Into the Mud: Game 20

General Summary

The Party started in the cellars of the Golden Grain Inn and ended up in the muddy swamp of the Cult of the Reptile God. In the middle, the Party gained the confidence of Orlane's Mayor, hide outside of town, tracked cultists to their hidden lair, and began exploring their lair with a single minded focus on following the most direct path to the reptille god herself.

Out of the Golden Grain Inn Cellars

The Party hadthree main options: 1) The Party returns to the upstairs of the Golden Grain Inn. 2) The Party stays in the underground chambers and prepares for the cultists to start coming down in the cellars. 3) The Party continues to search the underground chambers, which the Party firmly believes have been well searched and there are no other passages out.
Ankili mac Aevyrn's initial thought was to go upstairs. Why hang out in a dank and dark dungeon with the potential of being trapped? He supposed that the Party could prepare an ambush, but they knew the place better than we do, and it seemed like it woud be easier to escape from the Inn (multiple exits) than down in the cellars. The gnome agreed, and seconded going back upstairs since he beleived that there are no other options to leave from the underground area. The viking bard didn't have a strong opinion and followed the group consensus. He was am sure (for no reason other than instinct) that there must be a way out of this dungeon basement, but he thought maybe it requires some kind of magic that they Party didn't possess.

Into the Confidence of Mayor Ormond

Monell was awoken by the Mayor's family, (his daughter Enosia Ormond (18) and son Hark Ormond (16)) and the elves (Dorian the fighter mage and Llwillian the fighter scout), who pretended to capture and tie up the warrior. Through clever use of words and bluffing, Mayor Zakarias Ormond was able to extract the Party from the Golden Grain Inn under the ruse of capturing and interrogating the Party.

Back at the Mayor's house, the Party and Mayor revealed their secrets and formed an allaince. In addition to the elves and the Mayor's children, the Party met his wife Debekora Ormond and bodyguard Traver Stoutheart. The Party revealed their history and plan to the Mayor, and the Mayor explained his plans: the elves and the Mayor had been watching the cultists, and waiting for the next journey into the swamp with treasure and victims, so that they could locate the secret reptile god lair. The Party's slaying the troglodytes may have upset these plans. The Mayor and the Party discussed next steps, with the Mayor ultimately deciding that the Party should wait and hide outside of the village until another group would be taken the reptile god lair, the Party should follow the cultists to their lair, and then, depending on the situation, etiher report back to the Mayor, or, better yet, destroy the cultist lair. Mayor Ormond arranged for the Party to pay a wereguild to the family of the slain cultist, Derek Desleigh.  The Party brought Dorian, the elf mage with them.

Into the Swamps

The route of the cult members (both human and reptilian) from Orlane to their dungeon headquarters occupies three days travel time. The first day will be spent crossing the farms east of Orlane. The second day was spent crossing through the forest and swamp. The third day found the Party slogging through the mire of the Rushmoors.
The first day of travel from Orlane was spent crossing the grassy plains east of the village. The farther from Orlane the party progresses, the fewer signs of civilization are seen. Most of the farms here have been abandoned or, the Party assumes, are occupied by cult members and the Party does not enage with them. No travelers have been met, since the trouble in Orlane has put a halt to the caravan traffic. At the end of a day of traveling, the farms were left behind and the trees of the forest were visible in the distance and the Party pauses for the night.
Early on the second day of travel, the Party enters a region of permanent twilight in forsts and moderate swamp. Moss dangles from the limbs over the party's heads, and no sunlight pierces the thick greenery of the ancient trees. This is a hushed wood; the common sounds of squirrels and birds are missing. Several hours after entering the forest, the trail to the dungeon parts from the track, veering sharply to the right. Because of the lack of sunlight there is little underbrush, so the party may walk two or three abreast if they desire. The remainder of this day are spent following a faint trail across the forest and marsh floor.
At the end of the day of travel in the forest, the trail will reach the edge of a broad, deep, and fetid marsh. Thick rushes, interspersed with patches of scummy water, stretch as far as the eye can see (even if someone climbs one of the trees at the edge of the forest). Further advance will involve wading through water and slimy mud. The good news is that the trail is very obvious here, since the rushes have been crushed out of the way to open the passage. It will take one full day of travel to cross the short distance to the mouth of the dungeon, since movement is very slow here. The swamp is teeming with awful things, and the Party is ambushed by a giant snapping turtle.

Into the Mud Lair

After a wearisome trek through a seemingly endless sea of rushes, the adventurers see a low barrier in front of them. Soon thereafter, they will reach this barrier—a circular dike made from mud and wood. The dike holds the swamp water back from a small island of dry land, barely fifty feet across.
The water level in the swamp is above the entrance to the dungeon. Thus, if the dike were destroyed, the labyrinth would slowly fill with water. If the group should attempt this at the present time, however, the dungeon's inhabitants would likely soon emerge to see what was causing the leak. The dike would likley be quickly be repaired, and party members fleeing through the marsh could soon be overtaken by monsters capable of much swifter movement in the mucky environment.
Entry to the dungeon is easy, since there is a gaping hole in the ground at the center of the dry land. When a character looks down this, they will see a muddy set of wooden stairs descending into the earth. The corridor within is about 10' high and the same distance wide.

General Description of Dungeon Conditions

The lair of the reptile god differs somewhat from the average subterranean setting in that it has been excavated in an area of soggy dirt, not rock. Corridors will be 10' high and 10' wide unless otherwise indicated, and at 5' intervals the walls and ceiling will be supported by massive, though usually slightly rotten, timbers. The wooden doors will be swollen with moisture and will generally be stuck closed.
The dampness is inescapable, as are the smells of rot, mold, and swamp gas. The floor is always wet and slippery, but in some areas a thick layer of mud must be walked through. These places are indicated on the map with shading, and the movement is slowed to 1/2 the usual rate when the group crosses one of these areas. In some cases, which will be mentioned in the key, movement is slowed even more drastically. In addition, a slurping sound is produced when a Party passes through the mud, eliminating any chance of surprising a quiet and stationary creature.
Water trickles everywhere through the tunnels, working its way down. This trickling should be mentioned frequently to distract the players.

1. Wooden Stairs

The muddy wooden stairs are slippery. Characters who do not take special precautions (roping, etc.) may slip and tumble to the bottom. The stairway descends for 60' before ending in the relatively dry room at the bottom.

2. Entry Room

Here, four human guards with spears are on duty. Their eyes are accustomed to the dim light from above—this chamber is unlit. The Party used spells and captured the human guards on duty, plus others that were staying in the eastern rooms. The Party decided not to investigate or search the guard living quarters and other potential eastern rooms, because the guards informed the Party that the cultists would move directly south when they arrived.
The Party used less than lethal force on the humans, who were charmed villagers and other common people from Northern Fultar. The cleric of Tya Nehru , Petra, insisted upon the Party doing everything within its power to not kill these innocent folk. In her mind, the purpose of the mission is to help the villagers, and killing innocents is wrong. The ends cannot justify the means. She said she would leave if the Party did not strive to ensure the safety of the villagers and others. With words at least, the Party agreed; however, both the Viking and Druid indicated that they would definitely not do "everything" to keep the villagers alive. They may have done so only to not lose the healing and curative benefits of the priestess more than being convinced by her sound moral arguments.
The Party was also told that there was a water pool room to the west where the cultists would deposit their treasure, but again the Party held a single minded determination to follow the cultists and their prisoners south. The Party is not stopping to search for secret doors.

13. Entry Hall

This lofty room has a ceiling 15' over the floor, supported by six stout columns of unadorned wood. The pool of mud in the center looks like it reduce movement by half, and also looks unremarkable. The Party elected not to see if it actaully was unremarkbale and continued to an open passage in the south wall. The Party could go east or west, and choose to go east.

11. Wine Storage

This room is stoutly locked. When the door is tried, a little dirt will fall from the ceiling. If the door is forced and traps not checked, then a large section of dirt will fall from the ceiling onto any characters within 10' of the door, doing damage to each. The room contains 15 casks and kegs, raised off the dirt floor on wooden shelves. Most of these contain the low-grade wine and watery beer that the Party assumes is given to low level cult members, and four small casks that the Party assumes are the private stock for the reptile god and her higher minions. These are all full. Two contain a strong, dark beer; the others contain Velunan Fireamber and Orlane Special wines. The casks weigh 25 lbs each.

Next Steps

The Party could head north, with the passage covered in mud toward the area marked #10 on the map, or back to the west, where the passage turn turns north toward the area marked #14 on the map.

Report Date

27 May 2024