Chapter 2 / Episode 32 - Losing the Rod and Meeting TerryOr the Acolyte

Chapter 2 / Episode 32 – Losing the Rod and Meeting TerryOr the Acolyte

Readying 26, 576 CY
At dawn, the party awakens, ready to continue their five-day journey back to Hommlet. The temperature is a mild 44 degrees, with partly cloudy skies—a warmer, more pleasant day than they've seen in recent weeks.

As they gather their supplies and prepare to set out, the sound of a horse galloping towards them breaks the morning calm. A travel-worn rider emerges, his horse foaming at the bit, clearly pushed hard through the night. The man is draped in a torn tabard of St. Cuthbert and looks familiar. It is TerryOr, an acolyte from the Church of St. Cuthbert in Hommlet.

TerryOr greets the party with a weary smile, explaining that Canon Terjon sent him to provide aid. Recognizing him as a trusted ally, the party welcomes him without hesitation. He is asked if he crossed paths with Zert, to which he replies that he had, just two days prior. Zert was alive and well, still escorting the freed prisoners.

With a few murmured prayers to St. Cuthbert, TerryOr casts Cure Light Wounds on the party, focusing on healing Dog, whose wounds from the yeti still linger.

The party resumes their westward trek towards Hommlet, with Slash the Bard leading the way. As dusk falls, the fading light reveals a figure standing in the road ahead. The figure is a dark, elvish woman, her body adorned in a shimmering spider-silk bikini that gleams ominously in the twilight. She addresses the bard directly, her voice smooth and unsettling:

"Hello, Bard. You have something I want."

Before anyone can react, the woman casts a Suggestion spell. Slash’s will falters, and he obediently reaches into his pack, retrieving a piece of the Rod of Six Parts. Without hesitation, he hands it over to the mysterious woman. In an instant, she envelops the area in magical darkness, plunging the party into chaos.

From the shadows, four enormous spiders emerge, their legs clicking and fangs dripping venom. A fierce battle ensues. The elven magic-user/thief falls early, overcome by the spiders’ swift strikes. Amid the turmoil, the woman transforms into a terrifying drider, half-elven, half-spider, and strikes at Slash. Her venomous bite injects a deadly poison, paralyzing the bard.

Despite their best efforts, the party struggles. Dixon the Dwarf swings wildly but cannot seem to land a single blow. When the dust finally settles, the drider vanishes with a portion of the Rod, leaving the party victorious but battered. Slash remains poisoned and immobile, teetering on the brink of death with no apparent cure for the dark venom coursing through his veins.

Desperate, the group knows their only hope lies in getting Slash back to Hommlet and seeking Canon Terjon’s aid. The journey ahead is fraught with peril, and the clock is ticking for their fallen companion.

So ends Readying 26, 576 CY.

XP: 100 each