At the end of last session, we left out heroes battling a mad monk and wondering what was to burst forth from a twitching, undulating halfling corpse…
The party did not have long to wait to find out. A swarm of angry, red-eyed wasps burst forth from the corpse and dived at the party. Cortana, Thaladan and Narfu were all stung and poisoned by the otherworldly wasps’ terrible stings which sapped their dexterity and made fighting harder.
The wasp swarm ignored the mad monk who fought on and now Karelia burst into action. In short order she lashed the swarm with a lightning bolt and a fireball. The swarm (surprisingly) survived her onslaught and switched its attentions to the hapless elf who was soon as poisoned as her companions.
Quickly, the party realised they didn’t have the ability to defeat the swarm. They thus retreated into the room from which the swarm had burst, except for Grooble and Narfu who Karelia caught in a larger than expected web she used to cover their escape. Sadly, the swarm seemed completely immune to the web and both Grooble and Narfu were badly stung.
Eventually, the party limped into the other chamber and slammed the door shut. Thus, they were safe from the swarm (for now) but they were now cut off in the dungeon. One other door lead out of the room but the group was in bad shape. A frenzy of healing ensued with Narfu—particularly—using many charges of his wand of lesser restoration to heal the havoc the swarm had inflicted on the party.
While the party rested, they discussed the nature of their foe. Karelia had identified the swarm as a hellwasp swarm—a particularly dangerous form of extraplanar vermin. Zainnis further confirmed they were horrible opponents able to infest their prey and turn them into virtual zombies.
Even after their healing, however, the party were unable—or unwilling—to continue. Thus they rested in the small—rapidly rank room—for two days while they healed and plotted their next move. Some of the party wanted to push on and ignore the swarm while others wanted to deal with it as it blocked their escape route from the dungeon.
Eventually, the party decided to destroy the swarm and hatched a cunning plan. Throwing open the door to the Orrery, they leapt into action. Zainnis cast wind wall in the doorway, stopping the swarm from engulfing the party. Then Karelia lashed it with two lightning bolts which badly injured it. By now, dead wasps littered the floor and the swarm—seemingly more intelligent than normal wasps—fled.
This left just the monk. Cortana, convinced the monk was evil and under the dominion of another hellwasp swarm, used his holy power to quickly slaying her. However, it appeared the monk hadn’t been under a swarm’s dominion as nothing emerged from her bloodied corpse.
With this development, the party pondered their next move: hunt down the swarm now hiding somewhere in the dungeon or push on in search of the next shard…
