Session 40 - Introducing.... Grarth!

A big, warm welcome to Grarth

Mon 1st Mar 19:45 - 23:00

In-game timeline: Uktar 21 - Uktar 23 DR1489

We rejoin what is left of our intrepid group of "Heroes" having carried the dead (but gently reposing) body of Dwarrowsteel back to The Hunter's place. Alwaith has spent the rest of the day (and much of the night) learning better survival techniques and how to track lycanthropes. Drogan falls asleep next to Dwarrow's body. Devon counts his cash.

In the morning the debate continues about what to do with Dwarrow's body, and whether to travel to the village to deliver the tangleweed to the villagers. In the end, it was agreed that they should press on directly to the swamp, and ask The Hunter to deliver the herb to the villagers. Dwarrows body was laid in state in The Hunter's house (she wasn't too pleased at having a dead body in her house, but didn't feel like she could complain!) with the instructions to wait for 8 days and if they have not returned to collect his body by then, she should bury him with as many dwarven rites and honours as she can remember from Drogan's instructions.

And so they set off to the Fallen Marshes. By late morning they reach the edge of the swamp and they start their slow and deliberate progress through the swamp towards the ruins, guided by the survival expert, Alwaith.

The mists descend, and the strange noises start. Nige is sent up to scout around, but the transient fog, thick in places, makes it hard for even Nige to see much in the swamplands below. The group progress slowly, even Drogan's Freedom Boots providing only a little benefit over the marshy terrain, and with Alwaith focussed intently on remembering, and following, the directions given by The Hunter.

A few hours in and the terrain is looking all too familiar. Alwaith is convinced he is on the right track, the others follow blindly. Suddenly a noise comes to all of their ears - a shouting and crashing sound. As the party stand and stare, for once deciding not to hide - even Devon - a very large humanoid runs out of the bushes and spots them. He stops and stares at them, trying to work out if they are friend or foe. As he sizes them up, in more ways than one, suddenly a javelin flies towards the large half-ogre, thrown by a lizard-like creature that emerged from the waters nearby. It hits, followed by another javelin coming from another direction, that luckily misses.

Grarth, which the group later discover is the half-ogre's name, switches his attention to these lizardfolk and rushes the one who threw the first javelin, lifting his mighty maul in an attempt to crush the lizard. Our "heroes" look on from afar, using their ranged attacks to try to help the half-ogre whilst Grarth fends off the attacks from the lizards, making a few crushing blows on them but also receiving a bettering in return. Cleave is not impressed that Drogan is holding back, and laughs at the barbarians attempt at firing a few crossbow bolts wide. The axe then becomes very pissed off when the dwarf swaps to his new warhammer and uses this in close combat with another lizardfolk who appears close by and lays into Alwaith.

As the lizards realise that the half-ogre seems to have allies, they lose their nerve. As Grarth kills one of the lizards, and Drogan kills another, the last two flee, managing to reach the safety of water.

Recovering from a fight that seemed to be much harder than it should have been, the group crowd around their new ally and ask him questions about what he was doing in the swamp. Recent backstories are exchanged, and the group team up to head to the ruins.

Progressing further into the swamp, Devon spots a vine-covered tree that has a glint of something shiny beneath. Never one to resist anything that could be pretty or valuable (or ideally both!) he sends Nige off to scout out what it could be. The owl approaches the mangrove tree and spies a skeletal hand, wrapped around what looks like a small, iron chest. As Nige flies in for a closer look, he is surprised by a thick, leafy vine that swipes at him out of nowhere, smashing his poor own body against the tree and Nige promptly winks out of existence.

Nige's dying act proves useful, however. The party now know there is a vine-creature surrounding the tree. They quickly fire off their ranged weapons towards it, and start nibbling away at its health from the relative safety of distance. The vine monster shuffles closer towards them, but not at a speed to worry them. When it seems to conjure up smaller vine-beings closer to them, however, the party become a little more cautious. The smaller vine-beings do manage a couple of successful hits on Alwaith, who was restrained by the entangling vines, but the "heroes" prevail, killing both the large vine-creature and its smaller minions without too much effort.

The race was on! Who would get to the iron chest first? Grarth, Drogan and Devon all make a beeline for it. Unsurprisingly, Devon gets there first, but hands over the iron chest for the others to open. Inside they find a decent amount of money, a healing potion and a scroll, that is probably useless to them now Dwarrow is no longer with them.

The party presses on and, according to Alwaith, they get close to where the ruins are likely to be. However, the sun is setting and darkness is encroaching quickly, so they decide to rest in the swamp rather than attempt to approach the ruins at night.

Despite not wanting to light a fire, both Alwaith and Devon spot an approaching swarm of beetles on their watch, carrying a second swarm of grubs on their back, which peel off and head towards the tents where Grarth and Drogan are sleeping. Quick as a flash, Devon wakes the sleeping fighters, whilst Alwaith quickly and efficiently deals with the beetle swarm in a matter of seconds. Grarth, almost without waking, smashes the swarm of grubs with his maul, squashing every single one of them in two hits, before quickly going back to sleep - he seems to be much better at squashing bugs than killing humanoids.

The rest of the night passes uneventfully. It's unlikely that the following day will be as uneventful….