[Vacaria Brotherhood] -
D&D Expeditions: Drums in
the Marsh
Khan (dwarf cleric), Klin (elf druid), Lanza (elf bard),
Septimus (tiefling warlock)
Previously:
People have gone missing in the farmsteads around the Twilight Marshes. On his
way to Gilthanas’ marriage, the gnome Archibald decides to investigate… and
disappears.
Recycling
Characters
We rescued a bunch of people being driven in rafts by the lizards. A
friendly dwarf named Kill Him told us that a competition was
being held in the Island of the Lizard King (no, I'm not talking about Japan
and Godzilla), involving three tribes: Dusk-Dusk, Gob-Gob, and Jib-Jib.
Alas, the freed
farmers needed someone to guide them along the swamps, so four of our party
members were volunteered to accompany them (yeeeah, the players were absent and
we had to dispatch their characters...). But alongside the friendly Kill Him (dwarven
baker extraordinaire) we discovered my good friend Lanza (bard
not-quite-so-extraordinaire, but really smart) and the druid Klin (that somehow
got teleported from another campaign, in another time, in another place).
The Hermit, The
Dragon, and The Horned Ones
Kill Him told us to
visit the hermit named Gregor that lived in the swamp. I have absolutely no
idea what transpired inside Gregor's hut, because the entire time was spent
with Septimus speaking with Gregor and the imp in abyssal. Yup, the horned guy
with the imp was the single one remaining from the original ensemble (why me,
Marthammor Duin... why me...).
The hermit eventually told us that a COLOSSAL BLACK DRAGON was the one
responsible for the lizards' competition. Oh, joy… this just keeps getting
better...
With the Island
of the Lizard King's location in mind, we carried on.
When we felt
that the beating of the drums was close, we halted our march. It was night, and
we spotted a strange big lizard destroying several effigies that resembled a
dragon. Septimus tried to allure him into an ambush, but the guy didn't fall
for it. In that moment, our horned warlock decided to unleash an eldritch blast
on the lizard... but apparently his batteries were out. Humm... what could possibly
be the reason for his magical powers to wane so suddenly? When he answered that
question, the world stood still.
"My patron,
Mephistopheles, the Archlord of the Eight Hell, has denied me access to the
arcane powers."
We must bear in
mind that I am playing with a righteous dwarf cleric. Remember the guy who was
protecting the pouch with the 15 gp belonging to the old folks from the farm,
who is also a Harper agent? Yup, that's me.
The entire party
fell silent, and looked at me in expectation. Ok, NOW is the time to roleplay. I wasn't going to attack another player's character
(unless he harmed me in any way), but obviously I wasn't going to simply
dismiss this info as "nothing to see here, move along". So, I
displayed my most serious dwarven-face and questioned my companions if we were
going to make the final assault on the lizards having at our side a servant of
an archdemon that could - and probably would - betray us at any moment.
Septimus argued
that I was judging him too quickly, and that his servitude wasn't a question of
choice. Instead, he was bound by something previous to his birth. An
interesting exchange of arguments followed, in the eternal struggle between
good and evil, and the tiefling eventually revealed that Mephistopheles ordered
him to kill the hermit, which he refused.
At that moment I
considered hitting the imp with a Guiding Bolt, but my spell slots as a 3rd
level cleric are very limited, and we had already decided to press the attack
on the island this night.
GOB-GOB! GOB-GOB! GOB-GOB!
We had to be
pragmatic. Albeit the issues with "Hellboy", we needed manpower to
hit the lizards and free the captives.
Although Lanza
is far from being among the 100 best bards of the Moonsea (teeheehee), we must
remember that he is one of the smartest persons in the region (Hello-Kitty-Headband of Intellect). So, he decided to do the SMARTEST THING POSSIBLE:
steal the flag from the Dusk-Dusk camp and run around shouting "GOB-GOB!
GOB-GOB! GOB-GOB!" And thus another memorable moment was born in Vacaria
Brotherhood's history.
Mayhem ensued,
and the lizards started killing each other. At that precise moment, the imp
decided to attack the tiefling. And there we were, dear readers: a bard running
insanely with a horde of lizardmen in pursuit, a tiefling in mortal kombat with
his own imp, and my righteous dwarf being cooked alive inside the chainmail by
the tribal shaman's Heat Metal. Thankfully we had the bear-shaped druid to do
something!
Amid the chaos, the big lizard who had escaped our ambush appeared from
nowhere and assumed control. While we tried desperately to free all people from
their cells, the Megalizardtron gathered all the tribes under him. The druid
rushed to free all the animals captured in cages... and was trampled! Yes,
there was a stampede of chickens, sheep, goats... and one cow!
Megalizardtron
ordered all the lizards to throw javelins at us. Our DM is a kind, loving,
merciful person, and so decided to roll a d20 to see how many javelins would
hit us... and rolled 19. I hate the DM.
My brave Khan,
seeing that death was upon us with a stampede of lizardmen coming our way,
started unleashing Guiding Bolts at Megalizardtron. My comrades started losing
crossbow bolts towards him, and when we felled the bastard... the lizards ran
away!
Marthammor Duin
be praised.
The One and Only Lizard King in the Universe
The "Protector of the Fifteen Coins" and The Missing Gnome
We managed to
organize the panicking prisoners, but not a single gnome was among them. Where
the hell could Archibald be? Well, at least I found the old farmers alive and
restituted the pouch with the 15 gp to its rightful owners. No one can accuse
this Harper of not keeping his promises!
We told the people
to take refuge in Phlan, since we had learned that the COLOSSAL BLACK DRAGON
would be returning in a ten-day. After a few days walking the marshes, and with
the inn on our sight, guess what happened? We found Archibald. The dumb gnome
had spent the entire time running in circles.
Now, about the horned fellow...
The day was
saved. Well, Archibald tried to ruin it by summoning a fire elemental in the
barn... Oh, and apparently Gilthanas' marriage went down the drain... But aside
from that, all is well when it ends well!
There was,
nevertheless, one loose end: Septimus! I confronted eye-to-eye (you'll
understand pretty soon the pun in this...) my comrade-in-arms with his forthcoming
choices. I wasn't about to allow a servant of Mephistopheles to go back to
Phlan. But, if his claim to be innocent in the entire "demon pact"
thing was true, I would be willing to look for powerful allies among the
Harpers in order to help freeing him from servitude. My insight told me he was
genuinely willing to explore this path.
The Eye of
Septimus
There is,
although, one minor detail that we are unaware of in-game: Septimus' powers
only returned because he pledged to Mephistopheles his willingness to sacrifice
one of his eyes. Will this go forward? And, if so, will the DM take the chance
to further develop this seed and make this a powerful trinket in the future? We...
shall... SEE! >:)
