==== Summary 51: Enemies of the Mistress (2011-06-18) ====
[[Giraine]] [[summaries-2011|Summaries]]
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Hello,

Last night was a another brutal brawl with the forces of Chaos, inside the perimeter of their unholy lair atop the caldera on Asparagus Isle. You cast spells and awaited their coming; 2 broo warriors soon charged. Magic spells flew from the fog, leaving the Baronet confused and others wounded by acid-darts or with their weapons weakened by cloying slime. Ciddar and Boamund faced more decaying swamp disease spirits but quickly eradicated them with their blessed weapons and the Captain's powerful spear. 

The puzzled Baronet tried to make sense of the situation from his vantage point on the crater rim while the others dashed in to fight the broo. They soon made short work of those skilled and well-equipped goat-headed thugs, so they turned to face the enemy left hiding in the fog. Boamund however had been struck dazed by the same spell that left the Baronet dawdling, so it was just Ciddar and his Captain that ran inside the dense acrid mist. They faced a brooding, foetid frog-fish-plant thing on two bulky forelimbs, which squatted atop a pile of stinking asparagus "logs" and corrupted iron. It hosed the Captain down with a spout of acidic urine but otherwise was too clumsy to strike anyone (although there was one close call). It however proved to be disturbingly tough- well armoured, regenerating even after struck unconscious, and shrugging off ghastly wounds to its fibrous flesh. 

However the second foe quickly presented itself- the Mistress of Thed, a spindly shaman that may have once been human, elf, dryad, or even humble plant or tree, but now walked on two legs with four wiry arms and a spore-bearing staff that "she" wielded with fiendish skill. She snuck up behind the Captain and dealt him a wicked blow on the head. Ciddar was left with near-mortal wounds all over his body from her spells and staff blows, too. The Mistress had been casting many deadly spells at you but now had to rely mainly on its physical prowess, with which it held her own for a while until the Baronet and Boamund came to their senses and bravely ran in, throwing Darkstrike magics to blind the demon and overwhelming the shaman with sheer numbers. 

Soon enough the shaman fell, then the demon was surrounded and buffeted into submission. Boamund conjured his fire-ring and the two horrors' remains were quickly smouldering. The fog began to disperse from around the demon, and the surrounding standing-stones squelchingly melted into puddles of green ooze. You had defeated the menace of Asparagus Isle! 

Now different puzzles confronted you- the question of what had happened here and why, where these things came from and what they were (surely representing the Cult of Thed, Broo Mistress and Mother-of-the-Devil), but also the problem of removing any remaining broo and dealing with the mad villagers from Oyesteria Major. And beyond that, the wreck of the Mostali ship (and the uncouth iron that seemed to come from there) was still a problem-- and the Baronet would not let you forget he has a wedding coming too! 
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