Session 20-C: Tremblevision

Key Plot Developments
Tremble is left in the Foaming Mug with Stool Team Six and Dogtooth. He steels his resolve and decides to head towards the Rockblight (the abandoned land to the east of Blingdenstone and the last place Jimjar's father was seen). After eating breakfast, he meets with the Diggermattocks and asks them about their views on the wererats. Dorbo insists they cannot be trusted; Senni is more sympathetic to their plight, but understands the deep-seated prejudices involved. Garra Songstone, one of the Diggermattocks' assistants, gives Tremble directions to the Rockblight.

On his way, he encounters Mev Flintknapper, the gnomish guard whose life was saved from the oozes. Mev wants to show his gratitude for Bogteam's bravery by joining Tremble as a guide to the Rockblight. Tremble agrees. Mev, Dogtooth, Stool Team Six, and Tremble head east.

They reach a cave; it's fortified with barricades and defended by eight deep gnomes and four cave badgers. There are no earth elementals reinforcing security here because the passage on the north wall-sealed at either end with a locked door-leads to the Rockblight.

The leader of the guards is a wryly cynical svirfneblin named Sark Axebarrel, who warns Tremble of reports of a medusa lurking in the Rockblight, Sark asks the group to find out whatever they can about the medusa and kill her if they are able. He offers a payment of 50 gp per character for useful information, plus a diamond worth 1,000 gp if they bring back proof that the medusa is dead.

Tremble heads in. Every step echoes against walls beyond his circle of light. The air is cold and damp, and he can hear a waterfall somewhere in the blackness, along with faint echoes of battle.

Suddenly, the ghost of a deep gnome appears. Its face contorts in a horrifying way and it yells, "They are coming! Everyone must hide!" Mev defends Tremble from its withering touch, but its spectral power shrivels his body and ages him. The once middle-aged gnome is now elderly. Tremble immediately retreats.

Back in inner Blingdenstone, Tremble rushes Mev to Glyphic Shroomlight at the Ruby in the Rough temple. Glyphic, an amateur priest, can do nothing to help. Tremble runs around town, demanding that someone take him to someone who can assist Mev. He is directed towards a priest of Callarduran Smoothhands, a gnomish god, named Gunrik Tapfinger.

A circle of stone menhirs predating Blingdenstone stands at the center of Gunrik's small cavern. The gnomes believe this henge is a cluster of truly ancient galeb duhr, venerated as manifestations of the gods. The more religious members of the Stoneheart Enclave cast augury and commune spells within the circle, interpreting the responses to their entreaties through subtle changes in the vibrations in the bedrock below.

Gunrik, a wise old gnome who speaks similarly to Jimjar, suggests that Mev's salvation lies beyond his current power. The temple of his god lies desecrated in the Rockblight. If Tremble could consecrate that temple, he could restore Mev's youth and vitality. Tremble immediately agrees. Gunrik gives Tremble a ruby spell gem containing the hallow spell and asks the goblin to place the gem in the Steadfast Stone's menhir.

Tremble, Dogtooth, and Stool Team Six (eager to help its pod-mate Tremble) reenter the Rockblight. This time, they cautiously weave their way around the abandoned city, stealthily traversing its tunnels. Eventually, they reach a crystal garden. Light from bioluminescent fungi refracts through large crystal formations erupting from the floor, creating a kaleidoscope of colors on the surrounding walls. The crystals are semitransparent, slightly distorting images seen through them. A statue of a gnome cowers near a crystal outgrowth, holding a broken crystal in its hands.

Tremble sees signs of a recent disturbance; dust patterns in the ground indicate that a creature has walked through a nearby tunnel. He analyzes the gnome statue's resting position and notices the crystal in its hand. He intuits the crystal could be held to block any harmful gaze attacks. Tremble breaks pieces of the crystal and uses a set of artificer's tools to augment one of his spectacles with them.

He and his companions follow the tracks into an elegant chamber.

The adornments in this chamber would be more at home in a drow city. Spider-themed tapestries, fine zurkhwood furniture, and racks of expensive clothing fill the area, all of it old and rotted. At the center of the chamber, a female drow sits upon a zurkhwood throne. She stands, eyes closed and arms crossed as if in meditation or prayer. Then her white hair writhes, and Tremble sees it is formed of pale, hissing snakes.

The medusa attacks. Dogteam is almost immediately destroyed. While Tremble and Stool Team Six avoid being petrified, the terrifying onslaught of her snake-hair, shortsword, and bow overwhelm them. Tremble realizes--too late--that the damage the merged Stool received has killed one of its podmates. They are now Stool Team Five.

Tremble and the Medusa engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse as he draws her attention away from the grieving Stool. They dance around the crystal garden, firing arrows at each other. Finally, Stool blasts the creature with Pacifying Spores, allowing a weakened but determined Tremble to deliver the final blow.

Exhausted and bemoaning the loss of another Stool, Tremble investigates the area. He finds dresses made of spider silk shaped by drow magic in the medusa's lair. He also notes a separate room filled with thirty statues of drow warriors, all standing as if on guard. He decides to come back later.

Tremble grabs the Medusa's head and collapses. Stool Team Five carries the exhausted little goblin. They leave the Rockblight for the second time.

New NPCs

 * 1) Garra Songstone, gnome assistant
 * 2) Sark Axebarrel, gnome guard
 * 3) Gunrik Tapfinger, gnome priest of Callarduran Smoothhands