The Sixth Adventure

[mushgnome]

Bilfur enters the house of pancakes (from the main entrance to the south) and sees 7 hobbets within:

Dougal who greeted him at the door

2 strong hobbets enjoying a big meal in the dining area (Area 1 on the map)

3 hobbets in the kitchen (Area 2), conversing in whispers. Two adventurers are locked in conversation with a chubby middle-aged civilian in an apron. One of them is scribbling furiously with pencil and paper.

A sleeping woman by the fireplace (in the chair in the NW corner of Area 1). Bilfur can instinctively sense that she is a Druid like him, and that something is wrong with her! She is not well!



(Creative-commons map courtesy of Tim Hartin at Paratime Designs. He is also the designer of our Caves map, which I did pay for. Map-making was always one of my weaknesses as a DM, and I'm so happy that I made the decision to outsource it to someone talented.)

[kipper]

Dame Simonetta decides that Athena would approve of destroying the idol, and insists that she be allowed to help out however she may.

[mushgnome]

OOC: Frederick has probably done this kind of thing before, but it's more fun for me if you guys come up with a plan. It doesn't need to turn into a whole side-quest; just a paragraph or two describing how you might destroy, or dispose of, the idol. Perhaps you can MacGyver the process using Frederick's tools and utensils?

For the benefit of our new listeners who are just joining our broadcast, welcome! The statue glows with a sickly-green internal light. It is made from a moist, waxy stone that is like a cross between jade and parmesan. The base bears an inscription to the malevolent entity Cthulhu! It's been kept sealed up in a bag, so only Kiplyn and Dougal have actually laid eyes on it, it at this point.

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn pounders... "Maybe we can chip a piece of it off and see if it melts are burns? Seems like we could take chisel and hammer to it inside the bag without looking at it.."

[kipper]

"If it's stone I doubt it will burn, but the heat might make it more brittle and easier to smash with a hammer." Dame Simonetta replies.

[acodispo]

"Good luck!" says Willie, maybe with some forced cheeriness, to those who are working on the idol-destruction project. He doesn't want to get too near the thing, nor think about it too much. Instead, he follows Dougal to the door.

"Hello there!" he says to the newcomer, this time with authentic cheer. "I'm Willie, welcome to the House of Pancakes! Would you like some pancakes? Frederick's busy right now, but I bet we could throw something together for you."

The young hobbet greeting Bilfur is rosy-cheeked & curly-haired, but he's missing several teeth and speaks with a slight whispy noise. His eyes still have a youthful brightness to them, but from time to time they go a bit dark & far-away. Also, he keeps shifting about and looking this way and that, as if he's on the lookout, even in this most safe & comforting of places.

[acodispo]

Sadly we had to drink the two healing potions we found on the previous adventure, so we don't have anything with which to help Ursa. But I've recalled a possible source: way back in the First Adventure, Potty retired from adventuring with the intention of setting up a potions lab. Have we heard anything from him since? Has he had any success?

By the way, I had completely forgotten about this, but I was searching the forum because I misremembered the carton of holy water we brought to the supply chest in the Second Adventure as carton of healing potions -- of course it was not, but the search did turn up Potty's plan.

[mgtremaine]

"Well there is only one way to find out." Kiplyn takes the idol to where the tools are are looks for a nice size hammer and chisel. So equipped he will feel for the edge inside the bag and give it a good whacking to see if this has any effect.

[mushgnome]

@acodispo you make a good suggestion about Potty's potions. Sounds reasonable to me. I think we are overdue for a Potty cameo in his new role as NPC potion salesman.

I am going to wait a little bit, just because there is a lot happening right now in this scene. I want to give a chance for Bilfur and Ursa to interact 1-on-1 as the only Druids in the room, and adding Potty to the scene right now would dilute that interaction.

As you point out, holy water does not cure wounds. But (friendly reminder) holy water is an excellent weapon against zombies, skeletons, ghouls...

[mushgnome]

To his great surprise, Kiplyn barely taps the stone idol with a chisel, and it shatters into a thousand pieces!

"They don't make 'em like they used to," Frederick scoffs.

Any special plans to dispose of the shards?

I rule that the Cthulhu statue is a robust artifact, with an excellent item saving throw of 10, making it as hard to destroy as a magic ring or "precious."

Save vs. Kiplyn 1d20 = natural 1, the worst possible failure.

Kiplyn easily destroys the blasphemous idol!

I'm glad this didn't de-rail into a tedious side quest, but I do think destroying items adds a fun element to the game. In literature, destroying evil artifacts is a canonical part of what Hobbets are all about.