Ghosts of Saltmarsh (session 12) - The Lizardfolk (Day 14)

One of the players could not make the session tonight, so we dropped his character (Drakkon) from this encounter - we agreed that he had returned to the lizardfolk to guard our stake in the venture whilst we explored the cave system.

As the ripples approached the party, Navda threw a fist-sized stone at where he thought an underwater being might be. The stone splashed heavily and the ripples stopped. The area went very still and quiet and we all held our collective breaths. Suddenly, the water erupted right in front of me as a massive snake reared out of the water. I managed to cast a Warding Flare to stop the beast, but it was either cast too late or had no effect on the reptile as it bit me.

Navda managed to shoot the creature with his bow, but not before a second snake emerged in front of Dharion. We engaged the snakes in combat, but even above the din of the fight and the resultant splashing water, we all noticed the centre of the pool had begun to bubble and move.

The snakes attacking us suddenly dropped from sight as we looked at the moving mound and dreaded what might emerge from it. A huge alligator burst from the weeds and detritus and headed straight for us. We managed to form a battle line but the beast was so fast it managed to bite me and render me unconscious before I could get a strike in. I remember none of the remainder of the battle, but this is what I was told afterwards when my comrades brought me round...

The fight was a close run thing. The huge alligator managed to cause several grievous wounds to my comrades in arms, but they eventually destroyed it using a combination of magic and sheer brutality. As the fight went on I slowly slipped towards death as my blood flowed from my wounds in a torrent unstopped. Luckily, the beast was slain just in time, and Navda's medicinal skills stabilised me so that I could then be properly Cured by Dharion.

Noticing that the party was in dire need of medical attention, I cast a Prayer of Healing that managed to undo most of the damage caused by the encounter with the great crocodilian. We made sure that the alligator stayed dead.

We took stock of our situation, mostly making sure that there was no sign of those two snakes that we had encountered just prior to the alligator, and began to explore the rest of the open cavern. We found a small entrance to a cave system and proceeded through.

Saltmarsh lizardfolk cave system

We kept to the more shallow waterways where we could wade through rather than swim, or the areas of dry land. Unfortunately this meant that Navda managed to set off a number of traps; the final one being as we approached a dark cave in the north-west corner.

After Navda, and then Gladreth had been hit by a number of darts from a trap in the north-west sector, we heard a voice emanate from the darkened cave. Sir Riley of Aradora introduced himself and was quite joyous at our arrival. As it was dark in the cavern, I cast Light on one of my holy symbols so that we could see who we were talking to. It turned out Sir Riley was a skeleton that had been pinned face down by a column of rock that had dropped from an overhead trap and had landed on his pelvis and upper legs. He explained that he was able to use his magics to keep himself alive, but at the cost of his body slowly rotting away - he had been there a very long time. This explanation rang alarm bells for me but I couldn't put my finger on why his story did not ring true to me. The rest of the party were more believing and proceeded to rescue him from under the stone. Although he came out in two parts, we placed his bits together and he was able to restore his skeletal body to wholeness; again this rang alarm bells in my mind.

Whilst being rescued, Sir Riley told us his story; he and his comrades had been hired by the governess of Saltmarsh a few decades ago to explore this area and to establish a new habitat for the town. Unfortunately, he was caught by the various traps and finally ended up under the rock. He asked about the alligator as he and his companions had had a run in with the beast all those years ago but had not been able to slay it. We affirmed that it had been killed by our own hands. He then asked us to look around the cave system to find his effects. We willingly obliged, finding a robe and backpack which he gladly received and put on, and a wooden staff with a ruby red gem at the top, which I refused to give back to him. I was still unsure of his motives despite him being very friendly.

Sir Riley's ears pricked up and he looked like he had heard something. Upon asking him, we were told he could only hear reptilian voices. We decided that we would head out of the caves to take stock of our situation but Sir Riley took a detour to examine the body of the great alligator. He murmured a few strange words as he pulled two of the alligator's teeth and cast them into the marsh either side of the party. He then thanked us for our help...