Session 18 & 19 - Pruning the Twisted Branch

26th and 27th of Marpenoth, 1371 DR
We prepared to rescue the mage and the other captives – plannin’ heavily on what to do if that Black Dragon is workin’ with the Lizardfolk. We also talked to Corporal Green (the highest ranking soldier remaining at the Keep) and learned that there used to be a truce with the Lizardfolk until some new leader showed up. This dangerous Lizardman was the champion of the Waterdeep arena until he escaped to the Stump Bog.

We also discovered, although the Corporal wouldn’t admit it, that they have a worm Zombie penned up somewhere in the keep. I warned him as directly as possible about the dangerous nature of the creature and that a wooden door may not prevent infection by the worms. With that, we headed into the bog.

The going was slow, but thanks to the guides that came with us from the keep we were able to stay on track and make good progress. At one point we were attacked by a gigantic crocodile, but Alobron and Tyree kept it away from the rest of us and Valcrist finished it off with a crossbow bolt to the brain.

A bit later we set upon by a band of Ghouls led by a meaty Ghast. Eqwaine channeled the power of Kelemvor and obliterated the Ghouls and caused the Ghast to flee into the swamp. Alabron and Tryee gave chase, intending to kill the thing so it couldn’t come at us again and I finished it off with a Blast of Force.

Finally we came to a gigantic mound of earth and mangaroo roots. The Rangers told us that this was the lair of the Twisted Branch tribe as evidenced by the numerous patrols of Lizarfolk skulkin’ around the area. We were able to deal with each patrol one at a time. Alabron and Tyree would lie in wait and as soon as a patrol drew near, they spring from hidin’ and cut the Liazradfolk down with hardly a sound. Only one group required assistance from the rest of us as we launched a missile attack on the hill they were occupyin’ killin’ all of them before Alabron and Tyree could even climb the slope.

The Lizardfolk had a Harpy as a sentry at the entrance to their lair. I knocked it out of the sky with a Blast of Force and Alabron finished it off before it could sound an alarm.

Once inside the lair, we proceeded to lay waste to the Lizardfolk soldiers. We were upon them before they were fully awake and managed to clear our way through two barracks without sufferin’ and significant damage. We even ran into the Lizardman called Skaarl (the one we negotiated with in Diamond Lake) and I got my old hat back!

Durin’ the initial stages of the assault, Alabron was amazin’. Everywhere he went, Lizardfolk died in droves. I put his kill total at 11 (not counting the patrols) just in the tight confines of the lair. Storn killed 6 as well as one of the big monitor lizards. Tyree killed 3 of them. Valcrist and Egwaine provided support with crossbow fire and a Spiritual Weapon respectively. I killed 5 (using the last charge in my Wand of Lightnin’ Bolt), but I assisted several kills with my Persistent Blade. Even the Rangers chalked up a couple of kills including the second monitor lizard.

Unfortunately, the alarm had been sounded and things were about to get interestin’. That’s when the worms came.

Several of the dead Lizardfolk burst apart and hundreds of tiny, green, Undead worms began to wriggle toward us! We were able to keep them at bay and destroy them with a combination of Egwaine’s divine presence and a lot of alchemist’s fire. And that’s when we decided to fight on three fronts at once.

Tyree ventured down the eastern tunnel while Alabron positioned himself in the northern tunnel to cut off the stream of Lizardfolk headed our way from that direction while the two Rangers and Valcrist held off an attack by Lizardfolk hurlers from our rear. Egwaine and I stood in the middle of the chamber hoping we could get where we were needed most in short order.

I can’t attest to what happened in the east, but Tyree and Valcrist claim there were two Otayughs in a refuse pit. I didn’t see anythin’ myself, but those festerin’ wounds on Tyree didn’t get there by themselves. I can attest to what happened north and south because I was involved in most of that.

Basically, Alabron went down one branch of a “Y” intersection, slaying Lizardfolk as he went, while a horde of Lizardfolk came down the other branch tryin’ to surround him. I was able to prevent this by thinkin’ quickly and usin’ my Wand of Unseen Servant to pick up a hunk of worm-encrusted Lizardman and carry it down the hall. This stalled the Lizardfolk advance long enough for Storn to get there and lay waste to them. I assisted them with a Fel Drain Persistent Blade (energizin’ this spell with the dark energy I’ve been able to harness turned an annoying spell into a formidable weapon). When it looked like Alabron was about to be overwhelmed by a quartet of Lizardfolk Barbarians, I sent a volley of Fel Drain Magic Missiles into them, killin’ one and weakenin’ the others. This kept him alive long enough for Egwaine to show up and heal him.

All told, Alabron killed five (includin’ two very tough Barbarians). Storn was a juggernaught. He barreled into a room literally filled with Lizardfolk and killed almost all of them in his own (he slew nearly a dozen of them) with barely a scratch on him when all was said and done. Tyree killed two Ogtayughs as well as several hurlers at the rear. The Rangers really held their own durin’ this fight. They killed five of the Lizardfolk and delayed the advance until Valcrist and Tyree could arrive to finish the job. Bron was almost killed, but Egwaine was able to heal him before his life gave out. Egwaine, Valcrist, and I were mostly in support roles as the narrow corridors limited our ability to maneuver around the large clumps of angry Lizardfolk.

Finally, the Lizardfolk shaman (named Hiishaak) came forward to negotiate peace. We were able to convince him that we (and all “fleshlings”) did not bring the horrible green worms upon his tribe. For his part, he was able to explain that the new chief (Shuukaar) was the one stirrin’ up all the anger at the people in Blackwall Keep and suggested that if the chief were killed, Hiishaak could convince the rest of the tribe to cease hostilities. So, we assisted in the Lizardfolk coup.

Prepared with the few defensive spells we had left, we entered the “throne room” with mayhem on our minds. As if expectin’ betrayal, Shuukaar started the battle by hurlin’ a trident across the room and almost impalin’ Alabron. Then the thing vanished an appeared back in Shuukaar’s clawed hand! Alabron started to cut a path to the Lizardfolk chief, killing two of his followers that were in the way. Tyree charged one of the monitor lizards and nearly killed it in one blow. The Lizardfolk swarmed Alabron, Storn, and Tyree, but our protective wards prevented any blows from landin’. Now, Shuukaar’s second in command was the same Ogre-sized Lizardman that led the attack on Blackwall Keep. This beast walked over and nearly crippled Alabron with a mighty overhand swing of his greatclub while monitor lizards missed Storn and Tyree. A group of hurlers in the back tried to pin Alabron down with javelins, but again our protective magic was too powerful for them to defeat. Viewing Kuushaak (the Ogre-sized Lizardman) as the greates threat, I blasted him with a volley of Magic Missiles just as our two brave Rangers killed a Lizardman in a concentrated barrage of arrow fire.

Shuukaar threw his magic trident at Alabron again, but Alabron was too difficult a target surrounded by Lizardfolk and the gigantic bulk of Kuushaak. In response, Alabron killed two more Lizardfolk as he cut a path towards Kuushaak. Tyree finished off the monitor lizard and took the head of a Lizardman. In all the confusion, one of the Lizardfolk struck a lucky blow against Alabron, but it was just a scratch compared to the wound he’d suffered from Kuushaak’s greatclub. Egwaine used her unique powers to heal Alabron from across the room just in time to prevent Kuushaak’s second blow from killin’ the sturdy Half-Orc. Storn killed a Lizradman and a monitor lizard with two strokes of his huge falchion, a stray javelin nicked Alabron, and I blasted Kuushaak with another, even more devastating volley of Magic Missiles.

Alabron mocked Shuukaar and in response, the chief donned his Waterdeep Champion’s belt and stabbed Alabron with his trident. Alabron sliced into Kuushaak with a pair of brutal cuts and Valcrist used the opportunity to put a crossbow bolt through the meat of his left arm. Tyree killed another Lizardfolk and while they were all jockeyin’ for position, Alabron managed to cut clean through one and bury his blade in Kuushaak again! Egwain poured more healin’ energy into Alabron, lamenting the loss of spells she was savin’ to for the fight with the Dragon. And Kuushaak, weakened from all the wounds he’d suffered, missed Alabron with two clumsy swings of his saggin’ club. With the Lizardfolk commoners out of the way, Storn charged into Kuushaak and although the large Lizardman was able to hit Storn with his club, it was not enough to stop the might Dwarf from gettin’ killed by the stornium great falchion. The hurlers in the back managed to kill one of their own with a javelin and I shot one of them with my crossbow.

Alabron and Shuukaar started to duel and exchanged blows with the experienced Lizardfolk getting the best of the initial clash. Tyree charged into the fray as well, but Shuukaar batted aside his powerful attack. With Kuushaak dead, Egwaine moved in and started healin’ Storn (who had suffered numerous minor wounds during the exchange) with her healin’ wand. Refreshed, Storn charged Shuukaar as well, dealing at least a minor wound to the warrior. Hurlers miss everyone, but I kept wounding one of them with my crossbow and the Rangers focused fire to kill another Lizardman.

Either Alabron is ready to claim the title of Champion of Waterdeep, or life in the bog has made Shuukaar soft, because Alabron was able to dodge several of the Lizardman chief’s attacks, flank him, kill on of the hurlers and strike Shuukaar with the follow through of the same blow! Tyree, the guy flanking with Alabron, landed a devastatin’ blow of his own as I finally managed to kill a hurler with my crossbow. I could have killed several more, but I was conservin’ my spells for the inevitable showdown with the Dragon.

Somewhat dazed by Tyree’s powerful attack, Shuukaar focused his attention on our raging companion, but failed to connect with anything. I yelled out my doubt over how he became champion of anything with combat skills like that. This comment got me a magical trident in the chest. Alabron killed him immediately after that (as well as killin’ two more Lizardfolk). The few remainin’ Lizardfolk surrendered at that point and Hiishaak explained his agreement with us.

We recovered two captives (includin’ Allustan’s friend) and headed down to the Dragon’s chamber to recover the other two soldiers. We only found parts of them in a largely empty chamber. There were hundreds of Lizardfolk eggs as well as an enormous Dragon egg, but no Dragon.

We started scourin’ the room, expectin’ the Dragon to appear out of nowhere and attack at any moment. When that didn’t happen, Tyree hacked the Dragon egg in half! What spilled out was not a partially developed Dragon, but thousands and thousands of the green, Undead worms! The worms immediately started headin’ for the Lizardfolk eggs and we did our best to save them. Egwaine used her ability to Turn Undead and a copious amount of holy water to keep large numbers of the woms at bay while the rest of us physically carried the eggs from the chamber. My Unseen Servant actually came in quite handy.

In the end, we only lost about 50 eggs (out of 800 or so). But what happened to those eggs was horrifying. Each egg touched by a worm, quickly hatched, revealin’ a tiny little Lizardman already infested with worms. These worm-tainted Lizardfolk babies scuttled off beneath the mangaroo roots before we could dispatch them, unfortunately.

Hiishaak was beside himself with grief and he told us how he and his tribe had been duped. Apparently, two years ago, almost an entire clutch of eggs had been infected in a similar fashion, except the creatures that emerged quickly died. That’s when the Great Father (the Black Dragon) came to them and informed them that the fleshlings (the Humans at Blackwall Keep) had done this to them to try to drive them out of the bog. The Dragon became their guardian and when Shuukaar arrived, he had no trouble convincin’ them to storm Blackwall Keep.

Now, seeing the Great Father’s own egg was simply a time bomb planted here to infect another clutch of Lizardfolk eggs, it has become apparent that it was the Dragon who most likely infected the first clutch of eggs. Then the Dragon set out to have the Lizardfolk get killed by the Humans of Blackwall Keep while the Dragon infected all the eggs with the vile worms!

This Dragon has a lot to answer for – not even countin’ the deaths of Morgan and the others.

We went back to the Keep with Hiishaak’s blessin’ to negotiate a peace treaty with the soldiers. The key portion of the agreement will be findin’ a suitable new home for the Twisted Branch tribe, since their current mangaroo mound is now infested with tiny, Undead horrors.

That will have to wait though. Upon returnin’ to the Keep, Cpl. Green finally came clean and admitted they had a worm-zombies captive in the cellar and he was hopin’ we could deal with it and his two new victims.