First visit to the swamp
Fever Swamp - September 11
People
Locations
Folklore
The party - Soren, Razzy, Rushd and Rook - meet in the centre of Sigisfarne. Rushd explains that Uncle Indigo discovered a smuggler’s path from Fort Duhrin to the southwest. He figures it has to cross the south-western swamp and wants to discover if the path is useful. He thinks it could benefit Sigisfarne.
Rook is curious to see bog bodies in the swamp. He finds them to be curious things.
Getting to the swamp
The morning is misty and cool. The journey to the nearest part of the river they can get to is uneventful.
Once they arrive, the party sees a fishing hut with a dock on the river. They meet with Otter, who is arguing with Aspen about entering the Swamp. He relents and then offers a pirogue for 10gp as a deposit. If the party returns the boat, he will give back 6gp.
Otter confirms that this river smuggles treasures down to the coast, a practice he has also participated in. He says the smugglers set up a tavern in the south-eastern part of the swamp.
As it gets to the evening, the party decides to forage for food while Soren pays Otter to fish for him. Before everyone sits down to eat, Otter’s line drags something big in the water—it’s a crocodile! It has signs of rot, clearly showing it came from the swamp.
The angry beast proves slippery, but Razzy manages to befuddle the creature with a spell; it seems to lose focus before slinking back into the river, heading south.
Otter says this hasn’t happened before, that the beasts don’t come up this far north. Something must be stirring…
The party decides to sleep in Otter’s hut, and he’s happy to oblige. At night, they hear talking outside, with Otter nowhere to be found in the hut. He returns to the hut quietly, startled by Rushd, who questions him. Otter explains he was dealing with some smugglers, promising he hasn’t compromised the party.
Meet the drowned ones
The next morning, the party disembark from the hut’s dock and heads south into… Fever Swamp.
The first part of the journey is uneventful, though the party are quickly introduced to the dismal stink and heat of the sticky swamp. As the light fades and the party thinks about sleeping, they suddenly hear thudding on the boat’s underside, as if they have hit something. Rushd looks over the side, seeing a head turning to look at him in the water.
Realising they may have hit the heads of drowned people, the party heads to the western bank and land and begins to pull the boat out of the water. They see a hand grasping the end of the boat, which Rook quickly chops off. Suddenly, three more drowned ones climb over the side to reach the party.
Thinking quickly, Rushd uses his Rime Seed to freeze a huge area around them, slowing down the drowned ones. The party make short work of them. They trudge on south, dragging the boat behind them before getting it back into the river.
Spiderlings
While travelling down, they see a glinting object before a tree. On closer inspection, they see a chest! Aspen wants to open it, but Rushd politely steps in, trying to push the chest with his sword and foot. The chest doesn’t move, and he quickly discovers that both the sword and foot are stuck to the chest itself. There seems to be webbing all over the chest…
Rushd unties his shoe, freeing himself from being stuck. Rook and Razzy notice that the boat is slowly floating upwards while this is happening. Rook jumps into the boat, slicing around him to cut the webbing, freeing the boat as it drops into the river.
Everyone hears a cackle from the trees, and many legs wander away. They notice large cables of webbing in the trees…
Deciding that fire is the best method, Rushd burns off the webbing with his torch, eventually freeing his boot and sword. He also manages to open the chest, revealing a coat of arms embossed on the inside and 150gp. Rushd shares the gold with the party.
Hearing the sounds of more legs, Rushd tries to communicate with them, though the voices of many spiderlings taunt them. After some back-and-forth, they announce that their mother is returning. The party quickly retreats into the boat and heads south.
Altar
The party eventually comes across a circle of standing stones with an altar in the centre, coming out of the water. There is no sign of decay or vegetation in or around the altar.
After some investigation, Soren lies down on the altar. He feels a sense of intimacy and warmth almost immediately, as if being hugged by a lover. Soren feels comforted and peaceful. The voice thanks him and says she can answer one question about the nature of someone Soren knows.
The party doesn’t see much happening during this time except Soren looking happy. Aspen finds a couple of mudcaps and mushrooms that taste like miso. Eventually, the party decides to leave, dragging an extremely reluctant Soren off the altar and returning to the boat.