The morning of 13 Erastus, 4708

Packing for a Trip

The Crimson Blades consult the map of the Mushfens they recovered from the Castle in order to determine how best to approach the Sunken Queen. They decide their best course of action is to teleport to the known landmark on the coast and then fly north up to the ruin, following directions Togomor had penned in the margins.

With Ileosa’s loyalists in retreat, there is enough of a semblance of order for them to do some quick shopping and restock on powerful items, scrolls and potions. However, they are all aware that the clock is ticking.

Scouting the LZ

Egan scrys the coastal landmark, allowing Zandu to teleport there (invisibly) in order to get the lay of the land for subsequent teleports.

The sorcerer proceeds with an abundance of caution, appearing in the air over the Greenrust Reef, a coral reef that grew around the wreck of an immense copper-bottomed vessel.

Aside from some abnormally large crabs, Zandu sees no immediate danger, though he does find signs that boggards are active in the area. The reef sits at the mouth of a river which Togomor’s map suggests they follow north.

Confrontation

After Zandu returns to tell the party about his scouting mission, he ends up in a tense conversation with Nox. The fighter demands that he swear not to make any move for the Crown of Fangs, suggesting that the sorcerer planned on claiming it for his own.

Zandu insists he has no intentions on the crown, or the Crimson Throne, but Nox remains suspicious. The rest of the party isn’t sure what to make of this outburst.

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The morning of 14 Erastus, 4708

Into the Mushfens

After making some final preparations and spending a fitful night in Korvosa, the Crimson Blades teleport out to the Greenrust Reef bring and early in the morning. There, those adventurers who have it use their various flying abilities, while Egan transforms into a giant roc to carry Nox, Flint and Laori.

The party follows the nameless river north, into the trackless Mushfens. They keep their eyes peeled for boggard activity and eventually spy cookfires from a boggard village not too far off course.

The adventurers confer on what to do. After surviving the boggard attack on Korvosa, Nox wants to quelch this threat to the city, while Flint wants vengeance for his parents and Zandu wants to start some fires. Arlynn cautions for restraint, while Ashla expresses indifference.

The others persuade Roc-Egan to join in their sortie, so the four of them—with assistance from Laori and Kyra—swoop down to attack the boggard village while Ashla, Arlynn, and Irabeth look on.

Hell Comes to Frogtown

The initial firebombing run scatters the frogmen, but a few warriors rally and fire back. The adventurers are caught off guard when a boggard priest-king smashes out of a burning building on the back of a giant purple flying frog with three eyes.

The priest-king throws magic at them, but has trouble penetrating their defenses, while the frog shoots out its tongue to snatch Nox from Roc-Egan’s grip and swallow him. This proves to be a bad idea.

Nox cuts his way out of the beast and rides its carcass into another large thatched hut in the village, destroying it utterly. The fighter is a little worse for wear from the experience, but is the only serious casualty of the attack.

The party decides not to destroy the boggard young in the nearby spawning pool. Arlynn, meanwhile, investigates the village shrine and discovers that the boggards seem to have recently switched from worshiping some sort of swamp deity to venerating Ileosa.

Many Alligators, Much Mounds

After leaving the boggard village in ruins, the Crimson Blades continue their flight north. They glide over a stretch of river swarming with a disproportionate number of alligators.

They also come across another landmark from Togomor’s map, a series of strange, enormous earthen mounds. Zandu recommends returning to investigate once the Queen is vanquished as they could mark ruins or tombs.

Storm Front

The skies darken as they near the Sunken Queen. A black cloud, wracked with frequent jolts of lightning, swirls over the half-submerged pyramid. Down below, they can see large, whirling dust devils that Roc-Egan realizes are in fact angry air elementals.

There is no obvious entrance to the pyramid and the party sends Ashla to scout around the building, where she is struck by lightning. Despite this inconvenience, the half-elf ranger ultimately finds a nearly hidden entrance on ground level.

It Came From the Mushfens!

The party lands and steps into the strange pyramid, whose floor tilts at a 30 degree angle. They discover that one whole half of the level they are on is submerged into the marsh water.

While attempting to cross through the water to the staircase leading up, they are ambushed by a gang of boggard champions. The frogmen leap into the fray with terrifying battle ribbets.

Just as the party turns to face this threat, they are attacked from the other direction by an enormous squid-like devilfish. It grabs several of the adventurers and drags them into the flooded areas of the pyramid.

Zandu uses his scroll of iron body to turn into an enormous iron golem and battle the devilfish on equal footing, while Arlynn and the others mop up the boggards, whose tongue attacks backfire painfully.

Badly wounded, the devilfish retreats deeper into the flooded section of the pyramid. Egan communicates with the creature, Beirawash, and manages to negotiate an agreement: in exchange for letting it leave, it will grant them its entire treasure hoard, which turns out to be much of the missing Korvosan treasury.

Sopping wet and more than a little beat up, the adventurers prepare to advance to the next level of the pyramid.