1. Journals

Swamp Thing

Session
October 4, 2020

Ulkatel 9th, 989 IaC

  • After turning in their bounty for the frogs, the party spoke a bit with Adamine Longshallow, the guild receptionist
    • The guild learned a bit about the history of the guild, including the fates of some of the past Initiates
    • Adamine also spoke ill of the mayor of Reedenford, Tunban Fetterly
      • She imparted a warning to the group about the guild's image, as Tunban was seeking to slight the reputation of Cloverhall in order to distract the populace from his unpopularity
    • While the group considered their next move, arguing could be heard from the other room with Steeve, and the party decided to ignore it
  • The party elected to conduct more research about bullywugs when a large, rough-looking woman entered the guild, dragging a large, acidic-smelling sack behind her and turning in a guild contract
    • Mentioning something known as a cacklerag to Adamine, the woman subsequently marched over to the guild bar and began knocking back a strong spirit in the middle of the morning
    • Lambchop approached the woman to ask about the cacklerag, later followed by Kel who attempted to address the woman with more diplomacy
    • After questioning the group, the woman introduced herself as Janis Tannerson, a veteran hunter and Pincer of Cloverhall
    • Janis informed Lambchop about the cacklerag, a forest-dwelling monstrosity whose special venom is capable of evaporating blood, making an eerie laughing noise
    • The group spoke to Janis about the past Initiates, as she offered morbid tales of their passing
    • The party asked Janis about bullywugs, and she reassured the group that bullywugs generally don't have any grant designs for their slaves, generally forcing them into menial labor
  • The party left Janis to her drink as they pursued different tasks throughout town
    • Not Steve spoke to Adamine about the guild records, learning in great detail what happened to the past initiate groups, known as the Fortunate Four and the Three Losers, monikers established before their eventual demises
      • The Three Losers arrived months back before the recent initiates, along with a survivor from that group, Oola Cocklehoot
        • The Losers, while on a mission with the veteran guild member Jumps Through Lies, perished at the hands of a strange creature while out in the Scratchwood
        • The bodies were found mutilated by circular indentations that perforated their torsos
      • The Fortunate Four arrived about a year ago, and were discovered with similar holes across their bodies, which were burnt and melted beyond recognition
      • The guild records indicated that these aggressive animals had been increasing in number within the past year
    • Cora and Ilryn took to the town to gather information about Mayor Fetterly, managing to locate a few loose-lipped individuals
      • The two learned that Tunban was unpopular because he had levied a number of taxes on incoming trade, discouraging trade lines from expanding
      • Tunban had been named mayor about two years back
      • Some community members appreciated the money he put back into the community, hiring bounties to address certain threats to the populace
      • Detractors insisted that any good he did was only to continue lining his own pockets
      • Some conspiratorial townsfolk insisted that his eventual end goal was to cut off trade from beyond Atherdale, for some nefarious purpose
    • Merja also attempted to speak to the townsfolk about the missing Tarmen Elcox
      • Only managing to find one drinking buddy that knew him, the man described Tarmen as a bit of a lay about who only worked when he was low on coin, accepting odd jobs here and there
      • He described Tarmen as an okay guy, but not a paragon of justice by any standards
      • It was not uncommon for Tarmen to go missing, but it had been a bit long this time
    • Kel took to exploring the town, walking through the center district and then to the town outskirts, finding a number of facilities and stores
    • Lambchop ate and slept the day away
    • Steeve furthered his strange motives in the shadows, apart from the group

Ulkatel 10th, 989 IaC

  • The party (sans Steeve) headed out to the Muckmeer Swamp, intent on completing their contract to find Tarmen
  • Traveling over the day, the group camped out near the border of the swamp, enjoying a peaceful night

Ulkatel 11th, 989 IaC

  • The party headed into the Muckmeer, spotting even more dismantled and destroyed traps along the way
  • Continuing onwards, the party approached what appeared to be a dying fire slug, gored in the side by what appeared to be a number of rounded indentations
    • Not Steve approached the slug, investigating its wounds
    • As he turned to walk away, the slug lunged at him and began combat as the other slugs in the distance began to approach
  • The party engaged the slugs, wary not to blow themselves up
    • Not Steve managed to escape from the slug as the party peppered it with spells and javelins
    • Merja found her fire spells to be ineffective against the slug, which appeared to consume the spell's energy
    • As the first slug exploded, the other two approached, spitting fire at the party
    • Cora and Lambchop engaged the slug, but attempted to keep the battle ranged to keep from getting caught in an explosion
    • As one slug rushed forward, the significant damage dealt to its flame sacs caused it to explode as it attacked, dealing damage to much of the party
    • Not Steve managed to put the final slug to rest using Sleep, and Cora removed the flame sacs from its chest as Ilryn deftly killed it with her rapier, and Lambchop subsequently mashed its head into a pulp
  • Not Steve investigated the puncture wounds across the body of the intact slug, determining they were likely caused by some sort of antlers
  • The party moved on, eventually coming up upon what appeared to be a camp in the distance
    • The group had difficulty seeing through the thick fog, but saw movement inside a cage
    • Approaching with poor stealth, the party discovered a tall, thin man contained within a large cage, surrounded by bloody carnage and a bunch of large toads eating up the remains of some bullywugs
    • Merja spoke with the tall man, learning he had been captured
      • The man asked for his freedom, and Merja decided to figure that out later
    • The group slowly approached, but the loud mud gave them away, and the toads, with strange, glowing green handprints on their backs, turned to face them
  • The party engaged the toads in battle, but they proved to be easy prey with the group's advantage in numbers
    • Ilryn managed to kill the last toad with a...spirited Vicious Mockery
    • Lambchop carved one of the green handprints off the back of one of the toads, though the green energy faded as he did so, leaving only what appeared to be a burn in the shape of a hand
  • Kel began speaking to the Thin Man, though his manner was disconcerting and uneasy to the party
    • The group learned that he had been captured, and was being transported across the swamps until the traffickers were waylaid by the bullywugs
    • The bullywugs were in turn eliminated by a rampaging beast that killed most of the traffickers
    • When the group asked about Tarmen, the tall man gestured towards the corpse of a woman, where Tarmen had dug himself under the mud to hide
  • Not Steve picked up a diary of one of the traffickers, discovering that the payout for the job, delivering the man to a keep in the Scratchwood, was 3000 gold
    • The woman planned to kill her co-workers before delivery to take the whole reward for herself
  • The rest of the group investigated the campsite
    • The other traffickers had been killed; one crushed between the crude bars of a bullywug cage, and another one beheaded, likely by the beast the tall man described
    • Large, deep hoof marks were pressed into the mud, evidence of the rampaging beast
    • Ilryn discovered some of the belongings of the traffickers, including a steel spear, and iron shortsword (taken by Kel) a broken shield, a rusty curved sword, 7 gold and 3 silver, and a spell scroll for Illusory Script
  • The group uncovered Tarmen, and Lambchop pulled the sorry man from the ground
    • Tarmen was extremely fearful of the beasts return, but also not very forthcoming with information about his prior job
    • The group managed to gather that he was part of the group transporting the tall man, though Tarmen refused to out-rightly admit this
    • Due to his unwillingness to work with the group, Ilryn cast Charm Person on Tarmen, and he became more pliable
    • The tall man asked the group to free him, stating that Tarmen had the key, which after frisking him, the party found to be his blood
    • The tall man offered a featureless golden coin to the party in return for his freedom, which he described as a bribery of fate
    • Tarmen discussed that he had been put up to the task by the mayor of Reedenford and someone named Anise Taranil
    • He feared for his life should he return without completing the job, which he would have gotten a small pittance for doing that would allow him and his wife to escape Atherdale, as he feared dark things would soon come to pass
  • The group argued for a time about what course to take, but were ultimately spurred by the return of the beast
    • Lambchop drew Tarmen's blood and smeared it across the tall man's cage, which corroded away
    • The tall man stepped out, stretching even taller, and thanked the party, handing Lambchop the coin
    • The tall man offered to occupy the beast for a bit, if the group wished to escape
    • Taking the man up on his offer, the party ran with Tarmen as the beast came into view, slowed by some powerful force
  • Making it out of the swamps, the party camped out at nightfall without incident

Ulkatel 12th, 951 IaC

  • The group traveled back to Reedenford, making their return at night through the secret tunnel
    • In the basement by the tunnel entrance, the party discovered the now rotting corpse of Steeve's bullywug "child"
    • Lambchop decided to replace the eyes of the bullywug with the eyes he took off of the giant toads, in order to get the bounty money
  • The party headed back upstairs, meeting with Adamine and turning in their bounty for Tarmen and four bullywug eyes
    • Adamine relayed a message from Steeve, warning the group not to touch his child
    • Oola had also lodged a formal complaint against Steeve's various odors in the barracks
    • As Kel imparted what the group saw, mentioning the beast, a rough-looking man walked up to the party, demanding details
    • After hearing what he wished, he asked the party if they wanted to help him with something
    • Finishing their business with Adamine, they received 16 gold after the guild's cut was taken out
    • Cora spoke to Tarmen, supplying him with a hefty amount of gold and wishing for his safety
    • The party briefly flirted with Lambchop's idea of dressing the deceased bullywug up in Tarmen's clothes and lighting it on fire in the town square to fake his death, but ultimately decided against it after weighing the probable consequences
    • Tarmen decided to tough it on his own, half-thanking the party has he left under a disguise crafted by Ilryn
  • The group spoke with the rough man, who introduced himself as Erdo Elfast
    • Erdo had been on guild mission to bring back bear furs, but his prizes had been stolen when he pitched camp in the Scratchwood
    • Erdo wished to conscript the party's help in tracking down and "fucking up" these supposed bandits, and the party seemed to mostly seem on board with his rambling
  • News throughout town spread of a local man that had been poisoned in the Reedpicker Inn, falling dead in his chair

The party currently has 2 points of inspiration to share.

 

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