Coia: 42 - Hungry, Hungry, Hamsters
General Summary
Coming back into town we find the drawbridge raised and two guards standing guard. Hailing them with the good news that we fixed the problem with the Lumbermill, they agree to let us pass and one of them, Merrick Amberdon, escorts us back to the library. Lucy flicks him a silver in thanks. As we approach the library we see a couple of elegantly dressed ladies leaving the library.
We enter the library and give Stephan the Fey ashes. He’s pleased with that but tells us that he got distracted by the ladies and spilled some Plane Rice on the ground. Unfortunately, his pet hamsters (Jonathon, Neil, Steve, and Arnel) who have a touch of kleptomania have taken it all away. He really needs it to make the amulet of the planes work. Garus, Lucy, Nym, Retta, and Zen all agree to take shrinking potions to try to recover the rice from the hamsters. Mithac and Sszarden prefer to wait full-size.
We drink our potions and shrink down to 1/10 our normal size. Retta drinks 2 potions and become 1/100 her normal size. Zen picks her up and places her on his shoulder as we head through the hamster hole in the wall. Going through the wall and down a few feet, we come to a small hallway that splits off to the left and the right. Garus turns invisible and heads off down the left tunnel. Zen flies up in the air with Retta clutching on for dear life and heads down the right tunnel. Lucy and Nym continue down the main hallway.
Garus travels for a bit before coming to a wet marshy area. He spots something furry in the corner and after casting Talk with Animals, asks it if it’s a hamster. It asks what he wants, and Garus tells it that if it gives us back the rice, he’ll give it treats. It plays coy, so Garus moves on and find the tunnel empties back into the other end of that main hallway they were in earlier.
Zen and Retta travel for a bit before they also come across a hamster. Zen can also speak with animals and asks it what its favorite food is. It likes the wacky tobbacky and two of its friends come out to join it. Retta messages the other that they’re following the hamsters and they also emerge from the tunnel in the far end of the main hallway.
Lucy and Nym head straight down the main hallway and almost instantly find a sack that’s tied up. Nym fumbles to untie the sack while Lucy calmly cuts the rope open with his knife. Inside they find what looks like a raggedy hand-made stuffed animal. Lucy detects that it’s magical. Deciding to come back for it later, they push on, climbing over a large pile of coin to find themselves in the end of the hallway with the others.
At the end of the hallway are 3 chests. Zen tells the hamster that he will give them tons of their favorite foods in exchange for the Plane Rice. They open the chest on the right to reveal 4 grains of rice. As Zen flies down to inspect it, he drops Retta off on the middle chest and she climbs through. Inside she sees a tooth that’s been made into a necklace.
Further negotiations have the hamsters open the chest on the left revealing 2 more grains of rice. In this light we can now see that the hamsters have sharp pointy teeth and are getting pretty excited about the prospect of food. They’re getting very worked up and even start mocking Zen’s southern accent. Lucy plays some music to calm them down.
We ask about taking the middle chest too and they agree as long as we can feed their whole family. About a dozen more hamsters suddenly come out of the tunnels, and we’re surrounded by some frantic, hungry hamsters. Now that they’ve agreed on everything, they start to head towards the exit. Garus runs ahead and spotting the sack, lifts it up and drags it over his shoulder up and out of the tunnel. Nym and Lucy each grab two rice grains and Zen (after donning the tooth necklace with Retta attached) picks up the final two grains, and the motley crew all head for the exit.
After exiting the hole, we convince Stephan to bring some food for our hamster friends. He feeds them and we return to normal size (and the grains of rice become super-size) and inquire about the objects we found. He picks up the tooth necklace and notes that it is Tisdor’s Spare Tooth which grants extra necrotic damage when biting. The stuffed animal is a Marble Eye which Stephan won’t even touch. He tells is that it is very dangerous and can do lasting damage to those who touch it. Also in the pouch, he finds a Ring of Regeneration which Garus grabs and puts on.
Stephan takes a grain of rice and with the last few drops of his shrinking potion, returns it to normal size and drops it through the center of the amulet. We notice that it doesn’t come out the bottom, but begins to glow. He tells us that it will now act as a homing beacon for the last portal to the Shadowfell, growing brighter when closer to the portal. Having completed the amulet, he wished us luck and bids us goodnight.
We all head into town and stop off at the Elegant Harpy for the night. Spotting the two ladies we saw come out of the library earlier, Lucy walks over to serenade them. He notices that they seem unnaturally young and glow with magic. Suspicious that they are wizards or sorcerers, he makes some pleasant small talk with them before they retire for the evening. Feeling inspired by Lucy’s song, Nym makes another attempt at contacting Borovic, and again fails spectacularly.
The following morning, we check the amulet and note that the portal seems to be located in the Berland region. We use a teleportation scroll to teleport to Gerhardt’s barn and make it there safely. After a warm welcome, we quickly explain to him what’s happened and inquire about the cubic gate. He assures us that he’s kept it safe, and hands it back to Nym, even explaining to us how it can be used as either a gate spell of a plane shift.
After some discussion, we decide to attempt to use the amulet to find the portal on this plane and destroy it here to block off the Shadowfell while we attempt to destroy the portals on the other side. Teleporting to Berland, we’re a bit less successful and find ourselves outside of a small village. Asking a nearby friendly face where we are, we discover that we’ve made it to Redcham. The compass is brightly glowing in the direction of Exningdon, and we hire a few horses in hopes that we’re close.
Sszardan T'Sarran
Zenhorn
Mithac Fezim
Lucius
Garus Silenus
Retta
Nym Lenore
Report Date
17 Oct 2023