Bullywug Blitzkrieg

It was the morning after they'd gotten back from Orderly Stones, and Dryali, Fine Branch, and Tahu were feeling restless, as if the bear thing simply felt unresolved, or inappropriate, or something.  So, they convinced Tuala, Hikawera, and Terrance to go talk to Arnari about another mission.

Arnari's office looked slightly different, as if… perhaps, someone had spent the time necessary to cast prestidigitation on a bear-sized area of the carpeted floor.  Her windows were cracked, to let the morning air in.

She looked up at the six Freelancers filing in, and then picked up some papers and set them aside on her desk.  Then she steepled her fingers, watching them arrange themselves on the chairs, her expression neutral.  They never pick the same chairs.  Then, without moving or changing her expression, she listed three missions.

• As some of you know, Orderly Stones Monastery were having bear troubles, and found out it appears kobolds were training the bears.  So… the first mission is, to re-check the kobold den; the one cleared out last year.
• I have two missions to Hindmarsh.
  • Raid the Bullywugs.  They've found another encampment; free any prisoners, and drive them back.  [Arnari glanced down at the papers.]  Hirrathak will guide you.
  • Go find Jamie's boss, in Hindmarsh.  Acquire any documents connecting her to the Osprey.  Raquelle Mais-Quand, connected to skylith Imperieuse.

Tuala's ears flattened a little, and Dryali's would have too if they could.  He asked, "Do we think Jamie is the illusioned person accompanying her?"

Tahu retorted, "Isn't Jamie a breathtakingly beautiful person?  Why would he hide himself?"

Arnari raised her eyebrows, and said, "Well," and there followed a long moment of uncomfortable silence as the six Freelancers regarded the breathtakingly beautiful half-elf with fresh eyes.

Hikawera broke the silence, asking jovially, "What are the rewards for each mission?"  Arnari smiled and said, "Orderly Stones, or find Raquelle:  200gp/person.  The bullywugs: 150gp/person, plus, of course, whatever you raid from them."

Dryali asked, "What if we see Raquelle?"  Tahu added, "Will we still have support?"  Arnari's face shifted, and she answered slightly crossly, "I will still send people after you," which gave them all a good gauge on the relative danger, so they took the bullywug mission.

They withdrew from Arnari's office, and prepped for the travel to Hindmarsh.  Dryali picked up another 50' of silk rope and enough rations to last 'til Three Rivers.  After considering how long the trip would be, he also grabbed another 10 sheets of parchment and stashed them in his scrollcase.

Ten days later, the Freelancers arrived in Hindmarsh.  The travel had been without incident, albeit uncomfortable; Duquense seemed to have caught the tail end of a front, and when it wasn't raining, it was the mist of being in the cloud.  Road traffic had tapered off between Three Rivers and Marshfork; nobody wanted to travel during Periastron, and the Freelancers kept double watches the night before and after.

Once the group was in Hindmarsh, they debated which inn to patronize:  The Tipsy Tornado, which Terrance and Tuala favoured; or Anchor & Plough, which Dryali and Tahu favoured.  Terrance and Fine Branch finally decided to go with the latter, because of their experiences with Ophelia and ploughing.

The innkeeper, George, was a male human, and on seeing the Freelancers, greeted them warmly, and also asked about Kaikoa.  Tahu told him Kaikoa was doing well, and often in his cups, and mentioned his recent help with the Daystar worshippers.

George looked astounded, and asked, "Who worships the Daystar?!"  Dryali smiled, and said, "That's what he says; Kaikoa does not want to put up with that bullshit!"  George laughed, and gave them keys to their rooms.

Once they were settled, they went to the taproom to relax and have dinner and beverages; a fire was going, more to keep off the damp than for warmth.  The taproom was busy; and talk swirled around them.  Hikawera and Fine Branch noted a lot of talk about the dangers of going into the marsh:  "Giant frogs are too giant," "is bullshit!" "so tired of it!"

The next morning, the Freelancers headed out and went to the House Ha'aheo warehouses to talk to Vaughn Quickrein, the Rain sagani manager there.  He was expecting them; "I'd been warned you were on your way," he told them.  Dryali's eyes narrowed speculatively:  how, and by whom?

A Black dragonborn was with him; he introduced Hirrathak, their top guide to the marsh, who had also discovered a bullywug encampment well-positioned to harass and perhaps capture the herb gatherers who harvested the marsh's bounty.  Introductions complete, Vaughn said, "Go kill some bullywugs.  I'm out," and left them there staring at each other.

Hirrathak was armed, but wasn't exactly the deadliest-looking dragonborn.  He looked at the Freelancers, some of whom he recognized, then said wryly, "I feel under appreciated."  He sighed, then asked, "What is everyone's names again?"  Everyone introduced themselves; he remembered some of them from the last time.

Dryali asked, "How long to go?"  Hirrathak told them, "A day to get to the marsh, another day in; get there on the third day."  Dryali did some mental calculations; he had enough rations.

"Well, let's be on our way," Hirrathak said, and they took off.

By evening, they had gotten to the edge of the marsh.  Hirrathak had led them to a fairly established staging area where adventurers and herb gatherers camped before entering the marsh.  Not trusting all these others, Dryali set a non-audible alarm on their camp for the night.  The alarm pulled Dryali out of his trance, and he focused to see some human trying to go through Tuala's bags.  Dryali sat up, and the human faded away.

Dryali sat up the rest of the night, playing with his tools.  Fortunately it stayed overcast so he was not assaulted by the Daystar in the east.  Soon after, the camp began to stir.  Hirrathak put on some water for tea.  The Freelancers stirred, but Hikawera and Fine Branch stayed in their bedrolls.

Dryali was bored.  "Good morning!" he announced obnoxiously.  Hikawera cracked an eyelid.  "Morning people suck!" he declared, and rolled over with his back to everyone else.

Dryali cast about, and upon finding a stray feather, used mage hand to tickle Hikawera behind the ear.  "Good morning!" he said again, and Hikawera rolled over and sputtered an insult, slamming Dryali with a headache from vicious mockery.  Now determined to rouse Hikawera, Dryali sent dancing lights into patterns around his head.  Grumbling, Hikawera arose, and accepted tea in his cup from Hirrathak, who was watching this exchange with the most indescribable look on his face.

Hikawera nursed his tea, while Dryali nursed his headache.  Then, with a predatory smile, Dryali leaned forward, touching Hikawera's cup, and said, "good morning, sunshine!" invoking magical tinkering to make it stick to the cup.

Fine Branch had tried to remain asleep through this, but it was too much.  They set the ground shaking under Dryali with thaumaturgy, and Hikawera poured his tea out on Dryali's head.  Dryali collapsed in laughter.  Hikawera bonked Dryali on the head with the cup, which obediently repeated, "good morning, sunshine!"

Dryali laughed harder, and Hikawera bonked him again, and again, and again, "Make it stop!"  Fine Branch, annoyed, got out of the bedroll.  Seeing that everyone was now awake, Dryali made it stop.

Hirrathak, obviously thinking they were doomed, led the Freelancers into the swamp, but before they left, Dryali made sure to stash the feather in his belt pouch.

Hirrathak headed eastward into the swamp.  "I'm deviating, to take a known route," he explained.  "This encampment, is south and east from the prior one we found."  They asked about any captives, but he was not sure if the camp had any.

As they went through the marsh, they did not see a lot of creatures; just an occasional water snake, or small toad.  Some of them noticed, a lot of the plants appeared to be over-harvested, this close to Hindmarsh.  Dryali murmured, "The plants might be getting serious damage," and Hirrathak nodded.  The birds were more scarce too, with fewer plants.

Hirrathak said, "Yeah, it's scary to go too far in; don't wanna be captured by the bullywugs."

At the end of the day, after slogging through the marsh. Hirrathak brought them to a campsite that was relatively dry.  He admonished the Freelancers, "Don't have a fire, because we're half a day from the bullywugs."  Hikawera was mock-offended.  "No fire, I'm offended!"

Fine Branch was more serious.  "What will the bullywugs do?"  Hirrathaka pondered, then said, "Might attack, or they might fortify."

"If we set up a fire, maybe we could draw them out," Fine Branch suggested, "Then, we know these are the ones that attack."  Hirrathak shrugged. "Maybe," he said dubiously, "I do not know."

Bullywugs are not nocturnal creatures, though.  Tuala interjected, "They would probably fortify."

The group decided, no fake camp, and no fires.  They set a watch:  Hikawera, then Tahu, Fine Branch, and Dryali last.  All was well until Fine Branch's watch.  They were nervous as a cat, and certain they heard the bullywug language, they woke everyone up by shaking the ground with thaumaturgy.

Hikawera rolled over and pulled up his bedroll.  "They're coming to eat us all," Fine Branch hissed urgently.  Everyone rose, well, except Hikawera, ready for battle – to discover 2 large toads, having a good time at the edge of the swampy water, right outside the circle of light cast by the fire.  After that, Dryali took over the watch, since he was already rested.

The sky slowly brightened, as Duquesne revolved around the system, but the Daystar stayed obscured behind a cloud, and the marsh was misty and damp.  The Freelancers stirred, and rose, eating and packing up; all except Hikawera, who stayed in his bedroll.

Dryali had been carving a little wooden frog; didn't even put his carving tool down; he just used mage hand and the feather again under Hikawera's ear.  Hikawera was unamused, and used suggestion on Dryali, "Go take a bath!"  The closest water was more mud than water, and Hikawera hadn't missed all the bitching Dryali had done in the past about the mud and his gear.

The result surprised them both: despite being a Dark elf, the suggestion stuck on Dryali, and Hikawera, unaware that Nadezdha was mostly jungle, didn't realize Dryali knew how to take a bath in the mud.  Dryali rose, and stripped, leaving all his gear in a surprisingly tidy pile, and hopped into the water, making sure he'd covered all his skin with the mud.

Hikawera just sat there and watched.  Hirrathak was initially alarmed, but subsided.  The other Freelancers were amused for a few minutes.  Time passed, and everyone got restive.  Hikawera made no move to pack, concentrating on Dryali taking a bath.  Perhaps he was hoping Dryali would get bit by something poisonous in the water.

After about an hour, Hikawera moved to get ready and pack, dropping the suggestion.  Dryali got out of the mud, and waited for it to dry and cake off, before putting his gear back on, which took another half an hour, since there was no Daystar shining.  He carefully retrieved the feather, and put it in his belt pouch, with the little half-carved wooden frog.

FInally, all were ready, and the Freelancers took off, under Hirrathak's guidance.  As they proceeded and got away from the normal path, the plant life rebounded.  They tried to stay relatively hidden, which was easier with plant cover and no direct Daystar shining on the burgundy hippogryph.

Hirrathak stopped and pointed.  "They are that way," he said, very quietly, "I’m not going closer.  I'll stay… 200 yards that way," here, he pointed westward, "If you're not back by tonight, then go to the camp."

Hirrathak took off.

The Freelancers considered what to do.  Fine Branch had Nighthawk, and Terrance had her broom of flying.  From a quarter mile away, they could see some palisades with openings; tents were beyond, and it appeared there were pools in front of the openings.

"I could go swimming, in one of the pools," Terrance offered.  Dryali assured her, "It's not that fun."

They decided the key piece of information was finding out if there were prisoners.  Terrance offered to go invisible, but then admitted it didn't last very long.  Tuala offered to cast the spell invisibility on her.  Dryali noted his goggles were eyes of the eagle, and if he could fly over, he could see, and they were unlikely to look up.

Terrance handed him the broom of flying, and up he went.  From his lofty vantage, Dryali saw many bullywugs, and three ponds.  Giant toads were visible in two of the ponds; Dryali assumed they were in all of them.  The bullywugs were wearing hide armour.  Five large tents were in the center, forming a semicircle around a small fire.  He returned to the others and relayed these observations, drawing it out on the ground and putting pebbles for the bullywugs, which totally didn't look like this:

Fine Branch pondered the map a bit, then asked, "Do we want them to run away, or what?"  They used two extended claws as a compass, gauging the distance from the fire.  "Fireball in the middle, would light all the tents on fire."

Terrance said, "Would I be in the pond?" She made a face.  "But, giant toads."

Tuala declared firmly, "Fireball."

Fine Branch and Terrance would be air support, then.  Dryali dug in his pack, got out 2 vials of alchemist's fire, and handed them to Terrance.  She smiled at him, and he gave her a quick feral grin.

Hikawera and Dryali didn't have fireball, but they did have shatter.  Dryali was trying to calculate how splinters from shattering the palisades could be used to good effect, but Tuala and Hikawera were too impatient for that.  In the end Hikawera and Tahu decided to align themselves with the ends of the western palisade and Tuala and Dryali did the same with the southern pond with the giant toad poking its head out of it.  

They got into position, and Tahu crept up to the edge of the palisade.  While he did so, Dryali made a force ballista.

The bullywugs still had no hint of the Freelancers' presence, but that came to an abrupt end when Hikawera cast shatter on the bullywug[2] standing closest to Tahu.  The bullywug[2] clapped its hands over its head as the ringing rose in volume, destroying the nearby palisade and tent.  Birds took flight in a wide surrounding area, shrieking their dismay.  Hirrathak would know that they had engaged.

• Flying over the other side of the compound on Nighthawk, Fine Branch cast spiritual weapon, in the form of an overly large metal bar.  The bar was depressed in the sides, but flared out towards the end with a V-shaped piece filling the flared space.  It looked more appropriate to the mines in Pembroke than a weapon, and it whacked the nearby bullywug[7] upside the head with considerable force.  Fine Branch followed with toll the dead, and necrosis visibly spread all over the bullywug[7], but nobody could tell if the ringing was from Fine Branch's cast, or shatter...
• Dryali cast shatter on the closest corner of the tent next to Hikawera's shatter.  The tent collapsed and the bullywug4 within it died.  The shatter also hurt the nearby giant toad and bullywug[☁] closest to him.  He moved up, past the pond, and the force ballista shot the bullywug[☁] again, pushing it 5' closer towards the center…
• Tuala dropped fireball next to the center, its low roar a sonic counterpoint to the higher-pitched shatter.  Of the three bullywugs caught in it, two of them died[1,3], and the third[60] was badly burned.  The tents caught fire, killing another bullywug[5] within.  Tuala moved closer.
• Tahu drew his magic shortsword, then moved up to and slew the bullywug[2] that did not succumb to Hikawera's shatter.  He paused there, surveying the battlefield.
• Terrance, flying on her broom, dropped an alchemist's fire on each of the two bullywugs[❅,☴] in the back of the encampment.

Two more giant toads showed their heads above the water, in the ponds that already had giant toads in them.  In the other pond, next to Hikawera, 4 scaly heads on long necks emerged, all attached to the same back.

Hikawera started swearing, then exclaimed "This world's on fire!" as he cast bane on the two bullywugs[❅,☴] Terrance had set on fire, and this apparent hydra.  "Tahu!!!" he called out, moving towards the latter, and when the tall Wind sagani looked over the palisade, Hikawera pointed at the hydra, and granted bardic inspiration to Tahu.

• Fine Branch's spiritual weapon hit its target again, killing the bullywug[7].  "Cats cats cats cats cats cats cats!" they chanted, summoning grinning cat spiritual guardians, which faded in and out and they swirled around, sometimes only showing their cat grins.  Nighthawk moved to about seven feet up from the two giant toads in the pond and the nearby bullywug[☉].
• The hydra moved out of the pond towards Hikawera and Tahu, then spit at both of them with two heads each.  Three missed, but the last one landed acid spit on Hikawera.
• Dryali shot a firebolt at the closest giant toad, to great effect.  The force ballista followed up.  He started moving eastward along the palisade, intending to move around it to enter the encampment.
• Tuala dropped another fireball into the encampment, between the hydra and already-burning bullywug[❅] closest to Hikawera.  The fire washed over both combatants, killing the bullywug[❅] and burning the hydra badly; the remaining part of the palisade was on fire, as was the only tent that had escaped the first fireball.  Tuala then quickened another spell and cast web on the two giant toads in the pond between himself and Dryali.
• Tahu moved between Hikawera and the hydra, and struck it with his magic shortsword, killing one of the heads.  He drew his other shortsword and swung offhand, but missed.
• A bullywug[6] ran out of the tents, unhappy.  Spotting Terrance, it grabbed a pair of javelins and chucked them at her.  One went wide, but the other struck.  Terrance twisted uncannily to avoid too much hurt.
• One of the bullywugs[☴] on fire from Terrance moved towards Fine Branch, or more likely, towards the giant toads in the pond below them.  It called out, with a lot of weird bullywug noises.  The two giant toads and three nearby bullywugs[☉,6,60] immediately looked bolstered.
• The other burning bullywug[☉] was clearly seared by Fine Branch's cats.  It made a different noise, almost a musical burble-trill, and Terrance, Nighthawk, and Fine Branch were afflicted by headache pain.  The spirit guardian cats fled as Fine Branch's concentration was scattered.
• The last bullywug[60] in sight moved towards Tahu, realized the hydra was there, and shifted to move towards Hikawera.
• Terrance, who did not enjoy getting stuck by a javelin, drew her scimitar and dove out of the sky to attack the bullywug[6] who'd thrown them.  The scimitar clanged on its hastily raised shield, and she flew off again.  The bullywug[6] swung and missed at her retreating form.
• Tuala's web only stuck to one of the giant toads.  The other moved towards Tuala.
• The giant toads under Fine Branch jumped up and attacked!  One missed, but the other bit Fine Branch.  As it fell back into the pond, the yeowling nekomata clawed it with their bare hands.

Hikawera moved up to the giant toad menacing Tuala, and cast thunderwave, the boom echoing across the marsh.  The thunder hurt the giant toad and pushed it back 10'.  Then, remembering Tahu had engaged the hydra, he granted bardic inspiration to Tahu again.

• Fine Branch had Nighthawk fly up, beyond the range of giant toad jumps.  They brought down bane of The Cat on the two giant toads and the bullywug[☉] who had disrupted their concentration.  The metal bar spiritual weapon moved towards the other bullywug[☴].
• The hydra tried to bite Tahu with all three of its remaining heads.  One head missed, Hikawera called out some cutting words, causing another head to miss, and Tahu dodged uncannily to avoid the bulk of the damage from the one bite that landed.
• Dryali rounded the end of the palisade and entered the encampment, then promptly centered a shatter to hit the two bullywugs[☴,☉] near the pond and one of the giant toads who'd attacked Fine Branch.  The palisade on the other side of the bullywugs imploded from the shatter.  The force ballista struck one[☉] of the bullywugs, pushing it away slightly.
• Tuala put more distance between himself and the giant toad, sinking a firebolt into the hydra as he moved.
• Tahu killed the hydra with one blow of his magic shortsword, then moved toward Hikawera.
• The bullywug[60] moving towards Hikawera made the same weird noises its compatriot had done, and then it and both giant toads appeared bolstered.
• The bullywug[☉] who had inflicted headaches on Fine Branch and Terrance sang the same song, bolstering itself, its compatriot[☴], and the two giant toads under Fine Branch.
• The bolstered bullywug[☴] called out with the burble-trill, inflicting debilitating headache pain on Dryali, Terrance, and Nighthawk.  Fine Branch was also affected, but not so much.
• The bullywug[6] who'd fended off Terrance's scimitar attack threw another javelin at her, but missed.
• Terrance dove out of the sky to attack the bullywug[☴] who'd burble-trilled.  She slashed it with her magic scimitar, which seemed to have no effect.  She disengaged and flew back up, puzzled.
• On the other side of the encampment, the giant toad that was in Tuala's web failed to get out.  The giant toad on Hikawera attacked and missed.
• The two giant toads under Fine Branch hopped out of the pond towards the bullywugs[☴,☉]

Hikawera cast thunderwave on the bullywug[60] this time.  Perhaps inured to the sonic assault, the bullywug[60] didn't seem too affected by the boom.

• Fine Branch's spiritual weapon whacked the bullywug[☴] upside the head.  They followed up with toll the dead, but the sound of the bell had no effect.
• Dryali moved up to the two bullywugs[☴,☉] and two giant toads, and cast thunderwave, knocking all of them back with the boom.  The force ballista followed up, killing one of the bullywugs[☴].
• Tuala shot the giant toad near Hikawera with a firebolt, and moved further away.  Perhaps he did not see the bullywug[6] throwing javelins at Terrance.
• Tahu attacked the bullywug Hikawera thunderwaved.  His first attack struck the bullywug[60], wounding it; but he whiffed with his offhand.
• The remaining bullywug[☉] under Fine Branch mounted one of the giant toads.
• Terrance's nemesis6 threw yet another javelin at her, and missed.  The bullywug[6] fled west, towards the pool where the hydra had been.
• The bullywug[60] Tahu had attacked sang the burble-trill its compatriots had, allowing Hikawera, Tahu, and Tuala to experience the same headache pain as their fellow Freelancers.  Tuala managed to keep the web going, though.
• Terrance shot at the fleeing bullywug[6] with her short bow, and missed.
• The giant toad that was in Tuala's web again failed to get out.  The giant toad on Tahu attacked and missed.
• The giant toad carrying a bullywug[☉] fled east, hopping over the pool.  The remaining giant toad tried to bite Dryali, but failed.

Hikawera drew his shortsword and killed the bullywug[60] who burble-trilled, then started moving towards Dryali.

• Fine Branch moved the spiritual weapon to the giant toad on Dryali, and the metal bar whacked it with force.  They then cast toll the dead on the bullywug[☉] fleeing on the giant toad.  The bullywug[☉] stiffened, then fell off the back of the giant toad, dead.
• Dryali hit the giant toad in front of him with a firebolt, but the force ballista crit failed to fire at all.
• Tuala cast a firebolt… no; no he did not.  Instead, he crit failed and managed to turn everyone nearby invisible, including the giant toad that was on Hikawera.
• Tahu was invisible.  He dashed up to the javelin-throwing bullywug6 and threw a daggar at it, burying the daggar below its collarbone.  It staggered but kept its feet, and Tahu became visible.
• The bullywug[6] attacked Tahu twice, missing each time.
• Terrance landed next to Dryali, drawing her magic rapier, and skewered the giant frog attacking him.
• The giant toad in Tuala's web finally freed itself.  The only enemy it could see was Tahu, and it moved towards him, past invisible Hikawera, who swung at it and missed.

Hikawera became visible again, and attacked the giant toad again.

• Fine Branch moved the spiritual weapon towards Hikawera, or rather, the nearby giant toad.  But they cast guiding bolt on the fleeing toad that had dropped its rider, burning it with holy radiance.
  • "Oh," Tahu called out, "you CAN hit the broad side of a frog."
• Dryali cast cure wounds on Terrance.  "Thanks," Terrance said.  The force ballista fired into the giant toad next to Hikawera, pushing it into the burning palisade.  The burning pokey wood injured it further.
• Tuala cast firebolt on the same giant toad.  
• Tahu slew the remaining bullywug[6].  Moving up to Hikawera, he attacked the giant toad with his offhand.  He hit it, but didn't do much.
• Terrance used her short bow to shoot at the giant toad fleeing eastward, killing it.
• The giant toad that had turned invisible attacked Hikawera, picking up the rotund Fire sagani in its mouth.
• The other giant toad, having just been attacked by Tahu, tried to bite him and missed.

Hikawera grit his teeth and cast shatter again, on himself this time.  The ringing sound was more muffled because he was inside the giant toad's mouth and the shatter didn't change that.  The other giant toad was also in the shatter's area of effect, and died.

• Fine Branch moved the spiritual weapon over the central campfire.  Then he had Nighthawk fly over the remaining giant toad, and cast an uplevel'd guiding bolt, searing it with holy radiance.
• The force ballista shot the giant toad dead.

Everything was dead.  Dead!  The encampment was on fire.  All was quiet, except for the crackling flames.

Hikawera cast healing word on himself as Fine Branch landed and cast cure wounds on themself.  Looking around, Fine Branch cast mass healing word to cure everyone.

Then the Freelancers started poking around, but everything was on fire.  Hikawera found some items of interest, which were signs the bullywugs weren't just attacking random herb gatherers:

• 206 gp of coins
• Small gold bracelet (worth 25gp)
• Small mirror set in a painted wooden frame (worth 25gp)
• A screwdriver
• A necklace of prayer beads
• A crystal with its insides full of swirling mist
• A daggar

They gathered it; Dryali would identify it later, once they were camped for the night.  Satisfied there was nothing else of value, either material or intelligence, they headed back to rendezvous with Hirrathak, and began their long journey back to Cliffshadow.

• Dryali: all purpose tool +1
• Fine Branch: Necklace of Prayer Beads - 3 beads: Blessing, Curing, Curing
• Tuala: Astral Shard
• Tahu: +2 dagger

Dryali was far too busy playing with his new toy to pester anyone to get up in the morning on the way back.