ic Curse of the Swamp Hag

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

“Crap!”

Blackstaff cursed as the one she burned, well, burned. At least the swamp water put out any lingering flames in the poor man. The fiery lash vanished as the tentacles disappeared back into the water.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

She warned even as she moved to side of the ‘bridge’ and attempted to reach for the man she had dropped into the swamp. Her eyes scanned the bubbling water for any signs of the next attack as she tried to fish him back on to the ‘bridge’.

Edited January 30 by Spacefurry

[Poncho]

Michael dove towards the sinking men as they hit the water, unsure if there was still something bubbling under the surface that could snatch them, and not wanting to be the reason they suffered if they fell into the swamp and were injured, or worse.

 

He came down to just barely above the dirty muck, extending his hand to Fatboy.

 

"Grab on!" he yelled, intending to pull the man bodily out of the muck with all the strength he'd need to accomplish it. And the other man was next on his list, as he turned to him. "I'll get you next! Just hang on!" he wasn't at all concerned about risking his own life and limb to whatever was under the water, and he was ready to dive in front of another tentacle threatening to grab either of the two men if he needed to.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Golden Star grabbed the floundering biker, who was sinking rapidly. By the time the Golden Kid has took a hold of him, only two splashing hands were above the water. 

 

And it was foul water. Or maybe something in it was foul. This close, with flailing limbs and bubbling bubbles, two spears of noxious odour went straight up Golden Stars nose. And the smell would not win any wards in a perfumry contest, that was for sure. 

 

Golden Star lifted the biker two feet up - so he could at least breathe, when he felt resistance. 

 

It was a tug of war!

 

Something was pulling the Biker back to the swampy depths. And it was strong!

 

But not as strong as Golden Star, who one the battle. And, fortunately, did so without tearing the biker in twain!

[Poncho]

"Let him go, let him go!" Michael grunted as he tried to pull the biker out of the muck, but he was almost being pulled down instead. The foul stench filled his nostrils and he almost stalled out and grabbed his nose rather than holding onto the man, his fingers slipping reflexively until he was just holding the man's arms. 

"No, no, no you don't!" he screamed and he lit up like a christmas tree, all gold and red like a brand new sun, and he pulled, and pulled, until the biker's face came up out of the muck, then his torso, then his legs. Breathing heavily, he deposited the gang member on the bridge again and glared down at the water, waiting to see if it would lash out again, his eyes glowing a bright red.

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff managed to grab the biker’s hand. It vanished from sight as the  man’s larger fingers wrapping around her smaller ones.

She pulled to help him to the edge ‘force bridge’ went she felt the sudden tug from below. She cursed in a language no human should rightfully know.m as she felt the strain in her shoulder. There was no way she could contend with whatever was beneath the surface of the water.

 

Blackstaff made a seeping gesture with his free hand that flowed into a twisting upward motion.

“Veranudios!”

She shouted and gave another pull on the biker. Magic flared and the water twisted like a water spout. There was a moment where the biker hung midair between the water and ‘bridge’. The magiced water pulling against the mighty tentacle.

Blackstaff reach out and grabbed at the air and gave a final pull with both hands. The tentacle tore and the man crashed down on ‘bridge’ beside the wizard.

Edited January 31 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

GM

 

For a moment there was silence. 

 

"Well done, splendid job!" said Professor Armitage with a nod. 

 

Tom Dickens said not a word. He let his feet do the talking, and started to run back the way they came. 

 

Fatboy, with tentacle welts over his belly, was shaking but had enough clout to maintain vocal composure. "That's one to tell the Grandchildren. See! I told you this place was cursed! Something in this water..."

 

The other bikers nodded, none of them keen to show their fear, although it was quite evident from their sweaty skin and wide eyes. 

 

Fatboy got up, cocked his shotgun. 

 

"Professor, hero boys, the chuggers dont run from trouble, but this is lunacy. You can see the cove, good luck!"

 

With that, he lead the bikers - carefully - in a reverse direction and walked away, down the magic bridge, back to their bikes. 

 

 

[Poncho]

"That's probably for the best!" Michael yelled at the retreating bikers. "This seems really dangerous so it's probably for the best you get far away. Try not to get grabbed on your way out, but we'll handle it from here. Nice talking to you though. Try to stay out of the sort of trouble that would make me end up down here halfway across the country please." 

 

With that he turned back to Blackstaff and Armitage. 

 

"So I've got about an hour, maybe less, before I'm out of time for the day, I think I've mentioned. So if we're going to stop this I've put us on the clock, unfortunately."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Out of time? Whatever do you mean?" replied Armitage, stroking his beard with one hand and mopping his brow with the other. "Do you mean your powers are linked to sunlight, or something? Perhaps some astrological or alchemical process?"

 

"I would rather not rush this. The fate of this continent is at stake. Well, perhaps I magnify the threat, but... perhaps not. There is dark design behind all of this, trust me."

 

He turned to Blackstaff. "Would you not agree, sir? Someone is cursing this continent with frightful will and cunning design. Very clever... no direct spell, just bringing smuggling cursed artifacts to the shores!"

[Poncho]

"Uh, I'm not linked to sunlight. And it's not astrological or alchemical..well it's sort of alchemical. It's chemical, at least. Kind of." he said a little awkwardly.

 

"I think the best way to say it is that like, I'm one of those rechargeable batteries; I can always charge back up, but I can only store so much, I think. I only have about an hour of 'Superhero' a day right now." he explained with a little embarrassment. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the watch his grandfather gave him, already counting down how long he has. "This watch lasts for one hour, and that's about how long my powers last. When it stops, I'm out." he looked down at his feet as he put the watch away.

 

"...I'm still growing, you know?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Professor sniffed. The inhalation of fetid swamp fumes made him gag. 

 

"I see. I peculiar state of affairs, and a lamentable one...

 

He gazed at the setting sun. It did, at least, provide a slight relief from the humid heat of Tezville. "Then I suggest we make reasonable haste. Clearly the sorcerer behind these events has made the swamp his own. Their may be danger ahead."

 

"I should have the wreath!" complained mr Dickens. 

 

"I left it in my house, buffoon!" replied Armitage. "And however much you think we need it, I can assure you it is cursed, and we have more than enough cursage right now!"

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff understood their reactions. She didn’t stand in the way as the bikers headed back across the bridge.

“Thank you for help.”

She called after Fatboy. It seemed Mr Dickens was ready to join them, but hesitated.

 

She turned to regard Professor Armitage and Golden Star.

“Only an Hour?”

She asked, echoing the professor.

 

The wizard nodded at Armitage’s assessment.

“Whomever’s behind this definitely has a motive, whether it's for maliciousness, greed or plain stupidity we won’t know until we confront them.”

 

She looks at Golden Star and nods.

“Okay then, we should get moving before you have to retreat”

Blackstaff eyed Dickens.

“Once used, the lure of curse items can be tough to resist.”

He looked at Armitage.

“Keep an eye on him once inside. If there are more inside, he could fall prey to another.”

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so...

 

The swamp continued to fester and bubble, continued to smell like disease and rot, but at least it emitted no giant tentacles. 

 

Several times, Blackstaff and Golden Star could spot something moving in the black waters, or in the strangulating flora that stretched across the swamp. But for the most part it was a curious frog, or a fishing bird. 

 

the Cove itself was well hidden from casual sight, but once you knew it was there, it was plain to see. A curved hole, muddy, rocky, leaing into a dark cave. Sea water lapped against the sides of the tunnel. 

 

It was, predictably, pitch black. 

 

"Lamentably, I cannot see without light," said Armitage. "And, foolishly, I forgot my flashlight..."

 

He seemed irritated with himself, and nevrous too. 

[Poncho]

"I can't see in the darkness, sorry. Just hear, mostly." He said.

 

He said that, because he felt bad that he had disappointed both Blackstaff and the professor with his limitations. They weren't exactly something he could avoid, and honesty was the best method, but it wasn't like it felt good to admit you were the weak link! So he was determined to make sure he could do everything in his power in that hour to complete this conflict.

"I can go in first if we don't have any sources of light...but do you have a spell, Blackstaff?" he wasn't sure if he should use Mr. or Miss with Blackstaff at this exact moment.

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

The walk across the remaining swamp was a little tense as the quartet flinched at nearly every bubble and gurgle the waters produced.

Needless to say, Blackstaff’s patience was wearing thin by the time they reached the cove. She took a moment at the entrance to center herself with a few calming breathes.

 

On 2/3/2024 at 5:36 PM, Supercape said:

"Lamentably, I cannot see without light," said Armitage. "And, foolishly, I forgot my flashlight..."

 

On 2/3/2024 at 9:21 PM, Poncho said:

"I can go in first if we don't have any sources of light...but do you have a spell, Blackstaff?" 

“Of course.”

Blackstaff pulled the silver pentacle from around her neck. Lifting it up, she reaches out with a touch of magic and the it begins to shine. A warm light bathes the group and illuminates the cove entrance.

“Step carefully.”

She warned. Holding the light out before her the wizard carefully begins to lead the way into the cove.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Cave was predictably wet. Soon, a mix of sea water and swamp water was lapping around shoes, boots, and capes. It got almost waist deep at some points. 

 

Moss and lichen grew on the walls and ceiling. Something fishy (but perhaps not a fish) would be felt swimming around feet. There was a constant drip drip of water falling from the roof of the cave.

 

The Arcane light seemed to reflect strangely of the walls of the cave. 

 

At the bottom of the cave was a collection of half-rotten artifacts, obviously the dumping point for smugglers. Here were the discarded items of no value, or at least no buyer. Skulls, voodoo dolls, jewelery. Someone had even tried to pass of a nintendo as an arcane artifact (and this was, to all eldritch senses, clearly just a nintendo. A broken one, at that) - scribbling made up signs on it with red ink did not make it magical. 

 

Perhaps most unsettling was, in the centre of the smorgesbord of failed relics, a shrunken head! No bigger than a fist. It was probably a female, with wizened skin and straw hair. 

 

"Uuuuuuhhhhhh....." she seemed to say. But was it just the wind whistling?

[Poncho]

"This is so nasty." Michael whined as they trudged through the sludge, feeling it in his boots, feeling it in his costume. He was going to need a lot of showers to get this stink out, and he wasn't going to like it at all.

He did like the light, at least, because it meant they weren't stumbling around in the darkness anymore, so that was nice. But then again, on the other hand; maybe he didn't actually want to see what was in the cave, especially with the stuff swirling around his feet. That he definitely did not want to look down and see. So he kept his face forward. When the reached the bottom of the cave, he peered around with interest.

 

"...Is that a Nintendo? That looks like something my dad would play when he was a kid." then the shrunken head...said...? something, and he reflexively stepped back, not wanting to annoy the weird shrunken head. "...Forget the Nintendo what is that thing?" he asked Blackstaff. He was in a place he did not understand, with rules he did not understand, and the only lifeline he had was the wizard from the Emerald Cities that he had ended up teamed up with, so he was relying very very heavily on Blackstaff at this moment.

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff seemed completely unfazed by the cave and its myriad of ‘environmental contents’. She pushed on, hold the glowing pentacle before her.

 

13 hours ago, Poncho said:

"...Is that a Nintendo? That looks like something my dad would play when he was a kid." 

 

“Ouch kid.”

She said jokingly, though it probably sounded coming from someone that appeared not much older than Golden Star himself.

“That hurt.”

 

13 hours ago, Poncho said:

"...Forget the Nintendo what is that thing?"

 

“That would possibly be a shrunken head.”

Blackstaff repied casually.

She had noticed the skull at about the same time and stepped towards it. The wizard crouched in front of it to get a better look.

Pulling a short slender piece of wood from her coat. It had a worked mineral point on one end, and its other end was capped in a pink substance and metal ring.

 

She paused a moment before poking the shrunken head with the eraser end of the pencil.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Owww....... uuuuuuugh......"

 

The shrunken heads eyes popped open. They were green. 

 

Not green iris. They were total green, completly uniform green, like a billiard ball painted green all over. Possibly blind. Possibly made of mushed up leaves and lichen. 

 

"Who pooookes me?" said the head. the mouth was so dry it's voice was more of a croak than anything, but it was getting a little clearer, and with careful listening you could make out what she was saying. 

 

"I can't see... who is this that torments me so?"

[Poncho]

"Umm..." Michael stared at the shrunken head, then looked at Blackstaff. Then back at the head.

 

Slowly, he trudged his way towards the head.

 

"Um, excuse me, Ma'm...just. let me...." he got a little closer but didn't want to get all the way up to her. "I think you've got something in your eyes, do you uh, want me to clear them out for you? They're all...green." he explained.

 

"We're looking for the reason for all this heat and swampyness."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Green?" croaked the head. 

 

"I can't see anything at all. Blind! Oh, Lamentations! Blind! Where am I?"

 

Her eye's blinked several times, but the eyes were dead, and the rot inside them did not move. No tears did she weep. 

 

"I am in that cave! Tezmolican! The port of pirates and sorcerers, where Annabelle Flint plied her trade and got drunk. Pffft! Europeans! Filth!"

 

She paused. 

 

"Wait.. you are European... English? What are you doing here? Aaaaagh! Conquistador! Slaver!"

 

Her face contorted in fury and fear. 

 

"What sorcery have you put upon me? Why can't I see? Why can't I move?"

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff regarded Golden Star before standing and stepping back to give him room to talk to the head. She stood by him as the addressed it. At first she suspected it was a surveillance method, but as it spoke she reconsidered.

 

“Please, calm yourself. We are not responsible for the sorcery afflicting you.”

She said not recognizing the name the head had mentioned.

“But, I am afraid you are not the person you use to be. You’ve been magically bound? What is the last thing remember? Did this ‘Flint’ you spoke of do this to you?”

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Flint? No!" shrieked the head. "No, it was not Flintlock, of that I am sure. She was at sea when I... when this head was cut off. Just a head, just a head..."

 

"Just a head!!!!" she shrieked. 

 

From the entrance, ferocious splashing could be hurd. 

 

"Just ahead! It is coming! It is coming! The guardian! the...tomentor!!!!"

 

Closer, louder, the splashing came. The smell of sea water brine filled the air. A whistling sound echoed through the cave. Thick tendrils of mangrove roots started curling up from below the water. 

 

The cave was becoming swampy!

 

And something was slithering towards them underwater!

 

[Poncho]

"Blackstaff it's time to punch things!" Michael said; there was a pitch in his voice- not neccesarily anger, but heightened emotion. When he was glowing he had trouble keeping his emotions in check, and a slithering thing had riled up his adrenaline. 

 

"If we beat this thing up it'll stop the curse, lady? Or we'll be able to talk more about it later? We can definitely handle that, I'm sure of it!" he said, looking for the slithering thing.

[Supercape]

GM
 

Up from the deep, thirty inches high, breathing vapours, head in your eye!

 

CROCANCONDA emerged from the depths with a horrible rustling of the water. The beast had the head of a giant crocodile, and thirty feet of slithering snake body. Its eyes, black, its skin, oily, its breath a horrible fetid fume. 

 

And the head started wailing! A dreadful screech of agony, reverberating in the cove. 

 

"THE TORMENTOR! THE TORMENTOR!"

 

A crocodile head couldnt smile. But it looked like it was...

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

“Tormentor?”

Blackstaff asked, not really expecting an answer. She stood up, not sure what was coming.

 

On 2/15/2024 at 2:55 PM, Poncho said:

"Blackstaff it's time to punch things!" Michael said

 

“I’m afraid punching was never a strong suit. I’ll leave that to you.”

 

From the waters erupted a monstrosity. It wasn’t anything she had ever seen before. Blackstaff called up her shield and focused her magic.

Suddenly the creature opened its mouth and let out a wailing cry. Blackstaff barely covered her ears in time. Even still she felt the wail rattle through her.

‘That could have been bad.’

She thought as she reevaluated her options.

“Disperdorius!”

She yells as she makes a slashing motion with her hand, attempting to disrupt the creature's magical attack and scatter its magical energy.

Unfortunately, in her hasty attempt to counter the thing’s attack her counter spell is cast wide.