Call of the Marrowdeep

and

Justin as the DM

"**Call of the Marrowdeep**" is the thirteenth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

The road continues ever onward to the settlement of Tanbrook in the hopes the party will find the sword they’re seeking.

## Episode Synopsis

#### **Previously on Tales from Del'nasra**

*"You left the City of Embers riding in the back of Vonkar’s wagon, and after some time on the road encountered a dead triceratops blocking the road. Vonkar got big, pulled it off the road and snapped off a horn for Antyr’s studying. The road continued onwards for a few more hours, with you all arriving at a large ravine, labeled Godbringer’s Ravine on your map and crossed it. Torger leapt off the bridge after being egged on by Antyr and in the process, seemed to alert some large, pterasaurs in the ravine known as quetzalcoatlus that were hidden in the mists of the ravine.*

*The pair of them attacked, with Torger stunning one of them and sending it to its death in the ravine while Hopper killed the other. The rest of the ride across the bridge turned into talks about some definitely not scientifically accurate reproduction with camp being set up on the opposite side of the ravine in the back of the wagon with Doe casting Tiny Hut.*

*The following morning you continued on your way, and found an overgrown foot trail just off the road. The party decided to investigate while Leek stayed behind and turned into a panda to keep an eye on the wagon and Cornelius while a sign was made that said “1 gp to hug the panda” in the hopes to intrigue anyone else traveling the road.*

*The foot trail weaved through the jungle and eventually came to a large black obelisk covered in gouges. Hopper found a phrase carved into the obelisk that said "The master of this stone shall wield time's passing at their bidding, carve off a piece of stone, and place it upon the altar within the Marrow Hall, there you shall be made worthy." Hopper learned that carving the obelisk would summon something so Grin immediately swung their sword at the obelisk, carving off a piece of stone and summoning the ghost of a boy in the process.*

*Vonkar knowing that ghosts can age people (mainly as the DM not wanting to kill a character from old age without the player present) ran to hide behind a tree and throw coconuts from the tree at the ghost. Hopper was aged twenty years during the encounter, with the ghost getting stunned by Torger and put down by Grin. The ghost’s essence then floated into the stone causing it to pulse with a dim blue light.*

*The party returned to the wagon, with Hopper complaining about their sore knees on the way back, just in time for them all to see Leek finish hugging a halfling family and present the group with a total of 310 silver pieces, clearly having taken any money they could get and not following the 1 gp sign.*

*Everyone clambered back into the wagon, with everyone getting 44 silver pieces with two left over as you all continued onwards towards your destination about seven and a half hours away to enter the Marrowdeeps and possibly find someone to cure Hopper of their magical aging before it becomes permanent in 24 hours."*

#### The Episode

The Fonkey Casuals proceeded down the road in the wagon towards their destination of Tanbrook, having conversations about the origins of Grin's sudden new abilities and his fear of cats. While this conversation was being had, Antyr began changing Endylus' form into that of a tressym which immediately seemed to frighten Grin who quickly became invisible to conceal himself from Endylus, but it seemed in vain as in his tressym form he was able to see invisible creatures.

Wanting to bond with the others, Leek also wild-shaped into a white ocelot and began sharpening his nails on the sides of wagon. The rest of the ride was uneventful for the next seven and a half hours, and the party arrived in Tanbrook. It wasn't exactly a sprawling town but was instead two towering structures with additions built onto them in the form of homes and dwellings made with different forms of architecture and hands. Staring down at them from the walkways connecting both structures were the grung and grippli inhabitants staring down at them and mentioning if they were here to cause trouble the children would throw rocks at them. As this was said, the party saw a bunch of grung and grippli children standing about sixty-feet up on another walking and holding a bunch of big rocks.

They mentioned they were here looking for a healer to reverse Hopper's unnatural aging from their encounter with a ghost earlier that day. The grung that was speaking to them mentioned they should seek out Fontaine, who dwelled at the very top of the left structure. He also mentioned they could tie their wagon up at the base of the tree and he'd ensure it was kept safe and Cornelius could safely follow the group up the structure. As the group began their ascent up the structures, the children of the settlement would stare at them, and then laugh and run away as soon as the party got close during their climb.

Eventually, the party reached the top of the left structure and noticed the way to reach Fontaine's dwelling would require swinging across a thirty-foot wide gap on a vine swing. Everyone safely crossed, with some using brief teleportation based spells to do so. Realizing it may be difficult for Cornelius to cross since he's a mule, Torger threw his *potion of diminution* towards Vonkar, who was distracted during the throw as he was in the midst of figuring out how to get Cornelius across causing the potion to plummet 200-feet down to the ground and shatter. Cornelius mentioned he'd be able to cross and with a running leap, he somehow crossed by biting onto the vine and swinging across.

Having all successfully crossed, the party approached the dwelling built out from the side of this structure, and after having a long, drawn-out conversation on who would open the door, a voice called out from inside and opened the door, causing Torger to fall inside. The figure who had opened the door was a grippli, wearing a shawl of rose petals and moss with a bird nest and very old grey parrot perched on his head. The grippli introduced himself as Fontaine and invited the party inside, patting his parrot, called LeRoux and telling him they had company.

The interior of the dwelling was mostly dedicated to powders and other alchemical ingredients, with the upper two floors dedicated for leisure and relaxation. He asked what the party had come to him for, and they mentioned Hopper's predicament after their run-in with the ghost. He explained that he could reverse the process, but only if they did a favour for him. The favour in question was to head to the Marrowdeeps and procure ten pounds of a plant that grows in the depths of the lake called voratides. The party agreed, but were able to persuade him to restore Hopper's age before they set out, which he did and promised that if the party didn't uphold their end of the bargain he could revert the restoration he had just done.

The party left and made their way towards the Marrowdeeps, using a wooden slide to reach the ground behind Fontaine's dwelling. It was quite the struggle to get down, and Cornelius ended up staying behind with Fontaine, realizing an underwater lake dive might not be his forte. After a forty minute walk towards the Marrowdeeps, the party arrived seeing an massive lake of deep, black water shrouded in a thick gray fog that was un-moving and resting atop the surface of the water. Everyone clambered into a nearby rowboat that was moored at a dock, while Leek wild-shaped into a giant sea horse and was bound by ropes to the boat and began pulling them out into the lake.

Antyr activated the Fonkey they had purchased to give everyone water breathing, but it turns out that the item was cursed, causing the party to grow gills, but unable to breathe air aside from Vonkar who seemed somehow fine. Everyone leapt into the water which was incredibly frigid. The ropes around the boat were cut, with everyone grabbing onto a rope as Leek began to swim downwards.

#### After the Break

The party continued their dive beneath the lake, and the deeper they got the colder the water got, their extremities starting to get numb from the frigid water. After about four minutes of swimming downwards, the party could see a green glow coming from deeper down, piercing slightly through the dark murk, and also saw numerous tall plants easily a few hundred feet tall and covered in long, serpentine fronds. Within these fronds were merrow, merfolk, some humanoids and some aquatic creatures ensnared within the fronds and being digested. The fronds appeared to react to everyone's presence, which caused Leek to stop swimming downwards as everyone floated where they were.

Recalling that Fontaine mentioned harvesting voratides was a two-person job, Hopper began distracting the closest plant while Torger swam off into the dark to conceal himself. Hopper distracted the plant, but in the process was ensnared by the fronds and pulled right up against the stalk of the plant and also began the slow process of being digested. Torger, using the distraction to their advantage swam up to the voratide without being noticed and successfully sliced off about five pounds worth of the fronds, freeing Hopper in the process who collected the fronds.

Vonkar was next, successfully distracting the voratide he was near and avoided being wrapped up, while Grin successfully snuck up and cut off the fronds with one swing of their sword, but Vonkar only managed to grab one pound of fronds as he was mostly focused on treading water with his armour on. Antyr grabbed five pounds worth of fronds with their *Magus Reach*, with the party having successfully gathered eleven pounds of the voratide fronds. Antyr cast *Ephemeral Vitality* on themselves and upon doing so noticed that the water had gotten warmer for them, and Hopper noticed this had occurred for themselves as well, right around the time they were snatched by the voratide. This caused the party to theorize that somehow the voratide fronds when they sapped the vitality out of a living creature it caused them to become more comfortable in the cold water.

The party began rubbing the fronds that they had cut on their exposed skin, being hurt by the digestive enzymes within the fronds and all felt the water grow warmer as they continued their descent downwards towards the source of the green glow. Another few minutes of swimming downwards brought a massive, inverted ziggurat into view that was resting on its point at the bottom of the lake. It was wreathed in a green glow with a pillar of green light emanating from the tip.

Grin went invisible and entered the tip, and saw that it lead into a flooded chamber with an air pocket. Leek dispelled the Fonkey, ending the effects of its cursed water breathing spell and the party surfaced within the entry chamber of the ziggurat, noticing a large oval shaped stone door in the visage of a skull and covered in very old dried blood. Carved into the door were the words "He is the first, and will be the last." Antyr stepped forward, cut open their palm with the dagger they retrieved from Brace and rubbed some blood on the door causing it to open with a hiss. Beyond the door was a dark corridor with a foot of fog clinging the floor, and the shadows appeared gaunt and seemed to move, but appeared to be a trick of the light that Antyr had conjured down the corridor.

The party stepped into the corridor, each of them feeling a chill run down their spines and everyone but Grin could feel small furry shapes brushing up against their feet. After a few moments of walking, they came to a t-junction and took a left turn after some deliberation and found themselves in a strange chamber with armour and weapons strewn about the floor, so much so that the entire floor was covered by a mixture of extremely ancient and more recent weapons and armour. The walls were covered in numerous humanoid faces that had been carved into the walls showing a variety of anguished expressions. While everyone was looking around, Antyr picked up a dagger off of the floor and pocketed it and upon doing so, six shadows coalesced out of the fog clinging to the floor and dashed towards the party preparing to attack.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
	+ Endylus
* Doe
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Leek
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Mentioned

* The Archmaw
* The Ashheart
* Auntie Gothel
* The Creep
* Duskreaper Aelinor
* King Oberon
* Sir Arthur Wordweave