D&D Castle Naerytar, Part I

Erky (the replacement for Ferald, who was a Gnome Wizard) cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut for the party to spend the night in. Because of the spell, they didn’t feel the need to set a guard. They awoke to both Jacen and Jamna missing. There was a note where Jacen had been sleeping which read:

She was gone when I awoke. During the night, I received a Sending, and I was needed immediately. Sorry guys, but I’ll see you in the future. Good luck!”

                They thought this very curious, but decided to move on anyways. Snapjaw explained to them that it would take 5 hours to get to Castle Naerytar by canoe. They encountered nothing of interest on the way but swamp, swamp, and more swamp. Along the way, SNapjaw explained a bit more of what they could expect upon arrival at the Castle:

•            Dralmorrer Borngray is the high-ranking member of the Cult when Rezmir is away. He takes care of day-to-day operations of the Castle
•          The Scaley Death Tribe of Lizardfolk consists of about 80 (they can’t count so well). About half of them are in immediate area of the Castle, and the other half are away or visiting their families. They perform 5 essential functions around the Castle – Laborers; Tend and Tame Giant Lizards; Hunt & Fish to feed the Castle; Scouts and outlying guards; , and s small group act as Borngray’s Elite Guard
•          The Bullywugs have been oppressing the Lizardfolk for a while. Their shaman – Spattergoo – killed the Scaley Death shaman. The number of Bullywugs in the immediate area of the Castle far out-number those of the Scaley Death. There is a war drum on top of the Castle’s Barbican that is used for several things throughout the day, one of which would be an alarm
•         Snapjaw is one of few Scaley Death who have suggested rebelling. He has been cautious in who he talks to about this. He does not wish to draw attention and have his rebellion stamped-out early
•          The Cultists have been giving the Scaley Death some weapons, and have been attempting to teach them how to craft weapons and weapons, along with other metallurgy. So far, it has faield pretty miserably. They don’t necessarily want to rebel against the Cult, but they want their glory back

As the got closer to the Castle, Snapjaw pointed out traps and ambush sites, and diverted them as necessary. When the Castle was in site, he told them to wait as he called out an ambush, the Lizardfolk came out, and Snapjaw talked to them quietly before allowing everyone to pass.

Snapjaw brought them to the Lizardfolk camp immediately outside the Castle, and gave a very moving speech. The Scaley Death was not too impressed by the speech, but did seem impressed by the group. Erky stepped forward and said “If someone is keeping you down, you need to fight back!” Of course he didn’t speak Draconic, so Raiann translated, only she said “You’ll never get anywhere unless you kill them.” This got them excited and they agreed to help kill the Bullywugs.

The forces of Castle Naerytar at a quick glance

During the planning, Snapjaw intentionally left out mentioning the Cult would more than likely be destroyed. The Lizardfolk would not have been okay with this. The plan ended up being to walk into the Castle like they were cultists (the scabbards would help them blend), and try to kill Spattergoo. The “Dragon-Lady” was known to be in the Castle, so they knew if it was Rezmir they needed to take her down, too.  Snapjaw sent runners into the Castle to warn all the Scaley Death in there, sans the Elite Guard. They would not be okay with what was happening.

They group proceeded into the Castle when the runners returned. Erky found it fun to cast Minor Illusion in the image of a foot-wide fly near a group of Bullywugs to see what they would do. After he noticed it drove them mad as they tried to reach it, he made sure to do it every time. Inside, they found the forge with a few lizardfolk. They were failing at their attempts to make a spearhead, so Erky showed them a new game: throw the hammer into the fire.

A Bullywug

They moved into the next room to find a dozen lizardfolk which were not happy to see them. The group wanted to go upstairs, but these lizardfolk would not let them. Raiann convinced them that Snapjaw was saying good things about them, and that they should go see him. The group would stay in this room and make sure no one went upstairs. They weren’t okay with that, but (with an illusion from Erky, she was able to convince them that Borngray had sent them to watch the room.

Once the group of lizardfolk left, the ones from the armory came running in. They told the group they needed to leave. The only thing upstairs was their weapons stash and some empty rooms. They would watch the stairs until the Elite Guard got back. The group asked where the Draong-Lady was. The lizardfolk didn’t know, but she was last known to be in the basement dungeon with Spattergoo. Two birds, one stone. One of the lizardfolk showed them the way to the dungeon.

In the dungeon, they found a room producing a lot of mist, which happened to be the lair of a Gray Ooze. They left it alone. They found a room which Erky was able to determine was a Ceremonial Mud Room guarded by two Bullywugs who were not fazed by his casting of Minor Illusion. They moved along and found a crane to lower heavy things over a ledge 15 feet down. There was a ladder which they used to climb down.

They then found an intersection and decided to go straight. On their way through, Raiann and Clarissa noticed a robed figure about Raiann’s size walking away from them to the right. The decided to make ready and follow it. In the next room (which had dense fog sitting 1foot off the ground), they saw who the recognized to be Rezmir, the Half-Black Dragon who has been leading the assault in the Sword Coast Region. She turned around in the middle of the room holding her vicious-looking sword and wearing a mask designed to look like the head of a Black Dragon. She said “Good Luck” with a smirk, before whispering under her breathe and disappearing. Erky tried to counter her spell, but found out after that it was not a spell. She had been whispering the command word for the linked teleportation circle she was standing in. This room was empty otherwise.

Rezmir

They knew there was nothing else to do but investigate the Castle and kill Spattergoo. They moved on to the room they were heading towards anyways, to find a room filled with bullywugs – one of them wearing a Crocodile head as a crown – with carvings all over the walls. After defeating the bullywugs (and discovering the one with the croc head spoke Common), they investigated the walls. The carvings portrayed Ghaunadaur, God of Slimes; Shar, Goddess of Shadows; and Ramenos, and ancient entity thought to be a god of the ancient creator races. Nothing was drawn with meaning, they were just there haphazardly. In the attached room, Corrin disabled a trapped chest and found a few art items with renditions of Ghaunadaur and Shar carved into them, and a large frog statue.

Spattergoo

What will happen next? It’ll be a few weeks to find out. The next two weeks we won’t be able to play, so our next session will be 9/26/15. I’ll be making some Teo posts in the meantime, more than likely.