A Small Piece of Home

The only thing that the letter said that was of note was...

“There is a star rising in the north...”
We inquire of the dead mage Greycon, and discover:
1.“The star in the north is a long-fabled return of someone of great mystical power. I only know vague things about him, that his return does not bode well for our organization.”
2.Elias and Eram fled to the east, very far away.
3.Elias and Eram plan to regroup and continue their agenda

We repay Mishnor for forgetting to give him a cut of the treasure in our earlier battles. Afterwards, we bid the King Malevus farewell and head out to the abandoned Ruk-Shol encampments. Soren and Azariah discover a few remaining Ruk Shol women and children amongst devoured and half-rotten corpses. Soren, Nobo'ru, Andreas and Azariah return to Naeshuza to turn these people over to the king, then double-time back to catch up with Lord Bahirim.

We see will-o-the-whisps ahead and warn them. We manage to avoid the will-o-whisps on the trail and arrive at a small village.

Our characters have come from the south east, and two days out to the north of Naeshuza is that farthest from home we have ever been. We come across a small village. To the west we see a large body of water, a lake of some kind. It is probably a fishing community named Thaskul. Azariah and Kas-sim'dul stop in, one for fish and the other for ale. Azariah, after talking to a fisherman, discovers the town has little except the dangerous trade of fishing. Kas-sim buys a keg of ale for the men from Naeshuza to bolster morale.


As we go farther north and encounter more swampy terrain. Azariah detects that there is an increase in magical saturation in the land, somehow connected with the bog. Abel later detects that the magicks are tramsmutational in nature and illusory in nature, in the sense that it creates confusion more than hallucination as Elias' magicks do. Mishnor suggests that we take his tunnels, but with no practical means to enter them with the horses, we are forced to take the above-ground route. We go into the swamp, leaving markers to try and remain oriented. Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, we begin to go in circles repeatedly. Kas-sim'dul recalls that there are fey creatures, and that some become twisted and dark near the borders of the feylands. Eventually, creatures of the swamp are drawn to us, and we have to fight them off, which we succeed in doing.