ADVENTURE 25: YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD BARD DOWN
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Game Session Date: 29 August 2026
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"We've got another assignment from the Guild," announced Kruz. "Looks like we'll be renting out that mule wagon again."
"What is it this time?" asked Adrielle.
"Hunt down a displacer beast," replied the changeling rogue, sitting down at the table and helping himself to a few of Mrs. Geshuku's breakfast rolls. The others had just about finished breakfast, but Kruz had decided to go check out the Guild offerings first thing in the morning.
"What is a displacer beast?" asked Shiroko.
"Think of a black panther, only it's got six legs instead of four, and it's also got two tentacles with barbed tips growing out of its shoulders. Mostly, though, it warps light around it, so it's never exactly where it seems to be."
"And why are we hunting a displacer beast?" pressed the hengeyokai.
"The usual reason," answered Kruz. "Some wizard needs a displacer beast pelt for some magic gewgaw he wants to craft, or so he can use its teeth and claws for something - who knows, really? The main thing is he's willing to pay 2,500 pieces of gold if we can kill him a displacer beast and bring back its body intact."
"Are these displacer beasts local?" asked Adrielle. She was always wary of straying too far from the ocean, in case her merfolk tribe needed her.
"I asked around," replied Kruz. "There's tales of a displacer beast roaming the hills around Wemblyshire." Before Adrielle could ask her next question, he added, "It's about two days of travel north of Port Duralia."
"I'm in!" replied Brendan. "Let's finish up here, gather our gear, and go hunt us down a displacer beast!"
Two days later, just before noon, the group of five arrived in the small village of Wemblyshire, after a relatively uneventful trip. They hit the local watering holes, seeing if they could get any information on where the displacer beast seen around these parts might lair. Everyone they asked pointed them to the same person: a former ranger named Vinnie, who had traveled out with two other rangers to slay the creature, only to arrive back in town alone, wounded and near death, the only survivor of the hunting expedition. Vinnie's ranger days were now behind him; he spent most of his time deep in the bottle.
Tracking down Vinnie wasn't particularly difficult, as there were only three bars in Wemblyshire; they found him in the third, already deep in drink. He was vociferous in his opinion that taking on a displacer beast was a fool's game, and that the heroes were idiots to mess with it. But while he adamantly refused to take them to the beast's lair, he finally agreed - for the cost of a bottle of whiskey, which Shiroko promptly provided - to tell them the way to its lair. "It's your lives you're throwing away!" scoffed Vinnie as they said their farewells.
Finding the creature's lair wasn't all that difficult, either; it was about a half-hour's ride to the northwest, into the hills. They made their way to the "Y" in the forest road Vinnie had described and halted the horses and mules, for another score of yards beyond the "Y", hidden by trees, was a cave opening where the displacer beast was said to lair. There were numerous feline footprints in the dirt of the road, indicating the beast had crossed several times in the past couple of days. And while none of the heroes were trained trackers, it was very likely the tracks had been made by a six-legged creature.
Adrielle dismounted from her white horse Conch and extended Galrich's fang into its longspear configuration. Brendan pulled his skull mask over his head - the darkvision it provided would be useful inside the lightless cave interior - and drank down a potion of mage armor. He then dismounted from his own steed, Nag, leaving him beside Conch. The horses nickered nervously, perhaps smelling the large cat their riders hunted.
Shiroko dropped down from the back of the wagon as Hoppy drove the mules around the corner of the "Y," further out of the way of the cave entrance. She cautiously approached the cave, casting a detect magic spell as she got nearer, just in case. No magical auras were detectable. Hoppy, in the meantime, channeled a bull's strength spell into his feral rat familiar, Scruffy, and sent him over to deliver it to Brendan - it was quicker than trying to catch up to the monk, what with the mongrelfolk adept's limping gait. Scruffy brushed up against Brendan's ankle and triggered the spell. The monk nodded down to the rat in silent acknowledgement.
Kruz dismounted his new horse Stonk from behind the wagon and pulled his seeking light crossbow from his back, loading a quarrel from his hip-quiver into place. Then he strode to the center of the "Y" in the road, looking down the right-hand path. There was always the possibility the displacer beast wasn't currently in his lair, and if that were the case, the changeling was fairly sure he could rely upon the mules and horses to give him ample warning should he approach from the northwest; he'd therefore focus his attention on the other path, to the northeast.
Adrielle padded quietly to the cave entrance and peered inside. From what little light filtered in, it looked like a large central cavern with a pair of side-caves, one to the east and one to the west. It was too dark for her to see into the interiors of the side-caves, but she thought she could hear the slight sounds of breathing coming from inside. Not wanting to fight in the dark, she used her boots of spider climbing to ascend up the side of the cavern entrance, positioning herself on the wall near the top of the ceiling. She likewise prepared her heavy crossbow for use when the great cat presented itself.
Brendan unwound the spiked chain he wore around his torso like a bandolier, gathering up its length in both hands and readying it for the attack. Shiroko drank down a potion of mage armor the monk had given her earlier and positioned herself behind Brendan. Then the monk, seeing everyone was ready and not wanting to fight the displacer beast inside its darkened cave, where he'd be the only one of the heroes able to see, gave a sharp whistle that pierced the normal sounds of the forest surroundings.
Adrielle heard a distinct "Whuff?" from inside the back cave, as the displacer beast woke up from the monk's shrill whistle. Shortly thereafter, she got her first look at a displacer beast. As described, it had six legs, a full four of them located further back down its sleek body. The tentacles growing from its shoulders were not too dissimilar from those of the squids she'd encountered in her youth as part of a merfolk tribe, although these had thorny spikes where a squid's would have suckers. Its coat was a shiny black, almost blue where the weak sunlight filtering in from the cave opening hit it. Adrielle pulled her heavy crossbow up to her eye to aim it at the creature, but was surprised when it lashed out at her with a spiked tentacle - apparently it had no trouble spotting her up there by the cavern ceiling, and she belatedly recalled most of these "cats" - they had no such equivalent in the undersea realm of her birth - had a great sense of smell, so it's possible that gave her away as well. She cried out in pain as the thorny spines scraped across her shoulder and she fired her crossbow, the bolt going wide after being jostled as she'd been.
Hoppy heard the scout's cry and picked up the pace as he hobbled towards the cave entrance, ready to apply healing as needed. Brendan raced forward, swinging the end of his chain, and brought it smack-dab at the creature's head. Or at least it looked as if that had been the case, but the chain's end moved through the beast and struck nothing bit the stone cave floor; its displacement effect was quite an effective defense!
Shiroko cast a still ice knife spell at the displacer beast, and the spell likewise missed its target, but it exploded into ice shards and at least some of these managed to strike the beast, judging by its yowl of irritation. The wu jen realized that with its displacement effect in full force, spells that covered an area would be the logical way to take this great cat down.
While combat started at the cave entrance, Kruz kept watch on his designated area and thus picked up some movement in the trees to his right. A second displacer was approaching, this one with a dead raccoon in its mouth. Kruz spun and shot at it through the trees, counting on the seeking property of his weapon to help the bolt in finding its target. The bolt hit, and the black-furred beast dropped the dead raccoon as it bounded forward, straight for the rogue.
Back in the cave, the first displacer beast snapped its jaws at Brendan while slapping at both him and Adrielle with its wide-ranging tentacles. The latter attacks both hit, nearly causing the scout to drop her heavy crossbow in the midst of attempting to reload it. This cavern, she realized, was not tall enough to keep her out of range of the beast's tentacles. But then Hoppy approached and stretched his hand upwards, catching Adrielle on the leg and channeling a cure moderate wounds spell into her bleeding body. "Thanks, Hoppy!" she called as she switched weapons, stabbing down at the displacer beast with her longspear. This time she managed to hit the beast, and it roared up at her in fury. Brendan took the opportunity to swing at it again with his spiked chain, and he struck true as well, although his attempt to stun it with his blow came to naught.
Shiroko performed some quick mental calculations and cast a coldball spell into the back of the entry cavern, far enough away from Adrielle and Brendan that only the displacer beast got caught up in the explosion of cold energy despite the cat's displacement effect. It roared in pain again as it swung both tentacles up at Adrielle, catching her with both.
Kruz stepped back as the second displacer beast came barreling towards him, trying to get out of the cat's way. But the male cat ignored the rogue - and Shiroko, who was also along his trajectory - as he raced to protect his pregnant mate in their cavern lair. It charged at Brendan, raking the monk's back with the spikes on its tentacle. Brendan spun in place and tried to retaliate with a flurry of blows, rapidly swinging both ends of his chain at the newcomer, but the cat's displacement protection served it well, and neither strike connected. But while the displacer beast was attacking Brendan from the front, Hoppy managed to sneak in behind him and cast another cure moderate wounds spell on the monk.
Adrielle continued attacking the pregnant female with her longspear from her perch on the ceiling. Shiroko, realizing the potential for her ploy to end in complete failure, took a chance and cast a shivering touch spell on her right hand and then went rushing at the male displacer beast. Luck was with her, for she felt the creature's fur beneath her palm as the spell discharged, and the great cat was wracked with sudden convulsions as his muscles locked up. He dropped to the cave floor on his side, unable to move a muscle. Shiroko wasn't sure exactly how long the effect would last, but he was at least out of the fight for now and the heroes could focus their attention on the single displacer beast still in the throes of combat.
Kruz shot the female as she bit at Brendan, catching his left forearm between her teeth. Adrielle tried stabbing at her from the ceiling, running what seemed to be directly overhead of the beast, but the spearpoint hit nothing but air. Brendan, his left arm still caught up in the cat's mouth, used his right hand to bring his spiked chain crashing down upon her skull - at least having her biting him gave him a very good idea of her exact location! - and the blow caved in the top of her skull. Her jaw relaxed as she slumped to the cave floor beside her mate, and Brendan pulled his arm out of her mouth. Hoppy stumbled forward and cast a cure light wounds upon him to seal up the worst of his wounds, while Kruz conferred the killing blow upon the paralyzed male with his luck blade.
"Hey, I wonder if that wizard will pay us double for two displacer beasts?" he queried. It was definitely worth a shot, so they lugged both corpses over to the wagon and loaded them on. Hoppy finished his curative ministrations on Adrielle and Brendan, and then the monk explored the rest of the lair, finding a few items of interest among the bones of previous victims (two of them, he realized, likely the other two rangers from Vinnie's hunting expedition who came to a bad end). Adrielle took the ring of feather falling and the javelin of lightning, while Kruz put on the boots of elvenkind. The rest of the equipment still in decent shape - a longbow and a quiver of 10 arrows, a throwing axe, and a short sword of exquisite craftsmanship - was stored in the extradimensional confines of Adrielle's magic haversack.
Then the group mounted up and were on their way back home. There was no need to return to Wemblyshire, so they took an alternate route back to Port Duralia that would cut an hour or so from their travel time.
Hours later, they were in their standard configuration - Adrielle and Brendan in front on their horses, followed by Hoppy driving the mule wagon, Shiroko riding in the back with the dead displacer beasts, and Kruz bringing up the rear on Stonk - when the unmistakable sound of singing could be heard from the road ahead. They were bordered by forest on both sides, but they could see a cave opening on the side of the hills to their right just ahead, and it was from the cave the singing seemed to be coming. The voice was that of a young woman, probably human, and while she had a good voice it was apparent she wasn't at her best, for she sounded a bit hoarse and scratchy at times. As they slowed down in concern, they could hear her song quite clearly:
Sure enough, there were bloodstains on the road just outside the cave and drag-marks indicating where a horse could have been dragged into the cave interior. And then the girl's voice started up again from inside the cave: "Okay, okay, I get it - encore!" There was the sound of her clearing her throat, and then the song started up again: "If there's anybody out there, I could use a little aid...."
"We've got to help her!" whispered Adrielle back to the others, and they all nodded their agreement. Kruz rode Plonk past the wagon and positioned him across the road from the cave opening, as he pulled his light crossbow from his back and loaded a bolt into place. Then he nodded his readiness to the others: as soon as a troll came out of the cave, it'll get a bolt in the belly.
Brendan rode Nag up to the cave entrance and dismounted while pulling his skull mask into place. He slid quietly into the dark cave interior, ducking his head around the corner to his right, from where the singing was originating. There he got his first look at the singer: a young girl about 17 or 18, playing a fancy lute while sitting on a ledge at the far side of a pit of unknown depth. On the other side if the pit, with his back turned to the monk, sat a juvenile troll - undoubtedly, the "Junior" from the young bard's song. He was moving in place to the beat of the song, although it was apparent he had no idea what the bard was conveying with her lyrics. Stalactites hung down from the ceiling above the pit, a particularly large one hanging down from the center much lower than the others; Brendan imagined that was how Junior had gotten the bard in place in her area of captivity: by swinging from the stalactite while carrying her under one arm. The span of the pit was large enough the bard likely wouldn't make the jump on her own.
Shiroko climbed down from the wagon, moving furtively to the side of the cave opening. Hoppy climbed down after her, moving forward to provide healing as needed once the rescue operation began. And the young woman continued singing her improvised song, having apparently done so enough that the words came naturally.
Adrielle dismounted from Conch and entered the cave, Galrich's fang held out before her. Using her boots of spider climbing, she walked up the side wall and approached until she was near enough to Junior to stab the tip of her longspear directly into the young troll's back. Junior cried out in pain and surprise, and two more grunts of surprise came from another cavern on the far side of the entry cave, where Junior's parents were chowing down on the horse they'd slain the day before. Turning from their meal, they headed out to the main entrance to see what their boy was up to this time.
Kruz dismounted from Plonk and carefully approached the cave entrance, his crossbow pointed forward and ready to shoot. Brendan stepped fully into the cave, swinging his spiked chain at Junior, who had stood up and turned to face Adrielle above him. The chain took the young troll in the face, but Brendan had no better luck stunning his foe than he had while fighting the displacer beasts. Shiroko approached close enough to be able to see Junior and cast a still ice knife spell at him, her second of the day. But Junior was intent upon punishing Adrielle, the first one to attack him; he grabbed her up in both hands and raked his claws down either side of her body, ripping great rents into her studded leather armor, the garment she wore beneath it, and the flesh beneath both. She screamed in pain, close to blacking out from the heavy blood loss and the shock of having been torn into like that.
Hoppy, hearing Adrielle's cries, hobbled into the cave at his best speed, ready to cast a cure light wounds spell - the highest amount of healing he had on hand - as soon as he could reach her. The bard, a human girl of 17 summers named Wrennie Songlark, saw her rescuers attacking Junior and stopped her song immediately, intensely glad it had worked. But then, despite her parched throat, she picked up her lute again and started strumming a new song, one that flooded her rescuers' senses with inspirational courage, aiding - or so she hoped - in their attacks upon the trolls.
The two adult trolls came barreling out of their cave lair, one right after the other, growling menacingly at seeing intruders in their entry cavern. But their faces lit up at the thought of adding fresh meat to their meal, especially once they saw the variety arrayed before them: a couple more humans, another with possibly some elven blood, and some sort of fox-woman - plus a mishmash creature with features from a variety of races: who knew what he'd taste like?
Before the adult trolls could close with the heroes, Adrielle raced along the ceiling and stabbed down at Junior again with her longspear, dropping him instantly where he stood. That elicited cries of rage from his parents, who raced toward their unconscious son and the intruders directly between them and him. That allowed Kruz to melt back to the other side of the cave and step up behind the male troll, lining up a shot at him with his crossbow.
Brendan turned in place and swung his spiked chain at the troll father, hitting him across the side of his warty face but once again failing to stun him. He admitted he really didn't know exactly what he was doing with these stun attempts; they were just instinctual reactions on his part that sometimes worked and sometime - like, all day today! - did not. Shiroko saw the troll mother headed her way and readied to activate her cloak of the frost salamander as she backed away, well aware of the troll's greater reach as she did so. Sure enough, the troll's gangly arm came swinging her way and the wu jen felt the claws rip through her kimono, but her magical cloak sent a blast of cold energy back at the troll, dealing her more damage than she'd managed to inflict upon the hengeyokai with her wicked claws. The wu jen followed up with another still ice knife spell, hitting Junior's mother with the frozen ice shard that seemed to drain some of the fight out of her. Shiroko then stumbled back almost out of the cave, nearly into Hoppy's arms, and he took the opportunity to cast the cure light wounds spell he'd readied for Adrielle - who was still far enough back the sinborn couldn't reach her yet - upon the wounded hengeyokai.
Just as Wrennie's song had mentioned, Junior's battle-damaged body started repairing itself as he lay there unconscious, and as soon as he woke up, he stood up ready to resume the battle. But in the space of time it took him to stand back up, Brendan and Adrielle both slashed at him with their individual weapons of choice, and just that quickly he was back down into unconsciousness. Maybe later he'd learn to "play dead" long enough to be able to stay in the fight more than a mere moment - if he lived that long.
Wrennie kept playing her song of inspirational courage, a look of worry crossing her face as she did so. Yes, she'd lured in some rescuers, but they didn't seem to have any lit torches or flasks of acid on hand. If they were planning on taking down all three trolls with just standard weapons, they were doing it the hard way!
Junior's father slashed out at Brendan with both sets of claws and - just as his son had done to Adrielle earlier - dragged them down and through the sides of his body, leaving great furrows that immediately filled with the monk's blood. The smell of blood seemed to excite the troll, as he grinned broadly and started hooting in some sort of trollish language. His mate also turned to attack Brendan - at that point, he was her closest target - and he no longer had the wherewithal to fend off her attacks. Standing at the very edge of consciousness himself, the monk wondered if this was how he was going to exit this life.
Adrielle, not in much better shape, climbed directly onto the ceiling and stabbed out at the male troll with Galrich's fang, the tip of the longspear stabbing him in the face beside his left eye. Kruz shot the male in the back with his crossbow, hitting him smack between the shoulder blades. As the troll cried out in pain, Brendan saw his chance to escape; withdrawing carefully from the fight, his spiked chain whirling like a shield before him to ward off any attacks, he stepped backwards to the edge of the pit and then leaped over its edge, into the unknown.
It didn't stay unknown to Brendan for very long, as his skull mask provided him perfect darkvision: it was a midden pit, which the trolls used as a latrine and a refuse pit. As he landed ankle-deep in muck best left unexamined, five purple-capped fungi jostled forward in surprise, short tendrils writhing in eagerness of some new flesh to dissolve. But Brendan had managed to slow his fall down the 30-foot pit and land intact, and he was able to maneuver enough to avoid coming into contact with any of the violet fungi's waving tendrils.
Seeing both adult trolls standing side by side, Shiroko took the opportunity to cast a hail of stones spell that caused rocks to tumble down from the cavern's roof directly onto both of them. That was enough for the female, already wounded from the wu jen's earlier cold-based attacks, to drop onto the stone floor, unconscious. But Shiroko could see the troll's flesh already starting to heal up, and she knew Junior's mother would be back into the fight before too long if they didn't do something to keep them down. Closer to the pit, Junior's body was likewise regenerating him closer to waking with every passing second.
In desperation, Hoppy cast a touch of fatigue spell into Scruffy, sending his rat familiar into the fray to try to slow down Junior's return to consciousness. Scruffy was only too happy to deliver the touch spell by chomping his mismatched teeth into the young troll's flesh. The bite didn't do a whole lot of damage, but it likely counteracted against at least part of the troll's regenerative abilities, and with that thought in mind Scruffy devoted himself to biting Junior as often as possible.
On the back ledge, Wrennie continued her song, although she wasn't sure it was having as much of an effect as she had hoped. At 17 years old, she didn't have a whole lot of experience with physical combat.
The male troll stomped forward towards the pit, arms raised to attack Adrielle. For the second time that day, the scout wished the cave whose ceiling she hung from had been a tad bit higher. She did what she could to fend off his attacks, but she was cut up even further from his claws and she backed away, over the pit - directly above Brendan, in fact. "Brendan - catch!" she called out to the monk below her, dropping a piece of gum down at him. This was a confection she'd bought months ago from the potioncrafter Aenus Feysputter, before she'd saved enough for her magic boots; now she no longer needed it, but it would help Brendan get back out of the pit. Brendan snatched the gum out of the air but didn't want to take the time to unwrap it just yet - not while having to dodge the flailing tendrils of five violet fungi. Instead, he leaped up to the side of the pit wall, grabbing onto a fingerhold and pulling himself up out of reach of the menacing fungi below. Only then, when it was safe, did he unwrap the magical gum and pop it into his mouth.
Back in the entry cave, Kruz fired another bolt at the male troll, but he no longer had Brendan providing a distraction. Fortunately, Shiroko had a second hail of stone spell prepared, and she sent another round of stones crashing down upon him and his unconscious mate. Hoppy saw the wu jen was still wounded from the mother troll's earlier attacks, and cast a second cure light wounds spell upon her. (Later, when they'd dealt with the trolls, he could apply a mending spell to her ruined kimono.)
The male troll, being attacked from a distance by both Kruz and Shiroko, opted to focus his attention upon the one foe already well within range. He lashed out at Adrielle with both sets of claws, once again getting a good grip and rending them down the sides of the scout's body. Adrielle didn't have time to do or say anything as she was slain immediately, her magic boots allowing her to stay dangling from the cavern ceiling where she stood, despite her death. Galrich's fang dropped from her lifeless fingers, plummeting down at Brendan directly below her. But Brendan, watching above him, saw it coming and snatched it from the air as he'd done the gum earlier. He walked the way back up the side of the midden pit, the longspear in one hand and his spiked chain in the other. Not being attuned to it as Adrielle had been, he was unable to change its form, but he could certainly use it as a longspear, given that was the form it now took.
Moments passed; troll flesh regenerated; Wrennie desperately sang her song. Then Brendan popped his head over the side of the pit, stabbing up at the male troll with the point of Galrich's fang, piercing him in the belly. Kruz was glad to see Brendan back in the fight, providing a distraction, and the rogue took advantage of the fact by sending another crossbow bolt crashing into the back of the troll's head. Shiroko cast a coldflame foxfire spell, sending three globes of cold energy crashing into the troll's side. Then Hoppy cried out, "Who's got oil?"
"Here!" Kruz replied, pulling a flask out of his belt and holding it up. Hoppy limped over and grabbed it up, then hobbled over to the unconscious female's body and unended the vial's contents upon her. They might not have any fire-based spells, but they carried tinder boxes to start their evening campfires, and all it would take was a spark....
Wrennie watched in both hope and fascination as Hoppy went about his task; the bard had never seen a sinborn before. But she kept up with her inspirational song, and who's to say it wasn't helping her would-be rescuers? Brendan managed to dodge the troll's next set of attacks - had any of them struck, he'd likely be as dead as Adrielle! - and Kruz kept firing away with his crossbow. Brendan, desperate for this damn troll to fall before it killed him, swung his spiked chain at the thing again, catching him in the nose. Shiroko lobbed another three cold orbs from the casting of another coldflame foxfire spell but the troll ducked to the side at the last moment; all that meant was the wu jen would have to re-steer them in her target's direction. But now the troll saw what Hoppy was doing, and realized the danger having his mate soaked with oil could mean. He went for both Brendan and Hoppy, catching each with a set of claws, and the fact the mongrelfolk adept took some of the heat from Brendan likely prevented the monk's death.
But now the troll's attention was solely on Hoppy, claws raised above his head to come striking down at the adept's mismatched body. As the sinborn winced at the coming attack, Kruz fired another shot and caught the troll in the side of the head. Instead of ripping through Hoppy's body, he crashed face-first onto the stone floor before the astonished sinborn. Gulping down his astonishment and relief, Hoppy called out, "More oil! We need to set all three of them ablaze before they regenerate!"
Kruz had several other flasks of oil at his belt, and he doused both Junior and his father with the contents of each while Shiroko took out her tinder box and set some dried grasses - which had been placed upon the female's rapidly-regenerating body - and set her ablaze. The process was repeated for the two male trolls, while Brendan - still chewing Adrielle's gum of spider climbing - walked across to Wrennie and escorted her back to the cavern entrance. Then he went up to the ceiling above the midden pit and pulled Adrielle's body down into his arms. He laid her down reverently onto the stone floor.
"Is she--?" asked Hoppy, heading her way. He was out of spells for the day, but he pulled out his wand of cure light wounds.
Brendan waved him off. "Put the wand away, Hoppy," he said. "It's too late for that." Then he went rummaging through Adrielle's haversack, causing the others to wonder if he was casually helping himself to her possessions. But he pulled out three vials of oil of gentle repose, and started applying the first to her unmoving corpse. The other two he handed over to Hoppy. "We should probably do the same to the displacer beasts," he said absently, and Hoppy moved to do so.
Only one of his mismatched eyes - his right one, the one from a bugbear - was capable of tears. It flowed freely as he applied himself to his new task, Scruffy once again upon his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sorry about your friend," said Wrennie, returning the waterskin Kruz had thoughtfully passed her way; she hadn't had any water since being captured the previous day, and had been singing for her life all through the night and up until the heroes had happened by, and she was severely hoarse. "I don't have a whole of money at the moment, but if you can give me a ride to Port Duralia, I can maybe get some gigs and get you a proper reward...."
"As it happens," replied Kruz, "we're on our way back to Port Duralia. You're welcome to ride on the back of the wagon."
Wrennie went to the troll's lair and pulled the saddlebags from the remains of the horse she'd been riding when the trolls had attacked them. Brendan explored a high, narrow ledge in the back of the entry cavern, finding a half dozen shocker lizards lairing back there, where the trolls couldn't get to them. Best of all, the little lizards had been gathering up diamonds scattered among the cave, the property of a merchant the trolls had slain on the road. The trolls had no use for diamonds, but the shocker lizards liked the way they sparkled and had gathered them up, one by one, while the trolls slept. Once they'd been dispatched, they sent Shiroko up there in fox form to toss the diamonds down to the others.
"Looks like a reward won't be necessary," Kruz said to the young bard. But by this point, Wrennie was practically asleep on her feet, and he helped her to the back of the wagon, where she quickly collapsed into a much-needed slumber. She slept the rest of the day and all through the night, when they camped at the halfway point to Port Duralia. The next morning, she was awake and a bundle of energy, alternating between telling her rescuers all about the towns she'd played at on her way to "the big city," where she'd heard there were enough inns, bars, and taverns to keep a bard in coin, and playing her lute in the back of the wagon, working on a new song. Kruz promised to introduce her to a tavernkeeper they knew who hired on bards to play at his place of business, the Alehouse.
The group did just that, and Grigor Barrelhauser agreed to let her play at the Alehouse the following evening. They dropped off the dead displacer beasts to the Adventurers Guild, and were pleased to learn the wizard patron was only too eager to pay double for a pair of displacer beasts, despite only having expected the one. That was fortuitous, for the 5,000 pieces of gold he paid over was the amount needed to purchase the casting a raise dead spell from the Temple of Akari. Father Bones himself, in robes and top hat, performed the ceremony, restoring Adrielle back to life in an admittedly weakened state - but alive, and that was what counted.
The following night, the five were sitting among the back row of tables in the Alehouse as Wrennie took the stage. To their surprise, she called out to her rescuers, thanking them for their assistance, and then began her first song - a new one, she said, which described the heroes' encounter with the trolls.
Partway through the song, a pair of hooded travelers entered the Alehouse and took two of the only available seats remaining, over at the table next to Adrielle and Shiroko. They kept their hoods up, but Kruz and Brendan, who were facing their way, could tell they looked to be a human couple in their late forties or early fifties. They wore stern expressions on their faces, stealing occasional glances over at Wrennie as she sang her new ballad.
Eventually, the man started to relax, whereas the woman sitting beside him continued to look upset. The man kept his hood up, but leaned over to the two female heroes at the table next to him and asked, "What do you think of the singer?"
"She's doing great," replied Shiroko. The music wasn't anything like the music of Sokoku, but the hengeyokai found her foot tapping involuntarily underneath the bench upon which she and Adrielle sat.
"The stuff she's singing about - did that really happen?" pressed the man. Adrielle assured him that it did, and the female traveler looked even more concerned at the bard's lyrics - she'd gotten to the part where the heroes came in and were attacking the trolls, while she was stuck on a back ledge, a prisoner to Junior, little more than a living music box.
Then the man asked a rather strange question. "Do either of you have an empty potion vial on you?"
Brendan reached down into his pack and passed a glass vial over to Shiroko, who in turn passed it over to the traveler, who then fished around in his coin purse until he pulled out a smoky, white gemstone. He dropped it into the flask, and then pulled a knife from his belt, causing Adrielle and Shiroko to flinch, unsure if this stranger was about to attack them. But he merely gave them a reassuring smile, and turned the blade onto his left palm, cutting a gash across its length. He held the potion vial beneath his dripping hand, until the gemstone was fully submerged in a quantity of his blood. He then wrapped his hand with a handkerchief, stoppered the vial, and passed it over to Shiroko, who took it hesitantly, unsure of what to do with it.
"We're Wrennie's parents," the man said as he pulled a potion of cure light wounds out from his belt and gulped down its contents, flexing his left hand after doing so, "and we can't thank you enough for saving our daughter. Wrennie and her mother" - and here he indicated the woman sitting next to him, stealing glances at her daughter on stage - "had a bit of a disagreement about the proper age she might start going out to perform on her own. So Wrennie took things into her own hands - she stole my lute and my horse and went off in the middle of the night to start her musical career. Which, judging from the approval of the crowd, seems to be going okay."
"She's too young," insisted his wife. "And she was almost killed by trolls!"
"But she used her wits and turned the situation around," argued Wrennie's father. "And now she's safely ensconced in Port Duralia, where she shouldn't be running into that many trolls, playing gigs at inns and taverns like this."
He turned back to Shiroko, since she was the one sitting closest to him, at the front of their respective benches. "We've been tracking her south for the past couple of days," he told them. "In any case, keep this vial with you. It'll take about a week for the blood magic to fully soak in, but any time after that, if you find yourselves in a bind, just open the vial and explain your situation to the dreamstone inside. Word will make its way back to me, and I'll head in your direction and see what assistance I can bring."
The man then stood up, and had his wife stand up beside him. "Come on," he told her. "Wrennie's fine here. Let's go on home." Turning back to the heroes at the next table, he said, "My name's Xandro Silverstrings, and this is my wife, Robin. Just give me a shout, and we'll come running - we owe you big time." And then they pushed their way through the crowded drinking establishment, exiting the building without Wrennie recognizing them.
She finished her first song to a round of rousing applause, and then, with a big smile, started into her next one.
- - -
We use initiative cards in our various campaigns; these are homemade cards (printed paper glued to an index card and cut out to playing card size, then covered with Con*Tact paper) to not only show who's up next in the initiative order, but also to allow the players to see what the creature in question looks like. For the image of Wrennie Songlark, I used a photo of Taylor Momsen, the lead singer of the group "The Pretty Reckless." (And I played Pretty Reckless music in the background once the PCs got to within hearing distance of Wrennie singing her "somebody please come rescue me" song.)
Adrielle was our first PC death in this campaign, but it came at an opportune time, as this was adventure #25, and after every 5 adventures the PCs level up - I've found it's easier than tracking XP, and it works fine for us. So after the adventure was over, I passed out everyone their upgrade checklists, and explained to Vicki (Adrielle's player) that a raise dead spell (all the group could afford) would have brought her back to life, but at a level lower - so while the others were attaining 6th level, she'd be "regaining" 5th level, and would be a level behind everyone else from now in. However, as she's a mermaid inhabiting a human body, I told her there was a simple solution - I'll just have the next adventure take place a month or so in the future, during which time she'll be called back to her merfolk tribe to deal with an issue occurring in her tribe's underwater village - a place whose location the suspicious merfolk don't want the "land-dwellers" to know. So, sometime in the next month she'll be undergoing an "off-camera adventure" which will grant her enough XP to catch back up with the rest of our group. So Adrielle got leveled up to 6th, and the next time we play - currently scheduled for Saturday the 12th of September - her "off-camera adventure" will have already occurred.
I just hope we don't have to deal with any PC deaths in the rest of the campaign, because I've kind of set a precedent here.
Incidentally, Xandro was my nephew's PC in my previous campaign, "Dreams of Erthe," and Robin the Balladeer was his girlfriend; in the 20 years that have passed between these two campaigns, they got married and had a daughter. I thought it would be a fun way to join the two campaigns, and the players got a kick out of it (as I had hoped they would).
- - -
T-shirt worn: My "Dungeons & Dragons Silver Anniversary" T-shirt, since among the various D&D monsters celebrating on the shirt is a troll.
PC Roster:
Adrielle, human/merfolk scout 5
Brendan Conaill, human monk 5
Kruz Taszan, changeling rogue 5
Shiroko, snow fox hengeyokai wu jen 5
NPC Roster:
Hoppy, mongrelfolk adept 5
Game Session Date: 29 August 2026
- - -
"We've got another assignment from the Guild," announced Kruz. "Looks like we'll be renting out that mule wagon again."
"What is it this time?" asked Adrielle.
"Hunt down a displacer beast," replied the changeling rogue, sitting down at the table and helping himself to a few of Mrs. Geshuku's breakfast rolls. The others had just about finished breakfast, but Kruz had decided to go check out the Guild offerings first thing in the morning.
"What is a displacer beast?" asked Shiroko.
"Think of a black panther, only it's got six legs instead of four, and it's also got two tentacles with barbed tips growing out of its shoulders. Mostly, though, it warps light around it, so it's never exactly where it seems to be."
"And why are we hunting a displacer beast?" pressed the hengeyokai.
"The usual reason," answered Kruz. "Some wizard needs a displacer beast pelt for some magic gewgaw he wants to craft, or so he can use its teeth and claws for something - who knows, really? The main thing is he's willing to pay 2,500 pieces of gold if we can kill him a displacer beast and bring back its body intact."
"Are these displacer beasts local?" asked Adrielle. She was always wary of straying too far from the ocean, in case her merfolk tribe needed her.
"I asked around," replied Kruz. "There's tales of a displacer beast roaming the hills around Wemblyshire." Before Adrielle could ask her next question, he added, "It's about two days of travel north of Port Duralia."
"I'm in!" replied Brendan. "Let's finish up here, gather our gear, and go hunt us down a displacer beast!"
Two days later, just before noon, the group of five arrived in the small village of Wemblyshire, after a relatively uneventful trip. They hit the local watering holes, seeing if they could get any information on where the displacer beast seen around these parts might lair. Everyone they asked pointed them to the same person: a former ranger named Vinnie, who had traveled out with two other rangers to slay the creature, only to arrive back in town alone, wounded and near death, the only survivor of the hunting expedition. Vinnie's ranger days were now behind him; he spent most of his time deep in the bottle.
Tracking down Vinnie wasn't particularly difficult, as there were only three bars in Wemblyshire; they found him in the third, already deep in drink. He was vociferous in his opinion that taking on a displacer beast was a fool's game, and that the heroes were idiots to mess with it. But while he adamantly refused to take them to the beast's lair, he finally agreed - for the cost of a bottle of whiskey, which Shiroko promptly provided - to tell them the way to its lair. "It's your lives you're throwing away!" scoffed Vinnie as they said their farewells.
Finding the creature's lair wasn't all that difficult, either; it was about a half-hour's ride to the northwest, into the hills. They made their way to the "Y" in the forest road Vinnie had described and halted the horses and mules, for another score of yards beyond the "Y", hidden by trees, was a cave opening where the displacer beast was said to lair. There were numerous feline footprints in the dirt of the road, indicating the beast had crossed several times in the past couple of days. And while none of the heroes were trained trackers, it was very likely the tracks had been made by a six-legged creature.
Adrielle dismounted from her white horse Conch and extended Galrich's fang into its longspear configuration. Brendan pulled his skull mask over his head - the darkvision it provided would be useful inside the lightless cave interior - and drank down a potion of mage armor. He then dismounted from his own steed, Nag, leaving him beside Conch. The horses nickered nervously, perhaps smelling the large cat their riders hunted.
Shiroko dropped down from the back of the wagon as Hoppy drove the mules around the corner of the "Y," further out of the way of the cave entrance. She cautiously approached the cave, casting a detect magic spell as she got nearer, just in case. No magical auras were detectable. Hoppy, in the meantime, channeled a bull's strength spell into his feral rat familiar, Scruffy, and sent him over to deliver it to Brendan - it was quicker than trying to catch up to the monk, what with the mongrelfolk adept's limping gait. Scruffy brushed up against Brendan's ankle and triggered the spell. The monk nodded down to the rat in silent acknowledgement.
Kruz dismounted his new horse Stonk from behind the wagon and pulled his seeking light crossbow from his back, loading a quarrel from his hip-quiver into place. Then he strode to the center of the "Y" in the road, looking down the right-hand path. There was always the possibility the displacer beast wasn't currently in his lair, and if that were the case, the changeling was fairly sure he could rely upon the mules and horses to give him ample warning should he approach from the northwest; he'd therefore focus his attention on the other path, to the northeast.
Adrielle padded quietly to the cave entrance and peered inside. From what little light filtered in, it looked like a large central cavern with a pair of side-caves, one to the east and one to the west. It was too dark for her to see into the interiors of the side-caves, but she thought she could hear the slight sounds of breathing coming from inside. Not wanting to fight in the dark, she used her boots of spider climbing to ascend up the side of the cavern entrance, positioning herself on the wall near the top of the ceiling. She likewise prepared her heavy crossbow for use when the great cat presented itself.
Brendan unwound the spiked chain he wore around his torso like a bandolier, gathering up its length in both hands and readying it for the attack. Shiroko drank down a potion of mage armor the monk had given her earlier and positioned herself behind Brendan. Then the monk, seeing everyone was ready and not wanting to fight the displacer beast inside its darkened cave, where he'd be the only one of the heroes able to see, gave a sharp whistle that pierced the normal sounds of the forest surroundings.
Adrielle heard a distinct "Whuff?" from inside the back cave, as the displacer beast woke up from the monk's shrill whistle. Shortly thereafter, she got her first look at a displacer beast. As described, it had six legs, a full four of them located further back down its sleek body. The tentacles growing from its shoulders were not too dissimilar from those of the squids she'd encountered in her youth as part of a merfolk tribe, although these had thorny spikes where a squid's would have suckers. Its coat was a shiny black, almost blue where the weak sunlight filtering in from the cave opening hit it. Adrielle pulled her heavy crossbow up to her eye to aim it at the creature, but was surprised when it lashed out at her with a spiked tentacle - apparently it had no trouble spotting her up there by the cavern ceiling, and she belatedly recalled most of these "cats" - they had no such equivalent in the undersea realm of her birth - had a great sense of smell, so it's possible that gave her away as well. She cried out in pain as the thorny spines scraped across her shoulder and she fired her crossbow, the bolt going wide after being jostled as she'd been.
Hoppy heard the scout's cry and picked up the pace as he hobbled towards the cave entrance, ready to apply healing as needed. Brendan raced forward, swinging the end of his chain, and brought it smack-dab at the creature's head. Or at least it looked as if that had been the case, but the chain's end moved through the beast and struck nothing bit the stone cave floor; its displacement effect was quite an effective defense!
Shiroko cast a still ice knife spell at the displacer beast, and the spell likewise missed its target, but it exploded into ice shards and at least some of these managed to strike the beast, judging by its yowl of irritation. The wu jen realized that with its displacement effect in full force, spells that covered an area would be the logical way to take this great cat down.
While combat started at the cave entrance, Kruz kept watch on his designated area and thus picked up some movement in the trees to his right. A second displacer was approaching, this one with a dead raccoon in its mouth. Kruz spun and shot at it through the trees, counting on the seeking property of his weapon to help the bolt in finding its target. The bolt hit, and the black-furred beast dropped the dead raccoon as it bounded forward, straight for the rogue.
Back in the cave, the first displacer beast snapped its jaws at Brendan while slapping at both him and Adrielle with its wide-ranging tentacles. The latter attacks both hit, nearly causing the scout to drop her heavy crossbow in the midst of attempting to reload it. This cavern, she realized, was not tall enough to keep her out of range of the beast's tentacles. But then Hoppy approached and stretched his hand upwards, catching Adrielle on the leg and channeling a cure moderate wounds spell into her bleeding body. "Thanks, Hoppy!" she called as she switched weapons, stabbing down at the displacer beast with her longspear. This time she managed to hit the beast, and it roared up at her in fury. Brendan took the opportunity to swing at it again with his spiked chain, and he struck true as well, although his attempt to stun it with his blow came to naught.
Shiroko performed some quick mental calculations and cast a coldball spell into the back of the entry cavern, far enough away from Adrielle and Brendan that only the displacer beast got caught up in the explosion of cold energy despite the cat's displacement effect. It roared in pain again as it swung both tentacles up at Adrielle, catching her with both.
Kruz stepped back as the second displacer beast came barreling towards him, trying to get out of the cat's way. But the male cat ignored the rogue - and Shiroko, who was also along his trajectory - as he raced to protect his pregnant mate in their cavern lair. It charged at Brendan, raking the monk's back with the spikes on its tentacle. Brendan spun in place and tried to retaliate with a flurry of blows, rapidly swinging both ends of his chain at the newcomer, but the cat's displacement protection served it well, and neither strike connected. But while the displacer beast was attacking Brendan from the front, Hoppy managed to sneak in behind him and cast another cure moderate wounds spell on the monk.
Adrielle continued attacking the pregnant female with her longspear from her perch on the ceiling. Shiroko, realizing the potential for her ploy to end in complete failure, took a chance and cast a shivering touch spell on her right hand and then went rushing at the male displacer beast. Luck was with her, for she felt the creature's fur beneath her palm as the spell discharged, and the great cat was wracked with sudden convulsions as his muscles locked up. He dropped to the cave floor on his side, unable to move a muscle. Shiroko wasn't sure exactly how long the effect would last, but he was at least out of the fight for now and the heroes could focus their attention on the single displacer beast still in the throes of combat.
Kruz shot the female as she bit at Brendan, catching his left forearm between her teeth. Adrielle tried stabbing at her from the ceiling, running what seemed to be directly overhead of the beast, but the spearpoint hit nothing but air. Brendan, his left arm still caught up in the cat's mouth, used his right hand to bring his spiked chain crashing down upon her skull - at least having her biting him gave him a very good idea of her exact location! - and the blow caved in the top of her skull. Her jaw relaxed as she slumped to the cave floor beside her mate, and Brendan pulled his arm out of her mouth. Hoppy stumbled forward and cast a cure light wounds upon him to seal up the worst of his wounds, while Kruz conferred the killing blow upon the paralyzed male with his luck blade.
"Hey, I wonder if that wizard will pay us double for two displacer beasts?" he queried. It was definitely worth a shot, so they lugged both corpses over to the wagon and loaded them on. Hoppy finished his curative ministrations on Adrielle and Brendan, and then the monk explored the rest of the lair, finding a few items of interest among the bones of previous victims (two of them, he realized, likely the other two rangers from Vinnie's hunting expedition who came to a bad end). Adrielle took the ring of feather falling and the javelin of lightning, while Kruz put on the boots of elvenkind. The rest of the equipment still in decent shape - a longbow and a quiver of 10 arrows, a throwing axe, and a short sword of exquisite craftsmanship - was stored in the extradimensional confines of Adrielle's magic haversack.
Then the group mounted up and were on their way back home. There was no need to return to Wemblyshire, so they took an alternate route back to Port Duralia that would cut an hour or so from their travel time.
Hours later, they were in their standard configuration - Adrielle and Brendan in front on their horses, followed by Hoppy driving the mule wagon, Shiroko riding in the back with the dead displacer beasts, and Kruz bringing up the rear on Stonk - when the unmistakable sound of singing could be heard from the road ahead. They were bordered by forest on both sides, but they could see a cave opening on the side of the hills to their right just ahead, and it was from the cave the singing seemed to be coming. The voice was that of a young woman, probably human, and while she had a good voice it was apparent she wasn't at her best, for she sounded a bit hoarse and scratchy at times. As they slowed down in concern, they could hear her song quite clearly:
"If there's anybody out there,
I could use a little aid
I hope somebody's out there,
I have prayed and I have prayed
I'm trapped here in this troll den,
And I'm singing for my life
This troll kid likes my singing
But he thinks that I'm his wife
His parents killed the horse I rode
And made it their next meal
They'd likely do the same to me
'Cept Junior made a deal
I'm trapped here on this back ledge
Where they cannot get to me
But I can't get away myself
While Junior's here, you see
I sure could use a rescue
If there's anyone about
Don't have much coin to pay you,
Maybe we can work it out
And if you were just passing by
And heard my little song
But don't think you can take three trolls
At least pass this along
Please send some word to someone
Who can maybe rescue me
And could you please, please hurry?
'Cause I'm worrying, you see
Been singing now for hours
And it's keeping me alive
But now my throat's a little raw
How long can I survive?
I'm 'fraid that if I stop this show
Junior will get all pissed
And it's not like he'll just get mad
And shake his little fist
Because if I stop singing
He'll decide that I was rude
And I'll stop being entertainment
I'll just be some food
About these trolls I don't know much
But this is what I've heard
They hate acid and fire
So those are the watchwords
I think they can regenerate
From normal stabs and cuts
But deal them enough damage
And you'll knock them on their butts
I hope somebody's out there
And I'm not wasting my time
'Cause I really don't wanna just be
Cut down in my prime."
Sure enough, there were bloodstains on the road just outside the cave and drag-marks indicating where a horse could have been dragged into the cave interior. And then the girl's voice started up again from inside the cave: "Okay, okay, I get it - encore!" There was the sound of her clearing her throat, and then the song started up again: "If there's anybody out there, I could use a little aid...."
"We've got to help her!" whispered Adrielle back to the others, and they all nodded their agreement. Kruz rode Plonk past the wagon and positioned him across the road from the cave opening, as he pulled his light crossbow from his back and loaded a bolt into place. Then he nodded his readiness to the others: as soon as a troll came out of the cave, it'll get a bolt in the belly.
Brendan rode Nag up to the cave entrance and dismounted while pulling his skull mask into place. He slid quietly into the dark cave interior, ducking his head around the corner to his right, from where the singing was originating. There he got his first look at the singer: a young girl about 17 or 18, playing a fancy lute while sitting on a ledge at the far side of a pit of unknown depth. On the other side if the pit, with his back turned to the monk, sat a juvenile troll - undoubtedly, the "Junior" from the young bard's song. He was moving in place to the beat of the song, although it was apparent he had no idea what the bard was conveying with her lyrics. Stalactites hung down from the ceiling above the pit, a particularly large one hanging down from the center much lower than the others; Brendan imagined that was how Junior had gotten the bard in place in her area of captivity: by swinging from the stalactite while carrying her under one arm. The span of the pit was large enough the bard likely wouldn't make the jump on her own.
Shiroko climbed down from the wagon, moving furtively to the side of the cave opening. Hoppy climbed down after her, moving forward to provide healing as needed once the rescue operation began. And the young woman continued singing her improvised song, having apparently done so enough that the words came naturally.
Adrielle dismounted from Conch and entered the cave, Galrich's fang held out before her. Using her boots of spider climbing, she walked up the side wall and approached until she was near enough to Junior to stab the tip of her longspear directly into the young troll's back. Junior cried out in pain and surprise, and two more grunts of surprise came from another cavern on the far side of the entry cave, where Junior's parents were chowing down on the horse they'd slain the day before. Turning from their meal, they headed out to the main entrance to see what their boy was up to this time.
Kruz dismounted from Plonk and carefully approached the cave entrance, his crossbow pointed forward and ready to shoot. Brendan stepped fully into the cave, swinging his spiked chain at Junior, who had stood up and turned to face Adrielle above him. The chain took the young troll in the face, but Brendan had no better luck stunning his foe than he had while fighting the displacer beasts. Shiroko approached close enough to be able to see Junior and cast a still ice knife spell at him, her second of the day. But Junior was intent upon punishing Adrielle, the first one to attack him; he grabbed her up in both hands and raked his claws down either side of her body, ripping great rents into her studded leather armor, the garment she wore beneath it, and the flesh beneath both. She screamed in pain, close to blacking out from the heavy blood loss and the shock of having been torn into like that.
Hoppy, hearing Adrielle's cries, hobbled into the cave at his best speed, ready to cast a cure light wounds spell - the highest amount of healing he had on hand - as soon as he could reach her. The bard, a human girl of 17 summers named Wrennie Songlark, saw her rescuers attacking Junior and stopped her song immediately, intensely glad it had worked. But then, despite her parched throat, she picked up her lute again and started strumming a new song, one that flooded her rescuers' senses with inspirational courage, aiding - or so she hoped - in their attacks upon the trolls.
The two adult trolls came barreling out of their cave lair, one right after the other, growling menacingly at seeing intruders in their entry cavern. But their faces lit up at the thought of adding fresh meat to their meal, especially once they saw the variety arrayed before them: a couple more humans, another with possibly some elven blood, and some sort of fox-woman - plus a mishmash creature with features from a variety of races: who knew what he'd taste like?
Before the adult trolls could close with the heroes, Adrielle raced along the ceiling and stabbed down at Junior again with her longspear, dropping him instantly where he stood. That elicited cries of rage from his parents, who raced toward their unconscious son and the intruders directly between them and him. That allowed Kruz to melt back to the other side of the cave and step up behind the male troll, lining up a shot at him with his crossbow.
Brendan turned in place and swung his spiked chain at the troll father, hitting him across the side of his warty face but once again failing to stun him. He admitted he really didn't know exactly what he was doing with these stun attempts; they were just instinctual reactions on his part that sometimes worked and sometime - like, all day today! - did not. Shiroko saw the troll mother headed her way and readied to activate her cloak of the frost salamander as she backed away, well aware of the troll's greater reach as she did so. Sure enough, the troll's gangly arm came swinging her way and the wu jen felt the claws rip through her kimono, but her magical cloak sent a blast of cold energy back at the troll, dealing her more damage than she'd managed to inflict upon the hengeyokai with her wicked claws. The wu jen followed up with another still ice knife spell, hitting Junior's mother with the frozen ice shard that seemed to drain some of the fight out of her. Shiroko then stumbled back almost out of the cave, nearly into Hoppy's arms, and he took the opportunity to cast the cure light wounds spell he'd readied for Adrielle - who was still far enough back the sinborn couldn't reach her yet - upon the wounded hengeyokai.
Just as Wrennie's song had mentioned, Junior's battle-damaged body started repairing itself as he lay there unconscious, and as soon as he woke up, he stood up ready to resume the battle. But in the space of time it took him to stand back up, Brendan and Adrielle both slashed at him with their individual weapons of choice, and just that quickly he was back down into unconsciousness. Maybe later he'd learn to "play dead" long enough to be able to stay in the fight more than a mere moment - if he lived that long.
Wrennie kept playing her song of inspirational courage, a look of worry crossing her face as she did so. Yes, she'd lured in some rescuers, but they didn't seem to have any lit torches or flasks of acid on hand. If they were planning on taking down all three trolls with just standard weapons, they were doing it the hard way!
Junior's father slashed out at Brendan with both sets of claws and - just as his son had done to Adrielle earlier - dragged them down and through the sides of his body, leaving great furrows that immediately filled with the monk's blood. The smell of blood seemed to excite the troll, as he grinned broadly and started hooting in some sort of trollish language. His mate also turned to attack Brendan - at that point, he was her closest target - and he no longer had the wherewithal to fend off her attacks. Standing at the very edge of consciousness himself, the monk wondered if this was how he was going to exit this life.
Adrielle, not in much better shape, climbed directly onto the ceiling and stabbed out at the male troll with Galrich's fang, the tip of the longspear stabbing him in the face beside his left eye. Kruz shot the male in the back with his crossbow, hitting him smack between the shoulder blades. As the troll cried out in pain, Brendan saw his chance to escape; withdrawing carefully from the fight, his spiked chain whirling like a shield before him to ward off any attacks, he stepped backwards to the edge of the pit and then leaped over its edge, into the unknown.
It didn't stay unknown to Brendan for very long, as his skull mask provided him perfect darkvision: it was a midden pit, which the trolls used as a latrine and a refuse pit. As he landed ankle-deep in muck best left unexamined, five purple-capped fungi jostled forward in surprise, short tendrils writhing in eagerness of some new flesh to dissolve. But Brendan had managed to slow his fall down the 30-foot pit and land intact, and he was able to maneuver enough to avoid coming into contact with any of the violet fungi's waving tendrils.
Seeing both adult trolls standing side by side, Shiroko took the opportunity to cast a hail of stones spell that caused rocks to tumble down from the cavern's roof directly onto both of them. That was enough for the female, already wounded from the wu jen's earlier cold-based attacks, to drop onto the stone floor, unconscious. But Shiroko could see the troll's flesh already starting to heal up, and she knew Junior's mother would be back into the fight before too long if they didn't do something to keep them down. Closer to the pit, Junior's body was likewise regenerating him closer to waking with every passing second.
In desperation, Hoppy cast a touch of fatigue spell into Scruffy, sending his rat familiar into the fray to try to slow down Junior's return to consciousness. Scruffy was only too happy to deliver the touch spell by chomping his mismatched teeth into the young troll's flesh. The bite didn't do a whole lot of damage, but it likely counteracted against at least part of the troll's regenerative abilities, and with that thought in mind Scruffy devoted himself to biting Junior as often as possible.
On the back ledge, Wrennie continued her song, although she wasn't sure it was having as much of an effect as she had hoped. At 17 years old, she didn't have a whole lot of experience with physical combat.
The male troll stomped forward towards the pit, arms raised to attack Adrielle. For the second time that day, the scout wished the cave whose ceiling she hung from had been a tad bit higher. She did what she could to fend off his attacks, but she was cut up even further from his claws and she backed away, over the pit - directly above Brendan, in fact. "Brendan - catch!" she called out to the monk below her, dropping a piece of gum down at him. This was a confection she'd bought months ago from the potioncrafter Aenus Feysputter, before she'd saved enough for her magic boots; now she no longer needed it, but it would help Brendan get back out of the pit. Brendan snatched the gum out of the air but didn't want to take the time to unwrap it just yet - not while having to dodge the flailing tendrils of five violet fungi. Instead, he leaped up to the side of the pit wall, grabbing onto a fingerhold and pulling himself up out of reach of the menacing fungi below. Only then, when it was safe, did he unwrap the magical gum and pop it into his mouth.
Back in the entry cave, Kruz fired another bolt at the male troll, but he no longer had Brendan providing a distraction. Fortunately, Shiroko had a second hail of stone spell prepared, and she sent another round of stones crashing down upon him and his unconscious mate. Hoppy saw the wu jen was still wounded from the mother troll's earlier attacks, and cast a second cure light wounds spell upon her. (Later, when they'd dealt with the trolls, he could apply a mending spell to her ruined kimono.)
The male troll, being attacked from a distance by both Kruz and Shiroko, opted to focus his attention upon the one foe already well within range. He lashed out at Adrielle with both sets of claws, once again getting a good grip and rending them down the sides of the scout's body. Adrielle didn't have time to do or say anything as she was slain immediately, her magic boots allowing her to stay dangling from the cavern ceiling where she stood, despite her death. Galrich's fang dropped from her lifeless fingers, plummeting down at Brendan directly below her. But Brendan, watching above him, saw it coming and snatched it from the air as he'd done the gum earlier. He walked the way back up the side of the midden pit, the longspear in one hand and his spiked chain in the other. Not being attuned to it as Adrielle had been, he was unable to change its form, but he could certainly use it as a longspear, given that was the form it now took.
Moments passed; troll flesh regenerated; Wrennie desperately sang her song. Then Brendan popped his head over the side of the pit, stabbing up at the male troll with the point of Galrich's fang, piercing him in the belly. Kruz was glad to see Brendan back in the fight, providing a distraction, and the rogue took advantage of the fact by sending another crossbow bolt crashing into the back of the troll's head. Shiroko cast a coldflame foxfire spell, sending three globes of cold energy crashing into the troll's side. Then Hoppy cried out, "Who's got oil?"
"Here!" Kruz replied, pulling a flask out of his belt and holding it up. Hoppy limped over and grabbed it up, then hobbled over to the unconscious female's body and unended the vial's contents upon her. They might not have any fire-based spells, but they carried tinder boxes to start their evening campfires, and all it would take was a spark....
Wrennie watched in both hope and fascination as Hoppy went about his task; the bard had never seen a sinborn before. But she kept up with her inspirational song, and who's to say it wasn't helping her would-be rescuers? Brendan managed to dodge the troll's next set of attacks - had any of them struck, he'd likely be as dead as Adrielle! - and Kruz kept firing away with his crossbow. Brendan, desperate for this damn troll to fall before it killed him, swung his spiked chain at the thing again, catching him in the nose. Shiroko lobbed another three cold orbs from the casting of another coldflame foxfire spell but the troll ducked to the side at the last moment; all that meant was the wu jen would have to re-steer them in her target's direction. But now the troll saw what Hoppy was doing, and realized the danger having his mate soaked with oil could mean. He went for both Brendan and Hoppy, catching each with a set of claws, and the fact the mongrelfolk adept took some of the heat from Brendan likely prevented the monk's death.
But now the troll's attention was solely on Hoppy, claws raised above his head to come striking down at the adept's mismatched body. As the sinborn winced at the coming attack, Kruz fired another shot and caught the troll in the side of the head. Instead of ripping through Hoppy's body, he crashed face-first onto the stone floor before the astonished sinborn. Gulping down his astonishment and relief, Hoppy called out, "More oil! We need to set all three of them ablaze before they regenerate!"
Kruz had several other flasks of oil at his belt, and he doused both Junior and his father with the contents of each while Shiroko took out her tinder box and set some dried grasses - which had been placed upon the female's rapidly-regenerating body - and set her ablaze. The process was repeated for the two male trolls, while Brendan - still chewing Adrielle's gum of spider climbing - walked across to Wrennie and escorted her back to the cavern entrance. Then he went up to the ceiling above the midden pit and pulled Adrielle's body down into his arms. He laid her down reverently onto the stone floor.
"Is she--?" asked Hoppy, heading her way. He was out of spells for the day, but he pulled out his wand of cure light wounds.
Brendan waved him off. "Put the wand away, Hoppy," he said. "It's too late for that." Then he went rummaging through Adrielle's haversack, causing the others to wonder if he was casually helping himself to her possessions. But he pulled out three vials of oil of gentle repose, and started applying the first to her unmoving corpse. The other two he handed over to Hoppy. "We should probably do the same to the displacer beasts," he said absently, and Hoppy moved to do so.
Only one of his mismatched eyes - his right one, the one from a bugbear - was capable of tears. It flowed freely as he applied himself to his new task, Scruffy once again upon his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sorry about your friend," said Wrennie, returning the waterskin Kruz had thoughtfully passed her way; she hadn't had any water since being captured the previous day, and had been singing for her life all through the night and up until the heroes had happened by, and she was severely hoarse. "I don't have a whole of money at the moment, but if you can give me a ride to Port Duralia, I can maybe get some gigs and get you a proper reward...."
"As it happens," replied Kruz, "we're on our way back to Port Duralia. You're welcome to ride on the back of the wagon."
Wrennie went to the troll's lair and pulled the saddlebags from the remains of the horse she'd been riding when the trolls had attacked them. Brendan explored a high, narrow ledge in the back of the entry cavern, finding a half dozen shocker lizards lairing back there, where the trolls couldn't get to them. Best of all, the little lizards had been gathering up diamonds scattered among the cave, the property of a merchant the trolls had slain on the road. The trolls had no use for diamonds, but the shocker lizards liked the way they sparkled and had gathered them up, one by one, while the trolls slept. Once they'd been dispatched, they sent Shiroko up there in fox form to toss the diamonds down to the others.
"Looks like a reward won't be necessary," Kruz said to the young bard. But by this point, Wrennie was practically asleep on her feet, and he helped her to the back of the wagon, where she quickly collapsed into a much-needed slumber. She slept the rest of the day and all through the night, when they camped at the halfway point to Port Duralia. The next morning, she was awake and a bundle of energy, alternating between telling her rescuers all about the towns she'd played at on her way to "the big city," where she'd heard there were enough inns, bars, and taverns to keep a bard in coin, and playing her lute in the back of the wagon, working on a new song. Kruz promised to introduce her to a tavernkeeper they knew who hired on bards to play at his place of business, the Alehouse.
The group did just that, and Grigor Barrelhauser agreed to let her play at the Alehouse the following evening. They dropped off the dead displacer beasts to the Adventurers Guild, and were pleased to learn the wizard patron was only too eager to pay double for a pair of displacer beasts, despite only having expected the one. That was fortuitous, for the 5,000 pieces of gold he paid over was the amount needed to purchase the casting a raise dead spell from the Temple of Akari. Father Bones himself, in robes and top hat, performed the ceremony, restoring Adrielle back to life in an admittedly weakened state - but alive, and that was what counted.
The following night, the five were sitting among the back row of tables in the Alehouse as Wrennie took the stage. To their surprise, she called out to her rescuers, thanking them for their assistance, and then began her first song - a new one, she said, which described the heroes' encounter with the trolls.
Partway through the song, a pair of hooded travelers entered the Alehouse and took two of the only available seats remaining, over at the table next to Adrielle and Shiroko. They kept their hoods up, but Kruz and Brendan, who were facing their way, could tell they looked to be a human couple in their late forties or early fifties. They wore stern expressions on their faces, stealing occasional glances over at Wrennie as she sang her new ballad.
Eventually, the man started to relax, whereas the woman sitting beside him continued to look upset. The man kept his hood up, but leaned over to the two female heroes at the table next to him and asked, "What do you think of the singer?"
"She's doing great," replied Shiroko. The music wasn't anything like the music of Sokoku, but the hengeyokai found her foot tapping involuntarily underneath the bench upon which she and Adrielle sat.
"The stuff she's singing about - did that really happen?" pressed the man. Adrielle assured him that it did, and the female traveler looked even more concerned at the bard's lyrics - she'd gotten to the part where the heroes came in and were attacking the trolls, while she was stuck on a back ledge, a prisoner to Junior, little more than a living music box.
Then the man asked a rather strange question. "Do either of you have an empty potion vial on you?"
Brendan reached down into his pack and passed a glass vial over to Shiroko, who in turn passed it over to the traveler, who then fished around in his coin purse until he pulled out a smoky, white gemstone. He dropped it into the flask, and then pulled a knife from his belt, causing Adrielle and Shiroko to flinch, unsure if this stranger was about to attack them. But he merely gave them a reassuring smile, and turned the blade onto his left palm, cutting a gash across its length. He held the potion vial beneath his dripping hand, until the gemstone was fully submerged in a quantity of his blood. He then wrapped his hand with a handkerchief, stoppered the vial, and passed it over to Shiroko, who took it hesitantly, unsure of what to do with it.
"We're Wrennie's parents," the man said as he pulled a potion of cure light wounds out from his belt and gulped down its contents, flexing his left hand after doing so, "and we can't thank you enough for saving our daughter. Wrennie and her mother" - and here he indicated the woman sitting next to him, stealing glances at her daughter on stage - "had a bit of a disagreement about the proper age she might start going out to perform on her own. So Wrennie took things into her own hands - she stole my lute and my horse and went off in the middle of the night to start her musical career. Which, judging from the approval of the crowd, seems to be going okay."
"She's too young," insisted his wife. "And she was almost killed by trolls!"
"But she used her wits and turned the situation around," argued Wrennie's father. "And now she's safely ensconced in Port Duralia, where she shouldn't be running into that many trolls, playing gigs at inns and taverns like this."
He turned back to Shiroko, since she was the one sitting closest to him, at the front of their respective benches. "We've been tracking her south for the past couple of days," he told them. "In any case, keep this vial with you. It'll take about a week for the blood magic to fully soak in, but any time after that, if you find yourselves in a bind, just open the vial and explain your situation to the dreamstone inside. Word will make its way back to me, and I'll head in your direction and see what assistance I can bring."
The man then stood up, and had his wife stand up beside him. "Come on," he told her. "Wrennie's fine here. Let's go on home." Turning back to the heroes at the next table, he said, "My name's Xandro Silverstrings, and this is my wife, Robin. Just give me a shout, and we'll come running - we owe you big time." And then they pushed their way through the crowded drinking establishment, exiting the building without Wrennie recognizing them.
She finished her first song to a round of rousing applause, and then, with a big smile, started into her next one.
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We use initiative cards in our various campaigns; these are homemade cards (printed paper glued to an index card and cut out to playing card size, then covered with Con*Tact paper) to not only show who's up next in the initiative order, but also to allow the players to see what the creature in question looks like. For the image of Wrennie Songlark, I used a photo of Taylor Momsen, the lead singer of the group "The Pretty Reckless." (And I played Pretty Reckless music in the background once the PCs got to within hearing distance of Wrennie singing her "somebody please come rescue me" song.)
Adrielle was our first PC death in this campaign, but it came at an opportune time, as this was adventure #25, and after every 5 adventures the PCs level up - I've found it's easier than tracking XP, and it works fine for us. So after the adventure was over, I passed out everyone their upgrade checklists, and explained to Vicki (Adrielle's player) that a raise dead spell (all the group could afford) would have brought her back to life, but at a level lower - so while the others were attaining 6th level, she'd be "regaining" 5th level, and would be a level behind everyone else from now in. However, as she's a mermaid inhabiting a human body, I told her there was a simple solution - I'll just have the next adventure take place a month or so in the future, during which time she'll be called back to her merfolk tribe to deal with an issue occurring in her tribe's underwater village - a place whose location the suspicious merfolk don't want the "land-dwellers" to know. So, sometime in the next month she'll be undergoing an "off-camera adventure" which will grant her enough XP to catch back up with the rest of our group. So Adrielle got leveled up to 6th, and the next time we play - currently scheduled for Saturday the 12th of September - her "off-camera adventure" will have already occurred.
I just hope we don't have to deal with any PC deaths in the rest of the campaign, because I've kind of set a precedent here.
Incidentally, Xandro was my nephew's PC in my previous campaign, "Dreams of Erthe," and Robin the Balladeer was his girlfriend; in the 20 years that have passed between these two campaigns, they got married and had a daughter. I thought it would be a fun way to join the two campaigns, and the players got a kick out of it (as I had hoped they would).
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T-shirt worn: My "Dungeons & Dragons Silver Anniversary" T-shirt, since among the various D&D monsters celebrating on the shirt is a troll.
