Bullywug Poetry; Pierced Nipples; I Get Knocked Down, but I Get up Again

☕ Start of session

The party prepares to enter the portal, but takes a quick break first. Some questions for Yooni and his companions:

• Who took your horn? Why?
  • Kelek the wizard; not sure but unicorn horns are said to have immense magical power.
• Has this happened before?
  • Not to Uni. Has heard that a friend Elidon’s horn may have also been taken. Has not seen Elidon; heard this from another friend Lamorna. Doesn’t know where Elidon is. Elidon and Lamorna live in the Feywild.
• The Feywild?
  • A separate plane of existence. Birthplace of the fey, full of magic. Portals to the Feywild naturally occur but are closely guarded secrets, and only very high level spells allow spellcasters to teleport there (such as Planeshift). It’s unlikely that this is a portal to the Feywild.

Inside the portal

The party pops into the portal, and continues further into the cavern. They discover that the footsteps and sniffling they heard earlier were from a puppy! They give it some treats (cookies/small frisbees from Vera’s pack) and it seems friendly but anxious.

Elmer gives it treats to make sure that it isn’t specifically anxious about him. Seems fine. Open to pets.

Michael starts to cast Speak With Animals as a Ritual, but the party is interrupted during this by two Bullywugs! The dog sneezes and vanishes.

The Bullywugs

The two bullywugs were approaching from the west, and the party overheard them saying that they were looking for a dog to feed to the king; the dog had sneezed itself out of their bag.

When the bullywugs encounter the party, one runs off to the west and the other blocks off the passageway as Michael tries to give chase.

Battle!

• The bullywug takes a hit from Michael and was entangled by a spell. The bullywug says it will tell them anything they wanted to know.

Now what

Information from the bullywug:

• What’s up with the Bullywugs and the dog?
  • The two bullywugs (later known to be named Charley and Barley, unsure which is which) had captured a Blink Dog for their hungry king, King Gurgle the Thurgle
• Where are we?
  • We’re in a crystal ball demiplane created by Acerak, a powerful lich
• Why?
  • Kelek the Wizard (short, beard, looks like a wizard) stole Yooni’s horn and plans to use it to gain power in yet another ritual
• Do you use capital punishment? What about dehorning?
  • No killing of other bullywugs. Nor dehorning of other bullywugs. Whoops, you meant unicorn dehorning, yes we do that
• Are there songs about King Gurgle
  • They’re more into poetry. Some about King Gurgle so smooth, and King Gurgle so strong
• Why are you here?
  • King Gurgle brought them into this demiplane, striking a bargain with Kelek to lend him his Bullywugs to help get a unicorn horn in exchange for a seat beside Kelek as he rules the land

As questions continue, a bugbear (Grouch) and the second bullywug appear at the back of the passage. The bugbear makes an attack on Michael, the closest to the ensnared bullywug.

Battle!

• The bugbear’s attack was a critical hit, and hit Michael for 22 damage, his current HP, which knocked him unconscious (0 HP)
  • Crit rules: Maximum roll + actual roll + modifiers
  • Example 1: If normal damage is 3d4 + 1, crit damage = 12 + 3d4 + 1
  • Example 2: If normal damage is 2d8 + 4, crit damage = 16 + 2d8 + 4
• Michael was up next in initiative, and rolled a 20 on his death save, bringing him back to 1hp. Wow
• Vera tosses vicious insults at Grouch, revealing some insecurities and misconceptions about gendered associations of colors. Perhaps more.
• Robin pecks a bit at it
• Elmer gets some hits in with his sling and some spells
• “slugger” poops in his eye. Then a bite on his nipple. Then a bite on his other nipple.
• Michael finally takes the bugbear down with an arrow into “his other nipple”.

Partially through this fight, King Gurgle shows up from the north and orders his Bullywugs to stop this at once. The bugbear is loyal to Kelek and wants a fight to the death. Vera gives a cookie to the hungry King Gurgle.

So smooth

Bugbear defeated, the dog reappears. Michael finally casts Speak with Animals and chats with Nosey the puppy, who has a case of the sniffles and would teleport nearby when he sneezed.

Nosey agrees to tag along with the party for now.

The party meets up with King Gurgle, who had prepared a wormy stew and is dipping pieces of the oatmeal cookie into it. Vera offers one more cookie, now down to 6 cookies.

Michael also tries the stew and it damages him for 3hp.

King Gurgle, flattered and fed, says that he originally agreed to help with Kelek’s plan but is growing increasingly impatient and skeptical that it will actually work. He agrees to help the party put a stop to this nonsense.

The party prepares a cup of stew for Kelek, and laces it with hallucinogenic Indigo Club.

Kelek?

The whole group…

• Elmer
• Michael
• Vera
• Robin
• “slugger”
• Nosey
• Barley
• Charley
• King Gurgle

…head northward to intervene in Kelek’s ritual.

They enter the room from the south, and see:

• A wizard-ass-looking wizard standing at the north side of the room
• 3 large wolf-like creatures (worgs) standing in a circle around the rest of the room, spaced evenly around ritual markings on the floor

Kelek is holding a unicorn horn and a book and staring into the center of the markings. He looks up, sneers, and growls at them:

“Pathetic worms! The horn is mine, and none shall stand in the way of my destiny!”