Ballad of the Pigeon God #19: (Talislanta) The Underground Highway

48th of Phandir 150 N.A. - Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril, Seven Kingdoms
Our heroes in the far-off land of Talislanta....

Rolf Wolfsblood:  Bald-headed barbarian from the Plains of Galmar.
Ashe - highly skilled elven ranger, enjoying the fact that hated elves in Crosedes have pointed ears, just like all the races of men in Talislanta.
Kane - monk of eastern mysticism with an odd elemental control of water.
Babette - urban street thief swept up with the party when they teleported to Talislanta.
Alexi - Sarista gypsy native to Talislanta

7th of Talisandre 150 N.A. - The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril, Seven Kingdoms

An agent of Abn Qua finally came by the brothel.  He was quite pleased with the location of the stash they left outside of Tordan and eliminating such a threat courted much favor for the merchant.   Components of Kannex's ritual to send them home had been discovered in the Kingdom of Durne, home of the gnome-kin.

"Gnome-Kin.  Sounds cute." - Kane

After Abn-Qua's representative left, Kane, Ashe, and Babbette all fell ill by a strange illness.  Rolf and Alexi were unaffected, but they had their hands full, as many of Duane's employees suffered the same fate.  Rolf and Alexi sent for Kannex, and tried to handle the epidemic as best as possible.

9th of Talisandre 150 N.A. - The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril, Seven Kingdoms
Kannex finally arrived at the brothel, with Alexi doing a poor job of holding a tired but enraged Rolf back from pummeling the wizard.

Kannex took one look at the symptoms, shook his head, and smiled.
"You know the "sniffles" little Timmy was suffering from back in Eding?  Welcome to the Talislanta version of them.  Our diseases are a bit more... aggressive than your worlds."

He took over tending to the sick and sent Rolf and Alexi to bed.

10th of Talisandre 150 N.A. -The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril, Seven Kingdoms
After a much deserved night of restful sleep, a hearty breakfast, and much needed massages by some of the healthier girls, Rolf , Kane, and Alexi were dispatched by Kannex to obtain Amber Crystalline from a gnome-kin named Yaki-Saban.    Unfortunately, this Yaki-Saban character was deep within an subterranean system of roads properly nicknamed the Underground Highway.  His section of the highway happened to be infested with creatures known as Cho-Krin.  No description of Cho-Krin was provided, although Kannex assured them that they would be easier to fight than the Talislantan Common Cold.

15th of Talisandre 150 N.A. - Kingdom of Durne
At the official entrance of the Underground Highway, they met with their paid gnome-kin guide, Oko. Rolf drew his Sun-Sword to add some extra illumination... and perhaps a sense of reassurance.

The first day into the Underground Highway, they were ambushed by devilish little creatures that reminded them of black-skinned kobolds.  They overwhelmed the barbarian and ran off with his Sun-Sword.  In pursuit of the creatures, the duo got turned around in the caves and even Oko had trouble getting them back to the main road.  One bad turn followed another and again they were ambushed, this time by a squad of large lizardmen, Saurans, Oko called them.

After defeating them, Alexi notice the lizardmen had dark crystals embedded inside their skulls.   While Rolf pondered the implications of the crystals, the glow of his Sun-Sword could be seen behind him and Oko yelped.  By the time  they turned around, Oko was gone, leaving only the darkness.

The trio pressed on, trying to decipher  the marks on the walls that helped travellers navigate the shortcuts and side passages veering off the highway and its spur routes.   The further they travelled , the more Alexi began acting strangely.  At first his psychotic outbursts seemed to scare away being hiding in the shadows, but after a fight with more of the dark kobolds, Rolf turned and found his gypsy companion was no larger than three apples high!

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Rolf scooped up his now-terrified friend. The action was enough for Alexi to drop the shard of dark crystal still in his hand.  The crystal had shrunk down with him, but after he dropped it, is regained its full size.  A few moments later, Rolf was holding the gypsy in his arms... then promptly dropped him.

16th of Talisandre 150 N.A. - Lost in the Side-Tunnels of the Underground Highway
After a quick rest in a narrow cave, Rolf was ready to move, but was taken aback as Alexi awoke and began to talk and act like Maloran!  This new personality knew everything that had transpired, save the death of Maloran and doubled their efforts to reach the main road.

A few hours later, Rolf tried to talk to Alexi, as Maloran, and was quite befuddled that at some point, the gypsy reverted back to his old accent, old memories, and no recollection of acting as someone else.

For the better part of the day, they wandered the tunnels,  meeting up the dark kobold sword thieves and recovering the Sun-Sword and Oko!    Oko realized they were far out of the gnome-kin patrols and the pushed hard to leave the violent portion of the underworld.

29th of Talislandre 150 N.A. - Back at the The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril
Rolf, Kane, and Alexi stepped through the door of the brothel.  Some of the sickened woman appeared to be recovering and greeted them in celebration.  Rolf's look made them step back.   The barbarian climbed the steps and reached Kannex's room, knocking open the door with his forearm. He walked up to the seated wizard and dropped a large sack on his desk, scattering the research he was conducting.

"There's your damn Amber Crystalline, wizard.  Don't send us back to Durne."

As the crew gained their faculties back, they still had trouble getting any information out of Rolf. Alexi was more forthcoming, but confused.

"We wandered those tunnels for days.  A few times we encountered beauty, like giant groves of naturally occurring crystals, not those that the gnome-kin grow and tend to.  Most of the time we avoid the breeding carnivorous frog-creatures, and fighting the darklings, or Ka-BALDS, as Rolf calls them."

"Your friend, he looks at me strange now.  Calls me Maloran from time to time.  I think he misses your friend.  I would have like to have met him. We would all have good time."

"Finally... Oko, our guide, got us back on the Underground Highway and pretty soon we to Yaki-Saban's.  Bing-boom-bam, Spinekofpetka! We had the weird bag of amber stuff.  We got out of the tunnels and Rolf demanded a personal room at an inn with a nice view.  I don't think he likes the dark."

DM Notes:  Another half-lost episode, I believe this adventure came from White Wolf Magazine. We only had three players for the session, hence the new plot device of badass Talislanta rhinoviruses knocking everyone out.     

NEXT #20 - The Jewel of Fortuna