Nymphae Collosus

"Nymphae Collosus" is episode 13 of SuperQuest Saga. Resistance is futile before the Nymphae Collossus!!

Introduction

 * Will Stark will be your dangerous dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing firbolg druid, Persephone Goldpetal.
 * Brian is playing the warlock Carter Huttenburg.

Recap
Last we left off, the party upset a robot and they were about to fight.

Teaching a Robot Self-Doubt
Carter casts Vicious Mockery on the robot and tells it: “You’re a filthy, robotic piece of shit.” and the guard-bot takes some psychic damage. Sebastian does what he does best and comes down with his axe, hitting the guard-bot and denting its armor. The guard-bot pulls out two handles that ignite into laser swords and swings at Sebastian; one misses, but the second is a critical hit. Persephone casts Faerie Fire, but nothing happens, then uses her Hidden Step ability to turn invisible and backs away. Primina asks where Percy went and Sebastian looks around on the ground like maybe she transformed into something small. She shushes them and whispers that she’s hiding. Primina disengages and does a tactical roll to get on the other side of the robot and out of range. Vander is hiding until someone tells him to do something.

Carter casts Vicious Mockery again, this time saying: “You filthy, sword swinging robot. You swing those like you weren't programmed for that at all.” The robot is filled with self-doubt and takes more psychic damage. When Carter yells his insults, he’s adding a vocal element to make the target feel like his voice is echoing. Sebastian strikes the robot again with his axe, dealing more damage. The guard-bot tries to multi-attack Sebastian again but misses. Persephone pulls out her arbalest pistol and invisibly shoots at the guard-bot. The shots glance off the armor and do no damage, and she becomes visible again. Primina backs up and opens fire on the guard-bot’s back, hitting it.

Carter targets the guard-bot’s self-image: “You look like someone came in here and tore all the copper out of you and sold it,” casting Vicious Mockery and dealing more psychic damage. Sebastian swings with his axe but Carter’s insults are throwing him off and he misses the guard-bot. Due to all his shit talking, Carter is the target of the guard-bot’s next attack. Both attacks hit and greatly damage Carter. Persephone pulls out her Volt Spear and tries to stab the guard-bot, but misses. She calls out to Carter “don’t die!” as she casts Healing Word and heals him. Primina shoots at the guard-bot, but misses.

Carter casts Shocking Grasp, but his attack misses, and then he runs away. The guard-bot takes an opportunity attack and hits Carter as he flees the room. Sebastian hits the guard-bot with his axe and bloodies it; weird oil starts running down the robot’s legs. The guard-bot turns to Sebastian again and strikes twice, but fails to hit. Persephone tries to stab with her Volt Spear again, but misses. Primina hits the guard-bot with her pistol.

Carter continues to cast Vicious Mockery on the guard-bot; “I took some swings but it sounds like you still need some charging up, you little piece of shit.” The guard-bot takes more damage. Sebastian swings, but misses, and Guard-bot tries to retaliate but misses as well. Persephone misses with her Volt Spear. Primina misses her shot as well.

Carter tells the guard-bot “I would turn you into scrap metal if you didn’t already fucking look like scrap metal, you dirty robot. Filthy ass robot.” His words cut deep as he casts Vicious Mockery again. Sebastian tries to hit the robot but again misses. The guard-bot takes two attacks at Sebastian, missing both. Persephone misses again with her Volt Spear. Primina misses again.

Carter continues to cast Vicious Mockery on the robot, “I’ve seen blenders that chop better than you.” And his words hurt the increasingly insecure guard-bot. Sebastian misses his attack again. Guard-bot also misses both attacks. Persephone still does not land a hit. Primina misses her shot again.

Carter says “You’ll never feel love” as he casts Vicious Mockery, and the guard-bot is hurt. Sebastian still can’t hit the robot. Guard-bot swings and misses at Sebastian. Persephone says “There’s a reason I don’t do this!” as she tries, and fails, to hit the robot with the spear. Primina also misses again.

Carter continues his thought from last time as he says “Ever,” casting Vicious Mockery. The guard-bot is unaffected by this word. Sebastian misses again. Guard-bot also misses. Persephone and Primina both miss as well.

Carter attempts to cast Vicious Mockery and tells the robot it has a stupid face. Guard-bot brushes off his insult. Persephone misses with her spear, and Primina misses with her pistol.

Carter casts Eldritch Blast and hits the guard-bot in the eye with a blast of energy. Sebastian critically hits the guard-bot and cleaves it in half. Guard-bot goes down.

I Don't Know What the Deal Is with the Ice Cream
The room is still flashing red but there is no security to enforce. Carter laughs as he walks back in the room, puts his arm on the wall, and kneels down leaving a streak of blood behind. Sebastian checks on Carter. Primina pulls out the healing syringe and jabs Carter in the neck and he feels the wound closing up. They all complain about how frustrating that fight was and Vander asks if they’re all okay. Persephone angrily says “No, Vander!” and Carter ignores him.

Carter goes to check out the switchboard to see if he can restore power to the elevator. He’s still reeling from his wound so is unable to find anything. Sebastian starts looking as well, but Persephone comes in and notices that only one switch is pointing left and flips it. She says “Got it, let’s go!” and when Sebastian inspects the switch he notices it is labeled “elevator.”

They return to the elevator room and find the door is stuck open. Inside is a maintenance call button, an up button, and a down putton. They press the down button and the door starts shorting out because it cannot close, but then it locks in place and they are able to descend. The underwater theme from Mario plays as elevator music. The elevator goes down several stories and at the bottom floor they see a dimly lit lobby area with a hallway stretching forward.

Carter, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian exit the elevator and they can see that the elevator shaft is in the center of the lobby area. Behind them, they see the window looking into the reservoir. This view is the base of the reservoir and the plant stalk is really thick and seems to be growing directly out of the bedrock. Carter casts Dancing Lights outside the window in the reservoir and can see that the only thing out of place is this giant plant. They decide to head up the hallway they saw from the elevator.

The hallway stretches about 30-ft before opening up into an enormous warehouse. The room is divided into various aisles by these huge filter-like constructs that have pipes running into them. The floor is covered in about half a foot of water; a lot of the pipes seem to be leaking and there are a lot of vines growing in the area. Directly across the room is a large, steel vault doorway embedded into the wall.

Carter uses Mage Hand to move some water to get a clear view of the bottom. Nothing reacts to the agitation and he gets a view of the concrete floor. Sebastian leads the way, followed by Persephone, Primina, Carter, and Vander. Carter observes Primina because she’s been acting differently than everyone else when it comes to the plant.

Kabutos, No!
A swarm of fist-sized scarabs with clawed feet jumps out and attacks the front and rear of the group. They jump all over Sebastian but they cannot bite through his armor. Vander gets overwhelmed and falls to the floor, unconscious. Carter reaches out to cast Shocking Grasp, but misses and is attacked by the swarm instead.

Carter casts Shocking Grasp again and hits the ones that were swarming on him. They skitter away in fear and he is able to back out of the water. Sebastian uses his Conquering Presence; his eyes glow and a magical field generates around him. One of the swarms prepares to run away in fear. As the swarm flees, Primina takes a shot at it, but misses. Another swarm attacks Sebastian, managing to hit him with its poison damage. The final swarm attacks Primina; she screams and struggles as they hit her. Persephone Wild Shapes into the Jiankoto Scarab, and she calls to the swarm to establish dominance as their “mom.” The swarm bugs start to slow down and drop off back into the water, they start swimming around her legs and crawling up her back.

Bugs, Much Bugs
Carter steps over Vander’s unconscious body as he compliments Percy on her tactic and asks if anyone wants to do any recycling. Primina rushes over to Vander and uses the healing syringe and he pops back up with a gasp. Carter asks Vander if he wants to wait somewhere safe, and Vander decides to wait near the elevator lobby. Sebastian uses Lay on Hands to heal himself.

As long as Persephone stays in the Jiankoto Scarab form she is able to control the swarms. She speaks to the swarms to ask where the flower is, and they inform her that the flower is deep below. It gave them a home in this warehouse that they really like. Persephone points towards the vault door and asks the swarms if that is how they get deeper, and they confirm. She points as she looks over to the rest of the party.

Sebastian approaches the vault to open it; they notice signs warning that it is a prohibited and restricted area. They swing the door open and it reveals a dug out cave area that looks like the former mines where they originally mined the ice. There are makeshift stairs cut directly into the asteroid stone that descend. Persephone leads with the swarms followed by Sebastian, Primina, and Carter.

The stairs turn into a descending tunnel that starts to level out. As they continue forward they find a series of craggy, narrow passages. Eventually the path grows very narrow, as if there was a cave in, but they can see an open area beyond. Carter walks over slowly and pulls out a force grenade, tosses it behind him into the crevasse, and slowly walks forward with his hands in his pockets as the explosion clears a path for them. With the way clear, they move forward into the open chamber and see a passage that moves forward. Persephone checks to see if the way is clear before they move forward and doesn’t notice anything. Her swarm babies do not like this area as much as the other place they were.

The Storage Room
The party moves down the passage and they reach a fork in the path. Carter casts Dancing Lights and sends a dancing Michael Jackson to the left path. They follow the lights into an enormous chamber with a high ceiling, full of overgrowth. There are a couple dozen humanoids embedded into the vine walls; they all appear to be sleeping and a flower bloom surrounds each of their faces. This appears to be a dead end. Carter gets the feeling that the plant is feeding off the brain waves of the trapped individuals.

Sebastian scans the room for Vander’s daughter, and doesn’t see her among the thirty or so humanoids of varied species and ages. Persephone thinks that it would be difficult to extract the hostages, and they would be in a fragile mental state once freed. The plant can influence people even when it is not touching. They decide to backtrack and head down the other hallway first.

Carter, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian reach an adjoining tunnel that has a minecart track; the tunnel to the right is caved in, so they follow the tracks left. They reach another split, one follows the tracks and one follows a small crevice that leads deeper. They decide to follow the tracks, but shortly find another collapsed tunnel. The party backtracks again and squeeze through the small crevice that opens into a chamber with more carved stairs that veer right and down.

Descending into Darkness
They follow the stairs and after a short time the left-hand wall falls away and there is just a huge open chamber, the floor and ceiling go further than they can see. The stairs seem to be spiralding down around this chamber. The walls are covered in thin, small vines. The party continues down the spiral staircase.

At the bottom, the floor is covered in cold water and they can see a tunnel to the right that runs into the rock. Carter suggests they send the small scarabs to scout ahead. Persephone tries to convince the swarms to go, but they are scared and the water is cold. They like the warm water upstairs. She shrugs at Carter, and he sends Michael Jackson the Dancing Light instead and sees that the tunnel extends forward.

After about 40-ft or so, the tunnel opens up into a colossal chamber that is longer than it is wide. Both walls are covered in thick overgrowth and they can see hundreds of humanoids asleep in the vines on the walls. On the other side of the room, they can see an enormous blossom of deep red-orange glowing faintly, it’s about 15-ft in diameter and stands on top of an enormous, green stalk. The floor is still covered in water, and the room is eerily silent. Carter, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian feel a menacing aura permeating the area.

They decide to backtrack to a safe location to take a short rest before dealing with the flower. Carter asks Persephone to make sure that the swarms will help them and not kill them. Percy spends some time during the rest to hype them up for the battle.

This Is Unsettling
They head back to the room and slowly approach the flower. Sebastian scans the area to find the source of the water, and discerns that the water is probably leaking from above. When they get within 120-ft of the plant they notice some strange movement at the base of the flower. Carter can see the silhouette of a small, female humanoid standing in the glow; he calls out “Hello.”

In response, they hear a little girl’s voice that sounds strange and intense as it echoes about the room in an alien way. “Stay back, you are not welcome here. Your wills may be strong, but this is my domain, and here they will fail you. Leave now and I will grant you safe passage off of this asteroid. But Outlaw’s Horizon, and all who live here, are mine.”

Carter asks what that safe passage would be, and the girl responds that the plant won’t stop them if they go to their ship and leave. It has learned a lot since it’s been here. Carter asks if it needs people to power its vines. The plant will feed upon the populace and enslave them all. This will be its domain.

Persephone orders the swarms to protect mommy and kill the flower. The three swarms swim through the water towards the flower and the girl. Before they reach the girl, there is a disturbance as seven humanoids covered in overgrowth emerge from the water. As the swarms swim forward, Carter fires an Eldritch Blast, but it doesn’t hit anything.

Attack of the Plombies
Carter casts Hex on the lead plant zombie and shoots an Eldritch Blast at it. The blast tears off an arm, but it remains dangling by a plant vine at the creature’s side. Everyone feels a psionic wave wash out from the flower and Persephone notes some distress from her scarab swarms as they writhe in pain and fall unconscious under the water. Persephone moves closer to the plant zombies, or parasitoids, and prepares a poison spine attack for when one comes in range. Primina moves forward and opens fire on the parasitoid that Carter attacked. She hits it but it is still standing. Four parasitoids converge on Persephone, one gets hit with the poison spine and gets paralyzed. The remaining three attack her with fists that are covered in plant like appendages that emit spores, two of them hit her and bludgeon her but she is immune to the poison damage they would do. Three parasitoids swarm Primina and only one of their attacks hits her. Sebastian moves forward to protect Percy and Primina, aiming for one of the parasitoids that is injured and crushes its skull, downing it.

Carter moves his Hex to curse another parasitoid and casts Eldritch Blast, dealing massive damage to it. Persephone slashes twice at the wounded parasitoid, dealing a cross-slice to its chest and dropping it. Primina does a tactical roll to disengage and move back towards Carter. Two parasitoids attack Persephone with their fists, one makes contact. The paralyzed parasitoid breaks free and moves up to join two parasitoids attacking Sebastian; two of them miss but one hits him critically. Sebastian attacks the one that hit him and does some massive damage.

Carter moves his Hex to the injured parasitoid and hits it with an Eldritch Blast, killing it. Persephone moves on to the next parasitoid on her and hits it with one slash. Primina opens fire on the same parasitoid and bloodies it. The two parasitoids on Sebastian try to pummel him but miss. The two parasitoids on Persephone pummel her as well, but only one hits. Sebastian swings at one of the parasitoids on him, but misses.

Carter moves his Hex to the parasitoid that is near death, and kills it with an Eldritch Blast. Persephone stabs the one remaining in front of her twice and brings it to near death. Primina shoots the same parasitoid but doesn’t quite do enough damage to kill it. The creature no longer has arms, but it tries to hit Percy with its face and fails. Two parasitoids attempt to hit Sebastian, but fail. Sebastian swings but misses his attack.

Carter moves his Hex to the parasitoid that is near death, and kills it with an Eldritch Blast. Persephone walks over and flanks one of the parasitoids on Sebastian and hits it with both slashes, bringing it to death’s door. Primina finishes that parasitoid off with her blaster. The remaining parasitoid tries to hit Persephone but fails. Sebastian hits the last parasitoid with his attack as well.

Carter moves his Hex to the last parasitoid, and blasts it to death with Eldritch Blast.

Let Go of My Friends!
As the bodies hit the floor, there is a second of silence before an almost visible wave of psychic energy blasts off the flower core. Everyone feels their minds overwhelmed by the force, and they are all completely paralyzed in place. The little girl speaks. “As I told you, your wills have failed you. Now I will break your minds. As your consciousness sinks into the darkened depths, know that I shall put your bodies to great use.”

From behind them, they hear Prim whisper “Let go of my friends.” The little girl reacts in surprise. Primina repeats; “Let go of my friends” and she takes a step forward. The little girl does not believe it is possible. Primina yells “Let go of my friends!” and in a burst of brilliant light, angel wings sprout from her back. Her disguise bracers break, revealing her blue skin and glowing energy lines. Blue scales begin to form in patches on her face and arms; her hands transform into claws. A pair of black horns grow out of her brow; her eyes shine gold and she begins to grow in size. Clawed, scaled feet burst from her shoes; her legs become reptilian like appendages.

Standing over 10-ft tall, this angel-winged-humanoid-monstrosity bears its pointed teeth and leaps onto the Nymphae core, and in a frenzy, begins to tear it apart. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian notice she has grown a long tail with a blue flame at the end. The psychic power that was binding them breaks. Primina’s wings begin to flap as she rises above the core, and suddenly, blue-white fire pours from her mouth onto the core; erupting so violently that it consumes both the core and herself.

The room is silent for a moment as smoke fills everyone’s vision. The smoke then clears, and Prim is standing in her monstrous form on top of the burnt and decrepit core. She looks at the party, and her terrible gaze bears no recognition as she begins to snarl, lets out a terrible scream, and lunges to attack Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin. Hits hard and hard to hit.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Scarab mommy extraordinaire.
 * Carter Huttenburg: A human warlock. Really does not care about Vander.

NPCS

 * Vander: A halfling man. A commoner in search of his daughter, but he's gonna sit out for a minute.
 * Primina: A young woman of mysterious origins. The MacGuffin. Also turns into a dragon monstrosity.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian
 * Row Bow Bah Toll - by Brian
 * Plombies - by Brian

Nat 20's (5 total)

 * Will (Laser Sword as guard-bot)
 * Freeland (Attack)
 * Special Guest Jake (Investigation)
 * Brian (Initiative)
 * Will (Attack as parasitoid)

Nat 1's (8 total)

 * Special Guest Jake (Volt Spear)
 * Will (Attack as guard-bot)
 * Freeland (Attack)
 * Will (Wisdom Save as guard-bot)
 * Special Guest Jake (Volt Spear)
 * Will (Attack as parasitoid)
 * Special Guest Jake (Attack as Jiankoto Scarab)
 * Will (Attack as parasitoid)