16th-18th of Neth: Southeast of Tera
In the morning, the rain has stopped, but the brisk cold of oncoming winter has not made getting out of bed any easier. Tarian purchases enough rations for the trip, which Myne purifies to ward off the disease of the town, and they make their way back out of town on the path they came in on. In two and a half days of travel, they follow the Trail of the Magi until they reach the Pixie Trail, which they turn southwards onto. Roth and Myne take turns scanning the terrain from outside the wagon, but find nothing out of the ordinary. On the third day out, they come up over a ridge and see a low-lying mist to the south, and the tops of dead trees poking through. They had reached the swampland, and their hopes of finding the lichen for the alchemist brightened.
As the trail draws up alongside the swamp, Myne jumps down from the wagon and says, "Maybe we can make quick work of this trip. I know what I'm looking for, and I'll ask just Roth to come with me; the rest can wait here. We're both skilled in survival and what nature can throw at us, and I trust Roth's judgement. I hope we can be back to the wagon in a couple hours."
Roth brightens at the invitation, and shoulders his pack to accompany her. As they step into the marshes, the water comes up to their knees; the air is dense and warm, and the water is thick and rancid-smelling.
Myne takes a deep breath and turns to Roth, "I know this lichen grows on the sides of damp stone, likely north-facing or with no exposure to sunlight at all."
Roth nods companionably, "Let's get in and out then. Watch your footing; this water could change depths without warning."
As they begin to wade away, Tarian seems to make his mind up about something, and jumps down from his horse, "Wait! I want to come too."
Roth and Myne watch him wade through the water to catch up, and give him looks of curiosity and questioning on their faces. He gives Myne and Roth no answer for his desire to tag along, but they accept his company.
All three manage to avoid the deeper sections of the marshes thanks to their keen senses. They come across many vibrant specimens of fungi and thick moss, but not the lichen they are looking for. As they wade deeper in, Tarian sees something protruding from the water: something rocky, but not naturally formed. It looks like a monolith as they approach it: 10 feet high by 10 feet wide, cut nearly perfectly rectangular. Three sides are covered in a swampy, decaying mess, and on the fourth side they find an opening; a doorway to a set of descending stairs. Their curiosity is held at bay at the top of the stairs long enough for Tarian to make a path back to gather the rest of the group before investigating further. He leads the group safely to the entrance, where Roth and Myne are anxiously waiting for them.
18th of Neth: The Swamp's Stony Descent
Centipedes and Frogs After a Swim
Inside the doorway, they can tell the stone is slick, and as they carefully descend the air gets cooler and damper. After about twenty feet they stop suddenly; there is nothing but pitch black water at their feet. When Sara lights the way with an illumination spell, they see that the water is crystal clear, and the stone tunnel descends further underneath the water.
Roth decides to brave the water and investigate the dangers for the rest of the group. He ties some rope around his waist from one of the group's packs, and then takes a plunge. He swims down the stairs, and at the bottom sees a short hallway. Pressing forward, he swims through the tunnel and finds another set of stairs going up on the other side. He swims up the stairs, and breaks the surface of the water. The air in this tunnel is stagnant, and it is all man-made. He swims back to tell the rest of the group of the swim ahead of them, but that they should all be able to accomplish it. One after another, they each traverse the watery tunnel, and find themselves in a long tunnel, soaking wet but thrilled to have reached the other side.
There are tree roots that have broken through the expertly hewn walls, and they suddenly find themselves in a domed room with slivers of light coming in through the rock where the tree roots have punctured it. As they step in further, they see a slight rustling from around the cracks in the stone and rootwork, and as their eyes adjust to what they are seeing, they realize that a swarm of colorful centipedes are descending upon them from all around the dome.
They back into the tunnel to try to funnel the approaching insects, and Myne recognizes the species, shouting, "Of course they're the poisonous ones!"
Sara uses elemental ray to light the first wave on fire as Roth pulls out his longsword and takes a swing at the wall. Myne and Rauros both slash at the walls and connect with a clump of writhing insects, and then the swarm descends upon them, injuring Lo the worst of all of them. Tarian swings and misses, and then runs back down the tunnel for the safety of the water while Lo tries flare, and then follows Tarian. Bo turns and runs as fast as he can, outstripping the rogue and bard and performing a magnificent backflip into the water, swimming all the way through the watery tunnel to the other side (he wasn't taking any chances). Sara takes out her wand and fires a volley of magic missiles at the swarm, and Roth takes another swing with his broadsword to squash the remaining centipedes.
Covered in bug guts, Lo sends a magic message to Bo to tell him he can come back, and shortly afterwards the monk appears from down the tunnel. They walk across the domed room and find a closed door that opens when they push it. There is another tunnel before them with stone shelving lining the walls. There is dirt, debris, and rotting weaponry, but they do find two things in good condition: a studded leather armor shirt and a long bow with a dark complexion. Sara minutely examines the new gear, and finds nothing uncommon about the armor, but the bow is another matter. She could feel its power as she held it in her hands, and she knew that if Roth wielded this new bow, he would find his powers increased with it. For the matter of the armor, Myne refuses to take it, and with a little discussion, they decide it would be best used by Lo.
When they reach the end of the tunnel, they come to another large rectangular room. On one side the wall has caved in, and water trickles down from the opening. On top of the debris sit two large frogs, who eye them complacently as they carefully cross the room trying not to provoke them. At the end of the room is a set of descending stairs, and as they traverse them, Bo slips on a patch of muck and tumbles down the stairs into darkness. He is only slightly bruised, and gets to his feet as the rest of the group join him at the bottom.
Just One Spider in a Tunnel
In this hallway, there is no rootwork, and it would be utterly dark if not for Sara's powers. The tunnel is still clearly man-made, and as they make their way into the entrance of another large room, the first thing that catches their eyes is a large statue in the middle. The subject of the statue is a humanoid figure with a tail and elongated snout, and there are worn engravings along the pedestal.
Bo says, "I remember from my readings in the monastery that long ago this continent was home to lizardfolk, but they were wiped out by the first settlers. Although at the point when this statue would have been done, not many were left anyway."
As they further examine the room, they see cobwebs and spider webs along the walls and down the tunnel on the other side.
Myne cringes and whispers, "These webs must be the work of a very large spider. I am rather hoping the spider responsible for these is gone."
Tarian decides to venture towards the hallway on the other side of the room, and as he looks into the darkness of the tunnel, he sees the dark outline of a figure in the middle that stops him in his tracks. The figure begins to move towards Tarian, and soon at the mouth of the tunnel, he sees large legs unfolding as they stretch into the room, and when the figure fully emerges, Tarian is staring up at a Giant Black Widow.
Myne shouts, "Poisonous! Of course!"
The spider is hungry for flesh, and Tarian has drawn her out of her tunnel to feed: there was no time for Myne to try to talk to it. Roth pulls out his new longbow and fires a shot, but without getting his eye in on the bow, he misses the spider. Bo jumps in front of Tarian and delivers a Power Attack, and the spider's jaws narrowly miss Bo. Sara fires a crossbow bolt at it, while Tarian sneaks and misses, as does Myne. Rauros lands a heavy blow, and Lo hits it with his sword. Roth lines up his shot, and this time finds his target, as does Bo when he lands Flurry of Blows on the spider. The spider misses hitting Bo again, and Sara's crossbow bolt deflects off the spider's legs. Tarian stabs and hits, and Myne takes one last hit and buries her dagger into the spider's body. It crumples and twitches, and then lies still.
Roth uses his flint and tinder to burn the webbing out of the tunnel to make their trek through a little easier, and as the webbing smolders, they hear the sound of metal hitting the floor. Tarian heads into the tunnel first, and he finds the object that hit the floor: it's a dagger that Sara assesses is also not a piece of normal weaponry. Tarian takes the dagger to replace one of his others.
Finding a Friend in the Pool and a Reward for Efforts
The room they find when they emerge from the tunnel is a large one with a pool of water taking up the center of the room. Around the circumference of the pool is a walkway, and on the far wall they see a large mural. When they walk to the far side to examine the mural further, they see lizardfolk worshiping a floating ball of light. They also see that there is some kind of ceremonial altar with intricate carvings depicting lizardfolk in some aspect of worship. Their eyes are again drawn to the dark pool of water in the middle, and they decide to see how deep it is. Sara uses her powers to light a rock, and then drops it into the pool. The little glowing orb of light falls, and falls, and falls. They estimate that when the rock finally comes to rest, it must be 30 feet down.
They also start to notice movement from around the glow of the rock, and they see the shadowy figure of a serpent-like head rise up from out of the water, and then another, and then another. A five-headed hydra rears up out of the water, and begins to make its way to the altar. Sara pulls back her light source so they can better see the serpent as it approaches, and they ready themselves for a world of hurt.
Tarian sneaks and misses, Sara tries to cast Elemental Ray, but it too misses. Lo swings his sword and misses too. The hydra lashes out with three of its heads and hits Lo hard. Bo gets into a defensive stance and prepares to take the brunt of the damage from the hydra. He hits with a Power Attack. Myne heals Lo's wounds while Rauros bites the hydra and shields the two of them, and Roth takes aim and hits with his bow, as does Tarian with his short bow. Sara hits with her Elemental Ray, Lo dazzles the hydra with Flare, and the hydra manages to only connect with one of its heads. Myne casts Virtue on Bo, and Sara casts Rock Armor on Bo as well to protect him as Tarian's and Roth's volley of arrows miss. Lo casts Flare to keep the hydra dizzy, and Myne and Rauros both connect. Roth's and Tarian's next volley of arrows both find their marks, and Sara pulls out her wand with some hesitation (she had expended much of its valuable power) and hits the hydra with magic missiles. Exhausted of much of his magic, Lo searches around under nearby stone benches and finds a short sword that has a darker metallic look as the hydra misses again. Bo uses another Power attack on the hydra, Myne misses with her dagger, but Rauros hits with a swipe of his paw. Roth's arrow misses, but Tarian manages to stab the hydra from behind. Sara launches one more volley of magic missiles, and hits the hydra square in the chest. The hydra slumps over, and all the heads hitting the edge of the pool with successive thumps.
Bo's curiosity about the pool has not faded after the monster takes its last breath, and in a swelling of impulsiveness jumps into the pool, and swims down to the bottom. Once down there, he sees a set of bracers that he swims back up with. When Sara examines them, she knows that these too have special abilities for the user, and Bo puts them on with pride. As the others continue to examine the room, they find a rusty lever under a stone bench, and Sara finds a mummified hand on a chain on the bottom shelf of the altar. She knows that it is an object of power, and for the wearer of this gruesome necklace, they have the power to pick up something magically. She weighs her queasiness against the power that it would grant her, and shudders as she puts it around her neck. They decide to use the power of the necklace to lift the latch (in case of traps), and as she does so, a section of the stone wall opens to reveal a small chamber.
As they enter the musty room, the smell of mold and rot invades their senses. The ceiling is cracked above a small table, and the continuous drip of water from the crack has turned the table into a mess of rotting wood and mold. There are three perfect feathers sitting atop the rest of the pile of decay, and Sara knows that these pristine feathers are tokens, and each transform into something different: one is a massive oak tree, one is a bird, and one turns into an ethereal whip. Sara reverentially places these in her pack; she knows that these should only be used in dire circumstances. The other thing that catches the groups' eyes is a glowing coming from a dank corner of the room: Myne knows that this is the lichen that they were searching for. She carefully collects it and places it in her pack, and the group makes its way back out of the sunken temple.
Finding a Cure for Tarian's Finger… Other Than Cutting It Off
When the group make it back to their wagon, it is late afternoon; they decide to wait until morning to set out for Tera. It had been a long day in the sunken temple, and they were looking forward to a good rest and a bite to eat.
After their tents are pitched and the cooking fire lit, Myne decides to take advantage of the unique area and the last of the daylight to go out and find other herbs, fungi, and lichen. By aiding this alchemist, she realizes how valuable the profession of herbalism is, and she gives thanks for all the things her mother taught her. She felt confident that if she honed her skills even further, being an herbalist like her mother might give her something to survive on (since it seemed that quite abruptly she was an adult and on her own without a copper to her name). She hated asking for gold from the others, and wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible. When Sara sees that Myne is venturing out with her herb-gathering supplies, she hastily grabs her pack and joins her cousin. It is a peaceful stroll for the two of them, and they find many new herbs that Myne carefully packs away. When the sun finally sets, they make their way back to camp to see what the guys are up to.
They find the men lounging around the fire, with a haunch of deer meat inexpertly cooking over the fire. Bo quietly nibbles his squirrel jerky, and they spend a few moments staring into the embers and eating. Since Bo has no tent, he simply takes out his bedroll and makes himself comfortable next to the embers and falls asleep relatively early in the night. Tarian volunteers to take first watch, and the rest of the party slowly make their way to their tents.
Tarian sits on a stump and listens to the sounds of the night: the branches stirring in the breeze, small animals scurrying in the brush, and Rauros snoring loudly from outside Myne's tent. Suddenly he feels a tingling sensation on the tip of his left index finger, and then it begins to twitch violently. He can't find a reason for the sudden change, and he shakes his hand to try to work feeling back into it.
Bo's senses somehow jerk him into consciousness, and he opens his eyes to see Tarian shaking his hand, "What is wrong with your hand, Tarian?"
Still rubbing his finger, Tarian replies, "I'm not sure. It just feels strange all of a sudden."
Bo takes a step back when he sees that the tip of Tarian's finger has turned black and blue. Tarian feels the tip of his finger, and it is leathery to the touch.
In a low voice, Bo says, "We never should have gone to that village! We should cut off your finger before it spreads!"
Tarian tries to soothe the monk, "Now don't be hasty. May I remind you that we have a good healer in the group." Tarian rushes to find Myne in her tent, gently shaking her awake.
Quickly and quietly he says, "Myne...Myne. I need you to look at my finger...something is wrong with it."
Myne slowly rolls out of her tent muttering under her breath, her short hair a mass of fluff around her head, "Mmmm...wassup? It's the middle of the night…" When she sees Tarian's finger, she shakes off her sleepiness and examines it closely.
"Tarian...how do you think you received this injury?"
Tarian has no answer for her, merely shrugging his shoulders as she brings his finger close to her face for a minute examination. She tries to heal the bone and flesh in the affected area, but it does not change Tarian's condition. At the same time, it does not seem to spread any further.
While Tarian and Myne are working, Bo slips into Roth's tent to steal a weapon to sever Tarian's finger. He finds Roth's sword, and manages to unsheathe it and pull it out of the tent without Roth waking up.
When he returns to Tarian and Myne, and sees that she is not able to have any positive change in Tarian's condition, he brandishes the sword at Tarian, "Cut it off!"
Myne and Tarian try to soothe Bo again, this time by Myne saying, "Look, if this is not something I can heal, it might be a magical ailment. Maybe we can at least get Sara to tell if it is magic-"
As they are discussing this, Bo and Tarian hear a scurrying in the brush, and immediately turn to the sound. As their eyes strain to see in the darkness, they see a pair of gleaming eyes that gives them a moment of fear before the eyes materialize themselves into a raccoon that scurries out of the brush and runs away. As soon as the raccoon is gone, Bo turns his attention and new sword on Tarian again.
Myne rushes to Sara's tent and wakes her cousin as gently as possible, "Sara, love, we have a predicament. Tarian has done something to his finger, I need to know if it's magic or not. I can't make a change in it."
Sara also pulls herself out of her dreams with some small amount of mumbling.
When she sees Bo standing next to Tarian with a sword drawn, she steps in between the two men to diffuse the situation, "Bo, put the sword away. No one is going to be losing a finger this night."
Once Myne and Tarian relay the full events of the night, and Sara understands what is needed, she casts a quick spell to Detect Magic at Tarian's discolored finger.
She does sense the presence of magic, and her grey eyes pierce Tarian as she asks, "What have you been doing with your finger, or what magical items he had been messing around with to cause such an ailment?"
Tarian tries to make up a far-fetched and over the top story of how his finger came to have the discoloration, but Bo and Myne don't buy it, so he settles for the lame story that for just once was the truth: he had not recently been messing with anything; his finger just suddenly was afflicted.
The four of them had to figure out what to do for Tarian. His affliction did not seem to be worsening, but worry now crept into them that the plague affecting the village of Tera is also what Tarian is now suffering from. They were never given the details of what the symptoms of the plague were from the alchemist, so they had to entertain it as a possibility. On the off-chance that it might help, Myne pulls some of the lichen out of her pack and wraps it around Tarian's finger with a strip of cloth. Because of the swiftness with which the ailment took hold, and their lack of knowledge about what was wrong with him, they decide it best to make for Tera and the alchemist as quickly as possible, and that meant rousing Lo and Roth. Sara gently wakes them both, and explains the situation while Myne begins to saddle the horses.
Lo wonders out loud to himself if it is a natural ailment, and Tarian quietly murmurs to him, "I really hope it isn't like this because of the jar of the black ooze that's in my pack, or my encounter with the blood of the world."
