(Savage Worlds) Jade Regent Adventure Path
The Brinewall Legacy
The Licktoad goblins have been raiding caravans along the Lost Coast and generally making a nuisance of themselves, emboldened by the discovery of a cache of fireworks. Where the little buggers got fireworks from is anyone’s guess. The sheriff of Sandpoint town collars his strapping, young son (PC: Tim Hemlock) to help post fliers reinstating the bounty on goblin ears (10g per pair of ears delivered to the town hall) and an additional 500g bounty for the head of the goblin leader; Chief Gutwad.
Tim decides this is just the opportunity that he’s been waiting for. Finally, a chance to prove that he’s more than just “the sheriff’s boy”! He is joined by a reclusive, half-orc swamper (PC: Roy Mucklelow), whose beauty sleep has been disturbed by the goblins and their “bloody bangers”. A boisterous dwarven cleric (NPC Healer: Brian Blessedbeard) with a booming voice and a great, bushy beard also attaches himself to the party.
Having lived (alone) in the Brinestump Marsh for the last ten years, Roy knows fine-rightly how to reach the goblin village and leads the group along an old, overgrown fisherman’s trail. Along the route, the party hear a high pitched, somewhat girl shriek from some ways off the trail. Led by Roy (whom the others hope can find the way back to the path), the heroes rush to investigate the sound, sloshing through the deep muck until they reach a small clearing. They find a struggling halfling being constricted by a huge snake! The serpent is easily 15m long and as wide around as a rolled-up carpet. The halfling man is turning a funny shade of grey, his eyes all a-boggle as the life is literally squeezed out of him.
Roy raises his crossbow and takes careful aim at the large snake – he doesn’t want to shoot the halfling in the face by accident. Tim charges forward, only to discover his movement is severely restricted by the swampy ground underfoot (difficult terrain). Blessedbeard bellows (Stun power with Deafening Shout trapping), expecting the volume of his voice to disorientate the snake, yet the serpent seems unaffected and continues to tighten its coils around its prey (mechanically, the halfling is now incapacitated).
Unwilling to yield its dinner without a fight, the snake rears up and hisses threateningly (effectively on hold until someone approaches within melee range). Blessedbeard shuffles 2” closer; the murky water now rises to his waist. Tim goes on hold until after Roy has fired, not wanting to get shot in the back. Having spent the last round aiming, Roy pulls the trigger on his heavy crossbow. The iron bolt sinks into the snake’s scaly trunk – a killing shot! The serpent thrashes wildly before going limp.
Tim and Blessedbeard are able to extract the senseless halfling from the dead snake’s embrace. Brian performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, swelling the halfling’s lungs with his whisky-tinged breath. The halfling recovers and introduces himself as Walthus Proudstump, self-proclaimed warden of Brinestump Marsh. He thanks the heroes for saving him from the snake and invites them to rest at his shack before tackling the goblin village. Roy helps carry the snake’s carcass, as both he and Proudstump agree that “them’s good eating!” Tim and Blessedbeard stick to their trail rations while the two hermits tuck in.