18-20 Eleint, 1493
❧Da Swamp!?
Night. 18 Eleint
We stumbled outta that blasted tunnel around midnight, finding ourselves knee-deep in a swamp. Lucky for us, T-Bone and Kalama spotted some signs left by them lizardfolk, reckoning they’d lead us to their hideout. With the darkness so thick you could barely see your hand in front of your face, we figured resting up for the night was the wise thing to do. Found ourselves a bit of higher ground, a berm or some such, to lay our heads.
Demdoo, T-Bone, and me, we thought it clever to try and climb a tree to sleep up outta the muck, but we might as well have been trying to wrestle a greased pig for all the good it did. Kept sliding back down like we was covered in oil. Least Kalama found it all right hilarious, even if Lhel just ignored us like we didn’t even exist.
Morning, 19 Eleint
Come morning, finding that trail again coulda proved to be a bit of a challenge. Turns out, Lhel had left some clever little trackers behind, like breadcrumbs for us to follow. Things got a whole lot clearer in the light of day, making the markers left by them lizardfolk a bit easier to spot. The real struggle, though, was keeping our gear dry. Hauling our weapons outta the water was no easy feat, let me tell ya. But we managed, ’cause a rusty sword sure ain’t good for much.
Afternoon
We trudged on for what felt like a hundred miles, though it was only supposed to be 7. Seven! Felt like more, I swear it. Covered in mud and stinking of the swamp, we finally staggered into a small clearing that seemed like it was used for camping regular-like by someone. Probably them cultists, who else would be out in this muck? Round the clearing, there were four of them wicker lean-to things, set up like they was homes away from home. Nearby, three dug-out canoes sat outta the water, like they’d been dragged up for the night. Still, there were signs of them cultists, little markers and such, leading the way. Thank the gods they were all above the waterline ’cause it looked like dry land was gonna be a rare sight for a spell.
Evening
My armor ain’t exactly light as a feather, which made trying to balance in that canoe a bit of a dance, let me tell ya. We’d split into two groups, me taking the tiny gnome with me, while the others piled into the other canoe. We’d been paddling for what felt like ages, the water stretching out around us like an endless sea. Night had fully descended by then, so it was almost a shock when we spotted movement off in the distance. There, just within view, was a group of canoes, manned by lizardfolk.
Kalama, being the smart one she is, sent out her owl for a closer look. Turned out, there were four boats, each carrying three lizardfolk. That’s a fair number to be tangling with, especially on water, and especially in the dark. So we edged our canoes close to the trees, hoping to blend in and keep as still and quiet as the grave.
Once the enemy boats were past us, I had to quick-like slap my hand over Demdo’s mouth before he could start cheering and celebrating like a fool! Gnomes, I tell ya, always full of surprises.
Dawn, 20 Eleint
All dang night we paddled until the morning finally brought us a sight for sore eyes. Dry land! Getting outta that canoe and stretching felt like heaven. We had to reset those headband gems, then started poking around to see what we could see.
Kalama was the one who pointed out a big castle off to our west. To the north were at least a dozen of these reed huts crouched low in the mud and covered with what smelled like dung of all things. T-Bone managed to get close enough to one of the huts and counted 6 of these frog people in it. I ain’t get close enough to see ’em on my own so I got no idea if that means half frog and half man or more like man-sized frogs. Anyway, that’d be a lot of enemies all at once.
I wasn’t listening real well so I know someone said something was off to the south of us, but I got no clue what it was. In my defense, I was a bit busy, what with trying to scrap some of the mud off my boots.