All hail the Slime King! May his Oozeness Rest in Peace!
Slime King, Slime King, Slime King!
Kharduum Steepmine (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
Lizzy "The Dragon Slayer" (Light foot Halfling Bard)
Roza (Tiefling Sorcerer)
Con'nor (Half Elf Paladin)
Kronos (Human Rogue)
After completing "The Ordeal" in Greywall we were ready to head home to the Outpost, Lazlo was staying, and had started work on a way to reopen the gateway to the Feywilds, and to help Shadows SIgh, the Darkling, get back home. I had traded for a cart load of fine foods and ingredients to take with us, some of the party had left already to pursue further errands and Con'nor had arrived with Tess and the Wagon to help take the food and supplies back with us.
As we are heading back, we see that the railroad is stretching further and further, it has almost reached the outpost, we pass it and are almost home, just a couple of miles away, when we see a strange encampment overlooking The Outpost, about a mile away from where we are now.
I borrow the Gem of Seeing from Roza and cast clairvoyance, allowing me to see and hear what is going on within the camp without being detected. There are people from Outpost there, sounds of distress, the place looks like it was built in a hurry, we hear Di and someone arguing with her. We make our way to the camp as quickly as possible, people are in disarray, they look hungry and agitated. As we make our way to the central area, we see that Di is organising the camp, she says that they have evacuated outpost due to a ecological disaster about six days ago, a corrosive ooze that flowed from the forest, into the town, dissolving organic matter, a number of people were harmed, and a few died.
Di also says that she had to imprison a number of people who were trying to get back into town, for their own safety.
Roza and Lizzy head over to see the nobles, hopefully they'll overhear some juicy gossip, while Kronos and Con'nor head over to the jail to speak to the Town guard and get their assessment.
I go back to the cart and start offloading the food I acquired at Greywall, it's going to be necessary to keep the camp running, as soon as this is done, I start heading over to the triage area to check on the wounded.
The guards say that the ooze doesn't appear to be sentient, they say that one of the new money types, Thaddeus Umber, has been sending miners into the forest, but they hadn't seen them for a few days prior to the incident.
Roza and Lizzy arrive where the nobles are camped, they seem less than enamoured with the sparse and rustic surroundings, a finely dressed man spots them, Radhu, one of Lizzy's patrons, he tells them that the ooze seemed to come from nowhere, that wooden structures started being dissolved, and that those who came into contact with it were wounded and even killed.
I reach the medical tent and start approaching those inside, there's about thirty five of them, deep acid burns, dissolved flash, missing limbs, a lot of people in a lot of pain. The others arrive as I am finishing up, and Kronos starts taking a look as well.
I stand in the centre of the tent, and raise my amulet, quietly calling on Moradin for aid, the tent fills with light, wounds start healing, their pain starts dissipating, the comatose regain consciousness, fevers break, they'll all be okay now.
Kronos is in the corner, crying out with mock triumph, claiming that he was responsible for the sudden miracle taking over the room, somehow they believe him, no matter, as long as people are safe, at least I know it's really Moradin's doing.
They tell me what they've learned and we decide to head back over to Radhu and ask him about Thaddeus, he's new money, made a lot of money in mining, Radhu say he doesn't like to gossip, fortunately for us, he very much does like to gossip, he doesn't seem to like Thaddeus much, believing he was trying to sneak back into town to whisk away a treasure. It's probably best if we all head over.
Thaddeus is a tanned, dark green half-orc, wearing noble garments, he's been in the cell for a few days at this point, we tell him that we're going into town to investigate, I try to talk to him about mining, but he's evasive, tries to fob me off, I change tact and start to ply him with booze, stout Dwarven whisky, he's more than willing to partake.
Kronos activates the magic ring, casting zone of truth. Thaddeus knows something, his miners discovered the ooze while digging, and he's trying to go back, we keep digging but he keeps avoiding the questions, getting drunker and drunker, the zone of truth wears out and he needs to sleep it off, what an absolute lightweight.
The party heads back to Di, she says no miners came back to camp, and agrees that we should go and investigate the mine, Kronos receives a map from his band of scamps, his Inn is safe and the employees have evacuated, it highlights the direction we believe the mine to be. After resting we set off for the outpost, it's almost entirely covered by corrosive ooze. I cast "water walk" on the whole party, it gives us the ability to walk on most liquids, I test the ooze with my foot, it is a little spongy, but takes my full weight with no issues.
We head across town and into the mine, walking up a river of ooze, suddenly a group of slime creatures fall from the ceiling above, surrounding us, Lizzy knows that they are aberrations, but not one of the usual types, we make short work of them regardless, I check the remains and find the bones of small animals, but no humanoids, so we continue up the river, reaching an open cavern. There is a man ahead, wearing miners clothing, but there is green ooze running from his ear. I cast silence and Con'nor charges, tackling him to the ground, he is unnaturally strong, and keeps opening his mouth as though to talk to us, we take his pick and drag him out of the zone of silence. "Welcome to the King's court" he cries, Lizzy declares that she is here to play for the King and that we are her band, I tap my shield with a percussive rhythm, as she plays a jaunty tune, he seems to buy her lie without much thought, he guides us further into the caver as I recast water walk. He reveals traps as he goes, nothing that Kronos wouldn't have been able to take care of.
We are guided into a vast chamber, and there stand the rest of the miners, ooze seeping from their ears, behind them, a number of slimes, like we fought before, most concerning though, a vast slime, gargantuan in size, swords and arrows protruding from its body, it holds a large scepter and wears a huge crown, where in the Nine Hells did it get those!
We've barely taken note of the surroundings, as they all take attack positions and charge, Lizzy casts bless, and I call down Spirit Guardians, great Dwarven warriors who spend the afterlife in the feasting halls of Erackinorr, happy to fight once again for Moradin.
We meet their charge and clash with the slimes and infected, cutting into them, the spirit warriors carve a path through the slimes, Kronos dives into the melee taking the miners by surprise with his dual rapiers.
Then the King Slime slingshots himself across the cavern, straight towards me, the spirit warriors carve into him, as they do so, the ooze that is cut away transforms into sentient slimes, the King and I start trading blows, I manage to repel all of his strikes, but he grabs my shield and arm and starts pulling me into the ooze, I hold my breath as I am submerged in the acid, it starts burning away at my glorious beard, but my armour and Dwarven constitution keeps me alive, I heal myself and Lizzy, who has been wounded by the slimes. Con'nor starts smiting away, enemies falling before his sword, Roza erupts the earth around the Slime King, as she and Lizzy start chanting "Jelly King! Jelly King!"
Enraged at their disrespect he teleports towards them, smashing into Roza and pulling her into the acid too, Kronos managed to evade the slime tendrils and Con'nor cuts into the KIng, the spirit warriors promptly destroying the jettisoned slime creature before he has the chance to absorb them and regain his mass.
The acid burns Roza severely and she loses consciousness, desperate to save her I strike out with a mighty blow, but the magic emanating from my hammer feels peculiar and broken, just like the barrier between life and death when I cast revivify, but my strike is true and obliterates a large portion of Jelly King, and I gasp a breath of air, speaking a healing word and reviving Roza, unfortunately its ooze starts knitting itself back together, at that moment, Lizzy dives forward and grasps ahold of the large sword buried in the aberration, she casts heat metal, stopping it in its tracks, the ooze melts away and the crown clatters to the ground.
As we collect ourselves, we notice that the ooze starts flowing back, hopefully the town will be clear by the time we head back. We continue to the end of the cavern, I recognise the walls, the mine has snaked back around and opened up into the vault underneath the Guild Almshouse, the Dragonstone is still there, but it seems Thaddeus was up to some nefarious business, strong words will be had when we return.
All hail the Slime King!
Jelly King! Jelly King!
Sound on for Slime Kings call!