We begin with the night after the previous adventure where
the party helped thwart a gnoll invasion of the Southlands.
Cloveshire Keep
The monk was busy counting the strange ( but becoming more
common ) gold coins they had found. As he counted them he couldn’t help holding
each one and examining it further. The rouge stepped over to see what was
taking so long to tally their new found gold. As he watched the monk count
coins, he too became enthralled by the look of each coin. It was as if they
both wanted to get more of these strange stamped coins. The barabarian saw his
two companions staring like fools at coins. He didn’t notice anything special,
just that they were gold coins with a half circle with four protruding rays
stamped on both sides. He did notice that several of the coins the box had
thumb sized orange slugs moving across them. They emptied the coins and found a
few more of these slugs in the bottom of the box. There was also a handful of
what looked to be seeds at the bottom of the box. The slugs seemed very interested
I those seeds.
The three of them had no idea what this was about, but with
contigents of soldiers from around the realm still camping at Cloveshire Keep,
they asked around the campsites. The majority of the warriors had never seen
these slugs before. However, the Flames of the Firstborn, from the swamp city
of Wychlight, knew all about these little slimy orange creatures. They were a
bit of a local menace as they loved to eat the local grains in the region.
There were a few breeds of wheat, barley and oats that these slugs were
attracted too. They had even been the cause of a few grain plantations losing
entire fields of crops.
When shown the contents of the box they also identified the
seeds. They were not actually seeds at all. They were oats. A wild variety that
grows throughout the swamps.
Also the Flames of the Firstborn each had a few of these
strange coins on their person. They had been moving around Wychlight for months
now. They thought it was just new money that had trickled down from the Northern
cities.
Well these facts were enough for the party (well that and the fact the box was made from
Cypress wood, a tree native to the swamps ) they would head to Wychlight and
investigate further. Maybe this was where these strange new coins were being
made. Hopefully they would find who was making them and why.
The party tagged along when the first half of the Flames of
the Firstborn headed home to Wychlight.
(Insert Creedence’s Born
on the Bayou musical montage here)
The party arrives
in the Twilight Fens at the swamp city of Wychlight
The city is surrounded by
palisade walls on three sides. The Northeast facing wall houses a gat
and a couple of watch towers. A cobblestone road snakes its way through the
swamp land toward the gate. Several small bridges span pools of water and small
offshoot from the Metedras River. The rear of the city is open to the river and
the swamps. Here three boat docks can be found.
Within the walls stands the tallest tree the party has ever
seen. It is an ancient Cypress Tree that stand hundreds of feet high. The city
looks to be built around and up the tree. Catwalks connect small shops and
houses to each other as well as to the ground below. Dozens of small buildings
on stilts cover the ground around the
base of the tree.
 |
| Like this but with a much bigger tree in the center |
The town is alive with people and music. The city is alive
with what appears to be a mix of parade, carnival and drunken party. This
festive atmosphere is due to the yearly swamp purge. People from all around the
area and realm travel down to Wychlight to partake in this event. Warriors,
would be or true, travel into the swamp to help population control the local
flora and fauna. Money is paid out by the town for culling ogres, trolls, all
manner of swamp beasties, lizardmen, snakemen, frogmen and all manner giant
swamp critters. It was originally and still is a priority for the Flames of the
Firstborn. It is what they are trained and armed for. However, over the years
the town has turned this into a festival and competition to attract travelers.
Why cull the flora and fauna? Well besides the benefit to
the ecosystem it also helps protect the town and surrounding communities. They
have had troubles with swamp denizen coordinated attacks in the past. This
purging of reptile and amphibian men keeps that from occurring. Plus, there is
nothing worse than a random troll, let alone a dozen of them trying break
through the walls to get to the city’s meaty people center.
The party had arrived the day before the beginning of the
week long annual swamp purge. The city was alive with music and people. They
had slugs, oats and a Cypress box as clues. The Flames of the Firstborn
mentioned that they should check the By-Water Brothers trading post. They sold
boxes like that and also were the main distributor of grain (and most sundries)
in the area. They might have some information. They were also told of the (insert inn/tavern here- seriously forgot the name as I made it up on the fly that night) this was the best place for food and lodgings
in town. Sure there were a handful more places to bun, eat and drink; but this
was the best by far.
The party moved into town to begin their investigation.
HEY follow or go check out @Regthebarbarian for live tweets from this game!
No comments:
Post a Comment