Chapter 24 - The Back Door
Days 51-52
The next morning, the party set out in a pair of boats (one for Jrak, one for the rest), each crewed by four slightly nervous-looking gnomes. In the first hour of their journey, other gnomish boats were in sight, plying the best fishing spots of the waterways. But these were soon left behind them as the adventurers proceeded north into the deeper regions of the swamps. A faint mist lingered over the calm waters, thickening as they journeyed onward. By noon, the sun had become a faint light overhead and fog banks obscured their vision to as little as twenty feet. The gnomes proceeded cautiously but steadily, navigating by some means that the party could not understand.
As mid-afternoon approached, the wane light of the sun flickered, and the party looked upward to see a number of shadowy shapes flittering quietly through the fog overhead. A small number descended through the fog, revealing them to be some sort of fey creature, like a fairy cloaked in inky shadow. As they flew, a few left trails of shadow behind them, descending through the fog to create walls of darkness. The others produced javelins of a similar dark matter and hurled them at the boats.
Trykaar was the first to react, jumping from the boat into the shallow waters alongside one of a number of small hillocks that rose from the surrounding swamps. As he did so, a wall of darkness fell, separating him from the boat. A javelin from the attacking fey then found an exposed gap in his armour and he suddenly found the light fading as a powerful poison overcame him and he toppled unconscious into the water.
The remaining party members gestured and shouted directions to their gnomish guides, who began to steer the boats for the safety of the hillocks. More javelins fell amongst the boats, causing injury to adventurers and crew alike. In the midst of this chaos, Leandrie recognized that these vile creatures of shadow were just the sort of abomination that the revered Isten had campaigned to eradicate from the daylight world. Thrusting his holy symbol into the air above him, he called on the light of Isten to dispel the shadows, and was pleased to see his god answer with a burst of divine light that burned through the surrounding mist and shadowy fey creatures, driving them back before its brilliant radiance. Aldur was also lending his aid, calling forth powerful burst of stones to cut down the grouped creatures where they gathered to throw their javelins. In the face of such fearsome opponents, the creatures soon took to the air, escaping into the surrounding fog.
As they gathered their senses and thought to look for the vanished Trykaar, the party was surprised to see a muddy, weed-covered hand thrust up from the waters of the swamp, soon followed by rest of Trykaar, clad in the detrius of the swamp and coughing up foul water. After doing what they could to clean him off, he was allowed back in the boat and the journey continued, the travelers now being careful to maintain a watch on the fog overhead, as well as the shadowy fog banks that lay in all other directions.
Having tended to their wounded, the two boats resumed their journey through the mist-enshrouded swamp. As midday passed, the sun remained a vague blur above the clouds, and its descent was well underway before anything else emerged from the threatening fog. As the boats wound their way through a narrow channel between islands, a large plant suddenly spit a spore pod that landed in the foremost boat, where it exploded, their spores digging into the flesh of the adventurers and their guides. The spores immediately began to send out thorny growths that tore at the flesh of their hosts as they desperately tried to dig them out.
Neela and Trykaar immediately leaped from the boat, into the shallow swamp, and made to attack the creature. Meanwhile, in the second boat, Jrak's gnome paddlers were witness to the dreadful attack of the creature and made to turn their craft about before they came into range of the seedpods. Jrak yelled and threatened, but the gnomes were terrified and would not listen. Realizing that the gnomes were not to be reasoned with, Jrak finally bailed out of the boat and into the fetid waters of the swamp, to make his way back on foot.
Neela was first onto the island, but was met with flailing attacks from the plant's bristly vines, knocking her to the ground. But Trykaar followed, pressing his attack before the plant could finish the unconscious half-orc. The plant proved mobile, slowly backing away from the dangerous swordsage. But before his tenacious sword and assaulted by the magics of Aldur, it did not stand a chance. The plant was destroyed, but despite the administrations of Leandrie they had lost a pair of their guides. The gnomes wailed at the loss of their comrades as the party looked around, observing that there were similar plants on the next islands to the east and west. Had these plants been deliberately located here to serve as some sort of fence or warning?
The gnomes were reluctant to journey onwards, as in addition to their dead, another two lay incapacitated by their injuries. Aldur negotiated with them, bribing them with an extra gold piece eash if they would continue.
The party journeyed onward a short time before camping for the night. In the morning, the fog had cleared somewhat. While it occasionally clung close, at times it would open up to allow unimpeded views. The party journeyed onward unmolested, and as the noon sun hung overhead, they observed a cluster of buildings far ahead. Choosing to err on the side of caution, they steered the boats in a wide arc around the settlement and continued onward. Several hours later, they met some of the denizens of this area of the swamp, when they were hailed by a patrol of lizardmen swimming through the swamp. The lizardmen were suspicious of the party's intentions in their lands and wished to guide them back to their settlement. Aldur attempted to use his cunning to convince the reptiles to leave them alone, but this only served to anger them further. Finally, the party managed to bribe the patrol into escorting them safely to Tarminastir in return for 44gp.
As their guides took them northwards, the constant blue glow that had illuminated the northern horizon now distinctly took on the form of a great tree canopy, reaching a thousand feet into the air. Eventually, a further line of giant trees came into view, stretching to the east and west in a line, none of them reaching the majestic size of the blue tree. The lizardfolk turned back as they reached elven waters, and the party camped for the night, knowing that Tarminastir lay just a short distance further.
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