And today we return to the exciting canid world of Pugmire! There's a Kickstarter going for the new edition, which if I thought would be fulfilled while this campaign was still going I'd back (jk, OPP doesn't get my money).
ANYWAY. Recall that our doggie heroes were in the Underneath, in a particularly smelly cavern. They just fought off a handful of zombies, and continue on into the cavern, thinking that there might be further evil within. And lo! They find that the ground slopes away into a basin, and in the basin, dozens of zombified people. Cats, rats, dogs, all milling around, groaning and growling, trying to get up the side of the basin.
Gelert Sausagedog peers out into the gloom and spots a strange device - a shiny metal frame with multiple metal balls on wires, clicking against each other endlessly. It's sitting in the middle of a big black spot, almost like a canker. Sausagedog recognizes this thing as an "executive toy," an artifact of Man, but clearly this one is corrupted.
Peppa Papillion casts Sacred Flame at it and it lights up, but remains clicking, the zombies start making for the characters. Sausagedog throws one of his bottles-of-fire at them, while Dire Newfoundland throws a torch and Petunia Pibble casts a web spell to gum a bunch of them up. Peppa throws another Sacred Flame spell, but the zombies keep coming. Petunia hits the toy with a Web spell and it falls silent. The zombies collapse.
Sausagedog climbs down into the basin and nimbly dodges between the zombies, making his way to the toy. Dire follows, though much less gracefully. Sausagedog tries to silence the device, but two of the balls click together and several of the zombies get up. Sausagedog quickly smashes the toy, and the undead collapse. The balls roll away, and Dire picks one up and pockets it, unnoticed.
Boomer Pitbull slides down into the basin and, together with Sausagedog and Dire, loot the bodies check for clues. They find a bunch of plastic coins, as well as some magic items and useful tools. Boomer finds a maul that's still very much in working order, while Sausagedog finds a masterwork ax - perfectly balanced and still sharp! They find a pair of boots and a pair of gloves, and Peppa checks them over. She determines that the boots are magical, and would silence the footfalls of the wearer. The dogs initially offer them to Sausagedog, the one of their party most likely to be sneaky, but he passes them on to Boomer. After all, Sausagedog is already sneaky.
Peppa notes that the gloves have an arrow sigil burned into them, and guesses they might protect the wearer from projectiles. Dire takes them. The dogs also find a wand with intricate metal workings around the top. Petunia guesses this is a magical wand-weapon of some kind, probably firing projectiles rather than elemental magic, but until she attunes it she isn't sure.
Sausagedog leaves the others to this discussion and presses on, reaching the other end of the basin. He climbs up and out, and on the other side sees that the walls appear to be peeling a bit. Underneath this...membrane?...he spots support beams. He scrapes one and sees that while it's sturdy and hard, it's also porous, almost like...bone.
Sausagedog backs up and gathers the others ("We need to go. Out. Now."). He recognizes this as a "spelunking gullet," a living tunnel that hunts the Underneath. This one is obviously dead, but they still don't want to be here. They quickly leave through the mouth (this all puts the "stalactite and stalagmite" formations at the front of the cave in perspective, huh?), and Petunia writes "BEWARE! SPELUNKING GULLET!" on one of the teeth before the party heads on down the next tunnel.
Said tunnel is dry and dusty. Petunia pokes at the wall and gets a face-full of spores for her trouble. Choking, she reminds everyone to put on their face coverings, and the pack heads deeper.
They arrive at a big chamber. On the far end is a line of shattered black glass, the remains of the wall imprisoning the demon Cordyceps. Luigi Husky and Luca Mutt stand near it, over the thrashing body of Amelia Fold (Luigi's second in command). The cat's form is twisted and stalks of fungus occasionally emerge from her mouth.
Luigi spots the characters and snarls "Kill 'em, Luca!" Sausagedog slips into the shadows, and Boomer charges forward. Luigi spins his weird chain-sword and slices Boomer up, and then Dire raises his weapon and challenges Luigi to a duel, one-on-one.
Luigi accepts. Peppa moves steadily toward Amelia, focusing on saving her from the demon. Petunia stands back, ready to throw magic, as does Luca.
Dire strikes, but Luigi parries and cuts him open. Dire strikes again, but Luigi is far too fast. He mocks Dire and cuts him again, laughing ruefully. Dire makes one final strike and hits Luigi, spinning him around, but he lashes out with the chain-sword and fells Dire.
Luigi steps up for the kill, but Boomer has had enough. He flies into a rage and hefts his newly acquired maul, and charges into battle.
Peppa runs over to Amelia and starts throwing down spells, trying to force the demon out. All she can do is revive Amelia a bit, and the cat keeps fighting. Sausagedog appears from the shadows and strikes at Luca, who responds by casting a spell and making the floor under Sausagedog greasy and slippery. Sausagedog loses his footing and tumbles to the ground.
Luigi tries to fight off Boomer, but his skills as a duelist do him little good against such a fierce and chonky foe. Boomer strikes with his maul and snaps Luigi's neck. Dire drags himself back from near death ("I'm not dying today!"), but sees that his enemy is already dead.
Peppa casts Sacred Flame at the demon, worried that it might burn Amelia, too, but ready to the take the chance. It works - the demon tears itself out of Amelia's body and takes semi-corporeal form. It spews spores in Peppa's face, and she chokes and coughs, but remains ready to help.
Petunia hits Luca with an acid arrow, and then with a series of magic missiles. Unsteady and hurting, Luca hurls a fireball. The explosion knocks the dogs back, and Petunia and Dire collapses, ears ringing. Petunia shakes it off, but the damage is more than Dire can handle and he's fighting for his life. Peppa runs to him and casts a spell to save him, but in so doing leaves the demon behind.
Sausagedog takes the opportunity to roll out of the way and into the shadows, and then strikes Luca with his new axe. Luca falls dead, and now only the demon remains. Boomer and Dire charge in to attack, and the demon spits a cloud of spores at them. It then charges past them and runs straight at Peppa, shrieking, "I will grow my spores in your organs, Acolyte of Man!" It bursts into spores as it reaches her, and flows into her, beginning the possession.
The dogs stare in horror, and Petunia realizes that they need someone who knows about the demon to help drive it out. They wake Amelia and ask how to beat it, and she sees that Luigi has fallen. Torn between her love for her boss and gratitude for Peppa saving her life, she agrees to help - if they tell her who killed Luigi. Everyone looks at Boomer, too tired and wrecked to exhibit any guile, and Amelia hisses in rage.
But she's as good as her word - sunlight, she says, will destroy the demon, if they can get Peppa above-ground before the possession is complete. Dire hefts Peppa onto his shoulder and runs, and Sausagedog follows. As they exit the cavern, Petunia and Boomer hear the unmistakable metal-on-metal slide of a sword being unsheathed.
Amelia draws her hooked swords and snarls at Boomer, intending to kill him in vengeance for Luigi. Boomer squares himself and says that she's welcome to try, but she has no idea what he's capable of if he unleashes his rage. Amelia coughs and spits out blood, and sheathes her swords. Swearing revenge, she flees.
Meanwhile, Dire runs forward, barrelling past the weird spiny mollusks, running to the opening leading to the surface, and out into the sun. Peppa twists and coughs, but the demon remains entrenched and Peppa is too weak to fight it off. The locals slam their doors and run away from trouble, but Sausagedog remembers that his friend Brother Darius, a Shepherd, runs a shelter near here. They run to the building and Dire kicks in the door, demanding his help, and Darius runs outside and casts a spell to oust the demon.
Cordyceps tears itself out of Peppa's body, but is now stuck in the cleansing sunlight. Shrieking in horror, it evaporates, and Peppa slowly stabilizes.
A few days later, as the Pioneers convalesce at Darius' shelter (which Sausagedog and Peppa have donated their plastic to improving), a large black dog that looks a lot like Dire comes to visit. He introduces himself as Alex Newfoundland, Dire's brother, and tells him that the Riverwall Mafia has largely fallen apart. There's a power struggle going on, but Amelia Fold doesn't seem to be part of it. She's gone to ground, but is looking for revenge on "the mutt that killed Luigi." Dire might be off the hook, but Boomer has a whole new problem.
For now, though, the dogs get a bit of rest. Who knows what challenges they may face next?
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