As the party (Drof’s Band) prepared to proceed onward there was a sizzle of rift magic around Randor.  Randor disappeared into the rift and Aniu emerged (this is the DM’s mechanic for dealing with players who are unable to attend a session, need to leave early, or arrive late*).  The rest of the party filled Aniu in on what happened since the rift had swallowed her and then proceeded onward. Aniu took the lead because of her skills at traversing the wilderness.

I should probably take a moment to describe the members of the party, or at least those present.  There is Drof, a dwarf wearing a breast plate and pushing a small hand cart loaded with a drum, a lute, and a small chest. There is Nojes, who looks like a cross between a centaur and a goat wearing studded leather.  There is Slash Aaah, a triton (picture Aquaman from the cartoon series, except shorter and more wiry rather than bulky) wearing a breastplate and carrying a trident. There is Aniu, a fox like humanoid with three tails wearing studded leather armor carrying a bow and a sword.  And finally (for today’s episode), our healer Queia, a half-drow elf wearing a cloak and carrying a quiver, but no apparent weapons.

After some time traveling through the marsh (for those of you familiar with the difference between a marsh and a swamp, this area was partway between a marsh and a swamp, with a few trees and other woody vegetation scattered around, but mostly marsh grasses and reeds), the party came upon a long line of trees about 10- 30 feet thick which crossed their path such that they needed to traverse it.  At one point once the party was within the tree line, Aniu pushed aside some of the underbrush to see ahead and saw the manicured lawn of an estate with the mansion clearly visible and a half orc sitting on a bench. When Nojes looked through the underbrush where he was a few feet away, he just saw the marsh.  Q pointed out that this was probably a faeway (a gate to another place which has some sort of connection to the fae wild), which are common in this area.  The party was debating going through to the estate lawn or continuing through the marsh to find the Great Old One when the half orc spoke to someone who had just exited the mansion.  Drof recognized his voice as belonging to a half-orc paladin the party had aided in a previous episode (from before I started writing them up here).  Drof greeted the half-orc, Mr Smite, as the party knew him, through the opening in the underbrush.

Mr. Smite asked if the party was there for the same reason he was.  Since the party did not know why he was there, Drof asked him what that was?  Mr. Smite replied, “Why, for the reading of the will.”  At that moment the man who had come out of the mansion asked the names of the party members, which they promptly supplied.  The man, who turned out to be the executor of the will, answered, “Ah yes, Drof, Nojes, and Slash, you are on the list.  Please accompany Mr Smite and myself.”  After a long reading of various dry legal papers giving Mr. Smite many properties and the resources to use them to develop an Academy, the executor gave the party a small shiny black box made of a material unfamiliar to the party.  The executor then said, “The will states that if you can determine what this does you will receive a reward. You may go.”  In the center of one side, the black box had a small button. In one corner of the same side it had a clear crystal.  The party tried pushing the button in various ways, but nothing happened.  They then put it aside for later examination and continued on their mission to the Great Old One.

As dusk approached the party came to a part of the marsh which smelled terribly of death and decay. The area fit the description they had been given of the Great Old One’s lair, including a gigantic hollow tree trunk lying in the shallow water.  Aniu climbed on to the tree trunk to get a better look while Nojes used his ability to see in the dark to peer into its hollow core. Meanwhile, Drof used a minor spell to produce lights in a vaguely humanoid shape which he moved through the area in an attempt to draw the Great Old One out (the Great Old One had been described to the party as a humongous crocodile). Queia used another minor spell to produce tremors similar to footsteps which paced Drof’s humanoid shaped lights, while doing so, Queia also climbed on to the tree trunk.  Realizing that the water became significantly deeper just beyond the tree trunk, Slash Aaaah and Nojes dove noisily into the water in a further, perhaps foolish, attempt to attract the beast.

Suddenly the beast, which in addition to being several sizes larger than the largest crocodile the party has ever heard of had tentacles coming out from around its neck, burst out of the water and struck at Queia.  At that very instant, the rift magic sizzled around Aniu and sucked her in (the player playing Aniu had realized they needed to leave just after climbing on to the tree trunk).  Queia took quite a bit of damage and was thrown back into the shallow water and the beast’s mighty paw put a hole in the tree trunk next to where she had been standing. Drof, Slash Aaah, and Nojes struck at the creature dealing it some damage.  Queia stood up out of the water giving off an aura which stretched out 30 feet around her.  The members of the party within the aura felt more able to withstand damage. The beast struck Drof with its powerful jaws, but he was able to remain standing.  It also swept Nojes aside with its tail.  Queia ran up to Drof, healed him some, then ran into the hollow tree trunk (I did mention that it was gigantic). Drof, Slash Aaah, and Nojes struck the beast once more.  The beast thrust its mighty snout into the tree trunk after Queia, bursting the tree trunk as it did so, but Queia had been able to retreat further than it could reach. All four party members struck the beast once more.  Looking for signs of hope the party examined the damage they had done the beast, but could not tell how badly injured it was.  Once more the beast thrust its head into the trunk after Queia.  This time it was able to catch her in its jaws.  It bit down on her and then threw her body aside into the deep water.  Drof and Slash Aaah struck the beast once more while Nojes swam at full speed to where Queia had fallen, clearly unconscious. Drof and Slash Aaah fortunately both struck mighty blows and the beast was dead.

When Nojes brought Queia back to the shallows, Drof cast some healing magic upon her.  After examining the beast and the area around it, the party went a short distance out of the foul smelling area, found some trees and spent the night in them.  In the morning they headed back to the Lizardfolk, who they were able to reach without further incident.

*While this implementation of rift magic was not originally part of the campaign setting, it is consistent with the previously established presence of rift magic in the campaign setting.