6: Tentacles

Festag 7^th Pflugzeit

So you set out first thing in the morning. It was drizzling but the weather wasn’t too bad. You had bought a load of supplies, with a tent and lanterns, rations, and other things you thought you might need for a long journey across the marshes. Max had bought a new handgun. And you bought a mule to carry it all. You met Klaus by the city gate and he had a backpack of stuff. He was already whining about the journey.

You took a compass bearing of 277 degrees which you had read when Goffman had done that ritual with the tooth, and set off in that direction. It was difficult going and also difficult to follow in a consistent direction. As the land was so low and featureless it was hard to find landmarks and the terrain was so waterlogged with streams and hillocks and pools that it was difficult to keep in a straight line, and it was even harder with the mule, so progress was slow.

You could see why although this was called the Grootscher Marsh, it was also called the Cursed Marshes. As you went Balden mentioned all the dangers that you might meet here, including Fen Loonies, pirates and outlaws, one-eyed bog daemons, and Bog Octopus.

After a full day’s travel you managed to find a relatively dry area to pitch you tent and Kristoff and Balden foraged for some food to supplement your rations while Max made a fire. They managed to find some salad leaves and some sea slugs.

You set a watch for the night, and as you turned in it started raining and your fire went out, but you managed to get a half decent night’s sleep. Before going to sleep Klaus tried to get Kris to carry the tooth for him, but he refused.

Wellentag 8^th Pflugzeit

In the morning it was pretty damp and drizzly but you made a fire for breakfast and thought fondly of Frau Koester’s gruel back at the guest house. And you took another compass bearing and set off again across the marsh.

Past midday you noticed the land was getting a bit higher and drier and there was a ridge ahead of you and you found yourself following a stream along a wide valley. And then the valley ended in a steep slope that Max identified as a dwarf-built dam, and you could see where the water was exiting the dam and flowing into the stream.

And stood atop the dam you could see a female figure with a staff and Max was pretty sure that this was Katarina van der Post, the woman who had hired you to get Vogelgesang’s ring. She did a thing with her staff and seemed to call down some green lightning from the heavens and the lightning hit the dam with a loud crack and the stone moved a bit and a great wave started crashing down into the valley towards you.

Klaus spotted some steep steps leading up to a cave entrance on your left, and you all legged it as fast as you could towards it. Klaus was slow, and so was Kris, who was leading the mule, while Balden and Max made it up the steps before the water hit.

Kris tried to shelter behind the mule as the wave crashed over them and managed to avoid the worst of the impact while Klaus was swept off his feet and ended up some way further down the valley wrapped around a tree.

When you had all recovered, you waded through the water and up the steps and found yourself in an underground passage. There was water seeping through the stone work and a badly rusted iron gantry leading over a flooded area containing a load of engines. Some of them were still working and Max was impressed with the dwarf engineering but decided he didn’t have time to go down and check them out.

The crossing didn’t feel safe and you thought that there was no way to get the mule across the gantry and so you unloaded it and let it free, and packed up all your stuff into backpacks. You tied a rope to each person as they crossed the gantry one at a time, and despite it flexing you all managed to get across safely. And you followed a passage leading up to the other side of the dam and emerged into the daylight above the lake.

You could see that the lake had already lost a lot of its water, and along the shore you could see a derelict village. So you approached the house with the most roof remaining and went inside, hoping to find some shelter for the night.

Inside, on a table, there was a half eaten beef and mustard sandwich and a book entitled Travels in the Wasteland by August Gropt and the book contained a map of the local area. You ate the sandwich and had a look around the village but didn’t find the sandwich's owner.

So you settled down for some sleep. You managed to make a decent fire in the sheltered room, and spiked the door shut and put some old pots around the windows to warn you if anything tried to get in.

Klaus volunteered to keep first watch, and then pass it off to Balden, but after a few hours Balden was awoken by something touching his back. He was expecting to see Klaus but it was a long tentacle. And the tentacle began to wrap itself around his shoulder.

He quickly shouted for everyone to wake up and then cast a spell for the tentacle to fall asleep, and somehow it did and fell limply to the ground. But a second tentacle slapped at him and hit him painfully in the arm. Meanwhile Max fired his pistol at that tentacle and blasted it apart, and the remaining stump retreated from the building.

The first tentacle began moving again, and went for Kris, and he fended it off with his boathook. Then hit back and nearly severed it. And while Max was loading his pistol another tentacle made its way through the window and managed to grab Balden and pull him back towards the window. Bladen stabbed at it, but it was very tough and as he was getting dragged towards the window, Max fired his pistol at point blank range and destroyed the tentacle, freeing Balden. And then Kris hit his tentacle again, severing it completely, and the tentacle stumps slithered out of the house.

And in the aftermath of the fight your realised that Klaus was not there. His pack was, however, and you had a look through it and the compass and tooth were still there. You went for a brief scout around the village but couldn’t find him, and you decided to retire for the night. You were all injured, now, and some of you managed to get a decent enough night’s sleep but some of you were hurting too much.

Aubentag 9^th Pflugzeit

In the morning you had another look round the village but there was no sign of Klaus or the octopus. You noticed, however that the entire lake had emptied, overnight, because of the burst dam, and the lake was now just deep mud. You had a brief prayer to Morr in Klaus’ memory and then had some calamari for breakfast.