Episode 5: "Welcome to The Animal House"

"Welcome to The Animal House" (MMx05) is the fifth episode of Murkan Misadventures. Our ragtag group of heroes find a way out of the Upside Down, but what waits for them back on the Material Plane?

## Synopsis.

### Catching Breath.

Finishing the brutal fight against both the Thessalhydra and The Demogorgon, the party had a chance to catch their breath and survey the surroundings of the Thessalhydra’s lair. Detective Frog and a few others ran an investigation on the Demogorgon’s Afoongus, discovering that it was a form of abyssal portal and another Afoongus was formerly in the forests of The Upside Down the group had investigated previously. Deciding to take no chances, the group destroyed the Afoongus, with Detective Frog collecting a shriveled portion of the material for evidence as Davyd collected a head of the Thessalhydra.

### Regrouping.

Exploring the rest of the cave while attempting to find a way out, Davyd discovered that the pack of Trogs that had taken residence in the caves were worshipping the Thessalhydra and were placing objects of value in the caverns as sort of “Offering Plate” containing a large amount of gold. Sythia and Bea discovered that hiding in the back of one of the caverns was a black pudding which the party swiftly scooted around. Realizing that the only way out is through the pack of feasting Trogs, Davyd managed to fool the low-intelligence creatures into believing that the Thessalhydra required food, sending them all funneling out of the cave.

Backtracking to the cave’s entrance, Davyd noticed that some of the Thessalhydra’s blood had fallen off his sword and landed on the strange flowers which invoked a reaction from them, forming a smaller version of the portal seen back in the labyrinth. Wondering if that it was simply blood that caused them to react this way; Davyd sent Bea back into the caves to retrieve some blood from the corpses of the devoured Redbrands. But upon further inspection and memory, Davyd recalled that during his time being so close to the Thessalhydra’s body that it was covered in self-inflicted bite wounds, determining that it was it’s own Monstrosity blood that causes the reaction just as Bea returned with a section of clothing, soaked with blood.

Making a careful slit along the severed Thessalhydra head, Davyd spilled a decent amount of blood onto the strange flowers thanks to his quick thinking by freezing the severed end of the head, containing the blood within it. The flowers exploded outward violently, forming a large portal which resembled the same one originally seen on the Material Plane.

Crawling through one by one, the party arrived back on the Material Plane, right at the mouth of the Troglodyte Cave where Spoons had returned.

Reuniting with Spoons and giving him his share of the treasure found in the Thessalhydra lair, the group made their way back into town to get their reward.

### Redbrand Revenge.

Entering into the town square, the party noticed several red flares firing into the sky which were quickly followed by large explosions that rocked the landscape, sending flames and smoke high into the sky as amidst the chaos, many Redbrands came out of the woodwork on both the ground and on the rooftops.

Leading the pack of these Redbrands was a human male with a shaved undercut and red vest by the name of Commander Dawkins who had taken several hostages, including; Darnik, whom the Redbrands had beaten brutally for attempting to interfere with their sabotage, Detective Calhoon of the HPPD, and a small, unknown Owlin.

Commander Dawkins explained that he was present in Hammond’s House of Hungry when the original batch of Redbrands, which were explained to be rookies, barged in. Dawkins wasn’t expecting the party to interfere and because of their meddling, Scragg had given the orders to execute them, not taking any risks with ragtag groups overthrowing his faction like their namesakes.

When it came to blows, Davyd was nearly killed after both brutal blows from Dawkins and multiple rounds fired from the Redbrand Rifleman.

The Owlin, which was freed shortly after the fight started, was revealed to be a Cleric by the name of Colby-Bo who immediately jumped into the fray, seemingly twisting his own fates and boosting his new allies.

Detective Frog secured the kill on Dawkins after a brief game of tennis with his own arrow which Dawkins caught and threw back him.

Spoons managed to distract the main rifleman by pulling his hood down over his face, undoubtedly saving Davyd’s life.

Sythia and Chestnut managed to defeat several of the Redbrand Riflemen using dogs and PAM with some help from gravity, sending them plummeting to their deaths off the rooftops.

Bea, getting in the deep of the fray, used her natural weapons to her advantage, brutally dropping a Redbrand via her stinger and natural venom.

In the end, a single, begging Redbrand remained which the party spared, give or take a broken nose. The Redbrand explained that Dawkins, trained under some guy named “Copper Wasp” and was formerly a merc on some island named Palladis, was here in Hawk’s Point to take control of the town before heading to Sin City. With the ongoing removal of The Society of The Sigil, there was a vacuum being created which The Redbrands wanted to fill. The only things standing in their way were The Skull Gang and The Jade Syndicate. So the Redbrands were making their move on Sin City as the Skull Gang were attempting to extend their control beyond The Greenlights to The Grove as Scragg knows the members of The Grove will not put up much resistance.

In searching the corpses of the Redbrands, Sythia recovered the rifles from the riflemen and Spoons discovered numerous oddities including; a recipe for “Pisswater” beer, a jar of eyeballs, and a jar of slime. Davyd discovered that among the loot recovered was a simple iron bracelet which turned out to be a relic of The Maelstrom. The relic bared runes of magic written in Infernal and after studying, discovered it acted as some sort of key. A note found on one of the bodies confirmed what the spared Redbrand had told the party, as it appeared the Redbrands were headed to Sin City to find a "Commander Stonesides" who was currently in The Rumble Zone to make a move on The Skull Gang. The note also mentioned to "get some" at a place called "Tiefling Temptation" to clear ones head.

### **Heroes of Hawk’s Point.**

Regrouping with Detective Calhoon, the party was led to the HPPD station to drop off the remaining Redbrand. After arriving, Governor Martin met them at the front door along with Sir Tristan and quite the large crowd which began to cheer for them.

Governor Martin presented the group with the Key to The City, declaring the group heroes and forever friends of Hawk’s Point for their deeds.

Mr. Skip Oslo of the Hawk’s Point Press was on the scene during the celebration to interview the party, asking their names, asking for comments regarding their recent adventures, and most importantly, asking their group name for recognition.

After some discussion, the group proudly declared that they were to be known as, The Animal House!

## Featured Characters.

### **Player Characters.**

* Bea
* Sythia
* Davyd
* Detective Frog
* Colby Bo
* Chestnut
* Spoons

### **New.**

* Redbrand Rifleman, one of the members of the Redbrand Faction
* Redbrand Commander Dawkins, one of the leaders of the Redbrand Faction
* Mr. Skip Oslo, a reporter for Hawk's Point Press
* Governor Martin, the political leader of Hawk's Point

### **Mentioned.**

* Copper Wasp
* Scragg Vollen
* The Society of The Sigil
* The Skull Gang
* The Jade Syndicate
* Commander Stonesides

## Trivia.

* This is the first mention of The Society of The Sigil and Palladis in Murkan Misadventures. The Society of The Sigil is a notable enemy faction of The Adventurer's League and Palladis is a notable island visited by the members of Mischief in Murka.
* Rib managed to roll two Natural 20s at the same time this episode as well as all 4s on four d4s.
* There was no Captain Boy this episode.