Episode 13: "Frogger"

Quest Information

 * 15-17 Arah Abu, 837
 * Title: Everything Has Changed
 * Level: 4
 * Location: on the road from Ag-Rakade, through Bearden's Crossing, to Paunch. Includes a brief stint in the Sapannu Swamp.

Primary Cast

 * Ket-Ramat, soldier-scout
 * Lugal, Mage of Learning
 * Shoklen, swamp ranger
 * Vjor'Kul, high orc from beyond the Presett Sea

Supporting Cast

 * Mayor, prelate, and villagers of Bearden's Crossing
 * Hilalum, camel merchant

Summary
“Wait, what?”

“He just reeked of frog, right from the minute I met him.”

“Hold on, you lost me. Why did he reek of frog?”

“Alright, let me start from the beginning. So I’m sitting at the wayside. You know the one: it’s between Bearden’s and Paunch.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“So I’m sitting there with my crew, roasting some hens, and in ride three men on tired horses and another, a mage, driving a wagon. I, being a friend to all good beings, offer to share my fire …”

“You hoped to unload your camels at retail, didn’t you?”

“Of course! Never turn away an opportunity to sell at retail. I tried, but they didn’t bite. They're Kassithe, horse riders. Hurrethe, they’re the camel riders. Anyway, the orc of the bunch …”

“Wait, one was an orc? A bit far off their normal trade route, eh?”

“This one was different. Spoke with a heavy accent, lots of oddly placed ‘v’s and stuff. Definitely not from Azkobaq, somewhere farther afield. Gruffer and rougher around and between the edges, if you know what I mean. But he also had some sort of depth to him, which I couldn’t figure out, but he’s definitely not your typical orc. Anyway, they start to regale me with this tale of absolute ridiculousness, the only reason I think it was true was because of the overwhelming stink of frogs.”

“Hehe. Alright, go on, then. Tell this story.”

“So apparently these folks are traveling from Ag-Rakade …”

“The Cursed Village?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Damn shame what happened there. Anyway, these four are traveling from there. Probably refugees. They’ll end up being sellswords to make ends meet.”

“Should send them to Seluku, he’s always looking for guards for caravans crossing the Badlands.”

“Way ahead of you, my friend. Anyway, they stopped at Bearden’s for the night, but for some reason, the orc decides to camp outside the village.”

“Why in the Hells would he do that? Doesn’t he know we got dire hyenas around these parts?”

“Well, they do have a ranger with them, so the two of them felt they could camp out. You know these ranger types and their allergies to feather beds …. Anyway, they’re camping outside, and the orc hears this cackling up in some tamarix tree.”

“Cackling? Like a lemur-lizard?”

“Well, that’s what I thought, so I ask one of them to make the sound they heard. It was pretty horrific, definitely no lemur-lizard, if their impersonation is to be trusted. So the orc goes and starts staring up into the treetop, trying to find it, doesn’t see nothing.”

“Well, it was night, ‘course he’s not gonna see nothing”

“You forget, my corpulent friend: orcs have night vision.”

“Oh, right. And he saw … nothing?”

“Yep, nothing. So the orc is creeped out, and sends the ranger back to fetch their friends.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yep. Sure enough, after an hour or so, the ranger comes back with their two companions (who are pretty pissed to be woken up in the middle of the night for this). So now …”

“So now they’re all staring up this tree?”

“Nope, they all head into the swamp.”

“The Sappanu? Why in the world would they go in there?”

“Well, apparently these guys tracked and killed a bog mummy there a while back. So the ranger took them all into the swamp to look for more, apparently.”

“Huh?”

“Apparently this ranger has some fixation on the undead.”

“Whoa, you don’t mean …”

“Oh gods no. Ha!! No, that’s not what I meant. This guy seems to think undead are crawling all over the place. Apparently he’s seen a lot lately, thinks there’s some sort of conspiracy.”

“Ugh, that makes my skin crawl.”

“Meh, don’t worry about it. I’ve been traveling this land for decades, I’ve only seen one zombie, and that was the pet of one of those Nergal types. Anyway, these guys head into the swamp, and apparently hear this cackling again."

“Let me guess: up in a tree again.’

“Yep. So now they’re not only staring up a tree, but they’re ankle-deep in swamp muck while doing it.”

“What is wrong with these people?”

“Shook up by the destruction of the village, I guess. So anyway they’re staring up this tree at this cackling noise, and suddenly, whatever it is starts chucking seed pods and rotten slushfruit at these guys.”

“So there WAS something up that tree?!”

“Apparently. Something they couldn’t see …”

“OK, so whatever it was, it was invisible.”

“Of course it must have been invisible …”

“But didn’t you say they had a mage?”

“Yep a mage who …”

“Didn’t know how to use magic to see invisible things….”

“Nope.”

“Wow. These guys don’t really know how to travel in the wild, do they?”

“Nope. But that’s not the worst of it. Apparently they start shooting arrows into the darkness.”

“Randomly?”

“Randomly.”

“Wow.”

“Then the mage tries to put the swamp to sleep."

“Um, what?”

“Yep. Casts a sleep spell into the treetops. It starts raining bats and squirrels and tree frogs.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“And whatever is in the treetops, apparently it can fly. It hovers above them, cackling all the way. Eventually it goes quiet (it must’ve gotten bored and flew away), and the orc goes NUTS. He apparently has enough, and just starts swinging his maul around, killing every comatose tree frog he can. Eventually he tires himself out, his buddies drag him back to Bearden’s — frog guts and all — and they set off down the road, barely sleeping the night.”

“Oh man, that is some story.”

“Yep. After they told it, I gave the orc my wineskin. He drank the whole thing down, all by himself, and passed out in the back of the wagon. They all took off in the morning for Paunch like nothin’ ever happened.”

“Sheesh. … You know what, Hil?”

“What, Braka?”

“What if whatever destroyed Ag-Rakade inflicted a madness upon the people who lived there? I heard there’s a whole caravan of refugees heading to Bakretah, 300 strong.”

“If they’re anything like those four adventurers, I wouldn’t want to be a frog."

“HARHARHARHAR!!!”

Outcome

 * Ket-Ramat is given the Idol of the Minotaur Mother from Ea-Nasir before the party leaves Ag-Rakade. Ea believes the monster that attacked the village is a monstrous minotaur, although he gives no explanation as to how it appeared in the center of town, nor why the minotaurs -- a seafaring people -- would attack a farming village in the middle of the plains.
 * Hilalum, the camel merchant, puts an embellished tale of Vjor'Kul vs. the Sappanu Tree Frogs into his repertoire of stories he tells travelers who share his fire (whether they buy his camels at retail or not). Eventually, he tells the tale to a passing bard, who turns it into a song, "The Saga of the Tree Frogs of the Sappanu Swamp" becomes his most requested song wherever he travels, until one day he is waylaid by some irate bullywugs and never heard from again.

Rewards

 * Ket, Lugal, Shoklen, and Vjor'Kul each earn 575 xp
 * Vjor'Kul gains advantage on attacks vs. any frog or frog-like creature

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