Session 53 - The One Where They Eventually Made It Across The Swamp
28th Jan & 3rd Feb 2024
In-game timeline: DR1489 Uktar 2 - Uktar 3
Our "Heroes" are in a swamp. They got a bit lost under the leadership of Carro, but seem to be back on track now, after a bloody distraction from a vicious vine.
The intrepid adventurers discuss having a long rest - it is, after all, mid-morning, and they have been scratched. In the end they decide against this and press on, though TC is sulking.
Mahtis steps up to the lead and decides to use her perception skill, though she describes the use of this skill in a perfect description of her survival abilities. The DM overlooks this, and Mahtis leads the group further into the swamp, deciding to improve her perception abilities by changing into a mastiff dog for the duration. She does well, and seems to take quite a direct path, hopefully towards the ruins. They pass through a very heavy rainfall, which starts and stops very quickly and is so hard they need to shelter under trees for a while.
TC moves to the front of the group and limbers up. He decides to use his athletics expertise to find the best path through the swamp, and to help both himself and others if they should slip and fall, or slide into deep mud or get trapped in tree roots. He seems to do well and once again they make good progress into the swamp, passing by the roof of some old building that seems to have been long-sunk in the swamp waters. They decide to ignore this and press on.
Mahtis once again takes leadership of the group and tries her best to use her acrobatics to dodge the worst areas of swamp and leap from root to branch and find a suitable path for the others to follow. This seems to work ok, though she does encounter a dead halfling that seems to be covered in leeches and there are dead grubs around his body. They decide to leave this body well alone.
Carro, in his exhausted state, needs to take the lead for the while, as the others are still a little tired from their efforts. He sits and meditates for a while, trying to recall anything he has learnt in his studies of history that could help in their traversal of the swamp. Unfortunately, given that he grew up in a forest setting, he doesn't recall much of use. He leads the group into an area criss-crossed with thorny vines and they take some damage in getting out of them, with Carro taking more damage than the others, and also getting poisoned from the thorns, though once out, TC cures the elf's poison by using his laying on hands and gives him some well-needed healing too.
TC uses his knowledge of nature to try to be aware of, and avoid, the weird flora and fauna that reside in the area and to try to predict a safe path using his knowledge of their behaviours. It is unfortunate that he is not particularly familiar with swamps. Nor of this world. He makes a mis-turn and leads the group into an area of sinking sand. Carro, despite being rather tired, manages to save himself from sinking in, and Mahtis too manages to reach dry land. TC decides to Misty Step out of the sinking ground with only the loss of a spell slot.
Mahtis decides to use Animal Handling to spot the actions of the swamp creatures and see if they give her any hints as to what is around the corners. She does manage to avoid some areas that other animals seem to be giving a wide berth, spotting a sinking relic of a stone altar in the distance but ignoring it in favour of progressing on during this late hour. They manage, in the early hours of the morning, to arrive at a clearing in the swamp containing a large plateau in the middle of some waters. Atop this plateau they see some ruins!
Our "Heroes" are tired after a difficult journey. They settle down for a sleep before attempting to venture in to the ruins. During their sleep, whilst on watch, TC and Mahtis spot lights coming from the tall towers at the edges of the ruins on the plateau. Carro gets a good enough rest that he loses one of his levels of exhaustion, and the rest overall is uneventful enough that they all are able to recover some health and abilities.
The following morning they scout the area and discover a possible entrance hidden from the possible gaze of guards in the towers - a cave in the cliff wall. Mahtis changes into a spider to check out where the cave leads. After some travel she comes across a very strange, very smelly and very worrying creature that looked none-too-friendly, what with being full of eyes, body parts and chattering mouths in a large mound of pulsating flesh. Mahtis makes a hasty exit back to the group and tells them of what she saw. TC recognises the description as potentially something called a Gibbering Mouther.
And we leave our "Heroes" deciding what path to take next…