# Downfall ```ad-info title: Entering via channel Thick fog hangs heavy in the air, obscuring the area around you so that the world appears to have shrunk to only twenty feet in all directions. Before you, the waterway widens and the current slows, giving the impression that you have entered a lake. Croaking voices penetrate the fog, through which dark shapes appear, resolving into two rowboats. Manning the oars of each rowboat are two bullywugs. ``` ## About the bullywugs - They love gossip; any event of note draws `dice: 1d6+1` bullywugs to it. - They are indifferent towards strangers but will defend themselves if necessary. - They have a complex political life that is always changing. ## Map ```leaflet id: downfall image: 2-30 D00 Downfall Map Player Version.jpg height: 450px minZoom: 6 maxZoom: 10 defaultZoom: 7 zoomDelta: 1 unit: feet scale: 1 ``` ## Locations ### Channel [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] Four bullywugs are heading down the opposite direction on a boat. They're wearing the soiled robes of the Soggy Court. Secrets - Their king, Gullop XIX, would be honored to meet them. - To get to the king, dock at [[Downfall#Damaged Balloon]], follow [[Downfall#Stepstone Crossing]], through [[Downfall#Burned-out Balloon Factory]], and across bridge of [[Downfall#Chattering Heads]]. - The King will know how to help them (with any issue the party mentions). ### Damaged Balloon [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description Looming above a ramshackle wooden pier is a balloon anchored by four thick ropes tied around wooden posts driven deep into the mire. The balloon’s bladder expands and sags at irregular intervals as swamp gas fills it briefly before leaking out through various tears in its patchwork fabric. A bullywug stands near the top of a ladders and is using a long silver needle and a spool of catgut to sew up one of the openings. A second bullywug stands at the foot of the ladder to steady it. Huddled nearby are three giant frogs whose long tongues snap up passing insects. ``` - There are 2 bullywugs and three giant frogs. - The Swamp Gas balloon - wicker basket (up to 750 pounds): Large, AC 11, 27 HP, immune to poison and psychic - balloon: contains swamp gas, Huge, AC 11, 15 HP, immune to poison and psychic ### Stepstone Crossing [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description A row of boulders spaced two feet apart breach the surface of the lake to form a walking path across a forty-foot-wide waterway. ``` - Water is 4 feet deep, but bottom is not visible. - 4/5 stepstones are sunken into the mire. - Middle stepstone is a galeb duhr. DC 12 to apologize; otherwise it and 2 [subeks](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=monsters%2FSubek) attack the party. [[Caleb the Galeb Duhr]] ### Burned-out Balloon Factory [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Outside This wooden structure stands on stilts above the lake. It is topped by a steep, conical roof made of thatch. Smoke curls up from a hole at its apex. Its windows are blacked out, and the air carries the smell of burned wood. A clothesline attached to one corner of the building’s exterior is hung with a variety of frayed, patchwork garments. ``` - Clothesline attached to one corner, going to [[Bavlorna's Cottage]]. ```ad-info title: Inside This room is a charred mess. Hazy smoke hangs over scattered piles of burned and broken shelves intermixed with whatever those shelves contained. Wisps of smoke snake into the air from several spots where smoldering wreckage threatens to ignite. A distressed bullywug in a leather smock scurries around the room with a bucket of water whose contents spill out over the sides in his haste. ``` - This is where Bavlorna's swamp gas balloons are manufactured. - Two bullywugs recently set fire to the place. One is the dead bullywug pilot of [[Sir Talavar]]'s balloon, [[Wigglewog]]. The other is [[Morgort]], former Knight of Warts, who was captured and is held in [[Downfall#Proving Grounds]]. - [[Duke Ickrind]] oversees repairs and asks for help putting out fires due to animated coals. If they do, he gives them a brooch shaped like a fly, with fluttering wings. It will help them earn [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX]]'s trust. - Animated coals were brought here in an act of arson. - AC 18 - one hit - Speed: 30 ft. - immune to poison, fire, psychic damage - Dexterity: 20, Constitution: 10, others: 1 - throwing a bucket of water on one requires a ranged attack with an improvised weapon. (`dice: 1d4`) damage + dexterity. - *Kindle*. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) fire damage, and the target catches fire if it is flammable. Until a creature takes an action to douse the fire, the target takes 2 (1d4) fire damage at the start of each of its turns. ### Chattering Heads [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description This flat wood-plank bridge, which spans an arm of the lake, is lined on one side by rows of bullywug heads on wooden spikes. At the center of the bridge, a small figure sits with its feet dangling over one side. The figure appears to be talking to itself in bemoaned tones. But then the severed bullywug heads nearby erupt in a cacophony of voices—some indignant, others sympathetic. A few in a more distant row yell, “What? I couldn’t hear what they said!” ``` - There is a line of heads on pikes from previous monarchs. However, they are still talking and gossipping. - They've heard of another coup in the works to usurp Gullop XIX. - [[Clapperclaw]] is a scarecrow that ran away from [[Thither]] and [[Skabatha Nightshade]], but [[Agdon Longscarf]] stole its head, a stag skull, and had to use a gourd for a head. He's very self-conscious about it but will help them if they help him get his head. ### [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX]] [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description A grand marble gazebo stands atop a mound of soggy earth, its white stone streaked green with algae. The support pillars have sunk into the muck unevenly so that the domed canopy now sits askew. Short steps ring the gazebo, leading to a raised floor where bullywugs dressed in shabby clothing lounge on pillows. Among them, a harpist sends forth delicate notes that mingle with the murmured croaking of the gathered nobles. On a dais, a flabby bullywug wearing a crown of woven lily flowers sits on an ornate throne with his legs folded under him. He has a large leather-bound book open across his lap and is mouthing the words he reads on the pages. Without looking up, he says, “Have you no herald to announce your presence before King Gullop the Nineteenth?” He slams the book closed as if to punctuate his question, regarding you for the first time. Sleepy bullywug guards standing around their monarch snap to attention and ready their weapons. ``` - Gullop XIX has a pet [mbielu](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=monsters/Mbielu) named Snoodle - 5 bullywug knights and 8 unarmed bullywugs are here. - He's worried because the escape of [[Wigglewog]] and [[Sir Talavar]] have called his rule into question. - He is smarter than the average bullywug, but his subjects don't see it. - He has begun to realize that Bavlorna is a problem, but doesn't have the firepower or the gumption to attack her. - His son heard him talking about Bavlorna, and he snuck in and stole a small sachet of [Blue Rose Tea](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FVault%20of%20Magic%2FBlue%20Rose%20Tea) from Bavlorna. Now Gullop XIX wants the party to bring it back and NOT implicate him (and especially not his son). - They are offered a drink of swampy wine. One of them has a scrap of parchment with words in Sylvan: _Find Illig, the Baron of Muckstump. The revolution lives!_ [[Illig]] lives in [[Downfall#Illig's Hut]]. ### Murky Lake [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] - 20 feet deep, covered by a blanket of thick fog and a layer of pond scum - `dice: 2d6` bullywugs are hidden underneath the fog on large lily pads, relaxing on rowboats (noncombatants). They are friendly. - They see a cottage that arises from the middle of the lake on thick wooden stilts. Characters within 20 feet of it can discern its shape. ### Holding Cells [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description Rising from the soggy earth is a sturdy wooden hut with an open doorway on one side of it. At the back of the hut are two holding cells. Thick mangrove roots serve as bars, with a small round door closing off each cell. The floor of one cell is covered with several inches of stinking water. The other cell holds a figure in rags slumped against the back wall. ``` - Hut is round, 12 feet in diameter, has a conical thatched roof that rises 18 feet from the floor at its apex - Prisoners are held here while they await trial by combat in [[Downfall#Proving Grounds]]. - DC 17 Athletics to break out, or DC 12 Thieves' Tools. - [[Morgort]], Knight of the Warts, is in one of the cells. She suggests they steal the balloon in [[Downfall#Damaged Balloon]] and go to [[Thither]]. ### Proving Grounds [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description A mangrove tree stands in the middle of a patch of heavily churned mud, where rusting and rotting bits of armor and weapons are scattered. Two lengths of chain are anchored to opposite sides of the tree trunk, each with an iron shackle on the end. ``` - 20 feet in diameter. Combatants are shackled and pitted against each other (accused and accuser). ### Trinket, Bauble, and Charm's [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description A big black balloon floats over the lake, tugging at its moorings. Beneath it hangs a basket made of black wicker and wood, which serves as a merchant’s stall. A large pane of gray glass is drawn closed across an opening above the counter. A sign mounted above the window reads, “Wondrous Wares & Fair Fares!” The balloon is not made of fabric, but rather appears to be a roiling, dark rain cloud that has been contained somehow with lines and netting. ``` - Two darklings, [[Trinket]] and [[Bauble]], are guarding the balloon and their "wares". - Their wares are actually a front; they're helping [[Charm]] steal treasure from [[Bavlorna Blightstraw]]. - They use the storm balloon as means to get to and from Thither. It is powered by lightning spells, which Charm has in spades. - Trinket and Bauble are sassy because they don't _actually_ care whether they sell things or not - the business is just a front. Sign hanging below the counter says: ```ad-info title: Wondrous Wares AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY: Very good thimble (fingertip not included) Mug of Bumble Beer (has a nice sting to it) Duskmallow pie (with decorative bite marks) Bundle of dry wood (great for starting fires) Ink portraits (if we have to look at you, so should you) Moonlight monocle (no more fumbling in the dark) ``` ![[02-008.rain-cloud-balloon.png]] The moonlight monocle is the only thing magical - it's a Goggles of Night. Unicorn horn is also for trade. "Very hard to come by, unicorn horns, and one never knows when one might come in handy... This one recently found its way into my possession." Possible payments: - Trinket demands the color from the buyer’s eyes. If the buyer agrees to the trade, Trinket produces a small marble that drains the color from the buyer’s eyes when she utters the phrase, “Hue be mine.” Robbed of their color, the buyer’s irises turn transparent. Destroying the marble restores the buyer’s eye color to normal. - Bauble demands the rhythm in the buyer’s step. If the buyer agrees to the trade, Bauble produces an articulated wooden marionette and makes it dance on the countertop while repeatedly uttering, “One, two, three. One, two, three.” Deprived of this rhythm, the buyer loses all talent for dancing. Destroying the marionette restores the buyer’s dancing ability, but Bauble won’t give up the marionette without a fight. **_Rain Cloud Balloon._** If the characters steal this balloon, it delivers them to [area M16](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/twbtw/motherhorn#M16DarklingBalloonDock "area M16") of Motherhorn (see [chapter 4](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/twbtw/motherhorn/ "chapter 4")) unless they have a trained pilot who can fly it elsewhere. The balloon harnesses the energy of a rain cloud to stay aloft. To use the balloon, the harnessed cloud must be charged with electrical energy. This can be accomplished by dealing more than 20 lightning damage to the cloud from a single source, or by surrounding it with electrically charged storm clouds for at least 10 minutes. Once charged, the balloon can stay airborne for 8 hours, moving at up to 8 miles per hour. If the balloon loses its charge while aloft, it plummets to the ground. The vessel has two separate parts: the wooden basket that doubles as the merchant’s stall, and the balloon, which includes the rain cloud plus the net and lines that hold it in place and attach it to the basket. Each part has its own statistics: **Basket.** The basket, which can hold up to 750 pounds, has AC 13, 27 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. **Balloon.** The balloon has AC 11, 50 hit points, and immunity to lightning, poison, psychic, and thunder damage. If the balloon drops to 0 hit points, the cloud dissipates, and the vehicle loses the ability to fly. Repairing 1 hit point of damage to the basket requires 1 day and appropriate supplies, which can be salvaged from [area D4](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/twbtw/downfall#D4BurnedoutBalloonFactory "area D4") or taken from [area B3](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/twbtw/downfall#B3FabricStorageRoom "area B3"). The balloon can’t be repaired, but as long as it has at least 1 hit point, it regains all lost hit points when it is fully recharged. #### Items - [Zipline Ring](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FVault%20of%20Magic%2FZipline%20Ring) ==1000 gp== - [Brazen Bulwark](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FVault%20of%20Magic%2FBrazen%20Bulwark) ==5000 gp== - [Potion of Animal Friendship](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FMagic%20Items%20for%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%205e%20SRD%2FPotion%20of%20Animal%20Friendship) ==200 gp== - Potion of Healing ==50 gp== - [Scimitar of the Desert Winds](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FVault%20of%20Magic%2FScimitar%20of%20the%20Desert%20Winds) ==2000 gp== - [Philter of luck](obsidian://open?vault=dnd-vault&file=items%2FVault%20of%20Magic%2FPhilter%20of%20Luck) ==90 gp== ### Sinking Palace [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description This ramshackle hall is built around a big tree. Two of the tree’s limbs reach out through the walls like enormous welcoming arms. The interior of the hall is roomy, with an open floor plan that allows occupants of the upper story to look out over the lower one. Bullywug courtiers crowd into the space, filling it with their guttural croaks. Their clothing is faded and stained with mud. ``` Two entrances to the palace: - One on high ground to the northwest - Another overlooking the docks Only those win an invitation from [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX|Gullop]] as allowed through by the guards. - Upper level - Built around trunk of tree - `dice: 2d4` unarmed and unarmored bullywug courtiers - 3 bullywug guards - Lower level - submerged in 3 inches of swamp water - More courtiers and musicians - Clothesline - frayed, patchwork garments leading to the center of the settlement (can support 200 pounds of weight) ### [[Bavlorna's Cottage]] [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ### Big Barkless [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description Several holes dot the trunk of a gnarled old tree that grows on the shore of the lake. The tree has lost all its bark, and a few withered leaves cling to the ends of its twisted, knotted branches. One end of a clothesline is tied to a high branch on the northwest side of the tree. Several old garments hang from the clothesline, the other end of which disappears into the fog hovering over the lake. ``` - [[Big Barkless]] is a tree blight: carnivorous, ambulatory, menacing - 4 sprites live inside it: [[Bitzi]], [[Dandy]], [[Mitleaf]], [[Timpella]] - Sprites taunt characters and try to get them to hit Big Barkless and start a fight. (Sprites have three-quarters cover when they're out, full when they're inside.) Boris gets advantage on any checks against them because of his time in the Pixie Kingdom. - Clothesline to Bavlorna's. If Big Barkless moves 5 feet away from cottage, the clothesline snaps and clothes fall into the lake. ### Toadstool Patch [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Upon entrance Your heart suddenly feels cold, filling you with a sense of loneliness that borders on despair. A haunting, melancholy tune played on a flute reaches out to you from somewhere within a field of oversized toadstools. ``` ```ad-info title: The source of the music collapse: true A slender elf with pale blue skin and black hair sits curled in the shadow of a gray, six-foot-tall toadstool, playing a somber tune on a double flute. ``` - The flutist is [[Rubin Sugarwood]], the halfling who had proposed to [[Ween Sundapple]] just when there was a _Tasha's hideous laughter_ that hit. He was lured into [[Hither]] by [[Sowpig the Ghoul]], and convinced to make a deal with [[Bavlorna Blightstraw]] to forget about his love. Bavlorna took his heart, and replaced it with a goat's heart. Now he can't feel any emotion. - Rubin will give characters his [pipes of haunting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/pipes-of-haunting) if they give him back his heart. ### Illig's Hut [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] - Door is barred shut - Bullywug voice from inside: "Push the note under the door". (Which they received in [[Downfall#His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX]]). Otherwise, DC 15 Persuasion to convince them to open the door and let them in. ```ad-info title: Inside Standing just inside the door is a jittery bullywug with a spear, and behind this guard is a wooden crate with hunting gear piled atop it. Huddled in the back of the hut are four more bullywugs. Tension hangs heavy in the air as one of the huddled bullywugs signals you to enter and join their conversation. ``` - [[Illig]] and his cronies are planning how to overthrow [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX|Gullop]]. - Their plan is for Illig to pretend to trip and accidentally stick him in the eye with a dagger. - There is a crate that has Bavlorna's name on it in Sylvan. Inside are seven woodland animal carcasses that Illig intends to deliver to Bavlorna once he's installed as the new king. - If they are not stopped, the coup will succeed. If the characters warn [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX|Gullop]], the coup fails. - If the characters warn Gullop, he makes them the "Dukes of Muckstump", to the envy of the rest of the Soggy Court. ### Bullywug Hut [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description This hut has a steep thatch roof. A small wooden chest rests in the middle of the floor, and scattered around it are six fraying silk cushions. The air in here carries the stench of decaying fish. A lit brazier hangs from a rafter, providing the dwelling’s only light. ``` - Closed, but unlocked door. - Nobody here. - Loot - spices - cookware - old fishbones - mummified toad (magical, evocation): when tossed into water, it disappears and produces a _darkness_ spell that lasts 10 mins. ### King's Mount [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] - Door is closed but unlocked ```ad-info title: Inside collapse: true A frayed rope tethers a giant toad to a wooden post in the middle of this hut. The toad looks uncomfortable as a pair of sticky, webbed hands push their way out of its mouth. The toad’s jaws open wide as it regurgitates a bullywug, who falls prone on the floor. ``` - The giant toad is [[His Royal Majesty Gullop XIX|Gullop]]'s mount. - The toad's handler, who has just been regurgitated, is [[Vlonk]]. - Vlonk asks them to mind the toad for ten minutes while he just showers the saliva off. If the players say yes, the toad will try to swallow at least one of them. - The toad can't reach anyone more than 5 feet away from the wooden post to which it is tethered. ### Bavlorna's Cauldron [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] ```ad-info title: Description A bulbous, green-black cauldron with a thick lid sits above a bed of hot coals on six sturdy iron legs that protrude from its curved bottom like the extremities of a crab. A wooden ladle hangs from a lanyard looped around the lid’s knob. ``` - Cauldron is 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall, hot to the touch (heated by coals) - Cauldron lid is locked by the _arcane lock_ spell (password: "spittlespew") and the cauldron will attempt to scuttle away (speed 30 ft.) if anyone who doesn't say the password tries to open it. It returns in 10 mins. - If the cauldron scuttles away, a [magmin](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/magmin) comes out from the pile of coals and attempts to trade with them in Ignan. He'll give them the password in exchange for some dry wood (he loves the sound they make when they burn). - Animated coals come to the magmin's defense. - Inside the cauldron: - bubbling, frothy, dark gray liquid (transmutation magic). - `dice: 1d%` - If <= 75: Drinker polymorphed into giant frog - If > 75: Drinker polymorphed into a giant dragonfly. ### Watch Tower [[Downfall#Map|Back to map]] - wood plank path leads to watch tower ```ad-info title: Outside description A ten-foot-high, raised wooden platform stands atop a mound of mossy earth and mud. Two bullywugs laze at their guard post atop the platform, occasionally peering through a long spyglass mounted on a swivel. A frayed clothesline attached to one corner of the watch tower is festooned with patchwork garments. The line stretches out toward the nearby lake before disappearing in the fog. ``` - The platform is 10 feet above water level at its highest point. - Around the platform is difficult terrain. - No ladder or rope, since bullywugs can just leap - Clothesline ## NPCs ```dataview table description as "Description" from "ttrpgs/The Slayers Five" WHERE contains(type,"NPC") or contains(type,"faction") and contains(location,"Downfall") SORT file.name ASC ``` ## Random rolls `dice: [[Downfall#^name]]|Name` `dice: [[Downfall#^honorific]]|Honorific` ## Random tables | Roll | Name | | ---- | --------- | | 1 | Augluth | | 2 | Bloff | | 3 | Bultis | | 4 | Grumple | | 5 | Mundlemud | | 6 | Ribble | | 7 | Splop | | 8 | Ufgunk | ^name | Roll | Honorific | | ---- | ------------------------- | | 1 | Croaking Sage | | 2 | Count of Bogbottom | | 3 | Duke of the Three Rocks | | 4 | Earl of Stinkwater | | 5 | Green Baron | | 6 | Knight of the Pickled Fly | | 7 | Mosscrown Knight | | 8 | Pondflower Knight | ^honorific