Baylore the human pirate had become trapped within a magic mirror.
His companions in the B-Team stared on in disbelief. Once the initial panic died down they began to weigh their options.
A magical password was required to free Baylore from the mirror. The only person who knew the password was the Abbot of the monastery. He had died in the pirate raid two weeks ago. Ozymandias, the highest ranking survivor of the pirate raid, may have known but he was killed the previous day when the B-Team stormed the monastery. The two surviving monks - who were actually members of an evil cult - had no knowledge about the mirror. The current duke of Seaton, the pretender, might know. They could take the mirror to the wizard Keledek in Saltmarsh. Maybe he could help them.
Aella said, "Enough talk!" She picked up a rock and threw it at the mirror.
Everyone froze in horror!
The rock hit the mirror, creating a deep spider-web like impact crater, and bounced off.
"What are you doing?" demanded Brenna, breathlessly.
"If we destroy the mirror, everyone trapped within it gets released." replied Aella.
"Then why are you using a bloody rock?" said Brenna, "Hit it with some zap-zap!"
Aella nodded, "Good idea!" She pointed at the mirror and released an icy bolt of magical energy.
The mirror shattered into a thousand tiny shards.
The room filled with its formerly trapped inhabitants.
Chaos ensued.
CHAPTER 28
"THE BROKEN MIRROR"
The B-Team:- Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk).
- Brenna Whalersdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler.
- Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), on a quest to rescue the son of the leader of his clan.
- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket.
Brain Jellies:
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater.
Prisoners of the Magic Mirror
A silver mist expanded from the mirror, filling the room. The mist coalesced into nine swirling shapes. Each shape took form and resolved into a humanoid once held prisoner within the mirror.
- A middle-aged man wearing the colors of the Duke of Seaton over his plate armor.
- A young dwarf with a badly-shaved beard.
- A pirate with a crazed demeanor.
- An elderly man wearing the robes of the abbot of the monastery of Procan.
- A hulking blue frog-thing with long bony spikes protruding from its forearms.
- A massive animated snake skeleton with a fanged human skull. It had glowing green eyes and slithered quickly through the throng before coiling up by the stairs.
- A massive reptilian lizard-man with blue scales. He bore a long club tipped with obsidian blades.
- Something else, an unseen malevolent presence.
- Baylore.
DM Note-
I gave each of the players an NPC to run for this combat. There's no way I was running NPC-on-NPC fighting all by myself!
Aella's player ran the lizard-king.
Bordar's player ran the duke.
Baylore's player ran the crazy pirate.
Brenna's player ran the dwarf prince.
I ran the abbot.
The players chose to keep Lemundo out of the fight. She stood away with Alot.
Aella felt an invisible presence near her by the stairs. The presence slammed into her, hitting her on her head. She swung her staff in a counter-attack but the presence was already gone.
The massive blue frog-thing bellowed a throaty laugh. It croaked, "Wow! It's so great to be free! I'm so hungry! And I'm surrounded by such juicy morsels! Hey you! Little dude!" He was standing next to and addressed Bordar, "You look like a tasty snack! Climb in my mouth! I want to eat you!"
The blue frog-thing stabbed its bone spikes at Bordar. One bone spike stuck into Bordar's shoulder and injected him with some kind of red liquid. The liquid spread quickly under Bordar's skin, radiating outward from the wound like tiny wriggling subcutaneous worms. Bordar screamed in pain.
DM Note-
Bordar was hit by the Blue Slaad's claw attack. He had to make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw or be infected by the Chaos Phage. Bordar failed and was infected. This meant that Bordar could not regain lost hit points - ie, healing. More to come.
Bordar escaped the blue frog-thing and made his way to the young dwarf. It was Dorgan Forgetender, the son of the clan leader. "Dorgan! Your beard! What have they done to you?"
Dorgan's hair and beard had been poorly shorn. Dorgan stood proudly and defiantly and declared, "You may call me PRINCE Dorgan!"
Borday blinked and said, "What?" The nearby lizard-man brought him back to the situation at hand. Bordar picked up the young "prince" and carried him to the edge of the room and away from the fight. The red tendrils in the wound in his shoulder pulsed with agony.
Aella addressed the lizard-man in low-Draconic, the language of the lizard-folk, "Great Lizard-King! My name is Aella. We are allied with the Marsh Water Clan and I am a friend of Princess Orthokent. We seek your aid in defeating the monsters!"
The lizard-man stood proud, "Anyone who fights with my daughter, Orthokent, is a friend of King Kosj! I will aid you!" King Kosj turned his club towards the skeletal snake-creature.
DM Note-
Aella's player could not have chosen a better thing to say on her turn. King Kosj was going to be a wild card. He could be ally or enemy depending on how the PCs treated him.
Lemundo called out to the middle aged man, "Father! Father! It's me, Lemundo!"
The man looked around, confused, "Daughter? What is happening?"
"Father! You've been freed! But we are in danger! You must help the humans and dwarves defeat the bone thing and the frog thing!"
The man looked at the lizard king, "King Kosj! Are you responsible for this?"
The lizard king hissed at the middle aged man, "Duke Feldren! No, I was as much a prisoner as you!"
Duke Feldren nodded and aided the lizard-king in attacking the bone-snake.
Baylore maneuvered to begin punching the bone-snake. He called to the human pirate captain, "And who are you?"
The crazed pirate captain wobbled as he stood and stared around with mad eyes. He shouted, "THE GOVERNMENT!" into the air and ran to attack a nearby wall.
DM Note-
I had a player roll randomly on the Confusion spell effect table to determine what the crazy pirate would do that round.
The elderly man dodged through the battle and sought cover near the outside of the stairs.
The bone-snake unhinged its lower jaw and hissed at Baylore . Baylore could feel the effects of the bone-snake's mind-altering magic creeping over him. Baylore gritted his teeth and pushed through. He shrugged off the effects of the magic and smashed his fist into the humanoid skull of the skeletal monstrosity. The punch so rattled the undead creature that it began swaying and staring around uselessly.
Once Bordar was satisfied that "Prince" Dorgan was out of the way, he joined Baylore , Aella, Brenna, King Kosj, and Duke Feldren in battle against the snake-thing while it was momentarily stunned. The combined efforts of the mighty group defeated the skeletal snake before it could mount a substantive defense.
The abbot of Procan said a short prayer of healing for Bordar but to no avail. The red tendrils on Bordar's shoulder grew longer and fatter.
An Invisible Foe
Meanwhile the two surviving cultists of Olhydra - Odium and the brush-wielding acolyte - were tied to chairs in the corner of the room. The acolyte shouted that he could feel an invisible presence near him and begged for help. The others were too busy with the skeletal snake-thing to pay any attention. The acolyte screamed as the invisible force snapped his neck. The acolyte slumped dead in his chair.
Odium screamed and called for help. The same invisible force struck Odium, knocking his chair over onto the floor.
Brenna was standing at the base of the stairs. She clapped her hands together and called forth a swirling tempest of tiny celestial swallows. The birds swarmed the room, tearing into the blue frog-beast while leaving all of Brenna's allies, including for the moment Odium the auditor, unaffected.
The Blue Monster
Whatever it was that menaced the cultists had retreated away from the swirling mass of glowing birds and refused to come nearer. The blue frog-beast, however, laughed and claimed that it tickled.
The giant blue frog beast continued to taunt the rag-tag assembly, "You! Yes, you! You look like a tasty morsel! Get in my mouth!"
With the destruction of the skeletal snake-thing, the assembled heroes turned their attention to the blue frog creature.
The hulking blue creature lashed out with its forearm bone spikes, striking Baylore and King Kosj. Baylore felt a small red pellet that had been implanted into his chest by the spike. He quickly pulled it out and threw it away.
Aella stood on the stairs and unleashed a continuous stream of arcing lightning at the blue monster. Between Aella witch bolt, Brenna's celestial swallows, Baylore's devastating punches, Bordar's axes, Duke Feldren's great sword, and King Kosj's skewering trident, the blue monster was soon defeated.
The blue frog-thing exploded into glowing blue tatters as it died, showering the gathered assembly in tatters of blue flesh.
The Typhoon
Odium was still tied to the overturned chair next to the dead acolyte. He cried out, "Help! Help! Untie me! I'm still in danger!"
Brenna maintained her swirling cyclone of glowing sparrows. She moved away from Odium so that he was no longer protected within its sphere, "Lets see if it comes back."
Odium, left defenseless, began thrashing about. A minute passed and nothing attacked him. Brenna's birds disappeared, "It must be gone now. I think we're safe."
Baylore said, "Good. Lets all take the boat back to Saltmarsh."
Bordar and Baylore ascended the stairs and opened the cellar door. A strong wind blew the door all the way open. Hard driving rain sprayed inside. A gust of warm moist air filled the cellar. A storm was raging above.
DM Note-
Rolled a d12 plus a high/low to determine time of day. It was 1pm.
Rolled on the weather tables in the DMG. Forty degrees above normal, high winds, heavy rains.
Baylore and Bordar managed to pull the doors back shut against the wind. Baylore turned and said, "Well, I guess we're staying here tonight, or at least until the storm dies down."
The B-Team and the freed prisoners settled in to rest. The abbot of Procan prayed and food and water was miraculously provided. The B-Team spent time getting to know the freed prisoners.
DM Note-
We spent the next hour or so working out the back stories of each player character and non-player character. Since Prince Dorgan was created by Bordar's player as a part of his back story and motivation for adventuring, I enlisted his aid, as well as the other players, in fleshing out some more of Dorgan's history, starting with the question, "So why did the pretender Duke Feldren imprison Dorgan?"
We also went through each of the freed NPCs, working out the details of their backstories and how they fit into the current plot.
Dorgan's Story
Dorgan was the son of the leader of Clan Granite Shaper. Dorgan had been sent to Seaton to complete a commission for the new duke. Duke Feldren, having recently succeeded his "dead" brother, wished to decorate the citadel at Seaton with fine statues of himself. During his time among the humans, Dorgan was treated as a noble guest of the court. Dorgan was showered with gifts and fetes by his human patrons. Over time, Dorgan became accustomed to these human ways and succumbed to human decadence and immorality. Dorgan had become haughty and proud, taking seriously the title "Prince" when it was bestowed upon him by the Duke.
Dorgan became the duke's favorite courtier. The two spent a lot of time together and Dorgan became somewhat of a confidant. It was during a drunken confession that Dorgan learned that Duke Feldren's brother had not died as the world believed. The duke's brother was still alive and kept prisoner on Leper Island. Dorgan, taking seriously his role as Duke Feldren's friend and confidant, told no one and kept the secret safe.
One day, after an especially decadent celebration, Dorgan awoke to learn that he had shaved off his hair and beard the night before in a degrading attempt to become more "human" like his new friends in court. At first Dorgan was embarrassed but the adulation of the human courtiers soon eased his guilt.
Things changed when the duke began requesting statues that were more and more lewd and profane. The duke wished to possess statues of an illicit nature for his private collection. Dorgan became uncomfortable with the requests. The duke became enraged. Dorgan quickly learned that he was never the duke's friend. The duke ordered Dorgan's imprisonment for his insolence at refusing his orders. However, the duke was aware that Dorgan knew his innermost secrets. Additionally, he could not execute Dorgan for doing so would risk war with the dwarves of the Granite Shaper clan, and he needed their metal and weapons to arm and equip his growing army.
He had Dorgan taken to Leper Island where he could be imprisoned within the magical mirror of the Cult of Olhydra. There he could keep Dorgan alive as a hostage without risking his precious secrets.
The Story of Duke Oberus Feldren
Duke Oberus Feldren of Seaton was born just a few minutes before his twin brother Marik. Thus it was that Marik was raised in the shadow of his older twin. Upon the death of their father, it was Oberus who inherited the title of duke. It was Oberus who commanded troops in battle against the Sea Princes. It was Oberus who was made the governor of the southern province. Oberus who married well and fathered the lovely and spirited Lemundo. Oberus who was loved by his people and adored at the royal court.
Marik, ever jealous of his older brother, schemed for ways to usurp him. He sought the services of assassins from the Sea Princes. He was approached by the cult of Olhydra. They provided him with a slow poison that would make it appear that the duke had become ill and eventually appear to die. The price for their assistance was that the duke be kept alive and turned over to them for safe keeping. Marik, desperate to become duke, agreed to the terms.
So it was that Marik had Duke Oberus Feldren slowly poisoned. To the world it appeared that the duke had become ill. Two years ago Marik announced that his older brother had died from his illness. Marik then assumed the title and responsibilities of duke of Seaton and governor of the southern provinces.
In reality, Marik had his brother Oberus imprisoned within the magic mirror that belonged to the corrupt monks of Leper Island. Every few months Marik would charter a ship owned by Captain Horatio Vile to take him to Leper Island where he could gloat over his imprisoned brother.
Duke Marik's subsequent actions were openly hostile to the illegal activities of the Sea Princes along the coast of the Azure Sea. Marik had become a liability. A little over a month ago, Captain Vile betrayed Duke Marik. Instead of taking him to Leper Island, he was taken prisoner and brought to Gellan Primewater in Saltmarsh.
Primewater knew a wizard in Saltmarsh named Keledek who possessed a magical ring of mind control. They managed to place the ring on Duke Marik's finger and were thus able to control the duke's thoughts and actions. Unbeknownst to Captain Vile, Oberus' daughter Lemundo had stowed away on the vessel, hoping to learn where Marik had hidden her father. She was captured and prepared for transport to the Sea Princes. However, an unknown force of masked raiders had infiltrated the secret hideout of Keledek, rescued Duke Marik and Lemundo, captured Captain Vile, and stole something very valuable to Keledek - a black dragon egg.
The wizard Keledek believed Gellan Primewater was responsible for this raid so he firebombed Primewater's estate in Saltmarsh. Primewater escaped and has been in hiding since.
Vile's crew, now without a captain, decided to mount a raid against the Abbey on Leper Island. They knew that pirates stored their treasures within the abbey. Two weeks ago, they attacked the abbey. Finding no treasure, they killed most of its inhabitants and burned the abbey to the ground.
The Others
The stories told by the others represented somewhat simpler premises.
King Kosj was the leader of the Marsh Water tribe. When his tribe was attacked by the sahuagin and displaced from their home, he was captured. The sahuagin are in league with the cult of Olhydra so King Kosj was imprisoned within the mirror.
King Kosj was happy to hear of the work his daughter Princess Orthokent was doing. He had no ambition of removing her from power. He was, however, troubled to learn of the return of Sakatha in the Drowned Forest.
The abbot was the original abbot of the monastery of Procan. He oversaw a group of monks who ran a hospital for lepers on the island. He was betrayed by his own monks who had become cultists to Olhydra.
The Crazy Pirate gave no name and interacted little with the others. He stared wild-eyed at the ceiling and walls and occasionally blurted strange sounds. It was clear that he had spent many decades trapped within the mirror and had gone insane.
The Storm Passes
By dawn the next day the storm had passed. The assembly prepared to leave the island. Aella went to retrieve Ozymandias from the locked cell in which he was held. She found him dead - his neck snapped - a victim of the invisible killer. Since the invisible force had made no attempt to the kill anyone else, the rest of the team paid it little thought. As for Ozymandias, the invisible killer had perhaps saved them the eventual trouble.
DM Note
Bordar was still infected by the Chaos Phage and did not heal any hit points from the long rest. Bordar currently has 9 hit points. As written, Bordar would automatically lost another 3d6 hit points from his maximum after a long rest. This would have killed Bordar. This seemed unduly harsh so I gave Bordar another DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw, which he passed. So he didn't lose any more hit points for the night. But he'll have to keep making the save until cured of the disease.
Baylore's player had the bright idea to let the disease run its course. His thinking was that once Bordar hit zero hit points, he could be healed. There are two things wrong with that -
1. Even at zero hit points he'd still have the disease and couldn't receive any healing.
2. Baylore's player didn't know what happened to victims of the Chaos Phage when they reach zero hit points.
It was a pleasant day. The sun was warm and the wind was calm. The group departed the ruins of the abbey and made their way back towards the dunes. The storm the previous day had created new dunes and had wiped away any sign of their previous tracks. The dunes towards the west side of the island, they way they had come before, appeared steep and difficult to navigate. The dunes on the east side of the island were flatter and packed hard from the heavy rains. They would be easier to traverse.
DM Note-
I numbered the columns across the top of the map 3-18 and had Baylore's player roll 3d6 to determine starting square. I had expected the bell curve to give me a number from 8-12. He rolled 16, way over on the side. We had to come up with a reason for taking such a path.
As they moved across the hard-packed sand, skeleton guardians erupted out of the sand and attacked.
The team pressed on, battling wave after wave of skeletons as they crossed the wet sand.
Once they reached the cliff there emerged a great mass of bones like a skeletal juggernaut! The lumbering mass of bones rolled like a great wave towards them.
Aella called forth a thundering tidal wave of water from the sand which crashed down upon the skeletal juggernaut. The juggernaut began sloughing skeletal parts as it continued its approach. She called forth another crashing wave of water. The juggernaut was defeated before it could reach the party.
The assembled group of temporary allies was still surrounded by a horde of skeletons but the undead guardians were eventually defeated.
They returned to the point on the beach where they had left their boat. It was half-buried in sand. The human boat that had delivered Bordar had left two days previous with the approach of the storm. The halfling druid Bobert was nowhere to be seen. He had probably left with the humans.
The group excavated their boat and prepared it to sail back to Saltmarsh.
Bordar looked warily at the pulsating red wound on his shoulder. A glowing red mass had formed at its center.
DM Note-
Bordar has 7 hit points remaining.
I gave each of the players an NPC to run for this combat. There's no way I was running NPC-on-NPC fighting all by myself!
Aella's player ran the lizard-king.
Bordar's player ran the duke.
Baylore's player ran the crazy pirate.
Brenna's player ran the dwarf prince.
I ran the abbot.
The players chose to keep Lemundo out of the fight. She stood away with Alot.
Aella felt an invisible presence near her by the stairs. The presence slammed into her, hitting her on her head. She swung her staff in a counter-attack but the presence was already gone.
The massive blue frog-thing bellowed a throaty laugh. It croaked, "Wow! It's so great to be free! I'm so hungry! And I'm surrounded by such juicy morsels! Hey you! Little dude!" He was standing next to and addressed Bordar, "You look like a tasty snack! Climb in my mouth! I want to eat you!"
The blue frog-thing stabbed its bone spikes at Bordar. One bone spike stuck into Bordar's shoulder and injected him with some kind of red liquid. The liquid spread quickly under Bordar's skin, radiating outward from the wound like tiny wriggling subcutaneous worms. Bordar screamed in pain.
DM Note-
Bordar was hit by the Blue Slaad's claw attack. He had to make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw or be infected by the Chaos Phage. Bordar failed and was infected. This meant that Bordar could not regain lost hit points - ie, healing. More to come.
Bordar escaped the blue frog-thing and made his way to the young dwarf. It was Dorgan Forgetender, the son of the clan leader. "Dorgan! Your beard! What have they done to you?"
Dorgan's hair and beard had been poorly shorn. Dorgan stood proudly and defiantly and declared, "You may call me PRINCE Dorgan!"
Borday blinked and said, "What?" The nearby lizard-man brought him back to the situation at hand. Bordar picked up the young "prince" and carried him to the edge of the room and away from the fight. The red tendrils in the wound in his shoulder pulsed with agony.
Aella addressed the lizard-man in low-Draconic, the language of the lizard-folk, "Great Lizard-King! My name is Aella. We are allied with the Marsh Water Clan and I am a friend of Princess Orthokent. We seek your aid in defeating the monsters!"
The lizard-man stood proud, "Anyone who fights with my daughter, Orthokent, is a friend of King Kosj! I will aid you!" King Kosj turned his club towards the skeletal snake-creature.
DM Note-
Aella's player could not have chosen a better thing to say on her turn. King Kosj was going to be a wild card. He could be ally or enemy depending on how the PCs treated him.
Lemundo called out to the middle aged man, "Father! Father! It's me, Lemundo!"
The man looked around, confused, "Daughter? What is happening?"
"Father! You've been freed! But we are in danger! You must help the humans and dwarves defeat the bone thing and the frog thing!"
The man looked at the lizard king, "King Kosj! Are you responsible for this?"
The lizard king hissed at the middle aged man, "Duke Feldren! No, I was as much a prisoner as you!"
Duke Feldren nodded and aided the lizard-king in attacking the bone-snake.
Baylore maneuvered to begin punching the bone-snake. He called to the human pirate captain, "And who are you?"
The crazed pirate captain wobbled as he stood and stared around with mad eyes. He shouted, "THE GOVERNMENT!" into the air and ran to attack a nearby wall.
DM Note-
I had a player roll randomly on the Confusion spell effect table to determine what the crazy pirate would do that round.
The elderly man dodged through the battle and sought cover near the outside of the stairs.
The bone-snake unhinged its lower jaw and hissed at Baylore . Baylore could feel the effects of the bone-snake's mind-altering magic creeping over him. Baylore gritted his teeth and pushed through. He shrugged off the effects of the magic and smashed his fist into the humanoid skull of the skeletal monstrosity. The punch so rattled the undead creature that it began swaying and staring around uselessly.
Once Bordar was satisfied that "Prince" Dorgan was out of the way, he joined Baylore , Aella, Brenna, King Kosj, and Duke Feldren in battle against the snake-thing while it was momentarily stunned. The combined efforts of the mighty group defeated the skeletal snake before it could mount a substantive defense.
The abbot of Procan said a short prayer of healing for Bordar but to no avail. The red tendrils on Bordar's shoulder grew longer and fatter.
An Invisible Foe
Meanwhile the two surviving cultists of Olhydra - Odium and the brush-wielding acolyte - were tied to chairs in the corner of the room. The acolyte shouted that he could feel an invisible presence near him and begged for help. The others were too busy with the skeletal snake-thing to pay any attention. The acolyte screamed as the invisible force snapped his neck. The acolyte slumped dead in his chair.
Odium screamed and called for help. The same invisible force struck Odium, knocking his chair over onto the floor.
Brenna was standing at the base of the stairs. She clapped her hands together and called forth a swirling tempest of tiny celestial swallows. The birds swarmed the room, tearing into the blue frog-beast while leaving all of Brenna's allies, including for the moment Odium the auditor, unaffected.
The Blue Monster
Whatever it was that menaced the cultists had retreated away from the swirling mass of glowing birds and refused to come nearer. The blue frog-beast, however, laughed and claimed that it tickled.
The giant blue frog beast continued to taunt the rag-tag assembly, "You! Yes, you! You look like a tasty morsel! Get in my mouth!"
With the destruction of the skeletal snake-thing, the assembled heroes turned their attention to the blue frog creature.
The hulking blue creature lashed out with its forearm bone spikes, striking Baylore and King Kosj. Baylore felt a small red pellet that had been implanted into his chest by the spike. He quickly pulled it out and threw it away.
Aella stood on the stairs and unleashed a continuous stream of arcing lightning at the blue monster. Between Aella witch bolt, Brenna's celestial swallows, Baylore's devastating punches, Bordar's axes, Duke Feldren's great sword, and King Kosj's skewering trident, the blue monster was soon defeated.
The blue frog-thing exploded into glowing blue tatters as it died, showering the gathered assembly in tatters of blue flesh.
The Typhoon
Odium was still tied to the overturned chair next to the dead acolyte. He cried out, "Help! Help! Untie me! I'm still in danger!"
Brenna maintained her swirling cyclone of glowing sparrows. She moved away from Odium so that he was no longer protected within its sphere, "Lets see if it comes back."
Odium, left defenseless, began thrashing about. A minute passed and nothing attacked him. Brenna's birds disappeared, "It must be gone now. I think we're safe."
Baylore said, "Good. Lets all take the boat back to Saltmarsh."
Bordar and Baylore ascended the stairs and opened the cellar door. A strong wind blew the door all the way open. Hard driving rain sprayed inside. A gust of warm moist air filled the cellar. A storm was raging above.
DM Note-
Rolled a d12 plus a high/low to determine time of day. It was 1pm.
Rolled on the weather tables in the DMG. Forty degrees above normal, high winds, heavy rains.
Baylore and Bordar managed to pull the doors back shut against the wind. Baylore turned and said, "Well, I guess we're staying here tonight, or at least until the storm dies down."
The B-Team and the freed prisoners settled in to rest. The abbot of Procan prayed and food and water was miraculously provided. The B-Team spent time getting to know the freed prisoners.
DM Note-
We spent the next hour or so working out the back stories of each player character and non-player character. Since Prince Dorgan was created by Bordar's player as a part of his back story and motivation for adventuring, I enlisted his aid, as well as the other players, in fleshing out some more of Dorgan's history, starting with the question, "So why did the pretender Duke Feldren imprison Dorgan?"
We also went through each of the freed NPCs, working out the details of their backstories and how they fit into the current plot.
Dorgan's Story
Dorgan was the son of the leader of Clan Granite Shaper. Dorgan had been sent to Seaton to complete a commission for the new duke. Duke Feldren, having recently succeeded his "dead" brother, wished to decorate the citadel at Seaton with fine statues of himself. During his time among the humans, Dorgan was treated as a noble guest of the court. Dorgan was showered with gifts and fetes by his human patrons. Over time, Dorgan became accustomed to these human ways and succumbed to human decadence and immorality. Dorgan had become haughty and proud, taking seriously the title "Prince" when it was bestowed upon him by the Duke.
Dorgan became the duke's favorite courtier. The two spent a lot of time together and Dorgan became somewhat of a confidant. It was during a drunken confession that Dorgan learned that Duke Feldren's brother had not died as the world believed. The duke's brother was still alive and kept prisoner on Leper Island. Dorgan, taking seriously his role as Duke Feldren's friend and confidant, told no one and kept the secret safe.
One day, after an especially decadent celebration, Dorgan awoke to learn that he had shaved off his hair and beard the night before in a degrading attempt to become more "human" like his new friends in court. At first Dorgan was embarrassed but the adulation of the human courtiers soon eased his guilt.
Things changed when the duke began requesting statues that were more and more lewd and profane. The duke wished to possess statues of an illicit nature for his private collection. Dorgan became uncomfortable with the requests. The duke became enraged. Dorgan quickly learned that he was never the duke's friend. The duke ordered Dorgan's imprisonment for his insolence at refusing his orders. However, the duke was aware that Dorgan knew his innermost secrets. Additionally, he could not execute Dorgan for doing so would risk war with the dwarves of the Granite Shaper clan, and he needed their metal and weapons to arm and equip his growing army.
He had Dorgan taken to Leper Island where he could be imprisoned within the magical mirror of the Cult of Olhydra. There he could keep Dorgan alive as a hostage without risking his precious secrets.
The Story of Duke Oberus Feldren
Duke Oberus Feldren of Seaton was born just a few minutes before his twin brother Marik. Thus it was that Marik was raised in the shadow of his older twin. Upon the death of their father, it was Oberus who inherited the title of duke. It was Oberus who commanded troops in battle against the Sea Princes. It was Oberus who was made the governor of the southern province. Oberus who married well and fathered the lovely and spirited Lemundo. Oberus who was loved by his people and adored at the royal court.
Marik, ever jealous of his older brother, schemed for ways to usurp him. He sought the services of assassins from the Sea Princes. He was approached by the cult of Olhydra. They provided him with a slow poison that would make it appear that the duke had become ill and eventually appear to die. The price for their assistance was that the duke be kept alive and turned over to them for safe keeping. Marik, desperate to become duke, agreed to the terms.
So it was that Marik had Duke Oberus Feldren slowly poisoned. To the world it appeared that the duke had become ill. Two years ago Marik announced that his older brother had died from his illness. Marik then assumed the title and responsibilities of duke of Seaton and governor of the southern provinces.
In reality, Marik had his brother Oberus imprisoned within the magic mirror that belonged to the corrupt monks of Leper Island. Every few months Marik would charter a ship owned by Captain Horatio Vile to take him to Leper Island where he could gloat over his imprisoned brother.
Duke Marik's subsequent actions were openly hostile to the illegal activities of the Sea Princes along the coast of the Azure Sea. Marik had become a liability. A little over a month ago, Captain Vile betrayed Duke Marik. Instead of taking him to Leper Island, he was taken prisoner and brought to Gellan Primewater in Saltmarsh.
Primewater knew a wizard in Saltmarsh named Keledek who possessed a magical ring of mind control. They managed to place the ring on Duke Marik's finger and were thus able to control the duke's thoughts and actions. Unbeknownst to Captain Vile, Oberus' daughter Lemundo had stowed away on the vessel, hoping to learn where Marik had hidden her father. She was captured and prepared for transport to the Sea Princes. However, an unknown force of masked raiders had infiltrated the secret hideout of Keledek, rescued Duke Marik and Lemundo, captured Captain Vile, and stole something very valuable to Keledek - a black dragon egg.
The wizard Keledek believed Gellan Primewater was responsible for this raid so he firebombed Primewater's estate in Saltmarsh. Primewater escaped and has been in hiding since.
Vile's crew, now without a captain, decided to mount a raid against the Abbey on Leper Island. They knew that pirates stored their treasures within the abbey. Two weeks ago, they attacked the abbey. Finding no treasure, they killed most of its inhabitants and burned the abbey to the ground.
The Others
The stories told by the others represented somewhat simpler premises.
King Kosj was the leader of the Marsh Water tribe. When his tribe was attacked by the sahuagin and displaced from their home, he was captured. The sahuagin are in league with the cult of Olhydra so King Kosj was imprisoned within the mirror.
King Kosj was happy to hear of the work his daughter Princess Orthokent was doing. He had no ambition of removing her from power. He was, however, troubled to learn of the return of Sakatha in the Drowned Forest.
The abbot was the original abbot of the monastery of Procan. He oversaw a group of monks who ran a hospital for lepers on the island. He was betrayed by his own monks who had become cultists to Olhydra.
The Crazy Pirate gave no name and interacted little with the others. He stared wild-eyed at the ceiling and walls and occasionally blurted strange sounds. It was clear that he had spent many decades trapped within the mirror and had gone insane.
The Storm Passes
By dawn the next day the storm had passed. The assembly prepared to leave the island. Aella went to retrieve Ozymandias from the locked cell in which he was held. She found him dead - his neck snapped - a victim of the invisible killer. Since the invisible force had made no attempt to the kill anyone else, the rest of the team paid it little thought. As for Ozymandias, the invisible killer had perhaps saved them the eventual trouble.
DM Note
Bordar was still infected by the Chaos Phage and did not heal any hit points from the long rest. Bordar currently has 9 hit points. As written, Bordar would automatically lost another 3d6 hit points from his maximum after a long rest. This would have killed Bordar. This seemed unduly harsh so I gave Bordar another DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw, which he passed. So he didn't lose any more hit points for the night. But he'll have to keep making the save until cured of the disease.
Baylore's player had the bright idea to let the disease run its course. His thinking was that once Bordar hit zero hit points, he could be healed. There are two things wrong with that -
1. Even at zero hit points he'd still have the disease and couldn't receive any healing.
2. Baylore's player didn't know what happened to victims of the Chaos Phage when they reach zero hit points.
It was a pleasant day. The sun was warm and the wind was calm. The group departed the ruins of the abbey and made their way back towards the dunes. The storm the previous day had created new dunes and had wiped away any sign of their previous tracks. The dunes towards the west side of the island, they way they had come before, appeared steep and difficult to navigate. The dunes on the east side of the island were flatter and packed hard from the heavy rains. They would be easier to traverse.
DM Note-
I numbered the columns across the top of the map 3-18 and had Baylore's player roll 3d6 to determine starting square. I had expected the bell curve to give me a number from 8-12. He rolled 16, way over on the side. We had to come up with a reason for taking such a path.
As they moved across the hard-packed sand, skeleton guardians erupted out of the sand and attacked.
The team pressed on, battling wave after wave of skeletons as they crossed the wet sand.
Once they reached the cliff there emerged a great mass of bones like a skeletal juggernaut! The lumbering mass of bones rolled like a great wave towards them.
Aella called forth a thundering tidal wave of water from the sand which crashed down upon the skeletal juggernaut. The juggernaut began sloughing skeletal parts as it continued its approach. She called forth another crashing wave of water. The juggernaut was defeated before it could reach the party.
The assembled group of temporary allies was still surrounded by a horde of skeletons but the undead guardians were eventually defeated.
They returned to the point on the beach where they had left their boat. It was half-buried in sand. The human boat that had delivered Bordar had left two days previous with the approach of the storm. The halfling druid Bobert was nowhere to be seen. He had probably left with the humans.
The group excavated their boat and prepared it to sail back to Saltmarsh.
Bordar looked warily at the pulsating red wound on his shoulder. A glowing red mass had formed at its center.
DM Note-
Bordar has 7 hit points remaining.
To be Continued...
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