D&D ADVENTURE! THE TEMPLE OF PIETER ONNE-DRAY

"Who hasn't heard of a train before?" Rambulge said incredulously, shaking his head in mock exasperation.

"I hadn't, what worries me now though is I can't see Bufo, is he still in the hall? I hope that big bellied piece of dishonor is not gone stealing anyone or anything. I think we should proced as planned, if Bufo is already in the spawn chamber (which leads to the store room if I remember correctly) we'll find him there and if not we'll leave to get him and to get to the Snakemother anyway."

"Oh, right" the spell sword said, mentally chiding himself for shooting his big mouth off again.
His Mother had always told him he had a big mouth...Rambulge pushed thoughts of his Mother aside and spoke: "who knows when it comes to that little rogue? I agree Sir Paladin, best to stick to the plan"

Robin paused at the door and nocked a arrow to the string of his bow and looked back at the party.

"Are we go? If Bufo is in there or near the provisions we need to catch up with him to make sure he's ok."

"Shit, you're right. Where's the little critter gone off to?" Bari whispered, looking around. "If it ain't him, then who's the next best to go in the door?" Bari looked down and adjusted his tiger's tooth. "I'm more of a lover than fighter, really..."

I think you would make a perfect snakeman Bari.

weismonsters":12kh4y5n said:

I think you would make a perfect snakeman Bari.

Spoiler: spell

Unless anyone makes a speedy objection, Eggbert casts the illusion and gives Bari a gentle nudge towards the door.

Click to expand...

Cant wait to find out whats behind door number one.

Bari staggered through the door, aghast at the turn of events. Far from his suggestion being taken as a lighthearted means of declining the opportunity to go first, the party had quickly ensorcelled him and unceremoniously shoved him through the door. Robin had mentioned something about cover, lover or mothers, but Bari hadn't the time to make sense of it.

The stunned cleric lurched to a stop just on the other side, his hands splayed out to steady himself. His eyes took in the scene...

As his cleric friend entered through the door Seu gave hime one final shiny smile with a wink and the best thumb up he could perform. He would need it.

It was hard to say which of his senses Bari felt most discomfited by. The feeling of hot, moist air blasting over him as he entered the spawning chamber was uncomfortable in the extreme. The smell, which was redolent of mould, rotting meat and excrement, assailed his nose with unrelenting force.The sound that bombarded his ears, the sound of tens, possibly even hundreds of snakemen spawnlings bickering, hissing and mewling was a constant, unrelenting wall of sound that rose in intensity upon his entrance. But it was the sight he beheld that was truly horrific, (he wasn't game to taste anything for love or for money) for the spawning room had taken the once beautiful private baths of the temple and turned them into a realm of nightmares. The pools themselves brimmed and splashed with worm-like infants, entwining together, raking at each other with malformed limbs, biting, hissing, wallowing and writhing. In cages along the wall to his right, there were hundreds and hundreds of rats, rabbits, and other small furry animals the cleric didn't recognise, all out of their minds with fear and clawing at the bars that held them. Numerous fires burned in large braziers that dripped with thick, dark oil, which were tended by small, seemingly intelligent creatures, that looked halfway between a large rat and a kangaroo ("What's a kangaroo?" the party would ask if someone had mentioned it, which noone would because there are no such thing as kangaroos, shoosh), which hopped and yipped as they stoked and threw buckets of stagnant water over the blaze to create vast gouts of steam, the apparent source of all the humidity. Several creatures noted Bari's illusionary presence, but didn't dare make eye-contact, and continued about their work with increased vigour. These must be the slaves that snake-dude mentioned, thought Bari. Nothing seemed to indicate that his arrival was anything out of the ordinary or unexpected.

A team of the funny rat-kangaroo men gathered at the cages, opening them and grabbing large rats with deft fingers. They brought their wriggling treats to the pools and started tossing them in, which caused the sound in the room to reach a hideous crescendo as the infants all began their battle to grab the victuals. The competing creatures showed no mercy, biting and gouging at each other with whatever limbs they possessed. Bari saw one serpent with a disturbingly human head catch and swallow a cute baby bunny with a lightning quick motion, it's jaw detaching and distending hideously in the process.

Swallowing hard to keep down his breakfast nuggets, Bari looked about to see what else the room contained. The wall to the far right had a large door leading to the 'ritual room', according to the elf's map, and that was where Hisston had said the snakemother had her lair. This spawning chamber had no other guards or occupants apart from the dozen or so kangaroo men and the many, many snake babies. There appeared to be some sort of pen or enclosure near the door to the ritual room that the cleric couldn't quite see into yet. There were a pile of barrels near the door too, judging by the mess that was all over the floor, they probably contained more oil for the fires.

He could see nothing else, save for a kitten about to be fed to a snake with two heads...

It was times like this that Bari wished he asked more questions.

Actually, Bar had never experienced times like this (that being, wearing an illusionary disguise in order to enter a snake infested birthing room on an alien planet of a dead culture in a different dimension and likely to die at any second), so he just wished that he'd asked more questions.

Actually, he just wished he was on a beach somewhere. Yes, Bari nodded. That's it. A beach!

But that was for another day. Bari was curious about the pen. What mind numbing horror could be stored in there if the unpenned things were these horrible snake children slithering around here? The curiosity was tempered by fear - what of the snake things determined he wasn't one of them? Or of the kangarats ratted him out somehow? He swallowed nervously, before setting his eyes on the pen. With as much purpose as he could stump up, he strode towards the pen.

Staying a healthy distance from the lip, he casually glanced sideways and peered in.

Hisston shifted uncomfortably in his restraints, his wrists working to get some circulation back. "What iss taking him sso long?" Though it had only been a matter of moments, the party silently agreed, every second that Bari was gone for had seemed like weeks of elapsed time.

"Silence, fiend," whispered Yngwie, "he'll take as long as he needs to establish whether you are being truthful of what lies ahead." The dagger in the elf's hand remained a constant reminder of what lies would bring the snakeman...

____________________________________

Sweat trickled down Bari's spine and tickled his butt-crack. He edged closer to the strange pen, trying to peek in without appearing to be trying to peek in. He saw straw strewn about, and a few bones lying here and there, and then - two perfectly human babies, no more than 6 months old, naked as the day they were born, lying asleep amidst the crackling yellow stalks. They were identical twins, a boy and a girl. Despite the ruckus going on around them, their rest was not disturbed; they were clearly used to their surroundings. Their presence in this room of horrors was unsettling to say the least, and it was all Bari could do to suppress his fear-flatulence. What were they doing here...?

Bari held his breath. Babies? What the hell? He looked around as the sound of slithering suddenly seemed louder - deafening, if he was honest. Nothing in the room had changed, but he was aware he was sucking in air like an untrained marathon runner.

Don't.

Panic.

Swinging on his heels, he made his way directly back to the doors through which he had entered. As he passed the last of the kangarats, he stiffly gripped one by it's shoulder and squeaked "You!".

Shit! Was that a raised eyebrow? Were they all looking at him? Was that sudden warmth wee?

He cleared his throat and hissed "You! Come with me!" Bari shoved him towards the door. He turned to approach the door, pleading with Jordann to get him and the stupid rat thing through the door. Only a few steps now...

Bari hauled the creature out through the double doors. It came without resistance. He leaned down, and in a soothing, caramel voice said "don't be scared little fella, papa bear won't hurt you..."


Ruff was a 3rd generation slave, born into servitude of the snakemen in their hideous temple. One of a litter of six, he had seen his brothers and sisters variously crushed, eaten, or in the case of brother Arf, crushed THEN eaten, then regurgitated and then eaten again. The life of a kobold was a brutal one, with the only certainties being inevitable, undignified death, and the only rules being: Obey the masters, and; stay away from the masters. When rule two failed, you followed rule one like your life depended on it (because it really, really does). Thus, Ruff went with Bari without question, only a limp sort of resignation, as he was hauled through the double doors.

The sight that greeted poor Ruff was too much. A giant helmed warrior. An elf with a knife. A second four-armed one, bound and gagged. The wretched creature twisted up to look at Bari - his mouth was making man-words, but the lips weren't matching the sounds properly. Ruff began wrenching violently at Bari's grip, and let out a shrill, staccatto yipping of alarm that echoed hideously up and down the corridor.

Hisston could only hear what was happening, but it was enough to register what had transpired "Foolss!" He shrieked, " what have you done?! Would you alert the whole temple to your pressence? Iss it your wish to die?!"

"Kobolds," muttered Robin, "filthy vermin at best. Panicky too." He gave the cleric A Look.

The little creature continued struggling and yipping in Bari's grip. The already cacophanous noise in the spawning room was now increased by the sounds of excitable kobolds responding to the shriek of alarm...

"Oh no no! Ohnononono!" Bari started. "Shutup! Shutup!" Bari flapped has hands uselessly towards the kobold, trying to suggest the little thing should stay calm. Perhaps later Bari would realise that his act of peace was seen by Ruff as a clumsy attempt by a four armed snake man to karate chop his head off... but for now, Bari persisted.

The shrieking rose in volume until Robin stepped in. He slapped the kobold twice across the face and held his finger up to indicate the thing should keep quiet. It did.

He then slapped Bari twice across the face and held his finder up to indicate that he should also keep quiet. He did.

"Go through the doors and tell them to shut up. Do it now," Robin growled. "Then come straight back."

Bari nodded, before shaking his head and shoulders like an athlete preparing for the big one. "I'm cool. I'm cool." Frowning at the kobold, he stuck his head through the door and barked at the bawling kobolds to shut the hell up or else daddy bear would be very cross!

Yngwie looked around at the rest of the party. "Daddy bear?" he mouthed, his free hand raised in frustrated inquiry.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Rambulge whispered to himself as much to the party, his knuckles white on his trusty cudgel.

Bari stuck his head through the double doors and yelled at the assorted children, snakelings, kobolds, rats, rabbits and kittens to shut the hell up. Midway through his tirade, the doors at the other end of the room that led to the snakemother's chamber flew open and two heavily armed and armoured snakemen guards came slithering through. They spat angry-sounding words at the kobolds, who were hopping about in excitement, but their noise abated somewhat. The guards looked to the door where Bari had been hollerin' and began making their way towards it...

Seu stepped close to Hisston and looked at him straight in the eyes. Hisston was having hard time seeing the paladin's eyes through the tiny holes in the helmet but his own reflection in the perfectly polished steel still made him think the strange knight in front of him meant business.
" I am pretty sure YOU will come up with the perfect explanation to stop this AT ONCE. Yuo wouldn't want guards thinking you've brought intruders in, what would happen if those intruders were trying to imply that they've been left in to get rid of the snakemother by your mistress and yourself?"

Turning to Robin, " We need to find Bufo real quick now, if we're forced to retreat, we can't stay separated like this..."

Hisston hissed in semi-hissterical anger. "Sssssssss you have bound my wrissts and covered my eyess, it couldn't be much clearer that I am your captive than if you painted a ssign and hung it about my neck. You musst defeat these guardss and kill the ssnakemother they protect - make hasste or your livess are surely losst!"