Thursday, April 30, 2020

Bruma the Tracker - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 35


Bruma knelt and examined the tracks in the mud. There were five humanoids - the party he had been tracking since entering the Drowned Forest. The tracks led away from a nearby shrine and into a tunnel dug into the side of a low hill surrounded by trees and rocks - very uncommon for the swampy Drowned Forest.

Bruma was a swamp guide. He was a hunter and a tracker and he was very familiar with both the Hool Marsh and the Drowned Forest. For years he led smugglers from upriver and inland through the Drowned Forest to the base camp in the Hool Marsh and down to one of the several drop sites on the coast - either at the abandoned house, the old lizardfolk lair, or the sea caves beneath the Tower of Zenopus. Several months ago, the smugglers and bandits abandoned the base camp. All smuggling stopped.

The leaders of the Organization had learned that the smugglers and bandits had joined the growing army of someone named Sakatha. Sakatha was the name of a lizard-king who had united all the tribes of the Hool Marsh and, with the help of a black dragon named Aulicus, fought a war against the knights of Keoland over a hundred years ago. All they knew was that Sakatha had a secret base somewhere in the Drowned Forest.

The Organization hired Bruma to locate the secret base and kill Sakatha.

Bruma managed to find two former smugglers who now served Sakatha. They each had a pallid complexion and a glazed vacant look similar to someone suffering brain jellies. When interrogated about the location of Sakatha's lair, they offered to lead Bruma to a secret entrance.

They led Bruma down a spit of land. Right away Bruma noticed another group had traveled this same route ahead of him. There were five humanoids - four humans and a dwarf. He found a campsite - two days old - where they had fought off four animated trees. He passed through an area that had been scoured by a tidal wave the day before. He followed their tracks to a stone platform - a shrine to a black dragon - where they had camped the night previous. Now their tracks led into a tunnel and descended stone stairs. He dismissed his guides.

He descended the stairs into an underground grotto - a cave and waterfall. He heard fighting down a nearby passage. The passage descended sharply. He carefully climbed down the slope. He was in a stone room built by intelligent hands. The smell of rotting flesh and decay was oppressive. Bruma covered his nose with his gloved hand. He hid behind a nearby wall and covertly observed those who entered before him. The fighting was over. The party was discussing what to do next. He heard them open a door.

There was more fighting. Something was alive - or at least active - in these stone rooms. Bruma knew not if these people were potentially allies or enemies. He decided to watch for now.





CHAPTER 35
"BRUMA THE TRACKER"
The B-Team:
  • Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, Deck Sorceress of the Sea Ghost.
  • Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Bosun of the Sea Ghost.
  • Captain Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk), Captain of the Sea Ghost.
  • Brenna "The Sea Witch" Myrasdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler, First Mate of the Sea Ghost.
  • Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), exiled from his clan, Ballast of the Sea Ghost.
Introducing:
  • Bruma - Neutral Good Human Swamp Guide (Ranger) for the smuggling cartel known as "the Organization", given a mission to find and kill Sakatha the Lizard King.
Ghouls in the Dark
The B-Team was standing in a subterranean room flooded shin-deep in fetid water. Three dead ghouls were piled in a corner. There were three ancient doors. The B-Team gathered in front of one of the doors and prepared to open it.

Baylore grabbed Alot, "Hold still." The pirate captain held his palm over the automaton's visual sensors. Suddenly Alot could see through the gloom of the chamber. Objects hidden within deep shadows were now dimly visible.  Baylore pointed at Alot's face, "Stop complaining about it being dark."

Alot turned back around and opened the door. He was immediately met with a slavering ghoul. Several more ghouls could be seen in the dark room beyond. Alot stabbed the ghoul and moved into the room followed by Bordar the dwarf and Baylore.

The room beyond was likewise flooded. It was small, fifteen feet by twenty feet at most, with a hallway in the far corner and two doors on the right wall. The left wall looked collapsed and the floor was covered in a pile of rubble, as if the ghouls had been digging through the walls.

One ghoul turned and fled down the short hall and around a corner, sloshing through the shallow water.

Bordar said, "It's running away! They can't do that! Can they do that?" He gave chase around the corner.

Baylore shouted, "Bordar, wait!" but it was too late.

Bordar followed the ghoul past some more collapsed rubble, across another smaller flooded chamber around the corner, and through a doorway. He was immediately attacked by two ghouls waiting on either side of the door as well as a larger humanoid, similar to the ghouls but whose skin was covered in fine tattoos. The creature emitted a foul odor that could curdle milk. Bordar held his arm before his nose and cursed.

Baylore and Alot arrived in the room behind Bordar. Baylore pointed into the room and caused a magical bonfire to appear under the feet of the tattooed creature.

Bordar dispatched a ghoul next to him and the pallid stench creature immediately moved out of the fire and stood atop his fallen comrade.

Bordar and Alot, fighting from the entrance to the small alcove, soon defeated both creatures. Baylore allowed the bonfire to disappear.

Bordar emerged victorious while Alot stopped to investigate the excavated wall. Baylore heard talking back in the original room. He heard an unknown voice.

He called out, "Everything okay back there?"

An Introduction
Aella and Brenna remained in the original room. They watched through the doorway as the others cut a viscous swatch through the ghouls and disappeared around the corner.

Bruma cautiously emerged from his hiding place behind the corner near the entrance, "Hello."

Aella looked confused by this new intruder. Brenna spun around. Upon seeing the human she stood straight and glowered, "Who the feck are yew?"

The intruder held up his hands and introduced himself, "I am Bruma."



Brenna said, "Aella, keep me covered." She pointed Hearthspoon at the newcomer, "YOU! You're here to kill the Lizard King?"

Bruma replied, "That's my plan. Why are you here?"

Brenna said, "We're here to do the same and avenge my fallen brothers, who were killed by an agent of the Lizard King. You know he might be a lich, correct?"

"Ye-ssss?" lied Bruma, unconvincingly.

Brenna walked uncomfortably close to Bruma, "If you're here to help, then move ahead and get in the fight." She pointed Hearthspoon in his face, "You make any sudden moves, I will burn you down!"

Bruma smiled, "As you wish, mi-lady."

One of the two other doors slowly opened behind them. A pale gaunt humanoid with sharpened teeth and skin covered in fine tattoos emerged and attacked! The humanoid emitted a foul stench that turned the stomach.

Baylore called out from the far room, "Everything okay back there?"

Aella replied that they were under attack.

Brenna and Aella immediately turned and cast their signature spells at their attacker - chill touch and chaos bolt! It lunged for Brenna and its smell caused her to dry heave but she quickly recovered.

Bruna swung a massive sword and cut down the pallid creature.

Brenna stood up and straightened her coat, "Well, I guess you're okay then."

Baylore came running around the corner only to see that the battle was already concluded. "Who's that?"

Brenna informed him, "That's Bruma. He's here to kill the Lizard King."

Baylore looked at Bruma, assessing him, "Huh. Okay. Come on. Quit farting around back here."

Siren Diabla
They opened the door and were met with a terrible stench, worse than that of the tattooed ghouls. Beyond the door was a short set of stairs that ascended into a dry room.  The chamber was fifteen feet wide and 35 feet long with an alcove on the left wall with an elevated platform like a kind of stage. The room had a tall vaulted ceiling supported by four columns. In the center of the stage was a throne made of human bones and skulls. Sitting on the throne was a gruesome female humanoid with waxy greenish skin. She had the gaunt body and bloated stomach of a victim of famine. Her face was covered in leathery wrinkles. Her yellow eyes bulged out. Her hair was like long white strands of corn silk. Her massive hands and feet ended in long bony fingers and toes with talon-like claws.  She smiled, revealing a mouth with jagged teeth, many missing. Black drool dripped from her mirthless grin.

She laughed a rasping dry laugh.

"Welcome. Come in, come in. You are guests of Siren Diabla. Might I offer you a meal? Or have you come for some of Siren Diabla's special elixir? Be not shy, there is plenty to share."


Alot walked forward slowly, cautiously, "Hello. We don't want any elixir, but thank you." The others entered the room behind him.

"Oh!" the creature rasped, "Then you were sent to me by the servants of Sakatha. A gift from the Lizard King. How nice of him. His servants send me so many tasty gifts. Please, come in. Are you hungry? I have a table prepared. Please, join me for dinner."

Alot paused, "May.. be? Listen, what do you mean by 'offerings'?"

Bruma said, "Enough talk!" and stormed the stage.

Siren Diabla smiled and disappeared!

Bruma stopped short, "Where'd she go?"

Everyone scanned the room carefully. Baylore closed his eyes and listened. He could feel the air disturbances of everyone in the room. "She's over there! She's by that stairway over there!"

Bordar and Alot swarmed that spot and swung wildly, hoping to hit the invisible target. Bordar felt one of his attacks strike flesh!

Baylore asked, "Did you get her?"

Bordar moved into the empty space, "Where'd she go?"

DM Note- 
Per ordinary rules, Baylore used an action to make a Perception check compared to the Hag's Stealth check made with Advantage. That allowed him to locate the space she occupied, so he pointed it out to the others. They attacked that space with Disadvantage. 

HOWEVER - I re-read the hag's invisibility and it says she can only be detected using magical means. I told this to the players and said "You got one round. From now on, she's totally invisible." I also boosted her hit points a smidge to make up for the mistake. 

Siren Diabla reappeared on the stage. She pointed her long bony clawed finger at Alot, "You! You should become a tiny mouse!" Alot's body began to warp and contort. Alot fought back and threw off her spell. She spat at him! "Curses!"

Aella cast a Witch Bolt spell at the hag and missed. The electric arc shot across the room and exploded against the wall.



Bordar stamped his magical boots and bounded across the room. He ricocheted from the wall and propelled himself onto the skeletal throne. He brought his axes down onto the hag. Baylore rushed over and pummeled her with a rapid fire assault of fists. Bruma charged at her with his greatsword. He ran her through, pinning her against the wall.

The hag gasped in pain. Her eyes closed and her face drooped. She then smiled and looked up at the three warriors surrounding her. She began to laugh.

"You- you are all fools! You think defeating me will lead you to the Lizard King. You are so mistaken! You will not find what you seek here. Only I knew the truth! Now you'll never find the Lizard King!" With a final laugh that trailed off into echo, she disintegrated into a mix of mud and dust and black ichor.

"Everybody okay?" asked Baylore, looking around at the others.

"I think so. What is that SMELL?" replied Bordar.

"It's coming from the room down those stairs. Alot, you take point. Everybody ready?"

DM Note-
In retrospect, I should have went with Lightning Bolt. For some reason, I thought Lightning Bolt was a ranged attack. It turned out that it's a Dexterity Save. I regret my choice.

The Catoblepas
Alot descended the short set of stairs into another flooded chamber. This chamber was supported by four columns. Another alcove on the left wall contained a raised stage. The stage was covered in coins, gems, and fancy art objects.

Baylore directed Alot to step back. Baylore created a minor illusion of Alot to walk across the room to the stage, hoping anyone hiding would attack the illusion. The illusion walked across the water and onto the stage without incident.

Alot reentered the room and walked a few feet through the flooded water before he felt his foot on the edge of a drop-off. He paused. The water was black and covered in floating detritus. He knelt down and looked under the water.

He saw a ten foot wide by fifteen foot long pit dug into the floor. Two thirds of the pit was occupied by a massive body like that of a hippo. A long tail ending in a heavy club was coiled against the body. The long whip-like neck terminated in a massive head of what looked like a gruesome wildebeest with curled tusks like a warthog.  The hideous head lay heavy on the floor of the pit, its  thin neck looked incapable of lifting it. The head struggled to turn over and cast a glowing eye at Alot.

Alot pulled his head out of the water and shouted, "NOPE!"



Baylore stood against the wall to let the others past, "Go! Go! Go! Get in there and surround it. I've got a plan!"

Baylore, Brenna, and Aella ran in and positioned themselves around the pit in the center of the room. The smell in the room was atrocious. They fought back the urge to vomit.

Baylore made a gesture with his hands and threw a ball of inky blackness into the room. The entire chamber was cast in darkness. Nothing could be seen!

DM Note-
I turned off everyone's vision in Roll20. All players were staring at a black screen. They players were actually impressed and said it added to the epic feel of the fight.

Alot shouted, "We can't see!"

"That's a catoblepas! If it looks at you you're toast! That thing's huge and can't move! You don't have to see it to attack it! Kill it while it can't see you!"

Everyone heard the water slosh as the catoblepas raised its heavy head from the water. Its long tail lifted the massive club and slammed it down next to Baylore.

Baylore shouted, "Did you hear that? You could hear that thing smash the stone! That barely  missed me!"

Bruma, still upstairs in the previous room, looked down the stairs, "What's going on? Why is it so dark?"

Baylore's voice called back, "Just get down here and kill this thing!"

Alot dropped to one knee and stabbed his short sword into the hippo-like torso in the water. He then used his shield to try to shove it back.

Bordar brought his axes Smite and Fury down onto the creature's neck.

Bruma fired his bow blindly into the center of all the thrashing water, hoping to hit - whatever it was. He never saw his target.

Brenna jumped onto the catoblepas' back, riding it like a bucking horse. She magically electrified her hands and tried to touch the creature but managed only to grasp at darkness.

Aella created a magical snowstorm of ice and pellets to batter the catoblepas. She heard Brenna cry in pain and annoyance. She had unknowingly included her teammate in the attack!

Baylore punched blindly into the water. Bordar chopped at what he hoped with either the tail or the neck.

The tail swung around again and slammed into Bordar, knocking him against the wall. Bordar grunted with an "oof!"

Bruma loosed more arrows. Two hit stone, one landed in flesh, "Did I hit it?"

Baylore unleashed several punched into the side of what he hoped was the creature's head. He heard bone crack and the head and tail fall heavily to the floor. The body slumped and the water ceased to froth.



Bruma asked, "Was it me? Did I kill it?"

Baylore dispelled his magical darkness. The catoblepas lay motionless in the middle of the room. "Sure. Why not."

The Treasure
To Baylore's horror, in the light of Brenna's torch the vast majority of the coins turned out to be copper. "Forget that crap here."

Aella said, "Yeah, but look!" She held up a coin of white metal, "There's platinum mixed in. We've got to separate it out."

Baylore groaned and rolled his eyes.

The party spent the next hour moving the treasure out of the flooded chamber and back up to the hag's throne room where it was dry and the horrid stench of dead catoblepas was less offensive.

They separated the platinum coins from the copper, dug out the gemstones, and assessed their other findings.
  • In all they had acquired:
  • 90 platinum coins
  • an Alexandrite gemstone worth 800 gp
  • a Jasper gemstone worth 70 gp
  • a Jet  gemstone worth 110 gp
  • a Moss Agate  worth 12 gp
  • a Banded Agate Statue of a Chimera worth 1900 gp
  • a decorative Silver Shield  worth 1000 gp
  • a Magic Wand that looked like a small arrow
Baylore placed all the treasure within his magical bag of holding.

The Realization
Baylore returned to the treasure room. He searched the back wall of the raised platform for a secret door or false wall but found none.

Bruma pondered, "What did the hag mean when she said only she knew the truth and that we'd never find the Lizard King?"

Baylore replied, "I have no idea and I don't care. There's no secret entrance in here, lets try the next room. Everybody form up!"

Alot once again assumed his position on point. He opened the door that led into the next chamber.

The chamber beyond was another long flooded room with a high vaulted ceiling supported by four columns. There was a breach in the wall near the ceiling across the room to the left through which water poured. The far corner of the room was covered in rubble from a collapsed part of the ceiling.  The smell of death and decay was oppressive. Piled in the center of the room were the half-eaten remains of dozens of dead bodies - mostly human. Bits of cloth indicated the livery of the knights of the Kingdom of Keoland - specifically from the keep at Burle.

Baylore examined the remains, "Who are these guys?"

Alot said, "They're from an expeditionary force sent from Burle a few months ago."

Baylore found a journal that detailed the expedition. The journal revealed that they were sent to find the camp of the brigands that were raiding caravans on the road. They tracked the brigands to the town of Waycombe. They found a guide who said he knew where the brigands camped and offered to lead them through the Drowned Forest. The final entry said that the expedition followed a long strip of boggy land to a rocky island and found an entrance to a subterranean lair.

Upon hearing this Bruma pondered, "I don't think there is a secret entrance."

Baylore looked annoyed, "Why?"

Bruma explained, "I was led here by two guides also. I think its a misdirect. How did you find this place?"

Alot said, "I made myself a map. Aella and I found Sakatha's lair and defeated the dragon Aulicus. We were captured but escaped. I assume."

"You assume?"

"Well, I had pretty bad brain jellies at the time. I don't have any memory of escaping or drawing this map."

"The two guides who led me here had brain jellies. I think these so-called helpful maps and guides were actually leading people to the hag instead of the Lizard King! I don't think there IS a secret entrance!"


Baylore seemed perturbed, "Well, we're going to check every inch of this gods-damned place just in case!"

Baylore stepped into a shadow and reappeared through the breach in the chamber at the top of the waterfall. The chamber was tall  and natural, covered in stalactites and stalagmites. He looked around and saw a stream that flowed from a waterfall to the right to over another waterfall to the left and disappeared. He deduced that the water flowed from the chamber through which they had entered the catacombs. He returned and reported his findings.

Bruma climbed a steep bank near the rubble. The ceiling collapse exposed a hole through which the party crawled. They found themselves back in the cave entrance to the catacombs.



Aella said, "We've been here."  She consulted the map she'd been making, "There's still these two unexplored spaces which are probably rooms. Lets go back and check them out."

DM Note-
I said, "Wait, have you been mapping??"

Aella's player said "Yep" and quickly uploaded a picture of her map to Discord.

I said, "<<sniff>> I'm so proud of you!"


They returned to the room of half-eaten corpses and opened the door.

They entered into a room with a collapsed wall covered in fungi and lichen. As they entered one of the larger mushrooms began wailing like an injured child. The scream was deafening.


Baylore quickly shredded the mushroom and the wailing stopped. They passed through the door on the wall to the left and found themselves back in the second ghoul chamber.

Aella said, "Right. I think there's a room here and one here."

The first room was a small chamber from which emerged the tattooed ghoul. It was empty.

The next room contained some more trapped ghouls. The hideous creatures were quickly dispatched.

Baylore sighed with resignation, "I don't think there's a secret entrance. What do we do now?"

Bruma said, "The two guys who led me here can't be far. I say we track them down."

The Confirmation
While the rest of the party made a camp in the lair of the hag, Baylore and Bruma followed the tracks of the two guides.

They quickly found them only a quarter of a mile away burning an animal sacrifice to the altar of Aulicus.

Bruma and Baylore captured and interrogated them. Like the other human servants of Sakatha, they had the vacant look of someone with brain jellies. The prisoners could offered no information.

However, Bruma asked Baylore, "Why are they offering sacrifices to this shrine?"

Baylore replied, "Aella and Alot say they worship the black dragon as some kind of god. They said it guarded Sakatha's lair."



Bruma pondered this, "I know this swamp, and I think I know where this is. There's a big island near here where a black dragon lived. I always avoided that place because - you know - black dragon."

"Could you find it?"

"Absolutely. We'll need a boat or a raft."

To be Continued...
DM Note-
I retconned the ending from the original. In the actual game, the captured prisoners spilled the beans and revealed the location of the hideout. Bruma then cut the ham-strings of one of the prisoners and kept the other to lead them.

I looked at Bruma's character sheet and said, "Neutral GOOD? Mutilating a helpless captive is not the act of a good character!"
Bruma's player said, "It's justified if the enemy serves evil."

I called BS, but I try not to get into debates about the philosophy of D&D alignment DURING D&D, so I let it go.

The reason I retconned it had nothing to do with that however - I forgot the brigands had brain jellies and wouldn't be able to respond to interrogation even if they wanted.

Anyway, What do YOU think, Internet? The prisoner was a brigand who's being mind-controlled. Is it okay for a "Good" aligned character to assume he's evil and cut his hamstrings and leave him to die in a dangerous swamp?

3 comments:

  1. What Alignment is Han Solo? He shot first and I've heard he's Chaotic Good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the beginning of A New Hope, Han is an amoral outlaw, making him Chaotic Neutral. By the end of the movie, he has completed his character arc and is now Chaotic Good - he is moral but doesn't play by the rules.

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    2. Also, Greedo had a blaster pointed at him. Morally speaking, Han's life was in danger and he was still shooting in self-defense.

      Now, honest question- do you think even Han would flat out mutilate a prisoner?

      A more spicy example is Cassian Andor in Rogue One.

      He flat out murders an ally so that he can escape. Cassian is completely A-moral in my book. He literally has no morals, scruples, or compunctions and he will flat out shiv a punk if he was inconvenienced.

      He's not IM-moral. He doesn't ENJOY murdering or do it for no reason, but he's got no problem with murdering to achieve his goals.

      Is Cassian Andor Lawful or Chaotic? That's a tough call. He's definitely not Neutral because he's picked a side and is passionate about his team. He's engaged as opposed to the detached non-engagement of Neutrality.

      He's Chaotic because he doesn't play by the rules of society but he's Lawful because he follow orders, respects the chain of command of his team, and adheres to a strict hierarchy. In general he's fighting FOR law and order, but his actions take him outside law and order. I think he's a lawful person who must do chaotic things for the good of the team, and his amorality allows him to justify that contradiction.

      Likewise Jin Urso starts out as a Chatoic Neutral amoral outlaw and her character arc takes her to Chaotic Good moral outlaw by the end. Or at least she's secretly Chaotic Good on the inside in the beginning but displays an amoral and disinterested Chaotic Neutrality to the world. But the sacrifice of her father allows her to embrace her hidden morality and realize that there's a greater moral purpose that's worth fighting for.

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