Bruma had finished interrogating the two bandits-turned-cultists. Their vacant mental state produced little useful information. Bruma and Baylore debated what to do with them. If they let them go, they'll continue try to lead people to their deaths in the swamp. They couldn't take them with them. Baylore said, "Do you want me to take care of them? Just say the word. I do not care."
Both Bruma, who worked with and for smugglers, and Baylore, a pirate, recognized these brigands. They knew them - not personally or even necessarily by name - but they were not strangers.
Bruma considered his options, "I don't know."
These brigands had tried to lead Bruma to his death but he had little interest in vengeance. He was more concerned that they might do it again to someone else. But he didn't want to kill them in cold blood. Maybe if they killed Sakatha first, they'd be released from their psychic bondage.
Bruma let them go. The two pale ashen brigands shambled off through the trees and undergrowth.
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."
CHAPTER 36
"RETURN TO THE TOMB"
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.
- 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.
Back Again
It was mid-morning. Bruma led the party around the island of the hag and onto a finger of flooded trees. A large hill was visible across a stretch of one thousand feet of fetid water.
"We need to get across." said Bruma, "The dragon's lair is on that island with the big hill. So how do you want to do this?"
Baylore said, "We swim."
"Swim??"
Baylore looked around, "Anybody got a problem with that?"
Brenna held up her magic harpoon tip, "Anyone who can't breathe underwater, talk to me." She cast a spell of water breathing on herself, Aella, Baylore, Bruma, and Bordar. Alot was already adapted to underwater life.
They crossed the dark-brown channel and emerged before the steps leading into the tomb.
DM Note-
I thought about dissuading this with some crocodiles and quippers or worse, but I was antsy to finally get to the tomb so I skipped ahead.
They emerged onto the stairs leading to the stone foundation of an ancient structure. Ten massive columns once supported a roof that had long ago collapsed, the masonry having been scavenged in ages passed. One of the ten massive columns had fallen and lay broken on its side.
There was no sign of any remains of Aulicus the dragon. Aella was disappointed. She had hopes to retrieve a souvenir.
Aella, the only member of the party who remembered the last time she visited this place, pointed out the false wall in the side of the hill. The false wall was composed of shells suspended on hundreds of strings like a beaded curtain. She warned everyone of the three water pools located in the chamber within. The pools were home to some creature composed of pure water.
"Got it," said Baylore, "No one go near the pools of water, got that?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The party passed through the beaded curtain and stayed close to the wall. Bordar immediately walked over to the pool of water and looked within.
DM Note-
Seriously, Aella's character had JSUT warned everyone about the water weird and Baylore laid out the strategy of staying close to the wall and avoiding the fountains. I asked, "What do you do?"
On Bordar's turn, Bordar walked right up to the fountain.
I said, "Okay, roll initiative."
Bordar's player sounded genuinely surprised.
Baylore's player shouted, "SERIOUSLY, [Bordar's Player]?! WHAT DID WE JUST SAY?!"
Bordar's player said, "What? I wasn't listening!"
Brenna's player said, "In Bordar's defense, he has a passive perception of 9."
The water began to froth and boil. The water formed a liquid shape like a dragon's head that reared out of the fountain.
Bordar entered a fighting stance. He slashed at the watery guardian using his magical axes "Smite" and "Fury". The water creature darted at Bordar in an attempt to engulf the dwarf but missed. The rest of the party unleashed on the water creature with fire bolt spells, magical bonfires, magical floating hands with chilled touches, and arrows. The water weird was no match for the onslaught and collapsed into inanimate water.
The Puzzle
They emerged onto the stairs leading to the stone foundation of an ancient structure. Ten massive columns once supported a roof that had long ago collapsed, the masonry having been scavenged in ages passed. One of the ten massive columns had fallen and lay broken on its side.
There was no sign of any remains of Aulicus the dragon. Aella was disappointed. She had hopes to retrieve a souvenir.
Aella, the only member of the party who remembered the last time she visited this place, pointed out the false wall in the side of the hill. The false wall was composed of shells suspended on hundreds of strings like a beaded curtain. She warned everyone of the three water pools located in the chamber within. The pools were home to some creature composed of pure water.
"Got it," said Baylore, "No one go near the pools of water, got that?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The party passed through the beaded curtain and stayed close to the wall. Bordar immediately walked over to the pool of water and looked within.
DM Note-
Seriously, Aella's character had JSUT warned everyone about the water weird and Baylore laid out the strategy of staying close to the wall and avoiding the fountains. I asked, "What do you do?"
On Bordar's turn, Bordar walked right up to the fountain.
I said, "Okay, roll initiative."
Bordar's player sounded genuinely surprised.
Baylore's player shouted, "SERIOUSLY, [Bordar's Player]?! WHAT DID WE JUST SAY?!"
Bordar's player said, "What? I wasn't listening!"
Brenna's player said, "In Bordar's defense, he has a passive perception of 9."
The water began to froth and boil. The water formed a liquid shape like a dragon's head that reared out of the fountain.
Bordar entered a fighting stance. He slashed at the watery guardian using his magical axes "Smite" and "Fury". The water creature darted at Bordar in an attempt to engulf the dwarf but missed. The rest of the party unleashed on the water creature with fire bolt spells, magical bonfires, magical floating hands with chilled touches, and arrows. The water weird was no match for the onslaught and collapsed into inanimate water.
The Puzzle
The party reached the back of the cavernous chamber and entered through another false wall into the former lair of Aulicus. The lair was empty, picked clean of all treasure.
Baylore asked Aella, "So, you said something about a secret entrance?"
She looked at the altar adorned with the statue of a black dragon, "They moved that aside."
The altar was a massive slab of granite twenty feet long by ten feet wide and five feet tall. It would not budge. The black dragon on top of it, however, pivoted one hundred eighty degrees. The mouth of the dragon was open revealing a hollow tube down the dragon's throat. The tube was a few inches wide, not wide enough for a human hand to fit within. The curvature of the dragon's neck made inserting a long object impossible.
Brenna filled her waterskin with water from the pool and poured it down the dragon's mouth. The water disappeared but nothing happened. She started inserting silver coins. Nothing happened. She shoved dozens of silver coins into the mouth but nothing happened. She inserted rocks but nothing happened. Everything dropped into the dragon's mouth simply fell down its throat and disappeared. Brenna gave up, "Well, I got nothing."
Baylore considered the dragon, "What about gems? Have you tried a gem?"
Brenna said, "I don't have any gems."
"What about that jewelry we got on Leper Island?"
Brenna hooked a thumb at Aella, "We used that to bring her back from the dead. Captain, the only gems we have are the ruby earrings you're wearing."
Baylore's eyes narrowed in defiance, "No. Come on. We don't have ANY other gems?"
Everyone rummaged through their backpacks and turned out their pockets. There were no gems.
Baylore became annoyed, "Look, I KNOW we've got some gems? There was some in the hag's treasure! That was just yesterday!"
Brenna pinched her lips in deep thought. Her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers. She gave Baylore a menacing glare, "YOU have them!"
"What? I do not!"
"Check your bag of holding!"
Baylore stared at her in defiant silence. He pointed at her and couldn't think of anything better to say. "Shut up!"
He reached into his bag of holding and rummaged around. He pulled out a moss agate the size of a man's thumb.
"Shut up."
Baylore dropped it into the dragon's mouth. The entire altar slid backwards revealing a set of stairs leading down.
"Shut up."
Man, the frustration the players felt during that segment was PALPABLE! They HATE puzzles! Part of the problem is that they're not trying to figure out how to solve the puzzle logically but how to TRICK the puzzle with cheap or easy alternatives. So we waste a lot of time trying to feed it rocks or worthless coins or sticks instead of actually thinking logically about what the puzzle wants. Then they get all frustrated and angry that none of their tricks work. I found myself drolly saying, "Yes, rocks. THAT'S what a dragon wants!" as a way of trying to point them in the right direction. I become torn between enforcing "Nope, you have to solve the puzzle as written. Figure it out!" and "Well this is no fun, Here's some more obvious hints." which I feel is a bad precedent and expectation for me as a Dungeon Master to set.
Ambush
The B-Team formed up and descended the stairs. They passed through a set of doors into a vestibule with a large set of double doors to the right. Baylore did a quick check, "Who can't see in the dark?" He pressed his palm against the faces of Brenna and Bruma.
"What about Alot?" inquired Aella.
"Eh, he's got brain jellies. I'm not wasting that on brain jellies."
Bordar opened the door. He and Bruma were standing in some kind of spotlight in a large dark chamber. There were dozens of armed and armored warriors. Spearmen, halberdiers, and swordsmen stood close to the left and right walls. A dozen crossbowmen stood along the rear wall. Near them was a leader and some kind of mage waving his hands and casting a spell. The warriors were standing in the dark and would have been unseen were it not for Baylore giving everyone darkvision. Crossbow bolts arced through the air and struck the door and wall and floor around Baordar and Bruma. Before they could act the vestibule exploded in a fireball of destruction.
Bordar, enraged, began frothing at the mouth and ran towards the spearmen along the wall to the left. He cleaved into them and kept running, one after the next. The darkness that would have given them cover was now to their detriment!
Brenna looked around the vestibule, "Is everyone all right?" Bruma was lying on the floor, badly burned and not breathing. Brenna knelt down and a sparrow landed on her hand. The sparrow hopped from her hand onto Bruma's body. The sparrow glowed with a celestial light and Bruma's burns were healed.
DM Note-
I had Bruma's player whisper his death save roll to me. Bruma rolled a 1. That's an automatic two failed saves! I said, "Yikes!" Brenna's player said "Nice poker voice, Chris!"
Baylore engaged the right flank, laying spearmen and halberdiers low with spinning back fists and rapid-fire punches and kicks.
Another fireball exploded in the vestibule!
Brenna shouted, "We gotta do something about that guy!" She lobbed a magical fireball towards the back of the room. The fiery explosion took out most of the crossbowmen. The leader ordered his remaining men to spread out and moved over towards the right corner.
Aella ran into center of the room. Aella pointed her magic wand at the wizard and an arc of lightning streaked towards him. The wizard smiled and dismissed the spell with a wave of his hand.
DM Note-
Brenna's player, who loves wizard duels, yelled, "Yeah!" in approval.
Alot followed Aella into the center of the room but stopped, "Hey! I can't see anything! What's going on?" Alot's brain jellies had just worn off and he was standing in a large dark room surrounded by fighting.
DM Note-
Alot's player had finally showed up. He was looking at a token in a black screen and honestly had no idea what was going on other than he could hear the others fighting.
Brenna ran after Bruma and Aella, sending celestial sparrows of healing darting at both as they pushed forward. When she saw the wizard counter Aella's spell, Brenna said, "That's enough of that!" and cast another fireball at the wizard. The wizard died in a blazing explosion.
Bruma moved swiftly through the room killing one opponent then quickly moving to the next. Alot was fighting blindly with three brigands. He heard a series of swift cutting and stabbing sounds followed by all three brigands collapsing in the dark. Bruma had slipped between them and killed all three then silently darted across the room. Alot was standing alone in the dark. He called out, "Thanks!"
Baylore eliminated three brigands and moved over to Alot. He granted Alot the ability to see in the dark, saying "There. Go kill something!"
By now there were a mere handful of brigands left against the back wall. Their leader had been killed and they were attempting to flee through the exits. Two managed to escape while Aella and Alot chased down and eliminated the remainder.
Bordar and Baylore followed the two escapees through the door and into a well lit hallway. Bordar checked around the far corner but found no one. "They must have gone through that door!" he said, pointing to the door on the right.
Bordar opened the door and was met with nearly a dozen brigands in their barracks - including the two that ran away. Bordar closed the door and retreated to the entrance to the large dark room, "Here come reinforcements! Alot, I could use your help holding the door!"
"Got it!"
Brenna and Bruma exited a door on the right wall of the large dark room and found themselves in a different well-lit hall. They prepared to cover that flank.
Spearmen poured out of the barracks via multiple exits and stormed the entrance to the large room. Bordar held the line while Baylore and Alot counterattacked. Baylore and Alot pressed several of the spearmen back to the barracks and chased them down to the other exit.
Bordar found himself fighting the remainder of the spearmen - skilled veterans who held their own against the raging dwarf. Eventually Bordar won the day and the veterans fell before his twin axes of doom.
Baylore circumnavigated the hallway outside the barracks and found two more spearmen. Brenna and Bruma ran to help. They were soon eliminated.
One spearman managed to break off and flee. He darted into a nearby room and closed the door.
The B-Team prepared themselves for the next wave.
To be Continued...
DM Note-
Man that's a lot of carnage! But it seemed like the players felt challenged and had a lot of fun. The bad guys had some magic items that I couldn't figure out how to use in the battle - boots of levitation? Also, I kept forgetting that the Lieutenant granted +1d4 to the saving throws of his subordinates. Didn't matter though, even if they had made their saves they couldn't survive Brenna's fireballs.
I had set up the brigands whole ambush based on the idea that they were hidden by darkness. What the brigands didn't know is that everybody (save Alot) had darkvision. So what would have been to their advantage turned into a major disadvantage as the PCs hunted the panicked and fleeing brigands in the dark like Buffalo Bill with nigh vision goggles hunting Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs. It was kind of an awesome turnaround.
Also Brenna's fireballs were devastating to both Gormundel the Mage and the crossbowmen.
Brenna ran after Bruma and Aella, sending celestial sparrows of healing darting at both as they pushed forward. When she saw the wizard counter Aella's spell, Brenna said, "That's enough of that!" and cast another fireball at the wizard. The wizard died in a blazing explosion.
Bruma moved swiftly through the room killing one opponent then quickly moving to the next. Alot was fighting blindly with three brigands. He heard a series of swift cutting and stabbing sounds followed by all three brigands collapsing in the dark. Bruma had slipped between them and killed all three then silently darted across the room. Alot was standing alone in the dark. He called out, "Thanks!"
Baylore eliminated three brigands and moved over to Alot. He granted Alot the ability to see in the dark, saying "There. Go kill something!"
By now there were a mere handful of brigands left against the back wall. Their leader had been killed and they were attempting to flee through the exits. Two managed to escape while Aella and Alot chased down and eliminated the remainder.
Bordar and Baylore followed the two escapees through the door and into a well lit hallway. Bordar checked around the far corner but found no one. "They must have gone through that door!" he said, pointing to the door on the right.
Bordar opened the door and was met with nearly a dozen brigands in their barracks - including the two that ran away. Bordar closed the door and retreated to the entrance to the large dark room, "Here come reinforcements! Alot, I could use your help holding the door!"
"Got it!"
Brenna and Bruma exited a door on the right wall of the large dark room and found themselves in a different well-lit hall. They prepared to cover that flank.
Spearmen poured out of the barracks via multiple exits and stormed the entrance to the large room. Bordar held the line while Baylore and Alot counterattacked. Baylore and Alot pressed several of the spearmen back to the barracks and chased them down to the other exit.
Bordar found himself fighting the remainder of the spearmen - skilled veterans who held their own against the raging dwarf. Eventually Bordar won the day and the veterans fell before his twin axes of doom.
Baylore circumnavigated the hallway outside the barracks and found two more spearmen. Brenna and Bruma ran to help. They were soon eliminated.
One spearman managed to break off and flee. He darted into a nearby room and closed the door.
The B-Team prepared themselves for the next wave.
To be Continued...
DM Note-
Man that's a lot of carnage! But it seemed like the players felt challenged and had a lot of fun. The bad guys had some magic items that I couldn't figure out how to use in the battle - boots of levitation? Also, I kept forgetting that the Lieutenant granted +1d4 to the saving throws of his subordinates. Didn't matter though, even if they had made their saves they couldn't survive Brenna's fireballs.
I had set up the brigands whole ambush based on the idea that they were hidden by darkness. What the brigands didn't know is that everybody (save Alot) had darkvision. So what would have been to their advantage turned into a major disadvantage as the PCs hunted the panicked and fleeing brigands in the dark like Buffalo Bill with nigh vision goggles hunting Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs. It was kind of an awesome turnaround.
Also Brenna's fireballs were devastating to both Gormundel the Mage and the crossbowmen.
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