Session 11-B: Wildcard

Key Plot Developments
Tremble, Pix, and Bogtooth escape from their Phylo-aligned myconid pursuers from the Neverlight Grove. Pix, still maddened, lashes out at her clan. She invokes her/Tremble's mother to shame Tremble for what she perceived to be, in her spore-induced haze, irresponsible behavior. Tremble, despondent with grief over Stool's loss and Sarith's betrayal, feels like giving up. Bogtooth, encouraged by his archfey patron Dulcinea, tries to console his clan members. He acknowledges the absurdity of their situations--little goblins, running from demon-infested town to demon-infested town--but he celebrates their victory in helping at least some of the town get away (unlike the tragedy of Sloobludop). Bogtooth, the smallest, smelliest, least beloved member of the party, helps calm tensions long enough for them to find a space to sleep.

As Pix sleeps, she suffers from nightmarish images of a hideous lady of fungi, who celebrates her upcoming wedding. She develops the wherewithal to purge the spores from her body, violently vomiting. When she awakens, she is weary but cured of her madness. The group affirms their commitment towards each other. They keep moving.

Soon, they encounter a pair of drow scouts bearing the sign of House Mizzrym. While they try to quickly subdue the assailants, they are unable to prevent their former slavers from throwing up Dancing Lights. Soon, Mistress Ilvara, Asha, Jorlan, Prince Derrendil, and a series of other drow emerge.

Mistress Ilvara celebrates the success of her pincer maneuver; she's captured these goblins by placing her troops on all sides. Bogtooth enchants Derrendil using fey magic, preventing the berserker from doing more damage. Asha peppers the goblins with remote guiding bolts. Pix's attempts to parley with Jorlan, who has been visibly scarred and tortured to the point of lacking a mouth, fall on deaf ears. The goblins seem poised for capture or death. Then, Ilvara unveils her masterstroke; she claims to have kept Jimjar alive, but in no condition to defy her again.

This energizes Tremble, who was struggling with feelings of guilt and depression over Jimjar's supposed death for weeks. He snaps into action, urging his peers to run for their lives, and promising to the world that he'll free Jimjar. Pix, sober and sane, encourages him to join them. Though they're assaulted by drow crossbows and evil magic, they manage to escape into a small network of caverns.

Tremble, Bogtooth, and Pix discuss their next steps. They intend to find their family and free Jimjar. First, they need to get as far as possible away from the drow. They encounter a large spider web; it looms over an open jar of strawberry preserve, copper coins, and a bowl filled with red wine. Tangled up in the web, a young drow girl dressed in fine traveling clothes greets them.

Tremble frees the girl, who introduces herself as Wilenet K'Gaust. She explains that she befriended the giant spider who made the web by giving it tokens of affection, and that they should do the same. When they agree, they are able to mollify the spider and proceed without incident.

Wilenet explains that her mother, Matron K'Gaust, will be worried about her (whichs she hopes to avoid) and angry with her brothers (which she's okay with) since she got a little lost. The goblins are wary of drow, but Wilenet convinces them that they will be grateful for delivering her. She's talkative and friendly, bonding with Pix over her femininity, Tremble over his battle experience, and Bogtooth over his distinctive scent.

Wilenet describes her family history; they are drow reformists, who follow Lolth but believe that her will can be better enforced through friendlier relations with other cultures. Her family trades in magic components and live in Menzoberranzan, the city of drow, most of the year. They come out to their summer villa in the Underdark every now and then for a retreat. When her brothers played a game of hide and go seek with her, she lost her way.

The group avoids a series of glyphs of warding and discovers a number of stone statues. The statues depict a consensual, romantic courtship between Wilenet's parents. She is proud of the stone images that depict her (one statue displays their celebration upon her birth). Wilenet's clues give the goblins the secret password to avoid fighting the golems: "Happy Anniversary."

Finally, Wilenet remembers their location; patches of glowing mushrooms illuminate the cave in blue and green, which she recognizes. She cautions the goblins not to step on the mushrooms. Bogtooth does. After choking in the cloud of spores it produces, he's shocked to discover that he now looks like a kobold.

New NPCs

 * 1) Wilenet K'Gaust

Memorable Quotations
Ilvara Mizzrym:"As they say in my mother tongue, The Best Goblin is a Dead Goblin. Asha, they are goblins, aren’t they? I’ve narrowed it between that or sentient mold.""Darling, you can be ugly or you can be stupid, but pick one; it’s obscene to be both.""What, you thought it would be that easy? That I would lay down and give up like your little mummy friend back in the prison? No no no no no no no, darling, I’m Ilvara of House f*cking Mizzrym. And I will drag you back with me and make you taste pain you can only imagine.""Jorlan, you hideous thing, make yourself useful for something and, I’m so sorry for the cliche, darlings, but SEIZE THEM!"Wilenet K'Gaust:  "My stupid, smelly brothers wanted to play hide and seek. But I got lost!"

"We're at our Holiday Villa and then we’re going to go to Bling, Bling...we’re going to see the gnomes!"

"Whenever we passed by the statue papa would always say the most strange mushy things to Matron. Sometimes he would even sing or give her gifts. He always said ‘Happy Animosity’ or something like that. Matron always said he outdid himself each year."

"Matron says that bards never got enough attention as children, so they spend their lives making up for it."

"My brothers are warriors and blademasters. They have really neat crossbows. Do you have a crossbow?"

"Papa says warlocks are too lazy to become wizards and rely on other people to get magic."

"Is it true that if your ears get cut off, you can grow them right back?"

"Do you really hoard all your gold like a dragon and sleep on it in a big pile to keep warm?"

"Is it true that your arms are spindly and misshapen?"

"I heard that goblins eat their own young?"

"Why are your ears so floppy? It’s not proper!"