Homeward Bound Episode 10

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==Recap==
===Finding the Crossroads===
Kel William Marshal, Grimes, and Nimrod are in the Shadow Plane for the Demon World. There are no stars or sun in the sky, and the world is in black and white. Nothing casts shadows. Sight only extends a few hundred feet. Rocks look identical and non-distinct from one another. Grimes pulls out the Gem of True seeing and sees there is actually variety between the rocks. Grimes touches the rock but his hands & eyes get a different set of information, a smooth surface to the eye could be curved to the touch, and it makes Grimes disorientated.
The pair, unable to destroy the portal, decide to leave. Grimes sneaks away from the portal and scouts ahead, using the phase dagger to turn half-Ethereal. Grimes listens to the distance and hears from miles away an intermittent Shrieker, then returns to the party. The three head down the path down Volcano.
After some time the party arrive at the base of the mountain. There are multiple wagon-ruts creating a single trail. The ground is only rock & dirt. The party follow along the path. As they travel, the party can hear an intermittent screeching get louder.
A time later, unknowable how long, the party arrive at a 5-way intersection, where the wagon ruts go off in 5 different directions. The party decide to rest a few hundred feet away from the crossroads to recover their health. 10 hours later the party is awoken by Nimrod, warning if a Big Bad.
Along the road is an Overseer Demon, a tripod demon that is 30 feet tall, standing in the middle of the crossroads. Grimes pulls out some magical bolts he got from a dragon horde, the gem of true seeing reveals sparking coming from it. The Overseer stays at the crossroads for some time. Grimes then backtracks back to William. They decide to avoid the Overseer and walk parallel off the side off one of the paths.
The party find a new hiding spot and rest undisturbed. They rest for 25 hours to get to full health.
The trio return to the path and follow them away from the crossroads. After some time they hear Warrior Demons. The party hide 20 feet off-road. Grimes tries to eavesdrop but the Demon's Language isn't translated for him. The Demons then start walking in the party's direction. Grimes assassinates the rear demon and stuns the 2nd rear demon with the Velthara Dagger. Kel William ambushes the front Demon and uses a Shield Punch to explore the Demon then attack with his sword, killing him. A demon then attacks Kel William. Grimes then assassinates the middle Demon and then stuns the Demon fighting William with the Velthara Dagger.
The dead demons disappear into moats, while the held pair stay in place. William says Nimrod should eat one of the Demons to gain it's knowledge, and Grimes translates to Nimrod:
:"Nimrod, Feast!" says Grimes
Nimrod eats one of the held demons, which takes over an hour. Grimes and William kill the other held demon.
===Nimrod Evolved===
Afterwards Nimrod transforms, loosing all of his fur, skin covered in a rash. His canine teeth extend down past his jaw while the lower canines protrude upwards into his lip. The back of his head has protrudes backwards up like frill. His shoulder blades starting to break though the skin.
Grimes speaks to the new Nimrod, who is more eloquent, and is aware of multiple portals. Nimrod also talks of himself in the collective we sense, since the two souls are joined. Nimrod says he feels hungry now to eat more demons. Grimes tells Nimrod to lead them to a portal, and Nimrod, now with movement speed 9, leads the party down the road, in the direction of the crossroads.
When they arrives back at the crossroads the Overseer is down on the ground and there is a pack of 8 Thungs feeding on it. Nimrod is excited and creeps forward. Grimes also creeps forward.
One of the Thungs back then splits open and a Demon Warriors grows out of it. The former skin of the Demon Warrior is then eaten by the other Thungs, making the Overseer demon disappear into motes. The unarmed new Demon Warrior is about to eat his former body when he is attacked by the party. Grimes stabs the Demon Warrior, stunning him with the Velthara Dagger. Kel William attacks the Thungs with his weapons, killing most of them. Nimrod leaps on a Thung and starts to eat it.
With the fight over, Nimrod abandons the Thung comes over to eat the Warrior. Grimes talks with Nimrod first, with Nimrod speaking a combination of Demonic and Kobold at Grimes, with a greater sense of self and a larger vocabulary. Nimrod grows taller, now 4 feet tall around 80 pounds, his face is growing tighter, more bones protrude.
Nimrod then lead the way now the path they had just come from, and the intermittent screeching grows louder and louder as they walk countless distance. They start up a raise into a mountain before Nimrod stops the party to warn Grimes of a Fortress ahead with a Forge inside. The portal is further along, but they have to pass though it.
The party sneak towards the fortress. At the top of the hill is a natural surface has been chipped away to shape the fortress. The cut doorway inside the fortress is only big enough for a single humanoid. There are around 20 Hydra Demons on the 40 foot high fortress wall, and there are 4 Warrior Demons with armor & weapons. There are 2 Lensman Demon floating and keeping watch.
===Demon Philosophy===
The party decide to rest up for the attack, a safe distance away. While William rests Grimes talks with Nimrod about his Demonic knowledge. His memory of being in the fortress before is like a bad dream.
:"We have to stop Them from coming. The enemy is coming. This is ours, we have to keep it." explains Nimrod.
Grimes asks about telling the difference between the Demon Factions, since they all look the same to him. Nimrod is confused by the concept of a "Demon". Grimes explains he is talking about the Warrior and Thungs they fought earlier.
:They are three. Three side. First side, Our Side, The Newcomers.
Nimrod also considers Grimes "Walking Food", who is useful to be alive for now since he can walk around with Nimrod.
:"Who you fight for?" asks Nimrod
:"We fight for our lives, our souls. We just want to get home. Don't you want to go home?" asks Grimes.
:"Where is home? I am from everywhere. Everywhere." answers Nimrod
Nimrod then says there is a secret way. Left at the end of the wall is a small secret door, hidden underneath rock.
:"It is a secret. Don't tell the New Ones. Don't tell the Old Ones." explains Nimrod.
Nimrod suggests they leave William behind since he is old and getting slower.
===Betrayal at the Fortress===
After 12 hours of resting 3 carts being pulled by Gate Breaker with patrols came by. Nimrod demands a weapon. Grimes lends him the Swift Sword. The party make their way towards the fortress, with Nimrod leading the way. Before they get to the wall, Nimrod leads them to the secret path, and warns of bosses, and is reluctant to face them, but Grimes convinces Nimrod to continue.
At the 40 foot tall wall they can see a Commander Demon on the wall above and 3 hydras. Grimes watches and sees the Commander patrol away but the Hydras stay. Grimes goes back to the others and reports in.
The party decide the plan is to kill the 3 nearby Hydras then go for the secret door. Grimes sneaks off alone towards the wall. When William is alone with Nimrod, Nimrod attacks William from behind. William rips Nimrod off him and throws him against a rock, almost knocking Nimrod out. William tries to make Nimrod submissive, but Nimrod goes to bite William's hand, but he doesn't get though William's glove. William tries to knock Nimrod out, accidentally killing him. William lets go at Nimrod, and Nimrod's body turns to motes.
Grimes is at the wall but can't find the secret entrance. After looking for a while, a frustrated Grimes claws to William. William explains what happened to Nimrod. 
===Assaulting the Fortress===
The pair wonder if there is even a portal past this fortress. With no other leads, the decide to attack the Fortress anyway. Grimes pulls out his Magical Crossbow Bolts, loads them in his crossbow, then waits until the perfect moment, then snipes a Hydra but doesn't get though their armor. William then throws a javelin. The injured Hydra jumps off behind the wall, and the other 3 shoot spines towards the party.
The Hydras & Grimes gets into a snipping battle from their cover. After some time the Commander Demon shows up, so William & Grimes retreat. As they retreat a Shierker Demon inside the Fortress starts making a noise.
Grimes and William head towards the Main Entrance but spot a patrol of 8 warrior demons going past. Grimes & William hide from them for a little. Then the two rush towards the gate again but this time they see a Beholder at the Gate with 12 hydras on the wall with 2 commanders on the wall. Behind the wall is a looming Overseer. The pair give up on this fortress and back off.
The party backtrack all the way back from the crossroads. Nothing appears to be chasing them. William chooses a random new path and they go down that one. After some distance Grimes steps on a Lurker. The Lurker then attacks Grimes and wounds him badly. Kel William kills the beast.
The party go hide to rest. Grimes rests for 48 hours to heal to full. They then keep walking down the road for a unknown amount of time.
===The Empty Fortress===
They arrive at a older fortress that appears abandoned. The wall has carvings etched into it in patterns, including the symbol of Malkis, but the symbol had been scratched out in the past year.
Grimes uses the Gem of Trueseeing and sees 2 lurkers inside. William goes over and kills the one on the ground, and attacks the one on the ceiling. The lurker, at 1 HP, jumps at William and injures him. William then slays the Lurker.
Grimes looks around inside and sees broken symbols of Malkis have been destroyed. There are then new carved symbols of Matrigal. The two then rest as William recovers from his injuries.
The two then explore the building. They find a war room, but it isn't a map, the carvings don't make sense. No sign of paper, just some abandoned weapons. Looking in another direction they see a cliff in front of them. Down the cliff is still water some distance below. The Keep is at the end of a peninsula. When Grimes looks at the water with the gem of true seeing he can see the waves moving.
They leave the Empty Fortress and head back to the Crossroads and head down a new path.
===The Mine===
The party arrive to a recent battlefield from the last couple of days. There are no bodies as expected, but signs of struggle. The pair keep moving along the path.
They find carved into rocks on each side of the path the symbols of Matrigal carved everywhere. Every rock is carved.
The path ends abruptly at the face of a cliff where a tunnel goes into the cliff wall. The cliff goes above beyond what the party can see. The symbols of Malkis have been cut away and replaced with more symbols of Matrigal. The two enter the cave, the path inclines down with stone-made path like a mine.
Grimes spots a Lurker, then Kel Williams kills it. The party continue downwards until they reach a fork in the road and take a left. They arrive at another fork, then taking the left turn. Each fork they come across they take the left path. Eventually they reach a hole with a ladder carved into the wall of the hole that goes down into darkness. Grimes spots a lurker and climbs back up.
Grimes at the top shoots lots of Ethereal Arrows into the pit, then climbs back down 150 feet until he can see the ground below. William then tries to climb down after Grimes with his stone feet. William slips 2 times, but makes it to the bottom safely. At the base is a hallway with no tracks and the lurker has moved down to a fork in the road. Grimes misses a shot at a lurker so William goes after it. William kills the Lurker as it leaps for him. The party keep moving on.
The pair end up miles underground and arrive at a large chamber that is 80 feet across, 60 feet tall. On the far side is a fortification and a single entrance. Grimes looks using the Gem of Trueseeing and sees a section of wall on the right and the left sidewalls have an outline of a vaguely humanoid figure but distorted, 16 to 20 feet tall. William throws his Harpoon of Holding into the right one as Grimes fires his crossbow. The Harpoon does nothing, but the ethereal bolt hits the target.
The large rock creatures emerge from the walls. They are hulking and rounded, made of pure rock.
==Experience==
20,000 exp each (582,653 exp total)
Category:Homeward Bound Episodes