C2 E62

We have finally found some sense of peace after running for our lives from Rimeford. Ahead of us is pain and struggle but for now we try to bring some healing to the a small part of the world. Mineford will grow and thrive as a refuge for outcasts. It will be one bright spot no matter how bleak things become.

## **Story**

### Long Story

Three weeks have passed, since J'Michael the dragon laid his egg. In the time since, T'Chuck, R'Oarc, Screech, and Selene have taken a much needed rest. They've been chilling out in Mineford helping to clean up the small settlement, and make improvements. The city has been slowly and steadily growing in populace. As news doesn't travel very well in and out of the tunnels, word of things happening up on the surface is sparse, at best. Fortunately, Ratma Ritmo has many connections, and has a way of getting word out to the outside world. This is good news for Selene, who needs to send a message to her family, letting them know that she is still alive. About a week and a half ago, Selene left to go meet up with this secret contact.

The other members of the party have been doing things, as well. T'Chuck, in an effort to stay active, has taken up walking as a hobby. He spends his nights absconding into the tunnels around the city, keeping his legs moving. Despite his ability to see in the dark, the lack of light in the tunnels can make for a dangerous challenge. That's how T'Chuck found himself accidentally slipping and falling into a ravine. This ravine turned out to have been home of a Svirfneblin fellow named Geremy. Geremy's a fisherman, and was able to patch T'Chuck back up. He followed T'Chuck back to Mineford, and is now a part of the settlement. T'Chuck went out again a couple of nights later, and fell down another ravine! This time, he bonked his head, and a chunk of his hair got torn out. He now wears his hair short on the sides, long on the top. Not taking this as a sign or anything, T'Chuck went out again a few nights after that. Once again, he slips and falls into yet another ravine. This one ended up being the home of a Carrion Crawler, which he accidentally squished and killed. T'Chuck was left to take guardianship of the eight Carrion Crawler babies that were left behind. At Ratma's suggestion, they are kept in the trash pit of Mineford, serving as a form of waste disposal. Four days after that, T'Chuck went out again. I think he just wants to fall down ravines at this point. When he inevitably did, he cut his head open, leaving a large scar. Being not a healer (that's how you say that, right?), T'Chuck was unable to fully heal the scar. To cover it up, he got a tattoo, which he claims represents Rimeford. It's a blue, squiggly line, with a sharp, pointed star on it. As far as his home life in concerned, T'Chuck has taken up in a large mushroom, tall and strong. He delights in the fact that, while living up on the surface, he lived in a hole underground, whereas here in the Underdark, he lives in a tall mushroom up high in the air. No one has noticed this, much to his frustration.

R'Oarc, meanwhile, has been having adventures of her own. Lucee is around, and the two have been going around to various carnivals/music festivals in the area (much to Michael's befuddlement). During her adventures, she's met a few friends, who have returned back to Mineford with her, much to Ratma's annoyance. The first friend she made was Stephanie, at the first carnival she attended. Stephanie was a human, described as "the life of the party". But then, Stephanie died. R'Oarc used her necromancy powers to animate her corpse, so now she has an undead friend forever. Just ignore the fact that she's actively rotting. The next friend she made is Kimmie, from the fourth carnival. Her character trait is that she's drunk, all the time. But that's okay, she's a happy drunk. Kimmie is an elf. R'Oarc's last friend is an Aarakocra named... Well, R'Oarc never got his name. He seems to respond to "Heiguy" (pronounced kind of like "Hey, guy!"), so that's what R'Oarc calls him. Everyone seems to forget his real name as soon as they hear it. "Heiguy" (or whatever his name is) was found at the last carnival, and wanted to "join the band", which is actually code for "starting a revolution".

Lastly, Screech has been off, brooding. Like T'Chuck, Screech also finds himself wandering the caves at night, in a sullen mood. Even Gertie's attempts to get him out of the caves prove fruitless. He's found a special cave, a kind of sub-cave, deep in the already-pretty-deep tunnels. These days, he spends most of his brooding time there. Also, Milton Graves is still around, and he's still wearing the Beholder-doodle costume, mostly because he didn't bring a change of clothes with him. There's some business about the Darkvision Goggles that were initially given to Beholder-doodle by Lucee. Previously, Screech gave the googles to Milton back when he first started pretending to be the vigilante. But then, Screech took them back from Milton right before the three week break. Screech/Bachmann forgot about that, so in this episode, he takes them back again. Screech now has the Darkvision Goggles, again. This feels like a kind of duplication glitch. Does he have two Darkvision Goggles now? The last thing with Screech is that, he's lonely, and T'Chuck has taken pity on him. Screech views this as the first kind act anyone's done for him (since loosing his massive wealth), and now views T'Chuck as a friend. He promises to show T'Chuck his secret cave one day. Is that a euphemism for something?

And that's what everyone's been up to. Now, it's the current day, Day 40 of the campaign. Ratma Ritmo approaches the group, and thanks them for all they've done for the city. However, there are still 3 more things that she needs. These are posted on a Quest Board, for anyone to take a look at. Ratma admits that a part of her is hoping that other adventurers will be arriving at some point, who may be able to help out. The group checks out the new tasks they might embark on:

1. The local Mushroom Fields have become over-run by a mass of Black Pudding. In the years before the fall of Mineford, the Mushroom Fields provided food for the town, and the largest mushrooms could even be harvested for a kind of wood. This Black Pudding will need to be taken out.
2. A nearby fresh-water source has become over-run by Phase Spiders. Griff, the town brewer has been traveling to a further water source, about an hour away. They could use this closer one, but first, the Phase Spiders will need to be taken out.
3. Something about coal and Rock Lizards? Sounds like there's a supply of coal nearby, used for burning, but, I'm guessing, it's been over-run by Rock Lizards. These Rock Lizards will need to be taken out.

Well, cool. After a quick game of catch (which involves both T'Chuck and Screech hitting each other in the face with a rock, both Screech's fault), the gang discusses which task they should attempt to tackle first. They decide on clearing out the Mushroom Fields, so Kitten, the mushroom-folk, leads them out. These fields are where he was born, after all, so he knows the area pretty well. In fact, he shows off the area where his mother was eaten by cave hyenas. Fun!

The Mushroom Fields are filled with spores, but Kitten says they're nothing to worry about. The other thing that they are filled with is mushrooms. All kinds and colors of mushrooms line the floors, walls, and ceilings. Some of them are luminescent, emitting a dull glow which allows the less visually gifted amongst the group to see. There's also some green mushrooms, which, pre Kitten, are especially tasty. But the other other thing that the Mushroom Fields have, are a big mass of Black Pudding. And no, this isn't the kind you can eat.

The mass forms into a big fist, and tries its best to wail on the party. Kitten runs off in fear, leaving T'Chuck, Screech, and R'Oarc (and R'Oarc's undead friend Stephanie) to fight back against the Black Pudding. The battle is a short, but brutal one. Every hit that the party lands on the creature causes a splash back of acid, which hurts. It also damages their weapons. Screech's leather armor takes a permanent -1 penalty to his AC. Also, his swords, and R'Oarc's dagger take a permanent -1 to attack/damage rolls. Despite these set-backs, the Pudding is taken out by Screech. And the day is won!

### Short

It's been three weeks since ~~my last confession~~ the last episode. In that time, T'Chuck has been exploring the tunnels, R'Oarc has been exploring some carnivals, and Screech has been exploring his own internal darkness. Ratma Ritmo gives them three missions, the first of which is to kill a Black Pudding creature that's infesting the Mushroom Fields. They do that.

## **Trivia**

* Day 40 of the campaign.
* There are no elevators in Drunkeros, but there are dumbwaiters for some reason.
* The Farhold Trumpeter doesn't deliver to the Underdark.
* The Carrion Crawler babies produce some of the best fertilizer. And by "produce", I of course mean, "shit out".
* Screech Bucks are valuable currency in carnivals.
* There are "37 Hot Topics" in Mineford. Mostly, this is thanks to all of R'Oarc's new friends.
* Stephanie is a Libra.
	+ Her outfit is a "Burning Man, industrial type." Big, "chunky" boot, with tattered pants, and, for some reason, a respirator mask.
		- In contrast, Kimmie is more of a Coachella girl.
* There'd been some confusion over the professions of some of the various locals about town. Dan is the baker. Griff is the brewer. Kitten is just a dude who hangs out with Griff.
	+ T'Chuck's new friend Geremy is the fisherman about town, and he knows a lot about the area.
		- Because of their friendship, T'Chuck also now knows a lot about the area.
* Due to T'Chuck's night-time cave walks, he's been loosing some of his dad-bod look. His body fat is diminishing. Despite this, he still has a huge ass. Thank God.

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
* Nika Howard - R'Oarc
* Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo / Milton Graves

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Ratma Ritmo
* Geremy
* Stephanie
* Kimmie
* Heiguy
* Gertie
* Milton Graves
* Kitten

### **Locations**

* The Underdark
	+ Mineford
		- The Goblin Pit Too
	+ The Mushroom Fields

### **Quest ~~Log Updates~~ BOARD**

* [Ongoing] - Restore Mineford to it's true potential
	+ [NEW][Complete] - ~~Clear out the Black Pudding from the nearby Mushroom Fields~~
	+ [NEW][On-Hold] - Clear out the Phase Spiders from the nearby source of fresh-water
	+ [NEW][On-Hold] - Clear out the Rock Lizards from the nearby source of coal

### **Quotes**

* **"Screech gave up having parents!"** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

* **"I also would like to use my Bonus Action to tell Stephanie to *party*!"** ~ *Nika Howard*

## **Rolls**

* **T'Chuck** makes a *Dexterity* roll to throw a rock at Screech, playfully - 18
	+ Against **Screech's** *Dex* roll to catch it - 5
		- He fails, and doesn't catch it

* **Screech** makes a *Dex* roll to throw the rock back - 4
	+ It hits T'Chuck in the face

* **T'Chuck** makes an *Intelligence* roll to see what he knows about Black Pudding - 13
	+ He knows that Slashing damage does nothing to this stuff

*Combat Begins vs Black Pudding*

* Initiative
	+ **T'Chuck** - 19
	+ **Screech** - 19
	+ **R'Oarc** - 10

*Round One*

* **T'Chuck**
	+ Melee Attack (Mace of Regnier) vs Black Pudding - 18
		- Hit - 7 Bludgeoning damage
			* Acid splashes back at T'Chuck for - 4 Acid damage
	+ Gives Screech 8 temporary Hit Points

* **Screech**
	+ Melee Attack vs Black Pudding {x3 with Action Surge} - 10, 18, 11
		- Hit, Hit, Hit - 18 + 8 + 10 Piercing damage
			* Acid splashes back at Screech for - 17 Acid damage

* **R'Oarc**
	+ Melee Attack (Rapier) vs Black Pudding - Nat 20
		- Hit - 9 damage
			* Acid splashes back at R'Oarc for - 7 Acid damage
* *Stephanie*
	+ Melee Attack (Dagger) vs Black Pudding - 2
		- Miss

* **Black Pudding**
	+ Melee Attack (Punch) vs T'Chuck - 9
		- Miss

*Round Two*

* **T'Chuck**
	+ Casts *Inflict Wounds* on the Black Pudding - 27
		- Hit - 31 Necrotic damage
	+ Gives R'Oarc 5 temporary Hit Points

* **Screech**
	+ Moves back, prompting an opportunity attack from the Black Pudding - 19
		- Hit - 6 Bludgeoning + 18 Acid damage
	+ Ranged Attack (bow and arrow) vs Black Pudding - 19
		- Hit - 13 Piercing damage - *Kills It*

*Combat Ends*