More Hot Jungle Action
Man Day Adventures continued the hot jungle action this past Saturday. We had two additions to the group:
* Clovis the Giant, dwarf barbarian, played by the long-lost Wes
* Grister, human unforgiven spellslinger, played by Alex
It being a Dungeon World tradition, the heroes had separated into two groups last session. Adding two more players meant more divisions.
Gentleman Starkey & Clovis the Giant
Unable to access the vault without the key, Starkey turned his back on the Crucible of Steel and began the arduous climb back down the volcano. On his way, he encountered Clovis the Giant, two-handed-sword-toting jungle dwarf barbarian. Clovis hailed Starkey as the Chosen One and explained that he, Clovis the Giant, had come to help Starkey with this quest to retrieve the Spear of Serpents and slay the Lizard God. Starkey in turn explained that he had to travel to the Land of the Goliaths and find the vault key which was lost there generations ago.
“You’re in luck!” said Clovis the Giant. “I know the Land of the Goliaths quite well, for I am a Goliath, the son of the Goliath king!”
This was the first clue that Clovis’s sanity was questionable.
Still, traveling with a squat, muscle-bound barbarian seemed better than traveling alone, and so the pair set out. Clovis suggested skirting the lava fields toward the western coast to reach the village of Driftwood. He claimed intimate knowledge of the safest, quickest routes. A few hours later, Clovis’s quickest, safest route passed right by where the Lizard God itself was wallowing in a lava pool!
As the 80-foot-tall, red-scaled, lava-wallowing Tyrannosaurus rex reared to its full height, roaring loud enough to shake the heavens, Starkey and Clovis fled as quickly as they could. Starkey slid down into a shallow crevasse with Clovis not too far behind. The ground shook as the Lizard God took up the pursuit. Starkey deftly dodged through a narrow pass. Clovis did not. His two-handed sword, carried crosswise across his back, got caught in the rocky walls of the crevasse. He shouted. Starkey turned to see the Lizard God’s massive, clawed foot moving upward, about to come crashing down over Clovis.
Clovis strained with all his might, and his sword’s harness snapped. Clovis sprawled forward, and his blade rebounded backward. The Lizard God’s foot slammed to the earth, crushing stone.
“My sword!” lamented Clovis.
Starkey lunged and stabbed the Lizard God with his rapier, but to no effect. The slender blade didn’t even scratch the Lizard God’s scales. The giant reptile shifted, raising its foot for a second stomp.
“My sword!” rejoiced Clovis, and the dwarf dives forward as the foot descended and Starkey leaped aside. Clovis grabbed his blade. The Lizard God’s foot struck again, and this time the thick crust of stone caved in. Clovis and Starkey tumbled down, rolling to a stop in a subterranean lava tube.
“This way!” Clovis said. “I know these lava tubes like the back of my hand!”
The Lizard God raged and gouged the earth. The heroes fled in the direction Clovis indicated. A short while later, they reached the wave-splashed coast, still able to hear the Lizard God roaring farther inland. The pair’s perilous journey after this proved uneventful enough, and they reached Driftwood shortly before sundown. Eager to continue his quest, Starkey decided to shop around for a map that he could follow to the Land of the Goliaths, perhaps betraying a certain mistrust of Clovis’s knowledge. As Starkey entered a promising shop, Clovis crossed the street to grab a chair and some ale in a tavern.
While Clovis regaled interested ladies with tales of his exploits, Starkey talked to the shopkeeper. Then, a heavy hand fell on Starkey’s shoulder, and the thief turned to see a well-dressed gorilla.
“You Gentleman Starkey?” the gorilla said.
“Uh, yes?”
“The boss wants to see you.”
“Uh, what for?”
The gorilla frowned. “For whatever he wants to see you for. Are you coming along, or are you coming along?”
The emphasis on the second use of “coming” caused Starkey to make up his mind. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The gorilla, followed by Starkey, left the shop. Starkey made some small talk, and then whipped out his rapier and back-stabbed the gorilla! Clovis watched much of this from the tavern, surrounded by a few admiring females. Consequently, Clovis noticed the three men peel themselves from the crowd, clubs in hand, about the same time Starkey did. Starkey somersaulted between the gorilla’s legs, and the talking ape and the goons collided with each other. Starkey looked about, hoping to see a quick way to exit the scene. He didn’t notice he was standing on a trapdoor until the gorilla pulled a sconce. The street opened up, and Starkey plunged downward. Clovis raced from the tavern.
“I’m with him!” the dwarf shouted to the gorilla and then dived into the shaft.
At the bottom of the shaft, Starkey found himself in a thick-roped net, hanging from the ceiling. Clovis deftly caught hold of the net, landing on Starkey.
“You Starkey?” another gorilla asked.
“Yes, he is,” Clovis answered. “He is the savior of the universe! He’ll save every one of us!”
The gorilla instructed Starkey and Clovis to follow him, and a short moment later the pair stood in a well-furnished chamber facing a silver-furred gorilla. Handsome Jim, first mate, and Dev, sailor, from Destiny’s Maiden, the ship that brought the heroes to the island, sat in the room as well.
“I’m Boss Silverback,” the ape said. “Seeing as how you’re associated with Blind Sema, I thought it was fair to clue you in as to the change of command aboard Destiny’s Maiden.”
(Question to Christopher, Starkey’s player: “Blind Sema is master of the thieves’ guild in Nussazasuhr. How do you know him?” Answer: “The con Starkey and Tiern have working was set up by Blind Sema.”)
Boss Silverback continued, “Handsome Jim is the new captain. The old captain, Jack, and the crew what didn’t want to go along with the change in command are locked up. Handsome’s going to do some pirating for us, and you’re welcome to help or not. Of course, Tiern and Mack need to be dealt with. They could cause trouble later on, seeing as how they’re friends with Jack. You, Handsome, and Dev need to find Tiern and Mack. Bring some heads back in bags.”
Starkey looked at Clovis, and then looked back at Boss Silverback before saying, “Works for me. Let’s head out in the morning.”
Grister
While Starkey and Clovis were evading the Lizard God, Grister sat in a tavern in Driftwood. An elderly woman approached his table, a worried look deepening the wrinkles on her face.
“Grister?” she said. “I’m Old Mother Gibbard, and I need your help.”
“Oh?”
Old Mother Gibbard explained that her son Jack and her granddaughter Kelly had gone up the Blackfang River yesterday to pick mangos, and that they hadn’t returned. She was afeared something had happened, and she had heard Grister was the kind of man who looked into problems.
“What’s in it for me?” Grister said.
Old Mother Gibbard slid a weathered scroll across the table. “I got this here map,” she replied, “that shows the location of an ancient temple in the Swamp of Sirens. Take it. There could be ancient treasure there. The map’s potentially the most valuable thing I own.”
Grister considered the offer for a few seconds before he wrapped his fingers around the scroll.
“I’ll bring your family back, ma’am.”
And so Grister set out alone, borrowing a boat and poling his way along the coast to the river delta before heading up the wide, slow-moving Blackfang River. A couple or so hours had gone by when another boat came into view heading downstream. A haggard man guided this other craft. Grister intercepted the boat and met Jack Gibbard.
“Your ma sent me to find you,” Grister said.
Jack explained how he and Kelly had been ambushed by lizardmen, how they’d been separated and Kelly had been taken toward Mount Sacrifice, how other lizardmen were going to throw him to the Lizard God, but a polar bear with ram’s horns and a man with a wolf had rescued him. This pair of heroes left him with the boat and traveled farther inland toward Mount Sacrifice.
“Then that’s where we’re going,” Grister said.
Shortly before sundown, Grister and Jack reached the yawning cavern from which the Blackfang River originated. Dozens of lizardmen in canoes were racing from the cavern, armed and eager for the hunt. Grister left Jack with the boat in a hidden spot and approached the cave on foot. He entered through the arch adjacent to the cavern and discovered a dead lizardman. Tracks in the blood indicated two men and a dog had been through the chamber. Grister followed the tracks, entering a guard room to find four more dead lizardmen.
That’s when he heard the sounds of a fight echoing down the stairs leading out of the guard room.
Tiern Longshot & Mack Corkindale
After winning the fight in the guard room, Mack took a moment to apply a healing poultice. He then shifted into a bumblebee and buzzed his way up the stairs. The lizardman king, his champion nearby, still sat on the throne, listening to the hissing report from three lizardmen warriors. Mack buzzed down the stairs toward the sounds of the lizardman horde cavorting and yelling.
At the bottom of the stairs was a wooden deck built over the bubbling spring from which the Blackfang River was born. Several canoes were tied to the deck. Lizardmen jumped and hissed and banged on drums. One wild-eyed warrior cut his chest with a stone knife and hurled himself into the eager jaws of crocodiles in the spring. As the fevered pitch of the grotesque celebration grew hotter, Mack flew back. It was time to act.
Mack shifted from bumblebee to human to polar bear and charged the lizardman champion. Tiern, hearing the roar, unleashed Shadow and moved up to the top of the stairs, firing arrows. The lizardmen were caught quite off-guard. Tiern glanced an arrow off the champion, stunning him as Mack mauled him. The king sprang from his throne, changing color and texture to almost completely blend into the wall behind him as the warriors moved to attack Mack and Shadow. Unknown to the heroes, the king also sent out a silent, magical call to a pair of scaly guardians.
Grister, Tiern Longshot & Mack Corkindale
Grister started toward the stairs as one of those scaly guardians, a huge constrictor snake, slithered in behind him. The spellslinger just managed to dodge the snapping jaws, firing off a blast of magic from his wand at the same time. The battle raged on two fronts now.
The champion recovered enough from being stunned to counterattack polar-bear Mack. The champion’s axe inflicted serious wounds, but not as serious as those caused by Mack’s eviscerating claws. Shadow received a glancing blow that wobbled the wolf. Grister rushed for the stairs only to have the constrictor catch his foot in its jaws. Grister’s wand continued to inflict minimal damage as the spellslinger found it difficult to aim with a few hundred pounds of reptile shaking his leg. Tiern rapidly diminished his supply of arrows, peppering the guards as the camouflaged king rushed toward the stairs leading down to the spring.
Tiern moved into the throne room, but couldn’t seen the king. Mack shifted back into bumblebee form, evaded the warriors, and picked out the tell-tale differences between the king and his background. Near the ceiling, he resumed human form, throwing his spear at the king. The spear struck true, but Mack twisted his ankle badly upon hitting the floor. Grister finally managed to inflict serious wounds with his wand, and the constrictor retreated.
Just when it seemed the battle had turned in favor of the heroes, after only the king and one warrior remained standing, a monster crocodile rushed into the throne room from another passage. The king slipped away down the stairs. Grister and Tiern dealt with the remaining warrior while Mack tried to parley with the croc.
The croc wasn’t listening. It charged Mack, who scrambled on his hurt ankle to jump onto the croc’s back, thinking he could hold its fanged maw shut. Unfortunately, the croc’s jaws snapped shut on Mack’s arm, and the savage reptile began to roll. Grister, Tiern, and Shadow killed the croc, but not before it had nearly tore off Mack’s arm. The druid faded into unconsciousness as his life drained away.
Mack saw the windswept fields of ice, the Hall of the Valiant. A valkyrie rode a winged horse toward him, her visage stern and judging.
“Prepare for your final reward,” the valkyrie said. “You have been judged and –. Hey! Wait!”
Mack regained consciousness, sputtering on the healing potion Grister had forced down his throat. Death had been cheated, but Mack had also been judged. What could this combination of facts portend for Mack?
Beaten, bloody, but victorious, the heroes searched the lizardman caves. They found no sign of the king or Kelly. The cavorting lizardmen in the spring cave were gone. The heroes did uncover some loot, including a stone dagger concealed under the king’s throne. Grister recognized the dagger as a sacrificial blade.
Hey, Hey! The Gang’s All Here!
Grister, Tiern, and Mack hooked back up with Jack Gibbard, and the group camped for the night. Early the next morning, they set out in the boat, heading downstream. About midmorning, they rounded a densely wooded bend in the river. Several yards ahead, they saw in another boat Gentleman Starkey, Handsome Jim, Dev, and a jungle dwarf.
“There they are!” Handsome Jim yelled. “Kill ’em!”
Handsome and Dev raised their crossbows to aim just as Starkey and Clovis attacked them by surprise. Starkey’s rapier punctured Handsome through the torso a few times. Clovis dealt a messily forceful two-handed sword blow to Dev, showering the scene with intestines and blood.
“What the hell!?” yelled Tiern.
Starkey and Clovis explained about the mutiny, Boss Silverback, and the mission to kill Tiern and Mack. Introductions were made. Clovis opined that the lizardmen were probably heading into the Swamp of Sirens since there was an ancient lizardman temple therein.
“If I were a lizardman, that’s where’d I go to sacrifice people,” said Clovis. “Especially if I wanted to summon the Scaly Beasts.”
Grister showed Clovis the map Old Mother Hibbard had given him.
“That’s the place,” Clovis confirmed. “I know it well. The swamp is a dangerous place, for the horrible uzandikis lurk there, luring the unwary into watery graves.”
Farther downstream, the heroes left Jack again with the boat and struck a path toward the swamp. Most the day had passed by the time the heroes reached the swamp island on which stood the vine-covered, crumbling ziggurat of stone.
“My uncle helped build this,” Clovis said. “I know a secret way in.”
While Mack took bird form and scouted overhead, Clovis quickly revealed that his knowledge about secret ways left a great deal to be desired.
“I don’t understand,” the jungle dwarf explained. “Maybe this is a different temple?”
Mack returned and reported that the upper structure was open, and that he heard drums echoing up from it. The heroes quickly ascended the steep stairs and looked down the even steeper stairs leading into the ziggurat. After rigging a harness to carry Shadow, the group entered the shadowy structure with Clovis in the lead. They emerged through the ceiling of a cavern beneath the ziggurat. Dark waters rippled in a deep pit in the middle of the cave. On the other side of the pit, the lizardman king raised a stone knife, hissing a horrible litany. Kelly struggled, tied to a stony altar before the king.
“I got this!” Clovis yelled, dropping into the cave and hurling his two-handed sword. The weapon tumbled end over end and smashed into the king, knocking him down and alerting the several lizardmen in attendance that intruders had arrived.
Grister used a rune of power and his wand to shoot the stone dagger out of the king’s clawed fist. Mack turned into a great snowy owl, soared across the cave, and snatched up the dropped dagger while dodging hurled spears. Tiern loosed Shadow and readied his bow. That’s when he noticed his sister held in the shadows with a lizardman’s knife pressed against her throat. The ranger hesitated.
Gentleman Starkey raced around the watery pit, trying to avoid lizardmen in order to get to the king. Unfortunately, he zigged instead of zagging, and slipped into the pit, splashing into the chilly water several feet below. Mack turned back into a human and tucked the knife into his belt as he dropped into the pit as well. Grister fought a retreating battle against lizardmen. Tiern realized that his sister and the menacing lizardmen were both an illusion cast by an uzandiki. He struck the monster with an arrow. In the pit, Starkey saw Clovis struggling to remain above the rippling surface and swam to his aid. Meanwhile outside the pit, Clovis drew his dagger and proceeded to butcher a lizardman warrior.
Starkey quickly discovered that drowning Clovis was in fact another uzandiki, which promptly attached its fang-filled sucker mouth to Starkey’s face. At long last, Mack got to turn into a narwhal. He speared the uzandiki, and then Starkey finished it off. Clovis rushed across the cave, snatched up his sword, and used it to cut Kelly free while Grister and Tiern provided covering fire. The dwarf tossed the maiden over his shoulder and raced away. Kelly, jostled by short Clovis’s running, found herself both carried to safety and smacking into the floor at the same time.
“My — ow! — hero! — ow! ow!” she exclaimed.
A few tense moments later, the fight was over. The assembled lizardmen lay dead or dying, including their king. The maiden was saved. The lizardmen’s horrible summoning ritual had been disrupted.
But what about the vault key? Is Clovis really the son of the Goliath king? What about Boss Silverback and the loyal crew of Destiny’s Maiden? Will these (and other) questions be answered next session? Only time will tell!
