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<blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 3855804" data-attributes="member: 22784"><p><strong>Scene 2 – Attercops and Cypress Trees</strong></p><p><em>The Sour Lake Swamp</em></p><p><em>January 25th, 1 pm</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>The party sets off into the swamp. The water is waist high on most of them, but that’s why they have the boats. Poling is not as easy as it looks. Unsurprisingly, it is still raining, deadening sounds and making archery more difficult.</p><p></p><p>Lacking either a map or a guide, the party follow Solsus’s suggestion and head along the coast. It is difficult to tell exactly where the swamp ends and the sea begins – and someone else seems to have made the same mistake. Keen eyed Solsus, scouting above the party, spots a ship which has run aground in a stand of cypress trees.</p><p></p><p>Solsus flies over the stranded ship. It is a coastal trader of some sort, fairly similar to the Sea Hawk. The hatch to the hold is open, and there is a small patch of blood beside it. Otherwise, there are no signs of life. As he flies back to the others he gets a sensation that there might be something in the trees.</p><p></p><p>Two of the party’s three boats move cautiously towards the ship. The third, carrying Haddin and Cristin, hangs back. As usual, they are content to let the rest of the group take all the risks.</p><p></p><p>Four thick bodied, spider-like creatures drop from the trees, and sprint across the shallow water towards the boats. The leader, the size of a wolf, heads straight for Jonathan and, with a mighty leap, knocks him backwards out of the boat and beneath the shallow waters of the swamp. Its comrades follow hard on its heels. One of them tries the same thing with Caryk, but the tortle is able to brace himself against the impact and it is the spider which is knocked back. The agile creature twists in the air and lands smoothly on its feet.</p><p></p><p>Jonathan, his mouth full of foul swamp water, feels the spiders’ fangs biting into him. He calls upon his mental powers to help him resist their venom, and leaps to his feet. This triggers a fresh round of attacks from his opponents, but his chain shirt is up to the challenge. A ball of frozen energy appears beside Jonathan, then shatters into a thousand pieces. The shards miss Jonathan, but shower the spiders.</p><p></p><p>Solsus notices a stirring in the branches of some of the other trees. There are more of these creatures lurking in ambush. Ignoring the fight which is currently raging, he calls upon the power of nature to aid him against these new foes. The branches of the trees shift and twist, and try and wrap themselves around the creatures lurking there. </p><p></p><p>However, the spiders were already in motion, and three of them are only slowed down by the entangling branches. The fourth, however, is stuck fast. The delay allows Agatha and Ambar to fire at the three new spiders, but then the beasts gather themselves and charge the nearest boat.</p><p></p><p>Ambar’s highly tuned reflexes allow her to evade the assault of the first spider, but she dodges straight into the path of the second. It knocks her from the boat, and she too takes an unwanted bath in the swamp. Gribron unleashes a spray of brightly coloured lights at the creatures, but the mindless vermin ignore him. He changes tactics, and starts hurling bolts of flame at them instead, to much greater effect.</p><p></p><p>Caryk drops carefully into the swamp, and moves to help Jonathan. Ambar climbs to her feet, hissing and spluttering, and uses the sword of Anyariel to good effect against the spiders who are surrounding her. Agatha’s eldritch blasts unerringly strike their targets, and Solsus chips in with his sling.</p><p></p><p>Now that the initial shock of the combat is over, seven wolf sized spiders prove no match for our heroes. They fall to blade, fist, spell and sling bullet. Soon the only one left is the eighth spider, struggling to escape the embrace of the trees. Gribron and Jonathan pull out their respective bows – a shortbow being Gribron’s choice, whilst Jonathan favours a light crossbow – and use it for target practice. It is Jonathan who finally finishes it off.</p><p></p><p>It is then time to turn to the party’s wounds. Only Jonathan and Ambar have been bitten, but the poison from the spiders’ fangs is making them feel faint. Solsus uses his healing skills to draw out the poison from Jonathan. Together, they help Ambar. Jonathan seems very taken with Ambar’s anatomy. She is probably wrong to feel flattered.</p><p></p><p>Solsus investigates the spiders’ nests in the trees, but finds nothing of interest. It appears this is merely a hunting ground, rather than the creatures’ lair. From a study of the bodies he deduces they are an obscure and exotic type of hunting spider called an attercop, but he can’t recall any further details.</p><p></p><p>The party then checks out the ship. The name on the side is “Milsoven” but that doesn’t mean anything to them. They clamber aboard, and most of them decide to investigate the hold. Solsus and Agatha prefer to keep watch outside.</p><p></p><p>Its dark inside the hold, but it’s a simple matter for somebody to cause Caryk’s staff to glow with light. The interior is large, but cramped. There are dozens of crates, some of which stretch almost up to the ceiling. It’s virtually a maze down here, and anything could be lurking in the shadows.</p><p></p><p>The crates are labelled as “manifest #1”, “manifest #2” etc., which is not very helpful. Many of them also have tiny holes drilled in them – possibly air holes. The party carefully lever up the lid of manifest #1, and discover the bodies of twelve bat-like creatures with long, sharp beaks. Eleven of them are shrivelled and desiccated, as if the blood had been drained out of them. The twelfth is much larger and bloated, and seems to have died of thirst. </p><p></p><p>“Stirges,” says Jonathan. “Nasty things. Dead, fortunately.”</p><p></p><p>Manifest #2 contains the corpse of a strange, four armed gorilla. Its hands end in razor sharp claws.</p><p></p><p>At that moment, Gribron hears the sound of scuttling feet. Four of the attercops emerge from the darkness, and hurl themselves at him. He disappears from the spot in the nick of time, and appears behind Ambar. The spiders continue forwards and attack Ambar instead. They are not fussy. However, before entering the hold she had protected herself with a shield of magical energy, and the spiders are unable to penetrate her defences.</p><p></p><p>Jonathan lets loose a maelstrom of crystal shards, and Caryk strikes out with his staff. Ambar draws her sword and skewers the nearest spider. The beast was already injured by Jonathan, and cannot withstand her attack. Another spider falls to Caryk’s staff, and Gribron blasts the third with a firebolt. At this point Agatha and Solsus arrive, having heard the sounds of battle, and the last spider falls to Agatha’s eldritch blast.</p><p></p><p>The immediate danger over, the party return to searching the hold. They find the bodies of a number of other strange creatures, including a winged horse, and also a crate whose top is not properly secured. This crate is empty, but it might once have contained a dozen or so spiders.</p><p></p><p>However, the most interesting find is at the back of the hold. Four humans, dressed in the garb of sailors, are tightly bound up in spider silk. Jonathan pulls out his autopsy kit and cuts loose one of the sailors. He is slightly disappointed when Caryk points out that the man is still alive, and heads off back to the winged horse to examine it instead.</p><p></p><p>All four sailors are alive, although in a weakened state. They explain that their ship was carrying a cargo of exotic creatures to Seaquen, but the spiders escaped. The sailors’ last memory is being bitten by the spiders, trying to launch the lifeboat, and then collapsing. When they woke up, they were bound. They don’t know what happened to the rest of the crew, but suspect they must have jumped overboard to escape the spiders. </p><p></p><p>It is fairly clear why the ship ran aground.</p><p></p><p>They want only to leave the ill fated vessel. They thank the party profusely for their help, point out the captain’s cabin, and then launch the ship’s boat. They have resolved to head northwards through the swamp to Vidor.</p><p></p><p>The party search the rest of the boat, but find nothing of interest apart from the cargo manifest in the captain’s cabin. It identifies the winged horse as a Pegasus and the four armed gorilla as a girillon, and states that everything, attercops and all, were to be delivered to one Banahman Vett, at the Lyceum in Seaquen. Since the Lyceum is the name of Seaquen’s college of magic, Vett is probably a mage of some kind.</p><p></p><p>“A dryad called Timbre, and now an animal collector called Vett. You just couldn’t make this stuff up,” says Agatha.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Scene 3 – Blood in the Water</strong></p><p><em>The Sour Lake Swamp</em></p><p><em>January 25th, 5 pm</em></p><p></p><p>Its getting dark when the party spot a convenient patch of dry ground on which to camp. Two tufty grass mounds poke up from the swamp, connected by a fallen tree. The party decides to rest for the night on the larger of the two little islands.</p><p></p><p>Agatha has the first watch. She sits in the rain listening to the insects, and thinks she’s come a very long way in order to be this uncomfortable. At first nothing much seems to be happening, but then she fancies she sees a light approaching from the northwest. The folk of Vidor had warned the party of the dangers of strange lights in the swamp. On the other hand, they had also tried to sell the party necklaces of alligator teeth, guaranteed to protect them from the dangers of their journey.</p><p></p><p>She watches the light for a few moments. Its definitely coming closer, and its strangely diffused, as if its shining through fog. However, in every other direction the night is perfectly clear. She can also vaguely make out the sound of singing.</p><p></p><p>“This is getting far too weird,” she thinks. Moving quickly, she kicks awake the rest of the group. Gribron gets the benefit of two kicks. After all, he might be a heavy sleeper.</p><p></p><p>The light and the song are almost upon them. The words are in the common tongue, but there is a second singer harmonising in a strange, gurgly language none of the party recognise. The song seems to be about the joy of taking a refreshing swim in the cool waters of the swamp.</p><p></p><p>“Seems to be some sort of primitive, mind affecting music,” says Gribron.</p><p></p><p>“I wonder if they realise they are wasting their breath?” says Caryk scornfully. “I’m a tortle, and we love swimming, but even I’m not being influenced into thinking a night-time dip in a strange, dank swamp is a sensible idea.”</p><p></p><p>They both realise at the same time that Ambar is heading down to the water’s edge, crooning the song’s melody. Caryk races after her, but there is no way the plodding tortle can reach the swift catfolk in time.</p><p></p><p>Gribron has a better idea. He starts crooning a song of his own, about the dangers of swimming and the nastiness of swamps. He is able to catch Ambar’s attention, and she halts on the edge of the water, torn between two conflicting emotions. When Caryk arrives, he is able to lead her back towards Gribron.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, the light has arrived at the island, and the fog surrounding it vanishes. There is now a boat beached at the side of the island, but no oars or sail are visible. It is occupied by two creatures, vaguely human but with a twisted, demonic aspect to their features. </p><p></p><p>The taller of the two is tall and thin, and clad in rusted metal armour. Green water is oozing from her mouth. She ceases her singing and stares into space, as if waiting for something which fails to appear.</p><p></p><p>Her companion is shorter and unarmoured, but no less feeble looking. She carries the source of the light, a lantern on a pole. Scowling at the party, she chants words of lethargy and despair. Our heroes feel ice seeping into their bones, slowing their movements and making everything seem a massive effort.</p><p></p><p>However, the party have faced their share of hostile magic in their time, and all bar one are able to fight off the creature’s foul sorcery. Only Agatha, already tired from her time on watch, is unable to resist.</p><p></p><p>A split second later a third creature emerges from the swamp, and climbs up the side of the island towards Agatha. As emaciated as her sisters, she is clad from head to toe in the scales of some black, reptilian creature. She is in a fearful rage, frothing at the mouth and tearing at her long, black hair, and in her fist she holds a wickedly curved dagger. Screaming obscenities in some strange, infernal tongue, she hurls herself upon Agatha. Her inhuman strength drives the blade deep into Agatha’s stomach. </p><p></p><p>Agatha staggers back from the blow, and retaliates by launching a powerful blast of eldritch energy into her opponent’s face. In her rage the creature barely flinches, but Agatha feels too numb and weary to retreat to safety.</p><p></p><p>Gribron launches glowing missiles of force at the lantern bearing hag, and curses as they are snuffed out by her magical protection.</p><p></p><p>Caryk and Ambar move to engage Agatha’s opponent. Their blows strike true, but the creature just shrugs them off. Jonathan, moving in the opposite direction, skips past Caryk and finds a safe place to stand on the edge of the swamp. He unleashes a bolt of mental energy against the enraged hag, but to no avail.</p><p></p><p>Haddin and Cristin scramble through the foliage of the fallen tree on their way to the comparative safety of the other island.</p><p></p><p>Solsus takes to the air, and pulls a small pouch out of his backpack. He hurls it at the enraged hag fighting Agatha, Ambar and Caryk, and strikes a direct hit. The bag explodes on impact, and covers the hag in green goo. This soon hardens on contact with air, and sticks the hag to the ground.</p><p></p><p>The creature shows no signs of being worried by this turn of events and, despite being hindered by the hardened goo, slashes once more at Agatha. Once again, the powerful blow strikes home. Agatha collapses to the ground under the impact.</p><p></p><p>This causes the other two hags to burst out laughing. The one with the lantern recovers sufficiently to thrust out her hand, whisper words of power and bathe Caryk and Ambar in a cone of flame. Their cries of pain only make the hags laugh even louder.</p><p></p><p>Gribron, identifying the lantern-bearing hag as the main arcane threat, moves as close as he can and lets off a firebolt. The hag crumples under the onslaught, but recovers when her sister touches her and whispers words of healing.</p><p></p><p>Our heroes are not used to fighting such magically powerful, albeit insane, opponents. Caryk and Ambar bring down the raging hag at last, but Caryk is stabbed several times in the process. Solsus is able to use his healing wand to restore Agatha to some semblance of health, but then has to turn his attentions to the badly wounded tortle.</p><p></p><p>“At least I’m out of the danger zone,” thinks Jonathan from his safe vantage point at the side of the swamp. He launches a mental blast at the lantern bearing hag, and hopes that her sister is out of healing magic. He groans when the armoured hag pulls a mouldy scroll from her belt and haltingly reads it. Her sister’s wounds start to heal once more.</p><p></p><p>At that moment a ferocious reptilian shape erupts from the swamp and swats Jonathan with its tail. The scholar staggers under the powerful blow, and realises to his dismay that he is standing toe to toe with a crocodile. He retreats around the side of the island, with the animal in hot pursuit.</p><p></p><p>Ambar, still stuck in her swim / don’t swim confusion, decides that a boat works either way and steps nimbly onto the hag’s raft. She thrusts at the lantern bearing hag, and Anyariel’s sword proves equal to the creature’s magical defences. Blood pours out from the gaping wound.</p><p></p><p>“Heal me, sister,” croaks the hag. Her armoured companion shrugs. Cursing, the hag hurls herself off the boat and into the swamp, and swims off to the southwest. A couple of the party take pot shots at her, but miss.</p><p></p><p>Gribron, spotting Jonathan fleeing from a ferocious crocodile, decides the situation is well in hand and fires bolts of force at the remaining hag. The creature is stung by the blows, and jumps over the side. She tries to swim off after her sister, but unfortunately the weight of her armour is far too much for her emaciated frame. She flounders through the swamp and Gribron, Ambar and an unsteady Agatha are able to send her to a watery grave. </p><p></p><p>Caryk steps between Jonathan and the crocodile, and brings down the monster (the one with the tail) with some powerful blows from his staff.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="amethal, post: 3855804, member: 22784"] [B]Scene 2 – Attercops and Cypress Trees[/B] [I]The Sour Lake Swamp January 25th, 1 pm [/I] The party sets off into the swamp. The water is waist high on most of them, but that’s why they have the boats. Poling is not as easy as it looks. Unsurprisingly, it is still raining, deadening sounds and making archery more difficult. Lacking either a map or a guide, the party follow Solsus’s suggestion and head along the coast. It is difficult to tell exactly where the swamp ends and the sea begins – and someone else seems to have made the same mistake. Keen eyed Solsus, scouting above the party, spots a ship which has run aground in a stand of cypress trees. Solsus flies over the stranded ship. It is a coastal trader of some sort, fairly similar to the Sea Hawk. The hatch to the hold is open, and there is a small patch of blood beside it. Otherwise, there are no signs of life. As he flies back to the others he gets a sensation that there might be something in the trees. Two of the party’s three boats move cautiously towards the ship. The third, carrying Haddin and Cristin, hangs back. As usual, they are content to let the rest of the group take all the risks. Four thick bodied, spider-like creatures drop from the trees, and sprint across the shallow water towards the boats. The leader, the size of a wolf, heads straight for Jonathan and, with a mighty leap, knocks him backwards out of the boat and beneath the shallow waters of the swamp. Its comrades follow hard on its heels. One of them tries the same thing with Caryk, but the tortle is able to brace himself against the impact and it is the spider which is knocked back. The agile creature twists in the air and lands smoothly on its feet. Jonathan, his mouth full of foul swamp water, feels the spiders’ fangs biting into him. He calls upon his mental powers to help him resist their venom, and leaps to his feet. This triggers a fresh round of attacks from his opponents, but his chain shirt is up to the challenge. A ball of frozen energy appears beside Jonathan, then shatters into a thousand pieces. The shards miss Jonathan, but shower the spiders. Solsus notices a stirring in the branches of some of the other trees. There are more of these creatures lurking in ambush. Ignoring the fight which is currently raging, he calls upon the power of nature to aid him against these new foes. The branches of the trees shift and twist, and try and wrap themselves around the creatures lurking there. However, the spiders were already in motion, and three of them are only slowed down by the entangling branches. The fourth, however, is stuck fast. The delay allows Agatha and Ambar to fire at the three new spiders, but then the beasts gather themselves and charge the nearest boat. Ambar’s highly tuned reflexes allow her to evade the assault of the first spider, but she dodges straight into the path of the second. It knocks her from the boat, and she too takes an unwanted bath in the swamp. Gribron unleashes a spray of brightly coloured lights at the creatures, but the mindless vermin ignore him. He changes tactics, and starts hurling bolts of flame at them instead, to much greater effect. Caryk drops carefully into the swamp, and moves to help Jonathan. Ambar climbs to her feet, hissing and spluttering, and uses the sword of Anyariel to good effect against the spiders who are surrounding her. Agatha’s eldritch blasts unerringly strike their targets, and Solsus chips in with his sling. Now that the initial shock of the combat is over, seven wolf sized spiders prove no match for our heroes. They fall to blade, fist, spell and sling bullet. Soon the only one left is the eighth spider, struggling to escape the embrace of the trees. Gribron and Jonathan pull out their respective bows – a shortbow being Gribron’s choice, whilst Jonathan favours a light crossbow – and use it for target practice. It is Jonathan who finally finishes it off. It is then time to turn to the party’s wounds. Only Jonathan and Ambar have been bitten, but the poison from the spiders’ fangs is making them feel faint. Solsus uses his healing skills to draw out the poison from Jonathan. Together, they help Ambar. Jonathan seems very taken with Ambar’s anatomy. She is probably wrong to feel flattered. Solsus investigates the spiders’ nests in the trees, but finds nothing of interest. It appears this is merely a hunting ground, rather than the creatures’ lair. From a study of the bodies he deduces they are an obscure and exotic type of hunting spider called an attercop, but he can’t recall any further details. The party then checks out the ship. The name on the side is “Milsoven” but that doesn’t mean anything to them. They clamber aboard, and most of them decide to investigate the hold. Solsus and Agatha prefer to keep watch outside. Its dark inside the hold, but it’s a simple matter for somebody to cause Caryk’s staff to glow with light. The interior is large, but cramped. There are dozens of crates, some of which stretch almost up to the ceiling. It’s virtually a maze down here, and anything could be lurking in the shadows. The crates are labelled as “manifest #1”, “manifest #2” etc., which is not very helpful. Many of them also have tiny holes drilled in them – possibly air holes. The party carefully lever up the lid of manifest #1, and discover the bodies of twelve bat-like creatures with long, sharp beaks. Eleven of them are shrivelled and desiccated, as if the blood had been drained out of them. The twelfth is much larger and bloated, and seems to have died of thirst. “Stirges,” says Jonathan. “Nasty things. Dead, fortunately.” Manifest #2 contains the corpse of a strange, four armed gorilla. Its hands end in razor sharp claws. At that moment, Gribron hears the sound of scuttling feet. Four of the attercops emerge from the darkness, and hurl themselves at him. He disappears from the spot in the nick of time, and appears behind Ambar. The spiders continue forwards and attack Ambar instead. They are not fussy. However, before entering the hold she had protected herself with a shield of magical energy, and the spiders are unable to penetrate her defences. Jonathan lets loose a maelstrom of crystal shards, and Caryk strikes out with his staff. Ambar draws her sword and skewers the nearest spider. The beast was already injured by Jonathan, and cannot withstand her attack. Another spider falls to Caryk’s staff, and Gribron blasts the third with a firebolt. At this point Agatha and Solsus arrive, having heard the sounds of battle, and the last spider falls to Agatha’s eldritch blast. The immediate danger over, the party return to searching the hold. They find the bodies of a number of other strange creatures, including a winged horse, and also a crate whose top is not properly secured. This crate is empty, but it might once have contained a dozen or so spiders. However, the most interesting find is at the back of the hold. Four humans, dressed in the garb of sailors, are tightly bound up in spider silk. Jonathan pulls out his autopsy kit and cuts loose one of the sailors. He is slightly disappointed when Caryk points out that the man is still alive, and heads off back to the winged horse to examine it instead. All four sailors are alive, although in a weakened state. They explain that their ship was carrying a cargo of exotic creatures to Seaquen, but the spiders escaped. The sailors’ last memory is being bitten by the spiders, trying to launch the lifeboat, and then collapsing. When they woke up, they were bound. They don’t know what happened to the rest of the crew, but suspect they must have jumped overboard to escape the spiders. It is fairly clear why the ship ran aground. They want only to leave the ill fated vessel. They thank the party profusely for their help, point out the captain’s cabin, and then launch the ship’s boat. They have resolved to head northwards through the swamp to Vidor. The party search the rest of the boat, but find nothing of interest apart from the cargo manifest in the captain’s cabin. It identifies the winged horse as a Pegasus and the four armed gorilla as a girillon, and states that everything, attercops and all, were to be delivered to one Banahman Vett, at the Lyceum in Seaquen. Since the Lyceum is the name of Seaquen’s college of magic, Vett is probably a mage of some kind. “A dryad called Timbre, and now an animal collector called Vett. You just couldn’t make this stuff up,” says Agatha. [B] Scene 3 – Blood in the Water[/B] [I]The Sour Lake Swamp January 25th, 5 pm[/I] Its getting dark when the party spot a convenient patch of dry ground on which to camp. Two tufty grass mounds poke up from the swamp, connected by a fallen tree. The party decides to rest for the night on the larger of the two little islands. Agatha has the first watch. She sits in the rain listening to the insects, and thinks she’s come a very long way in order to be this uncomfortable. At first nothing much seems to be happening, but then she fancies she sees a light approaching from the northwest. The folk of Vidor had warned the party of the dangers of strange lights in the swamp. On the other hand, they had also tried to sell the party necklaces of alligator teeth, guaranteed to protect them from the dangers of their journey. She watches the light for a few moments. Its definitely coming closer, and its strangely diffused, as if its shining through fog. However, in every other direction the night is perfectly clear. She can also vaguely make out the sound of singing. “This is getting far too weird,” she thinks. Moving quickly, she kicks awake the rest of the group. Gribron gets the benefit of two kicks. After all, he might be a heavy sleeper. The light and the song are almost upon them. The words are in the common tongue, but there is a second singer harmonising in a strange, gurgly language none of the party recognise. The song seems to be about the joy of taking a refreshing swim in the cool waters of the swamp. “Seems to be some sort of primitive, mind affecting music,” says Gribron. “I wonder if they realise they are wasting their breath?” says Caryk scornfully. “I’m a tortle, and we love swimming, but even I’m not being influenced into thinking a night-time dip in a strange, dank swamp is a sensible idea.” They both realise at the same time that Ambar is heading down to the water’s edge, crooning the song’s melody. Caryk races after her, but there is no way the plodding tortle can reach the swift catfolk in time. Gribron has a better idea. He starts crooning a song of his own, about the dangers of swimming and the nastiness of swamps. He is able to catch Ambar’s attention, and she halts on the edge of the water, torn between two conflicting emotions. When Caryk arrives, he is able to lead her back towards Gribron. Meanwhile, the light has arrived at the island, and the fog surrounding it vanishes. There is now a boat beached at the side of the island, but no oars or sail are visible. It is occupied by two creatures, vaguely human but with a twisted, demonic aspect to their features. The taller of the two is tall and thin, and clad in rusted metal armour. Green water is oozing from her mouth. She ceases her singing and stares into space, as if waiting for something which fails to appear. Her companion is shorter and unarmoured, but no less feeble looking. She carries the source of the light, a lantern on a pole. Scowling at the party, she chants words of lethargy and despair. Our heroes feel ice seeping into their bones, slowing their movements and making everything seem a massive effort. However, the party have faced their share of hostile magic in their time, and all bar one are able to fight off the creature’s foul sorcery. Only Agatha, already tired from her time on watch, is unable to resist. A split second later a third creature emerges from the swamp, and climbs up the side of the island towards Agatha. As emaciated as her sisters, she is clad from head to toe in the scales of some black, reptilian creature. She is in a fearful rage, frothing at the mouth and tearing at her long, black hair, and in her fist she holds a wickedly curved dagger. Screaming obscenities in some strange, infernal tongue, she hurls herself upon Agatha. Her inhuman strength drives the blade deep into Agatha’s stomach. Agatha staggers back from the blow, and retaliates by launching a powerful blast of eldritch energy into her opponent’s face. In her rage the creature barely flinches, but Agatha feels too numb and weary to retreat to safety. Gribron launches glowing missiles of force at the lantern bearing hag, and curses as they are snuffed out by her magical protection. Caryk and Ambar move to engage Agatha’s opponent. Their blows strike true, but the creature just shrugs them off. Jonathan, moving in the opposite direction, skips past Caryk and finds a safe place to stand on the edge of the swamp. He unleashes a bolt of mental energy against the enraged hag, but to no avail. Haddin and Cristin scramble through the foliage of the fallen tree on their way to the comparative safety of the other island. Solsus takes to the air, and pulls a small pouch out of his backpack. He hurls it at the enraged hag fighting Agatha, Ambar and Caryk, and strikes a direct hit. The bag explodes on impact, and covers the hag in green goo. This soon hardens on contact with air, and sticks the hag to the ground. The creature shows no signs of being worried by this turn of events and, despite being hindered by the hardened goo, slashes once more at Agatha. Once again, the powerful blow strikes home. Agatha collapses to the ground under the impact. This causes the other two hags to burst out laughing. The one with the lantern recovers sufficiently to thrust out her hand, whisper words of power and bathe Caryk and Ambar in a cone of flame. Their cries of pain only make the hags laugh even louder. Gribron, identifying the lantern-bearing hag as the main arcane threat, moves as close as he can and lets off a firebolt. The hag crumples under the onslaught, but recovers when her sister touches her and whispers words of healing. Our heroes are not used to fighting such magically powerful, albeit insane, opponents. Caryk and Ambar bring down the raging hag at last, but Caryk is stabbed several times in the process. Solsus is able to use his healing wand to restore Agatha to some semblance of health, but then has to turn his attentions to the badly wounded tortle. “At least I’m out of the danger zone,” thinks Jonathan from his safe vantage point at the side of the swamp. He launches a mental blast at the lantern bearing hag, and hopes that her sister is out of healing magic. He groans when the armoured hag pulls a mouldy scroll from her belt and haltingly reads it. Her sister’s wounds start to heal once more. At that moment a ferocious reptilian shape erupts from the swamp and swats Jonathan with its tail. The scholar staggers under the powerful blow, and realises to his dismay that he is standing toe to toe with a crocodile. He retreats around the side of the island, with the animal in hot pursuit. Ambar, still stuck in her swim / don’t swim confusion, decides that a boat works either way and steps nimbly onto the hag’s raft. She thrusts at the lantern bearing hag, and Anyariel’s sword proves equal to the creature’s magical defences. Blood pours out from the gaping wound. “Heal me, sister,” croaks the hag. Her armoured companion shrugs. Cursing, the hag hurls herself off the boat and into the swamp, and swims off to the southwest. A couple of the party take pot shots at her, but miss. Gribron, spotting Jonathan fleeing from a ferocious crocodile, decides the situation is well in hand and fires bolts of force at the remaining hag. The creature is stung by the blows, and jumps over the side. She tries to swim off after her sister, but unfortunately the weight of her armour is far too much for her emaciated frame. She flounders through the swamp and Gribron, Ambar and an unsteady Agatha are able to send her to a watery grave. Caryk steps between Jonathan and the crocodile, and brings down the monster (the one with the tail) with some powerful blows from his staff. [/QUOTE]
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