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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7424791" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 16: BLUE BLOODPC Roster:  Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 4             Galen Thorne, human paladin 6             Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 6             Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 5             Syngaard, human fighter 6Game Session Date: 16 May 2018 - - - It was about eight bells at night when Anuja pulled the wagon up to the Enchanted Flagon and Kaspar and Syngaard leaped down.  Beside them, Galen dismounted from Seneca and tied the warhorse's reins to the hitching post outside the tavern.  The trio entered the building together as Anuja drove off, and they immediately spotted Orion and Daleth sitting at a table with Skevros, while Carl dozed comfortably on the floor nearby.They didn't expect to see a dark-scaled kobold seated at the table with them, though.  Syngaard and Galen immediately went for the weapons at their belts, while Kaspar put a calming hand on each of them.  "The shadowscales are allies to our kingdom," the elf monk reminded them."You have the book?" Skevros prompted eagerly upon spotting the new arrivals.  Kaspar handed it over and the king's adviser looked over the copy of "The Curse of the Mithral Mage" his troops had stolen for him.  But before he could open it, Galen warned him, "We haven't even cracked the book open, in case it's trapped or anything.  You might want to open that somewhere safe."  The paladin easily recalled his own recent experience with an explosive runes spell and was not eager for a repeat occurrence."Hmm, good point," replied Skevros, excusing himself to take the book to his extradimensional living quarters through the door to the storage room in the back of the tavern.  While he was gone, the three newcomers helped themselves to a drink from the illusionary serving girl Skevros had conjured for the benefit of the group.  Galen had recently taken to calling the "seen" unseen servant by the name "Karen" for reasons of his own.  They also noted a silver ring had been left at each of their seats, identical in build to the ones Daleth and Orion already wore.  They slipped on their new rings and were not the least bit surprised to find them a perfect fit."So what were you guys up to while we were stealing a library book?" asked Galen."Investigating in Ashfall," Daleth answered.  "Serenity has gone missing.""You find her?" asked Syngaard.  The elf wizard shook his head.  "No big loss," decided the bald fighter."It's safe," Skevros announced upon his return several minutes later.  "However, for some reason, the actual name of the Mithral Mage appears to have been erased from every page he's mentioned on.""Intriguing," replied Daleth.  "So his title remains, just not his name?""Correct.""So just who was this guy?" asked Galen."You should be quite interested in this," Skevros replied, looking directly at the paladin.  "The Mithral Mage was Zehkar's brother.""The one we are to be wary of trying to take over Zehkar's legacy!" exclaimed Galen."Hey, I got a question," interjected Syngaard.  Then he pointed a thumb at the shadowscale kobold sitting next to Daleth at the table.  "Who the Hell's the kobold, and what's he doing here?""Ah, yes," replied Skevros.  "Back to the matter at hand.  This is Iptik, a member of the shadowscale tribe allied with our kingdom.  He has been sent here by his chieftain to ask for our aid in investigating an abnormality in the Sanguine Swamp.  Specifically, there has been a sudden growth of blue plants in the area that has them wary.""Blue plants?" echoed Syngaard.  "You mean like back in the Azure Glade?""Just so," agreed Skevros.  "It may be a random mutation, or it may be an attempt by the Azure Glade to increase their territory by expanding the area encompassed by their own unique vegetation.  In either case, I would like you to investigate.  Iptik can lead the way to the blue plants, but he only knows the way from his village, so I will teleport you all directly there once you're ready."Syngaard drained his drink.  "I'm ready now," he announced.  Sitting in a wagon all damned day didn't do much for the scarred fighter; he eagerly anticipated a chance for some action, even if this particular assignment didn't sound all that exciting.  Looking at blue plants sounded kinda boring, but maybe he'd be allowed to burn them all down -- that would be fun!  Then he realized he hadn't asked his number one question about all such missions: "Is this a paying job?""Payment, yesss," replied Iptik.  "Chieftain paysss with glowy ssshiniesss."After a brief discussion amongst themselves Galen decided not to take Seneca along with him, as the Sanguine Swamp would likely be at least ankle-deep in most areas and he didn't want his valued warhorse getting stuck in a bog anywhere.  Orion, however, definitely wanted Carl along and woke her riding dog before climbing up onto his saddle.  "Ready!" she said and Skevros said the words that teleported the group across the miles to the Sanguine Swamp at the southern part of the kingdom.  The group had been to the swamplands before, but this time they materialized in the middle of a kobold village, with the dark-scaled reptiles all around them.  Iptik barked at them in his strange little language and then led the group further south, to where they had discovered the blue vegetation during one of their recent hunts.After about a half hour of slogging through the swamps, Galen - who had taken point alongside Iptik - spotted a pair of crocodiles hiding in deeper pools of water just ahead.  "Let's skirt around," he suggested, veering well away from the mostly-submerged reptiles but keeping his weapon out and ready just in case.  Daleth took the time to cast a mage armor spell upon himself; even if they ended up avoiding this particular combat with the crocodiles it looked like a good time for such protection.  Orion came to the same conclusion and pulled a potion of mage armor from her belt, then leaned forward and fed it to Carl who lapped it up eagerly.Syngaard needed no such magical enhancement; he held his morningstar at the ready as he followed the rest of the group in a wide arc, keeping his eyes on the two crocodiles.  Such a precaution ended up being a good idea, for the smaller of the two dashed out from its pool of water and raced at the bald fighter with a speed Syngaard wouldn't have imagined.  It snapped at him, but received two good clonks on the head from the fighter's spiky weapon in return.  Kaspar, who had been just ahead of Syngaard, returned to the fighter's side and gave a pair of good whacks to the creature with the hardened sides of his hands; the tenryutsume he wore on his right hand delivered an electrical shock as his blows struck the reptile, which were clearly not to the beast's liking.In a flurry of motion, the larger of the two crocodiles sped forward at a similarly surprising speed, revealing its full length: easily twice that of a grown man!  It snapped its wicked-toothed jaws at Galen, but the paladin was ready for such an attack and the sword of Zehkar bit deep into the beast's hide as the powerful jaws snapped shut on his armored leg.  Iptik, by the paladin's side, demonstrated a remarkable speed as well, but his charge was straight up a tree and out of harm's way.Galen extricated himself from the giant crocodile's jaws and took several steps back, calling forth Hieroneous's healing power to close his wounds.  Daleth backed up even further out of the way, then fired off a spell at the great beast.  The ray of enfeeblement struck true, depleting the reptile of some of its savage strength.  Syngaard threw his returning javelin at the thing but failed to penetrate its thick hide; his weapon returned to his hand unbloodied.  Kaspar leaped forth and struck at the beast, but his strongest thrusts were also unable to damage the great reptile through its heavy scales.  The giant crocodile ignored the elf at hand and lurched at Galen, the armored man who had hurt it with his sword.  Galen wisely backed further away, pulling a healing potion from his belt to finish the job his laying on of hands had begun.Off to the side, Orion brought Carl up around and behind the smaller crocodile, then leaned over in the saddle and stabbed deep into its hide with her flaming short sword.  Blood spilled from the deep wound, the reptile thrashed around in anger, and then it died where it stood.Daleth pulled the light crossbow from his back and sent off a shot at the giant crocodile that seemed intent upon making Galen his next meal.  Alas, it missed entirely.  Orion feared to direct Carl to within snapping range of the great beast, so she had him hold position and sent a dagger flying at its eye.  It missed the eye, but stuck into a section of hide on the side of its head."Enough of this!" snarled Syngaard, not wanting to mess around with ranged attacks any more than he could help it.  He didn't wish to take the time to get completely behind it, so he moved down its length far enough away from its head that he felt safe in closing in for a whack with his morningstar.  The weapon struck, but Syngaard had forgotten that crocodiles could attack with their tails as well; fortunately, Kaspar struck the beast a solid blow directly between its eyes, shattering its skull and slaying the creature before it could strike Syngaard.With combat over, Iptik crawled back down from his perch in the tree and Galen took care of healing those members who needed it, relying upon the wand of cure light wounds he had procured.  Before long the group was continuing its trek through the swamps, following Iptik to the new blue grove.  It was only another five-minute trek through the swamps before a spot of blue appeared before the group: a small island rising up from the ankle-deep water all around it, covered in shimmering blue grass with a single willow tree planted in its center.  A soft, pulsing glow emanated from its trunk and leaves.  However, of greater importance to the group was the pair of robed humanoids flanking the blue willow, who seemed to be pouring energy into the tree.Galen stared at the two figures, trying to discern if there were any taints of evil in their auras.  They were out of the paladin's range, but he did get two "pings" of evil closer by, partially hidden behind two trees.  "Evil abounds!" he cried, pointing to the two locations where a pair of female rangers were poised to strike out at the adventurers as they approached.Daleth opted not to get any closer to the potential danger, casting a false life spell upon himself to buoy him up for the upcoming combat.  There were plenty of close-combat types in his group better suited to dealing with the rangers firsthand.Orion kicked Carl into action, sending the riding dog sprinting up to the nearest ranger's hiding place and stabbing at her with her flaming short sword, confident in Galen's forecast as to their evil nature.  As for the paladin, he strode forth eagerly, but took the time to cast a protection from evil spell as he did so.The ranger cursed as the halfling's sword burned a gash along her torso, and retaliated with twin blades of her own, but try as she might she was unable to hit the nimble halfling.  Across the stretch of ground before the blue willow, the other ranger leaped out and attacked Galen with a scream, but her weapons struck only the paladin's shield.  Kaspar raced forward to aid Galen, landing a solid blow with his right hand upon the evil ranger's left shoulder, sending a wave of electricity down that arm and nearly causing her to drop that weapon.  In the midst of all this chaos, Iptik found a nearby tree and scampered up it to safety.Back by the blue tree, one of the robed men - a human druid named Kevik - cast a barkskin spell upon himself, anticipating an imminent entry into the battle going on in front of him.  On the other side of the tree, the elven druid, Elorathien, cast a dominate animal spell upon Carl.Several things seemed to happen all at once.  Syngaard charged forward and slew the ranger who had been fighting Galen and Kaspar, dropping her with a heavy swing of his morningstar.  Daleth sent a crossbow bolt whizzing by the other ranger's head, while she continued trying to stab at Orion with both of her swords.  But then Carl started growling and bucking, doing his very best to kick his halfling mistress from the saddle.  "Carl!  No!" Orion cried as her trusty riding dog reached back to try to bite her leg.  She tried to leap from the saddle but the dog shook her off first, sending her falling to her back in the wet swamplands.  Carl snapped out in an instant, his teeth clamping down on Orion's leg.Hating herself for doing it while understanding the necessity, Orion kicked at Carl's nose with her free foot just enough to cause him to release her other leg, then rolled to a stand and raced to the nearest tree.  The little halfling scampered up its trunk like a monkey, pulling herself up onto a thick branch well out of Carl's reach.  Carl responded with fury, leaping up at his mistress and trying to clamp down on her legs, snarling and barking all the while.Galen charged across the battlefield and stabbed the last remaining ranger, whose attention had been caught by the spectacle of Carl trying to kill his mistress.  The sword of Zehkar pierced her torso from the side and emerged from just above her stomach; when the paladin yanked his weapon from her body, she fell face-first into the swamp, never to rise again.With only the two druids remaining as enemies, Kaspar raced across the island of blue grass and leap-kicked Elorathien in the side, eliciting a grunt of pain from the elven druid.  Kevik cast a chill metal spell upon Kaspar's tenryutsume, not understanding exactly what it was but recognizing it as metal.  Fortunately, the monk's dragon-forged hand-weapon was well constructed, and it withstood the spell's effects.  Syngaard went racing up to join in the fight, but he was farther back and not able to run as fast as the monk in any case; in the meantime, he threw his magic javelin at the evil elven druid, dealing a solid strike against him.  However, Elorathien responded by taking a step back away from Kaspar and casting a flame strike spell that encompassed both the scarred fighter and the elven monk.Still safely away from melee combat, Daleth cast one of his most powerful spells, a scorching ray that, after some dithering, he decided to split evenly between the two druids, sending one ray at each.  However, possibly because of the lack of focus on a single target, neither ray hit its mark; one did, however, start a small fire in the hanging branches of the blue willow.Up in the tree and unable to climb down without being attacked by Carl (who continued barking and leaping up at his mistress, but unable to quite reach her), Orion contributed to the combat as best she could by sending a sling stone whizzing across the distance and striking Kevik in his right ear.  The druid cursed and held a hand to the wound.  Galen approached steadily (he feared racing at full speed through the muck and mud for fear of falling in his heavy armor) toward Kevik, casting a bless weapon upon the sword of Zehkar as he did so.On the other side of the blue willow tree, Kaspar took out Elorathien with a flurry of blows that had the elf druid reeling.  He collapsed in a heap into the sparkling blue grass of the island.  But quick as a flash, Kevik raced up to his fallen friend and cast a spell upon him.  By then Syngaard had closed to within striking distance with his morningstar, and seeing the elf prone on the ground he targeted the human druid still standing, scoring a glancing upon the quickly backpedaling druid.  But then Elorathien, who had been healed by his druidic companion, rose up and swung his scimitar at the scarred fighter, catching him a blow to the side.  Syngaard roared in pain, amazed at the pain a single blow of a relatively shallow depth could cause.  Elorathien merely smiled at his foe and said, "Human bane enchantment, fool!"Daleth pointed his metamagic rod at the elf druid and channeled a magic missile spell through it, hitting his target and dropping him back into unconsciousness.  That left only Kevik as a standing foe, and Orion kept up a steady supply of sling stones whizzing his way while her dominated dog tried to kill her from below.  But then Galen channeled the smiting power of Hieroneous through his sword, cutting a swath through the druid's robes and the flesh beneath it.  At his side, Kaspar struck at the druid with a pair of hardened fists, but uncharacteristically missed.  In desperation, Kevik staggered back a few steps and summoned forth a small fire elemental, whose mere touch singed the blue grass it stood upon.  It lashed out at Galen, but was unable to complete the move, blocked by the paladin's protection from evil spell which hedged out summoned creatures.  Mystified by its ineffective blow, the fire elemental lashed out again at Galen, with similar results.Syngaard looked over at Kevik, then down at the prone elven druid at his feet.  Smirking an evil grin, he bent over and picked up the fallen druid's human bane scimitar.  It was weighted slightly differently than the longswords Syngaard had trained on, but not appreciably - he was certain he could wield it to good use.  But - quite typically for Syngaard - he failed miserably at his first attempt, cutting nothing but the air around Kevik's head with his first swing.  Still, he did accomplish something, for the human druid recognized the weapon in the scarred fighter's grasp and understood immediately that any strike that actually hit was going to deal him a great amount of damage.Daleth used his last relatively powerful attack spell, a color spray, upon Kevik, but the druid shrugged off the spells' multiple effects.  Disheartened, the wizard pulled the light crossbow from his back again and consigned himself to a ranged weapon support role for the rest of the combat.  But then Kevik cried out in pain again, for another of Orion's sling stones had hit him square in the chest.  Turning to seek out his long-distance tormenter, Kevik gave Galen an opening the paladin was quick to take, smiting again at the evil druid with his longsword.  Kaspar also struck out at Kevik, but in turning from the paladin's successful strike he accidentally fell out of range of the monk's intended blows.Still, the druid knew he was overwhelmed by the force before him and it was time to cut his losses.  He turned and ran, casting another summoning spell behind him as he did so, bringing an octopus into being in the shallow water he splashed through.  But Syngaard was hot on his heels, striking out again with his stolen scimitar, this time scoring a hit across the fleeing druid's shoulder blades.  A wicked smile spread across his scarred face as he decided he was going to keep this weapon exactly for situations like this.  But despite the solid strike, Kevik refused to fall, continuing his path through the waters behind the newly-blue island.  Daleth sent a crossbow bolt whizzing by both figures as yet another sling stone struck its mark, Orion demonstrating the fabled halfling accuracy with such weapons.  Then, beneath her, Carl's furious growls and barks turned into puzzled whimpering as the dominate animal spell wore off.Galen was too far away from the fleeing human druid and the pursuing fighter and monk to stand any good chance of catching up, so he turned back to the unconscious elven druid before him, who was slowly bleeding out.  Wanting to keep him alive for interrogation, the paladin poured the contents of a potion of cure light wounds down the elf's throat.  His act of compassion was immediately punished, for Elorathien's eyes snapped open, he saw the human foe bent over him, and he rolled away from Galen, casting a produce flame spell as he did so that caused his right hand to erupt in harmless fire.  The flames weren't as harmless to Galen as they were to Elorathien, though, as the elf threw a ball of fire into the paladin's face.Kaspar finally brought Kevik down with a well-placed strike; he was much faster than the druid and unhampered by sodden robes.  Syngaard, not wanting to take any chances, brought his human bane scimitar crashing down on the druid's head, splitting it like a melon.  That was one druid who wasn't going to be revived any time soon!However, the revived Elorathien was another story.  After lobbing another ball of fire straight into Galen's face, he got to his feet and was ready to flee in the other direction from the one Kevik had taken, when he was taken down by a riding dog barreling down on him - or, more specifically, by the furious halfling riding him, who pierced his body with her flaming short sword like a shish-ka-bob.  Hell hath no fury like a halfling treed by her own dog!The final foe slain (for the spells soon expired on the summoned creatures), Kaspar and Syngaard dragged Kevik's corpse over to the blue island while Galen did likewise with Elorathien, and then the two female rangers were added to the pile.  After removing anything of potential value from their corpses, Orion used her flaming weapon to start the azure willow tree and the blue grass surrounding it ablaze; surrounded as it was by water, there were no concerns that the blaze would get out of hand.  It took some patience, but the group stayed in the vicinity until they were sure everything was burned beyond recovery.  Then, their mission accomplished, Iptik led the group back to his kobold village to meet their chieftain.The kobold's chieftain ended up being a black dragon named Thriinaryx, which explained the dark coloration of the kobolds of the shadowscale tribe.  She thanked the group in perfect Common for their assistance and then laid out their possible rewards on a dry patch of ground before her.  These were various magical items, the "glowy shinies" Iptik had referred to.  Of the seven items available, Daleth chose a wand of magic missiles; Galen chose a ring of protection; Kaspar took the brooch of shielding; Orion opted for the hat of disguise; and Syngaard picked an amulet of natural armor.Surprised to find no taint of evil in the black dragon's aura, Galen decided to do what he could to strengthen the bond between the kobold tribe and the kingdom of Durnhill.  "We thank you for these rewards," he said formally to the dragon, bowing at the waist.  "Please accept this small token in return, to add to your own hoard."  He held out a hundred pieces of gold from his own private stash, retrieved from his bag of holding.  At a gesture from their chieftain, a trio of shadowscale kobolds stepped forward to accept the coins from Galen.  They also scooped up the passed-over elemental gem and the arcane pearl of power to be returned to Thriinaryx's hoard.And then the Durnhill conscripts headed back to their base and to a well-earned rest. - - - We have a plastic cutting board (for fabric) on one end of the table we game at; as it's got one-inch squares marked off, it makes an excellent impromptu battle mat.  Logan dropped down a few rounded-corner one-inch squares of light blue poster board to represent small puddles of water, with two- and three-inch squares (some of them clumped together) forming larger pools of water.  After placing several one-inch squares of green poster board to represent the trunks of nearby trees, Logan had the cutting board set up for our combat with the crocodiles.  For the blue grove, he dropped down a larger, lozenge-shaped piece of sparkly blue paper he'd purchased and cut out (after drawing one-inch squares on the whole thing with a Sharpie marker) for an earlier adventure in our Skylanders campaign.  (There, it had been part of an enormous geode complex.)  A blue rounded-edge square showed us the location of the blue willow's trunk, and we were all set.</blockquote>

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