“Harold! Avren is sometimes an *******, and often untrustworthy. But he’s always been my friend. I hope that helps and you’re ok! Miss you!”

— Orkira’s Sending to Harold

Watch Beyond Heroes: Wildemount | Episode 17: The Worm

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The cast of Beyond Heroes, Penelope is level 12 while the rest are level 11:

• Todd Kenreck as the Dungeon Master
• Keen Dayeprath - Eladrin Eldritch Knight Fighter played by TJ Storm
• Briv Steelmarrow - Half-Orc Oath of Heroism Paladin played by Adam Bradford
• Penelope Half-Pint - Halfling Circle of Land Druid 10/Warlock Pact of the Archfey 2 played by Hope LaVelle
• Alyndra Alexandria Garanahil Sarrbarand, Lorekeeper of Rime Spiro, Kinscribe of Clan Monkeymouse, Daughter of Oblivion - High Elf Cleric 1/Wizard 10 played by Jen Kretchmer
• Orkira Illdrex - Dragonborn Light Domain Cleric played by Lauren Urban

Full Summary

It’s the moments after the carnage of battle, and the Heroes are pleased that the plan to dispatch the giants was so successful. There is still the one rabid hill giant chained to a tree, so Orkira and Keen head over to examine the creature while Alyndra looks through the bodies for items or anything of importance. She only finds disturbing detritus and farts, so quickly she completes her search and joins her friends. The cleric has determined that the cursed creature has been permanently altered, and when Keen tries to talk with them the only replies are guttural growls about being hungry as he tries to grab someone. As Alyndra joins them to examine the giant, she knows that some hill giants are consumed by a type of disease that turns them ravenous and angry. The group are unsure what to do, as the creature has done nothing wrong—but setting it loose will allow it to immediately attack and destroy what it can. Briv wants to kill the giant and put him out of his misery, but Orkira thinks it’s worth at least attempting to cure them of whatever disease has caused them to go rabid. She announces she’s going to attempt to cast lesser restoration on the hill giant, but needs to touch the creature for it to work, so Briv offers to be a distraction. As the dragonborn flies into the air, Briv drops his pants and moons the hill giant.

This tactic is extremely effective in getting the hill giants attention. So effective that the hill giant manages to pull up the post he is chained to and rush forward to grab the half-orc to take a bite out of his bum! Alyndra reacts quickly and casts command, making the giant spit, releasing Briv with a giant luggie into a nearby tree. Between this distraction and Griff’s help, Orkira is able to dive in and cast lesser restoration on the giant, and immediately it calms down! However the giant is now nauseous and throws up, covering Penelope and Mr. Adventure Guy in a thick covering of disgusting vomit. Feeling a bit better, the giant thanks Orkira for healing them, saying their name is Gregor, but when he realizes all his friends are dead he launches into another round of vomiting. This time Keen is the unlucky victim, unable to dodge out of the way in time and being hit twice with streams of acidic vomit. Before anything else can happen, Briv commands the giant to flee, and Gregor turns to run into the forest.

Alyndra casts prestidigitation to clean the puke off of her friends, and everyone heads for the cave to find the missing gnomes. The entrance has been blocked off by a hastily constructed wood and metal door that the gnomes have created to stay safe, but are happy to bring down once the all clear is given. Therin, the leader, thanks the group for saving them from being cooked and eaten by the hill giants, and confirms that they came out to this remote location to build a device they received blueprints for from a mysterious source. Once again the Heroes are bothered by the fact that the group of scientists are happy to build a machine without knowing who gave them the plans or what exactly they are building, and Alyndra requests to see the blueprints. Therin hands over the plans, though they can all clearly see he’s hiding something, and as Briv threatens bodily harm if they are not allowed inside, Alyndra looks over the plans and can clearly see they are building a portal to the Far Realms.

As the group grapples with the implications of a portal to such a dangerous and horrible place, Keen is distracted by Vee. The quickling is still fawning over the eladrin, and Keen growls out at the small creature to leave him alone. As Vee walks away, dejected, Briv quickly runs over to entice the quickling to switch his hero worship. After Briv offers to be more appreciative and thankful for the attention, Vee is happy to denounce Keen and make a deal with Briv to become the half orcs biggest fan. While Keen understands how dangerous making a deal with any fey creature can be, he is in winter and feels that harsh lessons must be learned, and so allows this conversation to continue as everyone is distracted talking to the gnomes.

After Alyndra chews out Therin for thinking a portal to the Far Realms was a good idea to build, the group insist on heading inside to view and probably destroy it before it can be activated. They are lead down a series of tunnels to the room containing the massive structure; a very familiar portal. It’s whirring but apparently missing something to allow it to fully activate. While most of the team is examining the device, Penelope notices that the earthworm she picked up when she first appeared in Rexxentrum nine days ago has wriggled out of her pocket and landed on the ground. Before her eyes the worm begins to split and writhe, growing at an exponential rate into a horrific humanoid shape holding a necrotic staff. It whispers a thank you for being released and its excitement about opening a portal. Orkira recognizes the voice as the same one that came from the worm in the ice that ate their memories before they were teleported to Rexxentrum, and she calls out a warning as the group rushes forward to attack.

As the gnomes flee in terror, Alyndra casts bless and Penelope casts flaming sphere to begin burning away at the worms. The creature brings the staff down onto the gnomish device, powering it up and opening a portal filled with darkness and stars. Briv brings his massive weapon down on the portal and begins to chip away at it, but the device is sturdier than it looks and continues to operate. Worried about the creature getting to the portal, Orkira steps between the two and holds up her holy symbol to cast radiance of the dawn to burn it with radiant fire. Then she summons her spiritual weapon to dig into the worms with the tiny representation of the Phoenix. Keen joins the circle around this creature, even though he now stands near the flame sphere, slashing with his wintery glaive as he attempts to sever the appendage holding the staff. Despite the massive damage, the creature continues to reform the limb with more writhing worms.

Alyndra takes a moment to examine the staff, realizing that item is the key to powering the portal. Worried about more creatures coming from the Far Realms, she casts a storm sphere directly on the portal. It’s just in time, as a spiny, spindly mass crawls out of the portal and is hit by her spell. The mass of worms explodes out of the creature to cover Keen, Briv and Orkira, dealing necrotic damage and causing the eladrin and dragonborn to be blinded and restrained. The creature begins to feed on those it’s encompassed, growing stronger and larger. Angered at his friends being attacked, Briv casts [Tooltip Not Found] to call on his ancestors, attacking with radiant damage. With the power of his family behind him he launches into an epic series of smites that explodes whole chunks of worms into dust! Dried and dead worms fall to the ground, losing its humanoid shape, but still clinging to the staff.

Orkira is still blinded and restrained, but with the Book of the Phoenix still in her hand she channels her divinity again, destroying the creature that just exited the portal and continuing to sear away at the worms. Heavily injured and still covered in worms, she casts healing word on herself, as Keen uses his misty step to escape his own mass of restraining creatures. Then the eladrin launches into another series of attacks, almost completely destroying the creature but there are still a few worms left and the staff remains standing. Griff tries to pull the staff free but his tiny owl form is not strong enough to wrench it loose. Three more nightmarish creatures pull through the portal, and while they are destroyed by the storm sphere, Alyndra can see there are thousands more trying to get through the opening. All attention turns to removing the staff from the portal, and using mold earth to loosen the staff, Penelope charges into it to break it free from the ground. She suffers some necrotic damage but manages to knock the staff out of the machine and close the portal!

With the portal closed, Alyndra refocuses on the mass of worms. A bolt of lightning shoots out from the storm sphere, and then the wizard casts toll the dead, and between those two attacks she is able to destroy the last few worms. She calls moss and mushrooms to sprout and consume the creature, bringing life out of the death. With the final foes defeated and the portal closed, the group discuss if they should examine or destroy the staff. The device continues to cause necrotic damage to whoever is holding it, so they place it on the ground after deciding to inspect it first. While Keen and Alyndra work together to examine the staff and the portal, Orkira casts cure wounds on both the eladrin and the halfing to mend their injuries before more awful things can happen.

The portal itself is not inherently evil, and can create connections to a variety of planes. The plate that the worms had used to insert their staff includes a spot on the ground to absorb the energy of any magic item. The staff was a magical device the worms created to activate the portal. She learns that these creatures were star spawn, and are often the vanguard of more powerful creatures from the Far Realms. Having learned what they can, the group turn to destroying the staff, but are worried that when it is destroyed there might be a sudden release of energy. However surrounding it with radiant energy might contain any explosion, so Orkira agrees to help Briv destroy the staff. As the rest of the group move to a safe distance, the cleric takes a moment to cast death ward on herself as she knows her half orc companion has that ability naturally. Then she casts word of radiance to surround the staff with radiant fire as Briv brings his great sword down on the evil artifact. His epic strength shatters the staff into thousands of pieces, and it burns like cinders into nothing but floating ash.

Pulling out the magical shawm that Avren gave her, Orkira offers it as an item in the hopes that using it with the portal will connect her with the elemental plane of fire, or at least back with Avren again. Everyone is interested in giving it a try, and as soon as she connects the shawm with the portal it spins up with crackling red energy. A vat of steam suddenly fills the room, and through the cloud a figure appears. At first it’s a hulking mass, but slowly it seems to pull itself together into a recognizable humanoid shape, and out of the fog steps Avren! Orkira is happy to see her friend again, though Briv strides forward to gut punch the artificer, but he’s covered in thick armor and is unfazed by the attack.

Avren greets everyone, saying they have things to talk about, but first and foremost how he’s forming a team.

What news does Avren bring, and what team is he forming? Find out more Wednesday May 27th at 2pm PT on  twitch.tv/dndbeyond!

Lauren "Oboe" Urban is the Community Manager for D&D Beyond, as well as a professional classical musician on oboe and English Horn. When she's not playing a Bard in real life she's a prolific Dungeon Master and player on a variety of livestreams and podcasts. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband Luke where they spend their free time playing video games and drinking tea. The best way to keep up with Lauren's busy schedule is to follow her on Twitter @OboeLauren!