2022 Spring Emerald 4
Balthazar, Kagan, and Svetlana found themselves summoned to dinner at the Queen’s Coffer in Dun. There, they met with Valdis Rimaros, son of Raimonds Rimaros, a wealthy noble from Westernesse. They were also introduced to his bodyguard, Oddmund Stormforge, a dwarven warrior, and his valet, Chauncey. Valdis had come into possession of a family heirloom—an old map showing the location of a ruin in the Elsir Vale called Vraath Keep that hints at a hidden vault containing great treasure. Valdis expressed more concern with the potential adventure than the treasure, but sought to enlist the heroes to accompany him to Vraath Keep. They agreed.
The group planned to set out for Drellin’s Ferry, the town nearest where the Keep should be. Upon learning that the heroes’ only transport was a cart and some mules, however, Valdis sent them ahead with Oddmund while he and Chauncey stayed back to find a suitable coach.
During their travels, the heroes became aware of a pair of wolves keeping pace with them. When they made camp, one of the wolves padded directly up to them, and to their surprise transformed into a man! “I am Adriel Emrys,” he told them, “and I have been sent by Dovan to aid her chosen, Balthazar.” He warned them of a darkness that lay ahead to the West, and insisted he accompany Balthazar to face it. The party, impressed with his entrance, welcomed him into the fold.
The afternoon sun beat down upon the group; the air was hot and still. The sparsely settled lands of Elsir Vale grew monotonous, with a seemingly endless line of dusty flyspecks of towns. The town of Drellin’s Ferry lay a few miles ahead.
The road crested a small rise and descended into a dusty grove in a large, shallow dell. An abandoned farmhouse, partially visible through the trees, stood on one side of the road. The group had passed a dozen spots much like this one already, but this one felt wrong. Then the heroes glimpsed the glint of mail through the brush by the side of the road. Fierce warriors—tall, hairy humanoids with wide mouths and flat face—were lying in wait!
The heroes engaged the warriors in battle. Adriel called lightning from the sky to smite them down, while his wolf, Red Cloud, dogged their steps. Balthazar called upon the foliage and nature itself to entangle them in reeds, grass, and twisting vines. Kagan carved through opponents, leaping over any terrain or obstacles that stood in his way. Oddmund swung his mighty axe, and hew through the warriors one at a time.
During the fight, a comet appeared in the daytime sky! It was an omen, and Svetlana could tell it heralded a fateful challenge. She called out to an enemy and engaged him in single combat, warning off interference from either side of the struggle.
As the heroes gained the upper hand, the sounds of ferocious canine howls came from the south, along with the stampede of running feet, from the southeast. It seem the battle was not over yet . . .
2022 Spring Emerald 4 (cont'd)
Balthazar and Adriel called upon the powers of Nature itself, entangling the hobgoblin reinforcements in snaring vines, grasping branches, and thick, tall grass. The reinforcements’ route was blocked by deadly thorns, and they could barely move through the path around. They tried—ineffectually—to pelt the heroes with arrows.
Svetlana continued her duel, ducking under the hobgoblin’s longsword and riposting with a thrust of her flaming rapier that pierced its side and seared its flesh.
Kagan continued to hew through whatever hapless hobgoblins happened his way. Oddmund, likewise, turned their longswords aside with his magical shield of force, and cleft them with his mighty dwarven waraxe.
Valdis, meanwhile, joined the fray with a vengeance, breathing lines of fire upon the hobgoblins at every turn.
Though the hobgoblins deployed a pair of hellhounds, and even an invisible priest, the heroes won the day and slew all but three of the foes. One surrendered, convinced by Valdis’s oratory that all hope was lost. One attempted to flee east, through the mire and the briars, but was brought down by Adriel and his wolf companion, Red Cloud. One fled north, and escaped.
Investigating the farmhouse from which the hobgoblins seemed to operate, the heroes found the bodies of a famer, a merchant, and three bodyguards—victims of the marauders’ earlier predations. Turning to their prisoners, the heroes prepared to interrogate them.
2022 Spring Emerald 4 (cont'd)
“I am Valdis Rimaros, and I will be facilitating your negotiation for your lives.”
“I am Valdis Rimaros, and I will be torturing you until you tell me what I want to know.”
The hobgoblins looked at each other, puzzled by this strange, sickly man who spoke as if from two minds. When he stood to their left, and looked to the right, he was kindly and wanted only to help them get out of this situation as quickly and painlessly as possible. When he stood to their right, and looked to the left, he was cruel, capricious, and seemed to savor the chance to hurt them occasioned by their reluctance to talk.
The two Valdises were also not above arguing with each other.
In the end Valdis’s cold intimidation, combined with Kagan’s eagerness to cut and torture, overcame the hobgoblins’ religious zealotry for their goddess. The heroes learned that the hobgoblins operated out of an old human castle in the forest, serving the mighty sorcerer, Wyrmlord Koth. They also learned that there were more warbands like this one plaguing the local area, preparing for the Day of Ruin, when the Red Hand will destroy the humans and burn their lands.
Having provided all the information they had, the hobgoblins outlived their usefulness, and Kagan put them both to the sword. Balthazar turned away, to maintain deniability, and Valdis chimed in with a milquetoast, “No. Wait. Please. No.”
By the late afternoon, the heroes reached Drellin’s Ferry, a small town built mostly on the near side of a broad, sluggish river. Six stone piers jutted from the water, marking the spot where a bridge once stood, but the span itself was long gone. Instead, a couple of long, thick ropes crossed the river, each secured to a flat-bottomed ferryboat. Brown fields and green orchards surrounded the town.
A group of armed townsfolk, led by the brusque but kind Sergeant Hersk, stood guard at the road into town. Sergeant Hersk had his militiamen quickly search the heroes’ wagon while he chatted and gave lodging recommendation. The heroes passed through to The Old Bridge Inn without further complication.
As the heroes dined at The Old Bridge Inn and enjoyed the ale and hospitality of its proprietor, Kellin Shadowbanks, the doors opened suddenly and the room grew quiet. A tall, balding man of about fifty entered, accompanied by a capable-looking swordswoman. “Sorry to trouble you, travelers, but I’d like a few minutes of your time,” the man said. “My name is Norro Wiston, and I’m the Town Speaker for Drellin’s Ferry. This is our guard captain, Soranna. I’ll get right to the point: We’re in a lot of trouble and I was hoping I could persuade you to help us out.”
“We don’t build bridges,” Balthazar replied.
As it turned out, Town Speaker Wiston felt the town was getting by just fine with the ferries, and instead sought the heroes’ help in dealing with the hobgoblin raiders that had come down from the Wyrmsmoke mountains to harry the lands, and were rendering the Dawn Way impassable. Wiston asked the heroes to not only drive the raiders back from Drellin’s Ferry, but also to ensure the Dawn Way remained open.
“We’ll do it,” said Valdis, “or my name isn’t Reynaldo Meracutolo.”
“And that certainly is his name,” added Balthazar.
2022 Spring Emerald 5
The heroes sold off the materials they looted from the hobgoblins (and elsewhere), provisioned themselves, and set off along the Dawn Way into the Witchwood. Captain Soranna had advised them to make a brief stop out of their way to see Jorr Natherson, the local hermit. He lived in the Witchwood and knew more about it than any man alive.
As they traveled, Balthazar felt a sudden shift in the weight of his mithral buckler. Though the sturdy mithral could ward off almost any blow, the leather straps binding it to his forearm were susceptible to the elements--one had worn enough that the constant friction of their marching caused it to snap. The buckler would not fall off, but its newly-loose fit led to constant shifting and interfered with Balthazar's mobility. He determined to weather this latest inconvenience, continuing the journey without stopping to assess the damage and make repairs.
The heroes reached a point along the Dawn Way where a trail cut across--Soranna's directions were to go east along the trail. It led past a small cabin in a deep forest glade. A ramshackle front porch was littered with fishing baskets and skinning frames. The cabin overlooked a dark bayou, with old gray cedar-trees draped in moss rising out of the water. An old skiff bumped on the shore nearby, where it was moored. A little smoke curled from the fieldstone chimney.
As the party approached, three big hunting dogs erupted from under the porch, baying loudly and charging toward the intruders. They stopped about ten feet away and snarled and snapped ferociously.
"Who's a good boy?" asked Valdis, letting his family's ancient magic settle into each word. "Come get a treat," he offered as the magic overwhelmed the lead hound's will, charming it. The nearest dog ceased growling, put his head down, and approached Valdis meekly, seeking scratches behind the ears.
The cabin's door opened, and a lean woodsman of indeterminate age stepped onto the porch. He had a seamed, leathery look to his face and arms, and a big curved knife in a sheath strapped to one thigh.
"Don't get many visitors out here," he rasped. "Who're you, and what d'ya want with me?"
The heroes introduced themselves and explained that they were asked by Drellin's Ferry to put a stop to the goblin raids. It rapidly became apparent that Jorr had little love for goblins.
"Goblins! I've no tolerance for 'em! Now the wood's rotten with 'em. I'll help ye. But it ain't gonna be easy. Not like a walk thro the Sturgwood chasin' stingers and spiders. These beasts, tear ya ta pieces. A little cuttin', a little screamin', off ya go.
"Aye, I'll help ya. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my life a lot more than a gold or two a day, chief. I'll guide you for two, but we'll catch 'em--and kill 'em--for ten. For ten we'll get 'em. For that you get the goblins, the worgs . . . the whole damn'd tribe."
Further conversation revealed that the goblins dwelt in the Wyrmsmoke Mountains, but had apparently moved to the Witchwood in force. Their likely routes from the mountains were Old Forest Road or Skull Gorge, with Jorr betting on Skull Gorge.
When the heroes suggested the goblins may be using Vraath keep, Jorr agreed. "Wouldn't surprise me if some of the goblins are holed up there. Just the sorta thing damn'd goblins would do."
The sun was low in the sky, and Jorr invited the party to share his food and camp nearby. They would set out first thing in the morning.
During the night, a massive shape loomed at the edge of the campfire. The alarm was raised as a massive stag beetle trundled near the camp. Balthazar quickly prayed to Dovan, causing the foliage around the beetle to spring to grasping, tangling life. But the beetle was so large that the vines and branches did little to stop it.
Svetlana peppered it with crossbow bolts and Valdis breathed across its carapace. Strengthened by Balthazar's prayers, Kagan hewed into the giant beetle with his falchion.
The beetle turned on the party and tried unsuccessfully to bite the nearest attacker. Instead it received a walloping combo of fire and electricity from Svetlana's flaming rapier and shocking dagger. Oddmund followed up with his axe, and the massive beetle plunged forward, attempting to trample its assailants and flee. Oddmund and Kagan took advantage of its blind charge, driving their weapons through its carapace and its vital organs, killing it even as its enormous body crushed them into the ground.
2022 Spring Emerald 6
Morning arrived and so did Jorr Natherson, rousing the heroes from their half-slumber. Surveying the scene, Jorr intuitively knew what happened, and that the heroes acquitted themselves well. “Giant stag beetle,” he pronounced. “Witchwood’s full of ‘em, since trade and travel’s half-deep.” He inhaled, coughed violently, and spit something unhealthy into the grass. “Time to go.”
The journey north along the Dawn Way proceeded uneventfully until the party came upon a wide expanse of dark water that had flooded the woodland in a low valley. Trees still protruded here and there from the calm, dark waters, but many large reaches seemed to be little more than open pools of algae-choked water. The trill of frogs and the whine of insects filled the air.
The forest road led right down to the edge of the flooded section, up to a rickety-looking causeway made of thick planks of wood lashed together with mossy rope. The wooden causeway ran several hundred feet through the boggy patch, only a foot or so above water.
Up ahead, the heroes could make out the wreckage of a wagon, lying on its side and half-sunk in the flooded forest, about thirty feet from the causeway.
Kagan declared that he would investigate the wagon while the others continued forward. Valdis alone noticed a reptilian head coiled in the moss alongside the wagon. As Kagan neared the wagon Valdis suddenly called out, “Hey buddy, why don't you get out of the mud and come on over here and say hi?” His voice was unusual—deep, resonant, rhythmic, and layered with the charisma of his draconic ancestors. As if in answer, the reptilian head began to rise from the moss.
The heroes stared as it continued to rise, higher than any self-respecting snake ought. This was no mere serpent. Another reptilian head broke the surface of the water nearby. And another and another. Six heads in all, and as the party realized the necks were all attached to a single body. The party realized in horror that it had resisted Valdis’s charms when the heads began to lash out at Kagan with frightening speed. His armor, and his skill, stopped some, but not all.
Svetlana loosed a crossbow bolt from the causeway that streaked past Kagan into the water, slamming home into the beast’s torso. Kagan allowed his rage to consume him and strode toward the beast, but it took advantage of his dropped guard to continue its barrage of biting attacks. Too many found their mark, and Kagan reached the monster in bad shape. Fueled by his rage, he fought through the pain and delivered a devastating attack with his falchion.
Valdis deigned to enter the mire alongside the causeway and summoned forth a fiery blast of breath that scorched and seared the creature, while Oddmund struggled to close the distance with it through the mucky bog.
Realizing its prey was not so easy as it hoped, the great reptile moved away into deeper water, allowing Kagan to score another telling falchion blow. It lashed back at him with a bite that found its mark, but was out of position to bring all its heads to bear.
The heroes realized that its wounds were rapidly repairing themselves.
Svetlana and Valdis continued to strike from a distance as Kagan and Oddmund weathered savage flurries of bites. Kagan delivered his own savage flurry of falchion strikes, creating an opening for Oddmund’s Dwarven war axe, which cleft between two heads, down into the beast’s sternum, laying open its chest.
As the exposed bones and rent flesh began to grow and mend, a crossbow bolt slammed through the opening and into the very heart of the monster, killing it instantly. The boys looked back to see Svetlana, knee-deep in mud and flood, crossbow string still reverberating from the shot.
"A hydra," remarked Jorr as he looked over its body. "Big one, too. Fifteen-footer. Six heads. Not for the faint of heart, chief. Ya done well."
A quick search of the wagon revealed a handful of hobgoblin corpses, gear crushed and waterlogged beyond repair, but one mithral breastplate still intact.
As Kagan's rage faded, so did his vitality, and he nearly dropped from exhaustion and injury. Balthazar expended nearly all his prayers to Dovan, beseeching her to heal his friend, as well as his new comrade, Oddmund.
The heroes' journey continued north until looming out of the shadowy woods ahead came a haunting sight—a ruined keep. The old castle sat on a small rocky hillock, and the party could catch glimpses of a broken tower between the trees. A moss-covered stone at the side of the road marked a footpath that looked like it led up to the keep.
Svetlana volunteered to scout the keep, not up the path, but straight up the forested hillside. Oddmund insisted on following forty feet back, to support her.
As she reached the treeline near the top, Svetlana could see the old keep was in very poor repair. The gatehouse was partially collapsed, as was a section of wall to the south. A small wooden building sat next to the remains of a long-abandoned garden in front of the structure. The walls surrounding the keep stood fifteen feet high, with a two-story tower looming in the southwest corner of the courtyard.
Large boulders lay strewn amid the ruins, and a massive humanoid skeleton still wearing tattered fragments of hide armor, slumped in the southern wall collapse. A large club lay near one of its bony arms.
Svetlana crept closer, and spied hobgoblins inside the ruins. She drew near enough to hear them grunting and talking amongst themselves, but suddenly they stopped. Years of sneaking about told Svetlana this was a bad sign. When things stop making noise, it is to listen. She slipped away, rejoined Oddmund, and returned to the party.
Upon hearing the scouting report, the heroes' choice was obvious: a full assault on the southern breach. They snuck as close as they could before Oddmund's clanking plate armor heralded their arrival, and the fight began in earnest!
The heroes moved into the breach, firing bolts and breath and swinging axe and falchion. The hobgoblins were not alone. The party spied a giant owl-like creature that stood very still in the middle of the makeshift hobgoblin barracks, and briefly glimpsed an upright bull, before it fled deeper into the keep. Things seemed to be going well, until a hobgoblin escaped into the courtyard and began howling an alarm . . .
2022 Spring Emerald 6 (cont'd)
As the rain fell in steady rhythm on the hard-packed earth of the courtyard, the heroes pressed onward, confronted by hobgoblin veterans and pelted with arrows by goblin worg riders. Jagged boulders embedded in the ground provided cover to both sides. What light filtered through the clouds cast macabre shadows over massive skeletons that lay prone in the courtyard—one propped up by the watchtower, another sprawled at the far end by a building that could be a stable, perhaps, and a third at the party’s feet, partially buried in the rubble of the south wall.
Following a burst of fiery breath from Valdis, Oddmund made his way through the partially collapsed wall into the stone building to the west. The interior was open and spacious with wooden timbers supporting the roof above, and remnants of interior walls evident here and there. Two large boulders sat on the floor just inside the breach in the southeast wall, but no rubble remained from its collapse. It may have been piled in the circle in the middle of the room that formed a crude fire pit. The west wall of the room was dominated by four double bunk-beds, strewn with filthy covers, with another, larger bed near the south wall partially obscured by a badly damaged wooden screen.
Oddmund strode into the midst of the room and slammed his axe through the still burning giant owl creature. To his surprise it burst open, strewing hay, sawdust, and sparks about the room.
As the battle raged, a horrifying beast clambered through a hole in the roof of a nearby guardhouse and settled on the eaves to observe. It had the body of a lion, but with a long tail tipped in vicious spikes, wings like those drawn in pictures of dragons, and a strange, humanoid face at the end of its long neck. It watched over the combat from its perch until Valdis caught it in a slowing exhalation.
The monster took to the air and began harassing the heroes as they fought. It circled the keep, flinging tails spikes over swaths of the courtyard and ripping through the warriors from above. Adriel summoned a giant eagle to harass the harasser. A pitched air battle began as each attempted to outmaneuver the other.
Balthazar prayed to Dovan to shore up his allies’ defenses and to strengthen their resolves, as well as their arms. Adriel prayed to Dovan, as well, and to call down lightning from the stormy skies and smite their foes. Kagan’s falchion whirled faster and faster; Oddmund’s axe hewed left and right; and Svetlana’s blades flashed with fire and lightning. One by the one the hobgoblins, goblins, and worgs fell to the heroes’ attacks. Even the flying lion beast was brought crashing down by a bolt of lightning from above.
Kagan fought his way into the watchtower and found himself in a circular chamber outfitted with a mix of furniture, including a large desk, an overstuffed chair, a massive four-poster bed, and a large easel that held a sizable canvas covered with a sheet. A flight of stairs arched up along the south wall to the upper floor, and a fair amount of rubble from a hole in the ceiling lay heaped on the base of the stairs. He confronted the bull-man, who towered over him by more than a foot, as well as a large, hairy goblinoid with a bear-like snout.
By its finer clothing and improved equipment, Kagan took this goblin to be the leader that their prisoners had spoken of, Wymlord Koth. As if to confirm it, Koth traced strange sigils in the air with his hands, and spoke magic words, casting a ray of energy at Kagan that sapped some of his considerable strength!
Kagan proved a fearsome adversary, even weakened, and Koth fled up to the second level of the tower. Oddmund kept the giant bull monster busy while Kagan pursued Koth up the stairs to a partially collapsed chamber above. Massive timbers slumped against the floor, fallen from the rafters above. A huge gap in the tower’s east wall allowed a brisk breeze into the chamber, which had four windows in the remaining walls. Three large boulders lay on the floor amid a halo of fractures and cracks. Mounted about ten feet from the hole in the wall stood a humanoid figure, lashed to a framework of wooden beams with its arms upraised. The reek of rotting flesh from the gruesome statue filled Kagan’s nose as he sparred with Koth, sword against spell.
Oddmund, meanwhile, went axe swing for axe swing with his Dwarven waraxe against the massive greataxe of the bull-man. Though smaller and smaller-armed, he struck home many times and whittled the bull’s defenses away. But the brutal damage of its swings were wearing Oddmund down as well. The other heroes finished off the last of the veterans and worg riders in the courtyard and returned to aid him just in time.
Wyrmlord Koth, running low on spells and suffering from Kagan’s attacks, came back down the stairs and retreated to apparent safety behind his bovine minion. Kagan took the stairs after him, bounding down in a jumping charge that left him off balance and swung his falchion far off the mark, burying it in the flagstone floor.
Koth and his lieutenant fought hard in the cramped confines of the watchtower, and though they slung magical acid and bolts of force, and swung a massive scything blade, they were no match for the heroes. While Oddmund steadily hacked with his axe and Kagan’s falchion struck with increasing strength and speed, Balthazar and Svetlana fired their crossbows into the watchtower through the open door. At last, the monsters fell.
2022 Spring Emerald 6 (cont'd)
With the monsters dead, the heroes were at liberty to search the keep more leisurely. Their first concern was that neither this keep nor this force of hobgoblins seemed large enough to support the types of attacks reported by the townsfolk of Drellin’s Ferry. They searched for answers amid the bodies and the ruins.
Wyrmlord Koth’s bedroom contained copious notes, reports, maps, and other documents. Everything was written in a strange language that none of the heroes recognized. Valdis thought it bore a passing resemblance to Abyssal, but could not be sure. The party stashed all of the notes and documents for later review.
In a room off of the hobgoblins’ makeshift barracks they found a large table that barely had enough room around it for the half-dozen chairs arrayed along its edge. Four daggers stood pinned to the table’s surface near the corners, as though at one time they held something in place. The search of the bull-man’s corpse yielded a massive map of the region, large enough to fill the table.
The map was covered in drawings and notes in a strange alphabet unknown to the party. Jorr was able to identify it as the goblin language, and even to translate it for them. Study of the map revealed that a large group of hobgoblins were massing to the north at a location called Cinder Hill, with an eye toward marching on Drellin’s Ferry. The map gave no indication of the number or strength of the forces at Cinder Hill, but hinted that the horde would be large enough that the invaders would not anticipate any major resistance.
The map also demonstrated a bottleneck in the horde’s approach—the easiest route from Cinder Hill to Drellin’s Ferry ran over an old bridge that spanned Skull Gorge. The hobgoblins seemed to have realized this potential problem, as the map indicated a fair amount of guards placed there to hold the bridge.
The heroes found this all very interesting, but they found no sign of a vault. Valdis’s notes indicated a vast treasure beneath the keep, so where was it? Oddmund and Kagan searched Koth’s room for an hour. Finally, Oddmund’s keen dwarven stonecunning detected a slight grade in the floor, and a hollowness beneath. He put steady pressure on one end of the stone while Kagan pushed firmly against the other and at last! They revealed a secret door fitted into the stone floor of the southwest area of the room. Below a five-foot-wide vertical shaft sank 40 feet into the stone, accompanied by a rusty iron ladder.
The shaft opened into a small vault with walls of worked stone, with a ceiling twelve feet overhead. The air was thick and smelt stale and slightly smoky. Three alcoves had been cut into the walls, two to the north and one to the east. Each alcove was sealed by an iron gate and locked with chains and a large padlock. Beyond one alcove were several shelves bearing ten small iron coffers. Beyond the second was a small desk and chair, the desk piled high with papers and books. Beyond the third sat a single large trunk.
A human skeleton lay slumped against the eastern alcove’s gate. Still dressed in tattered chainmail and feebly gripping a sparkling bastard sword, the skeleton had a massive arrow protruding from its ribs. The skeleton bore a pair of fine gauntlets, which remained in excellent condition despite the decrepit and decayed state of its other gear. Likewise, the bastard sword laying beside the skeleton was clearly of exceptional make, and bore well through the ravages of time. When drawn, it flared with a soft, blue light.
Kagan assaulted the iron bars and hacked his way into the first alcove, where the heroes discovered the ten iron coffers were each locked and each bore a coat of arms based around a stylized V. While Kagan began hacking at the gate to the second alcove, Svetlana set to work methodically picking each lock on the coffers. Six contained coins, totaling 120 platinum, 2,100 gold, and 2,500 silver in all. Three others contained letters of credit, long since expired and ready to crumble away. The last contained a legal document, which Valdis recognized as the deed to Vraath Keep. Its ownership conveyed legal title to the ruined keep.
The second alcove was a sort of private study. It contained many old books, as well as a journal. The journal belonged to Amery Vraath, and told the story of the keep from his perspective. Shortly before the fall of an empire, he had inherited the keep and its surrounds. When the empire fell, Amery Vraath lay claim to the entire region and sought to rid it of the monstrous scourges that had come to infest the area.
Among Vraath’s targets was a tribe of forest giants, known as the Twistusks. Vraath gathered an impressive group of mercenaries and adventurers and led them in force against the Twistusks. The battle was furious but in the end the humans won the day and force the Twistusks in rout into the mountains. The soldiers burned the giants’ homes to the ground and returned to Vraath Keep victorious.
The last entry in the journal mentions a thunderstorm at night, a constant thudding and crashing apart from the thunder, and the sudden alarm of the watch.
The third and final alcove held only a single large trunk. Rather than the gold and jewels the heroes may have expected, it contained: a large reptilian skull, reminiscent of the legends of dragons; a string of enormous humanoid teeth; a mithral chain shirt; a huge spike gauntlet, and a prayer book. The gauntlet was a primitive affair, fashioned from the teeth and claws of another animal, a bulette, perhaps. But it resonated with a magical aura. The prayer book was filled with marginalia from a former owner named Gearrtha Oscailte. Studying Gearrtha’s notes, the party realized they might be able to piece together a magical ritual to bring back a fallen comrade. Excited by the find, but hopeful to never have to use it, they tucked the prayer book away.
Having thoroughly explored and secured Vraath Keep, the party rested overnight. Jorr shared with them some useful tricks he culled from their journey: a potion brewed from the hydra’s blood that would grant temporary regeneration, and a snack of sweetmeats from the bull-man that when consumed would enhance the natural orientation skills.
2022 Spring Emerald 7
The heroes rose to another torrentially rainy day. Balthazar said his daily prayers, and then set about invoking Dovan’s blessing to restore health to his still-injured friends. Well-rested and restored, they set out north on the Dawn Way to scout the Skull Gorge Bridge.
When the heroes made camp for lunch, they were alerted to a sudden sound off the road. Branches snapped and brush and bushes rustled as something large moved through the forest toward them. A beast charged from the underbrush, its grey, pebbled hide and dagger-like markings having offered some camouflage during its rapid approach. It stood around five feet tall on two powerful-looking hind legs. From its narrow head to the end of its long tail it easily spanned seven feet.
When the party rose to meet the threat, it sprayed a burst of acid from a strange tube-like orifice in its forehead. The acid cascaded over the heroes, superficially burning their gear and flesh. Its sucking mouth salivated in anticipation of devouring their pre-digested flesh. But it was not to be.
Though they did not escape unscathed by its acid and claws, the heroes concentrated their considerable talents and made short work of the monster. “A Digester,” Jorr named it. “Powerful beast. Not common, but less rare than used it to be.” Oddmund took some time over their remaining lunch to repair their armor and gear, and the party set out again.
The sun began to sink in the sky, the heroes made camp, and night passed uneventfully.
2022 Spring Emerald 8
The rain stopped overnight, leaving scattered clouds but a mostly clear sky. The party continued onward again, traveling north throughout an uneventful day, though the forest grew more ominous as the Dawn Way wound deeper into the woods.
Eventually they came to a spot where a wide track led away from the road, heading west. A massive effigy of some kind stood at the junction, a fifteen-foot-tall humanoid shape made from a sagging, moss-covered frame. The thing looked almost like a crude giant-sized skeleton. Birds nested in the massive barrel that served the effigy as a head.
“Giants,” whispered Jorr. “Marking their territory, no doubt. A bit more crude than their usual workmanship. Best to steer clear.”
The heroes agreed they had no time for giants with an army of hobgoblins descending any day, and pressed onward.
As the sun neared the horizon, the party neared Skull Gorge Bridge. To avoid detection they hid their cart off the road and proceeded through the forest on foot. From the edge of the treeline, they observed a chilling sight.
Across a stretch of barren ground, about sixty feet wide, lay the gorge. Roughly a hundred feet wide at its narrowest point, the gorge dropped away precipitously to a fast-rushing stream far below. The ancient Dawn Way crossed the cleft on a bridge of stone. Anchored at both ends to large stone towers with pentagonal roofs, the bridge seemed sturdy despite its obvious age. The gorge continued as far as the eye could see to the east and west. The four stone towers that anchored the bridge were each forty feet high. A narrow wooden stairway wound around each, leading up to an open-air watchpost at the top.
A small encampment of a half-dozen tents clustered near the northern side of the bridge. Curls of smoke from campfires attested to some sort of activity. A single humanoid figure stood at the watchpost on the top of each of the four watchtowers, longbow in hand. A powerfully built hound with glowing red eyes and short ruddy fur sat watchfully near either end of the bridge. Yet the most impressive creature present was certainly the sleek and menacing green-scaled monster that perched on the roof of the northwestern watchtower on the far side of the gorge. It was slightly larger than a man, with long, powerful legs, an elongated neck, and leathery wings large enough to bear it aloft. A crest ran from its head down the full length of its body and tail. It lay basking in the sun, but its bright, intelligent yellow eyes were fixed on the bridge. To all appearances, it was a very small version of the dragons of legend.
The heroes retreated and camped overnight to prepare for the battle to come.
2022 Spring Emerald 9
The party debated the best approach to the troops stationed on the bridge. Of paramount concern was the dragon. Yesterday morning dragons did not exist, and now they were debating strategies for dealing with one. "We can totally be friends with this thing," Oddmund insisted. "We can also turn it into armor," replied Kagan. Valdis knew from the Histories that dragons were powerful and egotistical. He proposed bargaining with the dragon to turn on the hobgoblins. Before anyone could stop him, he walked out and addressed the hobgoblins, making a very convincing argument that he belonged there and should be allowed to pass—in Draconic.
The hobgoblins raised and drew their bows.
Svetlana loosed a bolt from the treeline, striking the hellhound on the near side of the gorge, and the battle was joined.
Pitched battle. Kagan tries to bullrush hobgoblin off of tower, "Hold your action, he's about to be 40 feet lower and closer to you."
Oddmund tries to convince hobgoblin to surrender, but he refuses. "Enjoy your last day alive," replies Oddmund.
Valdis convinces the dragon to talk. Brief parley, but the dragon cannot be convinced. He appeared to be a servant, rather than the master. Battle resumed.
Balthazar used sanctuary to make it to the middle of the bridge, stone shape to remove two sections and cause it to collapse. Balthazar sprinted for the near side as both sides toppled into the ravine.
Opposing forces, including green dragon, fled west along the gorge, toward Cinder Hill
"Well, it's like I said earlier, we don't build bridges." - B
Players debate course of action. Decide to go back to Drellin’s Ferry to warn of the impending doom.
Encounter with five goblin worg riders.
Return to Drellin’s Ferry. Report to Speaker Wiston, et al. "Well, what happened? What kind of trouble are we in for?"
Balthazar goes to the standing stones to train with local druid (level up). Svetlana appraises and identifies several items of value among the recovered treasures. Valdis sets up shop selling weapons and armor from the wagon, indiscriminately telling townsfolk about the approaching horde. "Let's put a sign on the wagon, 'Get your armaments now, before the hobgoblin horde arrives!'"
Panic begins to set in. Valdis does a brisk business.
The heroes gathered in the sitting room of the Speaker’s house. With them were Kellin, the halfling who owns the Old Bridge inn; Captain Soranna; Delora Zann, the woman who owns the town’s livery stable; and a tall, sour-faced man named Iormel, who is evidently a person of some property. Along with Norro Wiston, these people comprise the Town Council. “Well, you all know why we’re here,” Wiston said without preamble. “In a matter of days we’re going to have an army of goblins, hobgoblins, and monsters on our doorsteps. What do we do? Fight? Try to talk to them? Abandon the town and fl ee? Or do nothing and hope to Pelor they don’t come this way?”
Heroes helped out. Oddmund crafted arrows. Valdis turned doors into tower shields. Svetlana surveyed the river bank for sniper nests. Kagan "trained" the townsfolk and farmers. In the background, wagons were loaded and provisioned for the refugee caravan headed toward Brindol.
That night a commotion in the street outside woke the heroes in the middle of the night. “Awake! Awake! Goblins are attacking the west bank!” someone cried. From the window, they could see bright flames leaping up from houses and buildings on the other side of the river and hear the faint roar and crackle of distant flames.
The heroes crossed the river with Soranna and some guards to face goblin raiders.
The party was only a hundred feet or so from the ferry landing when they spotted a trio of goblin worg riders dashing down the street, whooping and shaking their bows in the air. A powerful hell hound bounded alongside them.
Heroes about to fight worgs when the world went crazy (server problems). The fight eventually began in earnest, leading to a second wave of hobgoblins on foot. But just as Valdis breathed a line of fire upon them . . . (server crashed again and we called it a night).
13 Emerald
Svet "I don't know his temperment, but we're gonna go for him."
Bal "I might as well get a little dirty"
K "We should cut a worg head off, and the caster's head, and then sew the worg's head onto the caster."
Valdis talks a farmer's wife into giving a speech to make the women stay.
14 Emerald
Woman (Hazel) gives speech, Valdis joins in, town mostly agreed.
Odd muttered "None of these people are combatants"
K - Poison ale at brewhouse
15 Emerald
Put worg heads, goblin heads, and chimera heads (sans dragon) on pikes
16 Emerald
Jorr came to town; Constance came to town
A black-haired woman, her face streaked with the dust of the road, trudged into the common room. She wore a soldier’s tunic of blue and white over a shirt of mail, with the stylized image of a golden lion over her heart. She signaled the barkeep. “Ale,” she rasped. “And send for your Speaker. I have ill news for him.”
“I ride in the service of the Lord of Brindol. I was part of a patrol sweeping up the old Rhest Trail. Five days ago, we ran into a roadblock—hobgoblins and ogres, waylaying any travelers heading into or out of the vale from the north. They were too strong for us, and we had to retreat. My captain sent several of us riding off to warn folks across the vale to avoid the old Rhest Trail. So here I am.”
Chimera Attack
The afternoon was hot and still, but a line of thunderheads in the west promised a storm before long. The town bustled with activity, as a motley assortment of militiamen drilled on the green. Then someone pointed up to the sky and cried, “Great Ghrian, what is that?” Townsfolk looked up, and in a moment the town was overcome by pandemonium and terror. With shrieks of fear, people scattered, fleeing into buildings and pulling the shutters closed after them. A sinister winged shape soared over the town—a powerful three-headed monstrosity with vast, batlike wings. The creature let loose with a horrible wailing cry and then dove toward the people running for cover on the green.
More preparation, Balthazar (Comprehend Languages) + Svetlana (Decipher Script) + druid (Decipher Script) crack the code for Wyrmlord Koth's notes.
Army arrives - SO much worse than they expected. Wave of manticores fly over with hobgoblin bladebearers. Party takes on 3(-ish). Afterward Soranna and Wiston tell the group that the people of Drellin's Ferry are done. Time to retreat. Ask PCs to help more, any way they can.
"Like paratroopers."
"Right. If the parachute attacked you."
Dauth & Prosser. That's a law firm.
Sending to Averill Bancroft - Thousands of hobbos marching on Brindol, need help. Response: Civil War, House Grosh locked Dun down, help unlikely.
Spend approx. half next day trashing roads.
Prone not detecting ranged vs melee
“I want to give you something from Dovan.” Casts Blindness.
“You’re like a corgi!”
“Why don’t we bandage one of them and now we have a horse.”
Balthazar offered small prayer to Ghrian.
Mercenary Gold – Diplomacy and walked past
THEN Valdis insulted them in Giant
B shit talks the Black Friars “I had an evil friend who told me to stay away from them.”
Svetlana asked about Chauncey et al.
Svetlana, Oddmund, Balthazar, Valdis go after caravan of the injured
“Casual Balthazar”
“Oh she spotted you, did you act casual?”
24 Emerald – Kagan catches up, party decides to go due north to get to Saarvith
Find wagon belonging to the Browns (Hagley and Farrah, and their kids, Kipp, Wallace, and Radella)
Terrel the Porter – opportunist in Talar – gets the wagon to Brindol for 1 gp
Th
At Witchcross Valdis meets dwarf named Birger, witnesses consultation with Keepers of Eth, Adranna speaks, “My name is Ramone Merculato”
“There’s always a guy.”
First day of travel from Witchcross – encounter crow in tree cawing at them. “Begone druids, stop watching me!”
LOOK INTO COMBAT EXPERTISE MECHANICS
2022 Spring Emerald 28
The battle in the blockade raged on. The hobgoblins tried in vain to penetrate Oddmund's defenses while Valdis's fire roared through the open tower. Balthazar steadily made his way into the tower to join his allies. Kagan seemed to have trouble building up his usual momentum, but regained steam after a stand-off with one of the ogres. Svetlana snuck around and got the drop on that ogre, sending his kin into a murderous rage. It charged into the main tower and dealt Oddmund a crushing blow with its massive club. Many of the hobgoblins, wounded and demoralized, took advantage of the distraction and began to flee. With strength from Balthazar's blessing, Oddmund rose to the challenge and hewed into the ogre with his mighty Dwarven waraxe. Balthazar channeled necromantic energies into the ogre, causing it to erupt in wounds and collapse into a piteous heap, bleeding out. Valdis, Oddmund and Kagan pursued hobgoblins fleeing north, as Svetlana fired after them with her crossbow. While two hobgoblins escaped through the south, a blast of Valdis's fiery breath dropped two of those to the north into smoldering corpses. The last retreating hobgoblin dropped his weapon and raised his arms in surrender, but brought his shield back down just in time to stop a mighty swing from Kagan's falchion. Balthazar prayed for Dovan's intervention, drawing from the hobgoblin his very will to move. It stood there, unblinking eyes wide with terror, as Kagan cut it cleanly in half.
Valdis assessed the blockade. It was recently and hastily constructed--no more than a few weeks old. It was stocked with aggressively bland rations, two score ogre-sized spears, and some coins undoubtedly taken from travelers along the road. The heroes made camp in the tower and passed a quiet night of rest.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 1
In the morning, they burned the blockade to the ground and continued along the Rhest Trail.
Around mid-day the party came to a fork in the trail, and turned west into the Blackfen swamp. The afternoon wore on, and the end of their first day in the Blackfens approached. A low, mossy island of mud and peat protruded from the marsh waters ahead. Two gnarled trees grew fitfully on the rugged ground, and sprawled across their turgid roots was the ruined and bloody remains of a horse-sized owl. The once-magnificent bird's body had been partially dissolved in places, and swaths of foul, dark green fluid still sizzled and popped, eating away at exposed flesh and bone.
Kagan charged across the clear ground ahead, leapt over the bog surrounding the hillock, and landed next to the nearer of the two trees. His falchion descended with as he did, rending a massive crack into the tree's ancient trunk. For a brief moment nothing happened. The thunderclap of splitting wood died into the marsh, as the sound of something moving through the water grabbed the heroes' attention. A massive shape was gliding through the water toward them! Before they could react, a large scaly green humanoid with wings, a tail, and a suspiciously draconic head leapt out of the water and breathed a cone of acid, covering Oddmund and Balthazar. Svetlana sprang into action, firing her crossbow at the beast. Taking advantage of the distraction, Valdis exhaled a cloud of enervating miasma upon the monster, slowing its movements. Not expecting such resistance, the creature swam away around another land mass. The heroes readied for an intense battle as the beast shook off the torpor and nearly eviscerated Valdis with razor sharp claws along its wing. Balthazar had the matter well in hand, however. Channeling Dovan's wrath, he struck the monster blind. His allies made short work of it after that.
While Kagan decapitated the "dragon," Balthazar approached the fallen owl. The monster's acid breath still clung to the areas where it had eaten the owl's feather's, flesh, and bone. One of the owl's legs bore a jade band, inscribed in Elvish with the name "Hibou." Beyond the owl, at the highest point of the islet, sat an unnatural cubic shape. The heroes gathered around to investigate what turned out to be a rusty iron coffer. Svetlana checked for traps before banging the coffer in just the right place with her elbow, popping the lock and opening it to reveal a bit of treasure. The coffer contained a burnished golden circlet with a modest ruby, a large pearl, a bronze ring, and 720 gold coins.
As the heroes investigated the treasure and tried on the finery, they heard a strange rush of wind and saw soaring overhead five giant owls like the one that lay dead before them. Each bore a rider--a dark-haired elf wearing leather armor dyed green and brown to match the colors of the marsh. The flying elves circled the area twice, and the alit next to the slain owl. They studied the heroes with narrowed eyes. Then one spoke. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing in the marsh?"
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 1 (cont'd)
“I’m Kagan. We’re going to kill a guy.” A puzzled look crossed the elves faces as they heard Kagan's reply. "I'm Gareth," Valdis added before they could respond, "and I am also out to kill some guy." The elf who spoke introduced himself, "I am Childebert Flécherapide. Who is it you seek to kill?"
"A guy," Kagan replied. "Do you know anyone named guy?"
"I have a friend named Guy," Flécherapide replied, "but I do not believe that is who you mean. It does not translate well."
Flécherapide inquired about the scaly green monster at the foot of the hillock, and was impressed to learn the heroes had killed it. "We call them harrowblades," he said, "and we are grateful our swamp contains one fewer."
One of Flécherapide's companions stepped over to the mouldering corpse of the great owl and appeared to examine its leg. "Looking for this?" Balthazar asked, holding out the jade band that once circled the owl's ankle. "We are," replied Flécherapide. "It means this owl belonged to our friend who had gone missing. But we see no sign of him."
"You could gut the 'dragon'."
Flécherapide uttered a command in elvish, and two of his companions stepped over and quickly began to field dress the harrowblade. It was probably easier with the head already gone. After a few minutes of skillful work, one stood solemnly and handed Flécherapide an obsidian ring set with a single white pearl.
"This belonged to our brother, Lohier. Now his fate seems certain."
Flécherapide remarked that the harrowblades began appearing recently, after a great evil settled into the swamp. The heroes explained they were there to kill someone evil who recently entered the swamp on a mission for a hobgoblin army. "You should return with us to our tribe, Flécherapide offered. "A conversation with our Speaker may prove mutually beneficial."
The heroes accepted and each was born up on one of the hunters' giant owls.
The owls were silent as they glided through the gloom, navigating effortlessly through the darkness. The parties' elf escorts were also silent, aside from softly pointing out some dimly glimpsed landmark far below from time to time.
Before long, they reached their destination. Rising from the marsh was a low hill of solid ground, encircled by a thick ring of trees. Dozens of pinpoints of light dotted the hill—small lanterns filled with fireflies, each hanging from a tree-platform or the upper reaches of a conical tent. Many elves silently emerged to watch as the heroes flew overhead. Flécherapide produced a sleek, silver horn of some sort from a saddlebag and blew one wailing note similar to a loon’s cry.
Near the hill’s peak stood three large trees, and built into their boughs were wooden structures. One glowed softly with luminescence of its own and seemed to be a temple. Another looked to be some sort of public building or town hall. The smallest of the three was their destination—a cozy-looking tree house set above a large pool.
Flécherapide asked the party to wait, and stepped inside. A few moments later, he emerged and asked the heroes to enter.
Waiting inside was a wise-looking and ancient elf. She wore flowing golden and green robes, and her hair was braided around a complex headdress made of wicker and wood. She stood next to a much younger female elf in plain brown and green robes who looked to have been crying recently. The younger elf was seated in a large wicker chair, and the standing elf indicated nearby chairs for the party. Behind them, Childebert the hunter took a silent stance near the door.
“I am Antoinette Astrechanteur, Speaker for Les Farouches,” the standing elf said. She indicated the seated elf and continued, “This is High Singer Taylat Nuitombre. We do not often see strangers in our homeland. What brings you to the Blackfens?”
The party explained the hobgoblin army marching through the Vale, and their plan to strike down Saarvith, one of the army's leaders. Antoinette thanked them for their aid in killing the harrowblade and bringing closure to Lohier's fate. He was Taylar's brother, and had gone missing some time ago. Valdis charmed the elves with his courtly graces, and over time they seemed to open up to their visitors.
“As you have seen, the marsh is growing dangerous," Astrechanteur explained. "We have long struggled to hold these beautiful lands for our own. The local lizardfolk have vexed us for many decades, but now a new peril stalks the Blackfens."
The heroes asked about Rhest, and learned that the elves did not go there, our of respect for the bad memories of the dead. It was once the center of a proud nation, but had become little more than ruined buildings slowly sinking into the mire. Months earleir a dark power settled there and brought the disparate lizardfolk tribes to heel. The elves monitored from afar, but dared not kick the hornets' nest. They observed a small force of strong hobgoblins, led by a cruel goblin chief and accompanied by a small black dragon.
The elves explained the harrowblades were not themselves dragons, but were something different, something new. Only a few had been spotted in the past weeks, and none so close to the Hill as the one they slew. The elves' high priest believed them to have infernal origins.
Astrechanteur offered hospitality, trade, and healing to the heroes, but would provide no further aid. The elves' focus was on defending their homes. Their forces, particualrly their owls, were reserved for that purpose. The heroes were invited to stay for Lohier's funeral, the following evening.
They were shown to an area of tents, many filled with food, firewood, and other supplies. Other elves were already working to clear out three of these tents to accommodate the heroes for the evening.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 2
The next day, the party busied themselves about Starsong hill. Kagan sparred with some of the elves best hunters, teaching them a thing or two about might over agility. Svetlana befriended some archers, and though she could not quite get the knack of a longbow they admired her shortbow skills and gifted her an elven shortbow. Balthazar, meanwhile, communed with the owls and used airwalk to dance throughout the Hill with them--much to the elves amazement and delight. And Oddmund found an elven blacksmith who ran a forge that made no smoke. Together they forged the first elven dwarven waraxe--quite a feat of artisanship and diplomacy.
That night the funeral for Lohier Nuithombre consisted of an hour of song, led by his sister, Taylar. A pyre was constructed of boughs and branches collected by all the elves and annointed with holy water and small mementos. In lieu of a body, they placed his ring atop the pyre.
After the ceremony, the rest of the evening was spent in celebration of Lohier's time with them, with feasting, dancing, and storytelling. Both Valdis and Kagan entertained the elves with lively stories of the party's past exploits, managing to weave them into the themes developed in the stories about Lohier. Taylar Nuitombre became inebriated, and swore vengeance against those responsible for bringing the harrowblades to the Blackfens. She even offered to adventure with the heroes into Rhest. They suggested she sleep it off on it.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 3
The next day, however, Taylar's resolve held firm. She introduced the party to the Hill's cleric, Jacques Neigemanteu, and helped them obtain potions for their journey. Then she showed them to the boats and they departed for Rhest.
In the early afternoon, they came within sight of the ruins. A large, dark lake brooded in the marshland, measuring nearly two miles wide. The cloying reek of decaying vegetation and swamp ooze hung thick in the air, and countless frogs, insects, and marsh birds chirped and croaked and called to each other. Out near the middle of the lake, dozens of decrepit stone buildings jutted from the black waters. In most cases, these buildings sagged and leaned treacherously, the windows of their upper stories even with the still lake’s surface. Two buildings that seemed to have survived relatively intact drew attention—one a large stone tower, about a quarter-mile from the southern shore, and the other a large stone building near the lake’s center. Both structures had rickety wooden walkways ringing them at water level. These looked like recent additions; it would seem that someone had made an attempt to settle down here.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 4 (cont'd)
As the dragon's form diminshed toward the distant buildings in the center of the lake, the heroes gathered themselves and prepared to move. "Whatever place looks like it would be good cover from above," said Valdis, "we don't stop there. We stop at the next place." Kagan took point and led them safely through the swamp. The second safe haven they found was a tree with exposed roots arching out of the ground as though the tree were about to leap. They found enough room under them to set up a comfortable camp. Battered and beleaguered, the heroes took advantage of Balthazar's healing prayers, then rested the remainder of the day and through the night.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 4
The next morning, the party discussed their options. "They don't learn from their mistakes," the heroes reasoned, "and neither do we!" Kagan led them back toward the water's edge. By mid-morning, they reached another of the lizardfolk's huts and promptly set it ablaze. It was not long before they saw the silhouette of the dragon rise up from the center of the lake again, and head directly for their position.
In the few minutes they had while it closed the great distance between them, Balthazar prayed to Dovan for intercession. Heeding the call of her faithful servant, Dovan blessed Kagan and Valdis, granting them the ability to tread upon the air itself as though it were a simple uphill climb. Invoking the spirit of the ox, she hardened Kagan's stubbornness and strength against the enemy.
When Regiarix, with Wyrmlord Saarvith upon his back, dove to skim the surface of the swamp and exhale a line of foul acid upon them, they were ready. Though Kagan and Balthazar were seared in the black dragon's spittle, Valdis released his own dragon's breath, burning the dragon and its rider. As Saarvith pierced Kagan with a shower of miniature arrows, Oddmund and Svetlana returned fire with their own bows. Kagan charged in close and kept pace with the dragon, suffering relentless bites and delivering devastating blows to its rider as each tried to outmaneuver the other. As Regiarix flew past and gained altitude, Balthazar prayed a desparate prayer. Hearing her servant, Dovan struck Regiarix blind.
This did not bode well for Saarvith. Astride a blind dragon steadily climbing through the air, Saarvith struggled to regain control of the situation. His storm of arrows could not hold back Kagan's savagery. Meanwhile Valdis harried him from below, constantly keeping pace and waiting for his inevitable descent. Balthazar, seizing upon the Wyrmlord's distraction, uttered a final prayer. Aiding her acolyte once again, Dovan gripped Saarvith by his very soul, paralyzing him.
As Regiarix wheeled round toward the lake Kagan struck Saarvith yet again, knocking him from his mount. He fell over fifty yards, narrowly missing Valdis as he plummeted to his death.
Such a triumph, however, came at a hefty price. Kagan had overextended himself and the black dragon snake its mighty head around to clamp its jaws down through Kagan's torso. Vicious fangs covered in caustic spittle tore through Kagan's flesh, muscle, and sinew. The dragon tore his teeth free and let Kagan's body drift down to the ground, still buoyed by Balthazar's Prayer for Air Walking.
The party rushed to stabilize Kagan and restore him to consciousness. As he woke, each of the heroes heard a voice whispering to them. "Saarvith underestimated you. A pity for his family, who will pay the price for his failure. I will not repeat his mistake. You are formidable. You should take his place as my loyal Wyrmlord."
"What would we get out of it."
"You will lead a portion of my army, and rule a piece of this vale when the humans have been driven out."
"Ruling a bunch of dead ruins does not sound like much fun."
"The choice is yours. But should you choose wrongly you will suffer a far worse fate."
The heroes persisted in declining the voice's invitation, and it subsided. A search of the scattered remains of Wyrmlord Saarvith yielded an excellent quality chain shirt, a greatsword and longbow of exceptional quality, x arrows--x-10 ordinary and 10 of fine craftsmanship with strange arrowheads, a cloak in amazingly good condition, a pouch containing gold and platinum, and an iron key. Balthazar could tell the fine arrows and sturdy cloak emanated an aura of magic, and Taylar identified the cloak as a cloak of resistance. The equipment was all goblin-sized--indeed the cloak became little more than a cape when draped over ___'s shoulders.
Kagan and Taylar were badly in need of rest, and the party decided to make their way back to the tree to camp.
2022 Spring Cat's Eye 5
After a full night of rest, and Balthazar's prayers to Dovan for healing, the heroes were back in action. They approached the lake obliquely again. As they reached the shore they saw the distant shape of the black dragon rising from the buildings in the center of town and flying off southwest, toward the hobgoblin horde. The party boarded skiffs left behind by the lizard folk and made their way across the lake. Southeast of the center of town, they found an old stone bell tower protruding from the lake at a slant, reaching a height of thirty feet above the surface of the water. Eroded images of dozens of lions--stalking, sleeping, and pouncing--adorned its sides. A rickety-looking wooden platform had been built around the tower’s circumference at water level.
The party climbed a ladder to the top of the tower. Beneath the pointed roof hung a weathered old bell with no clapper, upon which someone sounded an alarm just days ago. It now hung lonely and abandoned. Stairs led down, and the heroes followed.
The room below reeked of stale body odor and rotten food. Three double bunk beds were pushed up against the east wall, and a single bed sat to the south with a wooden chest protruding from beneath it. A wooden table and three chairs rounded out the room’s cramped furnishings. A long dagger had been thrust up through the table from below, its thin blade protruding from the table’s center. No fewer than three dead frogs were impaled on the blade. A small chest sat open at an odd angle near the single bed, as though it had been dragged out quickly from beneath and ransacked. It was as empty as the room.
The heroes turned their attention northwest, to the ruins of the town hall. It must once have been an impressive stone structure, but now lay half-submerged in the lake. Its facade still displayed majestic heroes bearing heraldic lion devices and armed with swords, spears, and bows, their countenances carved into marble pillars. The building’s ground floor was completely submerged and its second floor sat just above the water level, its marble heroes caked with moss and mud. The third floor was partially collapsed, exposing the rooms to the sky above. A wooden walkway had been lashed together around the building’s perimeter, and a floating bridge led to a nearby low ruin surrounded by a wooden fence. Two flights of wooden stairs led up along the facade to the ruined roof above.
Their approach raised no alarms and they were greeted with no signs of life. The devastated second floor of the building--now the roof--bore several gravel piles that Valdis recognized as ogre nests. The ogres themselves were strangely absent. The heroes found an entrance into a stairwell, lit only dimly by the natural light from above. It led to what was once probably a grand hallway, now bare except for shaggy furs piled against one wall. A foul, fetid smell rose up from this place, as if it were the den of some great beast. A second flight of stairs below the first led down into the flooded ground level, doors to the north and south led out of the hallway, and a large double door led west.
Three large animals--a leopard, a wild boar, and a crocodile--stood at the ready in the room to the north . . . but on second inspection, they proved to be stuffed and mounted for display. The walls were decorated with a striking tapestry depicting a five-headed dragon in a pose of destructive rage. A free-standing perch for a falcon or eagle stood in the room’s northwest corner. A cot heaped with fine furs lay to the west, next to a large table. Atop the table lay a dead batlike creature, its abdomen cleaned and stuffed with salt and wood chips and its wings pinned to the table’s surface with several thin pins. An iron chest sat on the floor beneath the table.
The chest was locked, but yielded to Wyrmlord Saarvith's key. Inside were six large leather sacks, each containing 100 pieces of silver and 20 pieces of gold. Wedged between some of these sacks was a delicate-looking wooden and silver box. Inside the box was a single folded letter that smelled of strange perfume, and an indention in the velvet lining the size of an apple. The letter was written in Goblin and, for the moment, inscrutable.
The south chamber was clean and well organized, despite its grim furnishings. Small barbed cages rested against the wall, not quite large enough to stand in and not quite wide enough to sit in. Several barrels of water were on the floor, along with a bloodstained mop. A simple cot, a chair, and a desk rounded out the room’s contents.
Through the double doors to the west they found a large room that might have once been a well-appointed library, but its shelves now lay in disarray along the east and west walls, with no sign of any books. A large portion of the ceiling was missing, as was a corresponding portion of the floor, which opened into the dark waters of the lake below. At Balthazar's plea, Dovan imbued the heroes with the gills of her sea creatures, allowing them to breath water. Kagan leapt through the hole in the floor and into the murky water. Visibility was low, and though he sank only 30 feet or so, it seemed to go on for ever. He had little time, however, to reflect upon his descent.
He was almost immediately beset by six lizardfolk who had been lying in ambush. With their stabbing javelins and sheer numbers, they swarmed upon him. Valdis sensed the churning waters and jumped in, his freezing exhalation turning the murk before him into an icy slurry. As Kagan fought off his opponents, the other heroes plunged into the water one by one. Though thankful for their gills, they wished more for flippers as the lizardfolk outswam and outmaneuvered them. But in the end such meager creatures were no match for the seasoned adventurers. Not a single lizardfolk made it out of the water.
Searching the underwater area of the building, the heroes found a small hoard tucked away in the rafters, just out of reach of the corrosive swamp water. Unraveling various protective wrappings, they found a full suit of plate armor, a small amulet, a beautiful horn of ivory with clouds carved across its surface, a golden necklace, eleven small gemstones, and a wealth of silver, gold, and platinum coins. They also found a small unlocked iron coffer, containing a pendant of teeth on chain of adamantine threaded with claws.