SESSION 279: Siege on the Gangrenous Pt. 26 – Siege on Aman Marath
Let the mission commence the mob makes a play on the Lighthouse, not without requisite hiccups.
Day 251 Continued (SeimishàAman Kharis): Raul recalls the team. He has some preparatory thoughts requiring some more time in the fishing village. After some flim-flam they decide to run a preliminary reconnaissance mission after the witching hour.
Armed with a wheelbarrow carrying a newly crafted mobile wall of arrow protection along with grassy ghille nets they slunk under the eye of the new moon through the sandy grasslands to the footing of the great stone bridge running through the Steppingstones to Aman Marath.
Salt hung heavy in the air as waves constantly battled the shoreline. Two statues of tall sailors flanked the great stone bridge each stood upon five foot high dais of green sea stone. Sasha got right down to surveying that to come. Ramrod wasn’t interested in Boris and Raul’s chimp squawk and decided to check out the statues. He found a secret compartment on one containing a well-sealed scroll tube, “Hey nerd. Catch!”. It was not elegant but Raul was able to, at least, intercept the flight path to the sea. Inside was a scroll with multiple spells of the illuminating sort, Raul handed then off down the line of back-up spellcasters eventually reaching the oft forgotten elf-girl Katre.
They moved onto the first arching bridge. It was twenty feet wide and glistened with salt and spray. Moss and small patches of mold covered the dark green deep sea stone in places. Salt caked the crevices leaving odd lumps and shapes as the wind buffeted all. Fortunately there was a pony wall and the gang walked with intention. The span to the tower on Anan Kharis was around two-hundred-and-fifty feet. The dwarves were most impressed with the engineering and whistled as they looked across the network to the lighthouse.
The tower was about forty feet square, and surprisingly intact, with an off-centre trapdoor in an advanced state of decomposition. Boris smashed it good. Looking in he saw a twisted metal stairway that once made it easy to reach the sandy floor twenty feet below. “I smell loot!”, he hollered while pulling out his rope to get down there. “I smell fartssss”, came from Rammer. “Sorry Mr. Drooly..”, came from Sloth. “Who taughts him that?”, came from Ramrod as he wiped his more than sea-foamed face. Chuckles and snorts was his response.
Right around now Boris hit the sand solidly, to solidly. A man-sized (massive) crab was hidden underfoot and jumped to action.
There was crab smashing and then more crab smashing as the ruckus attracted a couple more and then the following dicking about caught the attention of giant six-legged freezing cold lizard-thing. The salamander put up a serious fight even after being detained in a web and covered in burning oil. The payoff was weak, a small ruby and a bottle of wine. They grabbed some crab chunks, the reason for all the mayhem, and called it a night. They returned to their squat in the fishing village.
Time for some wound licking.
Day 252 (Seimish): Recovering from the sloppy recon mission.
Day 253 (SeimishàAman Marath): Rested and largely healed the team set out early for their next run. Getting to the second tower (Aman Rikath) they found it to be rather ‘webby’. Raul dropped some oil and a torch down the trap door. This incinerated the arachnid occupants. This time they just pressed on.
The third tower stood upon Anan Sybaris. This the penultimate outpost showed signs of recent restoration. The bad guys had been here. Inside the tower there were cots and a fire pit. Nothing to steal though. They moved to the final bridge. The Stepstones are left behind as the bridge arcs fifty feet above the roiling waters as the lighthouse looms before us. A grand keep with four towers houses the massive green stone tower rising one-hundred-and-fifty feet.
The bridge ended and they stood on the raised landing before the grand entry. A set of ten foot wide steps lead to the covered entry flanked by a further fanning of the landing. At the base two more sailor statues stood. This pair bearing really creepy smiles.The nattering commenced as plans and ideas were shot left, right and centre. Willy was the first to act and crawled the railing on the stairs to get a look at the doors. Raul and Gurn were concerned that these stony sailors could be more than they seem so they tied there legs. This revealed some doggerel scratchings on the northern one. No one knew the language but Raul’s special glasses allowed him to decipher it:
Praise Dagon in all his glory,
Each day at moonrise, a cup of seawater must be imbibed.
Kill not your fellows, lest you be killed.
They did not know what to think of this but Raul made a mental note to get some seawater. He also caught sight of a ladder just peaking up over the pony wall that lead down to the island below. During this time Ramrod decided that the best way in was via one of the towers. That one in particular. He was determined and the ladder be damned. With the help of spider climby magics the thief and Raul scaled the tower.
It had largely collapsed into itself and now housed a nest of stirges that they had now riled. It was a bit of a bloody mess as the things turned the two quickly retreating climbers into pincushions. They were both drained for a good pint-and-a-half before they could reach assistance. The creepy bloodsuckers were quickly dealt with once they did. “Hmmm I meant that one ya jerk. Quit rushing me”, gurgled Ramrod pointing at the other front-facing tower. Climbing once again they found another damaged interior, this one just a mess of impassable stone. Returning to the landing Ramrod scolded Raul for not pointing out the ladder earlier. This garnered some chuckles as Raul took to standard procedures and just ignored the snarly thief. They made their way to the northern wave and wind slammed beach. Sasha looked for tracks but couldn’t determine anything with certainty.
Moving around the curtain wall the ranger tried, and failed again, to identify signs of passage. This dithering caught many eyes. Somewhere in the surf there had been a veritable horde of fish-like-man-things.
They were deep ones and maybe, just maybe they mistook us for somebody else. Crawling up out of the surf and up the beach there were at least seventy of the creeps. This caused some big concern. Raul stepped forward with his arms raised reciting portions of the etchings found on the creepy sailor statue while presenting handfuls of gems. They responded in their gross bubbling speech. Nobody had any idea what was being said so Raul just repeated himself. The creatures, perhaps a little confused but now with gemstone glitter in their eyes, accepted the offering.
“Blorp-blah-smurg-blorf. Dagon-mish-hurp-slurm-glug”, was their final statement before falling back into the sea.
“Whew!”, Raul turned around and returned to the group “let’s go thaata way”.
The B-Team: Boris, Ramrod, Raul, Sloth, Willy, Sasha, Wendul, Gurn, Katre, Herbert, Camillus, Lady Versamage & Skull-Crusher
ROLECALL
Raul the Voyager (MD9) 267070 xp +10% <360000> CRT 1d12/III
Fezzi-Gig (Neut: XXXX) Sword
Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -4,
Removed one of his own nostrils.
Boris the Dwarven Lord (D9) 368995 xp +10% <400001> CRT 1d20/IV
Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -3, carved up face
Wound: Bad leg (-5’ MV)
Multiple Injuries: lost 25 teeth (7 remaining), drools a lot CHA -1
Serious Injury: Brain Drain -2 INT
Serious wound: permanent loss of an eye (-1 to missile fire)
Ramrod the Cloned Magsman (T9) 176176 xp +5% <280001> CRT 1d20/II
Serious wound: Bad Back (-1 stone CC)
Scars: Neurological damage to hip, noticeable limp (-5’ mve)
Missing eight teeth talks with a lisp
The Henchmen
Sloth the Bopper (L8) 179451 xp +10% <XXXXXX> CRT 1d20/IV or 1d6/G (vs. s, m)
Missing ten teeth
Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 125280 xp +10% <200000> CRT 1d10/III
Gurn Hammerhand the Dwarven Swashbuckler (D5) 29968 <36000> +5% CRT 1d12/III
Wendul the Magician (W6) 51716 <80000> 5% CRT 1d8/I
Camillus the Myrmidon (F6) 54987 <64001> +5% CRT 1d20/IV
Willy the Reformed Burglar (T6) 30104 <40000>10% CRT 1d14/II
Agolloch the Eye of Purity (Lawful; XXXX) Sword
Katre Elf-Girl and Swordsman Conjuror (E3) 10157 xp <16000> +0% CRT 1d8/II
Lady Versamage Knight Errant (K6) 60000 xp <85000> +5% CRT 1d16/IV
Herbert the Gnomish Trickster (G3) 10500 xp <12000> +5% CRT XXXX
Skull-Crusher (A3) 4500 xp <6000> +5% CRT XXXX
RESERVES
none
Elapsed Campaign Time
(694 b) days at beginning of session
675a (from Session 264) (also applies to recuperation)
Join us for session Two-Hundred-and-Eighty when we ask the questions:
What is going on here?
Who or what are these Dagon guys?
Why are there deep ones milling about?
How will we actually get into the stronghold?
Did I mention Men of Leng?
Tale of the Tape
Death awaits around the next corner, of that I’m certain.
KILLS
Massive crabs (3) one escaped
Frost Salamander
Giant Spiders (5)
Stirges (10)
Deep Ones (70) negotiated non-vioence along with 1000 gp of shiny gems
LOOT
Ruby 100 gp
Bottle of wine – now in Boris’s belly
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