And indeed Nasar does burp up the gas as his body feels more coordinated and his fingers feel back to normal.
Dendar puts his hands up in excitement, "Cool were ready to go now?!"
Nasar draws his weapons and gives them a cursory twirl like he is attempting a feint
He looks so happy and empowered to have full control of his hands again. ”Yea...yea I’m ready alright”
The two others nod in agreement. Dendar pulls Owlbearto's large bedding to the side by the tips of the rug. Underneath in a large swirling hole of energy that resembles a whirlpool. Dendar looks to the others. "Just jump in and the rest kinda happens"
And with that he jumps in and Deract follows behind. Lily waits for Nasar to go before she enters.
Nasar secures his weapons and pack before glancing back at Liky. ”I’ll see you on the other side.” He pulls his mask over his face and jumps into the whirlpool.
As Nasar falls into the vortex his body is immediatly turned almost upside down as he falls from a small cavern ceiling onto a rocky cold floor. Deract looks around slowly taking in the area before him. A light can be seen from both cavern ends as Dendar looks back and forth as well before he starts walking over to one end. He stops abruptly before saying, "Woah definite wrong way," and walks back over to the party. Lily pops out the ceiling amd drops to the ground gracefully.
She looks around questionably.
”Time to gather my bearings since we’re all here now.”
As Nasar looks around he sees an empty dark cavern. Nothing to complex just a tunnel with 2 ends. Both sides however have light emanating at the ends of them and Dendar is returning from one side. He points to the other end, "Uhh thats the right way out."
No bugs or any sort of life seem to inhabit this cavern. Just stones and stalagmites and stalagtites.
”So time moves faster in this plane...better than the last time we were out exploring other planes I guess. Wont be gone for three months back home.” Nasar sighs and looks at his two partners. ”Have any idea what we should do once we get back home?”
Lily and Deract begin tailing Dendar as he passes by. Lily says,"Well we were told to keep an eye out for any sorta occurrences with shadows. But thats kind of a 'wait for it to come to us' thing."
Deract cuts in, "Could always find that bone guys clan."
"Hmmm, I might have some ideas for work when we get back if nothing falls into our laps first."
Deract chuckles, "Saying it like it's not gonna happen."
As they exit the cavern Nasar sees the light shining on a meadow of flowers and ankle high grass wavering in a slight wind wafting the scent of flowers to the party. Dendar looks over to Deract and points at the flowers. "I made those hehe"
Lily huffs a sigh before saying, "No you didn't, Dendar did."
Dendar squints in confusion, "But I'm Den-"
He stops short as Lily and Deract both give him a stern look.
"Oh oh right yea. We are Dendar's acolytes. I am... Dar...den, yea Darden sounds good."
Lily gives a you gotta be kidding me look to Nasar.
Nasar looks back at her, eyes full of emptiness. "Buddy...how about something a little more different from Dendar. Like Daniel or something..."
Listen here Lily we just have to put up with this for a little bit and then we can have him fly us home
Dendar blinks plainly before nodding in agreement. "Daniel works, Darden seemed fine but ya know... whateves, the kobolds town is that way." he points across the meadow over a hill.
The group starts walking and not before long they spy a small village with rugged looking houses made out of clay and stone. As they get close they see various red, blue, and yellow kobolds walking around as villagers would. A few see the team coming and 2 red kobolds in chainmail armor walk out the village to cut off the party. They begin speaking in common which is odd for a primitive kobold society of this type. "Hey your not our almighty one? Did you come from beyond the impassable mountain"
"We were sent here as a service from your almighty one to investigate and eradicate some strange entity that seems to roam this world. Do you know of the entity I speak of?"
The kobolds seem astonished to hear the news. "Ah uh yes we do! We have been praying and asking him to come help us for almost the last 90 years but he went silent on us. We were expecting him to return after 50 or so as he usually does for the celebration but he went dark on us. Your saying he still is out there, watching over us?"
Deract cuts in, "Yup and he sent the best in class to take care of your little problem so take us to him and we will wipe the floor with him."
The kobolds give a nod and lead the team through town. A cemetery can be seen at the edge of town with many headstones for the fallen kobolds that inhabit this land.
As thy progress through town everyone looks to them with a glimmer of hope in their eyes that they might save them once and for all. Dendar begins to question the leading kobolds. "So Dendar never really filled us in on what was ailing you exactly, care to enlighten us?"
The one kobold turns around and walks backwards to keep with the party. "Nothing like we have ever seen, some type of cloud of black dust has been running rampant in our fields ever since. It shrieks and screams for Alexandria but we have no clue what that is. Some of our best fighters went out to dispatch this beast but they all perished. Along with them tainted the land with a bad omen of some kind and they rose from the grave and wandered with him. Every few years they came into town and took a few more of us out of spite or anger, their bony lifeless bodies we used to call friends and family. Tainted by... I have no clue."
"It seems like the kobolds here have little to no knowledge about anything energy or magic related. Almost like their entire existence was devoid of any magical means, just martial and physical aptitude.
"Do you know where this cloud resides when it isn't in town? That could give us a place to look besides just waiting around for it to appear again."
The kobolds who are still walking you through town reply, "Yea that was the plan, its on the other side of town past the farmland. It usually runs rampant in the woods."
Dendar groans, "Aww man... The woods" They reach the end of the other side of town after a few minutes and the kobolds thank the team once again for helping them. They take their leave into the town once more to patrol. Leaving the party to cross the farmland into the thicket of woods a half mile ahead of them.
"Sounds like we are going to have to worry about undead, plus we don't know how this thing kills so be on your toes for anything and everything."
Nasar draws his keen kukri and his cutlass, making his way across the farmland.
I have a feeling that I'm really not going to like this
Dendar scratches the back of his neck as they walk across the farmland. "I really don't like the woods here. It's so hard to keep up with, it's known as the pitfall woods because the ground underneath it is like... I don't know maybe 10 feet deep? And if you fall through that you basically fall off the plane. And I didn't really have a backup plan to anyone falling except me the first time when nobody was here so I just kinda made it so that you fall into the top of the plane... Which is roughly 100 feet high which you then plummet back down."
Deract says slightly worried, "So don't climb in the fox dens got it."
Dendar tries to reassure the party, "I mean I'm gonna add more! Once I get enough cash to expand the plane again that was my next project."
"Or tumble when you land...I've learned that helps...the hard way heheh." Nasar tries to keep the moods up a bit now knowing that they need to keep an eye out for this cloud and the possibility of falling through the sky from the ground.
The party reaches the edge of the woods. Large oak trees vastly populate these woods and not a big variety of plants are seen either. Dendar chuckles, "Dont worry about poison ivy. I made sure there was none of that when I blanketed the plane with seeds. We should be able to head on i-" hes promptly cut off by the wails of an unseen entity.
A large shriek blasts through the forest.
Nasar flinches somewhat at the sudden loud noise. "I swear if I get deafened again I will lose my f+@!ing mind. I wanted to buy earplugs after last mission and forgot and now this bs." He waits for the rest of them before pushing forward.
Lily confusingly says as she walks into the brush, "Who the hell is Alexandria and what'd she do to piss this guy off."
Deract chuckles as he tails behind, now spilling every bean he's known about Alex. "Oh nothing serious. Made a pact with a low-ranking daemon. But the thing is Alex has such a deep seated desire to indulge on her sins that her daemon amassed so much power from her. Now this daemons a top bloke down in the Abyss. This thing was supposed to stop her before we met you, but I banished it. And by the small stroke of luck it fell into a plane that was an associates backyard. I don't doubt we will see Alex again. She's gonna be one powerful demon though thats for sure if she kept up that act like before."
"Cool two things I have no interest in meeting. This...thing and Alex again." Nasar squeezes his weapons tight. "How do we kill it."
Deract haphazardly walks through the woods explaining, "Well since the two lizards confirmed my suspicions this was what I banished a few months ago its most definitely a soul eater. Its got claws like me and pretty much drops you braindead before he takes your soul. He mostly flies and boy can he move fast, uhhh the undead guys I'm not too sure about. My guess is all the magic in Dendys plane is turning sour from this fella being here. Thus desecrating the woods. So you gotta fix that once this is done or your gonna start having skeletons of the deceased rising. And given you have a solid 10 feet of ground under us who knows how many skeleton deer and bears are under the ground."
Lily looks at Deract a bit surprised, "Did you just... speak logically and strategically?"
Deract smirks and sticks his tongue out. He is quickly stopped by a large gust of wind passing them and another wail above. The black cloud flies above and manifests 90 feet deeper into the woods. It sits idle but twitching. A black cloud with long spindly claws floats slightly.
Nasar goes behind a tree and keeps an eye on the thing.
"Ok, so how do we KILL IT"
It begins flying forward, "Uhh don't get hit, and magic!"
Deract prepares a barrage of energy bolts as his tail begins to glow and bring in energy.
Lily prepares a bomb and readies to toss it.
Dendar grows into a treant once again and pulls a tree out the ground to use as a giant club. The uprooted hole visibly shows the opening to the plane beneath them.
Nasar uses his turn moving at half speed while staying in stealth. He moves 15 ft away from the group so he can get the jump on the creature from behind once it engages the rest of the party.
As Deracts tail glows with dark energy he manages one last, "It doesn't have vitals Nasar! to insinuate your sneak attacks won't work. He looses a giant rain off energy bolts that completely envelopes the area in dark energy almost like the dust from an explosion pushing out. It quickly dies down to see Lily chuck her bomb at him lighting him up in flames that quickly dissipate. Dendar slams down his giant trunk crushing the soul eater. It rises up out from under the tree and charges Dendar and slashes at his base. Dendar manages a kick in retaliation as he charges.
Nasar comes out of his spot and attacks the enemy from behind. "YOU PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT SOONER!"
Nasar manages to slash it across its back as it turns around and whips one claw at him
Nasar takes a scratch across his chest but feel fine for the most part. After the SE retaliates its met with a barrage of a wood fist, an energy bolt from the side, and another bomb from the other side. It lets out a wail before attempting to slash Nasar again.
It barely grazes Nasar and allows him to follow up easily.
After seeing the SE trying to double attack, he shows off his own double attack.
Nasar slashes wildly at the SE as black smoke escapes outward as it takes a heavy hit by everyone once again. It tries once more to attack the closest enemy which happens to be Nasar.
The black dust ball isn't looking too good at this point. It sees Nasar mentally wavering and turns to strike Dendar next.
Being the not smart guy, Nasar goes for the finishing blow with his weapons.
Nasar misses his first slash but sends the soul eater packing with the second one. Its body blasts outward the dark energy and falls to the ground like a deflated ballon.
Nasar puts his gear away and grabs his head, eyes a bit glassed over.
"I-uh I think I know why you said don't get hit cause my head is...killin me man." He looks down at the killed SE "Oh we killed the Soul thingy. When did that happen?"
Deract looks worriedly at Nasar who just landed the killing blow. "Oh man... I dont know how bad his mind is melted. Ah he'll be ok. Job done lets go home, Derek... oops thats my name haha 2 D names never mix. Daniel can you fly us back to Magnimar?"
Dendar looks and nods. "Oh boy can I. Yessir lets head back and tell them were done."
But as they begin leaving, rustling can be heard in the bushes nearby. And groaning as well
Nasar sees the group leaving and he follows along
”Wait i think there are injured people, don’t y’all hear that groaning?”
Dendar transforms back into his human disguise as he keeps walking out the forest, "We can only divinely intervene so much Nasar. If hes dying and nobody finds him that's his problem."
Deract mumbles, "Some circle of life you got here"
”Ooooh okay its like if a tree falls and no one can hear it, does it make a sound or somethin. I gotcha.” He keeps close to Deract and Lily as he does not want to be the next guy left behind looking fir divine inter-whatever
Dendar plainly says, "False statement made by the Mwangi. Most druids can sense that stuff it never goes unnoticed. Plus the other trees arent deaf."
They arrive back at the settlement and the kobold await the news eagerly. Deract looks around and then raises 2 hands up in the air as everyone yells a hurrah! Kobolds run up to shake the teams hands and give them hugs for freeing them of this 80 year curse.
To Nasar it looks like he's drunk and bodies are flying past him at lightspeed since his brain can't figure out how to work.
The kobolds cheer and such and the village elder asks the team, "How may we repay you?"
And Dendar replies, "You guys still got the ore and harvest that was supposed to get offered to the big guy?"
And the kobold points to a large caravan of iron chunks and a few bushels of wheat and fruits.
"Perfect"
Nasar stands there silent at first just twiddling his thumbs as dendar gets his rocks before chiming in
”Can we get goin now, I’m gettn hungy and could use a nap. My head still REALLLLLLY hurts.”
Dendar nods as 2 kobold grab the carriage and they head over back to the mountain entrance, they leave the carriage there and head back to the village. After they head back Dendar turns back into himself and Owlbearto peers out from the cave entrance. He grabs the carriage and drags it to the cavern to start heaving it up out the portal. Owlbearto sees Nasar not looking too hot and comments, "My word you look awful, a bit of a headcold?"
Nasar shrugs ”We fought some weird guy and he scratched me a few times and now i have a headache and I should probably lie down but also im a bit hungry but this headache is pretty killer and we also fought this guy with a hood cloak thing and he got me a few times which made my head hurt...weird im getting a sense of deja vu. I’m sorry what was your question?”
Owlbearto stops heaving up the minerals and stares at Nasar worriedly. He looks at Dendar and says sheepishly, "Does he need medical attention?"
Deract shakes his head. "No he just needs a nap. Hes taken some hits to his mental well being he should be fine within the next few days. Unless we get him a spell of restoration, then he will be ok faster."
After Owlbearto finishes sending up the minerals he pushes the carriage back out empty and comes back and climbs up the hole. He extends a rope down for the folks who can't fly up to the cavern ceiling.
Lily flys up and Deract holds the rope. Dendar turns into a bat and flies up into the portal. Deract waits for Nasar to grab on before tugging to get hauled up.
”Oh right we are in another plane, I was beginning to wonder what we were waiting for.” Nasar grabs on, unsure of what to do next but g~! d%!n is he holding onto that rope like a champ.
Deract tugs down and they are slowly hauled up back into Dendar and Leo's room. Leo is taking the bits of ore and putting it in a sort of vice, the rocks crack and crumble and he takes a few pieces and puts it into an induction furnace towards the back of the room. Lily seems quiet perplexed at what he is doing so she inquires simply. Leo responds with, "My alchemical prowess has allowed me to transmute materials into other more valuable kinds. Of course I am not going to share anymore than that but Dendar can certainly enlighten you on his side as its primitive and doesn't require much thought."
Dendar who is moving some of the metal to another side of the room explains. "See the thing about my little pocket plane is that the area is regenerative. Most planes can have that sort of property, but the thing is with mine I've expanded it a few times and the are west of where we were is a bustling mine where cave ins occasionally open up new paths, and cover up old ones so that new metal can form. The kobolds dig it up and there slowly learning how to industrialize it. While a larger portion goes to me. The person that bequeaths them with this peaceful land and bounty.
Lily looks quite confused at this whole story. "Wait wait wait I am so confused. How did the kobolds get there in the first place?"
Dendar smiles, "See when I first formed my demiplane with Hard Hat Harry it was just a disc of dirt. As we gathered more treasure and managed to expand it more we grew it to the size of an ecosystem. From there I introduced certain neccessary plants and life to the world. After We kept that going and I had enough space for a small town to be formed I hatched some Kobolds there. These were the first of a large tree of kobolds. They were basically the founders. I raised them upto adulthood and from there my name was etched in their history as their giver of life. I taught them about martial tactics and how to hunt and how to fish. And live life basically. Now a few hundred generations later the area around them spontaneously gets more open and the fog around the edge of the land clears. I make more earth they explore more."
Owlbearto squints a bit at the over explanation, "In short he uses the kobolds to harvest ores and plants for us to use out here in the Material Plane. They regenerate and the cycle continues."
Deract smiles, "So slavery?
Leo cuts in slightly annoyed at such an accusation. "Call it blind faith. Who do you even serve directly in the Abyss?"
Deract crosses his arms confidently, "That easy, Lamashtu"
Leo turns his head now intent on his answer. "And what has she done for you recently that made you keep serving her as an agent of the Abyss. Sending her souls to reap and turn while you get what... a kaleidoscope tail?"
Lily busts out laughing and looks Deract in his face. "Ohhh myyyy goshhh he's g+$ d!%n right!"
Leo smirks before turning slowly back to his induction furnace.
Nasar is too busy watching the furnace to understand what the group is talking about.
Dendar looks at Nasar as he blankly stares into the furnace. "Maybe I should take you guys home before he falls and ends up with more brain damage."
And with that Dendar whisks the team back home. Lily and Deract hold Nasar tightly as he almost tumbles off the roc mid-flight.
He drops them off at the dock and they make there way home. Nasar is seated on his bed and Genesis is helping tend to Nasar as Deract, Lily, and the Troll give Nasar some time to rest.
Genesis tries to hand Nasar a cup of water as he makes his way into his room.
Nasar takes the water ”Oh sweet thanks genesis, hydration is important. Where did everyone else go shouldn’t we all be resting it was kinda a long mission.” He holds the water in his hand...but doesn’t actually take a sip.