The Return: Session #20
General Summary
The air in the converted jail room was tense as the strange red headed woman casually tossed threats and the heroes considered their wounds for another battle. Sensing their hesitation, the woman offered that both sides could leave and avoid conflict. She admitted that she too was concerned that a battle might lead to her death. In exchange for a peaceful leaving, she said she would answer any question.
They asked the identity of her master, but she demurred--- she said her master could hear the mentioning of his name, and the heroes (and herself) may not want his direct attention.
When asked if there were others like her master, she was surprised by the question but admitted that there were rumors that her master had a rival, but she was not sure.
The heroes agreed to let her leave and moved elsewhere, but Tiny Tymm overheard the woman talking to the missing Kaven who had been hiding in the room. He was upset realizing she was abandoning him, and she turned invisible to make her escape. With Jaka and Vale, the heroes captured and imprisoned the traitor. Interrogations revealed many things:
The woman's name is Lucrecia.
He met her when she opened The Paradise, a gambling barge, at Uyo.
He performed many services for her. He gave her all the information about Fort Garnet so the Kreeg ogre clan could invade, he misled the Black Arrow patrol, and he used a magical compass to track down individuals in Uyo for Lucrecia.
Identifying the magical compass revealed it pointed towards the closest person who had Shung blood, and further revealed that Tiny Tymm was a descendant of the Shung tribe.
Finally, in Kaven's possessions, they found a long list of names entitled: "Those who have agreed to grant their greed to their master's need"
Written by Lucrucia, the heroes recognized the names of Kaven and Bartuk's cousin: Nisdyl!
The heroes helped the two remaining Black Arrows as they cleaned up the base from the invasion. In the morning, after Kaven's execution for treason, the heroes planned to return to Harcourt. Jaka asked the heroes if they could delay their return and continue to help them. Jaka planned to send Vale down to Uyo to send a messenger to Harcourt for help, but his biggest concern was the missing commander of Fort Garnet: Lamatar Bayden. He had a long history of going on his solo "communion walks" in nature, but never for this long. Jaka doubted he could handle running the fort, and was sure he could defeat anything that could delay the competent commander.
Searching is chambers, the heroes found evidence that Lamatar was in love with a fey in a swampy area known as the Whitewillows. Jaka was dismayed by the news. The Whitewillows were a dangerous swamp that most avoided, and the commander had forbidden any of the Black Arrows from entering.
With Vale leading the way, the heroes were able to make their way down the mountain towards the Whitewillows. The heavy rains had lead the water from Skull Crossing raging and the grounds muddy. From the entrance of the swamp, they could see Uyo below and that the people were preparing for the possibility of the river to flood.
The Whitewillows proved to be a nefarious area. A sickening smell permeated the area, and the plants looked sick and dying. Bartuk cast a spell allowing them to walk on water, and it prevented the heroes from dealing with many dangers-- from quicksand to giant leaches.
The heroes found ancient ruins with a statue of the runelord Karzoug half sunk into the mud. They found the corpse of a dwarf that had been sheltering on the statue from some danger. Most of his possessions were destroyed from exposure, but they found a glowing potions that reminded Bartuk of dragon dust.
During the investigations, Tiny Tymm had a vision of the past. A slave taskmaster who had fallen behind at a marble quarry was being tortured by Karzoug's minions.
They also found they were being watched by a small fey named Yap. The distraught fey was hoping the heroes were friends of his mistress's "human lover". Something was wrong with his mistress--- and her despair was sickening the land. He begged the heroes to come help her.
Hoping to find a clue to the missing commander, the heroes followed Yap deep into the swamp. They eventually came upon a clear pool of water nearly a body slaughtered weeks ago. Yap hid in fear as his mistress, once a beautiful fey--- now an undead monstrosity, Myriana appeared before them. She exuded despair and heart break and accused the heroes of failing to be there to protect Lamatar.
It turns out when the ogres were invasing Fort Garnet, others came here and ambushed the lovers. They brutally murdered the fey and abducted Lamarar after making him watch.
When Kurdan suggested finding a new lover for Myriana, her rage unleashed an unearthly beauty that struck Tiny Tymm blind and the lightning began to crackle around them.
They calmed her down by promising to rescue Lamatar, or, if he is dead, then to bring his body back to her.
With plans to speak to Jaka and Vale about where to find the Kreeg home, the heroes offered to bring Yap with them. He was overly excited by the idea of going on adventure and being away from Myriana. He showed them his favorite trick by turning invisible.
The heroes left Whitewillows and found things had changed dramatically, the waters from Skull Crossing were raging and slamming into Uyo. Buildings were crumbling and people were in trouble. The heroes didn't hesitate to go to the town and help.
In Uyo, the raging waters were surging right through the town-- destroying buildings. Many of the survivors were inside the only safe building in town, the church, but the heroes found a makeshift raft with small children and a woman stuck against a building and a older halfling couple stuck on a building near collapse. The situation grew more dangerous when crocodiles arrived and started to attack the raft.
Without hesitation, the heroes sprung into action. Kurdan climbed a nearby building and began to make his way to the halfling couple while Tiny Tymm and Susyn began to attack and distract the crocodiles. With a pair of magical boots, Bartuk strolled on the waters and used his powerful magic to allow the people on the raft to be able to also walk on water. As he joined the battle against the crocodiles, the woman led the children to the church. As Kurdan made plans on how to get the halfling couple to the church, he witnessed a gigantic black tree crash down the flooding waters and then oddly submerge before hitting the church.
It wasn't a tree.
A gigantic creature erupted from the waters. One of the halflings muttered in fear and shock, "Is that Black Magga?!"
The creatue began to attack the church, and Bartuk attempted to curse it with a holy bane. To his shock, the creature easily shrugged off his magic... and was very aware that the dwarven cleric had cast a spell on him. As it unleashed a breathe of madness into the church, giant tentacles erupted from around the creature. One tentacle wrapped itself around Bartuk.
Kurdan helped the halflings away from the battle and jumped down to the church while Tiny Tymm began to cast spells upon the Black Magga. It responded by throwing Bartuk at Tiny Tymm. It missed the tiefling wizard, but Bartuk went crashing into a nearby building.
Crashing through the town and smashing buildings the waters had not leveled, Black Magga moved closer to Tiny Tymm. Tymm's magical lightning proved damaging to the watery creature, and it responded by constricting the wizard in its a tentacle as it turned its other attacks again Kurdan. Bartuk was legitimately concerned they might not be able to defeat the creature, and watched as Tiny Tymm was thrown at Kurdan.
Ignoring the cleric, the Black Magga unleashed its might upon the other two heroes. At one point, both were grappled by tentacles, but that proved to be a mistake. Kurdan's rage had never been more intense, and he unleased a flurry of blows upon the tentacle. Two of the attacks strong enough to strike an ogre dead in one hit, and he cut clean through the tentacle holding him.
Black Magga screamed in pain and unleashed its breath of madness upon the Bartuk and Kurdan. Both succumbed to its magical delusions, and they were lost to hallucinations and insanity.
Bartuk, seeing his friends in trouble, did not hesitate to jump into the waters... transforming into a giant crocodile and continuing the fight with the monster.
Greatly wounded, Black Magga fled from the town and sunk deep into the nearby lake.
While the floods still threatened the town, the people of Uyo were relived the Black Magga had been driven off. The local cleric, Maelin, explained the Black Magga was an ancient creature that lived in the waters behind the dam known as Skull Crossing. Something must be wrong with the dam if the waters were flooding like this, but greater disaster could strike if the dam broke entirely.
After some discussion, the heroes lead the survivors to Fort Garnet. While the place would still in danger if the dam broke, it was the safest place that could house the survivors for the moment.
The heroes took a moment to rest before venturing to the dam, and Bartuk considered how he would confront his cousin about her name on Lucrecia's list.
Rewards Granted
Boots of waterwalking
A strange potion that looked like liquid dragon dust
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
27 May 2021
Primary Location
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