Backfired Bullywug Ambush

Arnari's office was the same as it ever was.  The shelves with musical instruments and other knickknacks; the wicker peacock chair in the back; the mahogany desk with stacks of papers that only made sense to Arnari; the maps on the wall.  Arnari sat behind her desk, strumming a harp with an unknown melody, as five Freelancers occupied the office.

Lorcan, the Pastoral gnome with the clipped beard, sat front and center in the chairs, very still with fingers steepled, watching Arnari with polite interest.  Court manners.
Sabah sat in front of Lorcan, just a human in colourful leathers cross-legged on the bearskin rug.
Dominic did not sit down, but stood at the maps, hands behind his back, studying them.
Peb stood in the back, trying to avoid the furniture and look small.  The blade of the shovel stuck over the towering Rock sagani's back.
Vin took a well-lit seat nearest the window.  The Cloud elf's hair was entirely covered by his hood.

Everyone but Dominic watched Arnari as she set the harp aside, leaned forward, and took up some dog-eared papers.  Her eyes narrowed a little as she looked at Peb and Vin.

• Pirates Dream river – cleanup pollution.  It probably won't murder you.
• Hippogryph eggs for House Aldous – in Haven Hills.  For the eggs, 100gp/egg; if you get 10, you can get a trained hippogryph.

Arnari backtracked.  "For pollution, 100gp/person, plus an uncommon potion, provided by Gwidion the wizard who supposedly stopped polluting.

"Totally still polluting," Sabah declared.  "Absolutely," Dominic agreed.  With a slight shake of her head, Arnari set the dog-eared papers aside and took up a paper which looked like it had been recently rolled up.

• Third mission – Re-check the grblin warcamp cave, north of Marshfork.  Be extremely careful.  It could be empty, but it could be full of extremely angry grblins.  I don't know what's there.  Paid by Mayor Casimir Lightforger, 150gp each.

Arnari set that aside and took up another paper, which looked less worn than the others.

• Fourth & final mission – Hindmarsh problem with bullywugs.  They gather herbs from the marsh, but now bullywugs are attacking and may be capturing people.  150gp each from Hanohano of House Ha'aheo.  

Lorcan didn't change his position or expression, but had somehow gotten more intense at the last mission.

Dominic:  any of them sound interesting?
Vin:  yeah
Peb:  the, uh, last two are more, uh interesting
Vin:  marsh or giant grblins?   But, er, bats.
Sabah:  more leery of grblins; pollution or bullywugs.
Lorcan:  pollution, or Marsh.

The bullywugs were the only one in everyone's list of interesting, so the Freelancers prepared to go to Hindmarsh, never mind that Lorcan and Peb had both just returned from Marshfork.

The first order of business was figuring out their mode of travel, so they all went to the stable.

…Peb had a cart with a mule
…Dominic had a mule
…Sabah had the dire corgi, Juru.
…Lorcan had the pony courser pegasus, Bandit.

Vin <brightly>:  I have two legs and zero tentacles.
<Sabah and Lorcan both gave Vin a side-eye.>
Sabah:  some thing we should know?
Peb:  they just telling us how it is.  Uhum would you like to ride in the cart?
Sabah:  can prestidigitate
Lorcan:  it's clean.
Vin:  what was it?
Peb:  dung, but no need to waste dung; it's clean.

So.  Vin rode in the cart with Peb, with Dominic walking and Sabah flanking on Juru; and Lorcan flying above, trying to keep an eye out.

Two days later, the Freelancers rolled into Cliffgate, and because of Juru, Sabah insisted they stay at The Sleepy Dog inn.  It was 8sp for a person and 5sp for mount stabling, but Peb refused to pay.  Instead Peb put the cart in a back alley and slept in it.  A couple times in the night, they woke up as someone poked at the cart to see if it was free for the taking.

When they left for Three Rivers, Dominic mentioned he had the goodberry spell, so there was no need of rations.  Lorcan knew better than to go cross country on nothing but goodberries, but Dominic eschewed rations.  Anyhow, it took three days' travel to get to Three Rivers, with uneventful camping, if by uneventful we mean nothing particularly exciting happened on watch, other than Bandit trying to steal feed and rations.

At Three Rivers, the Freelancers stayed at The Mule's Rest inn.  Peb was clearly all prepared to park the cart in another back alley, but the name of the inn gave them pause.  With such a name, they decided to stable Mary Jane (their mule) as a treat.  However Peb still slept in the cart.

Marshfork was another 3 days' travel, and once there the Freelancers stayed at The Cantankerous Goose.  Upon enquiring, they found out the name had something to do with the family lore of the owners.  The next morning, Sabah bought 5 healing potions, and started distributing them to the others.  Dominic demurred, "I have one."  Peb was amazed, and said "Thanks!"  Lorcan also had one, but accepted it gravely, figuring he'd return it if it went unused.  Vin took it, thought a little, then bought another one of his own.

Two days later, the Freelancers arrived at Hindmarsh.  Phenomenally large tornadoes, some waterspouts, loomed in the distance to the west.  Airships were maneuvering in and out of landing spots.  It was early-to-mid afternoon, and while the other Freelancers looked around curiously, Lorcan was visibly on high alert, wondering if the paladin was still here, and whether he should seek her out.

Hindmarsh's streets are laid out well; and even if they weren't, Lorcan had been there and Dominic had studied the map in Arnari's office.  The gladiator arena was to the Freelancers' north; perhaps "arena" was too grandiose, but "pits" failed to describe the affair, with stands and also prep rooms for the persons and creatures fighting.  To the south, on their left, the rooftops of warehouses were visible, holding goods for transshipping and also for holding pending overland travel to Cliffshadow or anywhere in between.

The Anchor & Plough was an inn in the south part of the city, and The Tipsy Tornado was at the edge of the area surrounding the arena.  Dominic suggested they go to The Anchor & Plough, since the marsh was south and east, so the Freelancers headed there and talked to George, the proprietor, about rooms.  Of course it was 8sp/night per person.

Peb again did not want to pay, and indicated he would go to the outskirts of the city with Mary Jane and the cart.  But they were in Hindmarsh, and this was too much for his companions.

Lorcan:  no.
Sabah:  bad idea.
Vin:  stay in stables, okay?
Peb:  can we expense back to the guild?
Lorcan:  no.
Peb:  how did I get across [the skylith to Cliffshadow]?
Sabah:  active dung cart.
Peb:  I'll stay in the stable.
Dominic:  nervous even about that.

The Freelancers settled with George and then entered the tavern.  Lorcan was looking for anyone he'd recognize, but there was nobody.  Sabah wondered out loud about going to the arena, no doubt thinking about wrestling; and Lorcan told them he wanted to go.  But Sabah decided they were leery of it, so Lorcan reluctantly stayed.

Dominic and Vin were paying more attention to others in the tavern than to the Freelancers.  Peb was as well, but they were mostly people-watching.  Since it was still day time the tavern wasn't crowded, but seemed busier than expected.  Rumour and gossip swirled.  The marsh had gotten more dangerous; people in town were tightening belts; the smugglers were more competitive.  There were more jobs as caravan guards, if that's your thing.

The Freelancers ate, and had a drink, and the tavern business picked up, but Lorcan and Sabah were restless.  They still wanted to go to the gladiator arena.

Lorcan and Sabah took their leave and left The Anchor & Plough tavern, heading towards the arena.  After a few moments Peb did as well, following them in the cart.

There were a few shops with various herbs and such in the southern part of town, and Lorcan ducked in one of them to buy some supplies.  50gp later, he had what he needed to replenish his poisons.  Sabah raised an eyebrow at the stop, but said nothing.

As they got near The Tipsy Tornado, Lorcan cast disguise self as a Maker gnome with slightly curly auburn hair, but balding.  Then they were near the arena, and learned admission was 5sp each.

Peb went around to the back of the gladiator arena with the cart, and tried to just walk into where the gladiators were.  Three burly guards in scale mail stopped them.  Peb did their best to look innocent.  They gestured at the cart and rumbled, "There's a clog on the toilets, and Ah'm here to clear it."

The guards looked at Peb very skeptically, and one went in to check on the Rock sagani's story.  Another guard said simply, "You should go now," and Sabah chimed in, "Let's watch normally; c'mon Peb."

So the three Freelancers each paid 5sp to enter and seated themselves.  The chatter around them was about the pair of upcoming fights.

Fight 1 was Stenfin the Druid vs The Claw, who was wearing heavy armour and armed with a hook.  Lorcan bet 5gp on the druid, and then they were fighting.  Peb watched the fight, entranced; but Sabah and Lorcan looked around the audience.  Sabah was interested in hearing about anything related to the swamps, and Lorcan was looking for anyone he knew, like the paladin.

The Claw won, and the bookmakers circulated the attendees, paying out the wins.  Chatter fell into grousing, similar to what they'd overheard at The Anchor & Plough.  Also, there were rumours about pirates; speculation about the Osprey's whereabouts, and discussion about a smaller airship Chlorinde, origin unknown, that had recently launched from Hindmarsh.  Two people were arguing about whether the Chlorinde was as fast as the Osprey.

Fight 2 was George vs Quark.  The former was a female half-orc in leathers and armed with a spear, and the latter was a male hanyou wearing a gi.  Watching them move, Lorcan bet 5gp on Quark.  The fight began, and Quark stumbled; George swung her spear, and somehow got her own foot.  The arena had a moment of supreme silence, then the fight resumed.  George blocked one of Quark's punches with the half of her spear, then spun it dramatically to clock herself in the head.  The audience murmured.  <Narrator voice:  George's roll was a nat 1.  Quark's was not much better.>

Sabah watched in growing horror.  "They're this terrible?  I could clean her up," they murmured.  Peb covered their face.  "I can't watch," they moaned.  Lorcan kept watching.  He'd bet coin.

In the end Quark won, but probably just because George had hurt herself.  Lorcan got a 6gp payout on his 5gp bet.  But that was the end of the fighting and everyone filed out to return to their place of sleeping.

The next morning the Freelancers headed down to the warehouses, and found the House Ha'aheo warehouses and the supervisor, Vaughn Quickrein, a Rain sagani.  Vaughn was delighted they had come and called over a Black dragonborn, Hirrathak.

Vaughn:  Hirrathak will guide you into the marsh for a day or two.
Hirrathak:  only guide!  Not fight.
Vaughn:  then you can take care of whatever you find
Lorcan:  does Hirrathak just guide us through the marsh, or to a place of interest?
Vaughn:  to where people are disappearing
Hirrathak:  and where bullywugs have been spotted

The group was soon on its way to the marsh, which was the better part of 2 days' travel south and east.  Peb reluctantly left their cart in the care of Vaughn, but brought Mary Jane.  They made good time following the central road from Hindmarsh to the marsh itself, and were past halfway there when they camped for the first night.

Peb said, bitterly, "Now we can sleep outside."  Vin gave Peb an unnervingly direct look and explained, "Now, we are doing so, together.  It's about the friends you make along the way."  Peb's eyebrows went up, and Vin smiled guilelessly.  Before they went to sleep, Lorcan took an hour to make a couple doses of poison for use later against the bullywugs.

After some time travelling the next day, the group entered the marsh proper.  The day was somewhat overcast as they went, Hirrathak keeping the Freelancers away from water puddles and mushy places that were far more hazardous than they appeared.  Lorcan flew above on Bandit, but was trying still to look for useful herbs.  The others did too, as Hirrathak guided them.  Sabah was preoccupied with guiding Juru, but Dominic, Peb, and Vin all saw herbs to use for healing potions.  In the end everyone had enough to make a healing potion.

Lorcan offered to make the healing potions, but explained it takes time so not right then.  But by then Hirrathak was looking for a place to camp, and found a hillock where it was dry enough to keep the bedrolls from getting damp.  Since they were in the marsh, they set up watches in pairs.

Dominic and Hirrathak were first.  As the darkness deepened, night sounds took over, and the sounds of croaking frogs were loud.  Some of the croaking was very deep.

Lorcan and Peb were second.  Similar to Dominic and Hirrathak, they heard a lot of frogs, and thought some were really big.  At one point, they heard an angry bird screaming.  The frog calls seemed unnaturally regular, and Peb pointed out to Lorcan that it could be language.  Lorcan listened and agreed.

Peb:  given what we're hearin' and, uh, why we are here, should we, uh, awake folks?
Lorcan:  they about to be coming from ahead of us; we'll get there eventually.

Sabah and Vin were last.  They also heard the same noises and frog calls.  Sabah realized the medium-deep calls were some sort of language, but it was far away.  They concluded there were definitely bullywugs ahead.  <Narrator voice:  David rolled a nat 20 on perception>

The next morning, as they got their act together, Sabah pointed out the language-like frog calls.  The others were able to hear how the calls carried across the shallow water.  Hirrathak nodded and started guiding the Freelancers forwards a bit more.

Dominic tried to scope out Hirrathak.  He figured getting a read on what the Black dragonborn was expecting would be a good indicator.  He'd heard of Hirrathak from others; a good guide but kind of cowardly.  As they moved through the marsh, Dominic could tell the guide was not expecting the party to die, but was worried about what might be encountered.  The druid could detect no betrayal, but thought the guide was kind of brave in his own way, for leading them into the marsh at all.

Hirrathak was leading, with Peb bringing up the rear, and Lorcan circling overhead, as they walked across more hillocks, turning south and west.  Fluffy, Sabah's wolpertinger familiar, suddenly warned Sabah that there were a bunch of bullywugs along their left.  Sabah told the others, then turned to Vin.

Sabah:  are these the friends you were referring to?
Vin:  no.
Peb:  Ah thought Ah was your friend.
Vin:  I'm glad to have y'all as friends.

There were four bullywugs, one mounted on a giant toad.  All had a slightly magical sheen.  Dominic could see the westmost one had hide armour, a shield, and some weird, crude charm necklace.  He pointed this out to Sabah who rode straight towards this bullywug on Juru, as if all of Hirrathak's careful guidance had been for shits & giggles.  Juru sank belly-deep into the mud and was stuck.  Hirrathak's eyes widened and he hid behind a hillock on the other side of the path.

Sabah jumped off Juru's back to the bullywug, and grappled them in some wrestling move.

• Lorcan, circling above on Bandit, put a dose of poison on the blowgun needle, then misestimated his shot and missed the giant toad entirely.  Bandit ended up above Dominic.
• Vin moved behind Juru, but stayed on the path Hirrathak had been treading.  He popped armour of agathys, and tiny icicles formed out of the humid marsh air.
  • Peb declared, "Why Ah say, Vin, you are lookin' pretty cool."
• Fluffy flew in front of Vin, ready to dodge.
• Dominic cast moonbeam on the grappled bullywug, and shillelagh on his quarterstaff, and moved towards Juru, taking care to stay on the path.
• Peb saw the bullywugs had spears, and told Mary Jane to stay on the opposite side of the path.  "Mary, Ah'm gonna get me some giant toad dung," they declared.  The mule moved to another hillock.  When she inevitably sank into the mud like Juru, she just emerged out of it to stand where she was told.
  • Peb moved towards the giant toad, and was blocked by a bush.  "Ah, fuck!" they said, raging and pulling the giant shovel off their back, its haft as long as a glaive's.  They entirely avoided sinking into the mud, and slashed the giant toad with the shovel blade.
• The giant toad hopped towards Peb and bit them, and did not let go.  Peb was not as hurt because of raging, but was stuck in the giant toad's mouth.

The bullywug in the moonbeam was burned by the beam's radiance, and its own sheen wore off.  Its throat swelled as it emitted a horrible croaking noise.  Sabah, Juru, and Vin faltered with a horrible headache.  Fluffy was overcome and poofed out.  Dominic did not falter, but had a headache.

• The bullywug mounted on the giant toad leaned forward to poke Peb with its spear.  Peb was wiggling too much and it missed.
• A bullywug behind it moved up and poked Peb with its spear, then bit the wiggling Rock sagani for good measure.
• The bullywug between the moonbeam and the toad walked over to Vin – making a wide detour around stuck Juru – and tried to poke him with its spear.  Missing, it tried to bite Vin, but was rebuffed by the armour of agathys.

Sabah's grapple on the bullywug in their grasp was starting to hurt it.  Sabah shifted to punch it, critfailed, and found themself stuck in the mud.  Scowling, they told Juru to bite the not-cautious-enough bullywug attacking Vin, and Juru did so.

• Lorcan, seeing the giant toad occupied by Peb, applied the other dose of the poison he made to a blowgun needle and shot it at the bullywug rider.  The shot went wide, leaving Lorcan to question the expenses of this poison, or maybe its application.
• Vin cast mind sliver at the bullywug attacking him.  Now it had the headache.
• Peb wrenched open the giant toad's mouth and got out of it.  "Ah've gotten t'smell a lot of things in mah time, but it sure does stink in here," they declared.
  • Peb moved away from the giant toad and tried to hide in a nearby bush.  Despite prying the bush apart, it just offered no room to hide.
  • The mounted bullywug tried to poke Peb with its spear, but missed.
• The giant toad stepped forward to where Peb was messing with the bush and let out a mighty RIBET.  Then it bit Peb again, and again did not let them go.

The bullywug in the moonbeam was again burned by the beam's radiance.  Its throat swelled as it again emitted a horrible croaking noise.  Sabah and Juru, again filtered with a horrible headache.  Dominic, Vin, and Peb had some pain from the croaking.  Lorcan was too far away to be affected.

• The bullywug next to Vin tried again to bite the Cloud elf, but somehow missed.  It stabbed Vin with its spear, but instead took the damage as cold.  Vin looked unaffected other than the icicles dissipated.
• The mounted bullywug stabbed Peb in the ass with its spear, causing the Rock sagani to wiggle more.
• The bullywug next to Peb was unable to succeed at either poking them with the spear or biting them.

Sabah got unstuck and then punched the bullywug they were grappling in the face, hard enough to kill it.  They walked over to the bullywug attacking Vin, telling Juru to bit it.  Juru bit it and knocked it prone.

• Lorcan applied more poison to a blowgun needle, and critfailed when trying to shoot the giant toad again.
  • Frustrated, Lorcan had Bandit land next to Vin.  Screaming, the pony pegasus kicked the prone bullywug to death.
• Vin backed up back to the path, and cast eldritch blast at the giant toad, striking it with force.  He quickly pulled out a healing potion and quaffed it.
• Dominic moved the moonbeam to engulf the giant toad and its rider, and the other bullywug for good measure.  He cast healing word on Peb, who'd been bit and poked a lot.
• Peb wiggled enough to quaff a healing potion themself, and just tried to dodge whatever was coming.
• The giant toad was burned by the moonbeam's radiance, and between that and Peb's wiggling, was unable to bite down on Peb.  It backed up, out of the beam, with Peb still in its mouth.
  • Then it turned and fled.  The others heard Peb's muffled voice, "Found a mount, y'all"
• The other bullywug fled with it.

Sabah said, "Juru, get out of the mud!"  Then they pulled out a sling to send a sling bullet at the fleeing bullywugs.  Instead they critfailed and sent the sling itself to get tangled in a nearby bush.  Juru, however, got out of the mud, moved to the path, and ran after the fleeing bullywugs.

• Lorcan applied a different, cheaper poison to 3 blowgun needles.  As Bandit flew over the giant toad, Lorcan shot it with a poison needle, and it died.  Peb got out of its mouth gracefully as it fell.
• Vin moved next to Juru, casting eldritch blast at the bullywug who'd not been mounted.
• Dominic moved after Juru on the path, and recentered the moonbeam on top of the two bullywugs.  He cast another healing word on Peb.
  • Dominic realized that the noticeable croaking they'd heard the prior night was no longer sounding from afar, but from these bullywugs.
• Peb wiped the toad-slime from their eyes, and realized their injuries were fully healed.  "Well, Ah'll be," they started, but the bullywugs were right there.  "Oh yeah, y'all folk," and then swung the shovel at the injured bullywug.  It pinged off the creature's shoulder.
  • "Still gettin' used to this shovel," Peb mumbled apologetically.  Or maybe angrily.  Hard to tell with a raging, phlegmatic Rock sagani.
• The bullywugs in the moonbeam were burned by its radiance, and the one Vin had blasted was overcome.
• The other one fled.
  • Lorcan:  should we let the other one run away?
    Vin:  so it can warn its friends?
    Lorcan:  while I follow, on Bandit.
  • Peb, raging, smacked the fleeing bullywug with their shovel, rendering the discussion moot.

There was no more bullywug croaking, and the marsh was relatively quiet.  Sabah rifled the pockets of the bullywug they'd grappled, finding quite a bit of gp and a jade statue of a frog worth maybe 25gp.

The others checked the rest of the bullywugs, while Hirrathak peeked out.  "Is it safe?  Did you get 'em?"  He saw the ongoing activities, and emerged, confidence restored.  "Good job!  Let's get out of here!  It's kind of unsafe."

The Freelancers found a total of 75gp on the bullywugs, but Hirrathak was definitely wanting to backtrack and return, and so they did.

Three days later, they were back in Hindmarsh, and Vaughn doled out the fee:  150gp each.  "Please provide the 10% Freelancer cut to Arnari," he admonished them all.  Lorcan was a little surprised, as he'd understood they were to find the bullywug camp, not just an ambush party, but kept that to himself.  Peb hooked Mary Jane back up to his cart, and they took their leave.

As they travelled from Hindmarsh to Marshfork, Peb was still marvelling they were still alive, having been bit twice by a giant toad.  "Ah have good friends," they said, wonderingly.

"That's what really matters," Vin told them.

• Peb → lvl2!
• Vin → lvl2!

One of the reasons the roads were busy was the time after the new year; but another reason was made obvious as the Freelancers stayed in Three Rivers and saw preparation underway for the Bardic Conservatory to have its annual competition.  When the Freelancers departed eastward, the road traffic somewhat thinned in their direction and picked up some westward.

Two days later, Lorcan spied a peacock gryphon and a destrier pegasus with a very large rider.  As they approached, he flagged them down, for it was Arnari and Nohea!  After all, who else would have a peacock gryphon.  They were on their way to Three Rivers.

The Freelancers stopped and had a meal break together.  Arnari was interested to hear about their mission, but told them to give the fee to Tomtom when they got back.  She seemed more interested in hearing about the rumours Sabah and Lorcan relayed about the Osprey and Chlorinde.

The Freelancers themselves were bemused to see Arnari and Nohea, whom they'd started to regard as fixtures around Freelancers Tavern, out travelling on business and perhaps adventure, and dressed for the part.  Arnari had fine studded leather, a rapier, and a short bow; the harp was in its case on Peacock.  Nohea had an enormous greatsword strapped to her back.

After, they took their leave: the group headed back to Cliffshadow, and Arnari and Nohea onward to grace the Bardic Conservatory with their presence.