Session 10 - Towns and Swamps
24 Thaumont 1010 - 5 Flaurmont 1010
General Summary
The party starts with a long rest to recover from the long night of fighting. In the morning, still in the middle of the rest, troops from Luln arrive and converse with the governor.
Their leader, Sascia of Luln, guides her horse towards the party, Stavos greeting her. She seems skeptical of the party's arrival time in Greenest and the raiding party, but has heard compelling evidence from the governor and other survivors. Stavos asks her what she thinks is happening. She clearly is having issues with raiders originating from the Black Eagle Barony, including slavers. The King appears to be turning a deaf ear to complaints from the region about Ludwig von Hendriks (the King's cousin) and his very rough treatment of the area. This seems to be a likely issue for the region, as it appears that all of the raiding issues are driven from this area, and may have ties to the iron ring, a slaving operation. Getting proof of his involvement has been problematic.
She leaves to rejoin her troops patrolling the surrounding area and to find any more townsfolk that were scattered into the woods.
After the party finishes their long rest, they head over to check in on Eeyore, and bring him with them to pick up their heavier gear that they left by the side of the road when they saw the trouble in Greenest. Having collected this (minus 1 missing longbow) the party seeks out Kerowyn Hucrele, to bring her the bad news. They stop in at the house, but she is apparently at the shop, so they head back there. The shop seems to be a bit damaged, but it could have been worse. The party speaks with her, and shares the news that unfortunately, their kin had been killed in the citadel. She asks them to come by the house tomorrow morning to settle things, and join the family for breakfast. They leave her with the rings and the Splint Mail they found with the family crest.
The party determines that they will depart for Riverfork Keep , and sell the armor and weapons there rather than to the ravaged town of Greenest, after their breakfast with the Hucrele family. During their breakfast visit, Kerowyn pays them their reward for finding the evidence of their family members. The meal is somewhat somber, but they are thanked by everyone, and invited to visit anytime they are in the area, and the party offers the same in return.
The party heads down the Westron Road to Riverfork Keep, and only has a single encounter on their path during their long rest overnight. They encounter an ettin, a relatively horrible giant creature with two heads, that upon seeing the party (awakened by their argument with themselves as they walked right toward the camp), immediately attacked. The creature struck quite viciously, though with the party's size, they were able to take it down pretty handily. They have no other major issues on their trip, and upon arrival at the keep, they see a keep, that is in fact at the fork of the river, with the town nestled next to it on the bank of the river. They first stop in at the keep to ensure they're aware of the events in Greenest. They were informed by one of the Luln riders. With that, they decide to speak to the big ent Wander Root that is standing in the center of the keep (which they can see). They speak to Wander Root for some time, asking him about the strange tree they found in the Sunless Citadel, and the evil druid they encountered. Wander Root seemed to think this Sunless Citadel place sounded terrible! Sunless! He didn't know anything about the fruit, but did advise that plants should have plenty of sun. They also showed him the magic feather they found and asked if he had any suggestions of where they should plant it. Perhaps in a place that needs a tree would be appropriate. The party thanked him for his time and went off to learn more about the town.
They got rooms at The Silver Trout, found the boat that had arrived from Saltmarsh (The Swiftwater), which had planned for their passage. The boat would depart two days later after finishing transfer of goods. With this downtime the party sold their goods, bought a round of drinks for everyone at the inn, and debated what to do with their day off. in the end, they decided to see what types of trouble seemed to be in the area. There was a report of giant wasps causing trouble for some nearby lumberjacks, and some sort of shambling mound creature to the north. They decided to ask Wander Root what he thought of these options, and he seemed to not like Giant Wasps, so that clinched it. Not only that, it would be easier to find the lumberjacks than a wandering solo creature in the woods.
The next day they set out, across the river to the logging camp, where they found a foreman that was able to confirm the troublesome wasps were just a bit north of the camp. He offered 300G for the destruction of the hive, and 10G for each Wasp killed. This seemed like a good way for the party to spend their day "off", so they went forth. It did not take them long to find the Giant Wasps, and they worked their way through the creatures relatively quickly. The hive itself was a bit more trouble, as after hitting it with Shatterspike, more angry wasps came out, and the nest wasn't yet destroyed. The party finished the wasps, and then the nest, and headed back to the camp - the foreman was happy to have the problem resolved, and paid them their reward. Seeing as the day was mostly over, the party decided to head back to town to enjoy some more beer before their next trip.
The next day, they boarded the boat and departed for Saltmarsh. The water levels were high from the winter melts, so it was not the smoothest ride, but it was still uneventful. As they reached the mouth of the river, they saw a crumbled ancient tower, and asked the crew about it. It was called the Tower of Zenopus and had long ago been home to a wizard, until one night the tower was engulfed in a fiery green aura and found abandoned the next day. After strange sightings and the disappearance of some travelers the tower was bombarded by catapult until it crumbled.
The party finally arrives in Saltmarsh, and make their first stop in to see Gellan Primewater. They report to him all they learned about the raid in Greenest (which he had heard some of), as well as deliver the fruit and warn that it came from an evil place, though it seems harmless enough on its own. They also said that should he use the fruit, that he should plant the seeds somewhere with good sunlight to see if something good grows from it. He also says that the council would like to speak with them about something important in a few days (the next day being a holiday). They agree to stay around, check out their restored ship, and see how Sumadram is doing.
He now speaks a bit of Traladaran, and seems to be doing well enough for himself (and the parrot). They also stop in to see Kiorna Kester with their Fire Snake skins, and Stavos and Leofingol order up some fancy boots made from them. They will be ready in a couple days. They head over to Winston's to see what he has learned of the magic items market. It turns out magic items will be pretty expensive. He has pricing now for a range of goods, including spell scrolls per level, and several very nice items the party is interested in (but not quite ready to purchase). Also of interest is a magic spoon (spoon of stirring) that once per day can turn a serving of water into a healing potion - it can create only one potion per day and, if you make a new one, the old one will disappear. Still, it is a magic potion maker for 1000gp! The party doesn't end up buying anything this trip, but perhaps in the future.
They meet with the town council, and it turns out there have been some strange happenings at sea, and they are concerned that the Lizardfolk may be behind this. They would like the party to scout out what the Lizardfolk are doing (don't start anything!) and report back with what they find. For this they will pay the party 750g. The party agrees, and decides they will use the Sea Ghost to approach the area. They stir up some crew from town, Stavos acting as captain, and they buy supplies for the crew, and a new rowboat for transportation to and from the Sea Ghost.
As they approach the area the council shows them that they expect the Lizardfolk to be working from, they scout the area with Flametalon, and find a trail but they don't see any traffic in the area. They decide to let Sumadram scout a bit up river to see if he can find any signs. Sumadran leaves for a while, then upon returning reports that the path shows signs of Lizardfolk using the trail, but he did not see anything out of place. The party decides to stay put for the evening and set out the next morning up the trail.
The next morning their crew rows them up to the path, and the party instructs them to return to the ship. The party (plus Sumadram) go along the path watching for trouble. They eventually find a split in the trail, and based on the amount of foot traffic indicating the southern trail, they go that way. Eventually they come to another stream, with a fording. They begin to cross, and are ambushed - not by Lizardfolk, but by Bullywogs. The party deals with the first few Bullwogs, but just as things seem to be going their way, another wave comes, this time with a caster that does an area effect attack on the full party. They cut down a few more of the spearmen, and start working on the caster, when another wave comes from the river, this time with their leader on a Giant Toad. The party keeps working at them, but in the second AE attack from the caster, Flametalon is taken down and Sumadram is knocked unconscious. The party heals him back up, and he retreats to the back where he continues fighting with ranged attacks. In the end, the party is able to take down the Royal, as well as all the other Bullywogs, and the other Bullywogs that have been cheering them on melt away. On the Royal, they find a bag that contains a very shiny and nice looking helm, which is magical, as well as 200 shiny coins. These it turns out are the party's first Platinum coins, and this represents their single biggest find of their adventuring careers.
The party collects themselves, and consider, perhaps this is the troublemaker the town is really after, and also perhaps, why the Lizardfolk are trying to buy arms. These Bullywogs may have been raiding ships and Lizardfolk the same. Perhaps next time things will become clearer!
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Report Date
01 Feb 2020
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