Charm City Gameday: Drums In The Marsh

After a passable lunch at Willy's Kitchen I returned for the second half of the day's events at Games and Stuff.

Drums In The Marsh (DDEX17)

For the past several nights, drums have been heard on the wind, coming from the Twilight Marsh. Each morning, more turn up missing from the nearby farms, leaving only muddy, clawed footprints heading towards the marsh. Can you help the find the lost and bring justice to the abductors? A four-hour adventure for levels 1-4.

Erik Jensen - DM

Matthew - Tenry the Bard 1
Scott - Taran the Rogue 3
David (Me!) - Halvar the Storm Priest 3
Zach H - Dredor the Fighter 1
Karrie - Helena the Wizard 1
Jen - Milo the Thief 1

East of Phlan, perched on the edge of the Trank River sits the Crossing Inn owned and operated by the corpulent Ramsen. It was his call for adventurers that brought this group together. Of late, the locals have been taken from their homes at night while drums pound from the marsh.

While speaking with Ramsen, a local boy burst into the inn, decrying the loss of the family that hires him, but even more, the loss of his beloved pig, who he describes in great detail. Taking up the call to arms, the party heads down the river to the farm the boy is from. As reported, the farm was empty of both people and large animals. Chickens were still in their coop... The boy gave the party the boat, and stayed to look after the farm.

Heading further along the river, the party investigated several other farms, found one with a bull that was no longer contained in it's field, and was kind of pissed off. It had several darts sticking out of it's flank. A failed animal check, followed by a timely sleep spell allowed the adventurers to check out the primitive, but by no means crude darts.

As the day was getting late it was decided to take a break, rest up, and wait for dark and the drums. A few adventurers would stay by the water, hidden in the reeds and cattails, while the rest of the party would be further back. Shortly after sunset the drumming began...

In the river, a pair of swimming forms were seen approaching the beached boat. Lizardmen slunk out of the water, and were promptly ambushed. One was killed outright, while the other was taken hostage. After interrogation he revealed, in an rare canadian-draconic accent, that a dragon had killed the local lizardman lord, and told the 3 clans that the leader would be chosen from the clan that collected the largest number of people and large animals in a couple of weeks.

Not much later, another group of lizardmen approached, and were again ambushed. This fight didn't go as quickly, but with the help of the angry bull they were all put down. Taking the boat further along the river into the swamp, the party fought off a giant toad before making it to the central island where the various cages were.

Dropping the thieves off at one end, the rest of the group made it to the other side of the island unseen. This was accomplished so successfully because at the center of this island was a low hill with 4 drums. With every beat, a bright light flashed, and the sound rumbled for miles around. Between the noise and the light, the lizardmen were too distracted to see us.

The split party each did it's best to sow confusion and death among the lizardmen. Thankfully the 3 groups were disinterested in helping each other out, so the prisoners were released, the animals were riled up and sent running around the isle, and the drums were destroyed. Oh, and the sow was found. She really was some pig...

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I have to give serious props to Erik for his vocal talents in bringing the various NPCs to life. I had a really good time, and once again a blast playing 5e, and I'm looking forward to the summer Charm City Gameday!