Mowenites Unite - Episode Three

## Summary:

Mowen had granted individuals the experience needed to hone their skills. In exchange, these people were called to begin their charge. Whether the agents attended the once secret but prestigious academy or were in service to the empire or owed them, six people were sought out and called into service to work the lines of diplomacy, sometimes within the shadows, getting done what needed to be done. Safety was not guaranteed. Mowen was working on a new defensive construction that the world had not seen since the Golden Age of Magic. The six were required to engage in skullduggery, cloak and dagger diplomacy, and questionable missions in service to the empire, all in an effort to build something important.

## Agents:

* Asher "Whiffle-Tongue" - Lizardfolk Wizard
* Gobin Glowstep - Halfling Druid
* Krixx Sharptooth - Kobold Artificer
* Merdaer - Drow Rogue
* Tar'ren r'Eehp r'Eehp - Frogfolk Warlock
* Xilon Harkus Starrati - Half-Elf Wizard

## Adventure:

In the Bluwood, Gobin ran off to quench the trees that Xilon's Lightning Bolt had set on fire.

Asher started excavating one of the tomb doors with the help of Tourmaline and two of the golems. The other two golems guarded the top of the tomb where the skulls had come from. They excavated the doorway after six hours. Inside was similar to the other tomb but had more rubble in it. A few of the sarcophagi were chipped and cracked open.

Krixx said it didn't look like a fancy wizard's tomb. Merdaer opened the coffins just as he had in the other tomb. There were a bunch of headless skeletons. Everything in the room was stone, so the group realized that a rogue Fireball from a skull wouldn't harm anything in the tomb.

Under a rock, Xilon found a squished bit of metal that might have once been a ring. Xilon moved it with his quarterstaff to a clear area where others could see it. The metal had arcane runes engraved on it. Xilon identified it as a Ring of Finding.

Krixx found an engraving on the underside of one coffin lid, coordinates leading to somewhere. Krixx had Xilon write it down.

Xilon put on the Ring of Finding on his pinky finger. It tugged him away from the burial mounds. The group followed his lead. They traveled for forty-three minutes. During that time, Gobin kept his eyes out for interesting plants to put in his Pot of Awakening. He found two fascinating mushrooms.

Krixx saw a river ahead and complained that if he knew there was going to be water, he would have brought his Ring of Water Walking. Xilon moved his Manifest Mind over the river and saw a variety of dark spots in the water.

Krixx led the way to test the depth of the water. He tossed a rock, which sank into the depths. Xilon broke out his Broom of Flying while Asher cast Tenser's Floating Disk. Tourmaline and Krixx went to go on the disk, but suddenly an oozing creature crawled onto the shore and slapped Krixx with some tar. It failed to hurt him, but it did disgust him.

Gobin tried to speak to it with his Speech of the Woods, but it didn't seem to understand him.

Asher shot it with a Ray of Frost and warned everyone that something was trying to eat Krixx. Xilon Cast Mind Sliver and damaged the mind of the thing. Tar'ren commanded his golems to grapple the creature. One golem gripped the tar beast tight, though it got covered in tar in the process. Tar'ren himself cast Eldritch Blast which slammed into the tar.

Krixx disengaged and retreated. Tourmaline attacked, thrashing the creature. Gobin pulled out his wand and cast Magic Missile, which pierced the tar monster.

The tar creature attacked the golem holding it, pulling it deeper into its tarrish body. It was trying to consume the golem.

Mere feet from the tar monster, Merdaer disengaged and retreated. He cast a Chromatic Orb of acid and hit.

Another tar creature arose from the river and attacked Xilon. Xilon fell, covered in tar.

Asher cast Vortex Warp and pulled Xilon to the back of the party. He ran to Xilon's side and took up a defensive position. Xilon coughed weakly, growing closer to death.

Tar'ren's golems and Tar'ren pounded the first tar monster. Krixx ran back to Xilon and cast Cure Wounds. Tourmaline attacked the tar monster with critical damage. Gobin ran to Xilon and cast Healing Word while giving mouth to mouth, telling him not to die on him. Tar transfered from Xilon to Gobin and Krixx. Gobin then shot the one that attacked Xilon with his shortbow, hitting it.

The first tar monster smacked one of Tar'ren's golems, crushing it into powder. Merdaer ran away and threw a Firebolt at the tar monster being grappled. The Firebolt hit, lighting the tar on fire. The other tar monster went to the first and got its body lit on fire as well. It chucked fiery tar at Gobin but missed. The gloop of fire fell beside Asher, who had a strong urge to step on it. However, he resisted the urge and cast Slow on the tar monsters, slowing them down.

Xilon didn't bother standing up. He crawled away and cast a frozen Magic Missile on the tar monster that hit him, extinguishing its flame.

Tar'ren's golems slammed and then ran. Tar'ren cast Erupting Earth, blowing up the ground around the tar creatures.

Tourmaline whacked the burning tar creature while Krixx shot his crossbow, hitting with both bolts.

Gobin cast Gust of Wind, pushing the burning tar into the river. Merdaer shot an arrow then went to the shore of the river. His raven flew northeast towards large statues in the distance.

The ooze on shore hurled tar at one of the golems. The golem collapsed. Asher cast Ray of Frost and hit the ooze. Xilon cast Mind Sliver and hit. Tar'ren's last golem shimmied through the wind and went to the other side of the ooze. Tar'ren himself attacked with an Eldritch Blast.

Tourmaline headed off the tar creature and smacked it while Krixx sniped it with his crossbow.

Gobin adjusted the direction of the wind to point to the ooze. Merdaer shot another arrow and killed the ooze, the wind pushing it into the river.

With the battle over, Asher put the flaming tar in a jar. The ooze refused to be consumed by the fire, burning eternally. It was a prized alchemical component for making torches that never extinguished. Gobin kept the fire as a pet, though Merdaer used an invisible Mage Hand to tease Gobin by having the jar float magically away.

Gobin noticed that the sap on the trees near them was not normal. He urged the party to stay away from them.

Using Xilon's Broom of Flying, Asher ferried the party across the river with his Floating Disk.

Krixx thought the statues on the other side of the river were amazing. He looked over their construction. Merdaer's raven found a comfortable roost on the statue. One statue was covered in vines while the other clearly was not.

Gobin checked out the vines. They looked lush and were perfectly positioned throughout the statue to not damage the stonework. Gobin thought the vines were holding the statue up and so left them alone.

Krixx saw an entryway and went straight there. Krixx saw frescos along the entryway that depicted grand adventures. A seaward voyage, a mountain excavation, plains with a multi-tailed cat; it looked fantastical. Krixx was excited about the architecture and said the place looked fun.

"Are we going to knock first this time?" Tar'ren asked.

Krixx tried to push the door open but it didn't budge.

The party looked around and found an inscription: "Let knowledge ignite the flame of inspiration in your soul."

Tar'ren recognized the frescos as pertaining to some of Nightseer's proposals. The location was probably Nightseer's tomb.

Krixx was upset that he didn't have the knowledge that Tar'ren had and glowered at him. While doing that, he noticed the underside of one of the statue's arms had a socket. He ran over and called for Gobin's baby flame. The flame floated over there using Merdaer's invisible Mage Hand. The socket heated up and after five seconds the arm collapsed and swung, busting open the door. It almost crushed much of the party but they jumped out of the way just in time.

Gobin yelled in through the open door, "Housekeeping!"

Xilon's Ring of Finding stopped tugging him as soon as he entered the tomb.

The air did not feel stagnant, but it was unusually quiet. Krixx saw a statue of someone holding a lantern and a staff. He asked for their flame jar to be put in the lantern. Merdaer put the flame in the lantern. The lantern was covered in script, words upon words and arcane equations. The runes were the equations that enchanted and programmed objects to work for them.

Merdaer put the flame in the middle of the statue's staff, which caused the chamber to fill with stars. Asher recognized one constellation which he called the Little Sugar glider. Krixx was mesmerized.

As they move about the chamber, the stars shifted around them. Krixx wondered if they could match a constellation to one that appeared to be on the ground. Gobin ran around the room.

The fire was removed from the staff, stopping the star scene. Xilon studied the lantern to copy its formulas. Tar'ren's golem put the front doors up and Tar'ren mended them so that the party would have some privacy. Krixx cast Arcane Lock on the doors so that only the party could open them.

Krixx looked over the statue and saw constellations etched all over the robe. He then tried to figure out how to open the side doors of the room with the puzzles keeping them shut.

The group rested and prepared for the challenges ahead.

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