Reaper Errant Episode #006 can be found here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLNlHhMT5IM
We pushed on, calculating that we could stay ahead of the snail if we travelled an hour or so longer than usual. We did it, but Fathom, Pujol, and Mark were really wiped out, and we made camp at that point rather than continuing on longer. It also meant we had limited options for choosing a spot to make camp, and we ended up on wetter ground than we would have liked. Some of us went up into trees to rest, a couple stayed on the ground, and Pujol strung a hammock for himself and Mark the Goat.
I ended up on second watch with Gooseneck this time, which was fine with me. Nothing ever happens on second watch. Everything was quiet for a while, but then 5 very large frogs fallumphed into camp. They looked like they might pass right on through, and I was inclined to let them. Gooseneck and I both watched carefully, ready to intervene if they did anything aggressive.
Giant frogs are, apparently, very fast. Two of them approached Pujol in his hammock and nearly ate him before either Gooseneck or I could react. The only thing that saved Pujol was that the two frogs were fighting over which one got to eat him. Two other frogs approached Abrand, who was on the ground doing his elfy meditation thing.
Gooseneck charged one of the frogs on Pujol, and I jumped out of my tree and stabbed the other one. Once his head was free of the frog’s gullet, Pujol cast an illusion of an alligator that distracted the frogs near Abrand. Gooseneck had some kind of lightning effect that was going off and hurting the frogs, even though his traditional attacks were missing. Corncob and Fathom both woke up and cast spells at one of the frogs, doing more damage. Eventually the remaining frogs decided they would do better elsewhere, and fled. Abrand took a parting shot at one of them, even so.
Abrand has been complaining vehemently about the whole thing ever since. Dude is never gonna let it go, I can tell.
We had a quick breakfast of frog, and then moved on. Before too long we finally caught up with the house – it was still roosting! So much the better. Gooseneck and Pujol (riding Mark the Goat) took some rope and wrapped it around the house’s chicken legs. They managed to pull it off! Once the house woke up, they had to work hard to keep the rope around the legs. They held, though, and the house fell over on to its front porch.
I climbed up the porch and in through the front door…where suddenly everything was upright, like the house had not fallen over. It took a second to get oriented. It was also clear that the house was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside, and that the windows that were visible from the outside weren’t actually on the inside. Maybe the magic people can explain how all that works…later. Right now, we have to find the witch.
Corncob, Fathom, and Abrand joined me in the house and we started searching. I found a kitchen, and Abrand moved past the kitchen into a hallway where he found sound tapestries hanging on the walls and a staircase going up. Fathom saw Gooseneck trying to claw his way in to the house, carrying Pujol’s bleeding body with him. Apparently the chicken feet started kicking out, hit Pujol, and cut him badly. He didn’t look at all good. Fathom helped Gooseneck get Pujol into the house, and then Gooseneck climbed in. Abrand healed Pujol with magic, and got him looking conscious and functional, if not entirely hale and healthy.
After that, we started searching the house again. Fathom found a café in the last room on the first floor where we hadn’t looked earlier, and then we all started up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, I found a large landing and a closed door. I moved in through the closed door…no witch, but some cages in the shadows with a sense of restless movement inside them. Well, whatever is in there is caged, and caged it can stay for now.
I went farther in, and found an area that seemed like a small library, a door that looked like it went to the outside, and another interior door that looks like it goes to another room.
As everyone finished making their way into this room, Pujol approached the shadowed cages. A rotting hand swiped at him from within…
…and here we are, still searching for the witch, but with possibly another threat to contend with…
…and the house has started moving again, running off who knows where…
…and leaving Mark the Goat alone in the swamp.
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