Rubble Rousers, Day 39 (2007-10-13, 6:30 PM), Chapter 13: True Colors

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Note: the party began this section at level 21.

As Rain was hanging out in his whore arena, he was approached by a tall, beautiful woman with pale skin and nearly white hair with just a touch of pink. Her shiny, silky white dress was low-cut and form-fitting, and she wore tall boots and long gloves made of the same material. Drawing a weapon, she called out "hey baby, want to see my sword?" The blade of her rapier threw off glowing white sparks, and its hilt was engraved with draconic runes that read "Snow's sweetass sword". She described such things as her hatred for dragons, love for quality beer, and desire to kill undead. She and Rain stared at each others' swords for a while, repeating "sweet" and "cool" back and forth until those on the other end of the telepathic bond became convinced Rain was trapped in some sort of loop. Eventually, Snow told Rain that she had other things to do, and that he couldn't handle her anyway.

Over the next few days, Horkina started to realize that her suppliers were sending poor crops of hops and barley, which were leading to skunky beer. This made nobody happy. She and Rain vowed to investigate. At the same time, Grokk found that his goats could no longer graze in the eastern part of the steppe, as the grass was undergrown and started to smell like his friend Thag. Roland, now living in connected towers in Cauldron and on Occipitus, was contacted with an urgent message from the great library in Athedria saying the organic materials in some of their books had begun to break down. Amber and Garlen, living in a massive temple to the north, began hearing whisperings from the elves about a strange transformation taking place in the forest. The telepathically-linked party was able to determine a pattern -- a blight of over a hundred miles radius near the center of the continent.

The party met up in Athedria, where they could look out over the blighted area from a high tower. Mists of green, purple, and black swirled over trees and farms, pouring out of a dense central area. Rain decided this would be an ideal moment to declare that Grokk was gay. Grokk was confused; "Grokk not at all festive. Grokk very serious barbarian." The party set out for the middle of the blighted area on horseback, and the strange banter continued as the party passed by spoiled crops and unhealthy-looking animals.

Soon, a pair of forty-foot-long scorpions crawled out of a colossal hole in the ground. Amber cast an earthquake that caused a landslide and pinned one of the scorpions. Roland invoked a storm of hailstones that pounded down on one. It rumbled its way over to Rain and bit him, dealing a vile wound that could not be cured by normal magic. Rain stabbed the scorpion's underbelly, while Amber blinded the other with a Lucent Lance. Grokk charged and lodged his axe firmly in the scorpion's head, dealing it a serious wound and giving Rain an opening to take another stab. Horkina's axe cut deep into the scorpion, which responded by grabbing Grokk and Garlen in its pincers and biting into Garlen, again dealing vile wounds. Lingering damage from Rain's earlier strike finished off the scorpion, and Roland's Wrathful Castigation made the other one writhe in pain for a few moments before dying. Roland determined the scorpions had been transmuted and corrupted somehow. The party took a quick trip back to Amber's temple, healing from the aura she emanated and the consecration effect on the temple.

The party teleported back, and within a short distance, encounted a battlebriar -- a massive plant creature, again transmuted and corrupted. Grokk smashed it with his axe and Rain tumbled into position, but wasn't quite sure how to stab a plant in a "sensitive" spot. Roland cast a minor spell, and Amber's sunbeam blinded the creature, dealing trivial damage as well. Rain declared Amber's attack to be gay. Garlen stabbed the battlebriar six times, and it responded by trampling over the party. Grokk finished it off with a powerful swing of his axe. Moments later, a huge, poisonous tumbleweed -- a Plague Brush -- came rolling along. Grokk made a nearly perfect strike that would have caved in the head of almost any animal, but alas, it merely carved a piece out of the plant. Horkina and Garlen took a few swings, tearing the brush apart, and the party shrugged off the cloud of poison.

Later, a huge flying insect-like creature approached, surrounded by a swarm of smaller insects. Roland identified the creature as a Vermiurge. Garlen began flying and charged directly into the fray, but was unable to penetrate its thick hide. Roland's high-powered fireball cleared away the cloud of insects. The Vermiurge stung and bit Garlen, pinched him with 3 of its 4 claws, and relased several more insects. A pair of moon bolts from Amber had minimal effect. Roland grabbed it with Bigby's Crushing Hand, but it worked its way free as Garlen sought healing. Amber tried to destroy the bugs, but her spell was resisted. Roland's Crushing Hand dragged the vermiurge to the ground, and his quick fireball again cleared away the swarm. Grokk landed a critical hit with his Holy Cow Axe, while Horkina and Sam (in Marut form) couldn't make contact. Rain wounded it, dealing minimal damage but spilling huge amounts of blood. It responded by sending a swarm of insects after him, leaving him barely standing. The rest of the insect swarm barely scratched Grokk. Amber continued to drain its strength while Roland's polar ray cut a hole in it. As Rain slipped away, the wounds he'd caused continued to bleed. Grokk (in a rage), Sam, and Horkina finally put the wounded Vermiurge down.