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• Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
• Morsus Firebeard (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
• Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric)
• Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock)
• Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)
• Korra (Air Genasi Rogue)

Current NPCs traveling with the party:

• Pren Flintrock
• Gor Hammerstine
• Bran Homeforge
• Dran Homeforge

Connected Adventures: Adventure 14, Adventure 15, Adventure 16, Adventure 17, Adventure 18, Adventure 19, Adventure 20, Adventure 21 and Adventure 22.

As the party comes out of the cave, they’re greeted by King Battletoad and nearly forty Bullywugs. King Battletoad explains that they had fought valiantly and fairly against the Bullywugs, and though some of his own had been killed by them – King Battletoad had need of their services and asks the party for their help.

The party agrees and is taken to the eastern portion of The Death Swamp where King Battletoad shares his story.

King Battletoad explains at one time what he calls “The Great Lake” belonged to he and his people – but the Illithid (Mind Flayers) had experimented on the Kuo-Toa, once a weak and meaningless race – but now granted this amazing ability to come together as a communion and seemingly make the impossible potentially happen, by their mind alone. This provided a problem with the Kuo-Toa would call upon ‘a great warrior’ to rise from their kind and aid them in battle. Despite this, the battles that waged – casualties on both sides – were still fairly balanced. However, several weeks ago, the Kuo-Toa came into a possession of a relic of some great power which has further enhanced their belief as the new rulers of the Shadowvale.

King Battletoad asks the party to either bring him the relic so he can have its power – or to destroy the relic so that King Battletoad and his people can return to the Great Lake and reclaim the land that was once theirs, rather than being driven back to the furthest reaches of the swamps – fighting against trolls and other beasts of great power.

The party asks what the relic is and King Battletoad confesses he’s not sure – they’ve never been able to get close enough to see what it is – but he does know it’s stored directly in the center of the island where the small, fishing village of the Kuo-Toa has been set up. He warns the party to beware of the ‘the eyes.’ He merely goes on to explain the Kuo-Toa leader has magical eyes.

The party agrees to help King Battletoad (knowing that they will need to pass by the Great Lake if they hope to leave, and having the Kuo-Toa wiped out or otherwise occupied fighting King Battletoad will provide the party a means of getting by unnoticed). The party agrees to help King Battletoad, and spends the night, resting at the Bullywug village.

In the morning, King Battletoad assigns six of his most trusted Bullywug soldiers to escort the party to the Great Lake, using the short cut in the underground caverns that they had developed. Ironically, this is the same shortcut that Korra had found previously.

Upon swimming up to the shore of the island, they see that the island is nearly 20 miles wide in one direction and nearly 30 miles wide in the other – meaning that they would need to climb onto the island if they wanted to get close to the center. Ragnaroc mentioned he could make Korra invisible using a spell that would allow her to sneak to the center of the Kuo-Toa town and see what the relic was – and get it – if possible.The party however, wanted to remain close in case Korra got in trouble.

The party decides to stealth across the island – however, Morsus tumbles over a branch, his armor clanging against a rock (Critical Fail on Stealth Check). This draws the attention of several Kuo-Toa hunters near by, who had been hunting for food.

With the help of the Bullywug soldiers, the Dwarves that had been tagging along, and the party; it doesn’t prove to be much of a fight before the Kuo-Toa hunters are killed. The party hides the bodies, to prevent them from easily being discovered by other Kuo-Toa scouting parties. The party then continues to stealth forward until the small, Kuo-Toa town can be seen from about six hundred feet away.

Casting invisibility on Korra – she proceeds to go forward and successfully arrives to the center of the Kuo-Toa village without arousing any form of suspicion. She does spot the relic in the center of the village sitting on a large flat stone – she also notices a hut, whose doors are open, pointing directly at it – and in there, a larger than normal Kuo-Toa, whose eyes are closed, as if he was sleeping – but spots that he’s wearing a necklace, with one large, singular eye, that seems to be looking around.

Wasting no further time, she realizes she can’t spend her time scouting – she grabs the relic which she’s able to fit into her bag and quickly rushes down back to the others. She pulls out the relic revealing what it is – she’s unaware of its importance – but the others immediately recognize it as Rex Flamebeard’s enchanted hammer!

However, it’s not long before the alarms sound – that the relic has gone missing! (Fun note – I let the party represent the alarms vs detection – Morsus represented the alarm sounding, Adrian represented sneaking off the island without the alarm sounding, indicating the relic missing had gone unnoticed – Morsus rolled a 12, Adrian rolled a 9). The party was forced to quickly get off the island and head for the shortcut – Adrian and Sephrenia, both in heavier armor, struggle to swim quickly, tiring themselves out – however, Morsus (also in heavier armor) is able to help them (Natural 20 on Constitution check!)

Along the long trek back, the party makes frequent stops and rests in the small air pockets and stone “guttings” that allow them to take resting periods. The Bullywugs explains that the Kuo-Toa are unaware of the secret passage that the Bullywugs use.

The party makes it back to King Battletoad eventually, and with the verification of his soldiers, that the party has taken the relic – but they need it to return it to its rightful owner, King Battletoad is disappointed that he can’t have the relic – but satisfied that the Kuo-Toa no longer have it. That night, the party gets to rest (or try to) as the Bullywugs celebrate and prepare for war. (Attempting to sleep is like trying to sleep in a toad infested swamp of overly talkative toads).

The following morning King Battletoad thanks the party again, and takes a large battalion into the secret passage to begin the siege to reclaim the Great Lake. To party wishes King Battletoad luck in his war with the Kuo-Toa. The party then decides that they will head for the troll caves next to gather the next ingredient that Nor’Orn needs to potentially cure the poison that the Drow Alchemist, Goarus Doomsilk unleashed into the waters (according to Nor’Orn).

As they make their way there – they hear a voice that seems to be arguing with itself and loud footfalls – the party quickly hides into the bushes (some players using Inspiration to re-roll some bad Stealth checks) and watch as a giant, two headed humanoid known as an Ettin carelessly passes right by them – arguing with itself about having released food that was “too small” to really get any nutrition out of – while the other head argued that at least they would have got some nutrition rather than no nutrition.

The party waits for the Ettin to pass, before continuing to make their way towards the troll caverns…