06.1 Deeper Into The Swamp

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Kalans Revenge Mercenaries
Company members:-
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Krachtig – A wanted Gnome
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
Saeryn Ghent – Fighter – (Kalans Sister)

Swamps and Dragons

We gather the loot from the creatures and dimensional fold back to Jans Landing to rest up.  We meet up with Krachtig who is being as furtive as ever, but decides to join us again.
We continue wading through the swamp, or in the case of Lanneus and Taran walking lightly on top of the water and muck.  We are beset by huge creatures composed entirely of vegetation, they look like giant compost heaps with a smell to match, which does just about masks the odor of wet gnome.  The mounds shamble our way and attack.  Fire does nothing to harm them and it is down to the skill of the fighters to cut apart these monsters, but it is hard work.
Knowing we are getting ever closer to the center of the swamp where the dread dragon is supposed to be, we send out some scouts.  Galvish notices what appears to be an elf in the distance and goes to investigate.  Nothing can be seen when he arrives there.  A short while later the weeds, vines, roots and other vegetable matter start tripping us up and binding round our legs, simultaneously a number of elves and trolls attack.  We are in the middle of a mass of a writhing swamp and have to struggle to get to the edge of it to face these creatures.  Saeryn is held firm and cannot move.  Taran and Lanneus move forward to face the Evil Druids who have cast the Entangle spell and some dark hued lizard men.  Carinne casts fireballs one after another and causes immense damage to the trolls, incinerating four of them and causing the last one to flee.  Barrigan has made his way next to one scared looking druid who had a bunch of troll allies mere minutes ago, one axe swing later the elf is lying on the ground minus a leg and promptly surrenders.  Taran is trying to cut his way trough to the head druid but is hampered by the Paladin slipping and falling in front of him nearly every step he takes, he is further slowed by being the victim of an Unholy Word, a high level spell, marking the Druid as one of very high rank.  Finally he is blinded by a light spell to his eyes, leaving him flailing at summoned crocodiles and trying not to hit comrades nearby.
Krachtig has troubles of his own, he has managed to fly above the vegetation and get behind two of the archers and overcomes them with arcane spells.  However, a summoned shambling mound tries to swat him out of the air like an odd shaped balloon.  This creature pursues him everywhere before it is finally killed.  The chief druid manages to escape but we have taken two prisoners.  After careful questioning we learn of a pyramid in the heart of the swamp where a Black Dragon is forming some sort of glittering top to it.  There are many more elves and lizard creatures there and the dragon makes frequent sacrifices.

We tie the prisoners to trees so they can eventually escape and make our plans on how to approach this place, being 5 miles away.  We settle on a Gnomish teleport of a priest so we can dimensional fold the rest of our team through.  Being cautious we teleport in too high and Taran notices the dragon take off and head our way, we quickly arrive at the ground and lie low until it goes away.  We bring the rest of the group through and work out a strategy to scout the encampment and attack.
Carinne will summon some creatures on the other side of the camp to create a diversion while the rest of the group move silently and invisibly to the high druids hut to try and take him out.  This works successfully and we are soon engaged in melee inside the building.  The high druid tries to cast Taran then Lanneus into a flaming pit, but their devotion to Mannanan Mac Lir is strong and they do not succumb.  Again the high druid manages to escape via a plant teleport spell.  There is one worrying moment when Carinne is charmed by the enemy mage and throws a fireball into the building, injuring some of us, this magic is quickly dispelled and we rush outside to confront the mage.  Barrigan and Taran run to attack him, we batter down his stone skins only to find he has a cold shield around him, the blows that Barrigan land are returned in cold damage and he falls to the ground unconscious, shambling mounds surround the pair but Taran manages to lean over and heal his fellow warrior.

The chronicler has to depart and a synopsis of events follow.

Taran and the Dwarf almost died killing the mage thanks to his cold shields.  Some more Shambling mounds showed up, attacking Taran and the Dwarf and Carinne and Galvish.  Krachtig wandered over to that last hut with guards--all by his little lonesome.  The Paladin came to help Taran and the Dwarf since he had dropped to the floor.  Then some Giant Crocs showed up.  Saeryn dropped down lifeless.  The Dwarf went and healed her with his bead.  The Shambling Mound stuffed the Paladin's head into its belly.  Taran fell to the ground.  Barrigan came back and healed Taran with his prayer bead of curing.  The Paladin broke out.  People killed some crocs.  Krachtig got heard by one of the guards and snuck around and backstabbed the other, but didn't kill him.  The last Shambling Mound managed to stuff Tarans head into its belly.  Krachtig wound up facing both guards and they both saved--Gnome was much pissed about this, especially in his pants area.....  Taran escaped from the shambling mounds suffocating effect.  The Shambling Mounds were slain.  The Elves on the pyramid at some point were starting to shoot some arrows down upon us.  The Gnome managed to knock out one of the Elves with his Color Spray.  Galvish dropped.  There were still ~4 Crocs.  Krachtig was down to operating on his Torc (at minuses).  The Dwarf said we should Di di Mao.  Paladin wanted to grab some intel from the hut, Krachtig said he couldn't get back to the group.  No consensus could be met about waiting, so the Dwarf opened the portal.  The Paladin grabbed a satchel from the hut and ran through.  Carinne grabbed sleepy cousin Galvish and ran through.  Saeryn followed the paladin's lead and grabbed a chest and ran through.  Taran limped through badly wounded.  The Gnome teleported out on his own.

The papers we recovered from the satchel and chest even though about half were unreadable as they were in another language.  Nobody reads it.  Carinne thinks it might be Mulvanian since she speaks it but does not read it.  And, coincidentally, Mulvania is ruled (at least behind the scenes) by an evil druid cult........how convenient!  The other papers were in Elven (mostly) or Barelinian or Garithian (spoken by folks on this side of the island).  Mostly they contained info about some areas they are trying to influence or control, some Humanoid tribes and stuff they are trying to influence on the coast here, and notes about prominent folks on the island.  Including many of us......