Sincere apologies; I’ve missed a few recaps by this point but am ready to make up for lost time! In the previous two adventures we had a group mend relations with the neanderthals by entering into the lair of the dreaded aranea, intelligent spider-like creatures with spellcasting capabilities, who were enslaving the neanderthals and transforming them into mutated spider-aberrations. The heroes of that adventure helped return the captive neanderthals back home and in exchange the neanderthals have allowed the crew of the now derelict Raging Bull a place to take refuge.
In the rescue efforts the heroes also met a tabaxi named Drifting Rain who is a native of the isle and hails from the Village of Tanaroa which exists on the south peninsula. Drifting Rain had become captive while searching the jungle for a tomb that the Rakasta had been looking for, warring cat-like relatives of the tabaxi. Drifting Rain wanted to find the tomb and recover whatever items might be there before they fell into the hands of the Rakasta who would likely use them to dominate the isle once more. A band of heroes helped Drifting Rain explore the tomb and recover several powerful items (including a circlet of blasting and a staff of withering) in exchange for help navigating to the Village of Tanaroa.
This adventure dealt with the journey South to Tanaroa, so lets introduce our heroes!
- William – Human cleric (Level 3)
- Garbo – Goblin rogue (Level 2)
- Selvin – Dragonborn paladin (Level 3)
The three PCs were summoned by Captain Falthren. He was within one of the neanderthal caverns amongst inks and paints that filled gourds and animal skulls communicating with the non-verbal neanderthals by photographic means. It seemed they were coordinating a shared hunt of a mastodon. As the PCs entered, Captain Falthren explained to the heroes that he felt uneasy staying with the neanderthals for an extended amount of time and was interested in attempting to establish a homebase at the Village of Tanaroa; a place where they could easily get the supplies and assistance needed for repeated expeditions into the jungle. Drifting Rain would of course go with them as their guide through the jungles. After a failed attempt by Garbo to steal an heirloom from Captain Falthren’s pockets, and a threat made to William that the goblin was his responsibility, the journey was underway.
As the heroes progressed southbound, they spotted a number of neanderthals and crew members of the Raging Bull attempting to bring down a large mastodon. Though most of the PCs were resigned to allow them to handle their hunt on their own, Garbo saw an opportunity to score a kill and snuck off into the fray. Garbo intervened with a few well placed sneak attacks with his short swords and was fortunate enough not to get gored by the beast. Two neanderthals lost their lives, but the casualty count surely would have been higher without this intervention. The neanderthals showed their appreciation to Garbo by gifting him a dire wolf cloak and giving the party a native root that had stamina boosting properties.
The party continued into the jungle and began their ascent into the mountainous terrain that divides the Isle. While taking rest the party was woken by Drifting Rain who had spotted a number of dire wolves lurking in the darkness. The party took positions and readied themselves for combat. Garbo and Drifting Rain both took to climbing up one of the extraordinarily large trees. William struggled to avoid the bites of the dire wolves but luckily had the assistance of Selvin to boost his physical health with his lay on hands in the face of this threat. While Drifting Rain provided some ranged attacks from the boughs of the tree, the somewhat hopeless seeming battle took a turn when Garbo leaped from out of the tree down upon one of the Dire Wolves with his blades out and pierced straight through its skull, removing one of the combatants. From there the battle turned in the PC’s favor and the party took a well deserved rest.
In the morning they continued to set out through the mountains. The party spotted an elderly looking tabaxi with eyes heavy with cataracts who held a bow in hand and was perched like a hunter in a tree. Drifting Rain explained that this was someone from his village, a once well respected trophy hunter named Bag of Nails who now was lost to conspiracy and delusions. Bag of Nails claimed to be out in the jungle hunting a tyrannosaurus rex he called the King of Feathers, a larger than normal dinosaur capable of magical feats such as teleportation and the ability to breath fire. Drifting Rain quickly dismissed this as a tall tale and that the legend of the King of Feathers was admittedly just a story that villagers tell children. The heroes took note that several pterodactyl creatures were hovering overhead, and they quickly convinced Bag of Nails to leave his perch by tricking him into thinking they took were on the hunt for the King of Feathers.
As the party progressed they were assaulted by flying monkeys! One of the monkeys took hold of Garbo’s dire wolf cloak he had received from the neanderthals. Damn monkeys!
A safe rest later and the heroes were progressing down out of the mountains and into swampy territory. The air was thick with insects and the oppressive humidity made travel miserable. Moving through the heavy air, the party spotted a dead dragonborn near a black willow tree. They went to investigate and found on his bludgeoned body a journal. It would seem this individual was a treasure hunter or scavenger of sorts, as he had a map that seemed to indicate places he had been searching. He also kept a log of his findings and noted that the Book of Vile Darkness had passed through his hands! Where it is now was something the party decided could wait – their primary goal was to get to the Village of Tanaroa.
Further into the swamps, the party came across a limestone statue of a dragon. Selvin identified it as likely a green dragon and Drifting Rain noted that there is a green dragon on the Isle but it lives far to the north named Noxiumunthra. This statue being here seemed odd to Drifting Rain, but he mentioned it was possible that the lizardfolk of the swamp maybe had taken to worshiping it.
That evening as the party camped, the danger of the lizardfolk presented itself. Four lizardfolk with two giant lizard pets assaulted the party while they were sleeping. Selvin was caught off-guard as they entered the camp, sending the giant lizards forward and the lizardfolk hurled javelins inward. A bite from a giant lizard took hold of Bag of Nails who was in the midst of a deep sleep – this bite from the creature he was convinced was his adversary, the King of Feathers! His war cry woke the rest of the party and the battle ensued. While the heroes fought bravely and cut down their enemies, both Garbo and Selvin lost their lives in the conflict. William cast gentle repose on the bodies of his comrades to preserve them in hopes that one of Drifting Rain’s kin or one of the other village clans would be able to help in bringing them back to life.
Our next game continues on Sunday, Feb. 16th at 10am cst! Will the next batch of heroes be able to broker a deal with the Villagers of Tanaroa to resurrect the fallen and allow the crew of the Raging Bull to take refuge in their community?