Isla Monstruo, Battle plans
When last we left
our intrepid adventurers, the group had retreated to the five-tunnel room. Guato Scout explained they had a choice. They could travel down the magickly warded
tunnel and assault the Torgar head-on.
This route was direct but likely to generate heavy resistance. The left-most tunnel went to a secret
entrance into the Torgar’s rear but came with significant risk. It seemed there was a large undead presence
which could cut their venture short…and now…
The group discusses their options
at length and finally decides to take the riskier route. Their kobold guide says that the left-most
tunnel leads to the realm of a kobold exile who was sent away from the clans
for practicing necromancy. Now he
experiments with the undead seeking some dark end. The kobold clans throw their dead bodies and
“bad things” down the path where their leavings disappear presumably to be
consumed in the exile’s experiments.
Their guide has sometimes gone down there to get away from Noble Shaman
and so has a passing knowledge of the area.
Following a hyper aware Guato Scout, they make their way down the
left-most tunnel. It curves down into a
perfect spiral cutting off all light and sound between the upper and lower
levels. The stone in the tunnel’s center
has been warn smooth and stained with blood and worse. As they get farther down, claw marks and
slashes mar the walls.
At the bottom the group debates
what to do again. The tunnel opens into
a vast open space too large even to be called a cavern. It is a world unto itself. Guato Scout calls it the underwild below
which he says is an even deeper realm called the undervoid. To the left is a mushroom forest covered in neon
colored mold and growths. The mushrooms
rise sixty or more feet dominating the landscape. The brightly colored vegetation reaches out
toward the adventurers creating a breeze redolent of rotten fruit and long
buried soil. To the right is a forest of
stone pillars formed of stalagmites and tights that form a silent maze. Guato scout says this area is infested with chokers
that ambush their victims and strangle them with their ropy bodies. Going through this area will be the fastest
way to the Torgar clan but is very dangerous.
A well-worn path runs between the two terrain features straddling the
line between speed and danger. The group
decides to simply follow the path.
They emerge from between the
forest and the maze to find a baron forty-foot wide swath of stone running
right to left. The stone has been melted
or polished smooth. Guato scout says
that one of the cubes has come by and consumed everything down to the
rock. Yuri wonders how tuff they are to
kill. Warren wonders if they are good
eating. Guato Scout says that they are
several stories tall and more like a force of nature. “No fight…just run quick-like if see.” They continue to the right along the cube’s
trail with darkness to their left and the stone maze border to their right.
Eventually, they come to another
turning point. Far to the left, miles
away, stands a dark tower with multi-colored lights in its windows. Something moves at its base as if a horde of
creatures has gathered there. Guato
Scout says this is the exile’s tower and the movement is probably the
necromancer’s latest batch of experiments.
The path turns right running between the stone maze on the right and a
dark lake to the left. fan-like patterns have been formed in the sand around
earthen piles along the lake’s shore. Faint
suggestions of moving lights can be seen below its surface. The water smells of rotten bananas and ether. Guato Scout seems even more terrified of the
lake than the exile’s tower—which is saying something for the skittish creature.
The group takes some time
discussing their strategy. Yuri suggests
leading some of the undead up into the Torgar’s clan to help wreck the
clanhold. Warren wants to know what
monster lives in the lake. Tanner wants
to go up and scout the clanhold before they start anything they cannot finish. Warren suggests leading one of the lake
monsters up instead of the undead. Their
guide is very unhappy with this plan but cannot or will not explain what lives
in the water. They decide to go with
Tanner’s plan while holding the undead option in reserve.
The group follows the path to the
mouth of a tunnel the twin of that which they used to travel down into the
underwild. There’s only one
problem. Bones have been fused together
and over the rock face to form a portcullis.
This poses no obstacle to Teddy and Warren who begin chewing and
smashing their way through the burier.
All seems to be going well until their efforts disturb the lake’s denizens. Guato Scout starts yelling curses to move
faster as six V-shaped trails begin converging on their location through the
water. Just as they break through the
bone obstruction, massive creatures pull themselves onto the shore. They look as if someone built a turtle shell
around a crocodile. Heavily armored in
shell and leathery hide, the monsters turn as one to the group and emit a
rattling hiss before charging as fast as their short legs will carry their
squat bulk.
The group, lead by the petrified
kobold guide, begins running up a spiral ramp just like the one they used to
get down. They come to the top to find
their way blocked again by a heavy iron grate.
Teddy and Tanner do not hesitate and bumrush the burier. They smash the massive metal lattice out of
its frame where upon Teddy holds it over his head and gives a primal victory
roar before throwing it to the ground.
The group is about to continue their impromptu charge into Torgar territory
when Warren steps to the top of the lower ramp in time to taunt their pursuers
with exaggerated pelvic thrusts. The
turtle crocks redouble their charge as Warren sprints back up the ramp—plan
enacted.
The group runs up into a vast
cavern lit by thousands of glowing crystals.
Before them is a city of islands connected by stone causeways. The city has been built over an underground
sea. The islands get larger the farther
out one goes. Each land mass is
perfectly sculpted with rock and water features. Beautiful stone buildings and pyramids dot
the center-most islets while the outer most seem more like garden
displays. Into this paradise, they
charge with the turtle crocks not far behind.
Guato Scout, amazed he has made it this far starts yelling profanity at
his clan enemy while leading the charge down the nearest causeway.
The group storms onto their first
conquest island to find a ring of kobolds flat on their stomachs lounging with
crystals and brasiers near stone couches.
These kobolds seem to be built to crawl on their stomachs rather than
stand upright. Their eyes coruscate with
rainbow light and their blue green scales gleam. One of them waves at the invaders in a casual
greeting. As the group is trying to
figure out what to do, Yuri tries to grab a crystal from one of the
loungers. Too late he realizes he has
been affected by a powerful hallucinogen that warps his perceptions and makes
his eyes roil with rainbow swirls. His
hat begins to strobe like a disco ball.
Hearing the oncoming rush of the turtle crocks, Teddy and Tanner pick up
Yuri between them and rush after Guato Scout and Warren towards the next island.
The group finds themselves running
into a break in a ring of stone bleachers filled with more lounging
kobolds. They are watching several of
their brethren performing music on a central stage. The group jumps on stage as the crowd
titters. The musicians give way. Warren demands their surrender while Yuri
begins beet boxing as he is suspended from one of Teddy’s muscular arms. One of the kobolds, more sober than the rest
and covered in a strange bladed armor, responds to Warren in a dismissive tone.
“I think not. If you aren’t part of the entertainment, I
shall have to summon the guards.”
Warren, in what is quickly
becoming a signature move, taunts the kobold while delivering a pelvic
thrust. It fails to impress his target
who holds up a crystal which amplifies his voice so that it can be heard across
the cavern.
“This is commander
Zargruv. Guards to the rear
entertainment district. Invaders have
penetrated our defenses.”
Hearing this, Tanner
and Teddy rush forward and drop kick the commander onto the causeway right in
front of the oncoming turtle crocks. This
effort ends Tanner’s shapeshift returning him to his usual diminutive size. The commander looks back toward his foes,
flips them the bird, and slips into the water.
The group is left in the middle of an unhappy crowd of nobles with at
least two turtle crocks charging right for them.
What will they do?
Find out next time
on the next session of isla monstruo.
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