
" Or get them drunk"
During the short rest, the prophet takes out his new sword and practices the routines that Raseri showed him until his arm shook in fatigue.
After Scramsax briefs them on the way forward, Luthael offers, "maybe it's just a fungi farm. Didn't we face mushroom soldiers, once?"
"I think I should have prepared the blessing Locate Creature, so we could have a direction toward the dragon eggs."
"While being a Prophet makes me see the future, it doesn't help me well prepare for it." With his new sword safely sheathed, he follows his companions.
"Hmm, I could look for the eggs instead of the hatchlings-to-be," Raseri muses.
After a moment, Raseri falls into a trance as she brings to mind the few times she has seen a dragon's egg. Focusing on the shell, she mutters a prayer asking for the path to be laid bare before her. After a moment, her eyes and the twig forked twig in her hand glow with stormlight.
At first, disappointment strikes. Nothing resonates with the proper inherent properties. You try to push the threads just a little further. Sweat starts to bead upon your brow. Your heart pounds in your chest painfully. Upon the brink of collapse you receive a small resonant *ping*.
The location is beyond the reach of the spell, but you get a direction. North and east and up. Farther than one thousand feet, but closer than two thousand feet for you couldn't push your power any further.
As Raseri comes out of the trance, she staggers a bit.
"Looks like our quarry is in the tower," the priestess tells the others. "I'll have to try again when we're closer."
"Which way?" Ingryd says eager to smash through and free the young form such an evil creature.
"The way Scramsax just scouted out, the smuggler's tunnel."
Luthael smiles at Raseri and offers, "Glad it worked. Good job. Let's go."
Gunnar follows along on the path with the others. ”Sounds like we can investigate less now that we know the eggs aren’t down here. Excellent,” says the Dwarven wizard with an unintentional pun.