Journal of Rollo Lavius 2

Entry #270 - Mirabella succumbs to Despayr

(G270 08/04/2016 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, Mira, Guru)

DAY 247 (13 Uktar)(November) cont ...

With complete disregard for the consequences Basil put his undead turtle lover into his Bag of Holding. There is a sentence I don't think has ever been written before in the history of Faerune!

I really feel as if we need to get out of here. I have my wife, my cousin and my old faithful family retainers all bound up in this enterprise, it's like half of my nearest and dearest are now in incredible danger and for what? I'm starting to think, whether I'm a druid or not, the Vast Swamp will just have to take its chances!

The people involved are a real mixed bag as well, not ideal when what is needed is careful planning and caution, Lavinia, Sylvia and Shump will pretty much do what I say, and Falo-han to a certain extent, but the rest of them are predictably unpredictable.

Well, Basil is nuts, that's about the size of it, but he at least believes in the mission.

Mirabella was sound, but since the lycanthropy bite she's gone off the rails as well. Drashnag is largely on side, but has no idea of planning or strategy and just does his own thing during combat. Yli seems ok, I'll grant him that, but he appears to be happy to let the chaotic ones do their own thing and goes with the flow.

As you can see, that is a lot of 'buts'.

Basil, then, was playing with forces beyond his ken when he put the turtle inside the magic bag. At least he tied it up in it's shell first, but such a strange and powerful being is a dangerous thing to put inside a Bag of Holding. I've heard of activity like that ripping holes through to other dimensions. That's the last thing we need.

It was still morning when we decided to try the eastern path from the last ledge we were at.

This time everyone decided to come along, I think Mirabella and Lavinia were getting bored of hanging out in the 'Fortress'.

Mirabella scouted ahead, then came back and told us she had found a cavern with a black sand beach in it, with water to the south and a lamp lit cave entrance to the north. From the cave she could hear the murmur of conversation.

From where we were I started thinking up a plan, along the lines of laying an ambush then luring them out, and had just started explaining,

'Now, here is how I think we should approach...No, Drashnag! Come back!'

The half orc, not bothering to wait for a translation charged down onto the beach and straight into the cave with most of the party following him.

Basil pushed me aside as he rode past saying,

'It's ok guys, I'm riding a snake!'

Yli was the first at the entrance and started firing arrows at the enemies within. Crossbow bolts were fired back in return.

En masse, the party congregated at the entrance of the cave, all idea of strategy firmly thrown out of the window. Something inside gave a terrible howl and Drashnag came running back out of the cave, followed by Falo-han. Lavinia and Rolanda joined them in their fearful dash back up to the ledge. Seeing my wife disappear off into the darkness I ran after her.

From what I gather the fight in the cave was over quickly. Two warrior types were killed off, one by an arrow fired by Yli and the other by a lightning bolt from Basil. Their was a female priestess in there as well, who Sylvia killed with a Hypothermia spell. The howling beast disappeared although Yli did catch a glimpse of a shadow moving east from the cavern.

Meanwhile I caught up with my wife, turned into a brown bear and tried to grab her. She was too wriggly though and escaped my clutches. Her and Falo-han ran north, there was no danger there anymore, so I checked south, where Drashnag and Rolanda had gone.

After less than a minute the effects of their fear began to wear off and everyone came back to the cave. Drashnag reported he'd been frightened by something he'd seen in his direction but was very vague on the details. Even for a half orc Drashnag is pretty hostile when questioned.

I learned later that everyone at the cave had joined in the combat except Mirabella who just stood and watched. I didn't bother questioning her about it either. After days and days of this I'd come to the conclusion it was better to leave the weirdos to it, which was a pity, considering what happened next.

The cave had a narrow entrance, it was much more defensible than the 'Fortress' so we all went up there and brought all our gear and loot down.

After that Mirabella scouted east from the cave and was killed by the dragon.

Shame really.