S1 E10: The Betrayer and the Rescuers

General Summary

• The party follows Zelara, the Yuan-ti guide, patiently. Without protest, they're literally led around on a rope on paths that become progressively more treacherous, skirting quicksand, tar pits, acid pools, and thick mud as they trek through a region called the Blood Marsh. "It's a shortcut", she assures them while occasionally checking spike pit traps that she (for some reason) knows the exact location of, and stealing the belongings of the unfortunate dead she finds there. 
• She warns them about the swamp, pointing out that the red color is just a weird kind of pebbly algae, like a red duckweed on the surface, but there's also a thing called the 'Crimson Toad', some kind of legendary monster that lives in the swamp. They check more traps, which seems normal to everyone for some reason.
• Eventually, after a lecture about how lucky they are that she's here to lead them around these hazards and to avoid the Crimson Toad, she takes them to the Crimson Toad. At first it appears to be just a little frog, wiggling on the surface, but as soon as one of the party approaches it, it leaps up - a full-size Red Slaad, hidden under the duckweed and blending in perfectly with the algae. It fights in nasty ways, and Zelara appears to hide to reposition herself for an attack - but the attack never comes.
• While it tries to make an escape, it can't outrun the party even in the water. After it meets its demise, Alistor decides he wants a trophy, even though as an extraplanar being the body is likely not permanent. In his attempt to somehow pull its jaw off - the creature being far too large and heavy for this and dissolving away regardless - he finds himself surrounded by crocodiles. 
• Once the crocodiles are killed, with some difficulty, Alistor decides he wants a trophy from the crocodiles, and imperils everyone a second time in trying to get it. Fortunately - or perhaps in the end, unfortunately - a group of Yuan-Ti pump a number of steel-shafted arrows into the crocodiles. They come down from a nearby copse of trees, dragging Zelara in a neck-manacle, and insist the party come along with them as well. These consist of ten individuals of mixed Yuan-Ti type, and not dressed in city clothes like Zelara had been (though hers were well-made for the outdoors too, and filthy). Instead, they are at once more savage and better armed than she, and their fearsome aspect is amplified by the fact that several of them are quite distant from human appearance, with malisons of all three types, their armor made of leather, steel and bone accented by feathers, teeth (some quite large) and beads. 
• Their leader, a type 3 malison with an elaborate war chief crown and metal breastplate, a snake from the waist down, tells them to come with him and his scouts back to their lair to speak to the High Chief. Not only did Zelara betray them, she has also - evidently - stolen some artifact from their lair, and she is coming back to be interrogated about it. The party is allowed to walk unbound, but in the middle of the Yuan-Ti column as it makes its way back to their home, a place they call Zhis-Kaas, to meet with the Chieftain, named SSethris. 
• The leader of the scout party identifies himself as Sen-Karre. He says he suspects she's stashed their ritual artifact in a place called the Viper's Pit, but they can't know for certain until she's been questioned. He also assures the party that if they help Ssethris recover their ritual items, then surely Ssethris will send his scouts to help plunder the Pyramid of Malavir with them.

Rewards Granted

Level 7

Missions/Quests Completed

• The Blood Marsh
• The Crimson Toad
• Zelara Betrays the Party

Character(s) interacted with

• Zelara
• Sen-Karre

Notes

The set up for the Fangs of Sseth storyline, Part 2 of the Wand of Orcus main plotline. Part 1 was in the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. 
Quest Introduction: The traitorous guide, Zelara, takes the party deep into the jungle in the opposite direction of the Pyramid, which is completely hidden by vegetation at ground level. Zelara will explain that she's veering off the main path with the promise of a "safer and quicker route" to the pyramid of Malavir. Instead, she leads them to the notorious Blood Marsh, an area feared even by the local Yuan-ti. The marsh is named for the reddish hue of the water, due to a unique type of crimson algae that thrives in the marshland. if the party questions her definition of 'quicker' or 'safer' she'll make up something about going to dangerous places to avoid the dangerous enemies who are smart enough not to go to dangerous places.
Among its many dangers, the Blood Marsh is home to a colossal beast known as the Crimson Toad, a semi-aquatic aberration rumored to be a twisted creation of a long-gone, dark Yuan-ti sorcerer. It is in fact a Red Slaad stranded here from the Far Realm, as yet uninterested in returning to servitude of its Death Slaadi masters. The Slaad is territorial, unpredictable and extremely aggressive, known to attack anything that enters its marsh, and in the blood marsh, which happens to blend in perfectly with its pebbly red skin, its favored tactic is lie more or less invisibly in 3' or so of water, wiggling a red finger above the water and using a gentle suggestive telepathy within 60 feet to suggest that it's just a little frog or some kind of harmless salamander, then springing up to attack with advantage unless spotted with a DC18 perception roll. it only speaks Slaad, though it can communicate telepathically within 60' if it is aware of the creature, and telepathy is limited to only 1 creature at a time...If it finds it's chosen its brood host/torment victim(s) poorly it will try to escape through the water or take any obvious opening, but with a WIS of 6 and being an extraplanar creature with no fear of real death, it doesn't have a great sense of self preservation; it just knows that dying here means it has to go back to dealing with its boss in the far realm.
But the danger doesn't end there. The marsh itself is a treacherous place, with quicksand pits and acidic gases released from the marsh bed. Moreover, it is laced with powerful ancient wards that confuse and misdirect trespassers, making it nearly impossible to navigate. Even experienced guides can easily get lost, and the only safe passage is known only to a few trusted members of the Zhis'kaas clan.
Zelara intends to abandon the party in the heart of the marsh, or when they happen across the Crimson Toad, leaving them to face the wrath of the creature or die here in one or another of the marsh's inherent dangers. This would be a certain doom for the unsuspecting adventurers. However, just as things look grim, scouts from S'Sethris' clan intervene, having tracked the party to warn them of the spy in their midst, only to find them already ensnared in the deadly trap.
The party is introduced to the quest when their 'guide' initially betrays them, and eventually things will escalate until the Zhis'kaas have to rescue them. They then bring them back to the War Chief, along with Zelara as their prisoner.

Report Date

18 May 2023

Primary Location

The Caetica Region