Session 9 3/11/23

Awakening to another day, we all gather in the lobby of the hotel. I made sure to write up a report to mail back to Zelcer to keep him updated on our progress. We don't want him to think we're taking a vacation here, and we'll expect to be paid for our full time of service once we return! The hotel proprietor, Gus Williby, laments his lack of Moon Peppers. We listen politely and agree to bring some back if we see them while out.
 
Verna and I go to the guild hall to see if there are any more updates, while the others go to check out that smith to see what they can find out. On the way to the hall, Verna spots a wrestling competition and insists on checking it out. It or them? "Them" being the competitors of course - I can tell. She tries to get me to sign up, which I'm not too interested in. Then we find out the prize is a Flame Tongue Longsword so of course I'll sign up. I'll put some puny commoners in their place for such a powerful magic weapon. It will make defeating my foes much easier, not to mention starting campfires. Can't always count on Rex - he's going to get himself killed one of these days and it'll be nice to have another source of fire and light. Actually, if I can talk Rex into signing up for the competition, that might be an amusing diversion - it would be fun to watch him get knocked around, and even more fun if I get to be the one to do it! He seems unnaturally enthusiastic about everything in this town so it shouldn't be too difficult to talk him into it.
 
At the hall, there are a ton of new jobs! Some lazy supervisor must have finally pulled out his "Approved" stamp and went to town because there's around a dozen new jobs compared to just the two that were there yesterday. It would be much more efficient for the hall to just keep a steady flow of jobs going through. Feast or famine isn't generally a viable business model to keep adventurers coming back, but I digress.
 
Verna and I head back to meet up with the others, they should be done at the smith by now, but on the way we spot a child crying in the street. No one seems to be paying her any mind, but between the two of us Verna is the most approachable so we decide that she should go up to the child and see what is wrong. Apparently, Elsa's kitten, Whiskers, has gone missing. We must locate Whiskers! We meet up with the others and begin to track the kitten, eventually ending up at a well. Verna descends the well while the rest of us work the rope to lower her down.
 
She pulls the rope with the emergency signal, and all of us except for Rex go in to rescue her. There are a couple of Fire Newts attacking her, and some kind of underwater weather event is happening as well. We manage to swim to the battle and take care of the newts with relative ease. Verna takes the kitten back up, while Wabnuc and I investigate what's going on down here. The fog dissipates fortunately making our investigation easier. There are multiple small cages filled with tiny animals! Puppies, and squirrels! There's some conveyor belt system to transport them. What monster thought this up? Is this some pet-trafficking operation?
 
Verna returns, and so does the fog oddly enough. We ask her about it, and she figures out that it started when she ate her "Speedy" mushroom. Guess not all of those magic mushrooms are speedy! Upon seeing what one could do and not knowing what all of the potential side effects are, I decide I'd rather not have mine and give it back to Verna. The three of us manage to get all the caged animals back up to the top of the well, but investigating the other end of the conveyor belt will need to wait as that competition is close to starting.
 
We rush to the competition, only barely making it. On the way, we convince Rex to sign up as well. This will be great! Unfortunately, we aren't paired up for round one, and I know he's unlikely to survive too many rounds so I'll just have to watch. We let the organizers know about the animals in case anyone else is missing a puppy, and proceed with the competition. My first competitor was a joke - about what you'd expect from a country town, and I win easily. I wouldn't really expect much competition until the finals, but surprisingly my second round opponent puts up a great match! I won, but had to work for it. Much respect for him, if he hadn't met me round two, he could have made it to the finals. The rest of the rounds until the finals proceed as you would expect, I win handily. Verna is cheering throughout the tournament, but it seems to be directed towards whoever is winning rather than a favorite competitor - maybe she doesn't really understand how the sport works.
 
The final round arrives, and my opponent has multiple synthetic appendages. Odd, they specifically said no weapon grade tools or enhancements could be used. Must be a local getting special treatment. Oh well, more of a challenge for me. We go through the motions and begin. I knock him down, he knocks me down. I rip his arm off, very satisfying by the way, and the crowd goes wild! Can't do that with a normal competitor, but his synthetic arms are fair game. That evens out the playing field, and I manage to win after a few more knockdowns. He's going to have an expensive repair bill. Good thing there was so much paperwork about how no one takes responsibility for injury or death, high risk sport, and all that. His second place winnings will manage to pay for it anyway.
 
Upon winning, I am presented with the Flame Tongue. It's a beautiful weapon, but whoever created it had a funny sense of humor and made the magic word "Buttercup." Ah well, there are worse magic words. Back in university, there was that one classmate in "Magical Words" class who accidentally designated the magic word for his project "Mymomma!" instead of "Your momma." (Every magical words class had that person with a momma joke) He had to slur it together just right with that emphasis at the end or it wouldn't work. It's hard to be taken seriously while saying that. There was much snickering during his presentation as he turned it "on" and "off." I don't think the professor gave him a very good grade. At least I can dramatically insult my opponent and call THEM buttercup, which will then instantly cause my sword to flame up. It'll just take some time to attune to the sword before I can consistently get it to function for me. In the meantime, I give my old sword to Wabnuc as I'll no longer need it.
 
Now that that's done, we head back to the well to check out that conveyor belt. First we walk the town in roughly the direction and distance to see if there's anything to see topside. Just regular buildings as far as we can tell from the outside, and we aren't 100% certain how long the belt is to start breaking into places on a whim. Back down we go. Verna is the best fit so she goes first, but then returns shrieking about some tentacle monsters. Everything's a tentacle monster to someone her size. Guess we'll all have to go and see what's going on.
 
There are actual tentacle monsters this time! Three of them in fact. They manage to strike me and prevent me from functioning as anything more than a wall to protect my comrades, but fortunately I eventually shrug that off and use Divine Smite against one which obliterates it; and the rest of the party cleans up the other two. We are in a storage cellar, and someone was using the belt to feed these monsters. Why would anyone keep these in town? Further investigation is required. We notice an oddity in the wall, and I break it down, revealing a stairway. Someone walled off the stairway to lock these creatures in with just the one feeding entrance. These things could have broken out! They could have eaten Whiskers! I feel a new strength and renewed hatred for evil welling up inside. Elsa and Whiskers could have been any child and pet back home. Someone's going to pay; my vengeance will be swift.
 
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Achieved level 4
HP from 23 to 30 (6+con of 1)
Lay on Hands pool increases from 15 to 20
Ability point increase
1 point to Strength. 19 to 20
Str modifier increases from +4 to +5
1 point to Constitution. 13 to 14
Con modifier increases from +1 to +2. HP goes from 30 to 34 from four levels earning the extra con bonus.
 
Gained Flame Tongue Longsword +1
+1 to hit
1d8+1 slashing damage
Versatile (May use as two handed weapon, 1d10+1 slashing damage)
When burning, additional +2d6 fire damage.
Magic word "Buttercup" to turn on flames as a bonus action. Fire is on until I turn it off with the magic word, drop the sword, or sheathe it.
Fire also provides bright light for 40ft, and dim light for an additional 40ft
 
Lost Magic Mushroom - given to Verna
 
Lost Longsword - given to Wabnuc