Roleplaying table top games make for great stories! The Envoys of Spark is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign created by Elyse T. Join hilarious and entertaining player characters on their voyage in an unknown world, as they try to accomplish an enigmatic mission.
The Envoys of Spark Chronicles are published every Monday! Check back for new adventures!
Check Out Part I of The Envoys of Spark
Check Out Part VII of The Envoys of Spark
Slimy Formalities
Aboard the crowded fishing boat that bore the Envoys across the swamp, Kohmai used his Etching of Curiosity, wanting to find out more about the strange Very Polite Frogs. One of them had saluted them, and seemed to await a response patiently.
The Very Polite Frogs were a social species who expected formal manners from everyone. They were quick to anger and attacked in large groups if offended.
Beatrice was quick to understand what was required and used her Etching of Wilderness, to be able to communicate with the frog. She introduced herself and her group and signaled their intentions to visit a certain woman who practiced magic in the area.
“Welcome to our modest kingdom, the fertile nesting grounds of our majestic Queen of the Frogs. Surely you will enjoy the water today, the wetness is perfect, the freezing temperature is quite comfortable, and the slime is amazingly thick today. Why not join me and leave your contraption behind?”
None other than Regor III, a Hynerian and by definition a great swimmer, dared to even touch the swamp water. Kohmai particularly, is endangered to saltine water and avoids it at all cost.
“Are there any meat-eating creatures in the water? Any that could be dangerous to us?” Beatrice asked cleverly.
“There are many teeth beneath the surface,” said the frog.
“Then perhaps we should remain in out boat for the time being, kind frog, um, sir,” the Hobbit said. The frog seemed to be held by a too high standard of politeness to force honored guests to get their toes nibbled, but was slightly injured by the refusal nonetheless.
Regor thought of telling the frog a word or two, but was quickly hushed by his companions who dared not trust his rash temper with such delicate frogs.
“Then you must join us for a feast, our Queen will be delighted to host your visit. The flies this season are splendidly delicious.”
The group could not refuse the frog again and begrudgingly followed him deeper into the dense swamp, trying to think of ways to avoid eating insects.
Lady of the Flies
The frog positioned itself on a rock and began to sing an eerie and low song. More frogs, in alarming numbers, emerged from the waters and joined the singing. The group was surrounded by easily offended and dangerous reptiles. Before them, the Queen came forward and nodded thoughtfully at the heroes.
Regor III managed to wrestle Beatrice off him and stepped towards the Queen, who by luck, spoke the common language.
“Your most gracious sliminess, how pleased we are that you would honor us with your majestic presence. My servants and I have come from far searching for a great Witch within these lands, and we humbly ask for your assistance.”
Her Majesty was very impressed: “Yes, the one whom you seek is East of here. I have afternoon tea with her quite often, she is a dear friend.”
The Queen then called for a banquet and large clouds of fat flies invaded the area. The heroes could not open their mouths to speak without swallowing one of the insects. Regor III found the insects quite delicious and did nothing to save his companions from having to partake in the feast. Beatrice decided to speak up:
“Your Majesty. We mere humans unfortunately cannot digest your flies, we are inferior beings.”
A nearby helpful frog spoke up: “Why not try some of these then, my dear? They are much softer to eat!” It handed the Hobbit a handful of slugs.
“Your Majesty, to commemorate our two peoples sharing a great meal, allow me to cook these fine ingredients in the way of my people. Once prepared in an appropriate place, we will return with the dish, present it to you as a symbol of our friendship and enjoy it together.”
The Queen was a bit insulted by this strange proposal.
“Just what is wrong with our meals the way they are?”
Regor swooped in: “Great Wet Sovereign, please forgive my servants for their unregular requests, they do not understand the beautiful formalities of us, cold blooded beings.”
The frog Queen was satisfied with this explanation and excused the party. Most of them grumbling about not being servants, they left with quantities of squirming slugs.
Comfortable Witches
As the heroes gently paddled their boat through the swamp, darkness fell, making the swatery pathways difficult to follow. They came upon a small cabin with a lantern lit. A frog, not unlike those left behind, rested peacefully on the door frame. A woman, young and beautiful, emerged from the cabin. She pet the frog and waved at the Envoys, inviting them closer.
She asked their intentions and laughed upon learning that Beatrice required a cooking hearth to render slugs edible for humans. The group was led inside and crowded a small room that was covered from floor to ceiling in shelfing holding hundreds of magical ingredient bottles. Two beds, a cooking fire and a small table were the only other features of the room. On one of the beds, a young girl sat reading, unbothered.
When the group turned back to the Witch, they all jumped with surprise. Now that she was inside, the young and beautiful woman they had met was a thin, hunched, old and moldy creature with dark eyes the size of a fist. “Don’t mind if I make myself comfortable,” she said, casually.
Beatrice attempted to speak to the young girl:
“Hello. What is a young girl like you doing here?”
“Learning. I’ll be the next Witch.”
Beatrice assumed she was an apprentice. Medea, as a Wizard, could sense that the young girl had a great deal of magical potential, perhaps even more than the old woman.
Kohmai presented his crate covered in spider web and dung to the Witch, asking if something of value could be created with it. The Witch declared that she could make a batch of potent Poison of Blindness with this material, but that there would be a catch.
The party would have to venture to the Coven’s Garden, an abandoned place that was still full of dangers, and obtain some Amber Dragonflies, necessary for the poison. She also advised the Hobbit to look for some Toad Mushrooms, green and edible, in the ruins near the garden, to help her slugs taste a bit better.
Weeding Job
The garden was overgrown and water logged, with magical and dangerous flowers growing everywhere. With every step, they could disturb a plant that could explode, freeze them, or poison them. Jumping over small streams, they made their way to a large tree where a variety of insects seemed to gather. By using the magical flowers as traps, they lured some Amber Dragonflies within reach and captured them.
Everything seemed to be going well, until Medea felt something taking hold of her ankle. She looked down just as she was pulled closer to the tree. Something with large red eyes and a wide-open mouth moaned loudly. Her companions ran to her rescue, trying to attack what had grabbed her; was it a tree branch or a tentacle?
As he attempted to not be reminded of certain tentacle cartoons he had seen on his home planet, Regor thought of a clever plan. Just like with the dragonflies, he attracted the monstrous creature closer to one of the dangerous plants, and let it become poisoned. Kohmai meanwhile attacked the creature and helped Medea free herself from it’s grasp. Once defeated the creature retreated into a tunnel within the trunk of the tree, squeezing itself like a squid, tentacles and all, out of sight.
The heroes did not wait for it to return and ventured instead towards the ruins the Witch had mentioned. The structure was very old and mostly broken down, but a locked gate indicated that an underground portion was still accessible.
The lock was easily removed and the Envoys entered, finding a circular mostly flooded room, where stone chairs seemed to have accommodated a group of magical practitioners. An altar at the back of the room had been built as a channel for the magical forces of the swamp, and still to this day radiated power. A powerful Coven must have once inhabited the area, but no longer.
Beatrice found the mushrooms the Witch had recommended and picked as many as she could carry.
Regor swam in the large and deep puddle that took up the center of the room and became stuck in the thick magical mud that had gathered over the years. Dislodging him became a complicated matter when the Hynerian refused to let go of gathered loot, which turned out of to be broken sword, and a miraculously well conserved cloak. Medea decided to keep the gross smelling garment; in a pocket of the cloak she found a key.
A set of stairs led down into a small library, that Medea unlocked once she remembered the key she had just uncovered (it only took about a minute). In the library, most of the works had been destroyed by humidity, yet the heroes did manage to find some materials that could be useful.
In a corner of the room, inert on the ground, was a clay mechanical doll, which looked creepily human-like. The Envoys tried to waken it, to no avail.
Surely, the Swamp Witch would be able to answer a few of their questions?
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