Night of the Frog God

General Summary

*This game was split across three separate sessions, each one dealing with different members of the party and their harrowing ordeal*

The party had been traveling along Lake Bask scouting ahead of the caravan. After six days of marching through the swamp Aelfric took his trope of Frostmerites, George, and Tindel to search some of the eastern regions of the wetlands for mead ingredients to compliment the recipes he's been working on. Meanwhile Cordelia, Caellana, Berenger, Grigor and Erik take the wagon and push ahead.

Those with the wagon find the way ahead harder and harder to navigate due to increasingly thick mud. There soon appears to be more to this wet earth than just water-logged grounds. Sentient forms rise from the filth to attack their wagons and try to drag them under. Caellana identifies them as mud elementals; gluttonous and destructive nature spirits looking to swallow up anything and anyone they can. They quickly fight them off but during the battle they can hear screams coming from further along the path. They race ahead to find another wagon under assault, this one manned by a mother and her two younger daughters.

These travelers are being attacked by more mud elementals including one rather large heap of living mud easily the size of a giant. The heroes manage to save them and their wagon. The mother introduces herself and her daughters to the party and offers to reward them if they can help get her and her family back home to the township of Becklinberg .

It takes about four hours to navigate the mud while the dwindling daylight sinks beneath the horizon. By the time they reach Becklinberg it is already evening. The heroes see a once sizable settlement that has withered away to only a few occupied structures in the town square and the rest left to the mercy of nature. The thankful travelers take their rescuers into the Inn nearby and proudly announce them. The mother explains how the party was responsible for saving her wagon and all the vital supplies it was carrying onboard. The villagers inside are extremely thankful and they treat the heroes to a feast and a copious amount of their homebrewed mead.

Township of Becklinberg

The night rolls on and the heroes are treated like kings. Becca asks Erik to come with her to her home to make more pie for the feast. She smiles kindly and her face lights up when he agrees to. Erik is equally smitten with the young woman as well. Cordelia takes the opportunity to leave the Inn behind and explore the rest of the town without any prying eyes on her. The immediate area is a pleasant enough little stronghold while everything around it is in a state of decay. It's in the rotting outskirts that she finds something of interest, lights and noise coming from the ruins of an old temple to Galidir, The Hunter. Grigor, Berenger and Caellana enjoy the feast and eventually retire to bed.

Caellana wakes to a knocking on her door and a startled voice on the otherwise when she answers the knocking. The voice belongs to one of the serving girls and she's asking her if she'd like more mead. Caellana refuses several requests from the voice only to find her door eventually kicked open and five armed townspeople rush in trying to restrain her. She immediately takes the form of a Squirrel and darts out her bedroom window where she sees the drugged and unconscious bodies of Berenger and Grigor being taken off. Across the street she can see Erik's body being hauled out of Becca's house as well. She darts off into the night looking for safety. Meanwhile, Cordelia eventually spies her friends being hauled into the old temple by townsfolk, now dressed in heavy red robes and chanting about "the Frog God".

Cordelia waits for the bulk of these Frog Cult to enter the church before creeping closer to see them all entering a hidden door near the altar. She then deals with the few guards left inside using subterfuge and a particularly deadly crossbow.

Roughly at this same time Aelfric and his team are entering Becklinberg after their ingredient hunt and a brief but deadly struggle against a lone catoblepas that took the lives of two Frostmerite soldiers. They followed a note left behind by the others, informing of them of where to meet, while Beorna stays behind to gather up mead supplies and give a proper burial to the fallen brethren. Aelfric leads them to the Inn where he finds everything abandoned. There are signs of recent activity but no sign of actual people or his allies until he looks upstairs and finds a room that looks ransacked... and with Caellana's belongings. Meanwhile, his Frostmerites begin indulging in all the free mead and leftover feast. They quickly find themselves succumbing to the effects of the sleep drugs inside of the drink and food. Tindel examins the effects and the food to find it laced with some kind of sedative. He also knows that elves are immune to these kinds of effects and that Caellana should be awake as well.

It's at this time that Inn full of drowsy Frostmerites witnesses a Squirrel rush in and start trying to pantomime a message to Aelfric, Tindel and George. Aelfric and Tindel try to understand what this creature is telling them while George offers wordlessly to shoot it with his crossbow. Caellana's wild shape end roughly at this time and as usual she has no recollection of her time in animal form and shrugs off anyone's attempt to tell her about it. She does, however, catch them up quickly on what happened and explains where she seen the townsfolk dragging everyone off to. They're briefly delayed by a young boy entering the inn and trying to get them to enjoy some of the mead and the feast. George staples the boy's foot to the floor with his crossbow for later interrogation before everyone sets forth toward the old temple.

Lair of the Frog God deep within the old clay mines

Meanwhile, Erik, is the first to wake up as cold water splashes him in the face. His blurred vision soon clears and before him is a vast underground lake filled with murky, stagnant water. Ripples on the surface of the water near him suggest something close by was just thrown in. He's chained to a stone pillar, nearly nude and bereft of all his equipment. To his right is Berenger and Grigor, both still asleep and equally vulnerable. To his immediate left a pillar with only bloody chains and bits of peeled flesh. Further past that gruesome mess are more pillars with about half a dozen other strangers all chained up, groggy and almost stripped bare. He quickly realizes whomever was next to him was ripped from their chains and pulled into the lake, a suspicion quickly confirmed as a ruddy red smear bubbles to the surface.

Behind him he could see dozens of townsfolk all dressed in heavy red robes and chanting. Then, a grim and confident smile fills his vision. It belongs to an tall, weathered old face with long silver beard and smooth hairless head. The man now standing before him is dressed in black finery and gold baubles. He loudly announced to the gathered cult that their god is waking and he's chosen his first meal. Erik watches as the waters part and a colossal nightmare breaches the waves. Its form equal parts lizard, fish, and frog. The body terminates in a trio of tadpoll-like tails and the head appears wide as a horse's body.. A long tongue slithers out of its mouth to lap up the gore and ragged skin from a legion of tiny needle teeth before it sinks back beneath the water.

Becca, the young woman who lured Erik to her house touches his side and tries to calm his screams. "Don't worry, this is such an honor! You're going to be one with the Frog God! He's chosen you, he brought you to us! Glorious day!". The old man near him dismisses the girl to the rest of the cult and leans in closely to the struggling boy and whispers:

I wouldn't stress yourself out about the whole thing, it's all a masterful bit of theater on my part. It's no god and you're not destined for some grand joining with it. Just a quick, violent moment that ends with your remains eventually being shit out here with the rest. But, please, I'd appreciate it if you could really ham it up for their sake. This Frog God nonsense is really important to them.
— Heinreich Klamp to Erik

Klamp's Throne

Meanwhile, Aelfric, Caellana, Tindel and George proceed to the old temple. They leave behind the sluggish and drugged Frostmerites in the tavern for their own safety. At the temple they find the doors barred and several cultists tending to one of their wounded comrades with a crossbow bolt in his stomach, a trap rigged earlier by Cordelia. The cultists try their best to lure the trio close and capture them for the Frog God below but they're quickly defeated by the heroes. Cordelia emerges from inside the temple where's she's been holed up and reveals what she knows about the town. They interrogate the one cultist who was wounded by Cordelia's trap and learn about the town's worship of a sleeping god below their city. He tells them how the god's herald, a man named Heinreich Klamp, came to them a few weeks earlier and said he could wake their god and speak with it. And that the Frog God wanted his followers to help unearth a massive chunk of Manacite from inside the closed down clay mines. George puts a bolt in the cultist's head to make sure he doesn't warn the others. They then proceed into the tunnels below the old temple and into the flooded clay mines where the Frog God dwells.

Erik watches as another victim is chosen by the Frog God. A stout and defiant dwarf who thrashes against the chain as the creature's tongue slowly loops around his body and wrenches him from his bindings and into its mouth. He can see just beyond the dwarf's pillar another victim slowly shaking off the effects of the drugs. A woman that to him looks familiar but he can't place the face exactly. She too starts screaming and pulling against her chains but her pleas are drowned out by the cult's chanting. Klamp has returned to the throne-like seat his followers built for him and wearily pantomimes along with the townsfolks' simple litany but takes a moment to give a mockingly courteous wave of his fingers toward the waking woman. Both seem to share familiarity and bitter contempt for one another.

Before the Frog God can claim another victim a deafening explosion from the far side of the room grabs everyone's attention. Aelfric and the rest of the party had been hacking their way through the clay mines to reach this final chamber but unwittingly set off an explosive runes trap nearly killing him and giving away their presence. The cultists rush toward the invaders along with four of Klamp's hired mercenaries. Cordelia slips into the shadows and makes for the water's edge to start freeing her allies. It's during this distraction that Erik kicks Becca into the waters and the waiting mouth of her god and then manages to break the crumbling pillar and free himself.

Frog God's Rampage

Cordelia calls on Tryxanna for any help she's willing to provide and his demonic patron helps her cross from one batch of shadows to another and emerge near Berenger and Grigor. They briefly discuss a true pact and what she's want in return- Warlocks. Not just Cordelia but a total of three people from the party. They also argue a bit on what counts as actual assistance while Cordelia frees Grigor who eagerly rushes to join the fight.

Battle erupts in the Frog God's chamber with cultists clashing against the heroes. They're not particularly battle-ready but their numbers combined with Klamp's mercenaries blunt the assault in the middle of the room. Klamp takes several moments to prepare protective spells for himself rather than join the fight but once he's ready he unleashes an arcane blitz against them thanks to a manacite serum he ingests. He also uses a ring to conjure a flame elemental to aid his side in the fight. Both Tindel and George are battered into unconsciousness by Klamp's spells and arrows from his mercenaries.

The Frog God watches the carnage its meals escaping from the stone pillars with bestial ire. It soon launches itself onto the temple floor and shatters the stone floor near Erik, Cordelia and Berenger. Ravenous with centuries of unsatisfied hunger it begins devouring everything near it, cultist, mercenary or hero. It tramples through the area feasting on corpses before turning its attention toward Erik. Aelfric rushes to help the young soldier while Cordelia chases after Klamp who is escaping down a secret passage behind his throne. The Frog God repeatedly batters the heroes over and over, almost killing Aelfric several times.

Cordelia finds Klamp in the passage and impales his one remaining mercenary with her rapier, nearly killing the man but before she can act the magician paralyzes her with a spell of holding and makes his escape. George succumbs to his wounds and dies silently on the stone floor while Tindel barely escapes being cooked to death by the elemental before it too is snuffed out by the rampaging behemoth. Caellana a charmed mercenary to fetch Erik's unconscious body from the stone floor and leave through the open secret exit before rallying the others to flee in the opposite direction and into the safety of the smaller tunnels they originally came from. Berenger nearly gives his life to help the others escape but they're able to save him as well rather than let him make the ultimate sacrifice.

At this time Beorna is entering Becklinberg as well after having laid the fallen to rest. The hour is late by the time she arrives and the town is deathly quiet. She checks in at the inn first and finds the Frostmerites drugged and a passed out boy with an arrow through his foot and into the floor. She sees signs of Caellana's presence as well thanks to the ransacking of her room. She searches the area and the nearby homes in the center of town and finds a trail of bloody footprints that lead into one of the cottages. Inside she finds Heinreich Klamp and his injured bodyguard, Percevil, but she's unaware of who exactly they are. Klamp takes the opportunity to pass himself off as a bystander.

It's at this time all of the heroes hear a dreadful explosion and then the echoing gurgle of the Frog God. The heroes escaping the clay mines watch as the muddy earth bursts open and the titan emerges into the swamp, ravenous and mutating. Having gorged itself on dozens of victims the creature's body is changing... massive blisters are forming on its flesh, each filled with writing parasites. Several of these sores erupt, releasing several Spawn of the Scorned One birthed from those the god fed upon earlier.

The Swamps and Outskirts of Beklinberg

Cordelia is the first to spot it while she is desperately making her way through the swamp while dragging Erik's unconscious body. She uses the bracelet that Erik found weeks earlier to enhance her strength enough to make carrying him possible. She takes refuge in a crumbling old stone storehouse near the clay mine and quickly hides Erik amid the ruins so that she can plot her next move. While concealing him she's alerted to someone else's presence by a hushed greeting. Hiding in the dark is the same figure that Erik briefly recognized among the chained up sacrificial victims but Cordelia recognizes the face clearly. Luorna, the deaf woman from the Calloway Inn incident. She looks different now, her wig and disguise gone and she's clearly not deaf. The two share a moment of rapport when Cordelia congratulates her for an excellent con game at the Inn. Her true name is McKenna and she tells Cordelia that she came her because she heard rumor that the villagers were a bunch of zealous goofs who happen to be harboring a great deal of wealth and even manacite. Her plan didn't exactly unfold as imagined and it ended with her chained to a rock and about to be fed to the Frog God. Erik is left with her while Cord makes a break for the bridge leading back into Becklinberg.

As she begins her sprint trees splinter and the muddy earth heaves as the Frog God propels itself through the air with a mighty leap and lands dreadfully near her. With little time to waste she goes back into the stone ruin and grabs both Erik and McKenna before before shouting for them to run! Erik is given one of Cordelia's few healing potions and shaken awake quickly. His dazed vision clears just in time to see the monster at their heels. They reach the bridge and Cordelia quickly sets the entire area aflame with one of her fire traps to buy them time to head back to the tavern.

Klamp meets them at the tavern as well proposing an alliance. He knows the Frog God will seek him out to devour as well and with his bodyguards depleted all that's left are the caravan heroes. He also wants to get his manacite cache back which Cordelia stole from the clay mines. After a tense negotiation the heroes agree to help Klamp cast a powerful sleep spell on the Frog God using the manacite they stole from him. They have little time to prepare though as the scalded Frog God soon returns to the village proper with wounds regenerated and more parasitic blisters blossoming on its back. Aelfric holds back his Frostmerites so they can try and shake off the last of the villagers' drugged mead while everyone else takes to the streets.

Night of the Frog God

There they spot the monster leaping from home to home, shattering buildings and hunting for more townsfolk to devour and infect. The heroes become the next obvious target when the Frog God recognizes Klamp among their party. It remembers the wizard who woke it and who kept it docile, nearly starved and sedated.

They ready themselves in the town square as the Frog God and some of its already hatched kin charge down upon them. The distance the behemoth can cover with a single leap gives it a massive advantage over them. It quickly takes a position on top of a sturdy home looming over the heroes and uses its long tongue to yank lone defenders up to its maw. Aelfric is the first to dragged up and nearly killed though McKenna's quick footwork gets her up on the roof as well and helps to pull the Frostmerite free. The Frog God's frenzy of blows sends Aelfric tumbling off the roof to land hard on the street below where he's left bleeding and unconscious.

Berenger, Klamp's remaining bodyguard and Erik hold the Frog God's spawn in the middle of the street as best as they can but they find that actually dropping one of these flailing, screaming, mutations to be very difficult. They're fueled by a supernatural hunger and dulled to all pain. The battle rages on with Erik eventually rushing to confront the Frog God as well but his efforts are rewarded with the tangling grip of the creature's tongue. It leaps away to swallow Erik whole.

Meanwhile, Cordelia and Klamp are sneaking up upon the creature so that he can cast his sleep spell on the it.They hide quietly and the wizard begins his work but Tindel quickly runs around the corner of the home they're hiding behind and fires a volley of arrows that seem to only irritate the Frog God in the middle of his meal. It leaps upon their position swatting Cordelia and nearly breaking her body with a single blow. Tindel however, watches with horror as the Frog God's maw opens and its whipping tongue launches out. The elf's body is shattered by the impact of the tongue and yanked furiously into the mouth where Tindel succumbs to his wounds and dies.

Klamp, panicked and scrambling, takes hold of the manacite chunk in Cordelia's possession and casts Expeditious Retreat upon himself instead hoping to put distance between him and the beast. Cordelia chases after Klamp managing to leap and dash her way around the dark corners of the streets and tackle him before battering him unconscious.

Caellana, Beorna and the now fully functional Frostmerites surround the Frog God and begin hacking away at it. Berenger climbs up on the thing's back and takes the fight directly to its face. Caellana runs around to the backside of the building with the Frog Guard in pursuit. It's there she lets nature take hold of her and transform her into a fearsome brown bear. Unknown to her, the Bear is the sacred animal to the Frostmerites and the sudden appearance of the creature drives them into battle frenzy. Under the weight of frostmerite blades and the bear's jaws the Frog God is eventually felled. Its sickening bellows replaces by the echoing snarl of a triumphant bear.

Character(s) interacted with

Heinreich Klamp Mckenna Moondall

Notes

Under the last remnants of night's black veil Cordelia creeps through the backwoods of Becklinberg far from the prying eyes of her allies. She works quickly to secure Klamp's unconscious body to a large tree and bind him tightly. The first orange beams of morning are starting to bleed through the dark as she finishes.

Satisfied with his bindings she holds forth the strange Tengu skull she's brandished in the past and whispers to whatever sees through the eyes of the skull "He's all yours. Alive as promised." She then tucks the skull away and leaves back for Becklinberg without a shred of mercy in her heart for the treacherous wizard.

As the last of Cordelia's soft footfalls vanish into the distance Klamp opens one bruised eye to make sure she's gone. He frowns and shifts a bit till the very clumsy knot in his bindings slips loose. The diviner's portent ability ensured that this knot would be the worst one Cordelia ever tied and that her attention to the scene would be more distracted than usual.

This was a miserable night in every possible way. His ruse with Becklinberg is over, his cache of manacite is gone and his bodyguards all dead. Yet, this tree and this little grove are very familiar to him. The results of his Divination spells, though vague as they always are, told him about this spot days ago. He hobbles a few feet away and to a recently dug little hole that he claws open with his bare hands. Inside is a small pouch with a bit of gold, a few vials of glowing elixirs and four small shards of manacite.

"I'm hunted am I? Pathetic... This isn't over, not by a long shot." He seethes quickly while gathering up the few supplies and limping off into the dawn. He knows exactly who to approach about getting his things back from Cordelia and the delightfully violent methods they'll employ.

Campaign

The New Sanctuary Expedition

Protagonists