Episode 20: The Journey to Bonk Bonk Swamp

The Adventure

Return to Atalasta

Juan talks to Bookt and enquires about what his Oath is. Bookt answers with details of his oath [11:00]. As Juan compliments his determination, his shoulders seem to become wider while he becomes shorter. They then swapped forward driving directives, before heading back to the settlement.

As the party arrive at Atalasta the city seems to be more active than normal, with a much larger military presence focused around the dock.

Drūdlin asks a guard what is happening, who seems to not really know what's happening beyond there being more foot traffic than normal.

Mal wanders around the barracks and spies a couple of high ranking officers having a discussion, and unobtrusively finds a park bench he can sit on while he eavesdrops.

The sergeant is barking orders, and Mal essentially identifies that they don't know why they are there, but they believe it is due to them being "elite" fighters.

Aginiars heads into town to look for a Gilt Skull, while Juan heads off to find his criminal contact to see if they have any information on why there are so many soldiers around.

Mal unobtrusively moseys around the area with the military, waiting to see if there is anything that happens, while Drūdlin heads off to the Brine Widow Tavern to book a room.

Aginiars is unable to find a vendor with a skull of the quality that he required.

Juan heads to the Sirens Shanty to meet his contact, and meets him there. He approaches and offers to buy him a drink. Juan purchases 2 cups of Grog and toasts the contact "To good health". He then enquires about the military presence, and while he doesn't know all the details, he knows there has been a call to surrounding kingdoms for a call to arms, for some "impending battle". He seems to believe it is an archaic royalty pissing contest.

Mal skulks around for a while to see if anything noteworthy happens, and nothing does, so he heads back to the Brine Widow Tavern.

Methven approaches and quietly reminds them that there is an expectation of payment each day. Drūdlin pays Methven, while Juan pays Bookt and Craw. And they rest for the night.

As the party awake in the morning the mercenaries are outside waiting for them.

The Journey to Bonk Bonk Swamp

The party then discuss the next steps and agree to head off towards Bonk Bonk Swamp.

Juan shared his backstory with the party to give them understanding of his journey.

The party head out towards Bonk Bonk Swamp, they follow the path to where the roads become less defined. Craw is in his element and guides them through. They come to a derelict camp, with Craw and Mal skirting the path, but Methven Willowshine and Juan encounter a pit trap, which Juan is able to jump free off his camel which falls in and breaks it's legs. Methven Willowshine falls in and lands prone at the bottom of the pit. Drūdlin and Bookt are able to avoid a net trap, while Craw avoids another pit trap.

From on top of the cliff beside the path, the party hear a horn blow and two boulders are rolled down at them. The first boulder rolls over Juan and lands in the pit on top of Methven Willowshine. The second boulder heads towards Mal who is able to jump out of the way as it rolls into the second pit.

This is followed by the sound of growling and three wolves appear with one of them being ridden by a small green goblin. The goblin throws a Javelin at Craw but it misses.

A volley of arrows comes from the surrounding bushes hitting Juan and Bookt. Another volley goes after Craw who dodges out of the way, while Mal successfully dodges two crossbow bolts, while Methven Willowshine is attacked by rats in the bottom of the pit.

The wolves charge Craw with the Goblin attacking with his scimitar, before disengaging and running back to put some space between them, while the other wolves are attacking Craw. Drūdlin tries to see where the arrows are coming from, but cannot see, so gets herself some space and prepares to dodge the next round of attacks which occurs immediately with another round of arrows, which hits Aginiars, Bookt and Mal. Craw then attacks the wolves attacking him, the party can hear "You're gonna regret that" and then impales the first wolf in both sides of the head killing it before decapitating the second wolf.

The goblin looks uneasy while Methven Willowshine kills all the rats in the pit leaving her trapped under the boulder. Juan casts Channel Divinity on his javelin while casting Shield of Faith on Craw who seems to step up his focus.

Aginiars casts Eldritch blast on the Goblin rider, but misses with both beams. He then casts Bear Kings Fury on himself.

Bookt retreats to cover and tries to see where the arrows are coming from. He sees one in the tree pointing it out to the rest of the party.

Mal climbs the cliff out of the kill zone and fires an arrow at the goblin in the tree that Bookt pointed out missing it. The goblin on wolfback retreats sending an arrow flying to cover his retreat.

Drūdlin approaches Craw and uses Hand of Healing to restore some health.

The goblin in the tree shoots an arrow at Aginiars before running away and disappearing into the outer trees. A second arrow flies at Bookt but misses due to his cover. A third arrow hits Aginiars. A fourth misses Craw, a fifth flies at Drūdlin but she catches it. A sixth misses Mal while the seventh hits him. And an eighth misses Juan.

Craw seeking to get out of the kill zone runs to the bushes, running into a goblin in the bush and he kills it. Juan heads over to cover by Craw. Aginiars heads over to the camp area with Bookt and takes cover behind some crates. Bookt tries to see where the goblins are, but cannot see them.

Mal looks in the direction of the arrow that hit him, and sees two goblin archers in the tree. He approaches the tree and tries to hide.

The mounted goblin charges Juan and the wolf tries to take him down but fails before running away again.

Drūdlin heads towards the tree she saw Mal heading towards and is able to see the goblins at the top of the tree. She then readies herself to dodge any incoming attacks.

One arrow hits Bookt, while a second hits Aginiars. A goblin charges out of the bush at Craw and attacks him making contact. Drūdlin is missed by two arrows, while Mal avoids two arrows but is hit by a third from somewhere else.

Craw draws his bow and point blank fires an arrow into the face of the goblin that attacked him killing him and sending it flying.

Aginiars heads over to Bookt and casts invisibility on the two of them. Bookt now invisible charges forward and locates a new goblin.

Mal climbs the tree and impales one of the goblins killing it, but misses the second.

The mounted goblin charges at Drūdlin making contact, with the wolf trying to drag her down, but she overpowers it. And tries to hit the goblin, but misses so she turns her attention to the wolf punching it in the face before crushing it's leg and kicking it, killing the wolf from under him.

The goblins then attack with one hitting Juan and one hitting Drūdlin with her manages to catch another arrow in the process.

The goblin in the tree with Mal tries to hit him but misses and runs away, while a hidden archer manages to hit Mal directly. Craw and Juan attempt to attack one but miss.

Aginiars locates another goblin. Bookt fllattens a goblin with his warhammer, he then misses a second goblin.

Mal sends an arrow after the fleeing goblin killing it, and then drops out of the tree and hides.

The goblin boss tries to run away from Drūdlin who chases after him narrowly avoiding a bear trap before it grabs her. Still in pursuit the goblin boss turns to Drūdlin smirking and pulls a rope. Drūdlin manages to avoid the log trap that swings down, dodging back out of the way. She discovers herself beside a goblin whom she decapitates before chasing the goblin boss and missing his attacks.

The goblins then let out another series of attacks, one trying to attack Bookt with his scimitar but missing and running away, while another fires an arrow at Aginiars hitting him before running.

Craw follows Drūdlin around the boulder firing two arrows at once, hitting the goblin boss with both killing him instantly.

Juan throws his javelin at the last visible goblin impaling him and killing him.

With all goblins either dead or run away, Mal looks for traps but doesn't see any, and then the party gather to get the boulder off Methven Willowshine. They successfully get the boulder off her, she clambers out of the pit and heals most of the party. Drūdlin finds 8 gems worth 50GB which she gives 1 to everyone, but 2 to Mal. Bookt advises this will cover the previous 15 days, plus a further 10 days.

They set up camp for the night and ask Methven Willowshine and Bookt to keep watch. Methven Willowshine locates a goblin hiding in a tree killing it while the party rest.

Bonk Bonk Swamp

The party continue the journey heading from forested area to swampy mangrove. They approach a small village which has a couple of frogs guarding the gate. Juan greets them telling them that he wants to talk to Christopher Frogkin, which all the frogs start croaking at them which Juan and Drūdlin understand is them laughing at them, while Mal and Aginiars think they are getting hostile.

The guard says that Christopher Frogkin is the king of the area and that you can't just walk in to see him, you need to prove yourself, and says if the best fighter among the party can win in the arena then we could see him. Juan tries to intimidate him, failing so agrees to fight in their arena. The guard shouts "We have a challenger" and drums start pounding and they are taken to the arena which is a very crudely beaten earthen ring, which is quite sticky to walk on making movement difficult, lined by a rope indicating the outer limits.

Juan vs Kremit the Bold

An announcer enters the ring and introduces Juan:

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a challenger, Approaching from the outside realms! Somebody you don't need to know about, you don't care, he's from outside of here and you know he's going to die!

The crowd goes wild.

And ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls in particular, we know he's your favourite. Please welcome your local beloved champion of the ring in his fortieth undefeated attempt at conquest Kremit the Bold.

At the end of the intro an 8 foot tall frog on a bit of a roid rage charges into the ring screaming with a massive club in his hand. He immediately charges in and swings his club at Juan hitting him twice.

Juan attacks with his axe and follows up with divine smite and the radiant damage blasts forth, blood froths Kremit the Bold wipes it off and it appears to heal. Juan follows up with his second axe hitting also. Kremit the Bold drops his club and pulls out a shield and morningstar as the attack did more than expected. Kremit the Bold attacks with his morningstar hitting solidly, and he follows up by grappling Juan and dragging him towards the edge of the ring.

Juan attacks with his greataxe, hitting perfectly due to the closeness of the Kremit the Bold with divine smite dealing a critical hit. Kremit the Bold is extremely bloodied. Kremit the Bold continues to drop Juan out of the ring. The spear wielding frogs outside the ring use their spears to prod Juan back in the ring. Kremit the Bold then hits Juan with it's morningstar. Juan again attacks with his greataxe making contact, but it does much less damage than you would expect. Kremit the Bold threw his morningstar at Juan missing, so he pulls his handaxe and knocks Juan unconscious. Kremit the Bold begins to celebrate his victory, while quietly Methven Willowshine casts a spell which heals Juan who regains consciousness and reheals himself further. Kremit the Bold charges back and attacks with his hand axe doing mindor damage, while Juan raises his greataxe and cleaves Kremit the Bold in half.

Silence falls over the arena, until a slow clap begins with the announcer shouting "Meet your new champion" while a little golden frog enters the ring and introduces himself as Christopher Frogkin.