Frog Lore
Session IX
General Summary
Arrival at Riverrock
The Party followed the newly named Tyllin up the muddy banks to Riverrock. Murmus Bigtoe and Grihymm Phrahdrandon had a small amount of difficulty maneuvering through the muck in their heavy armor, but ultimately they had no issue reaching the ruins behind their friends. However, upon reaching the entrance to the courtyard, they found themselves staring at three lizardfolk.
These three were, apparently, raking into piles a mess of vines that were scattered on the ground. It looked like they had been working for some time already, evidenced at first by their slow, lackadaisical movements. Once a harsh croak called their attention to Tyllin and his compatriots, several of the Party noticed dazed and aloof expressions on their faces as well. There was little time for inquiry, however, as the source of the croak revealed himself to be an orange grung addressing Tyllin.
At first his meaning was lost (being in a language none of the party members spoke) but Johann was quick to Comprehend Languages. When the spell took hold, Johann discerned that Tyllin was claiming to have been out seeking glassleaf for someone named "Master Roak" before finding himself being awoken by these travelers. Tyllin was claiming that the Party were traders from Witchmill who found him on their way and he simply led them back here.
The orange grung then dismissed Tyllin, insisting he report to Master Roak immediately. With no delay, the green grung proceeded on, leaving the party with the orange, who introduced himself as Dart. After admonishing the lizardfolk once more for failing to work, he greeted the visitors and told them that he was not told of their arrival. Addressing Johann VonGruppen--whom he clearly believed to be the leader--he instructed that the party should avoid a couple of buildings in particular, but otherwise were welcome in Riverrock. He said that they should head on to meet Grisha in the tallest tower, and that she could be recognized as the only purple grung in the main hall. Returning his attention to the lizardfolk, he allowed the party to pass behind him and into the ruins proper.
Grisha's Tour
Crossing over a grate built into the threshold of the main hall, the party found the source of the hustle and bustle they heard on their approach. The large room was littered with grung of various colors moving to and fro across the large stone floor, itself covered in a shallow layer of water. Everything, in fact, seemed to be wet in this place--most obviously the large fountain-like pool at the center of the room. This itself was host to more grung still, some of which were of a grayish color and were particularly young looking.
Murmus, reaching the wall after a series of grung made an obvious effort to give him his space, attempted to learn what he could of the stonework in this strange place. It was evident to him that the carvings--although mysterious of intention--were made before the stones were mortared together. The stones themselves were near uniformly shaped and smooth to a one. It was his strong suspicion they were claimed from a riverbed, and definitely quite old. They, like everything else here, were damp to the touch.
Returning to his party, Murmus gave the all-clear and Grisha invited each of them on a tour of Riverrock, which the party graciously accepted. Dodging questions about Witchmill where they could, the party learned that Grisha was apparently knowledgeable about a Witchmiller named Lady Mallory. However, she did not clarify further at this time. Grisha would then lead the party across to the far side of the room, passing over and along translucent channels that were apparently lit from within. These channels--which ran geometrically along the floor and up the walls--revealed the shadows of grung apparently swimming through them. Reaching the far wall, Grisha placed her hand onto an apparently specific rune in the wall, which lit up and caused a reaction among the runes surrounding it. A moment later, a portion of wall slid away to reveal a staircase leading upward. Explaining that this was an apparently recent discovery, Grisha led the group up to the first stop on their tour--the "High Caste Living Quarters."
Marin the Red
Instructing the party to be quiet, she led the group around a small hallway with some additional stone doors carved into it--each closed. Quickly, however, they reached some sort of common area that was littered with gaudy and mismatched decorations, like rugs and expensive-looking curtains even where there weren't windows. There were also a series of large pillows on the floor, some of which were host to apparently sleeping red grung. Most notably, however, was the large mosaic laid into the floor--itself comprised of countless, small stones that had been individually painted. As a whole, they depicted a scene of a red grung apparently casting a destructive spell targeted at lizardfolk. A banner of sorts indicated the title of the work to be Marin the Red. Perhaps notably, Marin was not clutching any staff in this depiction of his power.
Grisha then brought the tour group back out of this living space and up another stairway--this one leading to some kind of antechamber or reception area. Upon conferring with another purple grung named Rella (who was seated in this room in front of some orange grung guards), Grisha learned that Cyrus was evidently unavailable. With her sincerest apologies, she offered to lead the party to The Hoard if they'd like to inspect the wares before Cyrus could meet them. Agreeing to this, Grisha led them back down and out of the building and into another one, although it was ostensibly connected if the view from outside were any indication.
The trip gave Johann a chance to ask further about Marin the Red. Grisha indicated that he was a hero of Riverrock, and one of their most powerful wizards. Evidently, the grung could not have conquered a place called Vara without him. Sadly, however, it seems his wife betrayed and murdered him about two years before. The mosaic was commissioned in his honor by King Cyrus, and apparently Marin's wife suffered some severe consequences for her betrayal. These, however, Grisha was reluctant to discuss.
The Hoard
The Hoard was apparently at the top of the second tallest tower in Riverrock. This one, however, was significantly narrower than the previous, and did not seem to feature a main hall of any sort. Rather, entry revealed a single staircase, spiraling upward around a central shaft that housed another of the apparently water-filled tunnels seen in the previous building. Grisha led the party to the top of this staircase and onto a platform containing a large set of stone doors, these also guarded by four orange grung. Taking in the scene, the four guards swiftly allowed Grisha to pass, and she placed her two palms onto the doors, which slid quickly open to allow her entry. She instructed the party to follow her within, which they promptly did. They then found themselves in a windowless room lit by magical lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
The room seemed to be set up almost like a flea market, with various weapons and trinkets strewn in somewhat organized fashion around the floor. At the room's center was a statue of two grung legs apparently made entirely of gold. The legs rose up about five feet, and were resting upon a stone foundation into which they were not set.
Grisha seemed happy to let the party wander and inspect at their leisure, and in particular they noticed a couple of artifacts that seemed interesting. Grihymm Phrahdrandon found a cloak that, although it seemed to be soaking wet, was not dripping on the floor and did not seem heavy upon lifting. In fact, it had all the properties of a dry cloak, and he put it on with the hood down. It went on easily, but he did not notice any particular effect immediately (outside of how wet he now felt). Grisha also indicated that she had no idea what it--or frankly any of this stuff--was supposed to do. Grihymm took off the cloak without investigating further, though he did find himself dry once it was removed.
The party also noticed an interesting looking scimitar with coral laid into the hilt and even the blade itself. It was a vaguely turquoise color and seemed at a glance to be valuable. Murmus' Identify spell revealed that the sword could be used to command and steer a ship without having access to its helm. Inquiring where the sword--and indeed the rest of these items--came from, Grisha said that the "divers bring them up from the Deep." When pressed about this, she said that the divers were primarily grung and lizardfolk, and specifically mentioned someone named Kenser, whom she seemed to particularly dislike. He was apparently a lizardfolk who came over from Vara, but for reasons unclear to her, Cyrus gave him special treatment. Apparently he had proven successful in the Deep, but that's as much as she seemed interested in sharing.
Grisha then assured that Cyrus would want to be along as soon as possible, but that she did not know when that would be. She offered to go find him for the party, but said that she could not leave the group alone in the Hoard. She therefore offered to lead them to their room so that they could rest awhile while Cyrus made himself available, and the party agreed. Again, Grisha would lead them out of the building entire and into yet another one, although this one did not seem to be physically connected to the previous two.
The Visitor Quarters
Grisha led the party into their quarters--in this case, a communal space set up with dividers to allow them private sleeping areas. Notably, this room was not totally drenched in a layer of water, and certainly appeared better suited to them than the remainder of Riverrock had seemed.
Their room was a couple of stories up and provided a balcony that surrounded the main room. This allowed Murmus to take a view of the river and the surrounding swamp. He noticed that only a few miles away to the west, the trees--themselves much smaller and more sparse than he had grown accustomed to in The Fellgleam--seemed to end.
Grisha instructed that the "blues" would likely be available whenever they'd like to go see them, but she also offered to send them up to this room if the party preferred (which they did). She insisted it would not be more than 15 minutes, and if it was, the party could feel free to whip the blues themselves--at this point indicating an actual whip that hanging off a hook on one of the walls. As she prepared to depart, Johann offered her a "tip" in the form of a hand-bell he happened to have on his person, which he claimed came from Witchmill. This absolutely delighted Grisha and she hopped away jingling merrily.
The party took some time to consider their surroundings and reflect on the tour so far. Noticing a bookshelf, they attempted to search it for anything nonfiction and helpful--hoping to find a map or anything similar, but were unsuccessful. The majority of the books seemed to be fiction, and those that were not did not seem to interest them. Among them, however, they did spot a notebook that was written entirely in grung, which Johann again used Comprehend Languages to translate. It appeared to be a census of sorts, organized by caste. Most of the green grung names seemed more like nicknames or placeholders, and many were just numbered, and the section with the reds did not indicate a Marin among them. They did note, however, a scratched out line that could conceivably have said Marin in the past. There was no listed author of the book.
Moments later, the blues arrived to supplicate themselves before the party. Each blue--of which there were ten--kneeled down on the floor and set out a mat which they proceeded to fill with their wares. Murmus gave an aspiring smith a ton of advice, regaling him with tales of his own works, and the blue seemed absolutely fascinated and grateful. Another had poisoned weapons, which Fae expressed interest in. The blue, however, would not set a price, and offered to let her pay whatever she wished. Settling arbitrarily on 5 gold, the blue accepted, though seemed slightly disheartened after collecting the gold.
Johann found the artist most interesting, finding a postcard-sized replica of the Marin the Red mosaic, and said he could not pay in gold but could instead offer a performance. The blue agreed with some reticence, but once Johann began to play his horn, all ten of the blues seemed immediately to lose all other focus. Either the horn or Johann's playing seemed to utterly infatuate them, and they sat in stunned silence while he played. When Johann concluded, they all thanked him profusely, and wandered out of the room apparently stunned by what they had just seen.
Soon after, Grisha arrived to tell the party that Cyrus was ready to meet them in the Hoard, and the party agreed to follow her back.
Cyrus the Gold
In asking about the prices of some of the items, Cyrus kept requesting gold, but in pounds, not pieces. After deciding they were not interested in the apparently water-themed artifacts, the party asked if there was anything more... substantial that they could see. Cyrus sheepishly indicated that these were of course not the finest wares available, but the private collections were reserved for serious buyers only, and he could not simply let them investigate without first seeing proof of their affluence. Johann, in a magnificent bit of lying, managed to convince him that he was indeed extremely wealthy, and would be prepared to return with far greater amounts of gold--he did not travel with all of it for obvious reasons. Seeking proof of this, Algernon the Tall produced a 10lb. chunk of gold that he had conjured, and this seemed to convince Cyrus of their legitimacy, although he was still hesitant to let them see the private collection.
Johann convinced the sovereign that he would return with additional bodyguards and gold within a couple of months, and that they could perhaps do more business at that time. Cyrus was pleased to hear it, and asked if there was anything they'd like to trade for the gold chunk that Algernon had conjured. Johann asked for "Threads," and Cyrus instructed one of his guards to go find some. One of the orange grung outside the doors entered swiftly into the room and rapidly began rummaging about before finding a small box, which he opened to reveal a weavebraid of about one foot of Threads of the Old Weave.
Cyrus claimed he was unsure of why Witchmillers were so fond of the trinkets, but seemed happy enough to part with them. At this time, Algernon reminded the party that his conjuration would vanish in an hour, and all quickly took the hint that it was time to get out of Riverrock before that hour passed. They quickly managed to exit the Hoard and Cyrus' company, returning to Grisha who was waiting for them at the entrance to the tower. They instructed her of their changed plans to depart immediately, and she was clearly very disappointed. On their way out, though, Johann asked once more about the green grung Tyllin they had arrived with. Grisha insisted that he would be dealt with, but Johann claimed that the party themselves wanted to be the ones to punish him. Grisha seemed disheartened, but claimed she would find this green and keep him alive until their return. Grisha, noticing the Threads that Johann was carrying, asked why traders always took those when they came, and Johann claimed it was because they were fashionable in Witchmill.
And with that, the party retreated to the river and their boat. With a single thought for Tyllin, they began rowing swiftly west.
The Cost of the Conjuring
Shortly after they began rowing, Fae noticed a large bird circling the boat overhead, before it turned and flew back toward the deeper recesses of the Fellgleam. Assuming this was likely Solstice-- Lilli's owl friend--they thought nothing more of it. Their attention would soon shift however to a couple of large wakes in the river behind them, gaining on their boat with speed.After a tense, failed attempt to steer the boat to shore, Algernon began preparing his Tiny Hut spell. With their second attempt, however, the crew managed to row to the river's southern bank and stop their progress in the muddy ground. Leaping quickly out and dragging the boat a few feet away from the river, the party and their dragons began to flee into the forest. They would not get far, though, as Murmus and Grihymm both managed to slip on the mud in their haste, planting their faces down into it as two giant, hideous froglike creatures sprang forth from the river and attacked.
Johann managed to disable one of the two creatures with Tasha's Hideous Laughter. The party, now able to focus all efforts on the remaining monster, were ultimately able to kill it. However, they did so just before noticing some additional, smaller wakes in the river, clearly headed in their direction. They will soon be forced to make a fight-or-flight decision, even though they have no clear direction to go from here.
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