Fiction | Game | Medium Adventurers League ⚔️

Danger at the Lakeside

A Primatria quest, continued

This is part of a story that works as an interactive game. You’ll need to have dice and a notepad at the ready! Click here for the beginning of the Medium Adventurers League, here for the beginning of this quest, or here to return to Rebel Bar. For the previous chapter, check out ‘Dire Straits’ or ‘Bluffing a Villager’.

Ten minutes later, you are walking along a very sloppy and muddy lakeside, reflecting on your recent choices. You already feel fatigued, and you can tell that there is no settlement close.

You are pretty sure that Selkirk Village is at least five miles away. And darkness is falling.

Part of the problem is the stony ridge and cliffs that rise to your left. Staying by the water, there is no choice but to walk right around these.

Sigh.

Too late to go back now. You pause to eat and drink, then move on.

Remove one day's rations from your inventory.

You have now emptied one waterskin on your journey so far. 

(If you didn't have either of these items, remove one point of health, or two points if you had neither!)

However, you can now safely refill any number of waterskins at the lake.

Still… you are tough, and it’s a calm, pleasant night. You didn’t come this far to give up now.

Perhaps arriving late will even work in your favor. You can figure out how things stand with the villagers, even win their trust a little, before deciding how to get rid of them tomorrow…

You trudge on. At last, the terrain changes. Now, past the cliffs, you see a huge bay that was out of sight before. A rocky slope rises up towards pine trees, and on that you see signs of a massive building, shrouded in scaffolding. That must be the mansion of your employer…

Beyond, lights twinkle in the distance. That must be the village.

But just as you are congratulating yourself on your progress, there is a splashing noise to your right. You spin, reaching for a weapon, and see a strange jelly-like creature with huge gleaming tentacles. Before you can act, two of its tentacles have wrapped around your arms, and are pulling you towards the water…

(Here is a link to a dice-rolling app!).

Encounter: Giant jellyfish.
Challenge rating: Medium (roll 14+).
Roll using brawn.

You are grappled. If you fail on your roll, you lose one health as the great creature pulls in you closer, lashing you with its stinging tentacles. You can't use healing potions while grappled.

If you succeed on the roll, you free yourself, and can now attack or flee. If you attack, follow the instructions below. Look further down for the instructions for fleeing:

ATTACK:
Challenge rating: Medium (roll 15+).
Roll using brawn or magic.

If you succeed, you lop off a tentacle. If you chop off three, the creature gives up and dives below the water.

If you fail, the creature grapples you again. Return to the start.

If your health drops to zero, you die. Click here.

FLEE:
Challenge rating: Easy (roll 11+)
Roll using wits.

If you succeed, you escape. However, you lose two health on the way, as thrashing tentacles sting you on the back of the neck. If you die, click here.

If you fail, you lose two health, AND the creature grapples you again. Return to the start.

If you defeat the creature or successfully flee, read on below.

You stagger away from the lake’s edge and catch your breath.

Finally, when you are sure that the creature is gone, you start to walk on, eyeing the water with a great degree of paranoia.

If you defeated the jellyfish without fleeing, you can add three giant jellyfish tentacles to your inventory.

It is now getting very dark. Every splash or wave is enough to make you expect another of the fearsome giant jellyfish to rise from the deep. You force yourself to focus on walking on, but keep one hand on a weapon.

As you finally arrive in the village, you are exhausted, and can barely bring yourself to show your usual charm when hailing a local man who stands guard at the village gates…

Continue.

Thanks for reading — and playing! ⚔️

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