Warts and All

General Summary

A farmer named Paul Roob came to the doors of the Cerulean Exploration Society asking for help. In his hamlet of Todmorden, some day's travel away on the edge of a swamp, creatures had been acting strangely for a week or so and just a couple of days back a young boy went missing. Though some of the society initially dismissed the farmer's offer for their help as inadequate, an agreement was reached and, though the farmer was not exactly treated with respect by all the group, they set off for Todmorden  that very morning.
Arriving in the small farming community, the group met immediately with the mayor, Jenna D'Arcy, negotiating for a more beneficial arrangement and gathering information. Mayor Jenna D'Arcy informed them that some boars had been acting erratically, entering town and destroying property, even attacking some of the local farmers. The town drunk claimed to have seen the boars being led by a "large animal thing", but his reliability was in doubt. The child that had disappeared was called Gustav Argent. He was a popular child among the other kids and the adults of the town and it was out of character for him to have disappeared. His father had been searching the swamp for the past several days, convinced the boy had been taken, but strangely was reticent to allow people into their home to investigate the disappearance, claiming there was nothing unusual to be found there.
The Society went straight to the boy's home to speak to the father. The man, Osborn Argent, did not wish to let strangers into his home though he thanked them for their help, but the presence of Nedda's Headband of the Stout Heart piqued his interest and in return for a closer look at the artifact, he allowed the Society  inside. Entering the home, those more attuned to such matters recognized that the home was magically protected. Examining the Headband of the Stout Heart, Osborn Argent relayed that he recognized it from his studies into magical artifacts and believed that only ten of these items had ever been created. He hoped to be able to investigate it further in the future.
Just then a thump was heard from the back of the home and everyone scrambled to investigate. Osborn Argent opened the door to his son's room and the party went inside, exploring the small space. Finding nothing at first from checking the bed and chest in the room, they glanced under the room's lone rug and discovered a trapdoor. Turning to ask Osborn Argent about it, they found that the man had disappeared. The party split, some running to tell the mayor, some investigating the home and Nedda looking into the trapdoor itself. Jezean discovered from looking through Osborn's books that the mage seemed to have a fascination with studying the polymorph spell and related magics. Urth decided to help themselves to some of Osborn Argent's dinner.
Nedda saw a workshop under the trapdoor. The table contained some broken vials, and what appeared to be a wand. On the wall a rack of other wands was attached. Most notably, on the floor lay the torn shirt of a young boy. Descending into the workshop, Nedda immediately noticed that a door at the other end of the room was slowly swinging shut. She cried out to the rest of the Society  and charged through the door, her companions close on her heels. At the end of the tunnel beyond the door, another door opened to the outside, right on the edge of the swamp. Investigating the area, they found the tracks of a giant frog leading off into the swamp and went off in pursuit.
Following the tracks for some distance, the party heard a croaking voice yelling for help ahead and found themselves in a clearing with a hollow in the center and a makeshift bridge leading over a stagnant ditch of swamp water. Their abrupt entrance into the clearing startled a nest of swamp vipers and, though the creatures attempted to flee, the ophidiophobic group dispatched with nearly all of the poor reptiles in short order.
Just then, a giant frog burst into the clearing. Strangely it was wearing pants! It appeared to be fleeing from a pack of wild boar. The boar turned on the Society  members as the frog, who the group deducted may be Gustav Argent transformed, cowered in the brush. The largest of the boar stopped short of the rest of the pack and transformed into a hybrid humanoid/boar creature - a Lycanthropy!
In the ensuing fight, two members of the Cerulean Exploration Society  fell. The Lycanthropy mauled Jezean to death with powerful blows and one of the other boars eviscerated Urth, knocking his mangled body into the swamp as the half-orc  attempted to push his intestines back into his body. The frog was, indeed, Gustav Argent who expressed fear at returning home to his father's anger for "touching his stuff". They persuaded the frog/boy to come back with them.
Back at the house, they found Osborn Argent in his workshop, weeping. It emerged that Gustav Argent  had been playing in Osborn Argent's workshop and had inadvertently turned himself into a frog with the Wand of Polymorph before fleeing into the swamp, scared at getting into trouble. Osborn Argent thanked the group profusely and rewarded them with a selection of wands and some money.
Beaten and battered, the group reported to Mayor Jenna D'Arcy what had happened and, appalled that two of their group had been lost to the wereboar and his pack, offered the little else she could manage to give them - a Staff of Birdcalling that had been in her family for generations - along with the other offered rewards.
Once again, the Cerulean Exploration Society  members had been successful in their task, but at great cost. Cerulea  continued to prove itself a deadly place.

Character(s) interacted with

Jenna D'Arcy Gustav Argent Osborn Argent Paul Roob Charise D'Arcy

Report Date

11 Nov 2018