Shattered Star: Bring On The Swamps

Game Date: 1/17/2015
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: Shattered Star, Session 13
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Bjertha (Matt) - Dwarf Fighter
iCarlie Nackle (Chere) - Gnome Wizard
Kelson (Matt, Subbing for Ben) - Half-Elf Warlock
Maruca (Daniel) - Human Ranger/Cleric/Rogue
Shemus (Cliff) - Elf Ranger
Slancio Brioso (Rusty, Subbing for Thomas) - Human Bard

The Session:
We left off taking a short rest in a crypt.  Today we turned the corner and approached a door, but Bjertha and Meruca set off a Glyph of Warding.  We made our saves, but still took 13 damage.  Then we opened the door which revealed a shrine. 

There was a person kneeling before the altar.  He stood up and turned around to face us, revealing himself to be Henric Slidell, a former party member.  He fired off a Silence spell at our party, which rendered several of our party useless until they left the zone.  We used some of our best attacks, taking him down a lot faster than we were expecting.  Oops, guess he wasn't the real boss. 

There were two side rooms that appeared to be prison cells.  We heard someone calling for help from one of them.  We let the prisoner out and grilled her for info.  She claimed to be a follower of Sarenrae, who had been captured by evil cultists of Shax.  There were holes in her story - she said she was a washer woman, but her hands were too smooth, and she detected as magical.  Bjertha trusted her enough to stand a little too close, and paid the price.  The woman hugged Bjertha and gave her a "Draining Kiss", which did 29 points of damage - exactly enough to bring Bjertha to 0.  Worse, it reduced Bjertha's max HP by the same amount, giving Bjertha a max of 11.

The prisoner then altered her form, revealing herself to be a Succubus.  The party had to face her without their tank, everyone keeping their distance so they could lob spells and arrows.  Bjertha was healed a little late in the fight, but only got one revenge whack in before Kelson dropped the Succubus.  After looting the bodies and finding a hidden stash in one of the cells, we found 2500 gold, a magic dagger, and scrolls of Greater Restoration, Cure Wounds, Divination, and Cure Disease.

We went back to Heidmarch Manor.  A long rest cured Bjertha's ailment.  We received 3000 gold for solving the crime, and spent the next day knocking around town and doing research.  We learned the order we will be finding the shards, since each shard leads to the next.  We already have Pride and Greed, the next one will be Lust, followed by Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, and Sloth. 

We're to search for the Lust shard in a lighthouse called the Lady's Light, which is south of Magnimar.  We had to choose whether to take a boat, or trudge through the swamps.  Unfortunately it's hard to find a boat willing to go there, so swamps it is.  Looks to be about 40 hours of travel.  It was suggested that we seek out someone named Jasper, who knew his way through the swamps.  We were also warned to "be patient with him."

We went to an area of Magnimar called "Beacon's Point", where it was pretty easy to locate Jasper.  He was an evangelical kook, shouting doomsday prophesies to passersby.  When he saw us, he seemed to recognize us.  As he approached our party, another party approached him.  Three members of a gang called the "Black Kiss Boys" attacked Jasper.  I can't say I blame them, but we needed Jasper alive, so we had to intervene.

We made short work of the clowns, and we introduced ourselves to Jasper.  He'd been having dreams about our party, and believed we would be the ones to bring on the end times... and he seemed to be pretty happy about it.  He agreed to lead us through the swamp.  We asked him (and some shopkeepers) what we should expect to encounter in the swamps.  We should be prepared for Troglodytes, Bullywug tribes, Maroux the Swamp Witch, as well as crocodiles and will-o-wisps. 

We made a few more preparations - waterproofing our gear and buying magical bug repellant, and ended our session ready to leave for the swamps.

Rewards:
300 + 450 = 750 XP each
2500 + 3000 / 6 = 916 gold each
+1 Dagger (Kelson)
Scrolls: Greater Restoration, Cure Wounds, Divination, Cure Disease