Hunt of the Corrupted Guardian

Written by Chrundle_the_Great

General Summary

Overview

Though they were liberated from the Poisoned Cup, the friendly folk of the grippoli village can't seem to catch a break. The monstrous hippopotamus, which nearly ended the party in the Crab Maze, has grown more and more aggressive in recent months. None of the grippoli scouts have returned, and the Pondmother worries for her people's safety yet again.
Founders Azrael and Mizzryn lead Mesca and Chesterfield into the Brackwater Swamp. Azrael, who has not forgotten the beast's golden collar, etched as it was with demonic symbols, seeks only bloodshed. Meanwhile, Mizzryn aims to build a rudimentary forge and teach the grippoli metallurgy, so they may better defend themselves. Finally, they are joined by Zena and her allies Leary and Lados, although they would like to restore the creature to its original form, if possible.
Will Kapital succeed in aiding their oldest allies? Or will they fall to the gnashing teeth of the corrupted guardian?

Maneater Plants, Abyssal Spies

Despite their large numbers, the party never lost their path, owing to Leary's expert navigation. However, any illusions they may have had about completely avoiding danger were quickly shattered. Crowded with all manner of monsters and perils, the Brackwater Swamp was not for the faint of heart; the many corpses floating in the bogs was warning enough.
Called by the scent of magic, Lados stopped the party outside a sinkhole. Sticking out of the quicksand was a skeletal arm, crowned with a glinting emerald ring, that seemed to beckon to the warlock. Despite Lados pulling with all the might of his mage hand, the ring didn't budge. Annoyed by the distraction, Azrael suggested moving on, that this all may be a trap.
Lados agreed, but not before the sinkhole bore its terrible fangs.
The earth itself rose, and a carnivorous sod gnashed its great wooden teeth and spit blinding sand. Luckily, the party used their greater numbers to fell the creature before it could make any of them into its next meal. Afterward, Mesca performed two rituals: first warding herself from curses, then identifying the cursed ring, which contained powerful spells within.
As the party stepped through gloomy fog between gnarled trees, tiny mushrooms warned Zena of "spies in the branches." Also, friendly to the Veiled Lady, the fungi urged her not to pursue the hippopotamus. They told her of its destructive battle with the nearby black dragon; her acid breath melted all, but the hippopotamus was unscathed. Contemplative, Zena silently warned the party of the spies with airborne spores; furious as illriggers tend to be when creatures dare hide from them, Azrael invoked his hellsight and spotted three familiar quazzits crouching in the trees.
Their reunion was brief and anything but friendly.
Following their quarry's tracks, the party soon found the stinking, broken-necked corpse of a catoblepas. While an entire herd's tracks led one way, a single set of heavier tracks led deeper into the bogs. After some brief discussion, the party decided to follow the monstrous hippopotamus, in the hope of ambushing it while it was still alone.
As the party prepared their weapons and traps, Lados stealthed into the woods to meet with his friend (technically patron, but that's so formal and not at all fun) Eltab. Shadowy and long-limbed, the demon revealed that the quazzits were other friends of his. Also, he had originally placed the collar on the guardian hippopotamus; corrupted and enraged, it had wrecked an old elven temple, the ruins of which were now home to its herd. Eltab urged, but did not command, his warlock, his friend to recover the collar if he could. Lados rejoined the party, ready to set his plan into motion.

Round 1: Like a Piece of Iron

The party entered an eerily silent clearing. Half-submerged in murky water was their target. Golden markings once covered its bulky body, but they had now faded and twisted into runes both celestial and fiendish — something unbound and dangerous. The creature paid no heed to the approaching footsteps.
As silently as they could, the party made their preparations. Mesca placed curse wards on everyone and conjured a shadow staircase to provide their ranged combatants the high ground. Finally, she cast transmute lodestone on one of her celestial silver sling bolts, magically giving it the weight of a trebuchet stone.
While Mesca, Leary, and Lados positioned themselves on the staircase, Chesterfield and Zena convinced firemoss to lend aid, in exchange for preserving it elsewhere. After wreathing three straw dummies with the incendiary plant, the two of them found hiding places. Finally, Azrael, enlarged by Chesterfield, waited in plain sight, his blade dripping with venom.
Lados wove illusory birds, screeching and pecking at the straw dummies. Lightning-fast, the roaring hippopotamus pounced from the water. Seconds before its tusks pierced the dummies, Mesca loosed a flaming crossbow bolt. The firemoss erupted with three massive pillars of flame. When steam and smoke cleared, Azrael saw no sign of the beast.
Unharmed, it leapt from the water and clamped its powerful jaws around the illrigger.
As Azrael wrestled with the corrupted guardian, blade, arrow, and spell plinked uselessly off its hardened hide. Mesca loosed her empowered sling bolt, which dug deep into the beast's skin, but only because of its celestial silver make; besides, the hippopotamus only grew more vicious as its blood was spilled. Sensing a losing battle, Lados cast command in Abyssal to make the raging beast flee.
The party fled before the spell wore off.

The Old Elven Sanctuary

Remembering Eltab's words, Lados suggested studying the herd; fighting the nearly invincible guardian head-on wouldn't work, but perhaps another solution existed. The party agreed, unaware of the ruined elven temple.
Following the herd tracks, the party spotted a dilapidated temple half-submerged in the swamps. The party stalked around the basking hippopotamuses, save for an energetic infant. Thankfully, with her speech of beast and leaf, Zena played with it without angering its mother. The party continued to the temple entrance, where Chesterfield wild shaped into a speedy reef shark and safely swam everyone into the building's upper level.
Inside the party were swarmed by the shadows of vengeful elven dead. However, the party made short work of these life-sapping shades and soon found three corpses bearing the pins of the Order of the White Stag. Searching their bodies, the party found a scroll detailing how to remove the collar and restore the guardian to its benevolent form. Also, they found a couatl's feather and the hellsteel blade (called Maestro) of an illrigger Azrael knew by reputation.
Some ventured into the next room and stumbled upon a fountain flowing with holy water. With these three items and the scroll describing the ritual, the party were feeling confident about a second attempt to battle the corrupted guardian. While they discussed strategies, Chesterfield polished one of the chamber statues, and the entire building rumbled; moments later, they heard the hippopotamus's thunderous cry. With little time left, the party climbed out of the temple and onto its half-crumbled roof.
Their "quarry" glared with blood-red eyes, taunting, challenging the party to make the first move.

Round 2: Fight to Win

The monstrous hippopotamus charged the temple and hacked down a pillar with its vicious tusks. Mesca leapt onto swampy land and began the ritual. Meanwhile, the others desperately coralled the beast into the circle of holy water, while narrowly dodging its brutal goring attacks. Although their strikes didn't harm the creature, it immediately turned on the last person who dared attack it, making for the world's most dangerous game of keep away.
Chesterfield wild shaped into a warhorse, and Azrael rode on his back into battle. Lados fired eldritch bolts from high above. Leary shot unerring arrows capped with weighted celestial silver sling bolts. Zena empowered herself with nature's wrath and assumed her wood woad form.
As the ritual continued, the enraged guardian used its corrupting influence to cast crown of madness on Azrael, who began cutting down the party one by one. Chesterfield fell. Zena fell. Lados entombed himself in ice to escape death. Finally, the illrigger impaled Mesca's leg with the Fang of Telcezalco, but the monster hunter fought through the pain to continue the ritual.
When the feather finally caught ablaze, Zena caught the flame in her hands and steeled herself against its unstable surge of magic. Before time ran out, Leary fastened the flaming feather to her arrow and landed a perfect shot at the collar's clasp.
The clasp immediately shattered, and its sacred runes returned to their golden glow. However, the guardian was still frenzied and stomped forward to down the already-bloodied party. However, Zena cleverly pacified it with her spores, and the guardian halted its attack when the baby hippopotamus from earlier leapt into Zena's arms.
While Azrael and Chesterfield were unconscious and Mesca stood in total delirium with Azrael's venomous blade still lodged in her thigh, Lados thawed himself from his icy armor and pocketed a piece of the collar.
While those from Kapital dressed their wounds, Zena discovered that the guardian was actually a very intelligent creature; with the temple in ruins, it joined Zena's group and pledged to protect the Fungal Heart.
With (most of) the mysterious collar reclaimed and the fountain of holy water now guarded by Chesterfield and the grippoli, the party returned from their deadly mission in the swamps that never cease to surprise.

Rewards Granted

Fountain of Holy Water (tended by Chesterfield and the grippoli)

Chains of Iuz corrupt the guardian

Report Date

08 Apr 2023

Primary Location

Baleful Bogs

Related Characters

• Azrael
• Chesterfield O'Malley
• Lados
• Leary
• Mesca of Crow's Perch
• Zendrel "Zena" Inaro

Ritual of Purification

First, pour holy water to encircle the beast
Second, place the holy feather and in Celestial sing
Third, hellfire on the feather must feast
Fourth, catch the flame and endure its sting
To the collar press it, lest its magic be released