"Well, thank you for your time, Earthseat," the wood elf prince replies nonplussed.
He looks to his traveling companions for consensus to depart.
"Let him sit in his mud! It suits him well. At least his stench matches his personality. I'm out of here!" Gwenifer speaks aloud not disguising her disgust.
Resuming your previous travel arrangement, your group heads off in the direction indicated by Earthseat.
=20
Midday finds you wandering through thigh-deep water filled with tall reeds, leaving you reluctantly eating your lunch on the go, careful not to drop anything.
=19
By early afternoon, you've had your fill of swampy water and nasty muck, causing you to feel great relief upon sighting a large area of relatively flat stone rising a bit above water/mud level. As you approach, you discover that you are not the only ones interested in the spot: lying spread-eagle atop the moss-covered stone is another dwarf.
One would almost think the dwarf was sunbathing, if not for the overcast skies that rolled in over the course of the morning today. He's not dripping like Earthseat, but he's still filthy enough to suggest constant life in the wilderness. Some sort of furry pelt is wrapped around his middle, tied in place with what appears to be some kind of vine.
As you clamber up onto the rocky platform (some thirty feet across in any given direction), the dwarf sits up abruptly and looks at you, cocking his head inquisitively.
"Who are you?" he asks in a very neutral, matter-of-fact tone.
Finlogan smiles and steps forward to introduce himself and their mission. "I am Finlogan, a prince of Escalus, and pleased to meet you, master dwarf. We are on a mission of discovery. Our Lady Tam here seeks information about a devastating blight that kills all the bugs. It has affected her homeland, and she believes that it has has happened down here, too. The dwarf shaman Earthseat remembered the blight occurred before his time in this direction. Would you happen to have heard of this blight?" The wood elf prince treats the dwarf as a peer.
Is it a dwarf-thing or a druid-thing that these fellows are so foul? Gwenifer thinks to herself. Certainly, Naia is a druid but she manages to maintain her hygiene.
"Maybe I could sell him a bottle of perfume," Teo whispers to Gwen.
Gwenifer whispers back and grins mischievously, "I'm tempted to throw a bottle at him, simply for amusement's sake. I have a good arm. But that's probably why it's best someone else diplomacize."
"Ah..." the dwarf replies. "I know of the blight you're referring to, yes. But! The bugs were not dead. No, they had run away, along with plenty of other creatures. It was a real mess for a while; my father told me about it many years ago, and he heard about it from his father before him. See, there was something unnatural beneath the swamp. The animals could sense it, and left the area, which of course had all sorts of consequences."
The dwarf pauses to scratch himself, rather unceremoniously, then continues. "Nobody alive knows what it was, though. The way I've heard the story, whatever it was never actually came out. So, the shamans of the time set up some magic that would contain that unsettling feeling that was scaring the wildlife, and things got back to normal after a while."
He turns and blows some snot onto the mossy rock beside him. "Of course, it's an old story. Could be I've got some details wrong from how it actually happened."
The dwarf points in a roughly southwestern direction. "If you head that way, you'll eventually find the place. There's a tall, funny-looking tree where it was all centered, and four small pillars set up as part of the magical ward surrounding it. Careful, though; don't go knocking those down or anything. If whatever it was is still in the swamp, you might let it out or something, or at least start the critter-scaring all over again. And if you go inside the contained area, there's no telling what you might find, so take care of yourselves, alright?"
"If we enter the pillars, what will happen? Could you tell us if there are any known guardians we should watch out for? Any additional knowledge would be most appreciated."
Naia smiles at the dwarf's rustic nose-blow. After Teo finishes, Naia makes a polite obeisance by lowering her head and showing her arms are empty, though whether that means anything here she is unaware...
"Brother, the one known as Earthseat sent us hither - what might your name be? I am Naia Tam."
"I concur with my friend Teo - could you tell us anymore of the old story?
"I'm called Mossnap," the dwarf says happily, almost as though proud of his name. "I couldn't really tell you what would happen if you went inside the area, since nobody ever does. The only thing you could call a guardian around here might be Earthseat"—here Mossnap interrupts himself with a gale of laughter—"but he couldn't fight anyone off if his life depended on it. He's mostly just pissy and full of himself. So no, no guardians. Just the usual swamp critters what might try to eat ya. Don't really know much else, though, or I'd tell ya."
Naia. Her name is Naia. Finlogan thought while watching the conversation. He was glad she was speaking up for herself with this dwarf. The wood elf prince thought it amusing that a fellow dwarven shaman shared his opinion of Earthseat. Better to treat everyone as a respected friend and smother them with kindness. He remembered one of this tutors used to say. What was their name?
He kept an eye out to their surroundings but his thoughts to himself.
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Wraith stays back a bit, watching and listening to the others talking. She stands relaxed but alert, frequently turning away from the conversation to scan the surroundings.
You begin trekking in the indicated direction, keeping a lookout for the strange tree and set of four pillars Mossnap told you about.
=9
As the clouds which rolled in this morning begin to darken somewhat, you get a bit turned around while trying to find your destination. As you push aside the reeds that infest the thigh-deep water through which you find yourselves slogging, you come upon a moss-covered lump sticking some three feet up out of the water. It leans to one side, soggy swamp-flora hanging from it and dangling toward the water. Whatever is underneath is completely covered, but from the general contours of its oblong, leaning shape, it doesn't really look like some random rock or log.
Finlogan hand signals to Wraith to stop and points at the non-random, moss-covered lump. The wood elf prince slowly backs away to the rest of the party and whispers to Naia, "what's that?"
Gwenifer whispers, "Dinner."
Naia's intake of breath is just audible as she throws up a warding hand.
She peers at the....thing. Almost crouching to the edge of the mud, she bends forward, nostrils flaring, then submerges. Smelling anything that might provide a clue. Seeing what there is to see. Feeling the forest and swamp surrounding her, its vibrations, its calm or lack thereof.
Through several minutes of cautious investigation, you discover that the moss-covered protrusion is not a creature, but an object. Carefully scraping away some of the soggy plant matter, you can see that it is some sort of statue or idol, clearly very old and gradually sinking into the bog as the seasons pass. The sculpt and pose suggest that perhaps it's a tribute to some old hero or folk legend.
This is probably a statue of the human heroine Majlin, the central figure in the legends of the original exploration of the realm which later became Avonali. This is probably just a tribute, built in a bygone era in which that legend was a bit more fresh in the nation's collective consciousness.
In the course of removing the moss to get a look at the statue, you see two places where an indentation was carved to house a gemstone: one is the figure's left hand (clearly intended to hold something, but now empty) and the other is the likeness of an amulet, which still contains a (now very dirty) diamond.
Seeing that the statue is not a threat, Finlogan lets the others scrape away the moss. He resumes his distance in front of the group waiting for them to depart. Meanwhile, the wood elf prince surveys the area.
Know. History
"Let's take the diamond with us. It might be worth quite a few gold at the market. We just need to polish it up just a bit. "
Teo was ready to proceed onto more of the investigation.
Let's take he statue with us.
...the thigh-deep water... you come upon a moss-covered lump sticking some three feet up out of the water.
Faced with no objections, Teo carefully pries the diamond out of its setting in the old statue. Cleaned up, you'd guess it's worth about 175gp. You then resume your search for the area Mossnap told you about.
=15
As the afternoon wears on, you progress slowly but surely through the swamp. The overcast sky continues to darken, and you suspect rain to start either tonight or tomorrow morning.
=20
The hours wear on, and as evening begins to set in, you spot another rocky area like where you met Mossnap. Happy to have a chance for your feet and legs (and in Teo's case, her whole bottom half) to finally get some air, you climb up onto the natural stone platform and consider whether it might be a good spot to camp for the night.
Presently, mournful moans fill the air around you, and two figures rise from the swamp, one on either side of your group! The figures are humanoid, but resemble lightly-glowing corpses draped in translucent tatters of dripping-wet clothing and with wet-looking hair plastered haphazardly on their heads. They extend their arms and begin to approach!
Everyone snaps to action, except Gwen, who is perhaps distracted with all the muck between her toes.
It's not uncommon for victims of unceremonious deaths who got no proper burial to rise as undead, so it seems likely that these two creatures are the unquiet remnants of folks who died here in the swamp without anyone to take care of their remains. Destroying these undead creatures should force them to "cross over" permanently.
These particular undead creatures look like there's a corporeal "core" with an ethereal layer around it. That probably means that non-magical weapons will be hindered somewhat, though there may be exceptions. Also, holy magic is likely to be very effective. Finally, these look like drowning victims, so they may try to force you to share their fate. Stay out of the water.
Wraith snaps off a shot at the leading monster.
Know. Religion
The little halfling didn't know what was attacking her, but she figured acid would stop it. She flung acid at the attacking creature, trying to slow its advance.
Teo flings acid straight into the face of the creature nearest her! Though the spell seemed effective, the creature hardly even flinched!
Wraith fires a shot at the creature approaching her, catching it in the arm! As the bolt hits, the shimmering surface of the creature's arm almost seems to "splash" from the impact.
Naia's lips curl in disgust at the unlife shambling toward her, and she suddenly wants the creature very gone. Still, she knows her thunderwave would fling her companions away from her, and possibly not even reach the drowned-thing. Restraining the creature might work...
ROUND 1
Cast entangle at the creautre nearest Teo and Naia.
At the call of Naia's magic, the reeds of the swamp twist to life, grasping and curling at the creature, holding it in place!
Finlogan draws his shortswords and attempts to quiet the undead. But lady luck is against him.
Finlogan steps forward into the water to engage the creature that Wraith shot, but can't seem to land a blow!
The creature retaliates, reaching dead hands toward Finlogan!
,
,
Fin easily dodges one glowing hand, but the other grabs his neck and he feels pain shoot through his body!
The creature tries to pull Fin down by his neck, but he wrenches himself free from its grasp!
Meanwhile, the other creature tries to break free from Naia's enchanted plants!
The twisting reeds snap into pieces and fall from the luminescent body as it steps up onto the rocks next to Teo and Naia!
Stepping up to defend her squishier teammates, Gwen takes a swing with her greatsword against the creature harrying Teo and Naia!
,
She hits it hard, but feels her swing slow down, as though she were chopping through a layer of water to get to the solid parts underneath!
"Whew. That was close. Let's try something else." Finlogan breathes a quick sigh of relief about how lady luck had returned to him. He steps back and replaces his shortswords with his longbow.
Wraith looses another arrow at the same creature as before:
Seeing that acid had done damage, Teo again used her cantrip to try to damage the creature. She again tossed a handful of acid at the undead.
Finlogan retreats out of the water, back to the group on the rocks!
Wraith fires again, this time putting an arrow solidly into the creature's chest with small, glowy splash!
Teo tries another acid spell, but her target jerks to the side and evades it!
Seeing her spell overcome dismays the water elf. She yells to the creature:
"Come this way, foul dread thing" and jumps into the water, hoping it will follow...
Jump into water, use water breathing racial ability...
The creature Naia taunted follows her into the water, and Gwen takes the opportunity to take a swing as it turns its attention toward Naia!
,
Just missed!
The creature plunges its hands into the water toward Naia!
,
,
The creature's dead hands get uncomfortably close, but fail to grasp the elf!
The other creature steps forward and attacks Wraith!
,
,
Wraith was ready for it and easily evaded its grasp!
Wraith scrambles back, just out of reach of the creature, dropping her bow and drawing her longsword.
With Wraith retreating, Finlogan stands his ground this time on firm rocks. He plunges his shortswords into the creature attempting to quiet the undead.
Teo wanted to try and finish this undead now, not wanting its claws to touch any of them. She summons a shiny orb and tosses it at the scary creature.
Ranged Attack
Ranged Attack
Damage
Naia turns onto her back, and thrusts her hands up at the dread thing following her, conjuring a wave of force to toss it aside.
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Wraith disengages, and Finlogan unleashes against his opponent! Both swords slide through the watery, luminescent coating of the creature and strike hard, nearly toppling it!
Teo launches a spell at the other creature, but misses! Naia tries blasting it with concussive force!
A near-deafening BOOM! explodes from where the creature was standing over Naia, and water goes everywhere. For a moment you can see the elf lying on her back in an indentation in the wet mud, before the surrounding bogwater rushes in to the space left by the water that was displaced by the blast. Disgusting, fetid water rains down in the entire area for a few long seconds. Meanwhile, the creature is popped in an arc through the air and land, wobbly but standing, right back next to Teo and Gwen again.
Her target once more in reach, Gwen abandons her greatsword in favor of trying her maul:
,
...but is perhaps distracted by the worst shower ever.
Naia's opponent seems unrelenting in its focus on her, and heads right back to the water to attack her, giving Gwen another opening to strike!
,
BUT EVERYTHING IS ICKY
The creature then once again tries to grab Naia!
,
It grabs her by the neck, and she feels waves of pain shoot through her! With its other hand, it grabs her jaw and pulls!
It forces Naia's mouth open, seemingly in a misguided attempt to drown her.
The other creature retaliates against Finlogan!
,
,
It latches on with both hands, releasing waves of dark energy into his body! Then, it tries to pull him toward the water!
Finlogan sees what the other creature did when it had someone in the water, and stubbornly refuses to budge!
Teo tries her magical spell again, not wanting to allow this monster to drown anyone on her group! She again throws an acidic Chromatic Orb at the monster.
Ranged Attack
Damage
Finlogan grits his teeth in pain as the necrotic energy surges into him from the two wounds. He strikes back with his silver blade sliding the point into the center of the creature.