Hex: A Colony of Frogs
Terrain: Swamp
Encounter Rate: 2 in 6
A Colony of Frogs
This swamp is home to a family of 8 enlightened frogs. Though they are intelligent, they have the physical capabilities of normal frogs. In each batch of eggs the colony produces, one newborn frog is enlightened. The colony lives in a hovel beneath a stump that is covered in potted bonsai trees.
The colony
- Wants To secure long-term safety and food
- Has Natural poison they can provide to the players for favors
- Frog Colony Poison: Takes an action to coat a weapon, causing the next attack to poison the enemy. They save vs doom or take 1d6 additional damage and can only communicate in croaks for an hour
- Threatened by Giant salamanders that eat their young
Genzou
The patriarch of the frogs. Distrusting of humans, smokes a frog sized pipe. The frogs don't make a decision without running it by Genzou. He believes the frogs are smarter than humans and tries to exploit them into performing tasks for the colony.
Mannerisms
- Raspy voice, speaking sounds laborious
- Makes frog puns ("don't leap to conclusions", "that story was absolutely ribbiting"), laughs at his own jokes
- Asks people to repeat themselves a lot
Wants
- The samurai Sanari to stop coming around
- Marry off his daughter to as many men as possible
A Dutiful Wife
Genzou's last big scheme was to perform a ritual beseeching the swamp spirits to give his daughter, Maki, power. His prayers were answered, as she gained the ability to shift into a human form.
Genzou sent Maki to Gerozato to find a husband and collect wedding gifts to bring back to the colony.
Maki found and married a young samurai named Yahagi Sanari, but when she was discovered to be a frog, Sanari's family chased her out of town.
Despite this, Sanari loves Maki and visits once every week or two with food and gifts.
Genzou wants to get rid of Sanari so he can repeat his scheme and collect more wedding gifts.
Maki
Genzou's youngest daughter, and the only shapeshifter in the colony. With an hour of effort, Maki can take the form of any human, though her voice doesn't change, and she still only has the strength of a frog.
Genzou assigned Maki to use her transformation to secure money and resources from people in Gerozato, but she fell in love with her first target, the young samurai Sanari.
She cares for the bonsai trees on the stump.
Mannerisms
- High-pitched, mousey voice
- Very deferential to others, struggles to stand up for herself
- Even in human form, sometimes her throat expands like a frogs when she talks
Wants
- To make her father happy
- To be with Sanari and accepted by her family
- Her dad to accept Sanari into the family
Yahagi Sanari
Maki's former bride. When she briefly lived with Maki in Gerozato, she discovered that Maki loves bansai trees, so she brings her new plants as gifts when she visits.
HD 3 AC 14 SP 12 Saves D11 R12 H13 B14 S15 Att Yari (+2, 1d8) Speed 20 Morale 10 XP 40
Believes herself to be the finest Samurai on Gekkōshima
Mannerisms
- Says what she's thinking, even if it might be better not to
- Loud, boastful
- Constantly fidgeting
Wants
- To make sure Maki is safe and happy
- Her family to back off and let her marry the damn frog
Giant salamanders
Living in a moist swampy cave, the ground is difficult terrain, humans sink into the mud ankle deep.
There are 12 Giant salamanders in the hex, 2d6 of which are in the cave at any time. Outside of the cave, the salamanders flee huma- sized creatures, but they defend themselves to the death inside their cave.
HD 1 AC 5 SP 6 Saves D13 R14 H15 B16 S17 Att Bite (1d6) Speed 20 Morale 10 XP 40