Session 008: The Son of Maglubiyet
General Summary
Dragon's Rest, 9th of Lunitas, Mid-Afternoon:
The Party stands around in the cave of a goblin shaman who recently completed a mysterious ritual to transfer control over a strange axe from Gus Rando to Busker.
As a result, Busker had been transformed into the Son of Maglubiyet and stood laughing maniacally before the party.
Suddenly, Gus grabs the goblin shaman, pulls him to his chest and pulls a dagger out and holds it to the shaman's throat. The shaman begins panicking and screaming for his guards, Booper and Pooper, who were outside the cave entrance. Sayran rushes to help Gus hold the shaman he begins to back toward the crevice in the back wall of the cave. Gus tries to assure the goblin that they have no intentions of harming them, but that they need a guarantee of their safe exit from the cave. The shaman seems skeptical but begins to squirm less, though a shimmer of light around him would suggest the casting of some sort of protective spell.
Meanwhile, Naxiris pulls a javelin from her back and hurls it at the Son of Maglubiyet, who deftly catches the projectile in the air and shakes his head stoically at her. Naxiris, realizing her folly, then attempts to flee to the crack in the cave wall as the rest of the party calls to run. Fiera attempts to cast a magical blindness at The Son of Maglubiyet to cover their escape, but the spell has no effect on the creature. Hayden Hotness attempts to stab deftly at the Son while trying to slip past to escape, but his dagger thumps harmlessly against the monster's thick hide.
As the party members flee the Son hurls the javelin at Naxiris in retaliation as she disappears into the crevice, but it clinks harmlessly off the rock wall. The Son then turns his rage on Gus as he lifts his might Axe over high in a roar. Gus hoists the shaman up high in front of him as a meat shield as the Son swings and misses. Enraged, the Son blindly swings his huge hand and ends up catching the shaman in the torso, shattering his ribs. The goblin shaman manages to wriggle his way free from Gus's grasp after the shock of the impact and lamely crawls across the floor to safety. Gus then turns to retreat himself.
The Son, enraged by the turn of events swings wildly and strikes Hayden hard in the back as he flees through the gap. Fiera manages to cover their retreat by attempting to cast her magic again and blinding the Son.
The party then flees down the 200 or so feet to the cave entrance by the river as the hear the chittering of goblins following behind. The reach the river and find Syradril waiting for them. Sayran orders him to fly up and overhead as the party flees northward, following the Andor River.
As they traveled, Sayran spotted a pair of small squirrels in the woods. He stopped to speak with them and ask about dangers in the woods. The squirrels advised him everything was dangerous in the woods to them. They were squirrels. Sayran asked if they wanted to come with the party. One of the squirrels asked where they were going and Sayran merely advised, to adventure. When the squirrel inquired what "adventure" meant, Sayran explained it could involve nuts, and offered the squirrel some acorns. The squirrel agreed to come with Sayran, persuaded by the promise of more delicious nuts. His mate then exclaimed "But Stewart, think of the children!" To which Stewart the Squirrel replied, "Veronica! I wish to be free!" as he ran to climb Sayran's leg and sit on his shoulder.
After several hours, the party made camp. They debated how the wished to proceed, being torn between traveling south and heading further northward. They ultimately decided to head further northward and see what they find, not wishing to pass near Snarfenblog again. The night passed as the party rested. Sayran noted that Stewart appeared to be pleasuring himself vigorously inside of Sayran's cloak, curled up next to him. Fiera felt a presence watching them from the woods again, but chose not to investigate. She did, however, hear a low thudding in the distance. Looking out and toward the north, where the forest rose to meet the foothills of the Andor Mountains, she spotted the tops of the trees shaking as if being brushed on by something VERY large. She woke Hayden and pointed it out to him as well. The rest of the night passed without incident.
Dragon's Dawn, 10th of Lunitas, Morning:
In the morning, the party continued their trek northward. Sayran had Syradrill fly and scout ahead and look for any signs of civilization. Syradrill flew ahead and the party continued northward. After a short time, Syradrill rejoined them and informed them that he did see a small village to the north and across the river. The party debated about trying to find a way to cross the river to reach the settlement. While they debated, Fiera again sense the presence watching them. Finally having enough, Fiera called out to the woods for the presence to show itself.
A familiar, wrinkly, naked old man crept forward from the forest. Hayden asked what he had been up to, to which he replied "Making new friends!". When asked about his "new friends" the old man pulled a mossy stone from a pouch suspended around his chest and held it up. He informed them the stone was "Aristocles".
The party asked if the old man knew way to cross the river, to which he replied he did. He simply walked across. The party debated finding a place to ford the river while Fiera asked the old man about his name. It took a few tries, but the old man eventually recalled his name was Mobang The Magnificent.
Hayden asked the old man to intervene in the situation with Stewart the Squirrel, as Hayden and Naxiris felt that Stewart should return home and be with Veronica and his children. Mobang went to Stewart and began to chat in squirrel with him. Sayran cast Speak with Animals and heard Mobang chastising Stewart and reminding him that Veronica probably missed him. Sayran tried to interrupt, but the old man waived his hand and Sayran's mouth suddenly disappeared, leaving only blank flesh. Mobang continued to chat with Stewart, unphased by Sayran's interruption or plight. Sayran pulled out his bow to aim at the old man. The bow suddenly began to wriggle as it transformed into two snakes that fell to the ground and slithered off into the woods. Sayran then proceeded to try to tackle the old man. As Sayran flew through the air, he suddenly vanished, with a stone falling in his place. The old man casually picked up the stone and flung it through the woods.
Sayran would come to a few seconds later as the rock struck a tree and he popped back into existence, with his mouth restored. As he made his way back to the party, he saw the old man pick up a leaf and fill it with a few nuts from his pouch before tying it up and onto Stewart's back. Stewart then ran off into the forest in search of Veronica.
The party then asked the old man if he could help them cross the river.
Missions/Quests Completed
The Madness of Gus
