Falric drinks his mutagen and his hands and feet become webbed, so he can traverse the bog with ease now. He takes the lead as he guides the party through the swamp for the next 40 minutes.
"Ne'er thought ahd fin' myself missin' bein' on a boat," Morti grumbles after feeling his way through yet another channel deep enough to dampen his mustache. "But a' least th' boat weren't so...squishy."
You begin to slog through the swamp bog known as the Ghostlight Marsh, leaving the crew of the keelboat behind. The crew looks at you with dumbfounded looks at your bravery or stupidity to willingly jump in four feet of probably disease-ridden water and enter the creepy swamp. Insect noises abound as you walk and swim your way through. About half an hour later, as you continue heading north, relying on Morti's Survival skills to lead you, you suddenly realize the insect noises have stopped. The swamp seems to divide in two at a fork, one way north and another heading west. As you proceed, you see a creepy copse of dead trees to the west... from behind which, slithers into a view a massive creature floating on the surface of the water. Multiple angry snake-like heads rise from the sleek, serpentine body of this terrifying monster. The five snake heads undulate and hiss at you, as the creature prepares its attack!
Eli moves to Falric and casts Mage Armor on him.
Seeing the horrifying monster, Falric moves forward 5' (he can do so as he currently has a swim speed of 30'), draws a flask of acid, and launches it at the hydra fighting defensively!
Not bring able to reach the halfling, Eli fires three magic missiles at the creature.
Damage
The snakes hiss in pain as Elisen's energy missiles and the halfling's acid harm it. However, some of its wounds heal and the hydra seeks out the closest source of its pain: Falric! It charges at him, moving incredibly fast over the water and when it reaches within 10' of him, all five heads lash out at him! The halfling amazing dodges four of the five heads, before the last one bites his shoulder, ripping a chunk of flesh and drawing blood!
With the hydra's rush at Falric, the beast has put itself in range of Barundar's dorn dergar, and so he sloshes through the water and brings the weapon around in a hard swing over his head!
Falric grimaces in pain, as one of the snakes penetrates his defense. His legs kick and he swims up 5', draws his scimitar, and slashes at the hydra, going on the offensive!
Not especially wishing to approach the hydra in neck-deep water, Morti opts to give his brother dwarf a (literal) boost, calling on the magic of Agrimmosh to cast enlarge person on Barundar!
He then slogs towards Bar, anticipating a need for healing.
Eli again fires three magic missiles at the creature.
Damage
With the hydra's rush at Falric, the beast has put itself in range of Barundar's dorn dergar, and so he sloshes through the water and brings the weapon around in a hard swing over his head!
Attack:
Attack:
Attack:
Attack:
Attack:
Damage:
The combined efforts of Bar's attack followed by Falric's slash and Elly's magic missiles kill the wounded hydra (65 damage in total)!
Falric casts 2 cure light wounds from his bard spell list on himself:
Barundar gives a grunt after the monster falls, wiping a thin line of blood off of the corner of his mouth. "Bloody hell...tha' was a right beast. I dinnae suppose ony o' ye have sum potions er tha like tae share, dae ye? I ain't got naught oon mae bu' this armor and me dorn dergar. Morti, wha' aboot ye? Got ony healin' on ye?" he says after the fight.
"Aye, ah kin patch ye up a bit." Morti replies.
”Well then, boys, are we ready to Continue on? Lots more artifacts out there that need discovering. I say we get to it.”
"Erf...ah'd nae min' a wee bit mair healin' but I kin manage." Barundar replies, rotating his arm in a wide circle to loosen his muscles a bit more.
Morti will use a couple charges of curing wand on Barundar -
"Ah...much better!" the dwarf sighs.
"Good to see you healthy, Bar. Let's keep going and see what other trouble we can find in this swamp." Falric smiles as he continues swimming along.
As you continue your travels through the marsh, occasionally stopping on dry land and waiting for Falric to cook up his mutagen again, after a couple of hours travel, you spot a waft of constant smoke in the distance, a little to the north of your current travels. Morti tells you, given its volume, it could be emanating from a campfire.
”I say we go check out that fire. If it’s a friend, it might let us dry out our boots. If it’s trouble, I’d rather face it straight on rather than sneak up behind us,” Eli whispers as she points toward the smoke.
"aye, though ahm not sure any o' us want t' see what my feet look like inside my boots a' this point," agrees Morti with a grimace.
He surveys the swamp in that direction, looking for any approach that might be somewhat dryer and offer more mobility.
"Soonds like a good plan tae me!" Barundar adds.
"Sure, let's go make friends!"
The party wades NE through the swamp toward the campfire. You reach a large piece of dry land, to everyone's relief, as you reach your destination. You can tell someone has set up a ragged tent and made camp at this location for several days. When you are 40' away, you see a filthy dwarf who squats near a smoldering fire. He seems to be talking or maybe mumbling to himself (you can't tell what he is saying as you are too far), but no one is around. He does not appear to have noticed your group yet.
Eli calls out a greeting to the dwarf. ”Hey friend, we saw your fire and thought we might share some of the warmth for a few moments. We come in peace,” she smiled, holding out her empty hands.
Morti follows Eli's lead, waving to the dwarf with conspicuously empty hands.
"can't tell ye wha' a pleasant surprise i' is ta find a brother dwarf out 'ere!" he adds.
The dirty red-haired dwarf is snapped out of "his" reverie and as he stands, you realize it is actually a female dwarf. She looks at the party oddly when suddenly her eyes go wild and she screams, "Die ya filthy greenskins, I'll skin yer bastards alive!" She draws her dwarven waraxe and handaxe and moves to attack you all!
You can tell she is not right mentally and may be suffering from hallucinations and mental illness.
Morti takes a step in front of his comrades and holds up his empty hands to the clearly distressed and delirious dwarf, trying to calm her down but bracing to take a hit.
"'old on, now - we must look a fright, but no cause t' compare us t' orcs! Ahm a good Janderhoffer!"
Aid another diplomacy
Eli respeats her previous statement that the group wasn’t here for anything but to talk and enjoy the fire.
"Oy, come tae ye senses! We'd be sum mighty short 'n' hairy 'n' pink-skinned if we was orcs, dinnae ye think?!" Barundar calls.
Falric lets the dwarves do their diplomacy, while he waits in a defensive posture to see if their words can calm the female dwarf.
The dwarf listens to your words, then eyes you, before screaming "Die, orcs!" She charges Morti, drawing her dwarven greataxe and handaxe as she runs and buries the waraxe in Morti's stomach!
"Nnngg! - hard way, then," grunts Morti through gritted teeth, drawing his hammer and attempting to knock the confused dwarf out.
Barundar follows suit with Morti, attempting to subdue the mad-woman without killing her.
Falric flanks with Morti so he can add his sneak attack and hit the dwarf with the flat of his scimitar.
The off-balance dwarf, as a result of her charge, is caught unaware by the might of the dwarves and the small halfling and all three blows land and knock her unconscious!
”Someone pull out some rope, so we can tie her down and talk to her like rational peopl,” Eli recommends to the boys.
Morti claps manacles on the unconscious dwarf, scanning her for weapons and removing any he sees.
"She's clearly confused - wonder i' she got tha' way 'ere, or if she came 'ere cuz o' th' madness?"
He'll investigate the campsite for any indication of other inhabitants or clues as to what the mad dwarf woman was up to.
...but is somewhat distracted by his wound.
Falric detects magic on the unconscious dwarf's possessions to see if she carried anything beneficial to the party.
"Def'nly isnae all werkin' right upstairs, tho...mebbe she'll be mair sensical when she wakes up." Barundar says.
Morti cannot determine anything from the camp.
Spellcraft
Spellcraft
Eli examines the two potions closely.
Morti does some quick healing as he returns to the others, looking in interest on the axe. "Magic, eh? No wonder it 'urt so much."