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| "Should we be looting this stuff?"--Sheamus |
Timekeeping
This session began on October 30th, 2025, with the player characters adventuring in Brovenloft until the end of the day. Downtime for these characters begins on the 31st (perhaps something spooky in downtime...)
Player Characters Present
Fluid the Druid (Level 9 Druid, "Scourge of Trollopulous", former wearer of the Ring of Kings)Sheamus (Level 8 Irish Fighter from Brovenloft, rider of the Rocket Cycle and wielder of the Drewblade)Gurt the Green (Level 6 Paladin of Machodor, wielder of the Liberator, bearer of the Fabled Ice Jewel of Frigia, rider of Artax)
with henchman Cedric (C4)
with henchman Cedric (C4)
Downtime
Session Report
There was some exposition as the heroes questioned the reverend mother, who had quite a bit to say. However, the old woman spoke only in a halting common, lapsing often into words Ishbi was required to translate for the adventurers.
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| longhouse vibes |
It transpired that, having escaped the surprise night attack by the Grothak (Frogmen) and going into hiding with the survivors, Ramallo had used a Commune spell to find out certain pertinent facts:
- The Grothak have a magic item that turns desert into Morkul (Swamp)
- This Vreshka (Swamp generating magic item) must be destroyed to return the land to normal
- The Grothak have inadvertently opened "The Place that should not be opened"
- The Grothak army includes a Nathruk (giant amphibian monster)
- The prophecy of "Those who had forsaken their brothers, will return to save them (a clear reference to Bishoy and Tawadros)" is at hand, and also where to go to find them.
- Their force were attacked on route by Frogmen riding Fralnix (giant frogs).
- It is clear that the Grothak were encamped inside the Skalrath (Sacred Tomb, i.e. "the Place that should not be opened") and have made their Threxil (swamp lair) there.
- This army pursued the dervish all the way here and are camped outside right now.
- Ramallo was wounded on the journey and won't be able to cast spells and such for a week.
- The dervish had a device that would alter the portal destination from Trollopulous so that it would send any reinforcements from that temple to the cave they were in. The portal opened, admitting Gurt and his henchman Cedric to Brovenloft.
- When pressed about the danger of the Skalrath, Ramallo intoned that some weapon was buried there that could threaten all of Brovenloft. Sheamus openly spoke of recovering the weapon for use by the Irish!
Ramallo offered the services of her younger sister, Sadros (NPC Cleric Level 5), who the players quickly referred to as "Sheena". Sheena could lead them to the the Skalrath using her holy symbol (a tooth-like long dagger) as a guide. The players agreed, whether they bought the prophecy business or not, they all had the same frog—erm, Grothak—problem that needed to be dealt with.
The next issue was: how to leave the cave without being immediately attacked by the Grothak army camping outside; in the swamp, the enemy had the unique ability to besiege them while being largely hidden themselves. There was an alternate exit to the supply cave, but unfortunately its entrance must now be under the surface level of the swamp, as the entire passage leading to it had been found to be filled with water.
Fluid considered bringing out one of his big guns: Insect Swarm, but was this spell truly an appropriate one to use against frogs, Sheamus pondered? When I told them that I had considered this very point and had determined how to adjudicate what would happen, Fluid demurred. Too bad really.
Instead, Sheamus stepped up and suggested using his hawk man wrist bracer—with its ability to generate a field of Invisibility in 10' radius around them—to leave undetected. This met with general approval and the small party of five set off. With the sounds of thunderous croaking around them more than covering their own, the invisible party made their way north without being detected. After a turn elapsed Sheamus deemed it safe to become visible again (unlike the spell, his bracer used 5 charges per turn, out of a maximum 40, so it can only be used sparingly). They took cover and confirmed that no attack came as they did so, then, when nothing happened, moved on. An hour later they ran into something perhaps even worse than frogs, huge creatures lumbering through the swamp from the east towards them.
Encounter#1: 5 Hippos
Rounds: 0
Result: Party evadedHighlights: The adventurers experienced a full on fight or flight response in the face of the approach of these obviously powerful—but at that point unidentified—creatures. When they were revealed to be hippos the party opted to let them pass if they would, and with a good encounter check, they did so.
After this encounter Sheamus checked the power on his hawk man bracer and confirmed his suspicion; just like the Rocket Cycle, it was also out of range of the recharger—in another plane back at Castle Irish—and so it had not recharged at all from that first use of Invisibility 10' Radius. He had enough power remaining for more uses, but not that many more.
The party kept on slogging through the marsh, trying to stick to the terrain that was easiest to walk on. Even with Sheena to guide them, they were forced to switch back and forth many times, it was a difficult march. After another hour of this they were ready for a break. When Fluid spotted a large snake-like creature pushing through the murky water nearby, he took it to be like others that he could converse with—as had happened a few times recently. Using Speak with Animals, he intended to use his charm to extract information. When, instead, the creature that responded to the spell was revealed to possess the face and hair of a human woman, he switched to a different kind of charm.
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| "Don't be like that, baby." |
Rounds: 2
Result: Party evadedHighlights: The naga ignored the druid's advances and tried to charm him in return, but fortunately for Fluid his druidic powers saved him. She then cast Mirror Image. Fluid went for Faerie Fire. Sheamus and Gurt pushed to the water's edge and tried to chop the creature's head off; but they succeeded only in hitting her illusions, though by the end of the first round they had gotten all of these. When Fluid's spell went off it revealed two more naga that had been hiding nearby, casting defensive spells of their own.
Next round a panicked Cedric cast Chant (mixing up the difference between 1 round casting time and 1 turn casting time and earning an S grade). Sheena cast Silence 15' Radius, the naga made its save, but that still left both in the range of the spell effect; while the naga on Fluid backed off into deeper water, was covered by his Summon-ed Insects and also was Silenced for her troubles. Neither Sheamus nor Gurt were prepare to pursue her into the unknown depths of the water, and things were briefly at a stale mate.
That's when the adventurers decided to evade. I consulted the DMG rules on outdoor evasion, and they ended up with a 50/50 chance, the roll worked out in their favour. I'm sure the monsters will forget all about it and not try to get revenge at some point.
Finally, after another two hour slog, Sheena indicated—with the point of her dagger, that they were approaching their destination; a sink-hole like depression, in which a dark pool of swamp water was draining. Within the hole could be seen stone-carved stairs, over which the water ran down into darkness. There were two approaches that made it possible to reach the stairs without wading through water, and the party took the direct southern approach. Just as they were about to head in, they were oh-so-lucky not to be surprised by the frogmen guards waiting for them in the water.
Combat #2: 5 Frogmen
Rounds: 2 rounds
Result: Party winHighlights: "Ware! Grothak!" shouted Sheena. The Frogmen executed well performed leaps into the party's ranks, but lost initiative and were killed before they could manage to back into the water for another try.
Although they carried no more than a few coins each, Sheamus was very interested in collecting more primo griffon food, and soon had the frogmen prepared and stacked up nearby, to be picked up on the way back from exploring the sink hole (assuming they made it back out alive).
The carved stairs descended into a natural passage that curved this way and that, before passing a worked alcove on the way down into a large triangular area. The water from swamp followed the path down, mostly filling the edges of the area with vegetation debris, and continued out the far points of a triangle shaped chamber. Here and there the walls were worked smooth, and had rows of niches carved into them. There were also markings that appeared to be writing, but no one could decipher them. Sheena could only say that Ramallo had told her that the place was built by people of surpassing evil—precursors to those who once worshiped Kangsta Wrapper's ancestors—who lived in the distant past and buried their dead here. The walls also showed signs of prior damage, possibly from earthquakes or the like, as did the floors.
A huge, wheel-like rock up against the west wall was definitely "giving door vibes" as my daughter might say, and after two tries Sheamus and Gurt were able to shove it aside, revealing a properly worked L-shaped tomb area beyond. The adventurers had just taken up position in the room when they were attacked by undead—that had apparently just climbed out of sepulchre in the walls to meet them.
Rounds: 5
Result: Monster beat downHighlights: Between two clerics and a paladin, these skeletons were no sooner in formation than they were trying to run away, but they had nowhere to go. Sheamus and Gurt advanced on them, and nearly fell through a weakened section of the the floor in their attempt to beat down the turned skeletons.
Below the fallen floor they could see a passage leading southwest, so they jumped down to investigate, finding it to be any easy less-than-ten-foot drop.
On the lower level the heroes found a series of rooms and corridors—many with more sepulchre niches, and explored in a fairly hap hazard fashion. They did manage to collected some items of apparent value, and also noted down some markings for future reference, but with their camp some hours march away and a night march through the swamp not to their liking, they chose to return before making any significant progress.
Back out in the triangle room they heard the tell-tale sounds of Frogmen echoing into the area from the south; it was apparent that more of the creatures were down there, and they reflected that they'd found no sign of the Grothak past the tomb entry; perhaps they could not move the rock? With this thought and in the nick of time, they rolled the rock back and left before they could be discovered.
The return trip was faster. With another use of Sheamus's hawk man wrist device, they passed invisibly through the sunken ranks of the frogman army undetected, although there was a close call with a curious giant frog, the adventurers made it safely back into the dervish cave by nightfall.
Session Statistics:
Combats: 3
Rooms mapped: 8
Combat rounds: 9
Losses: None
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