Having successfully robbed the Master Thief of the Scanelorn Thieves guild after surviving the many traps and backstabbing attempts inside the guild, The Odd Three and their companions Samhir the Blue Archer and the albino sorceress Shalla Hess decide to make haste out of the city.
Mick uses the hilt of his dagger to knock out the Master Thief, and they leave him in the alley behind the guild building.
They return to the Troll’s Tooth and convince Captain Klang and his goblin crew it would be good to leave immediately, though it is the middle of the night. The goblins raise anchor and begin rowing the ship around the canal ring surround the city, leaving through the gate to the Black Marsh.
On board, the PCs and their allies discuss division of the magic treasure they have accumulated over the last day or so.
The party takes turns resting below decks. On day two of their trip down the river, barbed spears are thrown from the shore on both sides. One hits a goblin crewman. The spears are connected to long ropes, and the assailant tries to pull the goblin off the deck and into the water. The goblin, however, is not dead and is able to use a knife to cut himself free. He collapses on deck. A battle ensues. The party sees, on both shores, humanoid beings with slimy, light green skin. They continue throwing spears at the ship. Debi Harree, Mick, and Samhir attack the primitives with arrow and crossbows killing a couple of them. Shalla Hess and Simon attack with spells — Witch Bolt and Sacred Flame — frying two more of the creatures.
The humanoids fail a morale check after seeing the impressive magic, and flee, terrified, into the march. They quickly disappear from sight.
Simon makes a medicine roll, pushes the spear through the goblin, doing enough damage to kill him. He fails a death save. Simon casts healing on him and he’s OK.
The ship continues.
Toward nightfall they come to a point where the river splits in three directions. Shalla Hess admit that while she has heard of the dimensional gate being on this river through the marsh, she has heard nothing of this unforeseen complication.
There is a small earthen hut not far from the water on the right bank. Smoke rises from a small chimney and light flickers in a window. Debi sees someone peering at them from that window, then the curtain shuts. Moments later a decrepit man appears in the door of the hut. He motions for them to come over.
With Sahir and Shalla Hess staying on board the Troll’s Tooth in case of further attacks by the slimy primitives, Simon, Mick, and Debi take a rowboat to the shore.
They go to the hut, and are greeted by what appears to be an old hermit. They introduce themselves, and the man introduces himself as Shertz the Mystic.
Shertz asks them to dine with him. He’s cooking the most horrible smelling stew they’ve ever encountered, and serves them all up a nice wooden bowl full of the stuff. Mick is first to try it. He doesn’t die, and they all eat and talk. They ask him if he knows about a dimensional gate in the marsh, and which branch of the river they should take. He tries, but can’t seem to remember. Simon “blesses” the old man, while Debi takes out the Moon Lyre playing him a song, imparting Bardic Inspiration (now a d8!). The old man make a history roll and remembers which branch to take – the middle one!
As he talks he mentions that they may encounter “The Big Tree.” It sounds ominous. They ask him more questions but he is both a bit crazy and a bit secretive. Enough to cause the PCs to worry. Debi continues playing, using the Moon Lyre to cast Detect Thought on Shertz. She then continues to ask him about The Big Tree. She is getting some info but not enough. She uses the spell to do a deeper probe of his mind, and is able to see through the layers of just plain crazy and dementia. She can tell that the Big Tree is a living being, very large, who lives in the marsh and apparently is close to the portal. She finds that the creatures subsists on the organic matter of the marsh, likes protein, and it likely sentient.
The spell ends. Shertz says “You got right into my mind, young elf! I’m …not sure….I like…that…” His mood seems to have soured after having his mind invaded. Simon intervenes, using a good persuasion roll to convince Shertz that Debit just made a mistake and meant no harm, which accepts. The then tells them that dinner if over. They hastily retreat to their row boat and to the ship.
End of session.
XP: 175 each
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