Pirates River Pollution - Hooks & Froggoths

Glesni was eating breakfast by herself at a table against the wall.  She'd spent the previous day trying her skill with woodcarver's tools.  Unused to working with her hands, or with wood, she'd managed to slice a finger, but it closed up fine.

Towards the center of the room, at one of the long tables, were Ondar, Ka, and Hanno, a half-orc animal trainer who'd agreed to help out with the flying bears.  Hanno had become a full-on Freelancer after talking to Tomtom.  Ka had started wearing black, and augmenting his good looks with black eyeshadow.  At the other end of the table, eating by themselves, was a tall Wind sagani of human extraction.  Age and gender were hard to tell, but the sagani's clothes were a bit battered, like a low-level crew on a less-successful sailing airship.

Hanno was explaining what had to be done with the flying bears, and it was unsurprisingly pricey to get sufficiently talented handlers to train them.  Ondar declared he would seek out another mission, and Ka said he would join the big quinametzin.  Glesni came to their table and said, "I'll go," thinking she could return to practice and woodcarving upon return.  Hanno also wanted to go, and the Wind sagani suddenly said, "I'm Murai, I just joined Freelancers yesterday.  Can I go too?"

So they all found themselves in Arnari's office.  Arnari looked over Hanno and Murai sharply, then started listing missions.  She seemed a little cranky.

• It's the Pembroke/Duquesne conjunction.  House Ha'aheo needs us for a pegasus-herding mission to get a herd of draft pegasi to Bandolier.
• Hippogryph hunting:  House ALdous wants eggs.  10 eggs for a gelding, or 100gp/egg, 120gp/destrier eggs.
• Check out strange noises from the Cliffshadow cemetery, which is on the northern edge of Parkside.  I think it's just kids, but Mayor Kaiea thinks it could be more sinister.
• There is more pollution to check out and cleanup.  <mostly for Murai's benefit>  That will pay 100gp plus an uncommon potion each.
• Look for the kobolds who have been training apex predators to attack the Orderly Stones goat herds.

Glesni broke the subsequent silence, "Maybe more bears?"

Murai:  would be interested in pollutions or graves.
Ondar: more bears good.
Hanno:  would be interested in what else 'pollution' produces.
Glesni <curiously>:  What does Kaiea think [the noises at the] graves is?
Ondar <dismissively>:  Will be a guy in a mask.
Ondar <after a pause>:  Ondar has no strong preferences.
Glesni:  pollution is more responsible, but am curious about graves.
Arnari:  Kaiea has no idea, but suspects teenagers.  However, because could be sinister, he's asked Freelancers to check it out.

"Teenagers" was not interesting, so the group decided to go back to the magical pollution and see what there was to see.

Murai, after having where they were going pointed out on a map, visited the quartermaster, a Maker gnome named Waywocket, and exchanged the last of their gold for standard-issue leathers.  Glesni picked up 3 days' rations, just in case.

As they took off from Freelancers Tavern, a light rain was falling.  It was breezy, and Hanno and Ka seemed uncomfortable, but Ondar and Glesni were still not yet used to the relative warmth.  This weather persisted the entire 3 days they hiked along the treeline to the northeast end of Mossey Lake.  Ondar was used to the way, by now, and Hanno was familiar with Duquesne's wilds in general, so they avoided any hazards.

The next morning, as they broke camp, Hanno looked at the fighters,  "You were here before…" he said, voice trailing off into a question.  Glesni replied, "were distracted by bears; only been here once."

Ondar suggested, "We might want to look differently," and Glesni said, "Check the west side of river?"

Hanno, frustrated, said, "Whatever, sure," and once they were packed, the Freelancers headed up the west bank of Pirates Dream river.  They didn't really see a lot.  After a ways, Murai broke into a sailing shanty.  They had a surprisingly good singing voice.

They got to the fork and kept following the Pirates River.  Ka and Hanno started noticing a ringing in their ears that didn't appear to be caused by Murai's voice; it was a little off tune.

Ka stopped, holding up a hand for Murai to stop too, and tried to place the ringing.  Hanno did too, but the best they could think of was maybe it was a strange bird in the distance?   The Freelancers kept going up the river.

Three frog-like creatures hopped weirdly out of the water, and for a split second, the world shifted and twisted around the Freelancers, and went wavey.

The three creatures made their way to Ondar, Hanno, and Murai, and another wave of twisted reality washed over the three of them.  Ondar shook it off, but Hanno and Murai were fascinated.  The creature on Hanno lashed at the half-orc mentally, inciting a debilitating headache. 

• From the other side of the Freelancers came another creature that looked like a giant eagle, 9ft tall; except instead of wings with feathers, instead there were naked limbs that terminated in razor-sharp hooks.  The normal plumage looked more like the grey down of a nestling, too.
  • Anyway it attacked Ondar and Ka with its hooks.  It missed Ondar, but the hook pierced Ka badly.
• Ka's expression turned into the thousand-yard stare, and he drew his rapier.  To Ondar's and Glesni's surprise, the rapier was pitch black, reflecting no light.  Ka raised his other arm, and a bolt of vaguely skull-shaped blackness shot out at the frog-creature on Ondar.  Ka stared at his offhand in disbelief.
• Glesni nocked an arrow and let fly at the frog-creature on Hanno. The arrow buried itself in Hanno's chest just below his shoulder.  Hanno crumpled, but was still conscious with the stubborn endurance of a half-orc.  He was no longer fascinated by anything.  Glesni was mortified, and called out "Sorry!" as she ran to put a nearby log between her and that hook-eagle-thing.
• Ondar became Large, dwarfing the hook-eagle-thing.  He drew his vicious scimitar and slashed it badly, then drew on his Fire Rune to apply fire shackles to it.  The hook thing avoided the shackles, but was still burned.
  • Large Ondar stepped back, and was slashed by a hook for his troubles.

The frog-creature on Murai lashed at them mentally, and Murai got a headache.  Then another wave of twisted reality washed over Large Ondar, Ka, and Hanno, who was still prone with an arrow in his chest.  Ka shook it off, but Hanno and Large Ondar were fascinated.

• Murai drew a shortsword and a belaying pin out of their belt, and attacked the frog-creature next to Hanno, killing it.  Hanno snapped out of his second fascination.
• The hook-eagle thing again attacked Large Ondar and Ka with its hooks.  It missed Large Ondar, but the hook crit Ka.
• Ka had that thousand-yard stare again, and one sensed more than saw dark energy pulsing between himself and the hook-eagle creature.  Then he pierced it with his oddly black rapier.
• Glesni shot another arrow at the frog-creature nearest to her, but missed.

The frog-creature nearest Large Ondar tried to lash at him like the others, but somehow missed.  The other one moved towards Hanno, and its wave of twisted reality washed over both Hanno and Murai.  Hanno shook it off, but Murai was fascinated.

• Hanno painfully levered himself up with his quarterstaff, wisely taking care not to disturb the arrow, then whacked the frog-creature in front of him with it.
• The hook creature attacked Large Ondar and Ka with its hooks, totally missing Ka.  Large Ondar, still fascinated, did not move, but since the creature was expecting him to, struck him square on his Large shield.
• Ka took a deep breath, exhaling "I got this!" to give himself a second wind.  Then he crit <narrator voice:  with a 19?!> the eagle-hook creature, wounding it horribly.
• Glesni finally shot the frog-creature nearest her, freeing Murai from their fascination.

The remaining frog-creature sent another wave of twisted reality at Hanno and Large Ondar, but they both shook it off.

• Hanno walked up to it and beat it with his quarterstaff.  He noticed it didn't have a mouth.  Then, eyeing what Large Ondar and Ka were fighting, he moved away from that.
• Murai also didn't want to move towards whatever that hook-eagle thing was, so they drew a daggar at it.  The creature batted the daggar away with its beak, screeching angrily.
• The eagle-thing hooked Ka again, and Ka went down, unconscious and bleeding out.  It again failed to get through Large Ondar's defenses.
• Glesni cast minor illusion of Ka fighting, where Ka had been standing.  Then, in a surge of adrenaline triggered by Ka going down, she nocked an arrow in her longbow and shot the eagle-hook creature.
• Large Ondar swung his vicious scimitar at the flightless bird, and missed.  He swung again, also triggered by Ka going down, but missed again.

Hanno, arrow still stuck in his chest, was very unhappy about the hook thing.  He moved up next to Murai, but did not want to get closer.  Finally he picked up a rock and chucked it at the fighting, missing everything.

• Murai gave Hanno a strange look, then yanked the daggar from his belt and nailed the hook horror with it.
  • Hanno, who'd forgotten about his daggar, clapped Murai on the shoulder.  "Good going!"
• The hook-eagle thing attacked Ka again, but swiped through Glesni's illusion.  Thrown off, it tried to attack Ondar, but totally missed.
• Glesni sank another arrow into the hook horror, and it succumbed to its wounds.

Hanno moved to Ka, and stabilized the prone human, stopping the bleeding.  He stood up, and looked down at his own chest, hesitant.

Glesni walked up to Hanno, and grimaced, uncomfortable with the half-orc.  But, she had actually shot him, and did not hesitate.  "I'll take that," she declared, yanking the arrow out of his chest.  "OWWW!" Hanno exclaimed, and Glesni handed Hanno a healing potion.  She turned to Ka, and pulled out her other healing potion, then poured it down his throat.

While that was going on, Murai retrieved the thrown daggars.  Hanno, occupied with the healing potion, held out his hand for his daggar.  Murai tried to ignore, but Hanno blocked them, so they reluctantly handed Hanno the daggar.

Hanno was feeling much better.  He said to Murai, "Grown fond of this daggar; had it a while."

Ka had gotten up and was looking at the frog corpses.  Too many eyes, no mouths.  He put one in a sack, and Hanno said, "Should burn, so nothing eats them."  Glesni added, "Stay out of the smoke!"

The Freelancers put this excellent idea into practice immediately, and soon they'd made a pyre for the two frog and one hook-eagle creatures.  However the latter took a while to burn; they were not feeling safe to leave until an hour before twilight.  Ka and Hanno took what rest they could, and while the pyre was burning, they realized the ringing sound they'd heard had been coming from the frog-creatures.

That left everyone not wanting to camp near the river, so they looked for a likely place away from it.  Ondar found a good spot, and they camped for the night.  They set a watch, but the night passed without incident.  Perhaps they heard the sound of owls – or owl gryphons – hunting.

The next morning, the five Freelancers discussed what next.  They all agreed that "we've identified weird shit and killed it," but were not agreed on whether it met the bar for mission parameters and whether they should look for more.  But Hanno and Murai were a little spooked.  Hanno said, "Want better equipment."  Murai declared, "Checking for more is a them problem!"

Glesni noted, "We should confirm there are no more of those frog creatures."  So, that's what they did, casting about for more, and then heading back along the river bank, watching for things, watching for tracks.  But they saw nothing else out of the ordinary.

Three days later, they arrived at Freelancers Tavern in the late afternoon.  As they walked in, the others could swear Ka now also had a little bit of black eyeliner.

Arnari was in the tavern when they walked in, and was glad to see them.  The tavern was emptier than they remembered, and she was at a table by herself, writing.  "How it went, what did you find?" she asked curiously.

Hanno replied, "frogs with too many eyes!"  Ka pulled out the corpse he'd had in the sack.  Arnari's gladness disappeared.  "Oh, the froggoths are back, that's no good!!"

She stood up and gathered the papers, and led them all upstairs to her office, as Glesni described what they encountered.  Arnari dispensed 90gp each to them, then pulled out the case of potions and handed them out randomly to everyone.

• Glesni - oil of slipperiness
• Hanno - potion of fire breath
• Murai - potion of cold resistance
• Ka - potion of water breathing
• Ondar - potion of fire breath

"Wait," Arnari hesitated, then said to Ondar, before handing him the potion, slowly and clearly, "It might be better to save this for combat situations."

Ondar took the potion gravely, and looked Arnari in the eye.   Then he carefully put the potion in his backpack.  Arnari visibly sighed with relief.

• Hanno → lvl1 Grave Cleric of Te Mārie
• Murai → lvl1 Paladin of the Magpie of Hoarding