The Vengeance of the Drowned Forest - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 34

It was dark in the Drowned Forest. The air was thick and humid. The night was alive with the sounds of birds, insects, and reptiles. Alot and Bordar sat watch while the others slept. A campfire cast a warm glow.

Suddenly a nearby tree twisted and slammed its heavy branches down onto the sleeping form of Baylore the pirate. The branch missed. Baylore woke with a start. The pirate rolled onto his side and was on his feet in a flash. Without hesitation he punched the tree that attacked him as hard as he could!

CHAPTER 34

"THE VENGEANCE OF THE DROWNED FOREST"

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.

Trees in the Night
Soon Brenna was awake and helping Baylore, Bordar, and Alot fight off the four animated trees that has shambled into their campsite in the dark. Aella rolled over and continued dozing.

Alot stabbed the tree with his short sword but had little effect on its woody trunk. Bordar swung his two magic axes in a flashing arc and chopped the trees into firewood!  Brenna cast spells of acid and cold at the trees.

The sound of battle around her finally woke Aella from her slumber. Baylore pointed at the ground beneath a tree close to him and a massive bonfire magically erupted at its roots. The tree shuffled away but Aella quickly followed up with a bonfire of her own.

Soon all four animated trees were destroyed and on fire. It was still early in the evening and the team returned to their rest.

The Effigy of Excrement
When dawn came the B-Team gathered up their gear and continued down the path illustrated on Alot's hand-drawn map. From Baylore's reconnaissance the previous day they knew that the source of the terrible smell ahead was a massive effigy of the black dragon Aulicus made of animal feces. As they approached the effigy they could see that the path narrowed to a series of small islands connected by primitive bridges and fallen trees. On the largest island was the effigy of excrement. The smell was terrible and Aella fought back the urge to gag. The sky was dark with swarms of fat black biting flies.

Brenna asked, "Well, should we swim around or go up the middle?"

The team conferred and Baylore summarized, "Up the middle."

Aella put up her hand, "Wait, I have an idea."

Aella cast a spell and summoned forth a massive wave of water. The magical tidal wave washed over the effigy, washing it away and scattering the swarm of flies into a dozen smaller swarms.

Baylore said, "Okay, everybody run. Don't stop unless you have to."

The team sprinted across the primitive bridge and across the island. They flies warmed around their heads, biting them and slowing them down. Baylore, Aella, and Bordar were preparing to run through a large group of flies when Brenna shouted, "Stop!"

They paused while Brenna cast a spell from her magical harpoon "Hearth spoon". A mote of fire flew out and exploded into a sphere of flame directly in front of the trio, singing their faces but eliminating many of the flies.

DM Note- If a swarm of flies was within twenty feet of a player character, the swarm would move towards that player character. If there were no targets within twenty feet, I rolled 1d8 and randomly moved the swarm twenty feet in that direction. 

A mass of flies swarmed Baylore. Aella shouted, "Do you need me to help?"

Baylore replied, "No! You're already injured and still recovering from being dead. I'm attracting them to me. You run and don't stop!"

Brenna was covered by a heavy swarm of biting flies and was falling behind. Alot offered to help her but she said, "I've got a plan! Go!" She dove into the murky water of the Drowned Forest and began to swim. She hoped to avoid the flies by staying under the water. Unfortunately she felt some small fish begin to swim around her, "Dammit!" she thought, "flesh-eating quippers!"

She quickly climbed out of the water to avoid the quippers. She saw Bordar covered in flies. Baylore, Alot and Aella had already escaped the area. The dwarf shouted, "I'm keeping them off you! Go!"

Aella paused in her flight. She asked Baylore, "Should I help?"

Baylore shouted, "No! They! Are! Fine! Just go!"

Once all the others were a safe distance away, Bordar used his magical boots to run at a surprising speed for a dwarf and escape the flies.

The Interrupted Rest
Once they were a quarter mile away the team decided to stop and rest. As they sat down for a breather they failed to notice the spongy heads of large mushrooms the size of children that surrounded them. The mushrooms began emitting a sound, at first like the crying of a child, then a loud wail like the bleating of a small animal in distress.

Baylore said, "Shit, it's not safe here. We should move on."

They aborted their rest and continued on their journey.

The Stone Idol
The party followed the map through the Flooded Forest. The going was difficult. The terrain was flooded and difficult to navigate. It took an hour to advance a mere quarter of a mile.

As they neared what the map told them was their destination, they spotted some smoke over the trees to the southwest. It was on the edge of a large island with a few dozen feet of elevation at its center - hardly a hill  but a veritable mountain in this lowland flooded terrain.

They arrived at the site of the smoke two hours later. It was a large stone platform. At the center was a stone shrine to Aulicus - built by human hands! A nearby stone bowl contained the ashen remains of a burned offering given up in sacrifice to the draconic god.

The party searched for an entrance to a subterranean lair but found nothing. The platform had a solid foundation. They searched the surrounding terrain within a few dozen feet of the platform but found only human footprints.

They concluded that an offering must be given to the god so they set about hunting and fishing the nearby area. They brought back game and fish and burned them in the stone brazier but nothing happened.

The sun was setting so they decided to camp on the stone platform. Baylore said, "Well, this was a waste of time. We're heading back tomorrow."

DM Note-
The platform was an unfortunately placed random encounter. I rolled random encounters for the day ahead of the game and got #3 on the Drowned Forest Oddity table.

Visible from half a mile away, smoke rises from a shrine built on large stones and dedicated to Semuanya, god of the lizardfolk. 

I just swapped out Semuanya for Aulicus. I thought my players would think its nothing and move on. I even said, "It's not important, I don't even need a map for it."

But my mistake was in placing it too near the actual destination which was in the next hex over. They were CERTAIN the entrance was within the platform. I tried to play it cool and roll with it but I could hear the frustration in their voices.

When Baylore's player suggested heading back, I nearly panicked. I was asking so many leading questions!

Brenna's player said she went hunting. So I asked specifically, "Where do you go hunting? How far away do you go?" But the player got paranoid and said she stayed closed to camp. UGH! 

I eventually gave sufficient hints, "The island is bigger than the other islands and rises a few dozen feet towards the center." that Brenna's player finally said, "Hey, I have an idea. Let me go check out the surrounding area before we leave."

Brenna's player later told me that he didn't think the destination on the map lined up with the platform, so he had his suspicions. 

The Secret Entrance
The night passed uneventfully. The next morning everyone packed up for the return trip to Waycombe. Brenna looked towards the rise at the center of the large island on which they stood.

"I've got an idea. Wait here. I'll be back in a little bit."

She headed west. The ground became dryer and easier to navigate. A quarter of a mile inland she found a small entrance into the side of a forested rocky slope.

"Ah-HAH!" she proclaimed, "I thought so!"

She returned to report her finding to the others. Instead of returning to Waycombe they went went towards the entrance.

The B-Team descended the stairs. They found themselves standing in a dark cave. The sound of rushing water from a nearby subterranean waterfall was deafening. Water dripped from stalactites onto the rocky ground. It was completely dark beyond the bottom of the stairs.

Baylore looked around. He, Aella, and Bordar could see well enough in the gloom but Alot and Brenna would be blind. "Alot, can you hold a torch?"

Alot held up his shield and his magical short sword, "Nope. I need them both."

He asked Brenna and Aella, "Do either of you know any light spells?"

They both shook their heads. Aella said, "No way. That would be useful."

Brenna added, "What do you think we are, wizards? We're sorcerers! We can't cast utility spells!"

Baylore sighed in frustration.

Brenna said, "Okay, fine! Alot, light a torch and give it to me. I'll carry it."

DM Note-
I made Brenna's token a source of light in Roll20.

The party cautiously explored the cave. They estimated the danger of the waterfall and the swiftness of the current. Aella said, "Hey, there's a passage over here that slopes down sharply!"

They descended the slope and entered a flooded room supported by four pillars. The water was ankle deep and smelled like rotting meat. In the corner of the room Alot saw a pallid misshapen humanoid with waxy skin, fangs, and long claws.

"Ghoul!" said Bordar, "We'd sometimes find them in the deep parts of abandoned mines!"

Before the ghoul even noticed their approach Brenna had sent the icy hand of a Chill Touch spell to freeze the ghoul. Baylore pointed a finger at the undead creature and a mote of fire shot across the room, striking the ghoul. The ghoul was quickly dispatched.

To their horror two additional ghouls were lurking in the far corners of the room. The ghouls rushed towards Alot and Bordar in the front. Alot dispatched one and moved around the second. Bordar attacked the second with his axes Smite and Fury. Aella, Baylore, and Brenna finished off the final ghoul with fire bolts and chilled touches.

They were in a flooded subterranean room with three doors.

To Be Continued...