The Mouth of Doom: Session 6
General Summary
Take This Down, Stay Away from the Pumpkins
Report Date
14 Nov 2020
After finishing up in town, Rain headed out to find the others. The captain of the guard had informed the ranger that the group had headed out to deal with the gnoll problem first at the southern end of the nearby forest. The expert tracker was able to easily pick up her companion’s trail through the snow and muddy treeline as they did not take the time to cover their tracks. Rain could hear the sound of combat off to the west of her as she clambered up the hill. At the top was a massive gourd, uprooting it’s own stem and grabbing a nearby creature. Luckily the sound coming from the creature as it was flung up and behind the huge pumpkin did not sound like any of the ranger’s companions.
At the top of the pumpkin, near the base of the stem, a shiny weapon was stuck as if someone had tried to sever the pumpkin from its vine. Surveying her companions, Rain could see a cloud of fog dissipating near Ferric and the others starting to change their focus from the gnolls to the giant gourd. In an epic shot from behind the group, Rain enters the battle. The group finally downed the remaining gnolls. It seemed like the creatures were going to keep fighting until their last breath. Jalen points out the smaller blade at the top of the pumpkin but calls for the group to fall back. The pumpkin continues to lash out with their tendril, trying to grab whatever they sense. Ambrose asks if anyone could make the trip up the gourd.
As the group continues talking about how they should handle the massive animated pumpkin, the creature pulls on the earth and drags itself closer to the group. Uzadi spots Rain trying to hide behind a tree instead of falling back to the group and yells out “I think it goes for movement and not if it sees you or not.” The bard casts Longstrider on Jalen and retreats to a safer spot. Ferric targets the vine lashing out at the group with a spell and they all are able to see that magic affects the pumpkin better than their mundane weapons. Ambrose moves to help Rain as the tendril lashes down missing Rain in the tree. As the pumpkin drags itself even closer to the group, the rogue dashes up the side. Uzadi tries to offer the gourd something better to hit than the halfling and stays put making as much noise as she could.
The group joins, in whichever way they could, in helping Uzadi distract the pumpkin from Jalen’s pursuit up the side and finishing whomever had started cutting the pumpkin free earlier. The tendril drops off and lands at Uzadi’s feet, the gourd is still animate and is vibrating but unable to move. Croaker rushes to the paladin’s side wondering if she was alright. Ferric simply states “Eat a berry.” Jalen slid down the side of the gourd carrying the blade, a shortsword. The group starts to look around the bodies and the yurts, one of which is now crushed under the massive creature. Uzadi and Jalen start to look for the gnoll that was tossed and move away from the group picking up the trail easily until all of a sudden they lose the gnolls tracks.
The group is able to look in one of the yurts, noticing a bunch of furs covering the floor and wicker baskets carrying various supplies before hearing the clear whistle of Uzadi from around the pumpkin, calling them to her. They both inform the group that one that was flung seemed to have survived and ran off. Rain is able to pick up their trail but only to notice that the tracks seem to disappear like they were able to use magic. “We are not going to find it, but we can look at the other ‘leader’ and see what magic focus they use.” Ambrose starts to postulate about air genasi as they are the best rogues...but Ferric is having none of it and had already started heading back to continue searching the area.
They are able to find many items that will help them directly or indirectly by selling the items. Ambrose and Jalen look over the shortsword and find that the weapon was indeed magical and that it bore some script. “Hedwydd hlad Cydwyssen,'' the weapon had once belonged to a Wrenjer. The area seemed to be devoid of wildlife other than the pumpkins, the large one had stopped moving. The magic that had animated it being spent. The desecrated area seems to be in the front of the pumpkin. Uzadi was able to find a druidic focus on the other larger gnoll and they all seem to guess that the other one must be a druid as well. The group seems to believe that the pumpkin must have been awakened by gnolls but to what end they do not know. The bard tries to offer that maybe another awakened the gourd and the gnolls just capitalized on the opportunity.
“It is a good thing we were able to finish this Wrenjer’s work” Uzadi states and follows that they should have Arddan, their guide, look at the magical blade. As a group they decide to cut into the pumpkin, all except the bard, Meadbh feels like they should just let it be incase its size was due to Vrokíva instead of mortal magics. She is reminded that if the Brume comes for them it wouldn’t be because they sliced into the pumpkin but for slaying it. Furthermore, if the desecration seeps into the pumpkin, it could be much worse. Using the newly claimed sword, Uzadi slices the pumpkin. It smells meaty and tasty. Tidi, Ambrose’s wee familiar, moves into the pumpkin with the paladin and starts to search the area, collecting some giant seeds. After learning as much as they could, the group starts to head back to Zelkor’s Ferry.
They are worried that the fleeing gnoll will gather a group and march on the town. Jalen asks if they should tell the town about the giant pumpkin or the other littler pumpkins as it could feed the entire town. Ferric warns that they do not know how the gourds were cultivated and could cause more harm than good. It takes the group about two hours to return to the town. They all warn the captain, Akrad, about the possible gnoll attack. He clearly seems confident about handling that issue but hearing about the massive animated pumpkin he is out of his depth. Ferric clearly states that pumpkins should not be gathered in any foraging. They wanted to let Kanndra Dark know about the pumpkins and gnolls but they seemed to have left just after the others did earlier in the day.
Back at the Inn, Odo is serving lunch to some of the guards and deckhands of the Yellow Dagger. Arddan is presented with the sword. “Usually when one of us goes out into the field and is lost it is very rare to get anything back.” They believe it was probably not Vrokíva’s doing. While the group had been out dealing with gnolls, he had been asking around the village about how they had been able to survive without the Brume sweeping in. The Crown believes that this area might be a pocket of cultivated Leyline. Arddan was going to be leaving with the Yellow Dagger tomorrow, escorting the keelboat up river. He notes that he heard about a letter heading out to Hynfaol and Meadbh makes sure to note that she did not mention what they were doing here to her grandparents. Rain offers to hold the obsidian blade, that Ansible was still trying to materialize from, while the Wrenjer was away.
As the day continued, they were able to sell many items and purchase a hand crossbow for the bard as well as loaning her the magical blade. They talk about possible paths to Castle Calaelen for tomorrow’s trip, wanting to deal with the gnolls before they attack the town. As the sky turned dark, Meadbh starts a little concert. She had only meant it to be a small performance for the guard as Frindel had asked her to perform earlier in the day but soon the entire town was present, even Ulman Dark from his tower. The bard starts a little skittish but settles in as this is what she had been doing for the last few years all around Gylidd. Arddan joins in after a few songs and Ambrose as well, mimicking her voice adding another layer to her performance. Meadbh was happy to provide some entertainment to her companions as well as town, a town out in the wilderness alone and isolated.
