D&D: A Plague of Frogs!

THE FROGS! THE FROGS! Anyway. Here's last time.

Our heroes are in the town of Fiadh, relaxing, shopping, training. Clara spends time with the small clan of barbarians and monks that live in the woods near the town, and notes that they're a lot chattier than the monks she's used to - in the north you sit on a mountaintop and contemplate the meaning of everything and nothing and hope a ram doesn't come along and knock you down the damn mountain. These folks, it's a lot more talky. She does find them a little cagey, though.

Dara is walking in the woods and spots an animal in the brush stalking her, and then realizes it's a druid in wild shape. She turns into a squirrel and goes to say hi, and the creature pokes its head out - a big cat! They engage in a quick game of chase (very quick; he catches her almost immediately) and then assume human form to chat. His name is Caolan, and like her, he left the Enclave of Thorns and headed north to adventure. He tells a little about Orla and Nuada, the other druids that broke her heart, but she isn't interested. And she's not planning to go back. He also mentions that a small faction of druids have split off and started worshiping some other deity - they call themselves Ghrian Trí Duillegoa and there's been some friction with the Enclave proper.

Aisling has spent the last few days playing (and playing) with Cillian, the bard. They trade songs and stories, and he mentions that he did used to travel with a band much like hers, but they are all gone now. Aisling doesn't pry; Cillian doesn't seem ready to tell that story.

One afternoon, the four of them are at market, eating and shopping and chatting with the locals. Dara goes to a woodcarver named Rory to get a new staff (she broke hers in the fight with the doppelgangers), and she notes that Rory looks...a little sick? Dark circles under the eyes, obviously moving slow, and his clothes are hanging on him like he's lost weight. The heroes dig a little, and while Rory downplays his fatigue, it's clear he's not well. They find nothing physically wrong with him - no symptoms that would indicate disease - and Dara wonders if something is cursing or even feeding on him. They decide that one or two of them will stay with him tonight, just to make sure. 

As they're shopping, though, they realize that there are other folks that show similar symptoms. No one seems deathly ill and no one is talking about people having died of this, so they decide to keep an eye on it. 

Tonight, however, is a party! The tavern provides roasted turkey legs and berry wine and honey cakes and so forth. Cillian and Aisling play music, everyone dances, and as the party wears on and the folks who have to work in the morning peel off to sleep, Cillian strums his lute to get attention and starts the stories.

He tells the tale of Tiernan the Sentinel, a hero who wandered the land with spear and shield, and got his title from being willing to plant himself in front of those who couldn't fight and never falter. But the story goes that one night at a crossroads he met a Fey being and she tricked him (for he was fond of a pretty face), and he became lost, and is still there, trying to find his way back to the roads and on his journey. Cillian passes the spotlight, as it were, to Aisling...

...who picks it up and tells the tale of two young lovers who, in defiance of their feuding families, ran away into the forest. They met an old woman in a clearing who asked three times what they wished, and twice they said "nothing we want," but on the third time the girl said she wished for them to be together forever. And the old woman turned the boy into an oak and the girl into a vine, and there they still remain. Aisling passes the story to Clara...

...who tells the tale of the deepest pits in the mountains, and that if you wander in caves you might hear someone crying for help, but no matter how deep you go the cries always sound deeper. When you eventually turn back - out of water or out of hope - you hear no more screaming but heavy breathing behind you. And if you turn, no one will ever hear from you again - you must walk all the way out to the light to be safe. Clara passes the story to Dara...

...who, having had perhaps a bit too much to drink, talks about a beautiful elf maiden who loved a druid. The druid went out with his hunting partner one day, and the elf followed, to bring them food and wine, but found them...together. Betrayed, she fled and eventually found an old woman in a shack (the same old woman from Aisling's tale? Maybe!) and asked to forget what she'd learned and cool what she felt. The woman gave her a potion and she drank it, and she still wanders the woods, numb, unable to love but unable to hurt. Dara, finally, points to Zook...

...who is also a little sloshed and grudgingly starts talking ("why do we even have a bard?", he grumbles). He talks about how he grew up with his mother on the farm hearing the stories of heroes and the tales that his father sent home, and then adventure came to him when a wizard dropped dead on his doorstep. But since learning magic and leaving Cian, he and his friends have faced all manner of danger and seen strange and wondrous things, and he's learned that no matter what the heroic task, you need your people by your side.

At this point Cillian gets up and leaves. Aisling follows, and asks if he's all right. "It just hit, is all" he says. "I miss my friends." Again, Aisling doesn't pry, but kisses his head.

(No frogs yet, huh? We'll get there!)

The party winds down, and Clara and Dara go with Rory and his little daughter Iris to sleep, while Aisling stays up with Cillian. Zook sits with the old men and talks about where his father's stash might be, and they fashion maps with their game tiles and try to explain it. It becomes quickly clear, though, that the stash isn't nearby - it's upriver a mile, at least. Also, one of the men says that the area in which the stash is hidden flooded a year or so back and is now a marsh. Zook updates his map, and realizes he's going to need to explore the area (with the others, probably) to find it.

In the morning, Clara and Dara are awoken by Iris staring intently at them. Rory seems better - he slept well last night, so whatever happened before didn't happen now. But what's going on? Clara spends a bit of time talking to townsfolk and learns that the problem seems confined to the southwest part of Fiadh, and it's only affecting men. This makes Zook think of legends of the succubus, a demonic creature that feeds on the life of men while they sleep. But there are a lot of legends about creatures that prey on sleeping people - the Mara, the Nightmare, the Night Hag - and without more information it's hard to know how to proceed. Also, again, no one is dead, so it seems like they can pursue Zook's lead on his father's stash. And maybe his dad left something relevant behind?

The others agree, pack up what they'll need and leave what they won't with Cillian, and head out into the woods. They follow the river north a ways, but when the bank becomes too steep to do so, they enter the woods and immediately become lost (this is especially embarrassing for Dara, who is not only a druid but is from the south of Abhaile so is not unfamiliar with the terrain). As they wander, they find a great brown bear tearing into a fallen tree for grubs. Fortunately Dara is the first one into the clearing and quickly casts a spell to speak with the beast. Once the bear realizes they aren't there to threaten her or eat the grubs, she has a pleasant chat with Dara about the flavor profiles of various insects (grubs are nutty, ants are tangy, and honey is her favorite but bees are fizzy and unpleasant), and then the heroes are on their way.

They travel for the rest of the day and make camp in a clearing for the night. The night is cool and the woods are not quiet - nightbirds, insects, peepers, and bats - but then mist rises. The mist encircles them and they start seeing the forest change, becoming bigger and more primeval, and they hear animals in the distance that Dara realizes are far bigger than anything that should live here. And they all feel a gnawing hunger in their guts. Dara creates some goodberries and this helps, but when they wake in the morning the hunger remains. But the mist is gone and the forest is "normal" again, at least.

They set out and after another couple of hours' walk, they find that the ground is getting squishy - they have found the marsh. They peek around a tree and see a dozen strange, humanoid frog-headed creatures, some of them riding immense bullfrogs. They seem gathered around a huge pine tree and some of them area diving down into the water and then surfacing, whereupon they creatures speak to each other in a horrible croaky language. Aisling recognizes these things as bullywugs, nasty little things that have a strangely complex social structure. They advance in status either by murdering each other, or bringing their leaders "nice things."

Zook peeks out and detects magic, and feels it coming from that tree, below the water. His father's stash might well be down there, and if the bullywugs like "nice things," they might be trying to get in. The heroes realizes they're going to need to fight.

Clara wades out into the water and creeps up to the creatures, while Dara spider-climbs through the trees above them. Zook stays back, figuring he can hurl spells at the little buggers, while Aisling casts a spell on Clara to make her tougher and luckier. Clara strikes, felling one of the bullywugs in a single blow! 

The others croak in surprise and anger, and round on her! One of the giant frogs gums her up with its tongue, and she strikes with the Open Hand and sends it flying (swimming? skimming?) back into the water. Dara drops from a tree and casts a thunder-wave, deafening and injuring several of the loathsome little things, and Aisling swims out to a bit of land but is immediately swarmed by bullywugs. Muttering a quick apology to Clara, she drops the heroism spell and conjures up a cloud of daggers, killing two of the bullywugs almost immediately!

Zook faces off against a bullywug and its frog-mount, and doesn't do well - the frog snaps him up and swallows him, and then begins swimming across the marsh to the others. Unfortunately, neither bullywugs nor their frogs are particularly bright, and it swims right into the cloud of daggers, shredding it. Fortunately for Zook, Aisling takes a spear-blow from another bullywug and loses focus, dropping the spell before the gnome emerges from the frog's belly.

Meanwhile, Clara is likewise not doing great - a barrage of spears fells her and a bullywug steals her pack and staff. That would be bad enough, but then one of the giant frogs gulps her down and starts swimming off. Dara realizes that if the frog escapes into the swamp, Clara is done for. She turns into a bird and flies behind it, and then drops down in elf-form and thorn-whips it, keeping it in sight. She eventually makes it angry enough that it rounds on her, but her shillelagh makes short work of its rider. Zook, having now regained his bearings, hurls magic missiles, felling frog and bullywug alike, and Aisling throws sleep spells and drops the creatures into the water (where she can finish them with her sword at her leisure).

One last magic missile from Zook kills the frog holding Clara, and Dara pulls her out before she suffocates. The heroes sit back and breathe surrounded by corpses, as Zook prepares to submerge and see what his father has left behind...