Swamplords (DnD Campaign)

[DM692]

Hello, sometime in the future I will be DMing a campaign for my Pathfinder (DnD rule expansion) group, and our current DM has really made me realize how important a gripping story can be while playing this game. I've had an idea knocking around in my head for a little bit, and this would be the first incarnation of it.

Please keep in mind that I didn't put a ton of effort into character development because, when the time comes, that part will mostly be done for me. What is important is the strength of the antagonists and environment. Any feedback you can give me concerning these things is what will be most appreciated, but anything you think you can tell me to help make my campaign more interested is great.

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They had finally arrived. After over an hour of hacking through thick shrubbery, the party was weary and battered, but their resolve had not wavered. Ortel, Valence, Sae'koth, and Coranda arrived at the mouth of the swamp, with nothing but a green tint to the thick fog swallowing them up to greet them. The ground was soft, with many small puddles of swamp water rising out of it all over the ground. The whole area was extremely overgrown, leaving wide, deep trenches surrounded by great vines and leaves that threatened to consume everything they touched. There seems to be a rotted-out wooden sign to the left of the narrow entrance to the swamp in the shrubbery, though no one could quite read it under the current conditions.

Without a word, Ortel lifted his staff and a bright light began to emenate from it, bathing the group in an eerie, green sheen. Barely penetrating the fog with his magic, he let out a dissatisfied grunt and closed his eyes. The group looked onward, and after a few seconds, Ortel's staff started to hum very slightly, and the light atop it began to burn intensely, almost hurting to look at. Valence, standing directly beside the wizard, saw his eyes begin to glow when they opened, almost the same intensity as the light bursting forth from the gem on the end of his staff. An unnerving sight for most, but one Valence had grown accustomed to while travelling with Ortel.

With one final burst of will and a low shout, Ortel's light seemed to disperse the fog directly around the group. For the first time in a very long time, they were able to see each other clearly. In this light, Valence took a quick look around the group, ensuring the long trip through the undergrowth didn't take its toll on his friends.

Ortel's eyes had stopped glowing with white-hot intensity, but he was still obviously maintaining his focus to keep the dim light active. His white hair had goatee were streaked with black by moisture from the surrounding air, but he seemed to be in good condition. If Sae'koth was at all deterred by the journey, he couldn't tell. Her stone-cold face rarely betrayed emotion other than extreme focus, as was typical for an elf raised by aristocracy to become a master of blades. Her long, black hair was pulled tight into a ponytail, a style she always wore which wouldn't interfere with her fighting, an act she viewed more as a dance which required precise steps and lightning-quick movements.

Coranda, on the other hand, looked rather worse for wear. Her right arm clutched her blade tight, and she was breathing fairly heavily. Her eyes were slightly glazed over and unfocused, as if her mind was elsewhere.

"Coranda, what troubles you?" Valence asked as he quickly strode towards her, his proud step not showing the slightest bit of fear.

"We shouldn't be here. We are disturbing some unnatural force." Coranda replied without shifting her gaze in the slightest. Something about her manner told Valence that Coranda's strange link to the natural world was warning her about something. It was something he knew the druid was born with, and would not steer her wrong. However, they had come too far to simply turn back because of a bad feeling.

"Steel yourself, druid. Our quest cannot end here," Valence said as he put his hand on her shoulder. For the first time since the fog cleared, Coranda's eyes focused on Valence's. She let out a slight sigh, and nodded. Valence turned from her, and saw that Sae'koth was making her way towards the sign as Ortel watched.

Sae'koth suddenly stopped and looked down at the moist ground. Cursing her foolishness under her breath, she bent down and went to work on a steel plate that her boot had found its way to. After several seconds, she stood up and started inspecting the plate. A few seconds later, she looked to the top of the right side of the narrow trench ahead of them and pointed. A large, steel bell covered in years' worth of algae and moss had not went off, but the party suspected that wouldn't be the case had it not been for Sae'koth's quick thinking.

Walking the rest of the way towards the sign, the elf kneeled and tried to read it. After several seconds, she stood up and said "I cannot discern this text. Ortel, have you any knowledge of this script?" Never one to be overconfident in her own talents, she stepped back and waited for Ortel to make his way to the sign.

Holding his light up to the sign, Ortel's fingers traced the text. He was muttering under his breath, and about halfway through the sign's text, he stood up, seemingly surprised. "This text... I cannot read it, but it is of an ancient language created when primordial magic surged through Golarion. I heard you earlier Coranda, and you were correct. This place could hold magics and beings beyond any of our imaginations. We must tread carefully."

Without a hint of apprehension, Valence looked to the group and said, "Then we shall tread onwards. Be cautious." With that, the party made its way into the narrow, forboding trench, Ortel and Valence in lead. It was starting to become apparent that this fog wouldn't be dispersing anytime soon, and the group stuck close together. After taking many twists and turns through the swamp, Sae'koth suddenly stopped and said to the group in a low whisper, "Wait."

With all eyes on her, Sae'koth looked deep into the fog. After several seconds of concentration, she again pointed forward, this time towards a huge shape lurking in the fog. It looked to be walking on four legs, standing 10 feet high and 15 feet long. The fog prevented anyone from identifying the creature to any detailed extent, but they could tell it was around 50 feet away and had not seemed to spot them yet. Turning around to the group again, Valence asked "Shall we?" and smiled.

With apprehensive nods of approval from all of his friends, everyone readied themselves for battle. Sae'koth climbed to the side of the trench and stood at its top, looking down on both the beast and her companions. Valence drew a massive sword (almost as tall as him, and with a blade thrice as wide as an average sword's) from the sheath on his back, roared, and charged towards the beast with it at his side, nearly dragging behind him.

[DM692]

Upon hearing the warrior's roar, the beast quickly turned its head towards him. Without time to react, it almost immediately felt a huge gash along its chest as it let out a howl of pain loud enough to wake the dead. With the wizard's light not far behind Valence, the group was finally able to see what opposed them. It was a hulking wolf, almost completely black save the odd shock of gray fur along its back and face. Its eyes burned green, almost matching the fog that surrounded them. Suddenly, Sae'koth jumped from the ledge of the trench and past the beast. She was holding two extremely bloodied daggers, and the group realized she had plunged them deep into the back of the beast's neck during her descent. With another howl of pain, the beast slashed at Valence with its scything claws that were nearly as long as Coranda's shortsword. Valence, in the act of trying to rebalance himself from his devastating blow, was in no position to stop the assault. He was flung against the side of the trench, leaving his blade at the feet of the beast. He got to his hands and knees, looking at the ground and clearly disoriented.

With a shout that seemed to rumble the ground, Ortel extended his staff towards the wolf. The beast's front half was pushed in such a way that caused it to fall the ground and slide back at least its body's length away from the party. As the wolf tried to get up, a burst of thorny plants erupted at its feet as Coranda closed her eyes. They pierced its flesh all over, and with one final howl it collapsed onto itself, a pile of mangy fur and claws. Quickly rushing to Valence, Coranda layed her hand on his back, and what seemed to be a green stream of energy rushed through her hand and into the warrior's back. A few more seconds of the group looking onward, and Valence finally came to his feet, breathing heavily. Looking at Coranda, he solemnly said "Thank you, friend," smiled, and turned back to the path after retrieving his sword. He noted that the druid still seemed very, very uneasy, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

After several more minutes of wandering, the adventurers found their way to a narrow passage no more than 5 feet across that led into water. After testing its depth with a nearby stick, Valence was able to guess the water was around 3 feet deep. Without a second thought, he walked in and everyone but Sae'koth immediately follows. Coranda instinctively turns back for a second and looks at her. Instinctively, Sae'koth tried to hide all emotion, but not before Coranda saw something in her eyes. She couldn't tell whether it was disgust, apprehension, or even fear, but before she had any more time to think about it, Sae'koth gracefully jumped into the water, making hardly a sound.

Looking ahead, the group saw that the passage eventually widened to about 15 feet across, and had something floating on top of the water about 20 feet ahead, shrouded in fog and impossible to discern the nature of from this distance. Valence turned back to the party, nods, and they all slowly, cautiously approached the object.

When finally within clear view of the floating object, an uneasy air seemed to swallow the group. Floating on top of the water was a human corpse. It seems as if something had pierced its stomach and ripped its way out of his left side, shortly thereafter cleanly decapitating him and leaving him dead in the water. Looking down for the first time since seeing the body, the group sees they have been wading in deeply red-stained water. Though Valence and Ortel are both overcome with a dark expression, this clearly wreaked havoc on Coranda's mind. Standing over the corpse, her eyes almost let tears flow, and she had the same expression on her face as she did when they first arrived, unfocused and afraid. Whispering, almost to herself, she repeated "We should not be here".

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Coranda whipped around and saw Sae'koth looking deep into her eyes. "Hold fast, and none shall fall today," something about Sae'koth's voice resonated deep within Coranda, and for a second, she forgot where she was. There was only herself and this mysterious elf bound in dark leather standing in a shallow pool. Almost immediately, everything snapped back to reality and she remembered where she was. However, something profound about whatever Sae'koth's words had stayed with her, and she felt prepared for whatever may come.

Releasing the druid's shoulder, Sae'koth slowly walked forward, gazing deep into the murky water. Suddenly, Valence strode past her, not giving Sae'koth enough time to shout "Stop!" before they all heard a bell toll loudly in the distance.

Cursing loudly, Valence said "It was a tripwire, I undoubtedly activated that bell. I know not what it signals, but I do know we should brace ourselves for whatever it is." Further up in the trench, the sound of sloshing water could be heard. Everyone readied themselves for battle and gazed deep into the fog, which was slightly less thick here.

What they saw would have driven lesser people to insanity: A man, at least 7 feet tall, wielding a massive, black scythe stood in the trench. He was dressed in all tattered rags through which his rippling physique shone. His head was tightly wrapped in black cloth that covered everything but one eye, which glowed a piercing dark blue through the fog. That eye instantly locked on the group, and the man charged them with speed they though impossible for anything of that size, seemingly leeping towards them in a single step.

Sae'koth and Valence both managed to dive out of the way of the man's charge, leaving him in between all four members of the party. Laughing deeply, the man raised his hand, and light shimmered around him. Suddenly, 4 more of him appeared, all laughing the same, maddening laugh. Immediately, Sae'koth threw 2 daggers at the men as she tumbled away. One dagger went wide, and another pierced one of the men, causing him to disperse immediately.

As Valence rose to his feet, he saw vines grasping at the feet of the three remaining men, the signature work of Coranda's magic. As the vines twisted their way up the men's legs, an arrow of acid flew from Ortel's hand and into one of the men, causing him to laugh darkly again. "Mirror images!" Ortel shouts, "Illusions! Only one is real!"

With this, both mirror images and the man swiftly extended their hands and launched a vine at Valence. Not knowing which to defend himself from, Valence was hopelessly tripped, his head going deep underwater. Immediately standing up before feeling the need to breathe, he noticed a small cave entrance covered by vines that was not apparent when the group first entered the trench. Shouting "Everyone in here!", he quickly ducked into it. His companions quickly followed suit, giving the large, entangled man as wide of a berth as they could.

Once inside the cave, Coranda turned back to the entrance and waved her hand over the vines, knotting them into an extremely thick wall. From the other side, they could hear they heard the faint hum of magic dispersing, another laugh, and more sloshing of water, sounding like the man was walking away. After gathering their wits, the group looked down into the cave.

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Well, that's the introductory part. To be honest it's not the most interesting part of this area, but I'd really like some feedback on my pacing, descriptions, sense of peril, e.t.c. before posting more. I understand it's a bit of a long read compared to some of the stuff on this board, but I feel if I can keep even one person interested enough to read the whole thing I've done alright.

[DM692]

I realize there's a lot of typos in this. The problem was that while I was writing it, I kept mentally switching between present and past tense, as present tense storytelling is an important skill to have while DMing. If there's weird places where tense changes that's why, and as for extra words and the like, it's just shit I forgot to take out during editing.