Blingdenstone Neheedra and the Wererats (Recap from 7-14-23)

Blingdenstone Neheedra and the Wererats (Recap from 7-14-23)

Adventure day (Whelson the 17th of Horisal) The morning comes to “The Foaming Mug” as the party starts stirring and getting ready for the day. Neheedra wakes from her drug induced sleep finding herself manacled and transformed back into her normal Drow self after many decades as a horrible monster with snakes for hair. She laid in a soft bed and reached up with her manacled hands to stroke her silvery white hair. Feeling the silky strands through her fingertips she started to weep softy, overcome by emotion. She Looked around wondering what happened. The last thing she recalled was fighting with a group of adventurers and thinking to herself this would finally be the end of her torment, feeling the dagger go in and poison flowing in her veins losing consciousness. The next thing she recalls is floating in an endless astral space and seeing a strange point of light as she drifted toward it. She heard two voices, one was the cold hard voice of Lolth saying “I’m NOT through tormenting you my child! DO NOT TOUCH THAT!”  Another soft reassuring motherly drow voice said “Embrace the light of the Luxon, feel its warmth!” Hesitating no longer she reached for the mote, sticky webbing grasped at her holding her back, Lolith screaming “I SAID NO!!!!”. The other soft voice said more forcefully “By the endless possibility of the Luxon! Reach toward the light and be whole!” At last the webs tore free and Neheedra grasped the mote of possibility,  feeling bathed in the warm light of the Luxon as the Screams of Lolth faded into nothingness the farther she fell into the warmth and light of the Luxon. 

As she regains consciousness, she notices herself in a comfortable bedroom with two other Drow, a male and Female in meditation, and another what looks like a very pale Drow, as well as a half human male all meditating quietly.

The other Drow female came out of meditation and said “Good morning, I am Chardalyn formerly House Hunzerin though now I serve the Luxon under Den Hythenos.” She approached Neheedra and softly brushed her hair back ”There I see you seem to be feeling better, no?” Neheedra nodded, As Chardallyn continued “Praise be unto the light of the Luxon. You are now free of the curse Lolth put on you.” She continued a bit graver “Up until this point, you had no choices in your existence, but from this point on you have the endless possabilities the Luxon has granted you.” She helped Neheedra to her feet “You may return to Lolth, and go back to that existence under her cold harsh will, or” Here she paused and her voice softened “You can turn toward the endless possabilities of the Luxon who has given you this gift of possibilities.” Neheedra, still overwhelmed by emotion and confusion, dumbly follows, clinging desperately to Chardalyn’s arm as she is led to the dining room.

The Group slowly assembled around some tables in the tap room, while Trappy Foamstrap brought bowls of mushroom porridge and cups of mushroom tea. Trappy was very curious and a bit afraid of the new Drow in the party, and was trying to figure out why these traditional enemies of Blingdenstone were now helping to save the DeepGnomes??? Very confusing times indeed.

The group unshackled Neheedra and clothed her in some leather armor and granted her some weapons, because she had agreed to follow the party and try her best to start a new life away from the torments of Lolth. The group made their way to the steel doors that block off the Goldwhisker Warrens. First they had stopped by the Diggermattock residence, the group talked Senni Diggermattock into writing out an agreement not to harm the Wererats, and make them equals in Deep Gnome Society. Agreement in hand the group entered the warrens guided by one of the wererat guards to the Hall of Miners. During Blingdenstone's heyday, this cavern held the old city's smelters and marketplace for ore and uncut gems. It is now the main square of the wererat warrens.

A small crowd had gathered there. Most of the assembled creatures were deep gnomes, but some had rat-like features—including a large wererat standing in front of the others, who smiled at the party with jagged buck teeth. "Peace," the big wererat said. He took a step forward, arms extended and hands open. "Chipgrin's the name. I'm chief of the Goldwhisker clan. Shall we talk?" Stairs lead to the top of this rise, where the floor was covered with a soft and well-manicured carpet of green moss. The wererat chief sat on a stone chair flanked by two giant cave Badgers. Draped over the chair's back was a cave badger pelt. "Let's get down to brass hobnails, then. You were sent by the Diggermattocks 'cause they want us out, right? Right?! Well, they might get their wish soon enough, but in a way they ain't likely to cheer about." 

He told the party of the increased threat from the oozes and who he believed was controlling them “The Pudding King” possibly under the influence of the Demon Lord Jubelex.

"I remember him from when he worked in the tunnels,” Chipgrin said, “and my kin saw him when he returned. I know who he is, what he's doing, and most of all, where he can be found! If you and the Diggermattocks want, I can take you straight to him, this ‘Pudding King’."

“Seeing is believing, follow me but for the love of all that is holy, please don’t make any sounds.” The group quietly followed Chipgrin deeper into the warrens. They passed the abandoned area previously occupied by The Stoneheart Enclave. The Stoneheart Enclaves Teleportation Circle was there. The mages of the group Memorized the Circle so they could teleport back and forth to and from Mantol-Derith.

Moving farther into the warrens, They approached an extremely dark area where the group could hear ooze sounds sucking and slithering, with an acrid smell. There were literally hundreds of Slimes, Jellies, Ochers, Oozes, Gels, Molds and Fungus slowly covering the huge sunken cavern all undulating in semi unison. Chipgrin whispered quietly “See? Now be very quiet and clear all of your minds.” Hundreds of psychic voices call out in unison “All hail the Pudding King the Chosen of the faceless Lord, All Hail Jubelex!” As vivid images of Jubilex flooded the parties minds. At that two party members bolted back down the corridor in terror. Gratefully in their terror they didn't shrek and the party was able to retreat with relative safety.

The Group took Chipgrin for a meeting with the Diggmattocks at their residence. The group explained the Ooze situation and impending invasion of the Pudding King, and introduced Chipgrin as a new ally. They all sat down around the large map of Blingdenstone and planned their next moves.

The Sverfniblen did not have an army, and needed weapons as well as a sound strategy to counter this threat. They all agreed Fire and Radiance seemed to be the best strategy. It would take a lot of oil, much more than what is available in Blingdenstone to flood the chamber where the oozes are congregating. The party collected their reward for the previous task each getting a blank 7th level spell gem worth 14,000gp each. (worth much more in actual use.)

The party teleported back to Mantol-Derith where Flink was able to reconnect with Yantha Coaxrock, the svirfneblin mage and leader of the Stoneheart Enclave, and relayed all the information and plans up to this point Yantha Agreed to make Spell Gems with the other mages for the upcoming battle. Mallik reached out to Ophelia Mardoon to expedite the delivery of 30 barrels of oil to be shipped to Mantol-Derith. The Crew of the Theurgeme contacted Grimgolir and found that another 30 barrels were already in route to be delivered on the next shipment that was coming down the Blackrun River. All this totaled 60 barrels of oil. Next the group arranged for transportation of 50 Gnome sized great clubs made of Zherkwood, and 50 Lizard hide slings as well as a few crates of sling bullets in order to arm the citizens of Blingdenstone for the upcoming battle.

The next eleven days each member of the group pursued their own downtime activities The mages all worked on spell gems, and copying each others spells, Grok hooked back up with Lasseryn and the group stayed in Rystia’s magic yurt, Corin and Jane seemed to be getting closer every day. Neheedra started hanging out with Abnar and the two spent time training together on underdark survival and stealth. The group had a relatively peaceful 11 days at Mantol-Derith almost like a vacation.. Once the Shipments had all arrived, caravans set out for the two day journey to Blingdenstone accompanied by some of the party members, while others bamphed directly to the teleport circle in Blingdenstone. All the party agreed to meet at “The Foaming Tap” on the (Whelson the 2nd of Misuthar) to continue the plan.

Kobold Mining Profits: For the previous weeks during which the Kobolds mining efforts yielded 9600 gp worth of cut Citrine Gems and 4800 gp adamantite ingots.  (Subtracting the mine expenses for the two weeks, 1168 gp (costs had gone up to 584 gp per week with the extra mouths to feed), so each party member gets  2206 gp each once they get back to the Hucksters Lair in Hupperdook. (Also the week ending the 28th of Horisal, 8 new eggs were laid and 11 new pups were hatched in the lair warrens).

(Adventure ended the morning of Whelson the 2nd of Misuthar)