Over the Lake
That stuck up group of adventurers left me stranded here. I heard they got summoned with a letter like this in the first place so maybe there’s more of you that can actually do their jobs get me across this lake and back home. There’s been talk of strange sightings out on the lake so no one will sail and I ain’t walking back. Get. Me. Home!
Haggel the Dwarf
Recap
Haggel the Dwarf was so rudely left behind in Everett by the adventurers who were just here, even after all their promises to get him home safely… thankfully, Verdant, Bastian, and Nuith are here to help him! He’s an absolute treasure and delight as he demands complete service, including a paid-for voyage over the lake all-inclusive with meals and protection. Only, no one would take him even without such demands as there have been sightings of some creature out on the lake, so all services between the two lakeside villages has been temporarily halted.
Nuith lands them a deal where they can take a boat for free if they come back with proof of handling whatever this… creature is, which will improve business for the guy running the rentals at the dock. Bastian, despite never having steered a boat before, is able to do so quite easily with the help of Verdant, who creatively uses Shape Water to help guide them along their way. They pass through the day uneventfully, growing every more weary of Haggel’s whining, and then go to take their night’s rest.
However, on the second shift, danger strikes! A water dragon wyrmling emerges from the lake and tries to knock them all of their feet! It keeps their attention just long enough to allow an aquatic troll to attempt to surprise them as it emerges from beneath the boat and anticlimactically struggles to pull itself on board. The wyrmling slinks off into the night to fight another day… but the Troll rages and roars, Bastian knocks it clean out after the team wears it down, but it pops right up to knock Bastian down right back, before Nuith and Verdant use its weakness to fire to ensure it stays dead for good. Much lightning and thunder is called upon by Verdant and Bastian.
Haggel sleeps through the whole event. Nuith keeps the head of the troll as the requested evidence. Once they get close enough to his home in shallow water, Haggel goes back on his word to begrudgingly try to offer them payment and jumps out of the boat to flee to shore. The party decides not to stop him and goes back to seek rewards from the docks owner, which he does in exchange for them ensuring the townsfolk all know the lake is much safer now.