I'd like to take a moment to honor the memory of Leonerd Nimoy, who passed on February 27, 2015. Whether he was Mr. Spock or not, he was a great actor and a good man whose work touched various and sundry nerds, freaks and geeks. He will be missed.
Censura leveled up to 5th at the beginning of a session. In addition to learning a new Warlock spell (the classic fireball), he also learned darkness as a tiefling trait. He would get a chance to use his new spell later in the session.
We started off with a fight against a pair of rat swarms. Despite having only four players (myself, Paul, Joseph, and Nathan) we managed to dispatch them without taking any damage. Quite a reversal from a rat swarm battle in the first session that nearly resulted in a total party kill. Still, the swarms demonstrated the ability to move freely through occupied spaces, a benefit for them in the tight quarters of the 5-foot wide tunnel we were battling in.
Jamna showed up after the fight, commenting on Corrin running back to the strong room, afraid of the rats (the in-game excuse for Corrin's absence since his player was not present). It gave us a chance to mend some bridges before proceeding.
A few skill rolls gave us a little background on our location. Castle Naerytar, which we had learned about before, lies about 15 miles to the north. The ruin had once been used an observatory before being overtaken by the Mere of Dead Men. More importantly, Sandi let us know that a black dragon called Voharaghamanthor ruled the swamp. It was rumored to fast, faster even that a black dragon should be.
We spotted orange trail markers outside the entrance of the cave. After noting that the trail headed north, we camped a little off the trail to recover. We were unable to complete a long rest, however, as we heard guttural arguing on the trail. It was argument between creatures speaking draconic, and creatures speaking in croaking, frog-like language. Sandi let us know that the draconic voice sounded like its companions had abandoned it and it was being over-whelmed. So, doing our adventurer thing, we investigated.
We found that a group of bullywugs, humanoid frogs, had tied up and were torturing a lizardfolk (which is exactly what it sounds like; a humanoid lizard) by dumping him head first into a pool of water.. We saw baskets and crates scattered on the trail, so we assumed the bullywugs had ambushed the lizardfolk, and decided to help the survivor.
There were 8 of the things altogether. The fight wasn't terribly challenging. Although the muddy swamp made every space on the map difficult terrain, and while bullywugs can jump good, it still made maneuvering in the battle challenging.
Both Censura and Alek had opportunities to use new third level spells: Censura used fireball twice to take out clusters of bullwugs. Alek used spirit guardians to kill bullywugs approaching the front lines. Thok also used his new feat to leap around the battlefield to minimize the effect of the mud. It lead to some questions on using Strength (athletics) to jump. Ultimately, the bullywugs were no match for us. While easy battles can get dull, every once in a while they help remind the players that yes, their characters are in fact bad-asses.
After the fight, we freed the lizardfolk. With lizard serving as a translator, we spoke with it, learning that its name was Snapjaw. We learned that his tribe had been hired to the Cult of the Dragon by Voharaghamanthor, but the Cult saw fit to use them only as porters. We learned that Rezmir had been seen at the castle, but her lieutenant there was Dralmora Borngray. Apparently Voharaghamanthor only tolerated the Cult and the lizardfolk were chafing under their rule. Using our performance in the battle as proof of our qualifications, we offered to help Snapjaw and his people with that. Snapjaw agreed, and we began discussing a plan to slip into the castle with next supply of lizardfolk treasure porters.
That's where we'll pick up next time.
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