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.
To be completed as DM's time allows (definitely before campaign recommences in fall).
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