Expedition 38: Uzmir the Mantis-Slayer

### Roster

Arha, Jamie, Marzipan, Nexrin, Tolyr, & Uzmir; along with mercenary Alighull Yildun

### Summary

We enter the mantis nest and slay the mantis queen, earning the wrath of the fae Mother.

### Detailed Writeup

The skies are clear and with the ever competent Marzipan at the helm the group makes it to Fer-Roc without any issues. After scaling the seaside cliffs to the island we determine our best course of action is to seek out the Galeb Duhr we met previously and gather any useful information from them. Nexrin’s tracking skills are able to lead us to one such individual, initially skittish the young girl warms to us once Uzmir was able to speak with her. She’s heard of our previous attack on the nest and is glad to see we had not perished after being chased by the broodmother. She agrees to take us to the individual we spoke with last time and we follow as she winds and rolls across the island.

We eventually come upon two more of their kind, the individual from our last expedition and what seemed to be a community elder. After the initial shock of being able to freely speak to one another they provided copious amounts of useful information. In regards to the mantids, the nest was now an earthen structure above ground. We also learned that the nest was being cultivated by an ancient fey they called “The Mother”, but that killing the mantis queen should stop the nest for the foreseeable future.They also suggested to assault the nest near midday, as most of the creatures would be away hunting. We also gleaned some information about other threats on the island. The warforged we encountered on our first excursion to Fer-Roc has a grudge against the fey of the island; it sees them as it’s prisoners to be contained. The giant we spotted is ancient, and a scourge upon the area, but the spell allowing us to communicate faded before we could learn more,

The group finds a sheltered area to rest and wait for noon, but we’re eventually spotted by a group of four mantises; two steel, one red, one green. We notice them about 50 feet out and prepare for a fight. The steel mantises land on the ground and engage with Jaime. Tolyr looses a fireball against them, killing one, but also clipping Arha who had just rushed to engage. Uzmir is able to sever the mind of the red mantis while it’s still in the air causing it to careen erratically before crashing into the ground. Soon after Jaime manages to decapitate the remaining steel mantis with Drakesdoom. The final mantis redoubles it’s attack and lands atop Uzmir, pinning him to the ground. The rest of the group focuses fire and Tolyr fells the beast with a frost bolt.

Before heading to the nest Uzmir scouted the area with arcane eye. He saw the fire that enthralled him and his companions on his first expedition. He told the others about the music and the way reality seemed to collapse around the fire nearly consuming Brightstaff and Lahont. Pushing into the nest, he saw small egg sacs covering the walls of the entrance tunnel, and 80 ft in the tunnel was flooded. He followed the water filled tunnel for 100 ft noting two pairs of steel mantises along the path. The tunnel then dried out as it opened up into a hub with 6 more tunnels branching off. With limited time on the spell Uzmir explored one at random finding what appeared to be a store room of carcasses for feeding. With only a few minutes left Uzmir guided the eye back out of the nest and scouted for any possible alternative entrances, but found none.

And then the spell fades.

After tending our wounds from the mantis fight with a cat-nap stone, and preparing our ears with wax the party heads off toward the nest. We encounter no trouble, but we hear the faint siren song coming from the fire. Marzipan uses his cloak to peer into the ethereal plane and sees this creature's true form. It’s akin to an angler fish straddled between the material and ethereal planes. Its tongue stretched to the surface and appeared as the fire, and its massive razored maw forming a 20ft circle around it. Marzipan reaches out through and attempts to banish the creature, succeeding enough to sever its connection with the material plane and allowing us to pass into the nest without issue.

We make our way down the tunnel to the flooded section of the hive. After deliberating we determine Nexrin should attempt to lure the mantis guards towards us, attempting to block them with spike growth should they try to alert the rest of the nest. In preparation Arha activates a warded bond with Nexrin, but this causes the egg sacs nearby to glow and hatch, releasing a tiny swarm of insects that attempt to attack Arha. We back up the tunnel and Tolyr releases a fireball at the swarm, incinerating it but activating more eggs on the tunnel wall. The rest of us smash the sacs before they hatch and continue with our plan. Nexrin dives into the murky water but sees no signs of the mantids that were previously there. He nears the end of the flooded tunnel and gives one tug on his line indicating an all clear. However just as the others begin to follow into the water, three steel mantis at the other end maul Nexrin, with the magic rings splitting that damage with Arha. Nexrin tries to fend off the beasts as the rest of us make our way through the murky water. Jaime activates his boots of haste and quickly joins Nexrin on the front-lines. Tolyr closes the gap enough to aim a fireball catching all three mantids, killing one. The mantises reach their antennae into the water and unleash a charge of lighting, electrifying the whole tunnel and everyone in it. Alighull fells another from behind Nexrin and Jaime with the reach of his morning-star. Finally having the upper-hand, Nexrin pushes forward and downs the last mantis with his warpick.

The rest of the group makes its way through the water and emerges into the hub of the nest. Toylr summons his familiar Annie and begins scouting down the tunnels that Uzmir was not able to. After Annie's first return the group begins to hear music, as if from a harp, from one of the tunnels, The group scrambles to shove the wax from earlier back in their ears. This does prevent any effects like the one that befell Nexrin last time he was in the nest, but makes communication much more difficult. After a few more scouting flights Annie finds the queen’s chamber down a 30ft tunnel with a sudden drop into her lair. Once Tolyr manages to convey this they head down the tunnel with Tolyr and Jaime in front, just barely avoiding a pitfall trap. As we inch closer to the edge of the drop Nexrin peeks his head over, and his curiosity is met by a spray of acid from the queen, thankfully he manages to evade the brunt of it. Most of the party makes its way down into the queen’s lair, with Uzmir and Tolyr remaining in the upper tunnel.

The Queen lashes out at Nexrin and Marzipan, slashing her claws at the dragonborn and clamping the mousefolk in her mandibles. The combatants below swing and stab at the massive queen and her lone steel guard. Uzmir is able to cloud their minds, preventing a few attacks. Suddenly a spell seemingly cast from nowhere envelopes Tolyr and a few others in faerie fire, and Tolyr searches for the source. The fight continues, Marzipan is able to free himself from the queen’s jaws, just before she lifts into the air. Uzmir once again stalls the queen, but her guard is able to bear down on Alighull. The spells being cast activate the egg sacs in the chamber releasing another swarm of insects that strike at Alighull and Marzipan, knocking the mousefolk unconscious. Then everything goes dark. Everyone is blinded and deafened, struggling to see the beasts they’re engaged with. Tolyr, now desperate to find the hidden spellcaster, runs through the darkness down the tunnel and falls into the spike pit he avoided before. Alighull lashes out blindly but strikes true, killing the queen’s mantis guard. The queen however manages to overcome the darkness that has consumed the area and releases a blast of acid at those below her, knocking out Jaime (at exactly 0hp) and Alighull. Tolyr manages to escape the pit, but soon finds himself stuck to the tunnel wall. Then Uzmir reaches out with his mind to pinpoint the queen, and lets loose two blasts of eldritch energy. The bolts pierce through the beast, and she tumbles to the cavern floor below. Just as the queen falls the darkness begins to lift, and Uzmir and Tolyr realize they’re not alone in the upper tunnel, as The Mother screams in anger and agony at the loss of her “daughter”. Her eyes narrow at Uzmir and he erupts in white hot flames. Tolyr is pinned to the wall from the Mother’s webs but is able to let off a round of magic missiles, breaking her concentration and freeing Uzmir form the flames. Arha sees Marzipan, Jaime, and Alighull unconscious and casts Aid to revive them. Nexrin and Marzipan climb the rope to help Uzmir and Tolyr, but before they can do much, the Mother caves in the tunnel cutting off Tolyr from the rest of the group. Just before she attempts to extract her revenge Tolyr uses his final spell to banish the Mother. She attempts to counter it but the elven mage proves too powerful and she crumbles to ash. Nexrin is able to clear enough rubble and get to Tolyr, freeing him. A minute passes and the Mother does not return.

The party dust themselves off and quickly make their way out of the nest. The do encounter a group of mantises on the way, however they appear to now be no more than a few inches long and are easily swatted away. We make our way back to the Galeb Duhr, and inform them of our success, with Marzipan casting Tongues this time. They tell us that eventually the Mother will be back, and point to the red structure toward the center of the island. It acts as a gateway of sorts between here and the ethereal plane, and it’s only a matter of time before she finds her way through. The Galeb Duhr reward us with a pile of gemstones and a few cursed magic items.

With our quest complete we return to Port Vrall with our bounty in tow and claim our reward from the shipping coalition, and secure the trade routes through the area.