Nottanis

Free! I’m finally free of that damned ooze! (Probably).

We continued training through rain and wind at the same slow pace.. the pace of the ooze. After several days of this, during which Sanfire departed, we met up with the somewhat confused bard Brad. Brad was confused about the ooze. The ooze was confused about Brad, but I convinced it not to eat him. Temporarily.

Brad dumped a lot of random gear in the forest for some reason. I picked up a small bell, just in case it came in handy, and we played music as we strolled through the trees. We kept playing until we came across a large owlbear. No, not the one from the cave; this one had cleaner feathers and the loveliest huge eyebrows. Anyway, knowing that discretion and silence are the better part of valor, I stopped playing and hid, as did Stria. Brad… kept playing. The owlbear promptly ate him in one bite. We left. I hoped, very quietly, that the owlbear would step in the ooze. My wish was not granted.

A wizard named Turbleck was lost in the woods leading a mule. Out of pity (and the desire to get a copy of his spellbook) we agreed to guide him back to civilization, and out of caution we warned him about the ooze. He didn’t seem bothered.

We next encountered a group of ogres, who were burying one of their own. They wanted the mule, named Chicken, to eat. They offered a jeweled ring and a fistful of coins. More than the mule was worth, to my eye. But no sale, so they wandered off to where ever ogres go, leaving their dead friend in a cairn. The ooze promptly ate the corpse. Let’s not meet these ogres again. We left, not waiting for the ooze, . It will follow, or not.

The morning brought an arcane storm of some kind, complete with mini-tornados made of lightning. We decided we needed to find shelter fast, so I used my elvish lore to find a cave. The good news is I found one; the bad news is it was occupied. By strange spiders with human hands, three of them, each 6 feet tall. I offered them Chicken the mule in return for shelter from the storm. They were amenable, but Turbeck was not. The wizard tried to surprise them with a spell. and got me instead. And himself, I found out later. What an idiot. Strias fed them the mule amd we left in the morning.