CoMT 14: Brainbeak Battle

The Adventures of the Criminals of Many Things continue with:
Seiken the elf kensei monk,
Mory Brewblood the dwarf cleric,
Elyrin the human necromancer,
Bleaksin Blackscale the kobold scout, and
Dribbledip the deep gnome druid!

CoMT Session 14:
Homebrew FR Campaign (City of Many Things)
Dribbledip found an interesting plant and decided to head back to her pond in Llork to start growing it there. Seiken, Mory, Elyrin, and Bleaksin continued clearing out the monsters in the ancient “Ghost Town” while looking for the Netherese pillar. As the team went around town Mory bashed zombie skulls while the others fired their ranged attacks from the rooftops of the buildings.

They made it to what they called “Brainbeak Manor” (because it was where Bleaksin had previously spotted the aberration).  The place made them feel a sense of dread and the team, in their strange emotional state, wasted time with some arrow-rope tricks and climbing around the roof and chimney; during this time, Seiken ended up falling down the chimney and discovering a furnace room. He came back out and the group just decided to go in the front door.

From the inside of the manor, the team tried to go up the stairs toward the 3rd floor – but the stairs turned out to be a trap that turned into a metal slide that sent them hurling down into the furnace cage; Seiken managed to avoid the trap, but jumped down to stay with the rest of the team as they fell into the trap. In the trash room that they fell into, the team had to kill 2 otyughs – which almost killed them.

After breaking out of the trash area of the basement, the team went for the next room down the hall. They found 3 “brainbeaks” (grell) and 2 “brain dogs” (intellect devourers); Mory’s brain was eaten and he was mind-controlled to fight the others, until they destoyed the “brain dog” that had taken him over. Mory was permanently dead, brainless at the end of the battle [and his soul would have likely gone to Tharizdun as per the ritual from the "Green Tide" battle]. Elyrin, Seiken, and Bleaksin survived. They also rescued 3 prisoners, only to find out 2 of the prisoners were already dead. The living one had green skin and they assumed he was a half-orc. They needed to wait out the day and take a rest again.

Player Note: Since I play Mory I was hit really hard by his in-game death. I tried to play it off as no big deal, but after playing him for 12 adventures (December to June) I had gotten really attached to the character. At least he had a little bit of a redemption arc before his death. The good news is that I get to make a new character for the next session… yay!