Sellswords in Bogland Game 1

 Ross and Ian came over to play through the first game in my Bogland mini campaign. It was meant to be two scenarios, but they party performed so badly on the first attempt, they decided to go home and rest/heal up before making a second attempt at the game!

I took the role off GM, Ian had a Fighter, a Squire and a Ranger, Ross had a Fighter, a Magic user and an Elf archer.

The heroes(?) have undertaken a quest to seek the missing segments of a mystical necklace, stolen from the shrine of Jenny the Bog in Bogland. The full background is given here

                                        

Their sponsor/client, the King of Bogland, Bortrand, eighth of his name, and Nigle, the second of his name. Those who are both the Bringer of Peace and Bringer of War. 

The table lay out. The PCs enter from the near right corner and have to exit between the statues on the far right corner, having traversed the Misty Swamp and crossed the river at Troll Bridge. In the close left corner is the Forge of the One-Eyed Smith-God.

One-Eye at work by his forge. He has the skill to enchant weapons, but can sometimes be fickle.

In the Misty Swamp, something stirs in the watery depths.

Troll Bridge. How did such a charming rustic location gain such a name?

The First Attempt.

Not a great success story. It is best summed up by Ian's words "You have a magic user with no magic, your elf's a frog and my squire has just been killed, again! Let's leave and come back another day."

A few pictures of this disaster.

It started well enough, Ross's elf pushed forward and the rest of the party advanced more cautiously, except for Ian's squire who was somewhat laggardly in his attitude.

Reapatedly failing Activation rolls meant that lots of foes kept turning up, like these fish people...

...and this Swamp Troll.

A typical example of Ian's Activation dice rolling!

Moving in advance of the rest of the party meant that the elf got ganged up on by swamp frogs! He despatched the amphibians easily enough, but earned the ire of the Frog Master. This spirit of the bog appeared and turn the unfortunate elf into a purple frog!

Being lazy and hanging back was also no protection, as Ian's squire learned when he was attack by an irate bugbear. Some spectacularly bad combat dice and armour rolls left the poor squire out of the fight in short time!

The elf/frog at the forge of the One-Eyed Smith. 

Ross' conversation with the GM went like this:

You are now a frog!

Can I still use my bow?

No, you are a frog!

Can I talk to the smith?

Yes, he speaks elvish!

Having had to double back to help despatch the Bugbear, revive the unconscious Squire and magically heal him back to some semblance of health, after an hour of playing most of the party were back to their starting places!

Now things started getting really dangerous and the party were attacked by a troll and assorted other gribblies...including a marsh sprite. This a creatures of marsh gas, so cannot be harmed by mundane weapons and only vulnerable to magic (and fire, the marsh gas is quite flammable!).

Some of the party did manage to reach the forge and persuade the smith to enchant their weapons, but after three time he got bored with them and wandered off. It was at this point the Magic User rolled a 1 to cast a spell and lost his magical energy, and the Squire was killed for the second time by a troll, so the party decided to grab his body and leg it!

Having spent some time recuperating and healing, they returned to try and pass through the Misty Marsh a second time.

This time everything went far more according to plan. The party kept together, especially after they enter the mists, when LOS was reduced to 6", trying to keep at least one other PC in sight at all times.
                                                                                                            

                                        
They quickly encountered the Marsh Monster and killed it, searching the body revealed the first part of the mystic necklace and a magic scroll caught up in the creatures slimy hide.

                                        
When a Marsh Troll appeared, the party ganged up on the creature and again swiftly killed it. The party then paused to carry out some healing before continuing forward.

                                        
Again they were ambushed by Marsh Sprites, but now as at least half of the party had weapons that could hurt them so they were far less of a problem this time around.

                                        
As they neared Troll Bridge, Ian had a bright idea. "No one move onto the bridge until we are all in position, just in case"

A good idea, except that when Ross moved his Fighter up to the bridge first, he placed him on the edge of the bridge before anyone else arrived, "just to see if anything happened"....

                                        
....and of course, something did happen!

                                        
In the meantime something else was stirring in the mists. Bog Bodies, the spirits of drowned travellers, trapped forever in animated mud and slime.

                                       

"It's behind you!" The Elf tried shooting the Bog Bodies before it could reach the magic user, but discovered arrows do not do much to mud!

By the time the party had killed the Great Troll and dealt with the Bog Bodies, most of them were injured (again) and the Magic User and the Fighter were dead (or at least out of the fight). 

On checking the two bodies, Ross's fighter was OK, just a flesh wound (having a PC with healing +2 carry out the checks did help) and the Magic User was still alive, but comatose.

The Elf slung the Magic User over his shoulder whilst Ian's Fighter and Squire cleared the last of the foes off the bridge. The PCs just had time to search the fallen troll's body and find the second part of the necklace, before escaping off table!

A great couple of games and a lot of laughs all round!

The next adventure will explore the charmingly named Webbed Wyldwood and Giant's Lair! What could go wrong?