Session 13: Tragedy at the Nursery

General Summary

Resting to catch their breath after the fight with Cyanwrath and his cronies, the party headed out of the dragon shrine room and into an enormous cavern. As they approached the cavern they felt the air temperature warm considerably, a damp kind of warm which clung to them and made it very uncomfortable to be wearing armour.   It was silent in the large cavern and a ledge dropped dramatically into a large depression which stretched off into the darkness. Dripping stalagmites were dotted here and there throughout the cavern. A sudden scream alerted the party to danger and several kobolds leapt out tossing strange clay globes at them, some exploding into fire or spilling a revolting sticky substance. They were quickly dispatched and once again silence fell in the steamy cave.   Citrus and The Giant headed down a carved stone staircase into the lower part of the cave. Citrus, peering into the darkness with his enhanced vision, saw further stalagmites and stalactites stretching up towards the uneven roof like the desperate, gnarled fingers of a old man seeking light and air.   Moving forwards, the companions saw a strange sight and took a moment to process what they could see. Two large, grey eggs sat in loose earth on the floor beside two stalagmites. Before they could confer however, they were set upon once again by several massive lizards, silent sentinels lurking in the dark. The Giant, Citrus and Picasso became quickly embroiled in the combat, The Giant and Picasso struggling to get their bearings in the almost total dark of the cavern. As Citrus prepared to unleash a deadly spell on the lizards a long, thin tendril appeared out of the darkness in the south-west corner of the cavern.   Before he'd had time to react he was lifted from the floor and carried towards whatever monstrosity awaited him on the far side of the cavern. Citrus stared transfixed as a large, dark shape suspended from the ceiling loomed out of the darkness of the cave about 50 feet up. It looked just like a large stalactite hanging down but with multiple tentacles flailing wildly in the damp, hot darkness.  

  The strange stalactite creature held Citrus out in front of it and turned him around as though examining a delicate piece of discovered jewellery, a sound like grinding rock emitted from the direction of the stalactite creature and Citrus almost imagined that it heard a single, questioning word "FOOD?". As he hung there, unsure what to do, a dead kobold suddenly passed him in mid-air. A massive, sharp-tooth mouth opened in the gloom and the kobold disappeared in. Citrus was now in no doubt as to the danger he was in!   The others fought on against the lizards unaware of what had happened to Citrus but as Khorg looked into the darkness seeking for an opening in the swirling combat another tentacle caught hold of him and he was also hoisted up into the air.   Citrus, alone and thinking he would not survive long against the tentacled aberration let fly a bolt of fire in desperation hitting the beast in the face. It gave a howl and the expression on it's stony visage turned from curiosity to anger.   The Giant and Picasso combined well against the monstrous lizards and managed to kill them quickly though Picasso was badly injured during the fracas. The Giant followed the sounds and screams from across the cavern, guided by the light Khorg had created for him. As he approached the area below the beast he transformed into a large spider granting him vision in the darkness and the ability to scale the vertical wall with ease. Charging up at the roper he immediately sprayed a web over it, obscuring its vision and confusing the beast somewhat.   A growing horror and desperation crept over the party that this fight may be a fatal one, the tendrils of the creature massively hindered their abilities to fight and cast spells and they were running out of ideas. Picasso was nowhere to be seen, completely blind in the darkness and hurting badly from the bites and claws of the lizards, he wandered aimlessly trying to find his companions. The echoing shouts, screams and spell blasts confused him as they bounced off the uneven cavern walls.   The use of the webbing, a couple of glue bombs taken from the kobolds and a combination of spells and wild, awkward blows manage to weaken and confuse the roper but it grew more and more angry, it bit at Citrus in frustration almost killing him in one bite, Khorg gave him some magical strength to keep him alive but one way or another, the end of this terrible battle was approaching.   Picasso eventually managed to make his way to the fight and used his innate abilities to create phantasms in front of the creature's eyes, distracting it further from the killing bite. But this only delayed the inevitable, eventually the creature managed to focus on the succulent beings dangling in front of him and bit Khorg knocking him unconscious due to enormous blood loss, his agonised screams would stay with the other party members for a long time. His companions redoubled their efforts to keep him alive but to no avail, another bite from the ferocious teeth and Khorg was dead. A few moments later the attrition of wounds were to much for the creature and he dropped the limp body of the hobgoblin to the ground. Picasso made to catch Citrus as he fell and they tumbled heavily to the ground, Picasso unconscious from his many wounds.   The fight over and reeling from the horror, the recovered companions gathered around Khorg's body in silence and shock, thinking how pointless his death had been after all they had been through together.