Campaign news for 7/14 consists of a list of six rumors/hooks that the party has acquired by speaking to the hanging...
Campaign news for 7/14 consists of a list of six rumors/hooks that the party has acquired by speaking to the hanging merchants.
(1) Passage down the great Sewer River has been impeded recently by the Lurid Toads, bloated white amphibious parasites. They have erected a slime dam in a large natural cavern upstream, and are demanding an ever-increasing fee of (very) fresh meat for passage. This is not a small inconvenience for the merchants who regularly ferry their wares to and from Zyan above. In an unusual act of cooperation, they have pooled their resources to offer a bounty for the dam's permanent removal of 2500 GP.
(2) There was until recently a fifth pagoda occupied by an estimable merchant named Ulaptaloom, a member of the clan of money changers. In a most horrible turn of events, the occupants of this entire pagoda were seized a month ago by the children of the spore. Although the children have a kind of immortality through splitting and dividing, they raid because they must, from time to time, replenish the humanoid stock that serves as their base. (It is said to be a hideous fate to be taken by the children of the spore, perhaps worse than death.) Ulaptaloom wore impressive jewelry around his person, including a ring that is a rare family heirloom, for which Malichar assures you he will pay very handsomely. To reach the lair of the children, take the footpath to the southwest from here and then head directly south a mile or more. You will find their tower there, at the top of the brambles.
(3) Not far from the hanging pagodas, there stands an ancient funerary shrine to Lady Shirishanu, concubine to the last of the Incandescent Kings. When she died, the King's grief was all consuming. He would have erected a fitting cenotaph to her graceful personage in the sunny gardens of the Summer Palace, but the Queen would not hear of it. In her jealousy, she forced him to build it in the rank and lightless precincts of the highest level. Shirishanu's corpse is not to be found there; as befit a noblewoman of her time, it plummeted through the endless Azure Sea to its resting place in the heavens below. But the King is said to have filled the shrine with lavish tomb decorations and Shirishanu's remarkable possessions. The shrine is carved into the far side of the mountain that descends into the white jungle about a mile to the west of the Great Falls.
(4) The good witch Zalvorex is always seeking apprentices and champions in his endless struggle with Bazekop, the demon of the west wind. Such service is very lucrative, but also dangerous. Zalvorex's traveling manse drinks regularly at the emerald pools that are said to flow in the densest part of the jungle below, two miles southwest of the pagodas. [Malichar is the source of this rumor]
(5) A benevolent spirit of the air known as Bazekop is in need of able personages to help him in his ceaseless contest with the foul demonologist and necromancer Zalvorex. Bazekop can be sought in his invisible tower, which floats near the aerie of the giant crows in the lowest level of the jungle, on the far west side of the island. [Nekalimon is the source of this rumor]
(6) The legendary Summer Palace, if indeed it still exists, is located deep within the lower levels of the jungle. If you wish to find its location, you would be wise to seek the Chittering Masons who are said to have constructed it for the Incandescent Kings. They are disconcerting conversationalists, but their memory is long and they love everything they have crafted with their long and slender hands. They are said to maintain a village somewhere in the densest part of the jungle below.
(1) Passage down the great Sewer River has been impeded recently by the Lurid Toads, bloated white amphibious parasites. They have erected a slime dam in a large natural cavern upstream, and are demanding an ever-increasing fee of (very) fresh meat for passage. This is not a small inconvenience for the merchants who regularly ferry their wares to and from Zyan above. In an unusual act of cooperation, they have pooled their resources to offer a bounty for the dam's permanent removal of 2500 GP.
(2) There was until recently a fifth pagoda occupied by an estimable merchant named Ulaptaloom, a member of the clan of money changers. In a most horrible turn of events, the occupants of this entire pagoda were seized a month ago by the children of the spore. Although the children have a kind of immortality through splitting and dividing, they raid because they must, from time to time, replenish the humanoid stock that serves as their base. (It is said to be a hideous fate to be taken by the children of the spore, perhaps worse than death.) Ulaptaloom wore impressive jewelry around his person, including a ring that is a rare family heirloom, for which Malichar assures you he will pay very handsomely. To reach the lair of the children, take the footpath to the southwest from here and then head directly south a mile or more. You will find their tower there, at the top of the brambles.
(3) Not far from the hanging pagodas, there stands an ancient funerary shrine to Lady Shirishanu, concubine to the last of the Incandescent Kings. When she died, the King's grief was all consuming. He would have erected a fitting cenotaph to her graceful personage in the sunny gardens of the Summer Palace, but the Queen would not hear of it. In her jealousy, she forced him to build it in the rank and lightless precincts of the highest level. Shirishanu's corpse is not to be found there; as befit a noblewoman of her time, it plummeted through the endless Azure Sea to its resting place in the heavens below. But the King is said to have filled the shrine with lavish tomb decorations and Shirishanu's remarkable possessions. The shrine is carved into the far side of the mountain that descends into the white jungle about a mile to the west of the Great Falls.
(4) The good witch Zalvorex is always seeking apprentices and champions in his endless struggle with Bazekop, the demon of the west wind. Such service is very lucrative, but also dangerous. Zalvorex's traveling manse drinks regularly at the emerald pools that are said to flow in the densest part of the jungle below, two miles southwest of the pagodas. [Malichar is the source of this rumor]
(5) A benevolent spirit of the air known as Bazekop is in need of able personages to help him in his ceaseless contest with the foul demonologist and necromancer Zalvorex. Bazekop can be sought in his invisible tower, which floats near the aerie of the giant crows in the lowest level of the jungle, on the far west side of the island. [Nekalimon is the source of this rumor]
(6) The legendary Summer Palace, if indeed it still exists, is located deep within the lower levels of the jungle. If you wish to find its location, you would be wise to seek the Chittering Masons who are said to have constructed it for the Incandescent Kings. They are disconcerting conversationalists, but their memory is long and they love everything they have crafted with their long and slender hands. They are said to maintain a village somewhere in the densest part of the jungle below.
He does. Equipment list will be posted tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm partial to clearing out the toads. The slime dam disturbs me.
ReplyDeleteThere is a part of me that wants to wait to clear out the toads, as they act as barrier to other adventuring groups coming along at full strength. Maybe when we decide its time to return to our city? I was also thinking about poisoning a load of meat, as others have suggested. Is there anyone we can talk to who knows if they're resistant to toxins?
ReplyDeleteI'm good with either the spore-men or the funerary shrine.