Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1390350" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #10: "I hate the swamp" - Episode 3 of 5It is dawn on the third Charday of Charder. Goldpetal, though still quite ill, gamely forces himself through his dawn ritual, at the far end of the island. Miriel also salutes her goddess as the sun rises. By the time they are finished, the rest of the camp is awake, and Stone is preparing a quick breakfast.Paks and Chuck feel very much refreshed, and Stone seems to have fully recovered from the hornet stings. Miriel is still weakened from her harrowing encounter with the stirges. Telryn, likewise weakened, wakes up with a fever to rival Goldpetal’s.We discuss whether or not to go after the rat man town. Paks, Miriel, and Telryn want to go onward. Stone and Goldpetal both think we should abandon our quest, and go back home. When Miriel convinces Stone to continue on, Chuck joins the quorum, and we are agreed. We break camp urgently, eager to make ground before the heat of midday.We slog through the mud, back up the path to rejoin the tracks of the main army. Stone is half-supporting Goldpetal, who is moving very slowly. By the time we get to the point where the two tracks diverge, Telryn has gotten worse. He has a high fever and seems completely disoriented. Miriel diagnoses it as another case of Swamp Fever, and suggests that he won’t be able to cast any spells. Telryn doesn’t feel that he can go on, and Chuck says that we can’t carry two sick people. With two party members down with illness, we finally decide that we must head back to the freehold. We head back north, towards the edge of the swamp, in the direction of the freehold. We get out of the swamp safely, by midmorning. It’s becoming another sweltering day. Chuck finds a good place for a campground near the edge of the swamp, and we take a brief rest in the shade of a small stand of trees. Telryn doesn’t look well at all, and Goldpetal is exhausted by the travel we’ve done that morning, so we decide to stay there for the remainder of the day, and into the night.The oppressive heat builds through noon and into the afternoon; even the healthiest members of the party want to do little more than rest in the shade. Stone stands guard, while Miriel and Paks tend to the sick. The only one of us who wants to do anything is Chuck; he paces restlessly for a short while, announces that he is going ‘hunting’, and strides away from the camp.While watching over Telryn and Goldpetal all day, Miriel tries to talk with Paks. She gets the feeling that the earnest warrior is struggling with something; however, despite several attempts to draw out whatever it is, she is met with silence or noncommittal answers. Chuck comes back in the mid afternoon, carrying two dead rabbits, which he tells Miriel she might cook. In the evening, Miriel cooks a fine coney stew, and we all gather around to share the meal. As the smell of stew permeates the campsite, Telryn awakens. He is coherent for a little while. After greeting the rest of the group, and eating a bowl of stew, he suggests, “I think I’m well enough to cast a spell or two. I could try to cast identify on the ‘shield’ ring you’re carrying, Miriel.” Seeing some of the others nodding, he continues, “The spell normally requires a pearl, but I think that I could substitute the violet gems we found, and sacrifice some of the cooking wine, and have a chance of succeeding.”When everyone agrees, he takes the wine and one of the gems. He crushes the gem to a powder, and mixes it with the wine. He begins to gesticulate and chat, while the others watch the arcane ritual with amusement. He continues for several minutes, before abandoning the attempt and shaking his head. “I don’t think I did that right,” he says. “I’m going to have to try again.”He leans back and closes his eyes. Miriel glances at him with concern in her green eyes. “Are you okay?” she asks.“The effort has tired me,” he tells us, eyes still closed, “But I will try again in ten minutes or so.”“How long does the spell take to cast?”“About eight hours,” he says.“Eight hours?! You’re not well enough to cast a spell which takes eight hours! You need to rest!”“I’ll be fine,” he says. Sure enough, a few minutes later, he sits up, and begins again, crushing the second purple gem into a fine powder, and mixing it with the remainder of the wine. As before, he begins gesticulating with his arms, and chanting a long sonorous chant.With his voice as a background, the rest of us set a watch rotation, and prepare for sleep. Paks and Miriel are on watch together, shortly after midnight, when Telryn abruptly ceases chanting. They both turn to him expectantly, but he is focused in deep concentration, and they are afraid to speak lest they distract him.Finally, he looks up. “Success!” he says, and his voice is exhausted from the effort, sounding thin and reedy. “It is a ring of force shield. When you say the activation word, an invisible disc of force appears around the ring. You can use it as though it were a normal shield, Paks, though neither you nor your enemies could see it. It has no weight, and will barely impede your movement. The ‘magic word’ is the Slytherin word for ‘Shield,’ as inscribed on the inside of the ring.”Miriel, who learned how to speak the word from Myrs at Kratys Freehold, teaches Telryn and Paks how to say it. She gives it to Telryn temporarily, although they plan to give it to Paks later, so she can use it instead of her real shield, and wield the masterwork bastard sword instead of her usual longsword. Telryn falls asleep immediately, and everyone rests until the next morning.When Telryn wakes up the next morning, his fever has broken and he’s doing much better. He still hasn’t fully recovered his strength, between the fever, the stirges, and the exhausting spell, but he’s willing to continue on now. It is Belsaday, the twenty-third day of the month of Charder.Miriel checks on Goldpetal, and the elf says, “I am feeling better as well. I can walk with you,” he tells her, “But I doubt that I would be much use in a fight. I am unable to concentrate enough to cast a spell, and am too weak to be useful with my bow.”We consider waiting for both of them to recover further, but the idea that our quarry may have time to reinforce if we do not hurry guides our decision. We decide not to wait any longer, and after breakfast, we pack and head back to the swamp. Chuck, Stone, and Miriel plunge into the swamp, but Telryn balks at the edge, staring at the swamp with clear loathing. “By the gods, I hate the swamp,” he says, with a shudder. After a moment’s hesitation, he stands up straighter and resolutely presses after the others. Goldpetal and Paks bring up the rear.Chuck leads, following the trail of the army. Though the trail of a hundred ratmen should be easy to follow, but he warns us, “We cannot delay much longer. The swamp is already beginning to heal itself: the flattened grasses and broken branches which mark the trail are well on the way to rebounding.”We reach the point where the tracks split around mid-morning, and continue south along the trail of the large army.  We can see the knoll, off to our left, where we killed the mauler.Late in the morning, as we’re walking through the swamp, Chuck notices a multitude of small lizards darting out of our way, hiding in the edges of the swamp. He points it out to Stone, who comments, “That’s very odd.”A few moments later, Chuck brings us to a stop. We see a stump in front of us with a foot-long blue-green lizard sitting on it. It has large horns that sweep back, like spiky ears, and a long spiky tail. It hisses at us. As we look at it, trying to figure out what it is, we notice that it's sparking and swathed in electricity. We’re very close to it, practically right on top of it.Telryn is the first to react. He’s been jumpy and uneasy all morning, and he quickly fires his crossbow at it, but his hurried shot misses. Paks and Chuck draw their bows, but both their arrows miss. Goldpetal stumbles back behind the rest of the group, out of the way, while Stone hurriedly tries to load his crossbow.Miriel steps up next to the half-orc and yells, “Madriel, inspire fear in the hearts of our enemies!” Accompanying the prayer with a gesture, she casts cause fear on the lizard. It turns and leaps off the rock, away from her. It darts into a heavier patch of brush, out of sight. A few moments later, we hear a splash, and Paks says, “I think it jumped in the lake.”As we begin to relax, another lizard, possibly its mate, rushes out from behind the stump. Before anyone can react, she reaches Chuck, and a bolt of electricity shoots from her body. The Vigilant dodges it, feeling the hair on his arms stand on end and the slight tingle of a mild shock: he can only imagine how painful catching the brunt of it would have been. Stone has just finished loading his crossbow, and he shoots the lizard. His bolt hits her hard, burying itself in her flank, just above the hind legs. Telryn casts a magic missile at her – the bolt of magical energy hits her, just as Paks’ arrow scratches her. Finally, Chuck steps forward, just three feet away from her, and takes a point blank shot. From that range, he is deadly, and his arrow passes into her brain and kills her. Telryn and Stone load their crossbows. Everyone looks warily around, but there seems to be no further danger. Stone asks Chuck, “What were those?”“That’s a shocker lizard,” Chuck says, still scanning the surrounding marsh for other danger.“Are they poisonous?” Miriel asks.Chuck shakes his head. “I don’t think so.” “Right, I’ll take some of its meat with us.” Miriel pulls out her dagger, and carves some meat off of the dead lizard to bring it along. Not seeing any further threat, the rest of us begin to lower our bows. Chuck says, “Miriel, I’m really glad you scared the first lizard off. Shocker lizards aren’t so bad alone, but if two of them surround you, they can cooperate to create some major electrical bolts.”</blockquote>

Verification