The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Downfall
General Summary
This game followed The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: The Swamps of Hither and was played on Saturday, August 19th, 2023. The events of this game picked up immediately from where the last game ended. Joining as players were:
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60'
Components: V, S (Zabbas must cast Thaumaturgy and Buster must cast Ray of Frost during the round, spell takes effect on second action)
Duration: Instantaneous (continues until one person takes a different action)
A frigid stream of blue-white light sprays towards a creature or object within range. Using both Zabbas' & Buster's Spellcasting Ability bonuses, make a ranged spell attack against the target (+12 for Buster, +7 for Zabbas). On a hit, it takes 1d8 plus Zabbas' & Buster's Spellcasting Ability bonuses (2d8+7), and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of Zabbas' or Buster's next turn, whichever comes first. The spell's damage dice increas by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
While everyone was busy trying to douse the jumping embers, Willamina took advantage of the chaotic scene to skirt around the back of the building to see what was on the other side. She was shortly joined by Gabilan, and they encountered a strange scene: a wooden bridge extended from the building across water, and on one-side of the bridge were more than half-a-dozen severed heads of the frog-like people impaled on pikes. The impaled heads all seemed to be arguing with each other about something. Seated mid-span of the bridge and kicking its legs over the edge was a strange, small creature: a thing with a gourd-like head and two massive lobster claws for arms. It seemed to be talking to itself, and it became apparent that some of the severed heads were listening to it, while ones farther away were asking the others what the creature was saying. The gourd-headed creature took notice of Willamina and Gabilan and ran to greet them in a friendly, ungainly manner. As it approached, it became clear that he was a construct of some sort: he had stick legs and his body consisted of clothing stuffed with straw. While the small scarecrow had no mouth, it was able to speak clearly, its child-like voice emanating from the vicinity of its body, and it announced that it's name was Clabberclaw. Something inside the gourd - possibly a few coins or something similar - clinked around as Clabberclaw talked and gesticulated. Eventually the embers in the balloon factory were doused or contained, and the rest of the group joined Willamina and Gabilan and met Clabberclaw. Clabberclaw proudly proclaimed,"I used to be a kid! But a monster bit my head off!" Further queries clarified that Clabberclaw was the spirit or soul of a nine- or ten-year-old kid who had been killed and found himself in an afterlife "where everyone was fighting all the time! I hid behind a rock for a long, long time." [Our Descent Into Avernus players immediately speculated that Clabberclaw had spent time in Hell!] Clabberclaw further explained that he had been found in this place by the hag Granny Nightshade, who had built his current body. The head she had also given him was a cool stag skull that he was very proud of. Unfortunately, Granny Nightshade was very cruel to him, so he eventually fled here to Downfall, where he discovered that Bavlorna Blightstraw is just as scary as Granny Nightshade. At some point, a brigand named Agdon Longscarf had stolen his original head, forcing him to wear the gourd instead (he had also briefly tried on a watermelon at the time Gabilan and Willamina first spotted him, although he had crushed that in his massive pincers after deciding it wasn't for him.) Clabberclaw believed that Agdon took the stag skull back to Bavlorna's so that she could have it for a trophy. Without really asking, Clabberclaw joined the group and kept rambling on to them. He certainly had the energy of a nine-year-old kid. At Zabbas’ suggestion, the group continued towards the king that the guards had referenced, reasoning that he may have some interest in learning the fate of Wigglewog, who had helped Sir Talavar to escape from Bavlorna Blightstraw. The group continued over the bridge of severed heads, apparently composed of past leaders of the community, and made their way to a small island dominated by a dome supported by marble columns. Underneath the dome lounge a dozen frog-like folk, with one sitting on a throne. The one on the throne was surrounded by sleepy-looking guards. A small alligator, a pet, nestled at the feet of the person on the throne. The person on the throne, presumably the good King Gollop XIX, was engrossed in reading a massive tome sitting on his lap. The guards, armored in plate mail and carrying glaives, didn’t notice the team at first until another guard arrived from dousing flames at the balloon factory. One guard took note and nudged the others to attention, which caused the king to look up from his massive book. The creature on the throne looked at the group in disdain, and thundered, “Who disturbs the Good King Gollop XIX without proper entry?!” King Gollop slammed his book closed and stared questioningly at the team. His guards, now roused, regarded them with the same expression. Zabbas spoke for the group and said that they had news of Wigglewog. “Wigglewog, the traitor?” The king roared with suspicion. Zabbas explained that Wigglewog was dead, but didn’t provide additional information. The king seemed satisfied that Wigglewog was dead, declaring him a traitor that had stolen something from Bavlorna Blightstraw and had been the cause of the balloon factory fire, and was generally incurious about how the team had come to this information. Some requests from the group about how they might obtain a balloon went nowhere, and the conversation seemed to be coming to its inevitable end until it was clear that gears were turning inside King Gullop XIX’s mind. He raised the large book that had been closed in his lap, and stated that he had recently found it, it belonged to Bavlorna, and the group was the right people to return it to Bavlorna. He presented the book to the group, demanding that they return it to Bavlorna without mentioning him. He told them that this would make them great friends of the good King Gullop XIX. The spine on the book read “Bavlorna’s Book of Bad Blood”.
- Heather Thompson as Gabilan
- Nicole Thompson as Tinga
- Katy Asher as Willamina
- Mack McFarland as Zabbas Shackleton Fluffenstuff
- Jess Jennings as Buster Unit 37
The Path Less Traveled
After the brigands of Brigand's Tollway were routed (and Agdon Longscarf turned to stone), the group climbed to the top of the giant stump and searched through the tents situated on top of it. They found various trinkets, personal effects, and some foodstuffs, including truffles that had possibly been stolen from JingleJangle. Taking some of the food for themselves, they continued onto the wooden walkways on the opposite side of the stump in the direction of the town of Downfall. Eventually the series of wooden walkways split off into different directions and gradually ended. As far as the group could tell, they had two viable options: a walkway in the direct direction of Downfall led to an open plain of water, while a separate one led to a disused path on an elevated section of ground. The disused path seemed to angle slightly away from where they were told that they would find downfall, but it seemed like a better option than trying to cross open, featureless water. The path the group followed was barely more than a game trail, but meandered up through higher ground that hadn't experienced the flooding of other areas in the swamp. After traveling for some time, the group encountered a tin platter sitting on a stump. Objects on the platter were covered with a small, thin sheet. Cautiously removing the sheet, they discovered that it was a platter of cupcakes. The cupcakes came in two variations: one with a pale yellowish-green frosting and the other with a very pink frosting. Although the group wasn't sure of the provenance of the cupcakes, or even if they were intentionally left for the group, Tinga chose to sample the one of the pink cupcakes, which tasted like "red" flavor. Zabbas and Buster grabbed greenish cupcakes, which tasted like pistachio. The cupcakes had the effect of brightening the day [represented by some temporary hit points], dilating the eaters' pupils, and causing them to see tracers in the air. After encountering the mystery cupcakes, the group pushed on, happy to see that the trail was curving back in their intended direction. Eventually the trail began to return to lower ground and opened up into what appeared to be a large, somewhat soggy, field. As they walked through the field, they saw bits of metal and other manmade artifacts strewn about the ground. What appeared at first as a three foot tall boulder turned out to be the massive skull of a deformed giant. Further exploration of the field revealed that this had been the site of some battle between humanoid-sized creatures (probably of elven lineage based on the designs of their armor) and these large giants. As the group was passing through the field, a few of the humanoid skeletons arose to standing positions and begun mimicking the movements of those that first saw them. The movements weren't threatening, just strangely repetitive of the members of the group's actions. As the team exited the field, the skeletons sunk back down into the mire - these skeletons weren't willing or able to accompany the party on their travels. The path further descended until the terrain began to reach the area of open water. As the ground slowly sunk into the water, the area became a muddy field where gas bubbles slowly rose and popped. While the team tried to avoid the popping gas bubbles, Willamina got a little too close to one and inhaled the fumes that were released from whatever was rising from the surface. Although she felt no ill effects from the gas, it quickly became obvious when she tried to speak that everyone was only hearing her babble. Even Tinga, wearing the Charm of Convivial Conversation, couldn't understand the nonsense that was coming out of Willamina's mouth. [Katy was given Inspiration for not speaking while Willamina was affected this way.]The Inn at the End of the Road
The path had descended into an expanse of open, flooded water, and there were very few trees protruding from the waters that the group could use to track their progress. They'd become entirely reliant on Willamina's sense of the general direction towards Downfall that JingleJangle had pointed out, and Willamina had to resort to miming directions since her speech couldn't be understood. Travel over the water wasn't an issue with Willamina's ability to control everyone's relationship to water, but crossing open water was still something of a strange experience. Walking across open water was akin to trying to walk on a waterbed, and any sort of shift or disturbance in the water level reminded everyone of their mystical buoyancy. The water levels hadn't risen or receded so much to be noticeable across most travel, but something large was now creating large ripples across the water that made everyone bob up and down as they walked. Something big was coming in the group's general direction, and they considered the little options that they had in this misty expanse of a flooded plain. Soon enough, the moving object - and it was an object, not a creature - lurched itno site: it was a three-story inn fording through the water as it rested on dozens of humanoid legs. Something pleasant was being cooked inside, and the group decided to grab at the doorway and pull themselves up and inside as the inn walked past them. While the inn noticeably rocked back and forth while walking on its myriad legs, no such effect was felt inside the building itself. It felt as sturdy and stable as if it rested on solid ground, but looking out the doors and windows, the horizon swayed back and forth as the building moved from the swamp. Zabbas couldn't look outside for very long without becoming seasick. The innkeeper emerged from a kitchen and introduced herself as Tsu Harabax and welcomed the group to the "Inn at the End of the Road". She was currently the sole occupant of the inn, and was happy to have some visitors. Upon learning that team was planning to confront the Hourglass Coven in order to recover their stolen memories, Tsu invited them to stay for the night at her invitation - knowing that their were others opposed to the Hourglass Coven was payment enough for her. After providing everyone with a dinner of a delicious stew, Tsu explained that for a long time the Hourglass Coven had acted as advisers for Zybilna, the rule of Prismeer. Somehow, however, they had taken power and had split Prismeer into the three domains of Hither, Thither, and Yon. The Inn at the End of the Road was passing through Hither at the time, and became stuck in the swamps, unable to visit the forested hills of Thither or the craggy mountains of Yon. Tsu had largely been alone in the inn since the fracture of Prismeer, although a rather unpleasant group had stayed at the end less than a week ago. They called themselves "The League Mean-ness" of some other ridiculous name. While Tsu was good company overall, there were a few times that she referenced having a dark and violent past. She avoided providing any details, but the group got a sense that there may have been some sinister story about how this inn ended up walking on dozens of legs. Towards the end of the night, Tsu asked Zabbas about his chest tattoos and revealed that she, too, was a worshipper of Fharlanghn. She brought him over to a corner shrine to both the Traveler and to her ancestors, and they quietly paid their respects and said their god's version of prayers. In the morning, Tsu had prepared a breakfast of almost everything the team could have possibly wanted. As they sat, digesting their meal, she announced that they'd reached their destination of Downfall.Downfall
Leaving the inn, the group walked into (or rather onto) a channel of water between two small hills. The fog in this area was even thicker than in other parts of the swamp, and even though the channel was only around 30' wide, it made it hard to pick out much detail on the steep hillsides. The group moved forward through the middle of the channel and saw a shape approach them. The shape turned out to be a small rowboat, occupied by two frog-like humanoids wearing fancy but soild and faded clothing. They exclaimed on site of the crew ("Ugh, they're all goblins!" "Now, now, look they're not all goblins: to of them are elven folk") and then the one tending the oars introduced himself as Auguth and his partner as Bloff. Auguth was much more enthusiastic to meet the visitors to Downfall than Bloff was. Auguth offered to bring the group to meet their king, the Good King Gullop XIX, and leapt out of the boat onto land and started guiding the group past a small collection of houses. Along the way, Zabbas mentioned that they'd met someone from here named Wigglewog, and Auguth's demeanor suddenly changed for the worse. While asking Zabbas what they knew about Wigglewog, Auguth led the group to a guard post, where the guards insisted that they must answer to the Good King Gullop XiX. The group chose to accompany the guards since they had been heading in that direction anyway. The guards were also frog-like people - indeed, it seemed that this whole community was comprised of this type of person. The guards led the group across another stream, then past a dock where some rowboats were moored, then past a hot air balloon that was in the process of being prepared by a couple of bullywugs. The group saw the hot air balloon and began to offer aid, but another bullywug ran out of a nearby smoking structure, shouting that the building was on fire. One of the guards, shocked, replied, "Still!?" And both guards ran to assist the fire alarmist. The building, a workshop or factory of some sort, was indeed on fire, or at least significantly smoldering, so the team decided to help as well. Tinga ran inside and grabbed a bucket at the instruction of the bullywug who had first asked for help, filled it with pond water, and chased after embers that seemed to bounce around with a mind of their own. Zabbas and Buster stayed on the outside of the building at first, combining their magic to blast the exterior with a stream of frost.Stream of Frost (Zabbas & Buster team-up evocation cantrip)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60'
Components: V, S (Zabbas must cast Thaumaturgy and Buster must cast Ray of Frost during the round, spell takes effect on second action)
Duration: Instantaneous (continues until one person takes a different action)
A frigid stream of blue-white light sprays towards a creature or object within range. Using both Zabbas' & Buster's Spellcasting Ability bonuses, make a ranged spell attack against the target (+12 for Buster, +7 for Zabbas). On a hit, it takes 1d8 plus Zabbas' & Buster's Spellcasting Ability bonuses (2d8+7), and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of Zabbas' or Buster's next turn, whichever comes first. The spell's damage dice increas by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
While everyone was busy trying to douse the jumping embers, Willamina took advantage of the chaotic scene to skirt around the back of the building to see what was on the other side. She was shortly joined by Gabilan, and they encountered a strange scene: a wooden bridge extended from the building across water, and on one-side of the bridge were more than half-a-dozen severed heads of the frog-like people impaled on pikes. The impaled heads all seemed to be arguing with each other about something. Seated mid-span of the bridge and kicking its legs over the edge was a strange, small creature: a thing with a gourd-like head and two massive lobster claws for arms. It seemed to be talking to itself, and it became apparent that some of the severed heads were listening to it, while ones farther away were asking the others what the creature was saying. The gourd-headed creature took notice of Willamina and Gabilan and ran to greet them in a friendly, ungainly manner. As it approached, it became clear that he was a construct of some sort: he had stick legs and his body consisted of clothing stuffed with straw. While the small scarecrow had no mouth, it was able to speak clearly, its child-like voice emanating from the vicinity of its body, and it announced that it's name was Clabberclaw. Something inside the gourd - possibly a few coins or something similar - clinked around as Clabberclaw talked and gesticulated. Eventually the embers in the balloon factory were doused or contained, and the rest of the group joined Willamina and Gabilan and met Clabberclaw. Clabberclaw proudly proclaimed,"I used to be a kid! But a monster bit my head off!" Further queries clarified that Clabberclaw was the spirit or soul of a nine- or ten-year-old kid who had been killed and found himself in an afterlife "where everyone was fighting all the time! I hid behind a rock for a long, long time." [Our Descent Into Avernus players immediately speculated that Clabberclaw had spent time in Hell!] Clabberclaw further explained that he had been found in this place by the hag Granny Nightshade, who had built his current body. The head she had also given him was a cool stag skull that he was very proud of. Unfortunately, Granny Nightshade was very cruel to him, so he eventually fled here to Downfall, where he discovered that Bavlorna Blightstraw is just as scary as Granny Nightshade. At some point, a brigand named Agdon Longscarf had stolen his original head, forcing him to wear the gourd instead (he had also briefly tried on a watermelon at the time Gabilan and Willamina first spotted him, although he had crushed that in his massive pincers after deciding it wasn't for him.) Clabberclaw believed that Agdon took the stag skull back to Bavlorna's so that she could have it for a trophy. Without really asking, Clabberclaw joined the group and kept rambling on to them. He certainly had the energy of a nine-year-old kid. At Zabbas’ suggestion, the group continued towards the king that the guards had referenced, reasoning that he may have some interest in learning the fate of Wigglewog, who had helped Sir Talavar to escape from Bavlorna Blightstraw. The group continued over the bridge of severed heads, apparently composed of past leaders of the community, and made their way to a small island dominated by a dome supported by marble columns. Underneath the dome lounge a dozen frog-like folk, with one sitting on a throne. The one on the throne was surrounded by sleepy-looking guards. A small alligator, a pet, nestled at the feet of the person on the throne. The person on the throne, presumably the good King Gollop XIX, was engrossed in reading a massive tome sitting on his lap. The guards, armored in plate mail and carrying glaives, didn’t notice the team at first until another guard arrived from dousing flames at the balloon factory. One guard took note and nudged the others to attention, which caused the king to look up from his massive book. The creature on the throne looked at the group in disdain, and thundered, “Who disturbs the Good King Gollop XIX without proper entry?!” King Gollop slammed his book closed and stared questioningly at the team. His guards, now roused, regarded them with the same expression. Zabbas spoke for the group and said that they had news of Wigglewog. “Wigglewog, the traitor?” The king roared with suspicion. Zabbas explained that Wigglewog was dead, but didn’t provide additional information. The king seemed satisfied that Wigglewog was dead, declaring him a traitor that had stolen something from Bavlorna Blightstraw and had been the cause of the balloon factory fire, and was generally incurious about how the team had come to this information. Some requests from the group about how they might obtain a balloon went nowhere, and the conversation seemed to be coming to its inevitable end until it was clear that gears were turning inside King Gullop XIX’s mind. He raised the large book that had been closed in his lap, and stated that he had recently found it, it belonged to Bavlorna, and the group was the right people to return it to Bavlorna. He presented the book to the group, demanding that they return it to Bavlorna without mentioning him. He told them that this would make them great friends of the good King Gullop XIX. The spine on the book read “Bavlorna’s Book of Bad Blood”.
Report Date
20 Aug 2023
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