@D1. Channel
The characters will likely arrive by skiff, rowboat, or raft, by way of this channel. This waterway flows into Murky Lake (area D7).
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.
The four bullywugs (neutral) are enjoying a boat ride on the lake. All four are dressed in soiled garb typical of members of the Soggy Court. In croaking Sylvan, they say, “Welcome to Downfall, travelers.”
If the characters don’t attack immediately, the bullywugs explain that their king, Gullop XIX, would be honored to make the characters’ acquaintance. They suggest that the characters head to the small dock nearby (next to area D2), then make their way across the stepping stones (area D3), through the balloon factory (area D4), and across the bridge of chattering heads (area D5) to the gazebo where Gullop XIX holds court (area D6). If the characters ask about Bavlorna, the bullywugs insist that the characters see the king first, saying that he’ll know how to help them.
If the characters attack the bullywugs, they croak loudly enough to alert the two guards atop the watchtower (area D19). These guards sound the alarm with loud croaks of their own. One minute later, six armed bullywugs (neutral) rally at the base of the watchtower before setting out to subdue the characters and bring them before Gullop XIX for questioning.
@D2. Damaged Balloon
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.
The two bullywugs (neutral) watch the characters warily but pose no threat. The three giant frogs are here to prevent anyone from stealing the balloon. (Another one of Bavlorna’s balloons was stolen recently. Characters encountered what was left of it at Slanty Tower earlier in the chapter.)
If the characters strike up a conversation with the bullywugs, the one on the ground responds in Sylvan, “Hmmm. You should probably see the king,” regardless of what the characters say.
Swamp Gas Balloon. This vehicle is operational, albeit damaged. The balloon itself has 10 hit points remaining (out of a maximum of 15), and the bullywugs are in the midst of repairing it. The basket and the ropes that attach it to the balloon are intact and undamaged. For more information on Downfall’s balloons, see “Swamp Gas Balloons”.
@D3. Stepstone Crossing
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.
The water around the stepstones is only 4 feet deep, but the bottom is not visible through the murk.
Four of the five stepstones are boulders sunk deep in the mire. The middle stepstone is actually the top of a galeb duhr. If someone steps on it, the galeb duhr takes offense, grumbling about ingratitude. An apology accompanied by a successful DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check satisfies the galeb duhr. On a failed check, the galeb duhr gives the offending character one more chance, allowing the character to repeat the check provided the apology is sung with feeling. On a second failed check or if the character refuses to sing, the galeb duhr uses its Animate Boulders action to affect the two boulders closest to it, and the three of them move 15 feet to the west, leaving a 20-foot gap in the path formed by the stepstones. Any character who was standing atop one of the stones is dumped into the water.
Predators Below. Two merrow lurk in the water east of the crossing. They dislike the taste of bullywugs and ignore them, but they attack any non-bullywugs that enter the water. If the characters find themselves in battle with the merrow, 1d4 + 1 bullywugs (neutral) arrive immediately after each merrow has taken two turns. The bullywugs hurl spears at the merrow, frightening them away (at least for a while). These bullywugs are glad to be of help and happily point characters in the direction of their king, Gullop XIX (at area D6). If the characters offer the bullywugs nothing in return for their help, the bullywugs take no offense. They don’t expect foreigners to honor the rule of reciprocity (see “Rules of Conduct” earlier in the chapter).
@D4. Burned-out Balloon Factory
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.
The garments on the clothesline aren’t particularly well made or valuable. The line leads to @Bavlorna's Cottage, which is heavily obscured by the thick fog. The line can support up to 200 pounds of additional weight.
The building is accessible by ramps from areas @D3. Stepstone Crossing and @D5. Chattering Heads, as well as stairs that rise from the lake. A rickety wooden deck clings to the outside of the structure 6 feet above the water. Use the following boxed text to describe the building’s interior:
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 Blightstraw's swamp gas balloons are manufactured. Two bullywugs recently set fire to the place, destroying most of the supplies as a consequence. One of the culprits was Wigglewog, @Sir Talavar’s pilot (now deceased). The other was @Morgort, the former Knight of Warts, who was captured before she could make her escape and is now being held prisoner in area D9.
A bullywug (neutral) named Duke Ickrind is overseeing the repair of the factory, but new fires keep popping up thanks to the persistence of the animated coals that were used to start the fire originally. When the characters enter the place, Duke Ickrind yells in Sylvan, “Grab a bucket! We have to make sure the fires are out!”
A low workbench—the only piece of undamaged furniture in the room—has three wooden buckets on it. Two of them are filled with water.
If the characters help Duke Ickrind extinguish the coals, he gives them a brass brooch shaped like a fly, with wings that flutter. He tells them to wear the brooch when they present themselves to Gullop XIX, saying it will help win the king’s trust.
Animated Coals. Typically used to heat Bavlorna’s cauldron in area D18, six of these coals were brought to the balloon factory by saboteurs who wanted to burn it down. The coals are Tiny animated objects that skip and bounce around. Each one has AC 18; 6 hit points; a speed of 30 feet; and immunity to fire, poison, and psychic damage. A coal’s Dexterity is 20, its Constitution is 10, and its other ability scores are 1. Throwing a bucket of water on a coal requires a successful ranged attack, and the bucket is treated as an improvised weapon. A bucket of water deals 1d6 damage to a coal. An animated coal that is submerged in water takes the damage at the start of each of its turns until it is no longer submerged. A coal reduced to 0 hit points is inanimate and harmless.
Each coal can take the following action on its turn:
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.