Gruge Match
500 XP (half of the intended 1000 XP)
It is then that a large group of cultists emerge from their rooms. They have obviously been waiting for their chance to approach one of the adventurers alone. Fortune shines on the cultists, as it is the flippant Danifae, the drow elf who has so recently tried to rouse their anger. It is not long before Danifae is being attacked by at least a dozen of the cultist, the main one a young woman who has been driven into a rage.
T'an is drawn out of the stables by the sounds of battle and is quick to rush to the aid of Danifae but it is too late. Danifae is felled by one of the cultitst and seeing he is surrounded, T'an using all the speed he can muster runs to the stables. There he is nimbly jumps out a window in the loft and swings on top of the roof. Back in the courtyard, the cultist woman, enraged over the belief that the adventurers are responsible for the murder of her companion. kneels over the body of the unconscious drow and stabs over and over, tears of anger and grief running down her face until her companions pull her off of the dead body.
T'an uses this moment to move across the roof of the roadhouse, hiding himself among the shadows. From there he witnesses several lizard-like humanoids loading a couple of wagons with what looks to be the crates which the cultists have been travelling with for the past several weeks. He watches them from his vantage until the finish and finally begin to leave.
After scouting the area and noticing that the cultists have since retired, leaving the body and its pool of blood staining the mud and straw in the courtyard, T'an awakens the others and tells them the news of both Danifae's attack and murder as well as the movement of the cultist's treasure. They decide to wait until morning before making any decisions.
In the morning, Beyd their employer, tells the party that he has smoothed things over with the roadhouse keepers but feels that it is safer for him if they part ways. T'an spends a good deal of the morning trying to convince Orvusita, the comely female guard that she should accompany them on their mission to avenge Danifae's death. After some awkward conversation she finally agrees.
Tracking Into The Mere Of The Dead Men
The group moves out to follow the trail left by the lizardfolk who have taken over the cultist's treasure. The morning is cold and damp with the sun a pale light behind thick grey clouds. The trail is easy enough to follow in the soft ground as it approaches and then enters dark woods. The forest floor is soft which quickly enough turns to ankle deep muck which makes the travel slow for the party, especially Smallfang who is a considerable size not even considering the massive amount of armor he wears.
Some distance into the mere, the group hears mutterings and T'an moves quickly and stealthily up until he finds an old man sitting on a rotting log talking to himself. As he watches he sees that the old man is in fact talking to a rock he holds in his hands. T'an returns to the others to tell them of the odd sight as the group notices that T'an has been followed by a pseudodragon up in the branches. As the small pseudodragon flies back to the old man the group follows it and they all meet the old man, Bohr. They ask if he has seen anything unusual, say like lizard creatures bearing crates. Bohr says that he has and proceeds to show them where as he accompanies them.
It is not long before they find an abandoned wagon and large splayed footprints which lead further in to the mire. They travel not far but it takes them considerable time to traverse the now sometimes thigh deep swampy water. They finally find stable high ground in the form of a little island which seems to mark the end of the wooded area of the mire. On the other side of the small hill is miles of swampy black water. As it is getting late and Smallfang seems intent on remaining lying down on the firm ground and rest, the group decides to make camp.
The Lizardfolk Camp
900 XP
They aren't the only ones who seem to deem this a good rest site. They find two lean-tos made from reeds and stones made to make fires on. Arno finds under some reed mats inside the shelters several oars. Oars must mean some sort of water craft so after some searching they also find several dugout canoes hidden in the bushes. After making a fire and having some rations they settle in for the night.
One of the lizardfolk approaches the old wizard, Bohr, and in his native draconic tongue asks for forgiveness. He is not one of those lizardfolk who blindly follows what the cultists tell them to do. He gently puts down his weapon and tells the wizard of the odd alliances his folk have had to make in order to survive in the mere lately.
As the battle winds down with the adventurers none the worse for wear, after Smallfang heals those who need it, they question this lizard creature. His name is Snapjaw and he tells the group of life in the mere as of late. The cultists have the employ of both the lizardfolk and the bullywugs. The bullwugs who the lizardfolk hate have the great advantage of numbers and they use it to harass and belittle the lizardfolk. The cultists who mostly hate both creatures usually just tolerate both in order to have a labor force.
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| Pharblex Spattergoo |
The group is convinced of his truthfulness, as the old wizard, who now seems to go by the name Darvin, uses his magic to enter the mind of this creature. They let go the two other lizardfolk prisoners and Snapjaw tells them to quietly spread the word that great adventurers have arrived to lead the lizardfolk out of servitude.
Will-O-The-Wisps
1350 XP
The group decides to attempt their nights rest again. It is not long though, that T'an and the old wizard notice moving lights in the distance. They believe it to be lantern light and carefully approach. After the lights cease their movement, T'an and Darvin try different tactics to draw out whoever is out there. They try magical distractions via prestidigitation. They try shouted threats. They try arrows. None of it to any avail. Finally, they decided to retreat. It is then that the lights move blazingly fast and attack. It turns out that the lights were really Will-o-The-Wisps. The lights attack the group with lightning attacks.
The group has trouble at first as it seems all their attacks do very little damage to these tiny lights. At least the will-o-the-wisps lightning attacks can do little to hurt Smallfang who is dragonborn and resists much of their lightning attacks. And as luck would have it Smallfangs ability to charge his weapon with divine power seems to do the trick in hurting these creatures. One by one the group whittles down these creatures and Smallfang finishes them off.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
The group spends a couple of days, under the direction of Arno, to leash together the found canoes with reeds, wood and saplings to create a raft. After a couple of false starts (one of the canoes had a rotten bottom) they finally tinker together a respectable raft. Pushing off the move through the waterways with directions from Snapjaw.
Castle Naerytar
Soon they can see a large castle made from strong stone and sitting atop one of the taller towers, a large metallic dome of an observatory. The area just in front of the castle houses both the bullywugs and the lizardfolk. Snapjaw takes them proudly to his camp which is kept relatively neat and clean. The group passes a large pen housing several giant lizards which are used as pack animals. Inside the lizardfolk's reed huts it is warm and dry. On a stone fireplace Snapjaw shows them several metal weapons. They are obviously used and worn but the lizardfolk treat them with reverence.
As the group move back out toward the castle they pass by the living quarters of the bullywugs. In stark contrast to the lizardfolk's living area, the bullywugs live in muck, sometimes several feet deep and the entire area smells of swampy mud. Snapjaw is disgusted and doesn't hide his disdain. The bullywugs for their part sneer at the lizardfolk.
With the aid of Snapjaw the group puts themselves forward as fellow cultists and they enter the castle. The barbican, the defensable area of entrance, is guarded by several bullywugs but the group is able to cast themselves as cultitst enough that they are ignored. They move through the barbican, keeping to the wooden planks on the floor to avoid the foul mud spread by the bullywugs.
They then pass through the causeway which is open to the towers above. The towers above have several arrow slits looking towards the causeway making for a very defensible approach. Rounding the corner and entering the castle proper, they walk into the main outer ward of the castle. There they see bustling activity of cultists of varying races as well as many bullywugs and lizardfolk.
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It is the sight of a large black half-dragon at the far side of the courtyard talking to a wizard dressed in red with tattoos entirely covering his shaved head. The old wizard, Bohr/Darvin points him out to the others and calls him a 'red wizard of Thay'. Not good people. The black half-dragon is wearing an odd looking mask over his face and carrying a noticeably large sword. Smallfang announces, he wants that sword. But before long both move away out of sight into the far court of the inner ward.
It is then that they hear the sound of deep wooden drum beats. Snapjaw tells them that it was the signal for the beginning of the work day. There are several different signals throughout the day: For breaks; For the ceasing of work at the end of the day and of course in the case of alarm. The group decides that disabling the alarm should be a priority.
Snapjaw, is insistent that they follow him as he wants to show them the lizardfolk's living quarters within the castle. The group humors him and they find a small area filled with lizardfolk all trying to use a small forge to hammer out weapons and doing poorly at it. Smallfang takes pity on them and tries to school them in a demonstration but it is soon apparent that it is a losing battle. They move on.
Further inside Snapjaw shows them a not so carefully hidden stash of metal weapons that his folk have been collecting. They are dented and bent but would do if necessary.
The group moves on to try and explore the castle while they are still perceived as cultists. They climb the stairs they find in the lizardfolks living quarters only to find that one of the doors at the top of the second flight of stairs has been nailed shut with several metal spikes. The group perhaps will wait until later to explore this.
They find a great hall filled with many cultists sorting through treasure in various tables along the wall. The hall also has 4 Dragonclaw guards standing by each entrance. They also try to explore the inner ward, where both the red wizard and the black hald-dragon, persumably Rezmir, entered. Bohr/Darvin walks boldly past the entrance into the ward and is immediately greeted by a guard drake. Looking around the sees two more guard drakes approaching. The group prepares for a fight but at the last minute Bohr/Darvin attempts to placate the animals and walks carefully backwards returning to the safety of the outer ward. The drakes let him go. All the better for the group.
The group moves again to the Great Hall, the lure of all that treasure proving just too much. There they pass themselves off as just more cultists transferring treasure and follow other such cultists. After almost failing to convince a guard of their cultists status, the group follows others down the hall and into a tower that has stairs going both up and down. After waiting for another cultists to follow and show them the way, the group goes down.
The descent takes them into a large cavern system hidden below the castle.
More caverns. Probably means more death.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
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