"You're in a muddy clearing, lit by a full moon, deep in the Mourning Marshes. The Were-Rats have disappeared into the darkness, leaving you alone with the corpses of the ratmen lying in the mud. You can hear the sounds of a fierce melee raging just out of sight. It threatens to spill into your clearing at any moment." "Before you is a warren of devilish ratmen. Behind you is a stronghold of mad were-rats out for revenge. It's 3am in the deadliest swamp in Ghelspad, 100s of leagues from civilization, surrounded by enemies, and without a guide." "What do you want to do?"
Stone picks up the body of the were-rat, and we head back towards the camp. Telryn is looking very woozy after the huge spells he cast. He tells us he has arcane overexertion. He's drenched in sweat. Stone drops the were-rat and picks up Telryn, stumbling slightly. Darmaon searches the rat men for weapons - he finds four daggers, 11 arrows, 3 short bows, 5 scimitars. He takes the daggers, a bow, and the arrows. The bow is pretty good quality. He also finds 17 red square pieces of coral and 30 white pieces of shell. Stone says that he's not feeling so well, and very tired. Miriel goes over to examine him; he's clearly fatigued, but she can't figure out what is wrong with him. Chuck suggests he have some ginger, which he does. We start to follow our tracks back to the camp.
Stone looks behind himself: "Hedrada's balls!" He sees five rat skeletons charging towards us, really fast, with spears. He drops Telryn. Two skeltons attack Stone and hit him. Two attack Chuck, and one hits. One attacks Darmaon and hits. Stone punches the two that attacked him, one with hammerfist. He hits both.
Goldpetal attacks a skeleton, but misses. Paks swings at the one attacking Darmaon and hits it, lopping its head off. She's sprayed by a clear, sticky liquid. Two swing at Chuck and two at Stone. One hits Stone. Both miss Chuck. Darmaon moves to flank one of the skeletons, swings, and misses. Stone tumbles past the skeletons, putting his hand on the head of one, but it doesn't feel like bone, it feels like rubbery flesh. He gives it an elbow strike, but misses. Telryn moves back out of the way. Chuck swings with both swords (Hoarfrost!), hitting with Hoarfrost and killing one. He hits the other one a good blow. Miriel pulls out her holy symbol and tries to turn them, but she feels a void where she usually can find her connection to Madriel.
Goldpetal swings and hits one. Paks swings and hits one, killing it, and follows through, injuring another one. The somewhat wounded one swings at Goldpetal, but misses. The other one, which is very wounded, runs away into the swamp. Darmaon swings at the remaining skeleton, hitting it and killing it. Stone charges at the fleeing skeleton, but gasps and stops running. Chuck pulls out his bow and shoots at the woods where the skeleton fled. He fires a perfect shot and we hear a splash as the skeleton falls dead.
Paks casts a clean cantrip on herself to remove the mess. Stone eats some bread, then picks Telryn up again. Stone eats Paks' bread as well and looks much better. Stone looks quickly at the bodies, which are dressed in jewelry, belts with pouches, etc. Stone grabs a random silver bracelet off one of them, swishes it in the stream, and puts it on. He also looks at the body of the were-rat, strips off his stuff, and sticks it in the bag of holding. We start to follow our tracks out. Miriel helps Telryn. Stone finds 3 gold, 7 silver, a vial of red liquid, maybe a potion, a longsword, a very nice shortsword, a longbow, and 3 arrows.
Telryn moans that he hates the swamp. Goldpetal and Chuck try to track us back. We travel 3-4 hours away from the sounds of battle. Goldpetal finally says he thinks he lost the trail. Chuck agrees that we are lost. Stone says "fucking elves." It's dawn soon. Paks turns to Darmaon and says "Don't worry, we've done this before." Stone says "All this means is we're about to get more treasure." Chuck tries to intuit direction and we head off in the direction he indicates. Miriel tries to figure out where the river is, but we're in a sort of delta.
We travel for another hour. Dawn breaks. It's still very gray, and drizzling. We're in a very wet area, with small patches of dried land and stunted trees, and water a foot or so deep around them. Chuck stops suddenly, grabbing Paks' shoulder. We see a black pile, which looks like tarry rags, maybe a corpse. He sniffs around, smells a really sweet smell, with flies hovering around the bundle of rags. He tries to go nearer, but Paks holds him back. He tries to find a dry path around, but finally we have to wade through the water. He takes a 10 foot pole from Goldpetal and starts marking the depth of the water. As he gets close to the mound of rags, it opens up, tendrils come out, and six shoot out at Chuck. Five hit him, burning him with acid. He screams in pain, "Medic!" and passes out. The plant looks like a gooey anemone, or a 5-foot sundew plant.
Darmaon fires his bow at it, hitting it, but the arrow kind of sticks in the goo and doesn't seem to do much damage. It wiggles its tentacles. Goldpetal steps to the side and shoots at it, but misses. Stone punches the plant; he can hardly miss. Gobs of junk fly everywhere. Six tendrils shoot out at Stone. Three hit him. One covers his face so he can't breathe. Miriel runs over to the opposite side of Chuck from the plant and heals him. Chuck is back on his feet, but his face is horribly scarred, and Miriel tells him there is nothing she can do for that in this environment.
Darmaon fires again, injuring the plant slightly. Goldpetal pulls out a sling and throws a bullet at it, but misses. Stone punches the plant twice, hitting it with both blows. Chuck stands up, draws Hoarfrost, croaks "Hoarfrost", and swings at the plant, hitting it. It shrivels up and the tentacles go kind of limp, but are still attached. Paks steps over and tries to cut Stone free, but misses. Miriel gives Chuck a piece of bread.
Darmaon tries to cut Stone free, partially severing the tentacle over his face. Goldpetal casts Purify Food and Drink on the tentacles attached to Stone and Chuck. The acid stops burning them, they become less sticky, and Stone takes a huge bite out of one of them. Miriel hands Stone another piece of bread. Stone says to Chuck "Man, I think that's going to scar." He pulls out a mirror to show Chuck. Miriel puts together a quick poultice and some bandages for Chuck's face. Chuck tries to see if there is any acid left, but it's all sweet now. Miriel gives Chuck one more piece of bread, and reproves him for not asking for healing sooner. Paks looks in the plant and finds two pearls.
Goldpetal climbs up the tree and looks around. All he sees in almost all directions are little islands, filled with the sundews. He looks for a way around them. Nothing looks familiar. Watching the sun rise, he has a feeling that we've been going in the wrong direction. Stone takes a long drink of water. Miriel suggests finding a place to rest for a little while. Goldpetal says this is a good spot. Stone puts the bag down and puts his head on it, then meditates to try to figure out what is wrong with him, to feel so tired.
Darmaon takes the first watch, with Paks. Chuck takes a quick look around for ninequine plants. The rest of us go to sleep. Goldpetal casts a spell of true direction, and tells Chuck he was wrong about the way north. Feeling a lack of connection to Madriel, Miriel and Paks ask for time to meditate and contact Madriel again. Stone tries to concentrate and break the tree with his monk powers.
We strike out east, using Goldpetal's information. Working together, we find a safe path through the swamp. We travel until midnight fairly safely other than some insects. We find a semi-dry spot near a tree. Goldpetal casts a spell which creates a tree fort for us. We all climb up. Chuck casts an alarm spell. Miriel, Paks, and Stone meditate, then sleep.
Goldpetal casts know direction again. We help find the way, and after about two hours we find the river. Goldpetal tries to determine if we're upstream or downstream and says that we're upstream of the camp. We head back towards the camp, going as stealthily as we can. It takes about four hours, then Goldpetal stops us. We push back some weeds and see the hill with the ruined keep on it. It's about noon. We hide in the reeds. We watch, but don't see any movement at all in the fort.
Stone suggests that he go up alone first; he'll call if he's in danger. He finds Jonas and Scree, but no one else. He asks them if the rangers have been back, and they say yes, one of those Vigilants showed up yesterday and left a note for us, then took off again. They ask if we're going to leave. Stone tells them to get in the boat and the rest of us will be along soon. He has to shut Scree up again. He runs back to us and says "we've got a problem." He shows us a note from Curtis Strongbow saying they'll let us leave if we leave right away, but they'll kill us if we meet again.
Betrayers:We agree to leave right away. Paks suggests reloading the supplies on the boat, and Stone starts to do so. Miriel objects and says we should just go. Eventually the party agrees to leave the supplies, and we get on the boat. Goldpetal tries to get us to stay while he consecrates part of the camp to Denev, but the rest of us overrule him and we cast off."I assumed you would find my methods shocking, but I did not expect you would literally stab me in the back. I will not break my bond as host, even though you have broken bond as guest. That much of my honor still remains. Leave the swamp now -- we will not molest you -- but if we meet again it will be your death."
Curtis Strongbow
We make great time down the river, especially after Goldpetal casts swift water. Paks and Miriel meditate, still trying to reconnect with Madriel. Just after dark, Jonas suggests that we stop and make camp. We pull up on the shore and Jonas lights the punks to drive off stirges. We chew the ninequine leaves. Stone shares some with Scree, who gags and spits them out.
Miriel enlists Stone's help in cooking a nice dinner, then sits with Scree for a while talking about religion, good and evil, etc. Stone asks Scree about the rat skeletons; Scree says they're the White Wraiths, they showed up recently, they take people's bones, and he doesn't like them. Goldpetal asks Scree about his scrolls, and Scree shows them to him. Goldpetal finds that he can read them. Scree is afraid that Madriel hates him, but Miriel assures him that Madriel does not hate anyone. He asks if he can be good, and she says she's really not sure, she's never heard of a rat man trying before.
We make it through the night quietly, then continue to travel. During the night, Miriel has a dream: she sees Strongbow; he's deep underground, at the lip of a big pit, fighting a white rat man. Even though he's very wounded, she sees him cut down the white rat man. The pit is quite horrific, and the look on Strongbow's face is one of horror.
Miriel tells the others about her dream, and tells the others that she thinks Madriel sent it for a reason. She tries to convince the others to go back to the rat man warren. Stone backs her up, but asks how we can get there. She says Scree can lead us, which he balks at at first, but agrees to do once he is told that Madriel wants it. Jonas is doubtful, but agrees to drop us off. He asks everyone if they really want to go. Telryn doesn't really want to, but says it's the right thing to do. Darmaon says he'll stick with us. It takes most of the day to get back upriver. We pull the boat up just short of the camp and tie it up for the night.
Just after we eat, Strongbow stumbles into our camp and collapses, bleeding from multiple wounds. He's alone, and we're amazed that he got this far. He's clearly dying. Miriel does what she can to make him comfortable; his wounds close up, but he's still lost so much blood.
Strongbow: "The rat men. Too many. Too strong. Killed everyone." He stops to cough up blood, "I killed the leader. A pit."
Miriel: "what about the pit? I saw it in a dream"
S: "Disease. Corruption. Hell!" He grabs Miriel by the arm, "Chern! They're digging for Chern!" With his last ounces of strength he says "Stop them. You must..." He looks past Miriel, up at the sky, "The horror! The horror!" He dies.
Some of the party examine the body while Stone gets a cloth to wrap him in and a digging implement. He has a short sword and a potion in a pouch. Miriel prays for him that this last act, trying to do good, will counteract his choice of evil before. We bury him and settle down to rest for the evening. Telryn checks out the potion; it tastes like blood. It is probably the were-rat potion. He spits it out. Goldpetal suggests consecrating the ground we bury Strongbow in, but Miriel says she's not currently able to. She'll try in the morning.
We settle in to rest for the night. Miriel and Paks awake feeling the love of Madriel once more. We breakfast, then head off to the rat man warren, following Scree. Telryn casts Mage Armor on himself. We follow Scree for a long time. It's about 6pm when Scree stops and says he thought it was around here, but he can't find it now. We finally decide to camp for the night. Telryn casts a spell to make us a shelter and Miriel and Stone bake two loaves of bread; Stone adds some cheese and cracked pepper to one and cinnamon to the other. Miriel casts Bread of Life on both loaves, and hands out the pieces, keeping two for herself.
In the middle of the night, Scree gets up mumbling to himself. Stone asks him if he is okay, and he says he's okay, but he picks up a sword and steps towards Miriel. Stone punches him from behind. He turns on Stone, totally enraged, and says "Madriel, kill kill kill!" He turns from Stone and tries to kill Miriel: "Madriel said to slay you!" Stone tries to grab him, but misses. He hits Miriel; she wakes up. Goldpetal steps over and swings at him with a scimitar. Telryn shoots a magic missile at him, knocking him down, with burn marks on his fur. Stone grapples him, tosses the sword away, and starts to bind him with the magic manacles and 50 feet of rope. Miriel heals herself with a chunk of bread.
Telryn says he thinks Scree is insane. Paks checks to see if Scree is evil, and he is not. Stone binds Scree's wounds. He asks Stone why he's sitting on him. Stone explains, and Scree doesn't believe it. We go back to sleep. Scree complains about being tied up. Stone offers to tie him in a more fun way.
Scree says he can take us to a secret entrance to the warren. Miriel asks him how long it will take to get there. Telryn offers to fly Chuck to look for the warren, and casts the spell on Chuck. Chuck spins around and spots the fortress, in the same direction Scree indicated. He looks to see if he can see rat men, but he can't see any. Telryn offers to turn him invisible so he can go scout. Chuck agrees.
While Chuck is out scouting, Scree manages to slip out of his bonds. He heads for Stone and attacks him with claws and teeth, but Stone dodges him.
Darmaon moves over nearby and throws a dagger at Scree, but he fumbles. Telryn steps over and waits for Stone. Stone punches Scree and knocks him out, then does a coup de grace to kill him. Then turns around and keeps cooking. Just before he dies, Scree rasps out "Miriel, Madriel, kill..."
Chuck flies to the fortress. He finds a big square keep. In the center of the courtyard is a big mound of dirt, about 20 feet high. It's higher even than the towers of the fortress. There's also a small stream of water flowing out of a hole in the hill. He scouts around looking for ways to get in, then flies back and tells us about the fortress.
We agree to head over there. Darmaon suggests skinning Scree and using his pelt as a disguise to sneak into the ratmen warren. His suggestion is ignored.
When we get nearby, Goldpetal casts Circle of Sounds on us so that our conversation and movement sounds like native creatures. We stop at a blind nearby to check it out. There are several sentries, so we discuss how we can get in. As we discuss it, we see a couple of rat men come out of the keep and grab a vigilant body and a rat man body and start dragging them in.
Miriel says we have to get in there now and stop them taking the bodies. Paks suggests Goldpetal casts an obscuring mist, but it would be too obvious. Stone tells Telryn to send a wolf to attack the guys dragging the bodies. Goldpetal summons a crocodile as well.
When they see they wolf coming, the rat men drop the corpse and run. The five sentries aim their crossbows at the wolf. Stone charges for the wall. The rest of us move around toward the fortress, away from the wolf and toward the water hole. The sentries fire at the wolf, and two hit him. The rat men get into the fortress. We all reach the water hole as well, but it is way too small for anyone to get in.
Stone charges up the mound of dirt and punches one of the sentries, hitting him. Stone recognizes them as full-blooded disease ratmen. They have pus-y boils all over them. Chuck runs towards the fortress, pulls out his bow and shoots the one Stone hit. Darmaon shoots the same one and kills it. Goldpetal turns into a panther and runs up to the fortress. Telryn shoots a sentry with a magic missile from his wand. The wolf charges up the and attacks another, biting it and knocking it to the ground. Paks moves towards the fortress. The worker rats run into the fortress and up the stairs. The rat man the wolf knocked down takes out a scimitar and slashes at the wolf. The wolf vanishes. Miriel casts Sanctuary on herself and moves towards the fortress.
Stone swings at a fleeing rat man and hits it. Looking inside, he sees a bunch of rat men by a fire. They turn slowly and get behind a table and draw their crossbows. He also sees one mauler in the room. Stone yells "I found a big one!" Chuck moves to enter the fortress and Darmaon follows him. Goldpetal attempts to climb the wall and succeeds. He jumps down on the roof below him and moves towards the sentries. The crocodile turns and hits one of the sentries with its tail, killing it. It vanishes. Telryn and Paks run towards the entrance to the fortress. Three rat men attack Stone with their scimitars; one hits. Nine rat men shoot their crossbows at Stone; all miss, one fumbles and drops his crossbow. The mauler steps up and swings at Stone, hitting him hard. Miriel keeps running towards the entrance, slowing down at the corner.
Stone swings a hammerfist at the mauler, hitting it. He punches again and misses. Chuck tries to climb the wall and succeeds, then calls out and drops the climbing rope to everyone else. Darmaon climbs up easily and moves over towards Stone. Telryn climbs up the rope and moves along the roof. Goldpetal casts summon nature's ally and summons a brown bear at the top of the stairs, then moves around on the roof. Paks climbs up the rope, with some trouble due to the weight of her armor. The sentries attack Stone and two hit him. The crossbow wielders don't try, since they all missed before. The mauler swings at Stone, hitting him with one claw and knocking him unconscious. Miriel runs back to the rope.
Stone bleeds. Chuck tells Miriel to bring the rope when she gets up and moves over towards the stairs. He shoots at the mauler and hits it. Darmaon moves up and shoots at the mauler, hitting it. Telryn fires a lightning bolt at the sentries and mauler, hitting all three and leaving one a smoking ruin. The door is knocked to the ground, and the table is pushed away. A brown bear appears and claws and bites at the mauler. The rat man sentry swings at it, but misses. It hits the mauler with one claw, slashing it and grabbing it, slashing again and killing it. Goldpetal jumps up on the wall and heads for the doorway. Paks leaps down to the stairs and charges into the remaining sentry, chopping his head off. She smiles at the rat men inside. One of the rat men scrambles up the wall to the side of the stairs, trying to escape. He sees the panther, looks up and down and behind and finally chooses to leap on the panther with both claws and a bite. The rat men inside dash down a hallway. Miriel climbs up and runs towards Stone, calling out "help him!"
Stone bleeds. Chuck runs up and says "where'd they go?" Paks: "Down the passage." Chuck: "Okay!" Chuck runs down the passage. The hallway branches off to both sides, with a closed door and some open doors. There's also a bamboo cell door across one doorway. Darmaon charges over to help panther Goldpetal, but misses. Telryn moves into the entry hall after Chuck. Goldpetal sends the bear after the rat men; it moves in and then stops and smells for them, since it doesn't see any in the room. The panther claws at the rat man, but misses. Paks steps to Stone and casts Cure Light Wounds on him. He's still unconscious. The rat man looks around for a way to escape, and finally tries to dash past the panther, which claws at him as he passes, but he escapes. Miriel runs over to Stone and heals him.
Stone stands up. Paks says "They went down the corridor, eat your bread!" Chuck casts light on an arrow and moves down the hall. He looks into a room and just sees scattered debris. He looks into another and sees some shelves on the wall. Darmaon shoots at the fleeing rat man, hitting it. Telryn moves back into the entry hall and looks down the other hallway. The roof is collapsed most of the way, and the hallway is empty. The bear can't tell where the rat men went because the whole space smells like rat men. He does, however, see three big rats down the hallway at the bamboo gate, so he moves down the hall towards them. They skitter back from the bamboo gate, which he knocks down. Goldpetal moves over to the fallen roof and looks down. He sees a lot of debris and broken furniture in a room. The other room looks like it might have been a trophy room. Paks moves down the hallway. Miriel runs back to get Chuck's climbing rope.
Stone eats some bread and follows Paks down the hall, glancing in the rooms as he goes. He sees the giant rats and recognizes them as the horse rats we fought before. Chuck looks into an adjacent room and sees a bunch of tackle for the horse rats. He opens the closed door, and a bunch of rancid smoke billows out. Darmaon moves into the hallway. The horse rats attack the bear. One slams at it with his tail and hits. The other two bite and claw. One bite hits. The bear attacks one of the horse rats, hitting it with both claws and a bite. Panther Goldpetal runs into the hall. Paks steps up and attacks a horse rat, hitting it. Telryn moves closer to the hallway, but waits for Miriel, who runs back with the rope towards the entry hall.
Stone moves down the hallway looking into all the rooms. He finally sees a stairway down, in a room with a lot of shelves and small rats running around. Chuck closes the door on the smoke and moves over next to Stone. Darmaon moves over to Chuck and Stone. Two horse rats attack the bear. One bites it, the other claws it and bites it, killing it. The last one attacks Paks, biting at her, but missing. Goldpetal moves up and claws and bites at one of the rats, hitting with a claw and a bite. Paks swings at a horse rat, hitting it. She swings at another, killing it, and cleaves through to the last one, but misses. Telryn magic missiles two at the less injured horse rat and one at the injured one, killing the latter. Miriel moves over to Chuck and Stone and blesses everyone.
Stone flips over everyone and slides up next to one of the horse rats, flanking it. Chuck shoots at the last horse rat, but misses. Darmaon waits. The horse rat attacks Paks, rending her with a claw and biting her badly. Goldpetal claws and bites the horse rat, killing it. Miriel runs over and heals Paks. We all breathe heavily.