Igniting A Spark

"Igniting A Spark" is the third episode of the Materia D&D Crass Menagerie campaign. The adventuring party practically witnessed first hand the slaughter of Vulpine's prized plainscow calf by a cloaked figure, but their quarry has slipped through their grasp. The party seeks more information in town to hunt this individual down, but all the while they hear distant squeals surrounding the town.

## Synopsis

### Recap

The group went to Ranch 44 with Archie, Alexandra, and Kam to investigate the recent disappearances of their plainscows. After some investigation, they discovered an "oozy, droopy tree" whose goo Marb collected a sample of. Grant, Al, and Davis headed back into Vulpine to potentially seek out information. Marb, Roque, and Gustav spent the night at Ranch 44 to keep an eye on things, with Marb powering through the night and remaining up at Ranch 44 sleeping through the next day while Gustav and Roque would depart in the morning to reunite with the rest of the party. Along the ride back, Roque was joined by an oxpecker bird friend he has named "Pebble". The group decided to check out the festival for the plainscow calf, eventually attending the main event in the big top tent. While awaiting the calf, the group overheard talk of some ranchers who had gone missing for some months but had since returned, seemingly okay. When the calf was presented, a cloaked figure came out, covered the area in a cloud of fog, and dispatched of the handlers and the calf while mutilating it and taking its heart. This fog cloud seemed to have triggered something causing the recently-returned ranchers to turn into violent pig-men. After a battle, the group were able to subdue them. Eventually, after some investigation the group determined that the cloak figure had apparently escaped out of the back of the tent and used magical teleportation to escape. Presently the town apepars to be surrounded by the sounds of squealing pigs off in the distance. Meanwhile, the group proceeded back into town looking for information.

### Meeting the Weatherbys

*32nd Schema 268 PBT, mid-day*

The group decides to continue their line of investigation with the Weatherbys in the southern part of town. They come upon a building built into a hill, with a sign signifying this is The Fox Den, and the group enters and they encounter one of the owners, Jango Weatherby, who warns them of the squeals outside. They inform him that they were the ones who "took care of" the situation at the main event tent. He calls out to his son, Corny, to fetch some supplies to help the group clean up after their encounter. Corny returns with his mother, Jeanetta, to greet the travelers, who appear to be the only visitors at the moment.

The party asks the elder Weatherbys about the goo/corruption they found out at Ranch 44, and while they admit to not having much to offer in terms of information, they hint that they know someone that might. Corny becomes visibly excited at this, asking "is she gonna come visit?". Jeanetta heads to the front of The Fox Den and appears to beckon to some crows and ravens near their sign and says "go get our friend". While they wait, Grant bonds with Corny a little bit as he polishes his shield, asking if he has seen the crest of House Frostmason before.

### A Dryad Appears

Shortly thereafter, from within some natural vine growths within the inn, a female figure emerges. She appears to almost be made of the forest itself, and she speaks with Jeanetta in Sylvan about the trees that the group had mentioned. Roque being the only member of the group who speaks Sylvan is the only one who understands all of this.

Marb arrives at The Fox Den having slept well into the day after a long night's watch at Ranch 44 the previous night. He tells us that on his trip back from Ranch 44 into Vulpine he spotted some massive boar creatures that he had to run from. Roque then approaches the forest creature and starts up a conversation in Sylvan with her. She introduces herself as Gryssa and says she is one of the watchers of the Foxwoods. Asked about Pebble, Gryssa examines her and gives both Roque and Pebble a flower to eat. Roque proceeds to ask about the goo, and Marb provides the vial of goo he collected for her to examine. She responds that "the corruption is spreading, my trees are dying." Marb gets somewhat confrontational with Gryssa and asks about the giant boar-like creatures. Roque translates, and she offers Marb a flower as well to ease the tension, which he accepts. She responds that she doesn't know what those abominations are but that she has seen strange creatures emerging from the south and that she is concerned that the corruption is connected and that it may be being used to bring this unnatural life.

The group fills in Marb on what happened in the tent, and claims that there's no way that the group killed one of the pig creatures. Marb clarifies that the creatures he saw were much larger than the ones that the party fought in the tent, saying that they were like "if a bear ate another bear". Gryssa overhears this conversation and responds that the pig-men were a result of the corruption as well, and that the goo is not a natural thing but was made by someone, possibly a "hedge wizard". Gryssa also clarifies that the corruption seems to be more concentrated to the south and Jeanetta offers that those ranches tend to be not plainscow-focused and they tend to be more isolated and that they are not very familiar with the ranchers in that area but that the Verdant Cause may be able to help.

### Gathering Clues

The group departs the Fox Den to go talk to the Verdant Cause about the leads they have gathered, so they head to the barracks. Meeker recognizes them as they approach. A loud squeal sound followed by sounds of a struggle come from within the barracks as well. A bystander recognizes us and points us out to Meeker and the nearby Cause members, giving Marb enough of a distraction to slip by into the barracks. The bystanders explain to Meeker that the pig-men were some of the pig ranchers from the south. Meeker asks about a "Simon" but the residents recount that they did not see Simon there. Meeker explains to the group that Simon came across some wealth which seemed outside of his and his wife's means. Simon began to flaunt his wealth and spend very lavishly. Shortly thereafter, his wife (Bree) fell ill and despite the treatments the townsfolk attempted eventually succumbed to her illness. This turned Simon into a sullen angry drunkard who would frequently terrorize the town with his drunken behavior.

Gustav dresses down Meeker a bit, suggesting that he needs to hurry up and get more forces in place to take care of the clear threat facing the town. Meeker begrudgingly agrees but says that he's done all he can do and that he'll need more help, especially with the constant squeals outside of town. Meanwhile, inside the barracks, Marb finds the source of the squealing sounds: a battered pig-man that is hog-tied inside a holding cell. Before he can gather more information, some Verdant Cause guards usher Marb back out to the front. Sensing that there's not much profit to be had from the Cause for checking out clues to the south, Gustav proposes "shopping around". As he does so, Navori smacks Gustav on the ass and says that the town would compensate the group for their assistance, double what the ranchers were offering and any available supplies that the group may need. Marb is very insistent about getting a guarantee on payment, and Navori refuses to sign anything but offers her word.

### Investigating Down South

*32nd Schema 268 PBT, afternoon*

The group, following Marb's lead, head south on the Masonfare Byway to investigate. After about an hour of travel, they venture off the main road and they come upon a ranch that has fallen into disrepair. The foliage in the nearby vicinity does appear to be sickly or corrupted, so Davis attempts to investigate a nearby tree to see if it has the same goo they witnessed at Ranch 44 earlier. Roque beginst ritual-casting *Detect Magic*. Grant casts *Guidance* on Marb as Marb goes off to look around in the vicinity. Al and Davis are easily able to uproot the tree, and notice that it is sickly but there's no "goo" underneath though upon cutting into the bark, a little bit seeps through.

As Roque investigates around the premises, he sees a small glow coming from inside a barnhouse and after initially starting to head in, Grant stops him from doing so. Grant calls the rest of the group over letting them know that Roque has found something. Grant casts *Light* on his shield and Roque on his staff, then they enter while the rest of the group follows closely behind. Inside the barn the group sees numerous mutilated plainscow corpses in various states of decomposition and all partially submerged in some sort of liquid. Some of the corpses have wounds that seem to indicate that something forced its way out of the creature's skin. Marb notices that some of the pools show signs of motion, and he alerts the rest of the group. Al approaches slowly with his rapier drawn, attempting to flick what is moving out of the puddle. He has extracted a snake-like worm-like creature about the size of a human hand that just wriggles on the ground. Marb immediately draws his bow and eviscerates it, destroying it. Marb collects his arrow and examines the worm impaled on the end of it, but nobody recognizes it. There are about six or seven more of these festering pools spread throughout the barnhouse. Roque's *Detect Magic* gets hints of something akin to transmutation magic from each of the pools, though the worms themselves are not magical. Looking at each of the pools, they notice dozens of worms in each, and Al and Roque hypothesize that these were spawning pools and that the worms would incubate inside the plainscows before eating their way out.

Marb attempts to collect a sample of the spawning pool water but four of the worms start digging into his hand. He screams out to the group and they rush over to attempt to remove them before they burrow in, Roque immediately pinches one between his fingers and rips it off. Marb takes out his tinder box and strikes a flint and burns off the remaining ones before they can burrow further. Marb collects the worm that Roque removed in a vial to examine later. Marb proposes burning the whole barnhouse down. Roque shoots a *Fire Bolt* into one of the pools, which ignites and angers the worms inside of it and they start flopping out of the pool. The rest of the group assists in lighting the most flammable portions of the barn and its contents, and then they all leave.

### Simon's House

Using Pebble's vision, Roque identifies the actual homestead of the ranch some distance from the barnhouse and he alerts the rest of the group. About a 10-15 minute walk from the barn, the group sees a house that is in just as bad a state of disrepair as the barnhouse: a collapsed roof, smashed and hanging shutters, visible holes throughout the walls. Davis approaches and on one of the columns on the house's exterior he sees a heart with "S.E." and "B.E." in it. Marb figures out that this is likely Simon's ranch. Davis slowly enters the homestead. Marb investigates the surrounding area and not far off from the house he sees a large bloated hulking humanoid-like creature, gorging itself on something. He retreats back to the group unnoticed and warns them. The group prepares to confront the beast.

Roque casts *Light* on the flower that Gryssa gave him and hands it to Pebble to fly into the house, then takes a seat and shifts his vision into Pebble. Inside, he sees a house that appears to have been tossed about and is generally in disarray. Pebble sees inscrutable scrawlings all along the walls of the house as well. Roque comes back to his own senses and reports to the group what he has seen, recalls Pebble and dismisses the *Light* spell. Roque peers out from around the house and calls out to the beast with a "Hello", but goes unnoticed. He then proceeds to bolster his voice with *Thaumaturgy*, this time catching the beast's attention as what looks like some corrupted version of an ogre turns to the group. It tears the spine out of its meal and turns to face the group, standing up to its full 15 feet of height.

Marb casts *Longstrider* on himself and *Hunter's Mark* on the beast. Grant gets to the front of the group and puts his shield up in defense. The ogre charges at the group, taking large swings against Grant and Davis, connecting on the latter. Al gives Davis a *Bardic Inspiration* and attempts to plink at the ogre with his hand crossbow, unsuccessfully. Davis, reeling from the ogre hit, retaliates in kind with a hearty lunge with his spear. Roque steps up as well and attempts to *Command* it to drop its weapons, unsuccessfully. Gustav attempts to swing at the beast with his greatsword but the fear effect causes his attack to swing wide. Marb fires an arrow but is likewise forced to miss due to the fear, but then he shakes it off. The ogre then charges at Marb, knocking Grant prone but taking swings from Davis, Roque, and Gustav. Grant, seeing Marb come under attack, casts *Shield of Faith* on Marb and then pursues the ogre. The ogre lunges forward at Marb and brings his club down on Marb but cannot penetrate the icy shield of Grant. Al casts *Vicious Mockery* at the ogre, landing a savage insult and disorienting it. Roque attempts to hit the ogre with *Hideous Laughter,* and the ogre doubles over in laughter.

Gustav charges the now-prone ogre in preparation to attack it. Marb sinks in an arrow, but doesn't shake the ogre out of his fit. Grant and Davis follow Gustav in pursuit. Al hits the ogre with another Vicious Mockery, but the ogre still can't shake the laughter. Davis lunges and skewers the ogre heavily, which finally causes the laughter subside. Roque tickles him with a *Fire Bolt*, barely scorching him. Gustav hits him with two critical strikes but grievously wounding him. Marb lets loose with an arrow and it sinks in, and flees with the icy shield of Grant saving Marb from the ogre's swipe. Grant smashes the ogre with his hammer. The ogre gets up and bellows with a large roar, striking fear in most of the group. The ogre takes three large swings at Gustav, landing all of them, battering Gustav heavily. Al sinks another crossbow bolt in, but the ogre appears to regenerate some by feeding off the fear of those around him.

Davis skewers the ogre once more. Roque casts *Minor Illusion*, creating an illusory wall of foliage in front of Gustav, and retreats and shakes off the fear. Gustav uses his *Second Wind* to recover a bit, and fails to hit with his first strike and then uses his *Action Surge* to strike again this time finding purchase. Marb unleashes another arrow into the ogre, puncturing its neck with a deep wound. Grant slams his hammer into the ogre's chest. The ogre, now panicking, strikes out against Grant and Davis, pushing Davis to the brink of death but then his *Relentless Endurance* brings him back. It then rushes Allegretto, knocking Gustav, Grant, and Davis prone. Al flees. Davis gets up, takes out a javelin and chucks it at the ogre, imbedding it in the back of its leg. Roque casts *Toll the Dead* on the ogre, finishing it off. As the ogre dies, he erupts with thousands of worms falling onto the ground. Roque continuously *Fire Bolts* them from a distance.

## Featured Characters

### Adventuring Party

* Allegretto
* Davis Cantrell
* Grant Frostmason
* Gustav
* Marb
* Roque
* Pebble

### Returning

* Gryssa (formerly only known as the hooded female forest figure)
* Meeker
* Navori

## Quotations

* **Allegretto**: "What's the difference between a dragon and a mallard with a cold? One's a sick duck and .. I forgot the punchline but your mother's a whore!"

## Trivia

* This episode is the origin of the soon-to-become popular term for the large swinefolk: "double bear pig"
* This episode is the first reference to all of Marb's various "pockets"
* This episode is the first appearance of the air horn sound that will later be used on most natural 20 rolls
* Gustav jokingly refers to the group "killing that necromancer", when the group would actually do this 57 episodes later.
* This episode has the first "How Do You Want To Do This?", when Roque finishes off the ogre.

## Notes

* The "15 feet of movement to get up from prone" house rule was not in effect yet, as Grant had to spend half his movement to get up.

## References

1. ↑ See "Igniting A Spark" at 2:50:38
2. ↑ See "Igniting A Spark" at 1:05:18
3. ↑ See "Igniting A Spark" at 1:22:01
4. ↑ See "Igniting A Spark" at 3:20:33
5. ↑ See "Igniting A Spark" at 2:47:07