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Menexenus's Age of Worms Campaign Journal
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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3349386" data-attributes="member: 8951"><p><strong>Session 17: Breaking the Twisted Branch Tribe</strong></p><p></p><p><em>2nd of Wealsun (mid afternoon). </em> The party entered a large den of lizardfolk made from the twisted bark and roots of an enormous stand of mangaroo trees and was able to fend off an assault by dozens of lizardfolk. The party healed up using a Wand of Cure Light Wounds and then pressed onward into the depths of the Twisted Branch tribe's seat of power.</p><p></p><p> Soon after moving forward, Killick spotted 3 lizardmen with metal shields and axes as well as a spell caster with a viper animal companion. The small group of lizardfolk seemed to be delaying. When most of the party was in sight, the spellcaster cast Entangle on everyone except Killick (who had already tumbled next to the spellcaster). Killick, guessing that the spellcaster was a Druid, spoke to it in Druidic, asking it to release the human female spellcaster that the tribe had taken prisoner. The Druid replied that he wished to speak to the party under conditions of truce when the other three warrior lizardmen that accompanied him had been slain. He intimated that while those warriors were watching, he could not be seen to be talking with the tribe's enemies.</p><p></p><p> Not understanding any of this, the rest of the party fought on. Katawan avoided becoming entangled and ran down a back hallway that ended up behind the Druid. He took a shot with his crossbow. Thorash also avoided the entangling roots. He moved into the cavern and went to work on the lizardfolk warriors. Alexander did get stuck, but that was fine by him. He just pulled out his trusty Wand of Magic Missile and cast it at the Druid. Tarric was also stuck, but that was fine by him, because he had an enemy lizardman right next to him that he could wail on. Alees was also stuck, but that was fine by her. She activated a power that the party has never seen her use before, and suddenly the vines released her and cleared a path for her to exit the area of entanglement. She delivered a disemboweling sneak attack to an unwary warrior.</p><p></p><p> The Druid's viper moved off to attack Katawan. The Druid cast Fog Bank to keep Alexander from using his Wand of Magic Missiles. Killick made a show of attacking the Druid, but all of his flailing attacks failed. Katawan shot the Viper with his last poisoned bolt, and it seemed weakened by the shot. The Druid moved into the Fog Bank and called his Viper to him.</p><p></p><p> Moments later, when the 3 lizardfolk warriors were defeated, the Druid emerged with his hands up in a sign of peace. He introduced himself in Common, calling himself Hishka. He said that he had been the main shaman for the Twisted Branch tribe for 10 years. The Twisted Branch tribe had been relatively weak, until the current king Shaka arrived and challenged the former chief to ritual combat. Shaka defeated the former chief and assumed control of the tribe, calling himself "king". Soon thereafter, a black dragon named Ilthane appeared who seemed to be in league with Shaka. This gave him even greater standing among the tribe, and as word spread that the King of the Twisted Branch Tribe had a dragon as an ally, the tribe's size and influence quickly grew. Although the tribe's prestige and power was growing under Shaka's command, he was pursuing a suicidal policy of instigating conflict with the softskins outside the swamp. Hishka knew that no matter how powerful the tribe became, they were no match for the armies of the softskins. Hishka could foresee that provoking the softskins would be disastrous for his people.</p><p></p><p> Consequently, Hishka implored the party to kill Shaka (who was only a couple rooms away). If the party were to do this, Hishka assured the party that he would install a king who would make peace with Greyhawk. However, Hishka warned the party that Shaka was keeping the female spellcaster (Marzena) hostage, and that if he felt threatened, he would surely have her killed. He would only bargain for her life as a last resort. Killick asked the Druid if, as a token of good faith, he could heal some of Katawan's lingering Strength damage. The Druid said he did not have the necessary spell memorized. However, trying to be helpful, he did mention that there were some red-spotted mushrooms in a trash room to the north that could heal his damage. However, he warned the party that the tribe kept its pet Otyugh in that room. For those who did not know, he explained that an Otyugh is an omnivore with tentacles whose main purpose in life is to eat. It would surely attack anyone entering the room.</p><p></p><p> The discussion was cut short, though, by a booming voice in Draconic yelling, "Get him!" (as well as the sound of Alexander's wand shooting its missiles). As the party moved to investigate, Hishka confirmed that that was the voice of Shaka, the lizard king. Apparently, during the quiet conversation, Alexander had broken free of the entangle, and left it by the quickest route, which took him deeper into the tribal lair. As he tried to find a way back to the party, he stumbled upon the king's throne room. Luckily, the party was not that far away, so they were able to make it to Alexander's side before Alexander was in any real danger. </p><p></p><p>While most of the party ran to Alexander's aid, Thorash seemed to be lingering near Hishka. When he thought he was alone with the Druid, he attacked. The Druid cried out that the dwarf was attacking him and that the softskins were traitors. Tarric saw what Thorash had done, dropped his sword, grabbed Thorash, and pulled him away from the Druid. Hishka took the opportunity to slip back into the fog bank, but his viper stayed and attacked Thorash. Thorash was struck, and the viper's poison seemed to sicken him. However, once the Druid was gone, Tarric was able to convince Thorash to leave. (For a short time, the viper tried to chase down the vile dwarf. But a slash from Tarric's sword convinced it to withdraw.)</p><p></p><p> Meanwhile, Alexander was hovering at the ceiling of the hallway, using his Wand of Magic Missiles to strike the king. The king was flinging a flying (obviously magical) trident at Alexander that would return to the king after it was done attacking. The king's bodyguard came out into the hall to attack Alexander, but soon found himself fighting the rest of the party instead. He screamed in a fit of rage, and seemed to become more powerful. There were also several regular lizardfolk with various fancy adornments and ornamentations who did their best to assist in the fight. (From the Druid's description, the party assumed that these were most likely the king's concubines.) Alexander was able to see the form of a human female at the back of the throne room. One of the female lizardfolk was kneeling over her with her painted claws at the human's throat, waiting for a command from her king to dispatch the prisoner.</p><p></p><p> The king ordered the party to withdraw or else the human female would die. Alexander ordered the king to give up the woman and they would let him live. The battle raged on. Thorash arrived and cast Cause Fear on the king's bodyguard. He ran back to the throne room and cowered near the throne. Killick tumbled to Marzena's side and tried to stun the lizardfolk that threatened her. When he failed, Alexander cast Magic Missile at the same lizardfolk, killing her. Seeing this, Shaka moved across the room to face Killick and threaten Marzena. He did much damage with his stab-claw-bite progression, but soon the king was surrounded by Killick, Tarric, and Alees. He tried to eliminate the one he perceived to be the weakest target first - Alees. With one stab-claw-bite progression, she was on the floor unconscious. Meanwhile, Killick had pulled Marzena away from the king, and Alexander just kept firing off his wand, doing automatic damage.</p><p></p><p> Things started looking up for the lizardfolk when the barbarian shook off his cowardice and joined the fray again against Tarric. At about the same time, some of the remaining lizardfolk were successful in grabbing onto Thorash and biting him for small amounts of damage that added up quickly in his poison-weakened state. However, the lizardfolk's momentum faded quickly, as Tarric dispatched the king's bodyguard and Thorash escaped from the hold of 2 lizardfolk. The remaining lizardfolk grabbed onto Thorash again and knocked him unconscious. Meanwhile, Shaka fought with Tarric, giving at least as good as he got. But those damnable Magic Missiles continued to rain in on him, despite his success in melee. Killick moved off to stabilize Thorash and one of the remaining lizardfolk tried unsuccessfully to hit Marzena's unconscious form. That lizardfolk was quickly dispatched.</p><p></p><p> At long last, Shaka realized that his time left on Oerth was short. So, in a fit of spite, he shouted, "AT LEAST THE HUMAN FEMALE WILL DIE BEFORE ME!" With all his remaining strength, he threw his returning trident at the unconscious form of the human sorceress. But the trident snagged on a protruding branch, was deflected, and missed her entirely. Shaka cried, "NOOOOO!!!" in utter futility as Killick dispatched him.</p><p></p><p> There was one lizardfolk left alive. Seeing her king killed, she groveled on the floor, weeping and begging for death. The party took her captive. They also took a closer look at lucky Marzena. The lizardfolk had broken her jaw as well as all of her fingers so that she would be unable to cast spells. While some were tending to Marzena's wounds, the rest of the party interrogated the lizardfolk prisoner. She told them that the dragon Ilthane stayed with the tribe only rarely, so it was unlikely that she was currently in residence. However, she did leave a dragon egg in her cavern. The prisoner explained that she promised to protect the lizardfolk eggs, and as a show of good faith, she had placed one of her own eggs in the same chamber. The prisoner said that the dragon's lair was in a submerged cavern off to the southwest. </p><p></p><p> Upon looting the former king and his bodyguard, the party found a reasonable amount of magical swag, but Marzena (who had been healed by Killick) told the party that some of the items had been taken from her. Alexander graciously returned those items to her. The party also found a chest of gold with the seal of Greyhawk on it. Marzena explained that Greyhawk had negotiated a treaty with the resurgent lizardfolk, and this chest of gold was to be given to the lizardfolk in tribute. She claimed that, when the lizardfolk attacked Blackwall Keep, the terms of the treaty were violated, and hence, the chest of gold still belonged by law to the Domain of Greyhawk. Alexander seemed to agree with Marzena's legal reasoning, but indicated that, when they all returned to civilization, he hoped that Greyhawk might see fit to grant the party a reward for the chest's return. (However, glances exchanged by some other party members seemed to indicate that they were not all in complete agreement on this point.) Alexander brought the lizardfolk prisoner into a separate room from the rest of the party, secured a promise of peaceful coexistence from her, and then let her go free. She ran away from the lair at top speed.</p><p> </p><p> <em>3rd of Wealsun</em>. After praying for spells at dusk the previous day, Thorash began the process of identifying 5 of the items that didn't belong to Marzena. When the others woke at dawn, he reported his findings, and these objects were divided among the party members (generating a small amount of conflict). The party decided to rest for an additional 24 hours in order to rebuild their strength. During the day, Marzena said that if there is indeed a black dragon egg in a nearby chamber, the party should do what it can to destroy it. The party was contemplating defeating the Otyugh and harvesting the medicinal (and possibly valuable) mushrooms. The party was also contemplating going on to investigate the dragon's lair.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 3349386, member: 8951"] [b]Session 17: Breaking the Twisted Branch Tribe[/b] [I]2nd of Wealsun (mid afternoon). [/I] The party entered a large den of lizardfolk made from the twisted bark and roots of an enormous stand of mangaroo trees and was able to fend off an assault by dozens of lizardfolk. The party healed up using a Wand of Cure Light Wounds and then pressed onward into the depths of the Twisted Branch tribe's seat of power. Soon after moving forward, Killick spotted 3 lizardmen with metal shields and axes as well as a spell caster with a viper animal companion. The small group of lizardfolk seemed to be delaying. When most of the party was in sight, the spellcaster cast Entangle on everyone except Killick (who had already tumbled next to the spellcaster). Killick, guessing that the spellcaster was a Druid, spoke to it in Druidic, asking it to release the human female spellcaster that the tribe had taken prisoner. The Druid replied that he wished to speak to the party under conditions of truce when the other three warrior lizardmen that accompanied him had been slain. He intimated that while those warriors were watching, he could not be seen to be talking with the tribe's enemies. Not understanding any of this, the rest of the party fought on. Katawan avoided becoming entangled and ran down a back hallway that ended up behind the Druid. He took a shot with his crossbow. Thorash also avoided the entangling roots. He moved into the cavern and went to work on the lizardfolk warriors. Alexander did get stuck, but that was fine by him. He just pulled out his trusty Wand of Magic Missile and cast it at the Druid. Tarric was also stuck, but that was fine by him, because he had an enemy lizardman right next to him that he could wail on. Alees was also stuck, but that was fine by her. She activated a power that the party has never seen her use before, and suddenly the vines released her and cleared a path for her to exit the area of entanglement. She delivered a disemboweling sneak attack to an unwary warrior. The Druid's viper moved off to attack Katawan. The Druid cast Fog Bank to keep Alexander from using his Wand of Magic Missiles. Killick made a show of attacking the Druid, but all of his flailing attacks failed. Katawan shot the Viper with his last poisoned bolt, and it seemed weakened by the shot. The Druid moved into the Fog Bank and called his Viper to him. Moments later, when the 3 lizardfolk warriors were defeated, the Druid emerged with his hands up in a sign of peace. He introduced himself in Common, calling himself Hishka. He said that he had been the main shaman for the Twisted Branch tribe for 10 years. The Twisted Branch tribe had been relatively weak, until the current king Shaka arrived and challenged the former chief to ritual combat. Shaka defeated the former chief and assumed control of the tribe, calling himself "king". Soon thereafter, a black dragon named Ilthane appeared who seemed to be in league with Shaka. This gave him even greater standing among the tribe, and as word spread that the King of the Twisted Branch Tribe had a dragon as an ally, the tribe's size and influence quickly grew. Although the tribe's prestige and power was growing under Shaka's command, he was pursuing a suicidal policy of instigating conflict with the softskins outside the swamp. Hishka knew that no matter how powerful the tribe became, they were no match for the armies of the softskins. Hishka could foresee that provoking the softskins would be disastrous for his people. Consequently, Hishka implored the party to kill Shaka (who was only a couple rooms away). If the party were to do this, Hishka assured the party that he would install a king who would make peace with Greyhawk. However, Hishka warned the party that Shaka was keeping the female spellcaster (Marzena) hostage, and that if he felt threatened, he would surely have her killed. He would only bargain for her life as a last resort. Killick asked the Druid if, as a token of good faith, he could heal some of Katawan's lingering Strength damage. The Druid said he did not have the necessary spell memorized. However, trying to be helpful, he did mention that there were some red-spotted mushrooms in a trash room to the north that could heal his damage. However, he warned the party that the tribe kept its pet Otyugh in that room. For those who did not know, he explained that an Otyugh is an omnivore with tentacles whose main purpose in life is to eat. It would surely attack anyone entering the room. The discussion was cut short, though, by a booming voice in Draconic yelling, "Get him!" (as well as the sound of Alexander's wand shooting its missiles). As the party moved to investigate, Hishka confirmed that that was the voice of Shaka, the lizard king. Apparently, during the quiet conversation, Alexander had broken free of the entangle, and left it by the quickest route, which took him deeper into the tribal lair. As he tried to find a way back to the party, he stumbled upon the king's throne room. Luckily, the party was not that far away, so they were able to make it to Alexander's side before Alexander was in any real danger. While most of the party ran to Alexander's aid, Thorash seemed to be lingering near Hishka. When he thought he was alone with the Druid, he attacked. The Druid cried out that the dwarf was attacking him and that the softskins were traitors. Tarric saw what Thorash had done, dropped his sword, grabbed Thorash, and pulled him away from the Druid. Hishka took the opportunity to slip back into the fog bank, but his viper stayed and attacked Thorash. Thorash was struck, and the viper's poison seemed to sicken him. However, once the Druid was gone, Tarric was able to convince Thorash to leave. (For a short time, the viper tried to chase down the vile dwarf. But a slash from Tarric's sword convinced it to withdraw.) Meanwhile, Alexander was hovering at the ceiling of the hallway, using his Wand of Magic Missiles to strike the king. The king was flinging a flying (obviously magical) trident at Alexander that would return to the king after it was done attacking. The king's bodyguard came out into the hall to attack Alexander, but soon found himself fighting the rest of the party instead. He screamed in a fit of rage, and seemed to become more powerful. There were also several regular lizardfolk with various fancy adornments and ornamentations who did their best to assist in the fight. (From the Druid's description, the party assumed that these were most likely the king's concubines.) Alexander was able to see the form of a human female at the back of the throne room. One of the female lizardfolk was kneeling over her with her painted claws at the human's throat, waiting for a command from her king to dispatch the prisoner. The king ordered the party to withdraw or else the human female would die. Alexander ordered the king to give up the woman and they would let him live. The battle raged on. Thorash arrived and cast Cause Fear on the king's bodyguard. He ran back to the throne room and cowered near the throne. Killick tumbled to Marzena's side and tried to stun the lizardfolk that threatened her. When he failed, Alexander cast Magic Missile at the same lizardfolk, killing her. Seeing this, Shaka moved across the room to face Killick and threaten Marzena. He did much damage with his stab-claw-bite progression, but soon the king was surrounded by Killick, Tarric, and Alees. He tried to eliminate the one he perceived to be the weakest target first - Alees. With one stab-claw-bite progression, she was on the floor unconscious. Meanwhile, Killick had pulled Marzena away from the king, and Alexander just kept firing off his wand, doing automatic damage. Things started looking up for the lizardfolk when the barbarian shook off his cowardice and joined the fray again against Tarric. At about the same time, some of the remaining lizardfolk were successful in grabbing onto Thorash and biting him for small amounts of damage that added up quickly in his poison-weakened state. However, the lizardfolk's momentum faded quickly, as Tarric dispatched the king's bodyguard and Thorash escaped from the hold of 2 lizardfolk. The remaining lizardfolk grabbed onto Thorash again and knocked him unconscious. Meanwhile, Shaka fought with Tarric, giving at least as good as he got. But those damnable Magic Missiles continued to rain in on him, despite his success in melee. Killick moved off to stabilize Thorash and one of the remaining lizardfolk tried unsuccessfully to hit Marzena's unconscious form. That lizardfolk was quickly dispatched. At long last, Shaka realized that his time left on Oerth was short. So, in a fit of spite, he shouted, "AT LEAST THE HUMAN FEMALE WILL DIE BEFORE ME!" With all his remaining strength, he threw his returning trident at the unconscious form of the human sorceress. But the trident snagged on a protruding branch, was deflected, and missed her entirely. Shaka cried, "NOOOOO!!!" in utter futility as Killick dispatched him. There was one lizardfolk left alive. Seeing her king killed, she groveled on the floor, weeping and begging for death. The party took her captive. They also took a closer look at lucky Marzena. The lizardfolk had broken her jaw as well as all of her fingers so that she would be unable to cast spells. While some were tending to Marzena's wounds, the rest of the party interrogated the lizardfolk prisoner. She told them that the dragon Ilthane stayed with the tribe only rarely, so it was unlikely that she was currently in residence. However, she did leave a dragon egg in her cavern. The prisoner explained that she promised to protect the lizardfolk eggs, and as a show of good faith, she had placed one of her own eggs in the same chamber. The prisoner said that the dragon's lair was in a submerged cavern off to the southwest. Upon looting the former king and his bodyguard, the party found a reasonable amount of magical swag, but Marzena (who had been healed by Killick) told the party that some of the items had been taken from her. Alexander graciously returned those items to her. The party also found a chest of gold with the seal of Greyhawk on it. Marzena explained that Greyhawk had negotiated a treaty with the resurgent lizardfolk, and this chest of gold was to be given to the lizardfolk in tribute. She claimed that, when the lizardfolk attacked Blackwall Keep, the terms of the treaty were violated, and hence, the chest of gold still belonged by law to the Domain of Greyhawk. Alexander seemed to agree with Marzena's legal reasoning, but indicated that, when they all returned to civilization, he hoped that Greyhawk might see fit to grant the party a reward for the chest's return. (However, glances exchanged by some other party members seemed to indicate that they were not all in complete agreement on this point.) Alexander brought the lizardfolk prisoner into a separate room from the rest of the party, secured a promise of peaceful coexistence from her, and then let her go free. She ran away from the lair at top speed. [I]3rd of Wealsun[/I]. After praying for spells at dusk the previous day, Thorash began the process of identifying 5 of the items that didn't belong to Marzena. When the others woke at dawn, he reported his findings, and these objects were divided among the party members (generating a small amount of conflict). The party decided to rest for an additional 24 hours in order to rebuild their strength. During the day, Marzena said that if there is indeed a black dragon egg in a nearby chamber, the party should do what it can to destroy it. The party was contemplating defeating the Otyugh and harvesting the medicinal (and possibly valuable) mushrooms. The party was also contemplating going on to investigate the dragon's lair. [/QUOTE]
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