Episode 45 – From Worms to Warzones

Previously on Faster, Purple Worm! Kill, Kill! The party entered a vast, humid cavern where massive “boulders” lay stacked in uneven clusters. A closer inspection revealed the truth. The stones were fused together by resin, and they weren’t rocks. They were eggs.

One near Nick Beardless cracked open. A newborn purple wyrmling spilled out, slick with resin, humming with a low, seismic vibration of contentment. It fixed its gaze on Nick and dragged itself toward him. The wyrmling had chosen its mother.

Instead of loosening his grip on his axes, the duergar tightened them and proceeded to murder the helpless creature.

The vibrations of the hatching and the combat stirred the cavern. Eggs split. Wyrmlings spilled out. As the party withdrew from the chamber, the newborns were cut down one after another. Then the tremors began.

An adult purple worm erupted from the southern tunnel, enraged by the slaughter and the ichor staining the duergar. It lunged. Nick, miraculously, locked the beast in place with his fiery rune. Through spell, steel, and healing, no one was swallowed, and the mighty worm fell.

However, the party felt deeper tremors roll through the cavern. There were far more eggs than any single creature could lay. The party retreated from the nursery.

Backtracking miles to the four‑way intersection, they headed south toward the sounds of a massive battle, hoping for something simpler, like three kobolds in a holocaust cloak making all the ruckus. Instead, they found two armies locked in a pitched battle. An undead horde led by a death knight clashing with goblinoids commanded by an ogre‑magi. Necrotic blasts met firebolts as portals on both sides poured in reinforcements.

Choosing not to cross a warzone, the party pulled back and slipped into the eastern passage to circumvent the conflict. There, two massive ettins stood watch, their clubs resting on their shoulders, each head scanning a different direction, including the one the party had just come from.

Let's roll initiative.