Marsh Madness
Play began with the party travelling to an Utari village (kotan) to rest and await further instruction from Lady Haldora. As they approached the village they discovered and ambushed a raiding party of lizardmen led by a lizard shaman. Theolis snuck through the reeds, placed his Hunters Mark on the shaman and then killed the lizardman with one arrow. Pasco disintegrated the skulls of two lizardman warriors with a Shatter spell and the rest fled into the reeds. After having driven off the ambush the party was welcomed into a diminished Utari village on the shores of a small lake, and brought before Huisak, the matron of the village.
The Ranger clearly excels at dealing damage, with two shorts words, hunters mark, and colossus slayer Theolis can dish out 8-30 points of damage in one strike at level 3!
Mysterios IX and Bata wandered in late. We rolled in the “Lost in the woods” table. While lost the wizard found a flower that changes the sex of whatever eats it, and the Druid met and impregnated a fey.
Unfortunately the wizard nor anyone else ate the flower, but Bata now has a fey child out in the woods somewhere….
Huisak asked them to stay and share in the catfish stew she was preparing. She questioned why Pasco and Bata did not carry the crocodile tooth sword that denoted them as Utari men, and asked why Tekka did not have a bear cub that marked her as a woman. The hero’s explained that they indeed sought these things and were ready to undergo the Utari rites of passage. After the meal, Paco played Swamp Hen with the matrons brother Resak, and as they both faced all three spear throws neither lost the game. That night, as they slept in the reed huts of the Utari, Huisak climbed into Theolis’s (the only Utari adult male of the party) sleeping mat. While Tekka turned down the advances of Husaiks young brother Akisi.
Huisaks clan has only two families so the arrival of other Utari (even half-Utari) presented an opportunity to grow. I’m not squeamish about sex in my D&D but we don’t go into detail.
The next day, Pasco and Bata set off with Huisak’s brothers to check the fish traps and seek crocodile hearts so that they could offer them to the Reed Witch as part of the ritual to attain manhood. Theolis accompanied Tekka to find a grey bear den and capture a cub so that she could become a woman. Tolbert and Mysterios IX wandered the swamp to find spell components.
Pasco and Bata found crocodiles basking on an islet near the Utari fish traps. Pasco cast Vicious Mockery on one to draw it out, and as the creature was charging hit it with Shatter, this of course roused the other three and in a moment the Bard and Druid where facing four angry crocodiles. Tolbert and Mysterios IX where near enough to hear the Shatter spell and rushed in its direction. Bata protected Pasco with Spike Growth and by the time the wizard and paladin arrived they had slain the creatures. After taking the hearts the party then set about skinning and cleaning the reptiles. As they were headed back to the village, the smell of the crocodile meat attracted the attention of a Black Dragon Wyrmling. Pasco lashed its psyche with the Dissonant Whispers spell and the dragon was scared off.
I think the players were kind of disappointed they didn't actually get to slay a dragon even if it was but a wyrmling. I almost never use them but this game is supposed to be exploring some of the standard 5e rules so they exist in the setting. Nevertheless, the Dissonant Whispers hurt and caused the dragon to move its maximum distance away. It made sense for it to flee, it’s not stupid and I bet they will get another chance at a dragon.
Meanwhile, to the west of the Utari kotan, Theolis led Tekka to a Grey Bear den in order to capture a cub. Tekka sent her sprite familiar into the den to explore, and when the invisable Dustbelly was quickly captured by the Grey Bear mother, Tekka decided to parlay.
She learned from the Bear Mother that the first secret of the Utari matrons is that they exchange their firstborn for a bear cub, both to be slain blood for blood, a custom the bonds the Utari with the Bear and comes from a pact made when the Utari first came to the swamp. Tekka, being only half Utari was hesitant, until she realized she would be unlikely to have children and agreed to the exchange. The Bear Mother called upon the Faerie Queen to hear their bargain and touched Tekka on her abdomen telling her that “what comes of this is mine.” She then relinquished a bear cub to the warlock, that she might raise it to adulthood and then slaughter it to show her understanding of the natural order and fulfill the ancient pact between Bear and Man.
She learned from the Bear Mother that the first secret of the Utari matrons is that they exchange their firstborn for a bear cub, both to be slain blood for blood, a custom the bonds the Utari with the Bear and comes from a pact made when the Utari first came to the swamp. Tekka, being only half Utari was hesitant, until she realized she would be unlikely to have children and agreed to the exchange. The Bear Mother called upon the Faerie Queen to hear their bargain and touched Tekka on her abdomen telling her that “what comes of this is mine.” She then relinquished a bear cub to the warlock, that she might raise it to adulthood and then slaughter it to show her understanding of the natural order and fulfill the ancient pact between Bear and Man.
I don’t know if Tekka’s player had decided that Tekka thinks humans are savage before this encounter but Tekka now clearly has disdain for the human tribes. The Queen's law IS savage, the law of the jungle. When all the animals can talk it takes a certain understanding to fulfill the natural order and eat flesh. The animals are bound by the Queen's Law to eat prescribed prey, The Northrons and Southrons follow these laws, and although they are typically the apex predator their flesh too is fair game for certain animals. The customs and beliefs of the human tribes developed from the early contact with the animals and veneration or pacts with predators is essential for survival. The Elfs on the other hand, are from the moon not the wood and are thus not part of the natural order. This sets up a cool conflict in Tekka and Pasco who are half-elfin. Especially in Tekka, who gets her magic from the Queen but seems unable to accept the nature of the wood.
When the party rejoined at the village, the children of Isonash were taken to the hunters chisay and the matrons chisay for the next step in their coming of age ritual. Bata and Pasco where ritually purified with incense and tattooed along their collar bones. They were each given an emush, short swords fashioned from the teeth of giant crocodiles, and told to keep them sheathed until the Reed Witch granted permission to draw them. Tekka sat in communion with Huisak. The young warlock was irritated that Utari children were offered to the Bears and only agreed to have her hands tattooed and accept the spoon that marked her as a woman ready to breed in order to honor her father.
In celebration of the hero’s coming of age, Huisak prepared deer sausage wrapped in pukusa and served it with sito millet dumplings. While they ate Akihi burst into the chisay and warned that lizardmen were poised to attack again. The hero’s rushed outside and prepared to face ten lizardman she-warriors who were driving three giant toads to avenge the death of their husband, the shaman.
The lizardmen were separated into two groups of five on either flank with the toads in the center. After an initial volley of lizard javelins wounded Pasco and Mysterios IX , everyone in the party fell back to seek cover except Bata the Druid and Tolbert the Paladin who bravely charged the right flank.
The toads proved to be slow, and two were slain by Theolis’s arrows, Mysterios IX Witch Bolt, and Tekka’s Eldrtich Blast before they reached the mobile and withdrawing defenders. Pasco put most of the lizardmen on the left flank out of action with a Sleep spell. On the right, Tekka managed to gain mental control of one Lizardman with Crown of Madness, and Tolbert hewed through his foes with the mighty swings of his maul. Bata seemed unable to find his footing but was fortunately assisted by the Utari hunters. In the center, Theolis stood his ground to face the last giant toad and after failing to kill it, was swallowed whole. Pasco quickly slew the beast with an arrow and the ranger survived being eaten. With their toads and most of their sisters dead, the remaining lizardmen surrendered, and Tolbert took them into custody.
In gratitude Huisak prepared pipes of dried drowsyflowsy and once everyone (except the scornful Tekka) had imbibed she chanted a story of the golden otter and the tribes that made war to attain her. That night, the matron again lay with Theolis. The next morning she told the party that she had dreamed they would help her clan finish the crannog in the pond, so that they would be protected from further attacks. She explained that a fox had made a burrow on the island, and that they could not complete the fortress since they considered the fox to be sacred. She asked the hero’s for help, and we ended the game.
I awarded XP for the lizardmen that fled as well as the Black Dragon Wyrmling. Overcoming a monster does not explicitly mean slaying it. In fact, sometimes not killing a monster is worth more than just XP. Most of the party gained a level. Going from 1-4 in six sessions seems like a fairly quick pace, but looking at the advancement chart it seems that it's a pretty big jump between 4-5. Most of the players have figured out combat strategies that play to their class strengths, and some of them have even started to discover who their characters are.
No comments:
Post a Comment