TOPIC: Tales of the Mud Road discussion

BOOOOOM! I can get behind that!

That would be what I would have done under these circumstances!

Tales of the Mud Road #3a

The party loot the fallen halflings. Dane finds a leathery talisman clutched in the cult leader’s cold, dead fingers, but there is little else of value to be claimed from the pockets of the slain. Xiao recovers her spear from the body of the hydra, then carves out the monster’s heart after Davernoch recalls it is the main ingredient in a potion used to regenerate lost limbs. The heroes also appropriate the runic gong that the cultists rang to summon the guardian beast from behind the waterfall.

Dane releases the gnome tied to the altar. It is indeed Algernon Nibbs, the missing official - but Dane already knew that. It seems that the two of them have a secret arrangement…. The missing guardsmen Owun and Davis are confined to an adjacent cavern. Dane shoots the lock and lets them out.

Davernoch tilts his skull and narrows his eye sockets at the waterfall. He can sense something powerful, calling to him from beyond the aqueous veil. The party swim beneath the cascade and find a hidden grotto, dominated by a monolithic stone ziggurat. Braziers burst into plumes of eerie purple fire, revealing that the steps to the top are littered with skeletons. Undaunted, the heroes begin to climb. Waves of lethargy roll over the party. The higher they ascend, the harder it is to take the next step forward. Dravis and Xiao simply give up, plonking themselves down on the stone steps and refusing to move. Davernoch speculates that the fumes from the braziers are causing their apathy; undisturbed, Dravis and Xiao will waste away until only their bones remain. Davernoch is unaffected because he doesn’t have lungs. Elfie and Yi start tipping the braziers over, extinguishing the purple flames. As though waking from a coma, Dravis and Xiao shake off their torpor and rejoin the others at the top of the ziggurat.

An ugly, seemingly unfinished statue scowls down at the heroes. It looks like the hideous love-child of Buddha and Cthulhu. Davernoch recognises the rude likeness of Zolob the Slovenous, vizier to the demon king. His effigy looms over a metal casket inscribed with a leering demon face, its forked tongue lolling between razor sharp fangs. Yi attempts to open the chest, but can discern no lock or secret panel. Davernoch suspects the casket will only open if it is offered a sacrifice. The heroes glance at each other expectantly, waiting for someone else to volunteer. Yi loses his cool and punches the statue of Zolob in its fat face, cracking it down the middle. Ominous, gurgling laughter seeps through the gap. The ziggurat rumbles beneath their feet and the roof of the cave begins to collapse!

Without further hesitation, Dravis slams his hand down on the lid of the casket, offering his own life to break the seal. The demon face bites into his palm and drinks deeply of his blood, leaving him unconscious and anaemic. Elfie picks up the incapacitated dwarf, while Davernoch opens the chest and withdraws an enormous ruby. The stone glows and pulses with disquieting regularity.

More of the ceiling comes crashing down and the heroes flee to the Mudlark. Algernon orders Dane to cast off immediately, instead of waiting for the others to catch up. Dane backhands the callous gnome across the deck. Once everyone is safely aboard, Dane sets a course for Fourstumps.

Tales of the Mud Road #3b

The rest of the party want to know why they are returning to the halfling village. Dane mutters something about having a score to settle. Davernoch also seems to be harbouring some ill feeling toward the fisher folk, he starts hurling fireballs the moment he is in range. Some of the halflings don crocodile masks and retaliate, the majority panic and flee into the swamp. Dane tells the others to defend the Mudlark and goes alone into the burning village.

Dane finds what he’s looking for in the Mayor’s house. Bertin Noakes is scooping stacks of coin into a large sack, but slowly turns to face the vengeful smuggler when he hears the snap of a pistol being cocked.

“You killed my brother.” Bertin accused, reaching for his knife.

“You stole my boat.” Dane answers, pulling the trigger and blowing a hole in the halfling’s head.

Dane returns to the Mudlark hauling a heavy, bloodstained sack. The party cast off and head for Eaymor’s Trading Post.

En-route, Elfie worries at his wounded arm. The cut from the cult leader’s poisoned blade is itching and oozing something awful. Remembering what Davernoch said about the healing properties of the hydra heart, Elfie slices off a chunk of the bloody organ and rubs it on the wound. Miraculously, this seems to suppress the infection.

The party reach the trading post only to find it in disarray. Eaymor lies wounded behind the bar. After Davernoch heals him, Eaymor cries that the Muddy River Marauders attacked and took his daughter! The heroes agree to rescue Eya… first thing in the morning. Algernon is not prepared to wait around while the party chase after some half-goblin slut, so Dane ties him to a chair. Algernon curses the smuggler and warns that the Longshore family will rue this day! Dane glares at the annoying little prick and wonders if shooting him would be worth the trouble he’d incur by murdering a servant of the crown.

While the party rest, Dravis commandeers Eaymor’s workroom and fabricates a pair of gauntlets with a row of glowing crystals set into the knuckles. When activated, the stones will magnify the damage output of the wearer. Satisfied that his new invention won’t explode, Dravis gives the gauntlets to Yi.

Guard Owun is left behind to watch the gnome, Eaymor and Davis accompany the heroes to the base of the swamp pirates. The marauders are holed up in a wrecked ship lodged halfway up a waterfall. Davernoch suggests the ship might have been swept inland by a tidal wave in the distant past, there are records of such events in the aftermath of the Godswar. The heroes approach stealthily, until Xiao steps on the shell of a howler snail and alerts the entire camp. Two giant toads hop out of the water and attack. Activating his new power fists, Yi punches the first toad so hard that it explodes, then uppercuts the second through the rotten hull of the ship.

Suddenly, the air is full of flame and shrapnel. The cannons on the ship have opened fire! Both Eaymor and Guard Davis are reduced to dog food by the brutal shelling. As the pirates reload the cannons, Davernoch unleashes a burst of electricity, igniting the black powder in the barrels and destroying the ship’s guns.

The door to the captain’s cabin opens and a giant toad emerges from within, a tricorne hat perched rakishly atop its warty head.

‘This must be Captain Billy Wugg, leader of the Muddy River Marauders,’ the heroes surmise.

Captain Billy flicks out his long, sticky tongue at Yi. The human monk is dragged into the toad’s gaping maw! Even as his flesh is dissolved by the beast’s digestive juices, Yi notices there is something else in the stomach (besides him); a treasure chest! Dialling up his gauntlets to maximum power, Yi pummels Captain Billy’s intestines until the toad is shitting blood from its puckered green asshole.

Meanwhile, Xiao searches the ship for Eya and rescues the half-goblin girl from a locked cabin below deck. Eya hugs the warrior princess and tearfully pleads to be taken home to her father.

“Eya-kun….” Xiao starts to say, tailing off as she struggles to break the tragic news.

TBC

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Quest Log

PRIMARY

Return to Knightsbridge and hand in your quests.

SECONDARY

Gather two barrels of dragon snail slime and deliver to Darwen Maybrech in Knightsbridge.
> Reward: TBC.

In retrospect, I probably should have run the huge Marauder fight as two quick encounters;
1: Fighting the pirates
2: Surviving the bombardment
... followed by a smaller tactical combat against the captain.

Sorry I couldn’t make it last night gents, was travelling back from Devon, see you all next week!