7.1 KiB
Session 1
Adventure 1: Mystery at the Old Mill (completed)
The party — Fronda Blarf (Lizardfolk Druid), Twig (Leshy Cleric of Gozreh), and Inigo Montoya (Human Swashbuckler) — set out from Bog Bottom into Dunmire Swamp to investigate the disappearance of several townsfolk last seen near the Old Mill.
Encounter A1 complete: Party forced their way through the vine-choked entrance and defeated three Swamp Beetles in the ground floor. Twig took 2 acid damage total; Inigo took 1 acid damage from Splatter. Found 5 sp, 1 gp, and a minor healing potion.
Encounter A2 complete: Navigated the rotten staircase to the second floor. Fronda (Lizardfolk Druid) successfully befriended the young monitor lizard guarding the ladder, bypassing combat entirely.
Encounter A3 complete: Defeated the boggards with the help of the monitor lizard. Picked up some treasure and rescued the captured townsfolk, taking them back to town.
Back in Bog Bottom: Party reported to Elder Urthrona. Fronda informed her the kidnappers were killed and claimed their reward. Urthrona paid 5 gp each (20 gp total) and directed them to Ladrusa for additional payment. Urthrona pressed the party on what they witnessed in the mill — specifically the Gogunta cult markings and the boggards' talk of flooding — signaling the larger threat is not over.
Session N — Post-Cult Aftermath / The Sunken Chapel Lead
Note: Adventure 2 (Boggard Dam / Zungur) concluded between recorded sessions — see npcs.md and locations.md. With Zungur slain and the dam destroyed, the party is following up on possible cult remnants.
In Bog Bottom — Gather Information: Inigo Montoya canvassed the Drowned Toad tavern and the morning market over 2 hours, trying to learn what connection might remain between the broken cult and any residual flooding threat. Diplomacy total 8 vs DC 20 → Critical Failure. Picked up garbled, partially false intelligence from Old Beck, a half-drunk fisherman: claims a remnant Gogunta cell is holed up in a sunken chapel near Heron's Reach (two days' poling northeast), separate from Zungur's defeated faction. Beck's story misrepresents some details (he claims "flooding" is boggard slang for hatching kin and that the mill boggards were fugitives, not cultists — both untrue), but the underlying lead about a surviving cell is true in spirit. Reframed for play: a real splinter cell exists; Beck's specifics are unreliable.
Hiring Olber: Party paid Old Beck a small bribe for travel advice. Beck offered three routes (main channels, Mire's Throat shortcut via his nephew Olber, or a strider's foot-path). Party hired Olber's skiff via Mire's Throat at 3 gp total (1 gp/head). Expected travel time ~1 day. Known hazards: narrow cypress cuts, dog-sized bullfrogs, and pockets of marsh gas that can ignite from open flame.
Travel Encounter — Slurk (defeated): Party encountered and defeated a Slurk (Creature 2) during passage through Mire's Throat. Fronda Blarf examined the corpse (Nature 23 vs DC 20 → Success) and successfully harvested: 2 doses of back-slime resin, 1 vial of belly grease, and 1 pair of ivory tusks.
Arrival at Heron's Reach: Party emerged from Mire's Throat into the fen. No herons — unnatural silence. The sunken chapel is visible ahead: an old stone structure half-swallowed by the swamp, Gogunta thorn-runes carved into exposed stonework, faint firelight flickering from below the waterline. Two boggard sentries spotted on the chapel roof. Twig hailed them; one sentry went below to sound the alarm. Inigo attempted Diplomacy (16 vs DC 20 — Failure). Combat initiated.
Exterior Cleared: Party defeated the boggard sentries on the chapel roof. The chapel entrance — a dark stone archway — leads down into the flooded interior. Firelight and the smell of rot and incense rise from below. Sister Vratch and the cult await inside. Party deciding on entry approach.
Failed Parley: Inigo called down into the chapel (Diplomacy 13 vs DC 22 — Failure). Vratch refused negotiations, declaring the party trespassers on holy ground. The boggard Scout came up the stairs to block the entrance. Combat beginning — party at the top of the chapel stairs, Scout on the stairs, Vratch at the altar below.
Twig's Nature Check: Twig examined the Gogunta thorn-runes carved into the chapel stonework (Nature 17 vs GM DC 15 — Success). Confirmed: the kidnappings are ritual drowning sacrifices to Gogunta. The flooded nave is the drowning chamber itself. Scratch marks on the submerged walls are evidence of victims held under. The thorn-runes are consecration markings designating the site as a sanctified killing ground.
Fronda's Perception Check: Fronda peered into the submerged nave (Perception 21 vs GM DC 15 items / DC 20 passage — both Success). Found on the nave floor: a Gozreh iron medallion (likely from a victim), a waterlogged pouch (9 sp), two plain iron rings. Also discovered: a submerged door set into the wall behind and below the altar platform, hinges visible under algae growth. Leads to a flooded tunnel — likely the boggards' covert entrance for bringing victims in, or an escape route. Party now aware of an alternate entry point to flank Vratch.
Chapel Combat (completed): Party fought and killed all boggards in the chapel, including Sister Vratch (Boggard Swampseer, the cult leader). Chapel cleared.
Secret Passage / Discovery: Party used the submerged door to access the tunnel behind the altar. Inside the passage they found: (1) a woman named Vanessa, alive and captive; (2) a box resting on a stone plinth — evidently displayed or stored deliberately, not merely discarded. Party took both. Nature/purpose of the box unknown. Vanessa's connection to the cult or the box unclear.
Return to Bog Bottom: Party poled back to Bog Bottom with Olber's skiff, bringing Vanessa and the box. Arrived at the dock in late afternoon. A woman in the crowd recognized Vanessa (possible family member). Trag Femster visibly unsettled by the box. Elder Urthrona called the party to the longhouse.
Longhouse / Drowned Toad: Twig examined the box interior (Perception 14) — found shredded velvet, claw marks, dried ichor, a warm iron disc with a spiraling sigil, and Abyssal script scratched on the lid underside. Fronda asked if anyone speaks Abyssal — Vanessa reacted with recognition and fear. Inigo attempted Arcana on the disc (13 vs DC 16, Failure) — recognized planar-binding notation, warmth indicating active magic, but couldn't identify specifics. Fronda asked Old Beck about the disc at the Drowned Toad — he identified it as a "leash coin," a binding anchor tying a demon to a specific owner. Quasit reportedly killed, but coin still warm — Old Beck warned quasits don't truly die on this plane (reform in the Abyss), and that the coin's warmth suggests the owner is alive and the binding still active. Party asking about tracing the coin and traveling to Absalom. Old Beck directed them toward Pier's End (1 day east) for a coastal vessel to Absalom.
Departure for Pier's End: Party set off east from Bog Bottom toward Pier's End at dusk. — IN PROGRESS