H:RotG Chapter 3: Lessons in Duplicity

Dawn rises over the fog-ridden town of **Crooksbarrow**. Gnarled branches choke out the sunlight, its few slender beams poking thin stripes of light across the shadowy earth. Townsfolk wade through the familiar darkness, wandering quietly from their homes to go about their daily business.

The silver visitors descend upon the maw of the town, a large clearing upon which the town square has been built. They drop the carriages that host the party, who thank them kindly before setting out to prepare to continue their journey to the Ashen Breach.

Several buildings huddled around the uncharacteristically bright sector of town, though two in particular were most notable to the group: firstly, the **Foggy Church of Pyx** at which their chauffeurs were checking in; and second, the **Tall Building**, which they soon learned was the home of Crooksbarrow’s government. Their attempts to meet with said government officials fell short rather quickly, but upon visiting the church Gant has a brief conversation with a Newfang and jeweler named **Borko Payne**, who recognizes his higher-up. Borko alerts the party of a recent issue the town has had where many plantfolk have gone missing, or otherwise have reported feeling very ill, and warns that they be careful not to lose sight their own plant friend.

As the midday sun rose over Crooksbarrow, the group set out to begin their search for a ride down the Tzuu River. However, as they saw the lakeside in the foggy daylight, they realized that there were barely any ships docked. It was soon discovered that this was due to a rowdy gang of **sweetfish**, freshwater Merfolk notorious for their raucous bandit bands. For some odd reason, a group of them, led by a massive one named **Hudson**, had moved upstream all the way to Lake Skiri, and have been terrorizing the towns fishermen ever since. Most of the towns boats had already been parked at the bottom of the lake, and those who remain don’t dare leave the docks lest their ships join the ranks.

Whilst the rest of the group spoke to the fishermen, T slipped away to visit the lakeside apothecary. He discovered a humble apothecary, where the rosy plantfolk **Andromeda** cheerfully greeted him. She immediately recognizes his adventurer nature, and, assuming he’s got a group of other adventurers to accompany him, requests that he and his friends deal with the Sweetfish pests. Through her own sources, she’s managed to even pinpoint a less-traveled entrance to their lair. Though she doesn’t have much to offer in terms of rewards, she does happen to have a boat the group can borrow, and that’s all the reward they need.

The last stop for the day was at a weapon shop called **Geb and Jen’s Slicing and Dicing**, manned by their namesake owners; **Geb Jeb**, a feeble halfling with vicious haggling skill, and his wife **Jennifer Jeb**, a human famous for her smithing skills regarding magical weapons. T is enchanted as Geb describes a powerful crossbow his wife is building out of the molten feathers of a purple dragon, and through some incredible rolls and charismatic finesse, convinces Geb to sell him the crossbow for a single coin from the continent of **Guddacha**. The group agrees to return with the payment when the weapon is done being built in the next day or so.

Once the party had finished their searching for the day, they dragged themselves into an inn called the **Slimey Toad**. The bartender, a petite dandelion named **Dandy Spaceton** with a small pair of glasses and a fancy grey mustache, chattered the group’s ears til they finally retired for the evening.

The next day, the group makes haste to assault the Sweetfish base- a flooded hideaway beneath an island on the opposite side of the lake. Hydran, noticing some fish on the way over, persuaded them to do a bit of sneaky reconnaissance, gaining insight on guard schedules as they snuck their way in. However, as klutzy as the group is they still manage to alert the base to their presence, and a brief battle ensues- followed by some serious confusion on the side of the sweetfish. Hudson himself speak with the party, letting them know that they were actually partnering with Andromeda, who had instructed and paid them to destroy the ships at the docks.

More confused than ever, the party returned to town only to find Andromeda’s shop completely cleared out. Some sleuthing leads them to where they think she may have fled- a small, abandoned greenhouse nestled in a shadier part of town. A few sickly Plantfolk rest in the corners of the dilapidated glass shed, too exhausted to converse proper. Even without help, the group finds a hidden hatch leading deeper into the earth, and descend into what they assume is Andromeda’s underground lair.

**Twig blights**, small, angry piles of firewood, lashed out at the party as soon as they started crossing the first hall. Though they were easy enough to defeat, the larger, angrier blights - **Needle** and **Vine blights** in particular - were alerted by the sound of combat and readied themselves to ambush the group as they descended deeper into the earth.

After the party succeeded in slaying the would-be lair defenders, they find a surprisingly grand chamber. Double mansion-like staircases framed a grand throne of thorny vines, and on the side room there was an incredibly rich bed of soil as well as Andromeda’s miscellaneous personal belongings. Artifacts of a long-gone past rested here as well- weaponry and symbols from a guild of the Breach, the **League of the Autumn Wind**, and a small painted image of Andromeda with what appeared to be her partners from her time in that guild. They also learned that the League usually sends out groups of 3 to assist with issues across the **Southern Mantle**, resolving conflicts and assisting towns in times of hardship.

Beyond the throne room, the party finds that the composition of the lair seems to change- instead of a dug-out hollow, there are now stony walls and floors, haunted with necrotic energy. Amongst the ruins, Rabi finds a mysterious and powerful weapon- a magical short sword dubbed “the **feather blade**” for it’s appearance as a large and glassy feather. They pass by hall after hall of singular chambers: one contains a desk full of soggy, sabotaged research; another, empty; one with a room full of dead and dying plantfolk, whose reincarnating souls appear to be trapped here by a mysterious power.

Finally, the group finds Andromeda at the end of these ruins, slaving over a massive arcane sigil drawn upon the ground. The party treads carefully around the edges of this symbol, which reeks of undeath and causes immense pain even upon grazing against the sphere of energy encapsulating it, and are able to strike out at Andromeda- but the resulting conflict causes the floor to crumble, the plantfolk and the party (minus T, who successfully jumps out to a remaining edge) tumble into the shallow underground lake beneath the chamber.

When the group comes to, they’re jolted awake by the terrifying amalgam before them. The ritual, having failed, fused Andromeda’s body with that of her fallen allies that had been pictured in the image in her bedchamber. The chimeric mess of plant and flesh howled, taking its existential rage out on the already badly-wounded group as it waded through the shallow lake. Thankfully, swift and accurate attacks soon put the unfortunate monster out of its misery, and in the moment of rest the group noticed the mummified body of a haunting, aquatic creature in the center of the room.

Rather than wait for some reflection on their prior knowledge, the creature was proactive enough to introduce itself in the form of a ghostly spirit. It was an **aboleth**, a sea-dwelling beast from an era before the dragons governed as strongly as the do today, and his name was **Garfield**. While he monologued, Gant tiptoed around the corpse, extracting one of the calcified eyes of this powerful creature, about the size of a basketball. When they finished their discussion and the party promised to not alert the gods of his existence, the aboleth spirit used his mysterious magic to return them to the entrance of the lair.

Badly beaten, but still alive, the four exhausted adventurers emerge victorious from Andromeda’s greenhouse- only to discover that their other charge, Kris Nifeton, managed to escape while they were out. Not only that, but Kris had overwhelmed the caravan leader Sarnai and even kidnapped the tough-looking Zor, stealing Andromeda’s unattended vessel and fleeing downstream. However, within the same span of dungeon-dwelling time that had passed, Hudson and the sweetfish had met with and called a truce with the townsfolk, and even volunteered a new ship and Hudson’s powerful swimming to the group to chase after the rogue prisoner.

Before they pursued, however, the group had one final errand in Crooksbarrow, and that was the retrieval of the alluring crossbow T had gone through verbal combat for prior. Ever the trickster, T not only got the weapon for the single Guddachan coin, but was even able to trick the vendors into thinking he had already paid for it, obtaining a powerful weapon that continues to serve as an essential tool even to present day.

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 TBD