Antia and Lathan begin their two-day journey back to Milborne, leaving Lucien and Albrecht behind to keep an eye on the blue-faced goblins.

After parting with Albrecht and Lucien, Lathan leads Antia through the mire and back toward Milborne. "I'm glad you were able to talk to the shaman," he says to Antia as they walk. "As much as I might dislike goblins, those ones weren't hurting anyone and didn't want to fight. I wouldn't have felt right killing them. Nor would stealing from them after making a deal have been the right thing to do. Thankfully, the others were willing to listen to reason."

"I agree they were just trying to find a place to fit in somewhere to live quietly. I sensed no malice in them." Antia replied

"I feel sorry for them their race has such a bad time of it. Not everyone conforms to the stereotype of their people....take my race....demon spawned yet we try to constantly prove we are not demons....sadly prejudice tends to weaken our resolve until we retaliate and prove those against us right.....perhaps if we all talked more then there might be less hurt in the world"

"As for steeling from them ..... I gave my oath it would not happen ..... It was given to them by their god it would be against all i hold true to have done that"

Lathan and Antia make their way back toward Milborne. By the time the sun begins to set for the day, they have already made it almost to the edge of the New Mire; the ground beneath them, though still muddy, is drier and firmer than much of what they had to travel through today.

"What do you think?" Lathan asks his companion, stopping to look around. "Shall we press on a while longer in hopes of getting out of this mire before we rest? Or do you want to try to find some relatively dry and solid ground around here to rest on?"

"My nature allows me to see in the dark so I can travel on but if you have difficulty in the failing light we can find a dry site to camp for the night" the cleric replied

"I'm fine in the dark," Lathan replies. "Let's push on a little farther. Hopefully, we can get out of this mire before we rest for the night."

Lathan continues to lead Antia through the New Mire toward Milborne. Once the ground is relatively dry and solid again, he will begin looking for a suitable place to camp for the night.

The sun has fully set by the time Lathan and Antia find a suitable place to rest for the night.

Lathan will set up camp then ask Antia to let him rest for the first four hours, offering to keep watch the remainder of the night.

Antia agreed and set herself slightly away from the fire to keep watch, her dark vision letting her see in the nights blackness

The night passes without incident, as does the next day. Antia and Lathan arrive in Milborne shortly before sunset. As the duo heads for the Carman mansion to inform Darius Carman what they have learned, Garyld the Carpenter calls out from his shop, "You there! I'm glad to see you back in Milborne. What happened to your friends? I'd like to have a word with you about a matter you might be able to help with."

Lathan waves at Garyld and approaches. "We've been looking into the cause of the New Mire. Our friends are still there. What can we help you with?"

"Any luck with that?" Garyld asks.

"Shiraz is having some trouble at the Eelhold lately. The water's become more turbulent and she fears her control over the water elemental that lives there is weakening. If the elemental gets out of control, the whole dam could be compromised.

"Shiraz has heard about you and your friends and wants to talk to you. She hopes you can help her find a solution to her problem. If you're willing to help, I can arrange for her to meet with you."

Lathan nods. "We think we've found the source of the water--a ring possessed by a goblin shaman--but we won't know for sure until we can find someone more skilled with magic who can look at the ring for us. That's why Antia and I are here. And we wanted to give Master Carman an update on what we've found."

He looks at Antia and shrugs. "I can't speak for all of us, but I would be willing to meet with this Shiraz."

"You know Tauster in Thurmaster, right? He's yer best bet if you want someone to identify the ring," Garyld says. "But Carman will definitely want to know what you've found.

"I'll tell Shiraz you're willing to meet with her. I presume you'll be in the area for a while?"

" I am loath to go and see this person but we need to have the ring identified so if this is the quickest course of action that will achieve this then we must meet them" concluded Antia after a little thought

Garyld shrugs. "Yeah, it's a good 45 or 50 miles to Thurmaster from here but, like I said, Tauster's yer best bet in Haranshire.

"I'll tell Shiraz to meet with you when you come back this way again."