Down Comes the Rain, Part 1 (Wednesday-Thursday, Kuthona (XII) 4th-5th, 4707 AR)
The heroes finished their infiltration of Fort Rannick, putting the spectre they avoided earlier to rest.
Waterfall Cave. The floor of this cave was dotted with puddles. Patches of pale moss and fungus grew in sheets on the wall, while to the north, a five-foot-wide passageway angled up into darkness. A walkway of soggy planks led from this opening southeast to a second opening curtained by cascades of falling water. Apart from the wooden walkway, the floor in this cave was slippery.
Chapel. The walls within this enormous chamber were mounted with dozens of trophy antlers, some taken from stags that must have stood as tall as dire bears. Most of the antlers were draped with bits of rotten flesh, strips of skin, or coils of viscera. To the west, a marble altar had been heaped with the mangled remains of at least a half-dozen dead men and women. A crude image of what might be a three-eyed jackal had been painted in blood on the wall above the altar's alcove.
This chapel, once dedicated to Erastil, was a place of worship for the Black Arrows - the antlers on the wall being trophies offered up to the god of the hunt. The shrine had been thoroughly defiled in every way by the ogres, and converted into a makeshift altar to Lamashtu.
The Kreeg found here didn't respond to the sounds of violence elsewhere. He quietly and calmly sat, creating taxidermy horrors out of dead rangers, horses, bits of giant eagle, and the many antlers he found. His "masterpieces" hung about the room on bloody hooks - men with eagle heads sewn to their bodies, a horse with a woman's face where its own face once drooped, dead men with huge sets of antlers jutting from their bodies, and men with stags' heads and hooves.
This Kreeg stood easily 14 feet in height, and his arms were the size of the Mushfens' largest boa constrictors. He was certainly not a pushover. He raged at the start of combat, then focused his attacks on Bruthien. When he was severely injured, he drank his potion as soon as he got a chance, but the heroes managed to defeat him before he killed Bruthien.
Tribunal. Smashed chairs and ruined tables sat in this once-regal chamber. Along the curved east wall hung tattered remnants of several regional maps.
Two ogres had hung three Black Arrow ranger corpses form the rafters, and were in the process of bleeding them into grimy buckets. When they detected intruders, they kicked aside the buckets and, with cries of rage, leapt forward to attack.
Map Room. Wood and glass cases lay in ruins; the hundreds of sheaves of parchments within were now spilled about, spattered in blood and torn to shreds.
This room contained dozens of maps of the Hook Mountain region and other Varisian locales. Now, only a few remained intact; one detailing several of the smugglers' tunnels beneath Riddleport (worth 25 gp to a smuggler), another detailing the first few poisonous levels of Viperwall (worth 400 gp to an interested party), and another of the hidden paths of Lurkwood's interior (worth 700 gp to explorers set on investigating the mist-shrouded woods).
Storeroom. This room was used to store miscellaneous supplies and tools, but nothing of value remained now that the ogres were done with it.
Tower Stairs. This flight of stairs ascended to the watchtower above.
Watchtower. A cracked bell hanging from a huge oaken frame took up most of this chamber's upper half. The ringer had been removed and replaced with an upside-down dead ranger, a steel helm strapped tightly to his skull. A broken worktable and three chairs sat below, stained with the dead man's blood.
Not long after the heroes rescued the schoolchildren, something more harrowing developed. Black Magga herself came into town.
The heroes were not much of a match for Black Magga, even in her injured state. Yet fortunately for them, they needed not slay her to drive her off. When the heroes engaged the monster, she fought back for only several seconds before fleeing back into Claybottom Lake.
Waterfall Cave. The floor of this cave was dotted with puddles. Patches of pale moss and fungus grew in sheets on the wall, while to the north, a five-foot-wide passageway angled up into darkness. A walkway of soggy planks led from this opening southeast to a second opening curtained by cascades of falling water. Apart from the wooden walkway, the floor in this cave was slippery.
Chapel. The walls within this enormous chamber were mounted with dozens of trophy antlers, some taken from stags that must have stood as tall as dire bears. Most of the antlers were draped with bits of rotten flesh, strips of skin, or coils of viscera. To the west, a marble altar had been heaped with the mangled remains of at least a half-dozen dead men and women. A crude image of what might be a three-eyed jackal had been painted in blood on the wall above the altar's alcove.
This chapel, once dedicated to Erastil, was a place of worship for the Black Arrows - the antlers on the wall being trophies offered up to the god of the hunt. The shrine had been thoroughly defiled in every way by the ogres, and converted into a makeshift altar to Lamashtu.
This Kreeg stood easily 14 feet in height, and his arms were the size of the Mushfens' largest boa constrictors. He was certainly not a pushover. He raged at the start of combat, then focused his attacks on Bruthien. When he was severely injured, he drank his potion as soon as he got a chance, but the heroes managed to defeat him before he killed Bruthien.
Tribunal. Smashed chairs and ruined tables sat in this once-regal chamber. Along the curved east wall hung tattered remnants of several regional maps.
Two ogres had hung three Black Arrow ranger corpses form the rafters, and were in the process of bleeding them into grimy buckets. When they detected intruders, they kicked aside the buckets and, with cries of rage, leapt forward to attack.
Map Room. Wood and glass cases lay in ruins; the hundreds of sheaves of parchments within were now spilled about, spattered in blood and torn to shreds.
This room contained dozens of maps of the Hook Mountain region and other Varisian locales. Now, only a few remained intact; one detailing several of the smugglers' tunnels beneath Riddleport (worth 25 gp to a smuggler), another detailing the first few poisonous levels of Viperwall (worth 400 gp to an interested party), and another of the hidden paths of Lurkwood's interior (worth 700 gp to explorers set on investigating the mist-shrouded woods).
Storeroom. This room was used to store miscellaneous supplies and tools, but nothing of value remained now that the ogres were done with it.
Tower Stairs. This flight of stairs ascended to the watchtower above.
Watchtower. A cracked bell hanging from a huge oaken frame took up most of this chamber's upper half. The ringer had been removed and replaced with an upside-down dead ranger, a steel helm strapped tightly to his skull. A broken worktable and three chairs sat below, stained with the dead man's blood.
Rannick Reclaimed
With the ogres slaughtered to the last, the heroes liberated Fort Rannick. Yet the order of the Black Arrows remained dead; Jakardros alone could not carry the torch, as much as he might wish to - he needed help.
Although Fort Rannick was built by funds from Magnimar over 4 decades ago, it had been under the jurisdiction of Turtleback Ferry for most of that time. When Mayor Maelin Shreed learned of the fate of the Black Arrows and that the heroes had defeated the ogres who claimed the keep, he was quite impressed and sent a new group of rangers to occupy the fort, placing them under Jakardros' command.
Once the heroes reclaimed the fort, they had to decide where to go next. Jakardros provided guidance to them to follow up on the clues they discovered in the fort. Based on what the heroes had learned and accomplished so far, the primary options can be summarized as follows.
Lucrecia's Paradise: This sunken barge led players into wondering exactly why they've encountered so many instances of individuals carving or tattooing the Sihedron onto others, and compelled them to return to Turtleback Ferry to follow up on the tattoos. There was relatively little to learn from the tattooed inhabitants of Turtleback Ferry.
Searching for the Commander: Jakardros was eager to find out what happened to his commander. Jakardros told the heroes the commander had made one of his "communion walks" into the Shimmerglens the night of the raid.
The flood hit Turtleback Ferry just before the heroes returned to town after retaking Rannick. The flooding didn't reach the point where the roads were washed away quite yet.
When the heroes arrived on the scene, they saw the village of Turtleback Ferry drowning. The muddy, surging waters of the Skull River tore through the center of the community to fill Claybottom Lake with a terrible fury - many of the buildings that once sat comfortably on the river's banks were already flooding and in danger of collapsing from the rushing water. A group of children and a woman huddled aboard one of the old turtleshell ferryboats, the tiny flood-bashed vessel lodged up against a store and threatening to capsize at any moment. Beyond, the town's church stood solid, its foundations already three feet deep in floodwaters. Frantic movement was visible in the upstairs windows as townsfolk trapped inside rushed about in a desperate attempt to save scriptures, comfort the sick, and pray for deliverance. The floodwaters themselves were swift and treacherous.
Once the heroes reclaimed the fort, they had to decide where to go next. Jakardros provided guidance to them to follow up on the clues they discovered in the fort. Based on what the heroes had learned and accomplished so far, the primary options can be summarized as follows.
Lucrecia's Paradise: This sunken barge led players into wondering exactly why they've encountered so many instances of individuals carving or tattooing the Sihedron onto others, and compelled them to return to Turtleback Ferry to follow up on the tattoos. There was relatively little to learn from the tattooed inhabitants of Turtleback Ferry.
Searching for the Commander: Jakardros was eager to find out what happened to his commander. Jakardros told the heroes the commander had made one of his "communion walks" into the Shimmerglens the night of the raid.
Turtleback Flood
Winter rose, but before her cold breath descended on the Hook, the skies darkened like blood-muddied water, and ominous clouds writhed on the horizon, bringing the near-constant rain to new heights of torrential downpours. Storms went on for days without the sun so much as peeking from behind her cloudy veil, and the rivers and lakes begun to swell. Pure misery reigned as cold and wet became the order of every day, and mud seemed to befoul every square foot of the region...would this rain never end?The flood hit Turtleback Ferry just before the heroes returned to town after retaking Rannick. The flooding didn't reach the point where the roads were washed away quite yet.
When the heroes arrived on the scene, they saw the village of Turtleback Ferry drowning. The muddy, surging waters of the Skull River tore through the center of the community to fill Claybottom Lake with a terrible fury - many of the buildings that once sat comfortably on the river's banks were already flooding and in danger of collapsing from the rushing water. A group of children and a woman huddled aboard one of the old turtleshell ferryboats, the tiny flood-bashed vessel lodged up against a store and threatening to capsize at any moment. Beyond, the town's church stood solid, its foundations already three feet deep in floodwaters. Frantic movement was visible in the upstairs windows as townsfolk trapped inside rushed about in a desperate attempt to save scriptures, comfort the sick, and pray for deliverance. The floodwaters themselves were swift and treacherous.
Saving the Schoolchildren
When the flash flood struck, Tillia Henkenson was instructing a class of young boys and girls out in the village. As the floodwaters poured in, Tillia and her class sought out one of the ferries for shelter, but were then pinned to the side of a store by the rushing water before they could reach safety on the shore. They had languished there for the past several hours, watching the waters rise. And as the heroes arrived, a new threat made itself clear.
A 16-foot-long nightbelly boa, one of the more dangerous predators to ply the river, was carried up by the waters against the side of the ferry as the heroes attempted to mount a rescue. The constrictor rose from the water with a loud hiss and attacked, attempting to constrict and swallow young Tabitha Kramm, pigtails, freckles, and all. Tillia Henkernon screamed along with the rest of the children, powerless to stop the ravenous reptile. This task fell to the heroes.
The boa immediately switched its attention to the heroes as soon as they attacked, ignoring the schoolchildren. The heroes killed it.
A 16-foot-long nightbelly boa, one of the more dangerous predators to ply the river, was carried up by the waters against the side of the ferry as the heroes attempted to mount a rescue. The constrictor rose from the water with a loud hiss and attacked, attempting to constrict and swallow young Tabitha Kramm, pigtails, freckles, and all. Tillia Henkernon screamed along with the rest of the children, powerless to stop the ravenous reptile. This task fell to the heroes.
The boa immediately switched its attention to the heroes as soon as they attacked, ignoring the schoolchildren. The heroes killed it.
Black Magga Rises
Not long after the heroes rescued the schoolchildren, something more harrowing developed. Black Magga herself came into town.
The heroes noticed what at first appeared to be a huge black tree being swept downriver on a collision course with the church. Moments before the "tree" hit, it submerged. A few moments later, the floodwaters surged violently, and with a thunderous roar, legendary Black Magga rose form the flood.
The sight of the immense monster - its primeval head rising as high as the church steeple - sent the villagers of Turtleback Ferry into a blind panic. No one even noticed that the rains had stopped, and that perhaps the floodwaters were already beginning to slow. The spectacle of the lake monster seemingly preparing to destroy the church was all that mattered.
The heroes were not much of a match for Black Magga, even in her injured state. Yet fortunately for them, they needed not slay her to drive her off. When the heroes engaged the monster, she fought back for only several seconds before fleeing back into Claybottom Lake.
At the beginning of combat, Black Magga used her breath of madness on the heroes. Then, she attacked Thurden, moving up to bite. Afterwards, she repeated this tactic. Black Magga retreated then, dropping Thurden whom she was grappling. Abandoning Turtleback Ferry and the heroes, she surged downriver (destroying a few minor buildings as she crashed by) and vanished into the depths of Claybottom Lake.
After Black Magga was forced to retreat, a cheer rose form the villagers who had gathered on the shores to watch. It took only a moment longer for them to notice that the floodwaters seemed to be receding.
It was obvious that the villagers' initial fear that Skull's Crossing had burst had not been borne out, yet the sudden rush of water seemed to indicate something dire had happened. Several locals certainly recognized Black Magga from local legend and explained that the monster was said to dwell in the Storval Deep, not in Skull River.
All signs pointed north - something must have happened at Skull's Crossing. When, in the past, storms threatened to spill over the dam, the structure's floodgates opened automatically to release water pressure in a controlled flow. None in Turtleback Ferry knew exactly how the mechanism for opening the floodgates worked, as Skull's Crossing had long been the den of a tribe of trolls known as the Skulltakers. Yet as long as anyone could remember, the floodgates had functioned without fault. If the floodgates were malfunctioning, someone needed to brave the wrath of the Skulltaker trolls to determine what, if anything, could be done to repair the ancient Thassilonian structure before a cataclysmic flood washes the entire region away. Turtleback Ferry was far from a rich village, but if the heroes could prevent a more deadly flood by opening the floodgates, Mayor Shreed promised the heroes a reward of 1,000 gp.
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