The False Hydra
General Summary
Feeling they were incapable of continuing without rest, the Muffins piled into a walk-in closet to sleep in a giant, sweaty cuddle puddle. Dwarf feet. That was a new smell Kauth never expected would taint her magnificent trunk. Outside of the room, Ophio’s minions, Flathead and Phillip, stood sentry. The morning came without incident, and the group emerged to find scratches on the windows of the manor. Whatever was outside must have tried to get in, but for whatever reason could not.
Formulating a plan after a quick verification that the grotesque aberration was still outside, Kaz proved to everyone the Dwarven affinity for bagpipes was a natural talent. Marching proudly forward, he played a proud Dwarven battle tune from the pipes. The rest of the Muffins were close behind. The wax in his ears seemed to dull some of the creature’s Mindsong, or perhaps the wailing of the pipes interfered with it in some way. The creature turned one of the gray-white heads toward the paladin and Kaz suddenly stopped playing. The pipes fell to the ground. He was no longer in control. All he could do was step forward, like a lamb to the slaughter.
Hushed Candle and Borgan sprang into action, rushing forward. The Tabaxi doubled down, dashing all the way to the location of the body of the creature, and plunged her rapier in. Borgan, 40 feet behind her and directly in front of Kaz, let loose a quarrel from his crossbow. The rest of the party joined battle, but not before Kaz found himself compelled to defend his new master. He swung at the gnome halfheartedly, but missed twice. The gnome was protected from Kaz’s fury by the special love they shared.The rest of the fight was a close one, with Borgan and Hushed Candle falling to the creature, and the former being saved only to find himself becoming a snack. Ophio took a familiar role as the party’s bombard, while Kauth did everything she could to keep the party up while hastening the creature’s path to the grave. In the end, clinging to life, the Muffins emerged as victors. As the creature let out its death knell, a wave of memories flooded the minds of each adventurer. Hushed Candle recalled arriving in town and seeing Aidan Gil on the grounds of Hornhall. Had she planned to fulfill her contract only to forget who the target was? The rest of the Muffins suddenly could recall their lost halfling companion, Pym Shortwick, who Kaz and Borgan first met in the village of Nightstone many tenday ago. Ophio realized that his hatred of halflings must have been put on hold while the young bard accompanied them, or perhaps he only masked it? Regardless, there was a lot of sorting out to do, and the best way to do it was over a mug of brown at the White Mare.
Kaz had his mind on understanding all of this more, and quietly interrogated the Dwalns in the tavern. They revealed, under magical compulsion, that the town had started having odd things happen 2 tenday prior when a man named Aidan arrived in town on a cart. The man brought with him a stone box roughly the size of a coffin, and after staying in the inn one evening he moved to the guest house on the Hornhall grounds. The coffin seemed of interest to Kaz, but he couldn’t recall ever finding one in their search. Either it was missed in Hornhall, or it must have been left elsewhere.
Deciding on staying in town only one more night before setting out, the Muffins formulated their plan. They would set out for Mirabar, the closest city, and seek the aid of the Harpers. The Harpers apparently had a teleportation circle in the city, although surely such a powerful magical portal would be a closely guarded secret. Few rulers would be comfortable having a permanent teleportation circle in their city, especially one they did not control.
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