After spending sometime wading through the bog, searching for a being known only to the party as “eoR,” the party settles down from some much needed rest. The battle with the bear and owl earlier in the night had taxed many of them; and even though Garret had done well in healing their wounds, they were still fatigued and tired. Sleep would provide the only respite for them, and it was time they took it.
They settle on a small and somewhat dry patch of morass beneath a sickly-looking tree. They don’t assign watches this night. Try as they might, the rest—although welcome and needed—is anything but. They toss and turn, failing to acquire deep enough sleep to really chase away the fatigue completely. Those of you who do achieve dreams this night are tormented by severe cases of vivid nightmares.
The harshest case may be that of Stan’s dreams. In your travels, you have not known him to talk in his sleep; but tonight is a little different. Slouching against the tree, between two gnarled roots, the wizard moans and stirs restlessly, until finally waking with a start and calling out for someone named
Clementine.
* * * *
The night passes without encounter, save the frightful dreams many of you experience. The next morning greets you with grey, overcast skies. The dreary weather reflexes how each of you feel this morning, dragging your feet as you go about your daily routines before leaving the camp.
Conversation is light, if existent at all while you continue your search of the swamp for the Guardian. Most of what little conversation that does pass between the party members is of food—or the lack thereof. Chubbs seems to dwell on this most of all; but even he quickly realizes that complaining about it won’t fill his belly any quicker than completing this wretched task and being done with it.
Time in the “gloomy place” seems to drag terribly. Shriok keeps close watch of the sun above, which he notes is extraordinarily accurate to the actual sun outside this doubtless artificial realm. The party spends the better half the day searching and calling out for “eoR,” however the summons go unanswered. That is, until they come across a strange structure.
The building is constructed entirely of sticks and gnarled tree branches. It appears to be a hut, but lacks even the basic framing structure a child would have incorporated. In truth, it looks more like a massive pile or mound of sticks with a hole literally punched out of the middle.
As you approach the mound, Neya suddenly becomes agitated, spinning around and barring her teeth at the nothingness behind the party. But Shirok and Ilsa know the wolf better than to be put up in arms at nothing.
It does take long before the strange black-skinned creatures begin to crawl out of the shallow pools of stagnate water that litter the ground in every direction.
Please roll Initiative and post 1st round action(s)
