Frederick tries to finish off the last spider.
Frederick slaughters the last arachnid, leaving the Forlarren without any allies to help it... But the creature doesn't seem particularly worried...
"Approach." Brother Cyrus commands the Forlarren.
The fiendish fey leaps to the ground and walks towards the group... As soon as it reaches your position, though... It shakes its head and stares at Brother Cyrus, this time its eyes are filled with hate.
"You... Pay for thees! Mother will know!"
Frederick thwacks the evil spider-beast.
"Please die. I grow weary of creatures like you accosting us."
Frederick sighs.
"So weary..."
"Get used to it Frederick. The world is filled with those that would do harm to the righteous. As for this creature, the gods would likely not be too bothered by it's removal from this world they so meticulously crafted." Cyrus says preaching a little.
After his initial swing, Frederick hits it on the backswing as well.
Frederick finishes off the grey-skinned creature... It falls unconscious and starts bleeding profusely.
"Why does nothing ever try to negotiate? It would be better for all of us."
Eitylen stares at the creature for a moment and feel sorry for it, it's was almost doomed from the beginning.
Let's continue...And hey what do you think of my line? "Begone foul creatures!", lately we face so many that I thought It would be good to have one
"It works, I guess. It lacks some...punch."
We continue
As you move, the vegetation starts growing denser and light starts having a difficult time going through the leaves... Vines and mud start becoming more common as well, and small ponds of stagnant water appear, indicating you're not too far from the swamp, if you press on, you'll probably have reached it by nightfall.
A couple hours later, you find yourselves at the edges of a bog... It's water is dark and muddy. You can smell the scent of rust and decay. There is also a hint of a sharp, pungent odor in the air... It's not completely foreign to you, though you can't quite put your finger on it.
About 150 ft ahead of you, knee-deep in bog water, you see a heavily cloaked figure slightly taller than most humanoids with what seems like a huge black beak protruding its concealed face. It moves slowly and hunched down, checking the water... Occasionally, it'll reach a long, thing arm underwater and fish something... Algae, fish, rocks or small pieces of metal... Whatever is taken, the creature examines it for a second and then either throws it back or carefully places it in a large shoulder bag... It's either unaware or uninterested in you.
While looking at the oddly slow-paced creature, you hear the sound of weapons clashing and warcries. It comes from somewhere to your right, beyond some tall tress about 60 ft from your position, along the edges of the bog.
Taking 10 for 24 for knowledge nature about the creature
You don't recall any animal, plant or fey that looks like that... Though, that might be because most of it's body is concealed by its cloak.
The creature continues its slow walking and trinket-collecting... Not giving any sign of having seen you.
- Eitylen moves to investigates the sound of battle.
Eitylen sneaks around the bog water and past the trees... Making sure his presence is hidden by the foliage, he observes the confront a few meters ahead of him...
A 12 ft tall green-skinned giant uses a oar to beat a group of frog-like humanoids.
"Gettaway from me, you fly-eating freaks!" shouts the giant in anger. The frog-men don't hesitate to attack, though... At least not before being bashed by an oversized oar...
Eitylen remembers learning about these creatures... The large humanoid is a River Giant and the frog-like creatures are Boggards. Both species are well known to dwell in rivers and swamps, but it's rare too them together.
Eitylen waits to see what happen, but in case the giant is clearly losing he will throw a dagger to a boggard
- (apply distance penalty if needed)
and just because
Frederick, ever direct, calls out to them.
"What's going on here?"
Cyrus accompanies Frederick.
A territory squabble perhaps?
The giant doesn't seem like he's losing the battle, but he does look very annoyed with the presence of the boggards...
When Frederick shouts, the whole battle stops to see whose voice was that... But only for a moment.
"Who the f-" The giant's words are interrupted as the boggards soon resume their assault. He fights back.
A few boggards grab a couple large basket lying next to a tree... Some of them are smacked by a huge oar and drop one of the baskets, but the other group manages to escape with their loot.
"SLIMEY BASTARDS!" roars the giant. "I'M GONNA CRUSH YOUR HEADS!"
Three of the frog-men harass the giant, while three others run with the second basket. The giant seems unsure whether he should defend himself or the basket...
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! STOP THEM!" he shouts at you.
"Happy to help!" Frederick says and charges off after the basket carrying Boggart.
In that case Eitylen proceed to throw that dagger.
Eitylen's dagger drops one of the Boggards, and Frederick easily forces a second one to drop his loot.
Seeing the three new arrivals aiding the giant who is single-handedly bashing away half of their numbers, the Boggards fall back and dive into the bog water, then swim away to safety.
"AND DON'T COME BACK, YOU PIMPLE-FILLED MONSTROSITIES!!!" shouts the giant, furiously swinging his oar.
So, uh, I guess this is the part we say hi and start chatting around or you attack us and we defend or run...
The giant gives Eitylen a perplexed look.
"If you'd rather have us to part ways without so much as saying a single word, I'm fine with that." he says whole calmly picking up the basket that was being carried away by Boggards. "Thank you for your help. Have a safe journey."
He opens one of the baskets to check out its contents. You see there are many fish of the a single species inside... They look like elongated piranhas with thick grey scales and oddly large fins. Their length ranges from 2 to 4 ft, with a few notable exceptions reaching 5 ft.
"Looks like it's all here..." the giant mutters to himself, before closing the basket again and heading towards a large rowboat a few feet away...
"Wait! Have you seen or heard of a beast lurking here? One that camouflages itself with vines, rocks and leaves?"
"Huh? There is a "Sargassum" Fiend in the north-most part of the bog, is that what you mean?" he says as he places on basket on the row boat and goes after the second one. "I heard stories about a hag living somewhere around here too. Never seen it, though."
Happy to see that the giant doesn't seems like a bad person
Have you seen some humans here lately?
"Humans... Hmm... I haven't seen any, but my brother did. Some of them tried to hire him to take them to the very center of the swamp... He didn't accept, though. Uncle would never let him."
Uhm and why is that?
"Probably because he wouldn't come back... Well... Not alive, in any case.That's the Boiling Swamp, after all." he says nonchalantly. " Pretty much everyone who enters that place dies. And occasionally returns as a living-dead abomination that has to be put down. Things seem to be getting more dangerous there, though... We usually try to catch fish before they escape to the Boiling Swamp, but lately, they seem to be doing the reverse path. That's why I'm here... Same as those zits-filled frogs."
The giant checks the second basket's contents and then starts bringing it back to his rowboat.
"Uncle is our clan's shaman. He's the only one allowed to enter the Boiling Swamp. He says the swamp spirits don't like trespassers."
"Well, we need to go in anyway. Anything else you can tel us?"
"Perhaps we should go speak with the Shaman. Traveling into unknown territory is rather dangerous after all."
"Eh... You want to go there?" says the river giant, genuinely surprised. "Well... It's your funeral. I can take you to uncle, if you want. He won't approve of your trip, but he won't try to stop outsiders from doing whatever they want... As long as you don't present a threat to the clan, anyway... "
He finishes loading his baskets into his rowboat.
"And hey, if you manage to survive and bring me a white ironfin, I'll make it worth your while. My name is Strom, by the way."
Strom invites you over to his rowboat.
A clan of river giants, that is not something you meet everyday
Eitylen jumps onto the rowboat with a smile on his face.
"Frederick." he says, and extends his hand for a handshake.
A clan of river giants, that is not something you meet everyday
"I suppose that's a matter of perspective... I see them every day, but I never see an elf, a half-orc and a human walking together. If guys were entering a bar, it'd look like one my father's old jokes." he says smiling.
"Frederick." he says, and extends his hand for a handshake.
"That's a weird name..." says Strom, as he reaches for the half-orc's hand. "You parents must be very creative."
Once everyone is aboard, the river giant uses his oar to push the row boat away from the land. "Careful not to fall! There are nasty things in the water."
"Why would you want to go to the Boiling Swamp? That place is infested with death. We can smell it from a mile away... If you're looking for lost treasures, you've got another thing coming. All you'll find there is muddy water, decay, leeches and angry spirits... or whatever it is that kills everyone. It must have gotten worse too. Lately, even the ironfin are running away from it."
Strom swifly rows his boat over the bog's dark water, joyfully whistling a familiar-sounding song...
About half an hour later, you arrive at a small settlement raised above the swamp, on top of tall logs, as if the whole town was built on a giant wharf.
In this case, "small" refers only to the number of inhabitants (something between 20 and 30). The buildings and boats are all large enough to fit... Well... Giants. Even so, there are a few chairs and benches for medium-sized creatures (though they don't seem to be used very often and are mostly covered in dust). You slowly approach the town, a couple river giants wave at Strom, who reciprocates the gesture.
"Here we are! Welcome to Águona!" says Strom with glee. "You can probably find uncle at the "central plaza"... It should be easy to find, this is a small village, even for small folk."