Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.
You can find the previous episode here.
9th-14th of Waxing Fall, 0AL
It is only the morning after T'Zaric murdered Balasar and fled into the jungle, but the 3rd Watch have no time to rest. Stor's father, Varis, whom the entire group had experienced Balasar murdering in his memories, showed up at the door - half disguised as a friend of Extang's, with a broken arm, and looking about ready to pass out from exhaustion, but very much alive.
Varis informs Stor that his adoptive mother is in danger and needs his help. The two of them had gone out seeking treasure troves, and had found what looked to be a ruined temple in a swamp filled with lizard-creatures. Upon entering, the building had collapsed, separating the two. Varis had seen Stor's mother alive through the rubble, but his arm got broken during the the fruitless attempts to dig through. Knowing Stor could probably help, he'd rushed home, not even bothering to sleep.
The remaining members of the 3rd Watch, Extang and Fiaeorri, agree to help, but they believe they need a little more help. While Varis goes off to have his injuries tended to, Stor and Fiaeorri ask around for someone to help, and recruit Logan - a paladin of Epesta. Extang, meanwhile, obtains Naldor's last healing potion.
Before setting out, Fiaeorri takes a trip out to the edge of the jungle to leave a note for Dugg, hoping he can catch up with them. While there, she bumps into T'Zaric! She's happy to see him, and invites him on their adventure, but after talking about it they agree that the others probably aren't ready to forgive him for killing Balasar. So, they decide he should follow them from a distance instead.
With that, the 3rd Watch sets out, with T'Zaric sneakily following behind and Fiaeorri helping to keep attention away from him. They travel quickly, as Stor knows the first part of the route, which takes them past the white stone building where they have a couple of goblin friends. Of course, that may be another problem, because apparently there are harpies nesting on top of the building, and Stor is worried about his friends.
On their third day out, they come to the familiar field of long blue grass, though now it is smaller due to the people from the settlement harvesting it. They continue on, and as they draw near the white stone building, they note that there are indeed a large number of harpies around it. Stor convinces the others that they can't just leave the goblins there, but no one really wants to fight these creatures, so Fiaeorri is sent to sneak ahead and check on the goblins.
She makes it pretty far, but as she rounds the corner, she finds a harpy on the ground outside the door, who looks up at her and shrieks. Stor and Logan rush around the corner to help Fiaeorri, and that harpy is quickly killed - but the others have been alerted, and they swarm in to attack. Extang, lagging behind the others, catches a brief glimpse of a harpy diving at something back in the tall grass before he's set upon by two more harpies. Not wanting to stay separated from his friends, he vanishes with a spell to appear by their side.
The battle is rough, and full of strange occurrences. Shortly after one of the harpies begins singing - briefly charming Stor - there is a massive explosion from back around the corner from where they came. Once the battle is complete, they are certain there were more dead harpies than they killed, and one side of the building is blackened and charred. Extang looks into this - though Fiaeorri claims the explosion came from a trap she set - but he doesn't find anything other than some specks of blood where he's pretty sure none of his friends were fighting.
Stor finds the doors to the building held shut from the inside, but after he announces that it's him, the goblins Ilk and B'yeta throw open the doors and fling themselves on him, each accusing the other of threatening to eat them if the harpies stayed much longer. Of course, a horrible stench comes out with the goblins. Stor chastises them for not keeping the place clean, but the goblins insist that the smell is coming from the secret room where the 3rd Watch had locked up half a dead lion weeks ago.
Extang is fetched to open the door, and they clean up the mess - then Extang locks Balasar's magical greatsword in the room, figuring it was the safest place for it until a worthy wielder was found. They stayed there for the night, then continued on to the east in the morning.
After passing Grubfrub's old goblin camp, they come to a wide river, rushing down fresh from the mountains. With the aid of various magical items, they cross without much difficulty, and continue on across the savanna beyond. By the time they make camp, the mountains to the south have disappeared and there are trees on the eastern horizon - not jungle trees, either - but the droopy sort of trees they would expect to find in a swamp.
In the morning, they press on. About halfway through the morning, they spot a humanoid-sized shape on the edge of the swamp, being mobbed by a bunch of smaller creatures. Thinking it may be Stor's mother, they rush in to help, only to find that it is in fact a battle between six human-sized lizard-people and a much larger group a smaller lizard-creatures. Stor and Extang decide that they will help the larger creatures in the hopes that they can get on the good side of some of the locals. Fiaeorri and Logan come along, though both would have been content to sit and wait out the battle.
It's a tough fight, if only due to the sheer numbers of the smaller creatures - some of whom have magic. However, eventually they come out victorious, with two of the lizard-people still surviving. Said lizard-people take a step back, brandishing their spears defensively and glancing from each other to the four members of the 3rd Watch. One of them quietly begins hissing.
And that's where this game session ends. Discover what happens next week in Episode 35.
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