| The Three Faces Of Evil |
| Blackwall Keep | |
 |
The day after the destruction of the Avatar of the Overgod was spent in shopping and preparations. The day after that, they finally set out for the Mistmarsh.
The trip itself proved uneventful, however Allustan proved to be an excellent companion on the trip telling many tales of his experiences as an adventurer. When they got closer to the keep on the third they could see oily black smoke pouring up into the sky over the hill.
While the three dwarves decided to take the direct approach to see what was happening, and route-marched up the hill to get a better view, Allustan, Eric Esmeralda and Reverb, followed the path round the hill. About half a mile ahead they could see the keep under assault by lizardfolk - oily black smoke rising from the stables. Allustan, seeing the battle raging ahead, pulled up his horse sharply..."If the Lizardfolk have risen we are in grave danger, I must warn my brother and bring help from the garrison." Dismounting and taking a scroll from his case, he turned to Eric. "do what you can to help the troopers, and don't forget you must locate Marzena and discover what she knows.... ah, and look after my horse!" with that he read from the scroll and vanished!
Esmeralda asked Eric to give her a few minutes and began sneaking forward to get to a better position, using the scrub for cover. |
Behind her, Reverb followed cautiously while the three dwarves on top the hill nearby hefted their weapons and began a purposeful march down towards the conflict. Seeing the dwarves about to reach the first group of lizardfolk, Eric spurred Hercules, and charged into a second group, longsword swinging and hooves crashing. Nearby, Esmeralda broke cover and sneak-attacked one of the lizardfolk Eric had charged. As Reverb started launching magic missiles, the combat was joined in earnest - it was a brutal and furious affair, lizardfolk were falling like trees, but not before doing their fair share of injury to the party. At one point Esmeralda had to withdraw to take a potion, leaving Eric sorely pressed, fortunately Reverb was able to come to her aid, dropping a fireball on the lizardfolk warriors that crowded the paladin. The dwarves, hacked, hewed and hammered their way through what seemed like dozens of the scaly warriors, till they reached the burned-out stables.
From the stables they could see a further group of lizardfolk assaulting the door of the keep, under a rain of arrows from the defenders. This group seemed to be led by a larger lizardfolk with a steel shield and by a smaller female urging them on. Not pausing, Einkill ran up the motte, dodging the spikes that dotted the area. Stellig and Redbeard, barely drawing breath, followed along up the path.
The lizardfolk champion, seeing Einkill, charged down to meet the dwarf, smashing at him with his club. Einkill swerved past him and used the blinding effect on his shield to distract the warriors attempting to break down the door of the keep. As Redbeard and Stellig joined the fray, down, below, Eric finished off the last of the lizardfolk she was fighting and charging her mount up the path to the door of the keep attacking the female lizardfolk druid. As the battle near the keep door raged, Esmeralda and Reverb trotted up the path, not noticing the lizardfolk reinforcements that were making their way round the base of the motte. When the sorcerer and the rogue arrived at the top the battle was all but over, the last lizardfolk warrior, recovering from being blinded and, seeing the corpse of the champion, fled down the far side of the motte calling out in draconic to his fellows below that Kushak had fallen!
Seeing the last lizardfolk flee from the doorway, one of the troopers inside opened the door and called out "Quickly, inside before they regroup!" Reverb took the trooper up on his offer with alacrity, but Stellig with typical bravado hefted his axe and said, "We're fine out here!" At that moment he noticed the group of lizardfolk moving up the pathway, and charged them, accompanied a fraction later by Redbeard. Esmeralda and Einkill, both wounded, headed for the safely of the keep, Stellig and Redbeard were swarmed by lizardfolk warriors. Eric rode down to see if she could help, but Stellig went down crushed to a bloody pulp under a hail of blows. From the edge of the fray she offered Redbeard her arm to haul him up onto Hercules's back, but the dwarf was too taken by battle fever. A moment later he too was swarmed by lizardfolk and fell beneath their clubs. Realising she could do no more, the paladin turned and spurred Hercules back up the path and into the keep angrily pursued by lizardfolk.
Inside the keep Reverb had made his way to the roof, where two weary looking guards stood. Looking over the parapet she saw the lizardfolk swarming up the path. However they paused when they reached the bodies of Kushak and the druid. A great wail went up from them and the charge faltered. As the lizardfolk recovered the bodies of their slain, Reverb cast a last contemptuous scorching ray at them as if to emphasise their defeat further. Down below Esmeralda and Einkill found the sergeant who after thanking them for their efforts, told them Marzena had been accompanying a patrol that had been ambushed on its return to the keep at the start of the siege and was now a captive of the lizardfolk.
After the wounded soldiers in the keep had been seen to, Einkill went to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades outside and to prepare the appropriate dwarven funeral rites. While he did so, Eric and Reverb discussed their options with the sergeant-at-arms. The grizzled veteran advised them to get in touch with Aramil, an elf who sometimes acted as a tracker for the garrison who lived in a copse a couple of miles north of the keep Aramil knew as much as anyone about this end of the Mistmarsh and might be wiling to act as a guide.
Eager to make progress, they collected Einkill, then Eric summoned Hercules and helping Reverb up behind her they rode out, Einkill plodding along behind. About a mile north of the keep, as the sun was setting they could hear the sound of chanting prayer from the roadside ahead. Eric recognised the chant as a hymn to Xan-Yae; and pulled up. By the roadside, a female half orc, clad in the simple robes of a cleric was finishing her daily rituals. As she finished she turned and bowed saying “The Holy Warrior, the Priest of the Forge and the Trickster Sorcerer… you’re late!”
Somewhat nonplussed by this unconventional greeting Eric, Einkill and Reverb looked at each other. “I am Moonflower; my abbot has sent me to replace The Follower of the Way who has now taken another path. Come, we must locate The Pathfinder!” With that the half-orc picked up her quarterstaff and began to pace along the road beside them. As they travelled along the road they group got to know their new companion, who detailed how she had grown up in the Twilight Monastery. Another mile or so along the road, they arrived at the copse the sergeant-at-arms had told them of. For a while they pondered how to locate Aramil, when Moonflower took things into her own hands and shouted out “Pathfinder, we have need of you!”
From a nearby bush a voice called out “No need to shout, I’m right next to you” and a slender elf clutching a bow stepped out into view. “Now what do you folks want?” Quickly Eric explained what had happened at the fort and when she told the elf that Marzena had been taken he readily agreed to help. Heading back to the keep to spend the night, the party discussed their options while Aramil enlightened them as to the conditions they could expect in the Mistrmarsh.
Next morning, after an early breakfast, they set off into the swamp - it was every bit as unpleasant as the elf had told them it would be. Mostly they were wading calf-deep in mud and, as the morning mist lifted, they were continually assailed by biting insects. Led by their sure-footed guide they moved deeper and deeper into the swamp, heading for the rough area Aramil believed the Twisted Branch tribe’s encampment lay. Two days later having survived attacks by crocodiles, ghouls and yet more crocodiles, not to mention Eric nearly drowning, they arrived on the edge of the Twisted Branch tribe’s territory.
Moving more carefully now, Aramil led the party forwards, suddenly he spotted a small lizardman patrol, reading his bow he warned his compatriots and fired off a shot at one of the lizardfolk. Einkill thinking swiftly, cast walk on water on himself, Reverb and Eric, and battle was joined. The lizardfolk were made short work of, but following the direction they had attempted to flee in – towards a mangaroo grove - Aramil eventually located the entranceway to the lair. As they moved cautiously into the darkness of the lizardfolk lair, Eric took the lead. Aramil dropped to the back next to Reverb and Moonflower while Einkill, immediately behind the paladin, peered warily into the darkness looking for threats. For those without darkvision, Esmeralda held an everburning torch aloft to give some light in the gloom. Coming to an intersection,. They took the right hand path, and almost immediately stumbled into a room where five lizardfolk waited. Eric and Esmeralda managed to get partially into the room to engage the lizardfolk.
 |
While Reverb cast magic
missiles , and Moonflower started
slinging stones, Einkill moved slightly further down the passageway where a
short staircase led down to another room. With his darkvision he could see more
lizardfolk grabbing javelins and clubs – alerted by the noise above. Seeing him
they turned and launched a fusillade of javelins at the dwarf. The cleric, in
return, cast an obscuring mist
blocking himself and the stairway off from view and retreated to the top of the
stairway taking up a defensive posture. |
The lizardfolk however, didn’t play along and after a period of inactivity began tossing brushwood from the safely of the corridor into the entrance. Realising that the lizardfolk meant to smoke them out, Einkill and Eric led a charge out of the room Einkill going to the right, Eric to the left. Einkil swiftly killed the lizardfolk warrior at the top of the stairs and kicking the corpse down ahead of him headed on down casting spiritual weapon. Eric was faced with five lizardfolk in the corridor but the odds were evened when Reverb cast a web spell which entangled the rearmost four. Eric made short work of the remaining one, however recoiled in horror as small green worms began writhing out of the corpse. Eric’s reaction was as nothing to that of the lizardfolk who screeched in draconic, three of them managed to get free from the web and promptly fled, while the third frantically strove to escape. As Eric watched the worms wriggle and die, unable to survive outside their host, Reverb, understanding draconic, told the paladin that the lizardfolk had shouted something about “the curse returning” as they fled. Realising that they might have a common enemy, the sorcerer and the paladin attempted to calm the remaining lizardman and suggest they might have a common enemy and be able to negotiate. The lizardman after being freed from the web said he would return with the shaman and ran off.
Ten minutes later an elderly lizardman came down the
passageway alone, in halting common he introduced himself as Hishka the shaman
of the tribe. Hishka told them that the tribe had been ravaged by the worms two
years ago – Ilthane a black dragon had told the tribe that the humans were
responsible for the plague which had fostered anti-human sentiment in the tribe.
The shaman was convinced that taking on the humans would only lead to the
tribe’s destruction and offers to make a peace treaty with the fort. The problem
is that the current king and his lieutenant are staunch allies of Ilthane, so in
order for the treaty to be viable the king must be removed. The king also held
the prisoners taken form the fort, including Marzena, whose jaw and fingers had
ruthlessly been broken to stop her spell-casting. The party readily agreed to
the proposal and Hishka gave them instructions on how to find the king’s throne
room. He warned the party that given the disturbance the king and his allies
would be on alert
| Arriving in the throne room the lizard king, a large lizardman, leaped from his throne - grabbing a gleaming trident. His lieutenant and the five guards present moved to intercept the intruders and battle was joined. Reverb cast a magic missile at the king, who retaliated by throwing the trident which, after striking the gnome hard, returned to the king’s hand. The guards and lieutenant formed a line blocking further progress into the throne room. The combat was brutal, the lizardfolk fighting so ferociously that many of the party were sorely wounded and only kept alive thanks to Moonflower and her wand of cure light wounds. Eric at one point found herself facing off to four of the elite guards by herself and was sorely pressend intil esmeralda tumbled behind them to a flanking position ot aid her friend. At another point in the combat Einkill was so sorely pressed he had to cast sanctuary to give himself some respite from the ferocity of the attacks and allow him to heal some of his badly wounded friends. Reverb managed to hit the king with a couple of searing light spells, before badly wounded, she had to withdraw to take potions of healing. |  |
Bloodied and bruised the party surveyed the gore-spattered throne-room as Hishka slowly entered leaning on his stick. He thanked the party for removing the king bust required one more task of them in the cause of peace. The shaman no longer trusted Ilthane and told them that the dragon’s servants were “guarding” that years clutch of eggs that were due to be hatched shortly - he requested that the party remove them. He went on to explain that if the lizardfolk attacked Ilthane's servants the dragon might find out and wreak terrible vengeance on the tribe, however if the rampaging band of adventurers that had just slain the king happend to come upon the dragon's servants.....then the tribe could hardly be blamed!
Agreeing to help Hishka, the party headed down the
passageway towards the hatchery, access to which was via a long
partially-submerged tunnel. Emerging from the other into a sand-floored cave,
they moved forward cautiously. Beyond was another cave guarded by six kobolds in
rusty armour. At the far end of this cave a wall of stacked rocks dammed a large
pool of water. Dashing forward into combat Ilthane’s kobolds proved little match
fro the ferocity of the party’s assault.
While Esmeralda examined a small chest near
where the kobold’s were encamped, the others edged forward to examine the pool.
The water in the pool was shallow, only a few inches deep and it lapped at the
bottom of hundreds of small pale leathery eggs. On the northern end of the pool,
looming over the other eggs like a malignant presence was a halfling-sized black
egg. On the far side of the room a low dirt embankment with three chests atop it
separated that room from another watery area
beyond.
Esmeralda opened the small chest and
found some dark glass potion bottle labelled cure light wounds in draconic and
then joined the others contemplating the pool. Carefully she, Eric and
Moonflower crossed the pool, trying to avoid damaging any of the
lizardfolk eggs however; the chests on the embankment were empty.
Esmeralda then went to examine the large black egg, noticing that behind
it in a small alcove another chest lay partially submerged in water.
She carefully picked up the large egg,
and shivered as she felt something moving inside. Cautiously setting it
down, she began examining the chest for traps. As she did so she heard a
cracking noise next to her! Turning her heard she could see the large egg
disgorging writing masses of green worms. The worms wriggled and squirmed
into the water, disgusted Esmeralda sharply jerked back, however through
some of the worms were squirming up her leg they appeared to shrivel and
die when out of the water. Eric noticed that the some of the worms were
boring into the lizardfolk eggs and calling out to the others, began
rescuing handfuls of the eggs out from the worm-contaminated water.
Realising they were going to need help rescuing the hundreds of eggs from
the pool, Moonflower dashed back to get Hishka and the lizardfolk to help.
The rescue operations were continuing when
suddenly one of the eggs Esmeralda was about to pick up hatched, and an
abomination emerged – a rotting lizardfolk hatchling, bits of eggshell clinging
to its foul hide, and writing with worms. The kyuss spawnling swam to Esmeralda
and bit her. Suddenly the wretched little menace was joined by more of its
kindred and sever other of the infected eggs hatched. While Esmeralda and Eric
hacked away at the monstrosities, Einkill tried to lure one to the land, but the
creatures refused to leave the pool. Re-enforcements arrived suddenly as Hishka
and his warriors arrived and, although recoiling in horror, began retrieving the
eggs they could. As more and more of the spawnlings hatched, to be met by Eric
and Esmeralda’s blades, Einkill realised that as undead they might be turned and
calling on the power of his divinity destroyed a swath of the creatures.
However there were just too many worms and too many eggs and the unequal
struggle continued. Eventually Einkill realised that draining the pool was the
best option and calling on the lizardfolk to help began dismantling the
dam. As the water poured away into the sandy floor, the worms remaining
writhed and died. The last remaining hatchlings were swiftly disposed off and
the last of the uninfected eggs retrieved. Things having quietened down,
Esmeralda finally opened the chest that had caused all the trouble. Inside,
amongst a goodly amount of coin were a magic ring and another eight of the dark
glass vials.
Heading back to the throne room, the party
received the thanks of the tribe and after a night’s rest
headed out accompanied by Hishka and some of his warriors for the fort. Arriving
there a couple of days later, the party went in alone leaving the lizardfolk
waiting just inside the edge of the swamp. They found that the relief column had
arrived from
The party agreed and headed down to the
stables where indeed they found the three guards had risen as spawn of
kyuss. The soldiers nearby fled when they saw the horrific undead, but the
party were made of sterner stuff and after a fierce battle finally managed to
destroy the undead.
Next morning they took the Captain to
Hishka, who told them his warriors had destroyed another Spawn in the swamp that
night. Leaving the soldiers and the lizardfolk to negotiate their treaty, the
group accompanied by Marzena headed back to
A couple of days later in the evening they arrived
at Allustan’s house, the mage laid on one of his splendid high teas and
after feasting, an all-night conference was held; going over all the evidence
they’d collected so far. At the end of the conference they realised they had
lots of pieces of the puzzle but not enough to put everything together.
Allustan suggested they take everything they’d found to an old friend of
his, Elegios the Sage in
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