17: Voaraghamanthar

Cautiously the group enters the cave opening and are soon face-to-face with the enormous and ancient black dragon Voaraghamanthar, who lies waiting in his vast cavern amid his ancillary hoard. They greet one another and the black dragon presumes they are on a mission for Leosin Erlanthar and requests that they take on a complementary mission for him: thwart the cult leader Rezmir, who has amassed a Bullywug army and subjugated Voaraghamanthar’s Lizardfolk followers in the Mere and who insists that the dragon participates in the plans of the Cult of the Dragon. He also wants to see the Bullywugs driven out and the Lizardfolk back in control of the area. The dragon agrees to answer three question in return for their aid. He also says he will aid their travel to Rezmir’s lair and provide support in the form of his followers; he wrenches out one of his own fangs and presents it to the group as a token of passage among his Lizardkind followers. Shiv wraps it in leather for use as a dagger.

Karendil uses one of the questions to ask why the great dragon is not directly engaged in these activities himself and he answers, “It would be impolitic of me to interfere with the end goal of the Cult of the Dragon; if I would act openly against Rezmir’s operation, that would brand me as an outsider to my kind. I have no problem with the cult’s objectives, I just want that upstart Rezmir dealt with. I want my Mere to be my Mere, as it is supposed to be.”

At this Voaraghamanthar indicates the clearing the group stands upon and they realize it is a teleportation portal.  Their destination is near the region of Castle Naerytar, which is run by a lower-level functionary of the cult named Borngray.  There is a small encampment of Bullywugs and Lizardfolk encircling the castle and the hauls of treasure that Leosin tried to track arrive there, probably by means of a teleport circle.  Voaraghamanthar digs through his treasure and tosses an amulet to Karendil; the item is a key to use the teleportation devices and also requires the password “wayside” spoken in Draconic.  Karendil utters the word and the group teleports.

The group arrives on an outcropping surrounded by swamp capped by three small huts and canoes nearby in disrepair.  They get their bearings and the group recognizes the huts as lizard make.  Tameriel scouts and returns a while later and reports he has spotted a squad of creatures approaching, and some among them are deadly Yuan-ti.  Embra suggests splitting up into groups of two and lying in wait inside the huts—one skirmisher with one ranged attacker—for an ambush; Shiv climbs on the center rooftop and casts an illusion to appear as she’s part of the roof.  A short time passes and 3 Malisons and 4 Yuan-ti Purebloods approach the huts. Karendil launches a massive fireball in their midst and everyone rushes out and attacks; before they can react to counterattack all 4 of the Pureblood Yuan-ti are cut down.

Jory is swarmed by the others and wounded by their sword and poisonous attacks Steve rushes into the tightly-grouped skirmish to assist him and Embra shouts at Karendil to launch another fireball into their midst; the half-elf deftly hurls a ball of fire and obliterates one of Jory’s attackers and gravely wounds another.  Steve slays the wounded creature and Embra kills the other.  They team guesses this scout patrol is fairly far from home and so do not feel threatened by another attack from their like.

Davron uses a spell to get in contact with Snapjaw, who indicates he will arrive with others early that evening.  Embra and Jory consider burning the bodies, but Karendil and Shiv talk them out of this plan and suggest dumping them in the swamp.  The group hauls the bodies into the swamp, lights the campfire, and waits for the Lizardfolk.  They arrive and Snapjaw and his compatriots are awed by the presentation of Voaraghamanther’s fang.

Snapjaw claims that there is a path blessed by their shaman that keeps the undead away and they will travel for a couple of hours and enter a tunnel that comes out of the basement of a roadhouse.  Leosin had tracked treasure that had been pillaged from all over the Sword Coast to this roadhouse, but he was unable to figure out where it went after that.  Snapjaw reveals to the group that within the roadhouse his compatriots package the loot and they row it to Castle Naerytar.  The group decides to travel with Snapjaw’s haul disguised as cultists in order to infiltrate the castle.  They spend the rest of the evening planning and sleep at the huts with the lizard men keeping watch.  That evening Embra makes a formal declaration to assist them but utterly mangles it (Critical Failure), so Karendil uses his knowledge of Draconic to smooth over the delivery.

Snapjaw recommends a plan of attack and scrawls out a map of Naerytar.  There are two encampments surrounding the castle, each filled with the elite among the Mere’s Lizardfolk and Bullywugs.  Embra suggests to Snapjaw that after their delivery is made he and his companions are to circulate within the camp and castle among their own kind and ready them for battle at the first sign of alarm from the castle.  That night group sleeps as one, guarded by the lizard men.

The next morning the group sets out on canoes, dressed as cultists, and paddle to the castle.  On the way Snapjaw informs them that the leader of the Bullywugs, Pharblex Spattergoo, killed the lizardfolk high shaman and so subjugated Lockjaw’s people.  They all disembark and a few lizard men depart from the cargo train and head to the camp to spread their message.  The group follows the cargo train to the barbican and are promptly stopped by the Bullywug guards, who send for Greyborn.  The group fabricates a story that they had been stationed in Thundertree and failed to protect Favrik, so they’ve been reassigned to the Mere as punishment duty.  Borngray orders Snapjaw to take the treasure to the great hall and he queries the group about their assignment.  Shiv deftly lies to him and he says confidentially “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault” in Elvish as he gazes at the human, dwarf and half-elf.  He continues, “The Mother of Dragons will deal with their verminous kind soon enough.”

Borngray assigns them to quarters and instructs them to set the room to order and turn in for the morning.  They follow his directions to their rooms and find it filled with giant centipedes, which they kill in short time.  They clean out the room, Karendil cleans the filth off of them, they dump the refuse, and they attend evening mess.  Once they’ve eaten they return to their room and begin plans to start mayhem immediately.

MIA: Jerry

• 7 Yuan-ti (3 Malisons and 4 Purebloods)

• Voaraghamanthar’s Acrid Fang.  a +1 Dagger that in addition to standard damage does 1d6 Acid Damage, and an extra 1d6 Acid Damage against the foes of Voaraghamanthar.
• decent weapons and a small amount of cash from the Yuan-ti.

• 750XP (15,585XP Total)

• Sock It To Me, Baby
  DM: *black dragon presents a weapon to the party* It will automatically do an extra d6 Acid Damage to someone who Voaraghamanthar would consider his enemies.
  Embra: It would help if he gave us his version of Nixon’s Enemies List.
• MAD Magazine Seeking Head Writer
  DM: Yuan-ti are…
  Davron: … much better than Yuan-coffee.
• Not My Bag, Baby
  DM: Evil snake gods don’t care about your maidenhead.
• You’ll Put Your Eye Out
  Embra: Shiv—you wanna keep that knife out in the open so any approaching lizardfolk can see it?
  Shiv: *starts tossing poison dragon fang knife and catching it*
  Embra: Well…not like that.
• You Don’t Want To Be In Here!
  Embra: As many times as you’ve mentioned climbing on the roof, I think you want to climb on the roof.
  Shiv: Yeah, I just don’t like being in that hut.
  Embra: Climb on the roof; there’ll be two of us inside the hut anyway.
  Shiv: I climb on the roof.
  DM: When you all go in the hut it’s full of lemon drops and chocolate chip cookies.
  Everyone but Shiv: Yaaay! *pantomimes stuffing their faces*
  Shiv: Awww…
  DM: “It’s just fish heads in here!”
  Davron: *still pantomiming, looking up at roof* It’s all gross and sticky; stay away!
• Head Games
  Shiv: *after the party kills the Yaun-ti, looks at Embra* Wanna keep a head?
  DM: Are you keeping a head, Embra?
  Embra: *thoughtful pose*
  Karendil: No!
  Embra: Don’t tell me what heads I can and can’t keep!
• I Swear To God You’ll Put Your Eye Out
  DM: Three canoes full of lizard men approach you.
  Shiv: And I guess I’ll be just kind of… *idly tosses poison dragon fang knife and catches it*
  Embra: Don’t…do not…you’re going to stab yourself if you keep doing that.  Jesus Christ.
  Karendil: *laughs hysterically*
  Embra: Make her roll her Dex!  Just in case: “1—Ahhh poison! ” *pantomimes death* “Guys should we burn her or dump her in the swamp too?”
• Sartorial Awkwardness
  Embra: *seeing potential allies, all dragon-worshipers, approach* Uh…I’m going to throw my cloak over my dragon-killing armor.
  Karendil: That would probably be sensible.
  DM: For creatures of this level of intelligent, they’re not going to immediately leap to that conclusion.  It’s not like the breastplate has a dragon with a big red circle and a slash.
  Embra: Right, it’s not like I’m wearing a sandwich board with “I Kill Dragons” on it.
  DM: “Will Kill Dragons For Food.”
• It Had To Be Asked
  Shiv: *expresses concern for the plan*
  Davron: So go in a group, have the lizard men ready to attack, get into the castle, when everyone reacts go “Oh Lawdy!  Save us!”
  Embra: Yeah, and start fucking people up from the inside.  What could possibly go wrong, you guys?
• Message For You, Sir
  DM: *Snapjaw drones on at length during the canoe trip*
  Embra: Jory, swim over to the other canoe and tell them everything Snapjaw just said.
  Karendil: And keep your armor on.
  Snapjaw’s Cartography Skills
  Jory: Why do you keep drawing penises on things?
• Deception Fail
  Shiv: Why would y’all put me up to talk to people?
  DM: What, you can’t spin bullshit?  Is that what you’re trying to sell me?
• Don’t Grocery Shop Or Infiltrate Enemy Castles On An Empty Stomach
  Jory: We should have the lizard men come to the mess hall when we go eat.  Grab trays like they’re going to go sit down and start the killing there.
  *1 minute later*
  Jory: We should all rendezvous in the mess hall and start killing there.
  *2 minutes later*
  DM: You go to the mess hall but you see the treasure that’s been dropped off by the lizard men being repackaged into smaller containers.
  Jory: We can grab food and go to the room and talk about what we want to do.
  DM: Yeah, there’s no food yet.  There’s a shipment of treasure here and it’s all being repackaged.
  Shiv: Let’s go in the other room and get our plan together.
  Jory: Since there’s no food yet.
  Group: *restrained laughter*
  Embra: Jesus.
  Karendil: Are you hungry? Jory?
  Embra: “Guys…should we wait?”
  No Stars
  DM: This room clearly has not been used in the time since they’ve occupied the castle.  It’s full of trash and swarming with giant centipedes.
  Davron: Wait ’til I Yelp about this.
• Slackjaw Can’t Count
  Embra: “Slackjaw not a city reptile; Slackjaw a country reptile.  Ah cain’t cipher well.”
  Shiv: Country SlackJaw Goes To Town.
  Karendil: Mr. Slackjaw Goes To Washington.
• Shiv Presents Voaraghamanther’s Tooth To The Lizardfolk