A Feast for Gnolls
SHAYLIN: You hear that?
FARYN: Yeah.
They pick up a faint commotion in shallow water not too far off to their right. They freeze in place to decide their next actions. They approach cautiously and peer out from the brush to see a group of 3 gnolls wrestling a giant crocodile. One of them slice the crock down the belly, spilling its guts into the shallow water. Once the beast stopped moving, they carried it off towards the northeast.
ARAN: So do we follow them or just keep going on our way? Or do we just kill them now? I think we should kill them before they get where they’re going.
ROLAN: I say we track them.
QHOR: I say we leave them.
QARZ: Faryn, what do you think?
FARYN: They are clearly bringing that beast somewhere else. And we cannot leave them be. They are probably followers of Air, and they must be removed from the earth. I say we track them and surprise them once we get a lay of the land.
QARZ: Good enough for me. I vote we track them.
The Greenguard vote in agreement and Aran nods, going along with the plan. Qhortho acquiesces and they begin tracking the gnolls at a safe distance. Rolan casts Hunter’s Mark on one of them to make their job much easier.
They travel a good thousand feet or so before they reach their camp: a series of 25 tents near a large bonfire. While practicing the best social distancing they can muster, the group watch from the east as the gnolls bark a few words signaling their return and begin to cut up the crock. Several gnolls come out of tents to bark comments about their upcoming meal.
In the meantime, 2 other gnoll groups return with their own giant crocodiles, following the same process as the group the party followed. There must be 50 gnolls in this camp across the entire range of gnoll ability. And of course, a Flind makes an appearance for a few moments with his 3 forked flail. He returns to his tent on the far west side of the camp.
The party devises a surprise attack plan where Aran would circle around the camp to get to the westernmost area, closest to the leader’s tent; Faryn, Shaylin, and Balishna head to the south side of camp; Qarzdaq, Qhortho, Rolan, and Zinsueli remain to the east of the main entrance. The eastern group is farthest from the camp, but they plan to be the spark of the battle via ranged attacks with Qhortho as their protection if things get dicey.
The plan is to await the call for the gnolls’ feast. This takes longer than they’d hoped, but they stick to the plan.
Finally, they begin to congregate around the fire, with most of them conveniently within a single Fireball’s footprint.
Aaaaand there it goes. Most of the creatures are taken out with a single R’hllor inspired Fryball. The Air Essence released with their souls is unmistakable. Before the creatures have any time to react, Zinsueli and Rolan take down a few others with their arrows, both releasing their Air essence into the ether.
Qhortho rushes in while the camp is in disarray while the 3 from the south side move in, taking cover behind the tents without being noticed. Aran quietly moves alongside the leader’s tent.
This initial attack takes out almost 40 of the creatures.
Rolan and Zinsueli launch another round of arrows, taking out a few more. Qhortho reaches a few of the lesser-able gnolls and strikes down the only 2 in his immediate vicinity. He turns to find the only remaining gnoll hunter nearby. He roars at him causing him to flee. The gnoll disappears around the tent and runs into Balishna. The gnoll jumps back and tries to run, but Balishna strikes him down with one swipe from his glaive.
While Qarzdaq sets more fur de Fang aflame, Aran sweeps his guandao through the supports of 3 empty tents before knocking down the one with the Flind inside. The Flind scrambles to get out of the tent. Aran takes a few steps back, waiting for the Flind to show himself. Qarzdaq begins to dash towards Aran.
Not too far away, a Fang attempts to bite and claw Faryn, but she deftly sidesteps every attack. A second Fang manages to get close enough to bite. However, her extremely fast reflexes allow her to raise her arm in front of the creature’s mouth, causing it to bite hard on her Children Chain and breaking a few of its teeth in the process.
Near Aran, the Flind scrambles free from its canvas obstacle and snaps its 3-proged flail at him. The Flail of Madness manages to make contact, causing a relatively light amount of bludgeoning impact. Aran almost succumbs to the madness but manages to overcome the effect.
Shaylin calls out a command of Leadership: “Attack the Flind!”
This seemingly simple utterance manages to inspire all of his allies on the field.
Rolan takes down a Fang and a Flesh Gnawer with 2 arrows in quick successions. Rolan is unable to see the last remaining enemy – the Flind — on the field, so he moves laterally, hoping to get line of sight. To his surprise, he finds that a tent that would have blocked his view has been collapsed, and he has eyes on Aran and the Flind. They’re a little over 100 feet away still, but that’s good enough. He begins to line up his next shot.
Zinsueli nails the Flind with a few very powerful shots just as Qhortho rounds a tent and arrives near Aran and the Flind. Qhortho stops 10 feet from the Flind and is ready to strike if needed. He looks over the situation and calms himself.
QHOR: Drop your weapon and surrender! All your men are dead!
The Flind barks with some sort of language none of them understand.
Qarzdaq sees the scene unfolding before him and skids to a stop in the mud. He attempts Hold him in place, but the Flind feels it come on and fights it off successfully. The Flind is now mad with anger and lashes out at Aran.
Faryn runs up just as the Flind pulls back its flail and slashes it deeply with 2 solid strikes. It’s enough to cause the Flind to take a step back, opening the door for Aran.
Aran slashes the Flind twice with the second strike removing the Flind’s whipping hand. The hand and the whip fall to the ground as the Flind’s eyes widen in shock. He crumbles to the ground and a white aura escapes the body.
ARAN: Hey Qhortho, that flail looks valuable. Why don’t you take that?
QHOR: Yes!
After searching the tents and finding nothing but tattered garments and weapons, they decide to spend the night. Before resting, Aran suggests Qarzdaq check in on the red lighting to ensure it hasn’t moved. Qarzdaq agrees and Blinks into the Ethereal plane.
On Second Thought…
Qarzdaq’s eyes are focused on the horizon in the direction he expects to see the bolt. They are definitely making progress and the bolt has remained in the same location. He thinks to himself, “yeah, ok, we’re probably no more than a few days out.” As he mulls over the distance, his eyes adjust to the things in a more immediate vicinity.
It’s only then that he realizes there are several specters all around him, in the camp. They see that he sees them and rush towards him. Instinctively, he casts Shield to block their strikes. All but one strike ricochet off the barrier, but that one manages to claw his arm, leaving behind necrotic traces in his flesh.
He blinks back into the Material realm and quickly cancels Blink.
QARZ: Fuck!
The entire group looks at him, concerned.
His mind continues to race. He realizes there were some Wraiths nearby as well, but they were not quite close enough to get to him. He quickly looks around the dark camp for any traces of the ethereal beings entering the Material plane. They have not. He exhales, only now realizing he’d been holding his breath.
QARZ: Ok… So we’re not more than a few days out, but there are fucking specters and wraiths all over this camp.
The entire group draws their weapons and look around, ready to defend.
QARZ: …in the Ethereal plane.
They all stow their weapons. Qarzdaq shows the black fractal-like mark on his arm.
QHOR: I remember seeing things like that in the Grass Sea! We had to cut the arm off to keep it from spreading!
QARZ: Nah, I don’t think I need to cut my arm off.
ARAN: I can do it really quickly if you want?
QARZ: I think I’m just going to burn out the corruption.
Qarzdaq squints his eyes as he raises a hand above the necrotic marks. Just before he releases fire magic at the minor wound, he remembers something back from his days at the Red Temple: necrotic damage will heal just like any other damage.
QARZ: On second thought, I think I just need some rest guys. And now that I’m thinking about it… I think the creatures on the Ethereal Plane are drawn to these areas with lots of Air magic. I don’t know if they are seeking it out or if it’s a natural pull, but it seems they are attracted to it. And on top of that, what if killing too many followers of Air allows these specters to cross over into the Material Plane?
ARAN: Maybe there are just more of them as we get closer to the red lightning?
QARZ: It’s possible.
As they prepare to sleep, Qarzdaq says a prayer to R’hllor and feels good about the protection he will offer through the night.
They rest the night following their normal watch routine. Qarzdaq wakes, relieved that R’hllor protected them and removed the necrotic marks from his arm.
They do their normal morning rituals and get on their way just about an hour after sunrise.
As they travel, they hear what is now the familiar sound of crocodiles in the vicinity, though none of them have the audacity to get in their way. Whether the lack of audacity is from the Unlikely Assembly or the Crocodiles is unknown and irrelevant.
After traveling the entire day without any incident besides the occasional horse fart, they rest again using their normal watch routine.
Another Day, Another Ambush
In the middle of the night, on Faryn’s watch, a band of creatures can be heard sloshing through varying depths of water and getting closer.
They quickly form up a plan to ambush whatever is coming their way. Rolan casts Darkvision on everyone that needs it then they quickly spread out, each of them hiding behind trees in the area. Once the encroachers are in an optimal strike position, Qarzdaq will cast a Fireball to start things off.
The approaching creatures begin to come into view. The first line consists of 4 Flesh Gnawers, but they are quickly follows by 2 Gnolls and 4 Fangs, then a Flind, then a series of Skeletal Gnolls. Finally, 3 Annis Hags enter their view. This is enough for Qarzdaq. He launches a Level 4 Fireball into the center of the group.
A few of them are quick enough to dive into the water and avoid the full impact. Though all of the Skeletal Gnolls crumble into small mounds of bones, the remainder survive the ambush.
Seeing as none of the Annis Hags were able to dive into the water, Aran pops out from behind a tree and attacks one of them. After the first strike, he realizes this is going to take everything he’s got. With determination, Aran attacks the hag with a flurry of strikes. The hag attempts to block and use some sort of magic, but Aran prevails, standing over the hag’s pile of corpse as the Air essence flows around him. His eyes lock on to his next closest target. Another hag. Fuck. He leaps into action, closing the gap to the next hag and slamming the bitch with the butt of his guandao.
At the same moment, he hears Qhortho’s Dothraki whinny and notices he’s swinging the newfound Flind’s whip around his head. This should end well.
Qhortho fully focuses his forward force to flick the Flind’s flail at the Flind he finds in front of him. The flail strikes with a loud snap, ripping open the Flind’s skin. Although the weapon did its duty, Qhortho expected more out of a weapon that seemed to have more power when wielded by its original owner.
The Flind turns around as Qhortho is throwing the flail to the ground.
QHOR: Fuck that thing!
The Flind doesn’t need to understand the common tongue to know that a sacred weapon had just been desecrated. The Flind snarls in Qhortho’s general direction. The Flind is distracted by a few arrows that take down a couple of his foot soldiers. To his other side, one of those tree creatures stealthily slides out of the trees and attacks one of the Fangs. The Flind roars out to inspire his troops as the hags raise 2 skeletal gnolls from the swamp.
Rolan figures there’s no time like now to release the Level 4 Fireball stored in his Ioun Stone. He knows he must aim it carefully, and he’s seen enough of them to know its size. He’s not worried as he pinpoints exactly where the ball should originate. It almost seems to read his mind as to when it should be fired. That was an unusual feeling to say the least. But nothing compared to the next moment when the Fireball detonated. Something about launching such a fiery and destructive force. R’hllor is a good ally.
All of the Flesh Gnawers and regular Gnolls burn as they slip into the swamp. All but one of the Fangs join them.
Balishna rushes towards the Flind. Vines emerge from the swamp to wrap around the Flind’s ankles. The Flind take a step forward, easily breaking the thick vines. Even so, Balishna lands 2 solid swipes across the Flind’s chest, providing Qhortho the opening he needs. Qhortho quickly draws his Valyrian great sword.
Zinsueli sends a few arrows towards the Flind, but in his approach, he loses his footing enough to splash face first into the water.
Shaylin finds his opportunity and rushes through the battlefield, slashing the Flind down on his way towards the remaining hags in the rear.
More witherlings appear near the hags, one of which almost just below Aran’s feet. He smashes it immediately and destroys it, scattering its bones. The hag closest to Aran approaches him with wide-open arms. Aran side-steps the grapple and smashes the hag into the water, creating a huge splash.
Qarzdaq cleans up most of the field with a few well-placed firebolts, then Faryn finishes off the remaining hag, the Air magic within it escaping into the air.
They rest for the remainder of the night then get on their way about mid-day, awaking even stronger than they’ve ever been.
Are You Sure This Is It?
After a full day’s travel and one night’s rest they get on their way once again to arrive at a floating castle. They see it from several hundred yards out and approach it cautiously.
Though it pales in comparison to any they’ve seen previously, including the Sandship, it is a castle nonetheless. Or at least it has structures resembling those of castles. It is made of short towers connected by wooden bridges. It floats upon tightly wound reed floats upon the surface of the swamp water. Its foundation nothing more than a crannog, one of the man-made floating islands of the swamps. The castle does not appear to be tethered or anchored in any way. The lack of activity makes the structure look abandoned. But the soft orange glow from the main structure’s second story sends a different message.
ARAN: We should just burn this thing. I mean, it’s floating on all wood and those bridges will go up with just a puff from this guy.
He directs his thumb at Qarzdaq.
QARZ: There doesn’t seem to be any activity here, but maybe it’s worth me jumping into the Ethereal Plane to see if anything is going on there. It may give us some insight into what we should do next.
FARYN: You’re willing to do that after what happened last time?
QARZ: I’m not sure there’s much of a choice.
Qarzdaq blinks out of sight. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d see, but he is caught off guard by the blinding brightness of the crimson arc reaching into the sky. It appears to be connected to the castle’s central spire.
Where there is a soft orange glow on the Material Plane, there is a bright red glow here. The brightness of the arc and light from the second floor makes the shadowy silhouette of Greywater Watch even more spooky.
This is further heightened when Qarzdaq realizes he is surrounded by ethereal beings. A few of the closest ones are Banshees and they rush towards him. Visceral screams fill his ears while his eyes are filled with a horrifying visage of translucent purple skeletal faces. He pulls himself together just in time to realize another one is behind him and just grabbed his shoulder.
He reacts quickly, casting Shield to protect him. The Banshee’s hand immediately recoils just as he realizes another is coming form the other side, but it is unable to penetrate the barrier.
Qarzdaq’s eyes shoot up to a white streak in the air, near the ground. A Wraith is rushing directly at him.
Qarzdaq’s immediate thought is, “I BLAME ARAN!” The wraith smacks directly into Qarzdaq’s shield and continues pushing on the boundary. Slowly, very slowly, its hand is pushing through.
He quickly glances around to see loads of other beings looking over at him, but it’s at that very moment that he blinks back to the Material Plane. Instinctively, he cancels Blink.
QARZ: I SAW SHIT THAT’LL TURN YOU WHITE! Banshees, wraiths, ghosts… everywhere.
He glances around just to make sure he’s not still in danger.
QHOR: Did you see the lightning?
QARZ: Ooooh yeah… We’re clearly in the right place.
ARAN: I’m pretty confident we should be using our dragonglass weapons against what we run into.
FARYN: I’m not so sure that’s right. Your Valyrian steel and magic will be your best weapons against the ethereal creatures – and against any beings infused with the powers of the gods. There was talk long ago of dragonglass being used to fight the undead, but not the ethereal.
ARAN: Yeah, I’m not so sure you’re right about that. My confidence is very high that dragonglass would work well here. That’s just all there is to it.
FARYN: Dragonglass is brittle and in short supply…
ARAN: It’ll be fine. I have a hunch.
Faryn lets it go so they can move on to the task at hand.
They cautiously approach the castle, being as quiet as possible. As they get closer, they hear a soft omnidirectional hum. They climb up and enter the main heptagonal room of the castle.
Old Friends
Several narrow staircases lead upwards near the edges of the room, which is roughly 150 feet across. There are also narrow walkways leading out from the main room; narrow bridges that lead to the external spires.
Closer to the center of the room is a narrow spiral staircase. Not more than 30 feet away from the staircase is a very large cauldron, easily 12 feet across.
ARAN: I wonder what’s in that cauldron…
As they walk towards the cauldron, the sound of the hum appears to be coming from the second floor, up the spiral staircase. The sound does not feel like a material hum; it’s almost more of an energy that is creating the sound or some sort of vibrations.
Qarzdaq looks at his comrades skittishly, pausing at Aran, whose mouth is already open, as if about to say something.
QARZ: I am not going back into the Ethereal Plane. Just FYI.
Aran closes his mouth and shrugs it off. Investigating the cauldron more closely, they find it to be a bubbling viscous mixture of something only the gods could identify. The smell when up close is almost too much to bear for too long. It’s as if it builds on itself in layers like a hot sauce that appears weak at first until it’s too late.
ROLAN: Think we should scoop some of this up?
QARZ: Yeah, why not just take a sip of it right off the top?
ROLAN: Uh, no thanks. On second thought, maybe I’ll just dip the tip of a few arrows in there.
Rolan dips the tip of one arrow and ensures it does not melt the arrowhead. He holds it up, watching the thin mucous drip off and back into the cauldron. It does not appear to be an acid, but it’s not exactly something you’d want on your clothes.
QARZ: Dude, is this just some creature’s toilet?
Zinsueli takes a few steps back. Rolan dips 4 more arrows into the mixture.
They decide it is best to explore the staircases around the edges first, and finish with the center one.
They begin with the northern-most staircase with Aran in the lead and Qhortho protecting the rear.
They enter a smaller room of flasks, vials, and jars. Many of them are broken but several are still intact. All of them are empty. A dried film with areas of mold coats a large lab desk against the wall. A Poisoner’s Kit and a Healer’s Kit lie on the desk.
Rolan takes the Poisoner’s Kit and Qarzdaq takes the Healer’s one. Aran takes the 8 intact vials.
Qhortho peers out the window above the lab desk and sees just open swamp.
They head back downstairs and climb the northwestern staircase to find a skeleton in shackles still locked to its ankle. Next to him is a set of Thieves’ Tools. The room has bars on its only window but is otherwise empty.
QHOR: Guess he wasn’t too good with those.
ARAN: Yeah.
QARZ: I wouldn’t be too good with them either.
ROLAN: I’m not proficient with them, but I feel I’d have a knack for it with a little practice.
They descend the staircase and head to the western staircase.
This room is covered in moss and vines, which appear to have entered through the window. Looking closer, they find an Herbalism Kit nestled within the vines.
ARAN: I’ll take that one.
He holds the Book of Trees in his hand and ponders the vines. He immediately realizes these are native to the area and they are of no harm. These vines can be cultivated in mass quantities for rope, but are mostly seen as detrimental to structures for their ability to hold moisture against mortar and causing it to crumble. Still, some prefer the look and feel of vine-covered structures and this particular variety is heart enough to survive in many climates, making it south after from those outside the region. Many people call it…
Aran’s had enough of the narrative running through his had and abruptly closes the book.
Faryn jumps slightly as she was zenning out while petting the vines.
ARAN: Ok, so which one is next?
QARZ: Wait, did you learn anything interesting?
ARAN: No. These are just regular vines. The book could have just said that.
They go back to the main room and climb the southern staircase.
This room looks like it was once a very nicely organized jeweler’s workshop. Small tools are arranged around a few smaller desks. Among them are a set of Jeweler’s Tools and Glassblower’s Tools, which Qarzdaq takes possession of.
They head back down and prepare to climb the spiral staircase. Looking up, there is a stop at the second floor, but it continues up through the main spire of the castle.
Aran leads the way to the second floor and, upon getting his head above floor level, sees 3 Annis Hags, a crimson portal, with 2 Blue Slaads, 1 Red Slaad, and another red one coming through the portal.
ARAN: Ah… fuck…
This session, each member of the party gained 4,150 XP, bringing them to a total 102,150 XP and Level 12.
Will this, Day 604, be their last of days?