Session 16-B: 'Till the Last Drop Is Spilled

## Key Plot Developments

Bogteam exchanges pleasantries with Stool Team Six. The myconid circle explains how its pod separated from the Neverlight Grove weeks before the goblins entered; it was disturbed by Sovereign Phylo's exclamations about an upcoming wedding, the introduction of an unseen Great Seeder, and other odd behaviors from several myconids. It is grateful to find friendly softers like Stool Team Six, since it has been forged to forage and struggle for survival since it left its home. The original Stool is likely gone, but Stool Team Six's connection with Bogteam is evident of the meaningful bond they created with him. They have been unwilling to use the fungal paths for fear that Sovereign Phylo has compromised them. Tremble, Pix, and Bogtooth individually swear that they keep this pod safe. The pod serenades them with a song of togetherness.

They forge ahead towards Blingdenstone. While initially uncertain of their way, Tremble and Pix recall their brother Trix's survival techniques and plot out a safe, stealthy path. They encounter a female deep gnome in gray and blue traveler’s clothes, who blinks at them with large, yellow eyes, her fingers twisting together in front of her chest. A creature that looks like a dripping, mud-covered imp hovers in the air next to her. Behind her is a large, black crack in the sheer wall of a cavern.

The gnome introduces herself as Nomi Pathshutter, a druid of the Stoneheart Enclave. She's accompanied by Bill, a mud elemental companion. She's from Blingdenstone, which is currently under attack by oozes. She was sent to Gracklstugh, the city of dwarves, to diplomatically acquire acid-resistant weaponry by her mentor, Yantha Coaxrock (high druid of their Stoneheart Enclave). Yantha teaches Nomi the ways of manipulating the energies of the earth to mine for resources and reconfigure architecture. A week into her journey, however, Nomi received a message: her brother, Norbo Pathshutter, is ill.

Norbo has only one chance to survive: he needs a new heart, and he needs it now. Stoneheart’s high druid (Yantha) can magically create transplant organs from precious gems and metals, but she is currently away in Mantol-Derith and can’t be reached in time.

Nomi had no choice—she seized the one lifestone in stock and set off herself for the mines, accompanied only by Bill, her mud mephit companion. The journey from Stoneheart to Pickshaft normally takes half a day, but Norbo won’t survive that long. To reach Norbo in time, Nomi needs to take a shortcut through forbidden caverns known as the Devil’s Veins.

The group, accompanied by Stool Team Six, decides to help Nomi save her brother. They descend into the Devil's Veins. Soon, they encounter a narrow rock bridge. Pix reads an ancient rune warning of "Piercers Above." The group, remember the roper, prepares for dropping stalactites. As the piercers fall, they are surprised by eight stirges; these mosquito-esque monsters accost them from underneath the bridge. Stool Team Six leaps into defense of its new pod; the Stools meld together, forming a single, large myconid. It releases toxic spores that dissolve and disorient their attackers.

Finally, the obsidian bridge terminates in a wide, flat ledge on this side of the vast cavern. In the eastern wall are two small, dark tunnels, each about three feet in diameter. The group files into one of the tunnels. Soon, Pix realizes that they've been trapped.

To the east (before them), they see a sickening sight. Bundles bound in webs hang from the ceiling of this large, roughly domed chamber. The grey walls are painted with manic, irregular Elvish runes in red and black. Bones and scraps of clothing litter the ground among stalagmites. A hideous drider--a mutated drow and giant spider combined--sics a wolf spider on them as he peppers them with poisoned arrows.

To the west (behind them), another giant wolf spider attacks. They've been ambushed. Tremble, thinking of Wilenet, offers the spider some coins and words of praise in tribute. He placates it; it vanishes into the darkness.

The group must face the immensely powerful and magically enhanced drider while protecting Nomi and Stool Team Six. They refuse to back down. Falling into the same feral flow state they accessed when fighting the roper, Bogteam savagely attacks. Pix uses the staff of the dragon to poison and bite it. Bogtooth fires witch bolts and eldritch blasts to blow it apart. Tremble uses the returning javelin of lightning to electrocute and disorient it.

Though its longsword tears at their flesh and its powerful jaws bite at their necks, Bogteam refuses to give in 'till the last drop its blood is spilled. They win.

The group investigates the thing's lair, intuiting that it took him residence here to ambush travelers who were tried to take the shortcut to Blingdenstone. They find gold, enchanted arrows, magical bracers with Drow runes, a very well-made longbow, a fishing cap, and a small brown bag.

The group rushes out of the Devil's Veins. They return to Norbo Pathshutter; Nomi uses her magic to bring him back from the brink. As he recovers, he asks to be taken back to Blingdenstone. Bogteam accepts Nomi's invitation to join them in the city of deep gnomes.

## New NPCs

1. Nomi Pathshutter, deep gnome druid
2. Bill, Nomi's mud mephit
3. Norbo Pathshutter, Nomi's brother