Dark Squad in the Secrets of Saltmarsh
Session #137: Into the Mere of the Dead Men Part 2.
Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).
Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9
Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9
New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9
Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2
Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9
DEAD PCs
Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 RIP
NPCs
Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick) RETIRED
Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5 RIP*
Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard RETIRED
Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1 EXPLODED
Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2 (When we remember)
*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.
Servants/Familiars
Gerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New Tricks
Owly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiar
Archimedes (very scruffy & old, Owl) Fellowyn’s familiar.
The Dark Squad’s to-do list-
- Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery).
- Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?
- Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?
- To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.
- To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.
This is session 137, the Dark Squad are in the Mere… of the Dead Men, they’re taking part in a ritual called “Sunda” in order to show their worth to the lizardfolk clan they recently tried to slaughter. The lizardfolk, as it turns out, are potential allies- the true enemies are a bunch of Talos worshippers backed by a horde of sahuagin. At least that’s the present thinking.
“Sunda” requires the individual to survive in the Mere of the Dead Men, to travel as far as they can away from the lizardfolk lair- walking for five days straight through the swamp, and then at the stroke of midnight on the fifth day turning tail and immediately heading back to the lair, the return journey must be completed in nine days, exactly. So, that’s five days out and then back in four, any later and the ritual has been a failure.
The Dark Squad however have an ulterior motive (funny that, it’s like some cosmic hand has set their course) for heading off into the Mere, there’s a place they need to get to- called the Witch’s Tor, as it turns out the site is about five days hard marching from the lizardfolk lair.
As I say, funny that.
So, the Dark Squad are en route- oh, and the Witch’s Tor is something to do with one of the prophecies the Squad have received (see Session #29b).
Anyway, enough of that.
It’s the morning of the Dark Squad’s second day in the Mere.
There’s a troll, fishing for crabs sat beside a murky pond.
Here he is… Note, the Dark Squad are at present debating (in whispers) the pros and cons of setting the troll on fire. Newt, warlock to a fiery master (amongst others), is very much in favour.
In fact he started the debate.
And yet…
Nobody else is in favour of the conflagration approach.
More remarkably, and seemingly for the first time for a very long time- four (or three- depending on whether you are counting players or PCs) beats one.
The Dark Squad decide to take a wide arc and sneak around the troll.
Yep, you heard that right.
Alas some of the sneak rolls for the Dark Squad are extremely sub-par, and as it turns out there are a few troll fisherman in the area, although some of the regenerative fellows prefer snuffling around entirely submerged in the dank pools.
Both trolls depicted in the image above were about their legitimate business- hunting for food.
Fellowyn decides, I’m still not sure why, to attempt to talk his way past the trolls, his inability to speak any tongue the trolls understand, and his subsequent persuasion check, a ‘1’, have a deleterious effect upon the situation.
The nearest troll sees a meal- Vincent G Squeezy Snake.
Snakes are troll spaghetti.
It gets to this…
Note, Fellowyn has summoned a female friend…
This is Sydalg.
Gladys, backwards. I fear we may be seeing a lot more of her, the wizard has a new spell.
Anyway, there is fighting.
Newt and Fellowyn are puttering around the battle site, although not getting too much in the way of altitude, on the warlock’s Broom of Flying.
Note, about ten minutes from now Fellowyn morphs into a member of the Royal Flying Corps, shouting all (and many many more) of the following-
“Tally-ho Newt, strafe the buggers!”
“Bandits at four o’clock, my fine feline fellow!”
“A hit! A bally hit!”
“Chocks away, Ginger Tom!”
More remarkably Newt gets into it a little too, who knew he had a whimsical side.
The first troll falls. Still burning- it’s not coming back.
A third troll emerges from another nearby murky pool, surprising and soon after tearing Squeezy, and then Vinnie, a new one.
Even Ram has a blood drop on him- the troll he’s fighting claw-critted him.
However, Vinnie very quickly becomes the Moonboar, and soon after the last troll is off and running.
It gets to just about here. At which point the Supreme Being finishes it off with a Shatter spell.
The last troll standing is blown apart.
The fight is over and we move immediately to the semi-bickering stage of the session, the Dark Squad according to Newt, should be blasting everything in sight, and all of the time. Newt has a quota he’s working to.
In point of fact that’s the truth. Newt has souls to collect.
While the bickering continues, the formerly shattered troll reassembles and then attempts to run away (some more) the Dark Squad artillery (fiery) blast it dead.
Harmony reigns.
Although Newt is still complaining about the fact that the Dark Squad came up short with the lizardfolk lair genocide plan.
“All I’m saying Vincenzo is, if we had done the job properly with regard to the finny-rabble then we wouldn’t be having to slog through this stinking filth. Now, is that so unreasonable?”
As I say, harmony reigns.
The Dark Squad press on- note, each day they have to make a series of checks- survival, stealth, perception, and anything else the PCs can convince me of, in order to track their progress (distance travelled and possible encounters) through the Mere.
But then the mist really thickens, and to help with that I get the players to turn down their Darkvision to just thirty feet on Fantasy Grounds.
Ram, with as much stealth as he can muster- although not moving slowly, leads them forward.
Just to remind you, Newt & Fellowyn are on the warlock’s Flying Broom, the Moonboar and Daktari are on imaginary horses (one each) by which I mean repeatedly (ritually) Summoned Mounts (or whatever the spell is called). Ram has a ring of water walking.
And so, after stumbling around in the heavy mist a while longer the Dark Squad somehow manage to walk into, or at least Ram does, a lizardfolk patrol.
There is shouting- when the above fact becomes apparent, Newt is very angry.
Answers on a postcard with regard as to why he’s angry, or else what he’s angry about.
Regardless, Newt starts shouting the odds- basically the tabaxi thinks that every lizardfolk he sees is a member of the same group- they all have full knowledge of each other’s activities, and so… he’s still pissed that the genocide in the lair was curtailed. Have I already mentioned this? At present the above failure is the fault of the several bemused lizardfolk that have just wandered out of the mists and into the midst of the Dark Squad.
Sucks to be them.
If you are wondering how Newt came to know about the presence of these particular lizardfolk the answer is that another spell that is ritually and repeatedly cast here is Rary’s Telepathic Bond. Ram spotted these guys and then telepathically reported back to his fellows.
The rogue is in hiding atm.
He rolled 30+ on his stealth, so…
Fellowyn attempts to soften Newt’s approach.
I think he rolled a ‘3’ with whatever social skill he was employing.
The lizardfolk make threats and then attack.
Although…
Very briefly.
Newt’s Synaptic Static- a burst of psychic fury which blanks the minds, and fry’s the brains of at least three of the lizardfolk. And gives Daktari (he was in the area of effect) a severe headache.
The remaining lizardfolk run away- with Fellowyn imploring them to run fast and far.
“He’s liable to fry you again- run away little lizard-things. Run away!”
In the images above you’ll note Ram lurking in a bush, the rogue briefly sneaks out- guts a lizardfolk, and then slinks back into the mist and shadow, undetected.
The lizardfolk flee screaming into the Mere, only Newt deigns to blast them as they scatter, the rest of the Dark Squad are quickly back to the journey.
Several hours later and it’s time for another night in the Mere. Newt puts his hut up (in a suitably non-swampy spot), and… a pleasant night’s sleep is had by all, except for Fellowyn.
On his watch the ancient eladrin hears… well, a sound, a sibilant sound- as if someone far away were whispering something.
But, and after a series of checks, the wizard cannot say for certain the source of the sound- it seems to be coming from various places and/or directions, and there’s nothing to be seen.
Save for the all-encompassing mist.
Which brings us, eventually, to the third day of travel in the Mere.
Soon after and the mist is still very thick, the way even more watery.
The Dark Squad are wading (actually their mounts are) between islands (those not flying/hovering) in a bayou like Mere.
It doesn’t get light, at all.
Although…
Now and then there are lights in the Mere.
To be specific- there are lights, here and there, in the water.
These wink out when the Squad approach, they also- seemingly, have no discernible source.
Fellowyn (after a great History check) tells a tale about all the souls that have perished in the Mere, the lights- he thinks, are the remains, or else the memory of those that fell here.
Then, an hour or so later, comes a shout from not so far away from the Squad.
But none of the Squad recognise the language that is being spoken, that is until Fellowyn (again) rolls a ‘20’. The gruff voice is speaking the giant tongue.
Knowing this doesn’t help a lot, none of the Squad can speak or understand the language.
Note, at this point the PCs are struggling to see even twenty feet before them such is the mist.
The Dark Squad spend the next few minutes either hunkered down and hiding, or else creeping forward- Ram, again, leading the way, although they’re all making checks.
An Ogre, completely oblivious to the members of the Dark Squad (they’re hidden) strides by.
And then another, and another, and another, and…
You get my drift.
The Squad spend the next very tense ten minutes trying to remain hidden and silent while a group of at least (at least) two dozen Ogres, a small tribe perhaps, wanders around, by, and through the gang.
You’ll note, throughout the above Newt doesn’t say a thing.
The danger, and the Ogres, eventually passes.
The Dark Squad breathe a collective sigh of relief and head on, deeper into the Mere.
Late in the afternoon and the mist begins to clear.
There’s a tower.
The tower isn’t in the direction the Dark Squad need to travel, they’re certain, and yet…
A flying Newt, with Fellowyn riding shotgun, head over to see what they can see.
“Tally-Ho! Pip-pip!”
The place is a ruin, and Fellowyn knows all about it- he’s read a book, or two- he thinks, about this place. This is an ancient elven tower, originally some ten or so stories high, although all that is left of it are weathered stone pillars and the intervening floors/ceilings. The entire structure is a foot thick in creeping vines and smothering vegetation.
There’s nothing here- not even markings on the stone, time has blanked the page.
That is until Newt sends his eye (he can do this now- pluck out one of his eyes and send it flying off to recon) down into the flooded levels of the tower. In the deepest/lowest level of the tower is an altar that still bares emblems of its use. The stone is etched with a myriad Moon symbols, this was a shrine to Sehanine Moonbow, the Lady of Dreams. Who Vinnie met back in Session #85.
Odd that.
Then, through the clearing mist Fellowyn, high up on the tower, spots a way between the trees- an ancient path or road, but…
The Dark Squad are very conscious that they have wandered off the beaten track, or else off their route. The five day hike to the Witch’s Tor is going to be a close run thing- remember the checks that the PCs are having to make, the results of these also determine how far the Squad travel each day, and the Squad’s reactions to the various encounters en route, too slow or else spend too much time doing something other and they will not get to the Witch’s Tor in time.
The avenue through the trees is right off the Dark Squad’s route.
Therefore the spot is marked on the map, for investigation at another time.
Although there’s actually nothing more in the way of action for the rest of the day, only endless miles of swamp.
The Dark Squad eventually locate a piece of solid-ish ground, Newt puts up his hut and… they spend a third night in the Mere.
Only…
At watch change, just as Fellowyn (1st watch) is waking Newt for his stand… the whispered voice, it comes again, and this time both PCs hear it. Not the words, if there are indeed words, but the sibilant hushed sound.
The wizard and warlock leap to action, Archimedes (Fellowyn’s Owl) is sent aloft, as is Gerald- Newt’s Bat, the warlock even pops an eye out and sends it aloft.
The sound is triangulated and tracked and… there’s nothing there.
To make clear, the voice seems to emerge from random points in the mist, that when investigated are… empty.
The wizard and warlock suspect they are searching for an invisible enemy, but then… Fellowyn suddenly starts making sense of things.
He rolled another ‘20’.
The voice is elven.
It is using an ancient (and therefore hard to follow) version of the elven tongue- the language, and it’s use, indicate this.
Fellowyn hears and understands the following-
“Argentriver!”
“Go to the Castle.”
“Pass the Birds- they will come for you!”
“Much danger!”
“Save me!”
“Pleeeeease Save me!”
And that’s your cracker.
Fellowyn thinks he is “Argentriver!”, his surname is Silverstream, after all.
As to what the rest means…
The eladrin however pledges himself to the cause, he will save the speaker… he rather thinks.
A little later he explains all of the above to Newt, and then to the rest of the Dark Squad in the morning.
Next time (but not next week- Jim’s away) it’ll be their fourth day in the Mere.
Hoopla!
But that was the end of the session.
Much fun was had by all, as usual. I actually liked this one a lot- I like it when they do exploring, fighting, and thinking- a bit of all of these and it’s just about the ideal session.
It helps that the Dark Squad also have a marvellous capacity to talk to each other- in character. Earlier in the piece Daktari spent a good ten minutes (in character) explaining to Newt why he was a very bad tabaxi, all very calm- and in cod Russian throughout you understand. This after the tabaxi had given Dak a Synaptic Static headache.
In cod Russian-
“You real bad kitty-katty, you have no empathy, Newt! You are stone, Newt. You must learn to be sponge, Newt. You must let people in, you must trust- you must grow and learn to appreciate little thing- good horsey, warm Schlapp (a Sky Pony barbarian alcoholic brew), and plenty DIY! These good. Let life in Newt! Before it too late and no pony want play with you.”
That kinda thing.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.